Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1913-07-24
MANCHUS STILL In CITY
No Move Being Made to Remove
Court of Old Rulers From
Forbidden City.

larationS made at the time the throne
abdicated in favor of the republic,
16 months ago, the court of the old
Manchu rulers of the Chinese en-
pire still remains at Pekin.
The terms of the final agreement
with the Representatives of the new
! republican government provided that
the Manchu mobiles, including all the
} members of the reigning family,
should retain their hereditary titles
and be literally pensioned, and that
the young emperor, after his abdica
ton, should be accorded in China
the honors given a visiting foreign
sovereign. These stipulations have
been carried out. At the same time
it was declared the court would
eventually move away from the For
bidden City, but no steps in this di-
rection yet have been taken. There
has not even been an exodus to the
summer palace or to the ancient pal
aces at Jehol which were mentioned
at the time of abdication as places
of possible retirement. Some minor
Manchu princes and officials have
deserted their residences in Pekin
and moved away, generally to the
foreign settlements at Tientsin, or to
Manchuria, where they can obtain
Japanese or Russian protection if oc-
casion arises. But the ex-prince re-
gent and Pa-Yi, the boy emperor,
now Z years old, still reside in the
palaces occupied by the reigning fam
lily for 26S years, and imperial
guards still forbid entrance to their
palace compounds.
The Manchu troops continue in
arms and obey the instructions of
President Yuan Shi-Kai in all mat
ters that do not affect the safety of
the court. Should there be a con-
flict of authority between the presi-
dent and the court it is believed
they would stand by the Manchus;
but the interests of the republican
president and those of the Forbidden
City have not conflicted. Indeed, it
is believed in the legation quarter
that they are closely allied. 1t is
thought among foreign observers
that the court depends on Yuan Shi-
Kai for a regular payment of it's
pension from the republic, and, on
the other hand, that Yuan may be
compelled at any moment to re-es-
tablish the dynasty and proclaim
himself regent in order to give his
orders the weight of imperial author
ity. At present, with hostile par
lament, presidential orders which
are essential to the maintenance of
the government do not receive the
sanction of any organized body Of
lawmakers.
A question interesting to old OBJ
servers who knew China under the
dynasty is whether the empress dow
ager, who recently died, will be the
last empress of China. If the repub-
lie succeeds there will probably be
no other
Two striking changes have taken
place in the appearance of Pekin as
result of the revolution. One is
considered disfigurement; the 9TH
er an improvement, and great ad-
vantage. The Disagreement is the
disappearance of the Manchu cart
which an American lady of literary
gifts once characterized as 'Portia's
: Casket on Wheels" The brilliantly
colored sedan chair, borne high or
the shoulders of four or eight cool
: les, disappeared to a large extent
after the Boxer rising of 1900, and
has since been used only at funerals
and weddings, and by a few ultra
smart foreign legation ladies, who
adopted the old when the Chinese
began adopting the new
Now the Pekin cart is being rap
idly displaced by the European car
riage. Only the poorer classes are
-. still riding in these little blue-cov
cred springless carts with. huge
brass-studded wheels. Along will
the adoption of the brougham tn,
. Chinese outriders of this new officia
vehicle are adopting European sad
dies for their ponies in place of thu
. gay caparisons in use under tn,
> dynasty; and instead of flown,
dresses of white or light blue, will
u red streamers to their hats, the som
ber garb of the west is being affect
20 ed by these outriders in imitation
> of their republican masters.
A On the other hand, the Pekin O
d the people has been made mucl
6. more beautiful by the opening u
% of several roadways through tn
m Forbidden City, and also by tn
If breaking of several new gates in tn
IF wall of the Imperial City AS /
" known to all Americans who hav