C H ] 
is highly refpeCted by the Chinefe, on account of its an¬ 
tiquity. They diftinguifh it into two kinds, the great 
and the fmall. “ The great liiuen,” fays the Dictionary 
Eulh-ya, “ is like a gooi'e’s egg, and the final) hiuen, like 
that of a hen : it has fix holes for the notes, and a l'eventh 
for the mouth. The kin and.the che, which have been 
known from the remotelt antiquity, emit the found of 
filk. The kin has feven firings, made of filk threads, 
and is diftinguifbed into three kinds, differing only in 
fize; the great kin, the middle kin, and the linall kin. 
The body of this inllrument is formed of the wood of the 
tonng-mou, and varniflied black; its whole length is 
about five feet five Inches. The che, of which there are 
five kinds, is furnifhed with twenty-five firings, and its 
ordinary length is nine feet. F. Amiot allures us, that 
we have no inftrument in Europe that deferve to be pre¬ 
ferred to-it. 
The infiruments which emit the found of wood, are 
the tchou, the yu, and the tchoung-tou ; the firft is fliaped 
like a fquare bufiiel, and is beat on the iniide with a ham¬ 
mer; the fecond, which reprefents a tyger fquatting, is 
made to found by fcraping its back gently with a rod ; 
the third is a collection of twelve pieces of board tied to¬ 
gether, which are ufed for beating time, by holding them 
in the right hand, and knocking them gently againfi the 
palm of the left. The bamboo furnilhes a numerous clafs 
of infiruments, compofed of pipes joined together, or fe- 
parate, and pierced with more or fewer holes. The prin¬ 
cipal of all thefe wind infiruments is the cheng, which 
emits the found of a gourd. The neck of the gourd is cut 
otf, and the low'er part only is relerved, to which a cover 
is fitted, having as many holes as are equal to the number 
of founds required. In each of thefe holes a pipe is fix¬ 
ed, made of bamboo, and Ihorter or longer, according to 
the tone it ought to emit. The mouth of the infirument 
is formed cf another pipe, fliaped like the neck of a goole; 
it is fixed to the gourd on one fide, and ferves to convey 
the air to all the pipes it contains. The ancient cheng 
differed in the number of their pipes; thole ufed at pre- 
fent have only thirteen : this inllrument appears to have 
fome affinity w'ith our organ. 
The Chinefe are unacquainted with the ufe of our mu- 
fical notes; they have not that diverfity of figns which 
diffinguilh the different tones, and the gradual elevation 
or deprefiion of the voice; nor any thing to point out the 
various modifications of lound which produce harmony. 
They have only a few characters to mark the principal 
notes; all the airs which they have learned, they repeat 
merely by rote: the emperor Kaung-hi was therefore 
greatly altonilhed at the facility with which an European 
could catch, and remember an air the firft time he heard 
it. In 1679, he fent for fathers Grimaldi and Pereira to 
the palace, to play lome tunes upon an organ and a harp- 
fichord. of which they had made him a prefent. He ap¬ 
peared much fatisfied with the European mufic, and after¬ 
wards ordered his muficians to play a Chinefe air; F. Pe¬ 
reira pricked down the whole air while the muficians 
were playing it; and when they had done, the miifionary 
repeated the air without omitting a fingle note. The em¬ 
peror could .not comprehend how a ltranger could learn 
a piece of mufic fo quickly, which had colt fo much time 
and labour to his muficians ; and how it was poflible, by 
the help of a few characters, to make himfelf fo far mat¬ 
ter of it, as not to be in any danger of forgetting it. He 
beftowed the higheft praifes on the European mufic, and 
admired the means which it furnilhes to facilitate and 
lellen the labour of the memory. 
With refpeCt to the art of painting, it feems to be uni- 
verfally agreed, that the Chinefe have no notion of cor- 
reftneis or perlpeCtive, and little knowledge of the beau¬ 
tiful proportions of the human body. But thofe who re¬ 
fute them the talent of painting figures well, cannot dif- 
allow that they particularly excel in flowers and animals. 
