#105 The Torching of the Yuanmingyuan

Remains of the Western palace structures (Xiyang lou 西洋楼) built in the eighteenth century with help of Jesuits Giuseppe Castiglione and Michel Benoist. Photo by Mr. Hall, February 2011.

Review Check for Understanding

Visual source analysis

• With a partner, use the analyzing visual sources guide to select one image from Lillian Li’s MIT Visualizing Cultures essay to analyze.
• Think about the fourth step (“Use it as historical evidence”) in the context of two of our three essential questions:
  • What is the best way for a nation to remember painful, even shameful, episodes from the past?
  • How—as historians—do we make sense of “imperialism”?
  • How do images frame our understanding of events?

Discussion

• What motives do you think drove the Anglo-French destruction of the Yuanmingyuan?
• Would you consider this legitimate wartime conduct on the part of British and French forces? Why or why not?
• What meaning do you think looted artifacts had/have for Europeans? Chinese? How might have this meaning changed over time?
• What is the responsibility of those who possess formerly looted objects?
• How has the physical site of the Yuanmingyuan transformed in the years since its destruction in 1860?
• As a historian, if you were to advise the Chinese government on its future, what would you suggest? What would be your goals?