If you want to ask who is top 1 maze in Chinese minds, it must be Wanhua Zhen at Yuanmingyuan(Old Summer Palace), the Royal Maze of East-Meets-West.
A European Marvel in the Old Summer Palace
Wanhua Zhen (originally named Huanghua Zhen) is a one-of-a-kind maze in Beijing’s Yuanmingyuan (Old Summer Palace). Built during Emperor Qianlong’s reign in the Qing Dynasty, it was modeled after European maze designs. The maze features intricately carved brick walls, standing about 1.2 meters tall, stretching nearly 90 meters from north to south and 60 meters east to west. Its winding walls, totaling over 1,600 meters in length, resemble a giant puzzle. Blending Chinese-style pavilions, the Bihua Lou pavilion, and a rear garden, it once served as an exclusive “royal playground” for emperors.
The Emperor’s Mid-Autumn “Maze Challenge”
Every Mid-Autumn Festival, a unique game unfolded here: The emperor sat in the central pavilion while palace maids carried lotus-shaped lanterns made of yellow silk, racing from the entrance to reach him first. The maze was cleverly designed to be “easy to enter but hard to exit,” and the emperor, watching from above as the maids scrambled through the twists and turns, found great amusement in their struggles.
From Destruction to Revival
During the 1860 sacking of Yuanmingyuan by the Anglo-French Allied Forces, Wanhua Zhen miraculously survived. However, after the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1911, locals dismantled the maze. It wasn’t until 1987 that experts reconstructed “Huanghua Zhen” on the original site using historical records. The rebuilt version replaced the traditional Chinese pavilion with a Western-style domed亭子 (tíngzi, pavilion), creating its current East-West hybrid appearance.
A Living Cultural Legacy
Though no longer original, today’s Wanhua Zhen still reflects the Qing royal family’s extravagant tastes and the cultural exchange between China and Europe. Visitors exploring its paths can enjoy both the thrill of the maze and learn about its dramatic history through informational signs. Cultural preservation teams regularly restore the brick walls and structures, ensuring this royal maze—steeped in joy and sorrow—continues to share its stories with future generations.
Tips
Did you know? The maze’s 1.2-meter walls are just tall enough to block an adult’s view of neighboring paths, but the complex layout still confuses explorers—a testament to ancient design ingenuity!
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