Sir W. Chambers states, that the Chinese do not dis tinguish their places of worship by any particular form. Thus, the Ting or Tong enters into all sorts of buildings, in almost all temples, all palaces, over gates of cities, and in every place where a display of magnificence is in tended. In temples, three sorts arc met with, and a fourth in most gardens.
The Ting of the pagoda of Cochin China is raised on a basement, and approached by three flights of steps ; the plan is square, encompassed by 24 columns, which support a roof which has a balustrade to protect a gallery quite round the building. The upper story is of the same form and dimensions, having dragons at the angles of its roof; the breadth, including the columns, is equal to the height ; the body of the building occupies two thirds of this space; the height of the order is two-thirds of the breadth of the body; the height of the second story is two-thirds of the first ; the columns are nine diameters high, the bases two diameters ; the beams and consols, which occupy the place of a capital, are one diameter ; the entrelas, or frieze, under the first roof, is also one diameter in height.
The second sort of Ting differs only from the former by its upper story having neither gallery nor balustrade, and in the covering of the colonnade, being brought close against the wall.
In-the third sort, the lower story is also nearly the in the first; but in the upper story, on two sides, advanced columns which form galleries. In this Ting the lower columns arc eight diameters high, the base one. All the columns, with the exception of those at the corners, have eight consols or brackets, which form a sort of capitals; the columns of The second order have their diameters about I of the`lower, and are about 61 diameters high. Thcy have no bases. Under the roof is an entrelas composed of squares and circles; the cor ners of the roof arc ornamented with dragons and foliage, the top with two dolphins at the ends, and a flower like a tulip in the middle.
In some instances, the building is closed in front by moveable doors, and has five advanced columns ; in other cases, the building is quite open in front, with four columns to support the roof. In two instances in the court of one of the pagodas at Canton, there are two pavilions covering two iron vases, used in the sacrifices of gilt paper to their idols on festival days ; they are both octagonal, and have each eight columns supporting a roof, upon which there is a lantern and other ornaments. One of these pavilions is a little elevated, and surrounded by steps; the columns stand on bases, whose profile dif fers little from that of the attic; a frieze, with inscrip tions in large Chinese characters, goes round under the roof ; the lantern, which is octagonal, has a top in the form of a semi-inverse, finished with a small globe sur rounded by flowers. The other pavilion is raised on a
socle or plinth, and inclosed by an cntrelas of artificial stone, made of a species of potter's clay, cast in wooden moulds. The pieces arc fitted with so much ingenuity, that the joints can scarcely be discerned; the columns are without bases, and under the first roof is an orna ment of interwoven lozenges. The lantern has eight small columns without bases or capitals, which support a conical covering, decorated with a dolphin over each column : The apex of the building consists of a pierced ball, with a flower upon it.
The fourth sort of Ting, found in gardens, consists of twelve columns. The one in the middle of a small lake at Canton, stands on a basement, and is encompass ed by a balustrade ; the bases of the twelve columns re semble the Tuscan; the covering which rests upon the columns is crowned with a lantern; the heads of the shafts of the columns are pierced with the beams which support the roof, and their extremities are decorated with small grotesque heads and bells; a frieze, orna mented with an cntrelas, runs immediately under the roof. Another pavilion had ten columns, with a roof and lantern in form of a cone, and terminated by a ball. In Plate CLV. will be found elevations of two of these tings or temples, which stand in the court of one of the pagodas in the west suburb of Canton.
In Chinese houses, the distribution is precisely uniform. Those of the merchants at Canton are all near the side of the river ; they arc narrow and very long: in other they differ not as to interior distributions from the general scheme ; the ground-floor is traversed in its length by a wide passage, which extends from the street down the middle of the habitation to the river ; the apart-, rnents are on either side, and consist each of a saloon for receiving visitors, and a small bed-chamber, to which is sometimes added a closet or study ; in front of each apartment is a court, at the extremity of which there is generally a fish-pond or cistern, with an artificial rock in the middle, covered with bamboos and other aquatic plants ; the sides of the courts arc usually decorated with flower-pots, or with blossoming shrubs, vines, °team boos formed into arbours. It is common to have a large porcelain vase on a pedestal in the centre, filled with the flowers called lien-hoa.