The Loot From the Yuanmingyuan, Where it went and Lord Elgin Lied.

[@kevinchambers1101]

Fascinating story. Interesting that there is an understanding about returning the looted art to the European Jews that was stolen during WW2 but not to the Chinese for their looted art.

[@shengsun5916]

Because after second world war, the jews that survived are mostly religious converts, known as ashkenazi jews that are of anglo-russo-saxon origin, otherwise in the political arena referred to as the Zionists. The real jews were mostly exterminated, so the fabricated identity of the real one can be taken without menaingful opposition. That's why Patton said before his assasination, "we defeated the wrong enemy". If one wishes to understand a deeper relation between imitation antiques and the world finance aka politics, i will put a link after.

[@shengsun5916]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/rIvacoB3qNmhhs0

[@jerryerzhu9236]

The reason for that probably because of the quantity & value & affordability.but Brits are doing a good job of preserving it.

[@kenlee1416]

It's now blatantly obvious from the situation in Gaza (Nov 7 2023 to 10 March 2024 and ongoing), which group holds the reigns, ie controls or has immense domination, over the West. Look also at the top 50 multi-billionaire donors to both US political parties, where you will find at least 40% of these oligarchs being of a certain ancestry. Look at Western media ownership, heads of think-tanks, politicians et al.

[@lynnlong6220]

@@jerryerzhu9236 Well, thanks for preserving it but you took it from my house without my consent, so please return it as I now grew up and am capable of preserving it myself. Maybe I should pay the Brits for it. But hey, didn't they already gotten a lot of entrance fees fr ppl visiting the museums or didn't the few generations all got richer cuz of it. So no, they shouldn't be paid for returning it. Wait, didn't they burn down the place already? Who should pay for the damages? Stop telling me you are trying to preserve my belongings when you come to rob me. Throughout history, there are eras of terror in countries when major changes happened, eg The Reign of Terror after the French Revolution. Many innocent ppl and lives and objects are destroyed. So should we have gone to loot the French and preserve their treasures for them? Most of us are brainwashed to believe such lies that they are better in the hands of the looters.

[@brucefulcher953]

Peter, Thank you for enlightening us regarding the history of the objects we covet. You are doing a very valuable service to put history on track. And, as awful as it is, you point out just how these magnificent works, which know no equal, came to be distributed and revered around the world. Thank you for that.

[@nomimeivar]

Heart breaking!!! Who is Cultured, and who is Beastly??? Thank you Peter

[@galleryguide9913]

Well once again Mr. Combs has delivered the real goods. Never disappoints when it comes to shedding light on the actual facts. Viewing his videos are always time well spent.

[@KBantiques]

Super interesting stuff 👌 keep em coming, thanks Peter

[@LongTrout]

Great story Peter.

[@cuongngoxuan8373]

Thanks Peter

[@chananniejoe4618]

I respect your opinions and I am glad that someone clarified the history of these antiques. Thank you Peter

[@bobbytsai7751]

Peter, so good of you to clarify this event. Thank you

[@royshu6423]

Thank you for explain the history of the Yuanmingyuan Most older Chinese knows about this story

[@robertschlesinger1342]

Excellent video. Very interesting, informative and worthwhile video. This video, along with this website's previous video on the Yuanmingyuan, are must see videos for everyone.

[@Pagavriel]

Excellent presentation.

[@debrawilder9551]

Great story thank you for telling it

[@Ck-kn2we]

very very interesting Peter..the last picture of the YMY was what I saw when i visited the place 10 years ago....sad. Indeed the dark history of the western world....

[@janosik150]

It would be educational, if you would talk about or listed most important museums with stolen art. To put them on the pedestal of thief's.

[@willdasmeister7057]

Dear Peter, thank you for this very thorough, informative and important video exposing the truth about the looted objects from the Yuanmingyuan. I was looking forward to seeing it when you mentioned your plan for follow up video a few weeks back and am glad to have seen you post it. Another video examining the looted objects and discussing where we can view the looted objects online in museums digital records would be great, similarly to how you went through the online collections of various museums during Covid (such as the Royal Collection) would be great. Many thanks for this important video.

