The Great Wall--Its failure as a defence--Forced labour--Mode of construction--Shih-Hwang-Ti orders all books to be burnt--Mandarins flung into the flames--The _Shu-King_ is saved--How the sacred books came to be written--The sedan-chair and its uses--Modern hotels at Pekin--Examination of students for degrees--Cells in which they are confined--Kublai Khan conquers China--Makes Pekin his capital--Introduces paper currency--The Great Canal--Address to the three Philosophers--Marco Polo's visit to Pekin--His description of the Emperor--Kublai Khan's wife--Foundation of the Academy of Pekin--Hin-Heng and his acquirements--Death of Kublai Khan--Inferiority of his successors--Shun-Ti the last Mongol Emperor--Pekin in the time of the Mongols--When seen by Lord Macartney--The city as it is now 205 CHAPTER XII Fall of the Mongol dynasty--The son of a labourer chosen Emperor--He founds the Ming dynasty--Choo becomes Tae-tsoo, and rules with great wisdom--He dies and leaves his kingdom to his grandson--Young-lo attacks and takes Nanking--The young Emperor burnt to death--Young-lo is proclaimed Emperor, and makes Pekin his capital--First European visits China--Tartar chief usurps supreme power--Dies soon after--Foundation of present dynasty--Accession of Shun-Che--Chinese compelled to shave their heads--The old style of coiffure in China--Care of the modern pig-tail 227 CHAPTER XIII The Founder of the Ch'ing dynasty--A broken-hearted widower--The Louis XIV. of China--The Will of Kang-Hy--Young-t-Ching appointed his successor--The character of the new Emperor--Mission of Lord Macartney--He refuses to perform the Ko-too, or nine prostrations--Interview with Young-t-Ching--Results of the Mission to England--Accession of Kien-Long--He resolves to abdicate when he has reigned sixty years--Accession of Taou-Kwang--The beginning of the end--An adopted brother--War against China declared by England--The Pekin Treaty--Prince Hassan goes to visit Queen Victoria--The Regents and Tung-Che--Foreign Ministers compel the young Emperor to receive them 235 CHAPTER XIV A child of four chosen Emperor--The power of the Empress Dowager--The Palace feud--The Palace at Pekin--A Frenchman's interview with the Emperor--The Emperor's person held sacred--Coming of age of the Emperor--An enlightened proclamation--Reception of the foreign ministers in 1889--Education of the young monarch--He goes to do homage at the tombs of his ancestors--A wife is chosen for him--His secondary wives--China, the battle-ground of the future--Railway concessions 251 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FIG. PAGE