When it comes to burning the Yuanmingyuan, many people will say that it was 1900 when Eight-Nation Alliance invaded Beijing. In fact, as early as 1860, the British and French allied forces burned the Yuanmingyuan.
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.
1900, Eight-Nation Alliance invaded Beijing, and the gardens in the western suburbs were looted again. This time, the Qing government has completely lost control of Yuanmingyuan. Bandits and local ruffians are not satisfied with robbing foreigners of their surplus wealth. They sawed off the scattered buildings, columns and wooden bridges in the garden after the fire robbery, and pulled them down with big ropes. The trees and trees in the garden were also cut down.
At that time, the timber in Qinghe town was piled up like a mountain, and the trade was busy. There were many charcoal factories in the park, and all the branches and roots were burned into charcoal. [20] All the buildings and ancient and famous trees in Yuanmingyuan were destroyed.
Extended data
Judging from the historical facts at that time, the British and French allied forces burned not only the Yuanmingyuan, but also other gardens in the three mountains and five gardens.
In the tenth year of Xianfeng (1860), on September 2 1 day, the British and French allied forces fought fiercely with the Qing army led by Sengqin and Shengbao in Tongzhou, Beijing for three or four hours. After the defeat of the Qing army, the British and French allied forces also took a few days off.
654381October 3, British and French troops marched into Beijing. When they learned that the main force of the Qing army was deployed in the Yuanmingyuan area, the allies followed closely. 6543810.6, the British and French allied forces outflanked the Sengqin and Ruilin departments stationed in Deshengmen and Andingmen. At 9 o'clock in the evening, the French army was ready to invade Yuanmingyuan, and was desperately resisted by more than 20 eunuchs headed by the general eunuch Ren Liang.
On the morning of October 7th, 65438/KLOC-0, the French army broke into Yuanmingyuan and began to rob it crazily. British soldiers who arrived in the afternoon also joined the robbery, and the most precious things in Yuanmingyuan were looted. At that time, it was recorded in the Biography of Geng Shenyi's Atmosphere that Yuanmingyuan "searched for imperial treasures, books, calligraphy and paintings, and royal clothes."
Elgin, the chief British negotiator, shirked the responsibility of looting Yuanmingyuan to the French army. In Lord Elgin's letters and diaries, he described the tragic scene of the looting of Yuanmingyuan: "It is bad enough to plunder and ravage such a place, but it is even worse to destroy it.
The original property with a total value of/kloc-0.00 million pounds, I dare say that 50,000 pounds is not worth it. French soldiers tried their best to tear up the most beautiful silk, break jade ornaments and porcelain, and so on. "
However, the invaders did not stop there. According to French Pierre Mathieu's From Paris to Baliqiao, Ellison's Translator's Notes and Paru's Journey to China, 10 On the afternoon of June 7th, the British and French allied forces began to set fire to the palace outside the Grand Palace of Yuanmingyuan, and the fire became more and more fierce.
654381October 9, after the British and French allied forces withdrew from Yuanmingyuan, the Qing army put out the fire. The fire burned for three days. 165438+10.8 (September 25th of the lunar calendar), Minister Mingshan and Wang of the Ministry of Interior went to Yuanmingyuan to investigate the situation in detail.
According to the later report "Investigation on Robbery and Burning in and out of Yuanmingyuan by Mingshan", on August 23rd (65438+1October 7th), the British and French allied forces burned down the Qingyan Hall in Jiuzhou of Yuanmingyuan, the Immortal Hall in Changchun, the upper and lower skylight, the high mountains, the paradise and the Dadongmen.
Meanwhile, what about other royal gardens? Xianfeng ten years (65438+1October 65438+June 6) on the third day of September, Bao Yun, Minister of the Interior, said in his book "Bao Yun was robbed and the seal was lost" that on August 23 (65438+1October 7), 200 invading troops broke into Qingyi Garden in Wanshou Mountain.
The next day, the invading army rushed into the Jingming Garden of Yuquan Mountain and looted it. On this memorial, Bao Jigong also said: "Jingyi Garden (that is, Xiangshan), if the barbarians don't go, the furnishings in the temple are still blocked."
It can be seen that after the first invasion of the Three Mountains and Five Gardens by the British and French allied forces, Yuanmingyuan was mainly burned, Qingyi Garden and Jingming Garden were robbed, but they were not burned. Xiangshan Jingyi Garden may be due to the long distance, and the British and French allied forces did not get there.
1860, 10 On June 7th, Elgin, an Englishman, swore to burn the Yuanmingyuan under the pretext that the Qing government abused and killed 18 British and French "expatriates", "as a punishment for the treachery of Emperor China".
10 year 10 month 18 day, binary ordered the Yuanmingyuan to be burned. As a result, 3,500 British troops led by Lieutenant General Mitchell swarmed in, and the Yuanmingyuan suffered a second fire. The fierce fire brought great losses to Yuanmingyuan.
British Infantry Lieutenant Colonel wolseley said in Memoirs of the War against China in 1860 that by the evening of June in 19, only broken walls was left in Yuanmingyuan. More than 300 ladies-in-waiting, eunuchs and craftsmen in Anyou Palace were burned alive, which is really inhuman.
China News Network-When the British and French allied forces burned Yuanmingyuan twice, which other gardens were burned?
Baidu encyclopedia-Yuanmingyuan