Last time, I talked about three mistakes made by Emperor Xianfeng during his reign 1 1. They were wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong to sit on the throne of the emperor, wrong to escape from the capital, and wrong to appoint officials. Emperor Xianfeng's mistake led to the invasion of Beijing by British and French allied forces, and the Yuanmingyuan was burned and robbed. Next, I will talk about three topics, the construction, value and burning of Yuanmingyuan.

Now, let's talk about the first question, the construction of Yuanmingyuan. As we all know, after the Manchu emperor moved to Beijing, he was very uncomfortable with Beijing's culture, geography, nationality and climate. Dourgen said: "Gyeonggi can still live in spring and summer. As for Xia Yue, it is embarrassing in summer." Let's just say that the climate in Beijing is ok in spring, summer, autumn and winter. It's too hot in summer, because the Manchu emperor is outside the customs, and he is not afraid of cold in winter. Beijing is too hot in summer. So Dourgen decided to build Kara City on the Great Wall. In order to escape the heat and hunt, the Qing emperor moved the capital to Beijing, hunting in spring and autumn and summer, so he overhauled the royal gardens in Beijing and Gyeonggi. Changchun Garden, Summer Resort and Mulan paddock were built in the Kangxi Dynasty, and Changchun Garden, later the Summer Palace and Yuanmingyuan, was built in the Qianlong Dynasty of Yongzheng. Yuanmingyuan Garden includes Yuanmingyuan Garden, Changchun Garden and Wanchun Garden, which was later renamed Qichun Garden. Yuanmingyuan was built in 48 years of Kangxi, namely 1709. Kangxi gave an abandoned Ming garden to Prince Yong. The name was decided by Kangxi, so it was called "Yuanming". After the death of Kangxi, Kangxi often lived in Changchun Garden, mainly the Empress Dowager. So Yongzheng lived in Yuanmingyuan for a long time. Since Yongzheng Dynasty, Yuanmingyuan has been built on a large scale. Yuanmingyuan is located in the northwest suburb of Beijing, between the Summer Palace and today's Tsinghua University. In the 20 miles of Fiona Fang, Yuanmingyuan is the largest of the three Yuanming gardens. Further inside the Grand Palace Gate and the Second Palace Gate of Yuanmingyuan, there are offices such as the Office of the Interior, the Zongren House, the Military Department, the Cabinet, the Sixth Department, the Duchayuan and the Lifanyuan, which are equivalent to the Palace. Zheng Da Guangming Hall is the main palace of Yuanmingyuan, which is equivalent to the Hall of Supreme Harmony and Gan Qing Palace in the Forbidden City. The emperor attended the meeting and listened to politics in Zheng Da Guangming Hall. On the 15th day of the first month of each year, the emperor met with princes and ministers, consorts of Mongolian princes and leaders of the Hui people's department in Guangming Hall, Zheng Da. There is an important temple next to Guangming Hall, which is called "Qin Zheng Qinxian Hall" or "Qin Zheng Hall" for short. This temple is very important. There is a plaque in the temple, written by Yongzheng, with three words, "It's hard for you". Emperor Qianlong made a new explanation of his father's three words "it is difficult for a monarch and a minister." Gan Long said, "It is difficult to be a monarch, but not a minister.". Ganlong also expounded the relationship between entrepreneurship and guarding the city. Gan Long said, "It is difficult to create chaos, but it is not easy to keep the established foundation." It's just that it's hard to persist in starting a successful business. Which is the hardest? Some people emphasize that it is difficult to start a business, while others emphasize that it is difficult to stay in business. It means that it is difficult to start a business and keep it. What was the Qing emperor doing in this temple? There are three sentences recorded in the literature, which are called "Look at the memorial, call the ministers to do things, and take a lunch break in the cabinet", which means reading the memorial of the ministers here, meeting the ministers to discuss business and state affairs, and taking a lunch break in the cabinet, so it is called the Hall of Diligence and Pro-Sage, which highlights two meanings: one is diligent but not lazy, and the other is pro-sage but not pro-villain.

