The Recent Changes at Peking

ASIA 1^

I'll li /) ^4- < /, y CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

THE WASON CHINESE COLLECTION Cornell University Library DS 795.E23

The recent chanqes at Peking , and, Reco

3 1924 023 503 026 Cornell University Library

The original of tiiis book is in

tine Cornell University Library.

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http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023503026 THE RECENT CHANGES AT PEKING

AND

RECOLLECTIONS OF PEKING.

BY THE

REV. J. EDKINS, D,D.

EEPRINTED FEOM THE " SHANaHAI MEBCUKY.'

.*^»3*'^^

1902.

Printed at the Shanghai Mercury, Ltd.

L l^ I: 1 1 \

U A I; V

RECENT CHANGES AT PEKING.

A LECTURE DELIVERED BY THE ReV. J. EdKINS, D.D., IN CONNECTION WITH

THE China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society,

ON THE 2 1 ST November, 1901.

Peking stands on a plain bordered rising very slowly from the level of the by hills two thousand feet high. The sea. whole plain seems to be rising through The Peking plain consists of stratifi- water a,ction flowing from the hills and ed clays which turn to dust and cause bringing down with it earth and stones dust storms. By these storms, when from higher levels. Partly, too, there most violent, day is almost lurned to may be an upward subterranean force night. Travellers, when they meet raising hills and plain from beneath. these storms, experience extreme in- The Pechili Gulf is becoming shallower. convenience from the tliick coating of AtTengchowfu, Dr. C. Mateer told W. dust which covers their clothing, faces me the sea formerly reached the city and hands. At twenty miles, north of and is now distant fro-n it an English Tientsin, clumps of trees begin to varie- mile. He understood from the Teng- gate the couniry, and this feature is chow people that the sea water was continued all th; way to Peking. The then fifteen feet deep where it is now hills form a semi-circle round the city three feet deep. At a later date the sea on the north, the east and the west. came up within one Chinese li from The scenery has already become the city. The city wall was 'built to more agreeaMe to the eye than the protect junks from pirates and from dusty plains further south. the Japanese. _ The land appears to have risen i4,'5th feet in 250 years, or On the hills there are many most ^bout five feet in 100 years nearly. In attractive sites for temples. Springs support of this view Du Halde on in gullies hire and there originate Korea may be consulted. Also the streams which nourish groves of trees. old people at Chefoo say the harbour Here monasteries are built and priests is steadily filling up. The Gulf of Pechi- superintend the newly planted woods. li and the Yellow Sea are shallow. At From the Liau dynasty in the Chefoo, on the western spit of land tenth century Buddhist temples have leading to Chefoo peak, are two perfect been built by eunuchs, princesses sea beaches besides the present one. empresses, and superstitious officers of The highest of them is but a few feet the court. Pine trees are pointed out above the sea. These old beaches as being eight or nine centuries old, and shew ihe changes that were proceeding still growing in some of these temples. in past years. The plain on which Peking stands is At Tientsin the sea beach is con- thirty miles wide and the hills partly stantly going outwards at Taku, the surrounding it are at a distance of ten people say at the rate of thirty li or miles on the west and twenty on the ten English miles in a century. In the east. The rain which falls on these Ming dynasty the sea came up, it is hills keeps the wells of Peking suffi- said, to Tientsin. The whole country, ciently supplied with water to allow of tjierefore, about Peking, appears to be a large population residing in the city. C 2 ]

It became the northern capital of it is most impressive; The Chienching- the Liau and Kin dynasties and later kung, one of the palace buildings, cost of the Yuen. The form of the ciiy twenty million taels. The palace proper as it now presents itself to the travel- where the Emperor resides is on the ler is due to the Mong;ols : the north-west of the ceremonial halls positions of the Temple of Heaven, the which stand in a line north and south Altar of Ag-riculture, the Tai Miau, the in the centre of Peking. West of the Sheisi altars in front of the Palace, palace is the Nanhai, a sheet of water, the Palace itself and the astronomical a mile in length, fed by streams from observatory, all were selected by the the western hills. Here were General Mong-ol Emperor, Kublai, acting under von Wa'dersee's headquarters, and the advice of Chinese statesmen. The here the Empress-Dowager . resided most distinguished of these advisers of from the year i8go. Far on the south- the Emperor was Kwo Showking who west is seen the Shunchimen gale made the older astronomical instru- tower, which has not been injured. The ments, which have been taken to Nantang Cathedral close by was burn- Germany, and constructed the Grand ed by the Boxers and is an utter-ruin. Canal. At the back of Prospect Hill is an an- In the old days in Peking a walk on cestral temple called Showhwanglien. the wall was a favourite recreation. 1 he pictures of the former Emperors

