Ep. 137 | Sir Edmund Backhouse (Part 1)

The China History Podcast
Written By Laszlo Montgomery

In this episode, we will begin a 3-part series covering the life of Sir Edmund Trelawny Backhouse, 2nd Baronet. He lived from 1873 to 1944, spending more than half his life in Beijing. Backhouse is, unfortunately, best known for the various frauds he committed over the period of his life.

In his last year of life, he was urged by Dr. Reinhard Hoeppli to commit the fantastic stories of his life to paper. The result was two memoirs, “The Dead Past”, about his days in Europe before 1898, and “Décadence Mandchoue”, Backhouse’s racy and pornographic account of his years in China, mixing with all the Manchu royals and carrying on sexual relationships with the Empress Dowager Cixi and her eunuchs.

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Terms in Episode

Pinyin/TermChineseEnglish/Meaning
Baijiu白酒Chinese fiery clear alcoholic beverage, between 40-60% ABV
Cixi慈禧The Empress Dowager Tzu Hsi
Daoguang道光The Daoguang Emperor
Jing Shan景善a.k.a. Ching Shan, The court official whose diary Backhouse faked
Kang Youwei康有为Controversial figure in late 19th century China politics, closely associated with the Hundred Days of Reform under the Tongzhi Emperor
laowai老外foreigner
Li Lianying李蓮英Grand Eunuch during the reign of the Dowager Empress
Liang Shiyi梁士诒Yuan Shikai’s finance minister, a high-up guy in the Beiyang Government
Prince Chun醇亲王Father of the Guangxu Emperor, grandfather of Puyi, half brother of the Xianfeng emperor
Puyi溥仪The Last Emperor
Rong Lu荣禄Also known as Jung-lu, Cixi’s most trusted official, a major power in China
Xu Shichang徐世昌President of the ROC from 1918-1922…Yuan Shikai’s closest advisor and ally

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Laszlo Montgomery
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Ep. 138 | Sir Edmund Backhouse (Part 2)
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Ep. 136 | Wong Chin Foo