This 1934 black-and-white film takes the viewer to “Peiping — Land of Khan.” (At the time, China’s capital, Beijing, was known as Beiping — but written as “Peiping.” It has also been known as Peking.) An opening expository intertitle informs the viewer at mark 00:10: “Peiping means ‘Peace in the North.’ The modern city, once a perpetual battlefield, is now a quiet sightseeing mecca for world travelers and a favorite ‘port of call’” for United States sailors. Innumerable little stores line the narrow streets of the city, another title card tells us at mark 01:07, as we then see various scenes around the city as the narrator explains that the city is divided into two sections: the Chinese City (Outer City) and the Tartar City (Inner City), surrounded by a “great wall built long ago to resist the attacks of barbarian hordes.” Within the Tartar City is the Forbidden City, we are told at mark 01:48, as scenes of daily life appear on the screen. “The Chinese of Beiping are today hospitable and friendly. Their ancient animosity toward Westerners has disappeared,” the viewer is assured. Sailors visiting the city, the narrator continues at mark 02:38, will have the opportunity to purchase a number of souvenirs, including jade, or visiting a gambling house on the outskirts of town for a game of fantan (a game of chance similar to roulette). Scenes filmed around the city continue, and at mark 04:00 a title card explains that “Emperors raised temples and pagodas to their gods” as many such structures are shown, including the Jade Fountain Pagoda and the Temple of Heaven, as American sailors and the Chinese are shown in a variety ofantanf scenes sans narration. Mark 06:10 takes the viewer to the Qing tombs, an imperial mausoleum complex, as sailors are shown climbing upon ancient structures, and a title card at mark 06:54 tells of the “Manchu Versailles” — built by the Emperor Kang Hsi. (The Kangxi Emperor was the fourth emperor of the Qing Dynasty who ruled from 1661-1722.) Scenes of his summer palace fill the screen as the narrator details its construction.

We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example like: “01:00:12:00 — President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference.”

This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com