After comprehensive restoration major sites of the world famous Summer Palace in Beijing, a splendid resort for imperial families of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), reopened to visitors on Saturday.

The restoration project, which started in April 2004 and cost more than 60 million yuan (US$7.5 million), included the landmark architecture of the Fragrant Buddha Pavilion, the Long Corridor and Cloud Fairyland Hall.

More than 9,300 square meters of ancient buildings were repaired, according to Summer Palace administrative officials. The entire complex is on China's list of state-level protected historical sites and the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage listing.

With a length of 728 meters the Long Corridor is the longest ancient garden aisle. It zigzags around the Kunming Lake and connects four pavilions and 273 halls on which colorful artwork featuring animals, flowers, landscapes, tales and ancient stories were painted.

The Fragrant Buddha Pavilion served as a place for religious worship and the Cloud Fairyland Hall was a spot for recreational activities of the imperial family during the Qing Dynasty.

New security monitors, fire control facilities and water-electricity supply systems were installed during the maintenance period.

Along with the Summer Palace on Beijing's western outskirts the Chinese capital agreed to spend more than 400 million yuan (US$50 million) on repairing and maintaining its heritage sites and cultural relics.

Of the total amount 100 million yuan (some US$12.5 million) will be used for repairs on the Forbidden City, the imperial court complexes of China's last two dynasties, the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911).

The remaining 300 million yuan (US$37.5 million), offered jointly by the municipal and district governments, will be used to restore 20 cultural sites.

Mei Ninghua, head for Beijing's cultural relics affairs, said the city government would also carry out maintenance work on all of the city's approximately 300 cultural relic sites before 2008. According to Mei, Beijing's citywide restoration project in preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games had caught the attention of foreign governments and companies.

(Xinhua News Agency September 25, 2006)