When an English ship touched at Hong Kong some years ago, the captain gave a ball to the foreign residents, and invited several Chinese merchants to attend the festivities.  One heavy old merchant who had never before seen anything of the kind, looked on patiently, and when the dance was concluded he beckoned the captain to his side and asked if he could not get his servants to do that work and save him the trouble.

[Illustration:  PRIEST IN TEMPLE OF CONFUCIUS.]

One of the great curiosities of Pekin is the temple of Confucius, where once a year the Emperor worships the great sage without the intervention of paintings or images.  In the central shrine there is a small piece of wood, a few inches long, standing upright and bearing the name of Confucius in Chinese characters.  The temple contains several stone tablets, on which are engraved the records of honor conferred on literary men, and it is the height of a Chinese scholar’s ambition to win a place here.  There are several fine trees in the spacious court yard, and they are said to have been planted by the Mongol dynasty more than five hundred years ago.  The building is a magnificent one, and contains many curious relics of the various dynasties, some of them a thousand years old.  The ceiling is especially gorgeous, and the tops of the interior walls are ornamented with wooden boards bearing the names of the successive emperors in raised gilt characters.  As soon as an emperor ascends the throne he at once adds his name to the list.

The Temple of Heaven and the Temple of Earth are also among the curiosities of Pekin.  The former stands in an enclosed space a mile square, and has a great central pavilion, with a blue roof, and a gilt top that shines in the afternoon sun like the dome of St. Isaac’s church at St. Petersburg.  The enclosed space includes a park, beautifully laid out with avenues of trees and with regular, well paved walks.  In the park are some small buildings where the priests live, that is to say, they are small compared with the main structure, though they are really fine edifices.  The great pavilion is on a high causeway, and has flights of steps leading up to it from different directions.  The pavilion is three stories high, the eaves of each story projecting very far and covered with blue enameled tiles.  An enormous gilt ball crowns the whole, and around the building there is a bewildering array of arches and columns, with promenades and steps of white marble, evincing great skill and care in their construction.  Unfortunately, the government is not taking good care of the temple, and the grass is growing in many places in the crevices of the pavements.

The Temple of Earth is where the emperor goes annually to witness the ceremony of opening the planting season, and to inaugurate it by ploughing the first furrow.  The ceremony is an imposing one, and never fails to draw a large assemblage.