PEKING. 
p. XXII. 
style from those observed in the more southern cities. 
Three or four long poles divide the front of the 
shop into equal parts. At a convenient height from 
the ground a signboard fills up the space between 
the poles, and has large letters upon it giving the 
name and calling of the owner. The tops of the 
poles are much higher than the roof of the shop, 
and each is surmounted or crowned by an orna- 
mental carving. 
As the fronts of these shops are moveable and 
always taken out during the day-time, their con- 
tents are fully exposed to the public. Articles of 
food and clothing, and all the common necessaries 
of life, are the principal wares which are dealt in 
by the Peking shopkeepers in the main streets of 
the city. Here there are no silk and tea for expor- 
tation such as one sees in the south, and every- 
thing stamps Peking as a consuming city rather 
than a producing one. Silk and cotton clothing, 
old clothes, skins, furs, and padded bed-covers to 
protect the wearer from the cold of a Peking 
winter, together with hats and shoes, are all plen- 
tiful. Substances used as food, such as pork, salt 
fish, beef and mutton, ducks and fowls, beans, peas, 
rice, various kinds of millet and other grains, are 
met with in all the market-places, as also oils of 
various kinds, dried fruits, and dyes. Vegetables 
and fruits are abundant, and are generally exposed 
for sale on open stalls lining each side of the 
street. At the time of my visit the large white 
Shantung cabbage, which is yearly sent to the 
