CHIEN MUN GATE.
Perhaps the most interesting and picturesque feature of the country is its city gates. There is a great family likeness between them, the usual fort-like building surmounting the wall where it is pierced by the gate. It is not a fort, however. In it are kept the gongs and other musical instruments by means of which are announced the rising and the setting of the sun. This is the gate which was blown up by the Japanese in their recent attack on and entry into the city. It is the largest and most important gate in Peking.
CHIEN MUN GATE
THE
GATE OF VICTORY,
MUKDEN.
Mukden, the capital of Manchuria, is officially the second city of the Empire. In it are duplicated all the official boards, save one, that exist in Peking, the capital of the Empire. Thus Mukden possesses its Board of Rites and Ceremonies, of Punishments, etc., etc., just like Peking. Close to Mukden are the ancestral graves of the Manchu dynasty.
THE
GATE OF VICTORY,
MUKDEN
THE WEST GATE OF
KIALING FU.
A most picturesque entrance to the city. These gates are closed at sunset and opened at sunrise, the gongs and other instruments notifying the hours of opening and closing.
THE WEST GATE OF
KIALING FU
THE WEST GATE OF
HANGCHOW.
One of the friendliest cities to the foreigner. The cry of “Foreign devil!” is never heard within its walls. The people have had time to learn how much they profit by the trade the foreigner brings, and by the efforts of the missionaries to ameliorate the condition of the very poor by their hospitals. Hangchow is a great centre of the silk trade. The whole city, which has a population of 700,000, and the principal street of which is five miles long, is surrounded by a wall faced with hewn stone, such as is shown in the photograph. It is pierced by many gates. It is a treaty port, two days’ journey from the great foreign settlement of Shanghai.
THE WEST GATE OF
HANGCHOW
THE GATE OF
A FORBIDDEN CITY.
In contrast to Hangchow, though only two miles from a treaty port, it is believed that no foreigner has ever had the foolhardiness to enter this gate. It is a city of the fifth order only; but such is the hatred and detestation in which the foreigner is held, it would be almost certain death to him to enter it. This hatred of the foreigner is a very curious characteristic of the country. No one can tell how it has arisen, for though one can understand that the attempts of Western nations to force open the ports of the country, and the seizure of territory by certain of them, and perhaps the advent of the missionaries, are causes enough to provoke opposition and hatred, they do not account for its ferocity. The idea of the Chinaman and the Chinawoman is that the foreigner is a child-eater, that no children are safe within his reach, that he kills children that he may take their eyes and hearts to make into his medicines. This belief is so deeply rooted, that when the cry of “Foreigner!” is raised, in almost any city, the women will run into the streets, snatch up their children, and carry them for safety into their homes; and the cry raised is always “Foreign devil!” “Child-eater!” It may be noted that a similar suspicion exists over a great part of Central and Southern Europe towards the Jews, who are charged with murdering children to mingle their blood with sacrifices.
THE GATE OF
A FORBIDDEN CITY