Photos of the Old Summer Palace before its destruction were auctioned in the UK in 2016. They were as beautiful as a fairyland and were later sold for a sky-high price of 1.76 million.

"On the vibrant lotus pond, stands the magnificent Monarch Temple, with a glazed pagoda standing on the side, and under the breeze and flowing clouds, there is also the poetic Epiphyllum Pavilion."

This is fascinating. The refreshing and beautiful scenery does not come from any garden today, nor does it come from a movie set, nor does it come from a fairyland.

It only comes from a 160-year-old photo. As for the garden in the photo, it is the deepest pain in the Chinese people's hearts - the Old Summer Palace.

Even though the photo is in black and white, it still cannot block the view of the majestic Old Summer Palace and the gurgling lake.

French writer Hugo once commented on the Old Summer Palace in his "Letter to Captain Butler on the British-French Allied Forces Expedition to China":

"In a corner of the world, there is a A wonder of the world, this miracle is called the Old Summer Palace. ”

“Art has two origins. Ideals produce European art; fantasy produces Eastern art. The Old Summer Palace plays a role in fantasy art, and the Parthenon plays a role in ideals. The status in art is the same..."

Hugo's words made the world realize that the glory of the Old Summer Palace was not only limited to the beautiful scenery, but also the artistic light it bloomed was equally dazzling.

But such a paradise on earth was burned to the ground more than a hundred years ago, leaving only the ruins that now arouse fantasy and sorrow.

As for the photo mentioned earlier that attracted world attention, we have to talk about an overseas auction in 2016.

In September 2016, the world-renowned art auction house Sotheby's in the UK suddenly released a set of black and white photos after completing the auction of a number of jewelry and cultural relics.

Upon seeing the auctioneer on the stage, he briefly introduced that it was a set of photos taken in the late 1850s, which made most of the cultural relic collectors present immediately lose interest.

Some of them were chatting with friends, while others were minding their own business on their mobile phones.

No one has much interest in this set of old historical photos. Only some rich people who are interested in history are waiting for the photos to be unveiled.

But the auctioneer was not in a hurry about this. There was a certain incomprehensible confidence in his expression without any fluctuation, as if he was not worried at all about the popularity of this group of photos.

The next moment, he lit up the big screen behind him, showing some details of this group of photos, and then shouted out a shocking starting price:

"This set of black and white photos from the 19th century has a starting price of 180,000 pounds!"

This has perked up many absent-minded bidders. You must know that 180,000 pounds may be used to measure jewelry cultural relics. It's a little less, but if it's used to buy a set of black and white photos, it can be considered a "sky-high price".

Therefore, all the bidders in the audience turned their attention to the big screen. They all wanted to know what kind of set of photos could fetch such a "sky-high price".

Since there are a total of twelve photos in a set, Sotheby’s auction house did not display all the photos in order to ensure that future buyers have the sole right to know the content of the photos.

They only selected the details of a few photos for display. Some of the content beyond the details was even deliberately blurred by the auction house, vaguely revealing an infinite sense of mystery.

However, even so, it still cannot cover up the fairyland of the garden in the photo. The crisscrossing palace buildings, the lotus lakeside dotted with flowers and trees, and the bright red and green flowers and trees. There is no garden in the world today. Comparable to it.

Seeing this, the bidders present could not help but feel a little suspicious:

"Is this a 19th century garden? Why does it look a bit like modern computer synthesis?"

Although some people were skeptical about this, the Chinese and Chinese buyers present quickly recognized the garden in this set of photos. It was the Old Summer Palace in the Qing Dynasty.

The garden landscape design that combines Chinese and Western styles, coupled with the magnificent Chinese style layout, isn’t this the glorious scene of the Old Summer Palace?

The auctioneer’s subsequent words completely “qualified” this group of photos:

“These photos are the works of the famous photographer Felice Bute. , They are all real shots..."

With such a foreshadowing, the auction of the photos became very fast. Several bidders successively bid, and finally a mysterious buyer paid for two It was auctioned off for a whopping price of one hundred thousand pounds.

200,000 pounds, equivalent to 1.76 million yuan in RMB, set a record for a photo auction at Sotheby's in the UK.

As the auction hammer fell, the Chinese and Chinese present also recalled the past...

Someone once said, "A Old Summer Palace is half the history of the Qing Dynasty. ".

Although this sentence sounds a bit exaggerated, it is an outright fact.

We need to know the chief architect of the Old Summer Palace, who was a successive emperor of the Qing Dynasty. A royal garden built by several emperors is itself enough to reflect considerable historical weight.

What's more, the construction of the Old Summer Palace is a model of "real materials". It contains not only countless rare flowers and trees, but also countless precious paintings and calligraphy.

Even the construction materials are made of real gold and silver, not to mention the decorations. The gold, silver, jewelry and jade are almost all made of gold, silver, jewelry and jade, and there is no ordinary item at all.

