469 



CHINA. 



CHINA. 



470 



Although Peking is nearly a degree to the south of Naples, the 

 latitude of the former place being 39 54', of the latter 40 50', the 

 mean temperature of Peking is only 54 of Fahrenheit, while that 

 of Naples is 63. But as the thermometer at the Chinese capital 

 sinks much lower during the winter than at Naples, so in summer 

 it rises somewhat higher. The rivers are said to be frozen for three 

 or four months together, from December to March; while, during 

 the embassy in September 1816, a heat of between 90 and 100 

 was experienced in the shade. It is well known that Naples and 

 other countries in the extreme south of Europe are strangers to such 

 a degree of long-continued cold, and are not often visited by such 

 heats. Europe, observes Humboldt, may be considered altogether as 

 the western part of a great continent, and therefore subject to all 

 the influence which causes the western sides of continents to be 

 warmer than the eastern ; and at the same time more temperate, or 

 less subject to excesses of both heat and cold, but principally the 

 latter. The mean annual temperature of Canton and Macao, which 

 lie nearly under the tropic, is what commonly prevails in the 30th 

 parallel ; and it is surprising to contrast their meteorological averages 

 with those of Calcutta, which stands very nearly in the same latitude. 

 The total fall of rain varies greatly from one year to another ; the 

 average annual quantity is about 70 inches, but it has been known 

 to reach 90 inches and upwards. Vegetation is checked in the 

 interval from November to February, not less by the dryness than 

 by the coldness of the atmosphere : the three winter months being 

 known sometimes to elapse with scarcely a drop of rain. The north- 

 east monsoon, which commences at Canton and in the adjacent seas 

 to the southward and eastward in September, blows strongest from 

 December to February, and begins to yield to the opposite monsoon 

 in JUrch or April About that period the southerly winds come 

 charged with the moisture which they have acquired in their passage 

 over the sea through warm latitudes ; and this moisture is suddenly 

 condensed into thick fogs as it comes in contact with the coast of 

 China, which has been cooled down to a low temperature by the 

 long-continued northerly winds. The latent heat given out by the 

 rapid distillation of this steam into Quid, produces the sudden advance 

 of temperature which takes place about March; and its effect is 

 immediately perceptible in the stimulus given, by this union of 

 warmth with moisture, to vegetation of all kinds. With the pro- 

 gressive increase of heat and evaporation commence those rains which 

 tend so greatly to mitigate the effects of the sun's rays in tropical 

 climates. In the month of May the fall of rain has been known to 

 exceed 20 inches, being more than one-fourth of all the year, and this 

 keeps down the temperature to the moderate average of about 75, while 

 in Calcutta there is no portion of the year more dreaded than May. 

 At length the increasing altitude of the sun, which becomes just 

 vertical at Canton about the solstice, and the accumulated heat of 

 the earth, bring on the burning months of July, August, and 

 September, which are the most oppressive and exhausting of the 

 whole year. The extreme rarefaction of the atmosphere now begins 

 to operate as one of the causes tending to the production of those 

 terrible hurricanes, or rushes of wind, called typhoons, which are 

 justly dreaded by the inhabitants of the south of China ; but which 

 chiefly devastate the coasts of Hainan, and do not extend much to 

 the north of Canton. They seldom last 48 hours, and their usual 

 duration is less than 24 hours. 



Botany, Agriculture, <tc. At the head of Chinese botany may 

 properly be placed the tea-plant. The specimens from the black and 

 graen tea countries differ slightly in the leaf, the northern variety, 

 T/iea riridit, from which the finer green tea is usually made, being a 

 thinner leaf, rather lighter in colour, and longer in shape than the 

 other ; but Mr. Fortune has shown, what indeed the Chinese them- 

 salves acknowledge, that either black or green tea may be prepared 

 from any tea-plant. At Canton green and black teas are made from 

 the Thea Bohea, at the pleasure of the manufacturer. The Camellia 

 bears the same came in China with the tea-shrub, and possesses most 

 of its botanical characters ; they in fact constitute two genera very 

 closely allied : great skill is displayed by Chinese gardeners in their 

 culture. The Lauria Camphora, one of the most remarkable pro- 

 ductions of China as well as Japan, is a fine timber-tree, growing in 

 the southern provinces to the height of 50 feet. The hemp-palm is 

 a very handsome tree, and is peculiarly valuable to the northern 

 Chinese, who use its large, brown, hair-like bracts for making ropes 

 and cables, and numerous other useful articles. But far more valu- 

 able is a kind of bamboo, the stems of which are sometimes a foot 

 in circumference, quite straight and smooth, and from 30 to 50 feet 

 in height ; every part of which is applied to some useful purpose, 

 while the variety of services it renders is according to Mr. Fortune 

 almost inconceivable. One of the handsomest trees which have been 

 found in China is the Funereal cypress, which has a nearly straight 

 stem about 60 feet high, and weeping willow-like branches, with 

 slender and graceful leaves, somewhat resembling those of the arbor- 

 vitse. From the seeds of the I>ryandra cordata the Chinese extract 

 a varnish for boats, and for the coarser implements of domestic use ; 

 the fine japan varnish however is obtained from the tsie-shoo, or 

 lacker-shrubs, a species of Itliui, from which the varnish distils like 

 gum. The Chinese procure their tallow from the Croton lebiferum, 

 the seed of which, as soon as it is ripe, opens and divides into three 



parts, discovering as many kernels within the capsule, each attached 

 by a separate foot-stalk, and covered with the vegetable grease of a 

 snowy whiteness. The plant from which the pithy substance 

 vulgarly called ' rice-paper ' is prepared, seems to be a leguminous 

 species growing in marshes, and found in some parts of India. The 

 square pieces purchased in China are obtained from the stem, which, 

 not being above an inch or two in diameter, is cut in a circular 

 manner, and the cylinder in this way rolled out and flattened. 

