CIUNKSK, AlU'IirrKCTUKK. f585 



ill (lie oniciiil tlc^criplion of IV'Uiiig. Tiic ox, as (he chief agricul- 

 turnl aiiiuial, has been sacred in China from (he earliest times, and 

 it still has a foremost place in rustic si)rini2: ceremonial, l)ein<!j 

 molded in clay for the purj)ose. The verses, which ai-e too lon<^ to 

 be quoted in full, relate how the P^mperor has taken as his model the 

 ancient Yu of Ilsia, whose eulogy was handed down on an iron ox 

 after he had carried oft' the i-iver floods, how he has propitiated the 

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

 rivei- numsters, and installed its figure here to preside forever over 

 the irrigation channels which he has {\n<i, for the benefit of the 

 villagers, concluding w'ith the peroration: 



Men itraisi' the warrior oni])oror of the Han, 



Wo ])refer as our cxaiuplc the .iiu-iont Yao of T'ang. 



The niarl)le bridge of IT arches in the picture is a i-cMuarkable 

 exani[)lc of the fine stone bridges for which the neighborhood of 

 Peking has been celebrated since Marco Polo described the many- 

 arclied bridge of Pulisanghin, witli its marble parapets cnnvned Avith 

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

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

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

 leads from the cemented causew^ay to an island in the lake Avitli an 

 ancient temple dedicated to the dragon god and called liung Shen 

 Ssii, the name of which was changed by Ch'ien Lung to Kuang Jun 

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

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

 traditional enemy of the faith. 



A characteristic bridge of different 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, 30 feet high, with a span of 24 feet. Its height allows the 

 imperial barges to pass underneath w^ithout lowering their masts, 

 and it is withal 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 fcAV buihlings which defied the fire in 

 I860. It stands on a marble foundation with carved railings and 

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

 the valualde material. The miniature stupa. oi- 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 Sakyamuni enthi-oned on a lotus thalamus, 

 with the usual set of utensils for burning incense. 



