Yuanmingyuan Park was looted and burned to the ground by the Anglo-French Joint Forces in 1860. It`s still difficult to determine how many precious items they took away. More than ten thousand pieces were given to the French emperor as the spoils of war. If you want to see the precious ancient articles. you have to go to Britain and France.

In the British Museum. tens of thousands of ancient paintings and pieces of jewelry are on display. The Admonitions Scroll of Gu Kaizhi of the East Jin dynasty is also stored there. Napoleon built the China Museum at Fontainebleau castle to display the cultural relics of Yuanmingyuan presented by his soldiers. Among the artifacts is a bronze vessel from the Shang and Zhou dynasties. china from the Ming and Qing dynasties and various jade and ivory sculptures. The imperial jade seal of Emperor Qianglong is also kept here. More than 80 precious paintings are stored in the National Library in Paris. Many precious items have also ended up in the hands of private collectors.

In May 2000. several precious relics from Yuanmingyuian were auctioned off in Hong Kong. Some of the items included components of a clock device. The Haiyantang spring clock was designed based on the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac. Every hour. the animal standing for the hour will spout water for that hour. At 12 noon. the 12 animals spout water simultaneously.

At the auction. the head sculptures of a bronze tiger. ox and monkey were sold for several million yuan each. The buyers are two Chinese companies.