CHINP:SE ARCHITEL'TURE. 685 



in thr ofiicinl description of Peking. The ox, as the chief agricul- 

 tural animal, has l)een sacred in China from the earliest times, and 

 it still has a fon^most place in rustic spring ceremonial, being 

 molded in clay for the purpose. The verses, which are too long to 

 be quoted in full, relate how the Emperor has taken as his model the 

 ancient Yu of Hsia, whose eulogy was handed doAvn on an iron ox 

 aftei' he had carried oti' the river floods, how he has propitiated the 

 sacred ox, a constellation of the zodiac, the queller of dragons and 

 river monsters, and installed its Hgure here to preside forever over 

 the irrigation channels which he has dug for the benefit of the 

 villagers, concluding with the peroration : 



Men praise the warrior emperor of the Ilan, 



We prefer us our example the ancient Yao of T'ang. 



The marble bridge of IT arches in the picture is a remarkable 

 example of the fine stone bridges for which the neighborhood of 

 Peking has been celebrated since Marco Polo described the many- 

 arched bridge of Pulisanghin, with its marble parapets crowned with 

 lions, which spans the river Hunho and is still visible from the hills 

 Avhicli form the background of the summer palace. Our bridge, 

 which was built in the twentieth year of Cli'len Lung (A. D. 1755), 

 leads from the cemented causew-ay to an island in the lake with an 

 ancient temple dedicated to the dragon god and called Tiung Slien 

 Ssu, the name of which was changed by Ch'ien Linig to Kuang Jun 

 Ssii, the " Temple of Broad Fertility," because the Emperor, as a 

 devout Buddhist, objected to the deification of the Naga Eaja, the 

 traditional enemy of the faith. 



A characteristic bridge of ditferent form on the western border of 

 the lake is illustrated in plate ix. This is called, from its peculiar 

 shape, the Lo-ko Ch'iao or Hunchback Bridge, and has only one 

 arch, HO feet high, with a span of 24 feet. Its height allows the 

 imi)erial barges to pass underneath without lowering their masts, 

 and it is Avithal one of the most picturesque features of the landscape. 



A bronze temple which stands on the southern slope of the hill 

 of Wan Shou Shan is seen in plate x. It is 20 feet high, double 

 roofed, and designed in the usual lines, but every detail is executed 

 in bronze, the pillars, beams, tiles, tracery of doors and windows, 

 and all ornamental appendages having been previously molded 

 in metal. This is one of the few buildings wdiich defied the fire in 

 18G0. It stands on a marble foundation with carved railings and 

 steps, which are piled with bricks and bushes to keep off pilferers of 

 the valuable material. The miniature stupa, or dagaba, which crowns 

 the crest of the roof, is an attribute of a Buddhist building, and this 

 one, in fact, is intended to be a shrine for the historical Buddha, as it 

 contains a gilded image of Sakyannnii enthroned on a lotus thalamus, 

 with the usual' set of utensils for burning incense. 



