YUEN-MING-YUEN.
THE imperial pleasure grounds lie about eight miles to the north-west of Peking, and Yuenming-Yuen is the name by which they are most commonly known, although belonging strictly to that part of them only which were walled in and kept sacred to the Emperor. Wan-showshan is probably the hill which, with its surroundings, is the portion best known to foreigners. This summer retreat, with its palaces, lakes, and gardens, covers an area of twelve square miles, and was laid out by the Emperor Kunghi. It must, at one time, have been a most fascinating spot, and even as I saw it, in its ruins, and as the allied forces had laid it waste and left it, there was a charm about it all its own. The whole presents us with a Chinese landscape garden; white marble bridges span lakes bedecked with lotus flowers (see No. 47), where summer pavilions rise among the islets on every side. The hills, too, are crowned with temples and pagodas, and herds of deer and other sorts of game wander in the woods that shade many a ruined palace.
The marble bridge of the picture contains seventeen arches, and is the finest I have seen in China or, indeed, anywhere in the East; and I can picture to myself what the scene must have been when the lake was ablaze with the pink flowers of the lotus, and the air laden with their fragrance,
" A perfume breathing round
Like a pervading spirit; "
while pleasure parties in their light canoes skimmed the surface 01 the lake, and lent the rich colours of their costumes to enliven the scene.
Father Ripa gives an interesting account of the Emperor's summer retreat as he saw it when he was attached to the court, about the beginning of the last century.
The hill descried in the distance is Wan-show-shan, and is surmounted by a temple built of white marble and porcelain. This temple, like the bridge, has been left almost uninjured, although two lions of white marble, and colossal in size, which stand at the base of the stone-work, have been destroyed by fire. There are many hills in this vast enclosure adorned with palatial retreats, and designed for the enjoyment of the Emperor and of the princes attached to his court. But the whole place remains as it was left by the allies. Nothing has been attempted in the way of restoration. Indeed, I suppose that the Chinese have had neither the spirit nor the funds to enter upon such an arduous undertaking, or that the place is left ruinous and desolate designedly as one means of keeping the hostility of the nation active, and as an ever-ready witness to the wanton barbarities to which foreigners will resort Many of the educated Chinese have this feeling, and look upon our conduct as an act of heartless vandalism, and say that we might have brought pressure to bear upon their government in some way more worthy of our much vaunted civilization.
