recording interesting historical events. Thus of the many large and beautiful 
temples within the confines of the city, the famous Pei-ling (Monument 
Grove) is perhaps the most interesting. Here are preserved over a thousand 
tablets of stone, on which are carved many of the ancient masterpieces of 
Chinese brushwork, both literary and pictorial. All styles of writing are 
represented, many being of extraordinary beauty and quaintness. The temple 
is a somewhat rambling place, and the tablets are arranged in rows in long 
halls, or grouped under shed roofs. Others are let into the walls, but these 
are smaller and would be more liable to unauthorised removal. The place of 
honour in the grand upper hall is occupied by a large portrait of Confucius, 
and to this the Chinese who visit the place always make obeisance on entering 
the hall, or in crossing the pavement that leads up to it. There is a certain 
dignity in the features of the Oriental teacher, as depicted on the tablet, but it 
cannot be said to equal several portraits of the sage extant in various parts of 
China. In the same hall there are full-length portraits of other celebrities 
and deities. To the left the Goddess of Mercy is shown on a large monument. 
The artist, in this instance, has succeeded in getting wonderful grace of line in 
the sweeping curves of the drapery. The typically Indian features, pose, and 
attire only serve to emphasise the strong influence which that country has had 
upon the Chinese in religion, culture, and art. A smaller monument near to 
the sacred Confucian portrait gives a remarkable picture representing a 
certain Ta-mo (pron. ‘‘ Dah-mah”’), who, according to ancient legends, came 
from the West about the beginning of the Christian era as the teacher of 
a new religion. He is supposed to have carried his religion to the Japanese, 
crossing the sea by miraculous agency on a straw. A picture of the missionary 
standing on a stem of wheat, which floats on the conventional waves of 
Chinese art, also stands in the Confucian hall. In both pictures the head is 
remarkable by its difference from the Mongol type. The abundance of curly 
hair, the markedly Semitic nose, the thick eyebrows, moustache, and beard— 
all suggest the Jew. From the Rev. F. Madeley comes a tentative suggestion 
that the original of these portraits and legends was no other than St. Thomas 
the Apostle, who is supposed to have travelled into Central Asia as a 
missionary. The name is distinctively suggestive. 
Kuan Li (or Kuan Kung), the God of War, is also represented in this 
wonderful stone portrait gallery. In the accounts of this redoubtable warrior, 
fact and fiction are so inextricably mingled that it is difficult to know what to 
believe concerning him. However, it seems fairly certain that, originally a 
market-huckster (civca 180 A.D.), on becoming a soldier he espoused the cause 
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