The Dragon Throne IRST and finest of all the palaces within the Forbidden City walls is the glorious T'ai Ho Tien, or Throne Hall of Supreme Harmony. la her chapter on this part of Peking, Miss Bredon, describing the Throne Hall, says ia part: "A lofty structure one hundred ten feet high, two 14 hundred feet long, and one hundred feet wide, with five flights of De Cottelusuudid carved marble steps leading from the ground to its highest terrace, with the curious sun and moon dial and gilt bronze cisterns glowing before its doors, this hall was formerly used only on occasions of the highest ceremony. such as the enthronement of a new Emperor or the occasion of an Imperial birthday. "The interior is soberly splendid. Pillars of bronze-colored lacquer, pillars of rich red, support the painted beams of the coffered ceiling which shows the blues and the greens of the peacock's tail, and the design of the dragon." Save for the central dais, this vast hall is empty, its bare simplicity increasing the effect of dignity and grandeur, while the eye, undistracted by secondary ornament, instinctively seeks the majestic platform with its splendid gilded throne and wonderfully carved and beautifully ornamented throne screen. This is the famous "Dragon Throne") Executed in bold relief upon throne and screen, we find the carved figures of just ninety-nine dragons; and whenever the emperor, the True Dragon, ascended his lofty throne, the number was complete-one hundred dragons occupied the "Dragon Throne." How the hearts of those old envoys to the celestial court must have thrilled as they mounted the five-tiered marble steps leading into the presence of majesty? Even in these Republican days our hearts thrill with the grandeur of it all as we stand on these glittering stairs before the throne. "How much more, then, those who mounted them between brilliant ranks of kneeling nobles, and surrounded by picturesque men-at-arras!" The throne is ascended on three sides: one stairway being on the right of the dais, ore on the left, and a triple stairway in front-of which the central one leads directly to the throne. Each of the five stairways has just nine steps-a number common in Chinese geomancy, and probably a symbol of completeness. This unusual photograph of the dragon throne was taken under great difficulties, as all who have aspired to take pictures within these ihrone halls will admit Cameras, and everything that pertains to the art of photography, are tabooed within these sacred walls, and it is only by the most unusual methods that one can secure a pictorial record of this grand interior. Within the last year or two the T'ai Ho Tien has been converted into a national museum, and now its marble floors ate covered with rare and priceless relics of a distant age. These works of art, however, seem not to add to, but rather to detract from, the sober and austere atmosphere of this splendid throne room.
