Jehol the Golden, Over Which the War Clouds Lower

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 47, 25 February 1933, Page 16

Jehol the Golden, Over Which the War Clouds Lower

Jehol, over which the clouds of war are lowering as the Bino-Japanese conflict develops, is a very little visited •wonder spot of the East. This marvellous summer resort of two of the greatest of the Manchu Emperors of China, "was recently visited by Dr. Sven Hedin, the well-known Swedish explorer,. and the,results of his visit have been published in an illustrated volume entitled "Jehol, City of Emperors." Here is conveyed a vision of decaying splen,dour, calculated to stimulate every traveller who is bent on seeing the unusual. In fact, the new rulers of Manchukuo have here a lure of the highest order. Dr. Sven Hedin journeyed over the 114 miles which separate Jehol from Peking, on one of the roughest roads, he says, which he has ever traversed. When the Emperor Chienlung journeyed to Jehol the road was kept in perfect condition by an army of road attendants—not a human foot was allowed to tread upon its. surface until the great builder of Jehol had passed by. The string of palace buildings and temples occupies a curve of rising ground above Lion "Valley, through part of which flows' the river Jeho, which, on its southward course, flows by the modern town of Jehol. Separating the town from the wonder buildings of Chienlung is the now deserted park of the Imperial Summer Palace, through the glades of which deer wander undisturbed. Dr: Hedin 's chief objective was the Po.tala, a great mass of temple buildings, built in 1767 in conscious imitation of the Potala of Lhassa. "Even at the first glance," says Dr. Sven He'din, "the: Potala impressed us as being_ vast and imposing to a degree. Certainly its splendour was tarnished, the numerous temples bore the impress of decay, and many of the pines arid firs in the temple park had fallen to the axes of. impious soldiers, but the -grandiose architecture, the vast dimension, and the consummate elegance still remain, and we stood amazed before that noblest of religious monuments in the last period of China's greatness." To be more precise still, the final goal

of Dr. Sven Hedin's journey was one particular, building within the Potala, the Qolden Pavilion, a I/lama temple, which was the most sumptuous not only in Jehol, but in the whole of China. Dr. Sven Hedin says that he was seized with admiration and astonishment when this pearl of Eastern architecture gradually, unfolded itself, for it was not easy at once -to realise its red-pillared arid golden-roofed splendours. This romafkable building-lies almost completely hidden in the highest courtyard in the terraced - mass of the' Potala, only the summit, of its gilded spire appearing, over the .surrounding massive wall. The galleries which once surrounded the courtyard.'which enshrines the Golden. Pavilion have now largely disappeared,- and of the nW beautifullydesigned roof pagodas only two ■ remain.- . . ■ Why this building of wondrous beauty, in a courtyard surrounded by high, .walls? : . '.'The'palace-like stone colossus," says Dr. Sven:Hedin, "seemed to serve no other purpose than that of hiding the holy of hplies from the eyes of the world, and emphasising the mysticism of. the Golden Pavilion." It was the central point of a magic city conjured up out of the Mongolian wilderness at the behest of two Manchu autocrats of tha -later eighteenth century. Dr. Syen,Hedin sums up the situation thus: '.'Tie city by its incredible riches, its display of imperial pomp and state, its exquisite art treasures and superb buildings, should strike awe into .the hearts of the half-wild Mongolian tribe, their khans,.and their kings. In former tinies these proud free-born princes, the descendants of Ghengis Khan, riding at the ;head of their countless hordes of horsemen, lad conquered almost the whole of Asia and been a constant menace to the Middle Kingdom. It was worth .while building, within the very boundaries of Mongolia, a city that, •by its religious character , and splendour of its temple buildings, should serve to bind, with the golden chains of faith and worship, the followers of Llamaism to the Sun of Heaven and the Dragon Throne."