'The storehouses of Chinese history have opened wide their doors to provide the shipments of patees measures removed from. Peking' to Shanghai for safe custody.
Among. the Urcent treasures, to received are'an ancient Chinese lute with @ porcelain body, " brass Plate used to record daily events even before the age of paper, eleven big stone drums weighing ten Picule each, and a unique timepiece once capable, in its working. days, of writing "Eight Chinese charac:
This mechanical man is one of the quaint wonders of. the collec: tion. 'The clock is three' feet high and' isin three parts and was early Ching emperor 3 & European country seeking to gitablish "Telations "with China, The mechanical man "is made of copper and is worked bya machine Which, when set in motion, actuated the right arm of the figure which, 0 write eight distinct Chinese wae ara enacted, wat characters with a. brush—an in: {genious "toy" which "amused" the emperor for a time.
In the Palace Maseum collection there were about a hundred clocks, some as big as nine fect high, all the gifts of European countries in the early days of intercourse.
The porcelain lute is. different from the western style of lute for it is placed on a table when layed. Unlike the modern Chinese lute it is not made of wood but of a fine grayish porcelain and hat maze than ten strings 'The stone drums, which were brought here with much difteuity fon account of their size and weight, date back to 8,000 B.C. and. were originally in' the Confucius Temple the national capital of the Chow dynasty.
Other treasures of interest are complete. collection of scroll Portraits of the Ta, Ching from Ching 1 Roan, 50) al gk and draw
worn by, ing' Emperors household. Armour an helms artists of the Ta Ching imperial
fre also included,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.