The Middle Kingdom, Volume 1 (of 2) / A Survey of the Geography, Government, Literature, Social Life, Arts, and History of the Chinese Empire and its Inhabitants

by S. Wells Williams

THE MENDER OF CRACKED CHINAWARE.

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.	Niu Chau	A wandering tinker.
	Wang Niang	A young girl.

Scene—A Street.

Niu Chau enters—across his shoulder is a bamboo, to each end of which are suspended boxes containing the various tools and implements of his trade, and a small stool. He is dressed meanly; his face and head are painted and decorated in a fantastic manner.

(Sings) Seeking a livelihood by the work of my hands,

Daily do I traverse the streets of the city.

(Speaks) Well, here I am, a mender of broken jars,

An unfortunate victim of ever changing plans.

To repair old fractured jars

Is my sole occupation and support.

’Tis even so. I have no other employment.

(Takes his boxes from his shoulder, places them on the ground, sits beside them, and drawing out his fan, continues speaking)—

A disconsolate old man—I am a slave to inconveniences.

For several days past I have been unable to go abroad,

But, observing this morning a clear sky and fine air,

I was induced to recommence my street wanderings.

(Sings) At dawn I left my home,

But as yet have had no job.

Hither and yon, and on all sides,

From the east gate to the west,

From the south gate to the north,

And all over within the walls,

Have I been, but no one has called

For the mender of cracked jars. Unfortunate man!

But this being my first visit to the city of Nanking,

Some extra exertion is necessary;

Time is lost sitting idle here, and so to roam again I go.

(Shoulders his boxes and stool, and walks about, crying)—

Plates mended! Bowls mended!

Jars and pots neatly repair’d!

Lady Wang (heard within). Did I not hear the cry of the mender of cracked jars?

I’ll open the door and look. (She enters, looking around.)

Yes, there comes the repairer of jars.

Niu Chau. Pray, have you a jar to mend?

I have long been seeking a job.

Did you not call?

Lady W. What is your charge for a large jar—

And how much for a small one?

Niu Chau. For large jars, one mace five.

Lady W. And for small ones?

Niu Chau. Fifty pair of cash.

Lady W. To one mace five, and fifty pair of cash,

Add nine candareens, and a new jar may be had.

Niu Chau. What, then, will you give?

Lady W. I will give one candareen for either size.

Niu Chau. Well, lady, how many cash can I get for this candareen?

Lady W. Why, if the price be high, you will get eight cash.

Niu Chau. And if low?

Lady W. You will get but seven cash and a half.

Niu Chau. Oh, you wicked, tantalizing thing!

(Sings) Since leaving home this morning,

I have met but with a trifler,

Who, in the shape of an old wife,

Tortures and gives me no job;

I’ll shoulder again my boxes, and continue my walk,

And never again will I return to the house of Wang.

(He moves off slowly.)

Lady W. Jar-mender! return, quickly return; with a loud voice, I entreat you; for I have something on which I wish to consult with you.

Niu Chau. What is it on which you wish to consult me?

Lady W. I will give you a hundred cash to mend a large jar.

Niu Chau. And for mending a small one?

Lady W. And for mending a small one, thirty pair of cash.

Niu Chau. One hundred, and thirty pair!—truly, lady, this is worth consulting about.

Lady Wang, where shall I mend them?

Lady W. Follow me. (They move toward the door of the house.)

(Sings) Before walks the Lady Wang.

Niu Chau. And behind comes the pu-kang (or jar-mender).

Lady W. Here, then, is the place.

Niu Chau. Lady Wang, permit me to pay my respects.

(Bows repeatedly in a ridiculous manner.)

We can exchange civilities.

I congratulate you; may you prosper—before and behind.

Lady W. Here is the jar; now go to work and mend it.

(Takes the jar in his hand and tosses it about, examining it.)

Niu Chau. This jar has certainly a very appalling fracture.

Lady W. Therefore, it requires the more care in mending.

Niu Chau. That is self-evident.

Lady W. Now, Lady Wang will retire again to her dressing room,

And, after closing the door, will resume her toilet.

Her appearance she will beautify;

On the left, her hair she will comb into a dragon’s head tuft,

On the right, she will arrange it tastefully with flowers;

Her lips she will color with blood-red vermilion,

And a gem of chrysoprase will she place in the dragon’s head tuft.

Then, having completed her toilet, she will return to the door,

And sit down to look at the jar-mender. (Exit.)

(Niu Chau sits down, straps the jar on his knee, and arranges his tools before him, and as he drills holes for the clamps, sings)—

Every hole drilled requires a pin,

And every two holes drilled require pins a pair.

As I raise my head and look around,

(At this moment Lady Wang re-enters, beautifully dressed, and sits down by the door.)

There sits, I see, a delicate young lady;

Before she had the appearance of an old wife,

Now she is transformed into a handsome young girl.

On the left, her hair is comb’d into a dragon’s head tuft;

On the right it is adorn’d tastefully with flowers.

Her lips are like plums, her mouth is all smiles,

Her eyes are as brilliant as the phœnix’s; and

She stands on golden lilies, but two inches long.

I look again, another look,—down drops the jar.

(The jar at this moment falls, and is broken to pieces.)

(Speaks) Heigh-ya! Here then is a dreadful smash!

Lady W. You have but to replace it with another, and do so quickly.

Niu Chau. For one that was broken, a good one must be given.

Had two been broken, then were a pair to be supplied;

An old one being smashed, a new one must replace it.

Lady W. You have destroyed the jar, and return me nothing but words.

Give me a new one, then you may return home,—not before.

Niu Chau. Here upon my knees upon the hard ground, I beg Lady Wang, while she sits above, to listen to a few words. Let me receive pardon for the accident her beauty has occasioned, and I will at once make her my wife.

Lady W. Impudent old man! How presume to think

That I ever can become your wife!

Niu Chau. Yes, it is true, I am somewhat older than Lady Wang,

Yet would I make her my wife.

Lady W. No matter then for the accident, but leave me now at once.

Niu Chau. Since you have forgiven me, I again shoulder my boxes,

And I will go elsewhere in search of a wife.

And here, before high heaven, I swear never again to come near the house of Wang.

You a great lady! You are but a vile ragged girl,

And will yet be glad to take up with a much worse companion.

(Going away, he suddenly throws off his upper dress, and appears as a handsome young man.)

Lady W. Henceforth, give up your wandering profession,

And marrying me, quit the trade of a jar-mender.

With the Lady Wang pass happily the remainder of your life.

(They embrace, and exeunt.)

DEFICIENCIES AND LIMITS OF CHINESE LITERATURE.

Such is the general range and survey of Chinese literature, according to the Catalogue of the Imperial Libraries. It is, take it in a mass, a stupendous monument of human toil, fitly compared, so far as it is calculated to instruct its readers in useful knowledge, to their Great Wall, which can neither protect from its enemies, nor be of any real use to its makers. Its deficiencies are glaring. No treatises on the geography of foreign countries nor truthful narratives of travels abroad are contained in it, nor any account of the languages of their inhabitants, their history, or their governments. Philological works in other languages than those spoken within the Empire are unknown, and must, owing to the nature of the language, remain so until foreigners prepare them. Works on natural history, medicine, and physiology are few and useless, while those on mathematics and the exact sciences are much less popular and useful than they might be; and in the great range of theology, founded on the true basis of the Bible, there is almost nothing. The character of the people has been mostly formed by their ancient books, and this correlate influence has tended to repress independent investigation in the pursuit of truth, though not to destroy it. A new infusion of science, religion, and descriptive geography and history will lead to comparison with other countries, and bring out whatever in it is good.

A survey of this body of literature shows the effect of governmental patronage, in maintaining its character for what appears to us to be a wearisome uniformity. New ideas, facts, and motives must now come from the outer world, which will gradually elevate the minds of the people above the same unvarying channel. If the scholar knows that the goal he strives for is to be attained by proficiency in the single channel of classical knowledge, he cannot be expected to attend to other studies until he has secured the prize. A knowledge of medicine, mathematics, geography, or foreign languages, might, indeed, do the candidate much more good than all he gets out of the classics, but knowledge is not his object; and where all run the same race, all must study the same works. But let there be a different programme of themes and essays, and a wider range of subjects required of the students, and the present system of governmental examinations in China, with all its imperfections, can be made of great benefit to the people, if it is not put to a strain too great for the end in view.

CHINESE PROVERBS.

The Chinese are fond of proverbs and aphorisms. They employ them in their writings and conversation as much as any people, and adorn their houses by copying them upon elegant scrolls, carving them upon pillars, and embroidering them upon banners. A complete collection of the proverbs of the Chinese has never been made, even among the people themselves any more than among those of other lands. Davis published, in 1828, a volume called Moral Maxims, containing two hundred aphorisms; P. Perny issued an assortment of four hundred and forty-one in 1869; and J. Doolittle collected several hundred proverbs, signs, couplets, and scrolls in his Vocabulary. Besides these, a collection of two thousand seven hundred and twenty proverbs was published in 1875 by W. Scarborough, furnished with a good index, and, like the others noted here, with the original text. Davis mentions the Ming Sin Pao Kien, or ‘Jewelled Mirror for Illumining the Mind,’ as containing a large number of proverbs. The Ku Sz’ Kiung Lin, or ‘Coral Forest of Ancient Matters,’ is a similar collection; but if that be compared to a dictionary of quotations, this is better likened to a classical dictionary, the notes which follow the sentences leaving the reader in no doubt as to their meaning.

Manuscript lists of sentences suitable for hanging upon doors or in parlors are collected by persons who write them at New Year’s, and whose success depends upon their facility in quoting elegant couplets. The following selection will exhibit to some extent this branch of Chinese wisdom and wit:

Not to distinguish properly between the beautiful and ugly, is like attaching a dog’s tail to a squirrel’s body.

An avaricious man, who can never have enough, is as a serpent wishing to swallow an elephant.

While one misfortune is going, to have another coming, is like driving a tiger out of the front door, while a wolf is entering the back.

The tiger’s cub cannot be caught without going into his den.

To paint a snake and add legs. (Exaggeration.)

To sketch a tiger and make it a dog, is to imitate a work of genius and spoil it.

To ride a fierce dog to catch a lame rabbit. (Useless power over a contemptible enemy.)

To attack a thousand tigers with ten men. (To attempt a difficulty with incommensurate means.)

To cut off a hen’s head with a battle-axe. (Unnecessary valor.)

To cherish a bad man is like nourishing a tiger; if not well fed he will devour you: or like rearing a hawk; if hungry he will stay by you, but fly away when fed.

To instigate a villain to do wrong is like teaching a monkey to climb trees.

To catch a fish and throw away the net;—not to requite benefits.

To take a locust’s shank for the shaft of a carriage;—an inefficient person doing important work.

A pigeon sneering at a roc;—a mean man despising a prince.

To climb a tree to catch a fish, is to talk much and get nothing.

To test one good horse by judging the portrait of another.

A fish sports in the kettle, but his life will not be long.

Like a swallow building her nest on a hut is an anxious statesman.

Like a crane among hens is a man of parts among fools.

Like a sheep dressed in a tiger’s skin is a superficial scholar.

Like a cuckoo in a magpie’s nest is one who enjoys another’s labor.

To hang on the tail of a beautiful horse. (To seek promotion.)

Do not pull up your stockings in a melon field, or arrange your hat under a peach tree, lest people think you are stealing.

An old man marrying a young wife is like a withered willow sprouting.

Let us get drunk to-day while we have wine; the sorrows of to-morrow may be borne to-morrow.

If the blind lead the blind, they will both go to the pit.

Good iron is not used for nails, nor are soldiers made of good men.

A fair wind raises no storm.

A little impatience subverts great undertakings.

Vast chasms can be filled, but the heart of man is never satisfied.

The body may be healed, but the mind is incurable.

When the tree falls the monkeys flee.

Trouble neglected becomes still more troublesome.

Wood is not sold in the forest, nor fish at the pool.

He who looks at the sun is dazzled, he who hears the thunder is deafened. (Do not come too near the powerful.)

He desires to hide his tracks, and walks on the snow.

He seeks the ass, and lo! he sits upon him.

Speak not of others, but convict yourself.

A man is not always known by his looks, nor the sea measured by a bushel.

Ivory does not come from a rat’s mouth.

If a chattering bird be not placed in the mouth, vexation will not sit between the eyebrows.

Prevention is better than cure.

For the Emperor to break the laws is one with the people’s doing so.

Doubt and distraction are on earth, the brightness of truth in heaven.

Punishment can oppose a barrier to open crime, laws cannot reach to secret offences.

Wine and good dinners make abundance of friends, but in time of adversity not one is to be found.

Let every man sweep the snow from before his own doors, and not trouble himself about the hoarfrost on his neighbor’s tiles.

Better be upright with poverty than depraved with abundance. He whose virtue exceeds his talents is the good man; he whose talents exceed his virtues is the fool.

Though a man may be utterly stupid, he is very perspicuous when reprehending the bad actions of others; though he may be very intelligent, he is dull enough when excusing his own faults: do you only correct yourselves on the same principle that you correct others, and excuse others on the same principles you excuse yourselves.[346]

If I do not debauch other men’s wives, my own will not be polluted.

Better not be than be nothing.

The egg fights with the rock—hopeless resistance.

One thread does not make a rope; one swallow does not make a summer.

To be fully fed and warmly clothed, and dwell at ease without learning, is little better than a bestial state.

A woman in one house cannot eat the rice of two. (A wise woman does not marry again.)

Though the sword be sharp, it will not wound the innocent.

Sensuality is the chief of sins, filial duty the best of acts.

Prosperity is a blessing to the good, but to the evil it is a curse.

Instruction pervades the heart of the wise, but cannot penetrate the ears of a fool.

The straightest trees are first felled; the cleanest wells first drunk up.

The yielding tongue endures; the stubborn teeth perish.

The life of the aged is like a candle placed between two doors—easily blown out.

The blind have the best ears, and the deaf the sharpest eyes.

The horse’s back is not so safe as the buffalo’s. (The politician is not so secure as the husbandman.)

A wife should excel in four things: virtue, speech, deportment, and needle-work.

He who is willing to inquire will excel, but the self-sufficient man will fail.

Anger is like a little fire, which if not timely checked may burn down a lofty pile.

Every day cannot be a feast of lanterns.

Too much lenity multiplies crime.

If you love your son, give him plenty of the cudgel; if you hate him, cram him with dainties.

When the mirror is highly polished, the dust will not defile it; when the heart is enlightened with wisdom, impure thoughts will not arise in it.

A stubborn wife and stiffnecked son no laws can govern.

He is my teacher who tells me my faults, my enemy who speaks my virtues.

He has little courage who knows the right and does it not.

To sue a flea, and catch a bite—the results of litigation.

Would you understand the character of a prince, look at his ministers; or the disposition of a man, observe his companions; or that of a father, first mark his son.

The fame of good deeds does not leave a man’s door, but his evil acts are known a thousand miles off.

A virtuous woman is a source of honor to her husband, a vicious one disgraces him.

The original tendency of man’s heart is to do right, and if well ordered will not of itself be mistaken.

They who respect themselves will be honored, but disesteeming ourselves we shall be despised.

The load a beggar cannot carry he himself begged.

The happy-hearted man carries joy for all the household.

The more mouths to eat so much the more meat.

The higher the rat creeps up the cow’s horn the narrower he finds it.

[CHAPTER XIII.]
ARCHITECTURE, DRESS, AND DIET OF THE CHINESE.

It is a sensible remark of De Guignes,[347] that “the habit we fall into of conceiving things according to the words which express them, often leads us into error when reading the relations of travellers. Such writers have seen objects altogether new, but they are compelled, when describing them, to employ equivalent terms in their own language in order to be understood; while these same terms tend to deceive the reader, who imagines that he sees such palaces, colonnades, peristyles, etc., under these designations as he has been used to, when, in fact, they are quite another thing.” The same observation is true of other things than architecture, and of other nations than the Chinese, and this confusion of terms and meanings proves a fruitful source of error in regard to an accurate knowledge of foreign nations, and a just perception of their condition. For instance, the terms a court of justice, a common school, politeness, learning, navy, houses, etc., as well as the names of things, like razor, shoe, cap, bed, pencil, paper, etc., are inapplicable to the same things in England and China; while it is plainly impossible to coin a new word in English to describe the Chinese article, and equally inexpedient to introduce the native term. If, for example, the utensil used by the Chinese to shave with were picked up in Portsmouth by some English navvy who had never seen or heard of it, he would be more likely to call it an oyster-knife, or a wedge, than a razor; while the use to which it is applied must of course give it that name, and would, if it were still more unlike the western article. So with other things. The ideas a Chinese gives to the terms hwangtí, kwanfu, pao, pih, and shu, are very different from those conveyed to an American by the words emperor, magistrate, cannon, pencil, and book. Since a person can only judge of what he hears or reads by what he knows, it is desirable that when he meets with western names applied to their equivalents in eastern countries, the function of a different civilization, habits, and notions should not be overlooked in the opinion he forms. These remarks are peculiarly applicable to the domestic life of the Chinese, to their houses, diet, dress, and social customs; although careful descriptions may go a good way in conveying just ideas, it cannot be hoped that they will do what the most cursory examination of the object or trait would instantly accomplish.

POPULAR ERRORS REGARDING FOREIGN COUNTRIES.

The notions entertained abroad on these particulars are, it need hardly be remarked, rather more accurate than those the Chinese have of distant countries, and it is scarcely possible that they can lose their conceit in their own civilization and position among the nations so long as such ideas are entertained as the following extract exhibits. Tien Kí-shih, a popular essayist of the last century, thus congratulates himself and his readers: “I felicitate myself that I was born in China, and constantly think how very different it would have been with me if I had been born beyond the seas in some remote part of the earth, where the people, far removed from the converting maxims of the ancient kings, and ignorant of the domestic relations, are clothed with the leaves of plants, eat wood, dwell in the wilderness, and live in the holes of the earth; though born in the world, in such a condition I should not have been different from the beasts of the field. But now, happily, I have been born in the Middle Kingdom. I have a house to live in; have food and drink, and elegant furniture; have clothing and caps, and infinite blessings: truly, the highest felicity is mine.” This extract well indicates the isolation of the writer and his race from their fellow-men; among the neighboring nations even the Japanese would have shown him his erroneous view. The seclusion which had been forced upon both these peoples, who closed their doors as the surest possible defence against aggression from foreign traders and sought in this fashion to remove all cause of quarrel, brought with it in time the almost equal dangers of ignorance and inability to understand their true position among the nations of the world.

Diagram of Chinese Roof Construction. (From Fergusson.)

ABSENCE OF GREAT ARCHITECTURAL MONUMENTS.

The architecture of the Chinese suggests, in its general outline and the peculiar concave roof, a canvas tent as its primary motive, though there is no further proof than this likeness of its origin. From the palace to the hovel, in temples and in private dwellings, this type everywhere stands confessed,[348] and almost nothing like a dome or cupola, a spire or a turret, is anywhere found. Few instances occur of an attempt to develop even this simple model into a grand or imposing building. While the Mogul princes in India reared costly mausolea and palaces to perpetuate their memory and the splendor of their reigns, the monarchs of China, with equal or greater resources at command, seldom indulged in this princely pastime, or even attempted the erection of any enduring monument to commemorate their taste or their splendor. Whether it was owing to the absence of the beautiful and majestic models seen in western countries, or to ignorance of the mechanical principles of the art, the fact is not the less observable, and the inference as to the advance made by them in knowledge and taste not less just.

Fergusson has no doubt assigned one good reason for this fact, in that “the Chinese never had either a dominant priesthood or a hereditary nobility. The absence of the former class is important, because it is to sacred art that architecture has owed its highest inspiration, and sacred art is never so strongly developed as under the influence of a powerful and splendid hierarchy. In the same manner the want of a hereditary nobility is equally unfavorable to domestic architecture of a durable description. Private feuds and private wars were till lately unknown, and hence there are no fortalices or fortified mansions, which by their mass and solidity give such a marked character to a certain class of domestic edifices in the west.”[349] These reasons have their weight, but they hardly cover the whole question, whose solution reaches into the well-known inertness of the imaginative faculty in the Chinese mind. It is nevertheless true that there is nothing in the whole Empire worthy to be called an architectural ruin, nothing which can inform us whether previous generations constructed edifices more splendid or more mean than the present.[350]

CONSTRUCTION OF CHINESE BUILDINGS.

Dwelling-houses are generally of one story, having neither cellars nor basements, and lighted by lattices opening into a court; they must not equal adjacent temples in height, nor possess the ornaments appropriated to palaces and religious establishments. The common building materials are bricks, adobie or matting for the walls, stone for the foundation, brick tiling for the roof, and wood only for the inner work; stone and wooden houses are not unknown, but are so rare as to attract attention. The high prices of timber and the very partial use of window-glass have both tended to modify and restrict the construction of dwellings. The ní chuen, or sifted earth, is a compound of decomposed granite or gravel and lime mixed with water, and sometimes a little oil, of which durable walls are made by pounding it into a solid mass between planks secured at the sides and elevated as the wall rises, or by beating it into large blocks; when stuccoed and protected from the rain this material gradually hardens into stone. In houses of the better sort the stone work of the foundation rises three or four feet above the ground, and sometimes the finished surfaces, great size of the stones and the regularity of their arrangement make one regret that the same skill had not been expended on large edifices. In towns their fronts present no opening except the door, and when the outer walls of several houses join those of gardens and enclosures, the street presents an uninteresting sameness, unrelieved by steps, windows, balconies, porticoes, or front yards. The walls are twenty-five or thirty feet high, usually hollow, or too thin to safely support the roof unaided. In the common buildings a framework of wood is erected on the foundation, which has large stones so arranged as to receive the posts, and on these rests the entire weight of the roof. The brick nogging fills up the intervals, but supports nothing; it is sometimes solid, more frequently merely a face-work, and if the roof becomes leaky or broken a heavy rain will destroy the wall, as it soaks through the courses and washes out the mud within. In the central provinces common walls are often made of small bricks four inches square and one thick, which are laid on their edges in a series of hollows; between the courses a plank sometimes adds greater strength to the wall. These cellular constructions are more durable than would be imagined provided the stucco remains uninjured.

The bricks are the same size as our own, and usually burned to a grayish slate color; they are made by hand, and sell at a price varying from three dollars to eight dollars a thousand. In the sea-coast districts lime is cheaply obtained from shells, but in the interior from limestone calcined by anthracite coal; the people use it pure, only occasionally mixing sand with it for either mortar or stucco. The walls are often stuccoed, and when not thus covered the bricks are occasionally rubbed smooth and pointed with fine cement. In place of a broad cornice the top is frequently relieved by a pretty ornament of moulded work of painted clay figures in alto relievo, representing a battle scene, a landscape, clusters of flowers, or some other design, defended from the weather by the projecting eaves. A black painted band, relieved by corners and designs of flowers and scrolls, is a cheap substitute for the carved figures.

The roofs are hipped in some provinces, but rarely in the north. They are steep, and if kept tight will last several years; the grass which is apt to spring up on them is a source of injury, and its growth or removal alike endangers the soundness of the construction. The yellow and green glazed tiles of public buildings add to their beauty, as do the dragon’s heads and globes on their ridge-poles; these features, together with the earthen dogs at the corners of temples or official houses, make the structures exceedingly picturesque. In Peking the framework under the wide eaves of palaces is tastefully painted in green and gold, and protected by a netting of copper wire. Roofs are made of earthen tiles laid on coarse clapboarding that rests on the purlines in alternate ridges and furrows. The under layer consists of square thin pieces, laid side by side in ascending rows with the lower edges overlapping; the sides are covered by the semi-cylindrical tiles, which are further protected by a covering of mortar. In the northern provinces the tiles are laid in a course of mud resting on straw over the clapboarding. The workmen begin the tiling at the ridge-pole and finish as they come down to the eaves, so as not to walk over the tiles and crack them; but such roofs easily leak in driving storms. No chimneys are seen; the slope is steep, for quick discharge of rain and snow. Terraces are erected on shops, but balustrades or flat roofs are seldom seen. Occasionally the gable walls rise above the roof in degrees, imparting a singular, bow-like aspect to the edifice. The purlines and ridge-pole extend from wall to wall, and the rafters are slender strips. In all roofs the principal weight rests on the two rows of pillars at the sides, that uphold the plates, and the antefixæ which support the broad eaves far beyond the wall. A series of beams and posts above the plates and tie-beams make the roof very heavy but also secure; curb and mansard roofs are unknown.

The pillars of stone or timber in Chinese temples are often noticeable, owing to their size or length as single pieces. They are, however, unadorned with either capital or carved base, though the shaft may be finely carved and painted, the color decoration being often upon a thick coating of papier-maché, laid on to protect the wood. In two-story houses the sleepers of the floor are supported on tie-beams attached to the main posts if they do not rest on the wall. Posts form an element of all Chinese buildings, either to support the roof or the veranda. The entrance is on the sides, and the wall is set back from the outer line of the eaves so as to afford a shelter or porch. Hipped roofs enable the architect to encompass the entire building with a veranda, this being a common arrangement in the southern provinces. A slight ceiling usually conceals the tiling, but the apartment appears lofty owing to the cavity of the roof.

ORNAMENTAL EDIFICES AND DWELLINGS.

The pavilion is a prominent feature of Chinese architecture, and its ornamentation calls out the best talent of the builder in making his edifice acceptable. One charming specimen of this style at the Emperor’s summer palace of Yuen-ming Yuen is already famous, its material being of pure copper; it is about fourteen feet square and twenty high.

Another beautiful structure which well exhibits the pavilion is shown in the adjoining cut. It is the Pih-yung Kung, or ‘Classic Hall,’ built by Kienlung adjacent to the Confucian Temple at Peking (page [74]), and devoted to expounding the classics. This lofty building, which may be here seen through an ornamental arch across the court, is perfectly square, covered with a four-sided double roof, whose bright yellow tiles and gilded ball at the apex produce a most brilliant effect in the sunlight. The deep veranda, completely encircling the structure and supported by a score of colored wooden pillars, very ably relieves the dead mass and heavy upper roof of the pavilion proper. Around flow the waters of a circular tank, edged with marble balustrades and spanned by four bridges which form the approaches to each of the sides.

PIH-YUNG KUNG, OR ‘CLASSIC HALL,’ PEKING.

The general disposition of a Chinese dwelling of the better sort is that of a series of rooms separated and lighted by intervening courts, and accessible along a covered corridor communicating with each, or by side passages leading through the courts. In cities, where the houses are cramped and the lots irregular in shape, there is more diversity in the arrangement and size of rooms; and in the country establishments of wealthy families, where the gradual increase of the members calls for additional space, the succession of courts and buildings, interspersed with gardens and pools, sometimes renders the whole not a little complicated. The great expense of timber for floors, posts, and sleepers has been the chief reason for retaining the single story, rather than the awkwardness caused by cramping women’s feet. No contrivance for warming the rooms by means of chimneys or flues exists, except that found in the kang, or brick bed, on which the inmates lie and sit.

The entrance into large mansions in the country is by a triple gate leading through a lawn or garden up to the hall; in towns, a single door, usually elevated a step or two above the street, introduces the visitor into a porch or court. A wall or movable screen is placed inside of the doorway, and the intervening space is occupied by the porter; upon the wall on the left is often seen a shrine dedicated to the gods of the threshold. In the houses of officials, upon this wall is inscribed a list of dignities and offices which the master has held during his life. The door is solidly constructed, and moves upon pivots turning in sockets. Under the projecting eaves hang paper lanterns informing the passer-by of the name and title of the householder, and when lighted at night serving to illumine the street and designate his habitation; for door-plates and numbers are unknown. The roughness of the gate is somewhat concealed by the names or grotesque representations of two tutelar gods, Shintu and Yuhlui, to whom the guardianship of the house is entrusted; while the sides and lintel are embellished with felicitous quotations written upon red paper, or with sign-boards of official rank. The doorkeeper and other servants lodge in small rooms within the gateway, and above the porch is an attic containing one or two apartments, to be reached by a rude stairway.

On passing behind the screen a court, occasionally adorned with flowers or a fancy fish-pool, is crossed before reaching the principal hall. The upper end of the hall is furnished with a high table, on which incense vases, idolatrous utensils, and offerings are placed in honor of the divinities and lares worshipped there, whose tablets and names are on the wall. Sometimes the table merely contains flowers in jars, fancy pieces of white quartz, limestone or jade, or ornaments of various kinds. Before the table is a large couch, with a low stand in its centre, and a pillow for reclining upon. In front of it the chairs are arranged down the room in two rows facing each other, each pair having a small table between them. The floors are made of thick, large tiles of brick or marble, or of hard cement. Even in a bright day the room is dim, and the absence of carpets and fireplaces, and of windows to afford a prospect abroad, renders it cheerless to a foreigner accustomed to his own glazed and loftier houses.

A rear door near the side wall opens either into a kitchen or court, across which are the female apartments, or directly into the latter and the rooms for domestics. Instead of being always rectangular the doors are sometimes made round, leaf-shaped, or semi-circular, and it is thought desirable that they should not open opposite each other, lest evil spirits find their way in from the street. The rear rooms are lighted by skylights when other modes are unavailable, and along the southern sea-coasts the thin laminæ of a species of oyster (Placuna) cut into small squares supply the place of window-glass. Commerce is gradually bringing this material into greater use all over the land, though the fear of thieves still limits it. Corean paper is the chief substitute for glass in the north. The kitchen is a small affair, for the universal use of portable furnaces enables the inmates to cook wherever the smoke will be least troublesome. Warming the house, even as far north as Ningpo, is not frequent, as the inmates rely on their quilted and fur garments for protection. The flue of the tiled-brick divan, or kang, is connected with a pit lined with brick dug in the floor in front; when the pot of coal is well lighted and placed near the opening, the draft carries the heat into the passages running under the surface, and soon warms the room without much smoke. The pot of burning coal furnishes all the cooking-fire the poor have, and at night the inmates sleep on the warm bricks.

ARRANGEMENT OF COUNTRY HOUSES.

The country establishments of wealthy men furnish the best expression of Chinese ideas of elegance and comfort. In these enclosures the hall of ancestors, library, school-room, and summer-houses are detached and erected upon low plinths, surrounded by a veranda, and frequently decorated with tracery and ornamental carving. Near the rear court are the female apartments and offices, many of the former and the sleeping apartments being in attics. Considerable space is occupied by the quadrangles, which are paved and embellished by fish-pools, flowering shrubs, and other plants. Mr. Fortune describes[351] the house and garden of a gentleman at Ningpo as being connected by rude-looking caverns of rock-work, “and what at first sight appears to be a subterranean passage leading from room to room, through which the visitor passes to the garden. The small courts, of which a glimpse is caught in passing along, are fitted up with rock-work; dwarf trees are planted here and there in various places, and graceful creepers hang down into the pools in front. These being passed, another cavernous passage leads into the garden, with its dwarf trees, vases, ornamented lattices, and beautiful shrubs suddenly opening to the view. By windings and glimpses along the rocky passages into other courts, and hiding the real boundary by masses of shrubs and trees, the grounds are made to appear much larger than they really are.”

The houses of the poor are dark, dirty, low, and narrow tenements, where the floor is of earth covered with mats or tiled, and the doorway the only opening, on which a swinging mat conceals the interior. The whole family often sleep, eat, and live in a single room. Pigs, dogs, and hens dispute the space with children and furniture—if a table and a few trestles and stools, pots and plates, deserve that name. The filthy street without is a counterpart to the gloomy, smoky abode within, and a single walk through the streets and lanes of such a neighborhood is sufficient to reconcile a person to any ordinary condition of life. On the outskirts of the town a still poorer class take up with huts made of mats and thatch upon the ground, through which the rain and wind find free course. It is surprising that people can live and enjoy health, and even be cheerful, as the Chinese are, in such circumstances. Between these hovels and the abodes of the rich is a class of middle houses, consisting of three or four small rooms surrounding a court, each one lodging a family, which uses its portion of the quadrangle.

The best furniture is made of a heavy wood stained to resemble ebony; camphor, elm, pine, aspen, and melia woods furnish cheaper material. Ornamental articles, porcelain vases, copper tripods or pots, stone screens, book-shelves, flowers in pots, etc., show the national taste. Ink sketches of landscapes, gay scrolls inscribed with sentences suspended from the walls, and pretty lanterns relieve the baldness of the room; their combined effect is not destitute of variety and elegance, though there is a lack of comfort. Partitions are sometimes fancifully made of lattice-work, with openings neatly arranged for the reception of boxes containing books. The bedrooms are small, poorly ventilated, and seldom visited except at night. A massive bedstead of costly woods, elaborately carved, and supporting a tester for the silk curtains and mosquito-bars, is often shown as the family pride and heirloom; a scroll of fine writing adorns its fringe or valance. Mattresses or feather beds are not used, and the pillow is a hollow square frame of rattan or bamboo. The bed, wardrobe, and toilet usually complete the furniture of the sleeping apartments of the Chinese; but if this is also the sitting room, the bed is rolled up so as often to furnish seats on its boards.

STYLE OF GARDENS.

The grounds of the rich are laid out in good style, and were not the tasteful arrangements and diversified shrubbery which would render them charming resorts almost always spoiled by general bad keeping—neglect and ruin, if not nastiness and offals, being often visible—they would please the most fastidious. The necessity of having a place for the women and children to recreate themselves is one reason for having an open enclosure, even if it be only a plat of flowers or a bed of vegetables. In the imperial gardens the attempt to make an epitome of nature has been highly successful. De Guignes describes their art of gardening as “imitating the beauties and producing the inequalities of nature. Instead of alleys planted symmetrically or uniform grounds, there are winding footpaths, trees here and there as if by chance, woody or sterile hillocks, and deep gulleys with narrow passages, whose sides are steep or rough with rocks, and presenting only a few miserable shrubs. They like to bring together in gardening, in the same view, cultivated grounds and arid plains; to make the field uneven and cover it with artificial rock-work; to dig caverns in mountains, on whose tops are arbors half overthrown, and around which tortuous footpaths run and return into themselves, prolonging, as it were, the extent of the grounds and increasing the pleasure of the walk.”

A fish-pond, supplied by a rivulet running wildly through the grounds, forms a pretty feature of such gardens, in which, if there be room, a summer-house is erected on a rocky islet, or on piles over the water, accessible by a rugged causey of rock-work. The nelumbium lily, with its plate-like leaves and magnificent flowers, is a general favorite in such places; carp and other fish are reared in their waters, and gold-fish in small tanks. Whenever it is possible a gallery runs along the sides of the pond for the pleasure and use of the females in the household. A tasteful device in some gardens, which beguiles the visitor’s ramble, is a rude kind of shell or pebble mosaic inlaid in the gravelly paths, representing birds, animals, or other figures; the time required to decipher them prolongs the walk, and apparently increases the size of the grounds. The pieces of rock-work are cemented and bound with wire; and in fish-pools, grottos, or causeways this unique ornament has a charming effect, the moss and plants which grow upon it adding rather to its appropriateness.

The wood and mason work is unsubstantial, requiring constant repairs; when new they present a pretty appearance, but both gardens and houses, when neglected, soon fall into a ruinous condition. Some of the principal merchants at Canton, in the former days of the hong monopoly, had cultivated grounds of greater or less extent attached to their establishments. One of them, by way of variety, constructed a summer-house entirely of glass, this wonderful structure being made so that it could be closed and protected with shutters.

