China, Asia - Encyclopedia China, Asia CHINA, a country of eastern Asia, the principal division of the Chinese empire. In addition to China proper the Chinese Empire includes Manchuria, Mongolia, Tibet and Sin-kiang (East Turkestan, Kulja, Dzungaria, &c., i.e. All the Chinese dependencies lying between. Mongolia on the north and Tibet on the south). Its most southern point is in 18 50 N.; its most northern in 53 25 N.; its most western in 74 E., and its most eastern in 135 E. It lies, however, mainly between 20 and 50 N.

These places are as follows, treaty ports in Manchuria being included: Amoy, Antung, Canton, Chang-sha, Dairen, Chin-kiang, Chinwantao, Chungking, Chifu. This was established in f901 in succession to the Tsung-li Yamin,i which was created in 1861 after the Anglo-Chinese War in 1860 as a board for foreign affairs.

And 80 and 130 E. It is considerably larger than the whole of Europe. Though its area has not been exactly ascertained the various estimates closely approximfite, varying between 4,277,ooo and 4,300,000 sq.

It is bounded N.W., N. By Asiatic Russia, along a frontier extending some 6ooo m.; E. By Korea and those parts of the Pacific known as the Yellow Sea and China Sea; S. By the China Sea, French Indo-China, Upper Burma and the Himalayan states. It is narrowest in the extreme west. Chinese Turkestan along the meridian of Kashgar (76 E.) has a breadth of but 250 In.

It rapidly broadens and for the greater part of its area is over 1800 m. Across in a direct N.

Its greatest length is from the N.E. Corner of Manchuria to the S.W. Confines of Tibet, a- distance of 3100 m.

In a direct line. Its seaboard, about 5000 m. Following the indentations of the coast, is almost wholly in China proper, but the peninsula of Liao-tung and also the western shores of the Gulf of Liao-tung are in Manchuria. China i proper or the Eighteen.

Provinces (Ski h-p a-shfng) occupies the south-eastern part of the empire. It is bounded N. By Mongolia, W. By Turkestan and Tibet, S.W. By Tongking and the gulf of that name, S.E. By the South China Sea, E.

By the East China Sea, the Yellow Sea, Gulf of Chih-li and Manchuria. Its area is approximately 1,500,000 sq. This vast country is separated from the rest of continental Asia by lofty tablelands and rugged mountain ranges, which determine the general course--west to eastof its principal rivers.

On the north and west the Mongolian and Tibetan tablelands present towards China steep escarpments across which are very few passes. And S., on the borders of Yun-nan, high mountains and deep valleys separate China from Burma and Tongking. On the narrow N.E.

Frontier the transition from the Manchurian plateau to the alluvial plain of northern China is not abrupt, but, before the advent of railways, Manchuria afforded few and difficult means of access to other regions. Thus China was almost cut off from the rest of the world save by sea routes. THE COUNTRY Western China consists of highlands often sparsely, and eastern China of lowlan.ds densely peopled.

China contains the only provinces where the population is under too per sq. From the Tibetan and Mongolian tablelands project mountain ranges which, ramifying over the western region, enclose elevated level tracts and lower basins and valleys. East of this mountainous region, which extends into central China and covers probably As to the origin of the names China and Cathay (the medieval name) see below History.

According to one theory the name China is of Malay origin, designating originally the region now called Indo-China, but transferred in early times to China proper. By the Chinese the country is often called Shih-pa-shng, the Eighteen Provinces, from the number of its great territorial divisions.

It is also called Chung-kwo, the Middle Kingdom, properly used 01 the central part of China, and Hwa-kwo, the Flowery Kingdom. Fully half of the kingdom, are, in the north a great alluvial plain and in the south a vast calcareous tableland traversed by hill ranges of moderate elevation (see Mountains and Geology). In north-eastern China there is only one mountain system, the group of hillshighest peak 5060 ft.forming the Shan-tung peninsula. This peninsula was formerly an island, bqt has been attached to the mainland by the growth of the alluvial plain.

Besides the broad division of the country into western and eastern China it may also be considered as divided into three regions by the basins of its chief rivers, the Hwang-ho (Yellow river) in the north, the Yangtsze-kiang in the centre, and the Si-kiang (West river) in the south. In the northern provinces of Kan-suh and Shen-si the basins of the Hwang-ho and Yangtszekiang are separated by a mountain chain with various names the eastern termination of the Kuen-lun range of central Asia. These mountains, in China, attain, in the Tsing-ling Shan, a maximum elevation of 13,000 ft. East of Shen-si, in Ho-nan the Fu-niu-shan continue the range, but with decreasing elevation, and beyond this the deltaic plain is entered. The watershed between the Yangtsze-kiang and that of the Si-kiang is less clearly marked. It traverses the immense tableland which occupies a great part of the south-west provinces of Yun-nan and Kwei-chow and is continued eastward by the lower tableland of Kwang-si and the Nanshan hills (whose elevation seldom exceeds 6000 ft.). The basin of the Yangtsze-kiang forms the whole of central China.

Its western border, in Sze-chuen and Yun-nan, is wholly mountainous, with heights exceeding 19,000 ft. Central Sze-chuen, which is shut in by these mountains on the west, by the Yun-nan and Kwei-chow plateau on the south, by the Kiu-Iung range on the north, and by highlands eastward (save for the narrow valley through which the Yangtszekiang forces its way), is a vast red sandstone tableland of about 1600 ft.

It is exceedingly fertile and supports a dense population. Eastward of Sze-chuen the Yangtsze valley is studded with lakes. Finally it enters the deltaic plain. The basin of the Si-kiang fills the two southern provinces of Kwang-si and Kwang-tung and contains no very striking orographic features.

It may be added that in the extreme S.W. Portion of China is part of a fourth drainage area. Here the Mekong, Salween, Song-koi (Red river), &c. Flow south to Indo-China. The Coast.The coast-line, following all the minor indentations, is reckoned at over 4500 m.; if only the larger inlets and promontories be regarded, the coast-line is about 2150 m.

Its shape is that of a semicircle, with its most easterly point midway (30 N.) between its northern and southern extremities. At either end of this semicircular sweep lies a peninsula, and beyond the peninsula a gulf.

In the north are the peninsula of Shan-tung and the gulf of Chih-li; in the south the Lien-chow peninsula and the gulf of Tongking. Due south of Lien-chow peninsula, separated from it by a narrow strait, is Hai-nan, the only considerable island of China. From the northern point of the gulf of Chih-li to 30 N., where is 1-lang-chow bay, the shores are flat and alluvial save where the Shan-tung peninsula juts out. Along this stretch there are few good natural harbours, except at the mouths of rivers and in the Shan-tung promontory; the sea is shallow and has many shoals. The waters bordering the coast of Chih-li are partly frozen in winter; at to m. From the shore the water is only 20 ft. Deep The proximity of Peking gives its few ports importance; that of Taku is at the mouth of the Peiho.

In Shan-tung, deeply indented on its southern coast, are the ports of Chi-fu, Wei-hai-wei and Tsing-tao (the last in Kiao-chow bay). South of Shan-tung and north of the mouth of the Yangtsze huge sandbanks border the coast, with narrow channels between them and the shore. The estuary of the Yan~tsze is 60 m. Across; it contains islands and sancibanks, but there is easy access to Wusung (Shanghai) and other river ports.

The bay of Hangchow, as broad at its entrance as the Yangtsze estuary, forms the mouth of the Tsien-tang-kiang. The Chusan and other groups of islands lie across the entrance of the bay. South of Hang-chow bay the character of the coast alters. In place of the alluvial plain, with flat, sandy and often marshy shores, the coast is generally hilly, often rocky and abrupt; it abounds in small indentations and possesses numerous excellent harbours; in this region are Fu-chow, Amoy, Swatow, Hongkon~, Macao, Canton and other well-known ports. The whole of this coast is bordered by small islands. Formosa lies opposite the S.E. Coast, the channel between it and Fu-kien province being about 100 m.

Formosa protects the neighboring regions of China from the typhoons experienced farther north and farther south. Surface.As already indicated, one of the most noticeable features.k_._r,~.

~., i.,~._.i. Eastern portion of the country, which, curving round the mountainous districts of Shan-tung, extends for about 700 m. In a southerly direction from the neighborhood of Peking and varies from 150 to 500 m. This plain is the delta of tIeltaiC the Yellow river and, to some extent, that of the Yangtsze- plain. Beginning in the prefecture of Yung-ping Fu, in the provrnce of Chih-Ii, its outer limit passes in a westerly direction as far as Chang-ping Chow, north-west of Peking. Thence running a south-south-westerly course it passes westward of Chng-ting Fu and Kwang-ping Fu till it reaches the upper waters of the Wei river in Ho-nan. From this point it turns westward and crosses the Hwang-ho or Yellow river in the prefecture of Hwai-king.

Leaving this river it takes a course a little to the east of south, and passing west of Ju-ning Fu, in the province of Ho-nan, it turns in a more easterly direction as far as Luchow Fu. From this prefecture an arm of the plain, in which lies the Chao Lake, stretches southward from the Hwai river to the Yangtsze--kiang, and trending eastward occupies the region between that river and Hangchow Bay. To the north of this arm rises a hilly district, in the centre of which stands Nanking.

The greater part of this vast plain descends very gently towards the sea, and is generally below the level of the Yellow river, hence the disastrous inundations which so often accompany the rise of that river. Owing to the great quantity of soil which is brought down by the waters of the Yellow river, and to the absence of oceanic currents, this delta is rapidly increasing and the adjoining seas are as rapidly, becoming shallower. As an instance, it is said that the town of Putai was one Chinese milei west of the seashore in the year 200 B.C., and in 1730 it was 140 m.

Inland, thus giving a yearly encroachment upon the sea of about 100 ft. Again, Sienshwuy-kow on the Peiho was on the seashore in A.D. 500, and it is now about 18 m. Some of the ranges connected with the mountain system of central Asia which enter the western provinces of China have been mentioned above, others may be indicated here. In the M eastern portion of Tibet the Kuen-lun range throws off ~ 01111 a number of branches, which spread first of all in a south- a ilS~ easterly direction and eventually take a north and south course, partly in the provinces of Sze-chuen and Yun-nan, where they divide the beds of the rivers which flow into Siam and French Indo-China, as well as the principal northern tributaries of the Yangtsze-kiarig.

In the north-west, traversing the western portion of the province of Kan-suh, are parallel ranges running NW. And forming a prolongation of the northern Tibetan mountains.

They are known as the Lung-shan, Richthofen and Nan-shan, and join on the southeast the Kuen-lun range. The Richthofen range (locally called Tien- shan, or Celestial Mountains)attains elevations of over 20,000 ft. Several of its peaks are snowclad, and there are many glaciers. Forming the northern frontier of the province of Sze-chuen run the Min-shan and the Kiu-lung(or Po-mng) ranges,which, entering china in 102 E., extend in a general easterly course as far as 112 E. In the province of Hu-peh. These ranges have an average elevation of 8000 and 11,000 ft.

In the south a number of parallel ranges spread from the Yun-nan plateau in an easterly direction as far as the province of Kwang-tung. Then turning north-eastward they run in lines often parallel with the coast, and cover large areas of the provinces of Fu-kien, Kiang-si, Cheh-kiang, Hu-nan and southern Ngan-hui, until they reach the Yangtsze-kiang; the valley of that river from the Tung-ting Lake to Chinkiang Fu formrng their northern boundary. In Fu-kien these hills attain the character of a true mountain range with heights of from 6500 to nearly 10,000 ft. Besides the chief ranges there are the Tai-han~ Mountains in Shan-si, and many others, among which may be mentioned the ranges part of the escarpment of the Mongolian plateauwhich form the northern frontier of Chili-li. Here the highest peak is Ta-kuangting-tzu (6500 ft.), about 300 m.

Of Peking and immediately north of Wei Ch~ang (the imperial hunting grounds). Rivers and Canals.The rivers of China are very numerous and there are many canals. In the north the rivers are only navigable by small craft; elsewhere they form some of the most fre- Th ~ quentedhighways in the country. The two largest rivers, e e OW the Yangtsze-kiang and the Hwang-ho (Yellow river), are separately noticed. The Hwang-ho (length about 2400 m:) has only one important tributary in China, the Wei-ho, which rises in Kan-suh and flows through the centre of Shen-si.

Below the confluence the Hwang-ho enters the plains. According to the Chinese records this portion of the river has changed its course nine times during 2500 years, and has emptied itself into the sea at different mouths, the most northerly of which is iepresented as having been in about 3~ N., or in the neighborhood of the present mouth of the Peiho, and the most southerly being that which existed before the change in 1851-1853. Owing to its small value as a navigable highway and to its propensity to inundate the regions in its neighborhood, there are no considerable towns on rts lower course. The Yangtsze-kiang is the chief waterway of China.

