Page images
PDF
EPUB

there be no sunshine, march his parasol-bearers. Subordinate members of the tribunal over which he presides follow on either side, with his separate retinue of servants to swell the train.

The simple pedestrian finds it well to walk on the foot-path beside the houses, for the central causeway is crowded with horses and mules and camels, carriages and chariots and chairs. The palanquins and chairs, indeed, especially abound. In Pekin, everybody who is anybody shuns walking, and the chairs are far more comfortable than the springless carriages let on hire. The streets were paved about two centuries ago with fine large paving-stones; these have become much damaged and very irregular in level; no repairs have been attempted, and deep holes are very frequent, yet many of the natives can sit and smoke placidly whilst bumping along on a springless vehicle, with the driver miraculously balancing himself on the shaft.

On the left of this street stands an ancient temple, transformed into the Tribunal of Rites and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It has become historic as the scene of the interviews between Prince Kung (as representative of the fugitive Emperor) and the European plenipotentiaries, and of the signing, on October 25th, 1960, of the treaty of peace that put an end to the war.

The long perspective is broken by four of the triumphal arches, of which there are several in Pekin. These are of stone or wood, covered with sculptures representing fabulous animals, flowers, and birds. To the right of the street, near the ramparts, are the immense buildings, now in a state of complete decay, which were formerly the granaries of Pekin. It is said that they used to contain a store of rice and grain sufficient to supply the capital for eight years. They have been abandoned since the accession of the Manchoo dynasty, and are now only tenanted by beggars and innumerable legions of rats. The northern end of the street terminates at the An-ting Gate, through which the Allies entered in 1860. Very near the gate stands the Temple of Confucius, a beautiful building, which might more accurately be described as a monument consecrated to the tablets of the family of the great sage. In the courtyard are yew-trees centuries old, and beyond rises the circular pagoda, with its marble staircases and its enamelled tile roof of emerald-green. Within the large and splendidly decorated hall are richly carved and gilded memorials of the great sage, presented by successive Emperors. At the entrance are ten drum-shaped blocks of granite, covered with inscriptions in ancient characters, which are said to date from 400 B.C.

Once a year the Emperor of China comes in state to do honour to the great philosopher whose memory is so profoundly revered by one-third of the human race. K'ung Fu-tze ("the Philosopher Kung"), Latinised by the Western world into Confucius, was born in 550 B.C. He came of highest lineage, and could trace back his ancestry to Hang-twi, whose figure dimly appears in the fabulous mists of pre-historie times. But the house of K'ung had fallen on evil times, and Confucius was born in poverty. He lost his father when three years old, and was elucated by his mother, who imbued him with a deep love of moral principle. He became a teacher, travelled over his native country, and familiarised himself with the condition of society in his day, as well as with the ancient writings. His most distinguished follower, Menems, Rys that Confucius appeared at a crisis in the nation's history. "The world had

fallen into decay, and right principles had disappeared. Perverse discourses and offensive deeds were waxen rife. Ministers murdered their rulers, and sons their fathers. Confucius was frightened by what he saw, and he undertook the work of reformation." He did not pretend to originate new doctrines, but to expound the teaching of preceding and neglected sages— always pointing backward to a golden age in the past. When he died, at the age of seventytwo, in 479 B.C., ten years before Socrates was born, he had already become famous. His works unfold a system of moral philosophy founded on the wants and tendencies of human nature. It is based upon the five relations of human life: (1) Emperor and officer; (2) father and son; (3) husband and wife; (4) elder brothers and younger brothers; (5) friend and friend. The relation between God and man is ignored. The five virtues of the Confucian system are Jeu, Yi, Li, Cu, and Sin-Benevolence, Righteousness, Propriety, Knowledge, Faith, the last meaning sincerity of heart and truthfulness. According to Confucius, the knowledge of oneself was the basis of all real advance in knowledge and manners, and many passages in his writings closely approach the Christian standard of morality. "Do not unto others what you would not have them do to you" is the negative phase of the golden rule, and occurs several times in his conversations. "It cannot be denied," says Dr. Williams, "that among much that is commendable there are a few exceptional dogmas among his tenets; but, compared with the precepts of Grecian and Roman sages, the general tendency of his writings is good; while in their general adaptation to the society in which he lived, and their eminently practical character, they exceed those of Western philosophers."

Opposite to the Temple of Confucius is the largest Buddhist monastery and temple in Pekin, generally known as the Temple of the Thousand Lamas. It includes a mass of buildings, fantastic rather than beautiful, brilliant in colouring, and lavishly sculptured. The lamas are of all ages, and the whole establishment forms a kind of metropolitan cathedral. Full choral service is performed, and the chanting by the priests of a sort of liturgy is described as very effective. One of the larger buildings contains a great image of Buddha, sixty feet in height.

