They were not returned, they were all auctioned off.

In recent years, the media has frequently reported on the discovery and return of treasures from the Old Summer Palace. At the 2007 spring auction held by Beijing Hanhai Auction Company, a high-quality product returned from overseas appeared, an important Qianlong pastel vessel - the Qianlong official kiln "Flower Flower Vase with Blue and Blue Painting".

It attracted the attention of global porcelain experts , this treasure was originally collected in the Old Summer Palace, but was plundered and exiled overseas. It was later collected by a famous collector in the United States. After efforts in this auction, it was collected and returned to China for auction, with an estimated value of 10 million yuan.

Recovering lost treasures at any cost has become increasingly popular among the people in recent years. On July 5, 2003, the China Special Fund to Rescue Lost Overseas Cultural Relics launched the National Treasure Project and proposed three ways for the return of cultural relics: repurchase; rebate; and return. Among the treasures that have been looted and lost in the Old Summer Palace, the recent flow of animal heads from the Old Summer Palace has attracted particular attention.

The Old Summer Palace animal heads are also called the "Yuanmingyuan Twelve Zodiac Human and Animal Head Bronze Statues". They are placed on both sides of the large fountain in front of Haiyan Hall. It takes turns to spray water, commonly known as the "water clock". The body of the zodiac bronze statue is made of stone, and the animal head is made of red copper refined by the Qing court at that time. The casting is fine, the color is beautiful, and it has not rusted after hundreds of years.

In 2007, Stanley Ho, a member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, purchased a bronze statue of a horse's head in the "Water Power Clock" fountain with 12 zodiac signs for HK$69.1 million and donated it to the country. In 2002, He has purchased a bronze pig head statue and donated it to the country. Five of the twelve zodiac animal head bronze statues in the Yuanmingyuan have been returned, while the other five bronze statues of dragon heads, snake heads, sheep heads, chicken heads, and dog heads have been missing.

At the end of 2008, a piece of news aroused great concern. According to reports, the international art auction giant Christie’s announced that it would hold " The special auction of "The Collection of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé",

The auction includes two bronze statues of rat heads and rabbit heads that were looted from the Old Summer Palace by the British and French forces in 1860 and were lost overseas for many years. The auction estimates of each lot are 8 million to 10 million euros, with a total price of up to 200 million yuan. China has actively engaged in multi-party communication and mediation to try to get the two treasures back. But as of February 19 this year, there was still no good progress on the matter.

A spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said at a press conference last week that the two bronze animal head statues should be returned to China because they were looted by "invaders". She also pointed out: "As we all know, the relevant cultural relics are precious Chinese cultural relics that were looted by the British and French forces during the Second Opium War and lost overseas for many years. China has unquestionable ownership of them, and these cultural relics should be returned to China."

Although it is very difficult to track and recover the lost treasures, it is believed that with the joint efforts of the government and the private sector, the treasures that were plundered and lost in the Old Summer Palace will one day return to the motherland.

Extended information

The Old Summer Palace was the royal paradise of the Qing Dynasty. It was built by five emperors, Yongzheng, Qianlong, Jiaqing, Daoguang, and Xianfeng. It has gone through more than 150 years of continuous development. Operate, build and repair.

The Old Summer Palace is a culmination of the Ming and Qing garden architectural art, as well as Western architectural art. It is a dazzling pearl of the Qing Empire and the greatest and most famous large-scale palace-style imperial garden in Chinese history. It can be said to be the most majestic imperial palace in China's history.

The Old Summer Palace covers an area of ??350 hectares, of which the water surface area is about 140 hectares. The land construction area of ??the Old Summer Palace is 10,000 square meters more than the Forbidden City. The water area is equal to that of the Summer Palace, and the total area is equal to 8.5 Forbidden City! It is a treasure of unparalleled value in itself.

On October 6, 1860, the British and French forces invaded Beijing and broke into the Old Summer Palace. They looted everything that could be taken away from the garden. If they couldn't move it, they used carts or animals to carry it.

If it is really unlucky, destroy and destroy it at will. In order to destroy the evidence, more than 3,000 invading troops were ordered to set fire to the park on October 18th and 19th. The fire burned for three consecutive days, and smoke enveloped the entire city of Beijing. This treasure of our country's garden art and the essence of our architectural art was reduced to ashes.

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. Later, most of them became the possessions of European antique collectors. Treasure. Dashuifa's twelve zodiac statues also suffered bad luck. The stone sculptures were smashed and the bronze animal heads were also scattered overseas.

It is still impossible to calculate how many treasures these bandits stole from the Old Summer Palace. Only some of the gifts given to the French emperor by the French invading army after returning home included nearly 10,000 rare antiques. Nowadays, if you want to see the precious cultural relics of the Old Summer Palace, you can only go to Britain and France.

The British Museum in London, England displays tens of thousands of treasures stolen from the Old Summer Palace, including Qin and Han cultural relics, Sui and Tang calligraphy and paintings, Ming and Qing gold and jade, etc.

To this point, the destruction of the Old Summer Palace is an immeasurable loss in the cultural history of the motherland, and also an inestimable loss to the world. An immeasurable loss in cultural history!

Reference source; Baidu Encyclopedia-Old Summer Palace?