684 CHIKESE ARCHITECTURE. 



line of four large characters above, for example, Wan shih shih piao, 

 " the model teacher of myriad ages," was composed and written by 

 the Emperor K'ang Hsi in the tAventy- fourth year of his reign (A. I). 

 1685), and is authenticated by his seal attached to the inscription. 

 The wu kung ("sacrificial set of five"), comprising incense urn. 

 pricket candlesticks, and flower vases made of bronze, is here posed on 

 separate stands of white marble. In front of all is the table ready 

 for the sacrificial offerings, which are regularly presented at spring 

 and autumn. The rest of the large hall is lined Avith tablets of Tseng 

 Tzu, Mencius, and the other distinguished sages and disciples of Con- 

 fucius, whose spirits are officially worshiped in turn on the same cer- 

 emonial occasions. 



The ornamental lines of an open garden pavilion, which also comes 

 under the general heading of t'ing, are fairly exhibited in plate vii, in 

 spite of the half-ruined condition of the picturesque structure, as it 

 appeared when it was photographed after the destruction of the sum- 

 mer palace during the Anglo-French expedition of 18()0. It stands 

 on the border of the lake at Wan Shou Shan, having recently been 

 repaired for the Emjjress Dowager, wlu) has tea served there for her 

 European guests, brought from Peking in state l)arges towed by steam 

 tugs. It is hung with bronze bells which tinkle softly in the breeze. 

 The central building, as well as the two pailous spanning the avenues 

 through which it is approached, has its woodwork gaily decorated 

 with painted scrolls, relieved by graceful bands of open fret, and it is 

 roofed over all wdth yellow enameled tiles. Notice the stone mon- 

 sters at the four corners mounted upon short octagonal pillars with 

 decorated capitals, which might be remote descendants of the ancient 

 Hindu lion pillars of Asoka's time molded on modern Chinese lines. 



A view of the K'un-ming Hu, the lake which has just been referred 

 to, is given in plate viii. The name comes down from the Han 

 dynasty, when it was given to a lake near Si-an Fu, the metropolis of 

 the period in the Province of Shensi, on which the Em])eror Wu Ti 

 had a fleet of war junks maneuvering to exercise the sailors for the 

 conquest of Cochin China. The present lake, which is 4 miles in cir- 

 cuit, has been the first of the inland waters of China to have modern 

 armed steamers in its Avaters, when the Empress Dowager had a 

 review of model ships built at her connnand the year before the 

 Boxer troubles. The imi)erial i)avilion, erected by the Emperor 

 Ch'ien Lung on the spot where the best view of the lake was to be 

 obtained, is a prominent object in the i)iclure. He was fond of 

 inditing verses, and a fav^orite ode of his composition on the beauty 

 of the siu'romiding scene is incised thei-e on a marble stele. 



The bronze ox in the foreground was also molded under his 

 auspices, and it is inscribed, as may be seen in the j:)ictui-e, with 

 dedicatory stanzas written by the imj)erial brush, which are printed 



