On the eve of the Eight-Nation Alliance's invasion of China, Cixi fled west with the Guangxu Emperor and the princely ministers, the Forbidden City completely fell into the hands of foreigners, after smashing and looting, the former majestic imperial palace has long been dilapidated, when a Japanese architect came to visit, but what he saw was completely different from what he imagined, he used his camera to record the real Forbidden City at that time, these photos are incredible.
In our impression, the Forbidden City has always been spectacular, this six-hundred-year-old Ming and Qing Imperial Palace, although it has experienced many ups and downs, but now it is still new, but the Forbidden City we see has been restored, in the years of Cixi's escape, the Forbidden City has long been overgrown, many palaces have fallen into disrepair, it seems that there is no longer the majesty of the past.
The architect who took these pictures is called Ito Tadao, who has always admired the traditional culture of our country, in his heart the Forbidden City is a very great building, but when he arrived, the Forbidden City had just been robbed and damaged by the great powers, plus there was no one to clean and repair, the palace walls were mottled and fell, and the gaps in the brick cracks on the ground were also covered with weeds, so it looked very vicissitudes.
After the departure of the great powers, Empress Dowager Cixi took the Guangxu Emperor back to the palace, I don't know how these high-ranking rulers would feel when they saw such a desolate and ruined palace, the last years of the Qing Dynasty were constantly bullied because of backwardness, and the rulers led by Cixi only knew that they had to bow down and sign unequal treaties, and the people did not have a good life, nevertheless, Empress Dowager Cixi spent a lot of manpower and financial resources to repair the palace after returning to the palace, which was extremely luxurious.