玉渊潭公园

玉渊潭公园 in Beijing traces the lake back to Jin dynasty rulers who kept a fishing lodge on its banks eight centuries ago, and to 1773, when the Qianlong Emperor had the basin dug out to catch mountain floodwater before it could drown the city. The guide then turns to spring 1973, when a hundred eighty small trees arrived as a gift from Japan, only a year after Beijing and Tokyo restored relations. Visit in late March to see the blossoms that planting started.