China Exclusive: Replica of China's imperial garden to go ahead despite criticism

HANGZHOU, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- The beginning of construction in east China's Zhejiang Province of a same-sized replica of Beijing's Old Summer Palace or Yuanmingyuan, an imperial summer resort destroyed in 1860 by British and French forces, has been set for next year.

The 400-hectare duplicate park will be built west of Hengdian Town, a Hollywood-like film shooting base in the country, at an estimated cost of 20 billion yuan (2.7 billion U.S. dollars).

So far, 1.16 billion yuan had been raised for the project, which would start construction next year and be completed within five years, said Xu Wenrong, honorary president of Hengdian Sannong Promotion Society, or formerly known as Hengdian Social and Economic Federation, advocator of the project.

The 1.16 billion yuan includes 120 million yuan collected by the Yuanmingyuan Replica Construction Fund under the Zhejiang Foundation for Chinese Cultural Development, one billion yuan from Hengdian Sannong Promotion Society and 40 million yuan from a private enterprise.

The money already raised has surpassed the planned construction costs for the first year, Xu said.

He said the money raising was achieved without resort to large-scale donations.

Among the total investment of 20 billion yuan, 7 billion will be used for infrastructure construction and the rest for collection and duplications of relic pieces.

"We are fully confident because many foundations and social groups have shown great enthusiasm and investment intentions for the project," Xu said.

The Zhejiang Hengdian Yuanmingyuan Replica Special Fund Commission under the China Film Foundation and Zhejiang Foundation for Chinese Cultural Development, two approved donation raisers for the project, will launch donation publicity campaigns in next April in Beijing.

Located in northwest Beijing, the original imperial summer resort began construction in 1707 and was finished in 1744. It was burned down by British and French troops in 1860. It was sacked and burned down again, after a partial restoration, in 1900 when the Eight-Power Allied Forces - - troops sent by Britain, the United States, Germany, France, Tsarist Russia, Japan, Italy and Austria-Hungary -- occupied Beijing.

The construction plan of the Yuanmingyuan replica was announced in September last year by Hengdian Sannong.

The plan has met fierce public criticism ever since its announcement.

"The Yuanmingyuan took 150 years to build. It can not be recreated in five or ten years," said Ruan Yisan, director of the State Institute of Famous Historical and Cultural Cities with the Shanghai-based Tongji University.

"The replica is unnecessary because the Yuanmingyuan was destroyed by the Allied Forces and the present-day ruins serves as a testimony to that period of humiliating history.

"It would be of greater value to spend the money on ancient cultural heritage sites which are in dire need of protection or build some modern mansions blended with the cream of ancient Chinese architecture.

"If the replica is billed as a tourist attraction, it might lose a lot of money, given the huge funds needed for its construction," he said.