THE CITY OF PEKIN.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XV, Issue 7883, 13 July 1900, Page 4

THE CITY OF PEKIN.

ill iiis book "Peoples and Politics of-the-Far Hast," published a few years ago, Mr i Henry. Nonnan gives a graphic account of Lis risit to the Chinese capital, from wheh we make the following extracts :—■ The history of Pekin is to be read in the \ralls Trhch surround it on. ruin or in preservation, and it is the walls, in -excel--, lent preservation, that mark the divisions : of the Pekin of to-day—first, the so-called [ ''Chinese" or Outer City, mora, properly.[ the Southern- City;. adjoining it the Inner. j or "Tartar City." propeely called Northsrn j iuside this the "Imperial City t " and j inside this again, like the inmost pill box in a nest, "The - Forbidden City,", the xn a! In-pfJ-iu Tfceethno- ' logical dijtiiK.'Eioas at Chinese and Tartar > are practically effaced; the'fljily diatmc- j - - * " f " '

tion for the flying visitor is that the shops are in tho Chinese- City, while most of the temples, public buildings, nad ' "sights," together with all foreign, residence, aro in tho Tartar Oity, and that -the -wall of tho latter is niueu.tha larger and more massive structure. The ground plan of Pekin is supposed to represent s, human body, the palace being the heart, but it is better ! described as. being laid out on tho chens board plan of 'American cities west of Chicago. There are'two great streets*, which intersect at a central point, and from all parts of these other streets, lanes, and alleys run in straight lines. Every corner in Pokin seems to be a right angle. Thero aro no winding thoroughfares. The houses aro all very low, with ilat roofs, and I did iiot - see a single first .""1 »>»s Chine tie tho whole city. But t is the streets of Pekin that sU'iko the observer first; and fade last fiom his recollection. Whether wido or narrow, dark alley or main artery they arc entirely unp.lveJ—tho native oliuvial fioiL and the native sewage from every Pekinese pathway. From the state of things spring several curious consequences. The roads art? so'uneven, tho holes in them so numerous and deep, the i'idges so high and steep, that no vehiclo with springs can navigato half a mile. The only conveyance, therefore, is the famous Pekin cart, an enormous strong and heavy stjuaro two-wheeled covered vehicle, drawn by a mule, the passengers squatting tailorfashion inside, and the driver sitting on the shaft. .

Pekin is tho only place I have over visited where the mere fact of .being r. foreigner, a stranger in speech, dress, and manners, did not of itself secure one a certain amount of consideration, or, at any rate, mako one,, tlio- object of useful interest. Hero tho precise opposite is the case. Tlio "foreign devil" is despised at sight—not merely hated, but regarded with sincere and profound contempt. "If the Tsung-li-Yamen were abolished," said iv Pekin diplomat to me, "our lives would not bo safe here for twenty-four hours. The people just irefrain ifrom actually molesting us because they have learned that they will bo very severely punished if they do." Let us say that you startout in tho morning for a prowl in Peltin. What are youv relations with the people you meet? First of all, of course, they crowd round you whenever you stop, and in a minute you are tho centre of a solid mass of humanity, which is eating-horrible stuff, which is covered with vermin, which smells worso than words can tell, and which is quite likely to have smallpox about it. The crowd jostles you, -feels your clothes with your dirty hands, pokes its noso in your face, keeping'up all the bimo (I was generally with a friend who understood Chinese) a string of insulting and obscene remarks, and accompanying roars of laughter. By-and-byo the novelty and fun of this wear off, and you get first impatient and then infuriated. But be ware, above all things, of striking or even laving a finger on one of these dirty wretches. That would probably be a fatal mistake. They will do nothing but talk and push; but if you should hit oue of them, you would bo i#ro than likely not to get away alive, or at least without bad injuries. But suppose that you walk steadily and (impurtui'ba.lvl.y on? The pedostrian you meet treats you with much less consideration than one of his own countrymen; the children run to the door to cry "Kueid/.u!" (devil) at you. They, lxavo other indescribable and worso ways of -insulting you. I was told that Lady Walsham's chair was actually stopped .in the street and she herself grossly insulted, that a member of our Consular service was nearly killed outside the Llama temple, and that there are few foreigners who have not had some unpleasant experience or other. No doubt, it is sometimes the foreigner's own fault, but a life member of the Aborigines' Protection Society would fail to get on smoothly at all times. The -foreign Legations in Pekin are in a street near the chief gate of the Tartar City, known among the foreigners as "Legation Street." It ..is half a mile long, either mud or dust, as level as a chopping sea, and here" and there its monotony of blank walls of dirty native houses broken by a strong . gateway, "with a couple stone lions in front. These are the Legations; and inside , the gate you find pleasant gardens and generally spacious and comfortable foreign houses, sometimes built ad hoc, and sometimes converted to their present use' from Chinese temples. So long as you are the stranger -within the gates, you are extremely -well off; but as soon as the porter shuts them behind you—well, th& residents in Pekin say it is a charming place, but for my own part I can only in their Veracity at the expense of their taste. I would rather live in Seven Dials or Five Points. When your guide says "This is Legation Street," you laugh; it is so dirty, so miserable, -with its horrible crowd of dogs and pigs and filthy children. But when you have lived in it for a few days you laugh no more; you count the hours until you can get away.