Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1894-10-24
THE HEAVENLY CITY.
Where the Emperor OF China
DwellS.
FOUR CITIES WITHIN ITS WALLS.
Some Odd Customs of the Celestals The
Privileges of Womankind-Differ-
ent Dialects Spoken.
OUR CITIES WITHIN ITS WALLS.

the Heavenly City, is the least known
to foreigners. 1t is situated upon a
sandy plain about twelve miles north
of the Pei-ho In olden times it was
known to the Chinese as the capital
of the Land of Swallows; that is, the
YEN Kwoh district, and its history
from that period until it became the
metropolis of the Dragon Empire is
startlingly interesting.
The present Emperor, who dwells
within the Imperial City, a special
division of Peking, is Manchu.
The Manchu Tartars have a very OBJ
scure origin. According to priestly
records they were a miserable. impov-
erished people, among whom some
Mongols took up their abode on the ex-
pulsion of that race from China. Tae-
Tsoo was the first chief of the Manchus
called upon to subjugate the Chinese.
Marching an army against the Chi
nese, the Tartar king defeated them
with great slaughter in the year 1913.
In 1885 the Manchu declared himself
Emperor of China and established his
forces at Peking.
From the commencement of this dy-
nasty up to within few years the en-
pire has never been entirely free from
rebellions The Tapeing rebellion and
the Tien-Tsin massacre are probably
the worst. In 1860 Peking was taken
by the English and French.
The trip from Tien-Tsin to Peking is
interesting. The country is for the
most part sandy and olayey. Deep
impressions in the earth show where
herds of camels, bearing tea Siberia
ward, have crossed.
The view is not so dreary the nearer
one gets to the capital. Summer
decks even these gray and sandy plains
and broken hills with her annual COW
ering. Soon you espy series of wood
ed hills. A little farther on, mounds
of ruined gray stone, which look as
though great slabs had been hewn away
for implements of warfare.
Suddenly, like great sun rising on
a dull horizon, the traveller beholds
Peking, standing out bold and magni-
ficent with it's odd architecture, vari-
colored temples and palaces, as CEN
tral figure on massive canvas.
From the heights which overlook the
capital it appears to be situated in the
midst of thick forest, all the palaces,
temples, cemeteries and converts being
surrounded by fine plantations and
avenues. The royal quartet of divis-
ions of Peking are Watching, the
Chinese City; Tsz-Kin- Ching, or Pro-
hibited City; Hwang- Ching, or Imper-
ial City, and Nin-Ching, or Manchu
rian City.
Min Ching has an area of twelve
square miles. 1t is an ideal Tartar
city, and differs in every way from the
distinct Chinese city. The houses are
taller, more elaborately decorated and
cleaner than Mongolian dwelling
places. The city wall rises on all sides,
a marvelously imposing background.
The architecture of the entire city is of
a peculiar irregular, untutored style.
The great Lamax Temple is in the
northeastern corner of the Tartar city.
Watching, the Chinese City, has an
area of fifteen square miles. The wall
about this inclosure is thirty feet high
and twelve feet in breadth. Few parts
of the capital are more interesting than
Wal Ching, furnishing as it does a dis
tinct variety of the different Chinese
tribes which center here from all the
provinces, reproduction of pictures OF
religions and modes of life in the en-
tire Middle Kingdom. In other quar-
ters of Peking every person you meet
almost is Manchu, but here the great
mass is Chinese.
There are inhabitants here form
every part of China, and owing to the
difference in provincial dialects dwell
ers within the same city walls cannot
make themselves known to each other
unless they are learned i'll the Manda-
rim tongue, the national language.
The city has imposing buildings and
churches, Mahometan mosques, Chi
nese joss houses, massive warehouses,
queer old bazaars and long suburbs of
Chinese cottages. The Peking China
men are not as talented or intelligent
as those of Hong Kong or Canton.
They are very fat and inclined to be
indolent, and don't have the ambition
of the natives of Fokien and Kwang-
Tung. The women are better looking
than the men, and owing to the near
ness to the Manchu race are given
more liberty.
Here is marked contrast between
the ruling people, the Mauchurians,
and the Chinese The former do not
countenance cramped feet; they de-
mand that the women be taught to read
and write. when parents can afford it;
their women ride astride and appear in
public whenever the desire possesses
them.
The Empress-Dowager is apparently
only Empress or She-King of the
West" as her subjects put it, yet she