introduction
Hugo is a great Literary Hero of France, he has many well-known works, such as "Notre Dame de Paris", it is said that he is a bohemian, quite accomplished in literature, and has a heart that loves the fruits of civilization. It is for this reason that when the French Captain Barrett asked Hugo to praise them after the Anglo-French invasion of our country in 1861, Hugo chose to criticize, writing in "A Letter to Captain Butler on the Anglo-French Expedition to China": "... Two robbers broke into the Yuanmingyuan...", the two robbers are Hugo's description of the Anglo-French coalition, as a way to show his condemnation of the various acts of the Anglo-French coalition.
01
The Yuanmingyuan is located in the northwest of Beijing, which was once the imperial court of the Qing Dynasty, and under the joint repair and expansion of successive emperors, the Yuanmingyuan was built for more than 150 years. The Yuanmingyuan is modeled on the scenery of the West Lake, with water as the main landscape, and its construction draws on the various beauties displayed in China's land and treasures. The Old Summer Palace was supposed to be a presence that shook the world, but it was destroyed by the British and French forces in 1860. They destroyed the Yuanmingyuan and burned all the treasures they could not take with them on fire. Their fire burned for three whole days and destroyed a wonder of the world.
After the Destruction of the Old Summer Palace, it was not until 150 years later that China officially decided to repair it. However, the Yuanmingyuan is really too badly damaged, and it is so old that even if the experts come up with the most advanced technology, there is no way to restore it to its original appearance. Despite this, the restoration experts still did not give up, and they have been insisting on completing the great task of restoring the Yuanmingyuan.
02
It wasn't until an unexpected expedition and excavation that experts were surprised to find new clues while carrying out restorations, and they found tens of thousands of cultural relics in the ruined Yuanmingyuan. The news was quickly disseminated, and many people wondered why these artifacts survived. Experts explained that because the water area built in the Yuanmingyuan accounts for half of the entire Yuanmingyuan, when the invaders burned the Yuanmingyuan, many cultural relics fell into the water, so these cultural relics were fortunately preserved. Subsequently, after careful excavation by experts, more than 50,000 treasures were finally excavated in the Yuanmingyuan. Although some of these artifacts are so badly damaged that only one part is left, many more have been well preserved.
During the excavation, experts found a very precious artifact, a bronze statue with only a skull, which can now be called a first-class cultural relic. After a series of studies by experts, they named the bronze statue gilded bronze elephant head through its material and craftsmanship. Later, the bronze statue was treasured in the museum, and many other artifacts were found during this excavation.
03
The Yuanmingyuan has undergone such destruction, and it can dig out so many cultural relics a hundred years later, but things have surprised many people. The Yuanmingyuan, which has been tragically destroyed, can still bring us so many surprises, it is difficult to imagine how brilliant it would be if the Yuanmingyuan had not been destroyed. Thinking of this, it is even more regrettable for the Yuanmingyuan.
With the advancement of experts on the restoration of the Yuanmingyuan, many netizens have begun to have a different attitude towards this matter. Some people think that we should rebuild the Yuanmingyuan and let the Yuanmingyuan exude its former glory. Moreover, the Yuanmingyuan is originally a proud part of our country, and we should let more people see its style.
But there are also some people who believe that even if we try to restore the Yuanmingyuan, we will not be able to return to its original appearance, the Yuanmingyuan is no longer the same as before, it is better to let it be preserved in its current state, and we can also warn our descendants not to forget our tragic history of being invaded. In fact, for the question of repairing the Old Summer Palace, what the result is, we will not forget the harm brought to us by those invaders.
epilogue
When the Yuanmingyuan was destroyed that year, the Times reported: "The total value of the looted and destroyed property in the Yuanmingyuan exceeded 6 million pounds." "Many of the artifacts destroyed and looted by the Anglo-French coalition cannot be measured in monetary terms. These cultural relics represent not only its value, but more importantly, the culture and heritage it embodies. The destruction of the Yuanmingyuan is not only a heavy blow to China's history and culture, but also a major loss to the world's history and culture. The large number of cultural relics discovered in the Yuanmingyuan this time have provided a richer and more substantial physical data for China's continued research on the Yuanmingyuan, which has a far-reaching impact on this.
Resources
A Letter to Captain Butler on the Anglo-French Expedition to China
The Times