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Text Chapter 306 Unprecedented Catastrophe

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    After listening to Li Dawei's account of the burning, killing, and looting carried out by the Eight-Power Allied Forces in Beijing, Deng Feng said somewhat helplessly: "I'm afraid these are only a small part of the lost cultural relics. Hey How did this account come about?  I can't figure it out clearly." Deng Feng slowly took a sip of wine and said, "Dawei, go negotiate with others. How much do you know about the situation in the Old Summer Palace? You can't just rely on hearsay from later generations. You must always be able to show it.  Here comes some solid evidence and data. ¡°I haven¡¯t had time to look at some of the materials, but it¡¯s very difficult for me to come up with some solid evidence and data, such as the burning of the Old Summer Palace and the robbery and murder case of the Eight-Power Allied Forces entering Beijing in 1900.  It¡¯s still different. After all, the burning of the Old Summer Palace happened 100 years ago.  Year 0, yes, this year is exactly 100 years.  Moreover, after the British and French invading forces looted the Old Summer Palace, in order to eliminate traces of the loot and cover up their crimes, British Minister Plenipotentiary James Bruce, with the support of British Prime Minister Palmerston, ordered the Old Summer Palace to be burned down.  The fire burned for three days and nights, turning this world-famous garden into a piece of scorched earth.  "Li Dawei paused and said: "After the British and French allied forces captured Beijing, I'm afraid no one can figure out how many peerless treasures were lost in the unprecedented catastrophe to the Old Summer Palace, which caused great damage to China and the world's cultural heritage.  The extent of the loss is simply immeasurable.  " [ ] Yang Guang said very disapprovingly, "From my perspective, if the British and French are investigating the crimes of plundering and burning the Old Summer Palace, it is not very important if there is no evidence. What is important is my current strength and our determination on this matter.  and means.  For this rare atrocity in the history of world civilization!  Everyone knows exactly what is going on.  I have read before that Victor Hugo, the outstanding bourgeois democratic writer in the history of French literature, wrote on November 25, 2011, to a French captain Butler who participated in the Anglo-French invasion of China and the looting and burning of the Old Summer Palace.  letter.  In this letter, he strongly condemned the looting and burning of the Old Summer Palace by the British and French forces, revealing the historical responsibilities that the British and French leaders should bear. He wrote: You would like to know my opinion on the military expedition to China.  the opinion of.  Since you think this expedition was a heroic and honorable thing, I have to ask you to give some meaning to my opinion. In your opinion, this expedition carried out by the combined fleets of Queen Victoria and Emperor Napoleon was really a great success.  It is a supreme honor, and it is an honor shared by France and England, so you would like to know whether I have a full understanding of this victory of England and France. Then I will talk about my views, one day,  Two robbers broke into the Old Summer Palace, one ransacked it and the other set it on fire. It seemed that after the victory one of the two victors filled his pocket, which was visible, and the other filled his suitcase.  "I returned to Europe with a smile.  The two robbers who will be punished by history are called France and England.  "" "Yang Zi, can't you see that you are still quite educated?"  "Li Dawei said to Yang Guang with a smile. "Political commissar, look at what you said, what does it mean to be quite educated?  That is quite cultured.  After all, we are also international students who have studied abroad.  Yang Guang then said proudly: "I also know that in the 1980s, a French historian named Bernard Blissette wrote a monograph about the burning of the Old Summer Palace: Yuanmingyuan.  "The Great Disaster" once again reproduced this disaster in the history of world civilization more than 100 years later. In this book with more than 10,000 words, he said: "It must be pointed out unequivocally that the expedition against China in 2000" was  Colonial wars, or more precisely, imperialist wars, are completely in line with the imperialist colonial plunder of the 19th century.  The avowed goal was to open this vast country to Western trade by force.  Their burning and looting of the Old Summer Palace was an irreparable crime against human cultural heritage.  