The river, flowing through the centre of the country, after a course of 2900 m., empties itself into the Yellow Sea in about 31 N. Unlike the Yellow river, the Yangtsze-kiang is dotted along its navigable portions with many rich and populous cities, among which are Nanking, An-ching (Nganking), Kiu-kiang, Hankow and I-ch~ang. T A ~..:1.7; 1_.,1:1,.:1 From its mouth to I-chang, about 1000 m., the river is navigable by large steamers Above this last-named city the navigation becomes impossible for any but light native craft or foreign vessels The specially constructed for the navigation, by reason of;anztsze the rapids which occur at frequent intervals in the deep aAzg. Mountain gorges through which the river runs between Kwei-chow and I-chang. Above Kwei-chow it receives from the north many tributaries, notably the Mm, which water the low tableland of central Sze-chuen.

The main river itself has in this province a considerable navigable stretch, while below I-chang it receives the waters of numerous navigable affluents. The Yangtsze system is thus all important in the economic and commercial development of China.

Perhaps the most remarkable of the affluents of the Yangtsze is the Han-kiang or Han river. It rises in the Po~mng mountains to the north of the city of Ning-kiang Chow in Shen-si. Taking a generally easterly course from its source as far as Fan-cheng, it from that point takes a more southerly direction and empties itself into the Yangtsze-kiang at Han-kow, the mouth of the Han. Here it is only 200 ft. Wide, while higher up it widens to 2600 ft.

It is navigable by steamers for 300 m. The summer high-water line is for a great part of its course, from I-cheng Hien to Han-kow, I above the level of its banks. Near Sien-tao-chfin the elevation of the plain above low water is no more than I ft., and in summer the river rises about 26 ft. Above its lowest level. To protect themselves against inundations the natives have here, as elsewhere, thrown up high embankments on both sides of the river, but at a distance from the natural banks of about 5o to 100 ft. This intervening space is flooded every year, and by the action of the water new layers of sand and soil are deposited every summer, thus strengthening the embankments from season to season. The Hwai-ho is a large river of east central China flowing between the Hwang-ho and the Yangtsze-kiang.

The Hwai-ho and its numerous affluents (it is said to have 72 tributaries) rise in Ho-nan. The main river flows through the centre of Ngan-hui, in which province it receives from the N.W. The Sha-ho, Fei-ho and other important affluents. Formerly it received through the Sha-ho part of the waters of the Hwang-ho.

The Hwai-hoflows into the Hungtso lake, through which it feeds the Grand Canal, not far from the old course of the Hwang-ho, and probably at one time joined that river not far from its mouth. It has a length of about 800 In. And is navigable from the point where it leaves the hill country of Ho-nan to Lake Hungtso. It is subject to violent floods, which inundate the surrounding country for a distance of 10 to 20 m.

Many of its tributaries are also navigable for considerable distances. Next in importance to the Yangtsze-kiang as a water highway is the Yun-ho, or, as it is generally known in Europe, the Grand Canal. This magnificent artificial river reaches from Hang-chow Grand Fu in the province of Cheh-kiang to Tientsin in Chih-ii, CanaL where it unites with the Peiho, and thus may be said to extend to Tung-chow in the neighborhood of Peking. According to the itineraries published by Pre Gandar, the total length of the canal is 3630 li, or about 1200 m. A rough measurement, taking, account only of the main bends of the canal, makes its length 850 m. After leaving Hang-chow the canal passes round the eastern border of the Tai-hu or Great Lake, surrounding in its course the beautiful city of Su-chow, and thei~ trends in a generally north-westerly direction through the fertile districts of Kiang-su as far as Chinkiang on the Yangtsze-kiang. In this, the southern section, the slope is gentle and water is plentiful (from 7 ft.

At low water to II ft., and occasionally 13 ft. At high water). Between So-chow and Chinkiang the canal is often over 100 ft. Wide, and its sides are in many places faced with stone. It is spanned by fine stone bridges, and near its banks are many memorial arches and lofty pagodas.

In the central portion of the canal, that is between Chin-kiang and Tsingkiang-pu, at which latter place it crosses the dry channel which marks the course of the Yellow river before 1852, the current is strcng and difficult to ascend in the upward (northern) journey. This part of the canal skirts several lakes and is fed by the Hwai-ho as it issues from the Htingtso lake. The country lying west of the canal is higher than its bed; while the country east is lower than the canal, The two regions are known respectively as Shang-ho (above the river) and Ssia-ho (below the river). Waste weirs opening on the Ssia-ho (one of the great rice-producing areas of China) discharge the surplus water in flood seasons.

The northern and considerably the longest section of the canal, extends from the old bed of the Yellow river to Tientsin. It largely utilizes existing rivers and follows their original windings. Between Tsing-kiang-pu and the present course of the Yellow river the canal trends N.N.W., skirting the highlands of Shan-tung.

In this region it passes through ~ series of lagoons, which in summer form one lakeChow-yang. North of that lake on the east bank of the canal, is the city of Tsi-ning-chow. Of that city the highest level of the canal is reached at the town of Nan Wang. Here the river Wen enters the canal from the east, and about 30 m. The Yellow river is reached. On the west side of the canal, at the point whee the Yellow river now cuts across it, there is laid down in Chinese maps of the 18th century a dry channel which is described as being that once followed by the Yellow river, i.e.

Before it took the channel it abandoned in 1851-1853. The passage of the Yellow river to the part of the canal)vin,r nr,rth of thi~t stream is difficult, and can only be effected at certain levels of the river. Frequently the waters of the river are either too low or the current is too strong to permit a passage. Leaving this point the canal passes through a well-wooded and hilly country west of Tung-ping Chow and east of Tung-chang Fu.

At Lin-ching Chow it is joined at right angles by the Wei river in the midst of the city. Up to this point, i.e. From Tsing-kiang-pu to Lin-ching Chow, a distance of over 300 m., navigation is difficult and the wffter-supply often insufficient.

The differences of level, 20 to 30 ft., are provided for by barrages over which the boats having discharged their cargoare hauled by windlasses. Below the junction with the Wei the canal borrows the channel of the river and again becomes easily navigable. Crossing the frontier into Chih-li, between Te Chow and Tsang Chow, which it passes to the west, it joins the Peiho at Tientsin, after having received the waters of the Keto river in the neighborhood of Tsing Hien.i The most ancient part of the canal is the section between the Yangtsze and the Hwai-ho. This part is thought, on the strength of a passage in one of the books of Confucius, to have been built C. It was repaired and enlarged in the 3rd century A.n.

The southern part, between the Yangtsze and Hang-chow, was built early in the 7th century A.D. The northern part is stated to have been constructed in the three years 1280-1283.

The northern portion of the canal is now of little use as a means of communication between north and south.2 It is badly built, neglected and charged with the mud-laden waters of the Yellow river. The tribute fleet bearing rice to Peking still uses this route; but the rice is now largely forwarded by sea. The central and southern portions of the canal are very largely used. The Peiho (length about 350 m.) is of importance as being the high waterway to Peking.

Taking its rise in the Si-shan, or Western Mountains, beyond Peking, it passes the city of Tsung-chow, the port of Peking, ancj Tientsin, where it meets the waters of the Hun-ho and empties itself into,the gulf of Chih-li at the village ot Taku. The Peiho is navigable for small steamers as far as Tientsin during the greater part of the year, but from the end of November to the beginning of March it is frozen up.

In the southern provinces the Si-kiang, or Western river, is the most considerable. It has a length of over 1000 m.

This river takes its rise in the prefecture of Kwang-nan Fu in Yun-nan, whence it reaches the frontier of Kwang-si at a distance The of about 90 li from its source. Then trending in a north- SiIang. Easterly direction it forms the boundary between the two provinces for about 150 ii. From this point it takes a generally south-easterly course, passing the cities of Tsien Chow, Fung-e Chow, Shang-lifi Hien, Lung-ngan Hien, Yung-kang Chow and Nan-ning Fu to Yungshan Hien. Here it makes a bend to the north-east, and continues this general direction as far as Sin-chow Fu, a distance of 800 ii, where it meets and joins the waters of the Kien-kiang from the north.

Its course is then easterly, and after passing Wu-chow Fu it crosses the frontier into Kwang-tung. In this, part of its course it flows through a gorge 3 In. Long and in places but 270 yds. Both above and below this gorge it is I In. Above Canton it divides into two main and several small branches. The northern branch, called Chu-kiang, or Pearl river, flows past Fatshan and Canton and reaches the sea through the estuary called the Bocca Tigris or Bogue, at the mouth of which is the island of HongKong.

Fhe southern branch, which retains the name of Si-kiang, reaches the sea west of Macao. Near the head of its delta the Sikiang receives the Pei-kiang, a considerable river which flows through Kwang-tung in a general N. Direction, Like the Yangtszekiang the Si-kiang is known by various names in different parts of its course. From its source to Nan-ning Fu in Kwang-si it is called the Si-yang-Iciang, or river of the Western Ocean; from Nan-ning Fu to Sin-chow Fu it is known as the Yu-kiang, or the Bending river; and over the remainder of its course it is recognized by the name of the Si-kiang, or Western river.

The Si-kiang is navigable as far as Shao-king, 130 m., for vessels not drawing more than 13 ft. Of water, and vessels of a light draught may easily reach Wu-chow Fu, in Kwang.si, which is situated 75 m. In winter the navigation is difficult above Wu-chow Fu. Above that place there is a rapid at low water, but navigation is possible to beyond Nan-ning Fu. Lakes.There are numerous lakes in the central provinces of China. The largest of these is the Tung-ting in flu-nan, which, according to the Chinese geographers, is upwards of 800 ii, or 266 m., in circumference.

In native gazetteers its various portions are known under distinct names; thus it is said to include the Ts~ing-tsao, or Green Grass Lake; the iJng, or Venerable Lake; the Chih-sha, or Red Sand Lake; the Hwang-yih, or Imperial Post-house Lake; the Ngan-nan, or Peaceful Southern Lake; and the Ta-tung, or l For the Grand Canal the chief authority is Dominique Gandar, S.J., Le Canal Imperial. Etude historique et descriptive, Varfifts sinologiques No. 4 (Shanghai, 1903); see also Stenz, Der Kaiserkanal, in Beitragen zur Kolonialpolitik, Band v. (Berlin, 1903-1904), and the works of Ney Elias, Sir J.

Williamson, E. Parker and W. Nevertheless there is considerable local traffic. The transit trade with Shan-tung, passing the Chin-kiang customs and using some 250 m. Of the werst part of the canal, was valued in 1905 at,~.i~1.ooo taels. Great Deep Lake. In ancient times it went by the name of the Kiu-kiang Hu, or Lake of the Nine Rivers, from the fact that nine rivers flowed into it.

Its chief affluents are the Siang~kiang, which rises in the highlands in the north of Kwang-si and flows in a general N.N.E.,direction, and the Yuen-kiang, which flows N. From the eastern border of Kwei-chow. The lake is connected with the Yangtsze-kiang by two canals, the Taping and the Yochow Fu. In summer it is fed by the overflow from the Yangtsze-kiang; in winter it pours its waters into that river through the Yochow Fu canal. During the winter and spring the water of the lake is so low that the shallow portions become islands, separated by rivers such as the Siang and Yuen, and numberless streams; but in summer, owing to the rise in the waters of the Yangtsze-kiang, the whole basin of the lake is filled. It is then about 75 m.

Long and 60 m. Of the Tung-ting lake is the Poyang lake, which occupies the low-lying part of the province of Kiang-si, and is connected with the Yangtsze by the Hu-kow caiial.

The Poyang lake is also subject to a wide difference between high and low water, but not quite to the same extent as the Tung-ting lake, and its landmarks are more distinctly defined. It is about 90 m. Long by 20 broad. The Tai lake, in the neighborhood of Su-chow Fu, is also celebrated for its size and the beauty of its surroundings.

It is about 150 m. In circumference, and is dotted over with islands, on which are built temples for the devotees of religion, and summerhouses for the votaries of pleasure from the rich and voluptuous cities of Hang-chow and Su-chow. The boundary line between the provinces of Cheh-kiang and Kiang-su crosses its blue waters, and its shores are divided among thirteen prefectures. Besides these lakes there are, among others, two in Yun-nan, the Kun-yang-hai (Tien-chi) near Yun-nan Fu, which is 40 m. Long and is connected with the Yangtsze-kiang by the Pu-to river, and the Erh-hai (Urhhai) to the east of the city of Tall.

The Great Wall.Along the northern provinces of Chih-li, Shan-si, Shen-si and Kan-suh, over 220 of longitude (98 to I 20 E.), stretches the Great Wall of China, built to defend the country against foreign aggression. It was begun in the 3rd century n.e., was repaired in the 15th century, and in the 16th century was extended by 300 m. Following the windings the wall is 1500 m.

Starting near the seashorei at Shan-hai-kwan on the gulf of Liao-tung, where the Chinese and Manchurian frontiers meet, it goes eastward past Peking (which is abqut 35 m. To the south) and then trends S. Across Shan-si to the Hwang-ho. From the neighborhood of Peking to the Hwang-ho there is an inner and an outer wall. The outer (northern) wall passes through Kalgan, thus guarding the pass into Mongolia.

