566 ANNUAL EEPOBT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1911. 



(beetween the two pagodas of southeast and northwest). The beauty 

 of this region may be imagined and is expressed by an inscription 

 in the mountain temple : " How propitious is this site ! Here one 

 sees the river winding around, the broad plains stretching out to 

 the southward, and to the westward the three highest peaks of 

 Omeishan." 



The reference to this patriarch of the mountain, and the triad of 

 its highest peaks are reflected by the triad of the chief god in the 

 temple. 



This is, on the part of the Chinese, at the same time, a reminiscence 

 of the Buddhistic trinity and the trinity of Chinese religion : Buddha, 

 Laotze, and Confucius. 



Similarly located cities are found elsewhere than in the most 

 beautiful Province of Szech'an. This feature is also characteris- 

 tically seen in Canton, in the extreme southern part of Kuangtung. 

 This city is also located near a mountain, its revered ancestral pro- 

 genitor, with a pagoda to the southeast to guard the spiritual city. 

 A five-storied temple on the summit has the two gods sitting in the 

 uppermost hall, who constantly oversee and promote the daily life 

 of the Chinese. These gods are Wen-chang, the good of knowledge 

 and learning, and Lao-ye, the god of efficiency and bravery. The 

 Chinese designate this duality as Wen Wu, which Europeans have 

 correctly translated as civil and military, but the Chinese give that a 

 more profound Signification. They guard the city and all prosperity 

 depends upon their aid. 



Canton is connected to the northward with the famous mountain 

 of the White Clouds, and the hill of the city forms, as it were, a spur 

 of this mountain. The souls of the departed are conceived as white 

 clouds, and when the mountain is most densely enveloped in clouds 

 the Chinese think that the souls of all the departed are congregated 

 on the mountain from which, on the other hand, all life came. It is 

 thus a conception of the circle of all existence. 



This conception is given sublime expression by the disposition of 

 the graves which beginning in the north of the city extend to the 

 mountain of the White Clouds, where in many splendid temples 

 countless gods are sitting, who in this life as well as in the future one 

 are man's guides and ideals. This necropolis is even for China, which 

 can be designated as one large cemetery, something immense. This 

 covers an area 12 kilometers long and 7 kilometers wide, and it is 

 literally filled with graves on the slopes of the valleys and to the 

 summit of the mountain. Without any exaggeration there are many 

 millions of graves in this cemetery. Some of the graves are very 

 simple, others have grand tombs, and many of them are great artistic 

 works. 



