How luxurious is the Old Summer Palace?

Even if we travel all over the world and piece together all the beautiful scenery, we still cannot replicate a complete Yuanmingyuan. It will always be a hazy fairyland, a suddenly gone place that condenses endless essence and Proud dream.

The Old Summer Palace in history is composed of the Old Summer Palace, Changchun Garden, and Qichun Garden (Wanchun Garden). The three gardens are closely adjacent to each other and are commonly known as the Old Summer Palace. They cover an area of ??more than 5,200 acres (about 350 hectares), which is nearly a thousand acres larger than the entire Summer Palace. It is a large-scale royal palace created and operated by the feudal emperors of the Qing Dynasty for more than 150 years. The emperors of the Yongzheng, Qianlong, Jiaqing, Daoguang and Xianfeng dynasties all lived in the Old Summer Palace for many years to enjoy themselves, hold court meetings, and manage political affairs here. It, together with the Forbidden City (Forbidden City), was the national political center at that time and was favored by the Qing emperors. It is specially called "Royal Garden". The garden was looted and burned by the British and French forces in 1860 (the tenth year of Xianfeng).

Old Summer Palace in its heyday

The northwest suburbs of Beijing are famous for their mountains, springs, lakes and marshes. They have always been the place where feudal emperors and their relatives and dignitaries built palaces and gardens. During the Kangxi and Qianlong periods of the Qing Dynasty, the social economy had developed significantly and the national treasury was full. In order to pursue a garden life of "peace of mind and blessing", the Qing emperor initiated an unprecedented scale of garden construction in this area.

The Old Summer Palace was originally a garden given by Emperor Kangxi to his fourth son, Yinzhen (later Emperor Yongzheng). In the forty-sixth year of Kangxi, that is, 1707 AD, it began to take shape. In November of the same year, Emperor Kangxi visited the Old Summer Palace in person. After Emperor Yongzheng ascended the throne in 1723, he expanded the original gift garden and built the Zhengda Guangming Hall and Qinzheng Hall in the south of the garden, as well as various duty rooms for the Cabinet, Six Ministries, and Military Aircraft Department, so that the emperor could "avoid the noise and listen to politics." During the 60 years of Emperor Qianlong's reign, he spent tens of millions of dollars on constructing and renovating the Old Summer Palace every day, dredging water and removing rocks. In addition to partial additions and renovations to the Old Summer Palace, he also built a new Changchun Garden to the east and merged it into Qichun Garden to the southeast. By the 35th year of Qianlong's reign, that is, 1770, the layout of the Three Yuanming Gardens was basically formed. During the Jiaqing Dynasty, Qichun Garden was mainly repaired and expanded, making it one of the main garden residence places. During the Daoguang Dynasty, the state affairs were declining and financial resources were insufficient. However, they would rather remove the furnishings of the "Three Mountains" of Wanshou, Xiangshan and Yuquan, and stop summer vacation and Mulan hunting in Rehe, but still did not give up the reconstruction and decoration of the Three Yuanming Gardens.

Old Summer Palace: It was mainly built in the late Kangxi and Yongzheng dynasties. By the end of Yongzheng, the garden scenery had spread over 3,000 acres of the entire garden. During the Qianlong period, many additions and renovations were made in the garden. The main garden scenery groups of the garden include the famous "Forty Scenes of the Old Summer Palace" (namely, Upright and Bright, Diligent Government, Qingyan of Jiuzhou, Clouds in the Moon, Natural Pictures, Bitong Academy, Ciyun Puhu, Shangxia Tianguang, Xinghuachun Pavilion, Frankness and magnanimity, Rugu Hanjin, Changchun Fairy Pavilion, Wanfang Anhe, Wuling spring scenery, high mountains and long waters, moon and earth clouds, Hongci Yonghu, Huifang Academy, Ritian Linzi , tranquility, the fragrance of orchids reflected in the water, the clear water and trees, the happy place of Lianxi River, many crops like clouds, fish leaping and flying kites, Beiyuan Mountain Village, the beautiful scenery of Xifeng, Siyi Bookstore, Fanghu Scenic Area, bathing body and bathing virtue, Pinghu Qiuyue, Pengdao Yaotai, Jiexiu Shanfang, Biyoudongtian, Jiajing Mingqin, Hanxulangjian, Kuoran Grand Duke, Sitting on a Stone and Linliu, Quyuan Fenghe, Deep in the Cave), as well as Zibi Shanfang, Zaoyuan, Ruo Fanzhi Pavilion, Wenyuan Pavilion and other places. At that time, there were about 600 major garden buildings with plaques hanging on them, which was actually the highest number of royal gardens at home and abroad today.

