Mountain passes have been cut for facilitating the transit of goods and people over the high ranges in many parts of the empire. The great road leading from Peking south-west through Shansí and Shensí, and thence to Sz’chuen, is carried across the Peh ling and the valley of the river Hwai by a mountain road, “which, for the difficulties it presents and the art and labor with which they have been overcome, does not appear to be inferior to the road over the Simplon.”[21] At one place on this route, called Lí-nai, a passage has been cut through the rock, and steps hewn on both sides of the mountain from its base to the summit. The passage across the peak being only wide enough for one sedan, the guards are perched in little houses placed on poles over the pass. This road was in ancient times the path to the metropolis, and these immense excavations were made from time to time by different monarchs. The pass over the Mei ling, at Nan-ngan, is a work of later date, and so are most of the other roads across this range in Fuhkien and Kwangtung.
GENERAL ASPECT AND RACE TYPES.
The general aspect of the country is perhaps as much modified by labor of man in China as in England, but the appearance of a landscape in the two kingdoms is unlike. Whenever water is available, streams are led upon the rice fields, and this kind of cultivation allows few or no trees to grow in the plats. Such fields are divided by raised banks, which serve for pathways across the marshy enclosure, and assist in confining the water when let in upon the growing crop. The bounds of other fields are denoted by stones or other landmarks, and the entire absence of walls, fences, or hedgerows, makes a cultivated plain appear like a vast garden.
The greatest sameness exists in all the cities. A wall encloses all towns above a sz’ or township, and the suburbs are not unfrequently larger than their enceinte. The streets in large towns south of the Hwang ho are paved, and the sewers run under the cross slabs. What filth is not in them is generally in the street, as these drains easily become choked. The roadways are not usually over ten feet wide, but the low houses on each side make them appear less like alleys than would be the case in western cities. Villages have a pleasant appearance at a distance, usually embowered among trees, between which the whitewashed houses look prettily; but on entering them one is disappointed at their irregularity, dirtiness, and generally decayed look. The gardens and best houses are mostly walled in from sight, while the precincts of temples are the resort of idlers, beggars, and children, with a proportion of pigs and dogs.
Elegance or ornament, orderly arrangement and grandeur of design, cleanliness, or comfort, as these terms are applied in Europe, are almost unknown in Chinese houses, cities, or gardens. Commanding or agreeable situations are chosen for temples and monasteries, which are not only the abode of priests but serve for inns, theatres, and other purposes. The terrace cultivation sometimes renders the acclivities of hills beautiful in the highest degree, but it does not often impart a distinguishing feature to the landscape. A lofty solitary pagoda, an extensive temple shaded by trees in the opening of a vale, a commemorative pai-lau, or boats moving in every direction through narrow creeks or on broad streams, are some of the peculiar lineaments of Chinese scenery. No imposing mansions with beautiful grounds are found on the skirts of a town, for the people huddle together in hamlets and villages for mutual aid and security. No tapering spires pointing out the rural church, nor towers, pillars, domes, or steeples in the cities, indicating buildings of public utility, rise upon the low level of dun-tiled roofs. No meadows or pastures, containing herds and flocks, are visible from the hill-tops in China; nor are coaches or railroad cars observed hurrying across its landscapes. Steamers have just begun to course through some of its rivers, and disturb, by their whistles and wheels, the drowsy silence of past ages and the slow progress of unwieldy junks—the other changes have yet to come.
The condition and characteristics of the various families of man inhabiting this great empire, render its study far more interesting than anything relating to its physical geography or public works. The Chinese forms the leading family, but the Miaotsz’, the Li-mu, the Kakyens, and other aborigines in the southern provinces, the Manchus, the Mongols, and various Tartar tribes, the Tibetans, and certain wild races in Kirin and Formosa, must not be overlooked. The sons of Han are indeed a remarkable race, whether regard be had to their antiquity, their numbers, their government, or their literature, and on these accounts deserve the study and respect of every intelligent student of mankind; while their unwearied industry, their general peaceableness and good humor, and their attainments in domestic order and mechanical arts, commend them to the notice of every one who sees in these points of character an earnest of their future position amid the great family of civilized nations when once they shall have attained the same.
The physical traits of the Chinese may be described as being between the light and agile Hindu, and the muscular, fleshy European. Their form is well built and symmetrical; their color is a brunette or sickly white, rather approaching to a yellowish than to a florid tint, but this yellow hue has been much exaggerated; in the south they are swarthy but not black, never becoming as dark even as the Portuguese, whose fifth or sixth ancestors dwelt near the Tagus. The shades of complexion differ much according to the latitude and degree of exposure to the weather, especially in the females. The hair of the head is lank, black, coarse, and glossy; beard always black, thin, and deficient; scanty or no whiskers; and very little hair on the body. Eyes invariably black, and apparently oblique, owing to the slight degree in which the inner angles of the eyelids open, the internal canthi being more acute than in western races, and not allowing the whole iris to be seen; this peculiarity in the eye distinguishes the eastern races of Asia from all other families of man. There is a marked difference between the features of the mixed race living south of the Mei ling, and the inhabitants of the Great Plain and in Shansí or further west; the latter are the finer appearing. The hair and eyes being always black, a European with blue eyes and light hair appears strange to them; one reason given by the people of Canton for calling foreigners fan kwei, or ‘foreign devils,’ is, that they have sunken blue eyes, and red hair like demons.
The cheek-bones are high, and the outline of the face remarkably round. The nose is rather small, much depressed, nearly even with the face at the root, and wide at the extremity; there is, however, considerable difference in this respect, but no aquiline noses are seen. Lips thicker than among Europeans, but not at all approaching those of the negro. The hands are small, and the lower limbs better proportioned than among any other Asiatics. The height of those living north of the Yangtsz’ is about the same as that of Europeans. A thousand men taken as they come in the streets of Canton, will hardly equal in stature and weight the same number in Rome or New Orleans, while they would, perhaps, exceed these, if gathered in Peking; their muscular powers, however, would probably be less in either Chinese city than in those of Europe or America.
In size, the women are smaller than European females; and in the eyes of those accustomed to the European style of beauty, the Chinese women possess little; the broad upper face, low nose, and linear eyes, being quite the contrary of handsome. Nevertheless, the Chinese face is not destitute of beauty, and when animated with good humor and an expressive eye, and lighted by the glow of youth and health, the features lose much of their repulsiveness. Nor do they fade so soon and look as ugly and withered when old as some travellers say, but are in respect to bearing children and keeping their vigor, more like Europeans than the Hindus or Persians.
ABORIGINAL TRIBES.