About the burning of the Old Summer Palace by the British and French forces

Burning the Old Summer Palace

Information (1)

The Old Summer Palace is located in the northwest suburbs of Beijing and was built in the Ming Dynasty. In the forty-eighth year of Kangxi's reign (1709), Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty gave the garden to his fourth son Yinzhen (later Emperor Yongzheng) and named it Yuanmingyuan. After more than 150 years of management by the five emperors Yongzheng, Qianlong, Jiaqing, Daoguang and Xianfeng, they concentrated a large amount of material resources, employed countless skilled craftsmen, and devoted the blood and sweat of millions of working people to carefully build it into a magnificent and beautiful temple. Leaving the palace.

Emperors of the Qing Dynasty came here every midsummer to escape the heat, listen to politics, and handle military and political affairs, so it was also called the "Summer Palace."

The Old Summer Palace stretches for 10 kilometers around and consists of the Old Summer Palace, Wanchun Garden and Changchun Garden. The Old Summer Palace is the largest, so it is collectively called the Old Summer Palace (also known as the Three Old Summer Palaces). In addition, there are many subordinate gardens located on the east, west and south sides of the Old Summer Palace, including Jingyi Garden in Xiangshan Mountain, Jingming Garden in Yuquan Mountain, and Qingyi Garden (the later Summer Palace was built on this basis). etc. The total area of ??the whole park is more than 5,000 acres.

The Old Summer Palace not only brings together several famous gardens in the south of the Yangtze River, but also creatively transplants Western garden architecture, integrating the culmination of ancient and modern Chinese and foreign gardening arts at that time. There are magnificent palaces, light and exquisite pavilions and pavilions in the garden; there is the "Business Street" that symbolizes the bustling market, and there is the "Mountain Villa" that symbolizes the rural scenery; there are the autumn moon on the flat lake and the sunset on the Lei Feng that imitate the West Lake in Hangzhou, and the lions in Suzhou. There are also scenic spots in the forest; there are also those built after the poetic and artistic conception of ancient poets and painters, such as Penglai Yaotai, Wuling Spring Color, etc. It can be said that the Old Summer Palace is the crystallization of the wisdom and blood and sweat of the Chinese working people, and is also a model of the Chinese people's architectural art and culture. Not only that, the Yuanmingyuan also contains countless priceless treasures of various styles, extremely rare historical classics and rich and precious historical relics, such as calligraphy and painting of the past dynasties, gold and silver jewelry, porcelain of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, etc. It can be called one of the treasure houses of human culture. It can also be said that it is the largest museum in the world.

In the mid-19th century, Britain, France and other countries successively completed the industrial revolution. In order to plunder more commodity markets and raw material origins and step up their overseas colonial expansion, they brazenly launched an invasion in 1840 under the pretext of China's anti-smoking campaign. China's Opium Wars. Due to the decadence of China's feudal system and the corruption of the Qing government, China suffered a disastrous defeat in the First Opium War. Western capitalist countries forced the Qing government to sign the first batch of unequal treaties and seized reparations, agreed tariffs, and the opening of five ports from China. Many privileges include trade, consular jurisdiction, and comprehensive most-favored-nation treatment. The British bourgeoisie thought that through these unequal treaties, they could dump a large amount of goods into China. But this is not the case. According to relevant records, British goods imported to China in 1850 were 750,000 pounds less than in 1844. The reasons for this situation are: first, China's self-sufficient natural economy stubbornly resists the invasion of foreign goods; second, there is a contradiction between the British increase in opium trade and the development of legal trade. Since the British and other colonialists imported a large amount of opium to China after the Opium War, China's silver continued to flow out, which offset most of China's revenue from exporting tea and raw silk, making it unable to purchase more British industrial products. This was of course very detrimental to Britain. of. The British bourgeoisie not only wanted to maintain the opium trade that brought it huge benefits, but also wanted to expand the sales of industrial products to China. In this way, it would force the Qing government to open more commercial ports, further control China's customs, and strengthen its control over the Qing government.