Such sins, crimes, and sins can never be erasednot only in the hearts of Chinese people, but also in the memory of all human beings.  , even the aristocratic Giscard d'Estaing, who served as President of France from 1974 to 1981, admitted: "The burning and looting of the Old Summer Palace was extremely cruel to [China]" and the British and French colonial armies were extremely shameful.  , this book was later donated by me to the small library of the security company.  I don¡¯t know if I can still find it now.  If you can find it, political commissar, take this book and you will be able to resist the negotiations with Britain and France for a while.  " "Yang Guang," I think you can learn from Dawei this time and become a diplomat in the future." Deng Feng teased.  "Teacher, please stop teasing me. You don't know what I did."  It's okay to serve as a soldier and fight a war under you.  It doesn't work for anything else.  "Yang Guang said with a smile, "I am a diplomat, hehe, hehe, I will reveal myself in just three sentences." "Learning about worldly affairs, reviewing the past and learning the new." Deng Feng lit a cigarette thoughtfully, thinking  I traveled to the Old Summer Palace, which records the infinite humiliation of the Chinese nation and is known as the "model of all gardening arts" and the exquisite "Garden of Ten Thousand Gardens".The regretted scars, those broken walls lying in Haidian, the western suburbs of Beijing, and the few remaining stone pillars at the ruins of the Western-style building record the infinite humiliation of the Chinese nation, lamenting and groaning day after day, year after year.  In July 2000, under the guise of going to Beijing in exchange for peace, the British and French ministers led 200 ships and more than 10,000 British and French troops to the entrance of Dagu again, advancing with force while inducing "peace".  The purpose of marching straight from Tianjin was to send troops to the capital and force the Manchu Qing Dynasty to submit. ** The incompetent Manchu Qing Dynasty was still undecided on the strategy of fighting and defending.  On the morning of September 22, Aixinjueluo, Yixin, the Xianfeng Emperor with no vision, no courage, no talent, no achievement, took his wife, children and opera troupe, ignored the country, the country, and the vast majority of people.  The people were thrown into dire straits and fled from the Old Summer Palace in Beijing to the Chengde Summer Resort in panic, resulting in a crisis situation in which the capital was without an owner, officials were scattered, soldiers were unmotivated, and people were frightened. The imperial city and palaces were all under the iron heel.  trampled on; all the rare treasures were plundered.  The Old Summer Palace, a royal garden built with great devotion by the five emperors of the Qing Dynasty, was looted and then burned to the ground.  The Old Summer Palace carries the essence and long history of the splendid and glorious history of Chinese culture. It is the crystallization of the wisdom and blood and sweat of the working people of China. It is a model of human architectural art and culture and a treasure of splendid civilization. It inherits  The excellent gardening tradition of "China" for more than three thousand years "has moved heaven and earth." It not only brings together several famous gardens in the south of the Yangtze River, but also creatively transplants the garden architecture in the west, integrating the culmination of ancient and modern gardening art at home and abroad.  There are both the graceful and magnificent palaces of palace buildings and the euphemistic and colorful gardens of Jiangnan water towns, light and exquisite pavilions: there are "Business Street" symbolizing the bustling market, and the "village" symbolizing the rural scenery: there are also the West Lake in Hangzhou.  The autumn moon over the Pinghu Lake and the sunset over the Leifeng Peak are some of the scenic spots that imitate the Suzhou Lion Forest. There are also some that imitate the poetic and picturesque views of ancient poets and painters, such as Penglai Yaotai, Wuling**, etc. At the same time, they also absorb European garden architectural forms.  Garden buildings of different styles are integrated into one, and the overall layout all embodies harmony and perfection. It can be said that "although it is made by people, it looks like it is created by the sky."  Rich Royal Museum. The Old Summer Palace contains countless priceless treasures of various styles, extremely rare historical classics and rich and precious historical relics, such as calligraphy and painting, gold and silver jewelry, Song and Yuan porcelain, etc., which can be called one of the treasure houses of human culture.  