Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1870-05-26
A Chapter on Chinese Walls

| lie sees them. The walls surrounding
the city of Pekin are from twenty
two to twenty-five miles in length,
and, on an average, fifty feet high.
This wall is sixty-six feet thick, at
the bottom, and fifty,four at the
top, and once in a few yards there
are immense buttresses to give it
still greater strength. At every
fifth buttress the wall, for the space
of one hundred and twenty-siX feet
in length, is two hundred and fifty
six feet in thickness. In several
places the foundation Of this wall
is of marble, and when the ground
is uneven, immense quantities of
cement, as durable, nearly, as gran
ate, and about as hard, have been
used to level up the ground. The
main body of this wall is made OF
bricks, each twenty inches long,
ten inches wide, and five inches
thick. These bricks are burned
very hard, and have precisely the
appearance of stone.
"On the inside Of this wall, as
we'll as on others, in other cities,
there are esplanades, or stairways,
with gates to them for ascending
them. And over all the gateweys
there are immense towers, as LARGE
as great churches, and much high
or, constructed of these great burnt
bricks, On the top of this immense
wall there is a railing, both on the
outside and inside, coming up to a
mans waist, which railing itself is
a wall, thus giving a sense of secu'
rity to a person walking on the top.
The outside railing is made into
turrets, for the use Of cannon, in
case of attack, The entire top of
the wall is covered with strong
burned brick, twenty inches square,
resembling the tagging Of our side
walks in large cities,-only, as l
have said, these walks are ffty-four
feet wide.
There is no way of getting into
the city, only to go through this
immense wall And wherever
there is gate for the purpose OF
getting through, there is another
wall built, inclosing a sauHpes spaces
compelling all persons who 90 INTO
the city to go through two walls, by
passages alright angles to each 9th
er. The walls are so immensely
thick, that these passages through
them, arched over with cut stone,
remind one exactly of our railroad
tunnels in the United States. At
each of these great archways there
is an enormous gate made OF strong
timbers, everywhere as ten inches
thick, and covered on both sides
with plates of iron, like the sides OF
our war ships. These gates are
shut early in the evening, generally
before sundown, and not allowed
to be opened during the night for
any purpose. They are fastened on
the inside by means of strong
beams of timber
Il have been somewhat particu-
lar in describing this wall, because
the general construction of all walls
in China are similar to this one, al.
though they are not all so high nor
so thick. But there are probably a
thousand walled cities in China,
whose walls will average twenty
five feet high and twenty feet thick,
and another thousand whose wallis
NAV be somewhat less. Then there
is the great Tartar Wall, a little
north of Pekin, one thousand five
hundred miles long, and older than
the Christian era, thicker and high
er than any of the rest. There are
said to be one thousand five hun
dred prefectual cities in China. All
these are surrounded by walls built
by the Government, besides the
great number Of cities whose walls
are made at the expense OF the city
government alone. And when we
have spoken of the walls surround
inc the cities, we have by no means
done with the subject. For exam
ple-in PelIin, inside the inclosine
wall, there is another of miles in
extent, surrounding what is called
the Imperial City. Then, again, in
side of this is another immense
wall, surrounding what is called
the Prohibited City. Within this
inner inclosure is the residence ol
the Emperor, and all the Other
buildings connected with royalty
And SO the Altar and Temple oi
Heaven are surrounded by two con.
centric walls OF great eXCenG aho
magnitude, which must be passed
hy means of immense gates. Then
there is the great wall, covered
with dry thorn brush surrounding
what is called the Place Of Punish
ment, where criminals are behead-
ad and their heads exposed in ca
ges for a terror evil doers, and
where other criminals are crucilied
and vet others starved to death
amid the most pitcous moaning
and insane rawlings for food. Again
the Hall of Literary Examination
where forty thousand men compete
for literary degrees, and where the
longest purse is more successful
than the hardest study, is sur
rounded by another wall and en-
tered by gates. Then all places oi
| idoIatrous worabip. and they are le-