Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

PEKING, or PEKIN

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 62 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

PEKING, or See also:PEKIN , the See also:capital of the See also:Chinese See also:Empire, situated in 390 57' N. and 116° 29' E., on the See also:northern extremity of the See also:great alluvial See also:delta which extends southward from its walls for 700 M. For nine centuries Peking, under various names and under the dominion of successive dynasties, has, with some See also:short intervals, remained an imperial See also:city. Its situation near the northern frontier recommended it to the Tatar invaders as a convenient centre for their See also:power, and its peculiarly fortunate position as regards the supernatural terrestrial influences pertaining to it has inclined succeeding Chinese monarchs to accept it as the seat of their courts. In 986 it was taken by an invading force of Khitan See also:Tatars, who adopted it as their headquarters and named it See also:Nanking, or the " See also:southern capital." During the See also:early See also:part of the 12th See also:century the Chinese recaptured it and reduced it from the See also:rank of a See also:metropolis to that of a provincial city of the first grade, and called it Yen-shan Fu. In 1151 it See also:fell into the hands of the See also:Kin Tatars, who made it a royal See also:residence under the name of Chung-tu, or " central capital." Less than a century later it became the See also:prize of Jenghiz See also:Khan, who, having his See also:main interests centred on the Mongolian See also:steppes, declined to move his See also:court southwards. His great successor, Kublai Khan (1280-1294), rebuilt the See also:town, which he called Yenking, and which became known in Chinese as Ta-tu, or " great court," and in Mongolian as Khanbalik (See also:Cambaluc), or " city of the khan." During the reign of the first See also:emperor of the See also:dynasty (1368-1399) which. succeeded that founded by Jenghiz Khan the court resided at the See also:modern Nanking, but the succeeding See also:sovereign Yung-lo (1403-1425) transferred his court to Pe-See also:king (i.e. " See also:north-court "), which has ever since been the seat of See also:government. For further See also:history see CAMBALUC. During the periods above mentioned the extent and boundaries of the city varied considerably. Under the Kin dynasty the walls extended to the See also:south-See also:west of the Tatar portion of the See also:present city, and the See also:foundations of the northern ramparts of the Khan-balik of Kublai Khan are still to be traced at a distance of about 2 M. north beyond the existing walls. The modern city consists of the See also:nei ch' e"ng, or inner city, commonly known to foreigners as the " Tatar city," and the See also:wai ch' eeng, or See also:outer city, known in the same way as the " Chinese city." These names are somewhat misleading, as the inner city is not enclosed within the outer city, but adjoins its northern See also:wall, which, being longer than the nei ch'e"ng is wide, outflanks it considerably at both ends. The outer walls of the See also:double city contain an See also:area of about 25 sq. m., and measure 30 M. in circumference.

Unlike the walls of most Chinese cities, those of Peking are kept in perfect See also:

order. Those of the Tatar portion, which is the See also:oldest part of the city, are 50 ft. high, with a width of 6o ft. at the See also:base and 40 ft. at the See also:top, while those of the Chinese city, which were built by the emperor Kia-tsing in 1543, measure 30 ft. in height, and have a width of 25 ft. at the base and 15 ft. at the top. The terre-plein is well and smoothly paved, and is defended by a crenellated See also:parapet. The outer faces of the walls are strengthened by square buttresses built out at intervals of 6o yds., and on the summits of these stand the guard-houses for the troops on See also:duty. Each of the sixteen See also:gates of the city is protected by a semi-circular See also:enceinte, and is surmounted by a high See also:tower built in galleries and provided with countless loopholes. Peking suffered severely during the Boxer See also:movement and the See also:siege of the legations in the summer of 1900. Not only were most of the See also:foreign buildings destroyed, but also a large number of important Chinese buildings in the vicinity of the foreign See also:quarter, including the See also:ancient Hanlin Yuen, the boards of See also:war, See also:rites, &c. Almost the whole of the business quarter, the wealthiest part of the Chinese city, was laid in ashes (see See also:CHINA: History). The See also:population of Peking is reckoned to be about r,000,000, a number which is out of all proportion to the immense area enclosed within its walls. This disparity is partly accounted for by the facts that large spaces, notably in the Chinese city, are not built over, and that the grounds surrounding the imperial See also:palace, private residences and temples are very extensive. One of such enclosures constitutes the See also:British See also:legation, and most of the other foreign legations are similarly, though not so sumptuously, lodged. Viewed from the walls Peking looks like a city of gardens.

Few crowded neighbourhoods are visible, and the characteristic features of the See also:

scene which meets the See also:eye are the upturned See also:roofs of temples, palaces, and mansions, See also:gay with See also:blue, See also:green and yellow glazed tiles, glittering among the groves of trees with which the city abounds. It is fortunate that the city is not See also:close-built or crowded, for since the first See also:advent of foreigners in Peking in 186o nothing whatever had been done until 190o to improve the streets or the drainage. The streets as originally laid out were wide and spacious, but being unpaved and undrained they were no better than mud tracks diversified by piles of garbage and foul-smelling stagnant pools. Such drainage as had at one See also:time existed was allowed to get choked up, giving rise to typhoid See also:fever of a virulent type. Some See also:attempt has been made to improve matters by macadamizing one of the See also:principal thoroughfares, but it will be the labour of a See also:Hercules to cleanse this vast city from the accumulated filth of ages of neglect. Enclosed within the Tatar city is the Hwang ch' e"ng, or " Imperial city," which in its turn encloses the Tsze-kin ch' e"ng, or " Forbidden city," in which stands the emperor's palace. On the north of the Tsze-kin ch'eeng, and separated from it by a See also:moat, is an artificial See also:mound known as the King shan, or " Prospect See also:Hill." This mound, which forms a prominent See also:object in the view over the city, is about 150 ft. high, and is topped with five summits, on each of which stands a See also:temple. It is encircled by a wall measuring upwards of a mile in circumference, and is prettily planted with trees, on one of which the last emperor of the Ming dynasty (1644), finding See also:escape from the Manchu invaders impossible, haned himself. On the west of Prospect Hill is the Si yuan, or ` Western See also:Park," which forms part of the palace grounds. This park is tastefully laid out, and is traversed by a See also:lake, which is mainly noticeable from the remark-ably handsome See also:marble See also:bridge which crosses it from See also:east to west. Directly northwards from Prospect Hill stands the residence of the T'itu, or "See also:governor of the city," and the See also:Bell and the See also:Drum Towers, both of which have attained celebrity from the nature of their contents—the first from the huge bell which hangs, in it, and the second from the appliances it contains for marking the time. The bell is one of five which the emperor Yung-lo ordered to be See also:cast.

