CHINESE ARCHITECTURE BOERSCHMANN. 545 



Domestic wars and insurrections have repeatedly mixed the people 

 of different parts in Chinese history, which in its vicissitudes equals 

 our own. The migratory instinct has also contributed to this unifica- 

 tion. According to Chinese records, the Province of Szech'uan was 

 decimated at the beginning of the present dynasty to such an extent 

 that only 1 in 10 survived, and it is now inhabited for the most part by 

 settlers of other Provinces. Here One finds a greater variety in the 

 styles of club buildings than anywhere else, with the possible excep- 

 tion of the Province of Kuangsi, in the capital of which, Kueilinfu, 

 nearly all the inhabitants are foreigners. During the period im- 

 mediately before the New Year festival I daily passed small mer- 

 chants, mechanics, and day laborers traveling to their homes in 

 Hunan for the festival weeks. This custom prevails throughout 

 China, and similar scenes are witnessed everywhere. In Shantung 

 the people constantly travel to and from the Liaotung Peninsula, 

 along the seacoasts and on interior highways. The trains on the 

 recently built railroads are always overcrowded, and the two small 

 steamers which ply between Shanghai and Ningpo daily transport 

 several thousand Chinese. 



The merchants of the Shensi Province have a monopoly of banking 

 silver and copper throughout a greater part of the Empire. They 

 travel everywhere and finally in their old age return to their homes 

 with their acquired wealth. One particular city in Chekiang usually 

 furnishes the subaltern officials for the mandarins of several Prov- 

 inces. Other well-known towns, often inconsiderable in size, furnish, 

 in addition, singers, actors, certain classes of artisans, and tradesmen. 

 These all leave their homes to travel and usually return later. 



The ancient decree forbidding the appointment of higher officials 

 to offices in their native Provinces, not to mention their native cities, 

 was for the purpose of making the Government independent of per- 

 sonal influence and of attaining uniformity. 



Traveling is habitual in China. Car drivers, muleteers, boatmen, 

 and carriers readily contract to start immediate^ on long journeys 

 requiring months of travel. A journey to remote Turkestan or Tibet 

 is regarded as a most commonplace undertaking. The Government 

 requires this readiness to travel of all officials. A high official in 

 Ch'engtu received orders to proceed to Tibet for a long period of 

 years and departed within five days. 



The ancient classical examinations, which have now ceased, prob- 

 ably forever, also contributed to this traveling instinct. Hundreds of 

 thousands of students annually traveled to the examination halls of 

 their districts and the capital cities, while thousands of them went on 

 to Peking. In weary journeys they learned the country ; they acquired 

 strange customs here and there and diffused them abroad. 

 38734°— sm 1911 35 ' 



