The Old Summer Palace was mainly built in the last years of the Kangxi Dynasty and the Yongzheng Dynasty, in the forty-eighth year of the Kangxi Reign (1709), the Kangxi Emperor gave a garden in the north of Changchun Garden in the northwest suburbs of Beijing to the fourth son Yinzhen.

"Old Summer Palace", this name was named by the Kangxi Emperor. The three-character plaque of Emperor Kangxi's imperial book is hung above the door of the Old Summer Palace. Emperor Yongzheng had an explanation for the word "Yuanming", saying that the meaning of the word "Yuanming" is: Ming, the time of the gentleman; Bright and pervasive, people too. Meaning, "circle" refers to the ideal standard of the class of personal qualities.

In the second year of Yongzheng (1724), the expansion project of the Old Summer Palace officially began.

In the first month of this year, Emperor Yongzheng was allowed to send personnel from the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the area of the Rehe enclosure to harvest trees. Since then, most of the timber used in the construction of Van Tai Nei, West Garden and Three Hills and Five Gardens has come from the paddock.

In July of the third year of Yongzheng, the Ministry of Internal Affairs appointed businessmen to purchase the stones needed for the Old Summer Palace in Changsheng. Emperor Yongzheng had Zhu Zhuyun: "If there is a slight delay in preparing the stone for Changsheng, he will be convicted." It can be seen that he is in a hurry to build the garden.

After the expansion, the Old Summer Palace covers an area of about 3,000 acres. In each park, there are not only solemn and magnificent palaces, but also pavilions and corridors and bridges that make people feel relaxed and dexterous. Rockeries, lakes, pavilions and meandering rivers are dotted throughout. During the Yongzheng Dynasty, the pattern of the Old Summer Palace was basically completed.

After Emperor Qianlong succeeded to the throne, he adjusted the landscape of the garden in the Old Summer Palace, added building groups, and built the Changchun Garden and the Qichun Garden in the east and southeast neighbors of the Old Summer Palace. These three gardens are all under the management of the Minister of the Old Summer Palace, so they are collectively referred to as the "Three Gardens of the Old Summer Palace".

In the middle of the Qing Dynasty, there were many additions and renovations in the park. The main garden scenery group of the garden, there are the famous "Forty Views of the Old Summer Palace", as well as Zibi Mountain House, Algae Garden, Ruofan Pavilion, Wenyuan Pavilion and so on. At that time, there were about 600 main garden buildings with plaques, which was the largest number of royal gardens in ancient and modern China and foreign countries.

October 1856. Britain and France, with the support of Tsarist Russia and the United States, jointly launched a new war of aggression against China, the Second Opium War.

On October 6, 1860, the British and French troops went around the northeastern suburbs of Beijing and went straight to the Old Summer Palace. At that time, the remnants of Seng Lingqin and Ruilin resisted a little in the north of the city and fled.

The French army advanced and passed through Haidian in the afternoon of the same day. On the evening of October 6, 1860. The invading army broke into the gate of the Old Summer Palace. At this time, in the entrance and exit of the Xianliang Gate, there were more than 20 skilled eunuchs in the Old Summer Palace, engaged in battle with the enemy, "not afraid of difficulties, and strive to move forward". But in the end, due to being outnumbered, Ren Liang and others, the "leader of the eight products" of the Old Summer Palace, died in their duties. By 7 p.m., the French invading army captured the Old Summer Palace. Wen Feng, the minister of the garden, threw himself into the sea and died. The concubine, who lived in the garden, died of fright.

From the next day. Officers and soldiers went on a rampage to loot and sabotage. In order to force the Qing government to accept the terms of peace, the British and French troops sacked for two days and marched into the city.

On October 7, 1860, after the leaders of the British and French invasions of China broke into the Old Summer Palace, they immediately "sent three members of the British and French commissions to jointly distribute the treasures in the garden." ”

On the same day, the commander of the French army, Montauban, sent a letter to the French Minister of Foreign Affairs: "I order the French commissioners to take note of the most valuable objects of art and archaeology." It will be presented to His Excellency the Emperor Napoleon III with a very rare object in France, and it is in the collection of the French Museum. ”

The British commander, Grant, also immediately "sent officers to collect all the things that belonged to the British." ”

Because there are countless treasures in the Old Summer Palace, there are many rare antiquities. The day after the French and British invaders entered the park, they could no longer resist the allure of the objects. Officers and soldiers rushed forward in groups to loot the gold, silver, and cultural and artistic treasures of the garden. Something to grab in the Old Summer Palace. It's just too much.

According to a British witness, there were many extraordinarily richly decorated clocks and watches in the tents of the French barracks; Around the soldiers' tents, silk and embroidery were everywhere. A British second-class military officer named "Helis" earned the nickname "Chinese James" for his lifelong plundering of the Old Summer Palace.

