The Peking Express
The Bandits Who Stole a Train, Stunned the West, and Broke the Republic of China
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3.0 • 1 Rating
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- $24.99
Publisher Description
The thrilling true story of train-robbing revolutionaries and passengers who got more than they paid for in this Murder on the Orient Express–style adventure, set in China’s republican era.
In May 1923, when Shanghai publisher and reporter John Benjamin Powell bought a first-class ticket for the Peking Express, he pictured an idyllic overnight journey on a brand-new train of unprecedented luxury—exactly what the advertisements promised. Seeing his fellow passengers, including mysterious Italian lawyer Giuseppe Musso, a confidante of Mussolini and lawyer for the opium trade, and American heiress Lucy Aldrich, sister-in-law of John D. Rockefeller Jr., he knew it would be an unforgettable trip.
Charismatic bandit leader and populist rabble rouser Sun Mei-yao had also taken notice of the new train from Shanghai to Peking. On the night of Powell’s trip of a lifetime, Sun launched his plan to make a brazen political statement: he and a thousand fellow bandits descended on the train, capturing dozens of hostages.
Aided by local proxy authorities, the humiliated Peking government soon furiously gave chase. At the bandits’ mountain stronghold, a five-week siege began.
Brilliantly written, with new and original research, The Peking Express tells the incredible true story of a clash that shocked the world—becoming so celebrated it inspired several Hollywood movies—and set the course for China’s two-decade civil war.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This gripping debut history from Beijing-based lawyer Zimmerman recounts the 1923 raid on a luxury train by Chinese bandits and the ensuing 37-day hostage standoff. Seeking to "fight back against the warlords and business interests that extracted local resources" from Shantung province, ex-soldier Sun Mei-yao and his bandit troops derailed the train just south of the town of Lincheng. But Sun Mei-yao's plan to use the train's foreign and Chinese passengers as a bargaining chip went less smoothly. The attackers struggled to march their 100 captives, some of them barefoot and wearing nightgowns, to a mountaintop stronghold. While Chinese passengers who couldn't keep up were killed, the 28 foreign hostages were treated better. American journalist John Powell, who "advocated for a strong and independent China," became a leader of the captives and helped open negotiations between the bandits and government troops. Lucy Aldrich, the sister-in-law of John D. Rockefeller Jr., taught the attackers English, while her wily maid, Mathilde Schoneberg, hid Aldrich's family jewels in her underwear. Zimmerman weaves in snapshots of a country in turmoil, contrasting walled cities and starving villagers caught in the cross fire between bandits and warlords with thriving metropolises built by foreign interests. Dramatic and meticulously researched, it's an immersive look at a forgotten chapter of Chinese history. Photos.
