101, 119, 121, 124, 125, 129, 148, 149, 155, 161, 162, 166, 172, 174, 175, 176, 192, 194, 195, 202, 208, 209, 216, 220, 221, 224, 232, 237, 238, 239, 241, 244, 247, 249, 262, 263, 264, mark the palaces of the princes of the blood, who are divided into several classes Tsing ouang, reguli of the first order; Kun ouang, reguli of the second order; Pey le, reguli of the third order; Pey tse, reguli of the fourth order; Kong, or counts, divided still farther into other classes; and Tsiang kun, or generals of armies, divided likewise into other classes.
Some years ago the emperor caused to be measured the circumference of the walls of King tching, of Hoang tching, and of He kin, &c. as likewise the breadth of the streets, the space filled by the miao, our three churches, that of the Russians, palaces, &c. The Chinese city was not measured. A drawing of all this was made at large, and then reduced to a smaller scale, as it appears here. I will not undertake for the perfect exactness of it, either in the measures or the reduction. All this is by a Chinese hand. The foot made use of in this mensuration is to that of France as 1000 to 1016. 1800 of these feet make a ly[150]. By the scale to be seen in the small plan, and from the dimensions of the south and east walls of King tching, may be deduced all the dimensions. The circumference of the walls of the Chinese city has been formerly measured, and well, by several measures; and the result of them may be seen here by the scale.
The south wall of King tching is from east to west eleven ly and near a third. The east wall from north to south is nine ly and some paces. So that the city is not square, as several persons have written.
The persons employed by the emperor to measure did not think of measuring the space, which contains the house and church of the congregation de propagandâ fide. This house and church are situated to the south between number 207 and a small bridge to the west of number 201.
In the accounts sufficient mention has been made of the walls and gates of the city of King tching; for which reason it is not necessary for me to say any thing concerning it.
In the year of our Lord 1267, the Tartar emperor Koublay han (in Chinese Yuen chi tsou) built the city called Ta tou. It is the principal part of the present city of King tching. It contained the Kin chun, a palace Yng tay, Hoang tching, Tse kin, &c. the walls of the city, an observatory, the towers of the Drum and the Bell. Yong lo, emperor of the last dynasty Tay ming, made great alterations in the city built by Yuen chi tsou.
In the year 1406 the emperor Yong lo undertook to build stronger and higher walls, and more magnificent gates, to the city; to rebuild the Hoang tching, the emperor and empress’s proper habitation, and the several parts of Tse kin, the courts, hall of the throne or of Tay ho tien, the Kou leou, the Tchong leou. He undertook also to build the Sien nong tan and Tien tan, which are now in the Chinese city. On account of the wars with the Tartars, the works undertaken by Yong lo were not finished till the year of our Lord 1421. Since that time, in the Kin tchin some alterations have been made in the palace, and a good number of new miao and palaces have been built. The emperor Kia tsing built the Chinese city in the year of Christ 1544.
The gates and walls of the Chinese city are not all equal in beauty to those in the city King tching. The streets are neither so broad, nor so well kept in repair. More than a third of the space of the Chinese city is not inhabited. It consists only of fields and gardens. The spaces occupied by the Sien nong tan and the Tien tan are vast; and between these two there is a very broad road. In this Chinese city are some mosques for the Mahometans. The inhabited part of this city is much more so than the city King tching and Hoang tching. In the Chinese city are vast inns for those, who come out of the southern provinces to Peking. Here are likewise a curious manufacture of lieou ly or Chinese glass, rich merchants of women’s ornaments, of gold, of the plant gin cheng so much esteemed and so dear here, of varnished furniture, tea, stuffs of value, &c. The booksellers shops are also in this city. It is to be remarked, that the walls of the Chinese city and King tching do not run directly north and south and east and west, but decline towards the north-west 2° 30´, and as much south-east. It is probable, that the architects employed in directing the building of these walls made use of a compass; and that the declinatiation of the needle was then what is mentioned above.
What I have said of the walls of the city is likewise to be said of the walls of Hoang tching and of Tse king.
At the time of building the city King tching, and the Chinese city, the Chinese astronomers very well understood, that the north and south of the compass was not the north and south of the heavens at Peking; they knew, that the needle declined to the north-west and south-east; but that this declination was not considerable.