Nothing short!
"Old Summer Palace" was named by Emperor Kangxi. The three-character plaque written by Emperor Kangxi hangs above the lintel of the Yuanmingyuan Palace. Emperor Yongzheng had an explanation for this "Yuan Ming". He said that the meaning of the word "Yuan Ming" is: "Round and immersive, a gentleman is in the middle of the hour; bright and universal, it is the wisdom of a person." It means, " "Yuan" refers to the ideal standard of personal conduct and class to advertise a wise king and a virtuous minister. In addition, "Yuanming" is the Buddhist name that Emperor Yongzheng has been using since his princely period. Emperor Yongzheng believed in Buddhism and was known as "Yuanming layman" and had in-depth research on Buddhism. He is the author of 19 volumes of "Yu Selection Quotations" and "Yu Zhi Demon Selection and Differentiation Records". In the structure of Buddhist sects in the early Qing Dynasty, Emperor Yongzheng regarded himself as the master of Zen and exerted influence on Buddhism as the "Lord of the World". He worked hard to advocate the "unity of three religions" and "the unification of Zen purity". This was the first step in the history of the development of Buddhism. Very important person. When Emperor Kangxi gave the garden to Yinzhen (later Emperor Yongzheng), he named the garden "Yuanmingyuan", which was taken from Yongzheng's royal name "Yuanming".
Historical development
The Royal Garden District in the northwest of Beijing
The Old Summer Palace is one of the famous royal gardens in the Qing Dynasty. The Three Yuanming Gardens cover an area of ??more than 5,200 acres and have more than 150 scenes. The Old Summer Palace was originally a garden given by Emperor Kangxi to his fourth son, Yinzhen (later Emperor Yongzheng). In the forty-sixth year of Kangxi's reign (AD 1707), the garden had begun to take shape. In November of the same year, Emperor Kangxi visited the Old Summer Palace in person. After Emperor Yongzheng ascended the throne in 1723, he expanded the original garden and built the Zhengda Guangming Hall and Qinzheng Hall in the south of the garden, as well as various duty rooms for the Cabinet, the Sixth Ministry, and the Military Aircraft Department, so that the emperor could "avoid the noise and listen to politics." During the 60 years of Emperor Qianlong's reign, he spent tens of millions of dollars constructing and constructing the Old Summer Palace every day, dredging water and moving rocks. In addition to partial additions and renovations to the Old Summer Palace, he also built a new Changchun Garden in the immediate east and merged it into Qichun Garden in the southeast. By the 35th year of Qianlong's reign, that is, 1770, the layout of the Three Yuanming Gardens had basically taken shape. During the Jiaqing Dynasty, Qichun Garden was mainly repaired and expanded, making it one of the main garden residence places. During the Daoguang Dynasty, the state affairs were declining and financial resources were insufficient. However, they would rather remove the furnishings of the "Three Mountains" of Wanshou, Xiangshan and Yuquan, and stop summer vacations in Rehe and Mulan hunting, but still did not give up the reconstruction and decoration of the Three Yuanming Gardens.
