Under the stone steps of the Yuanmingyuan Garden, we dug out the ancient lotus who had been sleeping for hundreds of years. After careful cultivation, we even blossomed again | Zhang Zhonghua

We shovel with both hands and hands,

Dig out the fragments of history,

Finally, put together into a complete history.

Zhang Zhonghua · Beijing Archaeological Research Institute Deputy Dean

Gezhi Campus No. 26 | July 9, 2022 Beijing

Good afternoon, I am Zhang Zhonghua of the Beijing Archaeological Research Institute. I have been archeological in Yuanmingyuan since 2013, and it is about 10 years. What I want to share with you today is the story of the archeology of Yuanmingyuan.

This is the Western Tower Scenic Area of ​​Yuanmingyuan. The Western Building is a scenic spot designed by Italian Lang Shining, the French Jiang Youren, and the Chinese craftsman, and is famous for its Western architectural style. But with the fire in 1860, there were only a lot of broken walls left in this place.

What does the original western building look like? This picture is Hai Yantang, a copper version of the western building. There is a large fountain on the west side of Haiyantang. There are 12 zodiac sides on both sides of the fountain, which is the famous 12 beast head. The 12 beasts were lost abroad after 1860, and there were 6 people who returned to China now. The first year (2020) horses returned to Yuanmingyuan. Everyone can now see the exhibition hall of Yuanmingyuan. It is very delicate. 12 Zodiac people's beast head, each zodiac represents an hour, sprayed water from the beast head at the corresponding time, and the design is very clever.

The red area in the map above is the scope of the western building. It is located in the Changchun Garden of Yuanmingyuan, accounting for only 2%of the total area of ​​Yuanmingyuan. Therefore, although many people have been to Yuanmingyuan, it seems that they have not really been to Yuanmingyuan. Because the remaining 98%of the remaining 98%of the Yuanmingyuan are Chinese -style buildings, our Chinese architecture is civil structure and is particularly afraid of fire. As soon as the pillar fell, the entire roof collapsed. So most of the Yuanmingyuan we see now is basically flat, and some trees are planted on it.

The strange 98%Yuanmingyuan

Completed: 10%///////////

The area in the yellow circle in the figure below is the most important hall of Yuanmingyuan, called Zhengda Guangming Hall. Its status is equivalent to the Taihe Hall of the Forbidden City. The emperor met with the princes and foreign envoys in this place. Yuanmingyuan is the Royal Royal Garden, which is particularly beautiful, so the emperor of the Qing Dynasty liked the Yuanmingyuan. Some scholars have statistics that 365 days a year, some emperors stay in Yuanmingyuan even more than 350 days. Therefore, as the most important main hall here, the Takahashi Hall is very, very high.

The picture on the right was painted by the court painter during the Qianlong period. A bridge can be seen on the central axis, similar to the Jinshui Bridge in front of Tiananmen. Walking in the second palace is also called in and out of Xianliang Gate. The yellow area in the back is the Great Light Temple. But looking at the picture on the left, there is only a flat ground left now, and the mountain behind it has only a little stone.

Wuling Chun color site

In middle school, we all learned Tao Yuanming's "Peach Blossom Source". It is said that there are many peach trees planted on both sides of the mountain. After entering through one hole, it suddenly entered the world. In the Yuanmingyuan, this mood created the spring color of Wuling. There are also Taohua Caves in this place, and people need to penetrate from Taohua Cave.

Wulingchun

What does it look like in history? In spring, tens of thousands of peach blossoms bloom at the same time, very beautiful. In addition to appreciating peach blossoms, the emperor at the time also built a drama in this place. We dug out the stage at the time, and it was like the current stage, which can also rise and fall.

Monthly Kaiyun Comparison in the past

There is also a famous scenic spot in the Yuanmingyuan called the Moon Kaiyun. The picture on the left looks bare, but it is known for its planting peony in history, also known as Peony Terrace. Why plant peony? This is because the Yuanming Garden is Kangxi's four sons, the four sons, and the garden rewarded by the later Emperor Yongzheng. Yongzheng knew that Emperor Kangxi especially liked peony, so he planted a lot of peony in his garden and named it Peony Terrace. One day he invited Emperor Kangxi and said dad. This year's peony was in full bloom. Let's take a look. But he grew his heart, and his son Hongli hid the Emperor Qianlong in this garden when he was a child. This is the first time Kangxi has seen his grandson Hongli. He saw Hongli ’s martial arts skilled, and his studies were also answered. Therefore, he especially liked Xiao Hongli. Then, if he wants to make Hongli the emperor, the premise is that his father must be an emperor, so Yongzheng finally became the emperor. So the peony is full of mind.

