* * * * It is nine years since I
was last in the Legation quarter of Peking, whose administration formally reverted to the Chinese authorities this week. The charming and commodious enclave was not at its best in 1938, for the Japanese were in occupation of the city, but it managed nevertheless to assert what was left of its independence with characteristic urbanity. In those days a major source of incon- venience and indeed danger to the residents was the insensate speed at which the Japanese delighted to drive their lorries through its pleasant streets. The Chinese police could, of course, do nothing to abate this nuisance and protests to the Japanese commander, who was as keen as any of his compatriots to irritate and humiliate the foreigners, were a waste of time. So the diplomats who ran the Legation quartet fell back on an ingenious and wholly successful form of passive resistance. They caused to be erected, every Soo yards or so, a small 'hump or bulge which ran unobtrusively across the width of the street. These humps were not an obstruction to traffic ; the rickshaw coolie or the amah pushing a pram surmounted them with scarcely any extra effort. But any vehicle driven over them at an excessive speed became automatically airborne and severely jarred' both itself and its occupants on landing. Thenceforward, grinding their teeth and their gears, the Imperial Army drove through the Legation quarter at a demure pace.
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