July 1951 School Magazine

July, 1951

:Brisbane Girls' Grammar School Magazine

July, 1951

Brisbane G;r!s' Grammar School Magazine

PEKING Peking, the capital of China, is a walled city. Although ihe existing city contains little that is older than 500 years, the site has been occup ied as a town for 2,000 years. It was Kubla Khan who first rebuilt and planned the city in a man- ner suitable to the p restige of a great ruler, and it was at this time that the famous traveller Marco Polo visited and described it. From a distance the walls and gates, standing out against a background of blue h ills , still resemble a Tartar encampru'ent built in stone. The walls, faced with p ink bricks, are forty feet high and encircle the city with a circumference of four- ieen miles . Within these walls is the Forb idden City, sur- _rounded by two miles of its own massive walls . Peking is a city of broad highways which run either North to South or East to West, but it is totally unlike . any of o ur own cities. Buildings of more than two stories a re few and far between, except in the section set apart for foreign ·legations and embassies. The ordinary Chinese dwellings consist cf g rey tiled, one-storied buildings built round court- ·yards. From the numbered sireets ond passages nothing is visible but the walls and entrance gates. Seen from a height one gains the impression, not of a city, but of a huge park from the centre of which the yellow iiles of the Imperial roofs catch the eye. The Imperial pal- aces, now open to the public, consist of a series of vast halls. 'The general impression created by them is one of red p illars supporting the graceful, sweeping roofs. The three enormous artificial lakes and walks of the Imper- i al Pleasure Garden s, are a popular resort for the city's pop- ·ulation and provide splendid skating during the winter months. Some cities are soon forgotten but Peking remains always a rich memory to those who know it. -P. D. HYLAND (Ill. B)

CAPETOWN

We entered Table Bay early in the morning, just as the sun was rising, and the table cloth was slowly spreading over Table Mountain, at the foot of which Cape Town is nestling. As early as possible, we disembarked to go sightseeing. It felt quite funny to be on firm ground again, for our last port of call was Antwerp, and the cobbles . seemed to be rolling under our feet. The town itself has big buildings and broad . streets, and. all trams and buses have two storeys. All signs are written in both English and Afrikaan. In Cape Town are Egyptians with their fez; there are Indians, Chinese .and Turks; there are the native peoples with their arms, legs and necks covered with beads, and all the woman carry their babies on their backs as though they were swags. All coloured races under the sun are found in Cape Town, and also all European. coun tries are represented. Around the city of Cape Town are many parks containing fauna and flora of South Africa. Monkeys run wild, and so· do squirrels . The squirrels are so tame, that they will eat peanu ts from the bags of little white children with their faith-- ful black nurses. If the weather is suitable, and it is not too windy, the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway runs from the summit of Mt. Kloof Nek to the Table Mountain. Part way up Table Mountain is the beautiful Rhodes Memorial. It is •visited. not only for its own peauty, but also for the wonderful view of Table Bay and the city. Nearby the Memorial lie~ the Zoo with ostriches on their long legs, springboks, tapirs, lions, tigers, cheetahs, gay parrots, mischievous monkeys, striped. zebras and long-necked giraffes. Near the Zoo is the great Cape Town University, with. a beautiful view a nd surrounding it is a little town of smalL houses for students to live in. We saw these things and many more, and we left Cape Town with a boxful of memories, and a . ·cargo of 2 lion.s, a: tiger, cheetah, tapir, an. albino monkey, and South African birds, all bound for Taronga Park, Sydney. 29

·--LOIS MURPHY, IV.'ii.

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