When we think of the Yuanmingyuan, we will all think of two things about it, one is that the Yuanmingyuan once swept through the world's major forest gardens and occupied the chief position of the Garden of Ten Thousand Gardens, and the other is that the Yuanmingyuan was looted by the Western powers and finally turned into ashes.
As we all know, there are countless treasures in the Yuanmingyuan, which can be called the existence of the wonders of the world. But these treasures, because of the weakness and incompetence of the government of the late Qing Dynasty at that time, made them eventually become the things of the Western powers.
With the progress of the Second Opium War, the once dazzling Yuanmingyuan was destroyed, and it was no longer a marvelous landscape that shocked the world, but a painful war site. Since the destruction of the Yuanmingyuan, there are only painful memories left about the Yuanmingyuan.
Today, the Yuanmingyuan has been destroyed for more than a hundred years, what else is there to do about the Yuanmingyuan? In addition to the memories of the Old Summer Palace, there are probably only precious cultural relics of great historical value.
In fact, from the day of the establishment of the Yuanmingyuan, the historical value it has given is extraordinary.
First, the miracle that shocked the world, the birth of the Yuanmingyuan
After the Manchu Qing Entered the Pass, it successfully defeated the political power and separatist forces in various places at that time, and successfully established a new unified dynasty, the Qing Dynasty. However, the rulers of the Qing Dynasty were originally a people who herded sheep and horses outside Guanwai, and they were very unaccustomed to the weather and restrained life in Beijing, especially the emperors faced the high walls of the imperial palace all day, and even had a feeling of being unlovable.
Therefore, the emperor tried his best to improve his boring life.
As a result, the construction of gardens that could be played became the main entertainment method for the emperors. From the early years of the Kangxi Dynasty, he began to build gardens, and used them as a palace for the emperor to take a summer vacation when he traveled. It can be said that the location of the garden at that time was also very exquisite, and in the western suburbs of Beijing today, there was once an imperial garden jointly built by several emperors of the Qing Dynasty - the Yuanmingyuan.
As we all know, the Yuanmingyuan is located in Haidian, a western suburb of Beijing, closely adjacent to the Summer Palace. It was founded in the 46th year of the Kangxi Dynasty, that is, the park in 1707, and consists of three gardens: Yuanming, Changchun and Qichun. It covers an area of 350 hectares, equivalent to more than 5200 acres, of which the water surface area is about 2100 acres.
It is worth mentioning that the Yuanmingyuan has more than 100 garden scenery, with a construction area of more than 160,000 square meters, and is a large royal palace created and operated by the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty for more than 150 years.
It is reported that the Yuanmingyuan was once famous for its grand regional scale, outstanding construction skills and exquisite architectural scenery, rich cultural collection and profound national cultural connotation, and was known as "a model of all gardening art" and "the garden of ten thousand gardens". It can be said that the existence of the Old Summer Palace was like a miracle in the architectural world.
At the same time, the Yuanmingyuan inherits More than 3,000 years of China's excellent gardening tradition, and in the Yuanmingyuan, there is both the grace and magnificence of the palace architecture and the euphemism of the Jiangnan Water Town Garden.
In addition, the construction style of the Old Summer Palace draws on the European garden architectural form and integrates different styles of garden architecture. It is no exaggeration to say that the Yuanmingyuan, whether in terms of structure or connotation, was once the leader in the world's gardens.
However, as the world's top garden, the Yuanmingyuan does not seem to be too lucky. In modern times, it was also the most cowardly period of the Qing Dynasty, and it was at this stage that the Yuanmingyuan was completely destroyed by the Western powers.
Second, the miracles of the past were destroyed
For the greatness of the Yuanmingyuan, it can be said that everyone knows it, especially the precious cultural relics rich in the Yuanmingyuan, which can be called the treasures coveted by the world. At that time, the Chinese people were afraid of imperial power and did not dare to think about the Yuanmingyuan, but the gradually powerful Western powers did not care about these things at all, and they took advantage of the decline of the Qing government to aggressively invade the once powerful Qing Dynasty.
In 1860, the Anglo-French army invaded Beijing, which was the second invasion of the Qing government by western powers, and after the end of the Sino-British Opium War, the strength of the Qing government was exposed to the world. Everyone knows that the Qing government was not really a "heavenly kingdom", but a feudal state that was closed to the state.