A branch wall separates the greater part of the western frontier of Chih-li from Shah-si. West of the Hwang-ho the Great Wall forms the northern frontier of Shen-si, and west of Shen-si it keeps near the northern frontier of Kan-suh, following for some distance in that province the north bank of the Hwang-ho.

It ends at Kiayu-kwan (98 I4 E.) just west of Su-chow. This part of the wall was built to protect the one main artery leading from central Asia to China through Kan-suh and Shen-si by the valley of the Wei-ho, tributary of the Hwang-ho. There is a branch wall in Kan.suh running west and south to protect the Tibetan frontier. The height of the wall is generally from 20 to 30 ft., and at intervals of some 200 yds. Are towers about 40 ft.

Its base is from 15 to 25 ft. Thick and its summit 12 ft. The wall is carried over valleys and mountains, and in places is over 4000 ft. Above sea-level. Military posts are still maintained at the chief gates or passesat Shan-hai-kwan, the Kalgan pass, the Yenmun pass (at the N. Of Shan-si) and the Kaiyu pass in the extreme west, through which runs the caravan route to Barkal in Turkestan.

Wingate, who in the opening years of the 20th century visited the Great Wall at over twenty places widely apart and gathered many descriptions of it in other places, states that its position is wrongly shown on the maps of the day (1907) in a number of places; while in others it had ceased to exist, the only places where it forms a substantial boundary being in the valley bottoms, on the passes and where it crosses main routes. These remarks apjly with particular force to the branch running southwest from the Nan-kow pass and forming the boundary of Chih-li and Shan-si provinces. In Colonel Wingates opinion the wall was originally built by degrees and in sections, not of hewn stone, but of round boulders and earth, the different sections being repaired as they fell into ruin. Only in the valley bottoms and on the passes was it composed of masonry or brickwork. The Mings rebuilt of solid masonry all those sections through which led a likely road for invading Tatars to follow, or where it could be seen at a distance from the sky-line. The building of the wall was a sufficiently simple affair, not to be compared with the task of building the pyramids-of Egypt2 i The portion of the wall which abutted on to the sea has been destroyed.

2 See the Geog. And March 1907). For a popular account of the wall, with numerous photographs, see The Great Wall of China (London, 1909), by W.

Giel, who in 1908 followed its course from east to west. Consult also A. Williamson, Journey in North China (London, 1870); Martin, La Grande Muraille de Ia Chine, Revue scientifique (1891). Climate-The climate over so vast an area as China necessarily varies greatly. The southern parts of Yun-nan, Kwang-si and Kwang-tung (including the city of Canton) lie within the tropics.

The northern zone (in which lies Peking) by contrast has a climate which resembles that of northern Europe, with winters of Arctic severity. The ceIitral zone (in which Shanghai is situated) has a g~enerally temperate climate. But over both northern and central China the influence of the great plateau of Mongolia tends to establish uniform conditions unusual in so large an area. The prevailing winds during summerthe rainy seasonare south-easterly, caused by heat and the ascending current of air over the sandy deserts of central Asia, thus drawing in a current from the Pacific Ocean.

In the winter the converse takes place, and the prevailing winds, descending from the Mongolian plateau, are north and north-west, and are cold and dry. From October to Ma>T the climate of central China is bracing and enjoyable. The rainfall is moderate and regular. In northern China the inequalities both of temperature and rainfall are greater than in th.3 central provinces. In the province of Chih-li, for example, the heat of summer is as intense as is the cold of winter.

In summer the rains often render the plain swampy, while the dry persistent westerly winds of spring create dust storms (experienced in Peking from March to June). The rainfall is, however, uncertain, and thus the harvests are precarious. The provinces of Shan-tung and Shan-si are peculiarly liable to prolonged periods of drought, with consequent severe famines such as that of 1877--1878, when many millions died. In these regions the air is generally extremely dry, and the daily variations of temperature consequent on excessive radiation are much greater than farther south. Accurate statistics both of heat and rainfall are available from a few stations only. The rainfall on the southern coasts is said to be about 100 in.

Yearly; at Peking the rainfall is about 24 in. In the coast regions the temperatures of Peking, Shanghai and Canton may be taken as typical of those of the northern, central and southern zones. In Peking (39 N.) the mean annual temperature isabouts3F.,themeanforJanuary 23, for July 79. In Shanghai (31 II N.)i the mean annual temperature is 59, the mean for January 36.2, for July 80.4. In CantOn (23 15 N.) the mean annua temperature is 70, the mean for January 54, for July 820.

The range of temperature, even within the tropics, is noteworthy. At Peking and Tientsin the thermometer in winter falls sometimes to 5 below zero and rises in summer to 105 (at Taku 107 has been recorded); in Shanghai in winter the thermometer falls to 18 and in summer rises to 102. In Canton frost is said to have been recorded, but according to the China Sea Directory the extreme range is from 38 to ~0o.~ The climate of Shanghai, which resembles, but is not so good as, that of the Yangtszc-kiangvalleygenerally, is fairly healthy, but there is an almost constant excess of moisture. The summer months, July to September, are very hot, while snow usually falls in December and January. At Canton and along the south coast the hot season corresponds with the 5.W. Monsoon; the cool seasonmid October to end of Aprilwith the N.E. Farther north, at Shanghai, the S.W.

Monsoon is sufficiently felt to make the prevailing wind in summer southerly. Provinces.China proper is divided into the following provinces: Cheh-kiang, Chih-li, Fu-kien, Ngan-hui (An-hui), Ho-nan, Hu-nan, Hu-peh, Kan-suh, Kiang-si, Kiang-su, Kwang-si, Kwang-tung, Kwei~chow, Shan-si, Shan-tung, Shen-si, Sze-chuen and Yun-nan. See the separate notices of each province and the article on Shngking, the southern province of Manchuria. The Palaeozoic formations of China, excepting only the upper part of the Carboniferous system, are marine, while the Mesozoic and Tertiary deposits are estuarine and freshwater or else of terrestrial origin. From the close of the Palaeozoic period down to the present day the greater part of the empire has been dry land, and it is only in the southern portion of Tibet and in the western Tian Shan that any evidence of a Mesozoic sea hasyet been found.

The geological sequence may be summarized as follows: A rchean.Gneiss, crystalline schists, phyllites, crystalline lime- stones. Exposed ~n Liao-tung, Shan-tung, Shan-si, northern Chih-li and in the axis of the mountain ranges, e.g. The Ktien-lun and the ranges of scuthern China. Sinian.Sandstones, quartzites, limestones. Sometimes rests unconformably upon the folded rocks of the Archaen system; but sometimes, according to Lczy, there is no unconformity. Covers a large area in the northern part of China proper; absent in the eastern Kuen-lun; occurs again in the ranges of S.E.

China, in Liao-tung Cambrian fossils have been found near the summit of the series; they belong to the oldest fauna known upon the earth, the fauna of the Olenellus zone. It is, however, not improbable that in many places beds of considerably later date have been included in the Sinian system. ___________________________ For Shanghai the figures are compiled from twenty-six years observations. See China Sea Directory, vol. (4th ed., 1904) p.

The thermometer registered 23 F. In January 1893, on the river 28 m. Below Canton. This is,the lowest reading known. Io4-I05~ Ordovician.Ordovician fossils have been found in the Lungshan, Kiang-su (about 50 m.

East of Nan-king), in the south-west of Cheh-kiang and in the south-east of Yun-nan. Ordovician beds probably occur also in the Kuen-lun. Silurian.Limestones and slates wIth Silurian corals and other fossils have been found in Sze-chuen. Devonian.Found in Kan-suh and in the Tsing-ling-shan, but becomes much more important in southern China. Occurs also on the south of the Tian-shan, in the Altyn-tagh, the Nan-fhan and the western Kuen-lun. Carboniferous.Covers a large area in northern China, in the plateau of Shen-si and Shan-si, extending westwards in tongues between the folds of the Kuen-lun.

In this region it consists of a lower series of limestones and an upper series of sandstones with seams of coal, which may perhaps be in part of Permian age. This is probably the most extensive coalfield in the world. In south China the whole series consists chiefly of limestones, and the coal seams are comparatively unimportant. Carboniferous beds are also found in the Tian-shan, the Nan-shan, Kan-suh, on the southern borders of the Gobi, &c.

Mesozoic.-Marine Triassic beds containing fossils similar to those of the German Muschelkalk have been found by Lczy near Chungtien, on the eastern border of the Tibetan plateau. Elsewhere, however, the Mesozoic is represented chiefly by a red sandstone, which covers the greater part of Sze-chuen and fills also a number of troughs amongst he older beds of southern China.

No marine fossils are found in this sandstone, but remains of plants are numerous, and these belong to the Rhaetic, Lias and Lower Oolite. No Cretaceous beds are known in China excepting in S. Tibet (on the shores of the Tengri-nor) and in the western portion of the Tian-shan. Cainozoic and RecentNo marine deposits of this age are known. Although the bess of the great plain and the sand of the desert are still in process of formation, the accumulation of these deposits probably began in the Tertiary period. Volcanic Rocks.Amongst the Archean rocks granitic and other intrusions are abundant, but of more modern volcanic activity the remains are comparatively scanty. In south China there is no evidence of Tertiary or Post-Tertiary volcanoes, hut groups of volcanic cones occur in the great plain of north China.

In the Liao-tung and Shan-tung peninsulas there are basaltic plateaus, and similar outpourings occur upon the borders of Mongolia. All these outbursts appear to be of Tertiary or later data. Loess.One of the most characteristic deposits of China is the bess, which not merely imparts to north China the physical character of the scenery, but also determines the agricultural products, the transport, and general economic life of the people of that part of the country. It is peculiar to north China and it is not found south of the Yangtsze.

The bess is a solid but friable earth of brownish-yellow color, and when triturated with water is not unlike loam, but differs from the latter by its highly porous and tubular structure. The bess soil is extremely favorable to agriculture. (See LoEss and infra, Agriculture.) The bess is called by the Chinese Hwang-tu, or yellow earth, and it has been suggested that the imperial title Hwang-ti, Yellow Emperor or Ruler of the Yellow, had its origin in the fact that the emperor is lord of the bess or yellow earth. Structurally, China proper may be divided into two regions, separated from each other by the folded range of the Tsing-lingStructure shan, which is a continuation of the folded belt of the Kuen-lun. North of this chain the Palaeozoic beds are in general nearly horizontal, and the linsestones and sandstones of the Sinian and Carboniferous systems form an extensive plateau which rises abruptly from the western margin of the great plain of northern China. The plateau is deeply carved by the rivers which flow through it; and the strata are often faulted, but they are never sharply folded. South of the Tsing-ling.shan, on the other hand, the Palaeozoic beds are thrown into a series of folds running from W.

30 N., which form the hilly region of southern China. Towards Tongking these folds probably bend southwards and join the folds of Further India.

Amongst these folded beds lie trough-like depressions filled with the Mesozoic red sandstone which lies unconformably upon the Palaeozoic rocks. The present configuration of China is due, in a very considerable degree, to faulting. The abrupt eastern edge of the Shan-si plateau, where it overlooks the great plain, is a line of fault, or rather a series of step faults, with the downthrow on the east; and von Richthofen has shown reason to believe that this line of faulting is continued far to the south and to the north. He believed also that the present coast-line of China has to a large extent been determined by similar faults with their downthrow on the east. Concerning the structure of the central Asian plateau our knowledge is still incomplete. The great mountain chains, the Kuenbun, the Nan-shan and the Tian-shan, are belts of folding; but the Mongolian Altai is a horsta strip of ancient rock lying between two faults and with a depressed area upon each side. In the whole of this northern region faulting, as distinct from folding, seems to have played an important part.

Along the southern margin of the Tian-shan there is a remarkable trough-like depression which appears to lie between two approximately parallel faults. China lies within two zoological provinces or regions, its southern portion forming a part of the Oriental or Indian region and having a fauna close akin to that of the western Himalaya, Burma and Siam, whereas the districts to the north of Fu-chow and south of the Yangtsze-kiang lie within the eastern Holarctic (Palaearctic) region, or rather the southern fringe of the latter, which has been separated as the Mediterranean transitional region. Of these two divisions of the Chinese fauna, the northern one is the more interesting, since it forms the chief home of a number of peculiar generic types, and also includes types represented elsewhere at the present day (exclusive in one case of Japan) only in North America.

The occurrence in China of these types common to the eastern and western hemispheres is important in regard to the former existence of a land-bridge between Eastern Asia and North America by way of Bering Strait. Of the types peculiar to China and North America the alligator of the Yangtsze-kiang is generically identical with its Mississippi relative. The spoon-beaked sturgeon of the Yangtsze and Hwang-ho is, however, now separated, as Psephurus, from the closely allied American Polyodon. Among insectivorous mammals the Chinese and Japanese shrew-moles, respectively forming the genera Uropsilus and Urotrichus, are represented in America by Neurotrichus. The giant salamander of the rivers of China and Japan and the Chinese mandarin duck are by some included in the same genera as their American representatives, while by others they are referred to genera apart.

Whichever view we take does not alter their close relationship. One wapiti occurs on the Tibetan frontier, and Others in Manchuria and Amurland. As regards mammals and birds, the largest number of generic and specific types peculiar to China are met with in Sze-chuen.

