In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round—
than by Marco Polo’s relation, which moved the poet to pen the lines. It was planned as Mukden now is, an outer and inner wall inclosing separate peoples, and its tumuli will probably furnish many tablets and relics of the Mongol emperors, when carefully dug over. It was too far from Peking for the Manchu monarchs to rebuild, and the Ming emperors had no power there. It was visited in 1872 by Messrs. Grosvenor and Bushell of the British Legation; Dr. Bushell’s description corroborates Polo’s account and Gerbillon’s later notices of its size.[40]
There are several lakes, the largest of which, the Peh hu, in the south-western part, connects with the Pei ho through the river Hü-to. The various branches of the five rivers, whose united waters disembogue at Ta-ku, afford a precarious water communication through the southern half of Chihlí. Their headwaters rise in Shansí and beyond the Great Wall, bringing down much silt, which their lower currents only partially take out into the gulf; this sediment soon destroys the usefulness of the channels by raising them dangerously near the level of the banks. The utilization of their streams is a difficult problem in civil engineering, not only here but throughout the Great Plain.
Near the banks of the Lan ho, a large stream flowing south from the eastern slopes of the Chahar Hills, past Yungping fu into the gulf, and about one hundred and seventy-four miles north of Ta-ku, lies Chingpeh, or Jeh-ho, the Emperor’s country palace. The approach to it is through a pass cut out of the rock, and resembles that leading to Damascus. The imperial grounds are embraced by a high range of hills forming a grand amphitheatre, which at this point is extremely fine. This descent to the city presents new and captivating views at every turn of the road. The hunting grounds are inclosed by a high wall stretching twenty miles over the hills, and stocked with deer, elks, and other game. The Buddhist temples form the chief attraction to a visitor. The largest one is square and castellated, eleven stories high, and about two hundred feet on each of its sides; the stories are painted red, yellow and green alternating. There are several similar but smaller structures below this one, and on each of the first two or three series is a row of small chinaware pagodas of a blue color; their tiles are likewise blue. In the bright sunlight the effect of these brilliant bands is very good, and the general neatness adds to the pleasing result of the gay coloring. Nearly a thousand lamas live about these shrines. The town of Jeh-ho (i.e., Hot River) consists mostly of one street coiling around the hills near the palace; its inhabitants are of a higher grade than usual in Chinese cities, the greater part being connected with the government. The road through Ku-peh kau in the Great Wall from Peking to Jeh-ho is one of the best in the province, and the journey presents a variety of charming scenery; its chief interest to foreigners is connected with the visit there of Lord Macartney, in 1793.[41] This fertile prefecture is rapidly settling by Chinese, whose numbers are now not far from two millions.