he casual observer 1s not prone to call the Chinese deeply spiritual, religious observances often seem to the on-looking Westerner as simply an excuse for noise and feasting, a perfunctory ritual. Yet what of those unobtrusive little shrines, sometimes only a shallow recess in a rock, or a natural cave with a place to burn candles before an image or even the roughly scratched outline of a god? These must be places for. solitary worship, the most honest of reverence.
Vhese roadside reminders of man's struggle to placate the unknown, to maintain sympathetic relations with the mysterious forces manifested in nature around him give an additional meaning to holiday wanderings. heir original significance is lost on us, but one may re-christen the sylvan prayer-places with the names of nature deities or their i lesser worshippers or abstract qualities, such as the Shrine of i Rest, after a taxing climb, or the Place of Quiet outside a chattering village. fne peace of a summer landscape seems inten-sifed by these appeals for reference, these symbols of man's desire to be one with the spirit o! the universe.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.