Welcome back everyone to another China History Podcast episode.

L'Aslam Montgomery here with you once again.

In today, I have the pleasure to welcome Beijing long time

or James Zimmerman out to the CHP.

James is a partner in the Beijing Office of the prestigious law firm,

Perkins Kui.

He's been in China since 1998, the Jiang Zemin days.

James was also the four-time chairman

of the American Chamber of Commerce in China,

and you'll see him in your news feeds as a political commentator

in U.S.-China relations.

And fresh out of the oven from Hashtag Press is his new book,

The Peking Express, The Bandits who stole a train,

stunned the West, and broke the Republic of China.

Welcome to the CHP, James Zimmerman.

Thank you. It's a great opportunity to be here.

So let's just dive right in.

The story you've written about in your new book, The Peking Express,

that happened over a period of more than five weeks in May and June,

in 1923.

What was some of the historical background relevant to these events?

This happened seven years into the warlord era.

...