In order to further open the door to China, Britain, France, the United States and other Western countries tried to pressure the Qing government to give it new rights of aggression in the name of amending treaties. In May 1853, Britain first made a request to China to amend the relevant provisions of the Treaty of Nanjing. The United States and France also followed suit, but both were rejected by the Qing government. When the negotiations to "revise the treaty" launched by the British, American, French and other colonialists failed to succeed, they became angry and decided to launch a new war of aggression against China to realize their unreasonable demands.

In 1857, the British used the "Arrow" incident and the French used the "Priest Ma incident" to jointly send troops to invade China.

After occupying Guangzhou, they continued to invade Beijing. Emperor Xianfeng Frightened out of fear, he sent his sixth brother, Prince Gong Yi?, as an imperial envoy to stay in Beijing to preside over the peace talks. He took his concubines, princes, princes and a group of ministers and hurriedly fled to the Rehe Palace (today's Chengde Summer Resort in Hebei Province).

On October 5, the British and French forces arrived at the gates of Beijing. According to the information provided by Russian diplomat Ignatiev: the Qing defenders were concentrated in the East City, and the North City was the weakest place and should be captured first; it was also heard that the Chinese Emperor of the Qing Dynasty was in the Old Summer Palace in the northwest suburbs. As a result, the British and French forces bypassed Andingmen and Deshengmen and invaded the Old Summer Palace. On October 6, the British and French forces broke into the Old Summer Palace and immediately robbed it crazily.

"Research on the Destruction of the Old Summer Palace" "When the British troops invaded the north, Gong Weixiang (director) said: 'The essence of the Qing Dynasty is in the Old Summer Palace.' When the capital fell, the British and French troops went straight to the Old Summer Palace." It turns out that this kind of thing is always led by a family dog. What's even more shocking is that this family dog ??is Gong Cheng, the direct son of Gong Zizhen, a famous celebrity. Gong Zizhen, a native of Hangzhou, is an outstanding thinker and writer in modern China.

At that time, Gong Cheng had no choice but to serve as the British Consul's Chronicle. Under the coercion of the British, he walked to the Old Summer Palace. At that moment, he could raise his arms and shout, sternly cursing the evil deeds of the Eight-Power Allied Forces, and then died with a pounding shot at the invaders. Under the gun, then history will greatly exaggerate such things as "tiger father has no dog son" and "loyalty to one family", and his weird behaviors and so-called half-ethics will be interpreted as "personality", challenging feudalism , a fashion pioneer;

But unfortunately, he willingly led the Eight-Nation Allied Forces to the Old Summer Palace, so he became the number one traitor in China, and his outstanding father became a model of unfaithful parenting. Teaching materials, his bizarre behaviors became clear evidence that he would inevitably become a traitor. Alas... what can we say about this man and history?

History records that Gong Cheng became mentally ill in his later years and died of madness. Those who betray their ancestors and their country, even if they claim to be half-hearted, will have their consciences gnawed at them every day, and they will be in constant panic for the rest of their lives, and will eventually go insane.

The French invaders were the first to break into the Old Summer Palace. They robbed everything they saw. Each French soldier put treasures in his pocket worth thirty to forty thousand francs. They come in empty-handed and come back loaded with money. In the French military camp, there are rare clocks, colorful silks and satins, and precious works of art worth up to 30 million francs.

Although the British invaders arrived late, their pockets were filled with gold and silver treasures. What's even more disgusting is that they smashed the large porcelain and enamel bottles that couldn't be moved away.

After the British and French invading forces looted the Old Summer Palace, in order to eliminate traces of the loot and cover up their crimes, British Minister Plenipotentiary Elgin, with the support of British Prime Minister Palmerston, ordered the Old Summer Palace to be burned down. The fire burned for three days and nights, turning this world-famous garden into a piece of scorched earth.

When the British and French allied forces burned the Old Summer Palace, their original intention was to raze it to the ground. However, due to the large area of ??the Old Summer Palace, scattered scenic spots, and vast waters, some remote places and scenic spots in the water were spared. According to the winter survey in the twelfth year of Tongzhi (1873), there are still 13 buildings in the park. For example, Pengdao Yaotai and Zangzhouwu in Yuanmingyuan, Dagongmen and Zhengjue Temple in Qichun Garden, etc.

