Yuanmingyuan was photographed clearly before it was destroyed.

Yuanmingyuan was photographed clearly before it was destroyed.

In the face of this devastated ruin, every descendant of the Chinese people will deeply feel that this is a great shame of the Chinese nation, and will be more clearly aware of the historical lesson of "being behind will be beaten." Today's Yuanmingyuan, still standing in the northwest of Beijing, is silent, but people all over China can hear its voice, which is an indelible shame and a thought-provoking memory.

The photos before the destruction of Yuanmingyuan are very clear. The photos before the destruction of Yuanmingyuan are very clear. 1860, 10, 18 On this day, a fire in the western suburbs of Beijing burned for three days and three nights. After 150 years of construction, Yuanmingyuan, the royal garden, was looted and burned, leaving only sad ruins.

Why did the British and French allied forces go straight to Yuanmingyuan to intimidate the Qing government into agreeing to their barbaric and unreasonable demands? Isn't it more direct to attack the palace directly? What these invaders want is to plunder wealth and a government that is obedient and capable. And they are very aware of the significance and role of Yuanmingyuan in the Qing Dynasty.

Yuanmingyuan in full swing.

Yuanmingyuan was the garden when Yongzheng was a prince, but it occupied a small area at that time. Why is it named "Yuanming"? According to Yongzheng's own explanation, it means that there are no shortcomings in life and political governance is perfect. This refers to himself, of course, and this word is his dharma number. With his accession to the throne, Yuanmingyuan began to expand.

Why did Yuanmingyuan have a later scale, covering an area of 35,000 square kilometers? In addition to the emperor's summer vacation and office work, it should actually be a collection of gardens in the world to satisfy the royal family's "possession" mood. There are as many as 150 scenic spots in the park, which is a veritable garden of thousands of gardens.

From the early years of Kangxi to Xianfeng, the construction of Yuanmingyuan never stopped. During the Daoguang period, the national treasury was short of money, and even if all other expenses were stopped, it continued here. This is not a simple garden, nor is it a summer palace dedicated to the emperor. There are countless rare treasures here. Only at 1859, two gangs of robbers came, looted everything and set fire to it.

Photographs bear witness to history.

At that time, photography technology was available. A British soldier took a picture of Yuanmingyuan before the fire. Although it is a black-and-white photo, its grandeur, ingenious design and patchwork of scenic spots still declare its glory in words, but all this is just a static picture in the photo.

This photo appeared at an auction site and reached the players, just like some cultural relics robbed in Yuanmingyuan. People who have seen it exclaim that this is not a human landscape, but a desirable castle in fairy mountain.

In those days, a big fire burned a treasure of China garden buildings, and also burned the evidence of the robbers. At that time, some recorded books were either taken away or burned. According to The Times, the robbery and burning cost only 6 million pounds.

Yuanmingyuan, in the eyes of many people, is a victim of war. If you don't understand its history and connotation, it is no different from other buildings destroyed by war. The Anyou Palace in the park is the royal ancestral temple of the Qing Dynasty, dedicated to the "God Emperor" of Kangxi and Yongzheng, with more than 2,200 Buddha statues. Since Kangxi, the number of Buddha statues in the Acropolis has accumulated over the years, exceeding100000, all made of pure gold and jade. How to estimate their value now? It turns out that every time the animal head on the fountain outside Haiyan Hall is dedicated to a certain occasion, the asking price is more than 9 zeros. This is just a simple estimate of the "value" of Yuanmingyuan from the value of cultural relics. But, can you understand? No one knows the detailed number of cultural relics robbed that year. If you add its architectural value and the cost of design and time, this conclusion should not be a simple arithmetic problem with several zeros behind it.

The country is weak and everything is gone.

The Qing dynasty was not without power, otherwise where did power come from? Only in the later ruling time did I know that the outside world had begun to turn upside down. People hold guns, not thinking about self-improvement, but thinking about spending money to buy peace. How can there be such a cheap deal in the world? For a robber, once he succeeds, he will want more. Hugo also said that these two robbers, one with a full wallet and the other with a full suitcase, will be punished by history.

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Yuanmingyuan will be forever painful. It always reminds one thing with its own history. Only by constantly striving for self-improvement can we protect our country and defend our country. Only when you are strong can you be qualified to look down on everything and defend the beauty of life.

Before the Yuanmingyuan was destroyed, the photos were clear. 20/kloc-in September, 2006, an auction held by Sotheby's was in full swing in Britain.

When a group of photos recording mysterious oriental gardens appeared at the auction site, the beauty of its scenery and the strangeness of its architecture attracted the attention of all countries in the world.