In i86j|, I think it was, I went from are preserved here, and it is in this the British Legation in a pirt of which building that deceased Emperors in I was then living, to the West Gate of their coffins await burial. Peking. Ascending the w^iU and passing A French soMier who came from the tower at the Tsien Men, which has the garrison of Rochefort was on now been burnt down, my companion guard at this temple. On my asking and I walked for two miles along the him if he had heard on which broad parapet of the wall to the south- tree in the park the last Emperor of west corner near the British Cemetery, the Ming dynasty had hanged him- and then north for two miles more to self, he said he had not, but an aged the West Gate. We had heard Chinese now appeared who knew the that the funeral p*'ocession of tree and conducted us to it. It is an Sangkolinsin would enter the city at old acacia tree on the eastern slope of six. We watched the long train of flag- Prospect Hill. The old man was the bearers and cofBn-bearers with inscrip- wearer of a white button, and had been tions requiring the people in the streets a caretaker in the park for many to be quiet, to retire respectfully and years. When he was young there without speaking. He who was carried was, he told us, an iron chain over the past in that coffin was the same who tree This was to signify that the four years before had upbraided Sir tree was guilty of a crime. The Harry Parkes, who had been taken Emperor, in his despair, hanged himself prisoner, contrary to all civilized rules, from the branch to which this chain for not settling the audience question was afterwards fastened, A faithful by consenting to Manchu require- attendant followed his example. The ments. Prostration or imprisonment, branch itself is broken off over because the Emperor Hienfeng wished some large blocks of stone. Three

it to be so, was the principle of this temples crown the three principal deceased champion of Manchu im- summits of Prospect Hill. The copper perialism. In April last it was easy to images on the two outer temples were gain access to the palace and the park taken away by French soldiers, we

on the north. On April 26th I walked were told, to sell for old copper. The up the hill called Prospect Hill iu this central image, that of Shakyamunie park with Dr. Sheffield. There are Buddha, is still there, It was pushed

three eminences on the hill, the central from its place and somewhat broken ; one and highest is directly north of the overlooking the exact centre of the

central palace buildings ; the view from place, it must be exphined, as a pro- t ^ T

t€ction. The images of the gods are terrace were two bronze deer. Two supposed to ward off evil influences. brass lions are placed as guardians of This idea of idol-protection has had the second gate. One plays with a much to do with the spread of idolatry young lion, the other with a ball of silk. in China, and it was greatly favoured In front of the outer entrance are two by the Mingf dynasty whose founder stone lions, When an Emperor dies Chu Tai-tsa, was himself at one time a he is carried in his coffin to rest in this Buddhist priest. Prospect Hill has no temple till his tomb is ready for him. outward sign of coal, though it is also Eleven years ago, that is in 1880, the called Meishan, coal hill. At several Empress-Dowager removed from her

points it has been dug into, but no coal apartments in the palace adjoining those has been found. of the Emperor to the west park. Here To the west of Prospect Hill is the she lived beside the lake in the building Takautien temple. Just beyond it which was burnt during the German there was in the spring a handsome occupation. stone Buddha in the Chengkwangtien, On May 6th I walked to see it while

a wall and temple said to belong to it was still the German headquarters. the Mongol dynasty. It may be General von Waldersee was residing Indian, for it has long arms. The in the Empress-Dowager's palace, shoulder and breast straps are orna- which is on the west of the Emperor's" mented with what appear to be pre- palace. A German soldier led me from cious stones. The French soldiers on the gate by the lake side of the Nanhai. guard believe they are of glass. In My guide had been sent to show me front of it, under an open roofed the way by the corporal in charge at building, was a drum, ornamented with the gate. I passed the Tsikwangko red stones, and near this was a huge Temple of Purple Light where the tortoise of marble, which was six feet foreign ministers were entertained by in height, and long and wide in pro- the Emperor and Empress in the time portion. The descent from this temple of Tungche, and in the early years of on the east and west is a graded Kwangsu. A railway is laid along the incline of about twenty feet. bank of the lake southwards beside the The principal building between stone road. This railway is continued Prospect Hill and the Chengkwangtien northward along the lake side and is is the Takautien where the Emperor probably a mile and a-half long. prays for rain. The chief hall was Two carriages stand upon it ready paced, at my request, by a French for use, but there was no locomo- soldier. It was 38 paces in width, or tive. The German officer at the about 100 feet. palace offered to send a soldier to On the way back through Prospect show the principal places. It was late Hill park I turned to the north-east in the day, and I said I would return where the walk through the cypress to-morrow with a friend. Accordingly, gtove is lovely. The trees are old the next day. Dr. Arthur Smith, author and beautiful. A French officer from of " Chinese Characteristics " went wiih Nice was kind enough to show me me. We were informed that the fire what could be seen of the Showhwang- occurred on April tyth and iSth, tien. Here the portraits of the deceased 1900, when Freiherr Schwarzhoff Emperors are preserved. Entrance is was burnt to death. He came strictly forbidden, but we saw- the' out three times with important imposing front of the structure. There documents and articles and returned a eleven pillars are and the roof is fourth time to save his pet dog. Then double the ten ; compartments are all he was caught by the flames, and fell a deep and lofty. wide, Here once were victim to the fury of the fire. This we the portraits of hung the Ming dynasty were told by an English officer in the Emperors, but they were removed and German army who had been in Ger- those of the Manchu dynasty were many, who also said that lately in the

