3,500 British and French troops rushed into Yuanmingyuan and set fire to it. The fire didn't go out for three days. Yuanmingyuan and its nearby Qingyi Garden, Jingming Garden, Jingyi Garden, Changchun Garden and Haidian Town were all burned into ruins. Nearly 300 eunuchs, ladies-in-waiting and craftsmen were buried in the fire of Anyou Palace. Turn this world-famous garden into ruins. The fire burned for three days and nights and became a rare atrocity in the history of world civilization.
Background:
1, construction process
Yuanmingyuan was built in the forty-sixth year of Kangxi, and consists of Yuanmingyuan, Changchun Garden and H Spring Garden. The five emperors Yongzheng, Qianlong, Jiaqing, Daoguang and Xianfeng have a history of 150 years. They concentrated a lot of material resources. The military has trained countless skilled craftsmen, instilled blood and sweat into millions of working people, and carefully turned it into a magnificent palace. .
Every summer, the imperial capital of Qing Dynasty comes here to escape the heat, listen to politics and deal with military and political affairs, so it is also called the Summer Palace. Yuanmingyuan has a large scale, many cultural relics and historic sites, and the architectural level of combining Chinese and western has reached the peak of ancient garden art in China. Most of the famous buildings in the West Building of Yuanmingyuan are built according to western architectural specifications.
2. The Opium War
After the First Opium War, the western capitalist countries forced the Qing government to sign the first batch of unequal treaties, and obtained many privileges from China, such as compensation, tariff negotiation, opening five trade, consular jurisdiction, and one-sided MFN treatment. In order to further open the door to China, Britain, France, the United States and other western countries tried to suppress the Qing government and give it new aggression rights.
1854, Britain first proposed to China to amend the relevant provisions of the treaty of nanking, followed by the United States and France, which were rejected by the Qing government. When the "reconstruction" negotiations initiated by colonialists such as Britain, America and France failed, they became angry and decided to use a new war of aggression to realize their unreasonable demands. 1856, rejected again.
1859, the British and French ministers led the fleet to Beijing to change the contract. The Qing government appointed British and French representatives to land in Tianjin from Beitang, Tianjin. The British and French ambassadors led the fleet into Dagukou by force. The Qing army stationed in Dagukou blocked the attack, and the wolves of the British and French troops escaped from the mouth.
During the Tongzhou negotiations, the diplomatic envoys of the two sides were extremely controversial. The Qing government rejected Britain's unreasonable demands. The Qing government detained 39 people and sent them to Beijing as hostages. The British and French allied forces entered Beijing immediately after learning about it. In August of the tenth year of Xianfeng, Britain and France attacked Beijing on the pretext of changing the contract. When the Qing government returned the hostages, 39 people could only survive 18, and the rest were killed, including 7 journalists.
1860, 10, 10 On October 6th, the British and French allied forces occupied Yuanmingyuan. From the next day, in order to retaliate, the British and French allied officers and men frantically robbed and destroyed.
In order to force the Qing government to accept the peace conditions as soon as possible, British leader Erkin and British nominal commander Grant ordered Lieutenant General Mitchell to lead more than 3,500 invading troops to Yuanmingyuan on June 5438+0860+ 10/8 on the pretext that the Qing government had imprisoned British and French prisoners of war in Yuanmingyuan.
Extended data:
Color development method
1, seized
The French army went to Haidian in the afternoon and to the Grand Palace Gate in Yuanmingyuan in the evening. At this time, at the entrance of Yinliangmen, more than 20 technical eunuchs in Yuanmingyuan met the enemy. "If I die, I don't worry. I tried to go straight ahead, "but I outnumbered the public. Ren Liang, the skilled "eight-product master" of Yuanmingyuan, and others went to work. At 7 pm, the French invaders occupied the Yuanmingyuan. Guan Yuan Minister Wenfeng died in Fuhai.
After the British and French invaders entered Yuanmingyuan, they immediately sponsored three members of the British and French Committee to distribute treasures in the garden. Montaubon, commander of the French army, wrote to the Foreign Minister on the same day: "Pay attention to the attention of the French Committee, first of all, the most valuable projects in art and archaeology. It will be treasured by the emperor and detained by the French museum.
Grant, the commander of the British army, immediately "sent people to collect items that should belong to the British army." The British and French invaders couldn't resist the temptation of goods the day after they entered the park. Officers and soldiers all ran ahead. Robbery of gold and silver treasures and cultural and artistic treasures in the garden.
Step 2 snatch
Within 48 hours, Yuanmingyuan became the target of "organized robbery". Soldiers smashed vases and mirrors, tore up picture frames and scrolls, opened warehouses to snatch silk and wrapped horses with these precious fabrics; They were wrapped in the queen's robe and filled with rubies, sapphires, pearls and crystals.
According to British and French officials, priests and journalists who witnessed the robbery, officers and soldiers, Britain and France flocked to Yuanmingyuan from all directions to grab the treasure. They are indulgent and arrogant, and they feel depressed and arrogant. In order to catch the treasure, they beat each other and even fought.
Because there are so many treasures in the garden, they don't know what to take at the moment. Some moved cloisonne porcelain bottles, some coveted embroidered robes, some chose high-grade leather clothes, and some got wall clocks inlaid with pearls and jade.
Some people carry big bags full of all kinds of treasures. Some people have gold bars and tin foil in their big pockets; Some are wrapped in brocade; Some are inlaid with red sapphires, pearls and crystals; Some people wear jade rings around their necks. There is a pile of high-grade silks and satins in one wing, which is said to be enough for half of Beijing residents to transport by soldiers.
A British officer took down a golden Buddha from a temple with 500 Buddha statues and a price of 1200. A French official robbed property worth 600,000 francs. Montaubin's daughter, the son of a French army commander, was worth 300,000 francs and filled several carriages.
Step 3 burn
Finally, the British commander ordered the Yuanmingyuan to be burned. In the next two days, soldiers were assigned to set fires in palaces, pagodas and other buildings. Particularly serious losses were caused by royal books and archives. About10,500 books and archives, including the rarest and most exquisite works about China's history, science and technology, philosophy and art, were all burned in the fire in Elgin.
4. Results
Afterwards, according to the official investigation of the Qing Dynasty, there were only 20 or 30 temples, pavilions, temples, official doors, value rooms and other buildings in the huge Yuanming Three Gardens, but many doors and windows were uneven, and the indoor furnishings and several cases were looted. At the same time, some buildings of Qingyi Garden in Wanshou Mountain, Jingyi Garden in Xiangshan Mountain and Jingming Garden in Yuquan Mountain were also burned.
Baidu encyclopedia-burning Yuanmingyuan