Rebuilding palace won't hide scars

Is there a need to rebuild the Old Summer Palace? In reply to such a proposal from a national lawmaker, the National Cultural Heritage Administration said there was no such need. Besides, the lawmaker said, it might alter the historical ruins left behind by Western invaders.

Whatever the lawmaker's considerations, the Old Summer Palace is larger than life. The ruins of Yuanmingyuan bear silent testimony to the crimes committed by the Anglo-French army during the Second Opium War (1856-1860).

The ruins might be shameful, but instead of covering up that shame, we should face it and learn from it.

It might be easy to reconstruct the Old Summer Palace, to show it in its former splendor, but that would do little to hide the scars left behind by history in our hearts. In that sense, the ruins at the Old Summer Palace hold greater meaning to us than any reconstruction.

The Anglo-French army that turned the buildings into ruins 170 years ago also pillaged innumerable cultural heritage items from the Old Summer Palace. In all, the invaders took away around 10 million artifacts. Most of those have not come back.

If one really wants to heal the scars left by history, it might be a better idea to trace all those stolen antiques and get them back, instead of bothering about reconstructing the buildings. Actually, the ruins left behind by the Anglo-French invaders have themselves become antiques worthy of protection.

They help tell the world about the crimes committed by the Anglo-French invaders. History should never be forgotten.