 The Smilax, or China root of commerce, commonly known aa a su- 

 dorific, may be seen growing near Canton. That valuable medicine 

 rhubarb is cultivated to the northward, in the cold and mountainous 

 provinoe of Shen-si. The ginseng is very generally used as a tonic, 

 and is very largely cultivated. The Chinese cassia, an inferior cin- 

 namon, is grown in Quang-si, and largely exported in European 

 ships. 



Among the most remarkable fruits of China are three distinct 

 species of orange, as different as one sort of fruit can be from another 

 of the same genus. The first is the 'China orange" of Europe ; the 

 second is of a pale yellow colour, but very sweet, and with a highly 

 aromatic rind ; the third, and perhaps best sort, has a deep crimson 

 rind when ripe, quite detached from the fruit, the lobes of which are 

 almost loose, and surrounded with a kind of net-work of fibres. 

 Another description of Citrus, of the lemon kind, by the exercise of 

 some horticultural ingenuity, is made to run entirely into rind, the 

 whole terminating at the head in long narrow processes like fingers, 

 whence it has obtained the appellation of FO-show, ' the hand of FG.' 

 Among the peculiar fruits of China, the lichi has been naturalised 

 in Bengal. Another of the dimocarpua sort, called loong-yen, or 

 ' dragon's-eye,' is much smaller, and has a smoother skin. The 

 loquat is a fine fruit (when well ripened) of the Mespilw kind. The 

 wampee, as it is called at Canton, has been compared to the goose- 

 berry, which it resembles only in size ; its fruit, which grows in 

 bunches on a good-sized tree, has a yellow skin, inclosing a rather 

 acid pulp that surrounds two or three seeds of a green colour. At 

 the head of cultivated flowers the Chinese place the Nelmnbium, in 

 consideration of both its beauty and utility. The seeds, in form and 

 size like an acorn without its cup, resemble nuts in flavour : the 

 roots are sliced and eaten as fruit. Another highly esteemed flower 

 is the Olea fragrant, allied to the olive of Europe, and remarkable 

 for the fine scent of its blossoms. The famous mow-tan, or tree- 

 peony, flourishes only in the north of the empire. The chrysanthe- 

 mum is much and very successfully cultivated, and highly valued 

 for the variety and richness of its colours. The choo-lan (Ckloranthut 

 incoiispicuwi) is used in scenting the tea that bears its name. The 

 azalea is also a favourite garden plant. Weigelas, gardenias, roses, 

 viburnums, and a very great number of brilliant flowers are carefully 

 raised in the numerous gardens and nurseries, which are required to 

 supply the universal love of the Chinese for flowers. 



Agriculture is pursued with the greatest industry. Everywhere 

 the land is diligently cultivated, but both the implements and the 

 methods of agriculture are in a backward state. Irrigation is how- 

 ever well attended to wherever it is needed, and due attention is 

 given to manuring the land ; every substance fit for manure, whether 

 solid or liquid, being carefully husbanded. The farms are generally 

 small All kinds of grain are cultivated, but rice is the principal 

 crop ; and so well is its culture managed that the rice of China ia said 

 to be brought to greater perfection than that of any other country. 

 Over a great part of China two crops of rice are obtained annually; 

 and sometimes three crops of rice, or two crops of rice and one of 

 vegetables are obtained. Most of the ordinary vegetables are raised 

 in considerable quantities, the Chinese generally being great eaters 

 of vegetables ; potatoes however are only grown largely in Macao. 

 Tobacco, cotton, and sugar are also raised to a considerable extent. In 

 the silk districts vast quantities of mulberry-trees are grown for feeding 

 the silk-worms. Mr. Fortune states that in the Hang-tcheou district 

 alone, " going in a straight direction through the country, during the 

 space of two days, in which time he must have travelled upwards of a 

 hundred miles, he saw little else than mulberry-trees, evidently care- 

 fully cultivated, and in the highest state of health, produciug fine, 

 large, aud glossy leaves." The Chinese plant the culture of which is 

 of most importance to foreigners, and second only to rice with the 

 Chinese themselves, is however undoubtedly the tea-shrub, the growth 

 of which is very widely spread. Mr. Fortune, who under the patron- 

 age of the East India Company travelled through the tea-districts, 

 says that he has " met with it in cultivation in China, from Canton in 

 the south up to 31 N. lat. ; and Mr. Reeves says it is found in tho 

 province of Chang-tung, near the city of Tang-chow-foo, in latitude 

 36 30' N. The principal tea-districts of China however, aud those 

 which supply the greater portion of the teas exported to Europe and 

 America, lie between 25 and 31 N. lat., and the best districts are 

 those between 27 and 31." ('Tea Districts of China,' p. 272). No- 

 thing can well exceed the patient attention bestowed, both on the 

 cultivation of the shrub and the preparation of tho leaf; but for the 

 methods employed we must refer the reader to the work just quoted, 

 to Ball's ' Cultivation and Manufacture of Tea,' aud to the article TIIEA, 

 in ENGLISH CYC., NAT. HIST. Div. The wonderful quantity oi tea 

 annually grown and manufactured may be readily conceived, when it is 

 stated that tea is the universal beverage throughout China, being taken 