Changchun Garden: It was first built around the 10th year of Qianlong (1745). When the general manager of the garden was officially established in 1751, the main scenic spots on Yuanzhong Road and West Road had been basically completed, such as Danhuaitang. , Hanjing Hall, Yulinglong Hall, Siyongzhai, Haiyue Kaijin, Dequan Pavilion, Liuxiangzhu, Fahui Temple, Baoxiang Temple, Aishan Tower, Zhuanxiangfan, Congfangxie, etc. Later, Qian Garden and Xiao Youtian Garden were built successively. The scenic spots in the eastern part of the garden (Yingqingzhai, Ruyuan, Jianyuan, and Lion Grove) were added on a large scale from the 31st to the 37th year of Qianlong's reign, including the Western-style Building Scenic Area and the Changchun Garden's largest area. One dry acre. There are approximately 200 garden buildings with plaques hanging on them.

Qichun Garden: It was originally a residence given to Prince Yunxiang of Qia. It was built around the end of Kangxi. Later, it was given to Fu Heng, a great scholar. It was officially returned to the emperor in the 35th year of Qianlong (1770). Entering the Imperial Garden, it was named Qichun Garden. The scope at that time did not include its northwest.

In the fourth and sixteenth years of Jiaqing, two more gardens were granted to the western part of the park, one was Xishuang Village owned by Prince Cheng Yongxuan, and the other was Hanhui Garden owned by Princess Zhuang Jing and Heshuo. After large-scale repairs and reconstructions, , after the expansion, the garden began to reach a scale of one thousand acres and became one of the main gardens where the Qing emperors lived. At this point, the Three Gardens of Yuanming Dynasty were in their heyday. Jiaqing first wrote the poem "Thirty Scenes of Qichun Garden", and then successively created more than 20 new scenes. The more famous garden scene groups at that time included Fuchuntang, Qingxiazhai, Hanqiu Pavilion, Shengdong Room, Siyi Bookstore, Chunzezhai, Fenglinzhou, Weizaotang, Zhonghetang, Bixiang, Zhulinyuan, Xiyushanfang, Yanyu Tower, Hanhui Tower, Chengxintang, Changhetang, Zhanqingxuan, Zhaoliang Pavilion, Ling There are nearly 30 places including Xu Pavilion. There are more than a hundred garden buildings with plaques hanging on them. The Qichun Garden Palace Gate was built in the 14th year of Jiaqing (1809). Because it was built more than half a century later than the Grand Palace Gate of the Old Summer Palace and the Second Palace Gate of the Changchun Garden, it is also called the "New Palace Gate" and is still in use today. Since the early years of Daoguang's reign, the Fuchuntang area on the east side of the garden has been renovated and used as a place to support the empress dowager. However, the scenery on the west side of the garden has always been the garden residence of Emperor Daoguang and Xianfeng. After the garden was destroyed in 1860, it was renamed Wanchun Garden when attempts were made to rebuild it during the Tongzhi period.

