{"product_id":"the-peking-express-isbn-9781541701700","title":"The Peking Express","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe thrilling true story of train-robbing revolutionaries and passengers who got more than they paid for in this \u003ci\u003eMurder on the Orient Express\u003c\/i\u003e–style adventure, set in China’s republican era.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e In May 1923, when Shanghai publisher and reporter John Benjamin Powell bought a first-class ticket for the Peking Express, he pictured an idyllic overnight journey on a brand-new train of unprecedented luxury—exactly what the advertisements promised. Seeing his fellow passengers, including mysterious Italian lawyer Giuseppe Musso, a confidante of Mussolini and lawyer for the opium trade, and American heiress Lucy Aldrich, sister-in-law of John D. Rockefeller Jr., he knew it would be an unforgettable trip.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Charismatic bandit leader and populist rabble rouser Sun Mei-yao had also taken notice of the new train from Shanghai to Peking. On the night of Powell’s trip of a lifetime, Sun launched his plan to make a brazen political statement: he and a thousand fellow bandits descended on the train, capturing dozens of hostages.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Aided by local proxy authorities, the humiliated Peking government soon furiously gave chase. At the bandits’ mountain stronghold, a five-week siege began.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Brilliantly written, with new and original research, \u003ci\u003eThe Peking Express\u003c\/i\u003e tells the incredible true story of a clash that shocked the world—becoming so celebrated it inspired several Hollywood movies—and set the course for China’s two-decade civil war.","brand":"PublicAffairs","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44895415468261,"sku":"NP9781541701700","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/O_6977173a-ebee-49eb-9d02-8f80b53b26ae.jpg?v=1773106628","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-peking-express-isbn-9781541701700","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}