NO. 2 FOLK RELIGION IN SOUTHWEST CHINA — GRAHAM I3 



certain groups of the southwestern Pacific Islands. The East Asia 

 continental group is described as having dark hair, straight or wavy, 

 dark eyes, a yellow-brown or "yellow" complexion, shovel-tooth in- 

 cisors, and a Mongolian slant or an epicanthic fold to the eyes. This 

 classification is probably oversimplified, for careful studies have shown 

 great variations in the three groups. The Russian physical anthropol- 

 ogist, S. M. Shirokogoroff, made an extensive study of the Chinese 

 of eastern China and Kwangtung Province, and on the basis of his 

 findings he classified the Chinese into three main groups, the northern, 

 the eastern (east-central), and the southern. His main conclusions 

 (1925, pp. 55-56) are as follows: 



1. The stature of the eastern Chinese is shorter than that of the northern, and 

 that of the southern Chinese is shorter than that of the eastern Chinese. 



2. The variations in each group are greater than normal, and are probably 

 due to the crossing of two or more racial types with different statures. 



3. The average stature of students is higher than that of the population as a 

 whole. 



4. The Chinese of Kwangtung have a greater arm length than other Chinese 

 groups. 



5. The Chinese of eastern China have relatively short thighs and long tibias, 

 making their legs relatively longer and thus influencing their stature. 



6. The trunks of eastern Chinese are shorter except those in Anwei and those 

 in Kwangtung. The trunks of northern Chinese are relatively long. 



7. The length of the head and the neck of the inhabitants decreases as one 

 travels from the south to the north, whereas the stature increases. 



8. Except in Chekiang Province, the cephalic index is higher among the 

 eastern Chinese than among the northern and southern Chinese. 



9. The nasal index decreases from the north to the south. 



10. The skin color seems to vary with the amount of sunlight. 



11. The Mongolian slant of the eyes is more evident among the southern and 

 eastern Chinese than among northern Chinese. 



12. There is evidence of a mixture of a darker race, probably negroid, with 

 the people of Kwangtung Province. 



Shirokogoroff further divides the Chinese into four main divisions 

 and two lesser divisions. 



No such thoroughgoing study has been made of the Chinese in West 

 China. Dr. W. R. Morse collected about 3,000 measurements of 

 Chinese and non-Chinese in West China, but all these were lost or 

 stolen from him. With the expenditure of much time and money he 

 again proceeded to collect measurements of Chinese and of tribes- 

 people, and obtained over 3,000 in all. The bare measurements were 

 published in a supplement to the Journal of the West China Border 

 Society, but Dr. Morse died suddenly while working to prepare the 



