196 



CHINA 



CHINCH AY-COCHA 



those of China itself, and are divided into four 

 classes according to the different methods of the 

 authors. The first place is given to the ' Correct ' 

 and 'Authoritative,' or the 'Dynastic,' which now 

 form a collection of twenty-four different works. 

 The writer's own copy of it, bound in English 

 fashion, amounts to sixty-four thick volumes, im- 

 perial 8vo size. In general, each dynastic history 

 contains an account of the several reigns, followed 

 by treatises on chronology, rites, music, 1 juris- 

 prudence, food and goods or political economy, 

 state sacrifices, astronomy, the five elements, 

 geography, and especially topography, and the 

 literature. After these treatises we have a host 

 of biographies of the most remarkable individuals 

 of the dynasty ; and the history concludes with an 

 account of the foreign peoples with which there has 

 been any intercourse. These notices of the dynastic 

 histories only occupy two of the 46 chapters of 

 the division. Among the subdivisions are three 

 chapters on 'Books on the Constitution,' embracing 

 such works as Ma Twan-lin's General Examination 

 of Records and Scholars, said by Remusat to be ' a 

 library in itself,' and the two continuations of it, 

 each as voluminous as itself ; and the Penal Code 

 of the present dynasty, of which we have the 

 translation by Sir G. T. Staunton, published in 

 1810. 



The philosophy and arts division deals with the 

 works of the class of the literati, both orthodox 

 and heterodox ; of writers on military aflfairs ; on 

 legislation ; on agriculture, horticulture, and the 

 mulberry-tree ; on medicine ; on astronomy and 

 mathematics ; on divination ; on painting, music, 

 engraving, and other arts ; on ink and inkstones ; 

 on tea and the tea-plant ; on articles of diet ; on 

 the works of several of the Roman Catholic 

 missionaries ; and concludes with works of Taoism 

 and Buddhism. Five chapters are devoted to 

 works on mythology and lighter subjects, not 

 including, however, as we shall presently see, 

 novels and romances. 



The belles-lettres division has the general name 

 of Tsi, 'Collections' or 'Compilations.' It com- 

 prehends the various classes of polite literature, 

 poetry, and analytical or critical works. Chinese 

 poetry has no epic ; but it is rich in ballads, lyrical 

 and descriptive pieces, rhythmical effusions and 

 songs, eulogies and elegies, and monumental inscrip- 

 tions. Its poets have been without number, and 

 its poetesses not a few. One of the Confucian 

 classics is ' The Book of Poetry ; ' and poetry is 

 one of the standing subjects in the competitive 

 examinations. 



Novels and romances, dramas, and books written 

 in the colloquial style are not admitted into such 

 grand catalogues as the above ; but the literature 

 is not without them. There is no more pleasant 

 reading than some of their historical romances, 

 such as the Expanded Narrative of the Period of 

 the Three Kingdoms ( 168-245 A.D. ), by a raconteur 

 of extraordinarily graphic power, written in our 

 13th century. Some of the best novels have been 

 translated into European languages : The Fortunate, 

 Union, by Sir John Francis Davis ; The Rambles 

 of the Chdng-Teh Emperor in Kiang-nan, under the 

 superintendence of the present writer ; Les Deux 

 Cousines and Les Deux Jeunes Filles Lettrees, by the 

 late Stanislas Julien ; and others, as well as some 

 of the dramas. 



Great as the Chinese literature is, it would have 

 been greater, especially in the earlier portions of 

 it, but for the burning of the Confucian books by 

 the founder of the Ts'in dynasty, and for the subse- 

 quent ' bibliothecal catastrophes ' which overtook 

 one imperial library after another down to the 

 middle of our 6th century. Paper was made and 

 employed for writing in our first century, and 



printing by means of wooden blocks, according to 

 the fashion still prevailing, was soon practised. 

 An edition of all the classical books was so pub- 

 lished in 922 A.D. The invention of movable types 

 belongs to a blacksmith called Pi Shing less than a 

 century afterwards, though such types are only 

 now beginning to supersede the wooden blocks. 

