For a century and a half the Yuanmingyuan, the "Garden of Perfect Brightness", was the true heart of the Qing empire. Begun in 1709 under the Kangxi Emperor and vastly expanded by his grandson the Qianlong Emperor, it grew into a complex of three linked gardens, Yuanmingyuan, Changchunyuan and Qichunyuan, spread across some 350 hectares in the north-western suburbs of Beijing, five times the size of the Forbidden City. Later emperors preferred it to the Forbidden City itself, ruling from among its lakes rather than from the formal palace in the city centre.
Europeans who saw it called it the "Versailles of the East" and the "Garden of Gardens", and the names were not idle flattery. Hundreds of scenes were composed across the grounds: winding waterways and lotus ponds modelled on the classical landscapes of Jiangnan, artificial hills, pavilions, halls and libraries, each framing a particular view or mood. Most extraordinary of all was the Xiyanglou, a suite of European-style stone buildings designed with the help of Jesuits at the Qing court, complete with fountains, a great waterwork, and a labyrinth. It was a place where Chinese and Western art met on equal terms, and it doubled as an imperial museum, crammed with books, paintings and treasures.