The arrangement of shops and warehouses is modified by the uses to which they are applied, but they still resemble dwelling-houses more than is the case with stores in western cities. The rear room of the shop is a small apartment, used for a dormitory, store-room, or workshop, and sometimes for all these purposes together; it is in most cases on an upper floor. Small ones are lighted from the street, but the largest by a skylight, in which cases there is a latticed screen reaching across the room, to secure the inside from the street. The whole shop-front is thrown open by day and closed at night by shutters running in grooves, and secured by heavy cross-bars to a row of posts which fit in sockets in the threshold and lintel. The doorway recedes a foot or two, and the projecting roof serves to protect customers, and such goods as are exposed, from the rain and sun. In small shops there are two counters, a long one running back from the door, and another at right angles to it, reaching partly across the front. The shopman sits within the angle formed by these, and as they are low he can easily serve a customer in the street as well as in the shop. At night the smaller one often forms a lodging place for homeless beggars. The facing of the outer counter is of granite, and in Canton a niche containing a tablet inscribed to the god of wealth is cut in the end, where incense is burned. Another shrine is placed on high within the apartment, dedicated to the deity of the place, whoever he may be.

The loft is much contracted; and that it may not intercept the skylight, it is usually a small chamber reached by a gallery, and lighted in front. Chinese tradesmen do not make much display in exhibiting their goods, and the partial use of glass renders it somewhat unsafe for them to do so. The want of a yard compels them to cook and wash either behind or on top of the building; clerks and workmen usually eat and sleep under the shop roof. In the densest parts of Canton the roofs are covered with a loose framework, on which firewood is piled, clothes washed and dried, and meals cooked; it also affords a sleeping place in summer. In case of fire, however, these lumbered roofs become like so many tinder-boxes, and aid not a little to spread the flames.

SHOP AND THOROUGHFARES.

The narrowness of the streets in Chinese cities is a source of many inconveniences; few exceed ten or twelve feet in width, and most of those in Canton are less than eight. No large squares having fountains and shrubbery, nor any open spaces except the areas in front of temples relieve the closeness of these lanes. The absence of horses and carriages in southern cities, and a custom of huddling together, a desire to screen the thoroughfare from the sun, and ignorance of the advantages of another mode, are among the leading reasons for making them so contracted; while the difficulty of collecting a mob in them should be mentioned as one point in their favor. In case of fire it is difficult to get access to the burning buildings, and dangerous for the inmates to move or save their property. At all times porters carrying burdens are impeded by the crowd of passengers, who likewise must pass Indian file lest they tilt against the porters. Ventilation is imperfect where the buildings are packed so closely, and the public necessaries and their offal carried through the streets by the scavengers pollute the air. Drainage is very superficial and incomplete; the sewers easily choke up or get broken and exude their contents over the pathway. The ammoniacal and other gases which are generated aggravate the ophthalmic diseases so prevalent; and it is a matter of surprise that the cholera, plague, or yellow fever does not visit the inhabitants of such confined abodes, who breathe so tainted an atmosphere. The peculiar government of cities by means of wards and neighborhoods, each responsible to the officials, combined with the ignorance among all ranks of the principles of hygiene, will account for the evils so patent to one accustomed to the energetic sway of a mayor and board of health in most European cities, who can bring knowledge and power to coöperate for the well-being of all.

The streets are usually paved with slabs of stone laid cross-wise, and except near markets and wells are comparatively clean. They are not laid out straight, and some present a singularly irregular appearance from the slight angle which each house makes with its neighbors; it being considered rather unlucky to have them exactly even. The names of the streets are written on the gateways crossing them, whenever they are marked at all; occasionally, as at Canton, each division makes a separate neighborhood and has its own name; a single long street will thus have five, six, or more names. The general arrangement of a Chinese city presents a labyrinth of streets, alleys, and byways very perplexing to a stranger who has neither plan nor directory to guide him, nor numbers upon the houses and shops to direct him. The sign-boards are hung each side of the door, or securely inserted in stone sockets; some of them are ten or fifteen feet high, and being gaily painted and gilded on both sides with picturesque characters, a succession of them as seen down a street produces a gay effect. The inscriptions simply mention the kind of goods sold, and without half the puffing seen in western cities; accounts sometimes given of the inscriptions on sign-boards in Chinese cities, as “No cheating here,” and others, describe the exception and not the rule. The edicts of government, handbills of medicines and the famous doctors who make them, notices offering rewards for children who are lost or slaves escaped, new shops opened, houses to let, or other events, cover blank walls in great variety, printed on red, black, white, or yellow paper; the absence of newspapers leads shopmen to depend more for patronage upon a circle of customers and the distribution of cards than to spend much money in handbills. The shrines of the street gods occur in southern cities, located in niches in the wall, with altars before them.

The temples and assembly-halls are the only public buildings in Chinese cities belonging to the people. Their courts and cloisters, with such gardens, tea-houses, and pools as may be accessible, attract constant crowds, and furnish the only places of common resort. The priests derive no small portion of their income from travellers, and their establishments are consequently made more commodious and extensive than the number of priests or the throng of worshippers require.

CLUB-HOUSES AND TAVERNS.

The assembly-halls or club-houses form a peculiar feature of Chinese society. There are more than a hundred in Canton and many hundreds in Peking. They are built sometimes by a particular craft as its guildhall, or more commonly erected by persons resorting to the place for trade, study, or amusement, who subscribe to fit up a commodious establishment to accommodate persons coming from the same town. In this way their convenience, assistance, oversight, and general safety are all increased.[352] All buildings pay a ground rent to the government, but no data are available for comparing this tax with that levied in western cities. The government furnishes the owner of the ground with a hung kí, or ‘red deed,’ in testimony of his right to occupancy, which puts him in possession as long as he pays the taxes. There is a record office in the local magistracy of such documents.

Houses are rented on short leases, and the rent collected quarterly in advance; the annual income from real estate is between nine and twelve per cent. The yearly rent of the best shops in Canton is from $150 to $400; there is no system of insuring against fire, which, with the municipal taxes and the difficulty of collecting bad rents, enhances their price. Such kind of property in China is liable to many risks.

The taverns are numerous and adapted for every calling. Though they will not bear comparison with western hotels, they are far in advance of the cheerless khans and caravansaries found in Western Asia. The traveller brings his own bedding, sometimes also his own provision, and when night comes spreads his mat upon the floor or divan and lies down in his clothes. The better sort of travellers order a room for themselves, but officials or rich men go to temples, or hire a boat in which to travel and sleep; this usage takes off the best class of customers. One considerable source of income to innkeepers is the preparation of dinners for parties of men, who either come to the house or send to it for so many covers; for when a gentleman invites his friends to an entertainment it is common to serve it up at his warehouse, or at an inn. In towns and cities thousands of men eat in the streets; the number of eating and cooking-stalls produces a most lively impression upon a stranger. This custom has had a good effect in promoting the general courtesy so conspicuous among the people, and is increased by great numbers of street story-tellers. The noisy hilarity of the customers, as they ply their “nimble lads,” or chopsticks, and the vociferous cries of the cooks recommending their cakes and dishes, with the steaming savor from the frying-pan and kettles, form only one of the many objects to attract the notice of the foreign observer. Their appearance and the variety of bustling scenes and picturesque novelties presented to him afford constant instruction and entertainment. Those at Canton have been thus described by an eye-witness.

STREET SCENES IN CANTON AND PEKING.

The number of itinerant workmen of one kind or another which line the sides of the streets or occupy the areas before public buildings in Chinese towns is a remarkable feature. Fruiterers, pastrymen, cooks, venders of gimcracks, and wayside shopmen are found in other countries as well as China; but to see a travelling blacksmith or tinker, an itinerant glass-mender, a peripatetic repairer of umbrellas, a locomotive seal-cutter, an ambulatory barber, a migratory banker, a peregrinatory apothecary or druggist, or a walking shoe-maker and cobbler, one must travel hitherward. These movable establishments, together with fortune-tellers, herb and booksellers, chiromancers, etc., pretty well fill up the space, so that one often sees both sides of the streets literally lined with the stalls, wares, or tools of persons selling or making something to eat or to wear. The money-changer sits behind a small table, on which his strings of cash are chained, and where he weighs the silver he is to change; his neighbor, the seal-cutter, sits next him near a like fashioned table. The barber has his chest of drawers made to serve for a seat, and if he has not a furnace of his own he heats his water at the cook’s or the blacksmith’s fire near by, perhaps shaving his friend gratis by way of recompense.

The herbseller chooses an open place where he will not be trampled on, and there displays his simples and his plasters, while the dentist, with a ghastly string of fangs and grinders around his neck, testimonials of his skill, sits over against him, each with his infallible remedy. The book-peddler and chooser of lucky days, and he who searches for stolen goods by divination, arrange themselves on either side, with their tables and stalls, and array of sticks, pencils, signs, and pictures, all trying to “catch a little pigeon.” The spectacle-mender and razor-grinder, the cutler and seller of bangles and bracelets, and the maker of clay puppets or mender of old shoes, are not far off, all plying their callings as busily as if they were in their own shops. Then, besides the hundreds of stalls for selling articles of food, dress, or ornament, there are innumerable hucksters going up and down with baskets and trays slung on their shoulders, each bawling or making his own peculiar note, which, with coolies transporting burdens, chair-bearers carrying sedans, and passengers following one another like a stream, with here and there a woman among them, so fill up the streets that it is no easy matter to navigate one’s way. Notwithstanding all these obstructions, it is worthy of note and highly praiseworthy to see these crowds pass and repass with the greatest rapidity in the narrow streets without altercation or disturbance, and seldom with accident.[353]

Streets at the north present a somewhat different, and on the whole a less inviting because less entertaining and picturesque aspect. Their greater width allows carts to pass, and it also offers more room for the garbage, the rubbish, and the noisome sights that are most disgusting, all of which are made worse in rainy weather by the mud through which one flounders. Barrow thus delineates those in Peking: “The multitude of movable workshops of tinkers and barbers, cobblers and blacksmiths, the tents and booths where tea and fruit, rice and other eatables were exposed for sale, with the wares and merchandise arrayed before the doors, had contracted this spacious street to a narrow road in the middle, just wide enough for two little vehicles to pass each other. The processions of men in office attended by their numerous retinues, bearing umbrellas and flags, painted lanterns and a variety of strange insignia of their rank and station, different trains that were accompanying, with lamentable cries, corpses to their graves, and with squalling music, brides to their husbands; the troops of dromedaries laden with coals from Tartary; the wheel-barrows and hand-carts stuffed with vegetables, occupied nearly the whole of this middle space in one continued line. All was in motion. The sides of the streets were filled with an immense concourse of people, buying and selling and bartering their different commodities. The buzz and confused noises of this mixed multitude, proceeding from the loud bawling of those who were crying their wares, the wrangling of others, with every now and then a strange twanging sound like the jarring of a cracked jewsharp (the barber’s signal), the mirth and laughter that prevailed in every group, could scarcely be exceeded. Peddlers with their packs, jugglers and conjurers, fortune-tellers, mountebanks and quack doctors, comedians and musicians, left no space unoccupied.”[354]

CONTROL OF BEGGARS AND FIRES IN CITIES.

Shops are closed at nightfall, and persons going abroad carry a lantern or torch. Over the thoroughfares slender towers are erected, where notice of a fire is given and the watches of the night announced by striking a gong. Few persons are met in the streets at night, and the private watch kept by all who are able greatly assists the regular police in preserving order and apprehending thieves. These watchers go up and down their wards beating large bamboos, to let “thieves know they are on the lookout.” Considering all things, large Chinese cities are remarkably quiet at night. Beggars find their lodgings in the porches and squares of temples, or sides of the streets, and nestle together for mutual warmth. This class is under the care of a headman, who, in order to collect the poor-tax allowed by law, apportions them in the neighborhoods with the advice of the elders and constables. During the day they go from one door to another and receive their allotted stipend, which cannot be less than one cash to each person. They sit in the doorway and sing a ditty or beat their clap-dishes and sticks to attract attention, and if the shopkeeper has no customers he lets them keep up their cries, for he knows that the longer they are detained so much the more time will elapse before they come again to his shop. Many are blind and all present a sickly appearance, their countenances begrimed with dirt and furrowed by sorrow and suffering. The very difficult question how to assist, restrain, and employ the poor has been usually left to the mercy and wisdom of the municipal officers in the cities; and the results are not on the whole discreditable to their humanity and benevolence. Many persons give the headman a dollar or more per month to purchase exemption from the daily importunity of the beggars, and families about to have a house-warming, marriage, or funeral, as also newly arrived junks, are obliged to fee him to get rid of the clamorous and loathsome crowd.

When fires occur the officers of government are held responsible; the law being that if ten houses are burned within the walls, the highest officer in it shall be fined nine months’ pay; if more than thirty, a year’s salary; and if three hundred are consumed, he shall be degraded one degree. The governor and other high officers, attended by a few troops, are frequently seen at fires in Canton, as much to prevent thievery as to direct in extinguishing the flames. The engines are hurried through the narrow streets at a fearful rate; those who carry away property are armed with swords to defend it, and usually add to the crash of the burning houses by loud cries. The police do not hesitate to pull down houses if the fire can thereby be sooner extinguished, but there is no organized body of firemen, nor any well-arranged system of operations in such cases, though conflagrations are ordinarily soon under control. Cruel men often take the opportunity at such times to steal and carry off defenceless persons, especially young girls.

At Canton the usage is general of levying a bonus on the owners of the houses adjacent to the burnt district, whose dwellings were saved by the exertions of the firemen, the appraisement decreasing as the distance increases; the sum is divided among the firemen. The householders thus saved also employ priests to erect an altar near by, whereon to perform a service, and “return thanks for Heaven’s mercy.” On the whole, the fire control in China is superior to that in Turkey, where the firemen pay themselves for their efforts by extortions practised upon house-owners.

PAGODAS, THEIR PURPOSE AND CONSTRUCTION.

The pagoda is a building considered as so peculiar to the Chinese that a landscape or painting relating to China without a pagoda perched on a hill—like one of Egyptian scenery destitute of a pyramid—would be considered deficient. The term pagoda is used in its proper sense by most of the French and Portuguese writers to denote a temple for idols, but in English books it has always been appropriated to the polygonal towers seen throughout the country. Some confusion has arisen in consequence of applying the account of an immense temple full of idols to these towers. The English use is the most definite in China, although its misapplication is indefensible if we regard its derivation.

The form of the Chinese tah is probably derived from the spire on the top of the Hindu dagoba, as its name is doubtless taken from the first syllable; but their purpose has so long been identified with the geomantic influences which determine the luck of a place that the people do not associate them with Buddhism. Mr. Milne explains this in his remark that “the presence of such an edifice not only secures to the site the protection of heaven, if it already bears evidence of enjoying it, but represses any evil influences that may be native to the spot, and imparts to it the most salutary and felicitous omens.”[355] Those in the southern and central provinces seldom contain idols of any pretensions. They are ascended by stairways built in the thick walls on alternate sides of the stories. In the north there is another kind, designed to contain a shé-lí, or relic of Buddha, having a large room near the base for worshipping the idol placed in it, but otherwise entirely solid and nearly uniform in size to the top; the stories are merely numerous narrow projections, like eaves or string courses, on which hundreds of small images are sometimes placed. These structures more nearly resemble the Indian dagoba than the other kind, and are always connected with a monastery, while those are not uniformly so placed, though under a priestly oversight.

No town is considered complete without a pagoda, and many large cities have several; there must be nearly two thousand in the Empire, some of which are quite celebrated. It is rare to see a new one, and the ruinous condition of most of them indicates the weakness of the faith which erected them. They vary in height from five to thirteen stories, and are mostly built in so solid a manner that they are likely to remain for centuries. One at Hangchau is octagonal, each face twenty-eight feet wide and the wall at the base eighteen feet thick; the top is reached by a spiral stairway between the walls; a covered gallery on the outside of each story affords resting-places and ever-changing views to the visitor; it is one hundred and seventy feet high, and was built during the Sung dynasty, in the twelfth century. The prospect from its summit is superb; the picturesque combination of sea and shore, land and water, city and country, wilderness, gardens, and hills, with many historical and religious associations interesting to a native, make it one of the most charming landscapes in China.

Sir John Davis visited one near Lintsing chau in Shantung, in very good repair, inhabited by Buddhist priests, and containing two idols; each of its nine stories was inscribed with Ometo Fuh, in large characters. It was erected since the completion of the Grand Canal. A winding stairway of near two hundred steps conducted to the top, about one hundred and fifty feet from the ground, from whence an extensive view was obtained of the surrounding country. The basement was excellently built of granite, and all the rest of glazed brick, beautifully joined and cemented.

The objects in building these structures being of a mixed nature, sometimes geomantic and sometimes religious, their materials, size, and structure vary considerably. There are two inside of Canton, and three near the Pearl River, below the city; fifteen others occur in the prefecture. Suchau has two, Ningpo one, Fuhchau two, and Peking six in and out of the walls. One of those at Canton was built by the Moslems about a thousand years ago, a plain brick tower nearly two hundred feet high, from which the faithful were probably called to prayers in the adjacent mosque. Fergusson’s remarks upon Chinese architecture would probably have been modified had the writer enjoyed a wider range of observation and a fuller knowledge of the designs of native builders. They are, however, the conclusions of a competent observer, and the position he gives to the pagoda among the tower-like buildings of the world, arising from its peculiar form, its divisions, and its apparent uselessness, will be generally accepted as just.

Mr. Milne, in his interesting work, has a good account of pagodas; he shows that while their model is of Hindu origin, and has been carefully followed since the first one was erected (about A.D. 250) at Nanking, the popular geomantic ideas connected with their octagonal form and great height have gradually increased and influenced their location. The Buddhists seem themselves to have lost their ancient confidence in the protection of the shé-lí (or saina) supposed to be built in them. The number of Indian words transliterated in Chinese accounts of these edifices further proves their foreign origin. For convenience and accuracy in describing them, it would be best to restrict the term pagoda to the hollow octagonal towers, the word dagoba to the solid ones covering the relics, and tope to the erections over priests when buried.

Pagodas are sometimes made of cast iron; those hitherto observed are in the central provinces. One exists in Chehkiang province, nearly fifty feet high and of nine stories. The octagonal pieces forming the walls are each single castings, as are also the plates forming the roof. The whole structure, including the base and spire, was made of twenty pieces of iron. Its interior is filled with brick, probably with the design to strengthen it against storms. The ignorance of the Chinese of later days of the Hindu origin of pagodas has led to their regarding those now in existence as of native design, and appropriated by the Buddhists for their own ends. Most of them are falling to ruins; and the assurances held out by the geomancers that the pagoda will act like an electric tractor to draw down every felicitous omen from above, so that fire, water, wood, earth, and metal will be at the service of the people, the soil productive, trade prosperous, and the natives submissive and happy, all fail to call out funds for repairing them.[356]

The dull appearance of a Chinese city when seen from a distance is unlike that of European cities, in which spires, domes, and towers of churches and cathedrals, halls, palaces, and other public buildings relieve the uniformity of rows of dwellings. In China, temples, houses, and palaces are nearly of one height; their sameness being only partially relieved by trees mingled with pairs of tall flag-staffs with frames near their tops, which at a distance rather suggest the idea of dismantled gallows. Nature, however, charms and delights, and few countries present more beautiful landscapes; even the tameness of the works of man serves as a foil for the diversified beauties of the cultivated landscape.

Wheelbarrows Used for Travelling.

MODES OF TRAVELLING.

A Chinese usually prefers to travel by water, and in the southeastern provinces it may be said that vehicles solely designed for carrying travellers or goods do not exist, for the carts and wheelbarrows which are met with are few and miserably made. But north of the Yangtsz’ River, all over the Great Plain carts and wheelbarrows form the chief means of travel and transportation. The high cost of timber and the bad roads compel the people to make these vehicles very rude and strong, having axles and wheels able to bear the strains or upsets which befall them. Carts for goods are drawn by three or four horses usually driven tandem, and fastened by long traces to the axle-tree, one remaining within the thills. The common carts, drawn by one or two mules, are oblong boxes fastened to an axle, covered with cotton cloth, and cushioned to alleviate the jolting; the passengers get in and out at the front, where the driver sits close to the horse. In Peking the members of the imperial clan and family are allowed to use carts having the wheel behind the body; their ranks are further indicated by a red or yellow covering, and a greater or less number of outriders to escort them. The wheelbarrow is in great use for short distances throughout the same region. The position of the wheel in the centre enables the man to propel a heavy load readily. When on a good road, and aided by a donkey, the larger varieties of barrow carry easily a burden of a ton’s weight; two men are necessary to maintain the balance and guide the rather top-heavy vehicle.

SEDAN CHAIRS AND RIVER CRAFT.

Where travelling by water is impossible, sedan chairs are used to carry passengers, and coolies with poles and slings transport their luggage and goods. There are two kinds of sedan, neither of them designed for reclining like the Indian palky. The light one is made of bamboo, and so narrow that the sitter is obliged to lean forward as he is carried; the large one, called kiao, is, whether viewed in regard to lightness, comfort, or any other quality associated with such a mode of carriage, one of the most convenient articles found in any country. Its use is subject to sumptuary laws, and forbidden to the common people unless possessing some kind of rank. In Peking only the highest officials ride in them, with four bearers. In other cities two chairmen manage easily enough to maintain a gait of four miles an hour with a sedan upon their shoulders. Goods are carried upon poles, and however large or heavy the package may be, the porters contrive to subdivide its weight between them by means of their sticks and slings. The number of persons who thus gain a livelihood is great, and in cities they are employed by headmen, who contract for work just as carmen do elsewhere; when unengaged by overseers, parties station themselves at corners and other public places, ready to start at a beck, after the manner of Dienstmänner in German cities. In the streets of Canton groups of brawny fellows are often seen idling away their time in smoking, gambling, sleeping, or jeering at the wayfarers; and, like the husbandmen mentioned in the parable, if one ask them why they stand there all the day idle? the answer will be, “Because no man hath hired us.”

The chair-bearers form a distinct guild in cities, and the establishments where sedans and their bearers are to be hired suggest a comparison with the livery stables of western cities; the men, in fact, are nicknamed at Canton mo mí ma, ‘tailless horses.’ A vehicle used sometimes by the Emperor and high officers consists of an open chair set upon poles, so made that the incumbent can be seen as well as see around him. It undergoes many changes in different parts of the country, as it is both cheap and light and well fitted for traversing mountainous regions.

In the construction and management of their river craft the Chinese excel. As boats are intended to be the residences of those who navigate them, regard is had to this in their arrangement. Only a part of the fleets of boats seen on the river at Canton are intended for transportation, a large number being designed for fixed residences, and perhaps half of them are permanently moored. They are not obliged to remain where they station themselves, but the boats and their inmates are both under the supervision of a water police, who register them and point out the position they may occupy. Barges for families, those in which oil, salt, fuel, or other articles are sold, lighters, passage-boats, flower-boats, and other kinds, are by this means grouped together, and more easily found. It was once ascertained that there were eighty-four thousand boats registered as belonging to the city of Canton, but whether all remained near the city and did not go to other parts of the district, or whether old ones were erased from the register when broken up, was not determined. It is not likely, however, that at one time this number of boats ever lay opposite the city. No one who has been at Canton can forget the noisy, animating sight the river offers, nor failed to have noticed the good-humored carefulness with which boats of every size pass each other without collision.

It is difficult to describe the many kinds of craft found on Chinese waters without the assistance of drawings. They are furnished with stern sculls moving upon a pivot, and easily propelling the boat. Large boats are furnished with two or three of these, which, when not in use, are conveniently hauled in upon the side. They are provided with oars, the loom and blade of which are fastened by withs, and work through a band attached to a stake; the rower stands up and pushes his oar with the same motion as that employed by the Venetian gondolier. Occasionally an oarsman is seen rowing with his feet. The mast in some large cargo boats consists of two sticks, resting on the gunwales, joined at top, and so arranged as to be hoisted from the bow; in those designed for residences no provision is made for a mast. Fishing boats, lighters, and sea-going craft have one or two permanent masts. In all, except the smallest, a wale or frame projects from the side, on which the boatmen walk when poling the vessel. The sails in the south are woven of strips of matting, sewed into a single sheet, and provided with yards at the top and bottom; the bamboo ribs crossing it serve to retain the hoops that run on the mast, and enable the boatmen to haul them close on the wind. A driver is sometimes placed on the taffrail, and a small foresail near the bow, but the mainsail is the chief dependence. No Chinese boat has a bowsprit, and very few are coppered, or have two decks, further than an orlop in the stern quarter in which to stow provisions; no dead-lights give even a glimmer to these recesses, which are necessarily small.

The internal arrangement of dwelling-boats is simple. The better sort are from sixty to eighty feet long, and about fifteen wide, divided into three rooms; the stem is sharp, and upholds a platform on which, when they are moored alongside, it is easy to pass from one boat to another. Each one is secured by ropes to large hawsers which run along the whole line at the bow and stern. The room nearest the bow serves for a lobby to the principal apartment, which occupies about half the body of the boat; the two are separated by trellis bulkheads, but the sternmost room, or sleeping apartment, is carefully screened. Cooking and washing are performed on a high stern framework, which is admirably contrived, by means of furnaces and other conveniences above and hatches and partitions below deck, to serve all these purposes, contain all the fuel and water necessary, and answer for a sleeping place as well. By means of awnings and frameworks the top of the boat also subserves many objects of work or pleasure. The window-shutters are movable, fitted for all kinds of weather and for flexibility of arrangement, meeting all the demands of a family and the particular service of a vessel; nothing can be more ingenious.

The handsomest of these craft are called hwa ting, or flower-boats, and are let to parties for pleasure excursions on the river; a large proportion of them are also the abodes of public women. The smaller sorts at Canton are generally known as tankia boats; they are about twenty-five feet long, contain only one room, and are fitted with moveable mats to cover the whole vessel; they are usually rowed by women. In these “egg-houses” whole families are reared, live, and die; the room which serves for passengers by day is a bedroom by night; a kitchen at one time, a washroom at another, and a nursery always.

DWELLERS ON THE WATER.

As to this custom of living upon the water, we have an interesting testimony of its practice so far back as the fourteenth century, from the letter of a Dominican Friar in 1330. “The realm of Cathay,” writes the missionary, “is peopled passing well.... And there be many great rivers and great sheets of water throughout the Empire; insomuch that a good half of the realm and its territory is under water. And on these waters dwell great multitudes of people because of the vast population that there is in the said realm. They build wooden houses upon boats, and so their houses go up and down upon the waters; and the people go trafficking in their houses from one province to another, whilst they dwell in these houses with all their families, with their wives and children, and all their household utensils and necessaries. And so they live upon the waters all the days of their life. And there the women be brought to bed, and do everything else just as people do who dwell upon dry land.”[357]

It is unnecessary to particularize the various sorts of lighters or chop-boats found along the southern coast, the passenger boats plying from town to town along the hundreds of streams, and the smacks, revenue cutters, and fishing craft to be seen in all waters, except to call attention to their remarkable adaptation for the ends in view. The best sorts are made in the southern provinces; those seen at Tientsin or Niuchwang suffer by comparison for cleanliness, safety, and speed, owing partly to the high price of wood and the less use made of them for dwellings. On the head waters of the River Kan the boats are of a peculiarly light construction, with upper works entirely of matting, and the hull like a crescent, well fitted to encounter the rapids and rocks which beset their course.

REVENUE BOATS AND JUNKS.

Besides these various kinds the revenue service employs a narrow, sharp-built boat, propelled by forty or fifty rowers, armed with swivels, spears, boarding-hooks, and pikes, and lined on the sides with a menacing array of rattan shields painted with tigers’ heads. Smugglers have similarly made boats, and now and then imitate the government boats in their appearance, which, on their part, often compete with them in smuggling. In 1863 the imperial government was induced to adopt a national flag for all its own vessels, which will no doubt gradually extend to merchant craft. It is triangular in shape, and has a dragon with the head looking upward. It is usual for naval officers to exhibit long yellow flags with their official titles at full length; the vessels under them are distinguished by various pennons. Junks carry a great assortment of flags, triangular and square, of white, red, and other colors, most of them bearing inscriptions. The number of governmental boats and war junks, and those used for transporting the revenue and salt, is proportionately very small; but if all the craft found on the rivers and coasts of China be included, their united tonnage perhaps equals that of all other nations put together. The dwellers on the water near Canton are not, as has been sometimes said, debarred from living ashore. A boat can be built cheaper than a brick house, and is equally comfortable; it is kept clean easier, pays no ground-rent, and is not so obnoxious to fire and thieves. Most of them are constructed of fir or pine and smeared with wood oil; the seams are caulked with rattan shavings and paid over with a cement of oil and gypsum. The sailing craft are usually flat-bottomed, sharp forward, and guided by an enormous rudder which can be hoisted through the open stern sheets when in shallow waters. The teak-wood anchors have iron-bound flukes, held by coir or bamboo hawsers—now often replaced by iron chain and grapnel.[358]

The old picturesque junk, with its bulging hull, high stern, and great eyes on the bow, is rapidly disappearing before steamers. Its original model is said to be a huge sea monster; the teeth at the cutwater and top of the bow define its mouth, the long boards on each side of the bow form the armature of the head, the eyes being painted on them, the masts and sails are the fins, and the high stern is the tail frisking aloft. The cabins look more like niches in a sepulchre than the accommodations for a live passenger. The crew live upon deck most of the time, and are usually interested in the trade of the vessel or an adventure of their own. The hold is divided into water-tight compartments, a contrivance that has its advantages when the vessel strikes a rock, but prevents her carrying a cargo comparable to her size. The great number of passengers which have been stowed in these vessels entailed a frightful loss of life when they were wrecked. In February, 1822, Capt. Pearl, of the English ship Indiana, coming through Gaspar Straits, fell in with the cargo and crew of a wrecked junk, and saved one hundred and ninety-eight persons (out of one thousand six hundred with whom she had left Amoy), whom he landed at Pontianak; this humane act cost him $55,000.[359]

BRIDGES IN CHINA.

Among secondary architectural works deserving notice are bridges and honorary portals. There is good reason for supposing that the Chinese have been acquainted with the arch from very early times, though they make comparatively little use of it. Certain bridges have pointed arches, others have semicircular, and others approach the form of a horse-shoe, the transverse section of an ellipse, or even like the Greek Ω, the space being widest at the top. In some the arch is high for the accommodation of boats passing beneath; and where no heavy wains or carriages cross and jar the fabric, it can safely be made light. A graceful specimen of this class is the structure seen in the illustration on page [754]. This bridge, though serving no practical purpose, is one of the greatest ornaments about the Emperor’s summer palace of Yuen-ming Yuen. The material is marble; its summit is reached by forty steps rising abruptly from the causeway, and impracticable, of course, for any but pedestrians.

Bridge in Wan-shao Shan Gardens, near Peking.

The balustrades and paving of the long marble bridges near Peking and Hangchau, some of them adorned with statues of elephants, lions, and other animals, present a pleasing effect, while their solidity and endurance of freshes running over the top at times attest the skill of the architects. Wooden bridges furnish means for crossing small streams in all parts of the land; when the river is powerful, or the rise and fall of the tide great, it is crossed on boats fastened together, with contrivances for drawing out two or three in the centre when the passing craft demand a passage. At Tientsin, Ningpo, and other cities, this means of crossing entails little delay in comparison to its cheapness. Some of the bridges in and about Peking are beautiful structures; their erection, however, presented no difficult problem, while that at Fuhchau was a greater feat of engineering. It is about four hundred yards long and five wide, consisting of nearly forty solid buttresses of hewn stone placed at unequal distances and joined by slabs of granite; some of these slabs are three feet square and forty-five feet long. They support a granite pavement. The bridge was formerly lined with shops, which the increased traffic has caused to be removed. Another similar bridge lies seven miles north of it on the River Min, and a third of equal importance at the city of Chinchew, north of Amoy. Some of the mountain streams and passes in the west and north are crossed by rope bridges of ingenious construction, and by chain suspension bridges.

Mr. Lowrie describes a bridge at Changchau, near Amoy, and these structures are more numerous in the eastern provinces than elsewhere. “It is built on twenty-five piles of stone about thirty feet apart, and perhaps twenty feet each in height. Large round beams are laid from pile to pile, and smaller ones across in the simplest and rudest manner; earth is then placed above these and the top paved with brick and stone. One would suppose that the work had been assigned to a number of different persons, and that each one had executed his part in such manner as best suited his own fancy, there being no regularity whatever in the paving. Bricks and stone were intermingled in the most confused manner, and the railing was here wood and there stone. We were particularly struck with the length of some of the granite stones used in paving the bridge; one was eight, another eleven, and three others eighteen paces, or about forty-five feet long, and two broad. The bridge averaged eight or ten feet in width, and about half its length on both sides was occupied by shops.”[360]

A causeway of ninety arches crosses a feeder of the Grand Canal near Hangchau. The stones for the arch in one bridge noticed by Barrow were cut so as to form a segment of the arch, and at each end were mortised into transverse blocks of stone stretching across the bridge; they decreased in length from ten feet at the spring of the arch to three at the vertex, and the summit stone was mortised, like the rest, into two transverse blocks lying next to it.[361] The tenons were short, and the disposition of the principal pieces such that a bridge built in this way would not support great weights or endure many ages. The mode of placing the pieces can be seen in the cut. In other instances the stones are laid in the same manner as in Europe; many small bridges over creeks and canals have cambered or straight arches. When one of these structures falls into ruins or becomes dangerous, the people seldom bestir themselves to repair the damage, preferring to wait for the government; they thereby lose the benefit of self-dependence and action.

Bridge showing the mode of Mortising the Arch.

PAI-LAU, OR HONORARY PORTALS.

It is singular how the term triumphal arch came to be applied to the pai-fang and pai-lau, or honorary portals or tablets, of the Chinese; for a triumph was perhaps never heard of in that country, and these structures are never arched. They consist merely of a broad gateway flanked with two smaller ones, and suggest a turnpike gate with side-ways for foot passengers rather than a triumphal monument. They are scattered in great numbers over the provinces, and are erected in honor of distinguished persons, or by officers to commemorate their parents, by special favor from the Emperor. Some are put up in honor of women who have distinguished themselves for their chastity and filial duty, or to widows who have refused a second marriage. Permission to erect them is considered a high honor, and perhaps the term triumphal was given them from this circumstance. The economical and peaceful nature of such honors conferred upon distinguished men in China is most characteristic; a man is allowed to build a stone gateway to himself or his parents, and the Emperor furnishes the inscription, or perhaps sends with it a patent of nobility. Their general arrangement is exhibited in the [title-page] of this work; the two characters, shing chí, at the top, meaning ‘sacred will,’ intimate that it was erected by his Majesty’s permission.

