The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-07-01

is vast open space, the two great in
closures of which are green with trees
and dedicated, respectively on the north
and south to the temple of agriculture
and the temple of heaven. In the mid.
die kingdom there are three great sys-
TENS Of religion. of worship and of phiIos-
ophy working together In harmony, with
a government which patronizes and con-
forms to each without friction and with
| out fusion.
OF all three the founders lived about
the sixth century B.. c., but Taoism has
had the popular advantage of being able
to Identify itself with every object of the
wonder of veneration of men. If the of
fetal classes, by reason of their train
ing, are mainly Confucianist-that is to
say, agnostic, in their sympathies-that
does not absolve them or their imperial
master from the regular and elaborate
observance of the great state services
Of the year. The mighty spirits of earth
ana heaven are invoked by the emperor
without the Intervention of eeclesiastic,
and, by deputy, through civil officers
throughout every province To the pow
ers of earth and heaven he processes him
self subject. He styles himself "Son Of
Heaven by imperial succession" and he
| asks for the efficient aid'' of the s'im-
| perial spirits of earth and heaven by
sacrifice and oblation.
AN AMERICANS PRIVILEGE.
Foreigners are rigidly excluded from the
Temple Of Heaven, where, once a year,
at, dead Of night, the emperor goes in
soIe1nn procession. The gates are kept
strictly closed to all but the duly quail
ned 1t was not always so, and there are
OLD Peklng residents who have in days
gone by entered the precincts in Chinese
dress, one in particular being Lii Hung
Chang's popular secretary, Mr.. Pethick,
an American gentleman who has lived
In CHINA for many years. An exception
was made in the case of Prince Henry
OF Prussia, but, unhappily, the result has
! been, according to Chinese logic, to in
! sure continuance of last years drouth
! and to hold up the rainclouds to the utter
| lmpoYertShment of the land. The connec-
/ ton between cause and effect does not
seem very close but none less so than the
! popular belief reported recently from Per-
sla that a like failure was due to the
! setting up OF a stone by a foreign sur
| Veyor.
Beyond the area of temples random
! aggregation of wooden shops leads up
| 70 one or the principal gates, pierced in
| the Tartar wall, the second and famous
wall Of Peking. In all, this wall is twelve
miles round, aanked by protruding bas-
tlonS and sol1dly faced with broad baked
pricks, the twenty feet of space between
the sides being filled up with mud reduced
| to the consistency of cement. The stored
towers above the gates are TERED with in
cllned openings. made to look as if they
masked cannon, and actually painted
! with white and black circles to make the
! delusion complete, in order to cheat the
| goo OF war as he passes by. These paint
ed Dr1ckS are good example Of Chinese
! civilization. Even though they be but
slmulacra, it IS the natural duty of a
Ch1naman to respect them as if they
| contained the finest of artillery The
| appearance is right and the appearance
Is everything. No gate in China admits
| direct to an Enclosure, and inside the
great gate of Picking there is a curve
how
| first. leading to the most important and
I busiest thoroughfare. in which are to
be found the principal trades and hos
tleries.
A great difference exists between the
imperiaf capital and the provincial cities,
! in that the main streets of Pekin are of
adequate width, although stalls and
booths have been set up between the
frontage and the roadway on either side
The buildings are rarely two stories high:
most Of them have fiat roof, protected
| Dy carved wood parapet. Another diP-
| ference between the north and the mid
! lands is that the cold of the Monaghan
desert and the high ATTITUDES make the
people close IN the fronts with boards
there keeps out the wind. Signboards
scrolls, banners and trade emblerns are in
front OF every shop or place of business
! Scarlet, brown, yellow and bfack, with
| characters of brightest gold, they make
| a striking show of color that is relief
| from the uniform menotony of Chinese
eeooeui10, anu Tie SoIQ Is parucularly ef-
| fecuve as means OF distinction Amid
| trade signs, some, notably those of the
barber and the pawnbroker, are not un-
| like the old signs of the West; the boot
! makers have the same as can be seen in
Nuremberg today; Others with many col
ored paper scraps and strips, are less
| ineligible.
A certain amount of fantastic carving
| in wood used for external decoration.
inclosing the widest carieatures of man
and beast, and on the wood doors of the
houses are painted the figures of Chinese
gods and heroes, designed to strike terror
fanny Of the paving and roadmaking OF
| Pekin has passed into a proveFb Orfgf-
naliy the stone tagged passways that
lead from the Chinese to the Tartar wall,
aid to and from the several gates nIIsi
have been grand achievements. made up