China's Lost Imperial Garden
The World's Most Exquisite Garden Rediscovered
Built in 1707, the Old Summer Palace (Yuan Ming Yuan) is a masterpiece integrating the classic garden-building arts of China. It is reputed as the "Garden of all Gardens," due to its rich and incomparable landscaping. The beautiful and expansive gardens were known to the world, and triggered the craze of Chinese gardens in 18th century Europe. Victor Hugo, one of the best and greatest known French writers, described it as "Achievements generated from the imagination of a super nation."Â Scenes of the Old Summer Palace in this book are the exact results from a digitalized Old Summer Palace, which reveals the magnificence of the garden in its prime.
As a graduate from Qinghua University in 1960, Guo Daiheng was a student of Professor Liang Sicheng. She is now a professor and PhD tutor of Tsinghua University, the first-grade national registered architect, and concurrently the director of Beijing Old Summer Palace Research Society. She has won such awards as the First Class Award of the National Natural Science Awards and the Grand Architectural Creation Award.
She has had over 70 academic papers published in China and abroad, in addition to having completed more than 10 academic works such as The History of Ancient Chinese Architecture, Illustration of Model Houses—the Heritage and Memory of the Old Summer Palace, and The Royal Old Summer Palace under the Reign of Qianlong Emperor.
