The streets are one perpetual quagmire all the year round and ever will be until the authorities In the years B.C. 200 to A. 25. Nanking was known as Tang-yang, being one of the finest cities in the world, and it maint ined its Position as the first city of the Empire, until Yungli, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, deserted it for Peking.
Its streets were wide and spacious, paved in large blocks of granite, both ides with(ma vifieent trees, a thousand years old, Large parks and lakes were features of temples, en, and its public were magnificent in the extreme.
Its Examination Halls, with their 27,000 cells, wer the pride of the Empire, and the Sons of Han from every Province in the country, considered it like a visit to Heaven tol he fortunate enough to be allowed to sit through three days and] rights wit jin' the confines of one of its cells, aspiring to the honours bestowed on successful candidates for literary degrees.
The glories of Nanking began to fade towards the year 1044 A.D, and between the years 1850 and 1864 it was devastated and razed to the ground during the Taiping Rebellion.
This once magnificent city now in waste and no attempt has ever been made to rebuild it in ake up and really rule the city intelligently, solve its traffic and sanitation problems, and instill a sense of duty in the police and city officials who are responsible, and, generally, consider the needs of such sri old and important City When a high official moves about the city all traffic is suspended and ell vehicles driven up side streets, while business is at a complete standstill for three or four hours waiting for the progress of such cficials. They, therefore, never see she sad congested state of the streets, they fly along at 30 miles an hour on a clear road, and do not get a chance to sce the filth Tying deep in the gutters, hence it doubtful if they know the cor dition that half the population have to put up with from day to day.
The contrast between the city of the past, as it ured in history, end art, the happy home and hunting grounds of Emperors for over 2,000 years, and the city of to-eny, now the headquarters of that enlightened General, Sun Chuanfang, who has so recently captured and from where he rules—is such that makes one wonder if this modern soldier realizes, safe in the security of his yamen, the aquatic surroundings and filth that half the present population live, move, and have their being in. anything.
ko its former grandeur end, to-day pitiful to behold, stands in ruins
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.