Apple blossom is sometimes employed as a decorative motive, and is regarded as an emblem of feminine beauty. On account of the similarity in the sound of the Chinese word for “apple,” píng (藤), and “peace,” píng (平), the gift of a few apples suggests the idea of perpetual concord, and is equivalent to the greeting,“Peace be with you.”
Apricot
(杏)
Prunus armeniaca. Many varieties of apricot are grown in terraces on the hill-sides in North China. The edible kernels (杏核), take the place of almonds, which they resemble.
The fruit is an emblem of the fair sex, and the slanting eyes of Chinese beauties are often compared to the ovoid kernels.
The following lines are ascribed to Sòng Zîjïng (宋子京) A.D. 998–1061, President of the Board of Works and a celebrated author:
“The scholar has reaped the reward that is due,
And homeward returns on his wearying steed;
When the blossoming apricots come into view,
He urges his charger to bear him with speed.”
(一 色 杏 花 紅 十 里
Architecture
(建築)
“It is generally supposed that the remote ancestors of this nation, in their migration eastward, dwelt in tents: their circumstances would require such habitations; and when they became stationary, their wants would prompt them to seek some more substantial covering from the heat and the storm. But the tent was the only model before them; and that they imitated it, their houses and pagodas, built at the present day, afford abundant proof. The roof, concave on the upper side, and the verandah with its slender columns, show most distinctly the original features of the tent.”9
The fact that the Chinese roof is curved in its pitch, and also at the corners, is also explained by the Zhōu Lî (周禮), or “Ritual of the Zhōu Dynasty,” in the chapter on building rules, which states that the angle or pitch of the roof near the ridge should be greater than the pitch near the eaves, because the greater incline at the top enables the rain-water to flow with greater velocity, while the gentle upward slope at the bottom throws it out some distance from the wall of the house.
The first brick houses are said to have been built by the tyrant Emperor Jiè Kuí (架癸), 1818 B.C. The earliest type of brick used by the Chinese, and still used to a large extent in making houses throughout the country districts in the smaller towns, was moulded by hand between boards and sun-dried. The curved roof is constructed on wooden pillars, the spaces between which are filled in with stone or brickwork.
The original style of Chinese architecture is altogether different to that of the West. In building an ordinary house, the foundation is made by digging a shallow trench, wherein are placed a few rough-hewn stones, not laid as wedges, but filling in angles, and thus mutually supporting each other; four or more pillars of wood are then set upon, not into the mud of which the floor is to be made, standing each on a small slab of stone, thicker or thinner, if any dissimilarity in the length of the several pillars must be made up; four crossbeams make the framework on which the roof is to be laid, being of rafters and loose tiles; lastly rise walls of mud or bricks. The walls having little or no connection with the roof or the pillars, do not always follow the same line but may incline outward or inward. The roof, if a little top-heavy, as it generally is, gives a jaunty air to the pillars, and, to lend the additional support which seems so much needed, large sloping beams or buttresses are driven into the earth at each side of the house. The pillars, ceiling, and roof are then daubed with red paint, the walls plastered, and, if the purse and taste of the proprietor permit, gilded tablets inscribed with the old Chinese character, gay flowers, and grotesque monsters in paint or relief, cover the walls and cornices; altars and niches for idols being added if space will allow.
“Houses are frequently built against some hill, if there be any. Where wood is abundant, they are constructed of it, being supported by posts, between which is a kind of coarsely woven mat-work, covered with mud and then whitened with lime. The pieces of timber-work perfectly joined and exposed to view, are, so to speak, like a frame that may be taken to pieces, and transported from place to place at pleasure. When there is a scarcity of wood, the walls are constructed of bricks, mud, or stone, and the roof of gutter tiles or thatch. In the province of Kwangtung, the houses are almost all of bricks, having scarcely anything but a ground floor. In cities, many have an upper storey, or more properly a garret. They must not equal the temples in height, a thing which would expose him, who might be so daring as to attempt it, to a lawsuit, and his house to demolition. As to the interior, the apartments are badly distributed, and badly ventilated. Instead of glass there are latticed windows prettily carved and covered with silk paper. The first apartment entered is the hall for the reception of strangers, which is likewise the dining-room, and extends through the house, or the main building, if there are several edifices united. From this hall we pass on to the other apartments, which no person, not even a kinsman, can enter, unless he be a very near relative. There is no floor except in the houses of the wealthy, and no ceiling unless there be an upper storey. Seen at a distance, the better Chinese houses present a pretty appearance but the interior by no means corresponds to the outside. As they are generally of only one storey, an individual sometimes occupies as many as three contiguous buildings, and hence it is not surprising that their towns should occupy a great space. In front of the house there is always a pretty yard or court, which serves for drying rice, threshing, and divers other purposes; the rear and sides are environed with trees or bamboos, and if there are several main buildings, they are separated by inner courts.
“The temples, much higher than dwelling houses, have usually a beautiful front, supporting a stage for actors. The corners of the roof, which is sharper than that of a private edifice, are turned up in the manner of a cornice, and on the right and left of the entrance, are placed huge lions in stone, of inferior sculpture. After passing the portal, we enter a spacious court surrounded by long galleries resting upon columns. At the further extremity of this is the proper temple, where are figures in wood or stone of various colours, which, though varnished and gilded, are for the most part very hideous. Before these are set open dishes, and large vases, bearing lights and incense burnt in honour of the gods. At the side are one or two iron bells and a large drum. Besides the principal edifice, which is properly the sanctuary, there are lateral apartments where the priests lodge. A temple built against a rock, upon a hill, or in the midst of a grove, presents to the eye a very picturesque view. The Chinese erect upon certain eminences towers of many stories in height. These are of a hexagonal or octagonal shape, and much overtop the temples. Each storey supports a jutting roof, which does not so much serve to shade the gallery under it, as to contribute to the beauty of the structure. Such towers are built in the neighbourhood of cities, not at all for their defence, but to secure prosperity to the inhabitants, and to avert calamities.”10
Superstition accounts for the prejudice against two-storied buildings, or of any building dwarfing its immediate neighbours, as this deprives the humbler dwelling of Heaven’s guardianship. Height is also limited by the belief that good spirits soar through the air at a height of 100 feet, a restriction of moment only in gate temples and other buildings on city walls. Climate and the belief that good spirits blow from the south have decided the orientation of buildings with a southern aspect and windowless north walls. The abhorrence of a tortuous path, which is a characteristic of evil spirits, has given us the spirit walls which defend so many gateways. For the same reason we have the upcurved roof ridge with its dragon finials.
The most striking features in the best