By the end of 2000 all the residents had moved out of Yuanmingyuan, an imperial garden in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), for the sake of facilitating the protection of the garden planned by the Beijing government.
The cultural heritage site under national preservation contains jewelry, rare paintings and books, which is of great value to the study of the cultural, economic and political conditions of the Qing Dynasty.
On the 352-hactare site are building ruins of delicate western and Chinese style architecture. Burned in 1800 by foreign invaders, the garden has been regarded as a symbol of China’s falling into semi-colonial and semi-feudal condition.
However, some 800 families and a dozen institutions have dwelled in the garden since 1949 and to some extent, they have damaged the site.
Around 100 families moved out during 1986 and 1994. The local government decided in 1999 to move all the residents out by 2000 so as to protect the site.
Altogether 172 households moved out during the first phase from December 6, 1999, and the remaining 443 in the second phase have moved out of the garden by the end of 2000. The removal has cost a total of 280 million yuan (US$33.6 million).
The institutions will move out of the garden by the end of this year.
(Xinhua 01/20/2001)
