CHINA 



187 



different stories one of the architectural wonders 

 of the world. 



I ii the cities, and studding the country also, are 

 many P'fti-lnnx or Honorary Portals, which i>ft<-n 

 carried the writer's thoughts to the old Temple 

 Bar, i In >!!_ 1 1 not of HO substantial 

 a construction as it was. They are 

 tokens of imperial favour, erected 

 n honour of distinguished persons, 

 iinl iiuiiiy of them signalling the 

 rirtue or widows who steadfastly 

 i ft n -fd to be married a second 

 time. 



The streets of the cities, espe- 

 cially in the south, are not wider 

 than so many lanes, and the streams 

 of people hurrying through them 

 give the stranger an idea that they 

 are more populous than they really 

 are, though against tiiis hasty as- 

 sumption must be set the rarity 

 of the appearance of women in 

 them. They are paved with slabs 

 of stone, but badly drained, and 

 the heat and stench render a pro- 

 menade through them anything 

 but agreeable. Most of them have 

 high-sounding names, such as 'The 

 Street of Benevolence and Right- 

 eousness.' As in the old Roman 



the deer family. The musk-deer is greatly valued. 

 Among the more domestic quadrupeds, the breed 

 of horses and cattle is dwarfish, and no attempt* 

 seem to be made to improve them. The aw in a 

 limn' lively animal in the north than with u-, and 



Temple of the Goddess Ma Tsu-pu, Ninsj-po. 

 (From The Middle Kingdom, by S. W. Williams, LL.D.) 



cities, tradesmen of the same pursuits are found 

 very much together in the same street. The streets 

 are wider in the northern cities, till we arrive at 

 Peking, where the wide ways of the Manchu portion 

 combine with the imposing walls and their lofty 

 towers to make the visitor think for a time that 

 he has arrived at the grandest city of the world. 



When you enter the house of a well-to-do family, 

 you find the furniture sufficient, though somewhat 

 scanty and not luxurious. The floor may be 

 covered with matting, but not with a carpet or rugs. 

 The tables and straight-backed chairs are of a dark, 

 heavy wood resembling ebony. A few pictures, 

 not works of art, are hung on the walls, along with 

 scrolls of fine writing, expressing moral sentiments 

 or historical and topographical references, while 

 some jars and other specimens of fine porcelain are 

 put down here and there. There may be a couch 

 or two made of bamboo and rattan, and stools of 

 the same materials. The bamboo, that queen of 

 the Arundinacese, deserves especial mention. A 

 clump of bamboos adds a graceful charm to the 

 scenery, and there seems to be no end to the uses 

 which the plant serves. The schoolmaster employs 

 it for his ferule, and the mandarin or magistrate 

 for his most common instrument of punishment. 

 The writing-paper is made from it. Its young 

 shoots are used for food, and for comfits and 

 pickles. Its stems, according to their si/e, are 

 employed for pencil handles, for canes, and for 

 poles. Fans, cages, baskets, and fish-creels are 

 all constructed with it. Its roots are carved into 

 grotesque figures, and fashioned into blocks of a 

 peculiar shape to be used in divination. China 

 would not be China without the bamboo. 



The country is too thickly peopled and well 

 cultivated to harbour many wild and dangerous 

 animals, though one occasionally hears of a tiger 

 that has ventured from the forest and been killed 

 or captured. The lion was never a denizen of 

 China, and is only to be seen rampant in stone 

 in front of temples. The rhinoceros, elephant, and 

 tapir are said still to exist in the forests and 

 swamps of Yun-nan ; but the supply of elephants 

 at Peking for the carriage of the emperor when he 

 proceeds to the great sacrificial altars has been 

 decreasing for several reigns. Both the brown and 

 black bear are met with, and several varieties of 



receives more attention. About Peking one is 

 struck by many beautiful specimens of the mule. 

 Princes are seen riding on mules, or drawn by them 

 in elegant litters, while their attendants accompany 

 them on horseback. The camel is only seen in 

 the north. One of the first things that strikes a 

 stranger in the capital is the troops of the shaggy 

 animal lying or feeding about the walls, with their 

 Mongol keepers, looking as uncouth as their charge. 



The birds of prey are many. Minos, crows, and 

 magpies abound. The last are 'sacred birds,' 

 which it is not safe for the traveller to shoot. The 

 people are fond of song-birds, especially the lark, 

 the thrush, and the canary. The song of the 

 nightingale is familiar. The smaller birds are not 

 so afraid of man as with us. Buddhism, with which 

 life is sacred, has done much to secure for birds, 

 both with old and young, immunity from moles- 

 tation and death. The lovely gold and silver 

 pheasants are well known, and also the Yuan-yang 

 (Anas galericulata), or mandarin duck, the emblem 

 to the Chinese of conjugal fidelity. 



The people are fond of flowers, and make 

 excellent gardeners. You look in vain, however, 

 in the gardens of the wealthy for the gay parterres 

 which so please the eye in England. They cultivate 

 their favourites mostly in pots ; and the ' willow- 

 plate pattern,' with its arbours, bridges, and i>oii<l>, 

 glowing often with the large and brilliant flowers 

 of the nelumbium, supplies a good picture of a 

 Chinese garden of a superior order. 



While the Chinese have, as we have seen, done 

 justice to most of the natural capabilities of their 

 country, they have greatly failed in developing its 

 mineral resources. The skill which their lapidaries 

 display in cutting crystal and other quart /ose 

 minerals is well known, and their work in jade, 

 whioh they so highly prize, is very fine. But a 

 mineral more valuable than any other has been 

 comparatively neglected. The coalfields of China 

 are enormous more than twenty times the extent 

 of those of Great Britain ; but up to this time the 

 majority of them can hardly be said to have been 

 more than scratched. Immense quantities of iron 

 ore, moreover, must have been extracted from the 

 earth during the millenniums of its history, but a 

 much greater amount is still untouched. Copper, 

 lead, tin, silver, and gold are known to exist in 



