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Q: How many places were destroyed/looted by the French and British forces in 1860?
...and what special treasures did they take back to the Old Continent?
There is a great article on wikipedia about this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Opium_War
I just love that website. :)
Xpat.John:
You will never know exactly what the foreigners stole. During the chaos, locals were looting as much as the outsiders.
They took back alot masks and such. No idea on the number though. Jerks.
Yuanmingyuan and the Summer Palace were the two places that were looted, though there may be more.
There were recent discussions on Chinese sites about whether or not the ruins of yuanmingyuan should be left as is or if it should all be rebuilt. Most Chinese in that debate seem to argue it's best to leave the ruins as they are, as a reminder of Western imperialism in China.
nevermind:
That's why I think places destroyed during the invasion of tibet should be left as is.
It was less than the Japanese took when those total A holes invaded China and did a lot of bad things, and less than the Chinese took when they invaded India in 62, or Vietnam in 79...Did that answer your question sonny?
It's fairly hard to say, as just a few years prior, the Taiping rebellion had laid waist to the south and kicked off the "hundred year struggle", in which pretty much everyone, including the Chinese, had their way with the country. And of course after that the Red Guards burned musuems and libraries and historical buildings by the thousands.
Oh but I forgot "meiguo lihai zhongguo ALL FOREIGNER FAULT!!"
There are a ton of Chinese artifacts in Britain and other parts of Europe, but not much documentation on them.