[@RichMitch]

Could you cover the Huizong Emperor and his relationship with Chinese art and especially ru ware, please?

[@boereboere]

Britain - things are still done like that. Smoke & mirrors. And now the chickens have come home to roost - huge drug problem.

[@brianparkin3282]

Really interesting. Thank you.

[@liapapailia1227]

Thank you for the real history.

[@gregart6645]

Peter in your video you mention that the Fontainebleu Chateau has some of the lost loot from the Yuanmingyuan. I villl be visiting France and planned to go see the Chinese works, but I think the chateau is under renovations in January and sadly I'll probably not be able to see the works. While in Paris I will be visiting the Musée Guimet, which has a room dedicated to some Chinese works that were in the Rousset collection for which you did a video on when they had sold many works at Bonhams. I was wondering if you knew of any other places in Paris or France where I might be able to see exceptional chinese or Asian works of art while I visit?

[@nathanielalgernon975]

sounds scrumptious

[@bobbynir2893]

learning a lot from you.thank you peter.

[@cuongngoxuan8373]

Peter, thanks you❤❤

[@christopherrichards-loubie135]

Thank you!

[@dr.mikeybee]

It's a real shame if the English don't return what they've stolen.

[@susprime7018]

Glad to hear the Elgin Marbles are going to be returned to Greece.

[@vincentbrown2927]

Awesome thank you

[@drala108]

Fantastic talks

[@holeymattress8128]

Interesting video thank you

[@makingprofits8546]

I love hearing the Truth of History. Especially the facts of the Asian world. It seems a lot of invasions you can find a underlying motivation of greed. So sad.

[@magdaradaa4809]

Thank you! Very interesting!

[@PeterCombs]

Glad you liked it!

[@maria1patrick]

What a wonderful video, Peter. Not only is it extremely instructive, but it shows us, again, that you are a real Mensch. If only 20% of people would have your humane sensibily and beautiful soul, the world would be a better place.

[@jamesnorwood4084]

Excellent exposition of that era in history. Thank you for such a thorough job in explaining the history of the looting of the "Summer Palace" in China.

[@andrzejput4817]

❤️

[@nathanielalgernon975]

Peter, thank you for presenting this episode in history; it is an eye opener as many of us never hear about Asian-US history in school. The strong taking advantage of the weak has occurred throughout history. It's a shame that people can't be civil instead of always looking to gain an advantage over each other.

[@avardmacgregor746]

'twas ever thus, sadly.

[@Johnmartin-vz7yc]

Given that negotiations were going on in Beijing, clearly reaching a critical point, and the Emperor was not in the Summer Palace to be intimidated by the British presence , it raises the question of why was the British army at Yuanmingyuan at this point in time? What purpose could it serve? Well I think you may have answered that Peter.

[@SonOfTheOne111]

They attacked YuanMingYuan because it was most clearly the private property of the Qing dynasty (the other palaces were arguably government buildings). The allies were trying to punish the emperor without punishing the people. It was cynical and it backfired horribly. Chinese still hate the west for that action!

[@Keiichi879]

This history is hardly taught or talked about in the West even though it is also very much their history given they were the perpetrators… the main characters of this story.

[@hyr1972]

As an example of important Imperial Chinese relics destroyed in the Chinese Civil War, The tombs of various Qing Emperors and Empress Dowager Cixi were totally looted by the Chinese warlords themselves. Even Cixi's corpse was totally desecrated.

[@tompommerel2136]

What an splendidly admirable person Lord Elgin was! I wonder if his bullishness towards those unwilling to bend to his will was inherited from his father who managed to 'legally' acquire those Parthenon marbles.

[@PeterCombs]

the Lord Elgins, both of them were psychopaths.

[@currawong2011]

Another impressive presentation...how could we know any of this without your scholarship and your desire for us to know?

[@knutblume907]

Now I understand why "cat ninjas" appear in European museums from time to time.

