Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index The Summer Palace (Yiheyuan) is a palace in Beijing, China. The initial construction of the Summer Palace began in 1750. Artisans reproduced the garden architecture styles of various palaces in China. It was ransacked, together with the Old Summer Palace in 1860 by French and British troops during the second Opium War. In 1888, Empress Dowager Cixi diverted 30 million taels of silver, said to be originally designated for the Chinese navy, into the reconstruction and enlargement of the Summer Palace. The Summer Palace has been listed by the UNESCO as one of the World Heritage Sites. This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.