"Before the Boxer war began, foreigners had lived in an uneasy state of coexistence with the Qing court in Beijing for nearly fifty years. The treaty provisions of the Second Opium War had granted them the right to reside in the capital, but the Qing rulers only reluctantly accepted their presence.
The eleven foreign legations in Beijing were located in a single quarter in the southern district of the city, just inside the wall of the Tartar City, or outer wall of the capital. This was the district where—before the 19th century—Mongols, Tibetans, Koreans, Vietnamese, and other tributary vassals had stayed when they presented gifts to the emperor. Each of the new Western powers rented and renovated old palaces, with gardens in the center, courts, pavilions, housing, and other buildings arranged around them. By 1900, many other foreign institutions, including the Hong Kong and Shanghai bank, Imperial Maritime Customs, the Peking hotel, and other foreign stores had joined them. The legation street which ran through the center of the quarter was unpaved, filled with sewage, and crowded with animals, people, and carts.
The diplomats and their families spent nearly all their time in the comfortable seclusion of their legations, only sending servants out to get supplies. They could play tennis, hold teas and parties, and attend balls and official dinners among themselves all year round. During the hot summers, they sent their families outside the city to the cool Western Hills, hosted by priests at local Buddhist temples. They very seldom came into contact with Chinese officials. The Zongli Yamen, China's new Foreign Ministry, was located far away in the eastern part of the city, and its suspicious officials held only formal ritualistic meetings with the foreign diplomats…"
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Amicalement
Armand
takes another stab at building a more perfect flight stand.
