The total destruction of the Qing summer palace of Yuanmingyuan in the fall of 1860 is a momentous episode in the history of late imperial China that continues to haunt China's relationship with the Western world. The recent efforts by official organizations and private individuals to identify and repatriate twelve bronze animal heads representing the Chinese zodiac, which were looted from the imperial complex 153 years ago, are but one example of this troubled legacy.
Drawing on recent advances in “new military history,” Dr. Ines Eben von Racknitz set out to write the story of the destruction of the famed palace as a “history of events” (Ereignisgeschichte), a genre of microhistory in the Annales tradition. Within this framework, she endeavors to explore looting, pillaging, and plundering as a “cultural practice” (p. 12) that is rooted in different imperial traditions and cultures of nineteenth-century Europe. With an impressive grasp...