People appreciate magnificent and beautiful photos with unparalleled shock. They seem to have come to Xanadu. These pictures are amazing, and everyone who has seen them can't help falling for them.

The photographer of this group of photos is British photographer Felice Bitter. He took this group of photos at 1860, and the place he took it was called Yuanmingyuan.

On the day when he took the last photo, two gangs of robbers raised evil torches and set the Yuanmingyuan on fire.

Time flies, years change, 160 years has passed in a blink of an eye. Yuanmingyuan is still a lingering pain in everyone's heart in China. Its beauty can only stay in the dream, but it seems like a lifetime ago to meet again.

If that beautiful dream is still in your memory, then at this moment, please follow my words and explore past lives in this garden of thousands of gardens.

Garden of ten thousand gardens

Yuanmingyuan was built in Kangxi period. At first, it was just a garden given by Emperor Kangxi to Yin Zhen, the fourth son of Emperor Kangxi. The word "Yuanmingyuan" written by Emperor Kangxi hangs as a plaque above the gate of Yuanmingyuan.

After Yin Zhen acceded to the throne, that is, during the reign of Yong Zhengdi, the expansion project of Yuanmingyuan officially began.

Since then, after more than 0/00 years of painstaking efforts by emperors Yongzheng, Qianlong, Jiaqing, Daoguang, Xianfeng, etc./kloc-,the Yuanmingyuan was obtained by pouring national material resources, gathering skilled craftsmen from all over the country, filling lakes and piling mountains, planting flowers and trees, absorbing the wonders of heaven and earth, exhausting human resources and collecting the achievements of gardening art at that time.

In the tenth year of Xianfeng (1860), Yuanmingyuan finally built a fairyland on earth, known as the "Garden of Ten Thousand Gardens".

At this time, Yuanmingyuan is not only Yuanmingyuan, but also includes two affiliated gardens, Qichun Garden and Changchun Garden, covering an area of more than 350 hectares, almost equivalent to the size of five Forbidden Cities, with a water area of about 140 hectares.

Walking into Yuanmingyuan, you seem to have come to Jiangnan. Exquisite pavilions and waterside promenades full of flowers all highlight the charm of Jiangnan, where the most beautiful memories of Emperor Qianlong are buried.

Walking into Yuanmingyuan, you seem to have come to Europe again. In Changchun Garden, the western garden architecture drawn and supervised by the great painter Lang Shining is very beautiful and spectacular, and the "Baroque" architectural style of European Renaissance is perfectly displayed here.

It is no exaggeration to say that the most splendid culture and art of the East and the West are perfectly integrated here, and Yuanmingyuan can be called a prosperous classic of the combination of Chinese and Western cultures.

Hugo, a great French writer, praised it as a moonlight castle. In the eyes of many foreigners, Yuanmingyuan is a charming and beautiful legend.

However, the beauty of Yuanmingyuan does not stop there. It is not only elegant, but also very luxurious.

Yuanmingyuan is not only a large royal palace in the Qing Dynasty, but also the greatest and most magnificent museum and art gallery in the world at that time. There are countless treasures, books and works of art in the park.

Whether it's a silk-cut enamel double crane incense burner made by Yongzheng, a long-necked gourd bottle that Qianlong loved, or even a record of the 40 scenes of Yuanmingyuan in its heyday. , are priceless, with high economic, cultural and artistic value.

"One Yuanmingyuan, half the history of Qing Dynasty". In a sense, the influence and status of Yuanmingyuan in the eyes of the Qing emperor is no less than that of the Forbidden City.

If there is a dream in the world, Yuanmingyuan must be the most beautiful one. There is only one word to describe it, and that is perfection.

Dream destruction

The word "Yuanming" in Yuanmingyuan means "harmony and radiance", which means perfection and is full of infinite blessings and expectations.

However, such fantastic art didn't get a perfect ending, and finally it got lost in a sea of fire.

After entering the19th century, the Qing Dynasty became increasingly decadent and the national situation became increasingly critical. The once powerful eastern powers have become attractive prey in the eyes of world powers.

From 65438 to 0840, the Opium War broke out, and the closed-door Qing government suffered its first major blow. From then on, China gradually lost its independent status and began to become a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society.

Under all kinds of humiliation, the Qing government thought it could survive, but unfortunately the enemy's greed was endless.

1856, the Second Opium War broke out again, which brought more harm to China, including the collapse of Yuanmingyuan.

1860, after the British and French allied forces occupied Guangzhou, journey to the south soon arrived at the gates of Tianjin and eagerly approached Beijing.

In the face of aggressive invaders, the ruling group is powerless to resist and only seeks peace.

Before the British and French allied forces entered the city, Emperor Xianfeng had fled to Jehol in panic, leaving an empty city with no resistance to the invaders, leaving them to burn, pillage and trample on the land of China.

