Amply illustrated with photographs and original drawings, A Paradise Lost examines in detail the events surrounding the rise and fall of the Yuanming Yuan-from its earliest construction to its destruction (first in 1860 at the hands of the British and French toops then forty years later during the Boxer catastrophe) and deterioration following the end of the Qing. It surveys the recent attempt to attract through the rebuilding of a few structures and looks at how Yuanming Yuan Ruin Park today serves a powerful reminder of China's past glory as well as its humiliation.

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