192
Chalmers (Zhán Yuehàn, 1825-1899) in 1861.15 The dominance of the "Confucian" or Ruist traditions was symbolized by the central place that temples to Master Kong ("Confucius") held in all the major towns. So it was very appropriate that in the city of Poklo there was a large and impressive temple to the "Master of myriad generations."
16
From the brief description of the Fūzi miào (“Temple of the Great Master [Kong]") recorded by Legge in 1861 as well as from some descriptions preserved in other contemporary sources, a scenario of Ch'ea's role as a "keeper" can be partially reconstructed.17 Situated in a place lacking both "large population" and "flourishing trade" because of the more competitive neighbouring cities of Shek-lung (M. Shilóng) and Wye-chow (M. Huizhou), Poklo was a relatively poor walled town of about 15,000 inhabitants. In spite of its obvious shabbiness, the town's "temples and ancestral halls" were regularly maintained and attractive. Within the relatively elegant “temple of Confucius" were "images of the sage, of his four assessors, and of the twelve more distinguished of his followers." (Having published his first volume of the Chinese Classics only a few months earlier, Legge knew very well who these were because he had described them in detail in one of his essays in the prolegomena.) These were probably life-size sculptures of each figure, the Sage himself seated while the others were standing in his presence.
17
Temple rites offered in the presence of the Chinese Master Teacher were often described in local gazettes, and were intimately woven into the fabric of the civil examination system and the literati codes of honour. Ch'ea, as the keeper of the temple in Poklo, most likely had to maintain the temple's appearance and may have sometimes even offered the regular sacrifices at the first ("of fruits and vegetables") and fifteenth ("a solemn burning of incense") of each month. Similar ceremonies would be performed in the adjacent school to the Poklo temple, where students were tutored in the Ruist canon by a qualified teacher. Twice in each lunar year, all the temples to Master Kong throughout the Qing empire were filled with successful graduates, their teachers, and ...
192
Chalmers (Zhán Yuehàn, 1825-1899) in 1861.15 The dominance of the "Confucian" or Ruist traditions was symbolized by the central place that temples to Master Kong ("Confucius") held in all the major towns. So it was very appropriate that in the city of Poklo there was a large and impressive temple to the "Master of myriad generations."
16
From the brief description of the Fūzi miào (“Temple of the Great Master [Kong]") recorded by Legge in 1861 as well as from some descriptions preserved in other contemporary sources a scenario of Ch'ea's role as a "keeper" can be partially reconstructed." Situated in a place lacking both "large population" and "flourishing trade" because of the more competitive neighbouring cities of Shek-lung (M. Shilóng) and Wye-chow (M. Huizhou), Poklo was a relatively poor walled town of about 15,000 inhabitants. In spite of its obvious shabbiness, the towns "temples and ancestral halls" were regularly maintained and attractive. Within the relatively elegant “temple of Confucius" were "images of the sage, of his four assessors, and of the twelve more distinguished of his followers." (Having published his first volume of the Chinese Classics only a few months earlier, Legge knew very well who these were because he had described them in detail in one of his essays in the prolegomena.) These were probably life size sculptures of each figure, the Sage himself seated while the others were standing in his presence.
17
Temple rites offered in the presence of the Chinese Master Teacher were often described in local gazettes, and were intimately woven into the fabric of the civil examination system and the literati codes of honour. Ch'ea, as the keeper of the temple in Poklo, most likely had to maintain the temple's appearance and may have sometimes even offered the regular sacrifices at the first ("of fruits and vegetables") and fifteenth ("a solemn burning of incense") of each month. Similar ceremonies would be performed in the adjacent school to the Poklo temple, where students were tutored in the Ruist canon by a qualified teacher. Twice in each lunar year all the temples to Master Kong throughout the Qing empire were filled with successful graduates, their teachers, and
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