Encountered a catastrophe
Historical background Guide map of the Old Summer Palace
After the British and French forces captured Beijing in the 10th year of Xianfeng in the Qing Dynasty (1860), they occupied the Old Summer Palace on October 6. The Chinese defenders were outnumbered. Wen Feng, the minister in charge of the Old Summer Palace, committed suicide by throwing himself into Fuhai. Concubine Chang who lived in the garden was frightened and died. After two days of looting, the British and French troops marched into the city. On October 11, the British army sent more than 1,200 cavalry and an infantry regiment to sack the Old Summer Palace again. The British Plenipotentiary James Bruce used the Qing government's imprisonment of Park Lane and others in the Old Summer Palace as an excuse to include the burning of the Old Summer Palace as a prerequisite for peace talks. condition. On October 18, 3,500 British troops rushed into the Old Summer Palace and set it on fire. The fire lasted for three days. The Old Summer Palace and the nearby Qingyi Garden, Jingming Garden, Jingyi Garden, Changchun Garden and Haidian Town were all burned to ashes. In the ruins of Anyou Palace, nearly 300 eunuchs, maids, and craftsmen perished in the flames. It became a rare atrocity in the history of world civilization. Burning the Old Summer Palace is a commonly used expression. In fact, the real concept of burning the Old Summer Palace is not only burning the Old Summer Palace, but burning the three royal mountains and five gardens in the west of Beijing. The area burned was much larger than that of the Old Summer Palace. The three mountains and five gardens are: Wanshou Mountain, Yuquan Mountain, and Xiangshan Mountain, and the five gardens are Qingyi Garden, Old Summer Palace, Changchun Garden, Jingming Garden, and Jingyi Garden. In history, invading troops burned down the Old Summer Palace twice. The first time the Old Summer Palace was burned down was in 1860, the tenth year of Xianfeng’s reign in the Qing Dynasty (1860), when the British and French forces invaded Beijing. The British and French allied forces burned, looted, looted and burned the world-famous Old Summer Palace everywhere. Most of the temple buildings in the garden were also destroyed by fire. When the British and French allied forces burned the Old Summer Palace, their original intention was to raze it to the ground. However, due to the large area of ??the Old Summer Palace, scattered scenic spots, and vast waters, some remote places and scenic spots in the water were spared. According to the winter survey in the twelfth year of Tongzhi (1873), there are still 13 buildings in the park. For example, Pengdao Yaotai and Zangzhouwu in Yuanmingyuan, Dagongmen and Zhengjue Temple in Qichun Garden, etc. The second time the Old Summer Palace was burned was in the 26th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty (1900). The Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded Beijing and set fire to the Old Summer Palace again. The 13 remaining royal palace buildings here were looted and burned again. In literary works, the sin of burning the Old Summer Palace seems to be attributed to the Empress Dowager Cixi's incompetence in listening to politics behind the curtain.
It sounds like it makes some sense, but it's not exact. Countless facts in history show that a poor, backward, and weak country and nation can only be oppressed, exploited, insulted, and plundered. The history of burning the Old Summer Palace once again proves that if a country is poor, backward and weak, it will be beaten. Now, the Old Summer Palace has been turned into a heritage park, and protective maintenance is being carried out on the ruins. The mountain-shaped water system, garden vegetation, bridges, culverts and gates will be restored, and some ancient buildings will also be renovated. Robbery of the Old Summer Palace On October 6, 1860, the British and French allied forces passed through the northeastern suburbs of Beijing and attacked the Old Summer Palace. At that time, the remnants of Seng Gelinqin and Ruilin made some resistance in the north of the city and then fled. The French army went first and passed through Haidian that afternoon. On the evening of October 6, the invading army broke into the Grand Palace Gate of the Old Summer Palace. At this time, more than 20 Yuanmingyuan Jiyong eunuchs entered and exited the Xianliang Gate to engage with the enemy. They "were not afraid of danger and moved forward with all their strength." However, they were ultimately outnumbered. Ren Liang, the "eighth rank leader" of Yuanmingyuan Jiyong, and others Died in the line of duty. At 7 p.m., the French invading army captured the Old Summer Palace. Wen Feng, the minister in charge of the garden, threw himself into Fuhai and died. On October 7, after the British and French invaders broke into the Old Summer Palace, they immediately "sent three British and French commissioners to discuss the distribution of the treasures in the garden." French commander Montauban wrote to the French Minister of Foreign Affairs that day: "The French commissioners are ordered to pay attention. , first of all, take the most valuable items in art and archeology, and donate them to His Majesty the Emperor (Napoleon III), which is extremely rare in France, and hide them in the French Museum. "The British Commander Grant also immediately sent officers to collect them." Items that should belong to the British." On the second day after the French and British invaders entered the park, they could no longer resist the temptation of the items. Officers and soldiers rushed forward in groups to rob the gold, silver, treasures and culture in the park. Art treasure. There are so many things to grab in the Old Summer Palace. According to a British eyewitness, the entire French camp was filled with many extremely ornately decorated clocks and clocks, and silks and embroideries were everywhere around the soldiers' tents. A British second-class military officer named Hellis got the nickname "Chinese James" because he became rich by plundering the Old Summer Palace and enjoyed his life. After the Burning of the Old Summer Palace, Emperor Xianfeng's imperial approval
