THE MYSTERIES OF PEKIN

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6852, 6 March 1929, Page 8

THE MYSTERIES OF PEKIN

Address at Lunch Club

WITH ALLIED RELIEF TO FORBIDDEN CITf

"Pekin and its Mysteries,” was the subject taken by Colonel Frazerhurst M.D., Assistant-director of Medical Services, who was yesterday’s speaker at the Palmerston North Citizens’ Luncheon Club. Mr. W. L. Fitzherbert was in the chair. Colonel Frazerhurst opened his address by stating that the occasion was peculiarly appropriate, as being the anIniversary of his visit to Pekin. He had been a member of' the relief force of 1900, when the Allied forces had marched upon the city to relieve tboir legations, which w r ere besciged by the Boxer rebels. At that time all barriers had been broken down and it had been possible for the foreigner to view tho strangest sights and places without fear and without restrictions. Pekin was one of the oldest cities in the world. At one timo the Chinese and Roman Empires had divided the world between them but now only tho Chinese remained. It was said also, that there was an affinity between the early Chinese and tho Persians. _ Many hundreds of years before Christ, the Chinese had settled the fertile lands around the "live rivers,” then had como the Tartars, who had. conquered the country during the Kin dynasty (1115-1232), but these Tartars had been driven out later by the Mongolian invasion which, under Jenjhiz Khan and his successor, Kublai Khan, had held tho country in thrall. Built by Kublai Khan. There were two considered c-apitals of China —Nanking in the .south and Pekin in the north. The question of the ownership of Pekin had always been debatable but as a tulc, the 'masters of that city had virtually been tbe masters of the Chinese Empire. Kublai Khan had built Pekin and from it, had been able to'control tbe rest of China. The great Mongol Em-

peror had made it a very wonderful city. His armies had come from the wide prairie spaces of the north and accordingly, Kublai had built Pekin with wide streets and a sanitation system. That system, however had passed at the present day, for the Chinese had long ago filled up . the sewers, until to-day they were lost sight of. Surrounded by Walls. As the main garrison town, Pekin was divided into two parts.. One was the four square walled city of the Mongols and tho other, tho southern city of the Chinese. Three gates in the .-©all of the Chinese city gave access to the Tartar stronghold but

when tbe curfew rang at night, all these gates bad to be closed. The houses of Pekin were , built inside compounds, and did not rise above the level of their surrounding walls. For this reason, the residential districts of the city were quite, lacking in architectural features and it was not until one entered the shopping, and business area that any variety in. the buildings was noticeable. Outside the city was a tower on-which were marked the various heights to which houses could be built. In no case must the top of the building rise above tho surrounding ■rolls lest tlio Malignant Spirits should descend upon it and tcmove tho roof. A feature of the city was the great buttressed walls, which were digger than the great wall of China. Ihe Pekin walls were 40 feet high and. so thick that six horsemen could ride abreast along the top. Outside were the remains of tho old wall of the timo of Kublai Khan, now forming a low mound around tho city.. Over the jrreat gates were tho typical three tiered towers from which the Chinese conducted tho defence at tho time of the allied attack. From the walls, above the smells and the dirt, Pekin was a very beautiful city with its yellow roofed temples and houses, its green parks and shady Country of Contrasts.

Like all the foreigners, however, he had keen very disappointed in the Forbidden City. China was a country that in everything had been beautiful but which wae now decaying. Everywhere there was an incongrous mixture of the tawdry and the valuable, the cheap and the expensive. They had seen a great deal of goM, which on examination, had been revealed as merely second rat'' gilt, yet the bronzes they had examined had been remarkably beautiful and splendidly worked. China was a land ot continual unrest because it was a land where the fami y anti the individual came before the State. With us, the individual was only a cypher but in China the interests of the family came first, then the family’s district or town, and. lastly the State. An instance of this was the Japanese war. The southern Chinese had not considered themselves to bo at war at oil and had been quite annoyed when they had been fired upon by the Japanese. They considered that the war only involved the northern Chinese and defeat was no disgrace, as it. did not concern them. Each familv shut itself up between the walls of its compound and built another wall beforo its front gate. This last precaution was to prevent the ingress of the spirits, who as all Chinese knew, could only fly in a straight lino and could not turn corners. Thus, they would be unable to enter the front gate if a wall wero built in front of it. Again the Chinese had, to us, very curious ideas of right and wrong they had no moral sen3o as wo understood it. For instance, if a man possessed something which he did not seem to require, the Chinese considered that they had a perfect right to it. Chinese servants would take unused articles away hut if they were asked for, would immediately produce them. China was governed also by officials whose salaries wero only a mere bagatelle when compared to their living expenses. They were required to furnish certain Tetum3' of money to head-

quarters, but any amounts over and above that which they could extract, they were entitled to keep for themselves. Thus they could go on until perhaps they squeezed the people too hard, when complaints were lodged and the official ‘fmoved on." Again, a general wtas expected to win all his battles under penalty of being beheaded, while if an official very high in the service became in disgrace, he would be presented with a silken cord and the polite request to strangle himself. Roads, as we understood them, did not exist but were merely heaps of mud, garbage and dirt. The oare of the roads was nobody’s particular business, therefore nothing was done to them. •

On the motion of Mr. John Carter, a very hearty vote of thanks was accorded the speaker.