Different characters were carved on the inner and outer sides of the gate, indicating that the beautiful and delicate garden was the frontier between the noisy outside world and the royal family.

 

The gate was built by the garden’s third owner, Yixin, Prince Gong. It follows the style of the Western-style Palace in the old Summer Palace grounds, which was fashionable among royal families at the time. Yixin was then in power and he hoped to rejuvenate the Empire through a series of reforms based on learning from the western countries, which explains the construction of such a gate in his family’s courtyard. But his reforms ultimately failed due to obstacles placed in their way by the Emperor’s mother.