Chinese Art. Stephen W. Bushell

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СКАЧАТЬ It is six miles long, thirty miles away from Peking to the north, and the imperial tombs are in separate walled inclosures dotting the slopes of the wooded hills which skirt the valley with its rows of colossal stone figures.

      At the end of the avenue one comes to a triple gateway, leading to a court with a smaller hall, and passes through to reach the main courtyard with the large sacrificing hall, where, by order of the Manchu emperors, offerings are presented to the long-deceased ruler of a fallen dynasty by one of his lineal descendants selected for the purpose.

      The hall is mounted upon a terrace with three balustrades of carved marble extending all around, ascended by three flights of eighteen steps in front and behind, leading to three portals with folding doors of tracery. It is 70 meters long by 30 meters deep, with a massive tiled roof supported by eight rows of four pillars each. The columns, of persea nanmu wood, are 3.5 meters around at the base and over 20 meters high to the true roof, under which there is a lower ceiling, about 10 meters from the floor, made of wood in sunken square panels painted in bright colours.

      The ancestral tablet is kept in a yellow-roofed shrine mounted upon a daïs, with a large, carved screen in the background, and in front stands a sacrificial table with an incense urn, a pair of pricket candlesticks and a pair of flower vases arranged in a line upon it.

      Leaving this magnificent hall and passing through another court, planted like those preceding with pines, arbor vitæ trees and oaks, one comes to the actual tomb. A subterranean passage, forty yards long, leads to the tumulus, the door of which is closed by masonry, but flights of steps, east and west, lead to the top of the grave terrace. Here, in front of the mound, and immediately above the coffin passage is the tombstone an immense upright slab, mounted upon a tortoise, inscribed with the posthumous title, “Tomb of the Emperor Ch’êng Tsu Wen.” The tumulus is more than half a mile in circuit, and, though artificial, looks like a natural hill, being planted with trees to the top, which include the large-leafed oak (Quercus Bungeana).

      5. – Religious

      One of the grandest and most interesting sights of Peking is the Temple of Heaven, which is within the southern city, surrounded by stately cypress trees in the midst of a walled park over three miles in circumference. Heaven is not worshipped alone; the ancestral tablets of four of the imperial forefathers are always associated with the tablet of Shang Ti, the supreme deity, followed by those of the sun, moon, planets, and starry constellations, while the spirits of the atmosphere, winds, clouds, rain and thunder are arranged in subordinate rank below. Heaven is distinguished by the offering of blue jade pi, a foot in diameter, round and with a square hole in the middle, like the ancient mace-head symbols of sovereignty, and by sacrificing a whole bullock as a burnt offering.

      The jade and silk are also burnt: twelve rolls of plain white silk and hempen cloth are sacrificed for Heaven, one for each of the other spirits, and the banquet piled on the altar in dishes of blue porcelain is proportionately lavish.

      The Great Temple of Heaven, T’ien T’an, is the most sacred of all Chinese religious structures. It consists of three circular terraces with marble balustrades and triple staircases at the four cardinal points to ascend to the upper terrace, which is 30 m wide, the base being 80 m across. The platform is laid with marble stones in nine concentric circles and everything is arranged in multiples of the number nine. The emperor, prostrate before heaven on the altar, surrounded first by the circles of the terraces and their railings, and then by the horizon, seems to be in the centre of the universe, as he acknowledges himself inferior to heaven, and to heaven alone. Around him on the pavement are figured the nine circles of as many heavens, widening in successive multiples until the square of nine, the favourite number of numerical philosophy, is reached in the outer circle of eighty-one stones. The great annual sacrifice on the altar is at dawn on the winter solstice, the emperor having proceeded in state in a carriage drawn by an elephant the day before, and spent the night in the hall of fasting called Chai Kung, after first inspecting the offerings. The sacred tablets are kept, during the remainder of the year, in the building with a round roof of blue-enamelled tiles behind the altar which is seen on the right of the picture. The furnace for the whole burnt offering stands on the southeast of the altar, at the distance of an arrow flight; it is faced with green tiles, and is 2.75 m high, ascended by three flights of green steps. The bullock is placed inside upon an iron grating, under which the fire is kindled. The rolls of silk are burned in eight open-work urns, stretching from the furnace eastward; an urn is added when an emperor dies. The prayers written upon silk are also burned in these urns after they have been formally presented in worship before the tablets.

      To the north of the great altar, which is open to the sky, there is a second three-tiered marble altar conceived in similar lines, but somewhat smaller, called the Ch’i Ku T’an, or “altar of prayer for grain.” This is dominated by the imposing triple-roofed temple which is covered with tiles of deep cobalt blue shining in the sunlight so as to make it the most conspicuous object in the city. The name of this edifice, as set forth on the framed plaque fixed under the eaves of the upper roof, in Manchu and Chinese script, is Ch’i Nien Tien, “temple of prayer for the year.”

      The emperor goes there early each year in spring to make offerings for a propitious year. It is thirty meters high, the upper roof supported by four stately pillars, the lower roofs by two circles of twelve pillars, all straight trunks of nanmu trees brought up from the south-west.

      Imperial Vault of Heaven (Huang Qiong Yu) Here the tablets of the Emperor’s ancestors were kept, 1530. Peking.

      The Putuozongcheng Miao, Chengde, c. 1771. Chengde (Rehe), China.

      Originally founded by the emperor Ch’ien Lung, it was rebuilt in every detail after the old plan. During the ceremonies inside everything is blue; the sacrificial utensils are of blue porcelain, the worshippers are robed in blue brocades, even the atmosphere is blue. Venetians made of thin rods of blue glass, strung together by cords, being hung down over the tracery of the doors and windows. Colour symbolism is an important feature of Chinese rites. At the temple of earth, all is yellow; at the temple of the sun, red; at the temple of the moon, white, or rather the pale greyish blue which is known as yueh pai, or moonlight white, pure white being reserved for mourning.

      The altar of the earth, Ti T’an, is on the north of the city outside the city wall, and is square in form; the offerings are buried in the ground instead of being burned. The temples of the sun and moon are on the east and west and are also outside the city wall of Peking; the princes of the blood are usually deputed by the emperor to officiate at these.

      The Yonghe Temple also known as the “Lama Temple” is a temple and monastery of Tibetan Buddhism located in Peking. It is one of the largest and most important Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in the world. The building and artworks of the temple combine Han Chinese and Tibetan styles. Building work on the Yonghe Temple started in 1694 during the Qing Dynasty. After Yongzheng’s ascension to the throne in 1722, half of the building was converted into a lamasery, a monastery for monks of Tibetan Buddhism. The other half remained an imperial palace. After Yongzheng’s death in 1735, it was donated for use as a lamasery. As a result of the ancient architecture, every element of the temple is entirely symmetrical, with main halls on a north-south axis and wing halls on both sides. Along the axis, there are five main halls which are separated by courtyards: one of them is the Pavilion of Ten Thousand Happinesses (Wanfuge).

      Altar of Heaven (Yuan Qiutan), Temple of Heaven, 1530.

      Temple of Heaven, Peking.

      Hall of Prayers for an Abundant Harvest. (Qi Nian Dian), 1420. Peking.

      Lama СКАЧАТЬ