The Coolidge examiner., 1937-05-27

places are 1rall tnlnSS WHICH must
be propped from every side while
they are yet new. The stone, so in
tricately and beautifully carved, is
soft and subject to quick erosion.
Many Lovely Things.
Many of the most imposing edi-
fees, such as the White Dagoba
that dominates the Pei Hal, one of
the Three Seas" are of brick and
rubble, surfaced with plaster which,
unless renewed every season,
sloughs away in patches. Distant
views are impressive. and close in
spection disappointing.
Yet there are many things that
are beautiful with an ageless
beauty: corners of the Forbidden
City, as delicate and fine as jewel
fligree; the elaborate and cunning
ornamentation under the caves of
the pavilions; the porcelain screens
and arches; the timeless splendor
of the tiled roofs, that persists in
spite of the weeds and shrubs which
spring from accumulations of dust
in the cracks between the tiles. The
patterns and designs are frozen in
convention, but trees and water, air
and light, are integral parts of every
arrangement.
After you have dutifully followed
the guidebooks through score of
temples and palaces, your impress
sions will tend to telescope upon
themselves. But there are two
things that you will never forget:
the Temple of Confucius and the
Temple of Heaven.
The Temple of Confucius is in the
North City (the northern section
of the Tatar City,, between the
Lama Temple and the old Hall Of
Classics. You come to it through
noisome alleys that swarm wi h
scavenger dogs and naked children.
A passage leads under murmurous
dragon expresses. between ranks of
tall memorial tablets commemorate
ing the visits and the patronages OF
emperors and princes. The passage
opens upon a low terrace from
which you descend to the central
court by marble steps that flank
spirit stairway - Dragon eternally
contending for the Pearl, between
sculptured masses of sea and cloud.
From it you face the temple, look
ing along an avenue of ancient trees
so thickly set that their interlaced
branches cast cool greenish gloom.
very grateful in the summer time.
Flanking it are low buildings that
serve as storehouses and sleeping
quarters for the priests.
The sun strikes through the trees
and burns upon the old red walls Of
the pavilions, and the freshly paint
ed patterns under the overhanging
caves glow richly in reflected light:
turquoise blues and emerald greens,
purples, and reds, and yellowS.
There are small golden rooted
kiosks, and sacrificial burners of
bronze no longer cast. The noises Of
the city do not enter here.
A gentle, courteous old priest with
hairless, ascetic face material
from the shadows to attend you;
he is unobtrusive and detached in
robes of gray and black. There is
no statue in the shrine: it is the
High Place of an idea. Tablets, rich
ly engraved, hang above the altar,
publishing the virtues of the Sage,
and the gray ash of joss sticks in
the incense burner testifes to the
devotion of many worshipers.
The thing is wholly of the spirit.
You need know nothing of Confu-
cius, nothing of China, to realize
that here is peace made visible;
here is tranquility; here are bal
ance and a symmetry removed from
striving; the conception of minds
that have, after mature thought,
settled their problems.
The Temple of Heaven.
Very different is the Temple of
Heaven, out to the south in the
Chinese City. 1t stands most fiercely
in the sun, its walls enclosing park
larger than the Forbidden City. You
60 up from the highway along a
broad avenue, mounting by "a ramp
to the center Of terraced line Of
pavilions. To the north is the round
Hall of the Happy Year, its brilliant
blue tiles and triple-roofed silhouette
one of the distinctive things on the
Peiping skyline.
Turning your back upon it, you
walk south, through open pavilions
and successive archways, to a stark
altar of white carved marble, ap-
preached between winged columns.
| The altar consists of three round
terraces, set one upon another, the
top one smallest. The steps that
ascend to it are in groups of nine,
the mystical number; and the flag
| stones of the pavement are laid in
concentric patterns in multiples of
nine. And the roof of that altar is
the vault of heaven.
Here the Emperor came to offer
the Great Sacrifice on the day of the
winter solstice, to render his I'm
perial Ancestors an account of his
stewardship, and to solicit their
guidance for his people through the