The Old Summer Palace

Built in the 18th and early 19th centuries, these gardens were home to the emperors and Qing court. They were looted and destroyed in 1860 on the orders of Lord Elgin, head of an Anglo-French expedition to Beijing (the French protested the order but made sure to get their share of the loot) and have never been restored. Many see this as yet another example of the evils of imperialism. To Elgin it was a carefully chosen punishment for a series of Chinese outrages, notably the torture and murder of a number of prisoners; he could have burned Beijing or executed people, but he chose to destroy an upper-class playground instead. The Chinese government continues to maintain it in a ruined state as a reminder of the humiliation China suffered at the hands of foreign powers in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Bus 690 from Tian'anmen will also get you here.