CHAPTER XVI.

Extraordinary Buildings-Porcelain tower at Nan-kin-Temple of Ho-nan-Pagodas-Monuments-Bridges-Triumphal arches-Imperial Palace at Pe-kin-Palace of the Emperor at Earth's Repose— Palace at Je-hol-Announcements in the Pekin Gazette-Burningglass presented by the King of England to the Emperor of China.

THE great Porcelain Tower at Nan-kin, in the province of Kiang-nan, is the most extraordinary building in China, it was built by the Emperor Yong-lo, and is called by the Chinese the Temple of Gratitude. The tower is erected upon a pile of bricks, and is formed upon a most substantial timber frame-work; it stands about two hundred feet high, and is of an octangular shape. It is surrounded by a very thick wall of the same form, over which a roof is thrown from the tower, covered with green porcelain tiles, which makes a very handsome promenade, the walls and roof being painted in arabesque.

On the eastern side a marble staircase leads to the first floor, which is surrounded by a gallery or verandah, the roof of which is covered with green tiles, being supported by several pillars; on the top of the marble staircase there are three large doors

THE PORCELAIN TOWER AT NANKIN.

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leading into the hall or temple, which is on the first floor, and measures forty feet across, which gives fifteen feet for each of its sides. The floor is of marble, which has the appearance of projecting through the wall, as a cornice of marble two feet thick runs round the building on a level with the floor. The temple or hall is one hundred feet in height, and it is only lighted by means of the three doors we have already described. The tower is composed of nine stories, each one above the hall being of equal height, but the diameter of each succeeding one decreases in equal proportion up to the top. The walls externally and internally are covered with porcelain, and a verandah surrounds each story covered with porcelain tiles, while small bells are pendant to every corner of them.

The beautifully sloped roof is appropriately finished by means of a very thick spar, which is planted in the floor of the eighth story, and passing through the centre of, and extending above, the roof some thirty feet. This spar is surmounted with a large golden ball, and from its junction with the spar, a thick gilt wire, is carried down like a screw in a conical form, which gives a novel and light appearance to the building; the second, and each succeeding story, has a window on each of its sides; the floors. are laid upon thick cross beams, which are carved and painted in arabesque to form the ceilings of the rooms below them. The walls are covered with porcelain tiles, stamped with various figures and devices, small niches are filled with figures in basso relievo, and rich gilding adorns the whole of the interior,

a winding and inconvenient staircase runs up to the ninth story.

There are several Buddhist monasteries throughout China. The Temple of Longevity, within two miles of the city of Canton, situate to the north-west of the factories, forms a residence for a great number of priests. These buildings consist of large porticos, sometimes paved with polished marble; halls and pavilions, a principal and lesser temples, are situate in a variety of courts, these buildings being connected together by covered passages or galleries ; green and yellow tiles cover the roofs, which are ornamented with dragons and other animals, of the same colours and grotesque forms. Almost all of these monasteries have a tower or pagoda attached to them, but the size of them is considerably less than that of the Temple of Gratitude.

The Temple of Ho-nan is not the least remarkable of these pagan monasteries; it is entered through a very long court in which there is a large stone, on which a tortoise is engraved. After passing a second gate you enter another court, where four enormous statues are placed as sentinels; on each side there are two, their appearance is very fanciful and savage, and they might be mistaken for some of the gods of ancient Rome. At the extremity of this court stands the principal temple, where the three Buddhas are placed, together with a variety of other images and several altars, which give a solemn aspect to the place.

There are a large number of cells built round the principal court, which are appropriated as residences

THE TEMPLE OF HO-NAN.

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for the priests, and offices of the establishment. The sacred pigs are here domiciled in a habitation assigned to their use, and are maintained in a state of great luxury. The reason which is given for this is to recompense the species in the persons of these favoured swine for the injuries they have sustained, through the oft-repeated sins committed by the disciples of Buddha in devouring the flesh of pigs, their slaughtered relatives and brethren. In one part of this monastery there is erected a description of furnace in which the corpses of departed priests are reduced to ashes; these ashes are then carefully collected and placed in urns, which are deposited in a neighbouring chamber, where they remain until the annual opening of the adjoining mausoleum, into which they are then removed. Gardens, groves, and rice or paddy fields, are enclosed within the walls, and the whole premises occupy about eighty acres of land.

Tradition gives a very early date to the establishment of this temple, but the cause of its notoriety is accounted for by the following story. Ho-nan and the surrounding country were in a state of revolt in the reign of the Emperor Kang-he, about a hundred and fifty years since, when the Emperor's son-in-law with a powerful force, reduced the rebels to submission. Ho-nan is said to have experienced much of the wrath of the conquering prince, who gave orders for the slaughter of all the inhabitants. Immediately after issuing these orders he encountered one of the priests of this monastery, who possessed a corporation conformable to Chinese ideas of muscular

beauty, whom he censured and accused of hypocrisy, in assuming to refrain from animal food and spirituous liquors, while his portly carcass gave the lie to his profession.

The prince sentenced the unfortunate priest to be executed; but reversed the sentence of condemnation the following morning, owing to a dream which had disturbed his nocturnal slumbers. The god Buddha appeared to the prince with an angry aspect, assuming the most hideously terrific form, asking him how he dared to attempt to molest, much less put to death one of his priests and disciples: inquired if he knew that putting a priest to death was one of the most heinous crimes that a man could be guilty of; the punishment for which was severe and never ending. The god informed the trembling prince that if he dared to molest his servant in the slightest degree, the empire should be overthrown, war should ravage the land, famine and pestilence should reign lords paramount in China; that his life should be short, and that upon his decease, his soul should enter the carcass of a loathsome leper; that after dragging on years of wretchedness under this form, he should die, when his soul should pass into the body of a loathsome reptile; that after life had quitted the reptile's frame, his soul should pass into the regions of eternal torment. But if the prince would protect his Buddhas, priests, and disciples, endow his temples, lead a good life, and follow the tenets inculcated by Buddhism, all should prosper with him in this world, and after his decease, his soul should pass into the regions of bliss, finally