At its peak, the Old Summer Palace contained no less than 1.5 million cultural relics.

The twelve zodiac bronze statues are just a drop in the ocean of lost cultural relics in the Old Summer Palace.

Today in the Yuanmingyuan Heritage Park, people can only see half-ruined landscapes and ruins. It is difficult to imagine that this place once enjoyed the reputation of "the Garden of Ten Thousand Gardens". In its heyday, the Old Summer Palace had hundreds of famous sights. For more than 150 years, several generations of emperors of the Qing Dynasty carefully managed this royal garden that combined Western architectural styles. Emperor Qianlong commented on the Old Summer Palace and said: "It is a truly treasured and spiritual place. There is no other place where emperors traveled more than this." But now, people can only use their imagination to guess what the Old Summer Palace looked like more than a hundred years ago.

How many cultural relics are there in the Old Summer Palace? There are still different opinions on this issue.

According to Mr. Yang’s inference, the number of cultural relics in the Old Summer Palace would not be less than 1.5 million. He collected a lot of evidence from Qing Dynasty archives, research articles from the Palace Museum, and the "Summer Palace Furnishings Collection":

The emperors of the five dynasties of Yongzheng, Qianlong, Jiaqing, Daoguang, and Xianfeng lived in the The time in Old Summer Palace lasted for more than half a year. Taking Emperor Qianlong as an example, according to the records of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Qing Dynasty, in the 21st year of Qianlong's reign, there were 393 days in the year (due to the leap month). Qianlong went to Rehe Summer Resort and Mulan Paddock for 66 days, and to Qufu for 54 days. He lived in the Forbidden City (Forbidden City) for 105 days and lived in the Old Summer Palace for 168 days. In the twenty-fourth year of Daoguang's reign, there were 347 days in the whole year. Emperor Daoguang lived in the Old Summer Palace for 274 days and in the palace for only 73 days. Therefore, the furnishings in the Old Summer Palace should not be much inferior to those in the Forbidden City.

The garden buildings of the Old Summer Palace cover 200,000 square meters, which is more than 40,000 square meters more than the entire construction area of ??the Forbidden City. Excluding the area of ??pavilions with few furnishings, the construction area used for garden residence, worship, reading, entertainment, storage warehouses, etc. is about 190,000 square meters. If the number of cultural relics in these buildings is calculated based on general furnishings and warehouse storage, it should not be less than the number of cultural relics displayed in the Forbidden City. It is estimated that there should be at least about 1.5 million cultural relics in the Forbidden City when Puyi abdicated.

A memorial from the Ministry of Internal Affairs during the Daoguang period detailedly stated that in the 15th year of Daoguang's reign, he was ordered to conduct an inventory of objects stored in the palace and the Old Summer Palace: 569,390 one- and two-weight silver ingots were stored, of which 290,505 were stored in the palace. There are 280,694 in the Old Summer Palace; 1,621 various Ruyi models, including 1,194 in the Palace and 450 in the Old Summer Palace; 501 jade inkstones and brush washes, including 142 in the Palace and 337 in the Old Summer Palace; first-class porcelain stoves, bottles, There are 773 pieces of cans and other treasures, of which 337 are stored in the palace and 291 are stored in the Old Summer Palace... This can also give us a glimpse of the collection of the Old Summer Palace.

How much do you know about the treasures of the Old Summer Palace that were lost overseas?

In 1860, when the British and French forces robbed and destroyed the Old Summer Palace, they stole most of the cultural relics.

According to the memories of the British and French invading troops who participated in the robbery of the Old Summer Palace, in order to auction the treasures robbed from the Old Summer Palace, they "arranged all the stolen goods to be displayed in the main hall of the Lama Temple", including various colors. White and green jade, antique enamel bottles, ancient bronze utensils, gold and silver Buddha statues; fur products are also particularly exquisite, many of which are very valuable, including sable, otter, sable, lamb, etc. What is particularly eye-catching is that there are two or three pieces of the emperor's court clothes. Grant, the commander of the British army, gave his "due" portion to the soldiers. "The officers presented him with a carved red gold flagon, which was the most exquisite thing among the stolen goods." The Queen of England also received a share, two beautiful large enamel bottles.

