After the British and French allied forces captured Beijing in the tenth year of Xianfeng in Qing Dynasty (1860), they occupied Yuanmingyuan on June 6, 10. China's defenders were outnumbered, and Wenfeng, the chief minister of Yuanmingyuan, committed suicide by throwing himself into Fuhai. Chang Ai, who lived in the garden, was scared to death. Two days after the British and French allied forces looted, they marched into the city. On June 65438+1October1day, the British army sent 1200 cavalry and an infantry regiment to rob Yuanmingyuan again. James Bruce, the British plenipotentiary, took Parkes and others as an excuse to put the burning of Yuanmingyuan on the agenda as a prerequisite. 10 year 10 month 18 day, 3500 British troops rushed into Yuanmingyuan and set fire to it. The fire didn't go out for three days, and the Yuanmingyuan and its nearby Qingyi Garden, Jingming Garden, Jingyi Garden, Changchun Garden and Haidian Town were all burned into ruins. Nearly 300 eunuchs, ladies-in-waiting and craftsmen were buried in the fire of Anyou Palace. Become a rare atrocity in the history of world civilization.
Burning Yuanmingyuan is a common saying. In fact, the real concept of burning Yuanmingyuan is not just burning Yuanmingyuan, but burning the royal three mountains and five gardens in the west of Beijing. The burning area is much larger than that of Yuanmingyuan.
These three mountains and five gardens are: Wanshou Mountain, Yuquan Mountain, Xiangshan Mountain, Qingyi Garden, Yuanmingyuan Garden, Changchun Garden, Jingming Garden and Jingyi Garden.
Invaders burned Yuanmingyuan twice in history. The Yuanmingyuan was burned down for the first time in the tenth year of Xianfeng in Qing Dynasty (1860), and the British and French allied forces invaded Beijing. The British and French allied forces burned and looted everywhere, savagely plundered and burned the world-famous Yuanmingyuan, and most of the temple buildings in the park were destroyed by fire. The British and French allied forces burned the Yuanmingyuan, aiming to raze it to the ground. However, due to the large area of Yuanmingyuan, scattered scenic spots and vast waters, some remote places and scenic spots in the water survived. According to the winter survey in the 12th year of Tongzhi (1873), there are still 13 buildings in the park. For example, Pengdao Yaotai and Cangzhou Wu in Yuanmingyuan, Dagongmen and Zhengjue Temple in Qichun Garden, etc.
The Yuanmingyuan was burned down for the second time in the 26th year of Guangxu reign of Qing Dynasty (1900). Eight-Nation Alliance invaded Beijing and set fire to Yuanmingyuan again, so that the only remaining 13 royal palace buildings here were looted and burned again.
In literary works, it seems that the sin of burning Yuanmingyuan is attributed to the incompetence of Empress Dowager Cixi. It sounds reasonable, but it's not exact. Countless facts in history show that a poor, backward and weak country and nation can only be oppressed, exploited, humiliated and plundered. The history of burning Yuanmingyuan once again proves that a poor, backward and weak country will be beaten.
Now, Yuanmingyuan has been turned into a ruins park, and protective maintenance is being carried out on the ruins, and the mountain water system, garden vegetation, bridges and culverts are restored, and some ancient buildings will also be rebuilt.
Loot Yuanmingyuan
1860, 10 On June 6, the British and French allied forces bypassed the northeast suburb of Beijing and went straight to Yuanmingyuan. At that time, Sang Linqin and his remnants resisted in the north of the city for a while and then fled. The French army went ahead and passed Haidian in the afternoon. On the evening of 654381October 6, the invading army broke into the gate of Yuanmingyuan Grand Palace. At this time, at the entrance and exit of Xianliangmen, more than 20 skilled eunuchs in Yuanmingyuan waged a life-and-death struggle with the enemy, "from ruin", but in the end, because they were outnumbered, Ren Liang, the "eight-product leader" of Yuanmingyuan, and others died heroically. At 7 pm, the French invaders captured the Yuanmingyuan. Wenfeng, Minister of Landscape Management, died in Fuhai.
65438 10/7, the leader of British and French aggression against China broke into Yuanmingyuan, and immediately "sent three members of the British and French Committee to discuss the distribution of treasures in the garden." On the same day, French Army Commander Montaubon wrote to the French Foreign Minister: "I ordered French members to pay attention to the most valuable objects in art and archaeology first. This trip will be dedicated by you to His Majesty the Emperor (Charles Louis Napolé on Bonaparte), which is extremely rare in France and will be hidden in the French Museum. " British commander Grant immediately "sent officers to collect things that should belong to the British." The day after the British and French invaders entered the park, they could no longer resist the temptation of things. The officers and men rushed forward in droves to snatch the treasures of gold and silver and cultural and artistic treasures in the park.
