Good-Bye to Old Peking

by Letcher, John Seymour; Jeans, Roger B.; Lyle, Katie Letcher

• ISBN13: 9780821412282
• ISBN10: 0821412280
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1998-04-01
• Publisher: Ohio Univ Pr

Summary

For two and a half years (1937-1939), Captain John Seymour Letcher commanded a company of the U.S. Embassy Marine Guard in Peking. During that time, he wrote a series of letters to his parents in Virginia describing the life of a Westerner in the former imperial city. During that same time, China was invaded by Japan. Captain Letcher describes the flavor of life in pre-Communist China -- the food, servants, cold Peking winters and torrid summers, hunting, and excursions to the major tourist sites. But his letters also tell of the Japanese slaughter of Chinese troops in the opening days of the Sino-Japanese War. He wrote about life in a city under Japanese occupation and the stirring story of the Chinese guerrillas rebounding from devastating defeat. These letters and accompanying introduction, preface, and notes, draw attention to the Western experience in a place and time largely overlooked by military historians and modern China specialists.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	vii	(2)
Preface	ix	(10)
Katie Letcher Lyle
Acknowledgments	xix
Introduction	1	(32)
Roger B. Jeans
Part One The Good Life: Westerners in Peking on the Eve of the Sino-Japanese War 13 December 1936-5 July 1937	33	(24)
Part Two The Sino-Japanese War Begins 14 July-16 September 1937	57	(16)
Part Three All Quiet in Old Peking 30 September 1937-1 February 1938	73	(18)
Part Four War Returns to the Peking Area 13 February 1938-3 September 1939	91	(86)
Part Five Homeward Bound at Last 13-27 September 1939	177	(12)
Notes	189	(34)
Bibliography	223	(6)
Index	229