Montopan, the French commander, gave one of the two gold and jasper tablets he had grabbed to Grant to present to the Queen of England, and the other to French King Napoleon III. After returning home, Montauban presented many things to Napoleon III: two generals' decorative staffs, made of gold, inlaid with large gems in the middle and at both ends, extremely fine workmanship; a piece of armor used by Emperor Qianlong (now Exhibited at the Military Museum of Guimet, France), with a war helmet; a gilt and glazed copper pagoda; several gold and glazed statues of gods; many rings, collars, wine glasses, lacquerware, porcelain, and thousands of curios .

As time goes by, the looted cultural relics from the Old Summer Palace have been scattered around the world through various auctions and other channels. But most of them are still preserved in Britain and France.

The Oriental Art Gallery of the British Museum preserves more than 20,000 rare treasures from China's past dynasties. The British army dedicated part of the stolen cultural relics from the Old Summer Palace to Queen Victoria at the time. This part of the cultural relics, together with the auctioned cultural relics from the Old Summer Palace, were collected in the Oriental Art Museum. "Scroll of Admonitions of Women" by the great painter Gu Kaizhi during the Eastern Jin Dynasty is a rare treasure among ancient scroll paintings in my country. It was snatched away from the Old Summer Palace by the British and French forces in 1860; a white jade horse 3 feet long and 2 feet high. This jade horse After being stolen from the Old Summer Palace by He and his house was ransacked, the jade horse was put back into the Old Summer Palace, but in the end it did not escape the fate of being robbed.

There is a Chinese pavilion in the Fontainebleau Palace in Paris, France, which was built by Queen Eugenie of Napoleon III. After the British and French allied forces robbed the Old Summer Palace in 1860, Monttopan, the commander of the French invaders, dedicated the "trophies" robbed from the Old Summer Palace to Napoleon III and Queen Eugenie. Queen Eugenie then built the Chinese Pavilion to collect these cultural relics.

The most prominent position in the China Pavilion is a huge pagoda, 2 meters high, made of gilt bronze and inlaid with emeralds on every floor. There are a pair of ivories and a pair of bronze carved dragons placed on the left and right of the tower, which are the same shape as the bronze dragons placed in front of the emperor's throne in the Forbidden City, Summer Resort and other places, indicating that these pairs of bronze dragons should be placed in front of the emperor's throne in the Zhengda Guangming Hall of the Old Summer Palace. thing. A pair of gold pots and a gold mandala (Tibetan Buddhist temple furnishings). The gold pots are covered with sparkling Ruyi patterns. The gold mandak is inlaid with pearls, turquoise and rubies, which shows how luxurious the furnishings in the Old Summer Palace were at that time. There is a large string of beads placed in the glass table cabinet. There are 154 beads in this string. It is different from the ordinary beads of 108 beads. This is a string of beads of the emperor and two strings of beads of the queen. They were strung together and presented to Queen Eugenie. Unexpectedly, Queen Eugenie was not satisfied because she had already heard that the officers who had gone to China had all returned with a full load. She complained that Montauban only brought her such gifts, so Montauban also gave her three carts of treasures, and the General Secretary gave her seven carts, including various bronzes, jades, porcelain, etc. stolen from the Old Summer Palace. Lacquerware, gold and silver products, cloisonné...

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, USA, has a Kangxi jade Ruyi carved from precious white jade. It is white with green color, carved into the shape of a porous fungus, and has an inscription on the top of the handle. There are two big characters "Imperial System", and the inscription on the lower part is: "I wish you many good harvests, and the world will be happy. Your Majesty Wu is respectfully advancing." The description of the exhibit shows that this exquisite jade Ruyi was bought at a Paris auction after being looted by the British and French forces...

Will the cultural relics of the Old Summer Palace be returned one day?