Some of the pai-lau are elaborately ornamented with carved work and inscriptions; and as a protection to the frieze a ponderous covering of tiles projects over the top, which, however, exposes the structure to injury from tempests. They are placed in conspicuous places in the outskirts of towns, and in the streets before temples or near government edifices. Travellers looking for what they had read about have sometimes strangely mistaken the gateways at the heads of streets or the entrance to temples for the honorary portals.[362] Those built of stone are fastened by mortises and tenons in the same manner as the wooden ones; they seldom exceed twenty or twenty-five feet in height. The skill and taste displayed in the symmetry and carving upon some of them are creditable; but as the man in whose honor it is erected is, generally speaking, “the architect of his own fame,” he prudently considers the worth of that commodity, and makes an inferior structure to what would have been done if his fellow-subjects, “deeply sensible of the honor,” had come together to appoint a committee and open a subscription list for the purpose. Among the numerous pai-lau in and near Peking, two or three deserve mention for their beauty. One lies in the Confucian Temple in front of the Pih-yung Kung, and is designed to enhance the splendor of its approach by presenting, as it were, a frame before its façade. It is built of stone and overlaid with square encaustic tiles of many hues. The arrangement of the colors, the carving on the marble, and the fine proportions of the structure render it altogether one of the most artistic objects in China. Another like it is built in the Imperial Park, but the position is not so advantageous. Fergusson points out the similarity between these pai-lau and certain Hindu gateways, and claims that India furnished the model. The question of priority is hardly susceptible of proof; but his fancy that a large pai-lau in a street of Amoy presented a simulated coffin on it above the principal cornice, leads us to suspect that he was looking for what was never in the builder’s mind.

MILITARY ARCHITECTURE—DRESS.

The construction of forts and towers presents little worthy of observation, since there is no other evidence of science than what the erection of lines of massive stone wall displays. The port-holes are too large for protection and the parapet too slight to resist modern missiles. The Chinese idea of a fortification is a wall along the water’s edge, with embrasures and battlements, and a plain wall landward without port-holes or parapets, enclosing an area in which a few houses accommodate the garrison and ammunition. Some erected at the junction of streams are pierced on all sides; others are so unscientifically planned that the walls can be scaled at angles where not a single gun can be brought to bear. The towers are rectangular edifices of brick on a stone foundation, forty feet square and fifty or sixty high, to be entered by ladders through a door half way up the side.

The forts in the neighborhood of Canton, probably among the best in the Empire, are all constructed without fosse, bastion, glacis, or counter-defence of any kind. Both arrangement and placement are alike faulty: some are square and approachable without danger; others circular on the outer face but with flank or rear exposed; others again built on a hillside like a pound, so that the garrison, if dislodged from the battlements, are forced to fly up the slope in full range of their enemy’s fire. The gate is on the side, unprotected by ditch, drawbridge, or portcullis, and poorly defended by guns upon the walls or in the area behind. In general the points chosen for their forts display a misapprehension of the true principles of defence, though some may be noted as occupying commanding positions.

In recent times mud defences and batteries of sand-bags have proved a much safer defence than such buildings against ships and artillery, and show the aptitude of the people to adopt practical things. Though not particularly resolute on the field, the Chinese soldier stands well to his guns when behind a fortification of whose strength he is assured. The forts which have recently been constructed under supervision of European engineers are rapidly taking the place of native works in all parts of the country.

Dress, like other things, undergoes its changes in China, and fashions alter there as well as elsewhere, but they are not as rapid or as striking as among European nations. The full costume of both sexes is, in general terms, commodious and graceful, combining all the purposes of warmth, beauty, and ease which could be desired, excepting always the shaven crown and braided queue of the men and the crippled feet of the women, in both of which fashions they have not less outraged nature than deformed themselves. On this point different tastes exist, and some prefer the close-fitting dress of Europeans to the loose robes of Asiatics; but when one has become in a measure habituated to the latter, one is willing to allow the force of the criticism that the European male costume is “a mysterious combination of the inconvenient and the unpicturesque: hot in summer and cold in winter, useless for either keeping off rain or sun, stiff but not plain, bare without being simple, not durable, not becoming, and not cheap.” The Chinese dress has remained, in its general style, the same for centuries; and garments of fur or silk are handed down from parent to child without fear of attracting attention by their antique shapes. The fabrics most worn are silk, cotton, and grass-cloth for summer, with the addition of furs and skins in winter; woollen is used sparingly, and almost wholly of foreign manufacture.

Barber’s Establishment, showing also the Dress of the Common People.

VARIETY AND MATERIAL OF APPAREL.

The principal articles of dress are inner and outer tunics of various lengths made of cotton or silk, reaching below the loins or to the feet; the lapel on the right side folds over the breast and fits close about the neck, which is left uncovered. The sleeves are much wider and longer than the arms, have no cuffs or facings, and in common cases serve for pockets. A Chinese, instead of saying “he pocketed the book,” would say “he sleeved it.” In robes of ceremony the end of the sleeve resembles a horse’s hoof, and good breeding requires the hand to be kept in a position to exhibit the cuff when sitting. In warm weather one upper garment is deemed sufficient; in winter a dozen can be put on without discommodity, and this number is sometimes actually seen upon persons engaged in sedentary employments, or on those who sit in the air. Latterly, underwear of flannel has become common among the better dressed, who like the knitted fabric so close-fitting and warm. The lower limbs are comparatively slightly protected; a pair of loose trousers, covered to the knee by cloth stockings, is the usual summer garment; tight leggings are pulled over both in winter and attached to the girdle by loops; and as the trousers are rather voluminous and the tunic short, the excess shows behind from under these leggings in a rather unpleasant manner. Gentlemen and officers always wear a robe with the skirt opened at the sides, which conceals this intermission of the under apparel. The colors preferred for outer garments are various hues of buff, purple, or blue.

The shoes are made of silk or cotton, usually embroidered for women’s wear in red and other colors. The soles are of felt, sometimes of paper inside a rim of felt, and defended on the bottom by hide. These shoes keep the feet dry and unchilled on the tiles or ground, so that a Chinese may be said really to carry the floor of his house under his feet instead of laying it on the ground. The thick soles render it necessary for ease in walking to round up their ends, which constrains the toes into an elevated position so irksome that all go slipshod who conveniently can do so. The cost of a cotton suit need not exceed five dollars, and a complete silken one, of the gayest colors and best materials, can easily be procured for twenty-five or thirty. Quilted cotton garments are exceedingly common, and are so made as to protect the whole person from the cold and obviate the need of fires. In the north dressed sheepskin robes furnish bedding as well as garments, and their durability will long make them more desirable than woven fabrics.

The ancient Chinese wore the hair long, bound upon the top of the head, somewhat after the style of the Lewchewans; and taking pride in its glossy black, called themselves the black-haired race. But in 1627 the Manchus, then in possession of only Liautung, issued an order that all Chinese under them should adopt their coiffure as a sign of allegiance, on penalty of death; the fashion thus begun by compulsion is now followed from choice. The fore part of the head is shaved to the crown and the hair braided in a single plait behind. Laborers often wind it about the head or knot it into a ball out of the way when barebacked or at work. The size of the queue can be enlarged by permitting an additional line of hair to grow; the appearance it gives the wearer is thus described by Mr. Downing, and the quotation is not an unfair specimen of the remarks of travellers upon China: “At the hotel one of the waiters was dressed in a peculiar manner about the head. Instead of the hair being shaved in front, he had it cut round the top of the forehead about an inch and a half in length. All the other part was turned as usual and plaited down the back. This thin semi-circular ridge of hair was then made to stand bolt upright, and as each hair was separate and stiff as a bristle, the whole looked like a very fine-toothed comb turned upward. This I imagined to be the usual way of dressing the head by single unengaged youths, and of course must be very attractive.” Thus what the wearer regarded as ill-looking, and intended to braid in as soon as it was long enough, is here taken as a device for beautifying himself in the eyes of those he never saw or cared to see.

Tricks Played with the Queue.

The people are vain of a long thick queue, and now and then play each other tricks with it, as well as use it as a ready means for correction; but nothing irritates them more than to cut it off. Men and women oftener go bareheaded than covered, warding off the sun by means of a fan; in winter felt or silk skull-caps, hoods, and fur protect them from cold. Laborers shelter themselves from rain under an umbrella hat and a grotesque thatch-work of leaves neatly sewn upon a coarse network—very effectual for the purpose. In illustration of the remark at the beginning of this chapter, it might be added that if they were not worn on the head such hats would be called trays, so unlike are they to the English article of that name. The formal head-dress is the conical straw or felt hat so peculiar to this nation, usually covered with a red fringe of silk or hair.

OFFICIAL COSTUMES.

The various forms, fabrics, colors, and ornaments of the dresses worn by grades of officers are regulated by sumptuary laws. Citron-yellow distinguishes the imperial family, but his Majesty’s apparel is less showy than many of his courtiers, and in all that belongs to his own personal use there is an appearance of disregard of ornament. The five-clawed dragon is figured upon the dress and whatever pertains to the Emperor, and in certain things to members of his family. The monarchs of China formerly wore a sort of flat-topped crown, shaped somewhat like a Cantab’s cap, and having a row of jewels pendent from each side. The summer bonnet of officers is made of finely woven straw covered with a red fringe; in winter it is trimmed with fur. A string of beads hanging over an embroidered robe, a round knob on the cap, thick-soled satin boots, two or three pouches for fans or chopsticks, and occasionally a watch or two hanging from the girdle, constitute the principal points of difference between the official and plebeian costume. No company of men can appear more splendid than a large party of officers in their winter robes made of fine, lustrous crapes, trimmed with rich furs and brilliant with gay embroidery. In winter a silk or fur spencer is worn over the robe, and forms a handsome and warm garment. Lambskins are much used, and the downy coats of unyeaned lambs, which, with the finer furs and the skins of hares, wild cats, rabbits, foxes, wolves, otter, squirrels, etc., are worn by all ranks. Some years ago a lad used to parade the streets of Canton, who presented an odd appearance in a long spencer made of a tiger’s skin. The Chinese like strong contrasts in the colors of their garments, sometimes wearing yellow leggings underneath a light blue robe, itself set off by a purple spencer.

COSTUMES OF CHINESE WOMEN.

The dress of women is likewise liable to few fluctuations, and all ranks can be sure that the fashion will last as long as the gown. The garments of both sexes among the common people resemble each other more than in Western Asia. The tunic or short gown is open in front, buttoning around the neck and under the arm, reaching to the knee, like a smock-frock in its general shape. The trousers among the lower orders are usually worn over the stockings, both being covered, on ceremonial occasions, by a petticoat reaching to the feet. Laboring women, whose feet are left their natural size, go barefoot or slipshod in the warm latitudes, but cover their feet carefully farther north. Both sexes have a paucity of linen in their habiliments—if not a shiftless, the Chinese certainly are a shirtless race, and such undergarments as they have are not too often washed.

The head-dress of married females is becoming and even elegant. The copious black hair is bound upon the head in an oval-formed knot, which is secured in its place and shape by a broad pin placed lengthwise on it, and fastened by a shorter one thrust across and under the bow. The hair is drawn back from the forehead into the knot, and elevated a little in front by combing it over the finger; in order to make it lie smooth the locks are drawn through resinous shavings moistened in warm water, which also adds an extra gloss, at the cost, however, of injury to the hair. In front of the knot a tube is often inserted, in which flowers can be placed. The custom of wearing them is nearly universal, fresh blossoms being preferred when obtainable, and artificial at other times. Having no covering on the head there is more opportunity than in the west to display pretty devices in arranging the hair. A widow is known by her white flowers, a maiden by one or two plaits instead of a knot, and so on; in their endless variety of form and ornament, Chinese women’s head-dresses furnish a source of constant study. Mr. Stevens tells us that the animated appearance of the dense crowd which assembled on the bridge and banks of the river at Fuhchau when he passed in 1835, was still more enlivened by the flowers worn by the women.

PROCESSION OF LADIES TO AN ANCESTRAL TEMPLE.

Matrons wear an embroidered fillet on the forehead, an inch or more wide, pointed between the eyebrows, and covering the front of the hair though not concealing the baldness which often comes on early from the resinous bandoline used. This fillet is embroidered, or adorned with pearls, a favorite ornament with Chinese ladies. The women along the Yangtsz’ River wear a band of fur around the head, which relieves their colorless complexions. A substitute for bonnets is common in summer, consisting of a flat piece of straw trimmed with a fringe of blue cloth. The hair of children is unbound, but girls more advanced allow the side locks to reach to the waist and plait a tress down the neck; their coarse hair does not curl, and the beautiful luxuriance of curls and ringlets seen in Europe is entirely unknown. False hair is made use of by both sexes, the men being particularly fond of eking out their queues to the fullest length. Gloves are not worn, the long sleeves being adequate for warmth; in the north the ears are protected from freezing by ear-tabs lined with fur, and often furnished with a tiny looking-glass on the outside.

The dress of gentlewomen, like that of their husbands, is regulated by sumptuary laws, but none of these prevent their costumes from being as splendid as rich silks, gay colors, and beautiful embroidery can make them. The neck of the robe is protected by a stiff band, and the sleeves are large and long, just the contrary of the common style, which being short allows the free use and display of a well-turned arm. The official embroidery allowed to the husband is changed to another kind on his wife’s robe indicative of the same rank. No belt or girdle is seen, nor do stays compress the waist to its lasting injury. One of the prettiest parts of a lady’s dress is the petticoat, which appears about a foot below the upper robe covering the feet. Each side of the skirt is plaited about six times, and in front and rear are two pieces of buckram to which they are attached; the plaits and front pieces are stiffened with wire and lining. Embroidery is worked upon these two pieces and the plaits in such a way that as the wearer steps the action of the feet alternately opens and shuts them on each side, disclosing a part or the whole of two different colored figures, as may be seen in the [illustration]. The plaits are so contrived that they are the same when seen in front or from behind, and the effect is more elegant when the colors are well contrasted. In order to produce this the plaits close around the feet, unlike the wider skirt of western ladies.

Ornaments are less worn by the Chinese than other Asiatic nations. The men suspend a string of fragrant beads together with the tobacco-pouch from the jacket lapel, or occasionally wear seal-rings, finger-rings, and armlets of strass, stone, or glass. They are by law prohibited from carrying weapons of any sort. The women wear bangles, bracelets, and ear-rings of glass, stone, and metal; most of these appendages are regarded more as amulets to ward off evil influences than mere ornaments. Felicitous charms, such as aromatic bags, old coins, and rings, are attached to the persons of children, and few adults venture to go through life without some preservative of this kind; no sacred thread or daub of clay, as in India, is known, however, nor any image of a saint or other figurine, as in Romish countries. The queer custom of wearing long nails is practised by comparatively few; and although a man or woman with these appendages would not be deemed singular, it is not regarded as in good taste by well-bred persons. Pedantic scholars wear them more than other professions, in order to show that they are above manual labor; but the longest set the writer ever saw was, oddly enough, on a carpenter’s fingers, who thereby showed that he was not obliged to use his tools. Fine ladies protect theirs with silver sheaths.

MANNER OF COMPRESSING THE FEET.

The practice of compressing the feet, so far as investigation has gone, is more an inconvenient than a dangerous custom, for among the many thousands of patients who have received aid in the missionary hospitals, few have presented themselves with ailments chargeable to this source. A difference of opinion exists respecting its origin. Some accounts state that it arose from a desire thereby to remove the reproach of the club feet of a popular empress, others that it gradually came into use from the great admiration of and attempt to imitate delicate feet, and others that it was imposed by husbands to keep their wives from gadding.[363] Its adoption was gradual, however it may have commenced, and not without resistance. It is practised by all classes of society except the Manchus and Tartars, poor as well as rich (for none are so poor as not to wish to be fashionable); and so habituated does one become to it after a residence in the country, that a well-dressed lady with large feet seems to be denationalized. There is no certain age at which the operation must be commenced, but in families of easy circumstances the bandages are put on before five; otherwise not until betrothment, or till seven or eight years old. The whole operation is performed, and the shape maintained, by bandages, which are never permanently removed or covered by stockings; iron or wooden shoes are not used, the object being rather to prevent the feet growing than to make them smaller.

Appearance of the Bones of a Foot when Compressed.

A good account of the effects of this practice is given in a paper contained in the Transactions of the Royal Society of London, written by Dr. Cooper, detailing the appearances presented on dissection. The foot belonged to a person in low life; it was five and one-fourth inches long, which is full eighteen lines over the most fashionable size. The big toe was bent upward and backward on the foot, and the second twisted under it and across, so that the extremity reached the inner edge of the foot. The third toe somewhat overlapped the second, but lying less obliquely, and reaching to the first joint of the great toe. The ball of the great toe, much flattened, separated these two from the fourth and fifth toes. The fourth toe stretched obliquely inward under the foot, but less so than the little toe, which passed under and nearly across the foot, and had been bound down so strongly as to bend the tarsal bone. The dorsum of the foot was much curved, and a deep fissure crossed the sole and separated the heel and little toe, as if the two ends of the foot had been forced together; this was filled for three inches with a very condensed cellular tissue; the instep was three and one-half inches high. The heel-bone, which naturally forms a considerable angle with the ankle, was in a direct line with the leg-bones; and the heel itself was large and flat, covered with a peculiarly dense integument, and forming, with the end of the metatarsal bone of the great toe and the two smallest toes bent under the sole, the three points of taction in walking. When the operation is begun earlier, and the bones are more flexible, four of the toes are bent under the foot and only the big toe laid upon the top. The development of the muscles of the calf being checked, the leg tapers from the knee downward, though there is no particular weakness in the limb. The appearance of the deformed member when uncovered is shocking, crushed out of all proportion and beauty, and covered with a wrinkled and lifeless skin like that of a washerwoman’s hand. It is surprising how the circulation is kept up in the member without any pain or wasting away; the natural supposition would be that if any nutriment was conveyed to it, there would be a disposition to grow until maturity was attained, and consequently constant pain ensue, or else that it would be destroyed or mortify for want of nourishment.

Feet of Chinese Ladies.

The gait of these victims of fashion can be imitated by a person walking on the heels. Women walking alone swing their arms and step quick and short, elderly women availing themselves, when practicable, of an umbrella, or leaning upon the shoulder of a lad or maid for support—literally making a walking-stick of them. The pain is said to be severe at first, and a recurrence now and then is felt in the sole; but the evident freedom from distress exhibited in the little girls who are seen walking or playing in the streets, proves that the amount of suffering and injurious effects upon life and health are perhaps not so great as has been imagined. The case is different when the girl is not victimized until ten or more years old. The toes are then bent under and the foot forced into the smallest compass; the agony arising from the constrained muscles and excoriated flesh is dreadful, while, too, the shape of the member is, even in Chinese eyes, a burlesque upon the beautiful littleness so much desired.

Shape of a Lady’s Shoe.

PREVALENCE OF THE FASHION.—LADIES’ SHOES.

The opinion prevails abroad that only the daughters of the rich or learned pay this price to Dame Fashion. A greater proportion is indeed found among the well-to-do classes, and in the southern provinces near the rivers the unfashionables form perhaps half of the whole; for those who dwell in boats, and all who in early life may have lived on the water or among the farmsteads, and slave girls sold in infancy for domestics, are usually left in the happy though low-life freedom of nature. Close observation in the northern provinces show general adoption of the usage among the poor, whose feet are not, however, usually so small as in the south. Foreigners, on their arrival at Canton or Fuhchau, seeing so many women with natural feet on the boats and about the streets, wonder where the “little-footed Celestials” they had heard of were, the only specimens they see being a few crones by the wayside mending clothes. Across the Mei ling range the proportion increases. All the women who came to the hospital at Chusan in 1841, to the number of eight hundred or one thousand, had their feet more or less cramped; and some of them walked several miles to the hospital and home again the same day. Although the operation may be less painful than has been represented, the people are so much accustomed to it that most men would refuse to wed a woman whose feet were of the natural size; and a man who should find out that his bride had large feet when he expected small ones would be exonerated if he instantly sent her back to her parents. The kin lien, or ‘golden lilies,’ are desired as the mark of gentility; the hope of rising to be one of the upper ten, and escaping the roughness and hard work attached to the lower class, goes far to strengthen even children to endure the pain and loss of freedom consequent on the practice. The secret of the prevalence of the cruel custom is the love of ease and praise; and not till the principles of Christianity extend will it cease. In Peking, where the Manchus have shown the advantages nature has over fashion, the example of their women for two hundred and fifty years, aided by the earnest efforts of the great Emperor Kanghí, has not had the least effect in inducing Chinese ladies to give it up. The shoes are made of red silk and prettily embroidered; but no one acquainted with Chinese society would say that “if a lady ever breaks through the prohibition against displaying her person, she presents her feet as the surest darts with which a lover’s heart can be assailed!”[364]

Cosmetics are used by females to the serious injury of the skin. On grand occasions the face is entirely bedaubed with white paint, and rouge is added to the lips and cheeks, giving a singular starched appearance to the physiognomy. A girl thus beautified has no need of a fan to hide her blushes, for they cannot be seen through the paint, her eye being the only index of emotion. The eyebrows are blackened with charred sticks, and arched or narrowed to resemble a nascent willow leaf, or the moon when first seen—as in the ballad translated by Mr. Stent, which pictures the beauty as possessing

Eyebrows shaped like leaves of willows

Drooping over “autumn billows;”

Almond shaped, of liquid brightness,

Were the eyes of Yang-kuei-fei.[365]

A belle is described as having cheeks like the almond flower, lips like a peach’s bloom, waist as the willow leaf, eyes bright as dancing ripples in the sun, and footsteps like the lotus flower. Much time and care is bestowed, or said to be, by females upon their toilet, but if those in the upper classes have anything like the variety of domestic duties which their sisters in common life perform, they have little leisure left for superfluous adorning. If dramas give an index of Chinese manners and occupations, they do not convey the idea that most of the time of well-bred ladies is spent in idleness or dressing.

TOILET PRACTICES.

At his toilet a Chinese uses a basin of tepid water and a cloth, and it has been aptly remarked that he never appears so dirty as when trying to clean himself. Shaving is done by the barber, for no man can shave the top of his head. Whiskers are never worn, even by the very few who have them, and mustaches are not considered proper for a man under forty. Snuff bottles and tobacco pipes are carried and used by both sexes, but the practice of chewing betel-nut is confined to the men, who, however, take much pains to keep their teeth white. Among ornamental articles of dress, in none do they go to so much expense and style as in the snuff bottle, which is often carved from stone, amber, agate, and other rare minerals with most exquisite taste. Snuff is put on the thumb-nail with a spoon fastened to the stopper—a more cleanly way than the European mode of “pinching.”[366]

The articles of food which the Chinese eat, and the mode and ceremonies attending their feasts, have aided much, in giving them the odd character they bear abroad, though uncouth or unsavory viands form an infinitesimal portion of their food, and ceremonious feasts not one in a thousand of their repasts. Travellers have so often spoken of birdsnest soup, canine hams, and grimalkin fricassees, rats, snakes, worms, and other culinary novelties, served up in equally strange ways, that their readers get the idea that these articles form as large a proportion of the food as their description does of the narrative. In general, the diet of the Chinese is sufficient in variety, wholesome, and well cooked, though many of the dishes are unpalatable to a European from the vegetable oils used in their preparation, and the alliaceous plants introduced to savor them. In the assortment of dishes, Barrow has truly said that “there is a wider difference, perhaps, between the rich and the poor of China than in any other country. That wealth, which if permitted would be expended in flattering the vanity of its possessors, is now applied to the purchase of dainties to pamper the appetite.”

The proportion of animal food is probably smaller among the Chinese than other nations on the same latitude, one platter of fish or flesh, and sometimes both, being the usual allowance on the tables of the poor. Rice, maize, Italian millet, and wheat furnish most of the cereal food; the first is emphatically the staff of life, and considered indispensable all over the land. Its long use is indicated in the number of terms employed to describe it and the variety of allusions to it in common expressions. To take a meal is chih fan, ‘eat rice;’ and the salutation equivalent to how d’ye? is chih kwo fan? ‘have you eaten rice?’ The grain is deprived of its skin by wooden pestles worked in a mortar by levers, either by a water-wheel or more commonly by oxen or men. It is cleaned by rubbing it in an earthen dish scored on the inside, and steamed in a shallow iron boiler partly filled with water, over which a basket or sieve containing the rice is supported on a framework; a wooden dish fits over the whole and confines the steam. By this process the kernels are thoroughly cooked without forming a pasty mass, as is too often the result when boiled by cooks in Christian countries. Bread, vegetables, and other articles are cooked in a similar manner; four or five sieves, each of them full and nicely fitting into each other, are placed upon the boiler and covered with a cowl; in the water beneath, which supplies the steam, meats or other things are boiled at the same time. Wheat flour is boiled into cakes, dumplings, and other articles, but not baked into bread. Maize, buckwheat, oats, and barley are not ground, but the grain is cooked in various ways, alone or mixed with other dishes. Italian millet, or canary-seed (Setaria), furnishes a large amount of nutritious cereal food in the north; the flour is yellow and sweet, and boiled or baked for eating, often seasoned with jujube plums in the cakes. Its cultivation is easy, and its prolific crop makes up in a measure for the small seeds; ten thousand kernels have been counted on one spike in a good season.

VEGETABLES EATEN BY THE CHINESE.

The Chinese have a long list of culinary vegetables, and much of their agriculture consists in rearing them. Leguminous and cruciferous plants occupy the largest part of the kitchen garden; more than twenty sorts of peas and beans are cultivated, some for camels and horses, but mostly for men. Soy is made by boiling the beans and mixing water, salt, and wheat, and producing fermentation by yeast; its quality is inferior to the foreign. Another more common condiment, called bean curd or bean jam, is prepared by boiling and grinding black beans and mixing the flour with water, gypsum, and turmeric. The consumption of cabbage, broccoli, kale, cauliflower, cress, colewort, and other cruciferous plants is enormous; a great variety of modes are adopted for cooking, preserving, and improving them. The leaves and stems of many plants besides those are included in the variety of greens, and a complete enumeration of them would form a curious list. Lettuce, sow thistle (Sonchus), spinach, celery, dandelion, succory, sweet basil, ginger, mustard, radishes, artemisia, amaranthus, tacca, pig weed (Chenopodium), burslane, shepherd’s purse, clover, ailantus, and others having no English names, all furnish green leaves for Chinese tables. Garlics, leeks, scallions, onions, and chives are eaten by all classes, detected upon all persons, and smelt in all rooms where they are eating or cooking. Carrots, gourds, squashes, cucumbers, watermelons, tomatoes, turnips, radishes, brinjals, pumpkins, okers, etc., are among the list of garden vegetables; the variety of cucurbitaceous plants extends to nearly twenty. Most of these vegetables are inferior to the same articles in the markets of western cities, where science has improved their size or flavor. Several aquatic plants increase the list, among which the nelumbium covers extensive marshes in the eastern and northern provinces, otherwise unsightly and barren. The root is two or three feet long, and pierced longitudinally with several holes; when boiled it is of a yellowish color and sweetish taste, not unlike a turnip. Taro is used less than the nelumbium, and so are the water-caltrops (Trapa) and water-chestnuts. The taste of water-caltrops when boiled resembles that of new cheese; water-chestnuts are the round roots of a kind of sedge, and resemble that fruit in color more than in taste, which is mealy and crisp. The sweet potato is the most common tuber; although the Irish potato has been cultivated for scores of years it has not become a common vegetable among the people, except on the borders of Mongolia.

COMMON TABLE FRUITS.

The catalogue of fruits comprises most of those occurring elsewhere in the tropic and temperate zones, and China is probably the earliest home of the peach, plum, and pear. The pears are large and juicy, sometimes weighing eight or ten pounds; the white and strawberry pear are equal to any western variety. The apples are rather dry and insipid. The peaches, plums, quinces, and apricots are better, and offer many good varieties. Cherries are almost unknown. The orange is the common fruit at the south, and the baskets, stalls, and piles of this golden fruit, mixed with and heightened by contrast with other sorts and with vegetables, which line the streets of Canton and Amoy in winter, present a beautiful sight. Many distinct species of Citrus, as the lemon, kumquot, pumelo, citron, and orange, are extensively cultivated. The most delicious is the chu-sha kih, or ‘mandarin orange;’ the skin, when ripe, is of a cinnabar red color, and adheres to the pulp by a few loose fibres. The citron is more prized for its fragrance than taste, and the thick rind is now and then made more abundant by cutting it into strips when growing, each of which becomes a roundish end like a finger, whence the name of Fuh shao, or ‘Buddha’s hand,’ given it. It will remain uncorrupt for two or three months, diffusing an agreeable perfume.

Chapter [VI.] contains brief notices of other fruits. The banana and persimmon are common, and several varieties are enumerated of each; the plantain is eaten raw and cooked, and forms a large item in the subsistence of the poor. The pomegranate, carambola or tree gooseberry, mango, custard-apple, pine-apple, rose-apple, bread-fruit, fig, guava, and olive, some of them as good and others inferior to what are found in other countries, increase the list. The whampe, líchí, lungan, or ‘dragon’s eyes,’ and loquat, are the native names of four indigenous fruits at Canton. The whampe (Cookia) resembles a grape in size and a gooseberry in taste; the loquat or pebo (Eriobotrya) is a kind of medlar. The líchí looks like a strawberry in size and shape; the tough, rough red skin encloses a sweet watery pulp of a whitish color surrounding a hard seed. Grapes are plenty and cheap; in the northern cities they are preserved during the winter, and even till May, by constant care in regulating the temperature.

Chestnuts, walnuts, ground-nuts, filberts (Torreya), almonds, and the seeds of the salisburia and nelumbium, are the most common nuts. The Chinese date (Rhamnus) has a sweetish, acidulous flesh; the olive is salted or pickled; the names of both these fruits are given them because of a resemblance to the western sorts, for neither the proper date nor olive grows in China. A pleasant sweetmeat, like cranberry, is made from the seeds of the arbutus (Myrica), and another still more acid from a sort of haw, both of them put up for exportation.

Preserved fruits are common, and the list of sweetmeats and delicacies is increased by the addition of many roots, some of which are preserved in syrup and others as comfits. Ginger, nelumbium roots, bamboo shoots, the common potato, and other vegetables are thus prepared for export as well as domestic consumption. The natives consume enormous quantities of pickles of an inferior quality, especially cabbages and onions, but foreigners consider them detestable. The Chinese eat but few spices; black pepper is used medicinally as a tea, and cayenne pepper when the pod is green.

Oils and fats are in universal use for cooking; crude lard or pork fat, castor oil, sesamum oil, and that expressed from two species of Camellia and the ground-nut, are all employed for domestic and culinary purposes. The Chinese use little or no milk, butter, or cheese; the comparatively small number of cattle raised and the consequent dearness of these articles may have caused them to fall into disuse, for they are all common among the Manchus and Mongols. A Chinese table seems ill furnished to a foreigner when he sees neither bread, butter, nor milk upon it, and if he express his disrelish of the oily dishes or alliaceous stews before him, the Chinese thinks that he delivers a sufficient retort to his want of taste when he answers, “You eat cheese, and sometimes when it can almost walk.” Milk is used a little, and no one who has lived in Canton can forget the prolonged mournful cry of ngao nai! of the men hawking it about the streets late at night. Women’s milk is sold for the sustenance of infants and superannuated people, the idea being prevalent that it is peculiarly nourishing to aged persons.[367]

Sugar is grown only in Formosa and the three southern provinces, which supply the others; neither molasses nor rum are manufactured from it. No sugar is expressed from sorghum stalks, nor do the Chinese know that it contains syrup. The tobacco is milder than the American plant; it is smoked and not chewed or made into cigars, though these are being imported from Manila in steadily increasing quantities, and find favor among many of the wealthier Chinese; snuff is largely used. The betel-nut is a common masticatory, made up of a slice of the nut and the fresh leaf of the betel-pepper with a little lime rubbed on it. The common beverages are tea and arrack, both of which are taken warm; cold water is not often drunk, cold liquids of any kind being considered unwholesome. The constant practice of boiling water before drinking, in preparing tea, doubtless tends to make it less noxious, when the people are not particular as to its sources. Coffee, chocolate, and cocoa are unknown, as are also beer, cider, porter, wine, and brandy.

KINDS OF ANIMAL FOOD USED.

The meats consumed by the Chinese comprise, perhaps, a greater variety than are used in other countries; while, at the same time, very little land is appropriated to rearing animals for food. Beef is not a common meat, chiefly from a Buddhistic prejudice against killing so useful an animal. Mutton in the southern provinces is poor and dear compared with its excellence and cheapness north of the Yangtsz’ River, where the greater numbers of Mohammedans cause a larger demand for it. The beef of the buffalo and the mutton of the goat are still less used; pork is consumed more than all other kinds, and no meat can be raised so economically. Hardly a family so poor that it cannot possess a pig; the animals are kept even on the boats and rafts, to consume and fatten upon what others leave. Fresh pork probably constitutes more than half of the meat eaten by the Chinese; hams are tolerably plenty, and a dish called “golden hams,” from the amber appearance of the joint, makes a conspicuous object in feasts. Horseflesh, venison, wild boar, and antelope are now and then seen, but in passing through the markets mutton, pork, fowls, and fish are the viands which everywhere meet the eye.

A few kittens and puppies are sold alive in cages, mewing and yelping as if in anticipation of their fate, or from pain caused by the pinching and handling they receive at the hands of dissatisfied customers. Those intended for the table are usually fed upon rice, so that if the nature of their food be considered, their flesh is far more cleanly than that of the omnivorous hog; few articles of food have, however, been so identified abroad with the tastes of the people as kittens, puppies, and rats have with the Chinese. American school geographies often contain pictures of a market-man carrying baskets holding these unfortunate victims of a perverse taste (as we think), or else a string of rats and mice hanging by their tails to a stick across his shoulders, which almost necessarily convey the idea that such things form the usual food of the people. Travellers hear beforehand that the Chinese devour everything, and when they arrive in the country straightway inquire if these animals are eaten, and hearing that such is the case, perpetuate the idea that they form the common articles of food. However commonly live kittens and puppies or dressed dogs may be exposed for sale, one may live in a city like Canton or Fuhchau for many years and never see rats offered for food, unless he hunts up the people who sell them for medicine or aphrodisiacs; in fact, they are not so easily caught as to be either common or cheap. A peculiar prejudice in favor of black dogs and cats exists among natives of the south; these animals invariably command a higher price than others, and are eaten at midsummer in the belief that the meat ensures health and strength during the ensuing year.

Rats and mice are, no doubt, eaten now and then, and so are many other undesirable things, by those whom want compels to take what they can get; but to put these and other strange eatables in the front of the list gives a distorted idea of the everyday food of the people. There are perhaps half a dozen restaurants in Canton city where dog’s-meat appears upon the menu; it is, however, by no means an inexpensive delicacy.[368] The flesh of rats is eaten by old women as a hair restorative.

The blood of ducks, pigs, and sheep is used as food, or prepared for medicine and as a paste; it forms an ingredient in priming and some kind of varnish. It is coagulated into cakes for sale, and in cooking is mixed with the meats and sauces. The blood of all animals is eaten without repugnance so far as concerns religious scruples, except in the case of Buddhist priests.

Frogs are caught in a curious manner by tying a young jumper lately emerged from tadpole life to a line and bobbing him up and down in the grass and grain of a rice field, where the old croakers are wont to harbor. As soon as one of them sees the young frog sprawling and squirming he makes a plunge at him and swallows him whole, whereupon he is immediately conveyed to the frog-fisher’s basket, losing his life, liberty, and lunch together, for the bait is rescued from his maw and used again as long as life lasts.

HATCHING DUCKS’ EGGS.

