From Navarette, Le Comte, Du Halde, &c.
The Husbandmen in China, as to rank, are preferred to Merchants and Mechanics. They are endowed with large privileges, their profession being considered as the most necessary one in a state. Navarette observes, that the Chinese say, that the Emperor ought to take them under his particular care, and to allow them as large privileges as may be; because all the empire subsists by their labour and industry. Nay, it could not subsist without the strongest inclination and application of the country-people that way! China being so vastly populous, that if every inch of arable land was sowed, as in fact it generally is, yet the produce would be scarce sufficient to support the multitudes of inhabitants; and the empire is too extensive to have its wants that way supplied from foreign parts, even if it kept up a correspondence with them. For these reasons it has always been one of the chiefest cares of the government to promote Agriculture, by honouring husbandmen and their profession. With this view a festival is instituted in honour of agriculture; and the Emperor himself, once a year, turns ploughman, in imitation, as it is said, of the early monarchs, whose history seems to be calculated for the same end.
The common opinion, according to the Missioners, is, that husbandry was first taught by Shin-nong, who is at this day reverenced as the inventor of so useful an art; which has still gained farther credit from what is related in the books of their ancient philosophers. The Emperor Yau, who began to reign four hundred and eighty years after the monarch, it seems, set aside his own children in favour of a young husbandman, whom he chose for his successor. This choice of an emperor out of the country, has inspired the Chinese with a great esteem for agriculture. Yu, who succeeded Shun, came to the throne after the same manner. It is said, he found out the way, by means of canals, to drain off the water into the sea, which at the beginning of the empire overflowed several low countries, and afterwards made use of them to render the soil fruitful. It is added that he wrote several books concerning the manner of cultivating land, and watering it, which induced Shun to appoint him his successor, and has contributed much to raise the credit of agriculture, as they see it has been thought worthy the care and application of a great Prince.
Several other emperors have expressed their zeal for this art. Kang Vang, third monarch of the Chew family, caused land-marks to be fixed, to prevent disputes among the husbandmen. King-Ving, the twenty-fourth of the same race, in whose reign Confusius was born, five hundred and thirty-one years before Christ, renewed the laws that had been made for promoting agriculture. In a word, the Emperor Ven-ti, who reigned three hundred and fifty-two years after, raised its esteem to a great pitch: for this Prince perceiving, that his country was ruined by the wars, to engage his subjects to cultivate the land, set them an example himself, by ploughing the fields belonging to his palace: which obliged all the ministers and gentlemen of his court to do the same.
It is thought, that this was the original of a great festival that is solemnized every year in all the great cities of China, when the sun enters the fifteenth degree of aquarius; which the Chinese look upon as the beginning of the spring. On this day the Governor comes out of his palace, carried in his chair, preceded by banners, lighted torches, and divers instruments; he is attended with several litters, painted, and adorned with a variety of silk tapestry; exhibiting various figures, and the portraits of illustrious persons who had practised husbandry, with histories relating to the same subject! He is crowned with flowers; and marches in this equipage towards the eastern gate of the city, as it were to meet the spring.
Among the figures, there is a cow of earthenware, so monstrously large that forty men can hardly carry it.—Behind the cow, whose horns are gilt, is a young child with one foot naked and the other shod: him they call the genius of labour and diligence; who strikes the earthen cow incessantly with a rod, as though it were to make it advance. All the husbandmen follow with their instruments; after whom proceed companies of Masquers and Comedians, acting plays. In this manner they march to the Governor's palace, where they strip the cow of her ornaments; and drawing out of her belly a prodigious number of small cows made of clay, and distribute them among the multitude, as well as the fragments of the cow, which they break into pieces.—Afterwards the Governor makes a short discourse, recommending the care of husbandry as one of the things most conducive to the good of a state.
The attention of the Emperors and Mandarins to the cultivation of the land is so great, that when deputies arrive at court from the Vice-Roys, the Chinese monarch never forgets to demand in what condition the fields appeared to them; and the falling of a seasonable shower furnishes a proper occasion for visiting a Mandarin, to compliment him thereupon.—Every year, in spring, which falls in February, the Emperor (according to the ancient custom) goes himself, in a solemn manner, to plough a few ridges of land, in order to animate the husbandmen by his own example; and the Mandarins of every city perform the ceremony, which is as follows—The tribunal of Mathematics having, pursuant to orders, fixed on the twenty-fourth of the second moon, as the proper day for the ceremony of tillage, that of the Rites gave notice to the present Emperor Yong-Ching, by a memorial which set forth the following particulars to be observed by him, preparatory to this festival.—1st. That he should appoint 12 illustrious persons to attend and plough after him, viz. three princes, and nine presidents of the sovereign courts; or the assistants of the latter, in case they were too old, or infirm.—2nd. That as this ceremony does not solely consist in the Emperor's ploughing the earth, in order to stir up emulation by his own example; but also includes a sacrifice, which he, as Chief Pontiff, offers to Shang-ti, to procure plenty from him in favour of the people; therefore by way of preparation, he ought to fast and observe continence the three preceding days; the Princes and Mandarins, who accompany his Majesty, ought to prepare themselves in the same manner.—3rd. That on the eve of the ceremony, his Majesty is to send several Lords of the first quality to the Hall of his ancestors, to prostrate themselves before their Tablet, and give them notice, as though they were yet living, that the next day he will offer the great sacrifice.
Besides these directions to the Emperor, the tribunal likewise prescribes the preparations to be made by the different tribunals; one is obliged to prepare the sacrifice; another to compose the formula; another to carry and set up the tents, under which his Majesty is to dine, in case he so orders it; a fourth is to assemble forty or fifty husbandmen, venerable for their age, who are to be present when the Emperor ploughs the ground, with forty of the younger sort to make ready the ploughs, yoke the oxen, and prepare the grain that is to be sown; consisting of five sorts, supposed to comprehend all the rest, as wheat, rice, beans, and two kinds of millet.
On the twenty-fourth day of the moon, the Emperor went with his whole court, in his habit of ceremony, to the place appointed, to offer to Shang-ti the spring sacrifice; by which he is implored to increase and preserve the fruits of the earth. The place is a little hillock made of earth, a few furlongs south from the city; on the side of this elevation, which ought to be fifty feet four inches high, is the spot which is to be ploughed by the Imperial hands.
After the Emperor had offered sacrifices, he descended with the three Princes and nine Presidents, who were to plough with him. Several great Lords carried the valuable chests, which contained the grains that were to be sown. All the court attended with profound silence; then the Emperor took the plough and tilled the ground several times backwards and forwards; when he quitted it a prince of the blood held it and ploughed; as did all the rest in their turns. After having ploughed in several places, the Emperor sowed the different grain; and the day following, the Husbandmen by profession, (forty-four of them old and forty-two of them young) finished the remainder of the field that was left untilled. The ceremony concluded with the appointed reward, which the Emperor bestowed upon each of them; consisting of four pieces of dyed cotton to make cloths.