A Leeture on Chinese Architecture A meeting of the Literary Department of the American Wotan's Club was held last Friday afternoon at the Royal Asiatic Society Hall to continue their study of Chinese Architecture. Mrs. G. O. Richardson read a paper on "Chinese Pagodas" in which she explained why the edifice is called a ''pagoda" discussed the style of—architecture, and described its original purpose. The origin, despite many attempts to prove it otherwise, is now known to be of Hindustan rather than of China. The Hindu originally called the edifice a "Dagoba'"' meaning House of Idols" and built it for the purpose of worshipping their many gods. The Chinese have had a tendency \toward making their pagodas very lofty and developed them from the early tower called a tai which meant a raised terrace built for the purpose of getting a distant view. The type of pagoda which exists to-day appeared in the third and fourth century of our era and, since its beginning, it has developed many varieties, styles and shapes. Mrs. Richardson described many of the existing pagodas and at the end of her lecture showed some of them on the screen by means of the reflectoscope. Besides having been built for religious purposes, many pagodas have been erected in commemoration of some unusual act of devotion. They were also erected as a kind of omen for good thus insuring the prosper-}ity of the towns in which they stood. The most uSual style of architecture found in China ix octagonal.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.