1860, a fire from the British and French coalition forces caused the first devastating blow to Old Summer Palace;
40 years later, the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded China, and the precious trees, pavilions and towers in the Old Summer Palace were tragically destroyed;
1912, the Qing Dynasty was destroyed, and the warlords fought, and the Old Summer Palace was repeatedly looted. After many disasters and baptisms, this royal garden built during the Yongzheng period has completely become the ruins of today's Old Summer Palace. The glory of the past is gone, but only the ruins are left.
This garden has witnessed the glory of the Qing Dynasty and the humiliating history of the entire China, so that whenever people mention it, they feel an indescribable feeling in their hearts.
After the founding of New China, the Old Summer Palace was protected as a cultural relic. However, later generations can no longer see the magnificence of its former magnificence.
But a treasure is still a treasure after all. In 2007, a wealthy businessman proposed to rebuild the Old Summer Palace in Jinhua, Zhejiang at a one-to-one ratio.
However, this idea was just proposed and was criticized by experts: it wasted people and money, meaningless, and commercial hype.
The project leader of the New Old Summer Palace was once scolded to the point of being exhausted. However, the businessman did not care about the outside world's opinions at all, and still "does his own way" to invest a lot of money into the project. In the end, this person spent 30 billion yuan to successfully replicate the Old Summer Palace.
The well-deserved father of Hengdian
There is actually a very deep connection between the New Old Summer Palace and Hengdian in Jinhua.
In China, the place where you can meet stars is the most likely place to be Hengdian. With the title of Oriental Hollywood, it is the most popular filming place in the hearts of major crews. There are countless crews filming in it every year like flowing water.
The head of Hengdian is also the one who decided to rebuild the Old Summer Palace, named Xu Wenrong .
Xu Wenrong, born in 1935, was born in a poor family in Zhejiang. At that time, Xu Wenrong's family was in a war and even eating was a problem. When he was in his teens, he followed his father around the streets and sold snacks every day.
It is precisely because of this experience that Xu Wenrong has developed strong social skills since childhood.
However, it was not until he was 40 that he ushered in a real turning point in his life.
1975, a state-owned silk reeling factory in Hengdian faced bankruptcy and was sold to the public at a low price. Xu Wenrong, who made some money by doing small business at that time, felt that this was a good opportunity, so he decided to take out all his wealth and buy a silk reel factory.
naturally, no one in the family supports it. Because a state-owned factory went bankrupt, can you, a small businessman, bring it back to life?
However, Xu Wenrong insisted on setting up the silk reel factory. Because that year, the cocoons around in Hengdian Town achieved a great harvest, and he felt that this was a good time to open a silk reel factory.
Just when Xu Wenrong had just taken the silk reel factory, that winter, another strong cold wave that was rare in history occurred in our country, and both South China and East China were seriously affected.
At this time, the silk reeling factory business could not stop. In order to supply the affected areas, the machines were stepped on and sparked. Xu Wenrong's silk reeling factory has also become famous in southern region .
After the silk reeling factory made money, Xu Wenrong invested the money in the factory almost without any penny. This courage alone was beyond the reach of ordinary people.
Later, he began to enter the fields of medicine, chemical industry, magnetic materials, etc., and also achieved good results.
In the 1980s, it was still rare to have a household in 10,000 yuan, but under the influence of Xu Wenrong, Hengdian has become a famous town in 100 million yuan.
It was at this time that Xu Wenrong set his sights on the booming film and television industry.
If those who shoot TV series come to Hengdian to shoot, it will definitely have an immeasurable impact on Hengdian's economy.
However, Hengdian is not surrounded by mountains or water, nor is it like Luoyang Xi'an Beijing, with a rich historical and cultural heritage. How could the crew choose this place as the filming place?
Therefore, Xu Wenrong's initial contact with major groups had failed.
, and the turn happened in 1995.
At that time, the famous Chinese director Xie Jin accidentally came to Zhejiang to find a suitable location for the upcoming movie " Opium War ". But after searching, I couldn't find Xinyi's place.
Xu Wenrong is a businessman, has many friends and is well-informed. Not long after, he learned about Xie Jin. After many failed negotiations, Xu Wenrong immediately invited Xie Jin: Come to Hengdian to take a look, choose a piece of land, and you can do whatever scenario you want, I will create it for you.
At the beginning, Xie Jin didn't believe it, but as the shooting date gradually approached, he could only decide to give it a try.
