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 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 bank of the mountain.
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, the British-French Allied Forces and the Eight-Power Allied Forces ransacked the Old Summer Palace twice in 1860 and 1900. The buildings in the garden were burned down and cultural relics were looted. The miraculous and mythical Old Summer Palace was turned into ruins, with only broken walls left for people to pay homage to.
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 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 Yuanming Gardens 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 government was conducted, 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. Starting from the next day, officers and soldiers carried out frantic looting and destruction. In order to force the Qing government to accept the peace terms as soon as possible, the British Minister Elgin and the British commander-in-chief Grant used the excuse that the Qing government had imprisoned British and French prisoners in the Old Summer Palace. , ordered Lieutenant General Michael to lead more than 3,500 invading troops on October 18 to go 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, it 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 started.
The Old Summer Palace was not able to achieve such grandeur overnight. It concentrated a large amount of the country’s financial and material resources, employed ineffective craftsmen, and devoted the blood and sweat of millions of working people. It lasted for a long time. It took more than a hundred years for continuous construction and operation. Why did the emperor of the Qing Dynasty make such great efforts and spare no effort to run the Old Summer Palace for a long time? 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 power across the country, 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, there were forests and snowfields in winter and a cool climate 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 were incompatible with each other, and the water flow in the creek was 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 areas of 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, Li Wei, the Marquis of the Qing Dynasty and a relative of the Ming Emperor, carried out extensive construction work here. He first 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.
Around Changchun Garden, there are many private gardens left over from the Ming Dynasty. 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 with the name "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 generally means "completeness and comprehensiveness", while the word "Ming" is interpreted as "brightness and wisdom". Therefore, the name "Yuanmingyuan" is nothing more than the ruling class flaunting their moral cultivation, talent and wisdom. It's just more than usual. Emperor Kangxi's title also expressed his expectations for the prince.
The location of the Old Summer Palace is to the north of Guajiatun, about one mile away from Changchun Garden, which is now north of Peking University and Tsinghua University. west of the 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.
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