The Old Summer Palace is a large-scale artificially created garden with magnificent scale and beautiful scenery. The flat land is stacked with mountains and water, the garden buildings are refined, and trees and flowers are widely planted. Intermittent hills, zigzag water surfaces, pavilions, winding corridors, islands, bridges, embankments, etc. divide the vast space into more than a hundred landscape groups of different sizes, surrounded by mountains and rivers. The water surface in the park accounts for about four-tenths of the total area of ??the three gardens. Large, medium and small water surfaces are artificially excavated on the flat land, and are connected in series by looping rivers to form a complete river and lake system. The garden is dotted with 250 large and small earth hills, which are combined with the water system. The water rotates with the mountains, and the mountains are active due to the water, forming a garden space with mountains and water, and layers upon layers. The entire garden is as blurred as the water town in the south of the Yangtze River. It can be said that although it is made by humans, it seems to have been created by heaven.

Most of the garden landscaping in the Old Summer Palace is water-themed, and water is the source of interest. Many of them directly draw on the interest of the famous waterscapes in the south of the Yangtze River. The Back Lake Scenic Area of ??the Old Summer Palace has nine small islands built around the back lake, which are symbols of the "Yu Gong" and "Nine Continents" in the country's territory. The small gardens or landscape groups built on each island not only have their own characteristics, but also borrow from each other to create scenery. The skylight above and below the north bank is quite like climbing the Yueyang Tower to have a panoramic view of Dongting Lake. "A hanging rainbow dominates the lake, winding for hundreds of feet, with railings and wings, and a wide pavilion in the middle. The reflection of the ripples, between the lintel sills, overlooking from the sky, is a sight to behold." Vast expanse of blue." The openness and openness of the west bank resembles that of Yuquan Fish Watching in Hangzhou, commonly known as the Goldfish Pond. "The pond was dug to be a paradise for fish. Under the houses around the pond, there are thousands of brocade scales." Wanfang Anhe in the west of the Yuanmingyuan, houses are built in the lake, shaped like Make a swastika, it is warm in winter and cool in summer, and you can look at the strange flowers on the other side, as delicate as embroidery. Emperor Yongzheng liked to live here. The Shuimu Mingse in the north of the Old Summer Palace uses the Taixi (Xize) water method to introduce water into the room and turn the fan. "Lin Sese, the water is cold, the stream wind is roaring, and the mountain birds are chirping." Emperor Qianlong liked to cool off here. Haiyue Kaijin in the West Lake of Changchun Garden has a three-story palace built on a huge round white jade platform, which looks like a mirage from a distance.

Pengdao Yaotai in the sea of ??blessings is based on the mythical Penglai Island, formerly known as Penglai Island. According to legend, Qin Shihuang once sent a man named Xu Fu to lead more than a dozen boys and girls across the sea to find fairy lands and elixirs for him, so as to achieve immortality. Of course, this can only be "Haike talks about Yingzhou, but Yan Tao's letter is hard to come by." Emperor Yongzheng asked craftsmen to build three large and small islands with huge phosphorus stones in the East Lake of the Old Summer Palace, symbolizing the legendary Penglai, Yingzhou and Abbot "Three Immortals Mountains". "There are five golden halls and twelve jade towers", and according to the meaning of "Xu Fuhai Zhongqiu", the East Lake was named "Fuhai". There are also more than ten beautiful gardens on the four sides of Fuhai. Fuhai is five to six hundred meters wide from east to west and from north to south. Including the surrounding small waters, it covers an area of ??about 35 hectares, which is equivalent to the water surface of Beihai Park. The water here is wide and the scenery is beautiful. Every Dragon Boat Festival, large-scale dragon boat races are held here. On the night of July 15th, the Qing Emperor watched the river lanterns here. After the ice froze in winter, the emperor took a ride on the ice bed to tour Fuhai. Fuhai is actually the water entertainment center of Yuanmingyuan.

The Old Summer Palace also has a distinctive feature, that is, it is built with a large number of imitations of many famous gardens and scenic spots from all over the country, especially those in the south of the Yangtze River. Emperor Qianlong Hongli visited Jiangsu and Zhejiang six times in the south, Wutai in the west, Daiyue in the east, and Rehe, Shengjing (ie Shenyang), Panshan and other places many times. Everywhere he went, he would have the accompanying painters copy the famous mountains, rivers, and gardens that he liked, and then build replicas of them in the gardens after he returned to Beijing.

