The destruction of the Yuanmingyuan

The destruction of the Yuanmingyuan is an incalculable loss in the cultural history of the motherland, as well as in the cultural history of the world!

The Yuanmingyuan, in the northwestern suburbs of Beijing, is a world-famous royal garden. It consists of Yuanmingyuan, Wanchunyuan and Changchunyuan, so it is also called the Yuanming Three Gardens. In addition, there are many small gardens, distributed in the east, west and south of the Yuanmingyuan, and surrounded by stars like a moon.

Yuanmingyuan, there are brilliant halls, there are exquisite pavilions; there is a symbol of the bustling market "Street", there is a symbol of the rural landscape of the countryside and the village. Many of the scenes in the garden are modeled after famous places around the world. For example, the Pinghu Lake Autumn Moon and Leifeng Sunset in Hangzhou West Lake, the Anlan Garden in Haining, and the Lion Grove in Suzhou. There are also many scenes built according to the poems of ancient poets. For example, Penglai Yao Tai and Wuling Spring Colors. There are not only ethnic buildings in the garden, but also Western landscapes. Strolling in the garden, it is like roaming in the south and north of the sky, enjoying the Chinese and foreign scenic spots; lingering in the middle of it, as if in the realm of fantasy.

The Yuanmingyuan is not only a magnificent building, but also a collection of the most precious historical relics. From the pre-Qin era of bronze rituals, down to the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties of celebrities, paintings and calligraphy, a variety of exotic treasures. Therefore, it was also the largest museum and art gallery in the world at that time.

On October 6, 1860, the British and French allied forces invaded Beijing and broke into the Yuanmingyuan. They took the garden wherever they can take things, all looted, can not take, with a big car or livestock. Can not be transported, will be arbitrarily destroyed, destroyed. In order to destroy the evidence, October 18 and 19, more than three thousand invading troops were ordered to set fire to the garden. The fire burned for three days in a row, the smoke cloud shrouded the entire city of Beijing. China's this gem of garden art, the essence of the art of architecture, was thus reduced to ashes.

The Yuanmingyuan was devastated by the British and French forces in 1860, but many architectural monuments remain throughout the park. At least in 1870, some of the Western buildings were still intact, and there was a halfway large-scale restoration of the Chinese buildings in the park during the Tongzhi period. So who completely destroyed it?

Fire robbery: allied forces, bandits and sieve bandits

When the Anglo-French allied forces ransacked the Yuanmingyuan frantically, there were countless bandits involved in the looting. The British and French forces chose the most valuable things to loot, the bandits plundered the remaining essence, and the people picked up the bits and pieces that were abandoned on the road, and even the eunuchs who guarded the garden took advantage of the fire to loot. Easily accessible valuable items were soon searched clean, some people and hope in the scattered, buried in the dust of the fine treasures, they manipulated the broom and dustpan, in the garden on the road flying sand and dust, guarding the garden eunuchs officers and soldiers will be known as "sieve soil thieves", there is a proverb: "sieve soil, sieve soil, a lifetime without suffering", "sieve soil, sieve soil, a lifetime without suffering". A lifetime without suffering", but fortunately this time has not hurt the building.

Wood robbery: Yuanmingyuan into a charcoal factory

In 1900, the Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded Beijing, the western suburbs of the garden was looted again. This time, the Qing government has completely lost control of the Yuanmingyuan, looting people are no longer satisfied with robbing the foreigners robbed the remaining wealth, they will be robbed by fire in the garden of the remaining scattered buildings, wooden bridges, columns, piles sawed off, with a large rope pulled down, the garden of the size of the trees were also indiscriminately cut down to the ground. At that time, the town of Qinghe piles of wood, busy trading, while the garden is a charcoal factory, tree branches, roots are all burned into charcoal.

Stone robbery: selling stones can get rich

Republic of China in the early days of the warlords, like the turnover of the Yuanmingyuan as an inexhaustible field of building materials, Puyi period of the archives left a lot of helpless records: "military escort daily more than 10 cars pulling the park in the Taihu Lake stone." In fact, the demolition and sale of the situation is far more serious than recorded in the archives. Xu Shichang demolished the Yuanmingyuan belonging to the Ming Chunyuan and mirror spring garden of wood, Wang Huaiqing demolition of the garden in the Anyou Palace wall and the Western building stone. From then on, the ruins of the Yuanmingyuan can be used as building materials, from the ground to square bricks, roof tiles, wall bricks, stone, and underground wood pegs, wooden piles, copper pipes, etc. were searched clean, off and on for more than 20 years! Later people called this for the Yuanmingyuan fire robbery after the "stone robbery".

Earth robbery: in the Royal Garden open rice

So far, the Yuanmingyuan has been over the fire robbery, wood robbery and stone robbery, building, wood, masonry are gone, its tragic fate is over? Not yet! It has to go through the last, more thorough "earth robbery". The end of the Xuantong, the local Banner people have been in the garden on the site of the old palace to build houses, the former Royal Garden wheat ridge looking at each other. 1940 after the Japanese occupation period, Beijing food tension, so rewarded the opening of the land. From this time onwards, farmers one after another into the garden to fill in the lake, open rice paddies. Yuanmingyuan this in the early Qing dynasty after more than 150 years of painstakingly managed the victory of the lake and mountains, then face completely different.