Let’s use the Old Summer Palace as an introduction! ~Just choose a summary! ~
Introduction to the Old Summer Palace
The Old Summer Palace is located in the western suburbs of Beijing, east of Haidian District. It was originally a large royal garden in the Qing Dynasty, covering an area of ??about 5,200 acres. Its layout is in the shape of an inverted Chinese character. The Old Summer Palace consists of three gardens: Yuanming Garden, Changchun Garden and Qichun Garden, with a total area of ??350 hectares.
Its land building area is as large as the Forbidden City, and its water area is equal to the Summer Palace. The Old Summer Palace brought together the characteristics of several famous gardens and scenic spots in the south of the Yangtze River at that time, and integrated the essence of ancient Chinese gardening art. It used the artistic technique of a garden within a garden to blend poetry and painting into the ever-changing scenery. The southern part of the Old Summer Palace was the imperial court area, where the emperor conducted official business. There are 40 scenic spots scattered in the rest of the area, of which more than 50 scenic spots directly imitate famous gardens and scenic spots in other places, such as the Ten Scenic Spots of West Lake in Hangzhou, which not only imitate the architecture, but also copy the names. What’s even more interesting is that there is also a Western-style garden scenic area in the Old Summer Palace. The most famous "Water Viewing Method" is a Western fountain, as well as a maze of thousands of flowers and a Western-style building, all of which have the style of the Italian Renaissance. There is also a model of Venice city in the lake. The emperor can enjoy the "water city scenery" thousands of miles away while sitting on the mountain on the shore.
The Old Summer Palace is a treasure house, which contains rare cultural relics such as famous calligraphy and paintings, secret classics, bells and tripods, gold and silver jewelry, etc., which concentrates the essence of ancient culture. The Old Summer Palace is also a garden of exotic trees and flowers, with millions of rare flowers and trees. Westerners who have fully witnessed the Old Summer Palace call it the "Garden of Ten Thousand Gardens". Indeed, if it were still the same today as it was 140 years ago, this super giant garden would be the well-deserved "King of Gardens in the World." Regrettably, in 1860, the British and French forces looted the Old Summer Palace. The buildings in the garden were burned down and the cultural relics were looted. The miraculous and mythical Old Summer Palace was turned into ruins, with only broken walls left for tourists to pay their respects.
The historical development of the Old Summer Palace
The famous royal garden of the Qing Dynasty. In the forty-eighth year of Kangxi (1709), Emperor Kangxi (i.e. Xuanye, the Holy Ancestor of the Qing Dynasty) gave his fourth son Yinzhen a garden one mile north of Changchun Garden in the northwest suburbs of Beijing, and personally inscribed the garden with "Old Summer Palace". In the third year of Yongzheng's reign (1725), Emperor Yongzheng (i.e. Zong Yinzhen of the Qing Dynasty) built an additional palace office in the south of Old Summer Palace, and the area was expanded from more than 600 acres to more than 3,000 acres. Since then, the Old Summer Palace has not only been a place for the Qing emperors to rest and visit, but also a place for them to meet with ministers, receive foreign envoys, and handle daily government affairs. After Emperor Qianlong (namely Hongli, Emperor Gaozong of Qing Dynasty) came to the throne, he adjusted the garden landscape in Old Summer Palace, added architectural groups, and built Changchun Garden and Qichun Garden (renamed Wanchun Garden during Tongzhi) in the east and southeast neighbors of Old Summer Palace. . These three gardens are all managed by the ministers who manage the Old Summer Palace, and are called the Three Gardens of the Old Summer Palace.
The Three Gardens of Yuanming Dynasty cover an area of ??more than 5,200 acres and have more than 150 scenes. Among them, the most famous are the Zhengda Guangming Hall where the emperor listened to government affairs, the Anyou Palace where ancestors were worshiped, the high mountain and long water tower where banquets were held, the Pengdao Yaotai that simulated the "Fairy Mountain Pavilion Picture", and the spring scenery of Wuling in the realm of "Peach Blossom Spring". Some famous gardens and scenic spots in the south of the Yangtze River, such as the Lion Forest in Suzhou and the Ten Scenes of the West Lake in Hangzhou, have also been imitated in the gardens. There is also a group of European-style buildings in Changchun Garden, commonly known as Western-style buildings. The Old Summer Palace is also a large royal museum that houses many treasures, books and artistic masterpieces.
