Excerpt from Two Years in the Forbidden CityThe author of the following narrative has pe culiar qualifications for her task. She is a daughter of Lord Yii Keng, a member of the Manchu White Banner Corps, and one of the most advanced and progressive Chinese officials of his generation. Lord Yii Keng entered the army when very young, and served in the Tai ping rebellion and the Formosan war with France, and as Vice Minister of War during the china-japan war m 1895. Later he was Min ister to Japan, which post he quitted in 1898 to become President of the Tsung-li-yamen (chi nese Forelgn Office). In 1899 he was ap pointed Minister to France, where he remained four years At a period when the Chinese Gov ernment was extremely conservative and reao tionary, Lord Yu Keng labored indefatigably for reform. He was instrumental in reorganiz ing China's postal service on modern lines, but failed in efforts to revise the revenue system and.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.