Views of the World, Across the Lake From Island, Peking, China

At the end of The Second Opium War, a joint Anglo-French force, under the leadership of James Bruce the 8th Earl of Elgin, High Commissioner to China, burned and looted the old and new Summer palaces just outside the city walls of Peking.  James Bruce's father was Thomas Bruce, the 7th Earl of Elgin, the man who looted the marble friezes from the Parthenon in Athens, Greece.  I guess vandalism ran in the family.

Peking is now known as Beijing, and means northern capital.

I've got three more cards in this series, but I'm going to hold off on posting them for another month or so.  Click on Views of the World in labels to see other cards in the series.