Yuanmingyuan has 48 scenic spots. One of the important scenic spots is called "high mountains and high waters", and there is an open area in front of it. Every year around the 15th day of the first month, the emperor meets the princes, their ministers, Mongolian princes and so on. The night of the fifteenth day of the first month is the Lantern Festival. In front of the hall with high mountains and high waters, a lamp holder stands. This lamp is more than 60 feet high, about 20 meters high. There are lanterns everywhere. The whole front of the hall is bright. Here, there are competitions, dragon and lion dances, equestrian performances and other acrobatics. It is recorded in the archives that once Qianlong celebrated the fifteenth day of the first month here and set off 994 firecrackers, large and small. There is also an important temple called "Wan Fang Anhe", and "Wan" means "Wan", that is, the temple is shaped like a "Wan". The temple is in the water, and its foundation is completely in the water. There is a swastika temple on it, which is surrounded by water, which is unique in the architectural history of China. There's nothing in front and nothing in the back. Yongzheng met officials here to discuss state affairs, and also watched the fish swimming in the lake here. Then there is heaven, which is the theater of Yuanmingyuan. This theater is very important. Every year around the fifteenth day of the first month, the emperor will watch a play here, and invite the prince, princess, concubines in the harem and some court ministers to perform a ten-day drama. During the prosperous period of Kanggan, especially during the Qianlong period, there was a cock crow here, and then there was Fuhai, with a large area. An important feature of Yuanmingyuan is its wide water surface, islands in the water and buildings on the islands. In terms of architecture, there are gardens, water, buildings and landscapes. In the middle of Fuhai, there is a place called Pengdao Yaotai, which imitates the artistic conception of Li Sixun and creates a world. Later, the Qing emperor, especially during the Qianlong period, felt that the scale of Yuanmingyuan was not enough, so he expanded to the northeast, which was Changchun Garden. Ganlong visited Jiangnan six times. He ordered some craftsmen to draw the scenic spots in the south of the Yangtze River and copy them in Yuanmingyuan and Changchun Gardens. Changchun Garden has a great feature, that is, the West Building. This is not available in other gardens. Emperor Qianlong asked Ranning, Wang Shicheng and others to design. According to the architectural features of Renaissance in Europe and Italy, the Changchun Garden in Yuanmingyuan was designed as a western-style building. The west building is characterized by an east-west trend in a "D" shape, with a group of buildings in the north and south, as well as the buildings of Changchun Garden. The southern group is called Harmony and Curiosity, the northern group is called Wanhua Array, with a water storage building in the middle and a birdcage in the east. On the east side of the birdcage are square appearance, Haiyan Hall, Yuanying Hall, Xianfa Mountain and Where. The center of gravity of the whole West Building is so nine. Its landscape, that is, the landscape of this group of western buildings, is very well designed. For example, ten dogs compete for the deer. It makes a bronze deer run, with ten dogs on each side. When dogs spray water, they all spray it on deer, so they call ten dogs fighting for deer. This cultivation is novel, strange and beautiful. Another feature of its splash is that it uses the zodiac mouse, ugly cow, silver tiger, hairy rabbit, four-shot, five-horse, Weiyang, monkey, chicken, dog, porcupine and Chinese zodiac as the head of the zodiac, which is made of copper. It symbolizes twelve hours. Hours, animals spray water. At noon 12, 12, the portraits of Chinese zodiac animals were sprayed with water at the same time, which was spectacular and ingenious. It is to combine the architecture of China, the Chinese zodiac, and the western architectural water method, that is, the artificial fountain. Therefore, western architecture is the characteristic of western architecture and China architecture.

To the south of Changchun Garden is Wanchun Garden, later renamed Qichun Garden. This group of buildings is also 30 scenic spots, exquisite and natural. The spring of heaven and earth is in Wanchun Garden, which is Qichun Garden. When Emperor Xianfeng was in power, his enjoyment was mainly in Wanchun Garden, that is, Qichun Garden. Cixi's favorite place is also this Wanchun Garden. Yuanming Three Gardens We usually call it Yuanmingyuan. As I said just now, the scenic spot 108 is 20 miles around. These scenic spots have concentrated the strengths of China's northern and southern gardens, combined with the gardening techniques of the East and the West, and brought the gardening art of China to a peak of 3,000 years since Shang Dynasty. It can be said that Yuanmingyuan is the essence of China culture and art, and also the treasure house of China culture. Yuanmingyuan is of great value.

