The pekingese is a breed of small long-haired dog first bred at the Chinese court as the 'imperial liondog'. It has a flat skull and flat face, is typically less than 25 centimetres tall, and weighs less than 5 kg. The first specimens brought to the West were those taken during the Opium Wars when the Summer Palace in Beijing was looted in 1860. An affectionate breed they are also stubborn and pompous. Research Pekingese
Genghis Khan was a Mongolianchieftain and warrior. He was born in 1162 and died in 1227. His father was chief over thirty or forty clans, but paid tribute to the Tartar Khan. He succeeded his father when only fourteen years of age, and made himself master of the neighbouring tribes. A great number of tribes now combined their forces against him. But he found a powerful protector in the great Khan of the Karaite Mongols, Oung, or Ung, who gave him his daughter in marriage. After much intestine warfare with various Tartar tribes Genghis was proclaimed Khan of the United Mongol and Tartar tribes. He now professed to have a divine call to conquer the world, and the idea so animated the spirit of his soldiers that they were easily led on to new wars.
The country of the Uigurs, in the centre of Tartary, had long excited his ambition. This nation was easily subdued, and Genghis Khan was now master of the greatest part of Tartary. Soon after several Tartar tribes put themselves under his dominion, and in 1209 he passed the great wall of China. The conquest of China occupied the Mongols more than six years. The capital, then called Yenking, now Beijing, was taken by storm in 1215 and plundered. The murder of the ambassadors whom Genghis Khan had sent to the King of Kharism (now Khiva) occasioned the invasion of Turkestan in 1218 with an army of 700,000 men; and the two cities of Bokhara and Samarcand were stormed, pillaged, and burned. Seven years in succession was the conqueror busy in the work of destruction, pillage, and subjugation, and extended his ravages to the banks of the Dnieper.
In 1225, though more than sixty years old, he marched in person at the head of his whole army against the King of Tangut (South-western China), who had given shelter to two of his enemies, and had refused to give them up. A great battle was fought, in which the King of Tangut was totally defeated with the loss of 300,000 men. The victor remained some time in his newly-subdued provinces, from which he also sent two of his sons to complete the conquest of Northern China. At his death his immense dominions were divided among his four sons. Research Genghis Khan
James Bruce was a Scottish explorer. He was born in 1730 at Kinnaird House, Stirlingshire and died in 1794 after falling down some stairs. He received his education at Harrow and at the University of Edinburgh, and entered the winetrade, but having inherited his father's estate in 1758 he soon gave up business. Erom 1763 to 1765 he held the consulship of Algiers, and in 1765 he visited successively Tunis, Tripoli, Rhodes, Cyprus, Syria, and several parts of Asia Minor, where he made drawings of the ruins of Palmyra, Baalbec, etc.
In 1768 he set out for Cairo, navigated the Nile to Syene, crossed the desert to the Red Sea, passed some months in ArabiaFelix, and reached Gondar, the capital of Abyssinia, in 1770. In that country he ingratiated himself with the sovereign and other influential persons, and in the same year succeeded in reaching the sources of the Abai, then considered the main stream of the Nile. On his return to Gondar he found the country engaged in a civil war, and more than three years elapsed before he was able to return to Cairo.
After visiting France and Italy he returned to Scotland in 1774. His long-expected Travels did not appear until 1790, and were received with some incredulity, though succeeding travellers proved them in large part accurate.
James Bruce, Earl of Elgin, Earl of Kincardine was Governor-general of India. He was born in 1811 and died in 1863. Educated at Eton and Christ Church, he entered parliament in 1841 as member for Southampton, and in the same year succeeded to the earldom, becoming the eighth earl of Elgin and rwelfth earl of Kincardine. He was appointed Governor-general of Jamaica in 1842, and in 1846 Governor-general of Canada. In 1849 he was raised to the British peerage as BaronElgin of Elgin. In 1857 he went as special ambassador to China, and concluded the Treaty of Tientsin in 1858. In 1859 he became postmaster-general in Palmerston's cabinet, in 1860 was sent on a special mission to Peking (Beijing), and in 1861 became Governor-general of India. Research James Bruce
Nicholas Paulovitch Ignatieff (also known as Nicholas Ignatiev) was a Russian soldier and diplomatist. He was born in 1828 at St Petersburg and died in 1908. He served in the Crimean War, and was made a colonel 1856. In 1858 he was sent on a special mission to Bokhara and Khiva, and afterwards as ambassador to Peking (Beijing) 1860. He was appointed minister at Constantinople (Istanbul) 1864, and was envoy extraordinary from 1867 to 1878. He was conspicuous in the negotiations before and after the Russo-Turkish war, and was appointed minister of the interior, but was dismissed 1882. He represented the party in favour of war, in opposition to Prince Gortschakoff. He was subsequently made governor-general of Irkutsk. Research Nicholas Ignatieff
Sven Anders Hedin was a Swedish traveller and geographer. He was born in 1865 at Stockholm and died in 1952. Educated at Stockholm, UpsalaBerlin and Halle, he made himself well acquainted with natural science, especially geology. In 1885 to 1886 he travelled in Persia and Central Asia, in 1890 to 1891, having been appointed secretary to the Swedish mission to the Shah of Persia, he took the opportunity of climbing and measuring the height of Demavend, and made an excursion to Kashgar.
Supported by King Oscar II in 1893 he began a series of exploratory journeys in Central and Eastern Asia, traversing the Pamirplateau, the region around the Lob-Nor lake, northern Tibet, and after many hardships finally reaching Peking (Beijing), from which he returned to Europe across North China and Siberia in 1897.
In 1899 he entered on a similar extended course of travel, further investigating the Lob-Nor region and the connected deserts, and attempting to reach Lhasaa in the guise of a pilgrim, but being turned back by the Tibetans. On his return in 1902 he was ennobled by the King of Sweden, and received various other distinctions, including medals from the Royal Geographical Society. He produced a number of works dealing with his travels and their scientific results, some of them translated into several languages.
From 1903 until 1908 he made extensive jopurneys in the Himalayas and Tibet and, in 1908, made the first detailed map of Tibet. After the Great War he organised and led Sino-Swedish scientific expedition to the northwest provinces of China between 1927 and 1933.
An account of his chief early journeys in English was given in Through Asia (published in 1898), and Central Asia and Tibet (published in 1903). Research Sven Hedin
Tze-His was Dowager empress of China. She was born in 1835 at Beijing and died in 1908. She entered the seraglio of the emperor Hien-fung at the age of fifteen, and by her beauty and wit soon rose to be second to the empress Tze-an. On the death of Hien-fung in 1861, her son, Tung-Chih came to the throne, but during his reign and that of his successor, Kwang-su, Tze-His wielded the imperial power. Assisted by Li Hung-chang she ruled wisely and successfully until the war with Japan in 1894-1895, after which she sought to introduce western reforms and succeeded in suppressing the opiumtrade. Research Tze-His
Wei Tang is a Chinese actress. She was born in 1979 at Wenzhou, Zhejiang. Educated at the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing, she starred in the 2007 film Se, jei, resulting in her being blacklisted by the Chinese government in 2008. Research Wei Tang
Ziyi Zhang (Zhang Ziyi) is a Chinese actress and model. She was born in 1979 at Beijing. She is best known to westerners for her role in the 2000 film 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'. Research Ziyi Zhang
Abbreviations
Research Pekingese
