Los Angeles herald., 1892-01-25

quarters for half an hour, returned again
To repeat the same ceremonies. Thus
for five days have the priests and
their followers been incessantly en-
gagged. The decorations of the main altar
are superb, and consist of the finest ex-
amples of sandalwood carving, with gold
lacquering, as we'll as numerous sacred
vessels In the precious metals
decked with gems. Chief among the
decorations are three beautiful marble
incense urns and a golden lantern sus-
pended Immediately in front OF Buddha,
all of which were presented by Wong
Chez. we'll known merchant. Other
beautiful offerings were made by DR..
Wong, Sing Yup and Soun Weng. The
altar with its furnishing is valued at
$4,000.
In the forward end of the temple the
new cloth-of gold banner Lab Sun is
suspended, side by side with the sacred
bell and drum. In the center of the
apartment and Immediately above the
space occupied by the chief priest, Wong
Sing Yip, Is suspended magnificent
specimen of gold -lacqueied, sandalwood
carving. The scene represented in
Cathayan history might aptly be termed
the Chinese tourney OF the Field of the
Cloth OF Gold. In the center are rep
resented two knights clad in full Chi
nese armor, mounted on horseback,
with halberts crossed. The attitude is
one of tense power, indicative of a pro-
found struggle. On either side in min
aretted towers are two seconds watching
the battle, while grouped above aud be-
low are series of bas reliefs showing
different epochs in the history of the
h, ,,,< oh,xu nf
the picture. The picture tells an elo-
quent, but unique, story. The struggle
took place in the reign of the Emperor
Song Chew Wong, and the two cham
pions were rival generals seeking the
first favor of their ruler. One of these
generals was named Chall Wong, and
he was the commander of the Black
legion hat is to say the leader of
Chino-Senegambian regiment-whilet the
other general, Goph Fay, had charge
of the collection of imposts. The
rivalry and jealousy subsisting between
the two finally reached such stage that
the emperor at last decided that they
should decide their supremacy by wager
of battle. 1t was stipulated that they
should meet in the presence of the en-
peror and The mandarins OF the
red, white and green and crossing hal
berts. exert their utmost physical
strength in pushing one another, at the
same time INDUCING in speeches of
vituperatiye character against one
another. So accordingly they met, and
all the beauty and fashion OF Cathay
gathered to witness the struggle. The
battle was bitter and earnest and lasted
for five days. Finally the arm OF Chail
Wong, the colonel of the black regiment,
dropped off, either from the tremendous
pressure or the deadly, persistent and
enervating character of the strong
talk of his rival, the collector OF
the imposts, and the latter was awarded
the crown of victory and welded the
daughter of the Emperor Sang Chew
Wong, and their descendants came to
the throne in the third dynasty of Chou
in the person of Ven Wang, the son OF
You Wang, which was 1882 before Christ.
The new temple is an object of pride
to the Chinese colony. and of interest
and curiosity to the hundreds Of citi-
zens who have been visiting it for the
moi xvool