> substituted. In front on the marble Kukwan pass inShansiaGerman officer t ^ 1

and four soldiers were killed. They On the west declivity of the hill were there with French troops. The there is a deep tunnelled grotto all Chinese soldiers took advantage of the excavated from limestone and very narrowness of the pass to attack them. cool. At the bottom of this grotto We walked across to an island the soldier and I came to the foot where ihere is a palace surrounded by of the hill on the north with the the lake. The Emperor lived in the lake in front of us. In one building lower apartments and the PCmpress- on the east of this hill is a copy Dowag;er above in the upper story. of the Manjusiri's pious wish It is the Our English friend very kindly enter- Fu Yuenking, and this copy was tained us with coffee and biscuits. His written in 175?. The inscription above grandfather had gone to Germany the door of this temple is in Manchu, two generations ago. He was of a Chinese, Mongol and Tibetan. The Scottish stock, planted in a foreign view from the Paita hill is charmintr, land. Saying farewell, we wandered embracing as it does the Lake, the over the region where the ruins of the buildings surrounding it, the Palace fire remained. There is in the west and Prospect Hill on the east. The park a straight covered walk which hill on which this pagoda stands is, leads north and south for a long dis- in fact, the west shoulder bi Prospect tance. East of it is a grove of cypres- Hill, the four eminences of which are ses, glycenes, sophoras and beautiful all crowned with a temple. There are small red roses. Rich rock work is three aims in this arrangement. One arranged here in abundant variety. As is to bring good luck by erecting we found our way among the ruins of images and temples in prominent the fire we were reminded of the positions on the principle of Fengshui. rescue of Count von Waldersee who A second is to secure divine protection was pulled out by a window from from Huddha and the gods for the the burning building by ihe powerful imp rial family. The third is to arms of his soldiers obtain pleasant walks and beautiful This was the Nanhai. On May aoth scenery for the enjoyment of the I went to the Peihai. The gate to the Emperor and all the members of his Paitasi, a white pagoda overlooking household. the lake, was open. Here I'rench On May 23rd I visited Bishop Favier soldiers were on guard. They volun- who made so brave and successful leered to guide me and I noticed on a defence of his cathedral during the •the south side of the pagoda a high siege of Peking in 1900. He told me image of a Fiuddhist protecting god. the number of Roman Catholic con- On the east side eight wild ducks cut verts in China is 800,000. In Peking out of stone, all alil

lake on the west side the trumpet of on the north side. But it is possible French troops quartered there sounded that the Boxers killed them.

sweetly across the broad surface of On May 29th I visited the Tangtsz. the lake. The Tangtsz was a temple at the back On May 30th I walked to the Palace of the Inspectorate General. It had a of Silk Worms on the narth-east shore large open space in front. There were of the lake. The .General of the first twelve stones for holding lofty lamps. Brigade of the French Expeditionary On the souih-east is an octagonal Force was residing there. When the arbour in a separate walled enclosure. French came they found many The arbour is open lo the north and eunuchs and Court ladies in this south. This is probably intended for palace, and they refused to give any use in changing ordinary for sacrificial information. The eunuchs afterwards costume. The pillars are covered with left for Shensi. The altar is outside thick Tainted hemp malting in the oc- of ihe palace on the south-west side. casional style observed in Chinese It is mounted by ten steps. Thei e are buildings. The arbour in front of the eight stones in front perforated to hold temple may be for fasting and quiet flag staves, the same flags being reflection. The temple probably con- carried in the Empress' procession. tains some picture representing the original founder of the dynasty. The mystery attached to this ancestral temple is unsolved by any Chinese. It is said that a Manchu witch took part in the ceremonies. The Emperor goes to worship there each year on New Year's day. On the ground in front of the temple I saw a globe of papier mach(5 lying out of place In circum- ference it is 35 centimetres or about fourteen inches. It is a celestial globe with the stars pa'nted on it svith their I 6 ]

