CHINESE ARCHITECTURE. 



CHINESE ARCHITECTURE. 



860 



and richly gilt ; at others they are built wholly of marble, or of stone. 

 An inscription placed on a kind of frieze under the projecting roof, 

 records the name and titles of the deceased, and the cause of the 

 erection of .the memorial. These arches are erected to the honour of 

 women as well as men. In the 'smaller towns they are built of wood, 

 and the workmanship of many is very coarse. One of the finest and 

 most substantial is that which serves as the entrance to the city of 

 Ajnoy. At Ming-po the arches have as usual three gates, two small and 

 one large, the larger one being in the centre. The door-posts are of stone. 

 The entablature consists of three or four faces, and the architrave is 

 morticed and tenoned, although it is of stone. Mouldings are seldom 

 used in these faces, except in the highest or the highest but one ; instead 

 of a cornice there is a projecting roof which crowns the whole. The 

 ornaments of some of these arches consist of men, birds, and flowers, 

 and the ground is cut away so that the day-light is seen behind : the 

 three openings arc also arched. 



The temples though not differing very greatly hi architectural cha- 

 racter from the costlier domestic buildings, form, from their number 

 and costliness, a very important feature in the architecture of China. 

 Their number is enormous. In Pekin, and in the environs, there are 

 said to be 10,000 temples : those which are within the walls of the 

 palace are richly finished, and some are magnificent. To a great 

 extent the temples differ in their plan. That of Honang, opposite Canton 

 on the south, is enclosed within an oblong court, 590 feet by 250, which 

 in the interior is surrounded by cells for the priests or bonzes. You 

 enter the temple by an open vestibule, the ascent to which is by a 

 step, and in which are two colossal statues mounted on huge granite 

 pedestal*. This vestibule leads to another, in which are four colossal 

 seated figures, formed of stucco. This last vestibule leads into another 

 great court surrounded with colonnades and rooms behind them for 

 the priesta. The court contains three square temples, equidistant, 

 and set upon a plinth along the centre of the court. These buildings 

 are each 33 feet square, and rise to a height of two stories, the 

 lowermost of which is surrounded by a peristyle of 24 columns. They 

 have the usual roof-like summit. The first of these courts contains 

 the figures of the sacred Buddhist triad ; in the second is a single 

 figure of Omito Fo. The priests perform their religious ceremonies in 

 these buildings. At the four corners of the court are other smaller 

 and somewhat similar edifices but without columns, in which the 

 chief priests reside. Under the colonnades and between the rooms of 

 the ordinary priests, there are four chambers occupied by idols. Two 

 smaller courts are placed on each side of the centre of the large court ; 



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[Plan of Buddhist Monastery of Honang.] 



thpse are surrounded by the kitchens, refectory, and hospitals ; all the 

 buildings are covered with green varnished tiles. 



The annexed plan and more detailed description, from Davis s 



ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL. II. 



' Chinese,' will, however, give a clearer view of this very remarkable 

 structure, which may be taken as a type of its class. 



