1937-10-21 — Page 8

Page

more blotting

STORMY ANNALS OFFENULI

another

the history of a city that has al nated between glory and the past 1,500 years

one would have

no such an

Its name means "Southern Capı- tal," as opposed to Peking, "Nort- herm Capital. But Nailang is older than its name and older than Peking. Under 17 different names king.

71 line Pe-

CHINA'S CAPITAL

more recent past haunt of profession

Towards evening, as one stand on the wall overlooking the vast scene, one hears the deep reason- ance of temple bells, and the chant-

be ing of Buddhist priests hidden hind high yellow walls. Beyond the city, on the side of Purple Moun-

1925 by the Communist army The Tartars never made Nanking the

Mongols, capital of the Empire. Nor did the followed them as

aben rulers of China.

not until the late 14th Nanking became, once perhaps for the last time, was in the reign

bazaar at it traces its lineage through 3,000 One's first impression would have, and the centre of the years. In its archives are maps pub been surprise at the amount of the New Year season. This is Nan lished in the 17th century which land still rural within the city king's Bohemian quarte

gardens, bamboo show the various phases through wall, market which the city has passed from groves, lily ponds, grassy hills, ex- tensive woods, and jadegreen rice * 1000-B.C. to AD. 1615.

Nanking was, therefore, already fields.

MODERNISED CITY China one of the antiquities of

The old part of the city, with it when Julius Caesar conquered Bri- tain. In A.D. 166 Marcus Aurelius narrow, cobbled streets crowds to sent a Roman embassy to visit this ward the south and east. The new-tain, one sees the white, modern, the Mongols and was rewarded and other famous cities of Cathay. er buildings, half Europeanised, In the third century Heliogabalus straggle northward towards the sent another

LIKE THE PHOENIX Caravans of Buddhist priests. from the Punjab and the banks of the Ganges brought India and Per sian translators and established themselves and their religion in Nanking, then the capital of the Wa Kingdom in the days of the famous "Three Kingdoms Col- leges were founded and the educ tional system was revised. This was Nanking's first period of glory and it ended, in the spring of A.D. 280, în capture, pillage, and de

uction.

But like the phoenix that is so constant. a motif in Chinese art. Nanking rose resplendent from the fames, as if predestined to im

river and the railway. On low hills stretching from the West Gate to the north, stand the houses of Eng- lish and American business; men where once were emperors" plea sare grounds.

By F. E. Dean

(in the "Daily Telegraph)

the

ng Emperor, a Chin- birth, who drove out

with empire. It was he who built the city wall as it stands to- day or stood last week 22 miles in in circumference, 90 feet high places, and 30 feet wide. In i it he incorporates parts of a similar wall built in the 3rd century. The wide rural spaces within the enclosure were part of his scheme for

pro-

It is said that 18 funeral pro- cessions wound out of the thirteen city gates on the death of this great monarch, each cortege bear- ing a coffin so that no one should know which held the royal corpse. are buried deep under a great grass-covered mound at the base of Purple Mountain.

Cutting through the panorama cement and marble mausoleum- like a sharp reminder that Nanking unit to the momeory of Dr. Sunvisioning the city in times of siege is now a city of the 20th century. Yat-sen, leader of the revolution run the wide paved roads built by that made China a republic in the present Government. And flank 1912 It was at Nanking that Dr.

But between the lifetime ing these new roads stand the many Sun proclaimed the Republic. modern buildings which house the administration of the republican poet, Li Po, and the founding regime. Other large buildings scat the Republic in 1912, Nanking bad tered throughout the city are col- a long, eventful history. In the ear leges, universities and schools, for ly 10th century, under the Sou- Nanking has kept its heritage of thern Tangs, Nanking once more culture. Near the southern gate are became the Imperial capital. Then ended. Under its walls in August, the ruins of the old Examination the Tartars swept down upon

mortal grandeur. Its conquerors, THE

the Eastern Tsins, made it the cap tal of their Empire. There, in AD, 818, the first emperor of that dynasty built a palace of 3,500 rocans on the top of what is now Realled Drum Tower Hill Vast pleasure grounds spread over the high lands in the vicinity of Lotus Lake, which then extended over a wider area than to-day

WORLD GOES BY By "ULYSSES"

ATEST example of loyalty is printed on the side of a tin of icing sugar.

