A CHINESE VILLAGE
On the Min or Fu River, above the point where it runs into the Upper Yangtze. The black-and-white architecture of the villages reminds one constantly of Switzerland and the Tyrol. As to the village, it is by no means lacking in organisation. Every village consists of a group or groups of families with their head men, and over the head men are the district magistrates. The family is the centre of everything. The members are bound together by the strongest ties, and the family is responsible for the individual. The people have quite a genius for self-government, and every village is self-governing, having its privileges, which no one dare interfere with.
A CHINESE VILLAGE
A FARMHOUSE IN
THE HAKKA COUNTRY,
SOUTHERN CHINA.
An illustration of the Patriarchal system. When a son marries and brings home his wife, he literally brings her home—that is, to his father’s house; but a new gable is added to those in existence, and the house increased for the accommodation of the new family, a custom which has its counterpart in Italy and other parts of Europe to-day.
A FARMHOUSE IN
THE HAKKA COUNTRY,
SOUTHERN CHINA
A MARKET PLACE
OR MARKET STREET
IN SZE CHUAN.
All through the Empire province of Sze Chuan, the western province of the Yangtze Basin, markets are held in the market street, specially reserved for the purpose. On market days the street is crowded by thousands of people, the tea and other shops are overflowing, and the noise and shouts of the bargainers are deafening. The shops are generally owned by farmers in the neighbourhood, who let them for the use of merchants on market day. On other than market days they are like deserted villages. No one is to be seen but the caretaker and his family, who are shown in the photograph with the inevitable dog and pig and buffalo. The building on the right is a temple.
A MARKET PLACE
OR MARKET STREET
IN SZE CHUAN