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. .Ml 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 Je^\ . From the Rev. F. Madeley comes a tentative suggestion 

 that the original of these portraits and legends was no other than St. Thomas 

 the .\postle, who is supposed to have travelled into Central -■Ksia 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 {circa i8o A.D.), on becoming a soldier he espoused the cause 



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