Let's talk about the second question, the value of Yuanmingyuan. I think the value of Yuanmingyuan is historical, cultural and artistic. Yuanmingyuan is not an ordinary park, an ordinary garden, but the creation of 5,000 years of culture and art of all ethnic groups in China. It moved the scenic spots of southern gardens to Yuanmingyuan, such as the autumn moon in Pinghu, the reflection of the moon in Santan, the snow flying on the broken bridge, the spring dawn in Su Causeway, the sunset glow of Leifeng, the wind and lotus in Quyuan and the sound of willow waves. Nanping night clock is modeled after Yuanmingyuan, and its name is also named after Hangzhou. For example, Tianyi Pavilion in Ningbo, modeled after Yuanmingyuan, built a pavilion called Wenyuan Pavilion, such as the Lion Forest in Suzhou, and Yuanmingyuan built a lion forest. For example, An Lan Garden in Haining, Zhejiang Province, An Lan Garden in Yuanmingyuan, and so on. Therefore, Yuanmingyuan is an architectural scenic spot of 108, which concentrates the wisdom and essence of all Chinese nationalities, north and south, east and west. For example, Jiaqing was called "Shenggeng Mountain Villa" and "Xiushan House", and the furniture for doors and windows was made of rosewood. Rosewood is called inch wood and inch gold. The furnishings, corals, agates, pearls, Zhong Ding, ceramics, calligraphy and painting are all national treasures. As we all know, the monkey head of the 12 Zodiac, made of copper, took more than10 million to get back. There are 12 animals in this species, and even the bronze heads of these 12 animals are just a drop of water in the Wang Yang sea, the treasure house of Yuanmingyuan. Any of the Tang paintings, Song paintings and Ming paintings in it can be said to be priceless. Think about it, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of national treasures, the price is simply unexpected. So Yuanmingyuan is an art museum in China for 5,000 years. Its furnishings, robes, bedding, brocade, brocade, Zhejiang embroidery and Suzhou embroidery, any precious brocade product, can be said to be priceless today. There is a saying about the value of Yuanmingyuan. Gan Long wrote an article called Postscript of Yuanmingyuan. He summed it up like this. Gan Long said, "The scale is vast, the hills and valleys are deep, the land is beautiful, and the tall buildings are furnished with elegant rooms. It can also be called a place of observation, a place of natural beauty, and a place where emperors travel. " No place in the world can surpass Yuanmingyuan, which is the evaluation of Emperor Qianlong. How do foreigners evaluate it? Hugo, a great French writer, commented on Yuanmingyuan. Hugo said: "somewhere in the world, there is a great miracle of mankind." This miracle is the Yuanmingyuan. Art has two origins, one is conceptual art, from which European art comes into being, and the other is fantasy art, from which Eastern art comes into being. Yuanmingyuan belongs to fantasy art, a nation close to superman, and everything imaginable is gathered in Yuanmingyuan. " Hugo also said, "Yuanmingyuan is like a fairyland in the Moon Palace, which is a shocking and unparalleled masterpiece." . Hugo's words are not excessive, and can be said to be appropriate. In Yuanmingyuan, there is still a collection of 1792 tribute from British Ambassador magal. The essence of China culture is partly concentrated in the Forbidden City and partly in the Yuanmingyuan. There are three important royal gardens in China: Summer Resort, Yuanmingyuan and Summer Palace. The summer resort is mainly from the Kanggan period, and there are many treasures in it. Is it because the emperor lived there for a short time? The other is the Summer Palace, mainly during the Guangxu period and Xuantong period, when the Qing Dynasty was gone. When the Qing Dynasty was strong, the main emperors lived in Yuanmingyuan. The emperor went to Yuanmingyuan on the first day of the first month and after the suburban sacrifice, returned to the palace before the winter solstice sacrifice and stayed in Yuanmingyuan all the year round. Only one of the six emperors Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong, Jiaqing, Daoguang and Xianfeng died in the palace, that is, Qianlong, and the rest died in the royal garden. It can be said that the Yuanmingyuan was built by six generations of Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong, Jiaqing, Daoguang and Xianfeng, with a cycle of 1 and 5 1 year, which concentrated the manpower, material resources, financial resources and wisdom of the whole country and the outstanding cultural heritage of all ethnic groups in China for 5,000 years. Therefore, the historical value, cultural value and artistic value of Yuanmingyuan cannot be overestimated. But Xianfeng was burned by the British and French allied forces for ten years. Now I want to talk about the third question: Yuanmingyuan was burned.

