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Show SKATING IN CHINA. Its Utility In Carrying; on the Internal Trade of the Country. Skating is a business with the Chinaman China-man rather than a sport, for he contrives con-trives to turn frozen canals ato convenient conven-ient highways for his merchandise, as they do in Holland and Denmark. Passengers Pas-sengers are carried in sledge chairs, propelled pro-pelled by an active Celestial on skates, and there is no more enjoyable way of making a tour round the 17 miles of wall which encircles the ancient city of Peking than in a sledge of this description. descrip-tion. The canals afford facilities for locomotion loco-motion which are not to be found in the dirty streets, crowded as they are with overworked humanity. It is not likely that the Celestials will ever astonish the world with a rival to onr Smarts or frees, for they do not aim at great speed of progression, but they are nevertheless fairly qualified adepts in their way, and there haye been some efforts made to introduce ice yachts out there, which would indeed be a grand thing not only for sport, but for tho transport of good3 at a time when all traffic is praotioaii'y as a standstill, owing to the impassable condition of the wretched causeways which do duty in China for highroads. There are over 70 miles of the Pei-Ho annually covered with ice several feet thick, bank to Bank, extending from Tung-Chau, the port of Peking, to the mouth of the river riv-er at Taku, in the gulf of Chili. What a noble race course this would form for our fen skaters! It is not commonly known that th capital of China is icebound for five months out of the 12, or that the stolid looking Chinese could ever be graceful Bkaters, yet both these faots are well established. es-tablished. The Chinese use a very inferior infe-rior style of skate, of their own manufacture manu-facture a mere chunk of wood arranged to tie on the shoe and shod with a rather rath-er broad strip of iron. There is no attempt at-tempt at elegance of design or at anything any-thing approaching a spring fastening. A pair of ,1Acmes, " when shown by the writer to some native students in th Chinese capital, produced unbounded astonishment as-tonishment and admiration by their neatness and strength. On the other hand, the very cheapness and simplicity of the common native made article tend to mako skating general. Pittsfrirg Dispatch. |