Talk about the bitter history of Yuanmingyuan

1856 10, with the support and cooperation of Russia and the United States, Britain and France jointly launched a new war of aggression against China-the Second Opium War. 1860, 10 On June 6, the British and French allied forces bypassed the northeast suburb of Beijing and went straight to Yuanmingyuan. At that time, Sang Linqin and his remnants resisted in the north of the city for a while and then fled. The French army went ahead and passed Haidian in the afternoon. On the evening of1October 6, 1860, 10, the invading army broke into the gate of Yuanmingyuan Grand Palace. At this time, at the entrance and exit of Xianliangmen, more than 20 skilled eunuchs in Yuanmingyuan waged a life-and-death struggle with the enemy, "from ruin", but in the end, because they were outnumbered, Ren Liang, the "eight-product leader" of Yuanmingyuan, and others died heroically. At 7 pm, the French invaders captured the Yuanmingyuan. Wenfeng, Minister of Landscape Management, died in Fuhai. Chang Jin, who lives in the garden, was scared to death. From the next day, the officers and men began to rob and destroy crazily. In order to force the Qing government to accept peace conditions as soon as possible, the British and French allied forces looted for two days and then broke into the city.

1860 10 10 On October 7th, after the leaders of British and French aggression against China invaded Yuanmingyuan, they immediately "sent three British and French committees to discuss and distribute the treasures in the garden." On the same day, French Army Commander Montaubon wrote to the French Foreign Minister: "I ordered French members to pay attention to the most valuable objects in art and archaeology first. This trip will be dedicated by you to His Majesty the Emperor (Charles Louis Napolé on Bonaparte), which is extremely rare in France and will be hidden in the French Museum. " British commander Grant immediately "sent officers to collect things that should belong to the British." The day after the British and French invaders entered the park, they could no longer resist the temptation of things. The officers and men rushed forward in droves to snatch the treasures of gold and silver and cultural and artistic treasures in the park.

There are too many things to rob in Yuanmingyuan. According to a British witness, the whole French camp was filled with many colorful clocks and watches, and around the soldiers' tents, silks and satins and embroidery were everywhere. A British private named Hollis was nicknamed "China Zhan Mu" because he plundered and got rich and enjoyed life in Yuanmingyuan.

How many treasures did the British and French invaders take from Yuanmingyuan? Because of the furnishings in the garden.

And its account was robbed and destroyed, so it will never be clear. The following information may give you a glimpse of the leopard. According to the historical records of the Qing Dynasty, only 4,465,438 European clocks and watches were exhibited and stored in Yuanmingyuan at that time, and only one big clock was spared. Afterwards, some lost objects robbed by bandits and abandoned by the invading army reached 1 197, which was at best one thousandth of the objects in the park. According to a newsletter of The Times at that time, "it is estimated that the total value of looted and destroyed property is over 6 million pounds". In fact, a large part of the goods robbed and destroyed by the British and French invaders are priceless. This heinous crime of destroying human culture is really outrageous!

According to British and French officers, priests and journalists who witnessed the robbery:

British and French officers and men rushed into Yuanmingyuan from all directions in order to grab the treasure. They are addicted to taking whatever they want. They are in a hurry. They beat each other and even fought for the treasure. Because there are so many treasures in the garden, they don't know what to take at the moment. Some moved cloisonne porcelain bottles, some coveted embroidered robes, some chose high-grade leather clothes, and some got wall clocks inlaid with pearls and jade. Some carry big bags, which are full of all kinds of treasures. Some people put gold bars and leaves in the big pockets of their coats; Some are wrapped in brocade; Some hats are filled with rubies, sapphires, pearls and crystals. Some people wear jade collars around their necks. There is a mountain of high-grade silks and satins in one wing, which is said to be enough for half of Beijing residents, and all of them are carried away by soldiers in carts. -A British officer snatched a golden Buddha from a temple with 500 Buddha statues, worth 1200. A French officer robbed property worth 600,000 francs. The treasure plundered by the son of Montaubon, commander-in-chief of the French army, was worth 300 thousand francs and filled several carriages. A British private named Hollis once stole two golden Buddha pagodas (all three stories, one 7 feet high and the other 6.4 feet high) and a lot of other treasures from the garden, and found seven strong men to carry them back to the barracks for him. In addition to robbery, the invaders destroyed countless things. Several rooms were full of silks and satins, and clothes were dragged out of the box and thrown all over the floor. People can almost cover their knees when they walk into the room. The engineer with a big axe smashed all the furniture and took the jewels from it. Some people break big mirrors, others shoot candlesticks for fun. Most French soldiers waved sticks and smashed everything they couldn't take with them.

18601On October 9, when the French army temporarily evacuated the Yuanmingyuan, this beautiful garden was devastated.

On June1860 65438+1October1day, the British army sent 1200 cavalry and an infantry regiment to rob Yuanmingyuan again. James Bruce, the British plenipotentiary, took Parkes and others as an excuse to put the burning of Yuanmingyuan on the agenda as a prerequisite. Lieutenant General Mitchell was ordered to lead more than 3,500 invading troops into Yuanmingyuan and set it on fire on October/October/October/August, 2008. The fire lasted for three days and nights.

Just as the Qing government bowed to the invaders and promised to accept all the conditions of "negotiation and peace", on the other day, when signing the contract, Elgin and Grant, the leaders of the British invasion of China, made the Qing government "shocked" in order to impress them with their invasion of China, and even brazenly ordered the burning of Yuanmingyuan under the pretext that the Qing government arrested ministers and abused prisoners of war.

