More than 100 years after the Yuanmingyuan was burned, experts excavated and more than 50,000 cultural relics have been found so far!
In 1709, after consulting with his ministers, Kangxi decided to build a summer palace for himself. Three months later, in the western suburbs of Beijing, a palace was built that concentrated the characteristics of Eastern and Western cultural architecture. It is our Old Summer Palace. The Yuanmingyuan was huge in scale, and in the hands of the subsequent Yongzheng and Qianlong emperors, the Yuanmingyuan was continuously expanded and improved. The Old Summer Palace covers an area of 200,000 square meters and contains more than 150 attractions.
Luxurious oriental garden
Whether it's a small bridge with running water or a bronze statue of a fountain, you have it all here. Therefore, the Yuanmingyuan was also known as the Garden of Ten Thousand Gardens. The Yuanmingyuan was greatly valued by the Qing dynasty royal family, and every festive season, a grand dinner party was held here. The emperor of the Qing Dynasty entertained envoys from all over the world, and the rare treasures in the Yuanmingyuan were even more dazzling. Gradually, Westerners also learned of the luxury of the Old Summer Palace.
In 1860, the Anglo-French army invaded the city of Beijing, and then they went to loot the Yuanmingyuan. Although the British and French allies had seen many treasures, they still felt a lot of emotions about the luxury and wealth of the Yuanmingyuan. The British and French soldiers were completely undisciplined, no matter how much the officers shouted. These soldiers are like bandits, they are completely crazy. They stole all the precious porcelain and jade, and the large enamelware was shattered. The British and French invaders plundered countless treasures, and they refused to leave more treasures when they left. As a result, the Yuanmingyuan was burned by fire for three days and three nights. This has made countless Chinese regretful.
Cultural relics lost overseas
In fact, a large number of cultural relics in the Yuanmingyuan have been lost overseas. Tens of thousands of items were looted by the British and French forces alone. These artifacts are extremely valuable, and they have been recognized by european museums as treasures of the town. In the international community of the weak and the strong, my country wants to really get it back. I am afraid that this will cost a lot of financial and material resources.
Since then, the Yuanmingyuan has become an indelible shame in China's modern history, and people can only appreciate the true style of the Yuanmingyuan in books. After the founding of New China, China traced the lost cultural relics. The bronze statues of the Zodiac of that year have been collected by various museums in Europe. Among them, the rat head was bought back by a patriotic businessman in Hong Kong and later sent to the Palace Museum.
Rediscover
It is worth mentioning that after the Yuanmingyuan was burned for more than 100 years, since 1996, Archaeologists in China have re-excavated the site of the Yuanmingyuan. When the experts came to the site, they had already turned into ruins everywhere they looked. This time, China's experts want to restore the Yuanmingyuan. After meticulous conservation work, a large number of experts entered the Yuanmingyuan. They braved the scorching sun and fought in the ruins. Fortunately, after cleaning, so far, experts have found more than 50,000 artifacts. The experts were so excited that they had already guessed such a result. This time it was really rich, and it was very gratifying.
Some of these artifacts are badly damaged, while others are intact. The experts dug out of the dirt little by little and let it clean again. After hearing the news, the Palace Museum sent someone to properly store the cultural relics. Reporters from our media rushed to cover the matter. In the face of this historic good news, major domestic media have carried out publicity on the front page. As soon as the news spread, thousands of people cheered.
epilogue:
There are too many treasures buried under the ruins of the Yuanmingyuan, because the Yuanmingyuan has a long history, and the state wants to preserve the appearance of the site. This delayed the start of the search. Of course, this time the archaeological excavation work is still only a small part. Some people said that if the entire Yuanmingyuan is searched, the number of cultural relics may reach more than 100,000. With the continuous progress of national science and technology, we have better and better ability to protect cultural relics. Therefore, for the secret treasures of the Yuanmingyuan will continue to come out, which is worth waiting to see.