However, such a magnificent Yuanmingyuan was originally built as a "small" garden given by a father to his son.

The construction of the Old Summer Palace began in 1707. At this time, Emperor Kangxi looked at this newly built garden of a hundred acres and felt a profound sense of new energy, so he wrote an inscription for the garden:

"Round and enchanting, a gentleman is in the middle of the hour; bright and illuminating, it is the wisdom of others."

This sentence is actually a reference to the two words "round" and "bright" Interpretation:

"Yuan" refers to the perfect personal character, which is beyond ordinary people, while "Ming" refers to the political performance is bright and wise, which is consistent with the "upright and bright" written by Emperor Shunzhi.

This garden was renamed "Old Summer Palace" and became an out-and-out royal garden.

It is worth mentioning that in his later years, Kangxi directly donated the Old Summer Palace to his fourth son Aixinjueluo Yinzhen.

In the eyes of many veterans of the court, this actually means "registering the foundation of the country", which shows that Kangxi is interested in this "fourth elder brother".

And this is indeed the case. After the second deposed prince Yinzhen, Kangxi finally chose to pass the throne to Yinzhen in 1722, creating the Yongzheng Emperor in the prosperous era of Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong.

After Yongzheng ascended the throne, he did not forget the Old Summer Palace that his father had gifted to him. As soon as he ascended the throne, he designated the Old Summer Palace as the "Imperial Garden". Later, in 1725, he began to expand the Old Summer Palace.

He first set up the "Ruyi Pavilion" in the Old Summer Palace, which was specially used for painting and design. For this reason, Yong Zheng recruited many famous painters from across the country and put them all in the Ruyi Pavilion.

The daily task of these painters is to turn some of Yongzheng's reveries into reality. According to the current institutional setup, the existence of Ruyi Pavilion is like an architectural design institute.

With the help of Ruyi Pavilion, Yongzheng’s design of the Old Summer Palace moved to a higher latitude. Most of the countless innovative garden settings were designed by Ruyi Pavilion, making the Old Summer Palace the most beautiful place of Yongzheng’s reign. Loved the backyard.

This is just like what you have seen in "The Legend of Zhen Huan". Emperor Yongzheng would "bring his family" to the Old Summer Palace every three days to escape the summer heat. He could be said to "love the Old Summer Palace deeply" .

This is indeed true in official history. Emperor Yongzheng of the Old Summer Palace can almost be said to be the most "homely" emperor in the Qing Dynasty:

He never visited the south in his life, and rarely went out. Beijing, but the Old Summer Palace is a must-visit place every summer.

In order to stay in the Old Summer Palace longer, Yongzheng also built the Zhengda Guangming and Qinzheng Halls in the Old Summer Palace for business affairs according to his father's words of "brightness and universal illumination".

However, one person's criticism cannot be compared with the imperial meeting in the Forbidden City, so Emperor Yongzheng further established a cabinet, six ministries, and a military aircraft department, almost establishing a small court in the Old Summer Palace.

Such a complete office structure allowed Yongzheng to stay for a long time every time he entered the garden, and even ended up being buried in the Old Summer Palace. This shows that Yongzheng loved the Old Summer Palace.

After Yongzheng’s death, the Old Summer Palace was handed over to his successor, Emperor Qianlong. Perhaps in memory of his late father, Qianlong’s construction of the Old Summer Palace can be described as “increasing efforts”.

He personally moved into the Old Summer Palace and presided over the construction of the Old Summer Palace for seventeen years. During this period, millions of dollars were spent on the renovation of the Old Summer Palace.

At the same time, Emperor Qianlong not only upgraded and improved the interior of the Old Summer Palace, but also repaired the Changchun Garden outside the Old Summer Palace, and then expanded and merged it into the Qichun Garden, making the Old Summer Palace formally formed into what is now called " The scale of the "Three Gardens of the Yuanming Dynasty".

In addition, Emperor Qianlong was also a designer who was good at summarizing and "transplanting".

During his many tours to the south of the Yangtze River, he would order people to record the designs of some Jiangnan gardens. When he returned to the capital, he would directly reshape the recorded landscapes in the Old Summer Palace.

Moreover, Emperor Qianlong always asked Ruyi Pavilion and craftsmen to make the landscape larger and more luxurious. This made the Old Summer Palace not only the most accomplished garden in the country, but also the ultimate embodiment of all landscapes, such as " "Forty Scenes of the Old Summer Palace" is the best proof.

In addition, Emperor Qianlong was also the most "fashionable" of all the Qing emperors. During his reign, he was very obsessed with Western culture, which also included Western landscape design.

During the reign of Qianlong, he recruited Italian painter Castiglione, French painter Wang Zhicheng, Jiang Youren and other Western professional painters to form a Western design team.

