We welcomed Beijing-based author and lawyer James Zimmerman to discuss his book, The Peking Express: The Bandits Who Stole a Train, Stunned the West, and Broke the Republic of China (2023). The Peking Express is a true story about China’s great train robbery of 1923 and full of banditry, political intrigue, heroism, and a reflection of the excesses of the Warlord Era in early twentieth-century China. The crisis—covered extensively in newspapers around the world—lasted for six weeks while the bandits moved the hostages across the Shandong countryside with the Chinese army in pursuit.
This event was co-sponsored by Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service Asian Studies Program and Initiative for U.S.-China Dialogue on Global Issues.
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James M. Zimmerman is a Beijing-based author and lawyer who has lived and worked in China for more than 25 years. He is among China’s leading foreign lawyers and represents companies and individuals confronted with the political and legal complexities of doing business in mainland China. He is the former four-term chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China.
Dennis Wilder is a senior fellow for the Initiative for U.S.-China Dialogue on Global Issues at Georgetown University, where he previously served as the managing director. Wilder holds a B.A. from Kalamazoo College and an M.S. in foreign service from Georgetown University.