How many treasures the British and French invaders stole from the Old Summer Palace can never be said because all the furnishings and accounts in the garden were robbed. clear. The following information may provide some insight. Historical data from the Qing Dynasty show that there were only 441 European clocks and watches of various sizes on display and in stock in the Old Summer Palace at that time, and only one large clock survived after the disaster. Afterwards, a total of 1,197 items were confiscated that were stolen by bandits and some of the lost objects that the invading army "abandoned their way", which is only one-thousandth of the items in the park at best. According to a newsletter in The Times at the time: "It is estimated that the total value of the looted and damaged property exceeds 6 million pounds." In fact, a large part of the objects stolen and destroyed by the British and French invading troops were priceless treasures. This heinous crime that destroys human culture is truly heinous! According to the descriptions of British and French officers, priests, and reporters who witnessed the looting scene: Officers and soldiers, British and French, poured into the Old Summer Palace from all directions in order to seize treasures. . In order to snatch the treasure, they beat each other and even had armed fights. Because there were so many treasures in the garden, they didn't know what to take. Some moved the cloisonné porcelain vase, some were greedy for embroidered robes, some chose high-end fur coats, and some went for the wall clock inlaid with pearls and jade. Some carry large bags filled with all kinds of treasures. Some put gold bars and gold leaves into the wide pockets of their coats; some had brocades and satins wrapped around their bodies; some hats were filled with rubies, sapphires, pearls and crystal stones; some had emerald necklaces hanging around their necks. There was a mountain of high-end silk and satin in one wing, which was said to be enough for half of the residents of Beijing. All was transported away by soldiers on carts. A British officer looted a golden Buddha statue worth ￡1,200 from a temple with 500 statues. A French officer robbed property worth 600,000 francs. The treasure plundered by the son of the French commander-in-chief Montauban was worth 300,000 francs and filled several carriages. A second-class commander of the British army named Hellis stole two golden pagodas (both three-story, one 7 feet high and the other 6.4 feet high) and a large number of other treasures from the park in one go. A strong man carried him back to the military camp. . In addition to looting, the invaders also destroyed countless things. Several houses were filled with silk and satin clothing. Clothes had been pulled out of boxes and thrown on the floor. When people walked into the house, they could barely cover their knees. The engineers brought big axes, smashed all the furniture, and took off the gems on it.
Some people amused themselves by breaking large mirrors, while others shot viciously at the menorah. Most of the French soldiers used wooden sticks in their hands to smash everything they could not take away. When the French troops temporarily evacuated the Old Summer Palace on October 9, this beautiful garden had been completely destroyed. The burning of the Old Summer Palace was just when the Qing government bowed its knees to the invaders and agreed to accept all the "peace" conditions.
When the Old Summer Palace Western-style Building Relics of the Water Law (20 photos) was signed at a certain date, Elgin, the leader of the British invasion of China, Grant, in order to leave a "severe" impression on his invasion of China and "shock" the Qing government, used the Qing government to arrest envoys and mistreat prisoners of war, and blatantly ordered the burning of the Old Summer Palace. Elgin wanted to send a message by burning the Old Summer Palace: it was the Chinese emperor and his lackeys, not the Chinese people, who were responsible for atrocities such as arresting ministers and mistreating prisoners. A few days before the retaliation, Elgin ordered the following announcement to be posted throughout Beijing, declaring the purpose of the British and French forces to burn the Old Summer Palace: "No one - no matter how high his status - commits fraud and atrocities, can escape responsibility and responsibility. Punishment; the Old Summer Palace will be burned down on the 18th (October 1860) as punishment for the Chinese emperor’s betrayal; only the Qing imperial government should be responsible for this, and people who have nothing to do with the atrocities need not worry about being harmed.” (Translated from English) 10 On January 18th and 19th, three to four thousand British troops set fires everywhere in the park. The fires did not go out for three days and nights, and the smoke enveloped the city of Beijing and lingered for a long time. This unique garden masterpiece was burned to the ground. Afterwards, according to investigations by Qing Dynasty officials, only twenty or thirty palaces, pavilions, temples, official gates, duty rooms and other buildings survived in the huge Three Gardens of Yuanming Dynasty. However, many of the doors and windows were uneven, and the indoor furnishings and cases were all missing. All were robbed. Since then, some buildings in Qingyi Garden on Wanshou Mountain, Jingyi Garden on Xiangshan Mountain and Jingming Garden on Yuquan Mountain have also been burned down. According to relevant records, when the British invaders burned down the Anyou Palace on October 18, because they arrived suddenly, the eunuch in charge locked the gate of the Anyou Palace. Therefore, there were about 300 eunuchs, maids, craftsmen, etc. at that time. , was burned alive in Anyou Palace. When the Old Summer Palace was in flames, Elgin proudly declared: "This move will shock China and Europe, and its effect is far beyond what people thousands of miles away can imagine." The perpetrators of the arson regarded this act as a great achievement, but decent people around the world were outraged by this barbaric crime. Hugo wrote in 1861: "One day, two robbers broke into the Old Summer Palace. One looted and the other set fire to it. It seems that after winning, they can start stealing... Two victors, one stuffed his pocket, this Visibly, the other one filled the suitcase. They returned to Europe holding hands and smiling. "The two robbers who will be punished by history are called France and the other is England." Represents the voice of millions of upright people. When the Old Summer Palace was still burning, Prince Gong Yixin, who was ordered to stay in Beijing, promised all the conditions of the invaders. Soon after, the texts of the "Tianjin Treaty" were exchanged with Britain, France, and Russia, and the "Beijing Treaty" was signed.
