Foreigners Within the Gates: The Legations at Peking Review

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(More customer reviews)This large, beautifully illustrated book describes a unique community that no longer exists--the residents of the former legation quarter of Beijing. A few traces of the quarter itself remain (a building here, a sign there, and the pair of stone lions that once graced the entrance to the French legation), but the district is quickly disappearing. The authors were lucky enough to have resided in one of the remaining buildings of the old quarter (that is located directly southeast of the Forbidden City), during the 1980's and have gathered together a wonderful set of unique photographs and rich stories to accompany this history of the district and its former residents. A major part of the story is the tale of the Boxer Rebellion's siege of the quarter in 1900 but the larger story is that of this early community of foreigners in 19th and 20th century Beijing. The book is very well written with well-drawn maps showing the area during different periods of its existence, and the "then and now" photographs are totally fascinating. This is a book anyone interested in China will enjoy.

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This fascinating book describes, through period photographs and text, the history of the foreign legations in the Chinese capital from their establishment in the 1800s to the present.More than simply a description of a place, the book conveys a lively sense of the rich social, political, economic, and religious life of a community that coexisted with--but lived apart from--the surrounding Chinese world.

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