YuanMingYuan Labyrinth

YuanMingYuan - the ‘Gardens of Perfect Brightness' in Chinese. Originally called the Imperial Gardens, and sometimes called the Winter Palace, it was a complex of palaces and gardens in present-day Haidian District, Beijing, China, 5 miles (8 km) north-west from the Forbidden City. It was a grand imperial garden created by and for the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) emperors over more than 150 years.

Looted and destroyed by French and British troops in 1860 during the Second Opium War, the complex remained in ruins for over a century.

Only in the 1980s the site was reclaimed by the government and turned into a historical site with the Western-style preserved ruins.

A distinctive part of YuanMingYuan was the Yellow Flower Formation - a Western-style maze. This oblong formation stretched from south to north and was centered on an octagonal-ceiling pavilion with a round-base. Over 1,600 meters in length and 1.2 meters in height, the formation wall was decorated with dark bricks carved with swastika patterns. In times of prosperity, the imperial court organized entertainment activities here on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival. Today the formation is restored to its original state thanks to repair projects conducted in 1987 and 1989.