"A Calculated Act Of Retribution"

"Why doesn’t anyone ever mention the following facts in connection to the looting of the Summer Palace:

1) As opposed to wanton looting, it was actually a calculated act of retribution ordered by the British Commander, the Earl of Elgin, in response to the torture to death of diplomatic envoys. (And some other prisoners, including a Times journalist.)

This was ordered by the Qing emperor himself.

2) The looting of the Summer Palace could not possibly have been an insult to the “Zhongguoren” because the “Zhongguoren” just didn’t exist back then. For the British it was simply the enemy leader’s nest. The Qing emperor himself would have flayed alive any commoner who would have dared suggest that his summer home had anything to do with the “people”. That dude treated his “people” - meaning his slaves - with just as much disregard as the British - and possibly more cruelty. (The British weren’t very imaginative in their ways of killing people.)"

This, from commenter "The Resident Poet" was the best comment, by far, on a mildly interesting thread featuring a number of despicables ("merp" froze up stiff when I put my hand on his shoulder). I hadn't known the details of what had happened at the summer palace during the second opium war, but I have had experience of the politics of opium war history. Aside from his insinuation that the British were naive as to how their vandalism would be received throughout China - surely false - I have to say that this guy did everyone a favour; even if none of them will acknowledge it.