Brief introduction of Yuanmingyuan
Yuanmingyuan is located in the western suburbs of Beijing and the east of Haidian District. Originally a large-scale royal garden in the Qing Dynasty, it covers an area of about 5,200 mu and has an inverted zigzag layout. Yuanmingyuan consists of Yuanmingyuan, Changchun Garden and Qichun Garden, with a total area of 350 hectares.
Its land building area is as big as the Forbidden City, and its water area is equivalent to a Summer Palace. Yuanmingyuan combines the characteristics of several famous gardens in the south of the Yangtze River at that time, melts the essence of ancient gardening art in China, and melts poetry and painting into ever-changing scenes with the artistic technique of garden in the garden. The southern part of Yuanmingyuan is the imperial court area, where the emperor handles official business. There are 40 scenic spots in other areas, of which more than 50 scenic spots directly imitate famous gardens in other places, such as the Ten Scenes of West Lake in Hangzhou, not only imitating architecture, but also copying names. More interestingly, Yuanmingyuan also has a western-style garden scenic spot. The most famous "watching water method" is a western-style fountain, a flower maze and a western-style building, all of which have the style of Italian Renaissance. There is also a model of Venice in the lake, and the emperor can enjoy the "water city scenery" thousands of miles away from the mountain on the shore.
Yuanmingyuan is a treasure house, which contains rare cultural relics such as celebrity calligraphy and painting, secret room classics, Zhong Ding treasures, gold and silver jewelry and so on, which condenses the essence of ancient culture. Yuanmingyuan is also a garden of exotic flowers and plants, with millions of rare flowers and trees. Westerners who have witnessed the Yuanmingyuan completely call it the "Garden of Ten Thousand Gardens". Indeed, if today is the same as 140 years ago, this super giant garden is well-deserved "the king of world gardens". Regrettably, in 1860, the British and French allied forces looted Yuanmingyuan, and the buildings in the park were burned and the cultural relics were looted. The magical and mythical Yuanmingyuan is in ruins, leaving only broken walls for tourists to mourn.
The Historical Development of Yuanmingyuan
The famous royal gardens in Qing Dynasty. In the forty-eighth year of Kangxi (1709), Emperor Kangxi (that is, Emperor Michelle Ye of the Qing Dynasty) gave his fourth son, Yin Zhen, a garden one mile north of Changchun Garden in the northern suburb of Beijing, and personally inscribed the amount of the garden "Yuanmingyuan". In the third year of Yongzheng (1725), Yong Zhengdi (namely Emperor Sejong of the Qing Dynasty, Yin Zhen) built a palace office in the south of Yuanmingyuan, covering an area of more than 3,000 mu from the original 600 mu. From then on, Yuanmingyuan was not only a place for the Qing emperors to rest and visit, but also a place for them to meet foreign envoys and handle their daily affairs. After Emperor Qianlong ascended the throne, he adjusted the garden landscape in Yuanmingyuan, increased the number of architectural groups, and built Changchun Garden and Qichun Garden (Tongzhi renamed Wanchun Garden) in the east and southeast of Yuanmingyuan. These three gardens are all managed by the management minister of Yuanmingyuan, which is called Yuanming Three Gardens.
Yuanming Three Gardens covers an area of more than 5,200 mu, with more than 50 scenic spots/kloc-0. Among them, the most famous ones are Guangming Hall in Zheng Da, Anyou Palace for ancestor worship, high-rise buildings with high water in feast mountains, Pengdao Yaotai simulating pavilions on Fairy Mountain, and Wuling Spring Scenery in Peach Blossom Garden. Some famous gardens in the south of the Yangtze River, such as the Lion Forest in Suzhou and the Ten Scenes of the West Lake in Hangzhou, are also imitations. Changchun Garden also has a group of European-style buildings, commonly known as the West Building. Yuanmingyuan is also a large royal museum with many treasures, books and artistic masterpieces.
In the tenth year of Xianfeng (1860), in August, the British and French allied forces invaded Beijing. On October 6th, 65438/kloc-0, Yuanmingyuan was occupied. From the next day, the officers and men began to rob and destroy crazily. In order to force the Qing government to accept the conditions of peace as soon as possible, British Minister Erkin and British Commander Grant ordered Lieutenant General Mitchell to lead more than 3,500 invading troops to Yuanmingyuan on June+65,4381October+10/October 8, 5438 on the pretext that the Qing government had imprisoned British and French prisoners in Yuanmingyuan. The fire, which lasted for two days and nights, burned Yuanmingyuan into ruins.
During the Tongzhi period (1862 ~ 1874), the Tongzhi emperor prepared to restore the Yuanmingyuan for the Empress Dowager Cixi to live in. Later, due to financial difficulties, it was forced to stop work and rebuild other buildings. 1900, Eight-Nation Alliance invaded Beijing, and the Yuanmingyuan was destroyed again. After the demise of the Qing Dynasty, some warlords, politicians and bureaucrats stole the building materials of Yuanmingyuan, and the site of Yuanmingyuan was further destroyed.
