Behind the scenes in Peking

In Short

This vivid, eyewitness journal documents the 1900 siege of the International Legations in Peking during the Boxer Rebellion. Trapped alongside foreign diplomats, soldiers, and Chinese converts, Mary Hooker records the daily realities of holding out against overwhelming Imperial forces. The narrative moves from early rumors of rioting to relentless artillery fire, desperate hand-to-hand wall battles, and the agony of waiting for a relief column. It has endured as a remarkably direct, human account of a historic clash, capturing both the tragic terror and the bizarre domestic rhythms of living on the brink of massacre.

The Story

The narrative opens in late May 1900 with a deceptive sense of normalcy in Peking, though dark rumors of Boxer violence drift in from the surrounding countryside. Foreign residents gather for dinners and dances, hosted by figures like Sir Robert Hart, even as minor clashes erupt in the city markets and diplomatic posts rush to request marine guards from the coast. Within days, the situation deteriorates rapidly. Rioters burn the great Ch'ien Men Gate, telegraph wires are severed, and the foreign community finds itself completely isolated from the outside world.

As hostility escalates into open warfare, the foreign residents and hundreds of Chinese Christian refugees are forced to evacuate outlying compounds and consolidate their lines inside the British Legation and the adjacent Fu, the estate of Prince Su. Mary Hooker describes the immediate, chaotic reorganization of daily life: rooms are packed to the ceiling with trunks and tin cans, mattresses are rolled up to make seating, and luxury quickly gives way to rudimentary survival.

The middle weeks of the siege are defined by sheer physical ordeal and constant peril. Imperial troops and Boxers launch fierce, nightly assaults with rifle fire and incendiary attacks. Hooker records the desperate efforts of an unlikely defense force—diplomats, missionaries, soldiers, and coolies working side by side in bucket lines to extinguish raging fires along the compound walls. Heat reaches over 100 degrees, clean linen becomes impossible to find, and food rations dwindle until the community is forced to subsist on stored rice and slaughtered carriage ponies. Amid the violence, personal tragedies mount: young officers and comrades are buried in crude sacking under ongoing fire, while infants perish from a total lack of milk.

Tactical mind games accompany the physical assault. Letters arrive from the Tsung-li Yamen—the Chinese Foreign Office—alternately threatening total destruction and offering suspicious escorts out of the city, which the Ministers politely prolong through negotiation to buy precious time.

Relief finally comes in mid-August. The trapped residents listen in rapt silence to the distant, unmistakable boom of allied artillery approaching the city gates. Allied troops force their way through the outer walls and enter the compound via the Water Gate, ending the fifty-five-day siege. The book concludes in the immediate, surreal aftermath: the compound disperses into ruined, looted streets, survivors battle widespread typhoid, and military commanders secure the fallen city.

How It Unfolds

Rumors and early alarms The foreign community in Peking watches tense market crowds and burning city gates while eagerly awaiting the arrival of marine guards from the coast.

Retreat to the compound As communications are severed and violence spreads, diplomats and hundreds of native Christian refugees flee their homes to consolidate within the fortified British Legation.

Fighting the fires Defenders form human bucket chains under heavy sniper fire to extinguish massive incendiary fires set by Chinese forces along the Legation walls.

The siege deepens Life settles into a grueling routine of midnight attacks, strict food rationing, horse-meat dinners, and hasty burials for fallen comrades.

Diplomatic sparring The compound receives cryptic, threatening communications from Chinese officials offering safe passage, which the Ministers use to negotiate and stall for time.

The relief and aftermath Foreign artillery echoes outside the city walls as allied troops break through the gates, liberating the weakened survivors into a devastated, occupied Peking.

The People

• Mary Hooker: The observant diarist who balances terrifying night attacks with the mundane details of mess-hall life, documenting the siege with unflinching clarity.
• Herbert Squiers: The Secretary of the American Legation and effective chief of staff; a pragmatic organizer who coordinates defenses, secures provisions, and manages communications.
• Mrs. Squiers: A constant source of practical calm who manages family rations, maintains household order amid chaos, and tirelessly nurses typhoid patients in the aftermath.
• Sir Robert Hart: The long-serving Inspector-General of Chinese Customs; an enigmatic figure whose quiet authority and deep knowledge of China frame the compound's initial foreboding.
• Sir Claude Macdonald: The British Minister who assumes overall military direction of the besieged Legation compound, steering its varied international population through shifting defensive strategies.
• Dr. Morrison: The proactive correspondent who takes swift initiative during the opening crises to secure Prince Su's park as a refuge for vulnerable Chinese Christians.

In Its Own Voice

"If I live to be a thousand, I could never see a queerer collection of people working together to extinguish a fire, and with the object to save themselves from a massacre—coolies, missionaries, soldiers, and Ministers Plenipotentiary working and straining every muscle for the same object."

"We live quite sparingly, and are hungry most of the time. The chief comforts of our mess now are the Selzogene bottles that Mrs. Squiers brought with us from our Legation, in which we daily make enough soda-water to last throughout the day."

"Through the racket that was around us all night we could faintly hear the unmistakable sound of the foreign guns of our troops. The dull boom of distant artillery—artillery coming to our rescue! We no longer asked each other, 'When will the troops arrive?' We simply stood still, listening to this wonderful music, and goose-flesh ran up and down us."

What It's Really About

Behind the immediate suspense of military survival, the text examines how quickly the thin veneer of diplomatic privilege collapses under existential threat. Hooker reveals how social hierarchy, nationality, and status melt away when survival depends on a shared bucket line or a shared pot of pony stew. The narrative subtly captures the absurd contradictions of colonial existence—where formal dinner etiquette and seltzer bottles persist alongside terrifying bombardment and sudden death. At its core, the journal documents human adaptability, showing how quickly horror becomes routine, and how community resilience forms among disparate groups forced into a single, enclosed sanctuary.

Why Read It Today

Behind the Scenes in Peking offers an uncommonly immediate, raw perspective on a pivotal event in modern history. Free from the polished hindsight of formal history books, Hooker's journal entries carry the genuine uncertainty of someone who did not know if she would survive to see the next morning.

Readers who enjoy immersive history, military memoirs, or primary historical sources will find it fascinating. It moves at a brisk pace, driven by a sharp eye for telling details—from the sight of Queen Victoria’s portrait peppered with bullet holes to the subtle culinary differences between eating horse and mule.

Modern readers should be prepared for the casual imperialist assumptions and period terminology typical of Western residents in 1900 Asia. Yet despite these historical biases, the book remains a deeply compelling, unvarnished human document—a testament to how individuals handle extreme confinement, fear, and ultimate relief under conditions of historic siege.