CHINESE ARCHITECTURE—-BOERSCHMANN. 568 
stone. The vigorously waved roofs and corners give outlines that 
are often capricious, but the harmony of the whole is maintained. 
A quaint gateway in Wuch’aufu, near Canton, is built somewhat 
with Indian taste. Upon close examination the confused sculpture 
is solved and reveals elegant and finely wrought allusions to certain 
definite events. 
In Szech’uan the idea of a gateway-arch is frequently employed in 
the development of fagades for temples and dwellings. Everything 
is lavishly sculptured and painted. The edges of the pilasters are 
artistically composed of a mosaic of small blue and white pieces of 
porcelain, with brilliant festive effect. 
In Szech’uan, more than the other Provinces, the natural beauty 
of the fields and highways is frequently enhanced by temples, bridges, 
and altars, which are affectionately remembered by Chinese in foreign 
countries. The Tu-ti altars appear everywhere, that is, the little 
roadside temples dedicated to the god of the place, who is identical 
with our genius loci. Grateful, pious people endow them by building 
stone flag masts surrounding the sanctuary and its single tree often 
in great numbers. 
Large groups of sacred things are assembled at the most prominent 
places. At Tze-liu-tsing I found a Tu-ti altar in the street along- 
side of which there was a stone flag mast, a column surmounted by 
the head of Buddha somewhat back, then an altar for incense, and a 
- large handsome altar for Kuanyin, the goddess of mercy, all of which 
constituted the sanctuary inclosed ‘by clusters of bamboos which are 
named for her: “ The Bamboo of the Goddess of Mercy.” The 
Chinese thus put their soul into nature. One of the inscriptions 
reads: 
The lust of the world is vain forever, 
But if you place a Kuanyin image on your acre, that will endure. 
The combined sentiment and grandeur with which they treat sur- 
faces is exemplified by the imperial tombs of the present dynasty. 
The great temple tombs of the Emperors are located in a dense grove 
of pines 10 kilometers long and 8 kilometers wide, extending up along 
the massive cliffs of the mountain side. Gates alternate with bridges, 
avenues of stone animals with temple-kiosks; and the mortuary temple 
appears in front of the tumulus characterized by a structure several 
stories high. The entire arrangement is plain in the proportions, 
but is most nobly and solidly built. 
This remembrance of the departed is obviously specially imposing 
in this case, but China is generally noted for the worship of the dead. 
The ordinary man honors his ancestors in his home and at their 
graves. The wealthy have special ancestral temples connected with 
their own dwellings, or on a selected place, the Tze-t’ang, that is often 
garnished with indescribable splendor. 