Foremost among these is the great panda (Aeluropus melanoleucus), representing a genus by itself, probably related to bears and to the true panda (Aelurus), the latter of which has a local race in Sze-chuen. Next come the snub-nosed monkeys (Rhino pithecus), of which the typical species is a native of Sze-cliuen, while a second is found on the upper Mekong, and a third in the mountains of central China. In the Insectivora the swimming-shrew (Nectogale) forms another generic type peculiar to Sze-chuen, which is also the sole habitat of the mole-like Scaptochirus, of Uropsilus, near akin to the Japanese Urotrichus, of Scaptonyx, which connects the latter with the moles (Talpa), and of Neotetracu.s, a relative of the Malay rat-shrews (Gymnura).

Here also may be mentioned the raccoon-dog, forming the subgenus Nyctereutes, common to China and Japan. The Himalayan black and the Malay bear have each a local race in Sze-chtmen, where the long-haired Fontaniers cat (Felis tristis) and the Tibet cat (F. Scripta) connect Indo-Malay species with the American ocebots, while the bay cat (F. Temmincki), a Malay type, is represented by local forms in Sze-chuen and Fu-chow. The Amurland leopard and Manchurian tiger likewise constitute local races of their respective species. Among ruminants, the Sze-chuen takin represents a genus (Budor~ cas) found elsewhere in the Mishmi Hills and Rhutan, while serows (Nemorhaedus) and gorals (Urotragus), allied to Himalayan and Bomb-Malay types, abound.

The Himalayan fauna is also represented by a race of the Kashmir hangul deer. Of other deer, the original habitat of Phre Davids milu (Elaphurus), formerly kept in the Peking park, is unknown. The sika group, whichis peculiar tO China, Japan and Formosa, is represented by Cervus hortulorum in Manchuria and the smaller C. Inanchuricus and sika in that province and the Yangtsze valley; while musk-deer (Moschus) abound in Kan-suh and Sze-chuen. The small water-deer (Hydropotes or Hydrelaphus) of the Yangtsze valley represents a genus peculiar to the country, as do the three species of tufted deer (Elaphodus), whose united range extends from Sze-chuen to Ning-po and I-chang. Muntjacs (Cervulus) are likewise very characteristic of the country, to which the white-tailed, plum-colored species, like the Tenasserirn C. Crinifrons, are peculiar.

The occurrence of races of the wapiti in Manchuria and Amurland has been already mentioned. To reer in detail to the numerous forms of rodents inhabiting China is impossible here, and it must suffice to mention that the flyingsquirrels (Pteromys) are represented by a large and handsome species in Sze-chuen, where is also found the largest kind of bamboo-rat (Rhizomys), the other species of which are natives of the western Himalaya and the Malay countries.

Dwarf hamsters of the genus ~ricetulus are natives of the northern provinces. In the extreme south, in Hai-nan, is found a gibbon ape (Hytobates), while langur (Semnopithecus) and macaque monkeys (Macacus) likewise occur in the south, one of the latter also inhabiting Sze-chuen. To give an adequate account of Chinese ornithology would require space many times the length of this article. The gorgeous mandarin duck (Aix galerita) has already been mentioned among generic types common to America. In marked distinction to this is the number of species of pheasants inhabiting north-western China, whence the group ranges into the eastern Himalaya. Among Chinese species are two of the three species of blood-pheasants (Ithagenes), two tragopans (Ceriornis or Trago pan), a monab (Lophophorus), three out of the five species of Crossoplilunl, the other two being Tibetan, two kinds of Pucrasia, the gorgeous golden and Amhersts pheasants alone representing the genus Chrysolophus, together with several species of the typical genus Phasianus, among which it will suffice to mention the long-tailed P. The Himalayan bamboo-partridges (Barnbusfcola) have also a Chinese representative.

The only other large bird that can be mentioned is the Manchurian crane, misnamed Grusjaponensis. Pigeons include the peculiar subgenus Dendroteron; while among smaller birds, warblers, tits and finches, all of an Eastern Holarctic type, constitute the common element in the avifauna. Little would be gained by naming the genera, peculiar or otherwise. China has a few peculiar types of freshwater tcrtoises, among which Ocadia sinensis represents a genus unknown elsewhere, while there is also a species of the otherwise Indian genus Damonia. The Chinese alligator, Alligator sinensis, has been already mentioned. Among lizards, the genera Plestiodon, Mabuia, Tachydromus and Gecko, of which the two latter arc very characteristic of the Oriental region, range through China to Japan; and among snakes, the Malay python (Python reticulatus) is likewise Chinese.

The giant salamander (Cryptobranchus, or Megalobatrachus, maximus) represents, as mentioned above, a type found elsewhere only in North America, while Hynobius and Onychodactylus are peculiar generic types of salamanders. Among fishes, it must suffice to refer to the spoonbeaked sturgeon (Psephurus) of the Yangtsze-kiang, and the numerous members of the carp family to be found in the rivers of China.

From these native carp the Chinese have produced two highly colored breeds, the goldfish and the telescope-eyed carp. Among the invertebrates special mention may be made of the great ailanthus silk-moth (Aitacus cynthia) of northern China and Japan. And also of its Manchurian relative A.

Pernyi; while it may be added that the domesticated silkworm (Bombyx mori) is generally believed to be of Chinese origin, although this is not certain. Very characteristic of China is the abundance of handsomely colored swallow-tailed butterflies of the family Papilionidae. The Chinese kermes (Coccus sinensis) is also worth mention, on account of it yelding wax. As regards land and freshwater snails, China exhibits a marked similarity to Siam and India; the two groups in which the Chinese province displays decided peculiarities of its own being Helix (in the wider sense) and Clausilia. There are, for instance, nearly half a score of subgenera of Helix whose headquarters are Chinese, while among these, forms with sinistral shells are relatively common.

The genus Clausilia is remarkable on account of attaining a second centre of development in China, where its finest species, referable to several subgenera, occur. Carnivorous molluscs include a peculiar slug (Rathouisia) and the shelled genera Ennea and Sire ptaxis. In the western provinces species of Buliminus are abundant, and in the operculate group Heudeia forms a peculiar type akin to Helicina, but with internal foldings to the shell. Lastly, it has to be mentioned that the waters of the Yangtszekiang are inhabited by a small jelly-fish, or medusa (Limnocodium kawaii), near akin to L. Sowerbi-i, which was discovered in the hothouse tanks in the Botanical Gardens in the Regents Park, London, but whose real home is probably the Amazon. The vegetation of China is extremely rich, no fewer than 9000 species of flowering plants having been already enumerated, of which nearly a half are endemic or not known to occur elsewhere. Whole provinces are as yet only partially explored; and the total flora is estimated to comprise ultimately 12,000 species.

China is the continuation eastward of the great Himalayan mass, numerous chains of mountains running irregularly to the sea-board. Thousands of deep narrow valleys form isolated areas, where peculiar species have been evolved. Though the greater part of the country has long ago been cleared of its primeval forest and submitted to agriculture, there still remain some extensive forests and countless small woods in which the original flora is well preserved. Towards the north the vegetation is palaearctic, and differs little in its composition from that of Germany, Russia and Siberia. The flora of the western and central provinces is closely allied to that of the Himalayas and of Japan; while towards the south this element mingles with species derived from Indo-China, Burma and the plain of Hindostan. Above a certain elevation, decreasing with the latitude, but approximately 6000 ft.

In the Yangtsze basin, there exist in districts remote from the traffic of the great rivers, extensive forests of conifers, like those of Central Europe in character, but with different species of silver fir, larch, spruce and Cembran pine. Below this altitude the woods are composed of deciduous and evergreen broad-leafed trees and shrubs, mingled together in a profusion of species.

Pure broad-leafed forests of one or two species are rare, though small woods of oak, of alder and of birch are occasionally seen. There is nothing comparable to the extensive beech forests of Europe, the two species of Chinese beech being sporadic and rare trees.

The heaths, Calluna and Erica, which cover great tracts of barren sandy land in Europe, are absent from China, where the Ericaceous vegetation is made up of numerous species of Rhododendron, which often cover vast areas on the mountain slopes. Pine forests occur at low levels, but are always small in extent. The appearance of the vegetation is very different from that of the United States, which is comparable to China in situation and in extent. Though there are 60 species of oak in China, many with magnificent foliage and remarkable cupules, the red oaks, so characteristic of North America, with their bristle-pointed leaves, turning beautiful colors in autumn, are quite unknown. The great coniferous forest west of the Rocky Mountains has no analogue in China, the gigantic and preponderant Douglas fir being absent, while the giant Seguoias are represented only on a small scale by Cryptomeria, which attains half their height. Certain remnants of the Miocene flora which have disappeared from Europe are still conspicuous and similar in North America and China.

In both regions there are several species of Magnolia; one species each of Liriodendron, Liquidambar and Sassafras; and curious genera like Nyssa, Hamamelis, Decumaria and Gymnocladus. The swamps of the south-eastern states, in which still survive the once widely spread Taxodium or deciduous cypress, are imitated on a small scale by the marshy banks of rivers near Canton, which are clad with Glyptostrobus, the water-pine of the Chinese. Pseudolarix, Cunn~nghamia and Keteleeria are coniferous genera peculiar to China, which have become extinct elsewhere. The most remarkable tree in China, the only surviving link between ferns and conifers, Ginkgo bioba, has only been seen in temple gardens, but may occur wild in some of the unexplored provinces. Its leaves have been found in the tertiary beds of the Isle of Mull. Most of the European genera occur in China, though there are curious exceptions like the plane tree, and the whole family of the Cistaceae, which characterize the peculiar maquis of the Mediterranean region.

The rhododendrons, of which only four species are European, have their headquarters in China., numbering 130 species, varying in size from miniature shrubs 6 in. High to tall trees. Lysiinachia, Primula, Clematis, Rubus and Gentiana have each a htindred species, extraordinary variable in habit, in size and in color of the flowers. The ferns are equally polymorphic, numbering 400 species, and including strange genera like Archangiopteris and Clseiropieris, unknown elsewhere.

About 40 species of bamboos have been distinguished; the one with a square stem from Fu-kien is the most curious. Port Royale 3 Traduttore Ita Download Youtube more. With a great wealth of beautiful flowering shrubs and herbaceous plants, the Chinese at an early period became skilled horticulturists. The emperor Wu Ti established in III B.C. A botanic garden at Chang-an, into which rare plants were introduced from the west and south. Many garden varieties originated in China.

The chrysanthemum, perhaps the most variable of cultivated flowers, s derived from two wild species (small and inconspicuous plants), and is mentioned in the ancient Chinese classics. We owe to the skill of the Chinese many kinds of roses, lilies, camellias and peonies; and have introduced from China some of the most ornamental plants in cur gardens, as Wistaria, Diervilla, Kerria, Incarvillea, Deutzia, Primula sinensis, Hemerocallis, &c. The peach and several oranges are natives of China. The varnish tree (Rhus vernicifera), from which lacquer is obtained; the tallow tree (Sapium sebiferum); the white mulberry, on which silkworms are fed; and the tea plant were all first utilized by the Chinese. The Chinese have also numerous medicinal plants, of which ginseng and rhubarb are best known.

Nearly all our vegetables and cereals have their counterpart in China, where there are numerous varieties not yet introduced into Europe, though some, like the Soy bean, are now attracting great attention. HE.*) AuTH0RITIE5.L.

Richard (S.J.), Gographie de lempire de Chine (Shanghai, 1905)the first systematic account of China as a whole in modern times. The work, enlarged, revised and translated into English by M. Kennelly (S.J.), was reissued in 1908 as Richards Comprehensive Geography of the Chinese Empire and Dependencies. This is the standard authority for the country and gives for each section bibliographical notes. It has been used in the revision of the present article.

Valuable information on northern, central and western China is furnished by Col. Manifold and Col.

Wingate in the Geog. (1904) and vol. Consult also Marshall Broomhall (ed.), The Chinese Empire: a General and Missionary Survey (London, 1907); B. Blackwelder and others, Research in China, vol. Descriptive Topography and Geology, part ii. Petrography and Zoology, and Atlas (Washington, Carnegie institution, I906I~o7); Forbes and Hemsley, Enumeration of Chinese Plants, in Journ. (Bot.), vols.

And xxxvi.; Bretschneider, History of European Botanical Discoveries in China; E. Tiessen, China dos Reich der achtzehn Provinzen, Teil i.

Die aligemeine Geographic des Landes (Berlin, 1902); and The China Sea Directory (published by the British Admiralty), a valuable guide to the coasts: vol. (5th ed., 1906) deals with Hong-Kong and places south thereof, vol. (4th ed., 1906, supp. 1907) with the rest of the Chinese coast; vol.

(5th ed., 1906) treats of the islands and straits in the S.W. Approach to the China Sea. Much of China has not been surveyed, but considerable progress has been made since 1900. The Atlas of the Chinese Empire (London, 1908), a good general atlas, which, however, has no hill shading, gives maps of each province on the scale of I: 3,000,000. The preface contains a list of the best regional maps. The Journal of the China Branch of the Royal A smile Society contains papers on all subjects relating to China. THE PEOPLE China is noted for the density of its population, but no accurate statistics are forthcoming.

