Directory_and_Chronicle_1922 — Page 682

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PEKING

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The Tartar city consists of three enclosures, one within the other, each surrounded by its

by its own

own wall. The innermost, called Kin-ching or Forbidden City, contains the Imperial Palace and its surrounding buildings; the second is occupied by the several offices appertaining to the Government and by private residences of officials; while the outer consists of dwelling-houses, with shops in the chief avenues. There is little direct foreign trade with Peking, but it is growing and the time cannot be far off when the city will be thrown open to trade,

In August, 1884, the city was brought into direct telegraphic communication with the rest of the world, by an overland line to Tientsin vid Tungchow. The Ministry of Communications has now its own wireless installation. The year 1899 witnessed two other innovations, which would have been regarded as impossible ten years previously, viz., the erection of large two-storied buildings on prominent sites for the Austrian Legation and the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank. These were breaks with immemorial tradition that the feng-shui must resent elevation in houses other than those of the immortal gods and the son of heaven. The railway line to Tientsin was opened in 1897.

Peking, though it suffered indescribably from the depredations of the Boxers, the Imperial troops, the awful ruffianism of Tung-fuh-shiang's barbarians from Kansu, to say nothing of the subsequent attentions of the Allied troops, is at present more attractive as an object of travel than before, for the simple reason that the City was cleansed by the foreign Powers, and many places of antiquarian, artistic historic interest are now accessible if the visitor sets about his object with due attention to national susceptibilities. Unfortunately, in Peking, as elsewhere in China, the monuments of the past are neglected, except perhaps those in the Forbidden City, and are fast crumbling into ruins.

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During 1902 the fortification of the Legation quarter was completed, the railway termini brought to the Ch'ien Men in the Chinese City, and the reconstruction of the various Legations was begun. These were slowly brought to completion, and extensive barracks connected with each for the accommodation of the Legation Guards. As most Chinese buildings in this section were removed the Legation quarter presents the appearance of a European settlement of about half a square mile in extent. There are several large stores, which sell all kinds of foreign goods. The Peking Club is much larger and more convenient than it was before; there is a Catholic Church for the Legation Guards, and several hospitals-Rockefeller Foundation (a handsome and splendidly equipped institution, the opening of which marked an epoch in the history of Peking), Dojin (Japanese, completed in 1917), Central, German, St. Michel's and the Methodist Episcopal John L. Hopkins Memorial- which are provided with accommoda- tion for both Chinese and European patients. There are many foreign banks, the most important of which are the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, Russo-Asiatic Bank, Banque de l'Indo Chine, Banque Industrielle de Chine, Banque Belge Pour l'Etranger, International Banking Corporation, Asia Banking Corporation, Sino-Italian Bank, Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China, and Yokohama Spccie Bank-all of which do a flourishing business. There are also numerous Chinese banks-headed by the official Banks of China and Communications-the progress of which on modern lines is one of the signs of the times. Banking enterprises of both Chinese and Sino-Chinese capitalisation are springing up with mushroom-like rapidity. Most of the native banks are members of the Peking Bankers' Association, which was formed in July, 1919, and whose handsome "Association Building" was completed in December, 1920. There are also two splendidly-equipped hotels-the Hotel des Wagons-Lits and the Hotel de Pekin. The latter is a magnificent structure capable of housing 1,000 guests. The streets of Peking are macadamized, and two Electric Light Companies have been organized which will furnish light wherever wanted in the city. Outside the Legation quarter there are many foreign buildings, the number of which is growing yearly, changing to some extent the appearence of the business localities adjacent to the Glacis.

Though Peking preserves its Oriental aspect, and retains most of its old-world features it cannot truthfully be said that the city is falling into decay. Undoubtedly the city walls show the ravages of time, and the monuments of the past betray a lack of attention, but in the city itself there are unmistakable signs of change and of pro- gress. Since the cessation of the war there has been a remarkable impetus to building. Western ideas of comfort are given expression to in the new Chinese residences, which, however, retain the external features of Chinese architecture. Electric light is almost universal, water is being laid on to an increasing number of houses, the main roads are kept in a good state of repair, sanitation is not disregarded, and in innumerable ways