292 MAN : PAST AND PRESENT. [CHAP. 



integral part of the Russian empire. Towards the middle of the 

 igth century the Eight Banners numbered scarcely more than a 

 quarter of a million, and about that time the Abbe Hue declared 

 that " the Manchu nationality is destroyed beyond recovery. At 

 present we shall look in vain for a single town or a single village 

 throughout Manchuria which is not exclusively inhabited by 

 Chinese. The local colour has been completely effaced, and 

 except a few nomad groups nobody speaks Manchu 1 ." 



Similar testimony is afforded by later observers, and the 

 Rev. Henry Lansdell, amongst others, remarks that "the Manchu, 

 during the two centuries they have reigned in China, may be said 

 to have been working out their own annihilation. Their manners, 

 language, their very country has become Chinese, and some 

 maintain that the Manchu proper are now extinct 2 ." 



But the type, so far from being extinct, may be said to 



have received a considerable expansion, especially 



amongst the populations of north-east China. The 



taller stature and greatly superior physical appearance of the 



inhabitants of Tien-tsin and surrounding districts 3 over those 



of the southern provinces (Fokien, Kwang-tung), who are the 



chief representatives of the Chinese race abroad, seems best 



explained by continual crossings with the neighbouring Manchu 



people, at least since the i2th century, if not earlier. 



Closely related to the Manchus (of the same stock says Sir H. H. 

 Howorth, the distinction being purely political) are 



The Daun. 



the Dauri, who give their name to the extensive 

 Daur plateau, and formerly occupied both sides of the Upper 



1 Souvenirs ifun voyage dans la Tartarie, 1853, I. 162. 



2 Through Siberia, 1882, Vol. II. p. 172. 



3 European visitors often notice with surprise the fine physique of these 

 natives, many of whom average nearly six feet in height. But there is an 

 extraordinary disparity between the two sexes, perhaps greater than in any 

 other country. The much smaller stature and feebler constitution of the 

 women is no doubt due to the detestable custom of crippling the feet in child- 

 hood, thereby depriving them of natural exercise during the period of growth. 

 It may be noted that an anti-foot-bandaging movement is now in progress 

 throughout China, the object being to abolish the cruel practice by making 

 the kin lien (''golden lilies") unfashionable, and the ti mien, the "heavenly 

 feet,"- i.e. the natural popular in their stead. 