Later, Emperor Yongzheng also felt that this place was very beautiful, so he drew a family portrait here. The man sitting in the middle of the black clothes was Emperor Yongzheng, and the child wearing yellow clothes next to him was Hongli, which was the later Emperor Qianlong. So does the name of the moon Kaiyun feel like a fog? In this place, Emperor Kangxi had Hongli, and Yongzheng had the opportunity to become the emperor, so here is called the moon.

In the most prosperous period, there were 5 gardens in the most prosperous period. Later, there were 3 gardens, namely Yuanmingyuan, Changchun Garden, Qichun Garden, covering an area of ​​more than 3 million square meters, equivalent to 5 Forbidden City. It has been constructed in the five emperors of Yongzheng, Qianlong, Daoguang, Xianfeng, and Jiaqing. The model.

However, after the fire in 1860, Yuanmingyuan experienced wooden robberies, stone calamities and brick robberies. After the fire, the wood, stone, and bricks were also pulled away, leaving only the broken walls, and the grass and woods we saw now. At that time, the glory was buried under the soil, but fortunately, we could understand its history through archeology.

Yuanmingyuan in the eyes of archeologists

Completed: 40%///////////

In the picture below, I hold the legendary Luoyang shovel. To this day, Luoyang shovel is one of the main tools of the archeological world.

The small brush in the picture on the right also has a small shovel, which is also a tool for our archeology. Of course, we can now use a lot of more advanced tools, but these three are the least inseparable from us.

Everyone goes to Yuanmingyuan now, and the door is not the main door. What is the real main entrance of Yuanmingyuan? A pit.

Da Gongmen Site (right) and its location in Yuanmingyuan (left)

When we excavated the Gonggong Gate and dug this plane, we saw that the stones inside were stood up, like fish scales. Then I told my colleagues that the Yuanmingyuan is a royal project. How could it look like this? But when we dug down, we found that it should not be like this. After the Yuanmingyuan was abandoned, the people would be buried under the golden toad under the legend, so it was dug here. At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, there was a saying in the people at that time: "If you want to not suffer, the Yuanming Garden sieves soil." The work we do now is to do the last cleaning on the basis of other people's sieve over the soil.

gold

Water bridge site

In addition, the Jinshui Bridge just said, it was in front of the second palace gate of Yuanmingyuan. The part of this bridge is gone, and only the bridge base we dig out. However, we found surprises when we dig the bridge.

Cleaning the bronze gilt gold elephant head

Next to this bridge base, we dug out a mud, which is the head of the elephant on the left, called the elephant head. If it is calculated from 1860, it has a history of more than 100 years. When we first dug it, it was covered with sediment, but it was very heavy. At that time, we judged that it should be copper. Later, we put it in the laboratory for half a year, and it finally became golden. But it is not pure gold, but gold.

Why can we dig it out of this place? This is because the Zhengda Guangming Hall was the headquarters of the British and French forces at the Yuanmingyuan at that time, and they divided the stolen goods in this place. The Jinshui Bridge will be passed during the process of transporting the elephant. Elephant head and body are connected together with sales. During the transportation process, the elephant head should touch the railing on the bridge, and then fell under the bridge before we found our discovery today. Thank you for this railing.

left

: From the west side, Chinese five -room archway

Right: From the east side, Western -style three archway

There is a door in the Western Scenic Area. This door is not the door of our people's house. There is only one door of the people's house, but the royal door of the Western Tower is a Chinese archway from the west. There are six pillars in the six pillars. From the east, it is a western -style, three archway. Overall, there are five rooms, in the middle, wearing the door, and the emperor passes from here.

The literature records that this place is called a cage and a bird cage, which has raised various birds in the past. The tour guide said that the emperor took the concubine to pass here. The peacocks saw the flower branches worn by the concubine, so it also opened the tail screen. However, we did not find a peacock here in the literature, but we dug out such a thing.

Yellow glaze glazed component peacock archway

The text on this thing reads "Peacock Treat". This is the role of archeology. We not only like to dig out the gold and silver treasures, but also like to dig out things with text, because text will solve many historical relics. Underground drainage pipe

In addition, we also dug a copper tube under the underground of the raising tower. If this copper tube is thrown on the side of the road, will everyone think it is a modern product? But this is from the Qianlong period. Everyone looks at its curvature and inner diameter. You must know that the most important thing for guns is the barrel and guns, but the emperor at that time did not use this technology to make guns and cannons, but instead used it for enjoyment. Therefore, there is a history of humiliation in 1860 years, and only the history of our nation for a long time because of backwardness. This copper tube also contains 3%gold, and the entire western building is densely covered with this pipe.