Chinese names. It probably came century the Lamp Market Street, from France anH was painted here. It known as Teng shikow was marked seems to be placed here as an emblem by great activity, but trade has now of world-wid^ sovereig^nty suitingf the left it and gone to the Tung-si-pai-luw pride of the Manchu Imperial dynasty. near it. Before this we are told in the The land occupied by the Tang-tsu is work called T'an Wang, written in the now applied to the Italian leg-ation. 1 7th century, the Lamp Market was in When I was there in May Marquis front of the Gallery of the Five Salvag-o Eag-gfi was residing- in the Fhoenixes. The market was formerly temple. On the front pavement are held on the 5th, roth and 20th of each seventy-two stones. The candle lamps months in the present Teng- shikow, are five feet high. The Emperor where the building of the American kneels before the tablet in the temple Board Mission, burnt by the Boxers, which is a somewhat low building-. On was located. In the west city there is the front pavement are four large a busy market at Hu-kwo-si near the bronze urns and a pagoda in the centre Si-si-pai-low. Two hundred and fifty of a g-lobular shape, with the eight years ago this market was held on the symbols of Fuhi, the Pakwa, engraved 1st, ijth, and 25th of each month at on it. One of the urns is 150 years the street adjoining the Board of old. At the west gate of the Tang-- Punishments. tsu enclosure which occupies two acres The trades of Peking have suffered of land are two bronze lions seated on severely through the robberies and in- bronze stands. Formerly, there was a cendiary mad ness of the Boxers. cypress grove here. There were six- There are about fifty pawn shops teen cannon and a flour mill intended in Peking. When the Boxers were to be worked hy a locomotive lying admitted to the city to burn, rob and there doing- nothing-. The temple was kill, as fancy led them, all the pawn- sufficiently commodious to become the shops were plundered. Now that peace temporary residence of the Italian has been made the pawn-brokers Minister. have recommenced business by scrap- By an Edict published three months ing together what funds they could. after my visit the new Tang Tsz is to 1 hey are obliged, as they think, to ask be placed inside of the Imperial city three candareens a month on the tael. on the south of the east gate, close to This amounts to 36 per cent and is a" the open space, used there for archery very heavy burden on the poor. The practice. Here it will be on the east reason of this high rate of interest is side of the Tai Miau. found in the fact that the pawn-brokers In Peking a spot so sacred as this are responsiMe for Taels 200,000 of may be exchanged for another. official funds placed at interest in their Change is written on all we see, and establishments before the Boxer re- it is the fate of Peking to under- bellion. The pawn-brokers, thiough go from time to time very considerable their representative ;£ i^ ^ Meng- changes. For example, the loss of the li-tang recognize the liability, and pro- central gate tower by fire and the pose to pay this large sum by instal- unexplained seizure by the Germans ments, spread over several years. All of the astronomical instruments which over China the same system of pawn- adorned the eastern wall are greatly broking exists, and the city magis- regretted by lovers of the picturesque trate, prefects, superintendents, and and of scientific archaeology. treasurers all deposit public money in The wealth of Peking is greatly pawn-shops, to secure good interest. increased by the residence of many One day while in Peking I went into noble families and members of the Im- the Purple Forbidden City with several perial class. The west city is said to friends. A British officer secured us a be noble and the east city rich. pass. We entered by the Wu men. Changes have occurred in the busy In front of it are a sun dial and a parts of the city. Early in the 17 th Kid-liang for measurements. This is C 7 ]

intended to fix the measures of the occasion of her birthday the Emperor empire. We passed through the three paid his respects to her Majesty in the marble halls, known as thi T'ai-ho- Hwangchitien, and performed before tien, the Chung-- ho-tien an! the Pao- her the prostration ceremony in full, ho-tien. These are all of Ming that is to say, he kneeled three limes dynasty building, and show the same and struck his forehead nine times on stately grandeur which marics the hall the carpet on which he knelt. As we in front of the lomb of Yung-lo. That passed rapidly along, I noticed in the building, ho^vever, is somewhat larg'-r garden calle 1 Yuhwayuen 3ci^5S a than the Ta'i-ho-tien, the longest and temple to Chenwutati, the Taoist war- highest of these three halls. The rior demi-god so named. Beside him Emperor Yung-lo reigned from 1403 on the east side is a temple to Kwanti to only 1425, iwenty-two years, but he the ennobled Kwanyunchang, who is, left indelible traces of magnificence in practically, the Chinese god of war. building. Indeed, Chinese archiiecture In the Emperor's rooms I noticed in reached its height of development in the sleeping apartment a very wide that age, about five hundred years bed. There was a piano in the front ago. room, and in the study a number of After these halls are passed the books in good condition. There was next on the north is the Ch'ien-t'sing- no appearance of looting in these kung—palace of heavenly purity. apartments. On the floor of the bed- It was called in the Ming dynasty room was a silver gilt elephant draw- " the Hall of Heavenly Brightness." ing an imperial carriage. On the This building, as already remarked, carriage were many little figures. The cost twenty million taels of silver and harness and back of the elephant were three thousand workmen were employ- studded -with diamonds and rubies.

