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Epilogue The Yuanming Yuan Ruins Park Regardless of the relentless natural and human assaults since the turn of the century, miraculously, the ruins of the Yuanming Yuan have survived to this day. The latest crisis was the tumultuous Cultural Revolution, during which farms, factories, and schools were established in the ruins, rendering damage to the landscape . The conclusion of the revolution in 1976 came in time to prevent the prospect of erasing the ruins entirely. Even more important, the bitter experiences of violence and destruction gave rise to a much stronger sense of treasuring cultural relics and of historical preservation. As a result, in 1976, the Yuanming Yuan Management O‰ce (Yuanming Yuan Guanlichu) came into existence with the clear intention of keeping the ruins intact. Under protection, the ruins have since been open to the public, and the number of tourists, including foreigners from Japan, the United States, Britain, and Sweden, has risen dramatically since 1980 (YMYJ 1987 1:21–22). In 1980, a comprehensive survey of the ruins was carried out, yielding 5,200 mou (786 acres) in total: 1,400 mou (212 acres) covered with trees, 360 mou (55 acres) of reed ponds, and 200 mou (30 acres) of ruins.The other 60 percent can be broken down as follows: 1,200 mou (182 acres) of rice fields, 70 mou (11 acres) of reservoirs, 800 mou (121 acres) of farmland , 360 mou (55 acres) of huts, 480 mou (73 acres) of factories, schools, warehouses, o‰ces, and shooting ranges, and 150 mou (23 acres) of roads. Numerous rock hills were leveled during the Cultural Revolution, and fewer than half of the original two hundred fifty survived (YMYJ 1987, 1:22). The survey disclosed also that many “units” (danwei) had occupied the site. They included twenty villages consisting of at least 2,000 farmers, the Number 101 Middle School, the Municipal Chemical Engineering Institute, the District Military Shooting Range, a duck farm, and the District Machine Factory.The machine factory alone occupied 350 mou (53 acres) of the ruins. The presence of these “units,” together with their construc188 |  tion projects, if not stopped, would surely threaten the obscured foundations of the original structures on the site. Many of the foundations, as the surveyors discovered, had already become di‰cult to identify. An urgent concern was to determine how to stop the encroachment on valuable historic sites and to prevent their total destruction.The best way to ensure historical preservation, it was determined, was to remove the occupants from the sites; however , this task proved to be the most di‰cult (cf. YMYJ 1987, 1:21–24). The Yuanming Yuan issue gained nationwide attention in the autumn of 1980 when a large number of political leaders, scholars of renown, noted architects, and distinguished artists expressed their great concern about how to preserve the ruins. They obtained 1,583 signatures on a public statement calling for “protection, reparation, and utilization of the Yuanming Yuan ruins” (YMYJ 1987, 1:1–6). Shortly afterward, seizing the opportunity to commemorate the 120th anniversary of the burning of the Yuanming Yuan, the Chinese Association of Architects featured a large symposium in Beijing on August 13 to 19, 1980. Participants reached consensus that the best way to preserve the ruins was to renovate some scenes and structures on the site, since leaving the ruins as they were would inevitably lead to further destruction in the face of urbanization and modernization. In an e¤ort to promote e¤ective historical preservation, a preparatory committee was born on October 17, 1980, to make sure the Yuanming Yuan Institute (Yuanming Yuan Xuehui) would be formally established as a permanent organization at the earliest possible date (YMYJ 1987, 1:230). The Yuanming Yuan Institute was at last inaugurated at a Haidian theatre on December 1, 1984. Some four hundred men and women, including many high-ranking o‰cials, observed the opening ceremony. A constitution (zhangcheng) was drafted to underline the extraordinary value of the garden sites; goals were to enrich national cultural life, enhance patriotic education, and facilitate tourism and international friendship.This plan coincided with the promotion of Chinese “spiritual civilization” (jingshen wenming). Accordingly, preserving the historical ruins of the Yuanming Yuan became a national priority.The Yuanming Yuan Institute, however, sought for more than mere preservation. Comprising several entities such as the Academic Committee (Yuanming Yuan Xueshu Weiyuanhui), the Chinese Yuanming Yuan Foundation (Zhongguo Yuanming Yuan Jijinhui), the Yuanming Yuan Development Company (Yuanming Yuan Guihuasheji Gongsi), and...

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