Yuanmingyuan was a large imperial park. It was actually three separate parks: Park of Perfection and Brightness, Park of Ten Thousand Springs and Park of Everlasting Spring, centered around the lake, Sea of Happiness. Its construction started in 1709 and took 150 years to complete. Unfortunately, in 1860 the Anglo-French joint forces invaded Beijing, looted all the treasures in the park and set fire to it. In 1900 the allied forces of the Eight Powers invaded Beijing and sacked the remaining buildings in the park. Right now almost nothing left in the park.