Note 118 — XXI HOW THE BOXER LEADERS DIED

This was no empty boast. Yü Hsien, cold-blooded fanatic that he was, bore a most honourable name for absolute integrity and contempt for wealth. He died in poverty, so miserable, that amongst all his clothes there was not one suit new enough to be fittingly used for his burial robes. His name is still held in high honour by the people of Shansi, who sing the praises of his Governorship, and who claim that his proud spirit it was which protected their Province from being invaded by the foreigners. They erected a shrine to his memory, but it was demolished to appease the foreign Powers.