The Chinese Empire comprising China proper, Thibet, Mongolia, and Corea-is larger than the whole of Europe. It is for the most part mountainous, possesses four great trading rivers by which merchandise is carried, facilitating internal commerce; such is also furthered by the network of canals for irrigation and navigation which are spread over the low-lying provinces, and which, with the navigable rivers, form the principal highways of China. The "Grand Canal," extending from Tientsin to Hangchow, is 600 miles in length. The coast has excellent harbours, which must have assisted the intercourse with India and Assyria, etc., and the consequent influence of their architectural forms. The Chinese pagoda was a direct imitation of an Indian prototype, or may have been derived from the pyramidal many-storied buildings found in lower Chaldæa. Japan presents many points of resemblance to Great Britain: both have highly indented coast lines with good harbours; both are insular empires well situated for commerce and lying opposite populous continents; both are at the head of great oceanic waterways, the one of the Pacific, the other of the Atlantic; and both are warmed by ocean currents producing equable temperatures. ii. Geological. China. The abundance of metals, coal, salt, iron, and copper, have always made China one of the richest of countries. China, as primitive India, has employed wood for building; such was rendered possible by the vast forests of bamboo and pine which existed in ancient China. Pekin, first made the Imperial capital about A.D. 1260, has suffered severely from earthquakes in 1662 and 1731, when important buildings were wrecked. Brickmaking is considered by many to have been introduced from the West, in imitation of those found in the ruins of Mesopotamia. Large beds of porcelain clay are found in the province of Che-kiang and elsewhere. In city walls the brick is usually about 18 inches long, and in buildings a small grey-coloured brick is often used. Tiles, plain, glazed, and coloured, are almost exclusively used for the roofs, yellow being the Imperial colour. Stone is used for bridges, gateways and public works, and marble for balustrading around tombs and important buildings. Japan. The prevalence of earthquakes has favoured wooden construction, in which the Japanese exhibit scientific ingenuity in the framing together of the various parts. Stone in Japan is not naturally stratified, hence it is often used in polygonal blocks, particularly for the lower part of walls, on which is erected the upper wooden construction. Forests occupy four times the area of the tiled land, with a greater diversity of trees than any other country in the world; bamboo is largely used in house construction. iii. Climate. China. By the geological formation of the mountains, which run east and west, the sea winds moderate the extremes of temperature. North China has a short but frosty winter and warm and rainy summer. During the monsoons very heavy rains occur, which influenced such features as the widely projecting roof with steep surfaces admitting of the easy discharge of rainwater. Roofs are turned up at the eaves to admit light without the heat of the sun (Nos. 238 and 240). Fires being principally used for domestic purposes and not for comfort, chimneys are unimportant features and seldom provided. the charcoal or wood fire being allowed to eject its fumes into the cooking apartments. Japan. Houses, where possible, face the south, as a protection against cold. The deeply projecting eaves protect from the summer sun and the high inclosing walls of courtyard against the winter wind. In summer the moveable casement windows and partitions forming the fronts of the houses, and offering little resistance to the penetration of heat, are removed, leaving them entirely open to the breezes. iv. Religion. There are three religions: In China died B.C. 475). (Confucianism (Confucius, born B.c. 551, In Japan Buddhism introduced A.D. 550. Confucianism is a code of practical moral doctrines and conduct, and can scarcely be called a religion. An absence of important religious structures is probably the result of there being no dominant priesthood; this absence has been the wonder of travellers, because the Chinese have probably been civilized as long as the Egyptians, who, mainly in consequence of their religious ideas, created an architecture unequalled in its grandeur. Temples and shrines erected to Buddha or Confucius, though numerous, are unimportant. In addition, the poor family has its altar and household gods and the wealthy family its ancestral hall of worship. Ancestral worship is so profound and leads to such a veneration for graves that the Chinese will plough around them for generations without being guilty of the sacrilege of destroying them In Japan, Sintuism is the national religion, but Buddhism is also prevalent. The extraordinary number of images of every possible size and material is to be remarked. In Japan the Buddhist religion, with its mysterious symbols and awe-inspiring forms, acted on the artistic Japanese nature, ready to depict the beautiful forms around him; thus demons, monsters and conventional representations are found in conjunction with the birds and landscapes of the changing seasons. v. Social and Political. The Chinese government is autocratic, the Emperor being the head of State and Church, and the provinces being governed by mandarins. The Emperor is at once the worhipper and priest of the important Pekin temples, an example of the old idea of priest and king. The nobility is not hereditary, property being divided equally among children at death; thus there is little family pride in such, causing, as in England, the erection of castles and residences with which the life of the family could be associated. The "guilds" into which many trades or crafts are formed have |