Outside the hotel where the auctions were held, protesters shouted angrily, "Return the national relics to the motherland--the treasures belong to the Chinese." Inside the hotel, the scene was just as agitated: prices skyrocketed as bidders bid feverishly for the auctioned items. Two sculptures--the monkey head and the ox head--fetched over US$2 million, compared with the earlier estimates by Christie's auction house of between $450,000 and $575,000. The tiger head, which went under the hammer at another auction organized by Sotheby's, was sold for more than US$1.8 million. All of the pieces went to the same buyer--the China Poly Group, a state-owned company in Beijing.

"We had had no plans to participate in the bidding," the bidder who acted for the Poly Group told the press, "but when we saw how indignant our people were, we decided to buy them back at any cost."

It is rather unusual for an auction to cause such anger and outrage. Many people thought that the auction houses were adding insult to injury by selling looted Chinese treasures on Chinese soil. Before the auctions were held, China's State Bureau of Cultural Relics wrote to Christie's and Sotheby's and asked them to cancel the scheduled sales. An official of the Bureau stated that the auctioned items should be returned to China under principles formulated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1995. According to such principles, objects looted in a war should be given back to their home countries without any limitations of time.

Christie's and Sotheby's, however, ignored the protest from the Chinese and refused to withdraw the items from sale. "We are commercial organizations," said Anthony Lin, spokesman for Christie's, "and we have a professional duty to our sellers... If we check out the provenance of the works of art and it's good, then we have a professional obligation to sell them." As a result, the Chinese government had to buy the allegedly stolen objects back at prices considered "exorbitant."

After being returned to their home country, the three heads were closely examined by experts and determined to be first-class works of art. They have since been exhibited in many cities in China. Wherever they went, they attracted large crowds of people and caused a sensation.

Why did these relics from Yuan Ming Yuan arouse such attention? Aside from their artistic and historical value, it had to do with the fame of the Garden of Perfect Splendor. After touring so many cities, the relics have now traveled to the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall in Taipei for exhibition, from December 22, 2001, to March 21, 2002. Taking this opportunity, we would like to introduce the Yuan Ming Yuan Garden in the following pages and look back at the history that led to its destruction. At the same exhibition, along with the relics from the garden, collections of ancient stone-carved Buddhist statues and bronze ware (all from the Poly Art Museum) are also on display. Following the section on Yuan Ming Yuan Garden, we will also introduce the history of Buddhist statues and bronze ware in China. With such an introduction, we hope to provide our readers with a glimpse of the beauty and splendors of ancient China

Yuan Ming Yuan Garden

Extolled as the most magnificent garden in history, Yuan Ming Yuan Garden is located less than twenty kilometers [12 miles] to the northwest of Beijing, the capital of mainland China. Built by six generations of Ching Dynasty emperors, it covered 350 hectares [865 acres] with an abundance of hills, isles, ponds, lakes, ancient trees, exotic flowers, springs, pavilions and treasure-filled palaces. Plants and trees, well cared for, grew luxuriantly in the garden and created different moods as the seasons changed. Consisting of three adjacent gardens--Chang Chun Yuan (Garden of Eternal Spring), Chi Chun Yuan (Garden of Gorgeous Spring), and Yuan Ming Yuan (Garden of Perfect Splendor)--it contained more than one hundred scenic spots, some of which were imitations of the most famous resorts in China, while others were designed according to the fairyland-like scenery described in well-known ancient Chinese poems or stories. One of the spots, for example, was based on an arcadia named Peach Blossom Spring depicted in a story by Tao Yuan-ming of the East Chin Dynasty. The scenery of West Lake in Hangzhou, one of the most beautiful scenic spots in China, was also reproduced in the garden. It was said that although the garden was man-made, it was more beautiful than anything to be found in nature. With its grandeur and splendor, it flaunted the cultural, artistic and financial strength of imperial China at its zenith.

The construction of Yuan Ming Yuan

Yuan Ming Yuan was first built at the beginning of the eighteenth century by Emperor Kanghsi, the Ching Dynasty's second emperor, to serve as a place where he could "avoid noise and administrate state affairs." Under his son, Emperor Yungcheng, and grandson, Emperor Chienlung, it was expanded from forty hectares to three hundred and fifty hectares in seventy years' time. Compared with the Forbidden City (the formal imperial residence during the Ming and Ching dynasties), which is characterized by solemn and monotonous buildings, the garden apparently provided a far more comfortable and appealing place for Ching Dynasty emperors to stay and live. The emperor and his wives would live in Yuan Ming Yuan from after the Chinese New Year till the end of autumn, spending about two-thirds of each year there.

