Saturday, July 12, 2008

The Legation

There’s a part of Beijing known as the Legation Quarter.  Here’s a little bit of history that I bet most of you didn’t know, about the role of foreign military powers (including US Marines) during the Boxer Rebellion at the beginning of the 20th century.

In June 1900, the Boxers, along with parts of the Imperial Army, began attacking foreign embassies in Beijing and Tianjin. In Beijing, the embassies of Great Britain, the United States, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Russia, and Japan were all located in the Legation Quarter near the Forbidden City. Anticipating such a move, a mixed force of 435 marines from eight countries had been sent to reinforce the embassy guards. As the Boxers approached, the embassies were quickly linked into a fortified compound. Those embassies located outside of the compound were evacuated, with the staff taking refuge inside.

On June 20, the compound was surrounded and attacks began. Across town, the German envoy, Klemens von Ketteler, was killed trying to escape the city. The following day, Cixi declared war on all of the Western powers, however her regional governors refused to obey and a larger war was avoided. In the compound, the defense was led by the British ambassador, Claude M. McDonald. Fighting with small arms and one old cannon, they managed to keep the Boxers at bay. This cannon became known as the “International Gun,” as it had a British barrel, an Italian carriage, fired Russian shells, and was served by Americans.

To deal with the Boxer threat, an alliance was formed between Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, Great Britain, and the United States. On June 10, an international force of 2,000 marines was dispatched from Takou under British Vice Admiral Edward Seymour to aid Beijing. Moving by rail to Tianjin, they were forced to continue on foot as the Boxers had severed the line to Beijing. Seymour’s column advanced as far Tong-Tcheou, 12 miles from Beijing, before being forced to retreat due to stiff Boxer resistance. They arrived back at Tianjin on June 26, having suffered 350 casualties.

With the situation deteriorating, the members of the Eight-Nation Alliance sent reinforcements to the area. Commanded by British Lt. Gen. Alfred Gaselee, the international army numbered 54,000. Advancing, they captured Tianjin on July 14. Continuing with 20,000 men, Gaselee pressed on for the capital. Boxer and Imperial forces made a stand at Yangcun, but were defeated by British and American assaults. On August 14, the army entered Beijing and ended the fifty-five day siege of the legation compound. Over the next year, a second German-led international force conducted punitive raids throughout China.

You can read more about the Boxer Rebellion and the siege of the Legation Quarter here and here.  Why do I bring this up?  Because this is a picture of the Legation Quarter today.

As we gear up for the Olympics, more new buildings and lavish venues are rushing to take advantage of the global attention that the games will focus on Beijing – although it seems not all of them are going to make the August deadline. After a hastily arranged art opening back in May, the Legation Quarter revealed a more composed and ready-to-meet-the-world version of itself late last month when it invited Beijing’s glitterati around for the unveiling of Shanghai Tang’s 2008 Autumn Winter collection. Over 400 people, including film star Zhou Xun, American director Andy Tennant and photo artist Xiao Huiwang attended what was the label’s first international event in Beijing.

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As well as looking in much better shape, more of the Legation Quarter’s venues are now open. The classy French restaurant Maison Boulud a Pekin run by celebrity chef Daniel Boulud, is now open for business and you can get a peek inside the kitchen here care of Time’s China Blog writer Simon Elegant.

The allied Marines protect the Legation against the Boxers.  The Emperor is overthrown a few years later, resulting in the nationalist government.  Eventually the nationalists are overthrown, resulting in the People’s Republic of China under Mao.  For almost a century foreigners were all but forbidden to come to China.  Mao died in 1976.  His successor, Deng Xiaoping, began a policy of economic reform, resulting in foreigners returning to China.  Beijing is about to host the Olympics and the Legation Quarter, once the sight of a fierce battle between foreigners and Chinese, is now the height of haute couture for China’s ever-expanding wealthy, bourgeois capitalist class.

Funny how shit works out sometimes, isn’t it?