They execute thefe fubjefts with much tafte, juftnefs, 
and freedom j and they pride themfelves, above all, in 
1 
N A. 467 
an exaCtnefs of re prefen tation, which might appear to 
us trifling and minute. Painting makes little progrefs in 
China, becaufe it is not encouraged by government; it 
is Reckoned among the number of thole frivolous; arts, 
which contribute nothing towards the profperity of t)ie 
ftate. The late emperor’s cabinets and galleries are filled 
with European paintings; he employed, for a long time,, 
the pencils of Caftiglione and Attiret, both eminent ar- 
t;Its, whom he highly efteemed, and whole works he of¬ 
ten infpeCted ; but, on account of that notion entertained 
of the inutility of painting, he rejected an offer made by 
them of eftablifhing a fchool for painting, and of inftruct- 
ing pupils in that art. 
Painting, in frefco was known in China long before 
the Chriftian era : it was much in vogue under the Kan, 
w ho idrnamented the walls of their principal temples with 
it. This kind of painting made frefh progrefs, and gained 
more admirers in the fifth and fixth centuries ; and it was 
carried to a degree of perfection leldom equalled. The 
late emperor caufed an European village to be painted in 
frefco, in his park, which produces the moll: agreeable de¬ 
ception. The remaining part of the wall reprefents a 
landfcape, and little hills, which are fo happily blended 
with the diftant mountains behind, that it is almoff im- 
poflible to conceive any compoiition more ingenioufly 
imagined, or better executed. This beautiful wotk is 
the production of Chinefe painters, and was copied from 
defigns Iketched out for them. Engraving, or printing, 
in colours is very ancient among the Chinefe, who difco- 
vered that method long before it was known in Europe. 
The chiffel of the Chinefe fculptors is feldom employed, 
becaufe, if we except the idols of the temples,, the luxury 
of ftatues is not known in that empire. There is not a 
fingle ftatue to be feen in the fquares, public edifices, or 
palaces, of Pekin; indeed, the only real ltatues to be found 
in China, are thofe which, for the lake of ceremonious 
dillinCtion, are ufed to ornament the avenues leading to 
the tombs of princes, and great men of a certain rank. 
The Chinefe architecture is not the mere effeCt of cuf- 
tom without any fixed fyftem ; it has its principles, rules, 
and proportions. When a pillar is two feet in diameter 
at the bale, it muff be fourteen in height; and by one or 
other of fheie meafures that of every part of the building 
may be determined. This architecture, though it has 
borrowed nothing from that of the Greeks, Romans, or 
Saxons, yet it has a certain beauty peculiar to itfelf. 
The numberlefs rivers and canals by which China is 
watered, have rendered it neceflary to conftruCt a multi¬ 
plicity of bridges of various fhapes and forms; the 
arches of fome are exceeding lofty and acute, with ealy 
ftairs on each fide, the fteps of which are not quite three 
inches in thicknels, for the greater facility of alcending 
and delcending; others have no arches, but are com¬ 
pofed of large itones, placed tranfverlely upon piles, 
after the manner of planks. Thefe itones fometimes are 
eighteen feet in length : fome of thefe bridges are con- 
flruCted of itone, marble, and brick; others of wood ; 
and fome are formed of a number of barks, joined to¬ 
gether by itrong iron chains. The invention of the 
latter is very ancient; they are known by the name of 
feou-kiao, floating bridges; and .feveral of them may be 
feen upon the Kiang and Hoang-ho. The molt remark¬ 
able bridge in China is about three leagues from Pekin ; 
it is two nundred paces in length, and broad in propor¬ 
tion. Molt ltrangers who view it, appear altonilhed at 
its height, and the apparent inutility of the greater part 
of its arches; becaufe it is conltru&ed upon a very final! 
river. But when this river becomes fwelied by the/um- 
mer rains, all thefe arches are fcarcely fufikient to afford 
a paffage to its waters. 
The naval architecture of the Chinefe appears to have 
made no great progrefs for feveral centuries; neither 
their frequent intercourfe with thole Europeans who have 
vilited their coafts, n«r the fight of their yeffels, has 
made them turn their thoughts to change or improve 
their 