The second time the Old Summer Palace was burned was in the 26th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty (1900). The Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded Beijing and set fire to the Old Summer Palace again. The 13 remaining royal palace buildings here were looted and burned again.

This catastrophe was just as described and criticized by the famous French writer Hugo: One day, two robbers broke into the summer palace, one robbed and the other set fire to it. They happily returned to Europe, these two robbers, one named France and the other named England. They "shared" the Oriental treasure house of the Old Summer Palace together, and thought they had achieved a great victory!

Information (2)

The tenth year of Xianfeng in the Qing Dynasty (1860) After the British and French forces captured Beijing, they occupied the Old Summer Palace on October 6. The Chinese defenders were outnumbered. Wen Feng, the minister in charge of the Old Summer Palace, committed suicide by throwing himself into Fuhai. Concubine Chang who lived in the garden was frightened and died. After two days of looting, the British and French troops marched into the city. On October 11, the British army sent more than 1,200 cavalry and an infantry regiment to sack the Old Summer Palace again. The British Plenipotentiary James Bruce used the Qing government's imprisonment of Park Lane and others in the Old Summer Palace as an excuse to include the burning of the Old Summer Palace as a prerequisite for peace talks. condition. On October 18, 3,500 British troops rushed into the Old Summer Palace and set it on fire. The fire lasted for three days. The Old Summer Palace and the nearby Qingyi Garden, Jingming Garden, Jingyi Garden, Changchun Garden and Haidian Town were all burned to ashes. In the ruins of Anyou Palace, nearly 300 eunuchs, maids, and craftsmen perished in the flames. It became a rare atrocity in the history of world civilization.

Burning the Old Summer Palace is a commonly used expression among people. In fact, the real concept of burning the Old Summer Palace is not only burning the Old Summer Palace, but burning the three royal mountains and five gardens in the west of Beijing. The area burned was much larger than that of the Old Summer Palace.

The three mountains and five gardens are: Wanshou Mountain, Yuquan Mountain, and Xiangshan Mountain, and the five gardens are Qingyi Garden, Old Summer Palace, Changchun Garden, Jingming Garden, and Jingyi Garden.

In history, invading troops burned down the Old Summer Palace twice. The first time the Old Summer Palace was burned down was in 1860, the tenth year of Xianfeng’s reign in the Qing Dynasty (1860), when the British and French forces invaded Beijing. The British and French allied forces burned, looted, looted and burned the world-famous Old Summer Palace everywhere. Most of the temple buildings in the garden were also destroyed by fire. When the British and French allied forces burned the Old Summer Palace, their original intention was to raze it to the ground. However, due to the large area of ??the Old Summer Palace, scattered scenic spots, and vast waters, some remote places and scenic spots in the water were spared. According to the winter survey in the twelfth year of Tongzhi (1873), there are still 13 buildings in the park. For example, Pengdao Yaotai and Zangzhouwu in Yuanmingyuan, Dagongmen and Zhengjue Temple in Qichun Garden, etc.

The second time the Old Summer Palace was burned was in the 26th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty (1900). The Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded Beijing and set fire to the Old Summer Palace again. The 13 remaining royal palace buildings here were looted and burned again.

In literary works, the sin of burning the Old Summer Palace seems to be attributed to the Empress Dowager Cixi's incompetence in listening to politics behind the curtain. It sounds like it makes some sense, but it's not exact. Countless facts in history show that a poor, backward, and weak country and nation can only be oppressed, exploited, insulted, and plundered.

The history of the burning of the Old Summer Palace once again proves that if a country is poor, backward and weak, it will be beaten----Added: (A poor, backward and profitable country combined with a strong and barbaric country will cause disaster)--- -.

Now, the Old Summer Palace has been turned into a heritage park, and protective maintenance is being carried out on the ruins. The mountain-shaped water system, garden vegetation, bridges, culverts and gates will be restored, and some ancient buildings will also be renovated.