Chinese Architecture

It differs entirely in form and ornamentation from that of any other Eastern nation. The materials that are used in building consist chiefly of marble, stone, wood, brick, bamboo, and tiles of porcelain, which are glazed and colored. The erection of all buildings in China, whether for public or private purposes, is carried on under the supervision of a surveyor; and the rank of the person who is to inhabit it has much to do with the form and size of the private dwelling-house. These consist principally of a ground-floor and first-floor; but houses of many floors are not uncommon. A great quantity of wood is used in building, which is richly colored and relieved with gilding, so that the house presents a gay and picturesque appearance. The walls of the apartments on the ground floor are of tolerable solidity, and generally pierced with square or long and narrow windows, which are often IMG:content-0165.jpg:[graphic] filled with elaborate trellis-work. On these walls wooden columns are erected to support the roof, which is formed of bamboo, and for the most part turned up at the edges. The roof is sometimes made in two parts, resembling one roof rising out of another. The walls are plastered and decorated with panels containing paintings and inscriptions in the Chinese symbolic char acters. Balconies are generally formed in front of the apartments on the first-floor, the front of which consists of trellis-work. The imperial palaces are of great extent; consisting of a series of courts, with galleries and halls of audience, beautifully painted. The temples differ greatly in form and size, but, in many points of architectural construction and decoration, they resemble the dwelling-houses of a higher cla . The ordinary temples, or jo -houses, consist each of one chamber containing an idol. The Buddhist temples are larger and more elaborate, consisting of a vestibule, which leads to courts containing temples, sometimes two stories in height, in which are seated colo al images of Buddha. The pagodas, which form a conspicuous feature in Chinese scenery, are either monumental records, or are intended for the reception of some relic of Buddha. They are generally octagonal in form, and nine stories in height, and surmounted by a conical roof, from which an ornamental pole rises. Each story is le in size than the one below it, and is surrounded by a balcony, from which a sort of penthouse projects, ornamented with bells at the corners. These pagodas are built of brick, and the exterior of some of them is coated with porcelain tiles. The walls of their cities are high, and broad at the top, with square towers at intervals. Their castles are also square in form, being contracted in size towards the top, and surmounted, like the walls, with battlements. or "Book of Changes," (a Latin translation of which was published by Mohl, Stuttgart, 1832;) 2. The Schu king , or "Book of Annals," which is imperfect, comprising fragments of the early history of the people, (Chinese and English, by Medhurst, Shanghai, 1846;) 3. Schi Chink, ( chingk , ) n. [A.S. cina or cinu , a fi ure; cinam to gape; gynian, to yawn; probably allied to Gr. chai no ,, to gape.] A gap; a fi ure; a cleft; a rent; a crack. "Pyramus •Pyramus and This be did talk through the chink of a wall." Shaks. v. i. [A.S. cinan.] To gape; to chap; to open; to crack; to part and form a fi ure. king , "The of Songs," (in German, by Rückert, Altona, 1833;) 4. Tschün-thsieu, "The History of certain Kingdoms, from 770 в.C. to the time of Confucius;" chinks of; as, to chink a floor. 5. Li - ki , or "Book of Ceremonies," which contains a series of laws and directions extending down even to the minutest details of life. The Tscheu -li, which has been translated into French by Biot (Paris, 1851), is a kind of official handbook of the old Chinese empire. Next to the "Kings" in value and importance are the Sseschu , or the four books which were written by Confucius and his disciples, and are to be regarded as the most certain -v. a. To open and form a fi ure in. -To close the Chink, n . [Formed from the sound.] A short, acute metallic sound; as, the chink of money. -A vulgarism for cash; money; as, plenty of chink . -v. a. [From the root of jingle , or formed from the sound. To jingle; to cause to sound by shaking coins or small pieces of metal. "He chinks his purse, and takes his seat of state."-Pope. sources for information regarding that important school-v.i. To make a short, sharp sound, as by the collision of philosophy which has in so marked a manner affected of little pieces of money, or other sonorous bodies. the whole intellectual and political condition of the Chink'y, adj . Full of chinks or fi ures. Chinese. These four books are generally known as the Chinned, a. Having a chin; generally in a compound works of Confucius, and have been translated into various languages-into English by Collie (Malacca, 1828). Almost contemporary with Confucius was Lao-tse, also the founder of a wide-spread school of philosophy. In mythology they have The Book of the Mountains and Seas , lumne co., 10 m. S. of Sonora. Chinese' Gra , n. See BEHMERIA. Chinese Language and Literature. The Chinese language belongs to that cla of tongues in Eastern Asia that are commonly termed "monosyllabic," i. e. in which each word is pronounced by a single movement of the organs of speech, and each expre es a complete idea or object. The words all