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Peking - China.
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00:03:06,626 --> 00:03:09,108
The summer
of the year 1900.
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00:03:09,909 --> 00:03:12,071
The rains are late,
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00:03:12,592 --> 00:03:14,634
the crops have failed,
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a hundred million
Chinese are hungry
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and a violent wind
of discontent
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disturbs the land.
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Within the foreign compound
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a thousand foreigners
live and work,
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00:03:27,807 --> 00:03:30,649
citizens of a dozen
far-off nations.
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Priests and missionaries,
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00:03:50,710 --> 00:03:52,872
bankers and businessmen,
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00:03:53,153 --> 00:03:54,994
engineers and adventurers,
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diplomats,
soldiers and students...
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People with families, homes,
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00:04:01,481 --> 00:04:02,482
jobs.
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00:04:02,962 --> 00:04:06,405
Many have lived here
a lifetime and feel secure
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00:04:06,606 --> 00:04:08,848
as they go about
their daily routine.
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00:05:38,818 --> 00:05:41,100
What is
that terrible noise?
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00:05:41,541 --> 00:05:44,584
Different nations
saying the same thing,
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We want China.
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Sha-shao!
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Separated from the compound
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by only
a wall and a gate,
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is the Forbidden City.
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00:06:10,330 --> 00:06:13,292
Here, in untouchable isolation
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00:06:13,733 --> 00:06:17,536
lives the Dowager Empress,
last of the Manchus.
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00:06:18,098 --> 00:06:20,340
Protected by
an army of eunuchs,
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00:06:20,620 --> 00:06:23,542
she holds court
and confers with her ministers,
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mandarins and generals.
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...