It can also be said that it is the largest museum in the world. The great French writer Hugo once said: "Even if all the treasures of Notre Dame in our country are added together, they cannot compare with this large and magnificent Oriental Museum.  ". Each hall in the garden is decorated with countless rosewood furniture and displays many rare cultural relics at home and abroad. Yuanyuan Pavilion is one of the four major royal libraries in the country. There are "Siku" and "Ancient and Modern Books" hidden throughout the garden.  "Integration", "Sikuquanshuyao" and other precious books and cultural relics. The Old Summer Palace was famous for its large geographical scale, outstanding construction skills, exquisite architectural scenery, rich cultural collections and profound national cultural connotations.  . However, this royal museum also plays an important role in the history of world garden architecture and has a rich collection. Its reputation has spread to Europe, and it is known as the "Garden of Ten Thousand Gardens" by Europeans. This fascinating castle looks like a moon palace.  The same building, the breathtaking and unparalleled masterpiece, suffered an unprecedented catastrophe in the history of world culture. On October 6, 2000, the British and French forces marched through Beijing.  The northeastern suburbs attacked the Old Summer Palace. At that time, the remnants of Seng Gelinqin and Ruilin resisted for a while in the north of the city and then fled. The French army took the lead and broke into the Grand Palace Gate of the Old Summer Palace through Haidian in the afternoon. At this time, they entered and exited the Xianliang Gate.  More than 20 Yuanmingyuan skilled and brave eunuchs, led by the "eighth-rank leader" Ren Liang, engaged the French army. They "were not afraid of danger and marched forward with all their strength." However, they were ultimately outnumbered. Ren Liang and other Yuanmingyuan skilled and brave eunuchs died in the line of duty.  At 7 o'clock in the evening, the French invaders captured the Old Summer Palace. Wen Feng, the minister in charge of the garden, threw himself into Fuhai. Chang Bi, who lived in the garden, was frightened and died.  On October 7, after the British and French invaders broke into the Old Summer Palace on the first day of their invasion of China, they immediately dispatched three British and French committee members to discuss the distribution of the treasures in the garden.  Montauban, the commander of the French army, wrote to the French Minister of Foreign Affairs on the same day: "I order the French commissioners to pay attention and take the most valuable items in art and archeology first. I am going to dedicate this extremely rare item in France to His Majesty Emperor Napoleon III.  , and it was hidden in a French museum." British commander Grant immediately sent officers to collect items that should belong to the British invading army.  Officers and soldiers of the British and French allied forces rushed into the Old Summer Palace in groups and went to rob the gold, silver, treasures and cultural and artistic treasures in the garden.  According to the record of Schachterich, a chaplain of the French army at the time: Captain Baru of the French navy who was the first to rush into the Old Summer Palace said to me with relish: "All of us who entered the Old Summer Palace were stunned by everything here.  Okay, what kind of living place is this???It's definitely a grand museum.  The oriental jade, gold, silver and lacquerware placed on the shelves are so rare in terms of materials and shapes that even European museums would look dull and inferior compared to them.  A unique golden unicorn with a length of 6.5 inches and a height of 4 inches attracted me deeply. I put it in my arms as a souvenir of my visit to the imperial family of this [Chinese] country.  Another participant, Artillery Sergeant Almarusi, also said with emotion: "I was shocked, stunned and stunned by what I saw!"  Now "One Thousand and One Nights" is completely real to me.  For two days, I wandered among this inexhaustible wealth of treasures. The weight of the [Chinese] gold bars and gems in my military uniform pockets made me almost breathless, but I did not feel any fatigue at all.  !  " Before entering the Old Summer Palace, the French general Montauban once pretended to order that the soldiers could not touch the items in the Old Summer Palace at will. But the things his soldiers saw were too expensive and too exquisite. People's greedy nature in pursuing wealth  Unable to suppress it. No one could withstand the temptation, and everyone regretted it in unison. Forensic doctor Captain Castano said: "The robbery of the Old Summer Palace is inevitable.  