Marker at Fenglin Island 风麟洲 in Yuanmingyuan Park 圆明园
Much of the old imperial palace is nothing but a park now. The British troops razed the palace down to the ground in retaliation for the treatment their emmissaries recieved from the government. This means that if you are looking for something like the Summer Palace or the Forbidden City here, you will be sorely disappointed. The imperial structures here are few and the ones that you do see are most probably restored versions. There have been talks of restoring the palace to its former splendor using artists depictions and anecdotes to piece together how it looked like in the past, however this was met with resistance as this is already as historical relic.
Zigzag Bridge in Yuanmingyuang Park 圆明园
Anyway, I was randomly walking through the park without a real plan in mind. At this point, I was still under the impression that the park can be managed within two hours. I thought that merely following the path will lead me to interesting places. For most of the time, this was true as I ran into a zigzag bridge which brought me to the Fenglin Islets 风麟洲. The Fenglin Islets was the site of some imperial halls, but you won’t know this when you visit it now as no trace of the halls can be seen now. The only clue you have is a stone marker which describes what used to be there.
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