In August of the 10th year of Xianfeng (1860), the British and French forces invaded Beijing. On October 6, the Old Summer Palace was occupied. From the next day onwards, officers and soldiers went on a rampage of looting and destruction. In order to force the Qing government to accept the peace terms as soon as possible, British Minister Elgin and British Commander-in-Chief Grant used the excuse that the Qing government had imprisoned British and French prisoners in the Old Summer Palace, and ordered Lieutenant General Michael to lead an invasion force of 3,000 troops on October 18. More than 500 people went straight to the Old Summer Palace and set it on fire. The fire lasted for two days and two nights, burning the Old Summer Palace into ruins.
During the Tongzhi period (1862-1874), Emperor Tongzhi prepared to restore the Old Summer Palace for Empress Dowager Cixi to live. Later, due to financial difficulties, it was forced to stop and rebuild other buildings.
In 1900, the Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded Beijing and the Old Summer Palace was destroyed again. After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, some warlords, politicians, and bureaucrats stole building materials from the Old Summer Palace, causing further damage to the Old Summer Palace site.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the country attached great importance to the protection of the Old Summer Palace ruins. In 1979, the Old Summer Palace site was listed as a key cultural relic protection unit in Beijing. After that, the renovation work of the Yuanmingyuan ruins gradually began.
The construction of the Old Summer Palace
The achievement of the Old Summer Palace to its grandeur was not achieved overnight. It concentrated a large amount of the country’s financial and material resources, employed countless skilled craftsmen, and devoted It took more than a hundred years of construction and operation with the blood and sweat of millions of working people. So why did the emperor of the Qing Dynasty put so much effort into running the Old Summer Palace for a long time without any expense? This is closely related to the living habits of the Manchus.
Our country is a multi-ethnic country. The industrious and brave Manchu people have thrived for generations on the rich and beautiful land of the Heilongjiang River Basin in Northeast China. In the mid-17th century, the Qing army, under the leadership of its outstanding leader, feudal statesman, and strategist Nurhachi's son Huang Taiji, and regent Dorgon, marched into North China and completely overthrew the corrupt Ming Dynasty. He made Beijing the capital, seized political power across the country, and established the Qing Dynasty, the last feudal ruling dynasty in history. Because the Qing Dynasty rulers lived a nomadic life in the Northeast before entering the customs, there were forests and snowfields in winter, and the climate was cool in summer. After entering the customs, they were not accustomed to the dry and hot climate in Beijing in midsummer. Although the Forbidden City was splendid and magnificent, the Qing emperors felt that it was dull and stuffy. Especially in the early years of Kangxi, after a fire broke out in the Forbidden City, high palace walls were built to prevent fires and palace riots. The inner and outer courtyards of the palace are in harmony with each other, and the water in the creek is too gentle, almost becoming a stagnant water. At that time, the imperial city was known as "red walls, green tiles, and black ditches". This made the emperors somewhat tired of the palace life enclosed by high walls, so they began to build gardens in the early years of Kangxi. This kind of construction project lasted for more than 200 years. In the western suburbs of Beijing, there are continuous beautiful peaks of the Western Mountains: Yuquan Mountain, Wanshou Mountain, Wanquanzhuang, Beihaidian and other terrains. Artesian springs are everywhere, and they form large and small lakes and swamps in low-lying areas. Yuquan Mountain Water flows along the mountain from west to east into Kunming Lake, becoming the largest water surface in the western suburbs. In ancient times, working people lived and worked hard here, cultivating large rice fields and forming a natural scenic area. As early as the Liao Dynasty, feudal emperors chose this place to build their Yuquan Mountain Palace. By the Ming Dynasty, the natural scenery here attracted more tourists, so some dignitaries occupied the countryside to build villas, and large tracts of land were occupied piece by piece. During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Emperor's relatives, Qinghou Li Wei, built a large-scale construction project here. First, they built the magnificent Tsinghua Garden, known as "the most famous garden in Beijing" (its former site is outside the west wall of Peking University today). Later, Mi Wanzhong guided the lake water outside the east wall of Tsinghua University and created an elegant and beautiful "Spoon Garden", which means "a spoon in Haidian". In the open countryside, pavilions and pavilions appeared, complementing the lakes and mountains, making it a famous garden gathering place in the suburbs of Beijing. In the Qing Dynasty, the emperor also took a fancy to the western suburbs, which was an excellent land for gardening. This is how large-scale garden construction began.
