Some of those precious cultural relics are scattered within China, and some are lost to foreign countries. The loss of millions of precious cultural relics in the Old Summer Palace has to make people sad. If there had not been the invasion of the Eight-Power Allied Forces at that time, I think the Old Summer Palace would have been a precious treasure in the world now. The Old Summer Palace, known as the "Garden of Ten Thousand Gardens", was looted and burned by Western powers. All the garden buildings were destroyed and countless treasures were missing. The famous garden of a generation gradually became a deserted garden.
?1.?The Horse Head Goes Home?
160 years ago in October 1860, the British and French forces broke into Beijing, looted and burned the Old Summer Palace, located in the "Haiyan Hall". The 12 animal heads were missing and lost overseas. In 2007, Macau patriotic entrepreneur Stanley Ho successfully acquired the Horse Capital for HK$69.1 million. He donated it to the country in November 2019 and hoped that it would return to the Old Summer Palace. Experts who have studied the Old Summer Palace estimate that the cultural relics robbed from the Old Summer Palace are scattered around the world and China, totaling millions. The cultural relics scattered in the country are mainly concentrated in Beijing. ?
2. The thangkas scattered behind the Buddha statues in the Yuanmingyuan Hall in foreign corners were lost to France and spread on the ceiling. In order to run the wires and chandeliers, a hole was dug in the middle of the thangkas, and there was water leakage upstairs. , this precious cultural relic left stains after being soaked. Having said this, we have to regret and feel sad that these treasures that should be our Chinese nation are wandering overseas, but because of the lack of attention of some people abroad, the tragic situation is like this. We have to lament the difference between civilizations.
3. The highest artistic value of the Old Summer Palace
The great French writer Hugo once said: Even if all the treasures of all the museums in our country are added together, they cannot be as large and magnificent as this one. comparable to the Oriental Museum. ?Each hall in the park is decorated with countless rosewood furniture and displays many rare cultural relics at home and abroad. Wenyuan Pavilion in the Garden is one of the four major royal libraries in China. The Old Summer Palace is our Chinese art treasure house. If these cultural relics are not lost now, what a great witness it will be in modern times.