The herald., 1922-06-08
The Carts of PekIng.

Sb'itlNs W dsnlUSlOn, l.. ~
Picking, China's capital. which arter
many months of a leisurely civil wal
seems the definite goal of the south
ern Chinese rebels. is a Tatar rather
than a Chinese city. To this fact Is
traceable its marked difference in ap,
pearance when compared TO other
cities In China.
AS one passes within the walls OF
Picking he expects 10 find, as in other
Chinese cities, the hammered signs Of
shopkeepers throwing gay canopies
across narrow, tOrtuOus. huddled
streets; but behold: broad avenues
three miles long, crossed by other
broad avenues three miles long. max
Ing squares as regular as those of a
checkerboard.
The visitor wonders whether the
builders Of this city saw in prophetic
vision the streets of Chicago, Denver
and Philadelphia. Then he begins to
realize that Picking is the one spacious
Chinese city because 1t was built by
the adventurous barbarianS of the
north, men who lived In the saddle,
upon steppes and plains, whose feet
were set in a large room.
Wonder does not stop with the
length, breadth and regularity Of the
streets. The traffic upon them is equal
ly unexpected. In the cities Of south
ern China, sedan chairs edge their
way with difficulty through the crowds
OF pedestrians and carrying coolies.
who jostle each other in the narrow
lanes In Picking every street is alive
with beasts and vehicles.
Down the smooth, tree-lined, ma
cadam center roads autos, cabs, rick
shaws and bicycles speed past slow
moving catalogues and crimson we'd
ding professions. On each side Je-
tween sidewalk and trees, along
highway Of turf, 20 mule-mounted
equeStrianS, soldiers on sturdy Man
churian ponies, triplets of donkeyS
hauling lumber, brick, coal and crock
cry, portly old 'gentlemen straddling
diminutive asses. blue-canOpied Picking
carts, and caravans of camels out of
the north.
Queer Carts and Animals.
Almost as fascinating as the camels
are the carts of Picking, or rather the
little beasts which pail them-pOnies,
dOnkeyS, mules and nondeSCript, elu-
sive creatures that are neither horse.
mule, nor ass. but subtle, indistin-
guishable mixtures. on first sight one
is sure they are horses, on the second
he is sure they are mules, on the third
he is equally sure they are zebras
with the stripes worn off. one his
tOrian of China speaks of the ancient
Tatars as possessing horses. asses.
mules, and other peculiar breeds of
the equine family" These ancient
other breeds still trot about the Tatar
city.
If streets and traffic, carts and
camels are unexpected. no less so are
the buildings. The traveller who has
seen pictures Of the majestic temples
nd palaces of Picking enters the i'm |
Ing South Gate prepared for archi- |
Dctural raptures. But he finds the |
IbrOad, straight highways of the city |
lined with insignificant One-story |
shops or with equally insignificant
gray, windowless, one-story house
walls. or long. unlOvely, stretches OF
dull-red plastered fence walls
AS soon, however, as the traveller en-
tiers gateway, through one Of the
gray or dingy brick-red walls. he
comes suddenly and Unexpectedly up-
on palace, silent in the sun. vet
shouting aloud in the barbaric bril-.
lance of its COlor-crimson columns.
friezes of flashing gold on green. wide
fiaring roofs of resplendent yellow.
all above tripleterraced platform of
marble, white like snow. Or IL NAV
be a many-courted temple. where a
hundred llamaS drOne chants before an
inscrutable Buddha; or a wooded
park, where emperors once took their
pleasure, where century-Old cedars
shade pathways and pleasant lakes.
ShrineS nestle in mulberry groves and
lillocks are crowned by Buddhist TOPICS.
rom whose marble bases one looks
'ut over the roofs of the city-miles
md miles, il seems, of gray roofs
md in the center of all great splotch
f imperial yellow, the once forbid
len city," where dwelt the emperor.
is sons and his daughters. his wives :
nj his concubines.