ÿþ<HTML> <TITLE> Bob at the Yuanmingyuan</TITLE> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"> <FONT COLOR="WHITE" SIZE="3" FACE="VERDANA, arial, helvetica, sans-serif"> <LINK="191970"> <BODY BGCOLOR="BLACK"> <BODY> <HR> <CENTER><H3>Yuanmingyuan Winter WfW Ò[ 2002</H3></CENTER><HR> <P> I visited this forlorn place on a cold, dry, but bright day with a classmate from BLCU. This site is nestled quietly near the Qinghua university area. As you may know, these were once fabulous (some may say excessive) imperial gardens that were sacked by Anglo-French forces circa 1900. It was burned down and plundered. All that remains now are mostly stones and columns, and a little musuem with pictures to show us the former extent of this marvel. Looking at the maps, it's really amazing what a feat of engineering and horticulture this was. In the musuem, there is a telling inscription by a famous contemporary French poet/writer lamenting the loss of these gardens and the barbarosity of the French and English forces. <P> Unfortunately, these files were compressed to save server space. As a result, all the graininess of the film has disappeared. I was using a very grainy ILFORD film I think. Too bad - it looks different on film and uncompressed. Looks too clean here. <P> The Garden <P> This was my favorite part. It is a clever design. I wonder where they got/borrowed the idea from. Is there the "original" somewhere in the former castle home of some Prussian, French, or English lord? <P> <a href="01.jpg"><img src="01.jpg" WIDTH=280 HEIGHT=180 ALIGN="middle" target="_blank" BORDER=0></a></TD> <P> <a href="02.jpg"><img src="02.jpg" WIDTH=180 HEIGHT="260" ALIGN="middle" target="_blank" BORDER=0></a></TD> <a href="03.jpg"><img src="03.jpg" WIDTH=180 HEIGHT="260" ALIGN="middle" target="_blank" BORDER=0></a></TD> <P> <P> The Ruins <P> I think these photos are near the 'throne' area. <TABLE> <TABLE BORDER=0> <TR> <TD><a href="05.jpg"><img src="05.jpg" WIDTH=180 HEIGHT=300 target="_blank" BORDER=0></a></TD> <TD><a href="06.jpg"><img src="06.jpg" WIDTH=180 HEIGHT=300 target="_blank" BORDER=0></a></TD> <TD><a href="07.jpg"><img src="07.jpg" WIDTH=180 HEIGHT=300 target="_blank" BORDER=0></a></TD> </TR> </TABLE> <TABLE> <TABLE BORDER=0> <TR> <TD><a href="08.jpg"><img src="08.jpg" WIDTH=230 HEIGHT=180 target="_blank" BORDER=0></a></TD> <TD><a href="09.jpg"><img src="09.jpg" WIDTH=230 HEIGHT=180 target="_blank" BORDER=0></a></TD> <TD><a href="04.jpg"><img src="04.jpg" WIDTH=230 HEIGHT=180 target="_blank" BORDER=0></a></TD> </BODY> </HTML>