Chinese archeologists have found that a stone stele recently unearthed in northwestern Beijing recorded how British and French forces destructed a Chinese imperial garden 140 years ago.

The stone stele, dug up by road construction workers in the capital city's Haidian district, belonged to Yuanmingyuan, an imperial garden during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

The precious stele have been preserved in a local museum and will be used to reconstruct old buildings in the garden, known for its exquisite blend of different styles of gardens in China and the West.

On the stele were carved a description of how British and French forces' looted the garden in 1860 and the names of about 40 woodworkers and carvers of the garden, said archaeologists. The stone is 127-centimeter in length, 58-centimeter in width and 16 centimeter in thickness.

Yuanmingyuan, built over a 150-year period from 1709-1859, covers 330 hectares. It was destroyed in a fire set by British and French forces in October 1860. In 1900, it was again looted and burned by the Eight-Power Allied Forces.

(People's Daily 02/03/2001)