"The Buddhist religion prevails to a great extent here, which diminishes the quantity of beef used, though not so much as the kindly feeling towards the creature that is so useful in tilling the soil. Pork is the most common in use for meat, and the number of pigs raised is enormous. Geese and ducks are abundant, artificially hatched as in ancient Egypt, and to a considerable extent in America, and are largely used for food.
"The sea, rivers, and lakes supply fish in all needed quantities. They are taken in nets, and also by a novel method of fishing with which you cannot be familiar. A boat goes out with a number of cormorants trained for the purpose, which are fishers by nature. The birds dive and bring up the fish, which they deposit in the hand-nets of the boatman.
"Dr. Legge says the Chinese are not gross feeders, as generally represented, except the very poor, and that a Chinese dinner of twenty-seven courses 'may hold its own with the most luxurious tables.' He adds that the famous bird's-nest soup is a misnomer; but he admits that nests from the Indian Archipelago are sliced into other soups, in his opinion without improving the flavor.
"For a drink, tea has superseded every other beverage, and is taken without sugar or milk. It was not used at all in ancient times, but its use is universal at the present time. The plant is not grown in the north. Black tea comes from the central provinces, and green from two eastern mainly. Next to silk, if not equal to it, tea is the principal article of export. The doctor says that tea-drinking promotes the temperance of the people more than any other influence. Alcoholic liquors are distilled from rice and millet.
"From the twelfth century b.c. the literature of the nation abounds in temperance lectures, warning the people against the injury of strong drinks; but tea has done vastly more to prevent their use than anything else. As a people at home the Chinese make little use of liquors, though that is not always the case with those who live in New York. They do not sit down to tea as we do, but keep it at hand at all times, and treat their visitors with it. Tea is written in the vernacular of the natives ch'â. When it was first imported into England it was called t'ay; but those who gave it the name were doubtless Irishmen, and they still stick to it.
"There is no doubt that silk was first produced in China; and silk, linen, and cotton form the clothing of the people. A ceremony like that with the plough is performed by the emperor over the silkworms and mulberry-trees, whose leaves are the food of the worm. From before the twenty-third century b.c., the care of the silkworm, and the spinning and weaving of the thread from the cocoon, has been the particular labor of the women. The mulberry-tree grows everywhere in the country, and silk is manufactured in greater or less quantities in every province.
"The cotton-plant has been propagated in China; and the cloth is largely used there, though not equal in finish to the imported article, but is heavier and more lasting in wear. Nankeen comes from Nanking. There are no fireplaces in the houses; and the people keep warm, if they can, by increasing their clothing. Woollen goods are not manufactured to any great extent.
"I will not describe the pagodas, pavilions, bridges, and palaces; for you will see them for yourselves. The streets of the cities in the south and some in the north are no better than mere lanes; and the crowds of people hustling through them fill them about full, and make you think the place is vastly more populous than it really is. As a set-off to this idea, you will wonder what has become of the women, for you rarely meet any of them.
"The streets are paved with stone slabs, badly drained, and abounding in bad odors, and you are not likely to enjoy your walks through them; but they have magnificent names, which you will not read at the corners, such as the street of Benevolence, Righteousness, etc. When you go into the house of a tolerably well-to-do family, you will find the quantity of furniture rather scanty, and not luxurious. The floor may be covered with matting, but you will find no carpets or rugs. A table and some straight-backed chairs are the principal pieces. On the walls you may find Chinese pictures, which will not challenge your admiration, though they may be artistic in China. Some jars and specimens of fine porcelain may adorn the room, with writings on the walls expressing moral sentiments. There may be a couch, or more of them, of bamboo and rattan.
"The bamboo is quite as important a production in China as we have found it in India and the islands; and it is used for all the purposes here, and more in addition than have been mentioned to you before. The bastinado of the magistrate and the schoolmaster's instrument of torture are both bamboos.