1860 65438+1October18,3500 British troops rushed into Yuanmingyuan and set fire to it. The fire lasted for three days and nights, and thick smoke hung over Beijing for a long time. This unique garden masterpiece was burned together. Afterwards, according to the official investigation of the Qing Dynasty, there were only 20 or 30 temples, pavilions, temples, official doors, value rooms and other buildings in the huge Yuanming Three Gardens, but many doors and windows were uneven, and the indoor furnishings and several cases were looted. Since then, some buildings of Qingyi Garden in Wanshou Mountain, Jingyi Garden in Xiangshan Mountain and Jingming Garden in Yuquan Mountain have also been burned down. Yuanmingyuan and its nearby Qingyi Garden, Jingming Garden, Jingyi Garden, Changchun Garden and Haidian Town were all burned into ruins. When the British invaders burned down Anyou Palace, the eunuch in charge locked the gate of Anyou Palace because of their sudden arrival. Therefore, there are 300 eunuchs, ladies-in-waiting and craftsmen who were burned alive in Anyou Palace. Become atrocities in the history of world civilization. When Yuanmingyuan fell into a sea of fire, Erjin proudly declared: "This move will shake China and Europe, and its effect far exceeds the imagination of people thousands of miles away." . The main emissary of the fire regarded this behavior as a great achievement, and upright people all over the world were angered by this barbaric crime. Hugo wrote in 186 1: "One day, two robbers broke into Yuanmingyuan, one robbed and the other set fire. It seems that after winning, you can start stealing ... two winners, one full of pockets, and the other full of boxes and baskets. They returned to Europe arm in arm with a smile. " "The two robbers who will be punished by history are France and Britain." This passage represents the voice of millions of upright people.

Burning Yuanmingyuan is a common saying. In fact, the real concept of burning Yuanmingyuan is not just burning Yuanmingyuan, but burning the royal three mountains and five gardens in the west of Beijing. The burning area is much larger than that of Yuanmingyuan. These three mountains and five gardens are: Wanshou Mountain, Yuquan Mountain, Xiangshan Mountain, Qingyi Garden, Yuanmingyuan Garden, Changchun Garden, Jingming Garden and Jingyi Garden.

When the British and French allied forces burned the Yuanmingyuan, it was intended to raze it to the ground. However, due to the large area of Yuanmingyuan, scattered scenic spots and vast waters, some remote places and scenic spots in the water survived. According to the winter survey in the 12th year of Tongzhi (1873), there are still 13 buildings in the park. For example, Penglai Yaotai in Yuanmingyuan, Wuling Chunse, Zangzhouwu, Dagongmen and Zhengjue Temple in Wanchun Garden.

When Yuanmingyuan was still burning, Prince Yixin, who was ordered to stay in Beijing, agreed to all the conditions of the invaders. Soon, the Tianjin Treaty text was exchanged with Britain, France and Russia, and the Beijing Treaty was signed.

Complete destruction

When the officers and men of the British and French allied forces came to rob in droves and devoured the treasures such as gold, silver, culture and art in the garden like wolves, countless bandits took part in the robbery. Take everything that can be taken away, and pull the car or animals that can't be taken away. Destroy it if you can't take it away! Those inhuman British and French allied forces chose the most precious thing to rob.

During the Tongzhi period (1862- 1875), the Tongzhi emperor prepared to repair it.

Ruins of Acropolis in Summer Palace

Yuanmingyuan, for Empress Dowager Cixi to live in. Trying to choose rebuild. At that time, it was planned to restore more than 20 temples, mainly in Qian Chao District, Houhu District, West District and North District of Yuanmingyuan, as well as Gongmen District of Wanchun Garden and Xiaqing Hall at the entrance of Fuchun Hall. However, less than 10 months after the project started, it was forced to stop work for maintenance due to the exhaustion of funds. Since then, although Empress Dowager Cixi built the Summer Palace, she did not completely give up the restoration of Yuanmingyuan.

Eight-Nation Alliance 1900 invaded Beijing, and the royal gardens in the western suburbs were robbed again.

In addition, some cultural relics of Yuanmingyuan were placed in public places, such as the bronze unicorn at the entrance of Changchun Garden, the pen stone in Anyou Palace and the bright stone tablet in Shui Mu. These cultural relics were moved from 19 10 to 1937 in the Summer Palace. The Hua Biao of Anyou Palace, Lin Shiqi, Xingfa Bridge of Xiyanglou, Fan Weishiyu, Shi Mei Monument, Yanhua Monument and Wenyuan Pavilion Monument were moved to the old libraries in yenching university and Beijing respectively. Precious Taihu stones such as Lanting Monument and utpala were moved to Zhongshan Park on 19 15; The stone lion in the east gate of Changchun Garden and its pedestal moved to Zhengyangmen and xinhua gate. The white marble and bricks at the site of Xiyanglou were also transported away by warlords and bureaucrats, or bought by various stone workshops and carved into other stones on the spot. 1928, the stone of Dashuifa site was demolished to build a memorial for the soldiers killed in Suiyuan. During the Japanese occupation period, some sites in the park were filled with lakes by Pingshan under the slogan of "rewarding agriculture" and changed into paddy fields.

After the collapse of the Beiyang government, the Beiping Special Government took over this place and agreed to sell the residual bricks and stones in the park at different prices. During the Cultural Revolution, Yuanmingyuan continued to be destroyed. After ten years of turmoil, this famous site was in ruins.