A Dance with the Dragon: The Vanished World of Peking's Foreign Colony
"Julia Boyd tells the fascinating tale of the foreign community surviving in Peking between the end of the Ching Dynasty and Mao's communist revolution. It is a great story very well told – turmoil behind, turmoil ahead and turmoil all around." – Chris Patten, Former Governor of British Hong Kong"Based on a treasure-trove of original sources, this book gives an enthralling insight into the expatriate community in Peking during the half-century before the triumph of Mao. Anyone who wants to understand China's relationship with foreigners, today as well as yesterday, should read it." – Piers Brendon, British writer and author of The Decline and Fall of the British Empire"A fascinating account sourced from many previously unpublished letters and archives. Boyd's characters flit on the surface of the city like water beetles, unaware of the depths below." – Frances Wood, author of Did Marco Polo go to China?