Tuesday, July 8

ABC Wednesday - Y

Once again I have to bring you back in time. A family visit to Beijing was of course mandatory when staying in Asia mid 90s. I will tomorrow give you some of the photos taken in this ancient city, but on this ABC Wednesday is for Y, I give you a small taste.
First the Old Summer Palace

Y is for YuanMingYuan, (圓明園)


YuanMingYuan was a large imperial park of three separate parks viz. the Garden of Perfection and Brightness (圓明園Yuanmingyuan) to the west, the Garden of Ten Thousand (Eternal) Springs (萬春園Wanchunyuan) to the south and the Garden of Everlasting Spring (長春園Changchunyuan) to the east, all centered around Fuhai, (福海 Lake/Sea of Fortune/Blessings).

The latter two gardens were added during the Qianlong Reign. The Garden of Ten Thousand (Eternal) Springs Wanchunyuan was also known as Yichunyuan (怡和園 Garden of Exquisite Spring).

Anyone who appreciates beauty and human enterprise will be outraged when they visit the present YuanMingYuan. This was once a beautiful imperial park, with exquisite gardens, Chinese palaces and Western Baroque buildings, treasures of art and cultural relics and an imperial library of irreplaceable books.
It was plundered and razed to the ground by the barbaric Anglo-French forces in 1860 under the order of Lord Elgin (James Bruce 1811-1863), son of the famous British lover of Greek art who stole the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon in Athens.
The other Y this week is the "new" Summer Palace

Y is for YiheYuan (頤和園)

The Summer Palace started out life as the Garden of Clear Ripples in 1750. As Yuan Ming Yuan the garden was heavily damaged in 1860. The garden survived and was rebuilt in 1886 and 1902. In 1888, it was given the current name, Yihe Yuan. It served as a summer resort for Empress Dowager Cixi, who diverted 30 million taels of silver, said to be originally designated for the Chinese navy (Beiyang Fleet), into the reconstruction and enlargement of the Summer Palace.The long Promenade (750 m long) is covered with almost 1500 beautiful paintings at the ceiling (originally 546). CiXi was carried through this corridor in bad weather.External photos:
The Marble Boat (boat of Purity and Ease) was restored by Empress Dowager as a tribute to the money she took from the navy for the rebuilding of the park.
Perhaps the bridges should be used for the "Bridges" meme, but the Jade Belt Bridge and the Bridge of Floating Hearts must be part of the ABC Wednesday post:
For more ABC Wednesday proposals, see Mrs Nesbitts place

21 comments:

Rune Eide said...

Thank you for the tour - my only chance to get there!

(you might use the bridge picture twice... ;-) )

EG CameraGirl said...

A great tour, Arne. Thank you. I may never see China myself so I enjoy seeing it through your camera's lens.

Juliana RW said...

wow...you had wonderful tour

Visit mine also in here Thanks

Anonymous said...

lovely Y shots

Mine in here. Thanks

Reader Wil said...

Well this is an informative tour along the Chinese antiquities with very beautiful photos. The Chinese use poetical names for their places.

Leslie: said...

Fantastic architecture - thanks for the virtual tour! It was great. I particularly like that bridge.

Unknown said...

Nok en flott post med fin informasjon og flotte bilder.
Igjen takk for turen.

Meget flotte bilder fra Geiranger i innlegget under også, Arne.
Vi reiser om drøye 14 dager i retning Lofoten og har planer om og ta snarveien(:-)) via Geiranger, Atlanterhavsveien, ++ så jeg håper på å få festet noe av Norges flotte natur på minnekortet.

Michele said...

Beautiful post... beautiful tour and description.. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Mountain Retreat Photos

Jane Hards Photography said...

Fantastic virtual tour. Unique choice and very interesting.

Anonymous said...

Amazing! I loved the tour. The architecture is so grand...

Andrea said...

Such an interesting post with beautiful photos.

Bear Naked said...

Your photographs are wonderful.
Thank you for sharing your tour with us.

Bear

photowannabe said...

Beautiful, amazing photos of a land i don't think I will be able to visit. Great choices for the letter Y.

mrsnesbitt said...

Thank you for bringing China into our Wednesdays. Amazing facts.

me ann my camera said...

This is a wonderful post full of fascinating photos and interesting text. A lovely Y.

Neva said...

My oldest son lives in Beijing.....I love your pictures today.

Kyanite said...

Yours has to be THE most fascinating Y post. The blessings of travelling.

imac said...

Very interesting post and I love that bridge.

pop and see my Y.

Unknown said...

Takk for reise tips og ferie hilsen, Arne. Har notert ned tipsene og skal se på de sammen med kartet.

Jeg har ikke vært i Møre og Romsdal siden jeg var liten og på ferie med min mor og far. Husker ingen ting men min mor har foreviget det i sort-hvit både på papir og på 8mm film uten lyd.

Hvis du/dere er glad i å se norsk natur, så kan jeg anbefale å ta en titt i Lofoten, Vesterålen og Andøya.

Ha en fortsatt fin kveld.

esnorway said...

fint y tema fine bilder

Barbara said...

SO interesting and lots of good photos too. Thanks for the tour.