In the Second Opium War, Britain, which had tasted the sweetness before, brought the United States, France, and Russia to "fight the autumn wind". At that time, Britain and France were the main forces of aggression, and the United States and Russia were accomplices, and they not only invaded China, but also invaded Beijing and burned down the Yuanmingyuan.
In 1900, britain, Russia, Japan, Germany, the United States, Italy, Austria and other eight-nation alliances invaded Beijing to burn and plunder, at the same time, Empress Dowager Cixi could only flee to Xi'an with the Guangxu Emperor, and the children of the Eight Banners, who once claimed to be invincible in the world, could only flee into the wilderness. Immediately afterward, bandits in the city of Beijing took advantage of the fire to loot nearly 100 buildings that remained in the garden and were basically restored one after another. At this time, the yuanmingyuan buildings and ancient trees were completely destroyed, which really meant the destruction of the yuanmingyuan.
As the rulers of the Qing Dynasty fled, Western powers and bandits completely emptied the Yuanmingyuan. The valuable things and the worthless things in the Yuanmingyuan have become the treasures in their eyes. It can be said that all the things that can be taken away in the garden are taken away, and those things that cannot be taken away are directly destroyed by the great powers and bandits.
Objectively speaking, under the looting of the great powers, the Yuanmingyuan, which was once famous all over the world, became a ruin. The state of the Old Summer Palace at that time was far more miserable than what we see today. However, who could have imagined that among the ruins of the Yuanmingyuan, there were tens of thousands of precious cultural relics.
Third, there is still treasure in the ruins
After the founding of New China, the state attached great importance to the restoration of the Yuanmingyuan, divided the Yuanmingyuan into key cultural relics protection areas, and planted a large number of green plants in the garden. It can be seen that the garden pattern of the past has been preserved, and even the remnants of the ruins and the rockery of the past are still clearly visible.
The state has been actively preparing for the restoration of the Yuanmingyuan until the 1970s and 1980s, when the cleaning and restoration work in the Yuanmingyuan was still ongoing.
Although China has been actively working hard to restore the Yuanmingyuan, the Yuanmingyuan will not return to its original appearance. Today's Yuanmingyuan only exists as a ruin, and you can imagine what it once looked like. For the Yuanmingyuan, we can only express endless regrets, and everything about it is only the sadness and memories of the past.
However, at the same time that the world was full of regrets, a surprising discovery in the Yuanmingyuan gave the world's wounded hearts a little comfort.
In 1996, archaeologists conducted three archaeological surveys of the Yuanmingyuan site, and in these several archaeological works, we gained a lot. It is worth mentioning that in the process of archaeology and restoration for a long time, experts have found more than 50,000 cultural relics in the site. It can be said that these more than 50,000 cultural relics play a vital role in the study of China's history and culture.
Among these cultural relics, the most precious is the gilded bronze elephant head, which is a precious cultural relic left behind, and its value is high, which can be called a national treasure level cultural relic. In addition to this, there are some calligraphy and paintings and porcelain. They were preserved not because of the benevolence of the invaders and robbers, but because there were too many treasures in the Yuanmingyuan for them to forget.
But then again, the discovery of these relics is enough to shock the world again. Tens of thousands of artifacts have been re-emerged, inspiring everyone. No one could have imagined that under the ruins of the Yuanmingyuan, there were so many precious cultural relics. I have to say that the Number of cultural relics contained in the Old Summer Palace is unbelievable.
epilogue:
Objectively speaking, the fall of the Yuanmingyuan was the inevitable result of the rule of the late Qing Dynasty. How can a backward, decadent, and self-righteous country defeat one powerful and advanced Western power after another? Therefore, under the rule of the Qing government, the Yuanmingyuan became a "victim", and it died for the decadent and backward Qing government.
So far, it has been one hundred and sixty years since the fall of the Yuanmingyuan, and in this hundred years, the Chinese people have always hated the harm done to the Yuanmingyuan by the Western powers. No matter when it comes, we will remember the atrocities of the Western powers.
At the same time, we must also clearly understand a truth: backwardness will be beaten, and the strength of the country is the foundation for the country to stand tall in the world. Therefore, whether it is appropriate, a country must strive to strengthen its national strength.
Reference: The Second Opium War
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