CHINA. 



Am 



of the 



blot, upon bcinfl appointed by the government, in 1089, 

 to correct the calendar, found it necessary to cut off a 

 whole muotli. Of Ute year*, thit office of regulating 

 the national almanack hat been commuted to die Portu- 

 guese mifUOMrici | and three of them were entrusted 

 with this important charge, at the time of Lord M.icart- 

 neT* embassy. 



The Chinese reckon seven planeti, including the sun 

 >nd moon. The <un it rrprrtented by the figure of 

 bird within a circle, and presides orer the year and the 

 teasor.*. The moon it figured by a rabbit pounding 

 tome thing in a mortar, aud presides ovtr the division of 

 time. The other five are, Too, the earth, which corre- 

 aponds with Saturn, and reigns to the end of summer ; 

 A/o, wood, which corresponds with Jupiter, and pre- 

 sides over the spring ; Ho, lire, which corresponds with 

 Mars, and presides over the summer, mournings, and 

 public works ; Kin, metal, which corresponds with Ve- 

 nus, and presides over the autumn ; and Sliooy, water, 

 which corresponds with Mercury, and presides over the 

 winter. They have arranged the stars under different 

 constellations, the names of which bear a reference to 

 the diflercnt parts of the government and empire of 

 China ; and the firmament is divided into four quarters, 

 each of which contains seven of these constellations. 

 These twenty-eight constellations compose the zodiac, 

 which they call llie yellow tvay ; and the equator, which 

 is named the Jltth-coloured nay, is divided into twelve 

 palaces, or portions, of thirty degrees, each of which is 

 again divided into two, thus forming the twenty-four 

 Tsic-kee, which refer to the different seasons and pe- 

 riods of the year." 



of They divide the year into twelve moons, or lunations, 

 and make an intercalation of one month in the 3d, 6th, 

 9lh, llth, 14th, 17th, and 19th year, in a period of 

 nineteen years. They begin the year with the first new 

 moon which appears after the first degree of Aquarius ; 

 and the whole consists of 354- days. The months con- 

 tut tome of 30, and some of '29 days ; and are divided, 

 sometimes into four, and sometimes into three parts. 

 The day is divided into twelve hour?, each, of course, 

 containing two of ours ; and the first begins at 11 

 o'clock in the evening. Each hour is divided into two 

 half-hourt, and each half into four quarters. The 

 hours have their appropriate appellations, and bear also 

 the names of different animals, viz. the rat, the ox, the 

 tiger, the hare, the dragon, the serpent, the horse, the 

 theep, the ape, the hen, the dog, the hog. The night 

 is farther divided into five watches, which vary in length, 

 according to the duration of the darkness, and the first 

 of which begins about 8 o'clock of the evening. 



The planets are considered by the Chinese as influen- 

 1 notions, cing the events of human life, and much it made to de- 

 pend upon their appearance and positions. When the 

 colour of the sun is pale, it is a token of approaching 

 calamities, or of the death of a prince ; and its eclipse 

 it understood to be necessarily followed by rebellions. 

 Hence it has been justly remarked, that, as the persons 

 appointed to observe the heavens, will naturally wish to 

 find at few ominous atpectt as possible, and, consequent- 

 ly, must make their observations under the strong in- 

 fluence of superstitious prejudices, astronomical science 

 gt%lii Bust alwayt be in a very low state in China. The oc- 

 currence of an eclipse it there viewed as an event affect- 

 ing the stability of the empire, or the safety of the 



Ik. 



prince ; and the whole nation are assembled to the tpec- Arts to* 

 tacle by express orders of the government. The officers ^Sciencci^ 

 of state give public notice of the time when such a ""~" 

 phenomenon is expected, according to the calculations 

 of the national almanack. The public functionaries put 

 on mourning ; and all business is suspended. The mem- 

 bers of the mathematical board, and other learned men, 

 assemble at the palace to observe the agreement of the 

 eclipse with the prediction ; and, as soon as the observa- 

 tion commences, they fall down upon their knees, bow. 

 ing their heads repeatedly to the ground ; while tlie 

 gongs, trumpets, kettle drums, and all kinds of noisy 

 instruments strike up at once, to frighten the dragon 

 which is supposed to have beset the suffering luminary. 

 It is related, that, on one occasion of this nature, the 

 intervention of clouds having prevented the eclipse from 

 being seen, the Chinese grandees hastened to congratu- 

 late the emperor, upon the regard which heaven had tes- 

 tified for his virtues, in sparing him, at this time, the 

 affliction of beholding the sun under an eclipse. 



Their knowledge of geography is equally defective ; Ccogra- 

 and they consider the earth as a plain square surface, of pl>y. 

 which their country occupies the central part. Even 

 their plans and charts of their own ympi re were utterly 

 rude and incorrect (.ketches, without either rule or pro- 

 portion, till they were provided by the indefatigable la- 

 bours of the Jesuits with their present accurate maps 

 and surveys. 



They are totally ignorant of algebra and geometry ; Arithme- 

 and their arithmetic is altogether a mechanical system. tic. 

 By the most learned, as well as the most illiterate of the 

 people, all their calculations are performed by means of 

 a machine, apparently of Chinese origin, called in the 

 common dialect Swan -pan, and, in tlie mandarin pro- 

 nunciation, Soen-poen. It bears some resemblance to 

 the Abacus of the Romans, and consists of ten rows of 

 balls, strung upon copper wires, and divided in such a 

 manner, that the upper part of each row contains two 

 balls, each of which is reckoned five ; while the inferior 

 portion has five balls, each of which represents an unit. 

 By the aid of this instrument they produce a kind of de- 

 cimal arithmetic in a very easy and expeditious manner ; 

 of which a figure and description may be seen in Bar- 

 row's Travels to China, p. 296. The Chinese do not 

 express numbers by figures; but write the sums at length 

 in words ; except in what may be called their current 

 hand, which frequently abridges the characters ; and, in 

 which, for instance, instead of the two word* or charac- 

 ters, San-she, 30, they would draw three perpendicular 

 lines crossed by another in a horizontal direction. 



They have a practical knowledge of some of the most Natural 

 obvious effects produced by natural causes ; but no ph''o>- 

 branch of physical science is pursued as a subject of in- P ' 

 vcfttigation. They have very little acquaintance with 

 pneumatics, hydrostatics, electricity, or magnetism ; and, 

 except making concave and convex louses of rock crystal, 

 for spectacles or burning glasses, they are equally igno- 

 rant of optics. The single microscope, indeed, was 

 found in use among them ; but they are unacquainted 

 with the art of assisting vision by a combination of 

 Icnses.f A convex lens is very commonly carried by in- 

 dividuals to light their tobacco pipes ; but they have not 

 sufficient knowledge of its properties to enable them to 

 appreciate the scientific improvements of these articles 

 by Europeans ; and they expressed no admiration of the 



Of til then prt.cular. Me a minute account hi De Guignes 1 Voyage a Pckin, torn. ii. 483, 4c. 



-liking rpicuclrt, iiic) grind the glaues at random ; and when the purchaser chooses tuch as he conceives most Cited 

 lo tu tku>, be cannot be cnuin thit Iwtlj tl.c gLuxs have the ume focus. 



