In 1860, the British and French allies pointed their guns at the capital, and in the face of the well-armed Anglo-French forces, the Qing government's forces were as fragile as paper paste.
Thousands of years of cultural inheritance ushered in the greatest catastrophe, the invaders as if into no man's land, plundering everywhere, like robbers.
In this war full of smoke, countless scenic spots and monuments were destroyed in the hands of the invaders, countless rare national treasures, and priceless cultural logistics fell abroad.
This war is not only a disgrace in the mainland's recent history, but also a huge loss.
After thousands of years of cultural heritage, the land has been destroyed, and the smoke of war has filled the night, and the damage caused is difficult to estimate.
The Yuanmingyuan, a famous monument on the mainland, also ceased to exist in this catastrophe.
Tens of thousands of cultural relics were looted by the invaders, and even a fire destroyed these ingenious buildings.
Today's mainland is no longer the backward country it once was, the humiliating experience will never be repeated, the buildings destroyed by the invaders are gradually being repaired, and some lost cultural relics are also struggling to find.
Nevertheless, the damage caused by the contemporary catastrophe has not yet been completely repaired, and the wisdom of some of the ancestors has forever become history.
This catastrophe will also be recorded in history forever, always reminding every countryman that the shame of the past can never be forgotten.
Only with strong enough strength can we protect our country, protect our families, and avoid the recurrence of the disasters of the past.
01 Century of precipitation, thousands of years of inheritance
The Yuanmingyuan was built in 1707 during the Kangxi Dynasty, and was originally built as a courtyard for the four princes of Kangxi.
The reason why it was named after the word "Yuanming" was to express Kangxi's feelings of being concerned about the world at that time, hoping that the country could be strong forever.
During the construction of the Yuanmingyuan, the Kangxi Emperor repeatedly asked about the progress, and expressed his ideas on the construction.
He did not want the architectural style of the Yuanmingyuan to be as boxy as the Imperial Palace, he wanted a style that was different from the architecture of the Imperial Palace.
Unfortunately, the Kangxi Emperor did not see the completion of the construction of the Yuanmingyuan, and died unexpectedly shortly after deciding to expand it, and the construction of the Yuanmingyuan was also suspended
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After Yongzheng succeeded to the throne, it was decided to build the Yuanmingyuan as a summer resort for the members of the royal family, and then expanded the Yuanmingyuan again.
In order to complete it as soon as possible, the Yuanmingyuan at that time invited skilled craftsmen from many places to build it, which cost a lot of money.
In order to facilitate Yongzheng's approval of the recital, a number of buildings were built in the Yuanmingyuan, including the antechamber, the main hall, and rooms specially prepared for the harem concubines.
After the successful expansion of the Yuanmingyuan, the empress dowager and the noble concubines moved to the Yuanmingyuan to live, and some cultural relics that should have been seen in the imperial palace were also moved to the Yuanmingyuan.
According to records, during the reign of Yongzheng, there were nearly 600 large and small buildings in the Yuanmingyuan, and pavilions and tea rooms were everywhere, and the Yuanmingyuan at that time had begun to take shape.
As a royal garden in the true sense, although Yongzheng built the Yuanmingyuan for the purpose of escaping the summer, during his reign, he also discussed state affairs with the ministers in the Yuanmingyuan many times.
A series of holy decrees that shocked the world were also drawn up from the Yuanmingyuan, so even in the royal garden, the Yuanmingyuan still had a transcendent position.
In the Qianlong period that followed, the mainland's national strength was unprecedentedly strong, and countless countries went to the mainland to worship. While studying the advanced culture of the mainland, it has also brought a lot of Western culture.
Among them, the Western architectural style is very different from the mainland architecture.
Out of curiosity about Western architecture, Qianlong ordered people to invite several masters of architecture from Western countries and ordered them to add Western architectural elements to the Yuanmingyuan, making it the first garden on the mainland to concentrate Western culture.
After this directive was issued, the Yuanmingyuan finally ushered in the third large-scale expansion, which made the Yuanmingyuan carry some Western architectural styles as a whole
In particular, the fountain buildings in the garden have become the landmark buildings of the Yuanmingyuan, and in order to complete the tasks arranged by the Qianlong Emperor, these buildings are also built at the fastest speed on the basis of majesty and magnificence.
After this expansion, the reputation of the Yuanmingyuan spread to many countries in the West, and the first collision of Chinese and Western cultures caused a huge sensation in many countries at that time.
Some countries have begun to imitate the architectural style of the Yuanmingyuan to build some similar buildings, but unfortunately only their shape, not their meaning.
After the third construction, the Yuanmingyuan no longer had such a large-scale construction, and such a majestic building also became a national cultural relics storage area.
Countless national treasures and priceless cultural relics were sent to the Yuanmingyuan, and with hundreds of years of cultural inheritance and three expansions, the Yuanmingyuan finally became a well-deserved "Garden of Ten Thousand Gardens". ”
In the following thousands of years, the status of the Yuanmingyuan is still no garden can be compared, and the precipitation over the years has also made the number of cultural relics in the Yuanmingyuan already reach an astronomical number.
Because of this, the Yuanmingyuan, which is like the "national treasury", has also attracted the attention of more countries, and the greedy gaze is particularly frightening.
02 A fire, gone
In 1860, the Anglo-French coalition easily destroyed the last line of defense of the Qing government, and the Anglo-French allies had long heard of the fame of the Yuanmingyuan, and the corrupt rule of the Qing government gave them the best chance
After the Qing government abandoned the city and fled, the invaders removed the masks used for disguise, looked greedily at the Yuanmingyuan, and imprinted their dirty footprints on the floor of the Yuanmingyuan.
