The Old Summer Palace is a large royal garden in the Qing Dynasty. It is located in the northwest suburbs of Beijing and consists of the Old Summer Palace, Changchun Garden and Qichun Garden, so it is also called the Three Old Summer Palaces. Covering an area of ??3.5 square kilometers, with a construction area of ??160,000 square meters and more than 150 views, it is known as the "Garden of Ten Thousand Gardens". The Qing emperor came here every midsummer to escape the heat, listen to politics, and handle military and political affairs, so it was also called the "Summer Palace."
On October 6, 1860, the British and French forces looted the Old Summer Palace, looted cultural relics, and burned it. Emperor Tongzhi wanted to restore it, but due to financial difficulties, it was forced to stop and rebuild other buildings. After the Eight-Nation Allied Forces, they were attacked by bandits and eventually turned into ruins.
Extended information:
After burning the Old Summer Palace, the British and French forces threatened the Qing court. If they did not surrender, they would invade the city and burn the palace. The decadent and incompetent Manchu rulers immediately signed the Treaty of Beijing, which ceded territory and paid indemnities in exchange for the invaders' retreat.
After the British and French allied forces burned the Old Summer Palace, the photos left behind show that most of the architectural ruins are still relatively intact. For more than thirty years, the Qing government still regarded this as a heavily guarded forbidden garden, and carried out a series of During the restoration project, Emperors Tongzhi and Guangxu and the Empress Dowager Cixi often visited here. However, due to constant internal and external troubles, the Qing government's financial resources were stretched thin, so it could only divert naval funds to build the Summer Palace and was unable to pay more attention to it.
Baidu Encyclopedia-Old Summer Palace