When we put all these things together, it is difficult to decide whether we ought most to admire the mechanical skill which the Cambodian architects displayed in construction or the largeness of conception and artistic merit which pervades every part of their designs. These alone ought to be more than sufficient to recommend their study to every architect. To the historian of art the wonder is to find temples with such a singular combination of styles in such a locality—Indian temples constructed with pillars almost purely classical in design, and ornamented with bas-reliefs so strangely Egyptian in character. To the ethnologist they are almost equally interesting, in consequence of the religion to which they are dedicated. Taken together, these circumstances render their complete investigation so important that it is hoped it will not now be long delayed.
BOOK IX.
CHINA.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
CHRONOLOGY.
| Period of Hea | B.C. 2100 |
| Woo Wong period of Chow | 1100 |
| Confucius died | 477 |
| Chy hoang-ty built Great Wall | 240 |
| Han dynasty | 201 |
| Hoty, seventeenth king; Buddhism introduced | A.D. 90 |
| Tsin dynasty | 260 |
| Wootae dynasty; China divided into two kingdoms | 416 |
| China reunited, capital Honan | 585 |
| Tang dynasty | 897 |
| Northern China conquered by Mongols | 1234 |
| Kublai Khan | 1281 |
| Ming dynasty; Mongol expelled | 1366 |
| Manchow Tartar dynasty; now on the throne | 1644 |
It is extremely difficult, in the present state of our knowledge, to write anything, either conclusive or satisfactory, about the architecture of China. This may arise partly from the incuriousness of travellers, and partly because there really are no buildings in the country worthy of the people or their civilization. Till very recently, the latter would have appeared to be the true cause of our ignorance; but lately the photographic camera has penetrated even within the walls of the imperial city of Pekin, and has brought away impressions which go some way to modify this opinion. Unfortunately, the camera has not been accompanied by the measuring-tape or the notebook, and our information is therefore, in some respects, vague; but it seems certain that there are buildings worthy of more attention than has hitherto been bestowed upon them. Even these, however, are not such as we might expect to find among a people whose history and whose civilization seems so exact a counterpart of that of Egypt. In both countries we have the same long succession of dynasties with dates, extending through 3000 or 4000 years, interrupted only by shepherd invasions which in both countries lasted about five centuries, when the words of Manetho are as literally applicable to the Taeping rebellion as they are to the overthrow of the Hyksos by the uprising of the native Egyptian races. During all this long period the same patriarchal form of government prevailed in both countries—the king being not only the head of the secular government, but the chief priest of the people. Both people early attained a certain stage of civilization, and maintained it without change or progress during the whole period of their existence. The syllabic symbols of the Chinese are the exact counterpart of the hieroglyphic writing of the Egyptians, as clumsy and as unlike that of any other contemporary nation, and as symbolic of their exclusive segregation from the rest of mankind. In both countries there was always the same calm contemplation of death, the same desire for an honourable funeral and a splendid tomb, and the same reverence for the dead. In these and fifty other particulars, the manners and customs of the two peoples seem identical, and the perfect parallelism only breaks down when we come to speak of their buildings. There are no tombs in China to be compared with the Pyramids, and no temples that approach those of Thebes in dimensions or in splendour.
If the Chinese were as closely allied to the Tartar or Mongolian tribes on their north-eastern frontier as is generally supposed, this difference could not have existed. It may therefore be, as has been suspected, that the true Chinese are more closely allied to the Polynesian races, especially on the sea-board, which is the only part of the country we are really acquainted with. When the inner country has been more carefully examined, it is probable that we may see cause to modify our opinion as to the architectural character of the Chinese people.
This will be especially the case if, as is highly probable, the so-called Indo-Chinese inhabitants of Cambodia are very much more closely allied in blood to the Chinese than they are to any of the races inhabiting India; since, by the erection of the buildings described in the last division of this work, the Cambodians have nobly vindicated their title to be considered as one of the great building races of the world. Considering the short time of their existence and the limited area they occupied, they may in fact lay claim to having surpassed even the Egyptians in this respect.