James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin and 11th Earl of Kincardine (20 July 1811 – 20 November 1863), was a British colonial administrator and diplomat. He was the Governor General of the Province of Canada, a High Commissioner in charge of opening trades with China and Japan, and Viceroy of India. As British High Commissioner in China during the Second Opium War, after repeatedly attacking China, he ordered the destruction of the Old Summer Palace in Beijing in 1860.