[@hyr1972]

As for what constitute treasures, I prefer the wisdom of the Lord of Qi during the Chinese Warring States era. When asked by wealthy powerful Lord Wei what are his most prized treasures in the State of Qi, Lord Qi replied his most prized treasures are his capable ministers serving the people of his state, and his capable generals protecting his state from invasion by Lord Wei. 🙂

[@hellentatsios7888]

i was so fascinated by this story. Being Greek, i want the marbles to come home, where they belong.

[@cathydrumobich9045]

If they had been left in Greece they would have been destroyed. Lord Elgin save them. Get over it.

[@hellentatsios7888]

you selfish evilbrits can never admit that youre wrong. still love your lost empire, huh get over it.@@cathydrumobich9045

[@ranbirchauhan96]

Loot theft stealings was dumped in Queensland Australia.

[@victoriamontes3213]

I had no idea. 🙁

[@themindsojourner]

YuanMingYuan looting and Nanjing Massacres are two events that chinese tell to the kids and grandkids no matter where they live, inside China or outside China.

[@HarvestTheAngerOfIdiots]

I think even today there is a Lord Elgin living. I am thinking, if he inherited the title, does it come with responsibilities, or just the benefits?

[@user-md9qk5gb9d]

One thing to note: Summer palace is not Yuanmingyuan. Summer palace was built for Cixi Dowager during the late 19th century.

[@PeterCombs]

That was the SECOND Summer Palace, built in tribute to the first, however it was never fully completed due to a lack of money.

[@MisAlizana]

I love your channel, you have rosacea, It's easily treatable. I love watching your wonderful face talk.

[@jacintochua6885]

If British museum returned their loots, it wouod be empty.

[@BobbyReed]

According to today's New York Times (in an article by Alex Marshall about Greek marbles) ..."The museum argues that Lord Elgin (whose name is pronounced with a hard “g” sound, as in “Helga”)"

[@egarbmu]

funny you didnt. mention the Yongle encyclopaedia

[@RichMitch]

Elgin of marble fame?

[@sobraine123]

7th Earl of Elgin got the Marbles, 8th Earl of Elgin did the Summer Palace.

[@RichMitch]

@@sobraine123 thank you but what a pair of b*st*rds lol

[@karyldavidkidd7111]

Solid legacy

[@RichMitch]

@@karyldavidkidd7111 *sordid

[@karyldavidkidd7111]

@@RichMitch I debated adding of: ,but couldn't settle on which descriptive of evil to use. I like the sordid. Made me grin. Thank you!

[@jacintochua6885]

No wonder the British could defeat China so easily!

[@deborah85728]

Were not many artefacts destroyed during the Cultural Revolution as part of the destruction of the Four Olds ?

[@ExposingReflections]

Please post a copy of the agreement the French and English made before leaving Europe, that you referenced. If I hold your ambassadors as hostages to influence agreements in my favor, I'd expect that was an act of war, and would be prepared with my army and navy to defend my country. Did China not have the capacity to defend itself or just the capacity to hold hostages? Apparently the Chinese Emperor was not the most powerful person in the world. Where was he when the French and English came for the hostages?

[@PeterCombs]

The Agreement was published in a very good book on this story "China's Summer Palace, Finding the Missing Imperial Treasures" by O.M. Lewis. Pub 2017. You seem not to understand, England and France invaded and attacked China because after decades of the Imperial court BEGGING the foreignors to STOP Smuggling Opium into the country, the Chinese finally took action to end it. They kept the Emisaries (none were Ambassadors) finally because the Brits and the French broke their w ord repeatedly about signing the agreement. By the time they took the Emisaries to force the Brits and French, they had already killed tens of thousand of Chinese soldiers and citizens. China was NEVER the Agressor, they repeatedly attempted a mutual peace, each and every time the Brits and foreignors broke their word on EVERYTHING. As for China's strength, they held back the Brist and French for decades and decades that eventually broke the country, collapsed the Imperial court, caused mass upheaval, hundreds of thousands of deaths, left the door wide open for Japan to inavade and on and on. China is what it is today due to western violence and crimes that went on for over 100 years,

[@romko4496]

I understand the pain of Chinese for their palaces being robbed by European powers. But one thing should they also understand. It was the rulers treasures. Not the peoples. If not looted and brought to Europe and being preserved meticulously these treasures would have been lost for all times in the Chinese culture revolution. Parallels can drawn to tsarist Russia where things not being brought out of the country went lost or destroyed by the communists.

