CHINA. 



287 



TC. 



sed of large planks sliding in grooves, which are cut in 

 the sides of stone abutments. 



There are no ancient architectural ruins in the Chinese 

 empire; and, except the Great Wall, the Grand Canal, 

 the walla and gates of some of the cities, and a few of 

 the oldest pagodas, it is supposed, that there is not a 

 single building in the whole country, which has existed 

 above three centuries. 



The Chinese artists are able to carve very skilfully in 

 wood, ivory, or stone ; but they execute the figures of 

 men and animals in the most miserable style imaginable. 

 They have no idea of order, attitude, or proportion ; 

 and there can nothing be conceived more monstrous and 

 grotesque, than the figures, which adorn their bridges, 

 temples, and tombs. These even are seldom cut in stone, 

 but are most frequently made of baked clay, covered with 

 varnish, paint, or gold-leaf. The triumphal arches, so 

 highly extolled by the missionaries, are nothing but four- 

 sided blocks of wood or stone, covered with inscriptions, 

 but altogether devoid of any real ornament or grandeur ; 

 and it has been affirmed by recent travellers, that there 

 is not a statue, or a column in the whole empire, which 

 deserves to be noticed. 



In painting, the Chinese resemble the Hindoos, Mex- 

 icans, and 1'eruvians, and display extraordinary powers 

 of the most minute imitation, without the smallest por- 

 tion of scientific knowledge, or of original invention. 

 They will draw the exact number of petals, stamina, 

 thorns, spots, &c. of a flower, and will even count, with 

 the utmost exactness, the scales of a fish ; but they 

 faithfully represent every defect, as well as excellence, 

 in the object of their imitation ; and have been known to 

 be so very deficient in judgment and information, as to 

 unite, in one figure, the flower, the stalk, and the leaves 

 of different plants. They depict, indeed, with unrivalled 

 exactness and brilliancy, the colour of flowers, birds, and 

 insects ; but they are utterly unable to mix and soften 

 their tints, to apply properly the lights and shades, or 

 to convey the smallest idea of distance and perspective. 

 They even consider the diminished appearance and faded 

 colouring of distant objects, as the consequence of a na- 

 tural defect in the organ of sight, and look upon it as a 

 most absurd practice to represent such an imperfection 

 upon canvass. They always take a bird's eye view of 

 their landscapes, and place themselves successively in the 

 front of every part, whatever be its position or extent. 

 There is thus no particular point in their paintings, from 

 which the view is taken ; and in order to express the 

 distant figures, they represent the appearance of clouds 

 dividing them 33 it were in two. Their emperor, parti- 

 cularly, must never be represented like another man ; 

 and though he should be drawn in the most distant part 

 of a painting, it is necessary that his head be much larger 

 than those of his attendants. They dislike shades, and 

 consider them as defects in European paintings ; an in- 

 ttance of which was given by one of their ministers of state, 

 who remarked, upon viewing a portrait of his Britannic 

 majesty, that it was a pity it should have been spoiled 

 by the dirt on the face, meaning the shade of the nose. 

 They catch pretty exactly the features of the human 

 countenance, but execute the colouring very ill. They 

 are still more deficient in the art of proportioning a hu- 

 man figure ; and M. De Guignes describes a full length 

 portrait, of an European by a Canton limner, as resem. 

 bling nothing so much as a sugar-loaf reversed. The 

 specimens of Chinese painting, which are brought to 



Europe, are pronounced to be the best of their produc- Arts and 

 tions, as they are generally executed by Canton art- ^ lerK ^' 

 ists, who are said to have acquired a superior taste to 

 the rest of their countrymen, by being employed to copy 

 the various European prints and drawings, which are 

 carried thither for the purpose of being fixed upon por- 

 celain vessels. They are all possessed, however, with a 

 sufficient conceit of their pre-eminence in this, as in 

 other arts, over all other nations ; and have rejected, wit'.i 

 disdain, the plans and proposals of some European art- 

 ists, to establish schools of painting in their country. 



Music would appear, from the Chinese records, to Music. 

 have been always highly esteemed among them ; and, in 

 ancient times, to have been employed as an instrument of 

 government, and the handmaid of good morals. No 

 public ceremony was then performed without the aid of 

 music ; and the office of prime musician was one of the 

 most important in the state. He was at once physician, 

 moralist, poet, and historian ; physician, because he suit- 

 ed his tones to the temperature of the air and the sea- 

 sons of the year ; moralist, because he taught lessons of 

 virtue ; poet, because he composed verses, which he ac- 

 companied with his music; and historian, because, being 

 employed to celebrate the acts of eminent men, it was 

 necessary, that he should be able to draw from the page 

 of history the most memorable transactions, and such as 

 were most deserving of being transmitted to posterity. 

 The Chinese, like the Greeks and Egyptians, speak of 

 their ancient music, as an instrument of extraordinary 

 power, often producing the most wonderful effects ; and 

 as these other nations had their Hermes and their Or- 

 pheus, so the country of China boasts of a Lyng-hm, 

 a Pin-moo-kia, and especially a Kuei, who were able, by 

 their skilful sounds, to soften the hearts of men, and to 

 tame the most ferocious animals. The Emperor Shun, 

 according to the Shoo-king, among other important du- 

 ties of his high station, witnessed the performance of the 

 instituted dances, and caused the approved pieces of 

 music to be duly executed. " When I strike upon my 

 musical stone," said his master musician Kuei, " the 

 most ferocio\is wild beasts testify their joy ; the people 

 and the rulers are of one accord." To this day, every 

 public ceremony has its appropriate air ; and nothing is 

 done by the emperor without some musical accompani- 

 ment. On the more remarkable occasions, such as the 

 public audiences given by the emperor on his throne, 

 they profess to perform some of the most ancient com- 

 positions, called Shao-yo, which were invented in the 

 time of the Emperor Shun ; and these are said to be 

 tolerably soft and pleasing airs, not unlike the church 

 music of Europe. But the Chinese themselves speak of 

 their ancient harmony as now lost ; and their modern 

 performances, though sufficiently delightful in their ears, 

 are represented by European travellers as wretched and 

 discordant to an extreme. The ancient Chinese had only 

 five tones, Kong, Shang, Keo, Tche, Yu, correspond- 

 ing to the fa, sol, la, ut, re, of European nations ; but 

 under the dynasty of the Tcheoo, they afterwards added 

 two semitones, Pien-kon and Pien-tche, equivalent to 

 our mi and si.* This gamut of five whole notes and two 

 semitones, resembling the natural scale of the Greeks, is 

 marked by appropriate characters, like those of their 

 written language ; and by the help of these signs, or 

 names of every note, they are able to write down a piece 

 of music in a very clumsy stile ; but they are ignorant 

 of the mode of noting their tunes by means of spaces, 



On the subject of Chinese music, see Memoire nr la Mutiauc da Ancitni, par AM* Rousseau ; and Mtmrnn* jVoKve Ik xr la 

 Hunt, torn. vi. par P. Amiot. 



