Archaeological and Historical Researches of Peking and Its Environs (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1876 edition. Excerpt: ... palace grounds, for they can be found in many books referring to Peking. My intention is rather to compare the accounts M. Polo and other mediaeval travellers give of the same places, with the statements of Chinese authors contemporary with these travellers, or near to their times. In the Ji hia, three chapters (xxx-xxxii) are devoted to the description of the palaces and the imperial grounds at the time of the Mongols. In the introduction to these accounts it is stated, that they have been drawn from several works of the Mongol dynasty, or of the early Ming time, preserved in the HI ft Yung le ta tien, the gigantic cyclopaedia completed in 1407, containing nearly 23,000 books (see "Wylie's Notes on Chinese Literature, p. 149). The Ji hia quotes the JH Kin pien (List of the palaces of the Yuan), and the jQ jf Yuan kung shi chi; but states, that the most detailed description of the Mongol palaces are found in the HH f& Chao Hen lu and the fg f g Ch'ue keng lu. The latter work, as I have stated, was published towards the end of the Mongol dynasty. The author of this work, who lived in Che-kiang, speaks it seems not as an eye-witness; but had drawn his information, as he says, from a Mongol governor in Che-kiang, who had been governor in the capital in former times. Another ancient description of the Mongol palaces exists under the name of 1fc g jj Ku kung i lu, compiled during the reign of the first Ming emperor (see Wylie, N. on C. L. p. 48). The Ji hia quotes also the ft jJ g Ta tu kung tien Wao published in the time of the Ming. The description of the imperial palaces at different times, as found in the Ji hia, leave no doubt that the palace of the Mongols as well as of the Ming occupied about the same space as the palace of...