"There is a world miracle called Yuanmingyuan ... People always compare the Parthenon in Greece, the pyramids in Egypt, the Colosseum in Rome, Notre Dame de Paris and the Yuanmingyuan in the East ... This is an unprecedented and amazing masterpiece. However, this miracle has disappeared. One day, two robbers broke into Yuanmingyuan. One robber plundered and another robber set fire to it ... There was a large-scale looting in Yuanmingyuan, and the stolen goods were divided equally between the two victorious countries ... The treasure house of the church we used was not as good as this splendid Oriental Museum.

We Europeans have always regarded ourselves as civilized people and China as barbarians. This is what civilization does to barbarism. Two robbers, one named France and the other named England. I want to protest against this. I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to protest ... The French Empire got half of the stolen goods from this victory ... I hope that France can get rid of the heavy burden, clear its sins and return these stolen goods to the plundered China one day. "

In his letter, Hugo described in detail the glory and value of Yuanmingyuan, angrily condemned the criminal acts of the invading army to destroy oriental culture, and at the same time distinguished the French government from the French people. After the failure of the Paris Commune, he called for the pardon of commune fighters. On the second day after the Belgian government announced that members of the Paris Commune were refused entry into Belgium, Hugo said in an open letter to the Belgian newspaper The Independent that he would give his residence in Brussels to members for refuge. But the next night, more than 50 people pretended to be members of the Paris Commune, tricked him into coming downstairs to open the door and threw a big stone at him. Fortunately, he was not injured, but a few days later he was ordered to leave the country by the king of Belgium.