1917

PEKING
687
of Government. The Court was shortly afterwards removed to Nanking, which was
considered the chief city of the Empire until, in 1421, Yung Lo, the third Emperor of
the Ming dynasty, again held his Court at Peking, since which date it has remained the
capital of China.”
The present city of Peking is divided into two portions, the Northern or Tartar
city and the Southern or Chinese. The former is being gradually encroached upon by
the Chinese, and the purely Manchu section of the capital will soon be very limited.
The southern city is almost exclusively occupied by Chinese. The general shape of
Peking may be roughly represented by a square placed upon an oblong, the former
standing for the Tartar and the latter for the Chinese city. The whole of the capital
is, of course, walled. The walls of the Tartar city are the strongest. They average 50 feet
in height and 40 feet in width, and are buttressed at intervals of about sixty yards.
The parapets are loop-holed and crenelated. They are faced on both sides with brick,
the space between being filled with earth and concrete. Each of the gateways is
surmounted by a three-storied pagoda. The walls of the Chinese city are about 30 feet
in height, 25 feet thick at the base, and 15 feet wide on the terre plein. The total
circumference of the walls round the two cities slightly exceeds twenty miles.
The Tartar city consists (Dr. Williams tells us) of three enclosures, one within the
other, each surrounded by its own wall. The innermost, called Kin-ching or Prohibited
City, contains the Imperial Palace and its surrounding buildings; the second is occupied
by the several offices appertaining to the Government and by private residences of
officials; while the outer consists of dwelling-houses, with shops in the chief avenues.
The Chinese city is the business portion of Peking, but it presents few features of interest
to sight-seers, while the enclosure known as the Prohibited City is, as its title denotes,
forbidden to all foreign visitors. The numerous temples, the walls, the Foreign Legations,
and the curio shops are the chief attractions to the tourist. The population of Peking
is not accurately known, but one Chinese estimate places it at 1,300,000, of whom
900,000 reside in the Tartar and 400,000 in the Chinese city. This figure may be exag¬
gerated, for according to police records there are 150,000 houses in the capital. If this
be multiplied by the western rates of five per house the total is 750,000, but probably a
higher rate than five inmates per house should be taken for China. There is little
direct foreign trade with Peking, but it is growing and the time cannot be far off when
the city will be thrown open to trade. In August, 1884, the city was brought into
direct telegraphic communication with the rest of the world, by an overland line to
Tientsin vid Tungchow. The year 1899 witnessed two other innovations, which would
have been regarded as impossible ten years previously, viz., the erection of large two-
storied buildings on prominent sites for the Austrian Legation and the Hongkong and
Shanghai Bank. These are breaks with immemorial tradition that the feng-shui must
resent elevation in houses other than those of the immortal gods and the son of heaven.
A railway line to Tientsin was opened in 1897.
Peking, though it suffered indescribably from the depredations of the Boxers,
the Imperial troops, the awful ruffianism of Tung-fuh-shiang’s barbarians from Kansu,
to say nothing of the subsequent attentions of the Allied troops, is at present more
attractive as an object of travel than before, for the simple reason that the City was
cleansed by the foreign Powers, and that many places of antiquarian, artistic or
historic interest are now accessible if the visitor sets about his object with due
attention to national susceptibilities.
During 1902 the fortification of the Legation quarter was completed, the railway
termini brought to the CKien Men in the Chinese City, and the reconstruction of the
various Legations was begun. These were slowly brought to completion, and extensive
barracks connected with each for the accommodation of the Legation Guards. As
most Chinese buildings in this section were removed the Legation quarter presents the
appearance of a European settlement of about half a square mile in extent. There are
several large stores, which sell all kinds of foreign goods. The Club House is much
larger and more convenient than it was before; there is a Soldiers’ Y.M.C.A., and a
Catholic Church for the Legation Guards, and two hospitals—St. Michel’s and the
Methodist Episcopal John L. Hopkins Memorial, which are provided with accommoda¬
tion for both. Chinese and European patients. There are several Banks—Hongkong
and Shanghai, Russo-Chinese, Banque de ITndo Chine, Banque Industrielle, Banque
Etrangeres, International Bank, Chartered Bank, Yokohama Specie, and Deutsch
Asiatische—all of which do a flourishing business. The streets are macadamized, and
two Electric Light Companies have been organized which will furnish light wherever
wanted in the city.