According to incomplete statistics, there are no fewer than forty or fifty direct copies of the garden scenery of the Old Summer Palace. The ten scenic spots of West Lake in Hangzhou, including their names, are all replicated in the park without changing their names. As the saying goes: Who knows the beautiful scenery in the south of the Yangtze River, it will move the sky and shrink the earth in your arms.

After Emperor Qianlong’s southern tour, four famous gardens in the south of the Yangtze River were imitated in the Old Summer Palace. One of them is Anlan Garden in the northwest of Fuhai. During the 27th year of Qianlong's southern tour, he used Chen's Yuyuan in Haining as his residence and named it "Anlan Garden". Hongli liked the garden's beautiful structure very much. After returning to Beijing, he renovated and added new buildings near the Siyi Bookstore in Yuanmingyuan, imitating its location. After the garden was completed, it was also named "Anlan Garden". The other three famous gardens imitated at that time were all in the Changchun Garden. One is the Xiaoyoutian Garden built in the east courtyard of Siyongzhai in the 23rd year of Qianlong's reign, modeled after Wang's Garden in West Lake, Hangzhou; the other is the Xiaoyoutian Garden built in the 32nd year of Qianlong's reign, modeled on the Zhanyuan Garden in Jiangning (Nanjing). Garden; one is the Lion Grove, built in the 37th year of Qianlong's reign, modeled on the famous gardens in Suzhou. Ruyuan and Lion Forest both have more than 16 scenic spots. The beautiful west peak of the Old Summer Palace was the place where Emperors Yongzheng and Qianlong held a Qixi Festival banquet every seventh day of the seventh lunar month. Here you can enjoy the scenery of the Western Mountains. On the west bank of the river, there is a group of overlapping mountains with steep pines and steep mountains and rapid waterfalls in the mountain streams. Looking up at it, it looks like the majestic majesty of Mount Lu, so it is named "Xiao Kuang Lu". Sitting on a stone facing the stream, it is imitated from the Orchid Pavilion in Shanyin, Kuaiji, Shaoxing. Built in the Yongzheng Dynasty, it is commonly known as Liubei Pavilion. Wang Xizhi of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and other literati met in the Orchid Pavilion of Kuaiji on March 3rd of the ninth year of Yonghe (that is, Shangsi day), drank wine in a meandering stream, composed poems and repaired wedges (sacrificial activities), and it was passed down as a good story. The Orchid Pavilion in the Old Summer Palace is an open pavilion with three bays and double eaves. In the forty-fourth year of Qianlong's reign, 6 pieces of "Lanting Preface" by famous calligraphers of all dynasties were collected. Together with the handwritings of academicians Yu Minzhong and Hongli themselves, they were combined into the "Lanting Eight Column Volume". Emperor Qianlong ordered the pavilion to be rebuilt into eight directions and replaced with stone pillars. Each pillar was engraved with one post. These are the famous eight pillars of the Orchid Pavilion of Yuanmingyuan. Kuoran Grand Duke, later also known as Shuanghezhai, was built after the Jichang Garden in Huishan, Wuxi. The northern half of this scene was built in the middle of the Qianlong period, imitating the rocks in the Yunlin Stone Chamber of Panshan Jingji Villa. Jiaqing poems praised "Shuanghezhai": its structure is modeled after Huishan, and its famous garden conveys a tranquil environment. The winding roads are steep, the sycamore pines are especially luxuriant, the small caves are rugged and the rocks are not stubborn. People know that the Harmony Garden in the Summer Palace was modeled after the Jichang Garden in Huishan. In fact, a replica of the Jichang Garden was also built in the Old Summer Palace at that time. It's just that the two imitations have different artistic conceptions. The spring scenery of Wuling imitates the artistic conception of Tao Yuanming's "Peach Blossom Spring". It was built in the late Kangxi period and was called Taohuawu during the Yongzheng Dynasty. It was once the place where Hongli studied, and the study room was called "Leshan Hall". This scene is said to have thousands of mountain peaches. There used to be Taohuawu in Changmen, Suzhou, which was said to be the former residence of Tang Bohu. Although Taohuawu in the Old Summer Palace bears its name, the splendor of the peach blossoms is far beyond what Wu Xia can compare with.

