If you were given a chance to save the Old Summer Palace, what would you do? In 1840, when the imperialist powers invaded the mainland, the Yuanmingyuan suffered a catastrophe, and the Yuanmingyuan, which preserved countless rare treasures in modern times, was burned to the ground. After 150 years, experts began to repair it, but accidentally found hidden and valuable treasures, at least 50,000 pieces! So, why did these treasures escape the catastrophe? How precious are these treasures? Welcome to like the comment collection.
The ruins of the Yuanmingyuan
The hatred of the Old Summer Palace
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, social unrest and turmoil, and it was at this time that the strong ships and cannons of the British and French powers were aimed at the Qing government. In 1860, the British and French troops invaded Beijing, and the first thing they looted was the Yuanmingyuan.
How powerful is the Old Summer Palace? The French literary hero Hugo once called the Old Summer Palace a "rare miracle", and the Old Summer Palace itself can be compared with the Forbidden City. The Yuanmingyuan was a frequent palace for emperors of the Qing Dynasty, and there were countless rare and exotic treasures. The eyes of the British and French robbers reflected the light of these treasures, and after 3 days, the light of the treasures turned into the flames of a raging fire, and the Yuanmingyuan was burned to the ground.
Restoration of the Old Summer Palace
It can be said that the modern humiliation of the Chinese nation began precisely from this fire. Many of the cultural relics lost in the Yuanmingyuan are difficult to recover. It was not until 150 years later that archaeologists decided to restore the Yuanmingyuan. And it was this restoration that even found 50,000 treasures.
The Yuanmingyuan has been robbed by British and French robbers and burned by fires, so why can there be 50,000 cultural relics left under such circumstances? Where were these relics hidden to protect them from the hands of British and French bandits? To what extent can archaeologists restore the Yuanmingyuan?
Hidden treasures
In fact, the Yuanmingyuan was robbed more than once. After the withdrawal of the Anglo-French forces in 1860, the Tongzhi Emperor restored the Yuanmingyuan, and more than 100 buildings were restored to the pre-disaster; however, in 1900, the Eight-Power Alliance invaded China, and the newly repaired Yuanmingyuan was once again plundered.
Old Summer Palace
So after two robberies, why are there still 50,000 treasures left in the Yuanmingyuan? Archaeologists can only synthesize the situation at that time and make a conjecture. In 1860, the British and French allies could not smash and take away all the treasures, so they hoped to destroy one torch in one fire, but there were too many treasures in the Yuanmingyuan, and many treasures were hidden under the burned ruins and were not found. In 1900, the Eight-Power Alliance did not make any effort to go through the ruins, and these treasures were fortunate to escape the disaster.
Among these 50,000 treasures, the most precious is the gilded bronze elephant head. Gilded was first invented in China, and this gilded bronze elephant head, the pinnacle of ancient gilding technology, was found to have been soaking in the river for 150 years and is still as smooth as new. It is very sad that this elephant head is obviously only a part of a large artifact, and this large artifact still does not know where it is.
Gilded bronze elephant head
After many disasters and 150 years of wind and rain in the Yuanmingyuan, there are still 50,000 treasures in the Yuanmingyuan, but the cultural relics lost in the Yuanmingyuan are only a dime, many precious cultural relics, it is difficult to find back, it is estimated that the Yongzheng Emperor who built the Yuanmingyuan at that time knew that the Yuanmingyuan was burned, and he also had to live.
Treasures of the Old Summer Palace
When hearing the treasures of the Yuanmingyuan, many people may first think of the head of the zodiac beast. And the experience of these beast heads returning home is full of twists and turns. In 2000, a Chinese company bought back bronze statues of cow heads, monkey heads and tiger heads at a high price; in 2003, patriotic entrepreneur Ho Hung Sun bought back a bronze statue of a pig head for 6 million yuan and donated it to the motherland free of charge; in 2007, Ho Hung Sun spent another HK$69.1 million to buy a bronze statue of Ma Shou.
Ho Hung Sun and the bronze statue of the horse's head
And these treasures can be bought back with money, and many treasures cannot be bought with money.
For example, the Eastern Jin Dynasty painter Gu Kaizhi's "Female History Zhentu", now the real copy has been lost, the existing Tang and Song facsimiles, is still a rare treasure, the current Tang Dynasty facsimile, hidden in the British Museum, and no matter how much money is spent, the British will not let go, even there is no room for consultation.
Qianlong presided over the revision of the "Four Libraries Of The Whole Book", also when the British and French coalition forces looted the Yuanmingyuan, disappeared, some people said that they were robbed by the rebels in the war, and they could no longer find their whereabouts, which made people sigh; the jade seal that Qianlong collected in the Yuanmingyuan was also taken away by the British and French coalition forces, and was sold in the French auction house in 2012, and China could not get it back anyway.
"Female Historiography"
So why can't China get it back? The existing international laws on cultural relics were promulgated in the 1970s, and the events before the 1970s are no longer traceable. Unfortunately, the devastation suffered by the mainland in modern times is too deep, and cultural relics have also been unfortunately lost in the fires of war, which is really a shame for the Chinese nation. Welcome to like the comment collection.