How many treasures were looted by the British and French invaders from the Old Summer Palace, because the furnishings and accounts in the garden were all looted. So it's never clear. To this day, there are still countless national treasures scattered at home and abroad.

According to the historical materials of the Qing Dynasty, there were only 441 pieces of European clocks and watches displayed and stored in the Old Summer Palace at that time. Only one large bell survived the disaster.

After the fact, 1,197 pieces of lost objects that had been snatched by bandits and "abandoned by the invading army" were seized, which was at best only 1/2 thousandth of the objects in the park.

According to a report in The Times at the time: "It is estimated. The looted and destroyed property is worth well over £6 million".

In fact, a large part of the objects looted and destroyed by the British and French invading forces were priceless. This heinous crime of destroying human culture is truly heinous!

According to British and French officers, priests, and journalists who witnessed the looting:

Officers and soldiers, British and French, poured into the Old Summer Palace from all directions in search of treasure. Indulge wantonly, take and take, hurry, and disagree. They beat each other and even fought with each other to grab the treasure.

Because there were so many treasures in the garden, they didn't know what to do with them. Some moved away cloisonne porcelain vases; Some covet embroidered robes; Some choose high-end fur coats; Some went to get a wall clock inlaid with jewels. Some carried large bags full of all kinds of treasures; Some put gold bars and gold leaves in the wide pockets of their coats; Some were wrapped in brocade silk on their halfs; Some hats are filled with jewels such as ruby sapphires, pearls, and crystal stones; Some have jade collars around their necks. There is a side room with mountains of high-grade silk.

It is said that the number is enough for half of the residents of Beijing. Later, they were all transported by soldiers in large trucks-

A British officer looted a golden Buddha statue from a temple with 500 statues of gods, worth £1,200. A French officer looted 600,000 francs worth of property. The son of the French commander-in-chief, Montopia, plundered 300,000 francs worth of treasure and filled several wagons.

The British second-class sergeant named Helis stole two golden stupas (both three-storey, one 7 feet high and one 6.4 feet high) and a large number of other treasures from the garden at one time, and found seven strong men to carry them back to the barracks for him.

In addition to the aggressors looting on a large scale. There are countless things that have been trampled on by them. Several houses were filled with satin garments, and clothes were dragged out of boxes and thrown to the ground. When a person walks into the house, he can barely cover his knees.

The sappers, armed with large axes, smashed all the furniture and removed the gems from the top. Some smashed the mirrors, others shot fiercely at the menorah. Take fun of it. Most of the French soldiers used sticks in their hands to mash everything that could not be taken away.

When the French army temporarily evacuated the Old Summer Palace on October 9, 1860, this beautiful garden had been completely destroyed.

On October 11, 1860, the British army sent more than 1,200 cavalry and an infantry regiment to sack the Old Summer Palace again. British Plenipotentiary James Brown. Bruce, under the pretext that the Qing government had imprisoned Pa Xiali and others in the Old Summer Palace, included the burning of the Old Summer Palace as a precondition for peace.

Just as the Qing government gave in to the aggressors and promised to accept all the conditions of "peace." When the signing of the agreement was signed, the leaders of the British invasion of China, Ergin and Grant, in order to leave an impression of "unbearishly severe" in their invasion of China and to make the Qing government "shocked," went so far as to brazenly order the burning of the Old Summer Palace under the pretext that the Qing government was arresting the envoy and treating the prisoners of war poorly.

On October 18, 1860, 3,500 British troops stormed the Old Summer Palace and set fire to it. The fire was not extinguished for three days and three nights. Smoke clouds enveloped the city of Beijing for a long time. This is a unique masterpiece of gardens. It was burned down together.

Later, according to the investigation of Qing officials, only twenty or thirty palaces, pavilions, temples, official gates, duty houses and other buildings survived in the huge Three Gardens of the Old Ming Dynasty. However, the doors and windows were uneven, and the interior furnishings and several cases were looted.

At the same time, some buildings of Wanshou Mountain Qingyi Garden, Xiangshan Jingyi Garden and Yuquan Mountain Jingming Garden were also burned. The Old Summer Palace and the nearby Qingyi Garden, Jingmingyuan, Jingyi Garden, Changchun Garden and Haidian Town were all burned to ruins.

Because when the British invading army burned down the Anyou Palace, it came too suddenly, and the chief eunuch locked the gate of the Anyou Palace. So. At that time, there were a total of 300 eunuchs, palace maids, craftsmen, etc., who were burned alive in Anyou Palace. It has become an indelible atrocity in the history of world civilization.