ed. In year 1 piculs of 1 ice one 3,000 The bed was plain but of the best silk. or millet were in expended wages. T he eunuchs keep everything in exact These figures are found in the histor) order. There was no disturbance of of the Ming dynasty. If this the ordinary arrangement. We saw building required an outlay of one all as it really was before the Emperor fifteenth of the expenditure for the left it in August 1900. whole of the palace buiMings, the entire The books I noticed in the Em- cost would be 300 million taels, or peror's study were the Tatsinghweitien £40,000,000 sterling. The Emperor ; Book of statutes, in about 600 chap- Yung-lo, to raise these sums, increased ters ; the Chiumingwensiuen, a valu- the taxes and encouraged the expin- able collection of poems and essays of sion of the examination system which the Han and some later dymsties, an 1 yields a revenue by the sale of titles. the Kingtsihweipien, an immense col- At the Chinghotien the Emperor comes lection on politics and administrative to inspect the sacrificial tablets. To ihe economy. The Emperor has two T'aihomen, the gate to the T'aihotien, apirtments for study. These large he is carried to ascend the elephant's collections were in the larger Shufang, carriage, by which he is conveyed to and with them the Tatsingyi'tungchi the Temple of Heaven to perform the the topography of the Chinese empire, sacrifices there three times in the year. in 356 volumes. The Emperor and Carpets are laid down in the Taiho his advisers feel what the foreign and Chunghotien. They were manu- student feels that a Chinese library is factured in Kiangsu province where we too bulky to be kept just at hand. A are now met. In the hall named selection is indispensable. The choice Kiutaitien there is a clock of ^^ on the books for the personal library of the west side, and a clepsydra on the east. Emperor has been ma le on the prin" The eunuchs in attendance said that ciple that he must study the works of the Emperor is not more than five feet a comprehensive nature published by in height, while the Empress-Dowager his ancestors during the twj h'j.idred IS five feet nine inches. In 0:1 . ani 1899 the sixty y^ars of their rule. The C 8 ]

Emperor cannot lead an army like naments. There are three sets of Frederick or Napoleon. The Chinese rooms which adjoin each other with Emperor cannot expose himself on the three open courts in front. Thick field of battle. He must be a student. plate-glass windows allow everything To this he is compelled by the literary to be seen from outside. The orna.ments character of the country he g^overns. of carved jade are surpassingly be- In the Master of Arts' Examination hall, autiful. About six clocks tick in- the Kungf-yuen, which is near the as- cessantly in each room. Surely this tronomical observatory a compart- Imperial lady has an undoubted love for ment is shown among the ten thousand Western arts and Western objects of or more compartments, which was occu- utility. Perhaps she asks sometimes pied by the Emperor Kienlung when why did not China invent clocks and he was student, and wrote essays for watches. his degree just like other Bachelors of Peking has lovely gardens in its of Arts. This compartment is called very centre helping to purify the air. 3^ ^ 1^ lien tsi hau. Tien is th-: The gardens of the palace and the first character in the thousand charac- west lake with its spacious parks and ter classic. groves add much to the salubrity of Peace harmony and repose are the the city. They aiid to it a unique beautiful words written in gold leiters beauty, greater in some respects than over the Emperor's rooms at the en- that of Paris as seen from the Pere la trance. The number of articles of Chaise, or Montmartre, or the Eiflfel European origin was very great. They Tower. The green and yellow roofs are not in keeping with the exquisite have a charming effect. The marble Chinese wood carving seen close by. halls and terraces are all in their pro-

In carve 1 work the Chinese genius per f lace as if a Greek geometrician shines pre-eminently, The Chinese had drawn plans for the buildings. The probably taught arabesque ornament squareness of the city and the central to the Arabs. The Chinese obtained location of the palace with the eight their ideas in an from India and banners arranged all round as in Persia, but t^ey expanded what they an encampment, originally led to received through iheir industry and this arrangement. It is both military patient skill. In rooms like those of and in accordance with the principles the Emperor's palace ihe greatest of the Fenj^ Shui art, borrowed long beauty appears in the carving and not ago from India. One day I visited the in the articles from Europe sent as Mahakala-miau, and on the way read presents to the Emperors in former a proclamation on the wall of the years by the Viceroys and Governors palace gate on the east side. It was of Canton. These objects seem out of from the captain of the guard in the place. In one small room there are Jth month 1900 when the Boxers were sixteen European clocks. Two of these in Peking. All parsons having duties were working models of horizontal to perform must fulfil their functions steam engines. very diligently and keep thieves under there Objects of foreign art abound in restraint. In the Mahakala-miau all of the the palace. The principle that every were about twenty Lamas, were living in owner of a foreign cuno or musical Harchin tribe. They troops box or piano or telescope ought to be buildings in front. Beloochi of the temple. They put to death has never been known in had chnrge burned the Buddhist prayer-books used China till the Boxers adopted it. Ac- not carried cording to this view the Emperor and by the Lamas. They were matter. Emp' ess-Dowager are conspicuously away. The Lamas said it did not supply from great offenders. They are boih of them They could obtain a new beyond Shansi in very fond of objecis of art from the Kwei Hwacheng west. Mongolia, looked on Buddhists The apartmen's of the Empress- The Boxers of protection, No Bud- Dowager are richly supplied ^Yith or- as deserving d

