The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-07-25

BY FRANK c. CARPENTER.

Copyright, 1909 by Frank c. Carpenter1
 Mukden. Manchuria. 1909.
 AM in Mukden. the capital of Man
 ehuria. It is a city of a quarter of 4 million, lying P hours by express train almost due north of Dalny, and 20 hours more south of the Russian frontier By the Imperial Chinese rail way 1t is 26 hours from Pekin and lust D hours from Shanhaikwan, at the east ern &nd of the great Chinese wall It Is thEbiggest city of Asia. lying north of Pelkin, and is one of the most important of the whole Chinese empire. It is the nome Of the Manchus, and the birthplace Of the dynasty which now rules the 400,- Wo,oO0 Chinese. It has scores of noble Manchu families, and it furnishes a large portion of the Chinese officials.
 A Tartar City.
 Mukden is emphatica11y Manchu town. It makes one think of the Tartar sec ton of Pekin, except that it is better laid out and its streets are smoother and cleaner The city has two great walls about it. The outer one is of mud and is 19 miles long. The inner is about four miles in length. and it encloses circle
 
 the old Tartar camp of the past
 The inner walls are of brick. They are 40 feet high and so wide that two two-horse wagons could be driven abreast upon them. They run in an al- most perfect circle around the inner city, peln gentered by eight gates, each of which has walled inclosures about it. so that you wind in and out going through. flo .,Of halt l~. roads, for they think that evil spirits may be lost or turned back by the wind ings.
 The most important part of Mukden is the inner city. This contains the palaces of the Emperor of China, in which are stored fortunes in jewels and precious stones, wonderful carvings in silver and porcelain, worth their weight in gold. The palaces rise high above the rest of the city. They are great temple-like buildings, with curved roofs of the inn perial yellow. Their woodwork is paint ed In bright red and green. and is won derfully carved. The roofs are of porce- lain, and the yellow tiles shine like gold under the sun. For months last year the palaces were filled with wailing off cials, who went there day after day to weep for the old Emperor and the Elm press Dowager.
 The New Government Buildings.
 Mukden is the seat of the viceroy of Manchuria. The palaces of this man are larger than those of the Emperor They cover, I should say, half dozen acres, and contain hundreds of officials, in ad- dition to the viceroy himself. Tartar sol diers with guns in their hands stand at the gates and richly dressed Manchus may be seen going in and out at any time of the day. The vicsroy's palace are of modern construction. They are immense one and two story buildings, surrounded by walls 25 feet in height. They are of chocolate colored brick, well constructed, and are among the finest buildings north of the Himalaya mountains.
 A Look Over Mukden.
 I should like to give you view of Mukden from the great Drum Tower which cuts the two main streets at one corner. This tower is about 100 feet high. It rises from a pedestal 50 feet wide, through which two tunnel-like roadways cross at right angles. In pass- ing 1t this morning I noticed the wicket gate open, and without asking permis- sion I slipped in. I found two flights of stairs with high, narrow steps, up which is hung among the pigeon roosts under the roof.
 Suppose you stand there beside me and look over the city. Below us extending out to the wall on all sides is a gray mass of low one-story brick buildings which cover at least one thousand acres Through 1t run wide streets cutting each other at right angles, and over the whole