CHINESE ARCHITECTURE AND ITS RELATION TO 
CHINESE CULTURE. 
[With 10 plates. ] 
By Ernst BorRSCHMANN. 
> 
I left Germany in August, 1906, to make an extended exploration 
in China. The route was via Paris, London, and America, where I 
saw treasures of Chinese art in the museums, thence via Japan, to 
acquire a fleeting impression of that branch of oriental culture; and 
finally I arrived at Peking early in December. In the summer of 
1909, upon completing my work in China, I returned, via the Siber- 
ian Railroad, to Germany, after an absence of exactly three years. 
Dr. Bachem had discussed the importance of a study of the Chinese 
before the Reichstag in 1905, and the late Baron von Richthofen, 
then secretary of the foreign office, as well as a large number of other 
high officials, so interested themselves in the proposed journey that 
the German Imperial Government, with the approval of the Reich- 
stag, provided the necessary means. 
I owe profound thanks to all who aided this exploration, first for 
the effectual development of the idea of endeavoring to solve the 
important problems of the Far East from a purely scientific point of 
view, and also personally for their confidence in assigning me this 
important duty. 
My commission bore the title: “An investigation of Chinese archi- 
tecture and its relation to Chinese culture.” I could not have desired 
a more comprehensive designation of this task for such a country as 
China, with its 18 Provinces, covering an area seven times greater 
than Germany, and with remarkable coincidence exactly seven times 
its population. 
A solution of the problem appeared to be possible by confining 
myself to the northern part, especially around Peking, which, from 
a previous residence there for two years, I knew to be the center of 
1 Reprinted by permission from Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologie. Organ der Berliner Gesell- 
schaft fiir Anthropologie, Ethnologie und Urgeschichte, Berlin. 1910. 42d year, parts 
3 and 4, pp. 390-426. 7 
539 
