The morning call., 1894-10-07

The destruction of the Chinese army at
Ping Yang, in Korea, and the crippling of
their fleet at the mouth or thu Yalu
River, indicate That the Japan csc threat
that they will march their soldiers nto
Picking before winter is by no means an
idle one. The Yalu River is the boun-
Diary between Korea and China. and as it
is now the Japanese practically control
the country. The territory of North
Korea is very poor, and the Chinese will
have to bring their supplies of food with
Them If they attempt another invasion.
The japanese will not need large army
TO keep them out, and they can now center
their forces upon China. Picking is by no
means hard 10 reach. The ground be-
tween it aud the sea is as flat as floor,
and If The japanese can be landed on The
east coast of the Gulf OF Pechili, they will
be Within a few days march of the great
Chinese capital. The only thing tina pre-
vents them from getting near it by water
is the big forts at the mouth of the Peiho
River. These are manned with Krupp
and Armstrong guns. and Ii Hung Chang's
army Is behind them. Wherever they
land, they will have TO fight what remains
of tits army, but a victory would mean
su bjugation of China.
peklng is perhaps one of the least
known cities of the world. / have paid
two visits to it. and | spent month in it
six years ago. During he present spring |
prowled about its streets for days a1d de-
voted myself TO making a study of the
town and its people. 1t is an immense
city. 1t contains about 100000 inhabi-
gan IF 1tt--f1
square miles, and the people as rule live
in One-sory houses. The city is sur
rounded by walls, which were built hun
dreds Of years ago and which must have
cost many millions of dollars. These walls
are in good condition with the exception OF
one or two places where the floods of last
winter undermined them and carried parts
of their facings away. 1t is hard t, give
az American an lea of one of these walled
cities of China. The walls of Picking are
sixty feet thick at the bottom. They
would I'LL the average country road or city
street, and they are as tall as a four-story
house. They are so wide at the top that
you could run three railroad trains side by
side around them, and they are so solid
thatthe cars would move more smoothly
over these tracks than they do on the
trunk lines between New York and Chi
cago. These walls are faced inside and
OUT with bricks. each as big as a four
dollar Bible, and the space between is
filed with earth and stones so rammed
down that the ages have made he whole
one solid mass. They are built, in fact,
much like the great wall of China, aud
the bricks of the two are almost exactly
the same. l have before me brick which
l brought from the great wall II weighs
about twenty pounds, or as much as two
year-old baby. It is blue-gray in color,
and it is covered with patches of white
lime mortar just like those that saw in
the broken places of the walls of Picking.
In approaching Picking, long before you
get to the city, you see the immense
towers which stand on the top of this wall
over the gates which enter the city. These
towers are as tall as a big New York fat
They rise nine stories abOve the wall, aud
they have roofs of blue tiles. They were
used in the past as watch towers, and
they have many portfolios for cannon.
There are thirteen gates which lead into
the city, and the towers and the walls
near these are plastered over with procla-
nations and bills much like a theater bill
board. The gates of Picking are merely
holes through this wall, and they are
about as wide as the ordinary street
and perhaps twenty feet high. They
are lined with stone and are beautifully
arched. They are closed at night with
great doors sheathed with iron and they
are paved with heavy slabs of stons. The
walls of Picking are twenty-seven miles
long and the area which they inclose is
irregular in shape and it consists of two
big parallelograms. The one at the north
Is the real capital of China, for it contains
the Tartar city, the great Government de-
partmeDts, the foreign legations and the
imperial city. in which, surrounded by
five to ten thousand eunuchs, the Emperor
lives. The lower parallelogram joins The
Tartar city. 1t has half dozen TEN pies,
including the Temple of Heaven, which
was burned down not long ago and which
is now being rebuilt of Oregon pine
The Chinese city is where all the mer-
camille business of this great capital is
done. 1t is cut up into narrow streets.
and it is filed with all sorts of stores. Ii
has markets of all kinds, and its fur
market covers several acres. Ii has it's
wholesale as well as its retail fur market
and l have gone cut at O'Clock in the
morning and found perhaps a thousand
Acknowledged merchants dressed in gor-
geous silks moving about through great
beds of furs of all kinds. The furs are
piled upon the ground, and you can buy
sbles for about So a skin and tiger skins
for $75, which will be worth twice that
amount anywhere else IN the world. You
can buy the finest of eTmine, and for $40 YOU
can get coat of lambs wool, OF the kind
that our ladies use for long opera cloaks
This Chinese city is city of banks and o.
stock exchanges. / visited one morning. til,
silver exchange. 1t was a room like
barn, and the people were buying and sell
ing stocks just as they do on Wall street
yelling and bowling and pushing eacl
other like mad as they did so. 1t is cltl
Of bookstores, and there are some street,
which contain no other shops. We bavi
the idea that the Chinese merely live upor
rice and on rats, and that their chief in
dustTies are the making OF mating. OF fan
and of silks. The truth is that China does
vast business, and she produces all sort
of ommodities. Nearly every one o
these Chinese streets contains shops of al
kinds. and the main business of China il
not the supplying goods for the foreigt
markets, but the making of those required
for her own people. They have as man,
wants as we have, and they require al
good goods.
l wish / could show you the markets O.