Why is it not only a national shame, but also a personal shame that the British and French allied forces burned Yuanmingyuan?

Yuanmingyuan is said to be the "shame" of the people, and every crisis will bring up the past. However, many people were asked what reason or excuse the British and French Coalition forces used to burn the Yuanmingyuan, but not many people could answer. People take it for granted that the essence of blood and fire of imperialism's external expansion determines the barbarism wherever it goes. However, it is hard to imagine how Britain and France can create unprecedented material civilization and prosperity when their moral standards only stay above the level of burning, killing and looting; If they really set fire to Beijing just like the barbarians who burned Rome in those years, it is hard to imagine that there will be almost countless thinkers among them, which will profoundly affect the development of the whole human society.

The reason why the British and French allied forces burned Yuanmingyuan in those years was carefully covered up, and it seems that there is something really hidden. Ten years ago, there was a very popular movie called Burning Yuanmingyuan, in which the British inexplicably burned Yuanmingyuan. In fact, the excuse of the British and French allied forces burning Yuanmingyuan can be publicly exposed, and the so-called reasons they used to cover up the crime should be resolutely refuted. However, in China's historical works, he kept it a secret and only mentioned it in a few words at most, as if afraid of revealing any state secrets. How can people express so many feelings when they know little about what happened?

For the emperor Xianfeng at that time, burning Yuanmingyuan was a personal shame. He was born and raised in Sri Lanka and has always regarded it as a sacred place like the Forbidden City. When he heard the bad news that Yuanmingyuan was burned down, he vomited blood on the spot, relapsed his old illness and died in Jehol in less than a year. However, for the people of China at that time, the feeling of the emperor seemed a little far away from them. They run for a living every day, hoping for a stable day. People who live under an authoritarian totalitarian system have no dignity at all. They live in humiliation every day, and they have long felt no humiliation, let alone understand and sympathize with the humiliation suffered by the emperor.

The humiliation of the emperor was later described as the humiliation of the people, and Yuanmingyuan became a symbol of the humiliation of the people and the country. This is a big joke. What is the relationship between the emperor's experience and the people of China, and what is the relationship between western ministers kowtowing to the emperor and the people of China? The emperor did not hesitate to fight for what he thought was humiliation, but at the expense of national interests and people's lives. In addition to making him suffer greater humiliation, China lost 6.5438+0.5 million square kilometers of territory in this war, which is the price that China paid to Russia for "controlling foreigners with one hand". Such a painful loss can never be made up. In the modern history of China, it was the most expensive and boring war.