Chinanews client, Beijing, March 18 (Reporter Shangguanyun) From its destruction in 1860 to the present, the Old Summer Palace has undergone tremendous changes from the imperial garden to the villages where the people live, and then to the national archaeological site park.
Recently, the publication of "Old Shadows of the Old Summer Palace" has aroused many people's imagination: What was the Old Summer Palace in its heyday?
Liu Yang, the author of the book and a member of the Academic Committee of the Chinese Yuanmingyuan Society, said that the Old Summer Palace was once a magnificent imperial garden, known as the "Oriental Versailles", but its fate was very rough.
Construction of "Three Yuanming Gardens"
Nowadays, in the world’s impression, the "Yuanmingyuan" located in the western suburbs of Beijing may refer to a garden, but in fact, it is composed of the Old Summer Palace, Changchun Garden, and Qichun Garden (later changed to Wanchun Garden). As the general name of the Three Gardens.
Data map: Beijing, tourists visiting the Old Summer Palace.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Sheng Jiapeng
In terms of its construction process, the first of the Three Yuanming Gardens was the Old Summer Palace.
Initially, this garden was bestowed by Emperor Kangxi to the fourth son Yinzhen (later Yongzheng), but the scale was not very large.
After Yinzhen took the throne, Old Summer Palace continued to expand and gradually became an imperial palace-like garden.
"At the time of Yongzheng's death, the Old Summer Palace had been completely upgraded to a royal garden. The scale was 70% of the later heyday, but the address and main body were basically established during the Yongzheng period." Liu Yang said.
He said that Emperor Qianlong prefers southern gardens and built Changchun Garden with a Jiangnan style to the east of Yuanmingyuan. "Slowly, from the third year of Yongzheng to the tenth year of Xianfeng, Yuanmingyuan has been built for more than 100 years, which can be called art. Treasure."
It is also said that the "Three Yuanming Gardens" were named after the Daoguang Dynasty. During the Qianlong period, the Yuanming Garden, Changchun Garden, and Qichun Garden plus the Xichun Garden and Chunxi Courtyard connected by land were collectively referred to as the "Yuanming Five Gardens". ".
"In the Jiaqing period, financial resources were limited, so he gave Chunxiyuan to his daughter, and Emperor Daoguang gave Xichunyuan to others. This is not a royal garden, and it is also for saving management and maintenance funds." He said.
"The Palace of Versailles in the East"
Relying on the grand scale and exquisite architectural sceneries... The Old Summer Palace is known as the "model of all garden-making art" and is known as the "Park of Ten Thousand Gardens", among which the more famous is the "Forty Scenes of the Old Summer Palace."
Data map: Previously, the Yuanyingguan and Dashuifa rescue and protection projects were launched in the Yuanmingyuan Relics Park in Beijing.
The picture shows workers pulling out weeds.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Cui Nan
In 1738, Emperor Qianlong ordered court painters Shen Yuan and Sun Hu to paint all the sceneries in the Old Summer Palace. The "Forty Scenes of the Old Summer Palace" in the ninth year of Qianlong was completed, reflecting the appearance of the Old Summer Palace at that time.
There are many famous people in the garden, and Western architecture is well integrated into the oriental garden, and it is known as the "Oriental Versailles".
People often say: "Greece has the Parthenon, Egypt has the Pyramids, Rome has the Colosseum, and the East has the Summer Palace (Yuanmingyuan)."
"There are many classic Chinese gardens in the garden. Dashuifa and Yuanying View belong to Western-style architectural landscapes. However, in the Old Summer Palace, the Western House building is a slender strip, and the Western House scenic area only occupies the entire garden area. Two percent is not too much." Liu Yang said.
Some experts once said that the buildings of the Forbidden City are mainly yellow and green, representing solemnity and rationality, while the buildings of the Old Summer Palace have seven colors of glazed glass, which shows that the Old Summer Palace is a relaxed, lively and suitable place for leisure.
This legend is "unreliable"
Regarding the Old Summer Palace, some legends that have been circulating for a long time are quite unreliable. For example, Emperor Yongzheng was assassinated by Lu Siniang and died in the Old Summer Palace.
In Liu Yang's view, this is completely nonsense.
"According to historical records, Yong Zhengzheng died in the Old Summer Palace, but he passed away normally, and there is no such thing as'assassination'." In this regard, he introduced a major point of view: Emperor Yongzheng was very diligent, and everything was fine. It is very hard to deal with it personally every day.
Data map: The audience appreciates the old photo books of Yuanmingyuan.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Han Haidan
Liu Yang analyzed that as a result, Emperor Yongzheng was likely to lack sleep and his body was easily worn down; coupled with his preference for taking pills, he might have died of heavy metal poisoning.
The Palace of the Old Summer Palace is heavily guarded, even if there is a person like Lu Siniang, it is difficult to get in.
"For wild history legends, just listen. We should believe in scientific and rigorous historical research and archaeological discoveries." He said.
However, Liu Yang also said that Emperors of the Five Dynasties such as Yongzheng and Qianlong have always regarded the Old Summer Palace as one of the places to govern the country. They lived in the Old Summer Palace even longer than the time they lived in the Forbidden City. For example, Emperor Daoguang had nearly 300 per year. Tiandu lives in the Old Summer Palace.
Among them, the Qingyan Scenic Area in Kyushu is where the empress’s palace is located. It is one of the "Forty Scenery of Yuanmingyuan". It is composed of nine islands.
The so-called He Qinghaiyan, so Kyushu Qingyan also has the meaning of eternal stability.
Is it feasible to rebuild the Old Summer Palace?
But what is deeply regrettable is that in 1860, the British and French allied forces set fire to the Old Summer Palace. The fire lasted for several days. This breathtaking masterpiece of art was burned.
It is no longer possible to examine the appearance of Yuanmingyuan in its heyday.
Earlier, someone proposed to "rebuild the Old Summer Palace", but Liu Yang believes that this is extremely difficult and unfeasible.
Data map: The picture shows the jade road excavated at the excavation site of the Dagongmen site.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Cui Nan
Since the Old Summer Palace has been undergoing various degrees of reconstruction and additions, its buildings and landscapes have been constantly changing with the emperor’s aesthetic preferences, and some buildings have been rebuilt after being burned. Therefore, ruins of different ages can be found in the Old Summer Palace Park. .
"Therefore, to rebuild the Old Summer Palace, we must first solve a problem: When will the Old Summer Palace be rebuilt? It has basically been built continuously, and some even the architectural style is changing, and the relevant reference materials are also very lacking. How to rebuild?" Liu Yang asked rhetorically.
What's more, rebuilding the Old Summer Palace is not simply building a house, it is a complete system including the Yamagata water system.
Liu Yang said that the restoration project of Yuanmingyuan is huge, and some buildings use golden nanmu, which is very rare.
He suggested that some buildings with well-preserved ruins and relatively complete materials and very necessary buildings, such as the "Grand Palace Gate of Yuanmingyuan", can be rebuilt appropriately.
"For the Old Summer Palace, I think what we need to pay attention to is not just the restoration or reconstruction, but to popularize its history and culture, so that people can understand its value more scientifically and comprehensively." Liu Yang said.
(Finish)