Poultry, including chickens, geese, and ducks, are everywhere raised; of the three the geese are the best flavored, but all of them are reared cheaply and supply a large portion of the poor with the principal meat they eat. The eggs of fowls and ducks are hatched artificially, and every visitor to Canton remembers the duck-boats in which those birds are hatched and reared and carried up and down the river seeking for pasture along its muddy banks. Sheds are erected for hatching, in which are a number of high baskets well lined to retain the heat. Each one is placed over a fireplace, so that the heat shall be conveyed to the eggs through the tile in its bottom and retained in the basket by a close cover. When the eggs are brought a layer is put into the bottom of each basket, and a fire kept in the room at a uniform heat of about 80° F. After four or five days they are examined in a strong light, to separate the addled ones; the others are put back in the baskets and the heat kept up for ten days longer, when they are all placed upon shelves in the centre of the shed and covered with cotton and felt for fourteen days. At the end of the twenty-eighth day the shells are broken to release the inmates, which are sold to those who rear them. Pigeons are raised to a great extent; their eggs form an ingredient in soups. Wild and water fowl are caught in nets or shot; the wild duck, teal, grebe, wild goose, plover, snipe, heron, egret, partridge, pheasant, and ortolan or rice bird are all procurable at Canton, and the list could be increased elsewhere.

If the Chinese eat many things which are rejected by other peoples, they are perfectly omnivorous with respect to aquatic productions; here nothing comes amiss; all waters are vexed with their fisheries. Their nets and other contrivances for capturing fish display great ingenuity, and most of them are admirably adapted to the purpose. Rivers, creeks, and stagnant pools, the great ocean and the little tank, mountain lakes and garden ponds, tubs and rice fields, all furnish their quota to the sustenance of man, and tend to explain, in a great degree, the dense population. The right to fish in running streams and natural waters is open to all, while artificial reservoirs, as ponds, pools, tanks, tubs, etc., are brought into available use; near tide-water the rice grounds are turned into fish-ponds in winter if they will thereby afford a more profitable return. The inhabitants of the water are killed with the spear, caught with the hook, scraped up by the dredge, ensnared by traps, and captured by nets; they are decoyed to jump into boats by painted boards, and frightened into nets by noisy ones, taken out of the water by lifting nets and dived for by birds—for the cormorant seizes what his owner could not easily reach. In short, every possible way of catching or rearing fish is practised in one part of the country or another. Tanks are placed in the streets, with water running through them, where carp or perch are reared until they become so large they can hardly turn round in their pens; eels and water-snakes of every color and size are fed in tubs and jars until customers carry them off.

King-crabs, cuttle-fish, sharks, sting-rays, gobies, tortoises, turtles, crabs, prawns, crawfish, and shrimps add to the variety. The best fish in the Canton market are the garoupa or rock cod, pomfret, sole, mackerel, bynni carp or mango fish, and the polynemus, erroneously called salmon. Carp and tench of many kinds, herring, shad, perch, mullet, and bream, with others less common at the west, are found in great abundance. They are usually eaten fresh, or merely opened and dried in the sun, as stock-fish. Both salt and fresh-water shell-fish are abundant. The oysters are not so well flavored as those on the Atlantic coast of America; the crabs and prawns are excellent, but the clams, mussels, and other fresh-water species are less palatable. Insect food is confined to locusts and grasshoppers, grubs and silk-worms; the latter are fried to a crisp when cooked. These and water-snakes are decidedly the most repulsive things the Chinese eat.

Many articles of food are sought after by this sensual people for their supposed aphrodisiac qualities, and most of the singular productions brought from abroad for food are of this nature. The famous birdsnest soup is prepared from the nest of a swallow (Collocalia esculenta) found in caves and damp places in some islands of the Indian Archipelago; the bird macerates the material of the nest from seaweed (Gelidium chiefly) in the crop, and constructs it by drawing the food out in fibres, which are attached to the damp stone with the bill. The nest has the same shape as those which chimney swallows build, and holds the young against the cliffs; they rarely exceed three or four inches in the longest diameter. The operation of cleaning is performed by picking away each morsel of dirt or feathers from the nest, and involves considerable labor. After they come forth perfectly free from impurities they are stewed with pigeons’ eggs, spicery, and other ingredients into a soup; when cooked they resemble isinglass, and the dish depends upon sauces and seasoning for most of its taste. The biche-de-mer, tripang, or sea-slug, is a marine substance procured from the Polynesian Islands; it is sought after under the same idea of its invigorating qualities, and being cheaper than the birdsnest is a more common dish; when cooked it resembles pork-rind in appearance and taste. Sharks’ fins and fish-maws are imported and boiled into gelatinous soups that are nourishing and palatable; and the sinews, tongues, palates, udders, and other parts of different animals are sought after as delicacies. A large proportion of the numerous made dishes seen at great feasts consists of such odd articles, most of which are supposed to possess some peculiar strengthening quality.

COOKING AMONG THE CHINESE.

The art of cooking has not reached any high degree of perfection. Like the French, it is very economical, and consists of stews and fried dishes more than of baked or roasted. Salt is proportionately dear from its preparation being a government monopoly, and this has led to a large use of onions for seasoning. The articles of kitchen furniture are few and simple; an iron boiler, shaped like the segment of a sphere, for stewing or frying, a portable earthen furnace, and two or three different shaped earthenware pots for boiling water or vegetables constitute the whole establishment of thousands of families. A few other utensils, as tongs, ladles, forks, sieves, mills, etc., are used to a greater or less extent, though the variety is quite commensurate with the simple cookery. Both meats and vegetables, previously hashed into mouthfuls, are stewed or fried in oil or fat; they are not cooked in large joints or steaks for the table of a household. Hogs are baked whole for sacrifices and for sale in cook-shops, but before being eaten are hashed and fried again. Cutting the food into small pieces secures its thorough cooking with less fuel than it would otherwise require, and is moreover indispensable for eating with chopsticks. Two or three vegetables are boiled together, but meat soups are seldom seen; and the immense variety of puddings, pastry, cakes, pies, custards, ragouts, creams, etc., made in western lands is almost unknown in China.[369]

[CHAPTER XIV.]
SOCIAL LIFE AMONG THE CHINESE.

FACTORS IN CHINESE SOCIAL LIFE.

The preceding chapter, in a measure, exhibits the attainments the Chinese have reached in the comforts and elegances of living. These terms, as tests of civilization, however, are so comparative that it is rather difficult to define them; for the notions which an Englishman, an Egyptian, and a Chinese severally might have of comfort and elegance in the furniture and arrangement of their houses are almost as unlike as their languages. If Fisher’s Views of China be taken as a guide, one can easily believe that the Chinese need little from abroad to better their condition in these particulars; while if one listen to the descriptions of some persons who have resided among them, it will be concluded that they possess neither comfort in their houses, civility in their manners, nor cleanliness in their persons. In passing to an account of their social life, this variety of tastes should not be overlooked; and if some points appear objectionable when taken alone, a little further examination will, perhaps, show that they form part of a system which requires complete reconstruction before it could be happily and safely altered.

The observations of a foreigner upon Chinese society are likely to be modified by his own feelings, and the way in which he has been treated by natives there; but their behavior to him might be very unlike what would be deemed good breeding among themselves. If a Chinese feared or expected something from a foreigner, he would act toward him more politely than if the contrary were the case; on the one hand better, on the other worse, than he would toward one of his own countrymen in like circumstances. In doing so, it may be remarked with regret that he would only imitate the conduct of a host of foreigners who visit China, and whose coarse remarks, rude actions, and general supercilious conduct toward the natives ill comport with their superior civilization and assumed advantages. One who looked at the matter reasonably would not expect much true politeness among a people whose conceit and ignorance, selfishness and hauteur, were nearly equal; nor be surprised to find the intercourse between the extremes of society present a strange mixture of brutality and commiseration, formality and disdain. The separation of the sexes modifies and debases the amusements, even of the most moral, leads the men to spend their time in gambling, devote it to the pleasures of the table, or dawdle it away when the demands of business, study, or labor do not arouse them. Political parties, which exert so powerful an influence upon the conduct of men in Christian countries, leading them to unite and communicate with each other for the purpose of watching or resisting the acts of government, do not exist; and where there is a general want of confidence, such institutions as insurance companies, savings or deposit banks, corporate bodies to build a railroad or factory, and associations of any kind in which persons unite their funds and efforts to accomplish an object, are not to be expected; they do not exist in China, nor did they in Rome or ancient Europe. Nor will any one expect to hear that literary societies or voluntary philanthropic associations are common. These, as they are now found in the west, are the products of Christianity alone, and we must wait for the planting of the tree before looking for its fruit. The legal profession, as distinct from the possession of office, is not an occupation in which learned men can obtain an honorable livelihood; the priesthood is confined to monasteries and temples, and its members do not enter into society; while the practice of medicine is so entirely empirical and strange that the few experienced practitioners are not enough to redeem the class. These three professions, which elsewhere do so much to elevate society and guide public opinion, being wanting, educated men have no stimulus to draw them out into independent action. The competition for literary degrees and official rank, the eager pursuit of trade, or the dull routine of mechanical and agricultural labor, form the leading avocations of the Chinese people. Unacquainted with the intellectual enjoyments found in books and the conversation of learned men, and having no educated taste, as we understand that term (while, too, he cannot find such a thing as virtuous female society), the Chinese resorts to the dice-box, the opium-pipe, or the brothel for his pleasures, though even there with a loss of character among his peers.

RESULTS UPON SOCIETY OF SEPARATING THE SEXES.

The separation of the sexes has many bad results, only partially compensated by some conservative ones. Woman owes her present elevation at the west to Christianity, not only in the degree of respect, support, freedom from servile labor, and education which she receives, but also in the reflex influences she exerts of a purifying, harmonizing, and elevating character. Where the requirements of the Gospel exert no force, her rights are more or less disregarded, and if she become as debased as the men, she can exert little good influence even upon her own family, still less upon the community. General mixed society can never be maintained with pleasure unless the better parts of human nature have the acknowledged preëminence, and where she, who imparts to it all its gracefulness and purity, is herself uneducated, unpolished, and immodest, the common sense of mankind sees its impropriety. By advocating the partition of the sexes, legislators and moralists in China have acted as they best could in the circumstances of the case, and by preventing the evils beyond their remedy, provided the best safeguards they could against general corruption. In her own domestic circle a Chinese female, in the character and duties of daughter, wife, or mother, finds as much employment, and probably as many enjoyments, as the nature of her training has fitted her for. She does not hold her proper place in society simply because she has never been taught its duties or exercised its privileges.

In ordinary cases the male and female branches of a household are strictly kept apart; not only the servants, but even brothers and sisters do not freely associate after the boys commence their studies. At this period of life, or even earlier, an anxious task devolves upon parents, which is to find suitable partners for their children. Betrothment is entirely in their hands, and is conducted through the medium of a class of persons called mei-jin, or go-betweens, who are expected to be well acquainted with the character and circumstances of the parties. Mothers sometimes contract their unborn progeny on the sole contingency of a difference of sex, but the usual age of forming these engagements is ten, twelve, or older, experience having shown that the casualties attending it render an earlier period undesirable.

BETROTHMENT AND PRELIMINARIES OF MARRIAGE.

There are six ceremonies which constitute a regular marriage, though their details vary much in different parts of the Empire: 1. The father and elder brother of the young man send a go-between to the father and brother of the girl, to inquire her name and the moment of her birth, that the horoscope of the two may be examined, in order to ascertain whether the proposed alliance will be a happy one. 2. If the eight characters[370] seem to augur aright, the boy’s friends send the mei-jin back to make an offer of marriage. 3. If that be accepted, the second party is again requested to return an assent in writing. 4. Presents are then sent to the girl’s parents according to the means of the parties. 5. The go-between requests them to choose a lucky day for the wedding. 6. The preliminaries are concluded by the bridegroom going or sending a party of friends with music to bring his bride to his own house. The match-makers contrive to multiply their visits and prolong the negotiations, when the parties are rich, to serve their own ends.

In Fuhkien parents often send pledges to each other when their children are mere infants, and registers containing their names and particulars of nativity are exchanged in testimony of the contract. After this has been done it is impossible to retract the engagement, unless one of the parties becomes a leper or is disabled. When the children are espoused older, the boy sometimes accompanies the go-between and the party carrying the presents to the house of his future mother-in-law, and receives from her some trifling articles, as melon-seeds, fruits, etc., which he distributes to those around. Among the presents sent to the girl are fruits, money, vermicelli, and a ham, of which she gives a morsel to each one of the party, and sends its foot back. These articles are neatly arranged, and the party bringing them is received with a salute of fire-crackers.

From the time of engagement until marriage a young lady is required to maintain the strictest seclusion. Whenever friends call upon her parents she is expected to retire to the inner apartments, and in all her actions and words guard her conduct with careful solicitude. She must use a close sedan whenever she visits her relations, and in her intercourse with her brothers and the domestics in the household maintain great reserve. Instead of having any opportunity to form those friendships and acquaintances with her own sex which among ourselves become a source of so much pleasure at the time and advantage in after life, the Chinese maiden is confined to the circle of her relations and her immediate neighbors. She has few of the pleasing remembrances and associations that are usually connected with school-day life, nor has she often the ability or opportunity to correspond by letter with girls of her own age. Seclusion at this time of life, and the custom of crippling the feet, combine to confine women in the house almost as much as the strictest laws against their appearing abroad; for in girlhood, as they know only a few persons except relatives, and can make very few acquaintances after marriage, their circle of friends contracts rather than enlarges as life goes on. This privacy impels girls to learn as much of the world as they can, and among the rich their curiosity is gratified through maid-servants, match-makers, pedlers, visitors, and others. Curiosity also stimulates young ladies to learn something of the character and appearance of their intended husbands, but the rules of society are too strict for young persons to endeavor to form a personal attachment, though it is not impossible for them to see each other if they wish, and there are, no doubt, many contracts suggested to parents by their children.

The office of match-maker is considered honorable, and both men and women are employed to conduct nuptial negotiations. Great confidence is reposed in their judgment and veracity, and as their employment depends somewhat upon their tact and character, they have every inducement to act with strict propriety in their intercourse with families. The father of the girl employs their services in collecting the sum agreed upon in the contract, which, in ordinary circumstances, varies from twenty-five to forty dollars, increasing to a hundred and over according to the condition of the bridegroom; until that is paid the marriage does not take place. The presents sent at betrothment are sometimes costly, consisting of silks, rice, cloths, fruits, etc.; the bride brings no dower, but both parents frequently go to expenses they can ill afford when celebrating the nuptials of their children, as the pride of family stimulates each party to make undue display.

MARRIAGE CEREMONIES AND CUSTOMS.

The principal formalities of a marriage are everywhere the same, but local customs are observed in some regions which are quite unknown and appear singular elsewhere. In Fuhkien, when the lucky day for the wedding comes, the guests assemble in the bridegroom’s house to celebrate it, where also sedans, a band of music, and porters are in readiness. The courier, who acts as guide to the chair-bearers, takes the lead, and in order to prevent the onset of malicious demons lurking by the road, a baked hog or large piece of pork is carried in front, that the procession may safely pass while these hungry souls are devouring the meat. Meanwhile the bride arrays herself in her best dress and richest jewels. Her girlish tresses have already been bound up, and her hair arranged by a matron, with due formality; an ornamental and complicated head-dress made of rich materials, not unlike a helmet or corona, often forms part of her coiffure. Her person is nearly covered by a large mantle, over which is an enormous hat like an umbrella, that descends to the shoulders and shades the whole figure. Thus attired she takes her seat in the red gilt marriage sedan, called hwa kiao, borne by four men, in which she is completely concealed. This is locked by her mother or some other relative, and the key given to one of the bridemen, who hands it to the bridegroom or his representative on reaching his house.

The procession is now rearranged, with the addition of as many red boxes and trays to contain the wardrobe, kitchen utensils, and the feast, as the means of the family or the extent of her paraphernalia require. As the procession approaches the bridegroom’s house the courier hastens forward to announce its coming, whereupon the music strikes up, and fire-crackers salute her until she enters the gate. As she approaches the door the bridegroom conceals himself, but the go-between brings forward a young child to salute her, while going to seek the closeted bridegroom. He approaches with becoming gravity and opens the sedan to hand out his bride, she still retaining the hat and mantle; they approach the ancestral tablet, which they reverence with three bows, and then seat themselves at a table upon which are two cups of spirits. The go-between serves them, though the bride can only make the motions of drinking, as the large hat completely covers her face. They soon retire into a chamber, where the husband takes the hat and mantle from his wife, and sees her, perhaps, for the first time in his life. After he has considered her for some time, the guests and friends enter the room to survey her, when each one is allowed to express an opinion; the criticisms of the women are severest, perhaps because they remember the time they stood in her unpleasant position. This cruel examination being over, she is introduced to her husband’s parents, and then salutes her own. Such are some of the customs among the Fuhkienese. Other usages followed in marriages and betrothals have been carefully described by Doolittle, with particular reference to the same people, and by Archdeacon John H. Gray, alluding to other parts of the Empire.[371]

The bridegroom, previous to the wedding, receives a new name or “style,” and is formally capped by his father in presence of his friends, as an introduction to manhood. He invites the guests, sending two red cakes with each invitation, and to him each guest, a few days before the marriage, returns a present or a sum of money worth about ten or fifteen cents, nominally equal to the expenses he will be considered as occasioning. Another invitation is sent the day after to a feast, and the bride also calls on the ladies who attended her wedding, from whom she receives a ring or some other article of small value. The gentlemen also make the bridegroom a present of a pair of lanterns to hang at his gateway. On the night of the wedding they sometimes endeavor to get into the house when the pair is supposed to be asleep, in order to carry off some article, which the bridegroom must ransom at their price.

Among the poor the expenses of a wedding are much lessened by purchasing a young girl, whom the parents bring up as a daughter until she is marriageable, and in this way secure her services in the household. A girl already affianced is for a like reason sometimes sent to the boy’s parents, that they may support her. In small villages the people call upon a newly married couple near the next full moon, when they are received standing near the bedside. The men enter first and pay their respects to the bride, while her husband calls the attention of his visitors to her charms, praises her little feet, her beautiful hands, and other features, and then accompanies them into the hall, where they are regaled with refreshments. After the men have retired the women enter and make their remarks upon the lady, whose future character depends a good deal upon the manner in which she conducts herself. If she shows good temper, her reputation is made. Many a prudent woman on this occasion says not a word, but suffers herself to be examined in silence in order that she may run no risk of offending.[372] Far different is this introduction to married life from the bridal tour and cordial greetings of friends which ladies receive in western lands during the honeymoon!

NUPTIAL PROCESSION AND FESTIVITIES.

The bridal procession is a peculiar feature of Chinese social life. It varies in its style, nature of the ornaments, and the whole get-up in all parts of the land, but is always as showy as the means of the parties will allow. It is composed of bearers of lanterns and official tablets, musicians, relatives of the bride and groom and their personal friends, framed stands with roofs carried on thills to hold the bride’s effects, all centering around her sedan. In Peking such a procession will sometimes be stretched out half a mile, and the sedan borne by a dozen or more bearers. The coolies are dressed in red, and they and their burdens are usually provided by special shopmen, who purvey on such occasions. The tablets of literary rank held by members of the family, wooden dragons’ heads, titular lanterns, and other official insignia are borne in state, an evidence of its high standing. In some places an old man, elegantly dressed, heads the procession, bearing a large umbrella to hold over the bride when she enters and leaves her sedan; behind him come bearers with lanterns, one of which carries the inscription, “The phœnixes sing harmoniously.” To these succeed the music and the honorary tablets, titular flags, state umbrella, etc., and two stout men as executioners dressed in a fantastic manner, wearing long feathers in their caps, and lictors, chain-bearers, and other emblems of office. Parties of young lads, prettily dressed and playing on drums, gongs, and flutes, or carrying lanterns and banners, occasionally form a pleasing variety in the train, which is continued by the trays and covered tables containing the bride’s trousseau, and ended with the sedan containing herself.

The ceremonies attending her reception at her husband’s house are not uniform. In some parts she is lifted out of the sedan, over a pan of charcoal placed in the court, and carried into the bed-chamber; in other places she enters and leaves her sedan on rugs spread for her use, and walks into the chamber. After a brief interval she returns into the hall, bearing a tray of betel-nut for the guests, and then worships a pair of geese brought in the train with her husband, this bird being an emblem of conjugal affection. On returning to her chamber the bridegroom follows her and takes off the red veil, after which they pledge each other in wine, the cups being joined by a thread. While there a matron who has borne several children to one husband comes in to pronounce a blessing upon them and make up the nuptial bed. The assembled guests then sit down to the feast and ply the sin lang, ‘new man’ or bridegroom, pretty well with liquor; the Chinese on such occasions do not, however, often overpass the rules of sobriety. The sin fujin, ‘new lady’ or bride, and her mother-in-law also attend to those of her own sex who are present in other apartments, but among the poor a pleasanter sight is now and then seen in all the guests sitting at one table.

In the morning the pair worship the ancestral tablets and salute all the members of the family; among the poor this important ceremony occurs very soon after the pair have exchanged their wine-cups. The pledging of the bride and groom in a cup of wine, and their worship of the ancestral tablets and of heaven and earth, are the important ceremonies of a wedding after the procession has reached the house. Marriages are celebrated at all hours, though twilight and evening are preferred; the spring season, or the last month in the year, are regarded as the most felicitous nuptial periods. From the way in which the whole matter is conducted there is some room for deception by sending another person in the sedan than the one betrothed, or the man may mistake the name of the girl he wishes to marry. Mr. Smith mentions one of his acquaintances, who, having been captivated with a girl he saw in the street, sent a go-between with proposals to her parents, which were accepted; but he was deeply mortified on receiving his bride to find that he had mistaken the number of his charmer, and had received the fifth daughter instead of the fourth.

The Chinese do not marry another woman with these observances while the first one is living, but they may bring home concubines with no other formality than a contract with her parents, though it is considered somewhat discreditable for a man to take another bedfellow if his wife have borne him sons, unless he can afford each of them a separate establishment. It is not unfrequent for a man to secure a maid-servant in the family with the consent of his wife by purchasing her for a concubine, especially if his occupation frequently call him away from home, in which case he takes her as his travelling companion and leaves his wife in charge of the household. The fact that the sons of a concubine are considered as legally belonging to the wife induces parents to betroth their daughters early, and thus prevent their entering a man’s family in this inferior capacity. The Chinese are sensible of the evils of a divided household, and the laws place its control in the hands of the wife. If she have no sons of her own, she looks out for a likely boy among her clansmen to adopt, knowing that otherwise her husband will probably bring a concubine into the family. It is difficult even to guess at the extent of polygamy, for no statistics have been or can be easily taken. Among the laboring classes it is rare to find more than one woman to one man, but tradesmen, official persons, landholders, and those in easy circumstances frequently take one or more concubines; perhaps two-fifths of such families have them. Show and fashion lead some to increase the number of their women, though aware of the discord likely to arise, for they fully believe their own proverb, that “nine women out of ten are jealous.” Yet it is probably true that polygamy finds its greatest support from the women themselves. The wife seeks to increase her own position by getting more women into the house to relieve her own work and humor her fancies. The Chinese illustrate the relation by comparing the wife to the moon and the concubines to the stars, both of which in their appropriate spheres wait upon and revolve around the sun.

LAWS REGULATING MARRIAGES.

If regard be had to the civilization of the Chinese and their opportunities for moral training, the legal provisions of the code to protect females in their acknowledged rights and punish crimes against the peace and purity of the family relation reflect credit upon their legislators. In these laws the obligation of children to fulfil the contract made by their parents is enforced, even to the annulling of an agreement made by a son himself in ignorance of the arrangements of his parents. The position of the tsí, or wife taken by the prescribed formalities, and that of the tsieh, or women purchased as concubines, are accurately defined, and the degradation of the former or elevation of the latter so as to interchange their places, or the taking of a second tsí, are all illegal and void. The relation between the two is more like that which existed between Sarah and Hagar in Abraham’s household, or Zilpah and Bilhah and their mistresses in Jacob’s, than that indicated by our terms first and second wife, of which idea the Chinese words contain no trace. The degrees of unlawful marriages are comprehensive, extending even to the prohibition of persons having the same sing, or family name, and to two brothers marrying sisters. The laws forbid the marriage of a brother’s widow, of a father’s or grandfather’s wife, or a father’s sister, under the penalty of death; and the like punishment is inflicted upon whoever seizes the wife or daughter of a freeman and carries them away to marry them.

These regulations not only put honor upon marriage, but render it more common among the Chinese than almost any other people, thereby preventing a vast train of evils. The tendency of unrestrained desire to throw down the barriers to the gratification of lust must not be lost sight of; and as no laws on this subject can be effectual unless the common sense of a people approve of them, the Chinese, by separating the sexes in general society, have removed a principal provocation to sin, and by compelling young men to fulfil the marriage contracts of their parents have also provided a safeguard against debauchery at the age when youth is most tempted to indulge, and when indulgence would most strongly disincline them to marry at all. They have, moreover, provided for the undoubted succession of the inheritance by disallowing more than one wife, and yet have granted men the liberty they would otherwise take, and which immemorial usage in Asiatic countries has sanctioned. They have done as well as they could in regulating a difficult matter, and better, on the whole, perhaps, than in most other unchristianized countries. If any one supposes, however, that because these laws exist sins against the seventh commandment are uncommon in China, he will be as mistaken as those who infer that because the Chinese are pagans nothing like modesty, purity, or affection exists between the sexes.

When a girl “spills the tea”—that is, loses her betrothed by death—public opinion honors her if she refuse a second engagement; and instances are cited of young ladies committing suicide rather than contract a second marriage. They sometimes leave their father’s house and live with the parents of their affianced husband as if they had been really widows. It is considered derogatory for widows to marry; though it may be that the instances quoted in books with so much praise only indicate how rare the practice is in reality. The widow is occasionally sold for a concubine by her father-in-law, and the grief and contumely of her degradation is enhanced by separation from her children, whom she can no longer retain. Such cases are, however, not common, for the impulses of maternal affection are too strong to be thus trifled with, and widows usually look to their friends for support, or to their own exertions if their children be still young; they are assisted, too, by their relatives in this laudable industry and care. It is a lasting stigma to a son to neglect the comfort and support of his widowed mother. A widower is not restrained by any laws, and weds one of his concubines or whomsoever he chooses; nor is he expected to defer the nuptials for any period of mourning for his first wife.

The seven legal reasons for divorce, viz., barrenness, lasciviousness, jealousy, talkativeness, thievery, disobedience to her husband’s parents, or leprosy, are almost nullified by the single provision that a woman cannot be put away whose parents are not living to receive her back again. Parties can separate on mutual disagreement, but the code does not regulate the alimony; and a husband is liable to punishment if he retain a wife convicted of adultery. If a wife merely elopes she can be sold by her husband, but if she marry while absent she is to be strangled; if the husband be absent three years a woman must state her case to the magistrates before presuming to re-marry.

PRIVILEGES AND POSITION OF WIVES AND WIDOWS.

In regard to the general condition of females in China the remark of De Guignes is applicable, that “though their lot is less happy than that of their sisters in Europe, their ignorance of a better state renders their present or prospective one more supportable; happiness does not always consist in absolute enjoyment, but in the idea which we have formed of it.”[373] She does not feel that any injustice is done her by depriving her of the right of assent as to whom her partner shall be; her wishes and her knowledge go no farther than her domestic circle, and where she has been trained in her mother’s apartments to the various duties and accomplishments of her sex, her removal to a husband’s house brings to her no great change.

This, however, is not always the case, and the power accorded to the husband over his wife and family is often used with great tyranny. The young wife finds in her new home little of the sympathy and love her sisters in Christian lands receive. Her mother-in-law is not unfrequently the source of her greatest trials, and demands from her both the submission of a child and the labor of a slave, which is not seldom returned by disobedience and bitter revilings. If the husband interfere she has less likelihood of escaping his exactions; though in the lower walks of life his cruelty is restrained by fear of losing her and her services, and in the upper diverted by indifference as to what she does, in the pursuit of other objects. If the wife behave well till she herself becomes a mother and a mother-in-law, then the tables are turned; from being a menial she becomes almost a goddess. Luhchau, a writer on female culture, mentions the following indirect mode of reproving a mother-in-law: “Loh Yang travelled seven years to improve himself, during which time his wife diligently served her mother-in-law and supported her son at school. The poultry from a neighbor’s house once wandered into her garden, and her mother-in-law stole and killed them for eating. When she sat down to table and saw the fowls she would not dine, but burst into tears, at which the old lady was much surprised and asked the reason. ‘I am much distressed that I am so poor and cannot afford to supply you with all I wish I could, and that I should have caused you to eat flesh belonging to another.’ Her parent was affected by this, and threw away the dish.”

UNHAPPY BETROTHMENTS.

The evils attending early betrothment induce many parents to defer engaging their daughters until they are grown, and a husband of similar tastes can be found; for even if the condition of the families in the interval of betrothment and marriage unsuitably change, or the lad grows up to be a dissipated, worthless, or cruel man, totally unworthy of the girl, still the contract must be fulfilled, and the worst party generally is most anxious for it. The unhappy bride in such cases often escapes from her present sufferings and dismal prospects by suicide. A case occurred in Canton in 1833 where a young wife, visiting her parents shortly after marriage, so feelingly described her sufferings at the hands of a cruel husband to her sisters and friends that she and three of her auditors joined their hands together and drowned themselves in a pond, she to escape present misery and they to avoid its future possibility. Another young lady, having heard of the worthless character of her intended, carried a bag of money with her in the sedan, and when they retired after the ceremonies were over thus addressed him: “Touch me not; I am resolved to abandon the world and become a nun. I shall this night cut off my hair. I have saved $200, which I give you; with the half you can purchase a concubine, and with the rest enter on some trade. Be not lazy and thriftless. Hereafter, remember me.” Saying this, she cut off her hair, and her husband and his kindred, fearing suicide if they opposed her, acquiesced, and she returned to her father’s house.[374] Such cases are common enough to show the dark side of family life, and young ladies implore their parents to rescue them in this or some other way from the sad fate which awaits them. Sometimes girls become skilled in female accomplishments to recommend themselves to their husbands, and their disappointment is the greater when they find him to be a brutal, depraved tyrant. A melancholy instance of this occurred in Canton in 1840, which ended in the wife committing suicide. Her brother had been a scholar of one of the American missionaries, and took a commendable pride in showing specimens of his sister’s exquisite embroidery, and not a few of her attainments in writing, which indicated their reciprocal attachment. The contrary happens too, sometimes, where the husband finds himself compelled to wed a woman totally unable to appreciate or share his pursuits, but he has means of alleviating or avoiding such misalliances which the weaker vessel has not. On the whole, as we have said, one must admit that woman holds a fairly high position in China. If she suffers from the brutality of her husband, the tyranny of her mother-in-law, or the overwork of household, field, or loom, she is as often herself blameworthy for indolence, shiftlessness, gadding, and bad temper. The instances which are given by Gray[375] in his account of marital atrocities prove the length to which a man will wreak his rage on the helpless; but they are the exception to the general testimony of the people themselves. So far as general purity of society goes, one may well doubt whether such abominable conduct as is legalized among Mormons in Utah is any improvement on the hardships of woman among the Chinese.

Pursuing this brief account of the social life of the Chinese, the right of parents in managing their children comes into notice. It is great, though not unlimited, and in allowing them very extensive power, legislators have supposed that natural affection of the parents, a desire to continue the honorable succession of the family, together with the influence of proper education, were as good securities against paternal cruelty and neglect as any laws which could be made. Fathers give their sons the ju ming, or ‘milk name,’ about a month after birth. The mother, on the day appointed for this ceremony, worships and thanks the goddess of Mercy, and the boy, dressed and having his head shaved, is brought into the circle of assembled friends, where the father confers the name and celebrates the occasion by a feast. The milk name is kept until the lad enters school, at which time the shu ming, or ‘school name,’ is conferred upon him, as already mentioned. The shu ming generally consists of two characters, selected with reference to the boy’s condition, prospects, studies, or some other event connected with him; sometimes the milk name is continued, as the family have become accustomed to it. Such names as Ink-grinder, Promising-study, Opening-olive, Entering-virtue, Rising-advancement, etc., are given to young students at this time. Though endearing or fanciful names are often conferred, it is quite as common to vilify very young children by calling them dog, hog, puppy, flea, etc., under the idea that such epithets will ward off the evil eye. Girls have only their milk and marriage names; the former may be a flower, a sister, a gem, or such like; the latter are terms like Emulating the Moon, Orchis Flower, the Jasmine, Delicate Perfume, etc. A mere number at Canton, as A-yat, A-sam, A-luk (No. 1, No. 3, No. 6), often designates the boys till they get their book names.[376]

NUMBER AND CHANGES OF PERSONAL NAMES.

The personal names of the Chinese are written contrariwise to our own, the sing, or surname, coming first, then the ming, or given name, and then the complimentary title; as Liang Wăntai siensăng, where Liang, or ‘Millet,’ is the family name, Wăntai, or ‘Terrace of Letters,’ the given name, and siensăng, Mr. (i.e., Master), or ‘Teacher.’ A few of the surnames are double, as Sz’ma Tsien, where Sz’ma is the family name and Tsien the official title. A curious idea prevails among the people of Canton, that foreigners have no surname, which, as Pliny thought of the inhabitants of Mt. Atlas, they regard as one of the proofs of their barbarism; perhaps this notion came by inference from the fact that the Manchus write only their given name, as Kíshen, Kíying, Ílípu, etc. When writing Chinese names in translations and elsewhere, some attention should be paid to these particulars; the names of Chinese persons and places are constantly appearing in print under forms as singular as would be Williamhenryharrison, Rich-Ard-Ox-Ford, or Phila Delphia-city in English. The name being in a different language, and its true nature unknown to most of those who write it, accounts for the misarrangement.

In Canton and its vicinity the names of people are abbreviated in conversation to one character, and an A prefixed to it;—as Tsinteh, called A-teh or A-tsin. In Amoy the A is placed after, as Chin-a; in the northern provinces no such usage is known. Some families, perhaps in imitation of the imperial precedent, distinguish their members from others in the clan by adopting a constant character for the first one in the ming, or given name; thus a family of brothers will be named Lin Tung-pei, Lin Tung-fung, Lin Tung-peh, where the word Tung distinguishes this sept of the clan Lin from all others. There are no characters exclusively appropriated to proper names or different sexes, as George, Agnes, etc., all being chosen out of the language with reference to their meanings. Consequently, a name is sometimes felt to be incongruous, as Naomi, when saluted on her return to Bethlehem, felt its inappropriateness to her altered condition, and suggested a change to Mara. Puns on names and sobriquets are common, from the constant contrast of the sounds of the characters with circumstances suggesting a comparison or a play upon their meanings; sly jokes are also played when writing the names of foreigners, by choosing such characters as will make a ridiculous meaning when read according to their sense and not their sound.

