Located in the northwest suburb of Beijing, Yuanmingyuan was built in the Ming Dynasty. In 1709, when Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty was in power, he recruited famous craftsmen from all over the country and began to expand on a large scale. Since then, after 150 years of operation, Yuanmingyuan has become the most magnificent and beautiful artificial garden in the world at that time. Three miles around Yuanmingyuan is a palace for the Qing emperors to enjoy. There are more than 200 buildings in the park that combine Chinese and western architectural arts, including palaces, temples, villas, gardens, pagodas, jungles, rockeries, lakes and bridges, which are very spectacular. Yuanmingyuan also contains all kinds of priceless treasures, rare books and precious historical relics, which can be said to be the largest museum in the world.
1860 10 After the British and French allied forces occupied Beijing, they looted the Yuanmingyuan. The British invaders robbed the garden of all movable gold, silver, jewels and precious cultural relics. British officer Harris grabbed a golden flowerpot for the first time. A Huang Jinshu about a foot high was planted in the flowerpot, and sapphire fruit with ruby as the core hung on the branches. He also robbed many other precious things, always packing seven baskets and asking people to carry them back to the barracks for him. The second time, he robbed a seven-foot-high golden pagoda and many other things and asked seven soldiers to transport it back to the barracks for him. This golden pagoda alone is worth more than 22,000 pounds. After the French invaders looted the Yuanmingyuan, every soldier had a treasure worth 30,000 to 40,000 francs in his pocket. The commander of a regiment snatched pearls and diamonds worth over 800,000 francs.
After the British and French invaders looted the Yuanmingyuan, in order to cover up the crime of aggression, the British plenipotentiary Erkin ordered the Yuanmingyuan to be completely burned. 10 10 18, 3,000 or 4,000 British invaders went out together and set fires everywhere in the garden. The fire continued to burn for three days and nights. This world-famous "Garden of Ten Thousand Gardens" is in ruins. The burning and looting of Yuanmingyuan is not only an irreparable loss in the cultural history of China, but also an irreparable loss in the cultural history of the world. It exposed the extreme greed and cruelty of the western capitalist aggressors.