Peking
or Pekin, the capital of the Chinese Empire. The name is derived from Pei, north, and king, capital. The city is situated on a plain near the Hun-ho. It is about forty miles within the Great Wall, one hundred miles from the coast, and about eighty miles from Tientsin, its port, farther down the Hun-ho. It is two thousand miles from Hong-Kong, and half as far from Shanghai. The fortieth parallel of latitude runs near Peking and Philadelphia. The climate resembles that of Cincinnati.
Although the starting point for an extensive caravan trade with Mongolia, Siberia, Russia, and Central Asia, Peking is an administrative and residence, rather than a commercial, city. The original city, still known as the Tartar or North City, is about four and one-half miles square. It is surrounded by a wall eighteen miles in circuit. The wall is sixty feet thick at the base, fifty feet high, and forty feet wide at the top. Horsemen may make the ascent by means of slopes within. At intervals of sixty yards, square towers project fifty feet. The wall is faced with brick, laid firmly in clay and cement. There are nine gates. The entire wall is surrounded by a ditch. The Chinese consider Peking the oldest and most sacred city in China.
In 1543 a second city, about twelve square miles in area, having the form of an oblong, was built on like a lean-to across the southern end. It is surrounded by a wall thirty feet high, similarly built and similarly fortified. The two cities are separated by the south wall of the old city. It is pierced by three gateways only.
Seen from the walls, the old north city is a series of groves and gardens, half hiding the gay red, blue, green, and yellow tiled roofs of the temples, mansions, and palaces. At the very center, protected by inclosures within inclosures, like a temple surrounded by a court and an outer court, lies the "Purple Forbidden City," in which stands the emperor's palace. Here, in halls unsurpassed for size and barbaric splendor, the "Son of Heaven" gives audience to prostrate ambassadors from tributary states and hears the reports of his ministers. Only the highest dignitaries dwell in the Forbidden City. Its wall is faced with yellow tiles, the royal color.
Around this is the inclosure known as the Imperial City, the city official, where imperial business is transacted. Of late, Chinese merchants and tradesmen have been permitted to crowd in. Outside of the Imperial City, but within the outer walls of the city, lies a general residence and business section. This and the southern city contain densely inhabited quarters and business streets, as well as large spaces occupied by gardens.
The total population of Peking is about 700,000. Since 1858 foreign ministers, representatives of other governments, not missionaries, have been permitted to reside in Peking. Other foreigners are permitted to visit if provided with passports, but residence and trading are forbidden.
There are several railways. Coal formerly carried from the mines on the backs of camels is now brought by rail. The supply of water is abundant. The system of drainage is crude and horribly offensive. The streets are wide, unpaved, and muddy or dusty according to season. A species of falcon is said to do the work of the city scavenger.
On early morn of the 22d day of December, the shortest day in the year, the emperor climbs a marble tower 150 feet high, the top of which is ninety feet in diameter. It is paved with nine circular rows of marble blocks. The outer row contains nine times nine, or eighty-one blocks; the inner row contains nine blocks. The center piece is a perfect circle. On this circle, surrounded by nine bands or circular rows of marble, by the circular walls, and by the great horizon, the emperor kneels and beseeches Shang-ti for a return of the sun for seed time and harvest. There are many temples in and about the city. The famous Peking Bell weighs sixty tons. It is fourteen feet high, thirty-four feet in circumference at the rim and is nine inches thick. It is struck with a wooden beam by the night watch and gives notice by a deep boom of the passage of the hours.
The buildings are of one story, of painted brick, red, blue, and green. Along the streets booths and awnings shelter the tradesmen's stock. Piles of goods attract the eye. Gay streamers, flags, bunting, and Chinese sign poles in red and gilt serve to advertise. The barber gets out into the street with his razors, scissors, and stool; the cook thrusts the handle of his huge umbrella in the sand and fires and stews in public; the peddler calls his wares; the fortune teller proclaims his own virtues; the policeman goes up and down, using his whip and adding to the babel of sounds. "By day and by night, by the light of the sun, or by the illumination of torches and paper lanterns, the roar of these great thoroughfares is incessant; shopkeepers, peddlers, mountebanks, quack-doctors, passengers on foot or on horseback, each and all contributing to the general hubbub." The residents of Peking are vociferously engaged in making a living apparently from each other. The city is far from neat. It is ill drained and unsanitary.
Although much attached to the ways of their fathers, there are signs that Peking is learning from the West. Ten years ago a man seen reading a newspaper was considered a follower of "western devils." There were in 1906 ten dailies published in the Chinese language.
The following account of the foreign or legation portion of Peking is taken from an article by Frank G. Carpenter, the brilliant author and syndicate correspondent, whose geographical readers have found wide acceptance:
Stand with me beside the great tower above the Gate of Chien Men and look down upon the home of Uncle Sam in Peking. We are in the center of the wall which separates the Chinese and Tartar cities and in the very heart of the Chinese capital. The Legation city lies right below us. We are sixty feet above it and high over the vast mass of low tiled buildings which form the two sister cities. Turning to the south, we look over business Peking, with its thousands of Chinese stores, and beyond it can see the Temple of Heaven and agriculture, where the little emperor gets down on his yellow knees and prays for his people. It is there that he sacrifices, and there he starts the spring plowing for the nation.
Now let us turn to the north. We are facing the huge Tartar city. Its residences are almost hidden in a forest of low trees, but the temples show out here and there and the Imperial City is right at our front. The legation quarter bumps up against it, and Uncle Sam's home adjoins the wide road which leads to the Pink Forbidden City, which is in the center of the Imperial City. It is there that the baby emperor lives, and there, surrounded by countless yellow servants and 3,000 pig-tailed eunuchs, he is now squalling for his bottles and nurses. That American marine at his guardhouse beside us could, by lifting his rifle, send a ball into the palaces, and the south-central gate, which leads to them, is not 1,000 feet from where we are standing. See how the yellow tiles of the palace roofs blaze under the sun and the towers of the great gates stand out against the blue sky. That road just below us, which hugs the American legation, goes on to the palaces. It is the chief path of the officials on their way to visit his majesty, and they must walk under Uncle Sam's walls a part of the distance.
Now turn your eyes to the foreign city, the Legation City, which extends along this wall. It is perhaps a mile long and half a mile wide, forming a rectangle in the very heart of official and business Peking. This massive wall, as high as a four-story house and so wide that fifty soldiers could march abreast upon its paved highway, is the southern boundary.
What would you think of a great armed camp, filled with ammunition guarded by foreign soldiers and surrounded by walls, in the very heart of London, Paris, Berlin, or Washington? That is what the Legation City is in Peking. The rectangle I have described is made up of many walled compounds. Each legation has its own compound or grounds; and each set of grounds its own walls about it. The walls about the American legation are at least twelve feet in height, and the walls of some of the others are so wide that the soldiers march upon them. The entrances to the compounds are through great doors which are barred after nightfall, and in front of each door a soldier stands guard. Some of the entrances are beautifully ornamented with huge marble lions on pedestals. The soldiers usually stand between the lions or just outside and one sees uniform after uniform as he walks through the streets. The greatest nations of Europe have their representatives here, and the soldiers of each legation have their own dress. One sees the Cossack in his fur cap, long coat and high boots; the Japanese in khaki; the French officer looking as though he came from a bandbox, and at the British legation the bare-kneed Highlanders who march to the sound of the bagpipes as they go through the streets. In all, there are more than 1,800 soldiers and officers in charge of this camp. They are tried men and ready to shoot at command. Each legation has quarters for its soldiers and each has its own ammunition and guns, as well as stores of food in case of a siege.