The wheels of history, however, move on inexorably. Yuanmingyuan has since undergone great changes, after the birth of the People's Republic. The Chinese government has attached great importance to the preservation of the ruins. The district and municipal governments have placed Yuanmingyuan on a list of key cultural sites under special protection. Residential land has been requisitioned, and massive reforestation efforts have been carried out. Decades of painstaking work has turned half of the garden into green groves teeming with hundreds of thousands of trees. Most of the building foundations have been unearthed, and the remains of over a dozen scenic rock formations duly preserved. The existing carved marble masonry of the European Palaces has been pieced together to become a tourist attraction in its own right.
    A short journey back in history is revealing. To facilitate such a journey, the local government of Haidian District set up an administrative office for Yuanmingyuan in November 1976, which has made remarkable progress in protecting the ruins and reforesting the area. The framework of the European Palaces has been partly restored. Roads and basic facilities for the eastern half of the garden have been built and gradually improved. As a result, the number of tourists attracted to the site is increasing annually.
    In November 1979, the Yuanmingyuan History Exhibition Center was formally inaugurated, to the delight of visitors from at home and abroad. By 1997 the center had received more than 9.8 million visitors.
    On October 18, 1980, at a conference marking the 120th anniversary of the destruction of the old imperial summer palace, Soong Ching Ling, Shen Yanbing, Xi Zhongxun and over 100 other state leaders and prominent personages initiated a proposal on the preservation, restoration, and utilization of Yuanmingyuan. The Institute for the Study of Yuanmingyuan was established on the same day, thereby kindling extensive public interest in the study and preservation of this "Garden of Gardens."
    The guiding principle for the park's development is to transform the lakes and streams and plant trees on a large scale, while accentuating the importance of the historical ruins as a prominent feature of Yuanmingyuan. Accordingly, park workers and staff members have spared no efforts to preserve the sights, reconstruct the buildings, and restore the water system, hills, and rock gardens. Their efforts made it possible for the Yuanmingyuan Park to be opened to the public on a trial basis in June 1988. In the same year, the park was designated by the State Council as a key cultural site at the national level.