This Western design team built the Western-style Building Scenic Area in the Old Summer Palace between 1747 and 1760, making the Old Summer Palace the only royal garden in line with international standards at that time.

It is worth mentioning that this Western design team is not weak in strength. Under their leadership, the Western-style Building Scenic Area in the Old Summer Palace has Western characteristics and can even rival local Western gardens.

The half-arch Western garden gate, the curved ascending stairs on both sides, and the beautiful European-style fountain made a visiting French missionary exclaim:

"Completely It can be compared with the Palace of Versailles in France. ”

From this we can see that Emperor Qianlong was very determined in the expansion of the Old Summer Palace. In his hands, the Old Summer Palace completed a qualitative leap.

The development of the Old Summer Palace also reflects the changes in the prosperous era of Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong, from Kangxi passing the garden to Yongzheng, to Yongzheng stationed in the Old Summer Palace diligently, to Qianlong spending a lot of money to improve the Old Summer Palace.

The Old Summer Palace is just like the Qing Dynasty under the rule of three emperors: Kangxi created a prosperous era, Yongzheng accumulated national strength, and Qianlong promoted national glory.

However, this actually means that the Qing Dynasty will also bloom briefly like the Old Summer Palace.

In 1856, Britain and France used the "Yarrow Incident" and the "Priest Ma Incident" as an excuse to launch the Second Opium War against the decadent Qing Dynasty.

Under the cover of naval gunboats, the British and French forces launched an attack on Guangzhou, and eventually occupied Guangzhou, and then moved all the way north. The weak Qing government was afraid of the offensive of the British and French forces and hurriedly sent people to negotiate peace.

In this battle, the British and French forces not only captured the city of Beijing, but also went straight to the Old Summer Palace. After defeating the defenders, they directly occupied the Old Summer Palace.

After that, the British and French forces launched an organized robbery.

The British and French soldiers searched for gold, silver and jewelry all over the garden, tore off all the paintings and calligraphy of famous artists and took them away. Even the vases and porcelain were not spared. When they encountered vases and porcelain that could not be taken away, they Just smash it on the spot.

The entire Yuanmingyuan is littered with torn pieces of famous paintings and porcelain, and in some places you can even see gold and silver jewelry scattered all over the floor.

This is mainly because many soldiers who robbed have been dazzled. At that time, the "Times" had such an interview with the soldiers:

"No one knows what to do. What to take? The silver was thrown away for the gold, and the gold was thrown away for the pearl-encrusted clock and precious stones. The priceless porcelain and enamel bottles were too heavy to be transported away and were broken."

Sometimes, in order to snatch some treasures, conflicts will occur between the coalition forces, and it has even risen to the level of armed fighting.

Moreover, after completing the robbery of the treasures, the British and French forces did not let go of the royal garden. Under the instruction of the British commander Elgin, the British and French forces burned the crumbling Old Summer Palace.

This was an arson to cover up the atrocities of looting, and it was also the first fire in the Old Summer Palace. This evil fire burned for three days and three nights.

During the three days of burning, the burned ashes and residue were blown into the sky. Such a scene that blocked the sky and the sun cast a hellish shadow over the entire city of Beijing. Down.

Moreover, the fire not only destroyed the beauty of the Old Summer Palace, but also took away the lives of the 300 maids and eunuchs who stayed in the Old Summer Palace.

However, the British and French forces did not take this seriously. The British commander Elgin, who ordered the arson, even threatened:

"This move will shock China and Europe, and its effect will be shocking." It is far beyond the imagination of people thousands of miles away."

In his eyes, burning the Old Summer Palace was not a sinful act at all. Instead, it became their capital to gain fame and prestige. This intention was enough to make future generations of Chinese Hate.

However, for the Old Summer Palace, its suffering was not over yet. After the British and French forces took advantage of it, Emperor Tongzhi ordered the Old Summer Palace to be renovated.

However, it had only been more than ten months since the construction started, and it was forced to stop due to the country's financial exhaustion. At the same time, after the repair work was stalled, the Eight-Nation Allied Forces, who heard that Britain and France had successfully robbed money, invaded Beijing again.

Their first step was to return to the Old Summer Palace, and follow the example of the British and French allied forces, and once again launched a new round of robbery on the newly restored Old Summer Palace.

After the robbery, a fire was also set off, taking away the last vestige of life in the Old Summer Palace. The most shocking thing is that the disaster in the Old Summer Palace was not entirely caused by "outsiders".

After the plunder of the Eight-Power Allied Forces, the Qing Dynasty came to an end. Afterwards, the revolutionary party and the warlords fought in a melee. Due to the tight war, the 13th Army Division stationed in the Old Summer Palace at that time thought of transporting stones and selling them for military pay.

