In the antique cloisonne of Cliina tliere were used enamels in solid pieces and in a 

 powdered state to show thirty-one different sliades. The secret of many of the colors of the 

 Ming dynasty is now lost 



out, as illustrated by all museums of Europe iu which China is represented 

 merely by a fortuitous accumulation of curios picked up at random here 

 and there. 



The most costly porcelains and the superb treasures of imperial palaces 

 do not reveal the spirit of the Chinese people; but we see in their daily life 

 surroundings, in their games and pastimes, in their shows and masquerades, 

 in their domestic cidt and decorative art, precious documents bearing on 

 their psychology. The tendency to systemiitic effort brings out also the 

 idea that many Chinese methods and techniques are just as primiti\e and 

 surely as ancient as those of the so-called primitixe races, and that it is 

 only a comparati\ely higher de\elopnient and a greater unity and uniformity 

 of thought as the final result of this \-ast culture area, which seemingly 

 impress upon China the stamp of a singular position. Her agricultural 

 implements still })ear the indelible character of a prehistoric anticpiity and 

 have hardly undergone any signal change diu'ing four thousand years. In 

 the treatment of copper and iron, the ancient methods as practiced in the 

 bronze and iron ages are still partially adhered to, and the technique of 

 basketry may tempt the student to comparison with the productions of 

 our California Indians. The Chinese composite bow, in all probability 

 the best bow e\er made, is the same as the one used by the ancient Persians, 

 Babylonians, Egyptians and Greeks; and this is not the only instance where 

 China can triumphantly furnish the real thing which we would seek in ^■ain 

 in the other centers of ancient civilizations. In fact up to the fatal year 

 1900, China was the only country where the life of antiquity was really still 

 alive, and whence a. sound basis for an attempt at its reconstruction could 

 be derived. 



These chances are now upset, the romance of China has died away with 

 the end of the chivalrous Manchu dynasty. The products of home in- 

 dustries will give way to the clatter of nuichinery and foreign imports. In 



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