Immediately north of the Great Gate is a paved square bordered by a stone palisade. The :Mongol market is found here. North of this square is the latter gate leading to the Hwang ch'ing or 'Imperial City,' walled and towered like the Tatar city itself. From this a wide avenue leads for a quarter of a mile to the inner gate, within which right and left are seen the temples of ancestors and of grain. A mile and a half farther brings us to the entrance of the Tsze-kin ch'ing or 'Purple Forbidden a great walled inclosure with towers on the corners and over the gates, one square mile in extent, containing the Imperial Palace and its pleasure grounds and gardens, as well as the nunierons reception halls, pavilions, and offices required by the Emperor and his high officers of State in conducting the af fairs of his great Empire, all roofed with yellow porcelain tiles. North of all this is the beautiful finely wooded artificial liill called King-shan, or 'Prospect 170 feet high. with Live peaks, each having a Buddhist temple on top. the whole surrounded with a park a mile in eireuit. Con tinuing northward, the traveler passes through the 'hack gate' into the Imperial City, where is the palace of the or General, who is re sponsible for the peace of the city. Northward still is the gate leading from the Imperial into the Tatar city.
11 is seen that the Tatar city is really a nest of cities, with the Forbidden City in the centre, the Forbidden City being surrounded by the Hwang or Imperial City (six miles in circuit), containing Government offices, temples, pleasure grounds, a beautiful artifieial lake on the west side, the White Ming pagoda built on the spot where the last Emperor of the Ming dynasty hanged himself (1643), the or Roman Catholic cathedral. and many elegant residences of princes, and of officers of the Government. The Tatar city thus surronnds both the For bidden and the Imperial cities. Originally intended for Manchus alone, it is now largely occupied by Chinese. It contains the public offi ces of the Eight Boards or Government depart ments, including the Wai Wu Pu, or Foreign Office, which recently superseded the Tsung-li Yarra:•n; the Imperial Censorate, the site of the Han-lin (q.v.), adjoining the British Legation on the north and burned down with its unreplace able libraries, during the Boxer disturbances; the Imperial University; the Examination llall, with its 10,000 cells for the triennial competitive literary examinations; the Imperial Observa tory; the Christian mission houses, churches, and schools in different parts of the city (mostly burned down by the Boxers) ; Confucian, Bud dhist, Taoist, and Lamaistic temples; a great drum-tower, etc. There is in addition the temple
erected in 1578 to house the great bronze bell, 17 feet high, 12 feet S inches in diameter, weigh ing 87,000 pounds, cast in the early years of the fifteenth century, and covered within and without with quotations from the Buddhist scriptures. There is also another Roman Catholic cathedral. It is situated in the southwest part of the city.
The principal streets of Peking are lined with shops, gorgeously painted, and decorated with great pendent signs with gilt characters. At times the streets are very noisy and full of ac tivity. Besides the to and fro of man darins and their followers, Government messen gers. envoys from vassal States and provinces, Mongols with their big Bactrian camels, yellow robed Tibetan and Mongol lamas. itinerant ven dors of amusement, or of infallible medieines, or of things to eat or wear. make up a scene of great interest. The principal conveyances are the sedan chair and the springless covered carts, politely called 'carriages.' The smaller streets are filthy and vile-smelling, but since the post Boxer military occupation many improvements have been inaugurated by the reforming and pro gressive prince in whose charge the streets have been placed. The sewers have been thoroughly cleaned out. and the practice of sprinkling the dusty roads with the foul liquid from the gutters has been suppressed. :Macadamizing is every where in progress.
GovERNMENT. The peace of the city is in of a board, consisting of the Chih-fu (head of the Department of Shun-nen), the two Chili-hien (heads of the two prefectures included within the city), five members of the Board of Censors. and the Ti-tu, or general. Besides the military, 12,000 police are subject to this board. 10 being stationed at each barrier. Each of these has 150 runners under him. The Tatar garrison is divided into S banners, each in three divisions (Mongol, Mancni. and Chinese).
The population of Peking is estimated at 1,300.000.