The process of decline
When the British and French forces frantically looted the Old Summer Palace, countless bandits participated in the robbery. Take away everything that can be taken away, use carts or animals to pull anything that cannot be taken away, and destroy it at will if you can't take it away! The inhumane British and French allied forces chose the most valuable things to rob, the bandits plundered the remaining essence, and the common people picked up the odds and ends abandoned on the road. Even the eunuchs guarding the garden took advantage of the situation. The easily obtained valuable items were quickly collected, and some people placed their hopes on the tiny treasures scattered and buried in the dust. They picked up brooms and dustpans and blew sand and dust on the roads in the garden. The eunuchs and soldiers guarding the garden They are called "sifting soil thieves", and there is a proverb: "Sift the soil, sift the soil, and you will not suffer in your life." The ruins of the Acropolis of the Old Summer Palace
In 1900, the Eight-Power Allied Forces [the eight bandits and robbers were: Britain, France, Prussia (Germany), Tsarist Russia, the United States, Japan, Italy, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire (today's Austria and Hungary) After occupying Beijing, the gardens in the western suburbs were plundered again. This time, the Qing government had completely lost control of the Old Summer Palace. The looters were no longer content with robbing the remaining wealth of the foreigners. They sawed off the scattered buildings, pillars and piles of the wooden bridges in the garden that had been destroyed by the fire. , pulled down with big ropes, and all the trees in the garden were cut down. At that time, timber piled up like mountains in Qinghe Town, and the trade was busy. There were many charcoal factories in the park, and all the branches and roots were burned into charcoal.
In addition, some relics of the Old Summer Palace were placed in public places, such as the bronze unicorn at the Changchun Garden Gate, the Danbi Stone at the Anyou Palace, and the Shuimu Mingse Stele, which were moved to the Summer Palace from 1910 to 1937; The Qilin, Xiyanglouxianfaqiao and Stone Fish, Plum Stone Stele, Shihua Stele and Wenyuan Pavilion Stele were moved to the old buildings of Yenching University and Beijing Library respectively; precious Taihu stones such as Lanting Stele and "Green Lotus" were It was moved to Zhongshan Park in 1915; the stone lions and pedestal of the Dadong Gate of Changchun Garden were moved to Zhengyang Gate and Xinhua Gate. Most of the white marble and bricks from the Xiyanglou site were carted away by warlords and bureaucrats, or bought by various stone workshops, and then carved into other stones on the spot. In 1928, stones from the Dashuifa site were removed to build a monument to the fallen soldiers in Suiyuan. During the Japanese occupation, some sites in the park were filled with mountains and lakes and turned into paddy fields under the slogan of "rewarding agriculture". In the early years of the Republic of China, the warlords who changed like a revolving lantern all used the Old Summer Palace as an inexhaustible supply of building materials. The archives of the Puyi period left many helpless records: "The soldiers escorted more than 10 carts of Taihu stones in the garden every day. "In fact, the situation of demolition and sale is much more serious than what was recorded in the case of the bird cage site of the Xiyang Building in Changchun Garden
. Xu Shichang demolished the timber belonging to the Mingchun Garden and Jingchun Garden of the Old Summer Palace, and Wang Huaiqing demolished the large walls of the Anyou Palace and the stones of the Western-style building in the garden. From then on, everything that could be used as building materials in the ruins of the Old Summer Palace, from the square bricks on the ground, roof tiles, wall bricks, stone strips, to the underground wooden nails, wooden piles, copper pipes, etc., were collected, and the process was carried out intermittently for more than 20 years. ! At this point, the buildings, trees, bricks and stones of the Old Summer Palace have all disappeared. In the last years of Xuantong, local bannermen had built houses on the site of the palace in the garden, facing the former royal garden with wheat rows. During the Japanese occupation after 1940, Beijing was short of food, so it rewarded land reclamation. From then on, farmers gradually entered the park to fill the mountains and lakes, and opened fields to grow rice. The Old Summer Palace, a scenic spot of lakes and mountains that took more than 150 years of hard work during the heyday of the early Qing Dynasty, has changed beyond recognition.
