Feb., 1912. Jade. 149 



yin); the upper part should be rounded off to symbolize the birth of 

 the beings; the basis was to be made square to symbolize Earth; half 

 of its body should be sunk into the ground that it may root in the 

 earth, in such a way that the parts underground and above are of 

 equal size. Under the Sung (960-1279 a. d.) this regulation was still 

 in force, and we hear that the stone was shaped like a bell. 1 The 

 image of the god of the Soil was accordingly based on a geometrical 

 construction like that of the deity of Earth; in a twofold manner, it 

 partakes of the nature of Earth, in the symbolism of the figures five 

 and two, and in the square form of the basis derived from the idea 

 of the square shape of the earth. It deviates from the image of Earth 

 in the crude material chosen, in its much larger size, in being solid 

 (not hollowed out), and in its stationary character by which it is fixed 

 in a definite place, half under the soil and half above it, to indicate its 

 relations to the land and to the inhabitants of it. 



In the ceremonies called feng and shan performed on the summit 

 and at the foot of the T'ai-shan, the sacrifice feng was addressed to 

 Heaven, and the sacrifice shan to Earth. These sacrifices were per- 

 formed for the first time in b. c. iio. The altar on which the sacrifice 

 to Heaven was performed consisted of a circular terrace fifty feet in 

 diameter and nine feet in height. The ceremony shan in honor of 

 Earth took place on an "octagonal" altar, a phenomenon analogous 

 to the "octagonal" image of Earth. The offerings were buried in 

 the soil in a pit dug for this purpose to reach the subterranean deity, 

 while those for Heaven were burned on a scaffold to be carried above 

 by the smoke. 2 



The word "octagonal" must not be understood in the sense that a 

 horizontal cut made through the altar was a figure with eight sides; 

 it was a rectangular block of earth, a solid with two square and four 

 rectangular faces; the Chinese expression merely arises from the eight 

 corners or angles. This condition of affairs we may infer from the 

 description of this altar which was gilded on the upper face and painted 

 on each of its four sides with the color appropriate to that particular 

 direction, i. e. green for the east, red for the south, white for the west, 

 and black for the north. 3 And an altar of the same construction was 

 dedicated, at the epoch of the Han, to the great god of the Soil who had 

 his quarters in the imperial palace; with the only difference that the 

 earth on the top of the altar was yellow. 4 In all these cases, the altar 

 derives its shape from the object of worship and indeed coincides in 

 appearance with the image of the deity itself. 



Compare Chavannes, Le T'ai Chan, p. 478. 2 Chavannes, /. c, p. 21. 

 3 Chavannes, /. c, p. 195. A Ibid., p. 451. 



