E-text prepared by Henry Flower and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by Internet Archive (https://archive.org) Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 57868-h.htm or 57868-h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/57868/57868-h/57868-h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/57868/57868-h.zip) Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive. See https://archive.org/details/middlekingdomsu01will Transcriber's note: Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). A caret character is used to denote superscription. A single character following the caret is superscripted (example: mai^n). Multiple superscripted characters are enclosed by curly brackets (example: ^{ng}). Page headers are enclosed by tilde characters (example: ~ORIGIN OF THE NAME CHINA.~). Some characters might not display properly in this UTF-8 text file (e.g., empty squares). If so, the reader should consult the html version or the original page images noted above. [Illustration: THE MIDDLE Kingdom.] _In the drawing is represented the Emperor Hienfung, attended by his principal ministers, kneeling before the shrine of_ HWANG-TIEN SHANGTÍ. _Though no foreigner has witnessed this ceremony, a few words concerning this native representation will make plain the chief objects of worship._ _Upon the triple altar, or_ TIEN TAN _(Volume I., p. 76), the central temporary shrine is dedicated to_ HWANG-TIEN SHANGTÍ, _or ‘Imperial Heaven’s Ruler above.’ Upon the Emperor’s right, nearest the chief pavilion, are tablets to his ancestors, Tienming, Shunchí, Yungching, and Kiaking; the corresponding opposite house is similarly devoted to Tientsung, Kanghí, Kienlung, and Taukwang. The small buildings behind and below these are the_ TAMING CHÍ WEI, _the ‘Altar of the Sun’ or ‘Great Luminary’ (on the right), and the_ YE-MING CHÍ WEI, _or ‘Altar of the Night Luminary.’ The last structure on the worshipper’s right contains tablets to the_ CHAU-TIEN SING, _or ‘All Stars;’ to the_ URH-SHIH PAT SUHSING, _or ‘Twenty-eight Constellations in the Ecliptic;’ to the_ PEH-TAN SING, _or Ursa Major; and to the_ MUH, KIN, SHUI, FO, _and_ TU, _or Five Elements--‘Wood, Metal, Water, Fire, and Earth.’ Facing this building on the left are shrines to_ SIUEH-SZ’, YÜ-SZ’, FUNG-SZ’, _and_ LUI-SZ’, _the superintendents of Snow, Rain, Wind, and Thunder_. [Illustration: IMPERIAL WORSHIP OF SHANGTI ON THE ALTAR OF HEAVEN AT PEKING. FROM A CHINESE PAINTING] 論總國中 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM A Survey of the Geography, Government, Literature, Social Life, Arts, and History of The Chinese Empire and Its Inhabitants by S. WELLS WILLIAMS, LL.D.