There are too many things to rob in Yuanmingyuan. According to a British witness, the whole French camp was filled with many colorful clocks and watches, and around the soldiers' tents, silks and satins and embroidery were everywhere. A British private named Hollis was nicknamed "China Zhan Mu" because he plundered and got rich and enjoyed life in Yuanmingyuan.
We will never know how much treasure the British and French invaders took from Yuanmingyuan, because all the furnishings and accounts in the garden were robbed and destroyed. The following information may give you a glimpse of the leopard. According to the historical records of the Qing Dynasty, only 4,465,438 European clocks and watches were exhibited and stored in Yuanmingyuan at that time, and only one big clock was spared. Afterwards, some lost objects robbed by bandits and abandoned by the invading army reached 1 197, which was at best one thousandth of the objects in the park. According to a newsletter of The Times at that time, "it is estimated that the total value of looted and destroyed property is over 6 million pounds". In fact, a large part of the goods robbed and destroyed by the British and French invaders are priceless. This heinous crime of destroying human culture is really outrageous!
According to the descriptions of British and French officers, priests and journalists who witnessed the looting, officers and men, British and French people flocked to Yuanmingyuan from all directions in order to seize the treasure, and they were eager to take whatever they wanted. They beat each other and even fought for the treasure. Because there are so many treasures in the garden, they don't know what to take at the moment. Some moved cloisonne porcelain bottles, some coveted embroidered robes, some chose high-grade leather clothes, and some got wall clocks inlaid with pearls and jade. Some carry big bags, which are full of all kinds of treasures. Some people put gold bars and leaves in the big pockets of their coats; Some are wrapped in brocade; Some hats are filled with rubies, sapphires, pearls and crystals; Some people wear jade collars around their necks. There is a mountain of high-grade silks and satins in one wing, which is said to be enough for half of Beijing residents, and all of them are carried away by soldiers in carts. A British officer plundered a golden Buddha from a temple with 500 Buddha statues, with a value of 1 200. A French officer robbed property worth 600,000 francs. The treasure plundered by the son of Montaubon, commander-in-chief of the French army, was worth 300 thousand francs and filled several carriages. A British private named Hollis once stole two golden Buddha pagodas (all three stories, one 7 feet high and the other 6.4 feet high) and a lot of other treasures from the garden, and found seven strong men to carry them back to the barracks for him. . In addition to robbery, the invaders destroyed countless things. Several rooms were full of silks and satins, and clothes were dragged out of the box and thrown all over the floor. People can almost cover their knees when they walk into the room. The engineer with a big axe smashed all the furniture and took the jewels from it. Some people break big mirrors, others shoot candlesticks for fun. Most French soldiers waved sticks and smashed everything they couldn't take with them. 654381October 9 When the French army temporarily evacuated Yuanmingyuan, this beautiful garden was destroyed.
Burning Yuanmingyuan
Just as the Qing government bowed to the invaders and promised to accept all the conditions of "negotiation and peace", on the other day, when signing the contract, Elgin and Grant, the leaders of the British invasion of China, made the Qing government "shocked" in order to impress them with their invasion of China, and even brazenly ordered the burning of Yuanmingyuan under the pretext that the Qing government arrested ministers and abused prisoners of war. Erkin wanted to send a message by burning Yuanmingyuan: It is the Emperor China and his minions who should be responsible for the atrocities such as arresting officials and abusing prisoners, not the people of China. A few days before the retaliation, Erkin ordered the following announcements to be posted all over Beijing, declaring the purpose of the British and French allied forces to burn the Yuanmingyuan: "No one, no matter how high his position, can escape responsibility and punishment after committing fraud and atrocities; Yuanmingyuan will be burned on (1860 10) 18 as a punishment for the treachery of Emperor China; Only the Qing imperial government should be responsible for this, and people who have nothing to do with atrocities do not have to worry about being hurt. " (Translated from the original English text)
10June 18 and June 19, 3,000 to 4,000 British troops set fire to all parts of the park. The fire didn't go out for three days and nights, and the smoke cloud enveloped Beijing for a long time. This unique garden masterpiece was burned together. Afterwards, according to the official investigation of the Qing Dynasty, there were only 20 or 30 temples, pavilions, temples, official doors, value rooms and other buildings in the huge Yuanming Three Gardens, but many doors and windows were uneven, and the indoor furnishings and several cases were looted. Since then, some buildings of Qingyi Garden in Wanshou Mountain, Jingyi Garden in Xiangshan Mountain and Jingming Garden in Yuquan Mountain have also been burned down.
According to relevant records, in June of 10, when the British invading army burned down Anyou Palace, 300 eunuchs, maids-in-waiting, craftsmen, etc. were burned alive because they came suddenly and the eunuch in charge locked the gate of Anyou Palace.
