Page:Peking the Beautiful.pdf/32

 The Porcelain Pagoda

AN A TOT THE least interesting of the myriad monuments in and around old Peking ate its fascinating pagodas. Typically Oriental, and often occupying the most beautiful and prominent places in the city, these artistic spires add just the needed touch to fine vistas both within and without the walls. Aside from their artistic value as landscape dec the orations, these structures have a deep religious significance. According to tradition, the primary or original object of such towers vas to provide a "depository for the relics of Buddha's burnt body." but Confucianists still declare them to be important "regulators of 'feng shui,'or the 'influence of wind and water,' and they are supposed to bring peace to the cities and temples and tombs that lie within their shadow." All the Peking pagodas, some of which carry us back to a far-distant age, are of Indian origin, and they are usually found in the neighborhood of Buddhist temples and shrines. The two most noted pagodas within the city walls are the "Bottle Pagoda," and the "White Dagoba" in the Pei Hai These two splendid structures both show strong traces of Tibetan influence in their design. Materials that enter into the construction of pagodas differ widely, and there is also a vast range in shape and size. Some, such as the " Thirteen-Storied Pagoda" of Pa Li Chuang, are vast brick structures towering hundreds of feet above the plain Others, like the striking spire on "Jade Fountain Hill" are constructed entirely of stone; while dozens more, comparatively small, ače made of much costlier materials, such as marble, iron, or glazed-porcelain tile. Some miniature pagodas, sheltered within the walls of famous temples in the Forbidden City, are even made of bronze or cloisonné. Most of these interesting structures are tall spires containing seven divisions, each of which is surmounted by a curved roof of tile. Sometimes we find the magic "seven" broker into other odd numbers, such as nine or thirteen, but in the majority of cases the number "seven" is adhered to. The graceful Porcelain Pagoda, here shown in all the beauty of its green and gold encaustic tiles, is not located on a hilltop, as is customary, but on the sunny western slope of the Yu Ch'uan Shan, or "Jade Fountain Hill." Overlooking a very ancient temple ded icated to the Yü Wang, or "Rain King," its shining gilded dome points heavenward, while around its eight sides are hundreds of miniature niches, each of which provides a resting-place for a seated figure of Buddha. This pagoda with its myriad Buddhas fulfills to an almost superlative degree the real purpose of a pagoda; for its very name signifies an "Abode of Idols." This ornate little spire has been declared by Chinese writers to be "the loveliest of 20,000 pagodas which once existed in and around Peking," For other glimpses of these picturesque structures, see paqes 23, 49, 55, and t21, Page 28