a a is a handsome paved way, of considerable breadth, leading through 

 the middle of the space occupied by the temple, and composed of 

 large slabs of granite, well laid down ; b, the hill gat', as it is called, 

 though erected on a dead level, the Buddhist temples being generally 

 in the recesses of mountains ; c, d, two raised recesses, with various 

 inscriptions in gilt letters on the walls ; e, e, two colossal figures of 

 gigantic divinities, guarding the entrance ; /, /, the hall of the four 

 celestial kings, each of them seated on a lofty pedestal, and as large as 

 the two preceding figures : one of them is said to be the benefactor of 

 the temple ; g, the principal temple, in which are seen, fronting the 

 entrance, three colossal gilded images of the Buddhist triad, called the 

 " three precious Buddhas ;" the round spot on the forehead of each 

 marking their Indian origin. On each side of the entrance are seated 

 gilded figures, on a much smaller scale, of the eighteen Lohdn, or saints, 

 who take care of the souls of those that die. A huge drum and bell 

 serve, in this temple, to awaken the attention of the gods to their 

 worshippers ; h, a single image of Omito FQ, or Amidha Buddha ; i, 

 temple containing a very well executed monument of a vase-like shape 

 and gigantic dimensions, carved in white alabaster, or gypsum, and 

 sacred to the relics (called Shay-ly) of Buddha. The whole is sur- 

 rounded by lanterns and lamps kept continually burning, and on the 

 sides of the monument stand bowls of consecrated or holy water, said 

 to be a specific for various disorders, particularly of the eyes ; j, long, 

 covered passages or cloisters, leading to the priests' apartments and 

 offices ; A*, temple of Kudn-yin, a goddess worshipped chiefly by 

 women ; I, apartments of the chief priest or abbot of the monastery, 

 where Lord Amherst's embassy was lodged in 1816 ; m, a great bell, 

 struck morning and evening; , apartments for receiving visitors, 

 where may be seen an idol with many arms, evidently of Indian 

 origin ; o, o, two pavilions, containing images of Kuan-foo-tsze, and 

 another warrior demigod, to whom the present dynasty attributes its 

 success ; p, a place devoted to the preservation of animals, principally 

 pigs, presented by the votaries of the temple ; 7, a book-room and a 

 printing-press, exclusively devoted to the sacred books of the Buddhist 

 sect ; r, a place for idols, near which are a number of miserable cells 

 for the inferior priests ; s, on this side there extends a considerable 

 space of walled ground for the growth of kitchen herbs, and containing 

 besides, a mausoleum, where are seen a number of jars, in which are 

 deposited the ashes of the priests after their bodies have been burned. 

 Here, too, is the building in which the act of cremation is performed. 

 To the left of the temple are a variety of offices, as the kitchen, 

 common room, &c., &c. 



More characteristic than the temples are the pagodas, structures 

 chiefly monumental in purpose, though often more or less closely 

 connected with the temples. The term pagoda, which is a corruption 

 of the Sanscrit bhagai'ati, " holy-house," is a name generally applied by 

 Europeans to temples in the East, from China to Hindustan. The 

 Chinese pagoda consists of several stories, usually nine, and generally 

 comprises a porch, a vestibule or ante-sanctuary for the priests, and an 

 inner sanctuary, containing the principal idol. Yet although called 

 pagodas by Europeans, the name given by the Chinese themselves to 

 such towers is Taas. They are very numerous throughout China. The 

 most celebrated Taa is at Nankin. It is built of brick, but covered, both 

 walls and roof, with plates of porcelain, and hence it is known as the 

 Porcelain tower. Like most others, it is an octagon, with a diameter 

 of about 42 feet, each face being 16 feet wide. It is upwards of 210 

 feet high, and is divided into nine stories, each of which has a marble 

 gallery with gilt lattices, the stairs being formed within the thickness of 

 the walls. From every story projects a kind of roof, at the angles of 

 which bells are suspended. The summit is surmounted by a cupola, 

 from which rises a lofty pole or mast about 30 feet high. When 

 perfect, it is said to have had a very brilliant apppearance, but it has 

 long been in a ruinous condition. Of that at Tong-Tschang-Fou, the 

 exterior is also of porcelain, but the walls themselves are of marble. 

 Others have a single staircase in the centre carried up through all the 

 different stories. Although so completely dissimilar in style, these 

 Taas bear a strong analogy to the lofty detached pyramid tower- 

 temples of the Hindoos. [HINDOO ARCHITECTURE.] Both seem to 

 have originated in a common idea, differently modified, according to 

 the taste and mode of building of the respective nations. On the 

 whole, the Chinese pagoda must be admitted to be a very effective 

 object, especially in a distant view of a city. The pagoda at Kew, 

 built by Sir William Chambers, is a very poor representation of a 

 Chinese pagoda, having neither the colours nor brilliant decorations of 

 the Chinese. 



Most towns have extensive walls high enough to hide the buildings, 

 except the pagodas or towers, and wide enough to ride on horseback. 

 The walls of Pekin, which are built of brick, are 42 feet 6 inches high, 

 and they have small square towers at every 200 feet. In some places 

 there are long inclined planes for the cavalry to ascend. The isolated 

 castle of Tien-sing-foo, at the confluence of the Pei-ho and Eu-ho 

 rivers, is of a square form and built of slate-coloured bricks ; the walls 

 are ramped or inclined inwards ; the basement is of stone, and the 

 entrance, which is arched with stones, is at some height from the 

 ground, with a square window on each side. The top of the castle has 

 battlements, and below them is a large torus-moulding on a level with 



