PEKIN', or PE-KING' (i.e., northern capital), the capital of the Chinese empire since 1421 A.n., is situated on a sandy plain about 13 m. n.w. of the Peiho, in lat. 39° 54' 10" n., and long. 116° 28' 54" e., in the northern province of Chili-le, at a distance of nearly 100 in. from the sea, and about GO m. from thegreat Chinese wall. The pop. of the city is estimated at about 2,000,000; and the circuit of the walls, according to the latest measurements is 20 miles. These walls are made of earth, with an outer casing of brick, having embrasures for musketry or ordnance every 50 feet. Those of the Tartar city have an average height of 50, but in some places of 61 feet. In thickness they vary from 57 to 22 feet. The walls of the Chinese city are only 30 ft. in height, and from 15 to 2.5 in width. The top, to which horsemen can ascend by a ramp or sloping way, is paved with stone. At intervals of 60 yards are square towers or buttresses, projecting outward from the walls 50 or 60 feet. The gates which give access to the city from the surrounding country are 16 in number. 9 of which belong to the northern or Tartar city, and 7 to the southern or Chinese city. Over each gate is a watch-tower 9 stories in height, and loop-holed for cannon.
The city of Pekin is divided into two parts, separated by a wall with three gates. These two sections form respectively the northern, interior, or Tartar city, called ei tchiny (" within the walls"); and the southern, exterior, or Chinese city, called IFid tekine (" without the walls"). " Telling" or "citing," it may be remarked, means both city and wall.
or the northern city, has three distinct divisions or inclosures—viz.: Kin telling, or the prohibited city; the Ilwang-tehino, or imperial city; and the general city. The first of these—the innermost or central block—is surrounded by a red brick wall about 2 m. in circumference, which shuts in the palaces, pleasure-grounds, and temples of the sacred city. Here live the emperor and his family, the ladies of the court, arid the attendant eunuchs. The palace proper consists of four large and two small build ings, called the TehinVtung, or palace," the Tung-kung, Si-kung, and Kin-luan teen. The smaller buildings are allotted to the dowager-eMpress and suite; they are called the Ning-shou-kung, and the Keen-tsing-kung, or the "palace of earth's repose." Other notable buildings of the prohibited city arc Fimg-seendeen. the "temple of imperial ancestors:" Tching-hwangineaou, the "guardian temple of the city;" Nan-heun-teen, "the hall of portraits of the Chinese emperors and sages;" and Wan-yuen Ko, the "hall of the literary abyss," i.e., the imperial library. It also contains the offices of the eabi net, in which tire inembers'hold their sessions, the imperial treasury, the court of con trollers for the regulation of the receipts and expenses of the court, etc.—The imperial city is built around this central block, and contains the palaces of the princes, temples, some of the government offices, and spacious pleasure-grounds, with beautiful artificial lakes. From Woo-ylug-teen, the imperial printing-office, the Imperial or Pe-h•ng
Gazette is issued daily for all government officials throughout the empire. This is the only publication in China approaching to a newspaper, and is trained King Puou, or "treat report." It is not merely a report for official information, but forms the basis of the national annals, and is compiled from the daily records of the supreme council. Besides the daily edition, there is one published every two days, which is sold to the public, and from which is withheld decrees and reports of a secret character. The jour nal itself is a miserable production even for China, and consists of from 15 to 20 pages not so large as common note paper.—The general city—lire third division or inclosure lies between the imperial city and the outside Nvalls: it is more densely populated than either of the preceding divisions, and contains the roost important of the public offices. the six supreme tribunals or boards—the Le-fan-yuen, or the office of foreign affairs: Too-cha-yuen, or the imperial eensorate, etc.; Ilan-lin-yuen, or the grand national college, the great medical college, the observatory, the examination hall, with—it is said-10,000 cells for the candidates who assemble to compete for public offices; and the British, French, Russian, and United States legations. One may also notice the Lama temple, founded 1725-30 to conciliate tire Thibetan priesthood; the temple of Confucius, in which the emperor solemnly " worships" the great sage once a year; and the Mohammedan mosque. „The British minister resides in the Leang-kung foo, or the palace of Leang. a gorgeous building-, consisting of four or five large halls, and covering about five acres of land. The principal streets of the general city—from 1.10 to 200 ft. wide, and unpaved—are continuous lines of shops painted red, blue, and green; decorated with staring signs, and resplendent with Chinese characters highly gilt. By day and by night, by the light of the sun, or by the illumination of torches and paper lanterns, the .roar of these great thoroughfares is incessant; shopkeepers, peddlcrs, mountebanks, quack-doctors, passengers on foot or on horseback, each and rill eon: tributing to the general hubbub. The minor streets and lanes, where the houses of the populace are mingled with public offices, temples, stores, and manufactories, are by no means pleasant places, their general characteristics being an "insupportable odor," and one-storied brick houses with roofs of a gray color. There is "Fetid hide street," " Hog's-tooth street," "Dog's-tail street," "Barbarian street," and many others with names equally uninviting.