[@greedyy6575]

This is a ridiculous defense. Before the Cultural Revolution, most of the cultural relics remaining in China were brought to Taiwan by the Republic of China, so there was no large-scale destruction. Whatever happens in China, these things do not belong to Britain. I see this disgusting defense everywhere. You don’t know anything about history. You have never been to a museum in China or a museum in Taiwan. Most of the cultural relics are preserved there. You know nothing about it all and yet you make a lame defense for the invaders, the opium dealer.

[@hungtow]

You’re looking for an excuse to justify outrageous looting and cultural destruction.

[@tuppenceworth5485]

Thieving is thieving; don't try and find excuses for it. And what excuse have you got for burning the Summer Palace to the ground?

[@jacintochua6885]

Couple of things ? The English and French really know how to lie.!

[@somewhereoutthere1968]

Sorry Peter, but the Dutch East India Company was far bigger. In fact, it was bigger than Apple, Google and Microsoft combined in revenue.

[@PeterCombs]

At it's PEAK the VOC was the largest with around 70,000 employees and hundreds of ships, it was however surpassed by the EIC afterwards. The EIC built it's own standing army of 245,000 alone, plus near total control of India and Asia. To be fair, the EIC's structure was very different than the VOC as it was also a Military operation, in addition to a trading company,

[@TheGlasspix]

Of course a lot of what the British and the French did not manage to loot was later destroyed during the cultural revolution. It is a very unpalatable fact but some of the stuff we see in modern museums stolen from Greece, Africa, Asia and indeed China would no longer exist were it not for the enslavement of local populations by imperial powers. It is not a clear cut argument either that all that should be returned. In some cases it would still end up on the black market or would be used for propaganda purposes by oppressive governments. Its a moral quagmire.

[@brianparkin3282]

The counter argument is that the defeat and loss of face for the imperial family led in turn to the Boxer rebellion and the rise of communism that peaked with the Cultural Revolution. So many different scenarios play out that arguing that preservation of ancient artefacts was enhanced by their theft is a bit far-fetched. Saying that , it’s like me saying I might loot some of your stuff I want just to look after it properly.

[@TheGlasspix]

@@brianparkin3282 The red guards have smashed exponentially more cultural artifacts than the amount looted from Yuangmingyuan. Of course the French and English could not foresee this happening in the future, hence their action and motifs must be condemned unequivocally.

[@sweesboey7177]

@@TheGlasspix This is untrue and is pure propaganda spewed from the West. The Cultural Revolution resulted in the destruction of countless numbers of cultural artifacts in temples, churches, mosques and private collections, but virtually none of the imperial treasures in the Forbidden City or any of the other palaces (including the Potala) and museums were touched. Most of the destruction was in fact carried out by the owners of the items themselves (usually books, paintings and religious images, but also clothes and jewellery) who were afraid to be found to be in possession of the Four Olds. Please check your facts before making sweeping and incorrect statements. These are all verifiable historical facts. I don't know why people ignorant of Chinese history insist on posting comments which demonstrate their ignorance.

[@jacintochua6885]

The English are still good in fabrications , even in the 2024.

[@hyr1972]

Luckily the Brits and French looted the place and preserved all these chinese relics. Between the chinese civil wars and chairman Mao's cultural revolution, all these chinese relics would have been totally destroyed. Most of the surviving chinese relics now are in Taiwan, when KMT Chiang Kai Shek fled to Taiwan with his loot, and those rediscovered in China after Mao's demise.

[@tuppenceworth5485]

Strange logic. If the artefacts weren't looted by the British and French, don't you think the KMT would have brought them to Taiwan too?

