Renovation work of the Old Summer Palace (Yuanmingyuan), which frequently aroused public attentions these days, is nearly at its end.

Reporters at site saw Thursday that the bottoms of the Fuhai Lake, Changchun Lake and Yichun Lake in the palace were filled with clay and the baffle around the construction site had been put aside.

A working staff member told reporters that they had taken the plastic film away from the lake bottoms as requested by the State Environmental Protection Administration.

The plastic film at the entrance of the Yichun Lake is kept as it is. The whole renovation work is almost completed and visitors to the Old Summer Palace can row boat on the lake at the National Day holidays.

Previously, the bottoms of the lake were rough and uneven. Now they become leveled off through the work of bulldozers. Water has not been filled into the lakes yet.  

(Chinanews.cn September 2, 2005)