I found a book focusing on the news reports about China selected from New York Times during the Late-Qing period, which was translated by a Chinese diplomat. It is pretty amazing to see so many foreign articles on the ancient empire. And it occurs to me some historical events.
A report entitled “Emperor Hsien Feng flee and victors to occupy Peking” was published on December 22. However, this accident happened in October. It proved that the communication technology was not highly developed at that time.
Foreigners, even some modern Chinese would find it amusing that an report entitled”Li Hung Chang deprived of yellow jacket”, as most of them did not quite follow the situation in those days. What does “yellow jacket “mean? Was it worth capturing the readers’ attention? Anyway, it showed Li’s importance in the westerners’ eyes.
As heroes come out of turbulent times, some of the great men did leave an impression on me, such as Zeng Guofan. Even some so-called “notorious statesmen” also deserved my attention, because they were intelligent and competent, for instance, Ronglu.
I will continue my study on Late-Qing history as a sort of enjoyment.