THE CITY OF PEKIN

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 10739, 20 August 1900, Page 5

THE CITY OF PEKIN

Pekin is situated in a saudy plain, and is surrounded by niu.ny-gatvd wa.Hs, w_3a suburbs smaller than mo*fc other large ci-iea in the country. The vixito. coming to it from Tien-tsin is not prepared lea- his approach to it b} r villas and man-ions, with their parks anil gardens, such as greot idm in drawing near to the capitals of the West: At a turn in the road the city bursts? at once into his view, standing u_» granvi .and: grim, complete in itself, with its lofty wnQs and .he loftier towers upon them. Tlio city consists, in fact, of two cities-—the inner and the outer—known also us the Maitcbu or Tartar and tbe Chinese, titte Northern and tlie Southern. 'They are separated by a high wall common to t__s_ bo.h, but properly fcahmgi-g to the forms-, and giving it tlie app.ars.ace of nearly- a square, on which the* other partly rests in the form of a rectangle, its s«oatra?am and northern walls longer than those of tb_ sqHafe, but tho other two shorter. 'Hie waHs ol the Manclui city average sQfl- ib in height, and aro fully 60ft wide ufc tihe •bot-oan and 40ft at the top _ tise dimensHjns of those of the Chinese city ara less—soft in li€igh.t, and 25ft and' 15ft 'in w.kii.h. Those of the former measure 1«?J mile, ill circuit, including its -part of the cross-wall, and .hose of the' Chinese city 10 miAcs. Not counting tbe cross-wall, the whole e_cc_it measure- about 21 miles, including altof;eth._* an area of nearly 26 square mites, v all Pekin has sixteen double Over each is raised a tower -about 100 ft high, and of very imposing appea.r;u.ce. Ail tlie gates of the -.fam-hit city at. guarded by semi-circular enceintes, enclosing a ve-tow-tiled temple to Kwan Ti, a. hero of our second century, now -honoured as tbe "God of War.'* Peirin is ona of. tbe most ancient cities of the world, and on t-lue .saano site stood the metropolis of the Fcsud-1 state- of Yen, whose -istory is traceaiblo back to th. 12th century B.C. Tl-a city walls are built mainly d. sun-dried-bricks, tilled in with rubble, and as* said to be pi'_-ti___ly iirKwtned. '

The news of the. relief of the Legations-at Pekin received on Saturday was warmly received in Christchurch, and a number «- flags w*sve hoisted, as Was also the case-a* Kaiapoi and Rangiora.