I recently did a tour of the legation quarter.
We visited the Belgian legation which is one of the only surviving parts and had afternoon tea. The french legation is still in use. British and Russian are now big government buildings.
We did a walking tour following the scenes of midnight in Peking with Bespoke travel company. Lars from Beijing Postcards Denmark was the tour guide.
“Midnight in Peking: How the Murder of a Young Englishwoman Haunted the Last Days of Old China” the true story of the murder of a young British woman in Peking in January 1937, written by Paul French
It was interesting to hear about the murder and go back in time to see what life was like in that time. It is amazing that nearly all the same places still exist to this day, so it really feels like going back in time.
It was an unsolved murder and we walked through the different parts of the legation quarter that were relevant in the investigation. She was murdered at night and her body found nearby, deeply mutilated. There were many suspects and a police investigation that didn’t solve the case. It was fascinating because she was the daughter of diplomat and it was a high profile case and how it was handled gives a great snapshot into life in beijing at the time.
The victim was Pamela Werner, 19-year-old daughter of retired British consul E. T. C. Werner and academic resident in Peking. Her killing and mutilation while cycling home from an evening of ice skating has never been solved. The expatriate community in Peking was widely shocked at the crime which, without specific evidence, was variously attributed to a Japanese secret society or an American organized sex ring. An Englishman resident in China claimed to have been informed by Japanese military officers that Werner’s death was in retaliation for the killing of a Japanese soldier by British soldiers in a drunken brawl. Although the source was a known eccentric, British diplomats provisionally accepted this account while not taking the matter further
Lars the tour guide actually looked into many police reports and found an interview with a rickshaw driver who saw 2 italians going into a bar in Beijing. What goes in, must come out, and as a rickshaw driver he sat outside waiting for them to finish. They then came out quite high and as he took them home, they held him up at knifepoint. Lars believes these were the killers and has the police report in Beijing postcards.
