An Analysis of the Political Culture of Rebuilding of the Summer Palace in Tongzhi Dynasty

The Summer Palace is one of the most famous imperial gardens, which was burned in Xianfeng tenth year for the invasion of the British and French troops. After the reign of Emperor Tongzhi, the proposals of rebuilding of the Summer Palace were repeatedly put forward, and stopped for dissuasion of the court officials. The resistance of rebuilting of the Summer Palace, seemingly intervention of the palace affairs, was a national event in fact, which showed the traditional political culture of guarding the palace eunuchs, palace politics, maintaining the ancestor’s system and the imperial power, etc.