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There is another method of bringing bits of their ancient
handiwork to the capital which most of those living in Peking,
even, know nothing about. A company, whose headquarters is at an
inn, called the Hsing Lung Tien, sends agents all over the
empire, to purchase and bring to them everything in the nature of
a curio, whether porcelain, painting, embroidery, pottery or even
an ancient tile or inkstone, which they then, at public auction,
sell to the dealers. The sale is at noon each day. The first time
I visited it was with a friend from Iowa who was anxious to get
some unique bits of porcelain. The auctioneer does not "cry" the
wares. Neither buyer nor seller says a word. Nobody knows what
anybody else has offered. The goods are passed out of a closed
room from a high window where the crowd can see them, and then
each one wanting them tries to be first in securing the hand of
the auctioneer, which is ensconced in his long sleeve, where, by
squeezing his fingers, they tell him how much they will give for
the particular piece. It is the only real case of "talking in the
sleeve' I have ever seen, and each piece is sold to the first
person offering a fair profit on the money invested, though he
might get much more by allowing them to bid against each other.
Among the attractive sights in Peking, none are quite so
interesting as the places where His Majesty worships, and of
these the most beautiful in architecture, the grandest in
conception, and the one laid out on the most magnificent scale,
is the Temple of Heaven
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