In the 28th year of Kangxi (AD 1688), Xuanye ordered the construction of Changchun Garden with an area of ??60 hectares on the former site of Qinghua Garden. He spent most of the year there to avoid noise and listen to politics. This was the beginning of garden life for the emperors of the Qing Dynasty. However, the status of Changchun Garden did not last long and was later replaced by the Old Summer Palace.
There are many private gardens left over from the Ming Dynasty around Changchun Garden. After they were returned to Fenchenyuan of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the early Qing Dynasty, these former Ming private gardens were given to members of the Qing royal family and princes and ministers. In the forty-eighth year of Kangxi (1709 AD), the Old Summer Palace was an old Ming Dynasty garden given to Yinzhen, the fourth son of Emperor Kangxi, as a vassal garden. Emperor Kangxi personally inscribed the plaque "Old Summer Palace" on it. This world-famous garden began its history from scratch and from prosperity to decline in this year.
Yinzhen was the later Emperor Yongzheng. He was very proud of the garden he was given. Regarding the meaning of the word "Yuanmingyuan" inscribed by Kangxi, he wrote this in "The Story of Yuanmingyuan" Explanation: Yuanming’s will is far-reaching, but it is not easy to see. I try to borrow words from ancient times to embody the virtue of Yuanming. A husband with a round face is entranced, and a gentleman is in the right moment. The word "Yuan" here roughly means "completeness and comprehensiveness", while the word "Ming" is interpreted as "brightness and wisdom". Therefore, naming "Yuanmingyuan" is nothing more than the ruling class flaunting their moral cultivation, talent and wisdom. Just beyond the usual. Emperor Kangxi's title also expressed his expectations for the prince.
The Old Summer Palace is located to the north of Guajiatun, about a mile away from Changchun Garden, which is now north of Peking University and west of Tsinghua University. The Old Summer Palace in the Kangxi era had water surfaces such as the Front Lake and the Back Lake, and landscapes such as the "Peony Terrace" and "Natural Pictures" were built inside. When the Old Summer Palace was still a vassal-granted garden, its regulations could not exceed the emperor's Changchun Garden, so there were not many scenes built and its reputation was not great, far inferior to Changchun Garden. But later, with the accession of the owner to the throne, the peaceful and prosperous age 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.
The composition of the Old Summer Palace
The Old Summer Palace in history is composed of the Old Summer Palace, Changchun Garden, and Qichun Garden (Wanchun Garden). The three gardens are closely adjacent to each other and are commonly known as the Old Summer Palace. *** covers an area of ??more than 5,200 acres (about 350 hectares), which is nearly a thousand acres larger than the entire Summer Palace. It is a large-scale royal palace created and operated by the feudal emperors of the Qing Dynasty for more than 150 years. The emperors of the Yongzheng, Qianlong, Jiaqing, Daoguang and Xianfeng dynasties all lived in the Old Summer Palace for many years to enjoy themselves, hold court meetings and handle political affairs here. Together with the Forbidden City (Forbidden City), it was the national political center at that time and was specially designated by the Qing emperor. It's called "Royal Garden".
Old Summer Palace
It was mainly built in the late Kangxi and Yongzheng dynasties. By the end of Yongzheng, the garden scenery had spread over 3,000 acres of the entire garden. During the Qianlong period, many additions and renovations were made in the garden. The main garden scenery groups of the garden include the famous "Forty Scenes of the Old Summer Palace" (namely, Uprightness and Brightness, Diligence and Friendship, Jiuzhou Qingyan, Yue Kaiyun, Natural Pictures, Bitong Academy, Ciyun Puhu, Shangxia Tianguang, Xinghuachun Pavilion, Frankness and magnanimity, Rugu Hanjin, Changchun Fairy Pavilion, Wanfang Anhe, Wuling spring scenery, high mountains and long rivers, moon and earth clouds, Hongci Yonghu, Huifang Academy, Ritian Linzi , tranquility, the fragrance of orchids reflected in the water, the clear water and trees, the happy place of Lianxi River, many crops like clouds, fish leaping and flying kites, Beiyuan Mountain Village, the beautiful scenery of Xifeng, Siyi Bookstore, Fanghu Scenic Area, bathing body and bathing virtue, Pinghu Qiuyue, Pengdao Yaotai, Jiexiu Shanfang, Biyoudongtian, Jiajing Mingqin, Hanxulangjian, Kuoran Grand Duke, Sitting on a Stone and Linliu, Quyuan Fenghe, Deep in the Cave), as well as Zibishanfang, Zaoyuan, Ruo Fanzhi Pavilion, Wenyuan Pavilion and other places. At that time, there were about 600 major garden buildings with plaques hanging on them, which was actually the highest number of royal gardens at home and abroad today.
