After the First Opium War concluded, the Treaty of Nanjing signed between China and Britain fully exposed the weak and exploitable nature of the Qing government. At that time, a large number of Western powers, envious of the benefits Britain had gained in China, rushed in to seize a share for themselves. Meanwhile, the insatiable British colonists also sought to extract even more advantages from China.
In October 1856, Britain used the "Arrow Incident" as a pretext to launch another war against China. Since this war was essentially a continuation of the First Opium War, it became known as the Second Opium War. By the end of October, British forces once again bombarded Guangzhou city and subsequently stormed it, engaging in widespread burning, killing, and looting.
During the same period, the French government was using the "Father Chapdelaine Incident" as a pretext to provoke China. In 1853, French Catholic priest Auguste Chapdelaine illegally infiltrated Xilin County in Guangxi, China. Under the guise of missionary work, he colluded with local corrupt officials and bullies, tyrannizing the people, committing rape, and oppressing the populace. The locals, pushed beyond endurance, reported his crimes to the newly appointed Xilin magistrate, Zhang Mingfeng, who then lawfully executed Chapdelaine. This was the full story of the "Father Chapdelaine Incident." France had long coveted China but lacked a suitable opportunity for invasion. This incident provided them with the excuse they needed, and the French government began to make a major issue of it, with the British government seizing the chance to propose a joint military expedition.
In 1857, the British and French allied forces began their invasion of China, with the United States and Russia providing support. By the end of 1857, over five thousand British and French troops launched a major offensive, and on December 29, Guangzhou fell to their forces. In March 1858, the envoys of Britain, France, the United States, and Russia traveled together to Shanghai, then gathered warships and sailed north, reaching the Bai River estuary near Tianjin. The Qing government hastily dispatched imperial commissioners to negotiate peace, signing the Treaty of Tianjin with each of the four powers, and separately signing the Treaty of Aigun with Russia, ceding over 600,000 square kilometers of land north of the Amur River and south of the Outer Khingan Range to Russia.
However, the four nations were not yet satisfied. In June 1859, the British and French forces bombarded Dagu, then captured Tianjin, and advanced further toward Beijing. Emperor Xianfeng fled hastily to Chengde with his wives, concubines, and children. In October, the British and French forces captured Beijing, looting, burning, and killing wildly within the city for 50 days. During this time, they plundered the Old Summer Palace (Yuanmingyuan) completely. Located in the northwestern suburbs of Beijing, the Old Summer Palace was first built during the Ming Dynasty, and its name "Yuanmingyuan" was bestowed by Emperor Kangxi. "Yuan" signifies perfect and outstanding virtue, while "Ming" represents brilliant achievements that shine through the ages. Emperor Yongzheng, a devout Buddhist, used "Yuanming" as his Buddhist title during his lifetime, calling himself "Hermit Yuanming." In the 48th year of Kangxi's reign (1783), Yongzheng, then the Fourth Prince, received this palace from his father. From the beginning of Yongzheng's reign, the Old Summer Palace was constructed over more than 150 years, ultimately becoming a magnificent, unprecedented, and unparalleled grand architectural complex.
Because during the Qing Dynasty, the emperor would retreat to the Old Summer Palace to escape the summer heat as soon as the height of summer arrived, it was also known as the "Summer Palace." In fact, aside from the Forbidden City, the Old Summer Palace was where Qing emperors spent the most time. At that time, a saying circulated worldwide: Greece had the Parthenon, Egypt had the pyramids, Rome had the Colosseum, and the East had the Summer Palace. The great French writer Victor Hugo once highly praised the Old Summer Palace, saying: "Just imagine a building as enchanting as a moon palace—that is what the Summer Palace was like."
The total area of the Old Summer Palace (Yuanmingyuan) exceeded 5,000 mu (approximately 820 acres), and it could be divided into three sections: the Old Summer Palace itself, Wanchun Garden, and Changchun Garden, with the Old Summer Palace being the largest. Its architectural style blended the grandeur of imperial gardens with the exquisite craftsmanship of private gardens, housing countless treasures and cultural relics, along with millions of precious flowers, trees, and plants. Westerners praised it as the "Garden of Gardens." If the Old Summer Palace were considered a museum, its scale would be unparalleled and unprecedented anywhere in the world.
However, this unparalleled palace was destroyed during the Second Opium War by the British and French allied forces. According to eyewitness accounts, when the British and French troops looted the Old Summer Palace, the scene was one of utter chaos. They fought each other fiercely over the treasures inside the garden. Cloisonné vases, embroidered robes, fine furs, silks and satins, gems, jade, pearls, gold bars, gold leaves—nothing escaped their plunder. In one room, there was a massive pile of silks and satins sufficient to meet the needs of half the capital's population, and the British and French forces took every single bolt, leaving none behind. Because many treasures were too heavy to transport, they smashed them on the spot. They hacked priceless furniture to pieces with axes and shattered enormous mirrors into fragments. After the looting, to cover up their crimes, the British and French forces set fire to this magnificent imperial garden, burning it beyond recognition. The fire raged for three days and three nights, reducing the Old Summer Palace to a heap of ruins.
Victor Hugo once indignantly said: "One day, two bandits broke into the Summer Palace; one was responsible for looting, and the other for setting fires. Then they happily returned to Europe. One of these bandits was called France, and the other was called England. They jointly 'shared' the Oriental treasure trove of the Old Summer Palace, and even considered it a great victory!" In this way, Hugo strongly condemned the atrocities of the Anglo-French allied forces.
At the same time that the Old Summer Palace was being destroyed, the Qing government agreed to all the conditions of the invaders and soon signed the Treaty of Beijing with Britain, France, and Russia, bringing the Second Opium War to an end. The Treaty of Beijing recognized the validity of the Treaty of Tianjin, promised to open Tianjin as a treaty port, extended the open ports from the southeastern coastal areas deep into the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, ceded large territories including the Kowloon Peninsula and vast lands east of the Ussuri River to the foreign powers, and required the payment of huge indemnities to them. These provisions brought unprecedented disaster to the Chinese people and further deepened China's semi-colonial and semi-feudal status.