What kind of story is hidden in the "defending peace" archway in Beijing?

When visiting the Forbidden City, most people will go to Zhongshan Park next to it. As soon as you enter the park gate, you can see a tall archway that says "Defend Peace". Don't underestimate this archway. It is the only one built for foreigners. What kind of story is hidden here?

"Defending Peace" archway at the entrance of Zhongshan Park in Beijing

This seemingly simple archway actually bears unspeakable national humiliation and is considered as its witness. Why is this memorial archway a witness to national humiliation? We should start with the original name of the memorial archway to defend peace. When the arch was completed, its name was "Monument to the Cleaners". 1900, Eight-Nation Alliance invaded Beijing, and Guangxu and Cixi fled. At that time, the German envoy Klender shot and killed the soldiers and civilians in China, which caused the anger of the soldiers and civilians in China. On June 20th of this year, Cleander went to Jiangjunbu Hutong in Dongdanxi and met a patrol led by Enhai, a magical machine camp in Qing Dynasty. Cleander made a rude remark, shot first, made people angry, and was shot by Eun-hae, which is known as the "Klinde incident" in history.

The appearance of the "defending peace" archway when it was first built.

At that time, Germany put pressure on the Qing government to demand high compensation and put forward many harsh conditions. At that time, it was only under the mediation of the Qing government and Sai Jinhua, a famous prostitute who had a friendship with Germany, that the dust settled. However, the condition is that the Qing government must send dignitaries to send Collard's coffin back to China and build a stone archway for Collard where he was shot. The Qing government has to build this archway in Hutongkou, the general manager of Dongdan, as required, and apologize to the German government in four languages: Chinese, English, French and Latin. The memorial archway 190 1 year started in June, and was completed in 19031October, which is called "the monument of the cleaner".

The Original Appearance of the Monument to the Cleaners

After World War I, when the Germans were defeated, China renamed this black-and-white archway "Victory of Justice". 19 19 moved from Dongdan to Zhongshan Park. The original four-nation script and the script commemorating Cleander were all eradicated, and then Premier Qian Nengxun wrote the word "victory of justice" and engraved it on the tablet. Since then, the archway has been renamed "Victory of Justice" Square.

"Axiom Victory" Square in Zhongshan Park

After liberation, the new China government renamed the "Victory of Justice" Square as "Defending Peace" Square, and the four characters of "Defending Peace" on the archway were inscribed by Guo Moruo.

Defend peace memorial archway

Today, it seems that this memorial archway, which should have been demolished, was moved from Dongdan to Zhongshan Park that year, perhaps to remind Chinese people of that terrible and humiliating history.