Page 31 - To Dragma November 1924

26 TO PRAGMA OF ALPHA 0 MIC RON PI

WITH AN UPSILON G I R L IN PEKING

T H E F I R S T few days I was in Peking I was absolutely thrilled
with the city itself. It is truly a Chinese city. I had the
feeling that I never wanted to leave it and left knowing I would
see it again. Peking is the capital for the greatest number of
people of one race. I t was a capital for a glorious empire and is
now the capital for this experimental republic. It contains the
landmarks of this old civilization in the form of beautiful palaces
and buildings and its huge city walls seem to crowd so many in-
teresting things together that you want to see that you really
don't have time to get a peek at them all.

Don't imagine Peking with barren city walls and grim fort-
resses. I t is a beautiful city with many, many trees. The
Chinese certainly are artistic and the longer you live in China the
more you appreciate their art and architecture.

The big thing in China I have always looked forward to see-
ing was the Great Wall of China. Five of us girls made the
trip to the Wall the first Sunday I was there. We took the train
which goes north to Urga, but our journey was only two hours
to the wall. The Great Wall itself is one of the most thrilling
inventions of human genius I ever expect to see. You have seen
pictures of it I am sure. This huge wall built hundreds of years
ago against the northern barbarians literally looks as though it
were alive and crawling over the mountains. It isn't a straight
wall but twists and turns until it resembles a snake curled up and
ready to spring. And to think it is nearly 2,000 miles long.
Think of the lives it took to build it—because they used prisoners
of war and forced labor in its construction. But it has served its
purpose and today stands as an indication and remainder of past
strife and struggles. We had to walk about a mile from the sta-
tion to the place where we could go up on the wall. This dis-
tance was through a pass in the mountains and the pass used
by the camel caravans on their way from the desert to Peking.
These caravans travel hundreds of miles. One containing about
fifty camels passed us. I wanted a ride and my picture taken
on one, so we had them stop and the deed was done. I wanted
one to send you and it came out very well, especially the camel,
who really was the center of interest. Besides the camel caravans
we saw huge flocks of sheep and cattle which were being driven