What happens
The Pacific Story presents a dramatized history of Rehol, the mountain fortress in North China that served as the Manchu emperors' summer capital. The narration follows its palaces and lakes, and the Empress Dowager, who recounts her role in the strangling of the Emperor Kwang-su. It then traces the emperors' summer court politics, a British mission led by Lord McCartney, and later the Chinese warlord Dong Yulin, whose forces resist a Japanese advance. As the province changes hands between Japan, Russia, Chinese Communists and Nationalists, the palace grounds become a battleground. The episode is part of the NBC series The Pacific Story, and the transcript does not give its air date or cast here.
Rehol, a mountain fortress and summer palace in North China, from the Manchu period through the Japanese occupation and the Chinese civil war
Characters: Empress Dowager, Emperor Chen Long, Lord McCartney, Captain Spandro, Emperor Kwang-su, General Dong Yulin, General Mutoh, General Marshall
Listen for: The Empress Dowager's account of Rehol's curse and the strangling of Emperor Kwang-su, and the fall of General Dong's forces to the Japanese advance
Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.