Relic protection and renovation
After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the People's Government attached great importance to the protection of the Old Summer Palace site and the protection of key cultural relics
It has been listed as park land and a key cultural relic protection unit, the dry land in the park has been expropriated, and large-scale tree planting and greening has been carried out. During the ten years of turmoil, although the site suffered some damage, it was preserved after all: the entire water system and mountain shape of the Old Summer Palace and the garden pattern of the Garden of Ten Thousand Gardens still exist, and nearly half of the land has become a green belt. Hundreds of thousands of trees have grown into a forest, and most of the building foundations can still be found. Dozens of rockeries and stacked stones can still be seen. The remains of stone carvings at the ruins of the Western-style Building are quite eye-catching. After the Old Summer Palace Management Office was formally established in 1976, significant progress was made in site protection and landscaping. The Western-style Building area was partially cleaned up and tidied up. Garden roads and garden facilities in the entire eastern half of the site were developed from scratch and improved year by year. The number of visitors to the garden to pay their respects has increased significantly. The Yuanmingyuan Garden History Exhibition Hall has been held since November 1979, and one-tenth of them were visited by primary and secondary school students. In 1983, the "Beijing Urban Construction Master Plan" approved by the State Council clearly planned the Old Summer Palace as a heritage park. In the same year, the Beijing Municipal Government allocated special funds to repair the 2,300-meter tiger-skin stone walls on the northeast and south sides of Changchun Garden. With the care and support of the Beijing Municipal and Haidian District Governments, the Old Summer Palace Society and other social sectors, in September 1984, the Old Summer Palace Management Office and the farmers in Haidian Township achieved unity, adopting the form of private assistance, relying on social forces, *** Together with the development and construction of heritage parks. This will take a decisive step forward in the protection and renovation of the site. The first phase of the project was to renovate Fuhai. Ground was broken on December 1, 1984, and it took seven months to store water and release ships. In 1985, Meng Dong continued to renovate the mountain-shaped water system of Qichun Garden, which was completed in early summer of the next year. Both phases of the project focused on digging lakes and filling mountains, building roads, bridges, culverts and garden service facilities, cleaning up ancient building foundations, and carrying out greening and beautification. In two years, 400,000 cubic meters of earthwork have been moved to basically restore the mountainous water system covering 10 hectares to its original appearance, including 55 hectares of water surface. The "Yinghai Fairy Mountain" Pavilion and West Island Courtyard on the East Island of Pengdao Yaotai in Fuhai Center, the New Palace Gate of Qichun Garden, and the European-style maze (Ten Thousand Flowers Array) in the Western Building have all been restored to their original locations. After two years of renovation and improvement, the heritage park began to take shape. On June 29, 1988, it was officially opened to the public for ticket sales. In the past six years, the number of visitors to the park has exceeded 10 million.
