The destruction of Mingyuan is an immeasurable loss in the cultural history of the motherland and an immeasurable loss in the cultural history of the world!
The Old Summer Palace is a world-famous royal garden located in the northwest suburbs of Beijing. It consists of the Old Summer Palace, Wanchun Garden and Changchun Garden, so it is also called the Three Old Summer Palaces. In addition, there are many small gardens located on the east, west and south sides of the Old Summer Palace, surrounded by stars like a moon.
In the Old Summer Palace, there are splendid palaces and exquisite pavilions; there are "Business Streets" that symbolize the bustling markets, and there are also mountains and countryside that symbolize the pastoral scenery. Many of the scenery in the garden are modeled after famous places from various places. Such as the Autumn Moon on the Pinghu and the Sunset on the Leifeng Peak of West Lake in Hangzhou, Anlan Garden in Haining, and the Lion Forest in Suzhou. There are also many scenery built based on the poetic and artistic conception of ancient poets. Such as Penglai Yaotai and Wuling spring scenery. There are not only ethnic buildings but also Western landscapes in the garden. Walking in the garden is like roaming all over the world, enjoying the scenic spots at home and abroad; lingering here is like being in a fantasy realm.
The Old Summer Palace is not only a magnificent building, but also houses the most precious historical relics. From the bronze ritual vessels of the pre-Qin era to the paintings and calligraphy of celebrities from the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, there are all kinds of rare treasures. Therefore, it was the largest museum and art gallery in the world at that time.
On October 6, 1860, the British and French forces invaded Beijing and broke into the Old Summer Palace. They looted everything that could be taken away from the garden. If they couldn't move it, they used carts or animals to carry it. If it is really unlucky, destroy and destroy it at will. In order to destroy the evidence, more than 3,000 invading troops were ordered to set fire to the park on October 18th and 19th. The fire burned for three days, and smoke enveloped the entire city of Beijing. This treasure of our country's garden art and the essence of our architectural art was reduced to ashes.
Although the Old Summer Palace suffered devastating damage from the British and French forces in 1860, there are still many architectural remains throughout the park. At least in 1870, some buildings in the Western-style Building were still intact. During the Tongzhi period, there was a large-scale reconstruction of the Chinese-style buildings in the park that was abandoned halfway. So, who completely destroyed it?
Fire robbery: coalition forces, bandits and bandits
When the British and French coalition forces frantically looted the Old Summer Palace, countless bandits participated in the robbery. The British and French allied forces chose the most valuable things to rob, the bandits plundered the remaining essence, and the common people picked up the odds and ends abandoned on the road. Even the eunuchs guarding the garden took advantage of the situation. The easily obtained valuable items were quickly collected, and some people placed their hopes on the tiny treasures scattered and buried in the dust. They picked up brooms and dustpans and blew sand and dust on the roads in the garden. The eunuchs and soldiers guarding the garden They are called "sifting thieves", and there is a proverb: "Sifting the soil, sifting the soil, you will not suffer in your life." Fortunately, the building was not damaged at this time.
Wood robbery: Old Summer Palace turned into a charcoal factory
In 1900, the Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded Beijing, and the gardens in the western suburbs were looted again. This time, the Qing government had completely lost control of the Old Summer Palace. The looters were no longer content with robbing the remaining wealth of the foreigners. They sawed off the scattered buildings, pillars and piles of the wooden bridges in the garden that had been destroyed by the fire. , pulled down with big ropes, and all the trees in the garden were cut down. At that time, timber piled up like mountains in Qinghe Town, and the trade was busy. There were many charcoal factories in the park, and all the branches and roots were burned into charcoal.
Stone Tribulation: You can also make a fortune by selling stones
In the early years of the Republic of China, the warlords who changed like a revolving lantern all used the Old Summer Palace as an inexhaustible supply of building materials. The archives of the Puyi period were left behind. There are many helpless records: "The soldiers escorted more than 10 trucks every day to transport the Taihu stones in the park." In fact, the situation of demolition and selling was much more serious than what was recorded in the files. Xu Shichang demolished the timber belonging to the Mingchun Garden and Jingchun Garden of the Old Summer Palace, and Wang Huaiqing demolished the large walls of the Anyou Palace and the stones of the Western-style building in the garden. From then on, everything that could be used as building materials in the ruins of the Old Summer Palace, from the square bricks on the ground, roof tiles, wall bricks, stone strips, to the underground wooden nails, wooden piles, copper pipes, etc., were collected, and the process was carried out intermittently for more than 20 years. ! Later generations called this the "stone disaster" after the fire disaster in the Old Summer Palace.
Earth Tribulation: Opening fields to grow rice in the royal gardens
At this point, the Old Summer Palace has gone through fire, wood and stone tribulations, and the buildings, trees, bricks and stones have all disappeared. , is its tragic fate over? not yet! It will also go through the final and more thorough "earth disaster". In the last years of Xuantong, local bannermen had built houses on the site of the palace in the garden, facing the former royal garden with wheat rows. During the Japanese occupation after 1940, Beijing was short of food, so it rewarded land reclamation. From then on, farmers gradually entered the park to fill the mountains and lakes, and opened fields to grow rice. The Old Summer Palace, a beautiful lake and mountain that took more than 150 years of painstaking management during the heyday of the early Qing Dynasty, has changed beyond recognition.