When a man marries he adopts a third name, called tsz’, or ‘style,’ by which he is usually known through life; this is either entirely new or combined from previous names. When a girl is married her family name becomes her given name, and the given name is disused, her husband’s name becoming her family name. Thus Wa Salah married to Wei San-wei drops the Salah, and is called Wei Wa shí, i.e., Mrs. Wei [born of the clan] Wa, though her husband or near relatives sometimes retain it as a trivial address. A man is frequently known by another compellation, called pieh tsz’, or ‘second style,’ which the public do not presume to employ. When a young man is successful in attaining a degree, or enters an office, he takes a title called kwan ming, or ‘official name,’ by which he is known to government. The members or heads of licensed mercantile companies each have an official name, which is entered in their permit, from whence it is called among foreigners their chop name. Each of the heads of the co-hong formerly licensed to trade with foreigners at Canton had such an official name. Besides these various names, old men of fifty, shopkeepers, and others take a hao, or ‘designation;’ tradesmen use it on their signboards as the name of their shop, and not unfrequently receive it as their personal appellation. Of this nature are the appellations of the tradesmen who deal with foreigners, as Cutshing, Chanlung, Linchong, etc., which are none of them the names of the shopmen, but the designation of the shop. It is the usual way in Canton for foreigners to go into a shop and ask “Is Mr. Wanglik in?” which would be almost like one in New York inquiring if Mr. Alhambra or Mr. Atlantic-House was at home, though it does not sound quite so ridiculous to a Chinese. The names taken by shopkeepers allude to trade or its prospects, such as Mutual Advantage, Obedient Profit, Extensive Harmony, Rising Goodness, Great Completeness, etc.; the names of the partners as such are not employed to form the firm. Besides this use of the hao, it is also employed as a brand upon goods; the terms Hoyuen, Kinghing, Yuenkí, meaning ‘Harmonious Springs,’ ‘Cheering Prospects,’ ‘Fountain’s Memorial,’ etc., are applied to particular parcels of tea, silk, or other goods, just as brands are placed on lots of wine, flour, or pork. This is called tsz’-hao, or ‘mark-designation,’ but foreigners call both it and the goods it denotes a chop.

When a man dies he receives another and last, though not necessarily a new name in the hall of ancestors; upon emperors and empresses are bestowed new ones, as Benevolent, Pious, Discreet, etc., by which they are worshipped and referred to in history, as that designation which is most likely to be permanent.

CEREMONIAL OBEISANCE AT COURT.

In their common intercourse the Chinese are not more formal than is considered to be well-bred in Europe; it is on extraordinary or official occasions that they observe the precise etiquette for which they are famous. The proper mode of behavior toward all classes is perhaps more carefully inculcated upon youth than it is in the west, and habit renders easy what custom demands. The ceremonial obeisance of a court or a levee, or the salutations proper for a festival, are not carried into the everyday intercourse of life; for as one chief end of the formalities prescribed for such times is to teach due subordination among persons of different rank, they are in a measure laid aside with the robes which suggested them. True politeness, exhibited in an unaffected regard for the feelings of others, cannot, we know, be taught by rules; but a great degree of urbanity and kindness is everywhere shown, whether owing to the naturally placable disposition of the people or to the effects of their early instruction in the forms of politeness. Whether in the crowded and narrow thoroughfares, the village green, the market, the jostling ferry, or the thronged procession—wherever the people are assembled promiscuously, good humor and courtesy are observable; and when altercations do arise wounds or serious injuries seldom ensue, although from the furious clamor one would imagine that half the crowd were in danger of their lives.

Chinese ceremonial requires superiors to be honored according to their station and age, and equals to depreciate themselves while lauding those they address. The Emperor, considering himself as the representative of divine power, exacts the same prostration which is paid the gods; and the ceremonies which are performed in his presence partake, therefore, of a religious character, and are not merely particular forms of etiquette, which may be altered according to circumstances. There are eight gradations of obeisance, commencing with “the lowest form of respect, called kung shao, which is merely joining the hands and raising them before the breast. The next is tso yih, bowing low with the hands thus joined. The third is ta tsien, bending the knee as if about to kneel; and kwei, an actual kneeling, is the fourth. The fifth is ko tao (kotow), kneeling and striking the head on the ground, which when thrice repeated makes the sixth, called san kao, or ‘thrice knocking.’ The seventh is the luh kao, or kneeling and knocking the head thrice upon the ground, then standing upright and again kneeling and knocking the head three times more. The climax is closed by the san kwei kiu kao, or thrice kneeling and nine times knocking the head. Some of the gods of China are entitled to the san kao, others to the luh kao, while the Emperor and Heaven are worshipped by the last. The family now on the throne consider this last form as expressing in the strongest manner the submission and homage of one state to another.”[377] The extreme submission which the Emperor demands is partaken by and transferred to his officers of every grade in a greater or less degree; the observance of these forms is deemed, therefore, of great importance, and a refusal to render them is considered to be nearly equivalent to a rejection of their authority.

Minute regulations for the times and modes of official intercourse are made and promulgated by the Board of Rites, and to learn and practise them is one indispensable part of official duty. In court the master of ceremonies stands in a conspicuous place, and with a loud voice commands the courtiers to rise and kneel, stand or march, just as an orderly sergeant directs the drill of recruits. The same attention to the ritual is observed in their mutual intercourse, for however much an inferior may desire to dispense with the ceremony, his superior will not fail to exact it. In the salutations of entrée and exit among officers these forms are particularly conspicuous, but when well acquainted with each other, and in moments of conviviality, they are in a great measure laid aside; but the juxtaposition of art and nature among them, at one moment laughing and joking, and the next bowing and kneeling to each other as if they had never met, sometimes produces amusing scenes to a foreigner. The entire ignorance and disregard of these forms by foreigners unacquainted with the code leaves a worse impression upon the natives at times, who ascribe such rudeness to hauteur and contempt.

ETIQUETTE OF FORMAL VISITING.

Without particularizing the tedious forms of official etiquette, it will be sufficient to describe what is generally required in good society. Military men pay visits on horseback; civilians and others go in sedans or carts; to walk is not common. Visiting cards are made of vermilioned paper cut into slips about eight inches long and three wide, and are single or folded four, six, eight, or more times, according to the position of the visitor. If he is in recent mourning, the paper is white and the name written in blue ink, but after a stated time this is indicated by an additional character. The simple name is stamped on the upper right corner, or if written on the lower corner, with an addition thus, “Your humble servant (lit., ‘stupid younger brother’) Pí Chí-wăn bows his head in salutation.” On approaching the house his attendant hands a card to the doorkeeper, and if he cannot be received, instead of saying “not at home,” the host sends out to “stay the gentleman’s approach,” and the card is left. If contrariwise the sedan is carried through the doorway into the court, where he comes forth to receive his guest; as the latter steps out each one advances just so far, bowing just so many times, and going through the ceremonies which they mutually understand and expect, until both have taken their seats at the head of the hall, the guest sitting on the left of the host, and his companions, if he have any, in the chairs on each side. The inquiries made after the mutual welfare of friends and each other are couched in a form of studied laudation and depreciation, which when literally translated seem somewhat affected, but to them convey no more than similar civilities do among ourselves—in truth, perhaps not so much of sincere good-will. For instance, to the remark, “It is a long time since we have met, sir,” the host replies (literally), “How presume to receive the trouble of your honorable footsteps; is the person in the chariot well?”—which is simply equivalent to, “I am much obliged for your visit, and hope you enjoy good health.”

Tea and pipes are always presented, together with betel-nut or sweetmeats on some occasions, but it is not, as among the Turks, considered disrespectful to refuse them, though it would be looked upon as singular. If the guest inquire after the health of relatives he should commence with the oldest living, and then ask how many sons the host has; but it is not considered good breeding for a formal acquaintance to make any remarks respecting the mistress of the house. If the sons of the host are at home they are generally sent for, and make their obeisance to their father’s friend by coming up before him and performing the kotow as rapidly as possible, each one making haste, as if he did not wish to delay him. The guest raises them with a slight bow, and the lads stand facing him at a respectful distance. He will then remark, perhaps, if one of them happen to be at his studies, that “the boy will perpetuate the literary reputation of his family” (lit., ‘he will fully carry on the fragrance of the books’); to which his father rejoins, “The reputation of our family is not great (lit., ‘hills and fields’ happiness is thin’); high expectations are not to be entertained of him; if he can only gain a livelihood it will be enough.” After a few such compliments the boys say shao pei, ‘slightly waiting on you,’ i.e., pray excuse us, and retire. Girls are seldom brought in, and young ladies never.

FORMALITIES OF ADDRESS AND GREETING.

The periphrases employed to denote persons and thus avoid speaking their names in a measure indicate the estimation in which they are held. For instance, “Does the honorable great man enjoy happiness?” means “Is your father well?” “Distinguished and aged one what honorable age?” is the mode of asking how old he is; for among the Chinese, as it seems to have been among the Egyptians, it is polite to ask the names and ages of all ranks and sexes. “The old man of the house,” “excellent honorable one,” and “venerable great prince,” are terms used by a visitor to designate the father of his host. A child terms his father “family’s majesty,” “old man of the family,” “prince of the family,” or “venerable father.” When dead a father is called “former prince,” and a mother “venerable great one in repose;” and there are particular characters to distinguish deceased parents from living. The request, “Make my respects to your mother”—for no Chinese gentleman ever asks to see the ladies—is literally, “Excellent-longevity hall place in my behalf wish repose,” the first two words denoting she who remains there. Care should be taken not to use the same expressions when speaking of the relatives of the guest and one’s own; thus, in asking, “How many worthy young gentlemen [sons] have you?” the host replies, “I am unfortunate in having had but one boy,” literally, “My fate is niggardly; I have only one little bug.” This runs through their whole Chesterfieldian code. A man calls his wife tsien nui, i.e., ‘the mean one of the inner apartments,’ or ‘the foolish one of the family;’ while another speaking of her calls her “the honorable lady,” “worthy lady,” “your favored one,” etc.

Something of this is found in all oriental languages; to become familiar with the right application of these terms in Chinese, as elsewhere in the east, is no easy lesson for a foreigner. In their salutations of ceremony they do not, however, quite equal the Arabs, with their kissing, bowing, touching foreheads, stroking beards, and repeated motions of obeisance. The Chinese seldom embrace or touch each other, except on unusual occasions of joy or among family friends; in fact, they have hardly a common word for a kiss. When the visitor rises to depart he remarks, “Another day I will come to receive your instructions;” to which his friend replies, “You do me too much honor; I rather ought to wait on you to-morrow.” The common form of salutation among equals is for each to clasp his own hands before his breast and make a slight bow, saying, Tsing! Tsing! i.e., ‘Hail! Hail!’ This is repeated by both at the same time, on meeting as well as separating.[378] The formalities of leave-taking correspond to those of receiving, but if the parties are equal, or nearly so, the host sees his friend quite to the door and into his sedan.

Officers avoid meeting each other, especially in public, except when etiquette requires them. An officer of low rank is obliged to stop his chair or horse, and on his feet to salute his superior, who receives and returns the civility without moving. Those of equal grades leave their places and go through a mock struggle of deference to get each first to return to it. The common people never presume to salute an officer in the streets, nor even to look at him very carefully. In his presence, they speak to him on their knees, but an old man, or one of consideration, is usually requested to rise when speaking, and even criminals with gray hairs are treated with respect. Officers do not allow their inferiors to sit in their presence, and have always been unwilling to concede this to foreigners; those of the lowest rank consider themselves far above the best of such visitors, but this affectation of rank is already passing away. The converse, of not paying them proper respect, is more common among a certain class of foreigners.

Children are early taught the forms of politeness toward all ranks. The duties owed by younger to elder brothers are peculiar, the firstborn having a sort of birthright in the ancestral worship, in the division of property, and in the direction of the family after the father’s decease. The degree of formality in the domestic circle inculcated in the ancient Book of Rites is never observed to its full extent, and would perhaps chill the affection which should exist among its members, did not habit render it easy and proper; and the extent to which it is actually carried depends a good deal upon the education of the family. In forwarding presents it is customary to send a list with the note, and if the person deems it proper to decline some of them, he marks on the list those he takes and returns the rest; a douceur is always expected by the bearer, and needy fellows sometimes pretend to have been sent with some insignificant present from a grandee in hopes of receiving more than its equivalent as a cumshaw from the person thus honored. De Guignes mentioned one donor who waited until the list came back, and then sent out and purchased the articles which had been marked and sent them to his friend.

CUSTOMS AT DINNER.

Travellers have so often described the Chinese formal dinners, that they have almost become one of their national traits in the view of foreigners; so many of these banquets, however, were given by or in the name of the sovereign, that they are hardly a fair criterion of usual private feasts. The Chinese are both a social and a sensual people, and the pleasures of the table form a principal item in the list of their enjoyments; nor are the higher delights of mental recreation altogether wanting, though this part of the entertainment is according to their taste and not ours. Private meals and public feasts among the higher classes are both dull and long to us, because ladies do not participate; but perhaps we judge more what our own tables would be without their cheerful presence, while in China each sex is of the opinion that the meal is more enjoyable without interference from the other.

An invitation to dinner is written on a slip of red paper like a visiting-card, and sent some days before. It reads, “On the — day a trifling entertainment will await the light of your countenance. Tsau San-wei’s compliments.” Another card is sent on the day itself, stating the hour of dinner, or a servant comes to call the guests. The host, dressed in his cap and robes, awaits their arrival, and after they are all assembled, requests them to follow his example and lay aside their dresses of ceremony. The usual way of arranging guests is by twos on each side of small uncovered tables, placed in lines; an arrangement as convenient for serving the numerous courses which compose the feast, and removing the dishes, as was the Roman fashion of reclining around a hollow table; it also allows a fair view of the musical or theatrical performances. On some occasions, in the sunny south, however, a single long or round table is laid out in a tasteful manner, having pyramids of cakes alternating with piles of fruits and dishes of preserves, all covered more or less with flowers, while the table itself is partly hidden from view by nosegays and leaves. If the party be large, ten minutes or more are consumed by the host and guests going through a tedious repetition of requests and refusals to take the highest seats, for not a man will sit down until he sees the host occupying his chair.

On commencing, the host, standing up, salutes his guests, in a cup, apologizing for the frugal board before them, his only desire being to show his respects to them. At a certain period in the entertainment, they reply by simultaneously rising and drinking his health. The Western custom of giving a sentiment is not known; and politeness requires a person when drinking healths to turn the bottom of the tiny wine-cup upward to show that it is drained. Glass dishes are gradually becoming cheap and common among the middle class, but the table furniture still mainly consists of porcelain cups, bowls, and saucers of various sizes and quality, porcelain spoons shaped like a child’s pap-boat, and two smooth sticks made of bamboo, ivory, or wood, of the size of quills, well known as the chop-sticks, from the native name kwai tsz’, i.e., ‘nimble lads.’ Grasping these implements on each side of the forefinger, the eater pinches up from the dishes meat, fish, or vegetables, already cut into mouthfuls, and conveys one to his mouth. The bowl of rice or millet is brought to the lips, and the contents shovelled into the mouth in an expeditious manner, quite suitable to the name of the tools employed. Less convenient than forks, chopsticks are a great improvement on fingers, as every one will acknowledge who has seen the Hindus throw the balls of curried rice into their mouths.

The succession of dishes is not uniform; soups, meats, stews, fruits, and preserves are introduced somewhat at the discretion of the major-domo, but the end is announced by a bowl of plain rice and a cup of tea. The fruit is often brought in after a recess, during which the guests rise and refresh themselves by walking and chatting, for three or four hours are not unfrequently required even to taste all the dishes. It is not deemed impolite for a guest to express his satisfaction with the good fare before him, and exhibit evidences of having stuffed himself to repletion; nor is it a breach of manners to retire before the dinner is ended. The guests relieve its tedium by playing the game of chai mei, or morra (the micare digitis of the old Romans), which consists in showing the fingers to each other across the table, and mentioning a number at the same moment; as, if one opens out two fingers and mentions the number four, the other instantly shows six fingers, and repeats that number. If he mistake in giving the complement of ten, he pays a forfeit by drinking a cup. This convivial game is common among all ranks, and the boisterous merriment of workmen or friends at their meals is frequently heard as one passes through the streets in the afternoon.[379] The Chinese generally have but two meals a day, breakfast at nine and dinner at four, or thereabouts.

TEMPERANCE OF THE CHINESE.

The Chinese are comparatively a temperate people. This is owing principally to the universal use of tea, but also to taking their arrack very warm and at their meals, rather than to any notions of sobriety or dislike of spirits. A little of it flushes their faces, mounts into their heads, and induces them when flustered to remain in the house to conceal the suffusion, although they may not be really drunk. This liquor is known as toddy, arrack, saki, tsiu, and other names in Eastern Asia, and is distilled from the yeasty liquor in which boiled rice has fermented under pressure many days. Only one distillation is made for common liquor, but when more strength is wanted, it is distilled two or three times, and it is this strong spirit alone which is rightly called samshu, a word meaning ‘thrice fired.’ Chinese moralists have always inveighed against the use of spirits, and the name of Í-tih, the reputed inventor of the deleterious drink, more than two thousand years before Christ, has been handed down with opprobrium, as he was himself banished by the great Yu for his discovery.

The Shu King contains a discourse by the Duke of Chau on the abuse of spirits. His speech to his brother Fung, B.C. 1120, is the oldest temperance address on record, even earlier than the words of Solomon in the Proverbs. “When your reverend father, King Wăn, founded our kingdom in the western region, he delivered announcements and cautions to the princes of the various states, their officers, assistants, and managers of affairs, morning and evening, saying, ‘For sacrifices spirits should be employed. When Heaven was sending down its [favoring] commands and laying the foundations of our people’s sway, spirits were used only in the great sacrifices. [But] when Heaven has sent down its terrors, and our people have thereby been greatly disorganized, and lost their [sense of] virtue, this too can be ascribed to nothing else than their unlimited use of spirits; yea, further, the ruin of the feudal states, small and great, may be traced to this one sin, the free use of spirits.’ King Wăn admonished and instructed the young and those in office managing public affairs, that they should not habitually drink spirits. In all the states he enjoined that their use be confined to times of sacrifices; and even then with such limitations that virtue should prevent drunkenness.”[380]

The general and local festivals of the Chinese are numerous, among which the first three days of the year, one or two about the middle of April to worship at the tombs, the two solstices, and the festival of dragon-boats, are common days of relaxation and merry-making, only on the first, however, are the shops shut and business suspended. Some persons have expressed their surprise that the unceasing round of toil which the Chinese laborer pursues has not rendered him more degraded. It is usually said that a weekly rest is necessary for the continuance of the powers of body and mind in man in their full activity, and that decrepitude and insanity would oftener result were it not for this relaxation. The arguments in favor of this observation seem to be deduced from undoubted facts in countries where the obligations of the Sabbath are acknowledged, though where the vast majority cease from business and labor, it is not easy for a few to work all the time even if they wish, owing to the various ways in which their occupations are involved with those of others; yet, in China, people who apparently tax themselves uninterruptedly to the utmost stretch of body and mind, live in health to old age. A few facts of this sort incline one to suppose that the Sabbath was designed by its Lord as a day of rest for man from a constant routine of relaxation and mental and physical labor, in order that he might have leisure for attending to the paramount duties of religion, and not alone as a day of relaxation and rest, without which they could not live out all their days. Nothing like a seventh day of rest, or religious respect to that interval of time, is known among the Chinese, but they do not, as a people, exercise their minds to the intensity, or upon the high subjects common among Western nations, and this perhaps is one reason why their yearly toil produces no disastrous effects. The countless blessings which flow from an observance of the fourth commandment can be better appreciated by witnessing the wearied condition of the society where it is not acknowledged, and whoever sees such a society can hardly fail to wish for its introduction.

Converts to Christianity in China, who are instructed in its strict observance, soon learn to prize it as a high privilege; and its general neglect among the native Roman Catholics has removed the only apparent difference between them and the pagans. The former prime minister of China once remarked that among the few really valuable things which foreigners had brought to China, the rest of the Sabbath day was one of the most desirable; he often longed for a quiet day.[381]

NEW YEAR’S CUSTOMS AND CEREMONIES.

The return of the year is an occasion of unbounded festivity and hilarity, as if the whole population threw off the old year with a shout, and clothed themselves in the new with their change of garments. The evidences of the approach of this chief festival appear some weeks previous. The principal streets are lined with tables, upon which articles of dress, furniture, and fancy are disposed for sale in the most attractive manner. Necessity compels many to dispose of certain of their treasures or superfluous things at this season, and sometimes exceedingly curious bits of bric-a-brac, long laid up in families, can be procured at a cheap rate. It is customary for superiors to give their dependents and employees a present, and for shopmen to send an acknowledgment of favors to their customers; one of the most common gifts among the lower classes is a pair of new shoes. Among the tables spread in the streets are many provided with pencils and red paper of various sizes, on which persons write sentences appropriate to the season in various styles, to be pasted upon the doorposts and lintels of dwellings and shops,[382] or suspended from their walls. The shops also put on a most brilliant appearance, arrayed in these papers interspersed among the kin hwa, or ‘golden flowers,’ which are sprigs of artificial leaves and flowers made in the southern cities of brass tinsel and fastened upon wires; the latter are designed for an annual offering in temples, or to place before the household tablet. Small strips of red and gilt paper, some bearing the word fuh, or ‘happiness,’ large and small vermilion candles, gaily painted, and other things used in idolatry, are likewise sold in great quantities, and with the increased throng impart an unusually lively appearance to the streets. Another evident sign of the approaching change is the use of water upon the doors, shutters, and other woodwork of houses and shops, washing chairs, utensils, clothes, etc., as if cleanliness had not a little to do with joy, and a well-washed person and tenement were indispensable to the proper celebration of the festival. Throughout the southern rivers all small craft, tankia-boats, and lighters are beached and turned inside out for a scrubbing.

SETTLING ACCOUNTS AND DECORATING HOUSES.

A still more praiseworthy custom attending this season is that of settling accounts and paying debts; shopkeepers are kept busy waiting upon their customers, and creditors urge their debtors to arrange these important matters. No debt is allowed to overpass new year without a settlement or satisfactory arrangement, if it can be avoided; and those whose liabilities altogether exceed their means are generally at this season obliged to wind up their concerns and give all their available property into the hands of their creditors. The consequences of this general pay-day are a high rate of money, great resort to the pawnbrokers, and a general fall in the price of most kinds of produce and commodities. Many good results flow from the practice, and the conscious sense of the difficulty and expense of resorting to legal proceedings to recover debts induces all to observe and maintain it, so that the dishonest, the unsuccessful, and the wild speculator may be sifted out from amongst the honest traders.

De Guignes mentions one expedient to oblige a man to pay his debts at this season, which is to carry off the door of his shop or house, for then his premises and person will be exposed to the entrance and anger of all hungry and malicious demons prowling around the streets, and happiness no more revisit his abode; to avoid this he is fain to arrange his accounts. It is a common practice among devout persons to settle with the gods, and during a few days before the new year, the temples are unusually thronged by devotees, both male and female, rich and poor. Some persons fast and engage the priests to intercede for them that their sins may be pardoned, while they prostrate themselves before the images amidst the din of gongs, drums, and bells, and thus clear off the old score. On new year’s eve the streets are full of people hurrying to and fro to conclude the many matters which press upon them. At Canton, some are busy pasting the five slips upon their lintels, signifying their desire that the five blessings which constitute the sum of all human felicity (namely, longevity, riches, health, love of virtue, and a natural death) may be their favored portion. Such sentences as “May the five blessings visit this door,” “May heaven send down happiness,” “May rich customers ever enter this door,” are placed above them; and the doorposts are adorned with others on plain or gold sprinkled red paper, making the entrance quite picturesque. In the hall are suspended scrolls more or less costly, containing antithetical sentences carefully chosen. A literary man would have, for instance, a distich like the following:

May I be so learned as to secrete in my mind three myriads of volumes:

May I know the affairs of the world for six thousand years.

A shopkeeper adorns his door with those relating to trade:

May profits be like the morning sun rising on the clouds.

May wealth increase like the morning tide which brings the rain.

Manage your occupation according to truth and loyalty.

Hold on to benevolence and rectitude in all your trading.

The influence of these mottoes, and countless others like them which are constantly seen in the streets, shops, and dwellings throughout the land, is inestimable. Generally it is for good, and as a large proportion are in the form of petition or wish, they show the moral feeling of the people.

Boat-people in Kwangtung and Fuhkien provinces are peculiarly liberal of their paper prayers, pasting them on every board and oar in the boat, and suspending them from the stern in scores, making the vessel flutter with gaiety. Farmers stick theirs upon barns, trees, wattles, baskets, and implements, as if nothing was too insignificant to receive a blessing. The house is arranged in the most orderly and cleanly manner, and purified with religious ceremonies and lustrations, firing of crackers, etc., and as the necessary preparations occupy a considerable portion of the night, the streets are not quiet till dawn. In addition to the bustle arising from business and religious observances, which marks this passage of time, the constant explosion of fire-crackers, and the clamor of gongs, make it still more noisy. Strings of these crackling fireworks are burned at the doorposts, before the outgoing and incoming of the year, designed to expel and deter evil spirits from the house. The consumption is so great as to cover the streets with the fragments, and farmers come the week after into Canton city and sweep up hundreds of bushels for manure.

The first day of the year is also regarded as the birthday of the entire population, for the practice among the Hebrews of dating the age from the beginning of the year, prevails also in China; so that a child born only a week before new year, is considered as entering its second year on the first day of the first month. This does not, however, entirely supersede the observance of the real anniversary, and parents frequently make a solemnity of their son’s birthday. A missionary thus describes the celebration of a son’s sixth birthday at Ningpo. “The little fellow was dressed in his best clothes, and his father had brought gilt paper, printed prayers, and a large number of bowls of meats, rice, vegetables, spirits, nuts, etc., as an offering to be spread out before the idols. The ceremonies were performed in the apartment of the Tao Mu, or ‘Bushel Mother,’ who has special charge of infants before and after birth. The old abbot was dressed in a scarlet robe, with a gilt image of a serpent fastened in his hair; one of the monks wore a purple, another a gray robe. A multitude of prayers, seemingly a round of repetitions, were read by the abbot, occasionally chanting a little, when the attendants joined in the chorus, and a deafening clamor of bells, cymbals, and wooden blocks, added force to their cry; genuflexions and prostrations were repeatedly made. One part of the ceremony was to pass a live cock through a barrel, which the assistants performed many times, shouting some strange words at each repetition; this act symbolized the dangers through which the child was to pass in his future life, and the priests had prayed that he might as safely come out of them all, as the cock had passed through the barrel. In conclusion, some of the prayers were burned and a libation poured out, and a grand symphony of bell, gong, drum, and block, closed the scene.”[383]

A great diversity of local usages are observed at this period in different parts of the country. In Amoy, the custom of “surrounding the furnace” is generally practised. The members of the family sit down to a substantial supper on new year’s eve, with a pan of charcoal under the table, as a supposed preservative against fires. After the supper is ended, the wooden lamp-stands are brought out and spread upon the pavement with a heap of gold and silver paper, and set on fire after all demons have been warned off by a volley of fire-crackers. The embers are then divided into twelve heaps, and their manner of going out carefully watched as a prognostic of the kind of weather to be expected the ensuing year. Many persons wash their bodies in warm water, made aromatic by the infusion of leaves, as a security against disease; this ceremony, and ornamenting the ancestral shrine, and garnishing the whole house with inscriptions, pictures, flowers, and fruit, in the gayest manner the means of the family will allow, occupy most of the night.

CALLS AND COMPLIMENTS AT NEW YEAR’S.

The stillness of the streets and the gay inscriptions on the closed shops on new year’s morning present a wonderful contrast to the usual bustle and crowd, resembling the Christian Sabbath. The red papers of the doors are here and there interspersed with the blue ones, announcing that during the past year death has come among the inmates of the house; a silent but expressive intimation to passers that some who saw the last new year have passed away. In certain places, white, yellow, and carnation colored papers are employed, as well as blue, to distinguish the degree of the deceased kindred. Etiquette requires that those who mourn remain at home at this period. By noontide the streets begin to be filled with well-dressed persons, hastening in sedans or afoot to make their calls; those who cannot afford to buy a new suit hire one for this purpose, so that a man hardly knows his own domestics in their finery and robes. The meeting of friends in the streets, both bound on the same errand, is attended with particular demonstrations of respect, each politely struggling who shall be most affectedly humble. On this day parents receive the prostrations of their children, teachers expect the salutations of their pupils, magistrates look for the calls of their inferiors, and ancestors of every generation, and gods of various powers are presented with the offerings of devotees in the family hall or public temple. Much of the visiting is done by cards, on which is stamped an emblematic device representing the three happy wishes—of children, rank, and longevity; a common card suffices for distant acquaintances and customers. It might be a subject of speculation whether the custom of visiting and renewing one’s acquaintances on new year’s day, so generally practised among the Dutch and in America, was not originally imitated from the Chinese; but as in many other things, so in this, the westerns have improved upon the easterns, in calling upon the ladies. Persons, as they meet, salute each other with Kung-hí! Kung-hí! ‘I respectfully wish you joy!’—or Sin-hí! Sin-hí! ‘May the new joy be yours,’ either of which, from its use at this season, is quite like the Happy New Year! of Englishmen.

Toward evening, the merry sounds proceeding from the closed doors announce that the sacrifice provided for presentation before the shrines of departed parents is cheering the worshippers; while the great numbers who resort to gambling-shops show full well that the routine of ceremony soon becomes tiresome, and a more exciting stimulus is needed. The extent to which play is now carried is almost indescribable. Jugglers, mountebanks, and actors also endeavor to collect a few coppers by amusing the crowds. Generally speaking, however, the three days devoted to this festival pass by without turmoil, and business and work then gradually resume their usual course for another twelvemonth.

DRAGON-BOAT FESTIVAL AND FEAST OF LANTERNS.

The festival of the dragon-boats, on the fifth day of the fifth month, presents a very different scene wherever there is a serviceable stream for its celebration. At Canton, long, narrow boats, holding sixty or more rowers, race up and down the river in pairs with huge clamor, as if searching for some one who had been drowned. This festival was instituted in memory of the statesman Küh Yuen, about 450 B.C., who drowned himself in the river Mih-lo, an affluent of Tungting Lake, after having been falsely accused by one of the petty princes of the state. The people, who loved the unfortunate courtier for his fidelity and virtues, sent out boats in search of the body, but to no purpose. They then made a peculiar sort of rice-cake called tsung, and setting out across the river in boats with flags and gongs, each strove to be first on the spot of the tragedy and sacrifice to the spirit of Küh Yuen. This mode of commemorating the event has been since continued as an annual holiday. The bow of the boat is ornamented or carved into the head of a dragon, and men beating gongs and drums, and waving flags, inspirit the rowers to renewed exertions. The exhilarating exercise of racing leads the people to prolong the festival two or three days, and generally with commendable good humor, but their eagerness to beat often breaks the boats, or leads them into so much danger that the magistrates sometimes forbid the races in order to save the people from drowning.[384]

The first full moon of the year is the feast of lanterns, a childish and dull festival compared with the two preceding. Its origin is not certainly known, but it was observed as early as A.D. 700. Its celebration consists in suspending lanterns of different forms and materials before each door, and illuminating those in the hall, but their united brilliancy is dimness itself compared with the light of the moon. At Peking, an exhibition of transparencies and pictures in the Board of War on this evening attracts great crowds of both sexes if the weather be good. Magaillans describes a firework he saw, which was an arbor covered with a vine, the woodwork of which seemed to burn, while the trunk, leaves, and clusters of the plant gradually consumed, yet so that the redness of the grapes, the greenness of the leaves, and natural brown of the stem were all maintained until the whole was burned. The feast of lanterns coming so soon after new year, and being somewhat expensive, is not so enthusiastically observed in the southern cities. At the capital this leisure time, when public offices are closed, is availed of by the jewellers, bric-a-brac dealers, and others to hold a fair in the courts of a temple in the Wai Ching, where they exhibit as beautiful a collection of carvings in stone and gems, bronzes, toys, etc., as is to be seen anywhere in Asia. The respect with which the crowds of women and children are treated on these occasions reflects much credit on the people.

In the manufacture of lanterns the Chinese surely excel all other people; the variety of their forms, their elegant carving, gilding, and coloring, and the laborious ingenuity and taste displayed in their construction, render them among the prettiest ornaments of their dwellings. They are made of paper, silk, cloth, glass, horn, basket-work, and bamboo, exhibiting an infinite variety of shapes and decorations, varying in size from a small hand-light, costing two or three cents, up to a magnificent chandelier, or a complicated lantern fifteen feet in diameter, containing several lamps within it, and worth three or four hundred dollars. The uses to which they are applied are not less various than the pains and skill bestowed upon their construction are remarkable. One curious kind is called the tsao-ma-tăng, or ‘horse-racing lantern,’ which consists of one, two, or more wire frames, one within the other, and arranged on the same principle as the smoke-jack, by which the current of air caused by the flame sets them revolving. The wire framework is covered with paper figures of men and animals placed in the midst of appropriate scenery, and represented in various attitudes; or, as Magaillans describes them, “You shall see horses run, draw chariots and till the earth; vessels sailing, kings and princes go in and out with large trains, and great numbers of people, both afoot and a horseback, armies marching, comedies, dances, and a thousand other divertissements and motions represented.”

One of the prettiest shows of lanterns is seen in a festival observed in the spring or autumn by fisherman on the southern coasts to propitiate the gods of the waters. An indispensable part of the procession is a dragon fifty feet or more long, made of light bamboo frames of the size and shape of a barrel, connected and covered with strips of colored cotton or silk; the extremities represent the gaping head and frisking tail. This monster symbolizes the ruler of the watery deep, and is carried through the streets by men holding the head and each joint upon poles, to which are suspended lanterns; as they follow each other their steps give the body a wriggling, waving motion. Huge models of fish, similarly lighted, precede the dragon, while music and fireworks—the never-failing warning to lurking demons to keep out of the way—accompany the procession, which presents a very brilliant sight as it winds in its course through the dark streets. These sports and processions give idolatry its hold upon a people; and although none of them are required or patronized by government in China as in other heathen countries, most of the scenes and games which please the people are recommended by connecting with them the observances or hopes of religion and the merrymaking of the festive board.

In the middle of the sixth moon lanterns are hung from the top of a pole placed on the highest part of the house. A single small lantern is deemed sufficient, but if the night be calm, a greater display is made by some householders, and especially in boats, by exhibiting colored glass lamps arranged in various ways. The illumination of a city like Canton when seen from a high spot is made still more brilliant by the moving boats on the river. On one of these festivals at Canton, an almost total eclipse of the moon called out the entire population, each one carrying something with which to make a noise, kettles, pans, sticks, drums, gongs, guns, crackers, and what not to frighten away the dragon of the sky from his hideous feast. The advancing shadow gradually caused the myriads of lanterns to show more and more distinctly and started a still increasing clamor, till the darkness and the noise were both at their climax; silence gradually resumed its sway as the moon recovered her fulness.

ARRANGEMENT AND STYLE OF PROCESSIONS.