The Three Gardens of Yuanming Dynasty have more than 100 gardens within gardens and scenic building groups, which are commonly referred to as 100 sceneries. It integrates various garden buildings such as halls, pavilions, pavilions, pavilions, pavilions, corridors and verandas, covering an area of ??approximately 160,000 square meters. It is 10,000 square meters larger than the entire construction area of ??the Forbidden City. The buildings in the park not only draw on the advantages of palace-style buildings in the past dynasties, but also break through the constraints of official norms in terms of plane configuration, appearance shape, and group combination. They are widely collected and come in various forms. It has created many architectural forms that are extremely rare in the south and north of my country, such as Zixuan, Meiyuexuan, Tianzidian, as well as fan-shaped, bow-shaped, round mirror-shaped, I-shaped, mountain-shaped, cross-shaped, square Victory shape, scroll shape, etc. In addition, in the layout of the garden, the scenery changes with the situation, and the scenery is in various shapes; the scenery in the garden is surrounded by each other and deepens layer by layer, forming an overall beauty that is rich, colorful, natural and harmonious. The French missionary Wang Zhicheng once gave a vivid description. He said: The architecture of the Old Summer Palace has many changes in form, and is uneven and unconventional. Each of its small palaces seems to be made according to strange models, as if arranged at random, and no one is the same as the others. Everything is so interesting that one cannot take in the scene at a glance, but must study it carefully bit by bit.

The temple gardens of the Old Summer Palace also reflect an aspect of ancient Chinese culture. Anyou Palace (Hongci Yonghu) was built according to the old practice of Jingshan Shouhuang Palace. It is used to worship the "Shenyu" of Emperors Kangxi and Yongzheng. It is the royal ancestral temple in the garden. The palace has nine rooms, with a main ridge and double eaves resting on the mountain, and a roof covered with yellow glazed tiles. It is the largest building in the garden. There are pine trees and covers around it, and there are two pairs of Chinese watches at the south end of the central axis, giving people a solemn and solemn feeling.

Fanghu Scenic Spot, located on the shore of the northeastern bay of Fuhai, was built according to the fantasy fairy mountain Qiongge. According to historical records, there are more than 2,200 Buddha statues and more than 30 pagodas enshrined here. The front base of this building is made of white marble in the shape of a "mountain" and extends into the water. The whole building is huge and magnificent. Whenever the mist begins to rise in the morning, the building disappears and appears in the smoke, just like a Qiongge Yaotai. The style and momentum of this building are rare among existing garden buildings in my country. Savatthi City is a typical Buddhist building. It is said to be built after the layout of the capital of the ancient Indian state of Qiaosara. There are 326 palaces and houses in the city. Since the Kangxi reign, whenever the emperor, empress dowager and empress dowager celebrate their birthdays, the Buddha statues enshrined by princes, princes and ministers have been stored here. Among them are pure gold, silver-plated, jade carvings, and bronze sculptures. Year after year, there are hundreds of thousands of them. The Old Summer Palace was looted and burned. The damage caused by this single place, whether in terms of economic value or cultural and artistic value, is difficult to estimate in numbers.

In order to pursue various pleasures, the Qing emperor also introduced an area of ??European-style garden architecture in the northern boundary of Changchun Garden, commonly known as the "Western-style Building". It consists of more than ten buildings and gardens, including Quecong, Fangwai, Haiyantang, Yuanyinguan, Dashuifa, Guanshuifa, Xianfa Mountain and Xianfa Wall. Planning began in the 12th year of Qianlong (1747) and was basically completed in the 24th year (1759). It was designed and directed by Western missionaries such as Lang Shining, Jiang Youren, and Wang Zhicheng, and built by Chinese craftsmen. The architectural form is the "Baroque" style of the late European Renaissance, and the gardening form is the "Le Notre" style. But it also absorbed many traditional techniques from my country in terms of gardening and architectural decoration.

