DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26747#0207
Chap. I.
TEMPLES.
143
find in all those edifices which other nations have dedicated to the
hononr of the Snpreme Being.
When we come to know more of China than at present, it is possikle
that tliis opinion may to some extent be modified; but certainly no
views published by any of those who have traversed the country,
nothing that has been written, and no Chinese drawings, of which
abundance exist, lead us to suppose that anjThing except the pagodas,
pailoos, and tombs, have ever been erected by them at all worthy of
notice as architectural subjects.
Indeed, the two purely Chinese sects seem to be wholly without
temples of any sort, and their example seems to have influenced the
Buddhists to such an extent as to prevent their attempting anything at
all monumental; and there seems no reason for believing that anything
better than these domestic-looking viharas—half temple, half monas-
tery—exists in any part of the country.
The same remarks apply to Japan and the other large and populous
islands around China. Domestic architecture is brilliant and cheerful
in them all, but ephemeral; and none of them possess any monuments
designed to last beyond the generation that erected them.
Their engineering works have been much extolled by some writers,
but they have no more claim to praise as works of science than these
buildings have as works of art. Their canals, it is true, are exten-
sive; but with 300 millions of inhabitants this is small praise, and
their construction is most unscientific. Their bridges, too, are some-
times of great length, but generally made up of a series of small arches
constructed on the horizontal principle, as nine-tenths of the bridges in
China are, and consequently narrow and unstable. When they do use
the true arch, it is timidly, and without muchl knowledge of its true
principles.
However admirable and ingenious therefore the Chinese may be,
and seem always to have been, in the minor arts—such as carving in
wood and ivory, the manufacture of vessels of porcelain and bronze,
and in all that relates to silk and cotton manufactures—it still must
be admitted that they never rose above the rank of manufacturers, and
that poetry of any grade is wholly unfamiliar to them; indeed, that
they seem incapable of it in any form, either written or structural.
TEMPLES.
143
find in all those edifices which other nations have dedicated to the
hononr of the Snpreme Being.
When we come to know more of China than at present, it is possikle
that tliis opinion may to some extent be modified; but certainly no
views published by any of those who have traversed the country,
nothing that has been written, and no Chinese drawings, of which
abundance exist, lead us to suppose that anjThing except the pagodas,
pailoos, and tombs, have ever been erected by them at all worthy of
notice as architectural subjects.
Indeed, the two purely Chinese sects seem to be wholly without
temples of any sort, and their example seems to have influenced the
Buddhists to such an extent as to prevent their attempting anything at
all monumental; and there seems no reason for believing that anything
better than these domestic-looking viharas—half temple, half monas-
tery—exists in any part of the country.
The same remarks apply to Japan and the other large and populous
islands around China. Domestic architecture is brilliant and cheerful
in them all, but ephemeral; and none of them possess any monuments
designed to last beyond the generation that erected them.
Their engineering works have been much extolled by some writers,
but they have no more claim to praise as works of science than these
buildings have as works of art. Their canals, it is true, are exten-
sive; but with 300 millions of inhabitants this is small praise, and
their construction is most unscientific. Their bridges, too, are some-
times of great length, but generally made up of a series of small arches
constructed on the horizontal principle, as nine-tenths of the bridges in
China are, and consequently narrow and unstable. When they do use
the true arch, it is timidly, and without muchl knowledge of its true
principles.
However admirable and ingenious therefore the Chinese may be,
and seem always to have been, in the minor arts—such as carving in
wood and ivory, the manufacture of vessels of porcelain and bronze,
and in all that relates to silk and cotton manufactures—it still must
be admitted that they never rose above the rank of manufacturers, and
that poetry of any grade is wholly unfamiliar to them; indeed, that
they seem incapable of it in any form, either written or structural.