Excerpt from The Story of the Siege in Peking The first and principal cause, no doubt, was the encroachments of Western nations. Germany seized Chiao Chou in Shantung. She did it in a manner the most offensive and best calculated to hurt the susceptibilities of a proud nation like the Chinese. Russia, posing as the protector of China, took Port Arthur, and was gradually absorbing Manchuria. The British Government, on the pretence of preventing further Russian encroachments, but really to satisfy public opinion at home, took wei-hai-wei. Newspapers, British and Continental, openly discussed the partition of China. No wonder, then, that the Chinese became desperate, and madly resolved to drive the hated foreigner beyond the 'four seas or perish in the attempt. Nor to the mind of the Chinese Government did the enterprise seem so desperate or impossible. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.