PEKING 



11 



to impose their sovereignty on the empire made 

 the old metropolis of Yen their capital. The 

 second of them, which hail absorbed the other, 

 fell before the invading Mongols in the 13th 

 century, and Kublai, a grandson of Genghis 

 Khan, enters the chronological line as sovereign 

 of all China in 1280. He made Peking his capital, 

 and there he was found by Marco Polo, who styles 

 the city Khan-baligh, ' the city of the Khan,' a 

 name frequently corrupted in old narratives into 

 Cambaluc and Cambatu. Within a century the 

 Mongols were driven out of the empire by the 

 Chinese Ming dynasty, the founder of which at 

 first lixeil his capital at what we call Nanking 

 (q.v.). The third Ming emperor, called from the 

 name of his reign Yung-lo, on his accession in 

 1403 made preparation* to transfer the seat of 

 government back to the Kublai site. This move- 

 ment was carried out in 1421. The south wall of 

 the Inner City was carried half a mile beyond that 

 of Kublai ; and a later emperor built in 1532 the 

 wall of the Outer City. 



However, the Manchus, when they became 

 masters of the empire in 1643, found this great 

 city ready for them. They had only to main- 

 tain it in good condition, and for a time they 

 did so ; but for more than a century it has been 

 allowed to go very much to decay. As Dr Williams 

 observes, ' Peking stands to-day, like the capitals of 

 the ancient Roman and Byzantine empires, upon 

 the debris of centuries of buildings.' A new era 

 in its history commenced in October I860, when it 

 was surrendered to the English and French allies, 

 leading to the establishment of the various foreigj 

 legation* in the Inner City, and to the reception < 

 the ministers, though not "in the Forbidden City, \ 

 June 1873 by the emperor in person. 



The Manchu or Inner City is divided into tli 

 portions, the largest of which by far may lie cal 

 the General City. But at the heart of it are * 

 enclosures, the innermost of which, called the Pu 

 Forbidden City, is very nearly 2J miles in 

 and contains the palacesof the emperor, empi 

 other members of the imperial family. Forei c 

 iiuo! even Manehus and Chinese themselves, e 

 Midi us have official connection with the cour 

 forbidden entrance to this enclosure, whi 

 however, invaded by the troops of the allied 

 during the anti-foreign riots in 1900. iflllso 

 contains other i>alaces and buildings, in 

 reception halls (tien). The one which a fftor, 

 entering by the 'Meridian Gate," woulf first 

 approach is the Tfti Ho, or ' Hall 

 Harmony,' built of marble on a terrace B feet 

 high, and rising itself other 110 feet. Its ncipal 

 apartment is about '200 feet long and wide, 

 and is furnished with a throne for the Biperor, 

 who holds his levees here on New-year'gBay, his 

 birthday, and other great occasions. H, too, is 

 the ' Palace of Heavenly Purity,' where t nemperor 

 meets his cabinet at dawn for the tranction of 

 business. In this enclosure also is one f the four 

 great ' arsenals,' or collections of the worB arranged 

 in the Chien-lung period for the Gre Library ; 

 and here was the Wu-ying printing-ofce, burned 

 down in 1H69. 



Surrounding the Forbidden City is t J ' Imperial ' 

 or 'August,' an oblong rectangle, ajfut 6 miles 

 in circuit, and encompassed by a wjl 20 feet in 

 height. In the space between the/wall on the 

 south and that of the Forbidden Citw on the right 

 or east of the avenue from the frol gate of the 

 cross wail, stands the great templ/in which the 

 emperor and the members of the/imperial clan 

 worship their ancestors. OpposiU to it, on the 

 west or the left of the avenue, fc the altar to 

 'the Spirits of the Land ami Brain.' In the 

 eorres|M>nding space on the norn, between the 



two enclosures, there is an artificial mound 150 

 feet high, crwvned at five different points with as 

 many Bnddhi*t temples, and well wooded all over. 

 It is called the King Shan, loosely translated 

 ' Prospect Hill,' aud affords the finest view of the 

 entire eily. It is separated from the Forbidden 

 City by a moat, which is crossed by more than one 

 marble bridge. Among the people the common 

 'Coal Hill,' their belief being that it 

 by stores of coal, deposited there by 

 vision against a siege. The western 

 ' the August Citv ' goes by the name of 

 srn Park. A principal attraction in it 

 icial lake more than a mile long, though 

 not nearly so wide, fed by a stream brought from 

 the hills to the west of the city, which used also 

 to supply the moat all round the walls. The lake 

 is crowed by a marble bridge of nine arches, and 

 in the Proper season its surface is beautiful with the 

 large, brilliant (lowers of the lotus. At the south 

 the park are the summer-house, the rock- 

 't, the gardens, and the hall for the examina- 

 of military candidates, and at the opposite 

 the copper statue of Maitreya (the coming 

 iha, 60 feet high, with one hundred arms ), the 

 pie of 'Great Happiness,' the altar and temple 

 icated to Yuan Fei (2500 B.C.), the discoverer 

 Ithe uses 'of the silkworm, with a plantation of 

 in I berry -trees and a cocoon-house near it. The 

 empress annually conies here with her ladies to 

 Bier sacrifice to this Yiian Fei, to feed the silk- 

 wonns, and to unwind some of the cocoons, as an 

 example to the women of the empire. 



We now come to the General City. On either 

 Bide of the avenue leading from the central gate of 

 the cross- wall to the August City are the principal 

 offices of the government the six boards and the 

 Censorate. In the same neighbourhood are the 

 observatory, the Provincial Hall for literary exitm- 

 inations, the Colonial Office, and the nun Lin 

 Yuan, which we call the ' National Academy,' and 

 to lielong to which is the highest literary distinc- 

 tion in China. Its members are many and of 

 various grades. All the literary work of the 

 government may be said to pass through their 

 liands. 



In the north-eastern corner of the city is the 

 Russian mission, and west from it the Yung Ho 

 Hung, or ' Palace of Everlasting Harmony,' a 

 grand lamasery, where more than a thousand 

 Mongol and 'tibetan monks dwell, and are pro- 

 vided for, while they study their religion under 

 the rule of a Gegen, or 'living Buddha.' At the 

 north end is a lofty building containing a wooden 

 image of Maitreya, 70 feet nigh. A little farther 

 to the west stands, amidst many cypresses, the 

 temple of Confucius, under the ancient name of 

 Kwo-tize Chien. In the lofty hall are the spirit- 

 tablets of the sage and his most celebrated disciples 

 ami followers nothing else. Close by these rises 

 from a circlet of water the Pi Yung Kung, com- 

 monly called ' The Hall of the Classics,' from the 

 most remarkable thing about it 182 pillared sla.bs 

 of granite, reared up in two corridors, and having 

 the text of all the classical books engraved on 

 them, in front and behind, in large characters. 



In the western side of the city are the head- 

 quarters of the Tt-tuh, or 'general -in-chief,' who 

 has the control of the police and garrison of the 

 city, and very much directs its civil administra- 

 tion. Here also are the Drum and Bell Towers, 

 Imth conspicuous objects. Five great bells were 

 cast in the Yung-lo period, early in the 15th 

 century. One of them is here, another about 2 

 miles in a north-west direction from the city, in 

 'The Great Bell Temple.' It is indeed a monster, 

 14 feet high, 34 feet in circumference at the rim, 

 and 9 inches thick, and is said to weigh 120,000 