The reign of Emperor Chienlung saw Yuan Ming Yuan at the apex of its grandeur. As the monarch of a flourishing era, Chienlung commissioned numerous skillful craftsmen and landscape architects to work for him. He toured the country, asked the painters who traveled with him to draw his favorite scenic spots, and then had them replicated in the garden. He even incorporated Western-style palaces and scenery in the design of Yuan Ming Yuan. The famous water clock, from which the three auctioned animals' heads were taken, was located in a Western-style structure. The clock included the heads of the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac. Water gushed from the mouth of one of the animals every two hours (in ancient China, a day was divided into twelve shih instead of twenty-four hours), and at twelve noon, the animals would spew out water simultaneously. There was also an ingeniously designed "Ten-Thousand-Flower Maze" created after the style of garden labyrinths then popular in Europe. The emperor would ask his eunuchs to play hide-and-seek in it and watch them from a higher place for amusement.

In addition to its fascinating scenery, the garden also housed a great diversity of buildings and structures--grand palaces, temples, libraries, theaters, pagodas, and villages. These structures, built with materials expensive and rare, were exquisite in every detail. They embodied an almost impossible variety of design and construction ideas. Inside the buildings were antiques and treasures collected from all over the country and even abroad--paintings, books, jades, jewelry, sculptures, porcelain and all kinds of handicrafts; in short, almost everything that the emperor could get was in Yuan Ming Yuan. It was said that the garden was the largest art museum that China ever had.

The power of the Ching Dynasty began to decline seriously during the reign of Emperor Daokuang, the sixth emperor of the dynasty. Corruption and political unrest shook the foundations of the country and the national treasury was seriously depleted. Even so, Daokuang still spared no efforts in keeping the garden in good shape. Even on the eve of its destruction by English and French troops, large-scale construction was still going on in the garden. Its significance to the Ching Dynasty emperors is evident.

The fame of Yuan Ming Yuan spread to many countries around the world. Its beauty was highly admired and praised. Even people who had never been to China knew of the garden's existence. The famous French writer Victor Hugo lauded Yuan Ming Yuan as a miracle, an unrivaled piece of work combining all the imaginative and creative powers of a group of people. "Try to imagine a wonderland, the beauty of which is beyond description, and that is Yuan Ming Yuan."

However, such a grand "garden of gardens," which took one hundred and fifty years to build, was reduced almost to ruins in a few short days in the Second Opium War (1856 - 60).

The Opium wars and the destruction of Yuan Ming Yuan

During the eighteenth century, drinking tea became a fashion in Europe and America. The Western countries needed to buy a large amount of tea as well as Chinese silk and porcelain from China. China, however, was still in a pre-industrial stage and needed little from the West. This created a serious imbalance of trade between China and the West (especially the British). To reverse the unbalanced trade situation, the British brought a special commodity--opium--into China, despite the fact that the Ching Empire prohibited its entry into the country. The smoking of opium, an addictive narcotic drug that consisted of the dried juice of the opium poppy, soon became so popular in China that it greatly affected the mental and physical health of many of the country's people.

In 1839, after a decade of unsuccessful anti-opium campaigns, the Ching government began to implement severe laws against the illegal opium trade. The ban, which cut off an important source of national income for the British, initiated the first Anglo-Chinese war, known as the Opium War (1839 - 42). China, whose power had been on the wane for quite some time, was devastatingly defeated by the British and had to sign the Treaty of Nanjing, the first "unequal treaty" in Chinese history. In addition to ceding Hong Kong to England, the treaty also granted many concessions and privileges to the British.

Wanting more concessions from the Ching government, England used another incident to start a new war in 1856. Some Chinese officials boarded a Chinese-owned ship which was flying the British flag but which was engaged in piracy and smuggling, and they arrested twelve men. Claiming that the ship was British and that the British flag on the ship had been savagely pulled down by Chinese soldiers, the British joined forces with the French and precipitated the Second Opium War, also called the Arrow War after the name of the ship.

It was during the concluding stage of the war that the British and French armies entered Yuan Ming Yuan. By that time, in order to escape the war, Emperor Hsienfeng had already fled from the garden, leaving behind his subjects and other people whom he was obliged to protect. Being a place where the Ching emperors stayed more for pleasure than as a regular abode, the garden was not so securely fortified and was thus more vulnerable and easier to occupy. Lured by the beautiful landscape and countless rare and precious treasures in Yuan Ming Yuan, the allied forces drove straight into it. Since almost all the imperial guards had left with the emperor to protect him, the invading armies encountered little difficulty. They looted and plundered the whole place and even set fire to it at the end. The orders were given by Lord Elgin, leader of the British army, despite disagreement from the French side. Witnessing the demolition, Chinese court official Wen Feng, who was responsible for guarding Yuan Ming Yuan, committed suicide by jumping into the garden's Good Fortune Sea.

