Papurau Newydd Cymru

Chwiliwch 15 miliwn o erthyglau papurau newydd Cymru

Cuddio Rhestr Erthyglau

24 erthygl ar y dudalen hon

MOUNT ETNA IN ERUPTION. !

[No title]

RUSSIAN SUNDAY SCHOOLS.

A LETTER FROM MR. LONGFELLOW.

A TEMPERANCE DEMONSTRATION.

EARTHOUAKES. '

THE ATTACK UPON MOIROSI'S…

[No title]

THE CITY OF PEKING.

Newyddion
Dyfynnu
Rhannu

THE CITY OF PEKING. A correspondent of the Hong Kong Batty Prtss, who has recently paid a visit to the Chinese capital, writes at follows (says the JPall Mall Gazette) There are perhaps few cities in the world laid out upon a finer plan than the northern capital of Onina. The streets are in many instances as wide as itegenir street (London), and out each other generally at right angles. They are lined with shops, a large number of which are extremely handsome, their entire fajaae being richly carved and gilded from top to bottom. Instead ot the hanging boards which in other Chinese oities announce to the passer-by the nature of the goods retailed, the shops have here tall upright posts, sometimes rising from the roof, sometimes standing on the ground, overlaid with gilding and bright colours. Other varieties of the deoorative art abound on all sides, some of the shops being painted to represent a most elaborate mosaic, the design and execution being rich and beautiful in the extreme. Every. body has seen an ornamental screen^,or centre table, inlaid with exquisite patterns and every shade of tint. Imagine this workmanship transferred in all its wealth and splendour to the front of an ordinary shop, where in Europe there would be nothing but stone or brick, and you will have some idea of the decorations which attract the eye and gratify the taste in the crowded thoroughfares of this strange town. The paths are sunk in some places two or three feet below the level of the roads, along which pUt in an almost unbroken stream strings of camels, mules, and carts. In the latter vehioles are frequently to be seen brilliantly trlcKeo- out ladies with their cheeks and eyes bedaubed with coarse magenta paint; mandarins-only the very highest of whom are permitted tiiei privilege o -and occasionally a living Buddha, m the form of some Lama priests of rank, dressed from head to foot in gleaming yellow silk. The practice of rouging toe face is very extensively adopted in.PeH^V women but by boys as well, who also adorn themselves with large silver earrings. fnnnrai One of the gayest Bights to be seen here is a funeral The coffin is carried under a huge catafalque of scarlet and gold colour, heavily embroidered canopies with a deep valance of the same cheerful appearance impart a festive air t6 the procession, and the howling sur. vivors, whose cries rise above the lugubrious moaning of the so-called musical instruments, console them- selves with a few pipes of tobacco between their inter- vals of grief. Now to judge from the above description, one might easily conclude that Peking was a very wonder- ful and gorgeous place. But this would be a very great mistake. Hitherto we have only looked at one side of the glowing Oriental Icene. Side by Bide with the flaunting golden shops we squalid, filthyt houseB, rotting slowly and uncared for. Heaps of filth stand seething here and there the thoroughfares, 1»oad and straight as they are, which we have spoken of hitherto for convenience Bake as streets, are a mere irregular collection of bogs and ditches, along which we walk now through piles of dust, a w beside stagnant puddles, noisome, putrid, and green. In drf Pekin is a gigantic dustbin; during the rains it is a whirling cesspool. A few hours of such rain as we have here, and the paths, which, as I have said, are sunk to a considerable depth below the road-are transformed into torrents, in which men are drowned every year. A case is on record in which, some years ago, two foreign missionaries on horseback had a very narrow escape of losing their lives by falling into an open drain. The Chinese regard this inability on the part of foreigners to appreciate the beauties and luxuries of this capital, as a cogent proof of our bar- barism. It certainly argues the lack, on our part, of a certain education bat whether the acquisition of such education be desirable or even necessary is a matter very much open to doubt.The foreign-builtbonus in Peking are, I believe, confined exclusively to the enormous compound occupied by the British Legation. The Minister's house is purely Chinese, having been occupied in bygone times by an Imperial prince; and a very superb structure it in. A new bungalow, in the Shanghai style, with upper storeys and verandahs, has lately been completed for the occupation of the First Secretary; but this is the only building of the sort in Peking. The inspectorate-general of Imperial Customs will shortly be removed from its present quarters to a large enclosure near the foreign legations, where the new premises are now in course of being built.

A LOBSTER'S BLOOD. ;

PROTECTION AND THE FARMERS…

THE LATE FAMINE IN CHINA.

TBE FARMERS' ALLIANCE.

[No title]

THE BALLOON EXPEDITION TO…

CUTTINGS FROM AMERICAN PAPERS.

EPITOME OF NEWS.

A "JOURNEY TO THE TOMBS."

THE VISIT OF AMERICAN TROOPS…

A NEW YORK 11 KITCHEN-GARTEN."…

TIDY ANTS.

NEW MEXICO.

THE SINKING OF THE AVA.

THE STATE OF AGRICULTURE.