When it comes to the Yuanmingyuan, everyone knows that the British and French coalition forces burned the Yuanmingyuan incident, but what is the reason behind the burning of the Yuanmingyuan incident? Why did they burn the Yuanmingyuan?
The Yuanmingyuan, a famous imperial garden of the Qing Dynasty, known as the Garden of Ten Thousand Gardens, is a beautiful art temple and a top treasure of international garden art. It is composed of the Yuanmingyuan, Changchun Garden and Qichun Garden, so it is also called the Yuanming Three Gardens, and the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty would come here every summer to escape the summer and work, so it was also called "Summer Palace".
However, it was such a beautiful place, called "a model of ideals and art" by the French writer Victor Hugo, that set fire to the Yuanmingyuan after the Anglo-French coalition invaded Beijing in 1860 and was plundered by the Anglo-French army. Some people here have said: You grab it, why do you want to burn it with a fire? So why did the British and French allies burn down the Yuanmingyuan after some looting?
Some people say that it is the destruction of evidence, that is impossible, a rough action of thousands of people, it is impossible to be destroyed by a fire. So what exactly is it for?
There was a British diplomat named Elgin, the supreme commander of the British minister, and under him there was a subordinate named Pashali. This Pasha Li is a Chinese communicator, who often does business in China and negotiates with China. Once, when he came to China, he was arrested as a pirate and locked up in the Yuanmingyuan. Pasha Li was in a hurry, and it took a month for him to be picked up by Erjin.
Erkin
When he got back, he cried to Erjin about how he had been abused. If it is nothing just because of this, it is only a misunderstanding after all. But the bad is that there were 39 people in Pasha Li's party, and when they returned, there were 18 people left, everyone else died, some bodies were sent back, and some corpses were unloaded in eight pieces. The British embassy was annoyed and arrested our British ambassador and killed so many people.
Therefore, in a fit of rage, Erjin consulted with the French side, and Erjin took the British and French allies and entered Beijing in November 1860, supposedly in retaliation for the Qing Dynasty, and broke into the Yuanmingyuan. At first, some people also believed that the Yuanmingyuan should not be plundered, but should directly attack the Forbidden City of the Qing Dynasty. When Erjin listened, that was not okay, the Forbidden City was the government of the Qing Dynasty, and if it directly attacked the Qing Government, it would be a provocation to the entire Qing Dynasty, after all, this was only the fault of some people, and it would not involve others. Of course, on the other hand, it is also for the sake of better signing treaties, and it should not be too stiff. After all, the Yuanmingyuan belonged to the emperor's private property, and the emperor of the Qing Dynasty at this time was on vacation at the Chengde Summer Resort.
Pasha Li
Therefore, after everyone made such a total and waved the banner, the British and French troops broke into the Yuanmingyuan and plundered it, and then burned the Yuanmingyuan.
But is that really the case? This is only a record of the English and French sides, and it can also be said that this is just a one-sided statement on the British and French sides. We in the Qing Dynasty also have a record of this incident.
The Qing Dynasty recorded it this way, and the Qing Dynasty did arrest Pasha Li and his party as pirates, but after the investigation, it was found that they were wrongly arrested, not as the British and French said, several abuses. On the contrary, it is specially given top-level treatment, and the supply of good food and drink is provided every day. There is also such a small story.
It is said that during this period, one day Pasha Li was upset, and this side of the Qing Dynasty could be anxious, and hurriedly asked the doctor to check it. When the doctor looked at it, he found that there was only a small problem in the stomach and intestines, that is to say, during this time, Pasha Li ate too well, because he ate too well, so he made a stomach trouble.
After Erjin took them back, Pasha Li also said that the Qing Dynasty treated them very well. Therefore, at that time, on this issue, the two sides had their own arguments and became a headless public case. But one thing is certain, that is, Britain and France wanted to threaten the Qing government to comply with the signing of the treaty through this provocation by the Anglo-French coalition forces.
Old Summer Palace
At that time, everyone knew. Britain and France wanted to open ports in China. In fact, it was capital plunder, first by transporting opium, and later by coveting territory. Britain and France were wolf ambitions, and the Qing government was corrupt and incompetent. The Qing government also had a point that there was no diplomacy, and it was not on the right track in terms of diplomacy. "Weak countries have no diplomacy" is such a reason, so they are bullied everywhere in the international community.
We all know the saying that "to die is to be guilty of face." At that time, Pasha Li visited the emperor on behalf of the British Embassy, of course, the emperor did not see it, and the emperor at this time was at the Rehe Chengde Mountain Resort. The minister could not do the lord's request for Pasha Li, so he arranged for Pasha Li and his party to live in Tongzhou, Beijing.
The chancellor also hurriedly sent the fold handed by Pasha Li to the emperor, and as soon as the Xianfeng Emperor opened the fold to see the contents inside, he immediately became angry, and there were three requirements in it that XianFeng could not bear, and it also touched xianfeng's bottom line. So which three are they?
This first article says, opening treaty ports everywhere. Xian Feng thought about it, this is nothing, doing business qing dynasty side is also supported. But the latter two are unbearable for Xianfeng. The second article says that an embassy should be set up in Beijing. Beijing was the main base of the Qing government, and the establishment of an embassy here was said to be such an opening in the heart of the Qing Dynasty, which Xianfeng could not bear.
Third, when the ambassador arrives at the imperial court, he does not have to kneel and pray, but can perform the salute. This is also something that Xian Feng can't stand, in fact, this is nothing, after all, it is diplomacy, and there are various etiquettes everywhere. But the Xianfeng Emperor wants face, and how should the dignity of my emperor be maintained.
Therefore, Xianfeng sent the iron hat monk Greenqin to arrest The Pasha Li and his party. This also has the beginning of the story, Erjin was furious and led the LinkedIn French coalition army to burn the Yuanmingyuan.
All in all, the cause of the whole incident is, in the final analysis, the wolf ambitions of the colonists.