The main body of the Western-style building is actually an artificial fountain, which was called "water method" at that time. It is characterized by large numbers, great momentum, and unique ideas. It mainly forms three large fountain groups: Xie Qiqi, Haiyantang and Dashuifa, which are quite interesting.

Humorous and interesting: It is the first building built in the autumn of the 16th year of Qianlong's reign. The main body is three stories. There is a large sea hall-style fountain in the south of the building, which is composed of bronze geese, bronze sheep and Western stonefish. fountain. On the left and right sides of the building, an octagonal hall protrudes from the curved corridor, where Chinese and Western music are played.

Haiyantang: It is the largest palace in the Western Building. The main entrance of the main building faces west. There is a large pool in front of the steps. On the left and right of the pool are twelve bronze statues of animal faces and human figures (rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog). , pig, which are the twelve zodiac signs of our country), they spray water in sequence every day and night, one hour (2 hours) each. At noon, the twelve zodiac animals spray water together, commonly known as the "water clock". This elaborate design of replacing Western nude statues with twelve zodiac animals is really a masterpiece of combining Western and Chinese elements.

Dashuifa: It is the most spectacular fountain in the Western-style building. The building is shaped like a stone niche, resembling a doorway. There is a large lion head spraying water below, forming a seven-layer water curtain. There is an oval chrysanthemum-style fountain at the front and bottom. In the center of the pool is a copper sika deer, which sprays eight jets of water from its antlers. There are ten bronze dogs on the two servants, which spurt water columns from their mouths and hit the deer's body directly, causing waves to splash. Commonly known as "hunting dogs chasing deer". There is a huge water spray tower on the left and right fronts of the Great Water Method. The tower is square and has thirteen floors. Water jets are sprayed out from the top. There are eighty-eight copper pipes around the tower, all of which spray water at the same time. At that time, the emperor sat at the Guanshuifa opposite to watch this group of fountains. The British envoy Macartney and the Dutch envoy Sheng Sheng all "visited" the wonders of the Waterfa here. It is said that if all the fountains are opened, it will be like a mountain torrent. The sound will be so loud that people must make gestures when talking close by. You can imagine how spectacular it will be.

The Array of Ten Thousand Flowers is a garden modeled after a European labyrinth. Its main feature is that it is divided into a number of mazes with four-foot-high carved brick walls with Chinese characters, so it is called the "Ten Thousand Flowers Array". During the heyday, on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Qing emperor would sit in the round pavilion in the center of the array. The palace ladies would hold lotus lanterns made of yellow silk and run around. The first person to arrive would receive the emperor's reward. Therefore, it is also called Huanghua Array or Huanghua Lantern. Although the diameter distance from the entrance to the central pavilion is only more than 30 meters, because this formation is easy to enter and difficult to exit, and it is easy to walk into a dead end, the Qing emperor took pleasure in sitting on a high place and watching the lotus lanterns flowing east and west.

The entire area of ??the Xiyanglou Scenic Area does not exceed one-fiftieth of the total area of ??the Three Yuanming Gardens, and is only a small part. But it is a successful attempt to imitate European-style gardens in my country. This plays an important role in the history of Chinese gardens and in the history of exchanges between Eastern and Western gardens. Its construction has caused strong repercussions in Europe.

A Western European missionary who had witnessed it praised the Western-style Building: It combines beautiful scenery and interesting things in one place. It has all the magnificent and strange fountains that people can imagine. The largest of them can be compared with the Palace of Versailles and the Saint-Claude Church. Fountains go hand in hand. The missionary concluded: The Old Summer Palace is China's Versailles.

The Old Summer Palace embodies the essence of ancient Chinese gardening art and is the most outstanding large-scale garden at that time. Emperor Qianlong said of it: "It is an area of ??real treasures and earthly spirits, a place where emperors travel, and there is no way to surpass this." It also occupies an important position in the history of world garden architecture. Its fame spread to Europe and it was known as the "Garden of Ten Thousand Gardens". The great French writer Hugo made this comment in 1861: "Just imagine that it is a fascinating building like a castle like the Moon Palace. The Summer Palace (referring to the Old Summer Palace) is such a building." People often do this. Say: Greece has the Parthenon, Egypt has the pyramids, Rome has the Colosseum, and the East has summer palaces. ""This is a breathtaking and unparalleled masterpiece."