The Chinese are fond of processions, and if marriages and funerals be included, have them more frequently than any other people. Livery establishments are opened in every city and town where processions are arranged and supplied with everything necessary for bridal and funeral occasions as well as religious festivals. Not only are sedans, bands of music, biers, framed and gilded stands for carrying idols, shrines, and sacrificial feasts, red boxes for holding the bride’s trousseau, etc., supplied, but also banners, tables, stands, curiosities, and uniforms in great variety. The men and boys required to carry them and perform the various parts of the ceremony are hired, a uniform hiding their ragged garments and dirty limbs. Guilds often go to a heavy expense in getting up a procession in honor of their patron saint, whose image is carried through the streets attended by the members of the corporation dressed in holiday robes and boots. The variety and participators of these shows are exceedingly curious and characteristic of the people’s taste. Here are seen splendid silken banners worked with rich embroidery, alternating with young girls bedizened with paint and flowers, and perched on high seats under an artificial tree or apparently almost in the air, resting upon frames on men’s shoulders; bands of music; sacrificial meats and fruits adorned with flowers; shrines, images, and curious rarities laid out upon red pavilions; boys gaily dressed in official robes and riding upon ponies, or harnessed up in a covered framework to represent horses, all so contrived and painted that the spectator can hardly believe they are not riding Lilliputian ponies no bigger than dogs. A child standing in a car and carrying a branch on its shoulder, on one twig of which stands another child on one foot or a girl holding a plate of cakes in her hand, on the top of which stands another miss on tiptoe, the whole borne by coolies, sometimes add to the diversion of the spectacle and illustrate the mechanical skill of the exhibitors. Small companies dressed in a great variety of military uniforms, carrying spears, shields, halberds, etc., now and then volunteer for the occasion, and give it a more martial appearance. The carpenters at Canton are famous for their splendid processions in honor of their hero, Lu Pan, in which also other craftsmen join; for this demi-god corresponds to the Tubal-cain of Chinese legends, and is now regarded as the patron of all workmen, though he flourished no longer ago than the time of Confucius. Besides these festivities and processions, there are several more strictly religious, such as the annual mass of the Buddhists, the supplicatory sacrifice of farmers for a good crop, and others of more or less importance, which add to the number of days of recreation.

THEATRICAL REPRESENTATIONS AND PLAY-ACTORS.

Theatrical representations constitute a common amusement, and are generally connected with the religious celebration of the festival of the god before whose temple they are exhibited. They are got up by the priests, who send their neophytes around with a subscription paper, and then engage as large and skilful a band of performers as the funds will allow. There are few permanent buildings erected for theatres, for the Thespian band still retains its original strolling character, and stands ready to pack up its trappings at the first call. The erection of sheds for playing constitutes a separate branch of the carpenter’s trade; one large enough to accommodate two thousand persons can be put up in the southern cities in a day, and almost the only part of the materials which is wasted is the rattan which binds the posts and mats together. One large shed contains the stage, and three smaller ones before it enclose an area, and are furnished with rude seats for the paying spectators. The subscribers’ bounty is acknowledged by pasting red sheets containing their names and amounts upon the walls of the temple. The purlieus are let as stands for the sale of refreshments, for gambling tables, or for worse purposes, and by all these means the priests generally contrive to make gain of their devotion.[385]

Parties of actors and acrobats can be hired cheaply, and their performances form part of the festivities of rich families in their houses to entertain the women and relatives who cannot go abroad to see them. They are constituted into separate corporations or guilds, and each takes a distinguishing name, as the ‘Happy and Blessed company,’ the ‘Glorious Appearing company,’ etc.

The performances usually extend through three entire days, with brief recesses for sleeping and eating, and in villages where they are comparatively rare, the people act as if they were bewitched, neglecting everything to attend them. The female parts are performed by lads, who not only paint and dress like women, but even squeeze their toes into the “golden lilies,” and imitate, upon the stage, a mincing, wriggling gait. These fellows personate the voice, tones, and motions of the sex with wonderful exactness, taking every opportunity, indeed, that the play will allow to relieve their feet by sitting when on the boards, or retiring into the green-room when out of the acts. The acting is chiefly pantomime, and its fidelity shows the excellent training of the players. This development of their imitative faculties is probably still more encouraged by the difficulty the audience find to understand what is said; for owing to the differences in the dialects, the open construction of the theatre, the high falsetto or recitative key in which many of the parts are spoken, and the din of the orchestra intervening between every few sentences, not one quarter of the people hear or understand a word.

The scenery is very simple, consisting merely of rudely painted mats arranged on the back and sides of the stage, a few tables, chairs, or beds, which successively serve for many uses, and are brought in and out from the robing-room. The orchestra sits on the side of the stage, and not only fill up the intervals with their interludes, but strike a crashing noise by way of emphasis, or to add energy to the rush of opposing warriors. No falling curtain divides the acts or scenes, and the play is carried to its conclusion without intermission. The dresses are made of gorgeous silks, and present the best specimens of ancient Chinese costume of former dynasties now to be seen. The imperfections of the scenery require much to be suggested by the spectator’s imagination, though the actors themselves supply the defect in a measure by each man stating what part he performs, and what the person he represents has been doing while absent. If a courier is to be sent to a distant city, away he strides across the boards, or perhaps gets a whip and cocks up his leg as if mounting a horse, and on reaching the end of the stage cries out that he has arrived, and there delivers his message. Passing a bridge or crossing a river are indicated by stepping up and then down, or by the rolling motion of a boat. If a city is to be impersonated, two or three men lie down upon each other, when warriors rush on them furiously, overthrow the wall which they formed, and take the place by assault. Ghosts or supernatural beings are introduced through a wide trap-door in the stage, and, if he thinks it necessary, the impersonator cries out from underneath that he is ready, or for assistance to help him up through the hole.

DESCRIPTION OF A PLAY.

Mr. Lay describes a play he saw, in which a medley of celestial and terrestrial personages were introduced. “The first scene was intended to represent the happiness and splendor of beings who inhabit the upper regions, with the sun and moon and the elements curiously personified playing around them. The man who personated the sun held a round image of the sun’s disk, while the female who acted the part of the moon had a crescent in her hand. The actors took care to move so as to mimic the conjunction and opposition of these heavenly bodies as they revolve round in their apparent orbs. The Thunderer wielded an axe, and leaped and dashed about in a variety of extraordinary somersaults. After a few turns the monarch, who had been so highly honored as to find a place, through the partiality of a mountain nymph, in the abodes of the happy, begins to feel that no height of good fortune can secure a mortal against the common calamities of this frail life. A wicked courtier disguises himself in a tiger’s skin, and in this garb imitates the animal itself. He rushes into the retired apartments of the ladies, frightens them out of their wits, and throws the heir-apparent into a moat. The sisters hurry into the royal presence, and casting themselves on the ground divulge the sad intelligence that a tiger has borne off the young prince, who it appears was the son of the mountain nymph aforesaid. The loss the bereaved monarch takes so much to heart, that he renounces the world and deliberates about the nomination of a successor. By the influence of a crafty woman he selects a young man who has just sense enough to know that he is a fool. The settlement of the crown is scarcely finished when the unhappy king dies, and the blockhead is presently invested with the crown, but instead of excelling in his new preferment the lout bemoans his lot in the most awkward strains of lamentation, and cries, ‘O dear! what shall I do?’ with such piteous action, and yet withal so truly ludicrous, that the spectator is at a loss to know whether to laugh or to weep. The courtier who had taken off the heir and broken the father’s heart finds the new king an easy tool for prosecuting his traitorous purposes, and the state is plunged into the depths of civil discord at home and dangerous wars abroad.

“In the sequel a scene occurred in which the reconciliation of this court and some foreign prince depends upon the surrender of a certain obnoxious person. The son-in-law of the victim is charged with the letter containing this proposal, and returns to his house and disguises himself for the sake of concealment. When he reaches the court of the foreign prince he discovers that he has dropped the letter in changing his clothes, and narrowly escapes being taken for a spy without his credentials. He hurries back, calls for his garments, and shakes them one by one in an agony of self-reproach, but no letter appears. He sits down, throwing himself with great violence upon the chair, with a countenance inexpressibly full of torture and despair: reality could have added nothing to the imitation. But while every eye was riveted upon him, he called the servant-maid and inquired if she knew anything about the letter; she replied she overheard her mistress reading a letter whose contents were so and so. The mistress had taken her seat at a distance from him and was nursing her baby; and the instant he ascertained the letter was in her possession, he looked toward her with such a smile upon his cheek, and with a flood of light in his eye, that the whole assembly heaved a loud sigh of admiration; for the Chinese do not applaud by clapping and stamping, but express their feelings by an ejaculation that is between a sigh and a groan. The aim of the husband was to wheedle his wife out of the letter, and this smile and look of affection were merely the prelude; for he takes his chair, places it beside her, lays one hand softly on her shoulder, and fondles the child with the other in a style so exquisitely natural and so completely English, that in this dramatic picture it was seen that nature fashioneth men’s hearts alike. His addresses were, however, ineffectual, and her father’s life was not sacrificed.”[386]

The morals of the Chinese stage, so far as the sentiments of the pieces are concerned, are better than the acting, which sometimes panders to depraved tastes, but no indecent exposure, as of the persons of dancers, is ever seen in China. The audience stand in the area fronting the stage, or sit in the sheds around it; the women present are usually seated in the galleries. The police are at hand to maintain order, but the crowd, although in an irksome position, and sometimes exposed to a fierce sun, is remarkably peaceable. Accidents seldom occur on these occasions, but whenever the people are alarmed by a crash, or the stage takes fire, loss of life or limb generally ensues. A dreadful destruction took place at Canton in May, 1845, by the conflagration of a stage during the performances, by which more than two thousand lives were sacrificed; the survivors had occasion to remember that fifty persons had been killed many years before in the same place, and while a play was going on, by the falling of a wall.[387]

POPULAR AMUSEMENTS.

Active, manly plays are not popular in the south, and instead of engaging in a ball-game or regatta, going to a bowling alley or fives’ court, to exhibit their strength and skill, young men lift beams headed with heavy stones, like huge dumb-bells, to prove their muscle, or kick up their heels in a game of shuttlecock. The out-door amusements of gentlemen consist in flying kites, carrying birds on perches and throwing seeds high in the air for them to catch, sauntering through the fields, or lazily boating on the water. Pitching coppers, fighting crickets or quails, tossing up several balls at once, kicking large leaden balls against each other, snapping sticks, chucking stones, or guessing the number of seeds in an orange, are plays for lads.

METHODS AND POPULARITY OF GAMBLING.

Gambling is universal. Hucksters at the roadside are provided with a cup and saucer, and the clicking of their dice is heard at every corner. A boy with but two cash prefers to risk their loss on the throw of a die to simply buying a cake without trying the chance of getting it for nothing. Gaming-houses are opened by scores, their keepers paying a bribe to the local officers, who can hardly be expected to be very severe against what they were brought up in and daily practise; and women, in the privacy of their apartments, while away their time at cards and dominoes. Porters play by the wayside when waiting for employment, and hardly have the retinue of an officer seen their superiors enter the house, than they pull out their cards or dice and squat down to a game. The most common game of luck played at Canton is called fan tan, or ‘quadrating cash.’ The keeper of the table is provided with a pile of bright large cash, of which he takes a double handful, and lays them on the table, covering the pile with a bowl. The persons standing outside the rail guess the remainder there will be left after the pile has been divided by four, whether one, two, three, or nothing, the guess and stake of each person being first recorded by a clerk; the keeper then carefully picks out the coins four by four, all narrowly watching his movements. Cheating is almost impossible in this game, and twenty people can play at it as easily as two. Chinese cards are smaller and more numerous than our own; but the dominoes are the same.

Combats between crickets are oftenest seen in the south, where the small field sort is common. Two well-chosen combatants are put into a basin and irritated with a straw until they rush upon each other with the utmost fury, chirruping as they make the onset, and the battle seldom ends without a tragical result in loss of life or limb. Quails are also trained to mortal combat; two are placed on a railed table, on which a handful of millet has been strewn, and as soon as one picks up a kernel the other flies at him with beak, claws, and wings, and the struggle is kept up till one retreats by hopping into the hand of his disappointed owner. Hundreds of dollars are occasionally betted upon these cricket or quail fights, which, if not as sublime or exciting, are certainly less inhuman than the pugilistic fights and bull-baits of Christian countries, while both show the same brutal love of sport at the expense of life.

Boys Gambling with Crickets.

A favorite amusement is the flying of kites. They are made of paper and silk, in imitation of birds, butterflies, lizards, spectacles, fish, men, and other objects; but the skill shown in flying them is more remarkable than the ingenuity displayed in their construction. The ninth day of the ninth moon is a festival devoted to this amusement all over the land. Doolittle describes them as sometimes resembling a great bird, or a serpent thirty feet long; at other times the spectator sees a group of hawks hovering around a centre, all being suspended by one strong cord, and each hawk-kite controlled and moved by a separate line. On this day he estimates that as many as thirty thousand people assemble on the hills around Fuhchau to join in this amusement if the weather be propitious. Many of the kites are cut adrift under the belief that, as they float off, they carry away with them all impending disasters.

Chinese Chess-board.

CHINESE CHESS.

The Chinese game of chess is very ancient, for Wu Wang (B.C. 1120) is the reputed inventor, and its rules of playing are so unlike the Indian game as to suggest an independent origin, which is confirmed by the peculiar feature of the kiai ho, or river, running across the board. There are seventy-two squares, of which eight are run together to form the river, leaving thirty-two on each side; but as the men stand on the intersection of the lines, there are ninety positions for the sixteen pieces used by each player, or twenty-six more than in the European game. The pieces are arranged for playing as in the diagram above.

The pieces are like chequer-men in shape, each of the seven kinds on each side having its name out on the top, and distinguished by its red or black colors. The four squares near each edge form the headquarters of the tsiang, or ‘general,’ out of which he and his two sz’, or ‘secretaries,’ cannot move. On each side of the headquarters are two elephants, two horses, and two chariots, whose powers are less than our bishop, knight, and castle, though similar; the chariot is the most powerful piece. In front of the horses stand two cannoniers, which capture like our knight but move like our castle. Five pao, soldiers or pawns, guard the river banks, but cannot return when once across it in pursuit of the enemy, and get no higher value when they reach the last row. Each piece is put down in the point where it captured its man, except the cannoniers; as the general cannot be taken, the object of each player is to check-mate him in his headquarters, therefore, by preventing his moving except into check. The want of a queen and the limited moves of the men restrict the combinations in the Chinese game more than in western chess, but it has its own elements of skill. Literary men and women play it much, and usually for small stakes. There is another game played less frequently but one of the most ancient in the Empire. It is called wei-kí, which may be rendered ‘blockade chess,’ and was common in the days of the sages, perhaps even earlier than chess. The board contains three hundred and twenty-four squares, eighteen each way, and the number of pieces is three hundred, though both the number of points and of pieces may be less than this size of the full game. The pieces are black and white and stand on the crossings of the lines, three hundred and sixty-one in number. The object of the opponents is to surround each other’s men and take up the crossings they occupy, or neutralize their power over those near them. Each player puts down a piece anywhere on the board, and continues to do so alternately, capturing his adversary’s positions until all the crossings are occupied and the game is ended.[388]

If this sketch of the customs and amusements of the Chinese in their social intercourse and public entertainments is necessarily brief, it is perhaps enough to exhibit their character. Dr. Johnson has well remarked that no man is a hypocrite in his amusements. The absence of some of the violent and gladiatorial sports of other countries, and of the adjudication of doubtful questions by ordeals or duels; the general dislike of a resort to force, their inability to cope with enemies of vastly less resources and numbers, and the comparative disesteem of warlike achievements, all indicate the peaceful traits of Chinese character. Duels are unknown, assassinations are infrequent, betting on horse-races is still to begin, and running amuck à la Malay is unheard of. When two persons fall out upon a matter, after a vast variety of gesture and huge vociferation of opprobrium, they will blow off their wrath and separate almost without touching each other. Some contrarieties in their ideas and customs from those practised among ourselves have frequently been noticed by travellers, a few of which are grouped in the following sketch:

CONTRARIETIES IN CHINESE AND WESTERN USAGE.

On asking the boatman in which direction the harbor lay, I was answered west-north, and the wind, he said, was west-south; he still further perplexed my ideas as to our course by getting out his compass and showing me that the needle pointed south. It was really a needle as to size, weight, and length, about an inch and a half long, the south end of it painted red, and all the time quivering on the pivot. His boat differed from our vessels, too, in many ways: the cooking was done in the stern and the passengers were all accommodated in the bow, while the sailors slept on deck and had their kits stowed in lockers amidships.

On landing, the first object that attracted my attention was a military officer wearing an embroidered petticoat, who had a string of beads around his neck and a fan in his hand. His insignia of rank was a peacock’s feather pointing downward instead of a plume turning upward; he had a round knob or button on the apex of his sugar-loaf cap, instead of a star on his breast or epaulettes on his shoulders; and it was with some dismay that I saw him mount his horse on the right side. Several scabbards hung from his belt, which I naturally supposed must be dress swords or dirks; but on venturing near through the crowd I was undeceived by seeing a pair of chopsticks and a knife-handle sticking out of one, and soon his fan was folded up and put in the other. I therefore concluded that he was going to a dinner instead of a review. The natives around me shaved the hair from the front half of their heads and let it grow long behind: many of them did not shave their faces, and others employed their leisure in diligently pulling the straggling hairs down over their mouths. We arrange our toilets differently, thought I; but could easily see the happy device of chopsticks, which enabled these gentlemen to put their food into the mouth endwise under this natural fringe. A group of hungry fellows, around the stall of a travelling cook, further exhibited the utility of these kwai-tsz’, or ‘nimble lads’ (as I afterward learned chopsticks were called), for each had put his bowl of rice to his lips, and was shovelling in the contents till the mouth would hold no more. “We keep our bowls on the table,” said I, “do our cooking in the house, and wait for customers to come there instead of travelling around after them;” but these chopsticks serve for knife, fork, and spoon in one.

On my way to the hotel I saw a group of old people and graybeards. A few were chirruping and chuckling to larks or thrushes, which they carried perched on a stick or in cages; others were catching flies or hunting for crickets to feed them, while the remainder of the party seemed to be delightfully employed in flying fantastic paper kites. A group of boys were gravely looking on and regarding these innocent occupations of their seniors with the most serious and gratified attention. A few of the most sprightly were kicking a shuttlecock back and forth with great energy, instead of playing rounders with bat and ball as boys would do.

As I had come to the country to reside for some time, I made inquiries respecting a teacher, and happily found one who understood English. On entering he stood at the door, and instead of coming forward and shaking my hands, he politely bowed and shook his own, clasping them before his breast. I looked upon this mode as an improvement on our custom, especially when the condition of the hands might be doubtful, and requested him to be seated. I knew that I was to study a language without an alphabet, but was not prepared to see him begin at what I had always considered to be the end of the book. He read the date of its publication, “the fifth year, tenth month, and first day.” “We arrange our dates differently,” I observed, and begged him to read—which he did, from top to bottom, and proceeding from right to left. “You have an odd book here,” remarked I, taking it up; “what is the price?” “A dollar and eight-thirds,” said he, upon which I counted out three dollars and two-thirds and went on looking at it. The paper was printed only on one side; the running title was on the edge of the leaves instead of the top of the page, the paging was near the bottom, the number and contents of the chapters were at their ends, the marginal notes on the top, where the blank was double the size at the foot, and a broad black line across the middle of each page, like that seen in some French newspapers, separated the two works composing the volume, instead of one being printed after the other. The back was open and the sewing outside, and the name neatly written on the bottom edge. “You have given me too much,” said he, as he handed me back two dollars and one-third, and then explained that eight-thirds meant eight divided by three, or only three-eighths. A small native vocabulary which he carried with him had the characters arranged according to the termination of their sounds, ming, sing, king, being all in a row, and the first word in it being seen. “Ah! my friend,” said I, “English won’t help me to find a word in that book; please give me your address.” He accordingly took out a red card, big as a sheet of paper, on which was written Ying San-yuen in large characters, and pointed out the place of his residence, written on the other side. “I thought your name was Mr. Ying; why do you write your name wrong end first?” “It is you who are in the wrong,” replied he; “look in your yearly directory, where alone you write names as they should be written, putting the honored family name first.”

I could only say, “Customs differ;” and begged him to speak of ceremony, as I gave him back the book. He commenced, “When you receive a distinguished guest, do not fail to place him on your left, for that is the seat of honor; and be careful not to uncover the head, as that would be an unbecoming act of familiarity.” This was a little opposed to my established notions; but when he reopened the volume and read, “The most learned men are decidedly of the opinion that the seat of the human understanding is in the belly,” I cried out, “Better say it is in the feet!” and straightway shut up the book, dismissing him for another day; for this shocked all my principles of correct philosophy, even if King Solomon was against me.

On going abroad I met so many things contrary to my early notions of propriety that I readily assented to a friend’s observation, that the Chinese were our antipodes in many things besides geographical position. “Indeed,” said I, “they are so; I shall expect shortly to see a man walking on his head. Look! there’s a woman in trousers and a party of gentlemen in petticoats; she is smoking and they are fanning themselves.” However, on passing them I saw that the latter had on tight leggings. We soon met the steward of the house dressed in white, and I asked him what merry-making he was invited to; with a look of concern he told me he was returning from his father’s funeral. Instead of having crape on his head he wore white shoes, and his dress was slovenly and neglected. My companion informed me that in the north of China it was common for rich people at funerals to put a white harness on the mules and shroud the carts in coarse cotton; while the chief mourners walked next to the bier, making loud cryings and showing their grief by leaning on the attendants. The friends rode behind and the musicians preceded the coffin—all being unlike our sable plumes and black crapes.

We next went through a retired street, where we heard sobbing and crying inside a court, and I inquired who was dead or ill. The man, suppressing a smile, said, “It is a girl about to be married, who is lamenting with her relatives and fellows as she bids adieu to the family penates and lares and her paternal home. She has enough to cry about, though, in the prospect of going to her mother-in-law’s house.”

I thought, after these unlucky essays, I would ask no more questions, but use my eyes instead. Looking into a shop, I saw a stout fellow sewing lace on a bonnet for a foreign lady; and going on to the landing-place, behold, all the ferry-boats were rowed by women, and from a passage-boat at the wharf I saw all the women get out of the bow to go ashore. “What are we coming to next?” said I; and just then saw a carpenter take his foot-rule out of his stocking to measure some timber which an apprentice was cutting with a saw whose blade was set nearly at right angles with the frame. Before the door sat a man busily engaged in whitening the thick soles of a pair of cloth shoes. “That’s a shoewhite, I suppose,” said I; “and he answers to the shoeblacks in New York, who cry ‘Shine! shine!’” “Just so,” said my friend; “and beyond him see the poor wretch in chokey, with a board or cangue around his neck for a shirt-collar; an article of his toilet which answers to the cuffs with which the lads in the Tombs there are garnished instead of bracelets. In the prisons in this land, instead of cropping the hair of a criminal, as with us, no man is allowed to have his head shaved.”

In the alleys called streets, few of them ten feet wide, the signs stood on their ends or hung from the eaves; the counters of the shops were next the street, the fronts were all open, and I saw the holes for the upright bars which secured the shop at night. Everything was done or sold in the streets or markets, which presented a strange medley. The hogs were transported in hampers on the shoulders of coolies, to the evident satisfaction of the inmates, and small pigs were put into baskets carried in slings, while the fish were frisking and jumping in shallow tubs as they were hawked from door to door.

A loud din led us to look in at an open door to see what was going on, and there a dozen boys were learning their tasks, all crying like auctioneers; one lad reciting his lesson out of Confucius turned his back to the master instead of looking him in the face, and another who was learning to write put the copy-slip under the paper to imitate it, instead of looking at it as our boys would do.

We next passed a fashionable lady stepping out of her sedan chair. Her head was adorned with flowers instead of a bonnet, her hands gloveless, and her neck quite bare. Her feet were encased in red silk pictured shoes not quite four inches long; her plaited, embroidered petticoat was a foot longer than her gown, and her waist was not to be seen. As she entered the court-yard, leaning on the shoulder of her maid to help her walk on those cramped feet, my friend observed, “There you see a good example of a live walking-stick.”

A little after we met one of his acquaintances accompanying a prettily carved coffin, and he asked who was dead.

“No man hab catchee die,” replied the Celestial; “this one piecy coffin I just now gib my olo fader. He likee too much counta my numba one ploper; s’pose he someteem catchee die, can usee he.”

“So fashion, eh?” rejoined my friend; “how muchee plice can catchee one alla same same for that?”

“I tinky can get one alla same so fashion one tousan dollar, so; this hab first chop hansom, lo.”

“Do you call that gibberish English or Chinese?” I asked; for the language sounded no less strange than the custom of presenting a coffin to a living father differed from my preconceived notions of filial duty.

“That’s the purest pigeon-English,” replied he; “and you must be the Jack Downing of Canton to immortalize it.”

“Come, rather let us go home, for soon I shall hardly be able to tell where or who I am in this strange land.”[389]

COMMENDABLE TRAITS OF CHINESE CHARACTER.

In summing up the moral traits of Chinese character—a far more difficult task than the enumeration of its oddities—we must necessarily compare them with that perfect standard given us from above. While their contrarieties indicate a different external civilization, a slight acquaintance with their morals proves their similarity to their fellow-men in the lineaments of a fallen and depraved nature. Some of the better traits of their character have been marvellously developed. They have attained, by the observance of peace and good order, to a high degree of security for life and property; the various classes of society are linked together in a remarkably homogeneous manner by the diffusion of education in the most moral books in their language and a general regard for the legal rights of property. Equality of competition for office removes the main incentive to violence in order to obtain posts of power and dignity, and industry receives its just reward of food, raiment, and shelter with a uniformity which encourages its constant exertion. If any one asks how they have reached this point, we would primarily ascribe it to the blessing of the Governor of the nations, who has for His own purposes continued one people down to the present time from remote antiquity. The roots of society among them have never been broken up by emigration or the overflowing conquest of a superior race, but have been fully settled in a great regard for the family compact and deep reverence for parents and superiors. Education has strengthened and disseminated the morality they had, and God has blessed their filial piety by fulfilling the first commandment with promise and making their days long in the land which He has given them. Davis lays rather too much stress upon geographical and climatic causes in accounting for their advancement in these particulars, though their isolation has no doubt had much to do with their security and progress.

When, however, these traits have been mentioned, the Chinese are still more left without excuse for their wickedness, since being without law, they are a law unto themselves; they have always known better than they have done. With a general regard for outward decency, they are vile and polluted in a shocking degree; their conversation is full of filthy expressions and their lives of impure acts. They are somewhat restrained in the latter by the fences put around the family circle, so that seduction and adultery are comparatively infrequent, the former may even be said to be rare; but brothels and their inmates occur everywhere on land and on water. One danger attending young girls going abroad alone is that they will be stolen for incarceration in these gates of hell. By pictures, songs, and aphrodisiacs they excite their sensuality, and, as the Apostle says, “receive in themselves that recompense of their error which is meet.”

MENDACITY OF THE CHINESE.

More uneradicable than the sins of the flesh is the falsity of the Chinese, and its attendant sin of base ingratitude; their disregard of truth has perhaps done more to lower their character than any other fault. They feel no shame at being detected in a lie (though they have not gone quite so far as not to know when they do lie), nor do they fear any punishment from their gods for it. On the other hand, the necessity of the case compels them, in their daily intercourse with each other, to pay some regard to truth, and each man, from his own consciousness, knows just about how much to expect. Ambassadors and merchants have not been in the best position to ascertain their real character in this respect; for on the one side the courtiers of Peking thought themselves called upon by the mere presence of an embassy to put on some fictitious appearances, and on the other, the integrity and fair dealing of the hong merchants and great traders at Canton is in advance of the usual mercantile honesty of their countrymen. A Chinese requires but little motive to falsify, and he is constantly sharpening his wits to cozen his customer—wheedle him by promises and cheat him in goods or work. There is nothing which tries one so much when living among them as their disregard of truth, and renders him so indifferent as to what calamities may befall so mendacious a race; an abiding impression of suspicion toward everybody rests upon the mind, which chills the warmest wishes for their welfare and thwarts many a plan to benefit them. Their better traits diminish in the distance, and patience is exhausted in its daily proximity and friction with this ancestor of all sins. Mr. Abeel mentions a case of deceit which may serve as a specimen.

Soon after we arrived at Kulang su, a man came to us who professed to be the near relation and guardian of the owners of the house in which we live, and presented a little boy as the joint proprietor with his widowed mother. From the appearance of the house and the testimony of others we could easily credit his story that the family were now in reduced circumstances, having not only lost the house when the English attacked the place, but a thousand dollars besides by native robbers; we therefore allowed him a small rent, and gave the dollars to the man, who put them into the hands of the child. The next month he made his appearance, but our servant, whom we had taken to be peculiarly honest for a heathen, suggested the propriety of inquiring whether the money was ever given to those for whom it was professedly received; and soon returned with the information that the mother had heard nothing of the money, the man who received it not living in the family, but had now sent a lad to us who would receive it for her, and who our servants assured us would give it to the proper person. A day or two afterward our cook whispered to me that our honest servant, who had taken so much pains to prevent all fraud in the matter, had made the lad give him one-half of the money for his disinterestedness in preventing it from falling into improper hands; and further examination showed us that this very cook had himself received a good share to keep silent.

Thieving is exceedingly common, and the illegal exactions of the rulers, as has already been sufficiently pointed out, are most burdensome. This vice, too, is somewhat restrained by the punishments inflicted on criminals, though the root of the evil is not touched. While the licentiousness of the Chinese may be in part ascribed to their ignorance of pure intellectual pleasures and the want of virtuous female society, so may their lying be attributed partly to their truckling fear of officers, and their thievery to the want of sufficient food or work. Hospitality is not a trait of their character; on the contrary, the number and wretched condition of the beggars show that public and private charity is almost extinct; yet here too the sweeping charge must be modified when we remember the efforts they make to sustain their relatives and families in so densely peopled a country. Their avarice is not so distinguishing a feature as their love of money, but the industry which this desire induces or presupposes is the source of most of their superiority to their neighbors. The politeness which they exhibit seldom has its motive in good-will, and consequently, when the varnish is off, the rudeness, brutality, and coarseness of the material is seen; still, among themselves this exterior polish is not without some good results in preventing quarrels, where both parties, fully understanding each other, are careful not to overpass the bounds of etiquette.

On the whole, the Chinese present a singular mixture: if there is something to commend, there is more to blame; if they have some glaring vices, they have more virtues than most pagan nations. Ostentatious kindness and inbred suspicion, ceremonious civility and real rudeness, partial invention and servile imitation, industry and waste, sycophancy and self-dependence, are, with other dark and bright qualities, strangely blended. In trying to remedy the faults of their character by the restraints of law and the diffusion of education, they have no doubt hit upon the right mode; and their shortcomings show how ineffectual both must be until the Gospel comes to the aid of ruler and subject in elevating the moral sense of the whole nation. Female infanticide in some parts openly confessed, and divested of all disgrace and penalties everywhere; the dreadful prevalence of all the vices charged by the Apostle Paul upon the ancient heathen world; the alarming extent of the use of opium (furnished, too, under the patronage, and supplied in purity by the power and skill of Great Britain from India), destroying the productions and natural resources of the people; the universal practice of lying and dishonest dealings; the unblushing lewdness of old and young; harsh cruelty toward prisoners by officers, and tyranny over slaves by masters—all form a full unchecked torrent of human depravity, and prove the existence of a kind and degree of moral degradation of which an excessive statement can scarcely be made, or an adequate conception hardly be formed.

END OF VOLUME I.

---

[FOOTNOTES]

[1] An alphabetical arrangement of all the tables scattered throughout the work may be found under this word in the Index.

[2] D’Herbelot, Bibliothèque Orientale, quarto edition, 1779, Tome IV., p. 8. Yule, Cathay and the Way Thither, Vol. I., pp. xxxiv., lxviii. Edkins, Chinese Buddhism, p. 93.

[3] Or 21,759,974 sq. km.—Gotha Almanach.

[4] Klaproth (Mémoires sur l’Asie, Tome II., p. 295) observes that the name is derived from the abundance of onions found upon these mountains. M. Abel-Rémusat prefers to attribute it to the “bluish tint of onions.”

[5] Compare Rémusat, Histoire de la Ville de Khotan, p. 65, ff.

[6] One among many native names given to the Kwănlun, or Koulkun Mountains, is Tien chu, 天柱 ‘Heaven’s Pillar,’ which corresponds precisely with the Atlas of China.

[7] Another interpretation makes Gobi (Kopi) to apply to the stony, while Sha-moh denotes the sandy tracks of this desert, in which case the name would more correctly read, “Great Desert of Gobi and Sha-moh.”

[8] Col. Prejevalsky, Travels in Mongolia, etc. Vol. II., p. 22. London, 1876.

[9] Von Richthofen, China. Ergebnisse eigener Reisen, Band I. Berlin, 1877.

[10] Report by Dr. W. A. P. Martin in Journal of N. C. Branch of R. A. Society, Vol. III., pp. 33-38; 1866. Same journal, Vol. IV., pp. 80-86; 1867; Notes by Ney Elias. Pumpelly’s Researches, 1866, chap. v., pp. 41-51.

[11] See the account of Père Laribe’s voyage on this river in 1843, Annales de la Propagation de la Foi, Tome XVII., pp. 207, 286, ff. Five Months on the Yang-tsze, by Capt. Thos. W. Blakiston; London, 1862. Pumpelly’s Researches, chap. ii., pp. 4-10. Capt. Gill, The River of Golden Sand.

[12] Staunton’s Embassy, Vol. III., p. 233. Blakiston’s Yang-tsze, p. 294, etc. Chinese Repository, Vol. II., p. 316.

[13] Prejevalsky, From Kulja Across the Tien shan to Lob-nor, p. 99.

[14] Chinese Repository, Vol. V., p. 337; Vol. X., pp. 351, 371. Williams’ Chinese Commercial Guide, fifth edition, second part, 1863.

[15] Rémusat (Nouveaux Mélanges, Tome I., p. 9) adds a fourth basin, that of the Sagalien. The latter, however, scarcely deserves the name, having so many interrupting cross-chains.

[16] Penny Cyclopædia, Vol. VII., p. 74. McCulloch’s Geographical Dictionary, Vol. I., p. 596.

[17] Yule’s Marco Polo, Vol. II., p. 136.

[18] Sketches of China, Vol. I., p. 245.

[19] Klaproth, Mémoires, Tome III., p. 312 sqq. De Guignes’ Voyages à Peking, Tome II., p. 195. Davis’s Sketches, Vol. I., passim.

[20] Voyages à Peking, Vol. II., p. 214. Compare the letter of a Jesuit missionary (Annales de la Foi, Tome VII., p. 377), who describes houses of rest on the wayside. These singular road-gullies of the loess region have been very thoroughly examined by Baron von Richthofen, from whose work the cut [above] is taken.

[21] Penny Cyclopædia, Vol. XXVII., p. 656.

[22] Chinese Repository, Vol. XIV., p. 105. Shanghai Journal, No. III., 1859. Journal of Indian Archipelago, 1852. Missionary Recorder, Vol. III., pp. 33, 62, 149, etc. T. T. Cooper, Travels of a Pioneer of Commerce, passim.

[23] For observations on the Chinese as compared with other nations, see Schlegel’s Philosophy of History, p. 118, Bohn’s edition.

[24] Bridgman’s Chinese Chrestomathy, p. 420. Macao, 1841.

[25] Compare an article in the China Review for September-October, 1881, by H. Fritsche: The Amount of Rain and Snow in Peking.

[26] Annales de la Foi, Tome XVI., p. 293.

[27] Chinese Repository, Vol. VIII., p. 230; Vol. IV., p. 197. See also Fritsche’s paper in Journal of N. C. Branch Royal Asiatic Society, No. XII., 1878, pp. 127-335; also Appendix II. in No. X., containing observations taken at Zi-ka-wei.

[28] Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., p. 54.

[29] This word should not be written Pekin; it is pronounced Pei-ching by the citizens, and by most of the people north of the Great River.

[30] “You would think them all made of, or at least covered with, pure gold enamelled in azure and green, so that the spectacle is at once majestic and charming.” Magaillans, Nouvelle Description de la Chine, p. 353.

