The Second Opium War took place from 1856 to 1860. It was a war of aggression against China jointly launched by Britain and France with the support of Russia and the United States. It was a war in which Britain and France, in order to further open up the Chinese market and expand their invasion interests in China, took advantage of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement in China, and used the Yarrow incident and the Ma Shenfu incident as a pretext to join forces to attack the government of the Qing Dynasty.

The burning of the Yuanmingyuan historically, the Yuanmingyuan was looted twice, the first time for the second Opium War during the Anglo-French allied forces invaded Beijing, the second time for the Eight-Power Allied Forces invasion of China during the war invaded Beijing, in order to eliminate the stolen goods and cover up the crime of once again burning the Yuanmingyuan. So the first time is the second Opium War occurred during the period of October 18, 1860 to October 21; the second time is May 28, 1900 - September 7, 1901.