You might be surprised to find picturesque ruins of European-style buildings in the northern outskirts of Beijing.

No, you haven't walked into an 18th century Romantic painting, or the setting of a poem by Lord Byron.

You've come instead to Yuanmingyuan ("Garden of Perfect Brightness"), the famous royal garden built during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), also known as the Old Summer Palace.

Located in northwestern Beijing, Yuanmingyuan is regarded as the "Garden of all Chinese Gardens." A trip to the ruins also reminds visitors that East-meets-West is nothing new in Chinese history.

The whole complex consists of three gardens, Yuanmingyuan in the west, Yichunyuan ("Ten-thousand Spring Garden") in the south, and Changchunyuan ("Garden of Eternal Spring") in the east. The latter includes the ruins of palaces constructed with European architectural features.

"Those European-style buildings reflected Emperor Qianlong's mind of seeking novelty," says Chen Mingjie, director of the park's administrative office.

The emperor, he explains, was proud of proving that Chinese artisans could take on and perfect any type of architectural scheme.

Unfortunately, a fire set by the Britain-France Allied Force in 1860 destroyed many of the original buildings.

But we still have a glimpse of what the grounds were once like, back when Qing emperors enjoyed hunting and riding horses along the rolling hills, because a famous sketch of Yuanminyuan by the artist Zhang Baocheng depicts the garden in its former glory.

Some old structures do remain. One example is the ruins of Dashuifa, a grand fountain once considered the rival of anything built by European monarchs. It is among the best preserved relics in the garden and a reminder of the estate's former splendour.

On a recent visit, modern Greek traveler Theodoros Ziavras described the deja-vu feeling of "finding something familiar unexpectedly" in the garden, which "gives me a space of imagination and a sense of history."

(China Daily 08/30/2008 page5)