China signs the Beijing Convention and ratifies the Treaties of Tianjin and the Treaty of Aigun, ending the Second Opium War.
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from the war's end.
Left: “The Earl of Elgin's Entrance into Pekin on the 24th of October, Last to Sign the Treaty”
Illustrated London News, January 5 1861, p.20
Illustrated London News Group
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Left: “The Peace With China — Street Scene in Pekin: a Crowd of Celestials Contemplating the Barbarians”
A STREET SCENE IN PEKIN.Illustrated London News Group
… before the gate was an enormous crowd of wonder-struck inhabitants gazing with open eyes and mouths at the European soldiery in the gate, as the Trojans may have gazed on the wooden horse when it had passed their impregnable walls. To keep back this curiosity-stricken mob was a task of some difficulty to the sentries, and so far from fearing us were they that several adventurous spirits brought with them supplies of fowl, fruits, and sweetmeats, with width they drive a good trade with the soldiers on guard. (Illustrated London News, January 5 1861, p.143)
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Left, translated from French:“Theater du Cirque-Imperial: The Capture of Peking, act 3. (See the previous issue, Dramatic Talk.)”
L'illustration, Journal Universel, Paris,
August 10, 1861 (p. 92)
The Capture of PekingOhio State University
The crowd runs to the marvels of The Capture of Peking, a convenient means of making the expedition to China. The drama is enlightening. Patriotism dominates there … The staging is splendid: opium and dreams serve as an excuse for shimmering scenery that the pen would try in vain to describe. (Revue Artistique et Littéraire, Paris, 1860, p. 276)
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