Haiyantang

The Haiyantang (Chinese: 海晏堂; pinyin: Hǎiyàntáng) was an area in the Xiyang Lou (Western style mansions) of the Old Summer Palace, which included a water clock fountain consisting of 12 bronze Chinese zodiac statues. Supposedly designed by Giuseppe Castiglione for the Qianlong Emperor, the statues would spout water to tell the time.

The bronze-cast heads of the stone statues were among the treasures looted during the destruction of the Old Summer Palace by British and French expeditionary forces in 1860 during the Second Opium War. Since then, they have been among the most visible examples of attempts to repatriate Chinese art and cultural artifacts.