A modern history of China is a history of national humiliation and continuous exploration. As the capital of the empire, Beijing City is inevitably wrapped up in the tide of history. In recent history, the invasion of Western powers has spread from the southeast coast to the entire coast, from the frontier coast to the inland along the river, and even affected the heart of the empire. As the seat of the ruler, Beijing was occupied by invaders three times, the first two times under the Qing Dynasty, and the third time setting off a nationwide arduous war of resistance.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="3" > two European robbers who burned the Yuanmingyuan</h1>
During the Opium War of 1840, britain opened the door of China with a cannon. Confident Britain thought it had opened up the Chinese market and a steady stream of wealth was produced from here. However, under the self-sufficient feudal economy, the wishful thinking of the Western powers was not realized, and in order to further expand their rights and interests, they planned new aggressions. In 1856, the Yarrow and The Father Horse incident, Britain and France colluded with the United States and Russia to embark on the road of joint invasion.
Still starting from Guangzhou, the British and French allies went all the way north, and after capturing the Dagu Fort, they entered Beijing and Tianjin, and the shocked Qing court hurried to sign the alliance under the city, the Treaty of Tianjin. Although there were many indemnities, trade, ministers entering Beijing, and free navigation, the Western powers, which were difficult to fill, committed another crime two years later. This time into Beijing, the British and French forces directly drove away the then emperor Xianfeng, leaving only Prince Gong Yishi in the capital to clean up the mess.
On October 6, 1860, the Anglo-French army detoured northeast of the city of Beijing and directly attacked the destination, the Yuanmingyuan. As the most gorgeous imperial garden, the Yuanmingyuan was built by the Three Dynasties of Kang Yongqian and was an important place for the qing emperors to work and relax. The wealth of the empire is gathered here, which is a model of the combination of East and West. However, the Yuanmingyuan in the chaotic world, like a weak woman, could only be ruthlessly humiliated by the Anglo-French coalition forces.
"In two days, I got 30 million francs worth of silk, jewelry, porcelain, bronzes and sculptures." This is the self-description of an aggressor. The Western powers, which have torn off their hypocritical faces, have long since lost sight of the decency of civilization. Everything that can be taken away is moved, and all that cannot be taken away is burned. "One day, two robbers from Europe broke into the Yuanmingyuan. One robber looted the property and the other set fire to it." The fire burned for three days and three nights, the flames soared into the sky, the smoke billowed, and it was the cry of a nation.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="5" > imperialist collusion to suppress the Boxers</h1>
In the process of the invasion of China by Western powers, missionaries often played a disgraceful role as "accomplices". Relying on the Western forces behind them, they acted as pawns for the invaders, and the seizure of people's houses, the forced belief, and the frequent occurrence of teaching cases have further angered ethnic contradictions. At the end of the 19th century, in Shandong and Zhili, the Boxers, which evolved from the civilian martial arts organization Boxer Boxers, quickly spread to the vicinity of Beijing and Tianjin under the slogan of "Supporting the Qing Dynasty and Destroying the West".
Destroying churches, demolishing railroad tracks, and destroying power lines, the Boxers expressed their resistance to foreign invaders in the simplest way. At this time, the Qing government's attitude toward the Boxers underwent a change from "suppression" to "appeasement". The ambitious Empress Dowager Cixi, who wanted to use the Boxers to consolidate her rule, once again staged the trick of killing people with a knife. Using the Boxers as a weapon against the West, once they found it useless, they turned around and colluded with imperialism to suppress the Boxers.
As the Boxers grew, the Western powers could no longer tolerate it. In the face of a poor and weak China, imperialism colludes with each other in an attempt to further expand its rights and interests in China through war. At the end of May 1900, Britain, France, the United States, Russia, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Austria formed an eight-power alliance, and more than 2,000 troops landed at Dagukou in Tianjin. In the past, in the face of one or two countries, the Qing government was humiliated and humiliated, but now the Eight-Nation Alliance is fierce, scaring Empress Dowager Cixi and Guangxu into fleeing.
This time, the rulers of the Qing Dynasty no longer had the residual power of the past, and the Eight-Nation Alliance army that occupied the city of Beijing was even more burning and looting. As the commander-in-chief of the coalition forces, Wadsi even confessed, "After the coalition forces occupied Beijing, they allowed the army to rob publicly for three days, followed by private robberies." The Yongle Canon was destroyed, the household silver was stolen, the people were innocently killed, and the triumphant invaders sat on the throne symbolizing imperial power.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="7" > guns outside Wanping City, the whole nation resisted</h1>
Throughout China's modern history, Japan has always tried to dominate China. From the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 to the Russo-Japanese War of 1904, from the Twenty-One Articles of 1915 to the forcible occupation of Shandong by the Paris Peace Conference. In the 1930s, Japan brazenly launched the September 18 Incident and occupied the Splendid Rivers and Mountains of the Three Eastern Provinces in just over four months. There is no peaceful day outside guanwai, there is a beacon fire inside Guannei, the Great Wall War of Resistance in 1933, and the North China Incident in 1935.
The pace of aggression has never stopped, the occupation of Northeast China is only the first step, and Japan wants to occupy all of China. North China Crisis, Pingjin Crisis, Chinese Nation Crisis! Angry students took to the streets, demonstrated, shouted to save the country, and promoted the upsurge of anti-Japanese resistance and salvation throughout the country. The patriotic generals Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng forced Jiang to resist Japan and launched the Xi'an Incident. Everything is developing towards the situation of unity and resistance against Japan.
Since the signing of the Treaty of Xinugu, it has become the norm for the great powers to garrison troops in Beijing, and the Japanese troops stationed in the southern suburbs of Beijing have always thought of provocation. In fact, after the victory of the Northern Expedition, the Nationalist government once renamed Beijing "Beiping" with the intention of seeking peace and stability. However, the country was weak and restless, and on the night of July 7, 1937, the guns outside Wanping City broke the previous tranquility. "Gunfire broke out on the Lugou Bridge, and the Invasion of the Wokou was devastated," and the war of resistance of the whole nation began.
The battle to defend Peiping was extremely fierce, and the soldiers of the Twenty-ninth Army fought bloodily. As early as the Great Wall War of Resistance, they attacked the Japanese army with a large knife team, and now facing the powerful Japanese army, they can only fight with flesh and blood. Deputy Commander Tong Linge was martyred, and Zhao Dengyu, commander of the 132nd Division, was martyred. Peiping fell in less than a month, and the eight-year Japanese rule began. After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the name of Beiping was still used, and on the eve of the founding of New China, it was officially renamed Beijing.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="31" > postscript</h1>
As an ancient metropolis, Beijing carries the weight of history, the modern history of many disasters and difficulties, and the development of Beijing has imprinted the brand of the times. Looking back at history, only a strong country can resist insults, and those who offend china will be punished from afar!