Xu Wenrong knew very well that Xie Jin was the stepping stone to enter the film and television industry, so when choosing a site, he did everything himself. The two of them chose and finally chose an open space in the outskirts of Hengdian. But Xie Jin was still full of concerns.
"Before I came to Hengdian, I had already traveled to Chengdu and Shanghai. Not only did I find a suitable location for filming, I also wasted a lot of time. In three months, the crew will start construction, you..."
Xu Wenrong promised that he would guarantee that he could deliver the venue in three months.
After Xie Jin returned, Xu Wenrong started the project without stopping. He called more than 120 engineering teams to build the project at the same time.
Three months later, when Xie Jin came to Hengdian again, he was shocked to see that more than 150 buildings had risen on the vacant land!
The official residences of warlords, houses, brothels, gambling workshops, pawn shops, city towers, etc., all the scenes they want are here, just like a rebuilt 9th century Guangzhou City in Nanyue.
Xie Jin was satisfied, and Xu Wenrong was also very happy.
And the movie "Opium War" is made to welcome Hong Kong's return to . Xie Jin is also a famous director at home and abroad. If you do this, Hengdian can become a hit without publicity. This is true. Not long after, Mingdao Chen Kaige also came to hear the news and wanted to choose the shooting location for his movie " Jing Ke assassination of Qin King ".
and Xie Jin's requirements are different. What Chen Kaige needs is to reproduce the grandeur of the Qinwang Palace building a thousand years ago, and the construction period is still not long, only eight months.
But as the saying goes, as long as the money is in place, the little ghost can push the mill.
Chen Kaige and Xu Wenrong made up this matter while drinking and talking at the dinner. The workers in Hengdian began to work day and night again. Eight months later, towering palaces stood up, which also shocked Chen Kaige to marvel.
Since then, Hengdian has begun to become famous in the film and television industry under the influence of Xu Wenrong's ability to build a city. More and more costume crews have found Xu Wenrong and asked him to create a filming place for himself.
Gradually, Hengdian, which is not large in area and has a small population, has Hong Kong Street, Qingming Shanghe Garden, Mingqing Palace Garden, Jiangnan Water Town... pavilions, towers, water pavilions, almost condense the architectural complexes of thousands of years in China's dynasties.
time enters the 21st century. Due to the low rental price, Hengdian Film and Television City has become the permanent residence of major crews. The glory of Hengdian Film and Television City and the large gathering of traffic have also driven the development of the entire Hengdian Town, and Xu Wenrong has also become the well-deserved father of Hengdian.
However, at this time, Xu Wenrong, because he was old, had the intention to retreat behind the scenes. So he handed over all the huge family business to his son, and he lived a retired old man's life.
However, a few years later, Mr. Xu was "not willing to be lonely" again. But he didn't expect that his out-of-straight out of the mountain would attract a lot of spit.
"A businessman full of stinking money" - being scolded to the point of being incomplete
Xu Wenrong is good at building a city, which is well known in the film and television industry. Party A only needs to give a drawing, and he can create the scenes they need in their minds without any mistakes.
Hengdian's operating model is already very mature.So, 72-year-old Mr. Xu suddenly had a more crazy idea in his mind on one day: to rebuild the Old Summer Palace.
He feels that the Old Summer Palace not only brings together several famous places in Jiangnan, but also combines Western garden buildings, which can be regarded as one of the treasure houses of human culture. However, because of the war, people nowadays can only look at the ruins in Beijing , which is really a great regret for the Chinese.
and he did not move the original address, retaining the meaning of educating future generations. He just wants to build a new Old Summer Palace in Hengdian, which can not only promote our Chinese architectural culture to the world, let countries around the world witness China's style again, fill the regret that the Old Summer Palace has become a ruin in the hearts of the Chinese people, but also convey a signal: our China is already strong.
However, in 2008, when the old man proposed to rebuild the Old Summer Palace in Hengdian and replicate the scene in the Old Summer Palace as much as possible, it ushered in many speculations in the society.
Everyone knows that the difficulty of building the Old Summer Palace is not the same as building the ancient city used as the shooting site in film and television cities.
hell difficulty reconstruction work also means that immeasurable assets will be invested in it. In the eyes of many experts, it is a waste of money to rebuild an ancient building with a humiliating history.
, and Xu Wenrong's identity as a businessman made many experts and scholars use vicious words on him without hesitation.