Changchun Garden
It was first built around the tenth year of Qianlong (1745). When the general manager of the garden was formally established in 1751, the main scenic spots on Yuanzhong Road and West Road had basically Completed, such as Danhuai Hall, Hanjing Hall, Yulinglong Hall, Siyongzhai, Haiyue Kaijin, Dequan Pavilion, Liuxiangzhu, Fahui Temple, Baoxiang Temple, Aishan Tower, Zhuanxiangfan, and Congfangxie wait. Later, Qian Garden and Xiao Youtian Garden were built successively. The scenic spots in the eastern part of the garden (Yingqingzhai, Ruyuan, Jianyuan, and Lion Grove) were added on a large scale from the 31st to the 37th year of Qianlong's reign, including the Western-style Building Scenic Area and the Changchun Garden's largest area. One dry acre. There are approximately 200 garden buildings with plaques hanging on them.
Qichun Garden
It was originally a residence granted by Prince Yunxiang of Qia. It was built around the end of Kangxi's reign. Later, it was granted to the great scholar Fu Heng until the 35th year of Qianlong's reign. (1770) It was officially included in the Imperial Garden and named Qichun Garden. The scope at that time did not include its northwest. In the fourth and sixteenth years of Jiaqing, two more gardens were granted to the western part of the park, one was Xishuang Village owned by Prince Cheng Yongxuan, and the other was Hanhui Garden owned by Princess Zhuang Jing and Heshuo. After large-scale repairs and reconstructions, , after the expansion, the garden began to reach a scale of one thousand acres and became one of the main gardens where the Qing emperors lived. At this point, the Three Gardens of Yuanming Dynasty were in their heyday.
Jiaqing first wrote the poem "Thirty Scenes of Qichun Garden", and then successively added more than 20 new scenes. The more famous garden scene groups at that time included Fuchuntang, Qingxiazhai, Hanqiu Pavilion, Shengdong Room, Siyi Bookstore, Chunzezhai, Fenglinzhou, Weizaotang, Zhonghetang, Bixiang, Zhulinyuan, Xiyushanfang, Yanyu Tower, Hanhui Tower, Chengxintang, Changhetang, Zhanqingxuan, Zhaoliangxie, Ling There are nearly 30 places including Xu Pavilion. There are more than a hundred garden buildings with plaques hanging on them. The Qichun Garden Palace Gate was built in the 14th year of Jiaqing (1809). Because it was built more than half a century later than the Grand Palace Gate of the Old Summer Palace and the Second Palace Gate of the Changchun Garden, it is also called the "New Palace Gate" and is still in use today. Since the early years of Daoguang's reign, the Fuchuntang area on East Yuan Road has been renovated and used as a place to support the empress dowager. However, the scenery on West Yuan Road has always been the garden residence of Emperor Daoguang and Xianfeng. After the garden was destroyed in 1860, it was renamed Wanchun Garden when attempts were made to rebuild it during the Tongzhi period.
Western-style Building
In order to pursue various pleasures, the Qing Emperor also introduced an area of ??European-style garden architecture in the northern boundary of Changchun Garden, commonly known as "Western-style Building". It consists of more than ten buildings and gardens, including Xianfa Bridge, Thousand Flower Array, Bird Cage, Fangwaiwai, Haiyantang, Yuanyingguan, Dashuifa, Guanshuifa, Xianfa Mountain and Xianfa Wall. Planning began in the 12th year of Qianlong (1747) and was basically completed in the 24th year (1759). It was designed and directed by Western missionaries such as Lang Shining, Jiang Youren, and Wang Zhicheng, and built by Chinese craftsmen. The architectural form is in the late European Renaissance "Baroque" style, and the gardening form is in the "Le Notre" style. But it also absorbed many traditional techniques from my country in terms of gardening and architectural decoration.
The main body of the Western-style building is actually an artificial fountain, sometimes called "water method". It is characterized by large numbers, great momentum, and unique ideas. It mainly forms three large fountain groups: Xieququ, Haiyantang and Dashuifa, which are quite interesting.
