The Yuanmingyuan Park in Beijing was burned and ransacked by British and French troops, while the Anglo-French expedition force invaded China during the Second Opium War in 1860. Photo: VCG

Yuanmingyuan Ruins Park, or the Old Summer Palace, on Wednesday released 365 valuable old photos, most of which were shown to the public for the first time, leaving Chinese netizens stunned by their spectacular beauty.

The release conference, held by the Yuanmingyuan administration office in Zhengjue Temple, clearly shows the buildings were in around 1882 before they were completely destroyed. The publication of the photos will not only contribute to further research on the history and architecture of the garden and maintenance and restoration of destroyed buildings, but will also play a very important role in finding and identifying clues to the lost cultural relics, China Central Television reported.

Some photos, including those of intact buildings, shot by Robert De Semalle, also known as Xie Manlu, who lived in China between 1880 and 1884, were shown to the public for the first time.

"All the buildings in these photos were destroyed," Liu Yang, an expert on Beijing's history, geography and folklore, was quoted as saying by the Beijing Daily newspaper. 

"The charm of those photos lies in this. If the buildings still existed, the pictures could be shot any time. Therefore those old photos carry out a mission of helping us look back to the greatness and prosperity as well as study the history of changes of Yuanmingyuan," Liu said.

Netizens on Sina Weibo expressed their excitement at seeing the photos. 

"A fire was set and only pictures are left. It tells us that we can only get rid of a bully when our country gets stronger," said one netizen on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo platform. 

Last year, there was a debate on Chinese social media platforms over whether to rebuild the Yuanmingyuan to restore it to its royal glory or continue to lay bare the ruins left by foreign invaders. 

The debate came to a conclusion in November 2020 after China's National Cultural Heritage Administration responded to a proposal by a National People's Congress deputy to rebuild the Old Summer Palace, saying it lacks archaeological evidence and would erase the memory of China's historical humiliation of when it was bullied by foreign invaders.

Some netizens said that they are now more certain that it is unnecessary to restore the park, as the ruins could serve as a warning to Chinese people to remember that only "self-improvement can make us stand up in the world."

Other netizens expressed their sadness, saying that the restoration could only bring back the tip of the iceberg, and we can't imagine how stunning it was originally.

Global Times