terminate either in a vowel or diphthong, or a nasal sound. Of such words or roots there are about 450 in the language. Many of these words, however, are differently pronounced or accentuated, some of them in 4 or 5 different ways, and having as many different meanings. There are, besides, many words that, with the same pronunciation, expre very different things. The words undergo no changes of form, and the want of conjugation or declension is made up by particles, or by the position of the words in a sentence. There are numerous dialects of the Chinese; but it is said to be spoken most purely and correctly at Nankin. The best grammars and dictionaries of the Chinese language are those of Morrison and Medhurst. In Chinese the alphabet is not composed of letters, but each word has a certain character peculiar to itself, and hence the number of characters corre sponds with the number of words in the language. As the same words differently pronounced expre different objects, the number of written characters must nece arily correspond; and hence it is said that the number of characters in the language exceeds 40,000. In its origin the Chinese language is hieroglyphic or pictorial, and to the original characters a number of symbolic a, and conventional signs, have been added; by the union of which hieroglyphics and symbols, with an imperfect indication of the sound, the greater number of the Chinese characters are composed. Native grammarians divide their characters into six cla es: the first comprising simple representations of sensible objects, as the sun, moon, mountain, tree, ., and including 608 characters. The second cla includes such as are formed by the union of two or more simple hieroglyphs, which give a more or le clear idea of the meaning intended to be conveyed; as the sun and moon combined give the idea of light; mouth and bird, that of song. Of this cla there are 740 characters. The third cla is composed of such as indicate a certain relation of place, as above, below, the numerals, ., of which there are 107. The fourth cla comprises such characters as, by being inverted, convey a contrary meaning; as, right, left, standing, lying; and contains 372. The characters of the fifth cla are termed borrowed characters , as expre ing abstract ideas or mental acts by means of representations of sensible objects; as a heart signifying the spirit, a room a woman; of these there are 598. The sixth cla comprises those that are composed of a hieroglyph and a mark representing the sound. Almost all the names of animals, trees, plants, and many other objects which it would be too difficult to represent hieroglyphically are indicated in this way; their number is given at 21,810. These, however, are merely repetitions of those of the other five cla es; so that the entire number of Chinese characters may be reduced to 2,425; and if one has learned these, he may be said to know all. Of the and the criminal code of the present ruling dynasty. Chinse, v. a. ( Naut.) To thrust oakum into a ship's Chinese literature is also very rich in medical works, and works on natural history, astronomy, uranography, geometry, agriculture, war, music, and all branches of technology and mechanics. (See hésumé des Pinci pauz Traités Chinois sur la Culture des Mûriers et l'Edu cation des Vers à Soie , by Julien; Paris, 1837.) In philology, the first rank is due to their dictionaries, which seams with a small iron adapted to the purpose. Chintz, ( chints ,) n. [Hind. chheet; Ar. chit ; Pers. chinz, spotted, stained.] ( Manf . ) A peculiar pattern upon printed calicoes, in which flowers and other devices are printed in 5 or 6 different colors, upon white and colored grounds. have been prepared with great diligence, and examples collected out of the whole treasury of Chinese literature. The greatest work of this kind is the dictionary of the emperor Kang-hi, which is now regarded as the highest authority for the form, pronunciation, and signification of the characters. Equally rich and valuable is the encyclopedic literature of the Chinese; among which is the work of Ma-tuan-lin (A. D. 1300), entitled Wen-hien-thong- khao , i. e., an accurate examination of the ancient documents, with rich supplements, pre. senting an inexhaustible mine of the best materials for a thorough knowledge of the Chinese and the neighboring races, from the oldest to the most recent times, in every department of life. But the most valuable department of Chinese literature is undoubtedly the historical and geographical, which are absolutely indis-panicles. pens able to a thorough knowledge of Upper Asia. Ssema-thsian (B. с. 100) compiled his Sse- ki , or "Historical Memorials," from every available source, and gives the history of China from B. c. 2637 to the commencement of the dynasty of Han, in the second century before the Christian æra. This work has been continued by the different dynasties, and forms a complete collection of the annals of the empire down to the end of the last dynasty of Ming, A. D. 1643. The entire collection of the official annals from 2698 B. C. to A. D. 1645, a period of 4,343 years, and comprising 3,705 books, is to be found perfect in the library of Munich. Amongst -v. i. To break, crack, or fly off in small pieces. their other labors, the Chinese have by no means -n. A small piece of wood, stone, or other substance cut neglected poetry, of which there are voluminous color broken off from the body.