British Commissioner riding in a couch through Peking, 1860. (Brown University Library)

October 18, 1860, during the Second Opium War, British and French forces completed the looting and burning of Beijing's Imperial Old Summer Palace (Yuanmingyuan). Former Governor General of Canada The Earl of Elgin gave the order. For later generations of Chinese, including those who emigrated to Canada, the memory of Yuanmingyuan's destruction contributes to a complex historical understanding of China's relationship with the West and the colonial past.