[ 9 ]

dhists temples were burned bv them. banding superfluous regiments in the They, however, burned official buildings army is now proceeding steadily in and all building's occupied by foreigners many provinces, so in Peking, useless which were not defended. departme nts are now being abrogated lo give way to such as are required in The Christian converts were sur- the new regime. prisingly faithful, and suffered death rather than recant or deny their Chris- It was possible now to see the Tai- tian belief. miou, the ancettral temple of the Em- perors. It is in front of the palace on Many hundreds of the Chinese the east side. I went to see it on May and Manchu converts, whom I knew 29th. On my way I called on a in past years in Peking, were sergeant in the British Le^iation guard ruthlessly slaughtered by the Boxers, who told me he was in Admiral Sey- assisted by the soldiers. Of the Lon- mour's relief force. He was placed in don Mission I heard of 114 and in an exposed situation where he himself country stations about 250. Those shot twenty-seven of the enemy before who remain are not disheartened. he was relieved. He came back with They love Christianity none the less now a slight wound. He was expecting his ' that the Boxers are repressed. Ths wife and child to join him from his Sunday audiences are fully as large as home in Plymouth. The Ancestral before. There is an enthusiastic as- Temple was guarded by Sikhs. In pect in the native Christian mi etings front of the three entrance gates is a which is most encouraging to the marble bridge. The three gates missionaries. each had double doors. A red plastered wall The persecution brought out'^ the twenty-four feet high surrounds the good points in the religious character temple. of Christian converts in a very jre- 1 he days of worship are markable manner. on the eighth of the I St month, on the first of the 4th, The action of the Plenipotentiaries 7th and lOth month at d on the lOlh and of the Peking Government in of the i2ih month. Either the Em- carrying out the policy of the Pleni- peror comes to kneel in person or he potentiaries has been loyal and in- sends Prince Su, or Duke Yti. or Duke .telligent. There has been nn treachery Ling as his representative. He kneels in Peking since the settlement. Peace on the cushion in front of the sacrificial has been preserved and the city is table. The whole numbe^ of tablets in readiness for the return the of isnow thirty-two. On entering the door Emperor and Empress-Dowager. The of the hrtll the Emperor prostrates him- Plenipotentiaries deserve praise for self, , and touches ithe ground with his their faithfulness to duty at a critical forehead. The thirty-two tablets to time. Emperors and 1" mpresses are kept in Peking is now in one important shrines where they are worshipped. respect greatly improved. The Gov- 1 he Emperors Chienlung and Tau- ernment in all its departments is f 01 cf kwang are represented on the west upon the path of reform. The foreign side. The tablets of Kanghi, Yung- legations will henceforth be secure cheng, and Tungchi f,re on the east. ^.gainst any disloyal attack of the The proper hour for worship is at three Chinese army by fortification. Several a.m,, but it is sometimes 8 a.m. A of the Government departments require sheep, cow and pig are offered on the npw buildings in which to carry on east and on the west side, in large their official work, because the cubical boxes. When the sacrifices foreign concession includes a wider are offered candles are lighted in the space in the city than before the large lanteins. Between the boxes of siege. They will become located in slain animals and the enthroned tablet is buildings which were almost useless in a long table on which deer, hares, and the old days. Just as the work of dis- dates are offered. The incense burned. C 10 ]