The fire burned for three days and three nights, destroying nearly eighty percent of the buildings in the garden. The foreign forces plundered the entire collection of curios and valuables. It was a humiliating tragedy for the Chinese people and a most painful chapter in Chinese history. Victor Hugo condemned the action of the British and the French in an open letter: "One day two robbers broke into Yuan Ming Yuan. One pillaged, while the other set fire to it... After filling their pockets to the full with their spoils, they returned to Europe hand in hand all smiling... We Europeans think that we are civilized and that the Chinese are barbarian. Yet this was what we civilized people did to the barbarians... The two robbers' names are France and England."

The remains of Yuan Ming Yuan

After Yuan Ming Yuan was burned down, eunuchs and Ching government soldiers still watched over it and other people were forbidden to enter the garden. Even Li Hung-chang, an important minister of the Ching Empire and a famous personage in modern Chinese history, was fined three months' salary for entering and touring it.

The Empress Dowager Tzu Hsi and Emperor Tungchih made efforts to rebuild Yuan Ming Yuan, as they wanted to be able to visit it once again for pleasure and to show that the Ching Dynasty was not so vulnerable. Yet the weakened government was no longer able to muster so many resources to rebuild a garden of such a grand scale. The reconstruction project only lasted for less than a year. Not until the reign of Emperor Kuanshu, who ruled after Tungchih, was small-scale reconstruction resumed.

Yet more catastrophes were in store for Yuan Ming Yuan. In October 1900, during the Boxer Rebellion, which was organized by a secret society that aimed to expel all foreigners from China, eight foreign nations gathered an expeditionary force to rescue the foreigners in Peking (the old name of Beijing). An allied relief expedition attacked and occupied the city, and Yuan Ming Yuan was destroyed once again. Taking advantage of the chaos and commotion, many eunuchs, petty Chinese officials and soldiers, scoundrels and bandits ransacked the garden. They tore down the palaces and pavilions and stole the bricks, roof tiles and lumber. After three months of destruction, the remains of the garden, which had been partially restored during the reigns of Tungchih and Kuanshu, were reduced to a pile of broken walls.

After the allied expedition withdrew from Peking, the Ching government was completely spent and powerless. It was overthrown by the Chinese Nationalists led by Dr. Sun Yat-sen in 1911. With the downfall of the empire, no one was able to protect Yuan Ming Yuan anymore, and it was left to stand in lonely desolation. Eunuchs, bandits and dishonest traders chopped down tens of thousands of precious trees in the garden and sold them for profit. Warlords also stole stone materials to build their own gardens. It took one warlord as long as twenty years to transport, with dozens of carts and wagons a day, the stone materials and bricks he obtained from Yuan Ming Yuan to his place. What with the wars, the pillage and the stealing, a once prosperous garden was turned into a wilderness.

Today, the relics of the garden are still there. The Chinese government designated it as a site for "mass education in patriotism" and set up a management office in 1976 to preserve and possibly restore it. Yuan Ming Yuan, with its rich historical meaning, actually stands for something more than a garden-palace. It epitomizes modern Chinese history and reminds the Chinese of the country's humiliating past and the rise and fall of a dynasty. Although the grandeur and splendor of the past can no longer be found in it, visitors can still look at the remaining blocks of broken stone and marble and remember the past and the glorious scenery that was once there.

Stone-carved Buddhist statues

The art of carving has a long history in China. For thousands of years, the Chinese created numerous exquisite carved objects. In addition to reflecting the wisdom and craftsmanship of their creators, these sculptures also played an important role in the history of Chinese traditional art. Among them, carved Buddhist statues occupy a vital position.

To be able to appreciate these Buddhist sculptures, one first needs to have some understanding of the development of Buddhism and Buddhist art in China.

Buddhism in China

According to historical documents, one day in ad 64, Emperor Mingti of the Eastern Han Dynasty dreamed of a person covered with gold. The next day, he consulted his courtiers about the identity of this person. Minister Fu Yi told him about the gilded image of a wise sage in Hindoo (modern India) called the Buddha. The emperor sent Minister Tsai Yin to go on a pilgrimage to collect Buddhist scriptures and statues. During his journey, Tsai invited two eminent Indian monks to China to expound the Buddhist sutras and preach Buddhism.

It was believed that this was the beginning of Buddhism in China. Modern research, however, shows that Buddhism had been brought into China several decades earlier, around the time the Christian era began.

