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The Yuanming Yuan was the old Summer Palace
of the Ding dynasty. It was located in the
northwestern suburbs of Beijing, with
an area of over 5200 acres. The compound consisted
of buildings for court entertainment and
ceremonies as well as reconstructed scenes of the
West Lake in Hangzhou and famous gardens
in Suzhowm Shanghai and other cities of the
Jiangnan area. The Yuanming Juan
also housed countless art objects and a library.
Construction first started in the 48th
year of emperor Quango (1709),and lasted for over 150 years.
As emperor Qianlong was fascinated by contemporary
Western palaces, he decided to have a European-style
palace built in the Yuanming Yuan, with
baroque stone buildings, fountains and decorative waterworks, and
formal arrangement of plants. The Italian
Jesuit Giuseppe Castiglione and the French mathematician Father
Michel Benoist were commissioned to design
this palace with the Zodiac fountain.
A corrupting empire of wealth invited foreign
aggression. In October, 1858 the Qing government was forecd to
sign the Treaty of Tianjin. In June,1859,
using the opportunity of naval escorts for the exchange of treaties in
Beijing, the British and French fleet
made an unsuccessful attack on the Daigu forts. In 1860, the British
and
French army used over 20,000 troops to
defeat the Daigu garrison. They also invaded the residence of the
Qing emperor at Yuanming Yuan to exert
pressure on the Qing government. Thus, the treasures were looted
and the garden was seriously burnt and
damaged. The Qing government was again forced to sign the
humiliating Treaty of Beijing before the
retreat of British and French troops from the capital. The Yuanming
Yuan was partially restored in 1873.
The Boxer Uprising in 1900 led to the invasion of Beijing city by eight
foreign
countries. The Yuanming Yuan was
again pillaged and the treasures collected were thus scattered all over
the world.