24 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I42 



and most of them had bound feet. The men wore long gowns that 

 resembled dresses with long skirts. Most of these and other clothing 

 were made of blue cotton cloth. Women generally wore hats open at 

 the top and nicely embroidered, and men wore skullcaps. Both men 

 and women often wore blue or white cotton cloth wrapped around 

 their heads. Laborers and farmers generally wore straw sandals, and 

 both men and women sometimes wore cotton shoes with thick soles. 

 During the Manchu dynasty men and women of official rank wore, on 

 festive occasions, beautifully embroidered mandarin gowns, beads 

 around their necks, finger rings and wristlets, and elaborately orna- 

 mented hats, most of these items being discarded after the establish- 

 ment of the Republic. 



Tools and implements vary with the different occupations, and only 

 a few will be mentioned here. Many tools are crude and simple, most 

 of them being made by hand. Yet some Chinese artisans work 

 wonders with their tools. 



The plow consists of part of a tree crooked or curved on the large 

 end, and above the plowshare a stick attached for a handle. At lower 

 altitudes, especially in rice paddies, a plow is generally drawn by a 

 water buffalo, and at higher altitudes, especially on dry ground, by a 

 cow, a horse, or a mule. A short, wooden-handled iron sickle is used 

 to cut grass to feed the domestic animals, to cut bushes, limbs, and 

 small trees for fuel, and to reap the crops. The hoe has a long wooden 

 handle and a long, thick blade. Where land is too steep to use the 

 plow, the only way to put it under cultivation is to use the hoe. Har- 

 rows are made by driving large iron spikes through large pieces of 

 wood fastened together at right angles. The fields are sometimes har- 

 rowed in order to level the soil and break up the clods. 



Carpenters use saws of different sizes, some operated by one man 

 and some by two. They also use hammers, hatchets, planes, and 

 chisels. Stone masons use hammers, sledges, and chisels, while other 

 masons use the trowel, the plummet, shovels, and hoes. 



Many of the houses of the poorer people have walls of pounded 

 clay or of bamboo strips woven together, plastered over with clay, and 

 then whitewashed. Some of the poorest people make the walls of their 

 houses of cornstalks, while the walls of the best houses are made of 

 wood or brick. Houses of the poorer people have thatched roofs, 

 while those of the well-to-do are roofed with tile. On the China- 

 Tibetan border, many houses are built of stone, with flat roofs. 

 Others have sloping roofs covered with long shingles, each shingle 

 held in place by a large stone. 