The province of Sha1?-tung is reputed to have a population of 680 per ~q. The provinces of central China, in the basin of the Yangtsze-kiangnamely Sze-chuen,,,~ Hu-peh, Ngan-hui, Kiang-su and Cheh-kiang----contain a- probably a third of the total population, the density of the people in these provinces being represented as from 490 to 310 per sq. Ho-nan, which belongs partly to the basin of the Hwang-ho and partly to that of the Yangtszekiang, as well as the SE. Coast provinces of Fu-kien and Kwangtung, are also densely peopled, Ho-nan being credited with 520 persons per sq.

M., Fu-kien with 490 and Kwang-tung with about 320. The Chinese government prints from time to time in the Peking Gazette returns of the population made by the various provincial authorities.

The method of numeration is to count the households, and from that to make a return of the total inhabitants of each province. There would be no great difficulty in obtaining fairly accurate returns if sufficient care were taken. It does not appear, however, that much care is taken.

Parker published in the Statistical Societys Journal for March 1899 tables translated from Chinese records, giving the population from year to year between 1651 and 1860. These tables show a gradual rise, though with many fluctuations, up till 1851, when the total population is stated to be 432 millions. From that point it decreases till 1860, when it is put down at only 261 millions. The Chinese Imperial Customs put the total population of the empire in 1906 at 438,214,000 and that of China proper at 407,253,000.

It has been held by several inquirers that these figures are gross over-estimates. Mr Rockhill, American minister at Peking (1905-1909), after careful inquiry i concluded that the inhabitants of China proper did not exceed, in 1904, 270,000,000 Other competent authorities are inclined to accept the round figure of 400,000,000 as nearer the accurate number. Eleven cities were credited in 5908 with between 500,000 and 1,000,000 inhabitants each, and smaller cities are very numerous, but the population is predominantly rural, In addition to the Chinese the population includes a number of aboriginal races such as the Lobs (q.n.), the Miaotsze, the Ikias of Kwei-chow and Kwang-si, the Hakka, found in the south-east provinces, and the Hokios of Kwang-tung province.2 The Manchus resident in China are estimated to number 4,000,000.

According to the Imperial Customs authorities, the number of foreigners resident in China in 5908 was 69,852. Of these 44,143 were Japanese, 9520 Russian, 9043 British, 3637 German, 3545 American, 3353 Portuguese, 2029 French, 554 Italian and 282 Belgian. The Chinese are a colonizing race, and in Manchuria, Mongolia and Turkestan they have brought several districts under cultivation. In ~ - the regions where they settle they become the dominant 2ta racethus southern Manchuria now differs little from a IOn, province of China proper.

In Indo-China, the Malay Peninsula and throughout the Far East Chinese are numerous as farmers, laborers and traders; in some places, such as Singapore, Chinese are among the principal merchants. This colonizing spirit is probably due more to the enterprise of the people than to the density of the population.

There were Chinese settlements at places on the east coast of Africa before the 10th century A.D. Following the discovery of gold in California there was from 5850 onwards a large emigration of Chinese to that state and to other parts of America. But in 1879 Chinese exclusion acts were passed by the United States, an example followed by Australia, where Chinese immigration was also held to be a public danger. Canada also adopted the policy of excluding Chinese, but not before there had been a considerable immigration into British Columbia.

Two factors, a racial and an economic, are at work to bring about these measures of exclusion. As indentured laborers Chinese have been employed in the West Indies, South America and other places (see C00LIE). In addition to several million Chinese settlers in Manchuria, and smaller numbers in Mongolia, Turkestan and Tibet, it was estimated in 1908 that there were over 9,000,000 Chinese resident beyond the empire. Of these 2,250,000 were in Formosa, which for long formed a part of the empire, and over 6,ooo,000 in neighboring regions of Asia and in Pacific Islands. In the West Indies (chiefly Cuba) the number of Chinese was estimated at 100,000, in South America (Brazil, Peru and Chile) at 72,000, in the United States at 150,000, in Canada at 52,000, and in Australia and New Zealand at 35,000. There are comparatively few Chinese in Japan (if Formosa be excepted) and Korea. The number is given in 1908 as 17,ooo in Japan and Ii,ooo in Korea.

The awakening of the East which has followed the RussoJapanese War of 19045 has affected China also. It is too soon to say how far the influx of European ideas will be able to modify 2 For a bibliography of works relating to the aboriginal races of China see Richards Corn prehensive Geography of the Chinese Empire (1908 eel.), pp. - the immemorial customs and traditions of perhaps the most conservative people in the world; but the process has begun, and this fact makes it difficult to give a picture of Chinese habits and customs which shall be more than historical or provisional. Moreover, the difficulty of presenting a picture which shall be true of China as a whole is enhanced by the different characteristics observable in various regions of so vast a country. The Chinese themselves, until the material superiority of Westexn civilization forced them to a certain degree to conform to its standards, looked down from the height of their superior culture with contempt on the Western barbarians. Nor was their attitude wholly without justification.

Their civilization was already old at a time when Britain and Germany were peopled by half-naked barbarians, and the philosophical and ethical principles on which it was based remain, to all appearances, as firmly rooted as ever. That these principles have, on the whole, helped to create a national type of a very high order few Europeans who know the Chinese well would deny. The Chinese are naturally reserved, earnest and good-natured; for the occasional outbursts of ferocious violence, notably against foreign settlements, are no index to the national character. There is a national proverb that the men of the Four Seas are all brothers, and even strangers can travel through the country without meeting with rudeness, much less outrage.

If the Chinese character is inferior to the European, this inferiority lies in the fact that the Chinamans whole philosophy of life disinclines him to change or to energetic action. He is industrious; but his industry is normally along the lines marked out by authority and tradition. He is brave; but his courage does not naturally seek an outlet in war. The jealously exclusive empire, into which in the I9th century the nations of the West forced an entrance, was organized for peace; the arts of war had been all but forgotten, and soldiers were of all classes the most despised. The whole social and political organization of the Chinese is based, in a far more real sense than in the West, on the family.

The supreme duty is that of the child to its parent; on this the whole Chinese moral system is built up. Filial piety, according to the teaching of Confucius, is the very foundation of society; the nation itself is but one great family, and the authority of the government itself is but an extension of the paternal authority, to which all its chilcken are bound to yield implicit obedience. The western idea of the liberty and dignity of the individual, as distinct from the community to which he belongs, if wholly alien to the Chinese mind. The political unit in China is not the individual but the family, and the father of the family is supposed to be responsible for the qualities and views of all his kin. He is rewarded for their virtues, punished for their faults; the deserts of a son ennoble the father and all his ancestors, and conversely his crimes disgrace them. An outcome of this principle is the extraordinary importance in China of funeral rites, especially in the case of the father. The eldest son, now head of the family, or, failing him, his first-born or adopted son, fixes one of the three souls of the dead in the tablet commemorating his virtues, burns incense to his shade, and supplies him with paper money and paper representations of everything (clothes, se-rvants, horses) that he may require in his journey to the other world.

Mourning lasts fur three years, during which the mourners wear white garments and abstain from meat, wine and public gatherings. Custom, too, dictates that wherever the Chinaman may die he must be brought back for burial to the place of his birth; one of the objects of the friendly societies is to provide funds to charter ships to transport home the bodies of those who have died abroad. Annually, in May, the white-clad people stream to the graves and mortuary temples with flowers, fruit and other offerings for the dead. Christian missionaries have found in this ancestor worship the most serious obstacle to the spread of a religion which teaches that the convert must, if need be, despise his father and his mother and follow Christ. The same elaborate ceremonialism that characterizes the Chinese funeral customs is found also in their marriage rites and the rules of their social intercourse generally. Confucius is reported to have said that all virtues have their source in etiquette, and the due observance of the ceremonial (Ii) in the fulfilling of social duties is that which, in Chinese opInion, distinguishes civilized from barbarous peoples.

The Board of Rites, one of the departments of the central government, exists for the purpose of giving decisions in matters of etiquette and ceremony. As to marriage, the rule that the individual counts for nothing obtains here in its fullest significance. The breeding of sons to carry on the ancestral cult is a matter of prime importance, and the marriage of a young man is arranged at the earliest possible age. The bride and bridegroom have little voice in the matter, the match being arranged by the parents of the parties; the lifting of the brides veil, so that the bridegroom may see her face. Is the very last act of the long and complicated ceremony. In the traditional Chinese social system four classes are distinguished: the literary, the agricultural, the artisan and the trading class. Hereditary nobility, in the European sense, scarcely exists, and the possession of an hereditary title gives in itself no special privileges.

Official position is more highly esteemed than birth and the bureaucracy takes the place of the aristocracy in the west. There are, nevertheless, besides personal decorations for merit, such as the yellow jacket, five hereditary rewards for merit; these last only for a fixed number of lives. A few Chinese families, however, enjoy hereditary titles in the full sense, the chief among them being the Holy Duke of Yen (the descendant of Confucius).

The Imperial Clansmen consist of those who trace their descent direct from the founder of the Manchu dynasty, and are distinguished by the privilege of wearing a yellow girdle; collateral relatives of the imperial house wear a red girdle. Twelve degrees of nobility (in a descending scale as one generation succeeds another) are conferred on the descendants of every emperor; in the thirteenth generation the descendants of emperors are merged in the general population, save that they retain the yellow girdle. The heads of eight houses, the Iron-capped (or helmeted) princes, maintain their titles in perpetuity by rule of primogeniture in virtue of having helped the Manchu in the conquest of China.

Imperial princes apart, the highest class is that forming the civil service. (See also Government and Administration.) The peasant class forms the bulk of the population. The majority of Chinese are small landowners; their standard of living is very low in comparison with European standards. This is in part due to the system of land tenure. A parent cannot, even if he wished to do so, leave all his land to one son.

There must be substantially an equal division, the will of the father notwithstanding. As early marriages and large families are the rule, this process of continual division and subdivision has brought things down to the irreducible minimum in many places. Small patches of onetenth or even one-twentieth of an acre are to be found as the estate of an individual landowner, and the vast majority of holdings run between one and three acres. With three acres a family is deemed very comfortable, and the possession of ten acres means luxury. The only class which at all resembles the territorial magnates of other countries is the class of retired officials. The wealth of an official is not infrequently invested in land, and consequently there are in most provinces several families with a country seat and the usual insignia of local rank and influence.

On the decease of the heads or founders of such families it is considered dignified for the Sons to live together, sharing the rents and profits in common. This is sometimes continued for several generations, until the country seat becomes an agglomeration of households and the family a sort of clan. A family of this kind, with literary traditions, and with the means to educate the young men, is constantly sending its scions into the public service. These in turn bring their earnings to swell the common funds, while the rank and dignity which they may earn add to the importance and standing of the group as a whole. The members of this class are usually termed the lilerati or gentry. The complex character of the Chinese is shown in various ways.

Side by side with the reverence of ancestors the law recognizes the right of the parent to sell his offspring into slavery and among the poor this is not an uncommon practice, though in comparison with the total population the number of slaves is few. The kidnapping of children for sale as slaves is carried on, but there is no slave raiding. There are more female than male slaves; the descendants of male slaves acquire freedom in the fifth generation.

While every Chinese man is anxious to have male children, girls are often considered superfluous. The position of women is one of distinct inferiority; a woman is alwayssubject to the men of her familybefore marriage to her father, during marriage to her husband, in widowhood to her son; these states being known as the three obediences. Sons who do not, however, honor their mothers outrage public opinion. Polygamy is tolerated, secondary wives being sometimes provided by the first wife when she is growing old.

Secondary wives are subordinate to first wives. A wife may be divorced for any one of seven reasons. The sale of wives is practised, but is not recognized by law.

Women of the upper classes are treated with much respect. The home of a Chinese man is often in reality ruled by his mother, or by his wife as she approaches old age, a state held in veneration.

Chinese women frequently prove of excellent business capacity, and those of high rankas the recent history of China has conspicuously proved exerciae considerable influence on public affairs. Deforming the feet of girls by binding and stopping their growth has been common for centuries. The tottering walk of the Chinese lady resulting from this deformation of the feet is the admiration of her husband and friends. Foot-binding is practised by rich and poor in all parts of the country, but is not universal.

In southern and western China Hakka women and certain others never have their feet bound. It has been noted that officials (who all serve on the itinerary system) take for sernndarv wives natural-footed women, who are freniienflv slaves.1 Every child is one at birth, and two on what Europeans call its first birthday, the period of gestation counting as one year. In their social intercourse the Chinese are polite and ceremonious; they do not shake hands or kiss, but prostration5 (kotowing), salutations with joined hands and congratulations are common. They have no weekly day of rest, but keep many festivals, the most important being that of New Years Day. Debts are supposed to be paid before New Years Day begins and for the occasion new clothes are bought.

