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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



BLACK LACQUER JEWELED HELMET OE THE EMPEROR KlENLUNG 



1905, but now, having been completely 

 rebuilt, is practically the same thing of 

 joy to the eye as when Kienlung first 

 surveyed the completed palace. 



All now is new, clean, and perfect, 

 from the first red-latticed doors and 

 rainbow beams under bracketed eaves to 

 the last roof of shimmering yellow tiles, 

 with scaly dragons coiled like rampant 

 shrimps on the ridge pole, and dogs and 

 lions parading down every angle to keep 

 away evil spirits. 



Wind bells of gilded copper swing 

 from every angle of the tip-tilted roofs, 

 and the restoration has been faithful 

 and exact. In the side court, the two- 

 story pavilion of the empress, the eu- 

 nuchs' quarters, and a little study or 

 library with quaintly gabled end walls, 

 all glow with new tiles, latticings, fresh 

 gilding, vermilion, and polychrome deco- 

 rations on the broad beams and rafter 

 tips. There are a few ceilings with 

 square sunken panels, where golden 

 dragons grin in coils, but others, like the 

 audience hall, have timbered roofs, the 

 rows of slender red ribs of rafters de- 

 fined against a flat gold ceiling — a direct 

 suggestion of the primitive lodge poles 

 of their tented ancestors. Some won- 



derful old panels of glazed pottery with 

 dragons and devices in high relief have 

 been reset in walls and screens, and used 

 in ornamental constructions in these 

 courts. 



The great imperial library of more 

 than 6,000 cases of volumes, deposited 

 by the Emperor Kienlung, is a duplicate 

 of those also deposited at Peking and 

 at Golden Island monastery, on the 

 Yangtse. 



THE MOST MARVELOUS COLLECTION OE 

 PORCELAIN IN THE WORLD 



The palace storehouses contain more 

 than one hundred thousand pieces of 

 porcelain of the best period of the impe- 

 rial potteries at King-te-Ching. Tens of 

 thousands of pieces of porcelain were 

 sent up to the Peking palace every year,, 

 and the supply for Mukden was in pro- 

 portion. The eastern storehouse, the 

 Fei Lung Ko, where the thousands of 

 vases, plates, bowls, and cups were kept, 

 had so very nearly sagged to the ground 

 by 1905 that it had to be completely re- 

 built. 



All this ceramic treasure was taken to 

 the audience hall, where it covered the 

 floor, the dais, and even the imperial 



