Yuanmingyuan is located in Haidian District, the western suburb of Beijing, which is adjacent to the Summer Palace. It was built in the 48th year of Kangxi (1709) and consists of Yuanmingyuan, Changchun Garden and Qichun Garden. Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty gave it to his fourth son, Yin Zhen (later Yong Zhengdi), and named it Yuanmingyuan. After more than 50 years' operation by the five emperors Yongzheng, Qianlong, Jiaqing, Daoguang and Xianfeng/kloc-,we have concentrated a lot of material resources, employed countless skilled craftsmen, poured the blood and sweat of millions of working people, and carefully built it into a palace with grand scale and beautiful scenery.
Yuanmingyuan, with its large scale, numerous cultural relics and architectural specifications, has reached the peak of ancient garden art in China. Most of the famous buildings in Yuanmingyuan, the Western Building Complex, were built with western architectural specifications. In the tenth year of Xianfeng (1860), after the British and French allied forces captured Beijing, they occupied Yuanmingyuan. China's defenders were outnumbered, and Wen Fengfu, the chief minister of Yuanmingyuan, threw himself into the sea, and Chang Ai, who lived in the garden, was frightened to death.
With the support of British Prime Minister Pa Max Don, Erkin, the leader of the British army, ordered the Yuanmingyuan to be burned down. 3,500 British and French troops rushed into Yuanmingyuan and set fire to it. The fire did not go out for three days. Yuanmingyuan and its nearby Qingyi Garden, Jingming Garden, Jingyi Garden, Changchun Garden and Haidian Town were all burned into ruins. Nearly 300 eunuchs, maids and craftsmen were buried in the fire in Anyou Palace. Turn this world famous garden into ruins. The fire burned for three days and nights, which became a rare atrocity in the history of world civilization.
According to rough statistics, the number of cultural relics looted in Yuanmingyuan is about1500,000, ranging from bronze ritual vessels in China in the pre-Qin period to famous paintings and calligraphy in the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties and all kinds of rare treasures. There are only architectural sites left, and the Yuanmingyuan Ruins Park has been established.