El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-07-12
II5I6TI0IIFT
REMa.NS I.
PEE.H
Order to Remove Royal Fam
lily From City Is Not En-
forced by President.
PEKTN rs BEING
MADE BEAUTIFUL

Z ~ EKIN, CHINA, July 12.-COntrary
! ~ to declarations made at the time
( 4 the throne abdicated in favor of
/ the republic. 16 months ago, the court
| of the old Manchu rulers of the Chinese
! empire still remains at Pekin.
The terms Of the final agreement
I with the representatives of the new
republican government provided that
/ the Manchu mobiles, including all the
! members Of the reigning family, should
retain hereditary titles and be Hber-
/ ally pensioned, and that the young en-
! peror, after his abdication. should be
/ accorded in China the honOrs given
a visiting foreign sovereign These
stiplatiOns have been carried out AT
, the same time 1t was declared the
court would eventually move away
from the Forbidden City. but no steps
in this direction yet have been taken
There has not even been an exodus to
the summer palace or to the ancient
palaces at JehOl, which were mentioned
at the time Of abdicaUOn as places OF
possible retirement Some minor Man
chu princes and officials have deserted
their residences in Pekin and moved
away, generally to the foreign settle
ments at Tientsin. or to Manchuria-
where they can obtain Japanese or
Russian protection II occasion arises.
But the eXprince regent and Pa-4l, the
=
reside in the palaces occupied by the
reigning family for 268 years, and i'm
periaI guards still forbid entrance to
their palace compounds
No Conflict Occurs.
The AIanchu troops continue in arms
and obey the instructions Of president
Yuan Shih-kai in all matters that do
not affect the safety OF the court.
Should there be a conflict of authority
between the president and the court il
Sc hnTr eH1 hi O.
Manchus; but the interests of the re-
publican president and those Of the
Forbidden City have not cOnflicted- In
deed, it is believed in the legation
quarter that they are closely allied
1t is thought among foreign ObserV-
ers that the court depends on Yuan
Shi-k'ai for a regular payment OF It's
pension from the republic, and, on the
other hand, that Yuan may be COM
PEELED at any moment to reestabllsh the
dynasty and proclaim himself regent
in order TO give his orders the weight
of imperial authority At present with
a hostile parliament presidential or
ders which are essential to the main
tenance OF the government, do not re-
eeive the sanction Of any organized
A question interesting to old OBJ
servers who knew China under the
dynasty is whether the empress
dawager, who recently died. VIII be
the last empress Of China If the re-
public succeeds there will probably be
no other.
Changes in Pekin.
Two striking changes have taken
place in the appearance Of Pekin as a
result of the revolution One is con-
siGered a Disagreement; the other an
Improvement. and a great advantage.
The disbursement is the disappearance
of the Manchu cart. which an Ameri-
can woman Of literary gifts once char
acterized as Portals Casllet on
Wheels" The brilliantly colored Sedan
chair, borne high on the shoulders of
four or eight coolies, disappeared to a
large extent after the Boxer rising of
1900, and has since been used only at
funerals and weddings, and by few
ultTa-Smart foreign legation women,
who adopted the old when the Chinese
began adopting the new.
Now the Pellin cart is being rapidly
displaced by the European carriage
Only the poorer classes are still rid
ing in these little blue-COvered spring
less carts with huge brass-studded
wheels. Along with the adoption Of the
brOugham the Chinese outriders Of this
new official vehicle are adopting Euro
pean saddles for their ponies in place
Of the gay. caparisOns in use under the
dynasty; and instead of flowing dress
eS OF white or light blue, with red
streamers to their hats, the somber
garb of the west is being affected by
these Outriders in imitation OF their
republican masters.
City Is Identified.
On the other hand the Pekiu OF the
people has been made much more beau
full by the opening up Of several road
ways through the Forbidden City, and
also by the breaking OF several new
gates in the wall Of the imperial city.
AS is known to all Americans who
have visited Pekin, the city is a place
OF walls within walls. The Forbidden
City. where the court resides, is within
the imperial city, which in turn is
within the Tartar city, surrounded by
the great Pel1in wall
Again the legation quarter, the South
ern city, and the winter palace, where
the great empress dOWager lived. and
which Yuan Shih-kai, the president,
now occupies, are enclosed within their
own piles Of masOnary. Under the
Manchu regime the entire extent Of the
Forbidden City and that of the winter
palace were guarded by imperial troops,
who refused passage to all but priv
legged officials and foreign diplOmatists
when they were hOnOred with audi
enCes at court As these extensive pal
ace enclosures lay directly across the
center Of Pekin, traffic was badly i'm
peded and had to make long detOurs
round them.
But now two main gates have been
cut in the walls Of the imperial city,
and the great wide park in front Of the
forbidden city. together with the road
way behind ii, which runs along side
the mOat covered with water lilies at
this summer season, have been opened
to traffic The camel driver. the rick
shaw coolies and the foreign tourist
may now pass through these hitherto
reserved places, getting near TO the
great dragon poles Of marble and the
massive stone lions that stand beside
the front gate Of the palace. and any
one may cross the famous marble
bridge over the lake in the winter pal
ace and get close view of the en-
press dowager's pagoda and the Won
derful cluster Of yellow rooted palace
structures.