PORCLOUS AND BE AULD UL SZECHUAN 
a 
Photo by Rollin T. Chamberlin 
A GATEWAY TO A TEMPLE: CHENGTU 
wall 9 miles in circumference, consists in 
reality of two distinct cities of widely 
different aspect. They are the Chinese 
city and the Manchu or Tartar quarter. 
A high wall separates them. From one 
end of China to the other there are no 
greater contrasts in architecture, in the 
appearance of the streets, or in the gen- 
eral plan of cities than are displayed on 
opposite sides of this Chengtu wall. 
Szechuan styles, characteristic of west 
and south China, prevail on the sunny 
side, while the Tartar inhabitants of the 
northern half of the city have patterned 
everything after their native Manchuria. 
Toward the middle of the seventeenth 
century the Manchus from the north in- 
vaded China and, overthrowing the Ming 
dynasty, established their leader, Shun 
Chih, upon the dragon throne at Peking 
in 1644. Since then China has been 
ruled by Manchu emperors, and its peo- 
ple have worn the queue in token of their 
subjugation. The invading Tartars, after 
massacring many of the unfortunate 
Szechuanese, were so captivated by the 
natural charm of the region that they 
settled down as a foreign garrison. It is 
the descendants of these original in- 
vaders who inhabit today the Manchu 
city of Chengtu. They are pensioners of 
the nation. 
The Chinese quarter of Chengtu, like 
most cities in China south of the Hwang 
Ho, is very compactly built. The houses 
and shops are set in clese and the streets 
are narrow. Viewed from a height, such 
as the tall tower of the American Metho- 
dist hospital, the city presents an almost 
continuous mass of tile roofs, interrupted 
here and there only by foliage. 
The streets are so narrow and are 
spaced so far apart that they almost es- 
cape detection in the general view. 
Though so narrow from the Occidental 
standpoint, these streets of Chengtu are, 
