CHINESE ARCHITECTURE—BOERSCHMANN. 543 
bounds.” Since the most ancient periods the extent of this vast Em- 
pire has been enormous. Long before the birth of Christ the Chinese 
carried their policies to far distant Turkestan, and even to the shores 
of the Black Sea, and sent large armies thither. The conquest of 
these regions required time, engendered patience and consideration of 
resistance, and developed political tact and wisdom. 
Lao tze, the reputed wisest man of China, recognized that the re- 
lationships are stronger than mankind. 
These characteristics guaranteed an orderly government in China 
proper, the land of the present 18 Provinces. It was here always 
necessary, and still is so, to reckon with great distances and to plan 
months and years ahead. Imperial orders and the reports of oflicials 
are long en route. The constant changes of officials oblige them to 
travel for months, thereby acquiring a knowledge of their country 
that few of us have in the same degree of our own land. In thus 
traveling, the varied topographical features of the country slowly but 
surely make their deep impression. They may journey for days across 
plains, then along a river, then for 10 days over mountains and hills, 
and finally over fields and plains for 6 days—always in intimate con- 
tact with the varying population, high and low, thus becoming 
acquainted with the advantages and disadvantages of each region. 
The Chinese are thereby well acquainted with the conceptions of 
time and space. This manifests itself in their architecture. They 
have developed an architecture which in its ground plans and land- 
scape is unknown to us. The most significant structure in all the 
world is the well-known Great Wall of China. It must be regarded 
as a whole, a unit, which shuts off the entire north against Mongolia 
and Manchuria. All the famous Egyptian Pyramids combined can 
not compare with this work, which is the most skillful, the most 
monumental, and at the same time in the most picturesque manner 
adapts itself to ragged precipices along the mountain ranges and 
presents a view of the grandest outlines. 
The imperial palace in Peking is the most extensive in the world. 
Scarcely a temple has ever been built as large as the Temple of Heaven 
in Peking, or as large as some of the other numerous important 
temples in China. The palaces of the nobility and the wealthy, 
even the dwellings of the middle classes, are extravagantly spacious 
and roomy. The buildings of the imperial tombs and the temples at 
Jehol are of most imposing magnificence. The Chinese playfully 
bring points into correlation and features of nature, rivers and 
mountains, separated from one another by miles, to unite them in 
the expression of some definite idea. 
One of the most definite expressions of this prevailing Chinese idea 
of unity is given by their groupings of all buildings symmetrically 
around the axis of the meridian, the north and south line, This 1s 