In the Eastern Han Dynasty (ad 25 - 220) and the Three Kingdoms Period (220 - 280), Buddhism became as much a part of traditional Chinese folk belief as Taoism. After the fall of the Eastern Han Dynasty, China was in turmoil for nearly four hundred years and people yearned for a peaceful life. When they realized that such a goal could not be accomplished on their own, they turned to religion for consolation and spiritual tranquillity. As Buddhism, which taught that one should be content and believe in the existence of an afterlife in the cycle of reincarnation, suited the current social situation, emperors and high officials also promoted it. The religion, as well as Buddhist sculptures, thus gained popularity among the Chinese people.

The emperors of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, as well as the following dynasties, enthroned Buddhism. Numerous temples were established and the number of monks and nuns grew rapidly. During the Northern Dynasties, however, Northern Wei Emperor Taiwuti in 446 and Northern Chou Emperor Wuti in 574 gave orders to destroy Buddhism. Another emperor who ordered Buddhism to be wiped out was Wutzung (reigned 840 - 846) of the Tang Dynasty. Although countless Buddhist objects were damaged or destroyed during these periods of time, the religion was always able to recover and even flourish soon afterwards, and eight major sects developed.

Buddhism gradually blended with Chinese culture. Buddhist statues and utensils also developed a Chinese character of their own.

The development of Buddhist statues in China

Buddhist art was most popular from the Wei Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty (220 - 907). Buddhist statues can be created in a great variety of art forms, such as carving, metal casting, paper and fabric mache, and clay molding. The materials used to make them are also varied--stone, wood, jade, metals, clay, paper and fabric. Among these, sculptures made of stone, gold and copper are the most valuable. They are treasured by people and suitable for keeping.

In 327 bc, Alexander the Great occupied the northwest region of India. Hellenistic art was combined with the ancient Indian, Persian and Central Asian arts, and developed into the resplendent art of Gandhara (now northwestern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan), which was then spread to China through the Silk Route. Buddhist statues influenced by Gandhara art were characterized by a realistic style: they had the clear facial features and strong figures of Western people. They also displayed skillful craftsmanship.

The making of Buddhist statues developed rapidly during the late Southern and Northern Dynasties (420 - 589) because of the prosperity of Buddhism at that time. By the reign of Northern Wei Emperor Hsiaowenti (471 - 499), the Aryan facial features on the Buddhist sculptures had already changed to those of the Chinese people in northern China, and revealing clothes were replaced by the conservative costumes worn by ancient scholars. The style of Buddhist statues echoed the ideal beauty of the time: skinny figures, impenetrable smiles, facial expressions that emanated wisdom, and a carefree, unworldly manner.

At the end of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the bony figures of Buddhist statues started to give way to plump ones adorned with diaphanous garments. Buddhist statues produced in Qing Prefecture, Shandong Province, were typical examples.

The flourishing economy and culture of the Tang Dynasty greatly contributed to the development of Buddhist art. If we describe the period between the Wei and Chin Dynasties (ad 220 - 420) as the germinating stage of Chinese Buddhist art, then the Southern and Northern Dynasties would be the growing period, and the Sui to the Tang Dynasty (ca 581 - 741) would be the stage of maturity. Buddhist art had become an important part of Chinese culture.

Buddhist statues in the Tang Dynasty were usually chubby and marked by an atmosphere of serenity, tenderness, elegance and harmony. The progress of society and the liberation of creative ideas at that time promoted a major breakthrough in the development of Buddhist art, causing it to encompass a broader range of topics and to have more depth in the depiction of different Buddhist images.

After the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, however, the art of making Buddhist statues went through a recession. The destruction of Buddhist temples ordered by Tang Emperor Wutzung, mentioned earlier, happened during this period of time. Buddhist statues became monotonous in their presentations; the originality and creativity of previous times could no longer be seen.

No longer promoted by the emperors, Buddhism became part of folk culture. Hence from the Sung to the Yuan Dynasties (960 - 1368), Buddhist art started to develop a human character and displayed features of the lay world. From the Ming to the Ching Dynasties (1368 - 1912), Buddhist statues inherited the features passed down from the previous dynasties and their style inclined to realism.

Bronzeware

In accordance with the materials the human race used in different periods of time to make their daily tools, archaeologists marked off different epochs. Between the Stone Age and the Iron Age was the Bronze Age. Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin.

