Directory_and_Chronicle_1925 — Page 668

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PEKING

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. Michael'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 Baik, Banque de l'Indo-Chine, Banque Industrielle de Chine, Banque Belge Pour l'Etranger, International Banking Corporation, Sino-Italian Bank, Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China, and Yokohama Specie Bank. There are also numerous Chinese banks-headed by the official Bank of China and Bank of 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. In addition to a number of smaller hotels, there are two large splendidly-equipped hotels-the Hotel des Wagons-Lits and the Hotel de Pekin. The latter is a magnificent structure capable of accommodating 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 appearance 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 fair state of repair, sanitation is not entirely disregarded, and in innumerable ways there are indications of a fairly healthy vitality. The communal feeling as express- ed in Western countries by municipalities and local governments has not yet developed to any great extent among the Chinese, but, in its absence in Peking, the Ministry of Interior and its subsidiary organ, Direction Generale des Travaux de Ville de Pekin, perform duties in this connection, the idea being to make Peking a model city and an example to others throughout the country. With this end in view the far-famed Examination Hall is now being reconstructed into a model settlement within the me- tropolis. The different branches of administration of the metropolitan district have been thoroughly reorganised, and men of modern education appointed to important posts. The Minister of Interior acts as director of municipal activity, and has under him a staff of departmental secretaries, whose work includes the supervision of the registration of houses, taxation, keeping of records, etc. In 1921 the Chinese in Pcking displayed an unwonted interest in the affairs of the municipality. This has found expression in the organisation of a self-government association, the central idea being the superses- sion of governinental control of the city by a municipal council, composed of re- presentative citizens. The chief divisions of municipal work undertaken by the municipal department in the Ministry of Interior are roads and buildings, drainage and surveying; while the police, in addition to their ordinary duties, make them- selves responsible for street lighting, public health, registration of births and deaths, fire-brigade, and markets. The constabulary is a very efficient force and demonstrated its usefulness to the community during May, 1922, when the city was threatened by an invasion of the straggling remnants of Chang Tso-lin's forces, who were beaten by Wu Pei-fu's army at a point not 20 miles from the capital. Hitherto, the police have also exercised jurisdiction over certain hospitals, but now the Ministry of Interior has built one isolation hospital, and it is not improbable that in the course of time some authority will be constituted to take over this particular work. A large national hospital of modern design and equipment was completed in 1918. It is supported by private subscription.