BRITISH LEGATION AT PEKING
65
a daily diary of events he was naturally encouraged to continue, and thus we have a very readable account of the first year at the Legation.
Rennie had reached Peking on the evening of March 25th, going on ahead with the French suite and staying the night at the French Legation. The next morning he was up early. "Before breakfast I visited the Leang-koong-foo, the building which has been selected for the British Legation, and in charge of which Mr. Adkins has resided at Peking during the winter. The Leang-koong-foo, or palace of the Duke of Leang, was originally an imperial residence, given by the Emperor K'ang-hsi (who died in 1722) to one of his thirty-three sons, whose descendants are known as the Dukes of Leang. The present representative of the family, and owner of the Leang-koong-foo, holds a command in the neighbourhood of the great wall. The Duke of Leang has let his family residence in perpetuity to the British Government, at an annual rent of fifteen hundred taels (500 £.), no rent to be paid for the first two years, owing to the extensive repairs and alterations required." A visitor at that time described it as “a straggling, dreary, dilapidated building, which time and money might convert into a tolerably habitable barrack for a brigade of infantry, but which can never become a comfortable or suitable residence for a Minister and the few members of his suite." Time was to prove him wrong.
Meanwhile the British party arrived on March 26th 1861 and Rennie describes the formal entry into the British Legation. “At three o'clock in the afternoon, Mr. Bruce, Colonel Neale, and the other members of the English Legation, arrived in Peking, escorted by the detachment of Sikh Cavalry. This morning the French flag was hoisted over the gate of the Tsin-koong-foo, and on Mr.
'Ibid., I, 28-9. A language-student at the Legation, writing in 1885 stated: "A rent of 1,500 taels, or between £400 and £500, is paid into the Tsung-li Yamen (the Chinese Foreign Office) every year. It is the duty of the senior student to make this payment, and, in order that he might appear at the Yamen respectably attired, a box-hat was, it is said, provided sometime about 1861, and is still at his disposal. But it is not often worn.' "Where Chineses Drive". English Student-Life at Peking. By a Student Interpreter, 27. See footnote 16 below.
10 E. B. de Fonblanque, Niphon and Pe-che-li; or Two years in Japan and Northern China (London, 1862). 217.
BRITISH LEGATION AT PEKING
65
a daily diary of events he was naturally encouraged to continue, and thus we have a very readable account of the first year at the Legation.
Rennie had reached Peking on the evening of March 25th, going on ahead with the French suite and staying the night at the French Legation. The next morning he was up early. "Before breakfast I visited the Leang-koong-foo, the building which has been selected for the British Legation, and in charge of which Mr. Adkins has resided at Peking during the winter. The Leang- koong-foo, or palace of the Duke of Leang, was originally an imperial residence, given by the Emperor K'ang-hsi (who died in 1722) to one of his thirty-three sons, whose descendants are known as the Dukes of Leang. The present representative of the family, and owner of the Leang-koong-foo, holds a command in the neighbourhood of the great wall. The Duke of Leang has let his family residence in perpetuity to the British Government, at an annual rent of fifteen hundred taels (500 £.), no rent to be paid for the first two years, owing to the extensive repairs and altera- tions required."" A visitor at that time described it as “a straggling, dreary, dilapidated building, which time and money might convert into a tolerably habitable barrack for a brigade of infantry, but which can never become a comfortable or suitable residence for a Minister and the few members of his suite." Time was to prove him wrong.
Meanwhile the British party arrived on March 26th 1861 and Rennie describes the formal entry into the British Legation. “At three o'clock in the afternoon, Mr. Bruce, Colonel Neale, and the other members of the English Legation, arrived in Peking, escorted by the detatchment of Sikh Cavalry. This morning the French flag was hoisted over the gate of the Tsin-koong-foo, and on Mr.
'Ibid., I, 28-9. A language-student at the Legation, writing in 1885 stated: "A rent of 1,500 taels, or between £400 and £500, is paid into the Tsung-li Yamen (the Chinese Foreign Office) every year. It is the duty of the senior student to make this payment, and, in order that he might appear at the Yamen respectably attired, a box-hat was, it is said, provided sometime about 1861, and is still at his disposal. But it is not often worn.' "Where Chineses Drive". English Student-Life at Peking. By a Student Interpreter, 27. See footnote 16 below.
10 E. B. de Fonblanque, Niphon and Pe-che-li; or Two years in Japan and Northern China (London, 1862). 217.
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