Yuanmingyuan is a royal garden in the Qing Dynasty, located in the western suburbs of Beijing, formerly known as Yuanmingyuan or Yuanmingyuan, covering an area of 350 hectares. It was one of the royal gardens in Qianlong, Jiaqing and Daoguang periods of Qing Dynasty. However, in the middle of19th century, this beautiful garden was destroyed by Eight-Nation Alliance and was ravaged by war.

From 65438 to 0900, the G8 countries (Britain, France, the United States, Russia, Germany, Japan, Italy and Austria) invaded China to force the China government to accept a series of demands. The coalition forces issued a protest statement to the China government, demanding that China stop supplying weapons to the people who opposed them, demanding that China pay huge compensation, and demanding that China recognize the privileges of western powers in China.

1860,1010.6 On October 6, the British and French allied forces arrived at Deshengmen and Andingmen in Beijing, and the soldiers of Monk Cave and Rui Lin retreated to the Yuanmingyuan area one after another, so the British and French allied forces chased them to the Yuanmingyuan. The officers and men guarding the park were outnumbered and defeated. The French army first launched the robbery, and the British commander Grant approved the British army to enter the park. Allied soldiers plundered the treasures and furniture in the garden.

According to the estimation of British officials afterwards, the value of looted cultural relics (gold, silver, precious stones, silks and satins, antique furnishings, etc. ) has reached as much as 6 million pounds, as well as priceless rare books, pagodas, porcelain, furniture and so on. The soldiers destroyed them because they didn't know their value or were inconvenient to carry.

French writer Hugo once wrote: "One day, two robbers broke into the Yuanmingyuan. One robber robbed wantonly, and another robber set fire to it. As it turns out, "victory" means that the two conquerors of the robbery share the stolen goods equally. One full of bags, the other full of boxes, and then returned to Europe with a smile and arm in arm. This is the experience of two robbers ... these two robbers, one is called France and the other is called England. "

Resume of Yuanmingyuan

Yuanmingyuan, also known as "Yuanming Three Gardens", is a royal garden in the Qing Dynasty. It was built in the middle of18th century, located in Haidian District, Beijing, covering an area of 350 hectares. Yuanmingyuan is divided into three parts: the front mountain, the back mountain and the middle. Among them, the scenery of Houshan is the most spectacular, and it is known as the "Garden of Ten Thousand Gardens". It used to be one of the outstanding representatives of China's culture, art and garden architecture, but it was burned in the Second Opium War in 1860. Now, there are only some relics and hanging landscapes, which have become historical and cultural heritage and tourist attractions.