Clear photos of the Old Summer Palace before it was destroyed
Facing this destroyed ruins, every descendant of the Yan and Huang Dynasties will deeply feel that this is a great shame and humiliation for our Chinese nation, and they will also feel even more We will be clearly aware of the historical lesson that "if you fall behind, you will be beaten." Today's Old Summer Palace still stands in the northwest of Beijing, silent, but every Chinese can hear its voice. It is an indelible humiliation and a thought-provoking remembrance. The photo of the Old Summer Palace before its destruction is clear 1
The photo of the Old Summer Palace before its destruction is clear. On October 18, 1860, a fire broke out in the western suburbs of Beijing. It burned for three days and three nights. It took more than 150 years to build the imperial garden. , the Old Summer Palace, after being looted and burned, only the sad ruins are left.
Why did the British and French forces go straight to the Old Summer Palace to coerce the Qing government into agreeing to their barbaric and unreasonable demands? Wouldn't it be more direct to attack the palace directly? What these invaders wanted was looted wealth and an obedient government that could get things done. Moreover, they knew very well the significance and role of the Old Summer Palace to the Qing Dynasty.
The prosperous Old Summer Palace
The Old Summer Palace was the garden when Yongzheng was the prince, but it did not cover a large area at that time. Why is it named "Yuanming"? According to Yongzheng's own explanation, it means that there are no flaws in his life and his political governance is also perfect. Of course, this is talking about himself, and these two words are his dharma title. As he ascended the throne, the expansion and construction of the Old Summer Palace began.
Why did the Old Summer Palace achieve its later scale, covering an area of ??35,000 square kilometers? In addition to being used by the emperor for summer vacation and office work, in fact it should be more of a collection of gardens from all over the world to satisfy the royal family's certain " Possession” emotion. There are as many as 150 scenic spots in the park, making it a veritable garden of ten thousand gardens.
From the early years of Kangxi to Xianfeng, the construction of the Old Summer Palace never stopped. During the Daoguang period, the national treasury was stretched thin, and even if all other expenditures were stopped, the situation was still going on. This is not a simple garden, nor is it a summer palace where the emperor only used to escape the summer heat. Countless rare treasures are kept here. However, in 1859, two groups of robbers came and looted everything. fire.
Photos bear witness to history
Photography technology was available at that time, and a British military officer took a photo of the Old Summer Palace before the fire. Although it was a black and white photo, However, its grandeur, cleverly designed shapes and well-proportioned scenic spots still silently declare its former glory, but all that remains are static images in photos.
This photo appeared at an auction site, and like some of the cultural relics that were robbed in the Old Summer Palace, it passed through the hands of players. Everyone who saw it exclaimed that this was not a scene from the human world, it was clearly a fairy mountain pavilion that people yearned for.
A fire burned a treasure of Chinese garden architecture, and also burned the evidence of the robbers who committed the crime. Some of the account books recorded at that time were either stolen or burned. According to the "Times" newspaper, the total amount including robbery and burning was only 6 million pounds.
The Old Summer Palace, in the eyes of many people, is a victim of the war. If one does not understand its history and connotation, it will be no different from other buildings destroyed by war. The Anyou Palace in the park is the royal ancestral temple of the Qing Dynasty. It worships the "divine emperors" of Kangxi and Yongzheng and has more than 2,200 Buddha statues. As for the Buddha statues in Savatthi City, there have been more than 100,000 Buddha statues accumulated over the years since Kangxi. Some are made of pure gold and some are made of jade. How to estimate their value now? It was originally an animal head on the fountain outside Haiyan Hall. Whenever it was dedicated to a certain occasion, the price offered was more than 9 zeros. This is just a simple estimate of the "worth" of the Old Summer Palace based on the value of cultural relics. But, can it be understood? No one knows the detailed number of cultural relics that were stolen that year. If you add its architectural value, as well as the design and time costs, this conclusion should not be a simple arithmetic problem with a few more zeros at the end.
When a country is weak, everything will be lost
It’s not that the Qing Dynasty has never been strong, otherwise it would never have prosperous times. It’s just that in the subsequent reign, it didn’t even know that the outside world had begun. Earth-shaking. When people are roaming the land with guns, they are not thinking about how to strengthen themselves, but thinking about spending money to buy peace. How can there be such a cheap deal in the world? For robbers, once they succeed, they will want more. And Hugo also said that these two robbers, one with his pockets full and the other with his suitcases, will both be punished by history.
Summary
The Old Summer Palace will be an eternal pain. It uses its own history to always remind one thing. Only by self-reliance can we protect it. My own home, my own country. Only by being strong can you be qualified to look down upon everything and defend the beauty of life. Clear photo of the Old Summer Palace before its destruction 2
In September 2016, in the UK, an auction organized by Sotheby's auction house was in full swing.
When a set of photos recording the mysterious oriental gardens appeared at the auction site, the beauty of the scenery and the wonder of the architecture, like a fairyland, attracted the attention of countries all over the world.
