Tales of Old Peking

About this book

"China's capital has always been viewed as one of the world's most mysterious cities. It was a Forbidden City for hundreds of years for Westerners, but its role as the capital of the world s greatest empire has made it the focus of enormous curiosity since the days of Marco Polo in the 13th century. This book, the second in the 'Tales' series, recreates a sense of old peking through a pastiche of historical snippets stories, quotations, cartoons, postcards and drawings. It tells of when peking was a flashpoint of confrontation between very different yet equally headstrong cultures, including the perilous 55-day siege of the foreign legations during the Boxer Rebellion."--Publisher description.