-

announcement

These 13 coffins

But Nanking's history had not

42, was signed the Treaty of anking which opened China to trade with Great Britain and the world. It was signed or board HMS Cornwallis which with 16 other British men-of-war and 25 transports lay at anchor in the Yangtse River. Nanking was then only a provincial capital under the rule of the Manchus.

Just before the baby was born,

GEN. GORDON'S CAMPAIGN one of the doctors, with a legal turn of mind, instructed the father that Eleven years later, in 1853, a re- it was against the law for a child ligious fanatic named Hung Sin- to be born in a vehicle. The other tanen, in command of a horde of physicians agreed that it would be rebels known as the Taipings," Used on wedding cakes of her Maunwise for them to aid and abet an captured Nanking and proclaimed

illegal action.

This ireads

patriotic

ICING SUGAR

A century later another emperor built palaces that are celebrated in Chinese literature: the Palace of Immortal Joy and the Palace of Pleasure Without End. One of the jesty the Queen and her Royal the Princess Royal, princes founded a museum of au- Highness cient vases and other antiques, and and by loyal subjects on their buns,

My-italics held salons frequented by the art- ists, literary men and scholars of the Empire.

A CENTRE OF CULTURE Then in the year 502 this dynasty went the way of its predecessors and a new dynasty, the Liang, ruled in Nanking. The Emperor Liang Wa-ti's reign was one of the most glorious in Nanking's history. He built a new palace whole floo were encrusted with golden flow-1 ers. He kept his armies in condi- tion by frequent manoeuvres and grand reviews. Four colleges were founded, where 1,000 students were educated at State expense; canals were dug, roads and bridges con- structed.

The Bishop's Stomach

The Rev. P. Shinji Sasaki, Bishop

the

They then trooped outside caravan and hoisted the whole thing up on logs so that the wheels.

Ter clear of the ground. therefore, the caravan was no longer a-vehicle.

himself Emperor.

diy mmission-to- heimate the

In the ten years civil war brought this fanatic rebel a young English officer, lent to the Imperial Manchur army, became famous as Chinese Gordon," in command of

You will be glad to hear mother and child are doing fine, and the the Ever Victorious Army of of Mid-Japan, has left Halifax, N.S., law remains still intact in all its ive troops and foreign adventures

European tour. On his de-fragile beauty parture a meeting was held to hi him farewell A prayer was offered Gift up by one of his assistants asking the Lord to take special care of the dear Bishop's stomach, for, said he,

It is pleasant to record that he had resigne

mand before the Imperial

ged Nan no part in marked the last

left of

there bursts into king and that

of the terrible carnag is stum-the capture of the

ven stronghold of the

All that was

Now and the public abysmal ned at the reading thereof. "Unless care is exercised the knows I am not enthusiastic for amounts of abominable foreign food things Russian, but this piece of imperial glories he will have to consume will in evitably result in disaster."

with the Lord in maintain ing the Bishop's good health.

Probably never before in hist a Bishop's stomach received ublicity Let us hope that stomach is worthy of the attentio now focused upon it.

Before the Bishop left Nova Sco he went on a short Canadian After nearly four centuries of Prior to the tour hostesses Royal splendour Nanking ceased for chefs of hotels were asked to 300 years to be the capital wher

Shen the Sung Dynasty made Sian, si, the seat of imperial Gover in 589. But the southern city did not lose all its lustre. Its fame as centre of culture, beauty and wealth remained. Li Po, the illustri-

chose to live there, fam ous equally for drinking wine and

riting

fal verse.

traveller will find Mrs. Charles Sharp, of Iowa, ries about to have a baby. She was

ing a holiday on touri

the great

city

has the

Liang Wu-ti encrusted his

The Law

There were.

doctors called in

at the birth

nonsense

ting and in July, 1864 Of the 480 depths o the of the first rank which had

ed the city only 33 have been re- Journal in which appear

built Whenever one asks the age body who has studied the of a building, one is told that it re- at places one destroyed during the Tai-

low

the

active

that because there are certain bre in Russia whi

tically have no brain at all and are just.

nan cat

much of

Oswald

latent fith

ing anti-Semiti

ping Rebellion.

A CAPITAL AGAIN

Its

but

Chiang

ords inciples