The renovation and construction of the Old Summer Palace Ruins Park
The Changchun Garden (15 photos) of the Old Summer Palace mainly carried out six aspects of work; first, continued to improve the greening and beautification of the two scenic spots of Fuhai and Qichun Garden, and garden roads. Bridges, culverts and service facilities. Second, the level of cleaning and sorting of garden ruins has been significantly improved. There are more than ten ruins in these two scenic spots, such as Pengdao Yaotai, Hanxulangjian, Guanlan Hall, Biyoudongtian, Hanqiu Pavilion, Tianxin Shuihuan, Fenglinzhou, etc. The ballast soil has been removed, the stone foundation site has been cleared, and the Linshuitai has been organized. The foundation defines the scope of the site, and the standing stones are engraved with scenes from the heyday for visitors to pay homage to. The third is to select and restore a few scenic spots, such as the Immortal Terrace, Bizi and Haoran Pavilions in Qichun Garden, and the Sifang Pavilion with a special cave in Fuhai. Fourth, the natural stone revetments of rivers and lakes in the eastern half of Qichun Garden were fully repaired, totaling 4,960 meters. Fifth, the western half of the Xiyanglou site was comprehensively cleaned up, 16,000 cubic meters of dirt were removed, and various ancient buildings such as the Harmonious Interesting Building, the Water Storage Building, the Bird Petting House, the Fangguanying, the Wuzhu Pavilion, and the Haiyan Hall were outlined. The foundation site and fountain, and a large number of stone parts such as platform foundations, pillars and walls, were restored. Sixth, starting from December 1992, the mountain-shaped water system of Changchun Garden was comprehensively renovated, and it was basically completed in April 1994. More than 200,000 cubic meters of earthwork was moved, 28 hectares of rivers and lakes were dredged, 9,500 meters of stone revetments were built, and 42 mountain shapes were tidied up, so that the mountain and water systems of the park were basically restored to their original appearance. They also sorted out the garden ruins and waterfront platform foundations of Haiyue Kaijin, Liuxiangzhu, Dequan Pavilion, Jianyuan, Lion Grove and other places; excavated and restored 31 stones inscribed with plaques and poems written by Emperor Qianlong
Yuanmingyuan Landscapes (20 photos); more than 35,400 trees and shrubs of various types are planted, and 10 hectares of lotus roots are planted. At this point, the entire eastern half (200 hectares) of the Three Yuanming Gardens has been initially built into a heritage garden. Today's Yuanmingyuan Ruins Park has green mountains and blue waters, lush trees, fragrant flowers and plants, and attractive scenery. It is rich in heritage features and has the function of a park. It is a good place for patriotism education and mass recreation. After several years of transition through the joint construction of the park by the state and farmers in the park, the conditions for the comprehensive development of the heritage park have gradually matured. In accordance with the requirements of the capital construction master plan, in order to speed up the construction of the heritage park, the requisition procedures for the entire heritage park land were formally processed in two batches in 1990 and 1993, and the farmers in the park who originally relied on the land to make a living were converted into non-agricultural populations. And arrange their labor force to engage in garden construction. This has created new conditions for the comprehensive construction of heritage parks and the protection of cultural relics within the scope of the Three Yuanming Gardens. Fight for restoration.
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Kangxi period
In the forty-eighth year of Kangxi (1709), Emperor Kangxi (i.e. Xuan Ye, the Holy Ancestor of the Qing Dynasty) moved the northwest suburbs of Beijing to A garden one mile north of Changchun Garden was given to the fourth son Yinzhen, and he personally named the garden "Old Summer Palace".
Yongzheng period
In the third year of Yongzheng (1725), Emperor Yongzheng (i.e. Zong Yinzhen of Qing Dynasty) built an additional palace office in the south of Old Summer Palace, covering an area of ??600 square meters from the original The remaining acres expanded to more than 3,000 acres. Since then, the Old Summer Palace has not only been a place for the Qing emperors to rest and visit, but also a place for them to meet with ministers, receive foreign envoys, and handle daily government affairs
Qianlong Period
Emperor Qianlong (namely Hongli, Emperor Gaozong of the Qing Dynasty) After he succeeded to the throne, he adjusted the landscape of the garden, added architectural groups, and built Changchun Garden and Qichun Garden (renamed Wanchun Garden during Tongzhi) in the east and southeast neighbors of Old Summer Palace. These three gardens are all managed by the ministers who manage the Old Summer Palace, and are called the Three Gardens of the Old Summer Palace. .