In the face of such a magnificent sight, they had no mercy at all, and there was only undisguised greed on their faces.
Red Eyes snatched away one rare artifact after another with their evil hands, including the twelve beast heads that gathered thousands of wisdom crystals.
Countless gold, agates were snatched away by them, and some porcelain that could not be taken away was ruthlessly destroyed by them, leaving only fragments on the ground.
After snatching away everything that could be taken away from the Yuanmingyuan, these evil invaders were satisfied, taking the treasures of the mainland for themselves, and shamelessly calling them the spoils of war.
After the British and French troops left Beijing, the Qing government had the intention of restoring the Yuanmingyuan to a certain extent, but the national treasury was empty, and the cultural relics inside had been looted.
Spending a lot of money on restoration, the manpower and material resources spent are also a lot of consumption for it, and finally choose to ignore the desolate Yuanmingyuan.
In 1890, the Eight-Power Alliance launched a war of aggression against China, and in the face of such an enemy, the Qing government had no ability to resist at all, and could only allow it to plunder, and the Yuanmingyuan was once again trampled by the invaders.
The coalition forces, which originally thought that they would not benefit from it, would choose to abandon trampling on the Yuanmingyuan, but what they did not expect was that these invaders chose to destroy all the heritage buildings of thousands of years.
A fire ignited the entire Yuanmingyuan, and for a time the smoke filled the sky with red light.
The fire lasted for three days and three nights, and the millennia-old inheritance was completely destroyed by a fire whose purpose was to destroy the evidence of these evils and cover up the actions of their robbers.
By the end of the fire, hundreds of buildings had turned to ashes, only when the wind blew through.
These ashes can only float into the air, as if to accuse the evil deeds of these invaders, regretting that thousands of years of inheritance have turned into clouds.
The catastrophe was over, and the Anglo-French forces seized the treasure they were satisfied with and returned to the European continent in warships.
Even before the ashes of the Yuanmingyuan had dissipated, the invaders auctioned off these relics in their own country and claimed that they were the proceeds of their expeditions, which was really disgraceful.
However, it was precisely because of the corruption and incompetence of the Qing government that in the face of such provocations, it could only swallow its anger and did not do anything
The reason for all this is that at that time, the mainland's military strength was too backward, and in the face of this kind of behavior of common indignation between man and god, it could only choose to tolerate it.
In 1949, the founding of New China marked that the once weak China no longer existed, and we will surely step into the world's advanced ranks in the future.
Under the correct leadership of the Party, the people's living standards are gradually improving, and the restoration of places of interest and monuments destroyed in the war has also been put on the agenda.
As one of the most destroyed buildings, the restoration of the Yuanmingyuan is urgent.
In 2010, more than 150 years have passed since the destruction of the Yuanmingyuan, and the restoration of the Yuanmingyuan has finally made progress in stages.
Three archaeological excavations have found a lot of cultural relics in the ruins of the Yuanmingyuan, most of which are fragments of porcelain.
Although these porcelains are the most cumbersome to restore, fortunately, the archaeologists have excellent technical skills, so that some cultural relics that have been sleeping for many years have the opportunity to soak up the sun again.
With the efforts of archaeologists day and night, 50,000 cultural relics were accidentally found.
In addition to these cultural relics, the most difficult to restore is the architecture of the Old Summer Palace.
In particular, some special buildings, even if there are portraits of the Yuanmingyuan, corresponding to the portraits depict the corresponding drawings, but the restoration work is still ineffective.
Fortunately, the construction industry in the mainland has been able to emerge in recent years, although it is difficult, but under their firm determination, the style of the Old Summer Palace is still reappearing little by little.
As restoration work progressed, many of the damaged porcelain and Buddha statues were restored to the maximum, and some iconic buildings were restored to their former glory.
Although it cannot be compared with the majesty of the past, it still has a great improvement, and the culture of thousands of years has finally inherited.
With the rapid economic development of the mainland, various industries have been at the leading level in the world, and some cultural relics that have been displaced are also trying their best to recover them through some methods.
In addition, some countries that intend to maintain good diplomatic relations with the mainland have taken the initiative to return some cultural relics of the mainland that have been lost, so that these "children" who have been away from home for many years have finally returned to their "home".
Today, the Old Summer Palace has regained some of its former vitality and has become a representative attraction in Beijing.
Some visitors to the Old Summer Palace still seem to be able to hear the mournful sounds of these buildings when they touch the buildings.
They are weeping about their own suffering, condemning the actions of the invaders, and reminding all visitors to the Yuanmingyuan to reminisce about history: "Don't forget the national shame."
03 Summary
The reason why the Yuanmingyuan suffered an unprecedented disaster was because the mainland's military strength was too backward at that time.
These invaders are well aware of the profound culture of the mainland, the inheritance of thousands of years has never stopped, and in order to plunder the resources of the mainland, there was the arrival of that catastrophe.
Today's continent is far from being comparable to what it once was, and today's grand situation depends on the bloody struggle of the ancestors.
He informed the whole world with his precious life.
Today's Chinese people have already stood up, and the shame of the past will never reappear.
In the era of peace, we must know that today's peace is not easy to come by.
If we want to protect the hard-won stable life, we must not forget the national shame, be angry and strong, and contribute our own strength to the development of the country.