In a street farther west stands the noted bell-tower, containing a large bronze bell, which is one of those cast in 1410 by the Emperor Yung-lo. The tower is a square structure with a red roof raised on an arcaded basement storey. The great bell, seen through arches in the upper storey, is the tocsin of Pekin, being used in all cases of sudden alarm. It has never been hung, the sound being drawn out by striking the outside with heavy hammers. Of the other bells cast at the same time, one is over the palace gates, and the third occupies a separate temple outside the walls, and is a remarkable work of art. This bell is fifteen feet in height, and its ears for suspension are ten feet more; it measures eleven feet across the mouth, and is nine inches thick; it is made of the finest bell-metal, and is covered within and without with Chinese characters, comprising eighty-seven sections of the sacred books of the Buddhist religion. These characters were cast with the bell, not cut out afterwards; and it is surprising to think that at that early date the Chinese were able to complete so perfectly this splendid specimen of casting, weighing not less than sixty tons. Father Verbiest, in a letter written 200 years ago, mentions an iron bell which had been cast at the same time as the bronze bells just mentioned, and was lying in a courtyard near

[ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors]

Prom the clock-turner a street to de aerth-western te skirts the northern lake of Pokin, a large sheet of water within the mis. Uzen mail siand near ts extremity aande the pretty Temple of Pugna, wingmg to the Taon seet. The votaries of this religion are rank idolaters, to a large extent lespised by the cultivated lasses, and mainly peer vited from the lowest of the peoniace. The Bander of the set was Lao-tze, bem in 600 8.6., who inculcated foetenes of pure reason mixed up with alchemy and astrology. The antein has become, howemer, & compies one, with innumerable idols, and its prests are jugglers, protending to the power of working enchantments. They tell eonatiess tulee of ghosts and genii, and, Indeed, to prolong the present life by becoming one of the genii is the only aim which they wet before their followers. The Temple of Fa-qua is in a picturesque situation, surrounded by luxuriant vegetation. It contains a crowd of the idols in favour with this sect. Whilst we speak of Chinese sects, we must not suppose that Conficians, Buddhists, and Tonists are in antagonism to each other. Tolerance in China amounts to indifferentism, and it is quite the correct thing for persons to compliment each other's religion when conversing together.

The straight street stretching due south from the bell-tower leads to the Gate of Han, which gives access to the square enclosure of Hvang-ching, or the Yellow City. Special permission must be obtained before any one can pass through either of the four tex in the wal, twenty feet in height and six miles in eircumference, which surrounds If wang ching. Within this large area are spacious groves, gardens, and artificial lakes, muntos pagodas and monasteries, as well as the Fuhs, or palaces of great dignitaries of the Empire. Before entering the Yellow City by the Hao Gate, the Sea of Roses is woon, with its broad surface half covered with brilliantly flowering aquatic plants. A short distance within the gate rises the picturesque artificial hill of Kin-shan, the Court Mountain, or Meishan, the Mountain of Coal, as it is variously called. This is a beautiful green hill, upom which are picturesquely grouped numerous kiosks, pagodas, and temples. The geraas is always green here, even when all other herbage seems scorched with ད་ ད།་, This fertility is attributed to the material of which the hill is composed. The free pa said to consist of a vast quantity of coal, sufficient to supply the city for several years, stored up in this place by an Emperor who anticipated a long siege. Upon this horse the earth taken out to form the two central lakes of Pekin was heaped mp Only persons of very high rank have their dwellings on this hill. Mingled with the ornamented dwelling houses are bridges of grotto-work, fountains, grotesque sculpfree, cedar centuries old, and groves of camellias and hydrangeas, where swarms of hinde sing melodiously. Very few Chinese are seen out amongst these picturesque surroundings, for Chinese aristocrats are averse to going out of doors at all except with Full State ceremonial. The summit of the Coal Mountain is the highest point in Pekin, and affords a fine panorama of the city.

Old Marco Polo says in his delightful narrative: "Moreover, on the north side of the palace, about a bow-shot off, there is a hill which has been made by art from the

earth dug out of the lake; it is a good hundred paces in height, and a mile in compass. This hill is entirely covered with trees that never lose their leaves, but remain ever green. And I assure you that wherever a beautiful tree may exist, and the Emperor gets news of it, he sends for it, and has it transported bodily, with all its roots and the earth attached to them, and planted on that hill of his. No matter how big the tree may be, he gets it carried by his elephants, and in this way he has got together the most beautiful collection of trees in all the world. And he has also caused the hill to be covered with

*

the ore of azure, which is very green. And thus not only are the trees all green, but the hill itself is all green likewise, and there is nothing to be seen on it that is not green, and hence it is named the Green Mount; and in good sooth it is named well.

And on the top of the hill, again, there is a fine big palace, which is all green inside and out, and thus the hill and the trees and the palace form together a charming spectacle; and it is marvellous to see their uniformity of colour. Everybody who sees them is delighted. And the great Kaan has caused this beautiful prospect to be formed for the comfort and solace and delectation of his heart."

[graphic]

CHINESE MANDARIN.

The present mount is attributed to one of the Ming Emperors, but there is no doubt that these monarchs built and restored on the old traces. A plan drawn up from Polo's statements substantially tallies with plans of the city at the present day. West of the Coal Mountain are the Imperial Park and gardens, and two large lakes. Upon a promontory of the lake, on an artificial hill, stands the Pei-thasse, which is at once a bronzery and a funeral monument in memory of the last Emperor of the Ming dynasty. It was when Le, with his rebel army, was occupying the city that Tsung-ching found he had no one left him to depend upon. "He called the grandees and his family together," says Gutzlaff. "All is lost!' he exclaimed; tears stood in his eyes, he could speak no further. The Empress was deeply touched; she left the apartment, embraced her three young children, kissed them fervently, and strangled herself in a

Carbonate of copper is probably meant.

[ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors]
« PreviousContinue »