The site of the water storage building (right) and the location of the Yuanmingyuan (left)

The Western Tower is known for its water method, and the water method is the fountain. If the fountain wants to have water, there must be a water tower to provide pressure. Now when we go to Yuanmingyuan, we can see a large inverted earth platform from a distance. This is the water tower at the time -water storage building. At that time, a large pool was welded on the top of it, called tin sea, and it could be equipped with more than 100 tons of water.

engrave

Waterwheel draws the pool, and uses the water to lift the water due to no one repair

The emperor first watched the fountain, using a mule or a Marawan, pumped the water through the copper tube to the top. At that time, he might think that these technologies were detailed and did not pay attention, so after Lang Shining and Jiang Youren died, no one would repair the water truck. Therefore, it was later raised with a large jar with a large jar. Every time you see the fountain, you have to take a large jar to lift more than 100 tons of water, so it is not easy to see the fountain once.

Fancai floor tiles encountered by burning

Completed: 70%///////////

We also dug out a very famous garden called Ruyuan.

Ruyuan Site in the Yuanmingyuan location

Qianlong likes to go to Jiangnan, and every time he lives in Nanjing, he was called Jiangning at that time. Zhan Garden was the west garden of Xu Da, the first general of the Ming Dynasty. Qianlong felt that it was particularly beautiful. Therefore, he asked the artist to paint the garden and repaired a garden in Yuanmingyuan, and took the meaning of "like a show garden", so it was called Ruyuan.

Ruyuan Yanqingtang

This is the largest hall of Ruyuan, which we dug out, called Yanqing Hall, five wide faces, and three deep rooms. Most of the ways of the emperor's traffic in Yuanmingyuan took a boat through the waterway, and then reached the dock above, entered the Yanqing Hall, and came to his throne bed.

Pink floor tiles carrying throne beds

The throne bed area is relatively special. This place is paved with tiles, and BRICS is paved elsewhere.

Yanqingtang Fanci Tile

When we discovered this tile, it had been burned by fire, but it was very beautiful after cleaning.

But because it was burned too much, we couldn't make it a complete one.

Own our own home decoration tiles use a single layer, but the emperor's home uses a double -layer. Sands are filled in the tiles to prevent moisture and warmth.

This is a wooden threshold. A fire burned the wood, leaving only one groove.

BRICS is not made by gold, but this kind of brick in the picture. It takes 20 days from the selection of a kiln from the soil to the out of the kiln for 2 years. And it has the acceptance of the royal supervisor, and there is a standard when accepting the acceptance: the sound of knocking, the non -pervasiveness. The sound of knocking means that there must be a sound like a metal to knock, and the perforated non -porous means that there is no stomach after the brick head is broken. If the supervisor is found to find something wrong, the kiln households will leave the family.

This is Ruyuan -to -Bishou, and on the right is the scattered stone steps. At the beginning, the stone bar and the stone bar were connected with a silver ingot lock, which was very stable. But then the silver ingot lock was removed, and the stone bars were crooked. The pool below -the lotus in the mirror pond was pressed below.

Discover the lotus stems and lotus seeds under the stone bar

But its rhizomes are still there, and we sieved lotus seeds in it.

This lotus seeds were carefully cultivated by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Yuanmingyuan, and they blossomed again after more than 100 years. And Yuanmingyuan took it to make cultural and creative products, that is, the lotus ice was excited.

Once the archeological site starts, we have no holidays and we can't take care of our home. So my weekend is usually on the construction site of Yuanmingyuan. My son has to go with me every time. He didn't care about what I dug out. What he cared about most was this lotus ice. He had 15 yuan and he had to eat several a day.

Yuanmingyuan is wonderful, it is wonderful in our literature, and it is also wonderful in our memory, but these are gone. Therefore, our archeologists are not just the loess, but we are facing the splendid culture left by our ancestors and a thick cultural heritage. We dug out the fragments of history through both hands and hand shovel, and finally pieced together into a complete history.

Tell the story of Yuanmingyuan, tell the story of Beijing, and tell the Chinese story. I think this is the role of archeology, and this is the role of archeologists.

thank you all!

- END -