 Some of the inventions claimed for China have 

 been called in question, but about this perhaps 

 the most important of all inventions after the 

 alphabet there can be no dispute. 



See Premare's Notitia Linr/uce SiniccE (Malacca, 1831); 

 Remusat's Elemens de la Grammaire Chinoise (Paris, 

 1822 ) ; Marshman's Clavis Sinica ; Julien's Syntaxe 

 Nouvelle de la Langue Chinoise (Paris, 1869-70); 

 Gabelentz's Chinesische Grammatik ( Leip. 1881); Edkins's 

 Grammar of the Chinese Colloquial Language, commonly 

 called the Mandarin Dialect ( Shanghai. 1864 ) ; Chalmers's 

 Structure of Chinese Characters (Aberdeen, 1882); the 

 Dictionaries of Morrison, Medhurst, Williams, Chalmers, 

 and others; Wylie's Notes on Chinese Literature (Shanghai, 

 1867 ) ; Legge's Chinese Classics, and volumes iii. xvi. 

 xxvii. and xxviii. of the Sacred Books of the East ; Biot's 

 Le Tcheou Li, ou Rites des Tcheou ( Paris, 1851 ) ; and 

 Zottoli's Cursus Litteraturce Siiticce (Shanghai, 1879). 



China, or CHINA-WARE. See POTTERY. 



China Bark, a name of Cinchona (q.v.) Bark, 

 often to be met in books, and in common use on 

 the Continent. It is derived, not from the empire 

 of China, but from Kina or Quina, the Peruvian 

 name of cinchona. 



China Clay. See KAOLIN. 



China Grass, or CHINESE GRASS. See BCEH- 

 MERIA, GRASS-CLOTH. 



China Ink. See INK. 



Chiliandega, the capital of a department of 

 Nicaragua, Central America, 30 miles NW. of 

 Leon by rail, and 13 by rail from the Pacific coast. 

 It has considerable trade, and about 8000 inhabit- 

 ants. OLD CHINANDEGA, 5 miles to the N., has 

 a pop. of 4000. 



China Root, the dry tuberous rhizome or root- 

 stock of Smilax China, a climbing shrubby plant, 

 closely allied to sarsaparilla ; a native of China, 

 Cochin-China, and Japan (see SARSAPARILLA and 

 SMlLACEjE ). It was formerly held in high medical 

 repute in Europe, but is now disused ; in China, 

 however, it retains its reputation, especially in 

 rheumatic or syphilitic cases. Various American 

 species have been from time to time introduced as 

 substitutes. 



China Sea, the portion of the Pacific Ocean 

 to the east of China and Siam, extending, in the 

 widest application of the term, from Corea to 

 Borneo. This extensive body of water falls into 

 three divisions : the Yellow Sea ( Chinese, Whang- 

 hai), between Corea and North China, with the 

 gulfs of Pechili and Leaotong, and Corea Bay ; the 

 Eastern China Sea (Tung-hai), from about 32 N. 

 lat. to the Tropic of Cancer ; and the South China 

 Sea (Nan-hoi), from Formosa to Borneo, with the 

 Philippines on the east, and forming the great 

 gulfs of Tonquin and Siam. Many geographers 

 limit the term to this last division. See ASIA ; 

 and for the twin dangers, typhoons and pirates, that 

 have combined to render the navigation of these 

 waters notoriously perilous, see separate articles 

 under these heads. 



Chinch a Islands, three bare, rocky islets, 

 with a joint area of 6 miles, rising 200 feet out of 

 the sea off the coast of Peru, opposite the Bay of 

 Pisco. From 1841 till 1874 they yielded millions of 

 tons of Guano (q.v.) ; but the beds, originally some 

 100 feet thick, became exhausted. 



Chinchay-COCha, a lake of Peru, in the de- 

 partment of Junin, 13,330 feet above the sea, is 

 36 miles long and 7 broad, with an area of about 



