Beyond this large courtyard rises the first Imperial gate, with its great yellow roof gleaming and glistening in the sun, and its red pillars and wonderfully painted woodwork under the wide projecting eaves. From the elevation of the wall can be seen beyond more yellow roofs and red walls, and in the distance, on Coal Hill, still more gleaming out among trees. Talking of trees, Peking might almost be described as a woodland city ; seen from this height it has the effect of great masses of green, with the roofs of houses peeping up here and there, and the yellow palaces dominating the whole.
The part of the Tartar wall extending from the Tsien-Men to the Hata-Men is now held by the inter national troops, a sure preventative to its ever being the menace it was in 190o to the safety of the foreign Lega tions. All of them are now placed within what is known as Legation Quarter, bounded on the south by this section of the Tartar wall, and on the east, west, and north, by their own walls and ditches. Outside this a great clear space was created after the 190o siege, by clearing away masses of native houses, and so removing the cover under shelter of which the Boxers were able to work their way close up to the Legation.
Within the Legation Quarter it is difficult to believe that one is in China, and in Peking—of all places—so absolutely European has it become. Wide streets, well laid out with macadam, paved side-walks, good drainage, &c.—these improvements, I believe, have all been made since 19oo. The buildings of the Legation, and of the Customs and the few private houses, are nearly all modern and of good style. There is within this quarter only one large shop or store. The foreigner is not allowed to trade in Peking, excepting with such goods as are necessary for the resident foreigners. The Wagon Lits Hotel is also near the Water Gate. The Legations are all within spacious grounds. The ordinary Chinese are not allowed access to this quarter if their business is not known. I have even known my boy stopped if far in advance of me—and, recalling the past, one feels this is a right and necessary precaution. I passed up Legation Street and into Hata-Men Street, which is perhaps one of the chief streets, and soon saw the dif ference. I was in China again ! This street, long and straight, practically dividing this part of the Tartar city from south and north, is very wide ; and the roadway, which, I believe, was a very few years ago (in the old time style) a deep gully along which passengers, carts, and animals made their way as best they could through mud or dust, is now in the centre part well-laid mac adam with a deep drain at either side, and in between that and the houses is a wide but rough and dusty—in wet weather muddy—roadway. Between the old and new are planted young trees, showing that in adopting new ways the Chinese keep their ideas of what is beautiful.
Now a curious feature appears. To the old, rough, and badly made part of the roads on either side is rele gated the heavy traffic of the unimportant persons, camel trains, heavy carts with mules, barrows, and such like, while on the hard well-made new road run the carriages now largely used by official Chinese ; rickshas, and foreigners riding or in any vehicle, Peking carts (used by officials or foreigners) being also allowed. Many
times have I seen a heavily laden cart stuck in the mud of the old side roads.
Along this wide thoroughfare are most of the curio shops, and, therefore, to this street foreigners make their way ; but, if wet, it is very unpleasant to get from shop to shop on this horrid old track. At various points the street is spanned by great ornamental memorial arch ways, or pailaus, one very noticeable being of fine marble, erected to the memory of Baron von Kettler, the German Minister who was basely assassinated in 900.
The city, as I have said, is well planned—great streets intersecting it from gate to gate and crossed by others, dividing the whole up into squares ; thus making it comparatively easy for the stranger to find his way about. This cannot be said of Canton or other Chinese cities, with their maze of narrow twisting alleys.
The cross streets from east to west have, of course, to diverge to get round the Forbidden City. The main streets are more or less relaid with macadam, and fairly good, but the by-streets are still bad, and if one has occasion to go along them it is not always pleasant ; but Peking is far ahead of any other Chinese city I have seen, in cleanliness and good order. There is a large force of well-drilled police, whom I found obliging and ready to help in directing one about. Where foreigners of all nations live within the walls of a city, as they do here, the people are naturally more accustomed to see them about, and, therefore, they excite little curiosity ; and in the Hata-Men and kindred streets their advent is hailed with well-hidden pleasure, for the foreigner is the best customer for these dealers in old furniture and curios. The foreigner pays the best price and has the least knowledge—two things which rather please the shopkeeper.
To visit Peking without going to see these shops would be to miss a great deal. I spent many pleasant hours among them, and saw very beautiful articles. The Peking furniture is very distinct from the Cantonese. Peking people mostly use a beautifully coloured, reddish brown wood, and the carving is in low relief and at times very delicate. It is also the collecting-place for curios of all kinds from all Northern China.
The Chinese are great connoisseurs and keen buyers, and the foreigner has only followed them in this. But nowadays prices rule very high. I heard it said frequently that similar curios can be bought at home as cheaply and as good as in Peking.
Till quite recently Peking was a most inaccessible place, and not very comfortable to stay in when the traveller did get there ; and to Western people it has always been more or less a city of mystery. No wonder that, becoming within the last few years com paratively easy to get at and reasonably comfortable to stay in, it is now being made a tourists' centre for the Far East. With the Siberian Railway bringing it within fifteen days of London, we may probably soon find it a fashionable resort of wealthy travellers for, at any rate, a short time in the year.