taries, and the differences observed in From this itis quite clear that, as in Wr reosived' yesterday the following the buildings of old. times and: those China so in. Japan, the fundamental telegram dated Singan Fa, 6th Septens changes. in -decorative development. Japanese art was Chinese Buddhist. The Christians" mutilated "Shensi," which of. more modern. date are caused by influence which led'to the growth of ber 6.30 pam. European Chinese. buildingsiare more solid than those: of. Japan... Chinese architects went to Japan snd. took. their, plans with them. They worked with Japanese materials, and native workmen built Chinese Buddhist went to Japan and acted there as architect and painter. The grotesque figures which the Japanese love to paint -are based on the. Chinese Lohans and sion jen. Ascetic-evidently means that there has been an anti-Christian outbreak in Shensi in which Euro} missionaries and native Christians have been mutilated. The epidemics that have visited northern the, temples under their direction. Nhus in both countries the most imposing erections were those that were made under Buddhist superintendence, and as Buddhism isa Western religion, naturally we have to look to Western countries for the origin ofall: the more rich and refined features.both.of Chinese and Japanese architecture. This Mr. Conder does not say, but it appears to be the conclusion. to which we are driven by the facts.. Japanese architecture is modelled on that of China, with modifica~ tions called for by the character of the country. So, in China the monastery was modelled on the Vikara of India, and. the monastic structures of Kashmir, Afghanistan, and Central Asia, Foreigners came, and with the Buddhist creed taught. the Chinese the pictorial and architectural arts of those countries. It is in this way that notions of design which sprang up in Egypt, Western Asia, and Greece have found their way these Eastern lands.
In their art the Japanese are puncti-Tious to excess, They pay such minute attention to trivial matters that they Jose in grandeur. This remark of Mr. Conder is borne out by the circumstance that the effect of the view of a Siogoon's tomb on the observer is less impressive than that of the Ming tombs near Peking. he grandeur of the Ming tombs transcends the perfected beauty and richness of gilt. lacquer seen in the last. resting-places of the Tokugawa ngutpers. The triumphs of the Japanese artist are the triumphs of the paint brush,. How for example does he proceed in painting a single massive dragon on a, vast: square ceiling? There is such a dragon in black and gold in the Nanzenji. temple: at Kioto. This is.a fine example of Japanese calligraphy. The painter'has the boards that form the ceiling spread on the floor below. roughly.sketches his subject witha burnt stick, and then proceeds with an enormous brash dipped in. Indian ink to dash in a bold outline which he does with great bodily exertion, making many vigorous turns of the brush and crawling rapidly over: the surface. from: top. to bottom. Who bold line thus produced is greatly admired by. the Japanese, and occasional ragged strokes or. splashes fromthe too ism is to some extent a mother of art, because the devotee prefers nature to the ordinary haunts of men. He is at home among trees, listening to the moaning winds on a seaside cliff, or to the brooklet as it whispers down a mountain side. The ascetic life is exalted by the painter, and at the very. time when he is depicting the victory of Buddhist thought over the. mind of the worldly man, driving him from the occupations of life toa forest home, he is at the same moment encouraging the impulses of art feeling in the soul. Nature herself supplies the trees, the lake, the mountain, the grotto. The. ascetic leaves society, and seeks a home of simplicity with the fewest wants possible. But into the void, thus made: by the abandonment of society, art enters and pictures a hundred lovely forms, such as meet the eye of the fisherman and the woodman. It would be a great mistake to suppose that Buddhist thought is limited in its range to the metaphysical teaching of the Buddhist classics. hat art feeling which springs up spontaneously in any country where there is culture, revealed to the Buddhist painter the essential beauty of those scenes and rural incidents which fail to touch the heart of either fisherman or woodman, who in fact see too much of these things to recognise any admirable features in them. This is the effect of mental and moral culture afforded by Buddhism in these Eastern countries. The contrast with Christian art is remarkable, Christian art occupied itself with religion also, but in a higher sphere. Buddhist art.is. content with natural beauty as
dulness of metaphysical dogma. In a Pleasing variation in the too great Christian art we see humanity elevated by. the entrance of the, divine. idea, Before Raffaelle's time such beautiful human forms had never been seen as those which he drew, prompted by the teaching of the gospels. Thus we are helped to fix the position held by) Japanese and Chinese art. It.is Budd-histie. It is the love of nature in under Oriental culture. So far as civilisation could aid in its growth the paint brush aud: a good selection. of central China this year have, we know, been taken advantage of by the enemies of missionary. work, and it is to be feared that these men have succeeded in stirring up a riot in Shensi. The China Inland Mission has twenty-seven members; including associates, in Shensi, mostly in the west of the province, at Fengsiang, Hanchung, Chengku, and Sanyang.. There are thirty Franciscans in Shensi, including seven nuns, and many. of these are near Singan Fu. There are also three English Baptist Missionaries in the province. It is difficult to know, what can be done to assist the foreigners in Shensi, if they need assistance, the nearest port being Hankow, but we understand that information of the trouble has been telegraphed to Sir John Walsham, who will no doubt make the necessary representations to the Chinese authorities.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.