File:The Middle Kingdom - a survey of the geography, government, education, social life, arts, and history of the Chinese Empire and its inhabitants (1913) (14764323832).jpg

Identifier: middlekingdomsur01will (find matches)
Title: The Middle Kingdom : a survey of the geography, government, education, social life, arts, and history of the Chinese Empire and its inhabitants
Year: 1913 (1910s)
Authors: Williams, S. Wells (Samuel Wells), 1812-1884
Subjects: China
Publisher: New York : C. Scribner's Sons
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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, or ten miles, for theChinese city on its south; not counting the cross-wall, the cir-cuit measures almost twenty-one miles. The suburbs near thethirteen outer gates altogether form a small pi-oportion to thewhole; the area within them is nearly twenty-six square miles.Those residents who have had the best opportunities estimatethe entire population at a million or somewhat less; no censusreturns are available to prove this figure, nor can it be statedwhat is the proportion of Manchus, Mongols, and Chinese, exceptthat the latter outnumber all others. Du Ilalde reckoned itto be about three millions, and Klaproth one million three hun-dred thousand; and each was probably true at some period,for the number has diminished with the poverty of the Govern-ment. Peking is regarded by the Chinese as one of their ancientcities, ))ut it was not made the capital of the whole empireuntil Kublai established his court at this spot in 1264. TheMing emperors who succeeded the Mongols held their court
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POSITION AND HISTORY OF PEKING. 63 at Nanking until Yimgloh transferred the seat of governmentto Peking in 1411, whei-e it lias since remained. Under theMongols, the city was called Khan-haligh (*.<?., city of theKhan), changed into Cambalii in the accounts of those times;on Chinese maps it is usually called King-sz\ Peking has, during its history, existed under many dif-ferent names; after each disaster her walls have been changedand her houses rebuilt, so that to-day she stands, like tliecapitals of the ancient Roman and Byzantine empires, uponthe debris of centuries of buildings. The most importantrenovations have been those by the Liao dynasty, in 937A.D., who entirely rebuilt the city, and by the Kin rulersin 1151. It was at first surrounded by a single wall pierced by ninegates, whence it is sometimes called the City of Nine Gates.The southern suburbs were inclosed by Kiatsing in 1543, andthe city now consists of two portions, the northern or innercity (JSFui ching), containi

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