Xianfeng Period
In August of the 10th year of Xianfeng (1860), the British and French forces invaded Beijing. On October 6, the Old Summer Palace was occupied. From the next day onwards, officers and soldiers went on a rampage of looting and destruction. In order to force the Qing government to accept the peace terms as soon as possible, British Minister Elgin and British Army Commander Grant used the excuse that the Qing government had imprisoned British and French prisoners in the Old Summer Palace, and ordered Lieutenant General Mitchell to lead an invasion force of 3,000 troops on October 18. More than 500 people went straight to the Old Summer Palace and set it on fire. The fire lasted for three days and nights.
After the Tongzhi period
During the Tongzhi period (1862-1875), Emperor Tongzhi prepared to restore the Old Summer Palace for Empress Dowager Cixi to live. Later, due to financial difficulties, it was forced to stop and rebuild other buildings. In 1900, the Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded Beijing and the Old Summer Palace was destroyed again. After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, some warlords, politicians, and bureaucrats stole building materials from the Old Summer Palace, causing further damage to the Old Summer Palace site.
During the Republic of China
After the founding of the Republic of China, the country attached great importance to the protection of the Old Summer Palace ruins. In 1979, the Old Summer Palace site was listed as a key cultural relic protection unit in Beijing by the Old Summer Palace Restoration Map
. After that, the renovation work of the Yuanmingyuan ruins gradually started. It was later turned into the Old Summer Palace Ruins Park.
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Architectural features
The Old Summer Palace is located in the northwest suburbs of Beijing and was built in the Ming Dynasty. In 1709, Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty gave the garden to his fourth son Yinzhen (later Emperor Yongzheng) and named it Yuanmingyuan. After more than 150 years of management by the five emperors Yongzheng, Qianlong, Jiaqing, Daoguang and Xianfeng, they concentrated a large amount of material resources, employed countless skilled craftsmen, and devoted the blood and sweat of millions of working people to carefully build it into a magnificent and beautiful temple. Leaving the palace. The emperor of the Qing Dynasty came here every midsummer to escape the summer heat, listen to politics, and handle military and political affairs, so it was also called the "Summer Palace." The Old Summer Palace stretches for 10 kilometers around and consists of the Old Summer Palace, Qichun Garden and Changchun Garden. The Old Summer Palace is the largest, so it is collectively called the Old Summer Palace (also known as the Three Old Summer Palaces). In addition, there are many subordinate gardens located on the east, west and south sides of the Old Summer Palace, including Jingyi Garden in Xiangshan Mountain, Jingming Garden in Yuquan Mountain, and Qingyi Garden (the later Summer Palace was built on this basis). etc. The total area of ??the whole park is more than 5,000 acres. The Old Summer Palace not only brings together several famous gardens and scenic spots in the south of the Yangtze River, but also creatively transplants Western garden architecture, integrating the culmination of ancient and modern Chinese and foreign gardening arts at that time. There are magnificent palaces, light and exquisite pavilions and pavilions in the garden; there is the "Business Street" symbolizing the lively market, and there is the "Mountain Villa" symbolizing the rural scenery; there are the autumn moon on the flat lake and the sunset on the Lei Feng imitating the West Lake in Hangzhou, and the lions imitating Suzhou. There are also scenic spots in the forest; there are also those built after the poetic and artistic conception of ancient poets and painters, such as Penglai Yaotai, Wuling Spring Color, etc. It can be said that the Old Summer Palace is the crystallization of the wisdom and blood and sweat of the Chinese working people, and is also a model of the Chinese people's architectural art and culture. Not only that, the Old Summer Palace also contains countless priceless treasures of various styles, extremely rare historical classics and rich and precious historical relics, such as calligraphy and painting of the past dynasties, gold and silver jewelry, porcelain of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, etc. It can be called one of the treasure houses of human culture. It can also be said that it is the largest museum in the world. The Old Summer Palace is a large-scale artificially created garden with magnificent scale and beautiful scenery. The flat land is stacked with mountains and waters, the garden buildings are refined, and trees and flowers are widely planted. Intermittent hills, zigzag water surfaces, pavilions, winding corridors, islands, bridges, embankments, etc. divide the vast space into more than a hundred landscape groups of