Phoenix-squares

In See also:

common with the others, it weighs 120,000 lb, is 14 ft. high, 34 ft. in circumference at the rim, and 9 in. thick. It is struck by a wooden See also:beam swung on the outside, and only at the changes of the See also:night-watches, when its deep See also:tone may be heard in all parts of the city. In the Drum Tower See also:incense-sticks, specially prepared by the astronomical See also:board, are kept burning to See also:mark the passage of time, in which important duty their accuracy is checked by a See also:clepsydra. Another of Yung-lo's bells is hung in a Buddhist temple outside the north-west See also:angle of the city wall, and is covered both on the inside and outside with the Chinese texts of the Lankavatara Sutra, and the Saddharma pundarika Sutra. Turning southwards we come again to the Forbidden City, the central portion of which forms the imperial palace, where, in halls which for the magnificence of their proportions and barbaric splendour are probably not to be surpassed anywhere, the Son of See also:Heaven holds his court. In the eastern and western portions of this city are situated the residences of the highest dignitaries of the empire; while beyond its confines on the south staid the offices of the six See also:official boards which See also:direct the affairs of the eighteen provinces. It was in the " yamen " of one of these boards—the Li Pu or board of rites—that See also:Lord See also:Elgin signed the treaty at the conclusion of the war in 186o—an event which derives especial See also:interest from the fact of its having been the first occasion on which a See also:European plenipotentiary ever entered Peking accompanied by all the pomp and circumstance of his rank. Outside the Forbidden City the most noteworthy See also:building is the Temple of Heaven, which stands in the outer or Chinese city. Here at early See also:morning on the 21st of See also:December the emperor offers See also:sacrifice on an open See also:altar to Shang-ti, and at periods of drought or See also:famine presents prayers for See also:relief to the same supreme deity. The altar at which these See also:solemn rites are performed consists of a triple circular marble See also:terrace, 210 ft. wide at the base, 150 in the See also:middle and 90 at the top. The uppermost See also:surface is paved with blocks of the same material forming nine concentric circles, the innermost consisting of nine blocks, and that on the outside of eighty-one blocks. On the central See also:stone, which is a perfect circle, the emperor kneels.

In the same temple stands the altar of See also:

prayer for See also:good harvests, which is surmounted by a triple-roofed circular structure 99 ft. in height. The tiles of these roofs are glazed See also:porcelain of the most exquisite deep-blue See also:colour, and add a conspicuous See also:element of splendour to the See also:shrine. The other See also:powers of nature have shrines dedicated to them in the altar: to the See also:Earth on the north of the city, the altars to the See also:Sun and See also:Moon outside the north-eastern and north-western angles respectively of the Chinese city, and the altar of See also:agriculture inside the south See also:gate of the Chinese city. Next to these in religious importance comes the Confucian temple, known as the Kwo-tsze-kien. Here there is no splendour; everything is quite See also:plain; and one See also:hall contains all that is sacred in the building. There the tablets of " the soul of the most See also:holy ancestral teacher, See also:Confucius," and of his ten principal disciples stand as See also:objects of See also:worship for their countless followers. In one courtyard of this temple are deposited the celebrated ten stone drums which See also:bear poetical See also:inscriptions commemorative of the See also:hunting expeditions of King Suan (827–781 B.c.), in whose reign they are believed, though erroneously, to have been cut; and in another stands a See also:series of stone tablets on which are inscribed the names of all those who have obtained the highest See also:literary degree of Tsin-shi for the last five centuries. In the south-eastern portion of the Tatar city used to stand the See also:observatory, which was built by order of Kublai Khan in 1296. During the See also:period of the Jesuit ascendancy in the reign of K'ang-hi (1661–1721), the superintendence of this institution was confided to See also:Roman See also:Catholic missionaries, under whose guidance the See also:bronze See also:instruments formerly existing were constructed. The inhabitants of Peking being consumers only, and in no way producers, the See also:trade of the city is very small, though the city is open to foreign See also:commerce. In 1897 a railway was opened between See also:Tientsin and Peking. This was only effected after great opposition from the ultra-Conservatives, but once accomplished the facilities were gladly accepted by all classes, and the See also:traffic both in goods and passengers is already enormous.

Out of deference to the scruples of the ultra-Conservatives, the See also:

terminus was fixed at a See also:place called Lu-Kou-ch'iao, some 4 M. outside the walls, but this distance has since been covered by an electric See also:tramway. The See also:trunk See also:line constructed by the Franco-Belgian See also:syndicate connects Lu-Kou-ch'iao, the See also:original terminus, with See also:Hankow—hence the name Lu-Han by which this trunk line is generally spoken of, Lu being short for Lu-Kou-ch'iao and Han for Hankow.

End of Article: PEKING, or PEKIN

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
PEKIN
[next]
PELAGIA, ST