The Chinese Bronze Age started roughly in 2000 bc. It ran through the Hsia Dynasty (ca. 2182 - 1751 bc), Shang Dynasty (ca. 1751 - 1111 bc), Western Chou Dynasty (1111 - 771 bc), and Eastern Chou Dynasty, which was divided into the Spring and Autumn Period (770 - 403 bc), and the Warring States Period (403 - 221 bc). Altogether, the Bronze Age lasted about sixteen centuries. The Shang and Chou Dynasties were the golden age of bronzeware.

To study Chinese bronzeware, one should pay attention to the appearances, the hues and the epigraphs painted or carved on its surfaces. Different shapes and decorative patterns were used according to different functions, and along with the epigraphs give us some clue to the history of the bronze artifacts and help us understand the social development, customs and major events that happened at that time.

Many nobles regarded bronze as a symbol of their social status. Hence, other than using bronze utensils when they were alive, they had a considerable amount buried with them when they passed away. Depending on the environments where the items were kept or buried, different colors developed. The hue that is most commonly seen is green, due to the copper oxide that resulted from the oxidization of the bronze. Bronzeware with a blue patina is most rarely seen. That color is produced when bronze reacts with surrounding sulfur compounds, creating copper sulfide. Because they are so scarce, blue bronze pieces are the most precious.

Bronze manufacture is an important part of the Chinese cultural heritage. It is closely related to Chinese history, the art of metallurgy, the study of written Chinese characters (because of the epigraphs on the artifacts), and the development of formative arts. If we pay close attention to the styles, decorative patterns and textures of bronze objects, we find that it took sophisticated drawing, carving and designing skills to make them.

The history of bronzeware

In the early Shang Dynasty, bronze items were usually light and thin with simple decorative designs. Artifacts produced during this period consisted mainly of wine vessels. This shows what an important role wine drinking played in the lives of the Shang people. Bronze agricultural implements and weapons used in this period also give us some idea of what life was like at that time.

From the end of the Shang Dynasty to the early Western Chou Dynasty, bronze products became heavier and were often decorated with the faces of deities. Such patterns show how people at that time respected the power of the gods. Other designs of deified animals and beasts such as birds, dragons, cicadas, etc., are often seen on bronze products of this period.

From the middle of the Western Chou Dynasty to the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period, styles inclined to simplicity. Bronze objects produced in this period have another distinguishing feature: the increased use of long inscriptions on surfaces. These inscriptions greatly help us to understand the Western Chou Dynasty.

Bronze items made in the late Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period were lighter and handier. In addition to lively animal designs and complex, delicate patterns, the carvings on surfaces also contained a large number of finely engraved scenes of hunts, battles, feasts, and performances. There were also patterns inlaid with gold, silver, pure copper, jade and precious stones.

After the Warring States Period, fewer bronze utensils were made. Mirrors became the most popular bronze articles among the people of the Chin (221 - 206 bc) and Han (202 bc - ad 220) Dynasties.

Types of bronzeware

Basically, bronzeware can be classified into four categories: ceremonial vessels (including cooking utensils, tableware, wine vessels and water vessels), musical instruments, weapons and tools. We will introduce some of them here.

The ting was the most important kind of bronze product in ancient China, not just because of its use as a cooking and ceremonial vessel, but because it also represented a country and its political power. The ting looks similar to today's cooking pots with one difference--it stands on three legs. This design elevated the vessel and provided a space underneath for a fire to be built. At first, it was only used for cooking. Gradually, however, it also came to be used at festivals and rituals. In the Hsia, Shang and Chou Dynasties, it was treated as an important ceremonial vessel. According to historical documents, emperors in the Chou Dynasty could use nine tings, vassals could only use seven, senior officials five, and lower-ranking officials three. Commoners were forbidden to use them, and violators could be punished by death.

The chueh was an odd-looking wine cup with three long, flat, pointed legs. It had a handle and a long spout with an upward tail that served as a counterweight. The most peculiar features were two small umbrella-like columns on the top. Research shows that these two columns might have been used for hanging spice bags, which were immersed in the wine. Another conjecture is that since men did not shave their beards at that time, these two columns were used to divide their beards and prevent them from being stained by the wine. In the Shang and Western Chou Dynasties, only the upper classes were allowed to use bronze chueh vessels. This funny, impractical wine cup fell into disuse and virtually disappeared during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.

The jao was one of the earliest Chinese musical instruments. It looked like an upside-down bell, but it appeared about three to four hundred years earlier than the bell. Scholars conjecture that people might have invented the bell by turning the jao upside down. About ten sets of jao have been found so far. Most consist of three pieces, while one set contains five pieces. The pieces included in each set vary in size. Even though a jao set can produce notes harmoniously related to each other, it still cannot be used to play a complete musical composition. According to extant documents, jaos were not mainly used for entertainment, but to direct the withdrawal of an army in a war.