As a result, the lifeless Old Summer Palace ushered in a "stone disaster". The Thirteenth Division made a fortune by stealing and selling these stones, and everyone in the army benefited from this.

This move aroused the jealousy of other garrison troops, so everyone joined in the action of stealing stones. As the army became rich, all walks of life gradually joined in.

For example, Wang Lanting, secretary-general of the government, and Liu Menggeng, a Beiyang politician, openly solicited stones from the Old Summer Palace to sell.

For a time, the ruins of the Old Summer Palace were like a stone factory, with all forces mining stones.

Even decades later in 1940, the Old Summer Palace was still ravaged by the Japanese invaders.

On the one hand, the Japanese army plundered the last stones and timber; on the other hand, the puppet Manchukuo, in order to solve the food crisis, actually encouraged local farmers to open up wasteland and farm in the Old Summer Palace.

As a result, the garden and lake landscape of the Old Summer Palace suffered a devastating disaster and no longer enjoyed its former glory.

It was not until the People's Liberation Army entered Beijing that the Old Summer Palace was finally protected.

But by the time the Old Summer Palace was protected, it was already in ruins.

No matter whether it is rare flowers and trees or former treasures, they are gone, which is an immeasurable loss to our country.

When Puyi announced his abdication, there were as many as 1.5 million cultural relics in the Forbidden City. Based on this estimate, some people believed that the Old Summer Palace, which had been repaired by three emperors of Kangxi, Yongzong and Qianlong, contained no less than 1.5 million treasures.

However, after the founding of New China, there were only 500 cultural relics from the Old Summer Palace preserved in our country, not even a fraction of the 1.5 million yuan, which means that a large number of cultural relics have been lost overseas.

And this is indeed a fact. Today, the British Museum has an Oriental Art Gallery dedicated to Chinese cultural relics.

Among them, many cultural relics are from the Old Summer Palace. These were "gifts" to the Queen after the British army plundered them.

In addition to the British Museum, there are many collectors in the UK who keep treasures from the Old Summer Palace, the most prominent of which is the "Fangshan Residence" in southwest England.

William Beckford, a wealthy British collector and collector, used the funds at that time to collect many Chinese cultural relics on the market and collect them in the garden.

This makes the three words "Fangshanju" almost synonymous with the cultural relics of the Old Summer Palace in the UK.

In addition to the United Kingdom, Queen Eugenie of France also used these looted cultural relics to build a "China Pavilion" at the Palace of Fontainebleau. The nearly one thousand cultural relics collected in it all come from the Old Summer Palace.

Undoubtedly, a series of actions by Britain and France have made our country deeply aware of the difficulty of recovering cultural relics.

But as far as New China is concerned, the Old Summer Palace is an indispensable part of the Chinese national culture. Therefore, no matter how difficult the recovery work is, it must be carried out.

Among the cultural relics recovery work, the most eye-catching one is undoubtedly the recovery of the twelve zodiac animal heads.

First, the central enterprise Poly Group took action and recovered monkey heads, cow heads, and tiger heads in the form of auctions, allowing the motherland to welcome back the first batch of Old Summer Palace cultural relics.

Later, "Macau Gambling King" Stanley Ho, single-handedly bought back the horse and pig heads and donated them all to the motherland, allowing our country to obtain five of the twelve zodiac animals. .

Finally, there is the French Pinault family. They bought the rabbit head and the rat head at the auction and donated the two to our country free of charge, so that our country finally collected the seven zodiac animals. This has also doubled our country’s confidence in recovering cultural relics.

Today, although the whereabouts of the five zodiac animals are still unknown, our country has made up its mind to spare no effort to bring them all back "home".

At the same time, our country will also introduce cultural and technological factors into the reconstruction of the Old Summer Palace.

First of all, regarding the construction of ruins, our country advocates preserving the "ruins" to warn future generations of the dangers of the decadent dynasty, so that every Chinese will always remember this blood debt.

Then there is the reconstruction of the Old Summer Palace. The Beijing Municipal Government decided to use digital reconstruction, so that cultural promotion and the reappearance of the grand scene can be achieved accurately.

Today, significant progress has been made in the digital reconstruction of the Old Summer Palace.

I believe that in the not-too-distant future, the full picture of the Old Summer Palace will be seen again in the form of simulated 3D, allowing the world to once again admire this "one garden through the ages" that embodies the culmination of garden culture.

As descendants of China, every Chinese should always keep this humiliating history in mind.

We should keep in mind the principle that "if you fall behind, you will be beaten" and devote yourself wholeheartedly to the construction of the motherland, so that China can maintain its upward vitality in all walks of life.

Because only in this way can we ensure the cultural inheritance of the Chinese nation, so that Chinese culture can last forever and future generations can continue to maintain this drive for progress.

Under this dynamic trend, the Chinese nation will eventually usher in a great rejuvenation, letting the world hear the "voice of the dragon" from the east.