The speaker at the meeting of the Royal Asiatic Society North China Branee, which was held on Thursday afternoon in the Soviety's Lecture Room, was Mrs, F. W. Ayscough who has recently: return-to Shanghai and is a well known authority and authoress upon things Chinese.
She spoke on the Memorial Temples and Tablets erected by the natives of this country in commemoration of their ancestors, and, add to the interest of the afternoon, the lecture was illustrated throughout with lantern slides made from photographs taken by Mrs. Ayscough and coloured is Lucille Douglas, 'The Chinese, Mrs. Ayscough ox-ined, have & great reverence for the dead as we all know, but the Jerection of the memorial' shrines [some do not realize was no light matter. Those to whose memory fa tablet or temple was erected deserved the honour and the posthumfous title given, the inscription and the fashion of' the erection had to bbe approved by very high officials before it could put up. The use of these temples was first instituted in the Chou dynasty many hundreds lof years before Christ and it has continued to this day, The speaker besides dealing generally with memorials gave pa ticular attention to those erected in memory of the Great Ya who died in 2197 B.C, and Wang Hsi-chi, the fourth century calligraphist, which both stand near Shaoshing, Chok-ug, and which were personally issited by Mra, Ayscough in 1922
Notes on their lives and works were also given, but one of the most ing. shrines that the speaker ted was that in memory of Yo Fei, hero and martyr, of the Sung Dynasty. The spring which stands near the West Lake, Han: [chow bears the inscription, "Hears, lof Cannibas and Blood of Grey, Green Jade." And this is an fusion to the legend that thus been handed down from generation to generation concerning one, Ch'ang Hung, an official of Chow who possed supernatural powers. He was put to death on false pretences and when three years later this unjustness realized, it was found that his blood had turned to grey green jade while his body had vanished.
Yo Fei is of interest himself, too, that he has now been made the deal of the young China of to-day fand in most Chinese homes. wer one finds a picture hung represent ing the great god Kuan Vu, sometimes somewhat incorrectly' trans. lated as the "God of War" one finds on a level with it one of Yo Fei.
The attendance at the lecture was large, a great number of people turning up, some even arriving.at five o'clock' in order to be sure of 8 seat for the address which started half an hour A connesroNvENT writes to sis', that in connexion with our. story of the lady who went into a [Chinese dressmaker's shop to usk the price of a dress in the window, nly to be told that what she saw was not a dress but a lamps ha Jour facts were not quite correct. The lady in question" he writes, bought the lamp shade and was seen wearing same at-—on Satar-
Jday times been placed in but he could think only of the day difficulty and strees as being Just sufficient shadow to temper the glare of the sun. would always remember the he had been in China and his doze association with the guards who were so kindly expressing their good feeling towards him as being a very: happy chapter in his life and his feelings in returning Home were of both joy and roster. In thank ing the guards very cordially, Mr. Glendinning csnclided by wishing them all prosperity and happiness.
During the dinner entertainers performed and a very happy even-Jing was spent.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.