Friday, February 27, 2026

What Do Theme Parks and a Destroyed Imperial Garden Have in Common?

[photo credit: The Huntington]

A guided walk at The Huntington explores the surprising design connections between classical Chinese gardens and modern theme parks

Walk through the entrance of The Huntington’s Chinese Garden and you’ll pass beneath a wooden placard inscribed “Bie You Dong Tian” — “Another World Lies Beyond.” For art historian Patricia J. Yu, that phrase is the opening argument in a larger story linking ancient imperial gardens to Disneyland.

On Saturday, Feb. 28, Yu will lead a two-hour guided walk through Liu Fang Yuan, the Garden of Flowing Fragrance, at The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino. The program explores how principles of classical Chinese garden design reappear in the world’s modern theme parks.

The walk centers on the Yuanming Yuan — the Garden of Perfect Brightness — a great Qing dynasty imperial garden outside Beijing that was partially destroyed by Anglo-French forces in 1860. Yu’s book project traces the garden’s “afterlives” as it has been reconstructed and reimagined across diplomatic spaces, theme parks and art galleries worldwide. “As a space of ruin,” Yu writes, “it has been reconstituted through acts of architectural and artistic copying that translate its recovered form into alternative spatial contexts.”

Yu is a Huntington Mellon Fellow and assistant professor of art history at Kenyon College, where she teaches courses on Asian art, the themed landscape and cultural heritage.

The walk follows ADA-accessible paths and is suitable for ages 16 and older. Tickets are not sold at the door. Participants should check in at Admission window No. 10 beginning at 8:30 a.m.

“Guided Walk | Another World Lies Beyond: Garden and Theme Park” will run Saturday, Feb. 28, from 9 to 11 a.m. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino. For more information, call (626) 405-2100 or visit https://www.huntington.org/event/guided-walk-garden-and-theme-park. Ticket prices: $40 for members, $50 for the general public.