Humorous and interesting: It is the first building built in the autumn of the 16th year of Qianlong's reign. The main body is three stories. There is a large sea hall-style fountain in the south of the building, which is composed of bronze geese, bronze sheep and Western stonefish. fountain. On the left and right sides of the building, an octagonal hall protrudes from the curved corridor, where Chinese and Western music are played.
Haiyan Hall: It is the largest palace in the Western Building. The main entrance of the main building faces west. There is a large pool in front of the steps. On the left and right of the pool are twelve bronze statues of animal faces and human figures (rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog). , pig, which are the twelve zodiac signs of our country), they spray water in sequence every day and night, one hour (2 hours) each. At noon, the twelve zodiac animals spray water together, commonly known as the "water clock". This elaborate design of replacing Western nude statues with twelve zodiac signs is really a masterpiece of combining Western and Chinese elements. It was originally a European-style naked woman, but Kangxi felt that a naked woman was not in line with Chinese customs, so he changed it to the twelve zodiac signs and made it out of bronze.
Dashuifa: It is the most spectacular fountain in the Western-style building. The building is shaped like a stone niche, resembling a doorway. There is a large lion head spraying water below, forming a seven-layer water curtain. There is an elliptical chrysanthemum-style fountain at the front and bottom. In the center of the pool is a copper sika deer, which sprays water eight times from its antlers. There are ten copper dogs on the two servants, who spray water columns from their mouths and shoot directly at the deer's body, splashing waves. Commonly known as "hunting dogs chasing deer". There is a huge water spray tower on the left and right fronts of the Great Water Method. The tower is square and has thirteen floors. Water jets are sprayed out from the top. There are eighty-eight copper pipes around the tower, all of which spray water at the same time. At that time, the emperor sat in the Guanshuifa opposite and watched this group of fountains. The British envoy Macartney and the Dutch envoy Sheng Sheng all "visited" the wonders of the Waterfa here. It is said that if all the fountains are opened, it will be like a mountain torrent. The sound will be so loud that people must make gestures when talking close by. You can imagine how spectacular it will be.
The Array of Ten Thousand Flowers is a garden modeled after a European labyrinth. Its main feature is that it is divided into a number of mazes with four-foot-high carved brick walls with Chinese characters, so it is called the "Ten Thousand Flowers Array". During the heyday, on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Qing emperor would sit in the round pavilion in the center of the array. The palace ladies would hold lotus lanterns made of yellow silk and run around. The first person to arrive would receive the emperor's reward. Therefore, it is also called Huanghua Array or Huanghua Lantern. Although the diameter distance from the entrance to the central pavilion is only more than 30 meters, because this formation is easy to enter and difficult to exit, and it is easy to walk into a dead end, the Qing emperor took pleasure in sitting on a high place and watching the lotus lanterns flowing east and west.
The palace has nine rooms, with a main ridge and double eaves resting on the mountain, and a roof covered with yellow glazed tiles. It is the largest building in the garden. There are pine trees and caps around it, and there are two pairs of Chinese tables at the southern end of the central axis, giving people a sense of solemnity. Fanghu Scenic Spot, located on the shore of the northeastern bay of Fuhai, was built according to the fantasy fairy mountain Qiongge. According to historical records, here There are more than 2,200 Buddha statues enshrined and more than 30 pagodas. The front base of this building is made of white marble in the shape of a "mountain" and extends into the water. The whole building is huge and magnificent. Whenever the mist begins to rise in the morning, the building disappears and appears in the smoke, just like a Qiongge Yaotai. The style and momentum of this building are rare among existing garden buildings in my country. Savatthi City is a typical Buddhist building. It is said that it was built after the layout of the capital of the ancient Indian state of Qiaosara. There are 326 palaces and houses in the city. Since the Kangxi reign, whenever the emperor, empress dowager and empress dowager celebrate their birthdays, the Buddha statues enshrined by princes, princes and ministers have been stored here. Among them are pure gold, silver-plated, jade carvings, and bronze sculptures. Year after year, there are hundreds of thousands of them. The Old Summer Palace was looted and burned. The damage caused by this single place, whether in terms of economic value or cultural and artistic value, is difficult to estimate in numbers.
