This day in history

British troops occupying Peking, China, loot and burn the Yuanmingyuan, the summer residence of the Manchu emperors, originally built in the 18th century.

China’s Qing leadership surrendered to the Franco-British expeditionary force soon after, ending the Second Opium War and Chinese hopes of reversing the tide of foreign domination in its national affairs.

In the 1870s, Chinese Empress Dowager Cixi began rebuilding the palace and its stunning gardens, renaming it Yiheyuan, or Garden of Good Health and Harmony. In 1900, during the Boxer Rebellion, the palace was burned again by Western troops and it remained dilapidated until the Chinese communists rebuilt it in the 1950s.

Bolivian President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada is forced to resign as part of a scandal regarding the countries natural gas reserves.

The funeral of the so-called “Boss of Boss” Mafia boss Carlo Gambino takes place in New York, U.S.A.

The British Broadcasting Company, the BBC, is established.

American author Herman Melville’s book Moby Dick is published.

King Louis XIV of France revokes the Edict of Nantes, which had given protection to French Protestants.