Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 2.djvu/507

CB1KESE.] A 11 CHITECTUEE 449 raised platform approached by three terraces, and bearing simply an altar unscreened by any building and open to the sky. The northern structure was roofed but not enclosed. Fro. 53. Temple of Heaven, Peking. Four pillars supported the main roof, which was 99 feet high, and lower roofs round the higher one were upheld by 24 columns of less height, all richly sculptured and gilt. The accompanying illustrations (figs. 52 to 54) represent Chinese temples of different types. The most striking buildings in China are, however, the tapering towers which they call taas, and our old writers pagodas. These are of brick covered with marble, or most generally with glazed tiles ; and are built in stories, one over the other, from three, four, or five, to as many as nine in number. Each story is reduced in width, and has a gallery round it. The roofs are hollow or sagging, like those formerly described. They project a great deal, the corners being turned up sharply. On these light bells are suspended, which make a constant ringing when the wind blows. The roofs are covered with glazed tiles of various colours, and the summit ornamented with a species of spire and finial. The most celebrated of these was that known as the porcelain tower at Nanking. It had nine stories, and was about 200 feet high, exclusive of the iron spire. At each angle was a bell, making seventy-two in all ; and there were eight chains hanging from the top of the finial to the angles of the spire, and carrying nine bells each, or seventy-two more. This celebrated building was destroyed by the Taepings in 1853. The taa is not a pagoda or temple, but a memorial of some event or of some great personage. At Peking is one used as an observatory, and at Nanganfoo one was erected simply to bring good luck. Buildings called Toov Tang, or halls of ancestors, are found in all considerable towns. These much resemble temples, but instead of idols, memorial tablets are placed in the niches to record the transactions and deeds of the " worthies " or celebrated inhabitants of the neighbour hood. The Pai Loo, or Pai Fang, is another common object in China. These are monumental memorials, though they have been mistaken for triumphal arches. Quatremere says, the Chinese annals reckon 3G3G of these, erected in honour of literary men, philosophers, princes, generals, &c. The smaller are of wood, forming a sort of doorway. The larger have three openings side by side, and over these are several broad panelled fascias for inscriptions and carving, which is often very bold and in high relief, and over all is a projecting cornice carrying a tiled roof. Chambers has given one, the side gateways of which have semicircular arches, with festoons of drapery. The resemblance of these to the famous Sanchi tope is evident, as is also their Fio. 54. Temple of Agriculture, Peking. being adaptations from wooden originals, for the stones are put together with mortices and other joints just as a wooden framework would be. The Chinese gateways are, however, very poor in comparison with those of India. There is not much variety of design about the houses of the Chinese, as every one must be on a scale corresponding to the rank of the inhabitant. Le Comte mentions a case where a mandarin was obliged to pull down one that he had constructed of a somewhat better quality than those of the others. Chambers has given a plan of a house which he says is of very common design. It is about 260 feet from front to back, and about 65 feet wide. It is entered at the front by a passage nearly 20 feet wide, which goes nearly through the entire building. On each side of this, fronting the street, is a shop, with its back shop. It should be stated, that the divisions on the two sides of the central passage exactly correspond with each other. First we have two studies and two small bedrooms ; then two saloons or reception rooms, about 24 feet by 18, looking into open courts or gardens, with fish ponds, fountains, flowers, &c., divided by walls ; then two more saloons with bedrooms, and then the great clining-hall, which runs right across the house. This is about 60 feet by 30, and is carried on eight columns. Behind this is the kitchen and other offices. The first floor has two bedrooms, one on each side of a passage, for the shop-keeper ; then on each side is a saloon and the bedrooms for the family. Between these last, and also carried on columns, is the hall where the family idol is worshipped. This overlooks the open gardens before mentioned. At the further end of these courts are two more saloons and bedrooms, and then a hall, said to be devoted to the use of strangers or visitors, which is over the ground floor diniug-hall, and of the same size. Chambers tells us every house has a number of movable partitions kept ready, to be put up to subdivide the larger rooms. The tombs are as singular as the rest of the Chinese edifices. The grandest of them, viz., those of the Ming dynasty, which ended in 1628, have been well described by Mr Simpson in the Transactions of the E. I. B. A., 1873-4. One of these tombs is at Nanking, but the chief are about 40 miles north of Peking. The entry is by a grand Pai Loo of five gateways in white marble, and then through several other gateways to a singular dromos, nearly a mile long, of 32 colossal figures (ranged in pairs), some human, others of camels, griffins, elephants, ike. Such a dromos exists also at Shanghai. The tombs, thirteen ?n

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