[31] See also L’Univers Pittoresque, Chine Moderne, par MM. Pauthier et Bazin, Paris, 1853, for a good map of Peking, with careful descriptions. Yule’s Marco Polo, passim. De Guigues, Voyages, Tome I. Williamson, Journeys in North China, Vol. II. Dr. Rennie, Peking and the Pekingese. Tour du Monde for 1864, Tome II.

[32] Chinese Repository, Vol. IX., p. 259.

[33] Dr. Martin, The Chinese (New York, 1881), p. 85.

[34] Compare Kircher, China Illustrata, where an engraving of it may be seen. A bell near Mandalay, mentioned by Dr. Anderson, is 12 feet high, 16 feet across the lips, and weighs 90 tons—evidently a heavier monster than this in Peking. (Mandalay to Momien, p. 18.)

[35] Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., p. 181.

[36] Compare the Annales de la Foi, Tome X., p. 100, for interesting details concerning the Romish missionaries in Peking. Also Pauthier’s Chine Moderne, pp. 8-36 (Paris, 1852), containing an excellent map. Bretschneider’s Archeological and Historical Researches on Peking, etc., published in the Chinese Recorder, Vol. VI. (1875, passim). Mémoires concernant l’Histoire, les Sciences, les Arts, les Moeurs, les Usages, etc., des Chinois, par les Missionnaires de Pekin; 16 vols., Paris, 1797-1814. N. B. Dennys, Notes for Tourists in the North of China; Hongkong, 1866.

[37] Journal of Lord Amherst’s Embassy to China, 2d ed., p. 22. London, 1840.

[38] Travels of the Russian Mission through Mongolia to China, Vol. I., p. 293. London, 1827.

[39] Williamson, Journeys in North China, Vol. II., p. 90.

[40] Journal of the Roy. Geog. Soc., 1874. Yule’s Marco Polo, Vol. I., pp. 263-268. Cathay and the Way Thither, Vol. I., p. 134. Gerbillon, Mémoires concernant les Chinois (Astley’s ed.), Vol. IV., pp. 701-716. Journal Asiatique, Ser. II., Tome XI., p. 345. Huc, Tartary, etc., Vol. I., p. 34, 2d ed., London.

[41] Sir G. L. Staunton, Account of an Embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China. 2 vols. Lond., 1796.

[42] Annales de la Foi, 1844, Tome XVI., p. 421.

[43] Sketches of China, Vol. I., p. 257.

[44] Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., pp. 308-335. W. H. Medhurst’s China, chaps. xv.-xix.

[45] Richthofen, China. Band I. S. 68. Rev. Arthur Smith, Glimpses of Travel in the Middle Kingdom. Shanghai, 1875.

[46] The curious reader can consult the article by Mayer, in Vol. XII. of the North China Branch Royal Asiatic Society’s Journal, 1878, for the meaning of these various objects.

[47] Five Years in China, Nashville, Tenn., 1860. See also Voyages of the Nemesis, pp. 450-452, for further details of this city in 1842; the Chinese Repository, Vols. I., p. 257, and XIII., p. 261, contain more details on the Pagoda.

[48] Travels in China.

[49] Capt. G. G. Loch, Events in China, p. 74.

[50] Mentioned by Marco Polo. Yule’s edition, Vol. II., p. 137.

[51] Fortune’s Wanderings in China, p. 120.

[52] Davis’s Sketches, Vol. II., p. 55.

[53] See Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., p. 488; Journal of N. C. Br. R. A. Society, Vol. VI., pp. 123-128; and Chinese Recorder, Vol. I., 1869, pp. 241-248. These people are relics of tribes of Miaotsz’.

[54] Yule’s Marco Polo, Vol. II., p. 145.

[55] Travels in China, p. 522.

[56] Yule’s Marco Polo, Vol. II., p. 146.

[57] De Guignes, Voyages à Peking, Vol. II., pp. 65-77.

[58] Compare R. M. Martin’s China (Vol. II., p. 304), who gives considerable miscellaneous information about the open ports, previous to 1846; also Dennys’ Treaty Ports of China, 1867, pp. 326-349; Richthofen’s Letters, No. 5, 1871; Yule’s Marco Polo, Vol. II., p. 181; Missionary Recorder, 1869, pp. 156, 177.

[59] Milne, in Chinese Repository, Vol. XIII., p. 22, and in his Life in China, part second. London, 1857.

[60] Medhurst’s China, its State and Prospects, p. 393.

[61] Yule’s Marco Polo, Vol. II., p. 149. Cathay and the Way Thither, p. cxciii. Reinaud, Relations des Voyages faits par les Arabes dans l’Inde et à la Chine, etc. (Paris, 1845), Tome I., p. 19.

[62] Borget, La Chine Ouverte, p. 126.

[63] Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., p. 92.

[64] Yule’s Marco Polo, Vol. II., pp. 183-185, etc. A Turkish geography, printed at Constantinople, describes this port under the name of Zeitoun. Compare Klaproth, Mémoires sur l’Asie, Tome II., p. 208. See further, Chinese Recorder, Vol. III., p. 87; Vol. IV., p. 77; Vol. V., p. 327, and Vol. VI., p. 31, sqq.

[65] Chinese Repository, Vol. XV., pp. 185, 225.

[66] The Boston Missionary Herald for 1845 (p. 87) contains a notice of the “White Deer Cavern,” in the neighborhood.

[67] Chinese Repository, Vol. XI., p. 506.

[68] Chinese Repository, Vol. XII., p. 530; Fortune’s Tea Districts, chaps. xiv. and xv.

[69] Yule’s Marco Polo, Vol. II., p. 186.

[70] Commercial Relations between the U. S. and Foreign Nations. 1869.

[71] “An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa, an Island subject to the Emperor of Japan,” etc. Klaproth (Mémoires sur l’Asie, Tome I., p. 321) translates an account of this island from Chinese sources. E. C. Taintor, The Aborigines of Northern Formosa—Shanghai, 1874—read before the North China branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. Chinese Repository, Vol. II., p. 408, and Vol. V., p. 480.

[72] Annales de la Foi, 1845, Tome XVII., pp. 287, 290. See also Huc’s Travels in the Chinese Empire, Harper’s Ed., 1855, Vol. II., pp. 142-144. Pumpelly, pp. 224-226; Blakiston’s Yangtsze, p. 65; Treaty Ports of China, 1867, Art. Hankow.

[73] Usually known as the Ta-pa ling; but Baron von Richthofen found that the natives of that region “call those mountains the Kiu-tiao shan, that is the ‘nine mountain ridges,’ designating therewith the fact that the range is made up of a number of parallel ridges. This name should be retained in preference to the other.” Letter on the Provinces of Chihlí, Shansí, Shensí, etc. Shanghai, 1872. See also his China, Band II. S. 563-576; Alex. Wylie, Notes of a Journey from Chingtoo to Hankow, Journ. Roy. Geog. Soc. Vol. XIV., p. 168.

[74] See Kreitner, Im fernen Osten, p. 504. Wien, 1881.

[75] Prejevalsky’s Travels in Mongolia, Vol. II., pp. 256-266.

[76] Dip. Cor., 1874, p. 251.

[77] That this insurrection was not unprecedented we learn from a notice of a similar Mohammedan revolt here in 1784. Nouvelles Lettres Edifiantes des Missions de la Chine, Tome II., p. 23.

[78] Yule’s Marco Polo, Vol. II., p. 23.

[79] Chinese Repository, Vol. XIX., pp. 317 and 394. Annales de la Foi, Tome III., pp. 369-381, and Tome IV., pp. 409-415. Letter by Baron Richthofen on the Provinces of Chihlí, Shansí, Shensí, Sz’chuen, etc. Shanghai, 1872. Kreitner, Im fernen Osten, pp. 780-829.

[80] French bishop Palafox gives still another account of the capture of Canton; his statement contains, however, one or two glaring errors. Vid. Histoire de la Conquête de la Chine par les Tartares, pp. 150 ff.

[81] Dr. Kerr, Canton Guide.

[82] Chinese Repository, Vol. II., pp. 145, 191, &c.

[83] This word is derived from the Chinese hong or hang, meaning a row or series, and is applied to warehouses because these consist of a succession of rooms. The foreign factories were built in this manner, and therefore the Chinese called each block a hong; the old security-merchants were dubbed hong-merchants, because they lived in such establishments.

[84] Chinese Repository, passim. An Historical Sketch of the Portuguese Settlements in China. By Sir A. Ljungstedt. Boston, 1836.

[85] Palafox, Conquête de la Chine, p. 172.

[86] Embassy (of Lord Amherst) to China, Moxon’s ed., 1840, p. 98.

[87] E. C. Taintor, Geographical Sketch of the Island of Haïnan, with map. Canton, 1868. Journal N. C. Br. R. A. S., No. VII., Arts. I., II., and III. China Review, Vols. I., p. 124, and II., p. 332. N. B. Dennys, Report on the newly-opened ports of Kiungchow (Hoihau) in Hainan, and Haiphong in Tonquin. Hongkong, 1878.

[88] Chinese Repository, Vol. XIV., pp. 171 ff.

[89] Chinese Repository, Vol. I., p. 29; Vol. XIV., pp. 105-117; G. T. Lay, Chinese as They Are, p. 316; Journal of N. C. Branch of Royal Asiatic Society, No. III., 1859, and No. VI., 1869. Chinese Recorder, Vols. II., p. 265, and III., pp. 33, 74, 96, 134 and 147. Peking Gazette for 1872. China Review, Vol. V., p. 92.

[90] Known as Widiharit in Pali records. Chinese Recorder, Vol. III., pp. 33, 74, sqq.; see also pp. 62, 93, 126, for the record of a visit.

[91] Annales de la Foi, Tome VIII., p. 87.

[92] Two thousand Chinese families live in Amerapura.

[93] Yule’s Marco Polo, Vol. II. Anderson, Mandalay to Momien.

[94] Proced. Roy. Geog. Soc., Vols. XIII., p. 392, XIV., p. 335, XV., pp. 163 and 343. Col. Yule, Trade Routes to Western China—The Geographical Magazine, April, 1875. Richthofen, Recent Attempts to find a direct Trade-Road to Southwestern China—Shanghai Budget, March 26, 1874. Journey of A. R. Margary from Shanghae to Bhamo. London, 1875. Col. H. Browne in Blue Books, Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4 (1876-77).

[95] Klaproth (Mémoires Relatifs à l’Asie, Tome I., Paris, 1824) has translated from the Manchu a narrative of a visit made in 1677 by one of the grandees of Kanghí’s court to a summit in this range. Chinese Repository, Vol. XX., p. 296.

[96] Voyage Down the Amur, by Perry McD. Collins, in 1857. New York, 1860, chaps. xxxii.-lx., passim. Ravenstein’s Amur. Chinese Repository, Vol. XIX., p. 289. Rev. A. Williamson, Journeys in North China, Vol. II., chaps. x.-xiii.

[97] The Chinese and their Rebellions. London, 1856.

[98] Also called Yenden; Klaproth, Mémoires, Tome I., p. 446. Rémusat informs us that this name formerly included all of Kirin, or that which was placed under it.

[99] Voyages Along the Coast of China. New York, 1833.

[100] Annales de la Foi, Tome XVIII., 1846, p. 302.

[101] Annales de la Foi, Tome XVI., p. 359.

[102] The inhabitants of ancient Gedrosia, now Beloochistan, are said to have clothed themselves in fish-skins. Heeren, Historical Researches among Asiatic Nations, Vol. I., p. 175.

[103] Rev. Alex. Williamson, Travels in Northern China. London, 1870. Vol. II., Chaps. I. to XIV.; Chinese Repository, Vols. IV., p. 57; XV., p. 454; Chinese Recorder, Vol. VII., 1876, “The Rise and Progress of the Manjows,” by J. Ross, pp. 155, 235, and 315.

[104] Compare Niebuhr’s History of Rome, Vol. II, Sect. “Of the Colonies,” where can be observed the essential differences between Roman settlements abroad and those of the Chinese; and still greater differences will be found in contrasting these with the offsets of Grecian States.

[105] Abulgasi-Bayadur-chan (Histoire Genéalogique des Tatars, traduite du Manuscript Tartare; Leyde: 1726), gives another derivation for these two names. “Alänzä-chan eut deux fils jumeaux l’un appelle Tatar and l’autre Mogull ou pour bien dire Mung’l, entre les quels il partagea ses Estates lorsqu’il se vit sur la fin de sa vie.” It is the first prince, he adds, from whom came the name Tartar—not from a river called Tata, as some have stated—while of the second: “Le terme Mung’l a esté changé par une corruption generale en Mogull; Mung veut dire triste ou un homme triste, et parceque ce prince estoit naturellement d’une humeur fort triste, il porta ce nom dans la verité”—(pp. 27-29). But Visdelon (D’Herbelot, ed. 1778, Tome IV., p. 327) shows more acquaintance with their history in producing proofs that the name Tatar was applied in the eighth century by the Chinese to certain tribes living north of the Ín shan, Ala shan, and River Liau. In the dissensions following upon the ruin of the Tang dynasty, some of them migrated eastwards beyond the Songari, and there in time rallied to subdue the northern provinces, under the name of Nu-chih. These are the ancestors of the Manchus. Another fraction went north to the marshy banks of Lakes Hurun and Puyur, where they received the name of Moungul Tahtsz’, i.e., Marsh Tatars. This tribe and name it was that the warlike Genghis afterwards made conspicuous. The sound Mogul used in India is a dialectal variation.

[106] Abulgasi (p. 83) furnishes a notice of these aimaks and their origin.

[107] Mémoires, Tome I., p. 2.

[108] Prejevalsky, Mongolia, Vol. I.; Pumpelly, Across America, pp. 382-385; Michie, Across Siberia.

[109] Cottrell’s Recollections of Siberia, Chap. IX., p. 314; Timkowski’s Travels, Vol. I., pp. 4-91, 1821; Pumpelly, Across America and Asia, p. 387, 1871; Klaproth, Mémoires, Tome I., p. 63; Ritter, Die Erdkunde von Asien, Bd. II., pp. 198-226.

[110] Compare Richthofen, China, Band I., 2er Theil.; Yule, Cathay and the Way Thither, passim.

[111] The wild ass is called by Prejevalsky the most remarkable animal of these steppes. Compare Yule’s Marco Polo, Vol. I., p. 220 (2d edition).

[112] For a notice of the Ouigours, who formerly ruled Tangout, consult Klaproth, Mémoires, Tome II., p. 301, ff. See also Rémusat, Nouveaux Mélanges Asiatiques, Tome II., p. 61, for a notice of the Ta-ta-tung’o, who applied their letters to write Mongolian.

[113] Chinese Repository, Vol. IX., p. 113; Vol. I., p. 118. Penny Cyclopædia, Arts. Bayan Kara, Tangut. Kreitner, Im fernen Osten, p. 702. Huc, Travels, passim.

[114] Lieut. Kreitner, Im fernen Osten.

[115] In Rémusat’s Histoire de la Ville de Khotan (p. 76) there is an account of a journey made in the 10th century between Kanchan and Khoten.

[116] Rémusat calls it Pentalope. Nouveaux Mélanges, Tome I., p. 5.

[117] The recent treaty between Russia and China (ratified in 1881), marks the boundaries between Ílí and Russian territory in the following sections:

Art. VII. A tract of country in the west of Ílí is ceded to Russia, where those who go over to Russia and are thereby dispossessed of their land in Ílí may settle. The boundary line of Chinese Ílí and Russian territory will stretch from the Pieh-chên-tao [Bedschin-tau] Mountains along the course of the Ho-êrh-kwo-ssü [Yehorsos] River, to its junction with the Ílí River, thence across the Ílí River, and south to the east of the village of Kwo-li-cha-tê [Kaldschat] on the Wu-tsung-tau range, and from this point south along the old boundary line fixed by the agreement of Ta-Chêng [Tashkend] in the year 1864.

Art. VIII. The boundary line to the east of the Chi-sang lake, fixed in the year 1864 by the agreement of Ta-Chêng [Tashkend], having proved unsatisfactory, high officers will be specially deputed by both countries jointly to examine and alter it so that a satisfactory result may be attained. That there may be no doubt what part of the Khassak country belongs to China and what to Russia, the boundary will consist of a straight line drawn from the Kwei Tung Mountains across the Hei-i-êrh-te-shih River to the Sa-wu-êrh range, and the high officers deputed to settle the boundary will fix the new boundary along such straight line which is within the old boundary.

Art. IX. As to the boundary on the west, between the Province of Fei-êrh-kan [Ferghana], which is subject to Russia, and Chinese Kashgar, officials will be deputed by both countries to examine it, and they will fix the boundary line between the territories at present actually under the jurisdiction of either country, and they will erect boundary stones thereon.

[118] Compare also Schuyler, Turkistan, Vol. II., pp. 127 ff.

[119] 175,000 perished in Kuldja alone.

[120] The question of the existence of volcanoes in Central Asia, especially on the Kuldja frontier, has always been a matter of doubt and discussion among geologists and Russian explorers. The Governor of Semiretchinsk, General Kolpakofsky, was, in 1881, able to report the discovery of the perpetual fires in the Tien shan range of mountains. The mountain Bai shan was found twelve miles northeast of Kuldja, in a basin surrounded by the massive Ailak mountains; its fires are not volcanic, but proceed from burning coal. On the sides of the mountain there are caves emitting smoke and sulphurous gas. Mr. Schuyler, in his Turkistan, mentions that these perpetual fires in the mountains, referred to by Chinese historians, were considered by Severtzoff, a Russian, who explored the region, as being caused by the ignition of the seams of coal, or the carburetted hydrogen gas in the seams. The same author further mentions that Captain Tosnofskey, another Russian explorer, was told of a place in the neighborhood from which steam constantly rose, and that near this crevice there had existed, from ancient times, three pits, where persons afflicted with rheumatism or skin diseases were in the habit of bathing.

[121] Wood, Journey to the Source of the River Oxus, p. 356. From the hills that encircle Lake Sir-i-kol rise some of the principal rivers in Asia: the Yarkand, Kashgar, Sirr, Kuner, and Oxus.

[122] Richthofen’s Remarks in Prejevalsky’s Lob-nor, p. 138. London, 1879.

[123] Called also Pourouts. Compare Klaproth (Mémoires, Tome III., p. 332), who has a notice of these tribes.

[124] H. W. Bellew, Kashmir and Kashgar. A Narrative of the Journey of the Embassy to Kashgar in 1873-4, p. 2.

[125] But Rémusat says that Karakash is a river and no town.

[126] Wood (Journey to the Oxus, p. 279) refers to a frontier town by the name of Ecla.

[127] Penny Cyclopædia, Art. Thian Shan nan lu.

[128] Rémusat, Histoire de Khotan, p. 35.

[129] Concerning the nomenclature of this region compare Rémusat, Histoire de Khotan, p. 66. See, moreover, ib., p. 47 ff., the legend of a drove of desert rats assisting the king of this land against the army of his enemies.

[130] “Galdan, better known by his title of Contaïsch”—Rémusat, Nouveaux Mélanges, Tome II., p. 29. See also Schuyler’s Turkistan, Vol. II., p. 168.

[131] Compare Rémusat (Nouveaux Mélanges, Tome II., p. 102), who has compiled a brief life of their leader Ubusha. De Quincey’s essay, The Flight of a Tartar Tribe. Ritter, Asien, Bd. V. pp. 531-583: Welthistorischer Einfluss des chinesischen Reichs auf Central- und West-Asien.

[132] Chinese Repository, Vol. V., pp. 267, 316, 351, etc.; Vol. IX., p. 113. Penny Cyclopædia, Art. Songaria. Boulger, Russia and England in Central Asia, 2 Vols., London, 1879. Schuyler, Turkistan, 2 vols., N. Y., 1877. Petermann’s Mittheilungen, Appendices XLII. and XLIII., 1875.

[133] This derivation is explained somewhat differently in Rémusat, Nouveaux Mélanges, Tome I., p. 190.

[134] To these Ritter adds the names of Wei, Dzang, Nga-ri, Kham, Bhodi, Peu-u-Tsang, Si-Dzang, Thupho, Tobbat, Töböt, Tübet, Tibet, and Barantola, as all applying to this country. Asien, Bd. III., S. 174-183.

[135] See Rémusat, Nouveaux Mélanges, I., p. 190, for notices of tribes anciently inhabiting this district and Bokhara. Compare also Heeren (Historical Researches, Vol. I., pp. 180-186), who gives in brief the accounts of Herodotus and Ctesias.

[136] Introduction by Col. Yule, in Gill’s River of Golden Sand.

[137] Called by Wood Kash-gow (Journey to the Oxus, p. 319). Chauri gau, sarlyk, and sarlac, are other names.

[138] This cross is mentioned by Marco Polo, Yule’s ed., Vol. I., p. 241.

[139] Prejevalsky, Travels in Mongolia, etc., Vol. I., p. 187.

[140] B. H. Hodgson, Notice of the Mammals of Tibet, Journal As. Soc. of Bengal, Vol. XI., pp. 275 ff.; also ib. Vols. XVI., p. 763, XIX., p. 466, and XXVI., No. 3, 1857. Abbé Armand David, Notes sur quelques oiseaux de Thibet, Nouv. Arch. du Museum, Bull., V. 1869, p. 33; ib. Bull., VI., pp. 19 and 33. Bull., VIII., 1872, pp. 3-128, IX., pp. 15-48, X., pp. 3-82. Recherches pour servir à l’histoire naturelle des mammifères comprennant des considérations sur la classification de ces animaux, etc., des études sur la faune de la Chine et du Tibet oriental, par MM. Milne-Edwards, etc., 2 vols. Paris, 1868-74.

[141] Klaproth, Description du Tubet, p. 246.

[142] Mission of George Bogle to Tibet and Journey of Thomas Manning to Lhasa. Edited by C. R. Markham. London, 1876, p. 265.

[143] Compare, for further discussion of this subject, Timkowski’s Mission to Peking, London, 1827, Vol. II., p. 349. Wilson’s Abode of Snow, p. 329.

[144] Essay towards a Dictionary, Tibetan and English. A Grammar of the Tibetan Language in English. Calcutta, 1834.

[145] Essays on the Language, Literature, and Religion of Nepal and Tibet, etc. London, 1874.

[146] Rémusat, Observations sur l’Histoire des Mongols orienteaux de Sanang Setsen, Paris, l’an 8. Ssanang Ssetsen, Geschichte der Mongolen, Uebers., von. J. J. Schmidt, Petersb., 1829.

[147] Rémusat relates the story of his origin, Mélanges Posthumes, p. 400.

[148] Klaproth, Description du Tubet.

[149] Authorities on Tibet besides those already referred to: Journal Asiatique, Tomes IV., p. 281; VIII., p. 117; IX., p. 31; XIV., pp. 177, ff. 277, 406, etc. Du Halde, Description of China, Vol. II., pp. 384-388. Capt. Samuel Turner, Account of an Embassy to the Court of Teshoo Lama in Tibet, London, 1800. Histoire de ce qui s’est passé au Royaume du Tibet, en l’année 1626; trad. de l’Italien. Paris, 1829. P. Kircher, China Illustrata. MM. Péron et Billecocq, Recueil de Voyages du Thibet, Paris, 1796. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, passim. Chinese Repository, Vols. VI., pp. 28, 494, IX., p. 26, and XIII., p. 505. Ritter, Asien, Bd. II., 4er Abschnitt, and Bd. III., S. 137-424. Richthofen, China, Bd. I., S. 228, 247, 466, 670, 683, etc. C. H. Desgodin, La mission du Tibet de 1855 à 1870, comprennant l’exposé des affaires religieuses, etc. D’après les lettres de M. l’abbé Desgodins, missionaire apostolique, Verdun, 1872. Lieut. Kreitner, Im fernen Osten, pp. 829 ff., and in The Popular Science Monthly, for August, 1882. Emil Schlagintweit, Tibetan Buddhism, Illustrated by Literary Documents and Objects of Religious Worship, London, 1863. Abbé Huc, Travels through Tartary, Tibet and China, 2 vols.

[150] This careful digest is contained in the Journal Asiatique for 1836 (April and May), and will repay perusal.

[151] The population of the Roman Empire at the same period is estimated at 85,000,000 by Merivale (Vol. IV., pp. 336-343), but the data are less complete than in China; he reckons the European provinces at 45,000,000, and the Asiatic and African colonies at the remainder, giving 27,000,000 to Asia Minor and Syria. The area of China, at this time, was less than Rome by about one-fourth.

[152] Sir G. Staunton, Embassy to China, Vol. II., Appendix, p. 615: “Table of the Population and Extent of China proper, within the Great Wall. Taken in round numbers from the Statements of Chow ta-zhin.”

[153] This interesting subject can then be left with the reader, who will find further remarks in Medhurst’s China, De Guignes’ Voyages à Peking, The Missionaries, in Tomes VI. and VIII. of Mémoires, Ed. Biot, in Journal Asiatique for 1836. The Numerical Relations of the Population of China during the 4,000 Years of its Historical Existence; or the Rise and Fall of the Chinese Population, by T. Sacharoff. Translated into English by the Rev. W. Lobscheid, Hongkong, 1862. Notes and Queries on China and Japan, Vol. II., pp. 88, 103, and 117.

[154] Sacred Edict, pp. 51, 60.

[155] China: Its State and Prospects, p. 42.

[156] Ta Tsing Leu Lee; being the Fundamental Laws, etc., of the Penal Code of China, by Sir G. T. Staunton, Bart., London, 1810. Section CCXXV.

[157] Chinese Repository, Vol. I., p. 332.

[158] Ibid., Vol. VII., p. 503; Vol. II., p. 161.

[159] Yule’s Marco Polo, Vol. II., p. 152.

[160] Penal Code, p. 79, Staunton’s translation.

[161] Voyages à Peking, Tome III., pp. 55-86.

[162] The shih, says Medhurst, is a measure of grain containing 3,460 English cubic inches. China: Its State and Prospects, p. 68. London, 1838.

[163] Annales de la Foi, Tome XVI., p. 440.

[164] Chinese Commercial Guide, 2d edition, 1842, p. 143.

[165] Chinese Repository, Vol. I., p. 159.

[166] Chinese Repository, Vol. II., p. 431.

[167] The Chinese, Vol. II., pp. 333-343.

[168] Journal of the Geolog. Soc., London, for 1871, p. 379.

[169] Im fernen Osten, p. 462.

[170] China: Ergebnisse eigener Reisen. Band I., S. 74. Berlin, 1877.

[171] Compare Kingsmill, in the Quar. Journal of the Geol. Soc. of London, 1868, pp. 119 ff., and in the North China Herald, Vol. IX., 85, 86.

[172] Yule’s Marco Polo, Vol. I., p. 395.

[173] Across America and Asia, pp. 291 ff.

[174] Five Months on the Yang-tsze, p. 265. Annales de la Foi, Tome IX., p. 457.

[175] N. C. Br. R. A. Soc. Journal, New Series, No. III., pp. 94-106, and No. IV., pp. 243 ff. Notes by Mr. Hollingworth of a Visit to the Coal Mines in the Neighborhood of Loh-Ping. Blue Book, China, No. 2, 1870, p. 11. Notes and Queries on China and Japan, Vol. II., pp. 74-76. North China Herald, passim. Richthofen’s Letters, and in Ocean Highways, Nov., 1873. Chinese Repository, Vol. XIX., pp. 385 ff.

[176] Compare Rémusat, Histoire de Khotan, pp. 163 ff., where there is an extended list of Chinese precious stones drawn from native sources.

[177] Murray’s China, Edinburgh, 1843, Vol. III., p. 276; compare also an article on this stone by M. Blondel, of Paris, published in the Smithsonian Report for 1876. Mémoires concernant les Chinois, Tome XIII., p. 389. Rémusat in the Journal des Savans, Dec., 1818, pp. 748 ff. Notes and Queries on C. and J., Vol. II., pp. 173, 174, and 187; Vol. III., p. 63; Vol. IV., pp. 13 and 33. Macmillan’s Magazine, October, 1871. Yule, Cathay and the Way Thither, Vol. II., p. 564.

[178] Nephrit und Jadeit, nach ihren mineralogischen Eigenschaften sowie nach ihrer urgeschichtlichen und ethnographischen Bedeutung. Heinrich Fischer, Stuttgart, 1880. An exhaustive treatise on every phrase and variety of the mineral.

[179] Obtained from Badakshan. Wood, Journey to the Oxus, p. 263.

[180] Geological Researches in China, Chap. X.

[181] Humboldt, Fragmens Asiatiques, Tome I., p. 196. Annales de la Foi, Janvr., 1829, pp. 416 ff.

[182] Breton, China, its Costumes, Arts, etc., Vol. II.

[183] Bridgman’s Chinese Chrestomathy, p. 469.

[184] Chinese Repository, Vol. VII., p. 90.

[185] Zoöl. Soc. Proc., 1870, p. 626.

[186] Borget, La Chine Ouverte, p. 147.

[187] Chinese Repository, Vol. XII., p. 608.

[188] Ibid., Vol. VI., p. 411.

[189] Yule’s Marco Polo, Vol. I., p. 353.

[190] Wars and Sports of the Mongols and Romans.

[191] Oriental and Western Siberia, p. 416.

[192] Journal of the North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, May, 1859, p. 289.

[193] Journal N. C. Br. R. A. Soc., Vol. IV., 1867, Art. XI., by T. Watters.

[194] Yule’s Marco Polo, Vol. I., p. 237.

[195] Yule’s Marco Polo, Vol. I., p. 246—where there is an admirable wood-cut of one from Wood.

[196] From Kulja to Lob-nor, p. 116.

[197] John Gould, Century of Birds. London, 1831-32.

[198] On the birds of China, see in general Les Oiseaux de la Chine, par M. l’Abbé Armand David, avec un Atlas de 124 Planches dessinées et lith. par M. Arnoul. Paris, 1877. R. Swinhoe, in the Proceedings of the Scientific Meetings of the Zoölogical Soc. of London, and in The Ibis, a Magazine of General Ornithology, passim. Journ. N. C. Br. R. A. Soc., Nos. II., p. 225, and III., p. 287.

[199] Chinese Repository, Vol. VII., p. 213. Compare Yule’s note, Marco Polo, Vol. I., p. 232. Huc, Travels in Tartary, etc., Vol. II., p. 246. Bell, Journey from St. Petersburgh in Russia to Ispahan in Persia, Vol. I., p. 216. Also Heeren, Asiatic Nations, Vol. I., p. 98, where there is a résumé of Ctesias’ account of the unicorn.

[200] Chinese Repository, Vol. VII., p. 250. For a careful analysis of this relic of ancient lore, see the Nouveau Journal Asiatique, Tome XII., pp. 232-243, 1833; also Tome VIII., 3d Series, pp. 337-382, 1839, for M. Bazin’s estimate of its value.

[201] Yule’s Marco Polo, Vol. II., p. 46.

[202] Vol. III., p. 445.

[203] Conspectus of collections made by Dr. Cantor, Chinese Repository, Vol. X., p. 434. General features of Chusan, with remarks on the Flora and Fauna of that Island, by T. E. Cantor, Annal. Nat. Hist., Vol. IX. (1842), pp. 265, 361, and 481. Journal As. Soc. of Bengal, Vol. XXIV., 1855.

[204] Hanbury’s notes on Chinese Materia Medica, 1862; Pharmaceutical Journal, Feb., 1862.

[205] Baron Richthofen’s Letters, No. VII., to Shanghai Chamber of Commerce, May, 1872, p. 52.

[206] Darwin, Naturalist’s Voyage, p. 35, notices a similar habit of the sphex in the vicinity of Rio Janeiro. The insect partially kills the spider or caterpillar by stinging, when they are stored in a rotting state with her eggs.

[207] Compare Yule’s Marco Polo, Vol. I., p. 271; A. R. Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, pp. 87-91, American Ed.

[208] See also in Notes and Queries on C. and J., Vol. III., pp. 115, 129, 139, 147, 150, 170.

[209] From calculations of Humboldt it was estimated that the productiveness of this plant as compared with wheat is as 133 to 1, and as against potatoes, 44 to 1.

[210] Compare Yule’s Marco Polo, Vol. I., p. 197.

[211] The application of this name to the jujube plum by foreigners, because the kind cured in honey resembled Arabian dates in color, size, and taste when brought on the table, is a good instance of the manner in which errors arise and are perpetuated from mere carelessness.

[212] Compare Dr. H. F. Hance, in Journal of Botany, Vol. IX., p. 38.

[213] Travels in Siberia, Vol. II., p. 151.

[214] Wanderings in China.

[215] Chinese Repository, Vol. VII., p. 393.

[216] Mélanges Orientales, Posthumes, p. 215.

[217] 2357 and 2255 before Christ.

[218] Penal Code, Introduction, p. xxviii.

[219] Vol. XVI., 1810.

[220] Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., pp. 24-29.

[221] Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., p. 12; Chinese Chrestomathy, p. 558.

[222] The attributes ascribed to a chakrawartti in the Buddhist mythology have many points of resemblance to the hwangtí, and Hardy’s Manual of Buddhism (p. 126) furnishes an instructive comparison between the two characters, one fanciful and the other real.

[223] The remark of Heeren (Asiatic Nations, Vol. I., p. 57), that the names by which the early Persian monarchs, Darius, Xerxes, and others, were called, were really titles or surnames, and not their own personal names, suggests the further comparison whether those renowned names were not like the kwoh hao of the Chinese emperors, whose adoption of the custom was after the extinction of the Persian monarchy. Herodotus (Book VI., 98) seems to have been familiar with these names, not so much as being arbitrary and meaningless terms as epithets whose significations were associated with the kings. The new names given to the last two sons of Josiah, who became kings of Judah by their conquerors (2 Kings, 23: 34, and 24: 17), indicate even an earlier adoption of this custom.

[224] Chinese Repository, Vol. X., pp. 87-98. Indo-Chinese Gleaner, February, 1821.

[225] Staunton’s Embassy, 8vo edition, London, 1797, Vol. III., p. 63.

[226] Chinese Repository, Vol. XIV., p. 521; N. C. Br. R. As. Soc. Journal, No. XI.

[227] Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., p. 576.

[228] Missionary Chronicle, Vol. XIV., p. 324; Hardy, Manual of Buddhism, p. 69; Heeren, Asiatic Nations, Vol. I., p. 246.

[229] M. Ed. Biot furnished a good account to the Journal Asiatique (3d series, Vol. III.) of the legal condition of slaves in China; see also Chinese Repository, Vol. XVIII., pp. 347-363, and passim; Archdeacon Gray’s China.

[230] Chinese Chrestomathy, Chap. XVII., Sec. 4, p. 570.

[231] A still more common designation for officers of every rank in the employ of the Chinese government has not so good a parentage; this is the word mandarin, derived from the Portuguese mandar, to command, and indiscriminately applied by foreigners to every grade, from a premier to a tide-waiter; it is not needed in English as a general term for officers, and ought to be disused, moreover, from its tendency to convey the impression that they are in some way unlike similar officials in other lands. Compare Notes and Queries on China and Japan, Vol. III., p. 12.

[232] Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., p. 138. Chinese Chrestomathy, p. 573.

[233] Fraser’s Magazine, February, 1873. China Review, Vol. III., p. 13. Note on the Condition and Government of the Chinese Empire in 1849. By T. F. Wade. Hongkong, 1850. Translations of several years of the Gazette have appeared since 1872, reprinted from the columns of the North China Herald.