People admired the magnificent and beautiful photos with extremely shocked eyes, as if they had arrived in a paradise. These pictures were so breathtakingly beautiful that everyone who saw them was stunned. I can't help but be fascinated by it.
The photographer of this group of photos was British photographer Felice Bute. He took this group of photos in 1860, and the place he photographed was called the Old Summer Palace.
On the day he took the last photo, two groups of robbers raised their criminal torches and burned the Old Summer Palace to the ground.
Time flies and the years change. More than 160 years have passed by. The Old Summer Palace is still a lingering pain in the hearts of every Chinese. Its beauty can only remain in dreams. When we meet again, it is already It's like a lifetime ago.
If that sweet dream still remains in your memory, then at this moment, please follow my words and explore the past and present of this garden of ten thousand gardens.
The Garden of Ten Thousand Gardens
The Old Summer Palace was built during the Kangxi period. Initially, it was just a garden given by Emperor Kangxi to his fourth son, Yinzhen. There are inscriptions written by Emperor Kangxi in the garden. The three words "Old Summer Palace" are hung as a plaque above the door of the Old Summer Palace.
After Yinzhen ascended the throne, that is, Emperor Yongzheng, during his reign, the expansion project of the Old Summer Palace officially began.
Since then, after more than a hundred years of hard work by the five emperors Yongzheng, Qianlong, Jiaqing, Daoguang and Xianfeng, they have devoted all the material resources of the country and gathered craftsmen from all over the country to fill lakes and mountains, plant flowers and trees, and conquer the world with their ingenuity. The Yuanmingyuan Garden was built by exhausting all manpower and integrating all the ancient and modern Chinese and foreign gardening arts at that time.
In the tenth year of Xianfeng reign (1860), the Old Summer Palace was finally built into a fairyland on earth, known as the "Garden of Ten Thousand Gardens".
At this time, the Old Summer Palace was no longer just the Old Summer Palace, it also included two attached gardens, Qichun Garden and Changchun Garden, covering an area of ??more than 350 hectares, almost five The Forbidden City is so big that the water area alone is about 140 hectares.
Walking into the Old Summer Palace, you feel as if you have arrived in the south of the Yangtze River. The exquisite pavilions and pavilions, and the waterside pavilion corridor filled with flowers, all show the charm of the south of the Yangtze River. Emperor Qianlong’s thoughts about the south of the Yangtze River are buried here. The most beautiful memory.
Walking into the Old Summer Palace, you feel as if you are in Europe again. In the Changchun Garden, the Western garden architecture was drawn and supervised by the great painter Castiglione himself. It is very beautiful and spectacular, the "Baroque" of the European Renaissance. The architectural style is perfectly displayed here.
It is no exaggeration to say that the most splendid culture and art from the East and the West are perfectly integrated here. The Old Summer Palace can be called a grand classic of the combination of East and West.
The great French writer Hugo never hesitated to praise it as a building like a moonlight castle. In the eyes of many foreigners, the Old Summer Palace is a A fascinating and beautiful legend.
However, the beauty of the Old Summer Palace is more than that. It is not only graceful, but also very luxurious.
The Old Summer Palace was not only a large royal palace of the Qing Dynasty, it was also the greatest and most magnificent museum and art gallery in the world at that time. It contained countless treasures, books and works of art.
Whether it is the cloisonné enamel double crane incense burner made by Yongzheng, or the long-necked gourd vase that Qianlong loved, or even the "Forty Scenes of Old Summer Palace" which records the heyday of the Old Summer Palace. "Pictures and Songs" and so on, all of them are priceless, and all of them have extremely high economic, cultural and artistic value.
"A Old Summer Palace, half of the history of the Qing Dynasty". In a sense, the influence and status of the Old Summer Palace in the minds of the Qing emperors was no less than that of the Forbidden City.
If there really is a dream in the world, the Old Summer Palace must be the most beautiful one. There is only one word that can be used to describe it, and that is perfection.
The Destruction of Dreams
The word "Yuanming" in Yuanmingyuan literally means "harmony and universal illumination". It means perfection and goodness, full of infinite blessings and blessings. look forward to.
However, such a dream-like art did not get a perfect ending, and was eventually annihilated in a sea of ??fire.
After entering the 19th century, the Qing Dynasty became increasingly decadent and the country's power became increasingly endangered. The once arrogant Eastern power became a very tempting prey in the eyes of the world's powers.
In 1840, 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 has no end.
In 1856, the Second Opium War broke out again, and the damage caused by this war to China was even greater, including the destruction of the Old Summer Palace.
In 1860, after occupying Guangzhou, the British and French forces marched northward and soon reached the city walls of Tianjin, eyeing Beijing.
Faced with the menacing invaders, the ruling group was unable to resist and only wanted to seek peace.
Before the British and French allied forces entered the city, Emperor Xianfeng had already fled to Rehe in panic, leaving an empty city without resistance to the invaders, allowing them to burn, kill, loot and loot on Chinese soil. Trampled wantonly.