is that of Tibet. The wine offered is It is then more correct to call them the old yellow rice wine. It is placed marble talilets, especially as in Peking in rough Chinese bowls. The elephants marble is spoken of as Han Pai-yu. and cows also bear bowls of the same wine. The Chinese Emperors are all wor- The pillars of the ancestral temple shipped in the front temple. The tablets of the earlier ancestors before are 1 2^ feet round and about 6o feet high There are three temples and Shun Chi are six in all. 'I hey are these pillars an those of the largest size. Clan I su-yuen, Hing Tsu-chi, King Pillars of this size come from Yunnan Tsu yi, Hien I'su-sinen, Tai Tsu-Uan and Tsung-wen. of tablets by water in answer to the requisition of Tai Some the the Emperors. The hindmost of the have been taken away by foreign soldiers. This were told, it three temples is smaller th^n the others we and and contains tablets to ancesiors before is to be regretted. The shrines for Shunchi. All three are long, lofty, deep, tablets are elaborately ornamental, they glitter with rich and roofed with yellow tiles. They may and carving and be regarded as representing the acme gold leaf. The tablets are kept in cubical the shrine. of splendour in the ancesiral worship of boxes beside In several shrines are seen three tablets China, the rolls of silk, lingtze are burnt because certain Emperors have given in the lianlu outside, i.e., ihe burning stove or furnace. Each Emperor has the title of J mpress to two of their wives. There were silk mittens, which his name written on a roll. They are the prince is appointed to super- kepi ready in boxes for the time when who intend the sacrifices, his they are needed. Tlie pillars would be puts on hands when he ascends ihe shrine to set up in the reign of Yung-lo probably. take out the tablet and place it on the They are equal in their majestic throne before which kneels. appearance to those of the Ming he There are thirtt-en eminent servants of the 'ombs. '1 be marble balustrades round State tablets each the temples deserve panicular atten- represented by on side. I noticed Siang in the tion. Three flights of steps lead up to Wen peril. d ai d Seng Lin- the doors and the balustrades are Tung Chi Ko sin in the Kwang-shu period, with A richly carved all round. 1 he beauty of Kwei, or Tai I u-erko, Fei Yin-kung the facade from an architectural point and others, amounting in all to of view is unquestionable. As a matter thirty-six, who are honoured with of taste there is a mistake made by worship in the Tai miau. In the Chinese. Walls are supposed to front of the Tai miau, the east and be needed to keep away evil spirits. west sides of the spacious Court con- Tbese Fungshui walls shut off the view tain tablfts to a second series of and spoil the effect. This is to be meritorious officers who have at regretted for the facades are aestheti- various times by Edict received the cally majestic and ought to be free to honours of a subordinate place in the be enjo>ed by the visitor The Tai miau. Chinese keep the doors locked. The public are not admitted. The people On June 24th : I went with General might be taught good laste, but they Richardson who kindly invited me are rigidly shut out from the observa- to see the Temple of Heaven. On tion of that which would be helpful to the northern altar the round building, them, as teaching them loyalty and Chi Nientien, has pillars which are educating them in art. about thirteen feel round. The or- The tablets of jade for the worship namental painting on the ceiling shows of Yungcheng and other Emperors are distinctly the crane, sien hau and

wrapped in yellow satin. The record dragon. 'I hey represent the civil and of the virtues and good aciions of the military divisons of official life. The Emperors are found hei e. The tablets high roof is supported by four large are called jade but they have marble- pillars and twelve smaller pillars in like maiking. the outer cii cle. C 11 J

ship, that of the sovereign of the skies, honoured by sacrifices on an open aliar according to a ritual which has been refurbished and modified by each dynasty, but in its essential features has lasted four thousand years. It was a worship the grey forefathers of the Chinese race brought with them front the West. It is not only true, as has o o been well said, that man will worship by an internal conviction which compels- him to acknowledge a God above him The Chi Mientien is newly painted who rules the universe, but more than and in perfect order. This was the this, the Chinese have a genuine result of the destruction by lightning- traditional worship which can only be in 1889 of this building. To this successfully explained as originated its fresh appearance at the present ill the earliest ages in the history of time is due. The tablets are kept, mankind. In the old Egyptian and when not in use, in a hall behind. Babylonian days, men had begun to Chairs are provided on which the add ceremonial and imaginations of tablets are placed when they are their own to primeval truth. They brought to the altar and taken back. were led by teachers of influence and Here let us terminate this sketch of renown to turn aside from the genuine some of the buildings of Peking, Im- early belief in one God, to adopt a pe,rial and sacred. We began with polytheistic faith and ritual. God the geological formation of the soil. made man upright, but he hath sought We close with the most ancient wor- out many inventions.

RECOLLECTIONS OF PEKING.

BY THE

Rev. J. EDKINS, D.D.

When the Archimandrite Palladius alludinj; to the cross in the Tsin his- was in Pekingf in the seventies I knew tory. It is not distinct enough, how- him well. He was a deeply read ever, to warrant any conclusion. Pal- student of Chinese history and wrote ladius was a scholar of the first class. much in Russian upon the religions A Chinese Christian I knew in 1876- of China and on the historical develop- told me he saw the Emperor Hienfeng- ment of the empire. In 1876 I con- sitting on his throne in the Chien Tsing- versed with him on the Chinese view kung. This is the same building where of God. He remarked that the Chris- in future, audiences will be granted to tian and Mohammedan view of God as the foreign ministers, as arranged in beingf spfritualistic differs toto caelo the new Treaty of rgoi. The Em- from the Chinese view of God. He peror sat in pantui fashion as the said that when Adam Schoal was Mongol and Manchu Emperors have appointed to the Astronomical Board always done. The Chinese Emperors- as chief astronomer the Mohammedans sat with their feet down. At the- were very angry. Returning to the audience the Emperor speaks with subject of the name for God he saw one person at a time. The two Era- no subjection to the use of Shangti presses at that time allowed their wo- for God, because reference can be men to come and go while they pre- made to the Chinese classics. The use sided behind the curtain. These two of Shangti there shows that it cannot Empresses were the Eastern Dowager be mistaken for Yu kwang ta ti, and the Western Dowager. The last the Tauist God, a comparatively of these was mother of the Emperor modern term. A reference made to the Tungchi then reigning and is the same classics settles the question. with the present Empress-Dowager.. He was sixty when I knew him and My informant also saw the Emperor ia wished to go home but was not able the Chenta Kwang Mingtien in the to do so. He travelled in Manchuria summer palace outside Peking. He after this and published an account told me that in the cabinet the Kiunki of that country. Russia about 1876 there are rooms on the North and on was beginning to make special inquiries the South side. When the cabinet upon Manchuria and may have been ministers come from the north to the led to do so by this journey of the south room the clerks begin writing at Archimandrite. Soon after he died at their dictation the text for the day's Marseilles. He told me that he be- edicts. They write rapidly on a painted lieved in historical the existence of slip. The rough copy is written out the ancient Emperors Yau and Shun, by them fairly. The cabinet minister but that there is a mixture of mytholo- corrects it and it is then shown to the gical invention in the Shuking account Emperor for approval. those sovereigns. with of He met no At the time here referred to the Em- special results from his search in his- presses did all that was recommended religious influence of tory for traces of to them by the cabinet ministers. a Christian kind upon China from the They did not question or contradict Tartar side but there is a passage the judgment of memorialists, but r 14 ]