[234] Essai sur l’Instruction en Chine, pp. 540-589.

[235] Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., pp. 188, 276-287; Vol. V., pp. 165-178; Vol. XX., pp. 250, 300, and 363. Mémoires concernant les Chinois, par les Missionaires à Pekin, Tomes VII. and VIII., passim.

[236] Compare an article by E. C. Taintor, in Notes and Queries on China and Japan. Chinese Repository, Vols. IV., pp. 148, 164, and 177, and XII., pp. 32 and 67.

[237] Dr. W. A. P. Martin, The Chinese.

[238] Mayers’ Manual of Chinese Titles furnishes the best compend for learning their duties and names.

[239] Rollin’s Ancient History, Chap. IV. Manners of the Assyrians. Heeren’s Asiatic Researches, Vol. I., Chap. II.

[240] Chinese Repository, Vol. VI., p. 48.

[241] Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., p. 59.

[242] Embassy to China, Vol. III., p. 26.

[243] Chinese Repository, Vol. III., p. 241.

[244] Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., pp. 61-66.

[245] Compare Dr. Bowring in N. C. Br. R. A. Soc. Journal, Part III., Art. VII. (Dec., 1852).

[246] Chinese Repository, passim. Oliphant, Lord Elgin’s Mission to China and Japan, Chap. XVII. Minister Reed, in U. S. Dip. Correspondence, 1857-58.

[247] The Chinese have a great affection for the place of their nativity, and consider a residence in any other province like being in a foreign settlement. They always wish to return thither in life, or have their remains carried and interred there after death.

[248] A district in the province of Kwangsí.

[249] Kiuh Kiang was an ancient minister of state during the Tang dynasty. His imperial master would not listen to his advice and he therefore retired. Rebellion and calamities arose. The Emperor thought of his faithful servant and sent for him; but he was already dead.

[250] Governor Loo.

[251] In permitting Chu to retire from public life.

[252] Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., p. 71.

[253] Annales de la Foi, No. 6, 1823, pp. 21-24.

[254] Chinese Repository, Vol. I., p. 236.

[255] Easy Lessons in Chinese, pp. 223-227. The effect of these instructions relating to grasshoppers does not appear to have equalled the zeal of the officers composing them; swarms of locusts, however, are in general neither numerous nor devastating in China.

[256] A new History of China, containing a description of the most considerable particulars of that Empire, written by Gabriel Magaillans, of the Society of Jesus, Missionary Apostolick. Done out of French. London, 1688, p. 249.

[257] Compare the Chinese Repository, Vol. XVIII., p. 207.

[258] Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., p. 218.

[259] Compare Doolittle, Social Life of the Chinese, Vol. I., p. 330.

[260] Heeren, Asiatic Nations, Vol. II., p. 259. Raffles, Java, Vol. II. App. Biot, L’Instruction publique, pp. 59, 200.

[261] Chinese Repository, Vol. XI., p. 630.

[262] Compare Dr. Milne, in Transactions R. A. S. of Gr. Brit. and Irel., Vol. I., p. 240 (1825). Journal of the R. A. S., Vol. I., p. 93, and Vol. VI., p. 120. Chinese Repository, Vol. XVIII., pp. 280-295. A. Wylie, in the Shanghai Almanac for 1854. Notes and Queries on C. and J., Vol. III., p. 55. T. T. Meadows, The Chinese and their Rebellions, London, 1856. Gustave Schlegel, Thian Ti Hwui, the Hung-League or Heaven-Earth-League. A Secret Society with the Chinese in China and India, Batavia, 1866.

[263] Missionary Chronicle, Vol. XIV., p. 140. Smith’s China, p. 250.

[264] For cases of this sort in Cambodia, Rémusat makes mention of a variety of ordeals which curiously resemble those resorted to on the continent of Europe during the Middle Ages. Nouveaux Mélanges, Tome I., p. 126.

[265] Heeren informs us that a similar insignia was used in Persia in early days.

[266] W. C. Milne, Life in China, London, 1857, p. 99.

[267] Dr. H. M. Field, From Egypt to Japan, Chap. XXIV., passim. New York, 1877. Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., pp. 214, 260.

[268] Persons who commit suicide also dress themselves in their best, the common notion being that in the next world they will wear the same garments in which they died.

[269] Compare Du Halde, Description de l’Empire de la Chine, Tome II., pp. 365-384; A. Wylie, Notes, p. 68; Chinese Repository, Vols. V., p. 81, and VI., pp. 185, 393, and 562; China Review, Vol. VI., pp. 120, 195, 253, 328, etc.; New Englander, May, 1878.

[270] Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., pp. 83-87, 306-316.

[271] Morrison’s Chinese Dictionary, Vol. I., Part I., pp. 749-758.

[272] This custom obtains also in Bokhara.

[273] Compare Dr. Morrison in the Horæ Sinicæ, pp. 122-146; B. Jenkins, The Three-Character Classic, romanized according to the Shanghai dialect, Shanghai, 1860. The Classic has also been translated into Latin, French, German, Russian, and Portuguese. For the Trimetrical Classic of the Tai-ping régime see a version in the North China Herald, No. 147, May 21, 1853, by Dr. Medhurst; also a translation by Rev. S. C. Malan, of Balliol College, Oxford. London, 1856.

[274] E. C. Bridgman in the Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., p. 152. Livre de Cent familles, Perny, Dict., App., No. XIV., pp. 156 ff.

[275] Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., p. 229.

[276] Compare Das Tsiän dsü wen, oder Buch von Tausend Wörtern, aus dem Schinesischen, mit Berücksichtigung der Koraischen und Japanischen Uebersetzung, ins Deutsche übertragen, Ph. Fr. de Siebold, Nippon, Abh. IV., pp. 165-191; B. Jenkins, The Thousand-Character Classic, romanized, etc. Shanghai, 1860; Thsien-Tseu-Wen, Le Livre des Mille Mots, etc., par Stanislas Julien (with Chinese text), Paris, 1864; China Review, Vol. II., pp. 182 ff.

[277] Chinese Repository, Vol. X., p. 614.

[278] Compare Père Cibot in Mémoires concernant les Chinois, Tome IV., pp. 1 ff.; Dr. Legge, The Sacred Books of China, Part I. The Shû-king, Religious Portions of the Shih-king, the Hsiâo-king, Oxford, 1879; Asiatic Journal, Vol. XXIX., pp. 302 ff., 1839.

[279] Chinese Repository, Vol. VI., p. 131.

[280] Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., p. 414. See also Vol. VI., pp. 229-241; Vol. IV., pp. 1-10; Vol. XI., pp. 545-557; and Vol. XIII., pp. 626-641, for further notices of the modes and objects of education; Biot, Essai sur l’Histoire de l’Instruction Publique en Chine, and his translation of the Chao-lí, Vol. II., p. 27, Paris, 1851. Chinese Recorder, September, 1871.

[281] Chinese Repository, Vol. II., p. 249; Vol. XVI., pp. 67-72. Doolittle, Social Life of the Chinese, Vol. I., pp. 376-443. Dr. Martin, The Chinese.

[282] The Chinese, p. 50.

[283] Biot, Essai sur l’Instruction en Chine, p. 603.

[284] Chinese Repository, Vol. IX., p. 541; Vol. III., p. 118.

[285] See Morrison’s Chinese Dictionary, Vol. I., Part I., pp. 759-779, for the laws and usages of the several trials. Also Doolittle’s Social Life, Vol. I., Chaps. XV., XVI., and XVII.; Biot, Essai sur l’Histoire de l’Instruction Publique en Chine; W. A. P. Martin, The Chinese, pp. 39 ff.; Journal Asiatique, Tomes III., pp. 257 and 321, IV., p. 3, and VII. (3d Series, 1839), pp. 32-81; Journal Asiatic Soc. Bengal, Vol. XXVIII., No. 1, 1859; Journal N. C. Br. B. As. Soc., New Series, Vol. VI., pp. 129 ff.; China Review, Vol. II., p. 309.

[286] Ellis, Embassy to China, p. 87; Chinese Repository, Vol. XVI., p. 62; Vol. IV., p. 125.

[287] Davis, Sketches, Vol. I., pp. 99, 101.

[288] Archdeacon Gray, China, Vol. I., p. 167.

[289] Chinese Repository, Vol. IX., p. 542.

[290] Professor H. A. Sayce, of Oxford, in reference to a suggested possible connection between the Chinese and primitive Accadian population of Chaldea, says in a letter to the London Times: “I would mention one fact which may certainly be considered to favor it. The cuneiform characters of Babylonia and Assyria are, as is well known, degenerated hieroglyphics, like the modern Chinese characters. The original hieroglyphics were invented by the Accadians before they descended into Babylonia from the mountains of Elam, and I have long been convinced that they were originally written in vertical columns. In no other way can I explain the fact that most of the pictures to which the cuneiform characters can be traced back stand upon their sides. There is evidence to show that the inventors of the hieroglyphics used papyrus, or some similar vegetable substance, for writing purposes before the alluvial plain of Babylonia furnished them with clay, and the use of such a writing material will easily account for the vertical direction in which the characters were made to run.”

[291] Biot has a brief note upon the methods employed by native scholars for studying pronunciation. Essai sur l’instruction en Chine, p. 597.

[292] Easy Lessons in Chinese, pp. 3-29; Chinese Repository, Vol. III., pp. 1-37.

[293] One may gain some idea of this difficulty by referring to the geographical names contained in the Russo-Chinese Treaty, quoted on page [215].

[294] The writer has an edition of the Thousand Character Classic, containing each couplet of eight words in a different form of character, making one hundred and twenty-five styles of type—too grotesque to be imitated, and probably never actually in use.

[295] See page [193]. In order that the Manchu portion of this famous poem might not appear inferior to the Chinese, the Emperor ordered thirty-two varieties of Manchu characters to be invented and published in like manner with the others. Rémusat, Mélanges, Tome II., p. 59. Père Amiot, Éloge de la Ville de Moukden. Trad. en françois. Paris, 1770.

[296] Chinese Chrestomathy, Chap. I., Secs. 5 and 6, where the rules for writing Chinese are given in full with numerous examples; Easy Lessons in Chinese, p. 59; Chinese Repository, Vol. III., p. 37.

[297] Journal Asiatic Soc. Bengal, Vol. III. (Sept., 1834), p. 477. S. Julien in the Revue de l’Orient et de l’Algerie, XX., p. 74, 1856.

[298] Chinese Repository, Vol. III., pp. 246-252, 528; Vol. XIV., p. 124; Missionary Recorder, January, 1875.

[299] Chinese as They Are, Chap. XXXIV.

[300] Chinese Repository, Vol. VIII., p. 347.

[301] Many aids in learning the general language and all the leading dialects have been prepared in English, French, German, and Portuguese, but several of the early ones, as Morrison, Gonçalves, Medhurst, and Bridgman, are already out of print. The names of all of these may be found most easily in the first volume of M. Cordier’s exhaustive Dictionnaire Bibliographique des ouvrages relatifs à l’Empire chinois, pp. 725-804. Paris, 1881.

[302] The Sacred Books of China. The Texts of Confucianism. Translated by James Legge. Part II. The Yî King. Oxford, 1882.

[303] Some fourteen hundred and fifty treatises on the Yih—consisting of memoirs, digests, expositions, etc.—are enumerated in the Catalogue. The foreign literature upon it has heretofore been scant. The only other translations of the classic in extenso, besides Dr. Legge’s, already quoted, are the Y-King; Antiquissimus Sinarum liber quem ex latina interpretatione; P. Regis, aliorumque ex Soc. Jesu P. P., edidit Julius Mohl, 2 vols., Stuttgart, 1834-39; and A Translation of the Confucian Yih King, or the Classic of Change, by the Rev. Canon McClatchie, Shanghai, 1876 (with Chinese text). Compare further Notice du livre chinois nommé Y-king, avec des notes, par M. Claude Visdelou, contained in Père Gaubil’s Chou king, Paris, 1843; Die verbogenen Alterthümer der Chineser aus dem uralten Buche Yeking untersuchet, von M. Joh. Heinrich Schuhmacher, Wolfenbüttel, 1763; Joseph Haas, in Notes and Queries on China and Japan, Vol. III., 1869; China Review, Vols. I., p. 151; IV., p. 257; and V., p. 132.

[304] Several translations have been made by missionaries. One by P. Gaubil was edited by De Guignes in 1770; a second by Rev. W. H. Medhurst, in 1846; but the most complete by J. Legge, D.D., in 1865, with its notes and text, has brought this Record better than ever before to the knowledge of western scholars.

[305] Legge, The Chinese Classics, Vol. III. Shoo King, p. 59.

[306] Chinese Repository, Vol. VIII., p. 385; Vol. IX., p. 573. Le Chou-king, un des Livres Sacrés des Chinois, qui renferme les Fondements de leur ancienne Histoire, etc. Traduit par Feu le P. Gaubil. Paris, 1770, in-4. La Morale du Chou-king ou le Livre Sacré de la Chine. (The same), Paris, 1851. Ancient China. The Shoo King, or the Historical Classic: being the most ancient authentic Record of the Annals of the Chinese Empire, translated by W. H. Medhurst, Sen., Shanghae, 1846. Nouveau Journal Asiatique, Tomes V. (1830), p. 401; VI., p. 401, and XIV. (1842), p. 152. China Review, Vol. IV., p. 13. Dr. Legge’s translation has recently (1879) appeared, without the Chinese text, in Max Müller’s series of Sacred Books of the East, Vol. III. Richthofen, China, Bd. I., pp. 277-365, an exhaustive treatise on the early geography of China, with valuable historical maps.

[307] Dr. Legge, The She King, translated into English verse, p. 70. London, 1876.

[308] Ib., p. 83.

[309] Id., The She King, p. 222.

[310] Id., The She King, p. 347.

[311] A recent German translation of these odes has combined, with much accuracy and a smooth versification, the peculiar adaptability of that tongue to the reproduction (in some degree) of sounds so foreign to the language as Chinese. Shí King. Das kanonische Liederbuch der Chinesen. Uebersetzt von Victor von Strauss. Heidelberg, 1880.

[312] The Chinese Classics, Vol. IV., pp. 172-180. Hongkong, 1871.

[313] Compare Confucii Chi-king sive Liber Carminum, ex latina P. Lacharme interpretatione edidit J. Mohl, Stuttgart, 1830; Essai sur le Chi-king, et sur l’ancienne poésie chinoise, par M. Brosset jeune, Paris, 1828; Bibliothèque orientale, Vol. II., p. 247 (1872). Chi-king, ou Livre des Vers, Traduction de M. G. Pauthier; China Review, Vol. VI., pp. 1 ff. and 166 ff. Journal N. C. Br. R. As. Soc., Vol. XII., pp. 97 ff.

[314] Li-ki ou Mémorial des Rites, traduit pour la première fois du chinois, et accompagné de notes, de commentaires et du texte original, par J. M. Callery. Turin et Paris, 1853.

[315] Le Tcheou-Li ou Rites des Tcheou, traduit pour la première fois du chinois, par Feu Édouard Biot. 2 Tomes. Paris, 1851.

[316] Chinese Repository, Vol. V., pp. 306-312.

[317] This somewhat fanciful explanation of the title is from the Han commentators. Dr. Legge (Classics, Vol. V., Prolegomena, p. 7) observes that “not even in the work do we find such ‘censures’ and ‘commendations;’ and much less are they trumpeted in the title of it.” His interpretation that Spring and Autumn are put by synechdoche for all four seasons, i.e., the entire record of the year, appears to be a more natural account. The same writer declares that “the whole book is a collection of riddles, to which there are as many answers as there are guessers.” The interesting chapters of his prolegomena to this translation, and his judicious criticisms on these early records, should tempt all sinologues to read them throughout.

[318] The same writer adds, in summing up the merits of the Tso Chuen: “It is, in my opinion, the most precious literary treasure which has come down to posterity from the Chow dynasty.”—Classics, Vol. V., Proleg., p. 35.

[319] To this the Kung Yang commentator adds: “This he said in joke.”

[320] Compare Tchun Tsieou, Le Printemps & l’Automne, ou Annales de la Principauté de Lou, depuis 722 jusqu’ en 481, etc. Traduites en françois, par Le Roux Deshauterayes. 1750. Dr. E. Bretschneider, in the Chinese Recorder, Vol. IV., pp. 51-52, 1871.

[321] Collie’s Four Books, pp. 6-10.

[322] Ib., p. 28.

[323] The Works of Confucius; containing the original text, with a Translation, by J. Marshman. Vol. I. Serampore, 1807.

[324] Chinese Repository, Vol. XI., p. 421. Pauthier, La Chine, Paris, 1839, pp. 121-184.

[325] Compare Dr. Legge’s Religions of China; Prof. R. K. Douglas, Confucianism and Taouism, London, 1879; S. Johnson, Oriental Religions: China, Boston, 1877; A Systematical Digest of the Doctrines of Confucius, according to the Analects, Great Learning, and Doctrine of the Mean, etc., by Ernst Faber. Translated from the German by Möllendorff, Hongkong, 1875; Histoire de Confucius, par J. Sénamaud, Bordeaux et Paris, 1878.

[326] It may here be remarked that the terms tsz’ or fu-tsz’ do not properly form a part of the name, but are titles, meaning rabbi or eminent teacher, and are added to the surnames of some of the most distinguished writers, by way of peculiar distinction; and in the words Mencius and Confucius have been Latinized with Măng and Kung, names of the persons themselves, into one word. The names of other distinguished scholars, as Chu fu-tsz’, Ching fu-tsz’, etc., have not undergone this change into Chufucius, Chingfucius; but usage has now brought the compellation for these two men into universal use as a distinctive title, somewhat like the term venerable applied to Bede.

[327] Rémusat, Nouveaux Mélanges, Tome II., pp. 115-129.

[328] Chinese Classics, Vol II. Hongkong, 1862.

[329] Compare Rémusat, Nouveaux Mélanges, Tome II., pp. 130 ff., where there are excellent biographical notices of Sz’ma Tsien and other native historians.

[330] Chinese Repository, Vol. IX., pp. 210, 274.

[331] Legge’s Chinese Classics, Vol. III.; Prolegomena, Chap. IV. E. Biot in the Journal Asiatique, 2e Series, Tomes XII., p. 537, and XIII., pp. 203, 381.

[332] Compare Rémusat, Mélanges Asiatiques, Tome II., p. 166; Chinese Repository, Vol. IX., p. 143; Wylie’s Notes, p. 55; Mayer’s Chinese Reader’s Manual, p. 149.

[333] Translated by Rev. W. H. Medhurst, in the Chinese Repository, Vol. XIII., pp. 552, 609 et seq.

[334] The Sacred Edict, London, 1817; a second edition of this translation appeared in Shanghai in 1870, and another in 1878. Compare Wylie’s Notes, p. 71; Sir G. T. Staunton’s Miscellaneous Notices, etc., pp. 1-56 (1812); Le Saint Edit, Étude de Littérature chinoise, préparée par A. Théophile Piry, Shanghai, 1879.

[335] Sacred Edict, pp. 254-259.

[336] Sacred Edict, p. 146.

[337] The second of these, Tu Fu, is a poet of some distinction noticed by Rémusat (Nouveaux Mélanges, Tome II., p. 174). He lived in the eighth century A.D., dying of hunger in the year 768. His writings are usually edited with those of Lí Tai-peh.

[338] Davis, Poetry of the Chinese, London, 1870; G. C. Stent, The Jade Chaplet, London, 1874; Entombed Alive, and other Verses, 1878; Le Marquis D’Hervey-Saint-Denys, Poésies de l’Epoque des Thang, Paris, 1862. A number of extracts of classical and modern literature will be found in Confucius and the Chinese Classics, compiled by Rev. A. W. Loomis, San Francisco, 1867. China Review, Vols. I., p. 248, IV., p. 46, and passim.

[339] Chinese Courtship. In Verse. To which is added an Appendix treating of the Revenue of China, etc., etc., by Peter Perring Thoms, London, 1824. Compare the Quarterly Review for 1827, pp. 496 ff. Le Li-Sao, Poème du III^e Siècle avant notre ère. Traduit du Chinois, par le Marquis d’Hervey de Saint-Denys, Paris, 1870.

[340] Stent’s Jade Chaplet.

[341] A translation is given in the Chinese Repository (Vol. IX., p. 508) of a supposed complaint made by a cow of her sad lot in being obliged to work hard and fare poorly during life, and then be cut up and eaten when dead; the ballad is arranged in the form of the animal herself, and a herdboy leading her, who in his own form praises the happiness of a rural life. This ballad is a Buddhist tractate, and that fraternity print many such on broad-sheets; one common collection of prayers is arranged like a pagoda, with images of Buddha sitting in the windows of each story.

[342] The kí, or ‘flag,’ is the term by which the leaflets are called when they just begin to unroll; the tsiang, or ‘awl,’ designates those leaves which are still wrapped up and which are somewhat sharp.

[343] The ting is not exactly a stile, being a kind of shed, or four posts supporting a roof, which is often erected by villagers for the convenience of wayfarers, who can stop there and rest. It sometimes contains a bench or seat, and is usually over or near a spring of water.

[344] Tchao-chi-cou-eulh, ou l’Orphelin de la Maison de Tchao, tragédie chinoise, traduite par le R. P. de Prémare, Miss. de la Chine, 1755. Julien published a translation of the same, Paris, 1834.

[345] Since the appearance of M. Bazin’s Théâtre Chinois (Paris, 1838) and Davis’ Sorrows of Han (London, 1829), there has been astonishingly little done in the study of Chinese plays. Compare, for the rest, an article on this subject by J. J. Ampère, in the Revue des Deux Mondes, September, 1838; The Far East, Vol. I. (1876), pp. 57 and 90; Chinese Repository, Vol. VI., p. 575; China Review, Vol. I., p. 26; also Lay’s Chinese as They Are, and Dr. Gray’s China, passim. Lieut. Kreitner gives an interesting picture of the Chinese theatre in a country town, together with a few pages upon the drama, of which his party were spectators. Im fernen Osten, pp. 595-599.

[346] The commendation by Lord Brougham of this “admirable precept,” as he called it, is cited by Sir J. Davis.

[347] Voyage à Péking, Vol. II., p. 173.

[348] It is said that when Ghengis in his invasion of China took a city, his soldiers immediately set about pulling down the four walls of the houses, leaving the overhanging roofs supported by the wooden columns—by which process they converted them into excellent tents for themselves and their horses.—Encyclopædia Britannica: Art. China.

[349] James Fergusson, History of Indian and Eastern Architecture, p. 687; compare also Mémoires Concernant les Chinois, where Chinese architecture is treated of in almost every volume.

[350] The foreign literature upon this subject is as yet scant and unimportant. Compare the rare and costly Designs of Chinese Buildings, Furniture, Dresses, etc., from Originals drawn in China by Mr. Chambers, London, 1757, folio; J. M. Callery, De l’Architecture Chinoise, in the Revue d’Architecture; Wm. Simpson, in Transactions of the Royal Institute of British Architects, 1873-74, p. 33; Notes and Queries on China and Japan.

[351] Wanderings in China, p. 98.

[352] Compare pp. [76] and [167].

[353] Chinese Repository, Vol. X., p. 473.

[354] Travels in China, p. 96.

[355] Life in China, p. 453.

[356] Voyages à Peking, Tome II., p. 79; Davis’ Sketches, Vol. I., p. 213; Fergusson, Indian and Eastern Architecture, 1876, p. 695; Milne’s Life in China, p. 429 seq.; Chinese Repository, Vol. XIX., pp. 535-540.

[357] Yule, Cathay and the Way Thither, Vol. I., p. 243.

[358] Compare an article by W. F. Mayers in Notes and Queries on C. and J., Vol. I., pp. 170-173 (with illustrations); Mrs. Gray, Fourteen Months in Canton, passim; Dr. Edkins in Journal N. C. Br. R. A. Soc., Vol. XI., p. 123; Doolittle, Vocabulary, Part III., No. LXVIII; Engineer J. W. King in The United Service, Vol. II., p. 382 (Phila., 1880).

[359] Chinese Repository, Vol. VI., p. 149.

[360] Chinese Repository, Vol. XII., p. 528; Medhurst’s Hohkeën Dictionary, Introduction pp. XXII, XXIII.

[361] Barrow’s Travels, p. 338.

[362] Encyclopædia Americana, Art. Canton.

[363] It is recorded that Hau-Chu, of the Chin dynasty, in the year A.D. 583 ordered Lady Yao to bind her feet so as to make them look like the new moon; and that the evil fashion has since prevailed against all subsequent prohibitions.—Notes and Queries on China and Japan, Vol. II., pp. 27 and 43.

[364] Murray’s China, Vol. II., p. 266. Compare the Chinese Repository, Vol. III., p. 537; Rec. de Mém. de Médecine milit. (Paris), 1862-63-64 passim; Chinese Recorder, Vols. I., II., and III. passim (mostly a series of articles on this subject by Dr. Dudgeon); The Far East, February, 1877, p. 27.

[365] The Jade Chaplet, p. 121.

[366] On Chinese costume, see Wm. Alexander, The Costume of China, illustrated, London, 1805; Mœurs et Coutumes des Chinois et leurs costumes en couleur, par J. G. Grohmann, Leipzig; Breton, China: Its Costume, Arts, etc., 4 vols., translated from the French, London, 1812; another translation is from Auguste Borget, Sketches of China and the Chinese, London, 1842; Illustrations of China and its People. A series of two hundred photographs, with letterpress descriptive of the places and people represented, by J. Thompson, London, 1874, 4 vols. quarto.

[367] Dr. Hobson mentions a case at Shanghai where he was called upon to examine a child well-nigh dead with spurious hydrocephalus. Upon investigation he found that the nurse, “a young healthy-looking woman, with breasts full of milk to overflowing,” had “been in the habit of selling her milk in small cupfuls to old persons, under the idea of its highly nutritive properties, and was actually poisoning the child dependent on it.” The nurse being promptly changed, the infant recovered almost immediately.—Journal N. C. Br. R. A. Soc. New Series, Vol. I., p. 51.

[368] Archdeacon Gray, China, Vol. II., p. 76.

[369] Mémoires conc. les Chinois, Tome XI., pp. 78 ff. C. C. Coffin in the Atlantic Monthly, 1869, p. 747. Doolittle’s Vocabulary, Part III., No. XVIII. M. Henri Cordier in the Journal des Débats, Nov. 19, 1879. Notes and Queries on C. and J., Vol. II., pp. 11 and 26.

[370] Compare p. [628].

[371] Social Life of the Chinese, Chapters II. and III.; China, Chap. VII.; also Fourteen Months in Canton, by Mrs. Gray.

[372] Chinese Repository, Vols. IV., p. 568, and X., pp. 65-70; Annales de la Foi, No. XL., 1835.

[373] Voyages à Peking, Tome II., p. 283.

[374] Chinese Repository, Vol. I., p. 293.

[375] China, Chap. VII.

[376] Doolittle’s Handbook, Vol. III., p. 660, gives a list of names collected at Fuhchau, which are applicable to other provinces.

[377] Memoir of Dr. Morrison, Vol. II., p. 142.

[378] Chinese Chrestomathy, Chap. V., Sec. 12, p. 182. This phrase is the origin of the word chinchin, so often heard among the Chinese.

[379] Compare the China Review, Vol. IV., p. 400.

[380] Chinese Repository, Vol. XV., p. 433. Book of Records, Part V., Book X., Legge’s translation; also Medhurst’s and Gaubil’s translations.

[381] Nevius, China and the Chinese, pp. 399-408.

[382] A like custom existed among the Hebrews, now continued in the modern mezuzaw. Deut. vi. 9. Jahn’s Archæology, p. 38.

[383] Presbyterian Missionary Chronicle, 1846.

[384] Compare Morrison’s Dictionary under Tsung; Doolittle, Social Life, Vol. II., pp. 55-60; Notes and Queries on China and Japan, Vol. II., p. 157.

[385] Gray’s China (Vol. II., p. 273) contains a cut of a mat theatre from a native drawing. See also Doolittle, Social Life, Vol. II., pp. 292-299.

[386] Chinese as They Are, p. 114.

[387] Chinese Repository, Vol. XIV., p. 335.

[388] Temple Bar, Vol. XLIX., p. 45.

[389] Chinese Repository, Vol. X., p. 106; New York Christian Weekly, 1878.

---

[Transcriber's Note]

In the introductory matter, page numbers xiii to xv are repeated.

The map printed on p. 66 contains two letters "K".

The following apparent errors have been corrected:

• p. xiii "Geograhical" changed to "Geographical"
• p. xiv "Chinchau" changed to "Chinchew"
• p. xvii "6. Execution" changed to "6, Execution"
• p. xxi "Chung Kwoh Tsung-lun." changed to "Chung Kwoh Tsung-lun,"
• p. 29 (header) "WALL" changed to "WALL."
• p. 35 "less that" changed to "less than"
• p. 80 "interspered" changed to "interspersed"
• p. 86 (note) "1840" changed to "1840."
• p. 92 "Tsing" changed to "Tsíning"
• p. 93 "combinatious" changed to "combinations"
• p. 109 "Hwaichau" changed to "Hwuichau"
• p. 114 "estward" changed to "eastward"
• p. 159 "direction." changed to "direction,"
• p. 181 "Monhot" changed to "Mouhot"
• p. 181 "by north" changed to "north by"
• p. 184 "diving" changed to "driving"
• p. 190 "Amur at at" changed to "Amur at"
• p. 199 "owerawe" changed to "overawe"
• p. 228 "Oigours" changed to "Ouigours"
• p. 234 (note) "chinesichen" changed to "chinesischen"
• p. 243 (note) "Bull" changed to "Bull." (two instances)
• p. 244 "grain the" changed to "grain, the"
• p. 250 "nos!’”" changed to "nos!’"
• p. 255 "‘or great" changed to "or ‘great"
• p. 279 (note) "Bart" changed to "Bart."
• p. 322 "larnyx" changed to "larynx"
• p. 282 "well as beaten.[160]"—footnote reference added
• p. 305 "less." changed to "less.”"
• p. 328 "county rat" changed to "country rat"
• p. 339 "insigna" changed to "insignia"
• p. 339 "give them them" changed to "give them"
• p. 372 "tweny-nine" changed to "twenty-nine"
• p. 383 "apprehensien" changed to "apprehension"
• p. 404 "sucsessor" changed to "successor"
• p. 405 "tsung-shih" changed to "Tsung-shih"
• p. 405 "Gioro" changed to "Gioro"
• p. 412 (note) "p 69" changed to "p. 69"
• p. 421 (note) "Essai sur l’Instruction en Chine" changed to "Essai sur l’Instruction en Chine"
• p. 427 "thoughout" changed to "throughout"
• p. 434 "14. The Hanlin Yuen" changed to "13. The Hanlin Yuen"
• p. 452 "usual" changed to "unusual"
• p. 462 "Lungchau." changed to "Lungchau,"
• p. 509 "banishishment" changed to "banishment"
• p. 511 "frequenty" changed to "frequently"
• p. 522 "fathful" changed to "faithful"
• p. 533 (note) "Berückschtigung" changed to "Berücksichtigung"
• p. 535 "begining" changed to "beginning"
• p. 539 "malady" changed to "malady."
• p. 543 "cents" changed to "cents."
• p. 543 "points" changed to "point"
• p. 552 "medium.” “A" changed to "medium.”—“A"
• p. 559 "It can" changed to "it can"
• p. 573 "deceased‘s" changed to "deceased"
• p. 576 "elswhere" changed to "elsewhere"
• p. 577 "tenor" changed to "tenor:"
• p. 577 "time" changed to "time."
• p. 583 "varients" changed to "variants"
• p. 591 "os whatever" changed to "of whatever"
• p. 594 "understood" changed to "understand"
• p. 606 "limmers" changed to "limners"
• p. 610 "departing tone" changed to "departing tone"
• p. 612 "^ng(a" changed to "^ng (a"
• p. 627 "Liang Í" changed to "Liang Í"
• p. 683 "dominated" changed to "denominated"
• p. 687 "secured" changed to "secured."
• p. 693 "callection" changed to "collection"
• p. 694 "altogther" changed to "altogether"
• p. 721 "enjoy‘s" changed to "enjoys"
• p. 727 "hierachy" changed to "hierarchy"
• p. 751 "another, aud" changed to "another, and"
• p. 788 (note) "Mrs" changed to "Mrs."
• p. 795 "occured" changed to "occurred"
• p. 832 "Conufcius" changed to "Confucius"

Archaic or inconsistent language and punctuation have otherwise been kept as printed. In particular, the following possible errors have not been changed:

• pp. 67 and 503 cortége
• pp. 150 and 169 enciente
• p. 182 Urh hai or Uhr sea
• p. 192 crenulated
• p. 297 alluvial plane
• p. 694 bestead

The following are used inconsistently in the text:

• Compass directions (e.g. northwest/north-west) are inconsistently hyphenated
• aërial and aerial
• ærolites and aerolites
• background and back-ground
• chihlí and chih-lí
• cocoanuts and cocoa-nuts
• crawfish and craw-fish
• demigod and demi-god
• dépôt and depot
• earrings and ear-rings
• Édifiantes and Edifiantes
• Façade and Facade
• firstborn and first-born
• flagstaffs and flag-staffs
• Fuhhí and Fuh-hí
• Grainery and Granary
• grasscloth and grass-cloth and Kwachau
• headmen and head-men
• headquarters and head-quarters
• headwaters and head-waters
• hiohching and hioh-ching
• horseshoe and horse-shoe
• hum and hûm
• Hungtsih and Hung-tsih
• inflow and in-flow
• jih and juh
• Kihngan and Kih-ngan
• Kílung and Kilung
• Kisilbash and Kisil-bash
• Kwachau and Kwa-chau
• Lí-fan and Li-fan
• Lintsing and Lin-tsing
• Lohyang and Loh-yang
• maladministration and mal-administration
• Manasarowa and Manasa-rowa
• matchmaker and match-maker
• Ma Tsupu and Ma Tsu-pu
• merrymaking and merry-making
• Nankau and Nan-kau
• Ningyuen and Ning-yuen
• overtopped and over-topped
• Pwanyü and Pwanyu
• rainfall and rain-fall
• reöpened and reopened
• résumé and resumé
• ridgepole and ridge-pole
• rockwork and rock-work
• seaboard and sea-board
• seacoast and sea-coast
• seashore and sea-shore
• sea-weed and seaweed
• semicircular and semi-circular
• Shameen and Sha-meen
• Shanhai and Shan-hai
• Shihpah and Shih-pah
• Síngan and Sí-ngan
• Síning and Sí-ning
• signboards and sign-boards
• silkworm and silk-worm
• stiffnecked and stiff-necked
• Suitsing and Sui-tsing
• synonyms and synonymes
• Talí and Ta-lí
• Tapa and Ta-pa
• threefold and three-fold
• títuh and tí-tuh
• Tsitsihar and Tsi-tsi-har
• tsiangkiun and tsiang-kiun
• Tsupu and Tsu-pu
• Tungkwan and Tung-kwan
• twofold and two-fold
• untamable and untameable
• Ushí and Ushi
• vicegerent and vice-gerent
• watercourses and water-courses
• watershed and water-shed
• wellnigh and well-nigh
• wheelbarrows and wheel-barrows
• widespread and wide-spread
• woodwork and wood-work
• Yuenming and Yuen-ming

---