CHAPTER XI

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