Page:Peking the Beautiful.pdf/122

 At the Beach on K'un Ming Hu

TOWN near the water's edge on the southern shores of K'un Ming L Lake, testing on a broad marble terrace representing a beach, we find a very unusual example of Chinese art-Ch'ien Lung's famous Bronze Cow. This lifelike old ox, with head erect, sitting so quietly by the lakeside "has been able for two centuries to feast on a very montoitufine prospect indeed"-a changing panorama of lake, islet, marble bridge, terraced courts, and mountains topped by ancient temples and pagodas. Delseley, a British officer, seeing the Bronze Ox on the day when the palaces of the Wan Shou Shan were being destroyed in the war of 1860, says that it was "so truly lifelike that all who saw it mistook it for a veritable animal till they had actually approached it." Beyond this interesting old relic is an unusually artistic marble bridge which spans the waters of the lake and leads to the verdure-clad Dragon Island. This bridge with its seventeen arches of polished marble and lion-bedecked balustrades is one of the finest in the capital. It also dates back to the days of Ch'ien Lung, having been erected in the year 1755. This famous bridge, the Bronze Ox, and the Bronze Pavilion on the hillside are among the few relics of eighteenth-century grandeur which have survived the devastation of the war that laid in ruins these beautiful summer homes. Passing over the broad smooth flagstones of the marble bridge, we enjoy a pleasant hour or two roaming around the tiny artificial island-through cool, inviting rockeries, into the deep recesses of caves, under the green canopy of trees, around pretty pavilions, while glazed-tile roofs abounding in the old royal colors of yellow, green, and blue, look down upon us. This island in miniature stands on foundations of solid marble and, ac cording to some historians, dates back to the times of the early Ming emperors. It is sometimes called the "Dragon Lland," for on its marble shores is located a temple dedicated to the most famous dragon in China. Note the huge T'ing Tză, or "tea house," a portion of which is shown on the extreme left of the photograph; also the pretty bridge pavilion on the outskirts of the lake beyond. The upper half of the Jade Fountain Pagoda on the hilltop is just discernible above the trees of the island. For intimate descriptions of other Summer Palace monuments, ses paqes 20. 38. 48, 58, 88, 80, 90, 94, 104, 118, and 130.