When Yuanmingyuan fell into a sea of fire, Erjin proudly declared: "This move will shake China and Europe, and its effect far exceeds the imagination of people thousands of miles away." . The main emissary of the fire regarded this behavior as a great achievement, and upright people all over the world were angered by this barbaric crime. Hugo wrote in 186 1: "One day, two robbers broke into Yuanmingyuan, one robbed and the other set fire. It seems that after winning, you can start stealing ... two winners, one full of pockets, and the other full of boxes and baskets. They returned to Europe arm in arm with a smile. " Two robbers who will be punished by history, one is France and the other is England. "This passage represents the voice of millions of upright people.
When Yuanmingyuan was still burning, Prince Yixin, who was ordered to stay in Beijing, agreed to all the conditions of the invaders. Soon, the Tianjin Treaty text was exchanged with Britain, France and Russia, and the Beijing Treaty was signed.
Decline process
When the British and French allied forces looted Yuanmingyuan crazily, countless bandits took part in the robbery. Take everything that can be taken away, and pull the car or animals that can't be taken away. Destroy it if you can't take it away! Those inhuman British and French allied forces chose the most precious things to rob, bandits plundered the remaining essence, Wang picked up the scraps abandoned by the Committee, and even the eunuchs guarding the garden took advantage of the fire to rob. Precious things that were readily available were quickly cleaned up, and some people pinned their hopes on exquisite treasures scattered and buried in the dust. They picked up brooms and dustpans and flew sand and dust in the middle of the garden. Eunuchs and soldiers guarding the garden call them "soil-sifting thieves", and sometimes there is a saying: "soil-sifting, soil-sifting, never suffering."
1900, Eight-Nation Alliance [eight bandits for Britain, France, Prussia (Germany), Russia, the United States, Japan, Italy, Austria-Hungary (now Austria-Hungary) [12 countries signed a treaty with Qingzhen government] occupied Beijing, and the gardens in the western suburbs were looted again. This time, the Qing government completely lost control of Yuanmingyuan, and the people who took advantage of the fire were no longer satisfied with robbing foreigners of their surplus wealth. They sawed off the scattered buildings, columns and wooden bridges in the garden after the fire robbery, and pulled them down with big ropes. The trees and trees in the garden were also cut down. At that time, the timber in Qinghe town was piled up like a mountain, and the trade was busy. There were many charcoal factories in the park, and all the branches and roots were burned into charcoal. In addition, some cultural relics of Yuanmingyuan were placed in public places, such as the bronze unicorn at the entrance of Changchun Garden, the pen stone in Anyou Palace and the bright stone tablet in Shui Mu. These cultural relics were moved from 19 10 to 1937 in the Summer Palace. The Hua Biao of Anyou Palace, Lin Shiqi, Xingfa Bridge of Xiyanglou, Fan Weishiyu, Shi Mei Monument, Yanhua Monument and Wenyuan Pavilion Monument were moved to the old libraries in yenching university and Beijing respectively. Precious Taihu stones such as Lanting Monument and utpala were moved to Zhongshan Park on 19 15; The stone lion in the east gate of Changchun Garden and its pedestal moved to Zhengyangmen and xinhua gate. The white marble and bricks at the site of Xiyanglou were also transported away by warlords and bureaucrats, or bought by various stone workshops and carved into other stones on the spot. 1928, the stone of Dashuifa site was demolished to build a memorial for the soldiers killed in Suiyuan. During the Japanese occupation period, some sites in the park were filled with lakes by Pingshan under the slogan of "rewarding agriculture" and changed into paddy fields.
In the early years of the Republic of China, warlords who changed like lanterns regarded Yuanmingyuan as an inexhaustible building material field. There are many helpless records in the archives of Puyi period: "Soldiers ride bicycles to haul Taihu Stone 10 vehicles in the park every day." In fact, the situation of dismantling and selling is far more serious than that recorded in the file. Xu Shichang demolished the timber of Ming and Jing Spring Gardens in Yuanmingyuan, and Wang Huaiqing demolished the wall of Anyou Palace and the stone of the west building in the garden. Since then, everything that can be used as building materials in Yuanmingyuan ruins, from square bricks, roof tiles, wall bricks and stone strips on the ground to underground wooden nails, stakes and copper pipes, has been collected and pulled intermittently for more than 20 years!
At this point, the buildings, trees and masonry of Yuanmingyuan have all disappeared. At the end of Xuan Tong, local banners built houses on the ruins of the palace in the park, facing the former royal garden. During the Japanese occupation period after 1940, Beijing was short of food, so it was rewarded for land reclamation. Since then, farmers have successively entered the park to fill the lake in Pingshan and open up wasteland to grow rice. Yuanmingyuan, a painstaking effort in the early Qing Dynasty 150 years of victory over lakes and mountains, is beyond recognition.