When the Old Summer Palace was in flames, Ergin got carried away and declared: "This move will shock China and Europe, and the effect will be far beyond the imagination of people thousands of miles away." The mastermind of the arson regarded this act as a remarkable achievement. And the righteous people of the world were outraged by this barbaric crime.

Hugo wrote in 1861: "One day two robbers broke into the Old Summer Palace, one looting and the other setting fire to it. It seems that after victory, it is time to start stealing...... Two victors, one stuffed with a fanny pack, this is visible; The other was full of boxes. They returned to Europe, holding hands and grinning. ”

"The two robbers who will be punished by history, one is called France, and the other is called England." This passage represents the voice of millions of upright people.

"Burn the Old Summer Palace", this is a saying that people are used to.

In fact, the real concept of burning the Old Summer Palace is not only the burning of the Old Summer Palace, but the burning of the "Three Mountains and Five Gardens" of the royal palace in western Beijing. The scope of the burndown is also much larger than that of the Old Summer Palace.

When the British and French forces burned the Old Summer Palace, they intended to raze it to the ground. However, due to the large size of the Old Summer Palace, the scattered scenic spots, and the vast waters, some remote places and underwater attractions were spared.

While the Old Summer Palace was still burning, Prince Gong Yixin, who was ordered to stay in Beijing, promised all the conditions of the invaders. Soon after, the text of the Treaty of Tientsin was exchanged with Britain, France, and Russia, and the Treaty of Beijing was signed.

When the officers and soldiers of the Anglo-French army rushed forward in groups to loot and devour the gold and silver treasures and cultural and artistic treasures in the garden like wolves, countless bandits participated in the robbery. Take everything that can be taken, and pull what you can't take with a car or livestock, and if you can't take it, you can destroy it at will! The inhuman British and French troops all chose the most valuable things to loot and destroy.

In 1900, the Eight-Nation Coalition invaded Beijing, and the royal gardens in the western suburbs were again destroyed.

After the collapse of the Beiyang government, the Beiping Special Government took over the site and agreed to sell the remaining bricks and stones in the park at a wholesale price.

During the Cultural Revolution, the Old Summer Palace continued to be destroyed. After a decade of turmoil, the famous site was devastated.

Until 1949, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Chinese government attached great importance to the protection of the Old Summer Palace site. It has been listed as a park land and a key cultural relics protection unit, and the dry land in the park has been expropriated, and large-scale tree planting and greening have been carried out.

During the ten years of turmoil, although the site was damaged somewhat, it was preserved: the entire Yuanmingyuan's water system Yamagata and the garden pattern of the Garden of Ten Thousand Gardens still existed, and nearly half of the land became a green belt. More than 100,000 trees are forested, most of the building foundation sites can still be found, dozens of rockery stacked stones are still visible, and the stone carving remnants of the ruins of the Western building are also quite eye-catching.

On the whole, the Old Summer Palace was born in the Kangxi period, grew up in the Yongzheng Dynasty, and was in the prosperous era of Qianlong. It inherits China's excellent gardening tradition for more than 3,000 years: it has the grace and luxury of palace architecture, and the euphemism and variety of water town gardens in the south of the Yangtze River. At the same time, it also draws on the European form of garden architecture. The integration of different styles of garden architecture makes people feel harmonious and perfect in the overall layout.

It can really be said: 'Although it is done by man, it is like the opening of heaven'.

The Old Summer Palace embodies the essence of ancient Chinese gardening art and is one of the most outstanding large-scale gardens at that time.

Emperor Qianlong once praised: "The area of the real heaven and the earth and the spirit, the place where the emperor travels, there is no way to surpass this."

Moreover, it also occupies an important position in the history of garden architecture in the world. Its fame spread to Europe and was known as the "Garden of Ten Thousand Gardens".

In 1861, the great French writer Victor Hugo commented: "You just have to imagine that it is a fascinating building like a castle in the Moon Palace, and the Summer Palace (referring to the Old Summer Palace) is such a building." ”

It is often said that Greece has the Parthenon, Egypt has the pyramids, Rome has the Colosseum, and in the East, there is the summer palace. Suffice it to see, this is a breathtaking, unparalleled masterpiece.

The Old Summer Palace is so large that it was successively expanded and rebuilt by the emperors of several dynasties. Overall, the Old Summer Palace is indeed a very outstanding and excellent garden. It can be said that it is the culmination of thousands of years of excellent gardening art in China, and pushes Chinese classical gardens to a new height.

Some Westerners are impressed by Chinese gardens, and it is from the Old Summer Palace that they started. In short, the Old Summer Palace has won honor for China, an ancient civilization, and was once the pride of the Chinese nation! It's a pity that it has not escaped the fate of being ruined with the changes of history......

The only consolation is that there are a few discerning people who have secretly collected a batch of China's cultural treasures and silently transported them to the icy land of the Himalayas. (To be continued......)