Once to Yuanmingyuan - from pride to a sad memory of the Chinese people
During my recent trip to Beijing, I visited Yuanmingyuan - the old summer garden, now I see people often go to the newer summer garden (Di Hoa Garden - where Empress Dowager Cixi vacations). Compared to that place, I'm more interested in Vien Minh Vien because of the historical story behind it. I don't understand why I took a few pictures of the scene here, so please watch the clip to see the scene more clearly.
Where I am standing is a garden with an area of about 350 hectares, 5 times larger than the Forbidden City, built over 6 generations of Qing Dynasty emperors. Once a proud structure of the Chinese people, but now it has been completely destroyed, only ruins remain.
Actually, Vien Minh Vien is located quite far from the city center, it takes more than 40 minutes by car to get there. According to my research, Vien Minh Vien was the summer resort of the Emperor's dynasties. This place includes a huge garden complex, along with hundreds of buildings, lakes, stone bridges, temples and palaces. Yuanmingyuan was built in the early 18th century under King Kangxi and was greatly expanded under King Qianlong.
During the heyday of the Qing Dynasty, Westerners once called Yuanmingyuan "Versailles of the East", and Chinese people called this place "Wanyuanzhiyuan" (meaning Garden of all gardens). Not stopping there, Yuanmingyuan was once ranked as one of the most beautiful royal gardens in the world.
The interesting point in Vien Minh Vien lies in the architecture, not only in Chinese style, but wherever I go, I also encounter many remnants of European architecture. Such as fountains, baroque palaces, water clocks, etc. But when I look at historical photos, European architecture only makes up a very small part of Yuanmingyuan. But because most Chinese buildings were made of wood, they were almost completely destroyed. And the point that made Vien Minh Vien famous was the event in which it was destroyed. To this day, this is still considered one of the most famous cultural heritage destruction cases of the 19th century.
When I read it, I saw many theories surrounding the reason he chose to attack Vien Minh Vien. One of them is because this place is a symbol of power of the Qing Emperor, a place to live and work, storing art treasures and great royal property. So attacking here is like attacking the honor of the royal court. Besides, this place is far from the center, so if attacked, it will cause less impact on the people. Meanwhile, if the Forbidden City is destroyed, the political consequences will be huge, possibly ruining the entire negotiation process between Britain and France with China. The goal of this attack was only a warning, forcing the court to accept the terms, not destruction.
(There's too much text, so put the picture in there so you can see the text better)
This is a simulation version that people have recreated so that visitors can more easily visualize Among them, it can be said that the statue of 12 zodiac animals is the most famous work of Vien Minh Vien. They work like clocks, every hour, an animal will spray water. It's like the king is walking through this area. If he sees a bird spraying water, he can guess what time it is.
But during the fire, when the Anglo-French army entered, 12 statues were taken away and scattered everywhere. They were taken everywhere, in foreign museums, private collections and appeared at auctions. Although some statues have been repatriated, many are still scattered everywhere.
Ruins of the 12 zodiac fountain, I can still see the stone steps where the animals were placed
Behind me are the ruins of a fountain that was once very famous in Yuanmingyuan. The miniature of this work is the image of a deer standing among a pack of hunting dogs. The special feature is that on the horns and from the mouth of the hunting dogs, jets of water will be emitted. According to what I heard from the tour guides here, in the old days, when this project was built, the water mainly ran from the ground. So creating jets of water that shoot from above like deer horns is considered an incredible technical achievement. This makes this fountain one of the most prominent works in Vien Minh Vien. (Please watch the clip to see this more clearly)
Located opposite the fountain is the grandstand area, the king will sit here with his concubine to admire the scenery.
Vien Minh Vien also has a maze called Van Hoa Battle built in the 18th century under the reign of King Qianlong. This maze is designed with winding paths, inspired by European gardens.
Image of Vien Minh Vien in the past. Historical records recount that on Mid-Autumn Festival, the king often held a celebration event, in which the king would sit in the central pavilion, and his maids would hold lanterns to find their way to meet the king. Whoever arrived first would receive a reward.
The maze area has now been restored to make it easier for visitors to visualize, but this is not the current state in the past.
It's this central communal house, now every tourist who comes here tries to find this communal house (I don't know why). And I'm standing from the outside looking in.
The weather on the day I went was only 21 degrees, but it felt like 18 degrees, both sunny and cold, so it was very suitable for walking here. However, this Vien Minh Vien is also extremely large, the area to visit the ruins is only a small corner of the garden, so everyone please pay attention. If people want to explore all of Yuanmingyuan, they can rent an electric car to take them around. But don't be like me, at first I thought I could walk, but oh my god, it's so big, I couldn't find the exit until I walked forever. But you can only catch the bus at the original stop, the bus will not pick up passengers midway.