Who would remain indifferent to such an exquisite and priceless rare treasure?  I even dumped all the medicines and equipment in the medicine box I carried with me to use them to store the exquisite oriental jades, goldware, and jewelry. I took off my military uniform and put on old pieces of expensive jewelry.  Beautiful clothes made of silk.  "Count Elisson, the translator of French commander Montauban, once asserted: "All attempts to prevent looting are impossible, are in vain, and are destined to fail.  What can a general do?  What could his officers do?  Nothing can be done.  "All the commanders of both the French and British armies could do was to close their eyes and turn a blind eye. Even if General Montauban tried his best, he could not prevent his subordinates who had been irritated by the huge wealth from entering the glorious palace.  "The gate of the summer palace of the [Chinese] Emperor." So robbery became an open, crazy, and permitted act.  The methods of robbery in England and France are different.  The French carried out the robbery in an orderly and orderly manner, while the British carried out the robbery in an organized and orderly manner.  As Count Elisson recorded in his diary, "The French robbed openly, and they all acted individually. The British were more organized, and they could quickly understand how to rob more and faster. They did it  Very professional. They all acted as a whole squad. Under the command of the non-commissioned officers, some people held the pockets and some filled their pockets.  The British even formed a committee.  Responsible for collecting items looted from the Old Summer Palace, soldiers must hand over their trophies to the committee, which will compile a list and organize public sales The entire military camp turned into a masquerade party. When the officers and soldiers of the British and French allied forces returned to the military camp,  Everyone was wrapped in the emperor's dragon robe and the queen's silk robe, and their chests were covered with the regrets of the Qing Dynasty officials. Those things that could not be taken away were smashed, torn or stained by the soldiers As for the silver  , so many that they almost dismissed them because they were too heavy. Navy Lieutenant Negroni Roach was very clever and brought more than 600 pieces of "Chinese" porcelain that were abandoned by others, each of which was priceless, on a warship to Europe.  , the clergy accompanying the army said to the repentant soldiers kneeling in front of them: Children of God, take away all the things that belong to God here. These hateful and obscene [Chinese] people are not worthy of enjoying them.  These.  You are here to save world civilization, not to rob it.  British and French officers and soldiers poured into the Old Summer Palace from all directions in order to seize the treasure. They took and snatched things as they pleased. In order to seize the treasure, they beat each other and even had armed fights. Because the Old Summer Palace  There were so many treasures to grab that they didn't know what to take. Some moved away cloisonn¨¦ porcelain vases, some were greedy for embroidered robes, some chose high-end fur coats, and some went for wall clocks inlaid with pearls and jade.  Some carry large pockets on their backs, filled with all kinds of rare treasures. Some put gold bars and gold leaves into the wide pockets of their coats; some have brocades and satins wrapped around their bodies; some have hats full of them.  Ruby, pearls and crystal stones; some had emerald necklaces hanging around their necks. There were piles of high-end silk and satin in a large wing, enough for half of the residents of Beijing, and they were all carted away by British soldiers.  The French officer robbed a gold Buddha statue worth 1,800 pounds from a temple with 500 statues. A French officer robbed the son of the French commander-in-chief Monttopan of 600,000 francs of property.  It was worth 300,000 francs and filled several carriages. A second-class British military officer named Hellis stole two buildings from the garden at once, both of which were three stories high, one 7 feet high and the other high.  He hired a strong man to carry the 6.4-meter-foot golden pagoda and a large number of other treasures back to the military camp for him. It was this man named Helis.The second-ranking officer of the Imperial Army got rich by plundering the Old Summer Palace and enjoyed his life, so he was nicknamed "Zhongguo James".  British and French officers and soldiers, in addition to looting, destroyed countless things.  