Other notable holidays are the Festival of the First Full Moon, the Feast of Lanterns and the Festival of the Dragon Boat. A feature of the festivals is the employment of thousands of lanterns made of paper, covered with landscapes and other scenes in gorgeous colors. Of outdoor sports kite-flying is the most popular and is engaged in by adults; shuttle-cock is also a favorite game, while cards and dominoes are indoor amusements. The theatre and marionette shows are largely patronized. The habit of opium smoking is referred to elsewhere; tobacco smoking is general among both sexes. Except in their head-dress and their shoes little distinction is made between the costumes of men and women.i Both sexes wear a long bose jacket or robe which fits closely round the neck and has wide sleeves, and wide short trousers.

Over the robe shorter jackets often sleevelessare worn, according to the weather. For winter wear the jackets are wadded, and a Chinaman will speak of a three, four or six coat cold day. A mans robe is generally longer than that of a woman. Petticoats are worn by ladies on ceremonial occasions and the long robe is removed when in the house. It is considered very unwomanly not to wear trousers, and very indelicate for a man not to have skirts to his coat.

No Chinese woman ever bares any part of her body in publiceven the hands are concealed in the large sleevesand the evening dress of European ladies is considered indelicate; but Hakka women move about freely without shoes or stockings. A Chinese man will, however, in warm weather often strip naked to the waist. Coolies frequently go bare-legged; they use sandals made of rope and possess rain-coats made of palm leaves. The garments of the poorer classes are made of cotton, generally dyed blue. Wealthy people have their clothes made of silk.

Skirts and jackets are elaborately embroidered. Costly furs and furlined clothes are much prized, and many wealthy Chinese have fine collections of furs. Certain colors may only be used with official permission as denoting a definite rank or distinction, e.g. The yellow jacket. Mp3 Tag Express 5.9 Serial.

The colors used harmonizethe contrasts in color seen in the clothes of Europeans is avoided. Dark purple over blue are usual color combinations. The mourning color is white.

Common shoes are made of cotton or silk and have thick felt soles; all officials wear boots of satin into which is thrust the pipe or the fanthe latter carried equally by men and women. The fan is otherwise stuck at the back of the neck, or attached to the girdle, which may also hold the purse, watch, snuff-box aud a pair of chop-sticks. Formerly Chinese men let their hair grow sufficiently long to gather it in a knot at the top; on the conquest of the country by the Manchu they were compelled to adopt the queue or pigtail, which is often artificially lengthened by the employment of silk thread, usually black in color.

The front part of the head is shaved. As no Chinese dress their own hair, barbers are numerous and do a thriving trade.

Women do not shave the head nor adopt the queue. Men wear in general a close-fitting cap, and the peasants large straw hats. Circular caps, larger at the crown than round the head and with an outward slope are worn in winter by mandarins, conical straw hats in summer. Women have elaborate head ornaments, decking their hair with artificial flowers, butterflies made of jade, gold pins and pearls. The faces of Chinese ladies are habitually rouged, their eyebrows painted.

Pearl or bead necklaces are worn both by men and women. Officials and men of leisure let one or two finger nails grow long and protect them with a metal case. The staple food of the majority of the Chinese in the south and central provinces is rice; in the northern provinces millet as well as rice is much eaten. In separate bowls are placed morsels of pork, fish, chicken, vegetables and other relishes. Rice-flour, bean-meal, macaroni, and shell fish are all largely used. Flour balls cooked in sugar are esteemed.

Beef is never eaten, but Mahommedans eat mutton, and there is hardly any limit to the things the Chinese use as food. In Canton dogs which have been specially fed are an article of diet. Eggs are preserved for years in a solution of salt, lime and wood-ash, or in spirits made from rice. Condiments are highly prized, as are also preserved fruits. Special Chinese dishes are soups made from sea-slugs and a glutincus substance found in certain birds nests, ducks tongues, sharks fins, the brains,of chickens and of fish, the sinews of deer and of whales, fish with pickled fir-tree cones, and roots of the lotus lily., A kind of beer brewed from rice is a usual drink; samshu is a spirit distilled from the same grain and at dinners is served hot in small bowls.

Excellent i It must be remembered that there is great, variety in,the costumes worn in the various provinces. The particulars here given are of the most o-enersl styles of dress native wines are made. The Chinese are, however, abstemious with regard to alcoholic liquors. Water is drunk hot by the very poor, as a substitute for tea. Tea is drunk before and after meals in cups without handle or saucer; the cups are always provided with a cover.

Two substantial meals are taken during the dayluncheon and dinner; the last named at varying hours from four till seven oclock. At dinner a rich man will offer his guest twenty-four or more dishes (always a multiple of 4), four to six dishes being served at a time.

Food is eaten from bowls and with chop-sticks (q.v.) and little porcelain spoons. Men dine by themselves when any guests are present; dinner parties are sometimes given by ladies to ladies.

Chinese cookery is excellent; in the culinary art the Chinese are reputed to be second only to the French. Ethnologically the Chinese are classed among the Mongolian races (in which division the Manchus are also included), although they present many marked contrasts to the Mongols. The Tatars, Tibetans, Burmese, Shans, Manchu and other racesincluding the Arab and Japanesehave mingled with the indgenous population to form the Chinese type, while aboriginal tribes still resist the pressure of absorption by the dominant race (see ante, Population). The Chinese are in fact ethnically a very mixed people, and the pure Mongol type is uncommon among them. Moreover, natives of different provinces still present striking contrasts one to another, and their common culture is probably the strongest national link. By some authorities it is held that the parent stock of the Chinese came from the north-west, beyond the alluvia, plain; others hold that it was indigenous in eastern China.

Notwithstanding the marked difierences between the inhabitants of different provinces and even between those living in the same province, certain features are common to the race. The stature is below the average and seldom exceeds 5 ft. 4 in., except in the North. The head is normally brachycephalic or round horizontally, and the forehead low and narrow.

The face is round, the mouth large, and the chin small and receding. The cheek-bones are prominent, the eyes almond-shaped, oblique upwards and outwards, and the hair coarse, lank and invariably black. The beard appears late in life, and remains generally scanty.

The eyebrows are straight and the iris of the eye is black. The nose is generally short, broad and flat. The hands and feet are disproportionately small, and the body early inclines to obesity.

The complexion varies from an almost pale-yellow to a dark-brown, without any red or ruddy tinge. Yellow, however, predominates. A few words may be added concerning the Manchus, who are the ruling race in China.

Their ethnic affinities are not precisely known, but they may be classed among the Ural-Altaic tribes, although the term Ural-Altaic (q.v.) denotes a linguistic rather than a racial group. By some authorities they are called Tung-tatze, i.e. Eastern Tatars the Tatars of to-day being of true Mongol descent.

Manchu is the name adopted in the 13th century by one of several tribes which kd a nomadic life in Manchuria and were known collectively in the i ith century as Nuchihs. Some authorities regard the Khitans (whence the European form Cathay), who in the 9th and 10th centuries dwelt in the upper Liao region, as the ancestors of this race. It was not until the 16th century that the people became known generally as Manchus and obtained possession of the whole of the country now bearing their name (see MANCHURIA). They had then a considerable mixture of Chinese and Korean blood, but had developed a distinct nationality and kept their ancient Ural-Altaic language.

Hi China the Manchus retained their separate nationalit.y and semimilitary organization. It was not until the early years of the 20th century that steps were officially taken to obliterate the distinction between the two races. The Manchus are a more robust race tl~an the inhabitants of central and southern China, but resemble those of northern China save that their eyes are horizontally set. They are a lively and enterprising people, but have not in general the intellectual or business ability of the Chinese. They are courteous in their relations with strangers. The common people are frugal and industrious.

The Manchu family is generally large. The womens feet are unbound; they twist their hair round a silver bangle placed cross-wise on the top of the head. The Manchus have no literature of their own, but as the language of the court Manchu has been extensively studied in China. Authorities.Sir John F. Davies, China (2 vols., London, 1857); j~.

Rhclus, The Universal Geography, vol. Ravenstein and A. Rclus, LEmpire du milieu (Paris, 1902); Sir R. Douglas, Society in China (London, 1895); J. Doolittle, Social Life of the Chinese (2 vols. New York, 1867); H. Giles, China and the Chinese (1902); F~.

Bard, Les Chinois chez eux (Paris, 1900), A. Jones, Desultory Notes on Chinese Etiquette (Shanghai, 1906); Mrs Archibald Little, Intimate China (London, 1899) and The Land of the Blue Gown (London, 1902); E. Parker, John Chinaman and a Few Others (London, 1901); J. Dyer-Ball, Things Chinese (Shanghai, 1903); Cheng Kitung, The Chinese Painted by Themselves (Eng.

Millington, London, 1885); L. Richard, Comprehensive Geography of the Chinese Empire (Shanghai, 1908). (X.) i Richards Comprehensive Geography, &c. (1908 edition), pp. The earliest traces of religious thought and practice in China point to a simple monotheism.

There was a Divine Ruler of the universe, abiding on high, beyond the ken of man. This Power was not regarded as the Creator of the The human race, but as a Supreme Beilig to whom wickedness was abhorrent and virtuous conduct a source of joy, and who dealt out rewards and punishments with unerring justice, claiming neither love nor reverence from mankind.

If a man did his duty towards his neighbor, he might pass his whole time on earth oblivious of the fact that such a Power was in existence; unless perchance he wished to obtain. Some good or attain some end, in which case he, might seek to propitiate Him by sacrifice and prayer. There was no Devil to tempt man astray, and to rejoice in his fall; neither was there any belief that righteous behaviour in this world would lead at death to absorption in the Deity. To God, understood in this sense, the people gave the name Tien, which in the colloquial language was used of the sky; and when, in the first stages of the written character, it became necessary to express the idea of Tien, they did not attempt any vague picture of the heavens, but set down the rude outline of a man.

Perhaps about this period the title S/sang Ti, or Supreme Ruler, came into vogue as synonymous with Tien. But although the two terms were synonyms, and both may be equally rendered by God, there is nevertheless an important distinction to be observed, much as though Tien and Shang Ti were two Persons in one substance. Tien is far more an abstract Being, while S/fang Ti partakes rather of the nature of a personal God, whose anthropomorphic nature is much more strongly accentuated.

S/sang Ti is described as walking and talking, as enjoying the flavour of sacrifices, as pleased with music and dancing in his honor, and even as taking sides in warfare; whereas Tien holds aloof, wrapped in an impenetrable majesty, an ignotum pro mirifico. So much for religion in primeval days, gathered scrap by scrap from many sources; for nothing like a history of religion is to be found in Chinese literature. Gradually to this monotheistic conception was added a worship of the sun, moon and constellations, of the five planets, and of such noticeable individual stars as (e.g.) Canopus, which is now looked upon as the home of the God of Longevity. Earth, too Mother Earth-came in for her share of worship, indicated especially by the God of the Soil, and further distributed among rivers and hills.

Wind, rain, heat, cold, thunder and lightning, as each became objects of desire or aversion, were invested with the attributes of deities. The various parts of the housedoor, kitchen-stove, courtyard, &c.were also conceived of as sheltering some spirit whose influence might be benign or the reverse. The spirits of the land and of grain came to mean ones country, the commonwealth, the state; and the sacrifices of these spirits by the emperor formed a public announcement of his accession, or of his continued right to the throne.

Side by side with such sacrificial rites was the worship of ancestors, stretching so far back that its origin is not discernible in such historical docpments as we possess. In early times only the emperor, or the feudal nobles, or certain high officials, could sacrifice to the spirits of nature; the common people sacrificed to their own ancestors and to the spirits of their own homes.

For three days before performing such sacrifices, a strict vigil with purification was maintained; and by the expiration of that time, from sheer concentration of thought, the mourner was able to see the spirits of the departed, and at the sacrifice next day seemed to hear their movements and even the murmur of their sighs. Ancestral worship in China has always been, and still is, worship in the strict sense of the term. It is not a memorial service in simple honor, of the dead; but sacrifices are offered, and the whole ceremonial is performed that the spirits of former ancestors may be induced to extend their protection to the living and secure to them as many as possibl~ of the good things of this world. For Confucianism, which cannot, strictly speaking, be classed as a religion, see C0NIucIus. Around the scanty utterances of Lao Tz or Lao-tsze (q.v.; see also Chinese Literature, ~ Philosophy) an attempt was made by later writers to weave a scheme of thought which Thoism. Should serve to satisfy the cravings of mortals for some definite solution of the puzzle of life.

Lao Tzfl himself had enunciated a criterion which he called Tao, or the Way, from which is derived the word Taoism; and in his usual paradoxical style he had asserted that the secret of this Way, which was at the beginning apparently nothing more than a line of right conduct, could not possibly be imparted, even by those who understood it. His disciples, however, of later days proceeded to interpret the term in the sense of the Absolute, the First Cause, and finally as One, in whose obliterating unity all seemingly opposed conditions of time and space were indistinguishably blended. This One, the source of human life, was placed beyond the limits of the visible universe; and for human life to return thither at death and to enjoy immortality, it was only necessary to refine away all corporeal grossness by following the doctrines of Lao Tzfl. By and by, this One came to be regarded as a fixed point of dazzling luminosity in remote ether, around which circled for ever and ever, in the supremest glory of motion, the souls of those who had left the slough of humanity behind them. These transcendental notions were entirely corrupted at a very early date by the introduction of belief in an elixir of life, and later still by the practice of alchemistic experiments. Opposed by Buddhism, which next laid a claim for a share in the profits of popular patronage. Taoism rapidly underwent a radical transformation.

