The city presents a brilliant kaleidoscope of nationalities:
Mohammedans with red turbans, Tartars wearing red panels; Mongols with
blue turbans; high-booted, bewhiskered Russians; booted Tibetans;
blue-gowned Chinese; yellow-robed Lamas; now and then a top-knotted
aborigine; robed Manchus; and descendants of the original Tsin and
Chou tribes of Chinese who came east to China from the cradle of
the race, seated in the saddle of pioneer conquerors; and with the
Hebrews, these Singan men can probably boast that they bring down the
purest blood from the dispersion of Ararat. Descendants of kings and
generals of many a dynasty now plough farms on the plain, and they
will tell you: “Yes, I am the son of a king.” Near here the builder of
the Great Wall, infinitely the greatest mason and military commander
of history, the Emperor Tsin, 220 B. C., had his capital at Hsien
Yang. His huge pyramidal mound, and other burial mounds, are among the
world’s greatest curiosities. On the plain are the two unique marble
arches, with four roofs, erected by Governor Lu to the memory of his
mother and wife, in the China where some writers say women meet with no
honor. A stone bridge of seventy arches over the Pa River, and the hot
sulphur springs of Lin Tung, are notable. The round, instead of square
stone piers, are unique in China, and show Moslem influence. Not all
Chinese cities were without attention from the sanitary engineer. Old
culverts and drains constructed by the ancient kings of the north exist
in Singan and elsewhere, and some of the southern cities have drainage
canals, sewage canals not being considered necessary, as the night-soil
is collected for fertilization. China, however, is going to drain her
cities so as to carry off expectoration and decaying matter. The smells
which the tourist revolts at are not as dangerous as they seem, as
opium, peculiar incense, and vegetable cooking oils, such as sesamum,
peanut, bean, etc., contribute the most malodorous portion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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