Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1936-10-01
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The Magic of Moonlight Shining on
the Altar of Heaven.


full object in Peiping, a city so
filled with beauty that it may we'll
be classified as a serial dream, is
the gem-studded Buddha to be
seen in T'uan Ch'eng near the en-
trance of Pei Hal; others who de-
clare that the Purple Forbidden
Palace, occupying the center of
the Imperial City, is the culminat-
ing triumph of earthly creations;
that the marble pagoda at the
Jade Fountain is the only monu-
ment in stone that exclaims its
own magnihcence.
You will be told that the tombs of
the 10 Ming Emperors, reposing in
a lonely valley out of town, are the
most stately grouping in the known
world; that the Nine Dragon screen
in Pei Hal park is the most exquis-
lite masterpiece left intact in Pei
ping. You will be escorted to the
Temple of Heaven standing on a
platform of white marble, it's triple
roofs supported by red columns and
tiled in blue, the whole crowned with
a golden ball.
Beyond this, southwark, in the
form of a circular construction, one
comes upon the Altar of Heaven,
by far the most beautiful memoir
al of it's kind in the world, the final
salutation to religion as expressed
by the Chinese; and in the opinion
of many authorities the most sub
lime architectural gesture ever con-
ceived for the ceremonial recogni-
ton of invisible powers responsible
for the earth's fecundity. 1t is at
this spot that China's emperors for
five hundred years have made an
nual sacrifices to the only superior
they recognized-Heaven.
Every Detail Blends.
Memorable the night when Mel
ssn Trusler Johnson, American am
bassador to China, called me on the
phone at II o'clock, little more than
the shank of the evening, Peiping
time, and asked what claims I had,
if any, on "the so-called artistic
temperament"
"All the traffic will stand" I re-
sponded.
"Well, in that case, jump into
ricksha about midnight and meet
me at the Embassy, alone. Bring
your camera"
"Can do" I replied in the Chi
nese vernacular, and did with all
possible haste, arriving at the rem
devious to find the ambassador
awaiting me in an automobile.
''But the camera?" queried. To
the chauffeur, the ambassador, who
is proficient Oriental scholar,
gave a short command in Chinese,
and we were off at so kilometers
an hour under a full moon, riding
in a starlit sky.
Shrine Set in Park.
Five miles to the north, arriving
at a massive gate, that swung open
at our approach, we entered park
containing long lines of ancient ce-
dar trees set in formal array,
through which, for matter of two
miles, we moved slowly, coming at
last to an open space. A circular
construction, composed of white
marble sitting low upon the land
scape, built in three terraces, and
fiat upon the crown, filled my eyes
with it's immaculate magic. Mute,
l gazed at it's pale splendor, which
increased in richness as l became
accustomed to it's pearly silhouette
against the trees breaking the hori-
ION between this, the Altar of Heav-
en-, and the luminous sky over Pei
ping under the north star.
Has $50 Balustrades.
Mounted on the rim of the furnace
where the COW, the goat and the pig
have been roasted for the annual
cersmonials attended by the emper-
ors during the last five centuries,
we trained our lenses on the Altar
of Heaven, built in three terraces of
marble, the first 2lO feet wide, the
second $50, the third 80. The num-
Der of balustrades on the first is
100, the second 108, the third 70, to-
falling 260, the number of days in
the Chinese lunar year. The upper
terrace is reached by three flights
of nine steps each. The Chinese di-
vide the heavens into nine sections;
there are nine points to the COM
pass known as the Nine Mansions.
There are nine divisions of mathe-
mates, nine degrees of official rank
and nine of family relationship.
In the center of the topmost plat
form is circular marble disk, sur
rounded by nine marble sections,
and so on to the perimeter of eighty
one.
Whilst the light from Heaven was
etching the Altar into our films, the
ambassador and I sauntered lei
surely among the carven white pill
lars, but never long enough in
any one spot to leave our impress
upon the sensitive celluloid, and
gave ourselves up to the contenpla-
ton of its majesty. Higher and
higher foated the summer moon,
until the whole silvered landscape
appeared as setting for the trini-
tV of marble circ1es 1ilka rooop