About

This game was created for ShuffleComp 2025, which ran from December 20, 2025, to January 30, 2026.

It was primarily inspired by the song "55 Days at Peking Chinese Boxer Version 北京55日中文義和團版" by Dimitri Tiomkin and The Victorian Chinese, submitted to ShuffleComp anonymously. The information below is paraphrased from the background information provided by the submitter. Any errors and omissions are mine.

This is a 2022 remix of a song from 55 Days at Peking, a 1963 Hollywood film starring Charlton Heston and Ava Gardner. The film, which was shot in Spain and features actors in yellowface, was about the Boxer Rebellion: the Boxer siege of Western compounds in Beijing at the turn of the 20th century. The production of the film was troubled and expensive, and the principal writer, Bernard Gordon, ended up being uncredited because he had been blacklisted for being a former member of the Communist Party.

In 2020, youtubers began rewriting the lyrics to "55 Days at Peking" from the perspectives of the countries in the Eight-Nation Alliance: Germany, Japan, Russia, Britain, France, the United States, Italy, and Austria-Hungary. The version by youtuber The Victorian Chinese (who is possibly an American) is written from the Boxers' perspective and features lyrics like "the devils all have blue eyes" and "we shall surely eliminate all foreigners." This version has gone viral in China, and is often posted as a meme for what Chinese students must secretly be thinking when they perform poorly on compulsory English exams.

The film within the game, These Very Stars, was inspired by lines from "Rule #47 - The Birds are Plotting" by Fish in a Birdcage, submitted to ShuffleComp by L, and "Bright Whites" by Kishi Bashi, submitted anonymously.

"These Very Stars" is a line from the theme song from 55 Days at Peking: "The Peking Theme (So Little Time)" by Andy Williams.

The cover image is "Prophecies of the apocalypse," a color lithograph from the British astrological magazine the Prophetic Messenger, also known as Raphael's Almanac, which was published from 1827 to 1961. The original is held by the Wellcome Collection. The Sea of Voices is part of the Fallen London universe.

This game was created with Strawberry Starter, a simple, quick blog template for 11ty by Kate Bagenzo.

Thank you very much to beta tester Genevieve Manset for the invaluable feedback.

You can see more of my work on my blog. This game, like all my creative work, was produced in my capacity as an individual.

Thank you for playing!