Envisioning Yuan Ming Yuan (Garden of Perfect Brightness)

The Summer Palace is one of the most popular tourist spots in Beijing, China. However, the name Summer Palace used to belong to Yuan Ming Yuan, one of the three most important architectural projects in Chinese history together with the Great Wall and the Dun Huang Caves. Translated into English, Yuan Ming Yuan means the Garden of Perfect Brightness. In October 1860, at the peak of the Second Opium War (also known as the Arrow War), the British and French joint army set Yuan Ming Yuan on fire. To bring Yuan Ming Yuan back to life, the authors are building a digital version using computer graphics.