Directory_and_Chronicle_1927 — Page 616

Directories & Chronicles 香港指南 All

552

PEKING

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. 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 expressed 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 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 Peking 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 supersession of governmental control of the city by a municipal council, composed of representative 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 themselves responsible for street lighting, public health, registration of births and deaths, fire-brigade, and markets, A large national hospital of modern design and equipment was completed in 1918. It is supported by private subscription.

Since the revolution many changes, which would have been unthinkable under the Manchu régime, have taken place. 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 Im- perial City. Peking has a population of 1,375,634 (figures of the Ministry of the Interior.)

Directory_and_Chronicle_1927 — Page 616

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