146 years after Anglo-French Forces stormed into Beijing's Yuanmingyan and burnt it to the ground, a Chinese private foundation announced Thursday that it would build a replica of the famous royal gardens.

The China Culture Relics Protection Foundation and privately-owned Zhejiang Hengdian Foundation for Chinese Cultural Development, led by 72-year-old Xu Wenrong, will collaborate on the replica project.

They intend to build the replica in Hengidan in Zhejiang Province.

Funds will be raised in China and overseas to build the replica and collect cultural treasures from the garden, said Xu Wenrong, chairman of Zhejiang Hengdian Foundation for Chinese Cultural Development.

"The replica will be a 1:1 imitation of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) complex, featuring the three main building clusters of Yuanming, Changchun and Yichuan gardens. It will cover more than 400 hectares, and 40 percent will be water," said chief designer Zhang Xianchun.

The designer said the new Yuanmingyuan will express "the artistic quintessence of Chinese gardens."

72-year-old Xu told Xinhua at an exclusive interview that he had been dreaming about the project for 15 years. The old man said he was confident of being able to recreate the splendor of Yuanmingyuan.

But Xu's ambition has met with fervent opposition in many quarters.

Many opponents believe that Yuanmingyuan is a symbol of humiliation to Chinese.

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

"The present-day ruins are testimony to that period of history. The replica is unnecessary," Ruan insisted.

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

China has 2,500 such tourist sites, with an investment of 150 billion yuan (18.75 billion U.S. dollars). Only ten percent of them are profitable.

Ruan is not the only critic of the project. Ye Yanfang, a researcher with the institute of foreign literature with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the destruction of Yuanmingyuan was a scar left by powerful western nations on the back of the Chinese nation. Preserving the ruins in Beijing would protect the true facts of history.

However, some experts and scholars from the China Yuanmingyuan Institute, the State Archives Administration and Tsinghua University, Pekin University, support Xu and his replica.

They believe that the replica will provide a stark contrast to the bleak remains in Beijing, and reminder young people of that period of history.

Upright at the center of the "storm", Xu said he will not be swayed. He believes the Yuanmingyuan ruins can continue to serve as a reminder of history, while the Hengdian replica will showcase the artistic achievements of pre-1860 China.

"Nothing can change my mind. This project is a long-cherished ambition of mine and for 15 years I have been collecting materials from the original Yuanmingyuan, which were scattered to all four corners of the earth," he said.

Li Jianping, a Yuanmingyuan expert, said both viewpoints seek "to protect China's great cultural heritage and enhance its position in world cultural history."

"The advantages and disadvantages of the replica will not be clear until it has been built," said the expert.

According to historical records, construction of the original Yuanmingyuan began in 1707 and continued for 150 years under five Qing Dynasty emperors. It consisted of three interconnected gardens covering an area of 350 hectares, of which 140 hectares was water.

The yuanmingyuan is now listed as a site for "patriotic education".

The Hengdian Social and Economic Federation led by Xu Wenrong won fame for a development featuring imitations of the Forbidden City in Beijing, a Qin Dynasty (221-206BC) palace and a prosperous Song Dynasty (960-1279) downtown street.

The development attracted 3.3 million visitors last year.

(Xinhua News Agency October 20, 2006)