China at this time, in the eyes of the British and French allied forces, is a lamb to be slaughtered. How to grab greater economic benefits is their only purpose, so they all turned their attention to Yuanmingyuan.

In order to completely crush the rebellious will of the Qing ruling clique, to force the Qing government to surrender at an early date, to … or, at first, they just wanted to see the legendary garden.

654381October 6, the British and French allied forces bypassed the northeast suburb of Beijing and went straight to Yuanmingyuan. Along the way, I met only a little resistance from the Qing army, and almost all the way to the entrance of Yuanmingyuan Grand Palace at night.

In the afterglow of the sunset, Yuanmingyuan is as quiet and serene as usual, just like a pure and beautiful girl standing in the twilight, completely unaware of the danger ahead.

When the leading soldier opened the gate of Yuanmingyuan, everyone froze. What they see is beautiful scenery and things that they have never seen in their lives.

Many years later, the photographer stationed with the army described it in his diary: What caught your eye was the rich and moving colors, which permeated the blue sky of Beijing ... The towering buildings were reflected on the lake like ghosts ... I couldn't help wondering if I had come to the fairy tale world of' One Thousand and One Nights'.

When entering and leaving Xianliangmen, the invading army encountered strong resistance from eunuchs who were brave in Yuanmingyuan, but in the end, more than 20 warriors were killed by the state, and Wenfeng, the minister in charge of gardens, also died in Fuhai.

At this point, Yuanmingyuan completely fell into the hands of the invaders.

10 year 10 7, the destruction began.

In forty-eight hours, Yuanmingyuan became a hell on earth.

It was a carnival that stunned the invaders, and it was a heartbreaking history for China people.

A large number of officers and men poured into the garden from all directions, plundering wildly and destroying wantonly. They can't tell which is English and which is French. They are all shameless robbers.

In this way, tens of thousands of treasures in Yuanmingyuan were taken away by carts, and those that could not be taken away were ruthlessly destroyed.

On October 9th, 65438/KLOC-0, when the invading army temporarily evacuated from Yuanmingyuan, the once beautiful royal garden was in ruins.

Sadly, the tragedy of Yuanmingyuan does not stop there. 10 On June 8th, a large number of soldiers rushed to various palaces, pagodas and books and archives with torches in their hands under the command of British Commander Erkin.

Countless precious books, fairyland-like pavilions and exquisite art are unified in the raging fire.

The fire burned for three days and nights, and the smoke with rosin hung over Beijing for a long time.

A sad song can't be blown away, and the ashes still fly in the evening.

Its beautiful moment is already a dream, leaving only resentment in my heart.

Remember history

The news of the destruction of Yuanmingyuan reached the summer resort, and Xianfeng vomited blood on the spot, and he never got sick again.

During the Tongzhi period, at the behest of Empress Dowager Cixi, the Tongzhi Emperor tried to rebuild, but was forced to stop because of financial exhaustion within ten months.

Since then, the cultural relics of Yuanmingyuan have been plundered by bureaucrats, warlords and profiteers for a long time, and there have been multiple disasters such as wood robbery, stone robbery and soil robbery. In the end, Yuanmingyuan was in ruins.

It was not until the founding of New China that the site of Yuanmingyuan was well protected.

In the early days of the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), Premier Zhou Enlai made it clear that we must spare no effort to protect the site of Yuanmingyuan.

In the mid-1950s, Beijing Bureau of Landscape Architecture began to plant trees in this area. By the early 1960s, the long-term desolation in the park had basically changed.

For a long time, there has been controversy about the repair of Yuanmingyuan, an important historical and cultural site.

In this regard, the CPC Central Committee has clearly stipulated that the Yuanmingyuan should be renovated and opened to the outside world as a patriotic education base on the basis of protecting the original appearance of the site.

After years of renovation, the Yuanmingyuan has been officially opened to the outside world. With the guidance of teachers and the company of parents, countless teenagers try to get close to it, understand it and understand it.

Although the former glory of Yuanmingyuan is gone forever, whenever people stop here and review its ups and downs, who can't help sighing for it?

And when we can only relive and imagine its glory through old photos taken by foreigners, whose heart will not be full of hatred?

In the face of this devastated ruins, every Chinese descendant will deeply feel that this is a great shame of the Chinese nation, and will more clearly realize the historical lesson of "being behind will be beaten".

Today's Yuanmingyuan, still standing in the northwest of Beijing, is silent, but people all over China can hear its voice, which is an indelible shame and a thought-provoking memory.

It should be noted that only by working hard and making continuous progress can our great motherland prosper and stand forever among the nations of the world.