While the whole world is mourning the tragic burning of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, a number of Communist China netizens celebrate it as karma for the Anglo-French expedition force's setting fire to The Old Summer Palace (Yuanming Yuan) during the 1860 Second Opium War. Actually, the British High Commissioner to China, Lord Elgin, ordered the destruction of The Summer Palace because British envoy Harry Parkes had been imprisoned by the Chinese authorities for refusing to kowtow to the Qing Emperor, and 20 persons of the British peace-negotiation team dismembered. Just imagine: If U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, a member of the U.S. trade delegation to China, were cut to pieces in Beijing by the Chinese upon the order of President Xi, what would be America's reaction?
By the way, Elgin Street is located in Central, Hong Kong.
Text: Chapman Chen, Hong Kong Bilingual News
