578 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 3 8 



ancient palace. It seemed clear at all events that they had not ful- 

 filled any structural purpose. 



The Wei Yang Kung mound as we saw it, even in its present state 

 of nakedness and desolation, possessed a certain aspect of dignity and 

 proportion and balance. Rising out of a level plain, and covered as it 

 was during Han times by stately buildings (probably with painted or 

 lacquered columns and brightly colored roofs of tile), 14 it must have 

 presented a most inspiring spectacle to all who beheld it — to the native 

 subjects of the Son of Heaven themselves as well as to the visitors from 

 many lands, some of them in the distant West, who we know thronged 

 the capital city of the Hans. 



In China the walls of cities have retained their usefulness as in 

 perhaps no other country. An instance of this occurred a few years 

 ago, during a civil war. The attacking force attempted to use poison 

 gas; whereupon their opponents retired inside a walled town, closed 

 its gates, and found themselves quite safe. City walls have been 

 placed in repair (although probably not constructed de novo) in China 

 in very recent times. The study of their development there through 

 so long a period is therefore particularly instructive. 



The earthworks at old Ch'ang-an, dating as they do from an epoch 

 when China's Bronze Age had only comparatively recently become one 

 of Iron, are especially worthy of study. During the few hours that we 

 were able to spend there, we saw enough to convince us that systematic 

 and extended excavation would beyond doubt yield results of very 

 great interest. Moreover, the nature of the site was such as to lend 

 itself particularly well to survey by airplane. Vertical air photo- 

 graphs of its varied features would be of especial value and would be 

 almost certain to reveal details which had escaped our notice on the 

 ground. 



>< Roofing-tiles of baked clay seem to have come into use in China during the Eastern Chou period (770- 

 255 B. C). By Han times, from around 200 B. C. onward, those used to cover important buildings had be- 

 gun to be painted in bright hues. It was not until the epoch of the Six Dynasties, well after the commence- 

 ment of our era, that the practice arose of covering them with colored glazes. 