Staff at the Old Summer Palace Management Office have been inquiring about the whereabouts of lost cultural relics. With their efforts, some clues were obtained about some of the Yuanmingyuan stone and bronze cultural relics that were scattered among the people in our country. Mr. Yang Laiyun gave reporters an example: There is a pair of bronze lions in the courtyard of a certain unit in Beijing. It is said that this place was once the Italian Consulate in China. Around 1900, the pair of bronze lions were brought back from somewhere in Xishan (some say from the Old Summer Palace). According to Mr. Yang's understanding, this pair of bronze lions were made during the Jiaqing period. During the Jiaqing period, there were no major garden buildings in Xishan except for the construction of Qichun Garden. The Qichun Garden is an integral part of the Old Summer Palace. The palace gate of the Qichun Garden was completed during the Jiaqing period. This pair of bronze lions should be the bronze lions at the entrance of the Qichun Garden.

A year or two ago, a lady named Niu donated two vases and a mirror handed down from her ancestors to the Old Summer Palace. After preliminary research, it was found that one of the two vases was from the Guangxu period and the other was from the Jiaqing period. The three items were items from the Old Summer Palace that Prince Gong took with him when he was demoted to Jietai Temple for repairs.

However, after all, there are only a small number of Yuanmingyuan cultural relics left among the people in our country. A large number of precious cultural relics have been lost overseas. Simply relying on investment to purchase them is not a long-term solution. Mr. Yang said helplessly: "The key problem is the lack of relevant international laws and conventions." Although our country has participated in several international conventions on cultural relics protection, the retroactive power and contracting parties of each international convention are very limited.

“However, we must continue to appeal and consult with relevant countries, and at the appropriate time, UNESCO will work with various countries to introduce relevant laws to return illegally obtained cultural relics to the countries where they originated.” Mr. Yang said.

The Department of Literature and History where Mr. Yang works has been committed to collecting information on the cultural relics of the Old Summer Palace that have been lost overseas in recent years, hoping to prepare for the return of the cultural relics one day in the future. They hope that people who see Yuanmingyuan cultural relics in foreign museums can send back an introduction to them.

Mr. Yang finally said that the cultural information carried by historical relics can only have the greatest effect in its "origin". Historical relics that have left the cultural matrix are just solitary furnishings. The Yuanmingyuan Heritage Park is in the process of applying for a world cultural heritage. If the application is successful, then according to UNESCO's relevant regulations on the protection of world cultural heritage and the spirit of the principle of "protecting cultural heritage at the place of origin", the relevant countries should not "rely" on it. Cultural relics from the Old Summer Palace will not be returned.

The Qing government spent 14 years from the 10th year of Qianlong's reign to the 24th year of Qianlong's reign, absorbing the Baruch form of Western architecture and building the Ten Scenery of Dashuifa at the northern end of Changchun Garden, commonly known as the "Western-style Building" ". The Western-style Building was designed and supervised by Emperor Hongli, who ordered the Italian Castiglione, Frenchmen Chiang Youren and Wang Zhicheng, and was constructed by Chinese craftsmen. Western-style palace architecture is a pioneering work in Chinese gardens. Haiyantang is the largest building in the Western-style building. There is a fountain in front of the building, and you can climb to the second floor along the east-west ramp. There are waterwheel rooms on the east and west sides of the upper floor, which are in the shape of an I. There is a water tank in the middle, which can hold 180 tons of water.

In October 1860, the British and French forces broke into the Old Summer Palace and carried out a shocking robbery. In order to cover up their barbaric atrocities that trampled on human civilization, the invaders burned this rare art treasure house at home and abroad on October 18.

In 1900, the Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded, and the Old Summer Palace suffered another catastrophe. More than ten remaining scenic spots were looted. The robbers plundered a large number of art treasures in the garden, and the twelve zodiac statues of Dashui Fa could not escape. The stone carvings were smashed, as well as the bronze animal heads and famous bronzes of the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the ceramics of the past dynasties, the calligraphy and paintings of ancient celebrities, the imperial seals of the Qing emperors, and palace furnishings such as jade ruyi, clocks, gold pagodas, and jade chimes. Qing Dynasty porcelain, lacquerware, jade, ivory enamel, cloisonné, coral, agate, amber, crystal, gemstones, beads, wood carvings and other exquisite works of art have also been exported overseas.

Precious book and cultural relics such as "Sikuquanshu", "Quanshuhuiyao", "Collection of Ancient and Modern Books", "Chunhua Pavilion Notes" and other precious books and cultural relics were not spared.