The face of China

by E. G. Kemp

UH CHAI

All the trees were beginning to bud, and the birds to sing and mate, although it was only the end of January. As we neared Tungchwan Yun we saw various new species of birds, and especially large numbers of cranes, mainly grey, but some white, and one solitary black one standing alone on the edge of the stream, as their habit is. The first view of the city is picturesque, as it is seen from the high hills overlooking the plain full of rice-fields. The city nestles under the farther hillside and looks as if it could be reached in an hour or so, whereas it takes at least three times as long. In a village at the foot of the hill the preparations for the New Year were in full swing. Every door was being cleaned for the new gods to be pasted up together with mottoes and other decorations. Great washing was going on in a large puddle in the middle of the village; clothes, bowls, cooking utensils, fowls for the feast, vegetables, &c. Close by were large flocks of wild ducks, teal, and other birds, which made one’s mouth water to see, now that we had reached a part of the country where the residents can rarely get anything except pork and fowls in the way of meat. Tungchwan is quite pretty, owing both to its situation and to the number of trees in it. Also it looked remarkably clean and bright with its decorations, red, orange, blue, and gold, on all the doors; but that may have been merely because it was New Year’s Eve (January 31st). There was much less noise of crackers all night than we had expected, and we were told that the custom of keeping New Year’s Day is much less formally observed than it used to be. Nothing would have induced our coolies, however, to travel that day, and all the shops were closed, and people were walking about in their new clothes and cleanly shaven. We went to see a Confucian temple on the outskirts of the town, which had evidently been visited by the scholars of the place, and in which there were little heaps of offerings, each consisting of five oranges in front of every tablet. There were a number of courtyards and some fine trees in them, especially some interesting specimens of the sensitive tree.—If you scratch the trunk every twig quivers. There are a great many insect trees throughout the whole district, in which the white wax insect is bred. Before they come out of the trunk little bunches of straw about the size of two fingers are tied to it, in which the larvæ are afterwards found. We were very sorry that lack of time prevented our making an excursion into the neighbouring district, which is inhabited by aboriginal tribes. The Wesleyan missionaries have been civilising some of these people, and one of their number has successfully reduced the Miao language to writing by an ingenious adaptation of Pitman’s shorthand system. The tribesmen are able to read and write in a few weeks, and have taken to writing letters to one another like ducks to water. There are many different tribes among the mountains, some very shy and unapproachable, and with curious customs of their own. A member of the mission described to us a curious race that takes place in Bábú land where the Manzas live, but which had never been visited before by European women. The course is strewn with the feathers of fowls, and the men wear very full, short, circular dark capes, and a sort of crest on their heads. Then they put their ponies at full gallop, and extend their arms so that they look like eagles with extended wings as they sweep round the course ventre à terre, enveloped in a cloud of feathers and dust. Some of the tribes are very wild; not infrequently the Lolos or Ibien, as they prefer to be called, kidnap the Chinese and make them pay a heavy ransom, so that little towers of refuge are built in this district. The number of these aboriginal tribes is probably unknown to any one; we always heard conflicting accounts of them, and until recently no systematic attempt has been made to approach them. Hosie describes how difficult it was even to catch a glimpse of any of them when they were close beside the road, as they lurk in the bushes to try and see others, themselves unseen.

YÜNNAN HAT

LOLO WOMAN

When we left Tungchwan the following morning we passed a temple at the entrance of which the tutelary gods and horses, larger than life-size, stand on either side in heavily barred halls, looking most ferocious. The gentry of the place have recently erected a new temple to the God of Riches, which we only saw from a distance. This has been done by means of a lottery, and perhaps the choice of a god is due to the great poverty of the district, where the people are always on the verge of starvation, and where a poor harvest means utter ruin to a large number. The result of this state of things shows itself in a repulsive way, for infanticide is extremely prevalent. In one hamlet near which we passed no fewer than thirty-three baby girls were thrown out recently in a single year; though it looked such a small place that I should not have imagined so many babies had been born in it altogether in the time. We were told that it was by no means uncommon to see such babies lying in the fields, and we were dreadfully exercised to know what we should do if we found one alive. Happily, our sense of humanity was not put to the test. We travelled through a long valley all day under a very hot sun, and longed for thinner clothing.

Next day we climbed the greater part of the way up precipitous hills in a cold, wet mist, longing for warmer winter clothes. Soon our hair was white like the bushes with rime, and we were truly thankful to be saved from the piercing wind which is usually found on these particular heights. The coolies are extremely superstitious about this wind, and would not dare to say anything in the way of complaint for fear the spirits should hear, even if it blew a hurricane. They are often obliged to turn round and wait till the fierce blasts are over; so they told us. The ice was so thick on our hair that we had to take it down before we could get it free from ice, and our clothes were thoroughly wetted with it. For a couple of days the cold continued somewhat severe; then we got into the hot sunshine again, and even with a wind to refresh us we found travelling too hot. The hedges reminded one more of home, and there was a flowering tree not unlike hawthorn; also the hedges were full of cotoneaster, rose-bushes, and clematis.

BRIDEGROOM