different sizes, surrounded by mountains and rivers. The water surface in the park accounts for about two-fifths of the total area of ??the three gardens. Large, medium and small water surfaces are artificially excavated on the flat land, and are connected in series by looping rivers to form a complete river and lake system. The garden is dotted with 250 large and small earth hills, which are combined with the water system. The water rotates with the mountains, and the mountains are active due to the water, forming a garden space with mountains and water, and layers upon layers. The entire garden is as blurred as the water town in the south of the Yangtze River. Although it is made by people, it seems to be created by the sky. Water-themed features of buildings. Most of the garden landscaping in the Yuanmingyuan is water-themed, because water creates interest. Many of them directly draw on the interest of the famous water features in the south of the Yangtze River. The Back Lake Scenic Area of ??the Old Summer Palace has nine small islands built around the back lake, which are symbols of the "Yu Gong" and "Nine Continents" in the country's territory. Small gardens or landscape groups of the Old Summer Palace are built on each island. They have their own characteristics and also borrow from each other to create scenery. The skylight above and below the north bank is like climbing the Yueyang Tower to have a panoramic view of Dongting Lake. "A hanging rainbow dominates the lake, meandering for a hundred feet, with railings and wings, and a wide pavilion in the middle. The reflection of the pattern, between the lintel sills, overlooking from the sky, a Vast expanse of green." The openness of the west bank resembles that of Yuquan Fish Watching in Hangzhou, commonly known as the Goldfish Pond. "The pond was dug to be a paradise for fish, with thousands of brocade scales surrounding the pond." West of the Yuanmingyuan, Wanfang Anhe, houses were built in the lake, shaped like The swastika is warm in winter and cool in summer. Looking at the other shore, the strange flowers are as delicate as embroidery. Emperor Yongzheng liked to live here. The Shuimu Mingse in the north of the Old Summer Palace uses the Taixi (Xize) water method to introduce water into the room and turn the fan. "Lin Sese, the water is cool, the stream wind is roaring, and the mountain birds are singing." Emperor Qianlong liked to cool off here. Haiyue Kaijin in the West Lake of Changchun Garden has a three-story palace built on a huge round white jade platform, which looks like a mirage from a distance. Penglai Yaotai in the Sea of ??Blessings is based on the mythical Penglai Island, formerly known as Penglai Island. According to legend, Qin Shihuang once sent a man named Xu Fu to lead more than a thousand boys and girls across the sea to find fairy lands and elixirs for him, so as to achieve immortality. Of course, this can only be "Haike people talk about Yingzhou, but Yan Tao's letter is hard to find".
Emperor Yongzheng asked craftsmen to pile rugged boulders into three islands in the East Lake of the Old Summer Palace, symbolizing the legendary Penglai, Yingzhou and Abbot "Three Immortals Mountains". Five. Jade Tower Twelve", and according to the meaning of "Xu Fuhai Zhongqiu", the East Lake was named "Fuhai". There are also more than ten beautiful gardens on the four sides of Fuhai. Fuhai is five to six hundred meters wide from east to west and from north to south. Including the surrounding small waters, it covers an area of ??about 35 hectares, which is equivalent to the water surface of Beihai Park. The water here is wide and the scenery is beautiful. During the Dragon Boat Festival, large-scale dragon boat races are held here. On the night of July 15th, the Qing Emperor watched the river lanterns here. After the ice froze in winter, the emperor took a ride on the ice bed to tour Fuhai. Fuhai is actually the water entertainment center of Yuanmingyuan. The architecture embodies the characteristics of the whole country
Old Summer Palace’s Changchun Garden and Old Summer Palace (16 photos) Another notable feature of the Old Summer Palace is that it is a large number of imitations of many famous gardens and scenic spots from all over the country, especially those in the south of the Yangtze River. Emperor Qianlong Hongli visited Jiangsu and Zhejiang six times in the south, Wutai in the west, Daiyue in the east, and Rehe, Shengjing (ie Shenyang), Panshan and other places many times. Everywhere he went, he would have the accompanying painters copy the famous mountains, rivers, and gardens that he liked, and then build replicas of them in the gardens after he returned to Beijing. According to incomplete statistics, there are no fewer than forty or fifty direct copies of the garden scenery of the Old Summer Palace. The ten scenic spots of West Lake in Hangzhou, including their names, are all replicated in the park without changing their names. As the saying goes: Who knows the beautiful scenery in the south of the Yangtze River, it will move the sky and shrink the earth in your arms.