Little Known Old Summer Palace of Beijing

Most people know about the Summer Palace in the suburbs of Beijing on Kunming Lake or at least all the group tours go there.  Few people realize that there is an Old Summer Palace quite close by that often gets overlooked.  If you are a history buff, you may want to visit the Old Summer Palace which is mostly in ruins after the 2nd Opium War.  British and French troops took home most of the artifacts that were there. What you see here is the remains of the Palace Gardens fashioned after the French Gardens of Europe. During the 18th century rebuilding of the gardens by Emperor Dowager Cixi in 1888 was accomplished.   The first palace and gardens were built in the 12th Century by Emperor Qianlong and called Yuanming Yuan but also destroyed in the first Opium War.   In 1949 after the Revolution, the site was made into a  park where the ruins were preserved as they are today.  Few foreign tourists visit it but it is very close by to the current Summer Palace and can be visited at the same time.  Check out our web site at      www.interlakechinatours.com   
        Our 25th Year Of Doing Tours to China!