Of course the all-important thing is that of the Triennial Examination when aspirants for officialdom hope to mount the first rung of the ladder, alas, how often to remain stranded there, able neither to go up nor to come down. But alas for the military, for a proclamation has appeared stopping the examination just when they expected to see one out, giving the exact date when they might show their prowess with horse and bow and arrow." At Liiichoufu the civil examinations have already been held, but no military ones, and now there is a storm in the tea-cup, for the students say, they must be held,' the official proclamation notwithstanding, so it is reported that the government is going togive way just once more and hold this military tournament. Should it be held Liichoufu it is almost certain that it will also be held at the three remaining prefectures of Luanchou, Fengngfu, and Ingchoufu. The probability is that those in responsible petitions are showing some innate w dom, and desiring to stop the military examinations subsequent to this one, have taken this "final" as an opportunity to let the public know that, very soon at least they must stop, other-Wise it is rather too hard that those who have already spent good deal of money at the two former competitions should now, when it comes to the "final," be told it will not be held, and of course no honours awarded. (Later news tells that no military examinations are to be held on the old plan.)
The Probable Future Capital of China.
Now that it is certain that the Eripress Dowager and her Court are not only going to to make it her capital, if possible for two pass through aiféngfu but are also going years or even longer, a word or two about this place may not be out of court. The like Peking, suffers terribly from dust storms; in fact so dense are these storms that at times it so covers up the young wheat. as to utterly spoil the crop. Thecity itself is an ancient capital of China, being used as such about 1,000 years ago by the Sung dynasty, Tt is Some forty li round the city walls, and one fine street from North to South runs. distance of 10 li from gate to gate. Like Peking too, it has its Man Chou Ch'eng for the Manchus. This is surrounded by a low wall and forms a '*Chai" or fortification inside the city; there is also the " Hui" or Tsi King Ch'eng (Imperial city), not now presenting much in the way of an Imperial palace, but still retaining one symbol of past sovereignty in its "Kin Lung Tien," or rather what is now loft of it, which is only a part of the old throne room raised some ten feet above the surrounding dais, Till building operations commenced, of late years an idol of Chang T-huang, the God of Heaven, was seated on this pedestal, and about' it was a temple of Heaven, but now all this has had to give way to the new order of things, and Chang I has had to find some less exalted seat to sit upon. On either side of the approach to this ancient palace is an expanse of water; that on the right known as P'ankiahu (the Pan family lake),
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.