The Old Summer Palace embodies the essence of ancient Chinese gardening art and is the most outstanding large-scale garden at that time. Emperor Qianlong said of it: "This is the area where the real treasures of the earth and the emperor travel, and there is no way to surpass this." It also occupies an important position in the history of world garden architecture. Its fame spread to Europe and it was known as the "Garden of Ten Thousand Gardens". The great French writer Hugo made this comment in 1861: "You just have to imagine that it is a fascinating building like a castle like the Moon Palace. The Summer Palace (referring to the Old Summer Palace) is such a building." People often do this. Say: Greece has the Parthenon, Egypt has the pyramids, Rome has the Colosseum, and the East has summer palaces. This is a breathtaking and unparalleled masterpiece.
Collection
The Old Summer Palace is not only famous for its gardens, but also a royal museum with an extremely rich collection, which can be called a cultural treasure house. Hugo once said: "Even if all the treasures of Notre Dame de Paris in our country (France) are added together, they cannot compare with this large and magnificent Oriental Museum." The garden is luxuriously furnished and has a large collection of art. Treasure. According to descriptions from Westerners who have witnessed the Yuanmingyuan, “the splendor and splendor of the garden are beyond description, and beyond the imagination of Europeans.” "All kinds of precious treasures are accumulated in this royal villa, among thousands of households." The finest carved red sandalwood furniture, exquisite ancient cracked porcelain and enamel bottles, brocades and carpets woven with gold and silver, Leather goods, gold-plated French clocks, the exquisite general map of the Old Summer Palace, gem-inlaid hunting pictures, lifelike plaques with landscapes and figures, as well as various other domestic artistic masterpieces and various bizarre European decorations are all on offer.
The Old Summer Palace contains an extremely rich collection of books and cultural relics, here are just a few examples. Wenyuan Pavilion is a library built after Fan's Tianyi Pavilion in Ningbo. It is one of the famous four royal north pavilions and was built in the 40th year of Qianlong's reign. The pavilion contains one copy of the "Sikuquanshu" issued by Qianlong and Kangxi's "Collection of Ancient and Modern Books". "Sikuquanshu" is the largest comprehensive series in ancient my country, containing more than 3400 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 courage of the Chinese nation. Because the "Quanshu" contains so many chapters, the most important ones were selected and compiled into the "Siku Quanshu Collection", totaling 12,000 volumes. There are two copies of "Huiyao". One is stored in the Forbidden City's Azao Hall, and the other is stored in the "Weifu Study Room" in the east wing of the Sutra Hall in Changchun Garden. In addition, there is another famous literary pavilion in Hanjing Hall - Chunhua Pavilion, which was specially built to collect copies of the famous Dharma calligraphy "Chunhua Pavilion Calligraphy". "Ge Tie" was originally copied in the third year of Chunhua (992) in Beining, and includes the calligraphy works of 99 people including Wang Xizhi, Wang Xianzhi, Cang Jie, Xia Yu, and Confucius. The Tie is divided into ten volumes. It is the first large-scale collection of Tie in my country and is known as the ancestor of all Tie. During the Qianlong period, according to the Northern Song Dynasty's "Initial Expansion and Gift Edition" of "Ge Tie", after careful review and revision, the stone carvings were carried out. It took three years, and in the spring of the 37th year of Qianlong's reign (1772), the 144 imprinted boards were inlaid in the 24 corridors in front of the Chunhua Pavilion.
This is the famous "Qianlong's engraving of Chunhua Pavilion Notes". Needless to say, when the Old Summer Palace was destroyed, the precious cultural relics such as "Sikuquanshu", "Collection of Complete Books", "Collection of Ancient and Modern Books", "Chunhua Pavilion Notes" and other precious books and cultural relics collected in the garden were not spared. This can reflect from one aspect the huge damage caused to human culture by the imperialist invaders burning the Old Summer Palace.
Of course, nothing is perfect. The Old Summer Palace is so large, and it was expanded and renovated by emperors of several dynasties. Coupled with the influence of the decadent consciousness of feudal emperors, no matter how you look at it, it still has shortcomings. However, overall, the Old Summer Palace is indeed an outstanding garden. It can be said that it is the culmination of thousands of years of excellent gardening art in my country and pushes my country's classical gardens to a new height. At that time, everyone who witnessed its grand occasion said that it was indeed good. Some Westerners started to take a new look at Chinese gardens from the Old Summer Palace. In short, the Old Summer Palace has won honors for our ancient civilization and was once the pride of our Chinese nation!
The chief designer of the Old Summer Palace was an architect named Lei Jinyu, who was spotted by Kangxi when he was building Bauhinia City. But in the actual construction, it was mostly the emperor's opinion. Whether it was Kangxi, Yongzheng or Qianlong, they all personally guided it.