Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-07-21
Masses Of Masonry Surrounding Its
Three Sections.
TARTAR, CHINESE And FORBIDDEN
Around the First City Average
Height is Fifty Feet.
BUILDINGS AND G. ATES
Copyright, 1899. by r. G. Skerrett)


Written for The Evening Star
GIorified by traditions of oriental gram
deur. praised by celestial writers as the fit
ting home of the son OF heaven. and beaut-
fed in our own minds by the glamour which
surrounds everything in the far east, We
are hardly prepared 10 accept the modern
European estimate of filth. wretchedness
and squai!d splendor'' with which Pekin is
viewed by we ''barbarians.'
Whatever that great city may have been
in the centuries back when the wise Mings
ruled it is certainly now but the sad re-
hinder of the days of its ancient glory, and
but for what direct diplomatic Intercourse
meant in the protection and furtherance OF
Cur commercial interests in that grea. en-
pire it would be hard to justify the covert
insults snubs and other indignities heaped
upon European diplomats since the days of
their first admission to the Tartar city of
Fekin. Forced TO live only in the shadows
of the walls of the imperial city and along
the fou! run of a great open sewer. life
there has been made tolerable only by
invigorating climate and the friendly inter-
course of this coterie Of diplomatic exie5-
The records of diplomacy pure and simple
don't gIisJen with many red-letter days in
the sense Of European achievement, while,
the other hand. there many dark
pages of oriental duplicity and double deal
ing.
Iekin is situated in a sandy plain about
thirteen miles northwest of the Pei-ho river
and a hundred and ten miles west north
wes- from lis mouth canal called the
Nun-liarg-hO runs from under the city
walls 10 Tung-Chow. where it enters the
Iel-ho, and this is navigab!e only to craft
OF the highest draft. 1t is by the paved
way from Tuus-CnOw that one has the
most striking approach to the capital of
China y fine high road of some hundred
yards in width extends for two miles out
side the city walls. and here are gathered
2 very respectable lot OF shops. which. IN
cleanliness, contrast most favorah!y with
the streets and shops within the city.
The city formerly existed the site of
The southern portion of Pellin. now called
the Chinese city, and was the capital OF
the kingdom Of Yen about 222 B. c. This
kingdom was overthrown by the Tsin
dynasty and the seat Of government moved
elsewhere. The court was restored TO
Pekin by the fourth sovereign OF the Kin
dynasty in 115l. and named the Celestial
residence In 1915 it was captured by
Geahis Khan. In 1864 kublai Kahn TX d
his residence there. the city being move
one mile 10 the north of its former stand.
Thus the Old portion became. has been
said. the present Chinese city, and the
terms northern and southern city, or
more commonly ''nei-ching'' (withn the
wallis and Watching without the wallis
came into Under the native emperors
who succeeded the Mongol dynasty the
court was removed TO Marking. which was
considered the chief city of the empire
until. i'll 1921. Yung 10, the third emperor
OF the Ming dynasty. again removed tie
seat of government 10 Pekin. since which
Gate II has remained the capital of China.
Under the Mongols the city was called
-Talik-corrupted into Cambalu-hence
The given to it by Marco Polo anu
ether early writers. the Tartars call it
Ug-Cheng-uorthern. royal, residence,
but generally omit the Pei"
Divided in Two.
Pekin was at first surrounded by a single
wall. pierced with nine gates. A part of
the southern portion was subsequently
closed. and the city now consists of two
parts-the northern, or Tartar city, and the
southern. or Chinese city. The Tartar city
contains about twelve square miles of
ground. while the Chinese contains fifteen
square miles and by far the larger portion
OF the population. In the Tartar city are
situated the imperial city. the government
buildings and barracks for the imperial
guard OF Manchu bannermen, the real bull
wark between the throne and the subiu-
gated Chinese. who are secretly feared by
the Tartars- The southern Chinese city
Is inhabited wellnigh exclusively by Chi
ness- At the time of the Manchu conquest
al their officers were billeted in good houses
within the northern city, but the shrewd
MongolS were too much for the unbusinesS-
Ike Ta-tars, and in course of time gained
possession of these holdings to such an ex-
tent that the northern city is now pretty
thickly settled by the Chinese land owners
The walls Of the Tartar city are of an
average height Of fifty feet. but portions OF
the north wall reach the height of sixty-one
'eet. Their average width is sixty feet at