CHINA'S TREASURES 



1023 



the; gre;at wali. ot^ china 



To the Great Wall all other monu- 

 ments of China, and for that matter of 

 the world, are as pygmies to a giant. It 

 is by far the most extensive and formid- 

 able single structure ever devised by man. 

 Built in the third century, it has never yet 

 been surveyed, but is believed to have a 

 continuous extent of 1,500 miles, to which 

 must be added the extent of branch walls. 

 ■ After 16 centuries it remains intact for 

 hundreds of miles, a brick or dressed 

 granite shell filled with earth and cov- 

 ered with an impervious paving of brick 

 laid in lime, carefully drained. It is pro- 

 tected by crenellated parapet and fortress 

 towers. 



It seems to lie upon the mountains, 

 spurs, and ridges like a great serpent. 

 The wonder inspired in the breast of the 

 traveler who visits China's other monu- 

 ments, such as the vast and abandoned 

 capitals, is that of a dead past. But he 

 who stands upon the Great Wall, lifted 

 to some airy peak, and there rocked by 

 its sinuous undulation, sees the China of 

 the third century living. 



The Great Wall was built by the Em- 

 peror Shih to protect the peaceful inhab- 

 itants of the plains from the hill barba- 

 rians of Tartary, serving a useful purpose 

 in defense, at intervals of time, for ages 

 The innumerable tablets and inscriptions 

 which it bears, recording its construction 

 and repair, would form a curious and in- 

 structive history. 



Watch-towers dating from the third 

 century still stand sentinel outside the 

 Great Wall, while unnumbered hundreds 

 of lessor antiquity stand guard on the im- 

 perial highways of all China. A chain 

 of them extends from Mukden via Pe- 

 king to Hsi-ngan, and thence to a point 

 beyond the western end of the Great 

 Wall. 



Here is a story giving a glimpse of the 

 place these picturesque objects have 

 played in the lives of the Chinese : Nearly 

 2,700 years ago (781 B. C.) the Emperor 

 Yu commanded that the beacons on all 

 the watch-towers in the Empire be lighted, 

 so that by the chagrin of the princes in 

 rushing to the defense of the capital when 

 there was no danger he might cause a 

 smile to come over the face of one of 



his haughty beauties, Pao Ssu. Pao Ssu 

 laughed. 



However, one of the onlookers of this 

 comedy was the Emperor's enemy, the 

 hostile Duke of Hsin. Hsin regarded it 

 as a favorable time to invade the king- 

 dom of Yu and did so. The Emperor 

 again ordered the beacons lighted, but 

 the princes refused to respond. The 

 capital fell, the Emperor was slain, and 

 Pao Ssu was carried into captivity, where 

 she strangled herself. 



the; buried weai.th of china is be;yond 



CALCUIvATlON 



One can only guess what may be the 

 buried monumental wealth of China, a 

 land in which so far no excavations for 

 the purpose of discovery have yet been 

 made. There must be innumerable ob- 

 jects of great historic and archseological 

 value. For ages in central China, in 

 regions subject to flood and to burial by 

 alluvial deposits, antiquities have been 

 dug up, the latest discoveries occurring 

 where excavations have been made for 

 railways. These include sculptured fig- 

 ures showing ante-queue fashions. About 

 the middle of the last century 11 bells 

 2,000 years old were dug up in Kiangsi 

 province, and are said to be in the For- 

 bidden City. 



When excavations were made in Pe- 

 king for the Foreign Office buildings large 

 hollow bricks were found 4 feet in length 

 by 20 inches in width and 5 inches in 

 thickness. They had a clear ringing tone 

 when struck and were known to Chinese 

 as "'music-stand bricks". They were said 

 to have originally come from the region 

 of the Yellow River and to have been used 

 as stands for musical instruments. But 

 they are ornamented with a geometrical 

 pattern and were probably used in friezes. 



The extent of China's archaeological 

 relics is something that remains to be 

 determined. From what the traveler can 

 see, and the student as well, they appear 

 to be immense, in keeping with the dimen- 

 sions of her history. 



There is probably nothing monumental 

 in China that is older than the remains 

 of her cities (unless it be her tombs) and 

 nothing of more absorbing interest than 

 the remains of her ancient capitals. 



