Peiping, Aug. 21.
YELPING has been' experiencing the stormiest summer in living memory, unprecedented quantities of rain and chiefly ie. companied by terrific thunderstorms so seldom seen here, The city has had a regular tropic summer and, strangely enough, much more tropical disease than usual.
The storms had done plenty lof damage too, the latest place. to suffer being the famous Mei IShan or Coal Hill which runs along the north wall of the Forlbidden City. Two nights ago a terrific thunderstorm broke over Ithe city in the early hours.
Thunder shook every house in thd city and the accompanying lightning struck the Wan Chung Ting, la beautiful square pavilion which dominated the hill and indeed the Forbidden city itself. The pavilion is completely destroyed.
This is the second famous building in Peiping so to suffer this summer, the other being a famous and beautiful pavilion in the Non Hal park which was struck by lightning in the Jspring. The destruction of the Cad Hill pavilion removes a landmark. Tt is a point of vantage from which to view the Forbidden city and the Winter Palace and is itself one of the things most easily distinguished from the Western Hills 15 miles away.
The pavilion was built by the Emperor Chien Lung and it was completely and tastefully restored two years ego during the regime of General Sung Cheh-yuan. The hill which is Tong and narrow, had five pavilions running from east to west ities of the elly are being urged 19 Instat such conductors on all imporlant and historic buildings to prevent further loss of such property.
The unusual amount of rain has, of course, given the North Ching farmers unusually big crops and, with finer weather apparently here, the cereal crops harvested at the end of August should be unusually big, Typhoon Lashes Hainan Hongkong, Aug. 31, Striking with full force at Hainan {island on Monday, a typhoon claimed
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.