The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1911-03-09
PGkn City, Is | Saw Il
By Guard Pelican.


On the waste plains of China, 155
miles north west of Ching wang Tao
bay, lies one of the most historical
cities on the Eastern Hemisphere,
the capitol of China, surrounded by
high wall, on which there is a
mark of passing centuries. Pekin
was built, rather rebuilt, about nine
hundred years ago, by Monaghan
tribe known as Tartars, who made
an inrode to China, destroying the
old city. After hard battle, they
built new city where the city of
Pekin now stands and perhaps will
stand for centuries to come. Pekin
was modern city once, but / must
say that it is one of the poorest cities
at the present time. 1t is situated
on level ground, covering about ten
square miles. The wall that sur
rounds the city is known as the
Tartar wall. It is 40 feet high, 35
feet wide at the base and 80 feet
wide a t the top. Thirteen gates
mark the entrance into the city.
The city is divided into three Sec
tons, follows: The Forbidden
City, the Impeial City and the Tar
tar City. The Forbidden City,
known as Winter Palace, lays in
the center of Pekin, surrounded by
20-foot wall and is occupied by
the rulers of China. Around the
Forbidden City lies the Imperial
City, where all the officers and dip
lomats, connected with the Chinese
court, reside. The Imperial City is
walled in also by a 20-foot wall,
painted in the imperial color, dark
red. Around the Imperial City lies
the Tartar City, where all the low
classes of Chinese live. In the west
part of the Tartar City is the Eur
opean section, where all the foreign
legations are situated. Each nation
has It's own buildings to accommodate
its ministers and representatives in
that country, and also barracks for
their troops. Each nation has
body of military men there to pro-
tect their subjects and interests IN
that country. So Pekin might be
called the center star of brass but
tons!' The Chinese Government
has about 80, 900 troops stationed in
the Imperial City and about as many
in the south barracks, about ten
miles south of Pekin. The streets
are wide. but filthy. The sewerage
system is all filled in, though it is
the most expensive system of it's
kind, being built of marble. There
was no water system until 1909,
W b en- German company laid
pipes and supplied the city with
river water. About fourteen miles
from Pekin lies the Summer Palace.
There is hill about six hundred
feet high on which is temple called
Joy Temple. Uuder that temple is
a natural spring of good mineral
water, which would supply drinking
water for the largest city in the
world. But the Chinese authorities ]
would not allow the water to be used ,
for city supply as the spring is con-
nected with some Chinese religion.
All that water flows into the lake at
the Summer Palace.
Electric lights were installed there
in 1905, with great difficulty to keep
the superstitious Chinese from de-
the wires. Street car Serv-
ice is out of the question and all the
around the city is
done with two-wheeled cars called
pulled by Chinaman.
These are about the same as those
used in Japan. One automobile was
seen in Pekin and that was stray
one. The French car, starting
around the world with the Thomas