It became a religion, borrowing certain ceremonial, vestments, liturgies, the idea of a hell, arrangement of temples, &c., from its rival; which rival was not slow in returning the compliment. As Chu Hsi said, Buddhism stole the best features of Taoisrn; Taoism stole the worst features of Buddhism. It is as though one took a jewel from the other, and the loser recouped the loss with a stone. At the present day there is not much to choose between the two religions, which flourish peaceably together.

As to their temples, priests and ceremonial, it takes an expert to distinguish one from the other. There is no trustworthy information as to the exact date at which Buddhism first reached China. It is related that the emperor Ming Ti (AD. 5876) had a dream in which a golden man apBuddhism. Peared to him, and this mysterious visitant was interpreted by the emperors brother to be none other than Shakyamuni Buddha, the far-famed divinity of the West. This shows that Buddhism must then have been known to the Chinese, at any rate by hearsay. The earliest alleged appearance of Buddhism in China dates from 217 B.C., when certain Shamans who came to proselytize were seized and thrown into prison.

They escaped through the miraculous intervention of a golden man, who came to them in the middle of the night and opened their prison doors. Hs Kuan, a writer of the Sung dynasty, quotes in his Tung Chai Chi passages to support the view that Buddhism was known in China some centuries before the reign of Ming Ti; among others, the following from the Sui Situ Ching Chi Chit: These Buddhist writings had long been circulated far and wide, but disappeared with the advent of the Chin dynasty, under which (see Chinese Literature, ~ History)occurred the Burnipg of the Books. It is, however, convenient to begin with the alleged dream of Ming Ti, as it was only subsequent to that date that Buddhism became a recognized religion of the people. It is certain that in A.D. 65 a mission of eighteen members was despatched to Khotan to make inquiries on the subject, and that in 67 the mission returned, bringing Buddhist writings and images, and accompanied by an Indian priest, Kashiapmadanga, who was followed shortly afterwards by another priest, Gobharana.

A temple was built for these two at Lo-yang, then the capital of China, and they settled down to the work of translating portions of the Buddhist scriptures into Chinese; but all that now remains of their work is the Sutra of Forty-two Sections, translated by Kashiapmadanga. During the next two hundred and fifty years an unbroken line of foreign priests came to China to continue the task of translation, and to assist in spreading the faith. Such work was indeed entirely in their hands, for until the 4th century the Chinese people were prohibited from taking orders as priests; but by that date Buddhism had taken a firm hold upon the masses, and many Chinese priests were attracted towards India, despite the long and dangerous journey, partly to visit the birthplace of the creed and to see with their own eyes the scenes which had so fired their imaginations, and partly in the hope of adding~to the store of books and images already available in China (see Chinese Literature, ~ Geography and Travel). Still, the train of Indian missionaries, moving in the opposite direction, did not cease. In 401, Kurnarajiva, the nineteenth of the Western Patriarchs and translator of the Diamond Stra, finally took up his residence st the court of the sol-disant emperor, Yao Hsing. In 405 he became State Preceptor and dictated his commentaries on the sacred books of Buddhism to some eight hundred priests, besides composing a shstra on Reality and Semblance. Dying in 417, his body was cremated, as is still usual with priests, but his tongue, which had done such eminent service during life, remained unharmed in the midst of the flames.

In the year 520 Bodhidharma, or Ta-mo, as he is affectionately known to the Chinese, being also called the White Buddha, reached Canton, bringing with him the sacred bowl of the Buddhist Patriarchate, of which he was the last representative in the west and the first to hold office in the east. Summoned to Nanking, he offended the emperor by asserting that real merit lay, not in works, but solely in purity and wisdom combined. Fie therefore retired to Lo-yang, crossing the swollen waters of the Yangtsze on a reed, a feat which has ever since had a great fascination for Chinese painters and poets. There he spent the rest of his life, teaching that religion was not to be learnt from books, but that man should seek r nd find the Buddha in his own heart. Thus Buddhism gradually made its way.

It had to meet first of all the bitter hostility of the Taoists; and secondly, the fitful patronage and opposition of the court. Several emperors and empresses were infatuated supporters of the faith; one even went so far as to take vows and lead the life of an ascetic further insisting that to render full obedience to the Buddhist commandment, Thou shalt not kill, the sacrificial animals were to be made of dough. Other emperors, instigated by Confucian advisers, went to the opposite extreme of persecution, closed all religious houses, confiscated their property, and forced the priests and nuns to return to the worid. From about the 11th century onwards Buddhism has enjoyed comparative immunity from attack or restriction, and it now covers the Chinese empire from end to end. The form under which it appears in China is to some extent of local growth; that is to say, the Chinese have added and subtracted not a little to and from the parent stock.

The cleavage which took place under Kanishka, ruler of the Indo-Scvthian empire, about the 1st Century A.D., divided Buddhism into the Mahayana, or Greater Vehicle, and the Hinayana, as it is somewhat contemptuously styled, or Lesser Vehicle. The latter was the nearer of the two to the Duddhism of Shakyamuni, and exhibits rather the mystic and esoteric sides of the faith. The former, which spread northwards and on to Nepaul, Tibet, China, Mongolia and Japan, leaving southern India, Burma and Siam to its rival, began early to lean towards the deification of Buddha as a personal Saviour.

New Buddhas and BOdhisatvas were added, and new worlds were provided for them to live in; in China, especially, there was an enormous extension of the mythological element. In fact, the Mahyna system of Buddhism, inspired, as has been observed, by a progressive spirit, but without contradicting the inner significance of the teachings of Buddha, broadened its scope and assimilated other r~ligio-philosophical beliefs, whenever this could be done to the advantage of those who came within its influence. Such is the form of this religion which prevails in China, of which, however, the Chinese layman understands nothing. He goes to a temple, worships the gods with prostrations, lighted candles, incense, &c., to secure his particular ends at the moment; he may even listen to a service chanted in a foreign tongue and just as incomprehensible to the priests as to himself. He pays his fees and departs, absolutely ignorant of the history or dogmas ofthe religion to which he looks for salvation in a future state. All such knowledge, and there is now not much of it, is confined to a few of the more cultured priests. The 7th century seems to have been notable in the religious history of China.

Early in that century, Mazdaism, or the religion of Zoroaster, based upon the worship of fire, was introduced into China, and in 621 the first temple under that Mazdaism. Denomination was built at Chang-an in Shensi, then the capital.

But the harvest of converts was insignificant; the religion failed to hold its ground, and in the ~9th century disappeared altogether. Mahommedans first settled in China in the Year of the Mission, A.D. 628, under Vahb-Abi-Kabba, a maternal uncle of Mahomet, who was sent with presents to the emperor.

Wahb-AbiKabba travelled by sea to Canton, and thence over- Mahomland to Chang-an, the capital, where he was well re- medanism. The first mosque was built at Canton, where after several restorations, It still exists. Another mosque was erected in 742; but many of the Mahommedans went to China merely as traders, and afterwards returned to their own country. The true stock of the present Chinese Mahommedans was a small army of 4000 Arab soldiers sent by the caliph Abu Giafari in 755 to aid in putting down a rebellion.

These soldiers had permission to settle in China, where they married native wives; and four centuries later, with the conquests of Jenghiz Khan, large numbers of Arabs penetrated into the empire and swelled the Mahommedan community. Its members are now indistinguishable from the general population; they are under no civic disabilities, and are free to open mosques wherever they please, so long as, in common with Buddhists and Taoists, they exhibt the tablet of the emperors sovereignty in some conspicuous position.

631 the Nestorians sent a mission to China and introduced Christianity under the name of the Luminous Doctrine. In 636 they were allowed to settle at Chang-an; and in 638 an Imperial Decree was issued, stating that Olopun, Nes~cr.

A Nestorian priest who is cacually mentioned as a Persian, ~~ had presented a form of religion which his Majesty had carefully examined and had found to be in every way satisfactory, and that it would henceforth be permissible to preach this new doctrine within the boundaries of the empire. Further, the establishment of a monastery was authorized, to be served by twenty-one priest5. For more than a century after this, Nestorian Christianity seems to have flourished in China. In 781 the famous Nestorian Tablet, Otherwise Ab Jafar Ibn Mahommed al-Mansflr (see CALIIHATa, C. Giving a rough outline of the object and scope of the faith, was set up at Chang-an (the modern Si-gan Fu), disappearing soon afterwards in the political troubles which laid the city in ruins, to be brought to light again in 1625 by Father Semedo, S. The genuineness of this tablet was for many years in dispute, Voltaire, Renan, and others of lesser fame regarding it as a pious Jesuit fraud; but all doubts on the subject have now been dispeiled by the exhaustive monograph of Pre Havret, S.

J., entitled La Stile de Si-ngan. The date of the tablet seems to mark the zenith of Nestorian Christianity in China; after this date it began to decay. Marco Polo refers to it as existing in the 13th century; but then, it fades out of sight, leaving scant traces in Chinese literature of ever having existed. The Manichaeans, worshippers of the Chaldaean Mani or Manes, who died about A.D.

274, appear to have found their way to China Ma I h- in the year 694. In 719 an envoy from Tokharestan ac~ C reached Chang-an, bringing a letter to the emperor, in accompanied the mission might be permitted to establish places of worship for persons of the Manichaean faith. Subsequently, a number of such chapels were opened at various centres; but little is known of the history of this religion, which is often confounded by Chinese writers with Mazdeism, the,fate of which it seems to have shared, also disappearing about the middle of the 9th century. By the sect of those who take out the sinew, the Chinese refer to the Jews and their peculiar method of preparing meat in order., d t to make it kosher.

Wild stories have been told of their u a Sm. Arrival in China seven centuries before the Christian era, after one of the numerous upheavals mentioned in the Old Testament; and again, of their having carried the Pentateuch to China shortly after the Babylonish captivity, and having founded a colony in Ho-nan in A.D. The Jews really reached China for the first time in the year AD. 1163, arid were permitted to open a synagogue at the modern Kai-fng Fu in 1164. There they seem to have lived peaceably, enjoying the protection of the authorities and making some slight efforts to spread their tenets. There their descendants were found, a dwindling community, by the Jesuit Fathers of the 17th century; and there again they were visited in 1850 by a Protestant mission, which succeeded in obtaining from them Hebrew rolls of parts of the Pentateuch in the square character, with vowel points. After this, it was generally believed that the few remaining stragglers, who seemed to be entirely ignorant of everything connected with their faith, had become merged in the ordinary population.

A recent traveller, however, asserts that in 1909 he found at Kai-fng Fu a Jewish community, the Inembers of which keep as much as possible to themselves, worshipping in secret, and preserving their ancient ritual and formulary. Hackmann, Buddhism as a Religion (1910); H.

Giles, Religions of Ancient China (1905); G. Smith, The Jews at Kae-fungfoo (18sf); Dabry de Thiersant, Le Mahomtisme en Chine (1878); P. Havret, S.J., La Stile chrtienne de Si-ngan-fou (1895). Gi.) genuine native newspaper was published at Shanghai about 1870. It was termed the S/zen Pao or Shanghai News, and was a Chinese Native speculation under foreign protection, the first editor being press, an Englishman. It was some years before it made much headway, but success came, and it was followed by various imitators, some published at Shanghai, some at other treaty ports and at Hong-Kong. In 1910 there were over 200 daily, weekly or monthly journals in China.

The effect of this mass of literature on the public mind of China is of first-rate importance. The attitude of the central government towards the native press is somewhat undefined. Official registration of a newspaper is required before postal facilities are given. There are no press laws, but as every official is a law unto himself in these matters, there is nothing to prevent him from summarily suppressing an obnoxious newspaper and putting the editor in prison. The emperor, among other reform edicts which provoked the coup detat of 1898, declared that newspapers were a boon to the public and appointed one of them a government organ.

The empress-dowager revoked this decree, and declared that the public discussion of affairs of state in the newspapers was an impertinence, and ought to be suppressed. Nevertheless the newspapers continued to flourish, and their outspoken cnticism had a salutary effect on the public and on the government. The official classes seem to have become alarmed at the independent attitude of the newspapers, but instead of a campaign of suppression the method was adopted, about 1908, of bringing the vernacular press under official control. This was accomplished chiefly by the purchase of the newspapers by the mandarins, with the result that at the beginning of 1910 there was said to be hardly an independent native daily newspaper left in China. The use of government funds to subsidize or to purchase newspapers and thus to stifle or mislead public opinion provoked strong protests from members of the Nanking provincial council at its first sitting in the autumn of 1909.