After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), the state attached great importance to the protection of Yuanmingyuan site. 1979, Yuanmingyuan site was listed as a key cultural relics protection unit in Beijing. After that, the repair work of Yuanmingyuan site gradually began.
Yuanmingyuan construction
It is not an overnight event that Yuanmingyuan can achieve such glory. It concentrated a lot of financial and material resources of the country, hired countless skilled craftsmen, and poured the blood and sweat of millions of working people. It took 100 years to be built and put into operation. Then, why did the Qing emperor spend so much effort to run Yuanmingyuan for a long time at the expense of work? This is closely related to the living habits of Manchu.
China is a multi-ethnic country. The hardworking and brave Manchu people have lived in this rich and beautiful land in the Northeast Heilongjiang River Basin for generations. /kloc-In the middle of the 7th century, the Qing army, led by its outstanding leader, feudal politician, strategist Huang Taiji and Regent Dourgen, invaded North China on a large scale, completely overthrew the extremely corrupt Ming Dynasty, entered the customs from the northeast as the capital, seized the national political power, and established the last feudal ruling dynasty in history-the Qing Dynasty. Because the Qing rulers lived a nomadic life in the northeast before entering the customs, they did not adapt to the dry and hot climate in Beijing's midsummer after entering the customs. Although the Forbidden City is resplendent and magnificent, the emperors of the Qing Dynasty found it dull and dreary. Especially in the early years of Kangxi, after the fire broke out in the Forbidden City, a high palace wall was built to prevent fire and court riots. The courtyards in the palace set each other off and became interesting. The water in the stream was so gentle that it almost became stagnant water. At that time, the imperial city was once known as the "red wall, green tile and black sewer". This made the emperors a little tired of the palace life surrounded by high walls, so they began to build gardens in the early years of Kangxi, which lasted for more than 200 years. In the western suburbs of Beijing, the endless Xishan Xiufeng: Yuquan Mountain, Wanshou Mountain, Wanquanzhuang, Beihai and other landforms, artesian springs can be seen everywhere, and they converge into large and small lakes and ponds in low-lying places. Yuquan landscape flows into Kunming Lake from west to east, becoming the largest water surface in the western suburbs. Ancient working people lived and worked hard here, and cultivated a large area of paddy fields, forming a natural scenic spot. As early as Liao Dynasty, the feudal emperors chose this place to build Yuquan Mountain Palace. In the Ming dynasty, the natural scenery here attracted more tourists, so some dignitaries occupied the countryside to build villas, and large areas of land were occupied by pieces. During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, Hou Liwei, the closest relative of the Ming Dynasty, built a lot of buildings here, first of all, the Tsinghua campus, which is known as the "first garden in Beijing" (so it is located outside the western wall of Peking University). Later, Mi led the lake to garden outside the east wall of Tsinghua campus, and managed the elegant and beautiful "spoon garden", which means "Haidian spoon". In the open countryside, pavilions and lakes and mountains complement each other and become a famous garden gathering place in the suburbs of Beijing. In the Qing dynasty, the emperor also took a fancy to the western suburbs, an excellent gardening place. This is how the large-scale construction of gardens began.
In the 28th year of Kangxi (A.D. 1688), Michelle Ye ordered the construction of a 60-hectare Changchun Garden in the former site of Tsinghua campus, where he spent most of the year listening to politics, and the life of the imperial garden in the Qing Dynasty began. However, the status of Changchun Garden did not last long, and it was replaced by the Yuanmingyuan later.
Around Changchun Garden, there are many private gardens left over from the Ming Dynasty. In the early Qing Dynasty, these former private gardens were handed over to members of the Qing royal family and princes and ministers after being returned to the Chen Feng Courtyard of the Ministry of Interior. In the forty-eighth year of Kangxi (A.D. 1709), Yuanmingyuan, as an old garden of the Ming Dynasty, was given to Yin Zhen, the fourth son of Emperor Kangxi. The inscription of Yuanmingyuan was written by Emperor Kangxi. This world-famous garden began its history from scratch and from prosperity to decline in this year. Yin Zhen was the later Yong Zhengdi, and he was very proud of his garden. He explained the meaning of the word "Yuanming" in Kangxi's "Yuanmingyuan Ji": Yuanming has a long-term vision and is not easy to see. He tasted the ancient words and was characterized by the virtue of roundness and brightness. Husband's round face is a fan, and so is a gentleman. The word "round" here means "complete and comprehensive" and the word "bright" means "knowledgeable and wise". Therefore, the name "Yuanmingyuan" is nothing more than the ruling class flaunting its moral cultivation and intelligence. Emperor Kangxi's inscription also expressed his expectation for the Prince.
Yuanmingyuan is located in the north of Guajiatun, about one mile away from Changchun Garden, that is, in the north of today's Peking University and west of Tsinghua University. The Yuanmingyuan in the Kangxi era has water surfaces such as Qianhu and Houhu, and gardens such as "Peony Pavilion" and "Natural Picture Scroll". When Yuanmingyuan was still a princes' garden, the rules could not exceed the emperor's Changchun Garden, so there were not many scenes built and the reputation was not great, which was far less than Changchun Garden. But later, with the master's accession to the throne, the prosperity of the Qing Dynasty came. After more than 60 years of continuous expansion, the most magnificent royal garden in China's history was finally built.