On August 22nd, 65438+10/October 6th, the British and French invaders arrived at Deshengmen along the wall of Beijing. Because of the high wall, we walked west along the wall outside Deshengmen, and arrived at Haidian, where we met resistance from Beijing soldiers and civilians, especially ordinary people. On this day, the British and French invaders arrived at Yuanmingyuan, first attacking the Grand Palace Gate and then attacking the Second Palace Gate. Ji Yong, the eunuch of Yuanmingyuan, resisted, and eunuch Bapin claimed that Ren Liang was dead. 1983 A stone tablet was found on the construction site in Tsinghua University. This is a stone tablet about Ren Liang. The inscription reads: "Stand bravely in the Ming Pavilion, not afraid of being killed, be loyal, work hard, few people and the masses, die a martyr, and be brave and fearless." In order to defend Yuanmingyuan, not only Ren Liang, but also many eunuchs headed by Ren Liang died. I want to say here that since Yuanmingyuan is so important, it is almost as important as the Forbidden City. The palace has a high wall, and there is a deep moat outside the wall. The defense is tight. Yuanmingyuan was built in the peaceful and prosperous times of the Qing Dynasty, although it has a fence. On the same day, the French minister and the commander of the French invading army led troops to attack the Yuanmingyuan and occupied the Justice Hall. Wen Feng, the eunuch in charge of guarding Yuanmingyuan, was outnumbered, and the ladies-in-waiting and concubines inside were in a panic and threw themselves into Fuhai. 10, 17 On the morning of August 23rd, the leaders of the British and French allied forces discussed how to plunder and carve up the property of Yuanmingyuan in Zheng Da Guangming Hall, and the treasures of Yuanmingyuan were looted. 65438+1On the fourth day of September 7, a reporter who participated in the invasion later wrote: "The Allied Command officially ordered that it was free to plunder, so the British and French officers and men plundered madly and everyone was full of money. At this point, the whole staff was in chaos. French soldiers are stationed in front of the garden, and legal persons are armed with sticks, fighting for the valuable and portable, while the valuable and intangible, such as bronzes and porcelain, are fighting for it. The allied forces of Britain and France committed the crime of looting Yuanmingyuan. In order to cover up their crimes, they came up with a poisonous plan, that is, setting fire. Elgin, commander of the British invading army, said, "There is only one method that is the most feasible. ".When burning, you can't tell who robbed who. On the same day, the British and French aggressor troops began to burn the Yuanmingyuan, which was 65438+ 10/8 on the fifth day of September, and the people of China will always remember it. It was on this day that the British and French invaders burned the Yuanmingyuan on a large scale. British minister Erkin and British commander Grant sent three or four thousand people to Yuanmingyuan. With Zheng Da Guangming Hall as its headquarters, troops were sent everywhere to set fire, and the whole park was in flames. The next afternoon, the Guangming Hall and Dagongmen area in Zheng Da were set on fire, and the fire burned, and the smoke soared into the sky for three days and three nights, and the treasures of Yuanmingyuan were reduced to ashes. According to eyewitness records: "At that time, black smoke filled the sun, and thousands of flames erupted outward, and the flames roared, and the vegetation was sorrowful and terrible. "The British and French beast soldiers who burned the Yuanmingyuan, the' beasts' among the beasts, ran around. There was a man named Hege, who recorded in How We Occupy Beijing: "In the country, all temples and palace buildings were regarded as sacred and solemn things, and all the articles with royal flavor and essence were burned down. "The buildings in the park are about 6.5438+0.7 million square meters, which has completely turned into a piece of burnt smoke. There is a French translator named Drisson. In the translator's note, the scene of British and French invaders looting Yuanmingyuan was described. He said this: "They all rushed to this pile of priceless treasures. They shouted in various languages, scrambled, wrestled with each other, stumbled, fell and got up again. Swearing, cursing, shouting, each running in all directions with his own booty. "When the British and French invaders arrived at Deshengmen, there was only one car with some of their general's things. When they retreated, the motorcade was miles away, and the motorcade was miles away, full of precious national treasures of the Chinese nation. The atrocities committed by the British and French aggressors have aroused the supervision of various countries and the condemnation of public opinion.

1861165438+1On October 25th, Hugo, a great French writer, said, "All the wealth of our church is inferior to this huge and beautiful museum in the East." He added, "One day, two robbers broke into the Yuanmingyuan. One robber robbed and the other set fire to it. " Hugo denounced: "One winner filled his pockets, and the other saw his boxes, and then they returned to Europe arm in arm with a smile.". This is the history of two robbers. " This is what the French writer said. Yuanmingyuan was burned and looted by western invaders, which had a far-reaching and huge impact. First, Yuanmingyuan was burned and robbed. It was a royal garden in the Qing Dynasty 150 years, which concentrated the country's material resources, financial resources, manpower and wisdom and turned to ashes. Second, Yuanmingyuan was burned and robbed, which is a rich treasure accumulated by the Chinese nation for 5,000 years, or robbed or burned. This is a huge and unprecedented cultural disaster that China has never had since the Song Dynasty 1000 years ago. I said that this is not only a catastrophe of Chinese civilization, but also a catastrophe of world civilization. Third, the burning of Yuanmingyuan was a great blow to the Qing Dynasty, which greatly damaged its vitality and accelerated the decline and demise of the Qing Dynasty. Fourth, the Yuanmingyuan was burned and robbed, which is a historical shame of the Chinese nation. This matter will always educate our future generations. We can't forget this shame. We must love our motherland and our history even more. At present, there is still a site in Yuanmingyuan, a pair of China watches in front of Jinwen Street Branch of the National Library, and a eight-character pavilion in Zhongshan Park. Only these sites will tell our people forever that our youth should strive to make our country strong and no aggressive forces dare to bully us. Emperor Xianfeng made a mistake. Emperor Xianfeng made a mistake. The British and French allied forces invaded Beijing to burn the Yuanmingyuan. Xianfeng himself suffered a heavy blow and accelerated his death. Emperor Xianfeng suffered such a huge psychological trauma that it was difficult for him to calm down. It can be said that Emperor Xianfeng died in pain.