^impl^ followed it. This was at that thousand years. The altar is ascend- time the mode in which the gfovern- ed by twenty-seven steps and consists ment was carried on. Officers were of three terraces. It is on the upper very careful not to go beyond the terrace that the emperor kneels existing^ regulations. The Six Boards in worship. Professor Russell kindly act according' to their printed rules. made for me a calculation of the In these reg^ulations there is a check on number of stones used on the three wilfulness and perversity. The rules terraces. The number is stated in the

cannot easily be contravened. In the native accounts to be i 3,579 without its life time of the Eastern Empress, chief being s,aid how this number is made wife of the Emperor, Hienfeng-, both up. " I think it probable that by the the Empresses were praised for the total number 13,579 is meant the num- sagacious manner in which tlie ad- ber of stones laid on the three terraces. ministration was conriucted. Their This, however, can only be ascertained part was more that of approval than by actual inspection. If so, the mean of suggestion. This fact helps to superficies should be 2-55 Chinese feet, account for the smoothness which has their breadth being probably one foot characterised the administration during exactly, their base in the two inner the last few months of the present year. circles 2-9 feet, and in the outer circle The Emperor and Empress-Dowager 27 feet. Their shape would slightly are in the habit of adopting measures deviate from a rectangular parallelo- proposed to them and hence the gram, having the acute angle at its suggestions of the foreign Ministers base. Under these suppositions there have been systematically accepted just would be contained in the inner circle as if they belong to the cabinet. 2,494 stones, in the middle circle 4,434 The clerks who in the cabinet take stones, and in the outer circle 6,651 down the edicts and write them out stones. These added together give in are in Manchu called Changking. all i3,S79stones." This title is in the singular changgin and in the plural changgisa. They are inspectors of inferior officers, civil or military. They are higher in rank than the Lang-chung or the Yuen-wai. At the head of the cabinet are six chief ministers, three Manchu and three Chinese. The six or seven chang kings are all Manchus. Such was the old regime, but changes are now taking place rapidly and there may be

variations which it is too early yet to chronicle. We cannot yet say if the Temple of Heaven and the southern altar will be closed against the visits of foreigners when the Emperor returns to Peking. Possibly it may be thought that reform is now the established policy of the dynasty and that liberality should SOUTHERN ALTAR AT THE TEMPlLi; be shown to foreign visitors. The OP HEAVEN. southern altar will always be an object of extreme interest on account In visiting the observatory it was of the sacrifices offered there at the painful to think that Germany has winter solstice. This is a custom which appropriated the astronomical instru- has been in use in China for four ments. Among them is a F"renph [ 15 3

instrument with a movable staircase of to four mountains. The notion which iron, which circulates on a railway. prevailed was that the earth was im- The Chinese have been accustomed to movable and that the sky revolves take notes of falling' stars, halos, comets round it. It was about AD 1540 that and eclipses. They need sextant, quad- the book of Copernicus showing that rant, altitude and azimuth instruments. the earth revolves on its axis and also Alexander Wylie wrote a full account of round the sun was published to the them. Only the dial now remains on the world. It is only during little more tower and nothing below. In the court than three and a half centuries that below, previous to the siege of Peking-, the earth has been believed to be in there was the Hwuntienyi of Kwo- motion. Till this was knOwn it was showking for observing meridian impossible to understand on what the passages of the heavenly bodies. This earth rested in space and the fiction instrument has been there since about of the four mountains was of no help in

A.D. 1 300, that is to say, six centuries. explaining the mystery. But it was a It was formerly on the upper terrace fiction which suited mediaeval times. of the observatory, but was taken down. It is to be hoped that Germany will There were two of these Mongol instru- restore to China these interesting relics ments. The globe was seen chained of oriental astronomy.

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