Page:Album of photographs of Peking and its environs.pdf/41



The ruins of this palace are also known to Foreigners as Yuen-ming-yuen, which has been interpreted as, “round bright garden,” this place is about 10 miles from Pekin ; it was bombarded by the British in the year 1860 and has since that time remained in ruins, its situation is very beautiful, and the grounds extensive. The writer of a grotesque balad which is well known to residents in China refers to this locality in his opening verse:—

“In Yuen-ming-yuen, all gaily arrayed In Malachite kirtles and slippers of jade, ‘Neath the wide-spreading tea-tree fair damsels are seen All singing to Joss on the soft candareen.