Tai

is also called Wang or “Lord.” The sign for Shang represents a growing plant; that for Tai po ibly a man; and that for Tien apparently the support of heaven. It is not easy to trace the old nature cult so represented, since it is hidden under the refinements of an ancient civilisation; and Cla ics tell us little of the old meaning of signs which confronted the learned on every altar of heaven. We have to seek in out of the way nooks, among peasant shrines, and in the writings of modern travellers who, sometimes, have not understood what they saw, or are bia ed against the Chinese beliefs. A great deal of attention has however been paid to questions of Chinese myths, fables, rites, customs, and emblems (see especially the papers in the N. China Rl. Asiatic Socy. Jowrnal, and others in the Chinese Recorder’). Mi Gordon Cumming, in her excellent volumes (Wanderings im China), gives much information as to the popular beliefs. On the hill at Fu-Chow (see vol. ii, p. 333) she was shown, by a young monk, # monumental stone 12 ft. high, 5 ft. wide, 14 ft. thick, of polished black marble, raised on a pedestal, and carved all over with dragons— resembling the Indian lingam stones. She tells us again (ii, p. 180) that Yan-yin represents “the dual principle in nature.” The sign Yan (in Cantonese; jan in Pekinese) represents a man, while Yin is often symbolised by a square (Pekinese yen “house”), The odd numbers are sacred to Yan, and the even numbers to Yin, Yan is a blue circle (heaven), and Yin is a green one (earth), The terraces surrounding the altars where the Emperor officiates, as High Priest and “Son of Heaven,” are colored a golden yellow in the centre, blue to the east, white to the west, black to the north (the unlucky side), and red to the south, recalling the colored terraces of the Babylonian Ziggwrats (see Architecture; and Babylon). In the very centre of the imperial quarter at Pekin stands the temple of the god of light, Kwang-ming-tien. It has two marble terraces, with six flights of twelve steps each (144 in all); and the circular shrine above is roofed with blue tiles. The altar of Tai is here again carved over with dragons. 441