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Yuanmingyuan is not only famous for its gardens, but also a royal museum with a rich collection, which can be called a treasure house of culture. Hugo once said: "Even if all the treasures of Notre Dame de China are added together, it can't compare with this magnificent Oriental Museum." The garden is luxuriously furnished and has a large collection of art treasures. According to westerners who have witnessed the Yuanmingyuan, "the magnificent scene in the garden is beyond description and imagination of Europeans". "This royal villa contains all kinds of precious treasures, which are spread all over thousands of households." Exquisite carved mahogany furniture, exquisite ancient broken porcelain enamel bottle lamps, tapestries, carpets, leather goods made of gold and silver, pure gold-plated French clocks, exquisite general plan of Yuanmingyuan, pictures with gems, vivid plaques of scenic figures, and other exquisite domestic artworks and various exotic decorations in Europe.
Yuanmingyuan is rich in books and cultural relics. Now, just a few examples are given. Wenyuan Pavilion is a library building modeled after Fan Tianyi Pavilion in Ningbo. It is one of the famous fourth royal pavilions in the north and was built in Qianlong for forty years. In the pavilion are the Sikuquanshu ordered by Qianlong and the Integration of Ancient and Modern Books compiled by Kangxi. Sikuquanshu is the largest comprehensive series in ancient China, with more than 3,400 kinds of books, nearly 80,000 volumes and more than 36,000 volumes. It embodies the ancient civilization of our country and shows the great spirit of the Chinese nation. Due to the voluminous articles in the book, the most important one at that time was selected and compiled into the Summary of Sikuquanshu, with a total volume of 12000. The manuscript of Yao Hui is divided into two parts, one is in the algae hall of the Forbidden City, and the other is in the "tasting room" of the East Wing of Changchun Garden. In addition, there is a famous Wenxuan in Hanjingtang-Chunhua Xuan, which was specially built to collect the manuscripts of the famous French post "Chunhua Pavilion Post". Ge Tieyuan copied the calligraphy works of 99 people, including Wang Xizhi, Wang Xianzhi, Cang Xie, Yu Xia and Confucius, in the third year of Chunhua in Beining (992). The Post is divided into ten volumes, which is the first large-scale cluster post in China, and is known as the ancestor of ten thousand posts. During the Qianlong period, according to the Northern Song Dynasty's "The Initial Extension of Getie", this stone was carved with a hook after careful revision. It lasted for three years. In the spring of the thirty-seventh year of Qianlong (1772), about 24 cloisters in front of Chunhua Xuan were inlaid with 144 engravings. This is the famous "Gan Da Engraving Chunhua Pavilion Post". Needless to say, during the theft of Yuanmingyuan, precious books and cultural relics such as Sikuquanshu, Quanquanyao, Integration of Ancient and Modern Books, and Chunhua Pavilion Post were not spared. This can reflect from one side that the imperialist invaders burned Yuanmingyuan, which caused great damage to human culture.
Of course, nothing is perfect. As big as the Yuanmingyuan, several emperors have expanded and rebuilt one after another, and the influence of decadent feudal emperors' consciousness is still insufficient from any angle. However, on the whole, Yuanmingyuan is indeed an excellent garden. It can be said that it combines the excellent gardening art of China for thousands of years and pushes the classical gardens in China to a new height. At that time, people who witnessed its grand occasion said it was really good. Some westerners' impressions of China gardens began in Yuanmingyuan. In a word, Yuanmingyuan won the honor for our ancient civilization and was once the pride of our Chinese nation!
The chief designer of Yuanmingyuan is an architect named Lei Jinyu, and Kangxi was attracted by him when he was building Bauhinia City. However, in the actual construction, most of them are still the views of the emperor, whether it is Kangxi, Yongzheng or Qianlong personally guiding.
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Yuanmingyuan, a world-famous garden, was brutally looted and burned by the British and French allied forces in the tenth year of Xianfeng, that is,1June 860, which became a humiliating history in China's modern history.
Robbery and destruction of the garden masterpieces and artistic treasures of Yuanmingyuan are the crystallization of the sweat and wisdom of millions of working people. It not only embodies the splendid culture of China's feudal era, but also exposes the profligacy of feudal emperors. By the middle of Qing Dynasty, the science and technology of the whole country had fallen far behind the West, and class contradictions were becoming increasingly acute. 1840 (in the last 20 years), western colonialists provoked the war of aggression against China-the first opium war; Then the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement against the corrupt rule of Qing Dynasty broke out in China.
1856 10, with the support and cooperation of Russia and the United States, Britain and France jointly launched a new war of aggression against China-the Second Opium War. Its purpose is to grab greater colonial interests. First, they started the Guangzhou War twice, but both failed to meet their expectations. In order to exert direct pressure on the Qing government, the capital of Chen Bing was decided. The invading army approached Tianjin 1858 in May.
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