The Old Summer Palace is not only famous for its gardens, but also a royal museum with extremely rich collections, which can be called a cultural treasure house. Hugo once said: "Even if Even if all the treasures of Notre Dame cathedrals in our country (France) are put together, they cannot match the scale and splendor of this Oriental Museum. "The garden is luxuriously furnished and has a large collection of art treasures. According to descriptions from Westerners who have witnessed the Old Summer Palace, "the splendor and splendor of the garden is beyond description and beyond the imagination of Europeans." All kinds of precious treasures are accumulated in this royal villa, among thousands of households. "The finest carved red sandalwood furniture, exquisite ancient chipped porcelain and enamel bottles, gold and silver brocades, felts, leather goods, gold-plated French bells, exquisite general map of the Old Summer Palace, and gem-inlaid archery There are pictures, plaques with vivid landscapes and figures, as well as various other fine art products from China and various bizarre European decorations.

The Old Summer Palace has an extremely rich collection of books and cultural relics, to name just a few. Wenyuan Pavilion is a library built after Fan's Tianyi Pavilion in Ningbo. It is one of the famous four royal northern pavilions. It was built in the 40th year of Qianlong's reign. "Sikuquanshu" is the largest comprehensive series of books in ancient my country, with more than 3400 kinds of books, nearly 80,000 volumes, and more than 36,000 volumes. The great spirit of the nation. Because of the vastness of the "Quanshu", the most important ones were selected and compiled into the "Siku Quanshu Hui Yao", with a total of 12,000 volumes. The other one is housed in the "Weifu Study Room" in the east wing of the Han Sutra Hall in the Forbidden City, the Han Sutra Hall. In addition, the Han Sutra Hall also has a famous literary pavilion, the Chunhua Pavilion, which is dedicated to collecting the famous Dharma calligraphy "Chun Hua Pavilion". "Ge Tie" was originally copied in the third year of Chunhua in Beining (992), and includes the calligraphy works of 99 people including Wang Xizhi, Wang Xianzhi, Cang Jie, Xia Yu, and Confucius. The volume is the first large-scale collection of Tie in my country, and is known as the ancestor of all Tie. During the Qianlong period, based on the "Initial Expansion of the Ge Tie" from the Northern Song Dynasty, it took three years to copy and engrave the stone. By the spring of the 37th year of Qianlong's reign (1772), the 144 imprinted panels were inlaid in the 24 or so cloisters in front of Chunhua Pavilion. This is the famous "Qianlong's Heavy Engraving of Chunhua Pavilion Tie". . Needless to say, when the Old Summer Palace was destroyed, the precious books and cultural relics collected in the garden such as "Sikuquanshu", "Quanshuhuiyao", "Ancient and Modern Books Collection", and "Chunhua Pavilion Notes" were not spared. This can reflect from one aspect the huge damage caused to human culture by the burning of the Old Summer Palace.

Of course, nothing is perfect because the Old Summer Palace is so big. It was successively expanded and renovated by the emperors of the dynasty, and due to the influence of the decadent consciousness of the feudal emperors, it still has shortcomings from any perspective. However, overall, it can be said that the Old Summer Palace is indeed an outstanding garden. It is the culmination of thousands of years of excellent gardening art in my country and has pushed my country's classical gardens to a new level. At that time, everyone who witnessed its grandeur said that it was indeed very good. Some Westerners were impressed by the Chinese gardens. It started from the Old Summer Palace.

In short, the Old Summer Palace has won honors for our ancient civilization and was once the pride of our Chinese nation!

However, it was this world-famous garden that was brutally looted and burned by the British and French forces in October 1860, the tenth year of Xianfeng's reign. /p>