Ai Xin Jue Luo YiXuan (17 July 1831 – 22 August 1861 AD), the ninth emperor of the Qing Dynasty, the fourth son of Emperor Daoguang of the Qing Dynasty, was named "Xianfeng", so he was known as the Xianfeng Emperor. During the Xianfeng period, the Qing Dynasty was in a critical moment of survival, but unfortunately he himself had mediocre abilities and did not change the direction of the Qing Dynasty.
A total of three major events occurred in Xianfeng, the first was to marry Cixi, the second was the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, and the third was the burning of the Yuanmingyuan by the British and French forces. Just as the Qing court was suppressing the Taiping Army, Britain, France and other countries interfered in the internal affairs of the Qing Dynasty and waited for an opportunity to invade the Qing Dynasty.
In the fourth year of Xianfeng (1854 AD), Britain, the United States, and France proposed to the Qing Dynasty to amend the treaty and other requests, but the Xianfeng Emperor refused. When Britain and France saw that Xianfeng would not agree to their demands, they created excuses to invade the Qing Dynasty. The Anglo-French coalition army broke through the Dagu Fort and approached the Beijing Division, and the Xianfeng Emperor had no choice but to send emissaries to Tianjin to negotiate peace, and the emissaries signed the Treaty of Tianjin with Britain, the United States, France, and Russia.
However, the great powers did not satisfy the content of the treaty, and intensified their greed, and Britain and France once again formed an alliance to invade the Qing Dynasty. In the Xianfeng Decade (1860 AD), the Anglo-French coalition launched a war of aggression against China, the Qing army was defeated, and directly approached the Beijing Division, the Xianfeng Emperor panicked, fled to Rehe for refuge, leaving the ministers to negotiate peace.
After the British and French forces captured the capital, they entered the Yuanmingyuan and burned and looted. The British and French allies looted the treasures in the Yuanmingyuan like robbers, taking away everything that could be taken away and smashing everything that could not be taken away.
The Anglo-French were supposed to leave after the looting, but James Bruce had a bad idea and ordered the Yuanmingyuan to be burned. Suddenly, the Yuanmingyuan fell into a sea of fire, burning for three days and three nights, burning into a ruin.
The murderer of the Yuanmingyuan was James Bruce, a robber in human history, whose father was Thomas Bruce, who killed the culprit of the plundering of the Parthenon in Greece. The evil deeds of their father and son are too numerous to write, and the destruction of human civilization is truly abominable!
However, many acts of injustice will kill themselves, and James Bruce will be punished three years later. In 1863, a thunderclap fell from the sky, and it hit James Bruce's roof impartially, causing a fire.
James Bruce had a heart attack, and before he could escape, he was buried in the fire and burned alive by the fire. The ancients said, "Many unrighteous deeds will kill themselves", referring to evil people like James Bruce.
The burning of the Yuanmingyuan is a disgrace to the Chinese nation, and we should be ashamed and courageous, work hard to make it strong, and not let similar things happen again.
References: "Burning the Yuanmingyuan", "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty", "Qing Shilu", etc