At this time, in the eyes of the British and French allied forces, China was just a lamb waiting to be slaughtered. How to seize greater economic benefits was their only purpose, so they unanimously set their sights on Old Summer Palace.
In order to completely defeat the resistance of the Qing ruling group, in order to force the Qing government to surrender as soon as possible, in order to..., or maybe they just wanted to see the legendary garden at first.
On October 6, the British and French allied forces passed through the northeastern suburbs of Beijing and headed towards the Old Summer Palace. They only encountered some resistance from the Qing army along the way, and they marched almost smoothly all the way to the Old Summer Palace in the evening. Grand Palace Gate of Yuanmingyuan.
Under the setting sun, the Old Summer Palace was as quiet and serene as ever, like a pure and beautiful girl standing in the dusk, completely unaware that danger was close at hand.
When the leading soldiers pushed open the gate of the Old Summer Palace, everyone was stunned. What they saw was the beautiful scenery and beautiful things that they had never seen in their lives.
Many years later, the photographer who accompanied the army described it in his diary: What comes into your eyes is the rich and moving colors of the decorations, soaked in the blue of Beijing. In the sky... the majestic buildings are reflected on the lake, like phantoms... I can't help but wonder if I have arrived in the fairy tale world of 'One Thousand and One Nights'.
When entering and exiting the Xianliang Gate, the invading army encountered vigorous resistance from the brave eunuchs of the Old Summer Palace, but in the end they were outnumbered. More than 20 warriors died for their country. The minister in charge of the garden, Wen Feng, threw himself into Fuhai and died. .
At this point, the Old Summer Palace completely fell into the hands of the invaders.
On October 7, the destruction began.
For forty-eight hours, the Old Summer Palace became a hell on earth.
This is a carnival that stuns the invaders, and this is a history that makes the Chinese people heartbroken.
A large number of officers and soldiers poured into the park from all directions, plundering and destroying wantonly. It was difficult to tell which one was British and which one was French. They were all shameless robbers. .
In this way, tens of thousands of treasures in the Old Summer Palace were taken away on carts, and those that could not be taken away were ruthlessly destroyed.
On October 9, when the invading army temporarily withdrew from the Old Summer Palace, the once beautiful royal garden was already in a mess and devastated.
What is heartbreaking is that the tragedy of the Old Summer Palace did not stop there. On October 18, British commander Elgin gave an order, and groups of soldiers held torches and rushed to various palaces. , pagodas, libraries and archives...
Countless precious books, fairyland-like pavilions, and exquisite works of art were all burned in the blazing fire.
The fire burned for three days and three nights, and the thick smoke filled with rosin filled the sky over Beijing for a long time.
A sad song cannot be played out, and the remaining ashes are like smoke flying in the evening.
The beautiful scenery has become a dream, leaving a lingering regret in my heart.
Remember history
When news of the destruction of the Old Summer Palace reached the Summer Resort, Xianfeng vomited blood on the spot and could not afford to fall ill ever since.
During the Tongzhi period, at the behest of the Empress Dowager Cixi, Emperor Tongzhi tried to rebuild it. Unfortunately, less than ten months after it started, it was forced to stop due to depletion of financial resources.
Later, the relics of the Old Summer Palace were robbed by bureaucrats, warlords, and profiteers for a long time. Multiple disasters such as wood catastrophes, stone catastrophes, and earth catastrophes occurred successively. In the end, the Old Summer Palace fell into ruins.
It was not until the founding of New China that the ruins of the Old Summer Palace were well protected.
In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Premier Zhou Enlai gave clear instructions: We must spare no effort to protect the ruins of the Old Summer Palace.
In the mid-1950s, the Beijing Garden Bureau began to green the site and plant trees. By the early 1960s, the long-term desolation in the park had been basically changed.
For a long time, there has been controversy over the renovation of the Old Summer Palace, an important historical and cultural site.
In this regard, the Party Central Committee has made clear regulations: on the basis of protecting the original appearance of the site, the Old Summer Palace should be renovated and opened to the outside world as a patriotic education base.
After years of renovation, the Old Summer Palace has now been officially opened to the public. Countless young people, under the guidance of teachers and accompanied by their parents, are trying to get closer to it, understand it, and understand it.
Although the former glory of the Old Summer Palace has long since disappeared, who can not sigh and sigh whenever people stop here and review its rise and fall?
And when we can only recall and imagine its former glory through old photos taken by foreigners, who is not filled with hatred in their hearts?
Facing this destroyed ruins, every descendant of Yan and Huang will deeply feel that this is a great shame for our Chinese nation, and will also be more clearly aware of " The historical lesson is that if you fall behind, you will be beaten.”
Today’s Old Summer Palace still stands in the northwest of Beijing, silent, but every Chinese can hear its voice. It is an indelible humiliation and a thought-provoking remembrance.
It should be noted that only by working hard and forging ahead can our great motherland prosper and stand forever among the nations of the world.