The Old Summer Palace, called Yuanmingyuan in Chinese, located in northwest Beijing and used to be a royal garden during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), opens to the public for free on Sunday to mark the 160th anniversary of its demise, when it was looted, pillaged and burnt by invading British and French troops in 1860 and then destroyed by the Eight Power Allied Forces in 1900.

Dubbed the “Garden of Gardens” for its extensive collection of art and historical treasures as well as its beautiful architecture, the ruins of the Old Summer Palace are unforgotten scars on the national Chinese psyche.