18601October 5, British and French troops arrived at the gates of Beijing. According to the information provided by Russian diplomat Ignatiev, the defenders of the Qing Dynasty were concentrated in the East City, and the North City was the weakest place, which should be captured first; I also heard that the Qing emperor of China was in Yuanmingyuan in the northwest suburb. As a result, the British and French allied forces bypassed Andingmen and Deshengmen, invaded Yuanmingyuan, and ransacked Yuanmingyuan, creating a "burning Yuanmingyuan" incident that shocked China and foreign countries.
In order to destroy the criminal evidence, on 10/8 and 19, more than 3,000 invaders were ordered to set fire to the garden. The fire burned for three days, and smoke covered the whole city of Beijing. China, a treasure of garden art and the essence of architectural art, has thus turned into ashes.
The destruction of Yuanmingyuan is an inestimable loss in the cultural history of the motherland and the world!
Extended information Yuanmingyuan, also known as Yuanming Sanyuan, is a large royal palace in the Qing Dynasty. It is located in the northwest suburb of Beijing and adjacent to the Summer Palace. It is composed of Yuanmingyuan, Changchun Garden and Wanchun Garden, so it is also called Yuanming Sanyuan. In addition, there are many small gardens, which are distributed in the east, west and south, surrounded by stars.
The garden covers an area of more than 350 hectares, with a construction area of 200,000 square meters and more than 150 views, and is known as the "Garden of Ten Thousand Gardens". Every summer, the Qing emperor came here to escape the heat, listen to politics and handle military and political affairs, so it was also called "Summer Palace".
Yuanmingyuan was built in 1709 (forty-eight years of Kangxi). It was originally given by Emperor Kangxi to Yin Zhen, the fourth son of the Emperor. 1722 After Yongzheng acceded to the throne, the original Garden was expanded, and the Zhengda Guangming Hall, Qinzheng Hall and many value rooms of the Cabinet, Sixth Department and military department were built in the south of the Garden, in order to "avoid the noise and listen to politics" here in summer. During the reign of Emperor Qianlong, in addition to the partial addition and reconstruction of Yuanmingyuan, Changchun Garden was built in the immediate east and merged into Wanchun Garden in the southeast.
The pattern of Yuanming Three Gardens has basically taken shape. Jiaqing Dynasty mainly renovated and expanded Qichun Garden (Wanchun Garden), making it one of the main gardens. During the reign of Emperor Daoguang, state affairs declined and financial resources were insufficient. However, the furnishings of Wanshou, Xiangshan and Yuquan "Three Mountains" were withdrawn, and the Rehe River was stopped for summer vacation and Mulan hunting, and the reconstruction and decoration of Yuanming Three Gardens were still not given up. 186016 On October, the British and French allied forces looted Yuanmingyuan, looted cultural relics and burned them. When Emperor Tongzhi tried to repair them, he was forced to stop and rebuild other buildings due to financial difficulties. After Eight-Nation Alliance, it was hit by bandits and eventually turned into ruins.
Yuanmingyuan, founded and operated by Qing Shi 150 years ago, was once famous in the world for its grand geographical scale, outstanding construction skills, exquisite architectural scenery, rich cultural collections and profound national cultural connotations, and was hailed as "a model of all gardening arts" and "a model of ideals and art" by French writer Victor Hugo.
Yuanmingyuan covers an area of more than 350 hectares, of which the water surface area is about 140 hectares. The land of Yuanmingyuan is 10,000 square meters more than the Forbidden City in floor-area ratio, and the water area is equal to a Summer Palace, with a total area equal to 8.5 Forbidden Cities.
Yuanmingyuan is surrounded by 10 km, and consists of Yuanmingyuan, Qichun Garden and Changchun Garden, among which Yuanmingyuan is the largest, so it is collectively called Yuanmingyuan (also known as Yuanming Three Gardens). In addition, there are many subordinate gardens located in the east, west and south of Yuanmingyuan, including Jingyi Garden in Xiangshan Mountain, Jingming Garden in Yuquan Mountain, Qingyi Garden (the later Summer Palace was built on this basis), etc., with a total area of more than 5,000 mu.
Yuanmingyuan not only brought together several famous scenic spots in the south of the Yangtze River, but also creatively transplanted western garden buildings, which was a masterpiece of gardening art at that time. There are magnificent palaces and exquisite pavilions in the garden; There are "buying and selling streets" symbolizing busy markets, and mountains and countryside symbolizing pastoral scenery; Some are modeled after the autumn moon in Pinghu and the sunset photos of Leifeng in Hangzhou West Lake, and some are modeled after the scenic spots in Suzhou Lion Forest. There are also poems and paintings modeled after ancient poets and painters, such as Penglai Yaotai and Wuling Spring Scenery.
It can be said that Yuanmingyuan is the crystallization of China people's wisdom and sweat, and it is also a model of China people's architectural art and culture. Moreover, the Yuanmingyuan also contains countless priceless treasures of various styles, extremely rare historical classics and rich and precious historical relics, such as paintings, gold and silver jewelry, Song and Yuan porcelain, etc. It is one of the treasure houses of human culture and the largest museum in the world.
References:
Yuanmingyuan (a famous royal garden in Qing Dynasty)-Baidu Encyclopedia