Who love Nature, those Nature loves 165 



of true ffistheticism, leads the Chinese to resent our modern 

 innovations ; but the force of circumstances is slowly sub- 

 duing its expression, and the factory chimney and the 

 scream of the locomotive will ere long rejoice the Philistine 

 and be the despair of the Artist. Meanwhile, let us enjoy our 

 short return to the era of the Middle Ages, and profit by the 

 possibility of realizing the life of our ancestors in the " good 

 old times." The hoary battlements which wall in the 

 crowded city seem a natural excrescence on the rugged 

 cliffs, and as the city walls follow the sinuosities of hill and 

 dale, there is no sign of that strife with Nature which our 

 bold Western methods encourage. No braggart upstart 

 building towers rudely above its neighbours, stealing their 

 air and light. The temples and Ya-mSns are the only 

 buildings more conspicuous than the mass, the former dis- 

 tinguished by their green and gold porcelain tiles, the latter 

 by their two quaint flagstafFs — phallic emblems, according 

 to Baber, — very different from the bare poles and square- 

 cut flags of the West. Were such an outrage as are the 

 Queen Anne Mansions to London, to be attempted here, 

 the Dragon and Tortoise (in the shape of an infuriated 

 mob) would rise from their sleep of ages, and overthrow 

 the ill-omened erection until not one brick was left on 

 another. The first display of ill-feeling towards foreigners 

 ever manifested in this city was due to the action of the 

 Roman Catholic missionaries. Profiting by the avarice of 

 the few old surviving priests left in possession, and to whom 

 the trust of this ancient benefaction had devolved, they 

 succeeded in acquiring, as a site for their cathedral, a 

 prominent sandstone bluff, about two acres in extent, which 

 occupies a commanding position in the centre of the city, 

 and upon which stands a very ancient Taoist temple. The 

 people rose en masse, and undoubtedly the lives of the 