"Full of money smell", "Business hype for businessmen is to expand Hengdian's influence and has no social significance", and "people who seek fame and reputation".
However, the objections from society and experts and scholars did not have much impact on Xu Wenrong. Because Xu Wenrong has never seen any storm and waves since he bought a silk reel factory in 1975.
"Call me, just scold me, you scold you, I will do mine, anyway, after the scolding, it won't delay my meal and sleep."
Mr. Xu said so later.
Amidst the opposition and scolding, the project to rebuild the Old Summer Palace was put on the agenda by Mr. Xu. But a few months later, Xu Wenrong, who thought that the project would progress smoothly in order to solve the funding problem, discovered several other problems.
The 30 billion super project created by retired elderly people
A project involving a large number of assets and is also related to the humiliating history of our country. If it is to continue successfully, isn’t it so simple?
Where does the funds come from? How can we meet the requirements for many complex production processes in the garden? Where do the cultural relics used for decoration come from?
The Old Summer Palace covers an area of more than 350 hectares and is about 5,600 acres of land. Because some parts of the newly built Old Summer Palace require innovation, it is likely that the land is only more, not less. With this huge land area, can the Land and Resources Bureau easily stamp the application documents?
Therefore, various problems in the early stage have led to the delay in progress of the New Old Summer Palace project, the start date has been postponed repeatedly, and the project plan has been revised countless versions.
Fortunately, after repeated polishing, all the problems were finally solved.
30 billion dollars come from? Xu Wenrong raised funds through Zhejiang Huaxia Cultural Development Foundation, private enterprise investment, and initiator capital.
The complex production process problem is difficult to solve? Xu Wenrong specially found hundreds of historians who studied the Old Summer Palace and experts and scholars who specialize in ancient Chinese landscape gardens to form a group of 100 people to discuss day and night, striving to restore the old buildings in equal proportions.
As for the various cultural relics arranged, Xu Wenrong and his team chose to collect the cultural relics and artworks scattered among the people from all sides. They can buy whatever they can, and go to the voluntary factory to find someone to imitate them.
Everyone uses document records and existing pictures to deeply understand the details, not even letting go of every brick or tile.
As for the land issue, we have been constantly in contact with the Land and Resources Bureau, and the plan has been revised one after another, abandoning all those that do not meet the government's land use regulations, which finally allowed the land approval to be officially approved.
In 2012, after four years of hardship, the entire project team finally took a new step - under the pressure from the outside world, the construction of the Old Summer Palace is ready to start!
" Yuanming New Garden "
However, unlike what the outside world thinks, after the project was launched, the name finally confirmed was not the New Yuanming Garden, but the New Yuanming Garden.
For Xu Wenrong, the name is not much different, the key is the building built inside, and how similar can the Old Summer Palace be to the extent that it is.
During the construction of the "Yuanming New Park", Xu Wenrong, who is nearly 80 years old, goes to the construction site to check the progress almost every day.
Finally, after more than three years, the Yuanming New Park was finally completed.
2015, the 155th anniversary of the destruction of the Old Summer Palace, the New Summer Palace announced to the public that it had been basically completed, but it has not been opened. After another year of careful renovation, the Yuanming New Park officially began to be opened to tourists in 2016.
100 gardens, with millions of strange flowers and beautiful; the new Old Summer Palace, Changchunyuan, Yichun Garden, Changchun Garden, Changchun Garden , the buildings are magnificent; Happy Night Yaochi, Temple Fair , Royal Zoo, Ice and Snow Park, Natural Treasure Viewing Garden and other scenic spots allow tourists to enjoy the top entertainment that only the royal family can enjoy in the past.
Although no one has ever seen the grand occasion of the Old Summer Palace a hundred years ago, the moment he entered the New Summer Palace, it was as if he had traveled through history and saw the former appearance of the Old Summer Palace in Beijing.
Conclusion: The successful construction of the new Yuanming Garden allows modern people to have the opportunity to see that period of destruction again.
It is true that the new Yuanming Garden will never be the Yuanming Garden, but through it, we seem to be able to see how tragic elegy this garden once issued when it was burned more than a hundred years ago.
Now, youth reappears, and the elegy is gone. This also confirms that humiliating history has been forever reduced to the past, but it is constantly whipping the modern and contemporary Chinese people: Don’t let the tragedy happen again.