[@hyr1972]

@tuppenceworth5485 When Chiang fled to Taiwan, he brought only about 5% of the Chinese artefacts. The remainder were left in China and is now housed in various museum warehouses. The Beijing National Museum showcased about 5% of the artefacts that remained in China. The Summer Palace is owned by the Imperial Court. So even if it wasn't looted by French and British, between the time when the Qing Dynasty ended and Chiang fleeing to Taiwan, most of the artefacts would either be looted by various Chinese warlords, sold by Puyi to gain cash and weapons to restore the Qing Dynasty (as remarked by Puyi himself in his biography he did sell most of the Imperial artefacts in his possession), or destroyed in the various wars in that tumultuous period between 1912-1949.

[@henryone2709]

Yuanmingyuan is not the summer palace.peter.

[@PeterCombs]

The original or the old Summer Palace was the Yuanmingyuan, in 1888 the Empress Dowager Cixi ordered a rebuiding also named the Summer Palace. The project however ran out of money and was never fully completed.. Best Peter

[@henryone2709]

@@PeterCombs thank you .I probably need to go through a few more books. Lol

[@jorggerdom7559]

Art theft sometimes called Elginism!

[@StephenMortimer]

just like the chinese in TIBET

[@rainbow2639]

Facts based or fantasy 😊

[@celiad6012]

When you hear western politicians talking today about the “threat” posed by China, remember this shameful history of the British and French colonialists.

[@JW-vo9fi]

It needs to be straightened that the items were removed from the emperor’s summer palace, and those items didn’t belong to the ordinary Chinese people, who were enslaved by the emperor and the imperial court back then

[@knutblume907]

Two wrongs are not right. Monarchy existed everywhere for thousands of years. The ruler could also be just and provide for his people.

[@JW-vo9fi]

@@knutblume907 Unfortunately, Qing Dynasty’s ruling was imposed on Chinese people by the Manchurian emperors. They were not invited or wanted. Their ruling was never justified. For ordinary Chinese people, Manchurian emperors were parasites instead of providers

[@knutblume907]

@@JW-vo9fi "There is no good or evil. There is only power. And those too weak to seek it." -Lord Voldemort. Did anyone invite the Mongols, or the Romans, or the British, or the Germans, or the Russians, or the Americans? Your ideas are naive. Biologically, man is an ape. Monkeys have very strict hierarchies. Nothing new here.

[@JW-vo9fi]

@@knutblume907 Sorry but I don’t agree with you. First of all, mankind is neither ape nor monkey. Second, there is good versus evil. It appears that we have no common ground for any further discussion. So, that will be the end of our conversation here. Peace

[@sweesboey7177]

So what's your point? The looted objects did belong to the emperor and not to the common people of China. So? Did it justify the European looting? Now that returned loot is returned to their countries of origin to be exhibited in museums and accessible to the ordinary people, isn't it high time to return the loot? In the late 19th century, the British looted the Burmese monarchy's regalia and imprisoned the last king of Burma in order to swallow up the whole of what was left of the Burmese kingdom after 2 earlier British invasions. Are you saying that the British ought not to have returned the part of the royal regalia that they did to Burma because the regalia belonged to the king and not the people?

[@leskobrandon8998]

On the other hand, 300 Americans are dying from fentanyl overdoses "every day" It's coming through our Southern Border and most is being made in "China" even though America didn't loot their palace! Before that started happening, I felt awful for them, now I don't.

[@cathydrumobich9045]

I always enjoy your biased and one-sided view of history. While some of what is in this video is interesting it is also dripping with pro-Chinese and anti-British bias. You really do give the game away by taking great care in correctly pronouncing Chinese names while mispronouncing -- over and over -- the name of Lord Elgin, a name anyone with even a passing interest in history knows is NOT pronounced Lord El-GIN. But that's okay. At least your open about your prejudices here. War is hell. And it was a war. The spoils of war and looting were perfectly acceptable in the 19th century. We shouldn't apply today's standards to those of 160 years ago. You also leave out anything here that makes the Chinese look bad. Watch the BBC documentary done a few years ago. They tortured horribly for days on end the emissaries sent to China. That's just one thing you left out. Enough said. Try to be more even-handed in the future.

[@greedyy6575]

BBC is other one side. but we know that Their torture of the British envoys stemmed from their dissatisfaction with Britain's dumping of opium into China.