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id	eprints-19057
recordtype	eprints
institution	SOAS, University of London
collection	SOAS Research Online
language	English
language_search	English
description	In October 1860, at the culmination of the Second Opium War (1856-60), British and French troops looted and then burnt the imperial buildings in the Yuanmingyuan (known at the time by foreigners as the ‘Summer Palace’) in the north of Beijing. This widespread destruction of China’s most important complex of palaces, and the dispersal of the imperial art collection, is considered to be one of the most extreme acts of cultural destruction of the nineteenth century. Over a million objects are estimated to have been looted from buildings in the Yuanmingyuan, many of these are now scattered around the world, in private collections and public museums. This article analyses the display of ‘Summer Palace’ objects in five military museums in the UK, exploring the meanings constructed around China’s imperial artefacts at these particular sites of representation.
format	Journal Article
author	Tythacott, Louise
author_facet	Tythacott, Louise
authorStr	Tythacott, Louise
author_letter	Tythacott, Louise
title	Trophies of War: Representing ‘Summer Palace’ Loot in Military Museums in the UK
publisher	University of Leicester
publishDate	2015
url	https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/19057/