Old Summer Palace 圆明园Yuánmíngyuán

Why go to Old Summer Palace

A couple of kilometres east of the Summer Palace, the Old Summer Palace (Yuanmingyuan) was the Qing emperors' main residence, a garden complex of lakes, islands and halls covering about 3.5 square kilometres, until its destruction in 1860. Today it is a park of open water and ruins: head first for the carved stone fragments of the European-style palaces (Xiyang Lou), designed with Jesuit missionaries for the Qianlong Emperor, then walk or take a boat around the lakes.

The story

In October 1860, at the end of the Second Opium War, British and French troops looted the palace, and British troops then burned it on the orders of Lord Elgin, the British High Commissioner, in reprisal for the torture and deaths of captured envoys and their escort. The loot included the twelve bronze zodiac heads of a water-clock fountain in the European-style quarter; in 2020 the horse head became the first of them to return to the site.

What to see at Old Summer Palace

• Jiuzhou (Nine Continents) area 九州景区: The reopened Jiuzhou area, set around a lake and islands, gives a sense of the palace-garden layout before you reach the ruins.
• Fuhai lake 福海: A broad lake over 600 metres wide, built as the park's main stretch of water and modelled loosely on Hangzhou's West Lake, with an island pavilion at its centre.
• Great Fountains 大水法: The best-known ruin in the European-style quarter: massive stone fragments of a fountain complex and a viewing platform set before a terraced pond.
• Haiyantang fountain 海晏堂: Remains of the quarter's largest palace, where a pool was once lined with twelve zodiac animal heads that spouted water in turn.
• Garden maze 万花阵: A reconstructed Western-style maze of low brick walls, about 89 by 59 metres, from the European quarter.

How to visit Old Summer Palace

Start at the East Gate if the European-style ruins are your priority, then walk west past the maze and the lakes; from the South Gate you can pass through Jiuzhou and Fuhai first and reach the ruins last. Half a day covers the main route, and it is largely outdoors with little shade. The Yuanmingyuan Museum on site is closed on Mondays.

How to get to Old Summer Palace

Take Metro Line 4 to Yuanmingyuan Park station, where Exit B leads to the South Gate, or allow 30–60 minutes by taxi from central Beijing depending on traffic.

Where to stay

Haidian district, around Zhongguancun and Wudaokou, has plenty of hotels and metro access, and puts the Summer Palace and Peking and Tsinghua universities nearby.

What to eat

• Jingxi rice (Jīngxī dào) 京西稻: A short-grain rice grown in Haidian, once reserved for the court and linked to the rice fields of Yuanmingyuan; look for it on local menus and in shops.
• Beijing fried-sauce noodles (zhájiàng miàn) 炸酱面: Noodles topped with a savoury fermented-bean sauce, found in small restaurants around the university district.

Tips for visiting Old Summer Palace

• Buy the combined ticket: the basic park ticket does not cover the European-style ruins or the scale-model exhibition.
• The East Gate is closest to the European-style ruins; from the South Gate, an electric cart and, in summer, boats help cover the distance.
• Come in July or August for the lotus festival, when boat routes run among the lotus beds of the Garden of Eternal Spring.

Nearby

• Summer Palace 颐和园 under 10 km
  An imperial lakeside garden of painted corridors, temple-topped hills and a marble boat
• Bird's Nest and Olympic Green 奥林匹克公园 under 10 km
  The Bird's Nest and Water Cube, venues of the 2008 and 2022 Olympics, lit up after dark
• Fragrant Hills Park 香山公园 under 10 km
  Wooded former imperial hills that turn red with smoke-tree leaves each autumn
• Prince Gong's Mansion 恭王府 10 km
  A Qing courtyard mansion and rock garden, home first to a corrupt minister, then a prince
• Drum and Bell Towers 钟鼓楼 10 km
  Beijing's old timekeeping towers, with drum performances and views over the hutong roofs
• Shichahai 什刹海 10 km
  Three linked lakes ringed by hutongs and lakeside bars, with open-air skating in winter

Also within 30 km: Yanyuan Campus of Peking University 北京大学燕园 (under 10 km), Early Buildings of Tsinghua University 清华大学早期建筑 (under 10 km), Big Bell Temple 大钟寺 (under 10 km), Wanshou Temple 万寿寺 (under 10 km), China National Botanical Garden 国家植物园 (under 10 km), Purple Bamboo Park 紫竹院公园 (under 10 km).

On the map

Open Old Summer Palace on the illustrated map to see the terrain around it, what else is close, and to add it to a trip and plan the days.

Learn more

• Wikipedia
• Wikipedia (Chinese)