The appropriation by the Shanghai Taot~ai of moneys belonging to the Huangpu conservancy fund for subsidizing papers.kd to his impeachment by a censor and to the return of the mone~.i (X.) III. EcoNoMIcs Agriculture and Industry. China is pre-eminently an agricultural country. The great majority of its inhabitants are cultivators of the soil. The holdings are in general very small, and the methods of farming primitive. Water is abundant and irrigation common over large areas. Stock-raising, except in Sze-chuen and Kwang-tung, is only practised to a small extent; there are few large herds of cattle or flocks of sheep, nor are there any large meadows, natural or cultivated.

Sze-chuen yaks, sheep and goats are reared iii the mountains, and buffaloes and a fine breed of ponies on the plateau. Cattle are extensively reared in the mountainous districts of Kwang-tung. The camel, horse and donkey are reared in Chih-li. Forestry is likewise neglected. While the existing forests, found mainly in high regions in the provinces of Hu-nan, Fu-kien and Kwei-chow, are disappearing and timber has to be imported, few trees are planted. This does not apply to fruit trees, which are grown in great variety, while horticulture is also a favorite pursuit. The Chinese farmer, if his methods be primitive, is diligent and persevering.

In the richer and most thickly populated districts terraces are raised on the mountain sides, and even the tops of lofty hills are cultivated. The nature of the soil and means of irrigation as well as climate are determining factors in the nature of the crops grown; rice arid cotton, for example, are grown in the most northern as well as the most southern districts of China.

This is, however, exceptional and each climatic region has its characteristic cultures. The bess soil (see Geology) is the chief element in detei-mining the agricultural products of north China. Loess soil bears excellent Soils crops, and not merely on the lower grounds, btit at altitudes of 6000 and 8000 ft. Wherever bess is found the peasant can live and thrive. Only one thing is essential, and that is the annual rainfall. As, owing to the porous nature of bess, no artificial irrigation is possible, if the rain fails the crops must necessarily fail. Thus seasons of great famine alternate with seasons of ~reat plenty.

It appears, also, that the soil needs little or no manuring and very little tillage. From its extremely friable nature it is easily broken up, and thus a less amount Of labor is required than in other parts The extreme porosity of the soil probably also accounts for the length of time it will go on bearing crops without becoming exhausted. The rainfall, penetrating deeply into the soil in the absence of stratification, comes into contact with the moisture retained below, which holds in solution whatever inorganic salts 1See The Times of the 19th of February and the 3rd of May1910. The soil may contain, and thus the vegetation has an indefinite store to draw upon.f There is no one dominant deposit in south China, where red sandstone and limestone formations are frequent.

Cultivation here is not possible on the high elevations as in the north, but in the plains and river valleys the soil is exceedingly fertile, while the lower slopes of the mountains are also cultivated. In the north, moreover, but one crop, in general, can be raised in the year. In the centre two and sometimes three crops are raised yearly, and in the south, especially in the lower basin of the Si-kiang, three crops are normally gathered. In the north, too, the farmer has frequently to contend with drought or with rain or floods; in the central and southern regions the weather is more settled. In the north of China wheat, barley, millet, buckwheat and maize are the staple crops. Beans and peas are also cultivated. Rice thrives in north-east Kan-suh, in some districts of Shansi, in the extreme south of Shan-tung and in parts of Distributhe Wei-ho plain in Shen-si.

Cotton is grown,in Shen-si ~ of and Shan-tung. In Kan-suh and Shen-si two crops are raised in favored localities, cereals in spring and cotton or rice in summer.

Tobacco and the poppy are also grown in several of the northern provinces. Rhubarb and fruit trees are largely cultivated in the western part of north China. In the central provinces tea, cotton, rice and ramie fibre are the chief crops. Tea is most largely cultivated in Ngan-hui, Kiang-si, Hu-peh, Hu-nan, Sze-chuen and Yun-nan. Cotton is chiefly grown in Kiang-su, Ngan-hui and Hu-peh. The seed is sown in May and the crops gathered in September.

The cotton is known as white and yellow, the white variety being the better and the most cultivated. The poppy is largely cultivated and, in connection with the silk industry, the mulberry tree. The mulberry is found principally in the provinces of Sze-chuen, Kiang-su and Cheh-kiang.

The central provinces are also noted for their gum-lac, varnish and tallow trees. The crops of the south-eastern provinces are much the same as those of the central provinces, but are predominantly rice, the sugarcane, ground-nuts and cinnamon. Tea is the chief crop in Fu-kien. The sugar-cane is principally cultivated in Kwang-tung, Fu-kien and Sze-chuen. In the south-western provinces the poppy, tea, tobacco and rice are the chief crops. Wheat, maize and barley are also largely raised.

While rice does not, unlike tea and cotton, form the principal crop of any one province it is more universally cultivated than any other plant and forms an important item in the products of all the central and southern provinces. Regarding China as a whole it forms the staple product and food of the country. Two chief varieties are grown, that suited only to low-lying regions requiring ample water and the red rice cultivated in the uplands. Next to rice the most extensively cultivated plants are tea and cotton, the sugar-cane, poppy and bamboo. Besides the infinite variety of uses to which the wood of the bamboo is applied, its tender shoots and its fruit are articles of diet. Fruit is extensively cultivated throughout China.

In the northern provinces the chief fruits grown are pears, plums, apples, apricots, peaches, medlars, walnuts and chestnuts, and in Kan-suh ~e and Shan-tung the jujube. Strawberries are an - 1~U 5. Lmportant crop in Kan-suh. In Shan-si, S.W. Chih-li and Shan-tung the vine is cultivated; the grapes of Shari-si are reputed to produce the best wine of China. Oranges are also grown in favored localities to work mines, andthe mineral wealth has been yery inadequately exploited.

Mining operations are controlled by the Board of Commerce. In 1907 this board drew up regulations respecting the constitution of mining and other companies. They contained many features against which foreign powers protested. Coal, iron, copper and tin are the principal minerals found in China; there are also extensive deposits of coal and other minerals C 1 in Manchuria. In China proper the largest coal measures oa. Are found in Shan-si, Hu-nan, Kwei-chow and Sze-chuen.

There are also important coalfields in Chih-li, Shan-tung, Shen-si, Ho-nan,Yun-nan, Hu-peh and Kwang-tungand almost all of the seven other provinces have also coal measures of more or less value. The lack of transpoft facilities as well as the aversion from the employment of foreign capital has greatly hindered the development of mining.

Numerous small mines have been worked for a long period by the natives in the province of Hu-nan. There are two principal local fields in this province, one lying in the basin of the Lei river and yielding anthracite, and the other in the basin of the Siang river yielding bituminous coal. Both rivers drain into the Yangtsze, and there is thus an easy outlet by water to Hankow.

The quality of the coal, however, is inferior, as the stratification has been much disturbed, and the coal-seams have been in consequence crushed and broken. The largest coalfield in China lies in the province of Shan-si. Coal and iron have here been worked by the natives from time immemorial, but owing to the difficulty of transport they have attained only a limited local circulation. The whole of southern Shan-si, extending over 30,000 sq.

M., is one vast coalfield, and contains, according to the estimate of Baron von Richthofen, enough coal to last the world at the present rate of consumption for several thousand years. The coal-seams, which are from 20 tO 36 ft. In thickness, rest conformably on a substructure of limestone. The stratification is throughout undisturbed and practically horizontal. As the limestone bed is raised some 2000 ft.

Above the neighboring plain the coal-seams crop out in all directions. Mining is thus carried on by adits driven into the face of the formation, rendering the mining of the coal extremely easy. The coalfield is divided into two by a mountain range of ancient granitic formation running northeast and south-west, termed the Ho-shan. It is of anterior data to the limestone and coal fcrmations, and has not affected the uniformity of the stratification, but it has this peculiarity, that the coal on the east side is anthracite, and that on the west side is bituminous. A concession to work coal and iron in certain specified districts in this area was granted to a British company, the Peking Syndicate, together with the right to connect the mines by railway with water navigation. The syndicate built a railway in Shan-si from Pingyang to Tsi-chow-fu, the centre of a vast coalfield, and connected with the main Peking-Hankow line; lines to serve coal mines have also been built in Ilu-nan and other provinces.

The earliest in date was that to the Kaiping collieries in the east of the provinceofChih-Ii, the railway connecting the mines with the seaport of Taku. The coal at Kaiping is a soft bituminous coal with a large proportion of dust. The output is about 1,500,000 tons per annum. A mine has also been opened in the province of Hu-peh, about 60 m. Below Hankow, and near the Yangtsze, in connection with ironworks. Iron ore of various qualities is found almost as widely diffused as coal. The districts where it is most worked at present lie within the coalfield of Shan-si, viz, at Tsi-chow-fu and Pingting-chow.

The ore is a mixture of clay iron ore and spathic ore, together with limonite and hematite. It is found abundantly in irregular deposits in the Coal Measures, and is easily smelted by the natives in crucibles laid in open furnaces. This region supplies nearly the whole of north Chinawith the iron required for agricultural and domestic use.

The out-turn must be very considerable, but no data are available for forming an accurate estimate. The province of Sze-chuen also yields an abundance of iron ores of various kinds. They are worked by the natives in numerous places, but always on a small scale and for local consumption only.

The ores occur in the Coal Measures, predominant among them being a clay iron ore. Hu-nan, Fu-kien, Cheh-kiang and Shan-tung all furnish iron ores. Iron (found in conjunction with coal) is worked in Manchuria. Copper is found chiefly in the provinces of Kwei-chow and Yun-nan, where a rich belt of copper-bearing ores runs east and west across both provinces, and including south Sze-chuen. The Copper, chief centres of production are at the cities of Tung ~ ch~uen-fu, Chow-tung and Ning-yuen.

The mines are worked as a government monopoly, private mining being nominally prohibited. The output is considerable, but no statistics are published by government. Rich veins of copper ore are also worked near Kiu-kiang.

Tin is mined in Yun-nan, the headquarters of the industry being the city of Meng-tsze, which since 1909 has been connected with Hanoi by railway. This is an important industry, the value of tin exported in 1908 being 600,000. Tin is also mined in Hai-nan and lead in Yun-nan. Antimony ore is exported from Hu-nan; petroleum is found in the upper Yangtsze region. Quicksilver is obtained in Kwei-chow. Salt is obtained from brine wells in Shan-si and Sze-chuen, and by evaporation from sea water.

Excellent kaolin abounds in the north-eastern part of Kiang-si, and is largely used in the manufacture of porcelain. The Chinese government has opened small gold mines at Har-nan, in which island silver is also found. A little gold-washing is done in the sandy beds of certain rivers, for instance, the Han river and the upper Yangtsze, above Su-chow (Suifu), PrecioUs which here goes by the name of the Goldsand river.

Me S~ The amount so extracted is extremely small and hardly pays the labor of washing, but the existence of gold grains points to a matrix higher up. The whole of south-western China has the reputation of being highly metalliferous. Gold is obtained in some quantities on the upper waters of the Amur river, on the frontier between China and Siberia. The washings are carried on by Chinese. Gold has also been found in quartz veins at Ping-tu, in Shan-tung, but hardly in paying quantities. There are silver mines in Yun-nan.

Manufactures.The principal native manufactures before the competition of western nations made itself felt wereapart from the preparation of tea and other produce for the market those of porcelain and silk. The silks and gauzes of Su- ~t~11 ~iid chow and Nanking in the province of Kiang-su, and those po~1a1~~ of Hang-chow in Cheh-kiang, are highly esteemed throughout China. Silk-weaving is still carried on solely in native looms and chiefly in the cities named. The greater part of the silk spun is used in China, but a considerable export trade has grown up and 27% of the worlds supply of raw silk is from China. The reeling of silk cocoons by steam-machinery is supplanting native methods. There are filatures for winding silk at Shanghai, Canton, Chifu and other cities.

The most famous porcelain came from the province of Kiang-si, the seat of the industry being the city of King-te-chen. Imperial works were established here about the year A.D. 1000, and the finest porcelain is sent to Peking for the use of the emperor. At one time 1,o00,ooo work-people were said to be employed, and the kilns numbered 600. The Taiping rebels destroyed the kilns in 1850. Some of them have been rebuilt. Activity begins to reign anew, but the porceia~ turned out is far from equalling in color and finish that of former times.

At the present day King-te-chen has but 160 furnaces and employs 160,000 workmen.i The common rice bowls sold throughout China are manufactured here. The value of the export sales is said to be about 500,000 yearly. The spinning and weaving of cotton on hand-looms is carried on almost universally.

Besides that locally manufactured, the whole of the large import of Indian yarn is worked up into cloth by the women of the household. Four-fifths of the clothing CoUOfl, of the lower classes is supplied by this domestic industry. Of minor industries Indian ink is manufactured in Ngaii-hui and Szechuen, fans, furniture, lacquer ware and matting in Kwang-tung, dyes in Cheh-kiang and Chih-li, and varnished tiles in Hu-nan.

Paper, bricks and earthenware are made in almost all the provinces~ Of industries on a large scaleother than those indicatedthe most important are cotton-spinning and weaving mills established by foreign companies at Shanghai. Permission to carry on this industry was refused to foreigners until the right was secured by the Japanese treaty following the war of 1.