544 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1911. 
invariable whenever possible. The main hall in which the prince sits 
in state, or the host entertains his guest, or the god in his temple, is 
invariably aligned to face the south. The lord faces the midday sun. 
The cities are likewise laid out along the meridian line accurately, 
and, where natural obstacles intervene, such as a mountain, a river, or 
where other special considerations require the city walls to deviate 
and take some other direction, yet the axial line is always main- 
tained in the meridian in all the temples, government buildings, and 
dwellings. 
China has often changed its capital. The Empire has been ruled 
from the Yangtze, from Honan, and Shensi; but for long ages, even 
before the Mongolian dynasty, they have always returned to Peking, 
which les in the extreme north. This was, of course, mainly due to 
political considerations. But knowing the ideal importance which is 
attributed to the line of the axis, we can appreciate the exalted notion 
of conceiving the Emperor as seated on the dragon throne in Peking 
and turning his gaze southward along the meridian of Peking over 
the entire Empire, when at the New Year festival, or on the Km- 
peror’s birthday, all officials and many of the people assemble at the 
same hour in all the cities and villages to kneel before his altars 
throughout the Empire and offer their homage, looking north toward 
him, the Son of Heaven. Claims of nature, the political development, 
and the ideal all agree and assist in demanding and deepening this 
sentiment. Thus natural conditions, political evolution, and ideal 
conceptions answer one another and form a combination. The world 
of phenomena is merely a mirror of the infinite which in our world 
conception and religion we try to give a definite, and yet how change- 
able, formula. 
Before considering the details of China’s idealistic culture it is 
necessary first to refer briefly to certain external conditions and rela- 
tions which have contributed to those grand conceptions of the unity. 
The population of China is constantly fluctuating, and it has 
always been so. Allusion was made to the wars that carried great 
masses of men and women as far as Turkestan. These wars prevailed 
for long periods and were repeated at certain intervals. At times, 
as during the Mongolian sway, intercourse with the western coun- 
tries reached a certain climax, but it was constantly lively. The 
Chinese have a tendency to emigration, probably greater than we of 
to-day. For ages they have been colonizing and invading foreign 
countries for peace or war. The south was colonized in historic 
times, while northern Chihli has ony been colonized during the past 
two centuries in a methodical manner. During the past five years 
the Chinese have been systematically settling in Tibet, and since the 
European press has only recently sounded an alarm over this pro- 
ceeding, it goes to show how news is really only relatively new. 
