PEKING
589 ·
In order to link up the various termini, a circular railway has been constructed. This involved the demolition of the curtains of most of the gateways, a proceeding which provoked considerable adverse comment, but it must be regarded as another sacrifice of the picturesque and historical to the utilitarian. A Grand Trunk Central Station is contemplated, and when this is completed travellers will have little to com- plain of in the matter of convenience.
A tramway project has been proposed by a company financed partly by the Government and partly by private individuals. The capital is $4,000,000, and so eager were the Chinese to invest their money in the enterprise that the first public call of $500,000 was over-subscribed four times. This is an eloquent testimony to the changed outlook of the Pekingese. The track is now being laid and the trams are expected to be running in the summer of 1923.
In addition to opening all available gates, the authorities have constructed several new streets at considerable cost, and are giving better access to certain localities which were formerly badly served. The Imperial City Wall is now pierced in over a dozen places, and three new thoroughfares have been opened, viz., the Nan Ch'ih Tzu, the Nan Fu K'ou, and the Fu Yu Chieh, the last-mentioned providing a well-made road alongside the western wall of the Imperial City. In 1918 the Imperial City wall was breached in front of the British Legation. Building is proceeding apace, and, now that there is no objection to structures higher than the Imperial Palace, many large edifices are being built throughout the city, but particularly near the Legation Quarter. Peking, it may be added, has a population of 1,375,634 (figures of the Ministry of the Interior) and is exceedingly well policed.
There are now 1,060 registered motor-cars in Peking, motor cycles are numerous, and bicycles are to be reckoned in thousands.
DIRECTORY
GOVERNMENT
President-LI YUAN-HUNG
Vice-President-
Premier-Chang Shou Tseng
Minister of Foreign Affairs-Alfred Sze
Minister of Interior-Kao Ling Wei
Minister of Finance-Liu En Yuan
Minister of War-Chang Shou Tseng
Minister of the Navy-Li Ting Hsin
Minister of Justice-Cheng Keh
Minister of Communications-Wu Yu Lin
Minister of Commerce-Li Ken Yuan
Minister of Education-Peng Yun Yi
Maritime Customs-Inspector-General Sir Francis Aglen
Salt Administration-Inspector General E. C. Wilton, C.M.G.
ADVISERS TO THE GOVERNMENT OF CHINA
President's Office
Do. J. C. Ferguson (American)
Adviser-S. Aoki (Japanese)
Statistician-B. L. Simpson (English)
Military Counsellor-T. Banzai (Japanese)
Economic Information-W. H. Donald
Adviser-Andre d'Hormon (French)
Do. Paul S. Reinsch (American)
Cabinet Office
Adviser and
Co-Director,
(English)
Bureau of
Bureau of Audit
Adviser-M. Padoux (French)
Do.-M. Konovaloff (Russian)
Foreign Office
Legal Adviser-M. de Codt (Belgian)
Ministry of Finance
Adviser and Associate Director of the
Wine and Tobacco Administration- C. L. L. Williams (American)
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