Several houses were filled with silk and satin clothing. Clothes had been pulled out of boxes and thrown on the floor. When people walked into the house, they could barely cover their knees.  The engineers brought big axes, smashed all the furniture, and took off the gems on it.  Some broke large mirrors, while others shot viciously at the candelabra for fun.  Most of the French soldiers used wooden sticks in their hands to smash everything they could not take away.  The chaplain of the French army, Schachterich, finally wrote: When the French army temporarily evacuated the Old Summer Palace on October 9, this beautiful garden had been completely destroyed.  After two days of looting, the British and French troops marched into the city.  On October 11, the British army sent more than 1,200 cavalry and an infantry regiment to sack the Old Summer Palace again.  How many treasures the British and French invaders robbed and damaged of the Old Summer Palace can never be determined because all the furnishings and accounts in the garden were robbed.  According to a newsletter from The Times at that time, it was "modestly" stated: "It is estimated that the total value of the looted and destroyed property exceeds 8 million yuan."  In fact, most of the objects stolen and destroyed by the British and French invading troops were priceless treasures.  This heinous crime that destroys human culture is truly heinous!  Just when the Manchus surrendered to the invaders and agreed to accept all the "peace" conditions and set a date to sign the contract, the leader of the British invasion of China, the British Plenipotentiary James Bruce and the British Commander Grant, in order to leave a "legacy" for their invasion of China.  The impression of "awesomely severe" had the effect of "shocking" the Manchu government, and they actually used the Parkes incident as an excuse.  On the pretext of his purge, he arrested the British "peace" minister Parkes and mistreated prisoners of war, and blatantly ordered the burning of the Old Summer Palace.  James Bruce fully inherited the legacy of his father Elgin, and wanted to send a message by burning down the Old Summer Palace: Those responsible for atrocities such as the arrest of British Minister Parkes and the mistreatment of prisoners were Emperor Xianfeng of China and his  pawns, not ordinary people of China.  A few days before the retaliatory action, James Bruce ordered the following notice to be posted throughout Beijing, declaring the purpose of the British and French forces to burn the Old Summer Palace: "No one, no matter how high his status, commits fraud and atrocities, can escape responsibility and punishment.  : The Old Summer Palace was burned down on October 18, 2000, as punishment for the treachery of Emperor Xianfeng of China; only the Qing Empire should be responsible for this, and people who had nothing to do with the atrocities need not worry about being harmed. "What they really did was  The purpose was to cover up the crime of the British and French allied forces plundering the Old Summer Palace. On October 18th and 19th, three to four thousand British troops set fires everywhere in the Old Summer Palace. The fires did not go out for three days and nights, and the smoke enveloped the city of Beijing and lingered for a long time.  This unique garden masterpiece was burned to the ground.  Afterwards, according to investigations by officials of the Qing Dynasty, only twenty or thirty palaces, pavilions, temples, official gates, duty rooms and other buildings survived in the huge Three Gardens of Yuanming Dynasty. However, many doors and windows were uneven, and the indoor furnishings and cases were all missing  All were robbed.  Since then, some buildings in Qingyi Garden on Wanshou Mountain, Jingyi Garden on Xiangshan Mountain and Jingming Garden on Yuquan Mountain have also been burned down.  According to relevant records, on October 18, when the British invading troops burned down the Anya Palace, because they arrived suddenly, the eunuch in charge locked the door of the Anse Palace. Therefore, a total of 300 eunuchs, maids, and craftsmen were killed at that time.  Burned alive in Ansu Palace.  When the Old Summer Palace was in flames, British Plenipotentiary James Bruce proudly declared: "This move will shock China and Europe, and its effects will be far beyond what people thousands of miles away can imagine."  The main messenger who set the fire regarded this act as a great achievement, but the honest people all over the world were angered by this barbaric crime. The "two robbers" will definitely be punished by history as Victor Hugo said!  [Member Dedication]
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