184 



CHINA. 



agriculture by the Chinese government are generally 

 known. Every year, on the 15th day of the first 

 moon, the emperor repairs, in great state, to a 

 certain field, accompanied by the princes and the 

 principal officers, prostrates himself, and touches the 

 ground.'nine times with his bend, in honour of Tim, 

 the God of heaven ; he pronounces a prayer prepared 

 by the court of ceremonies, invoking the blessing of 

 the Great Being on his labour and Unit of his people. 

 Then, as the liigh-priest of the empire, he sacrifices 

 a bullock to heaven, as the fountain of all good. 

 Whilst tne victim is offered on the altar, a plough, 

 drawn by a pair of oxen, higldy ornamented, is 

 brought to the emperor, who throws aside his im- 

 perial robes, lays hold of the handle of the plough, 

 and opens several furrows over the whole field. The 

 principal mandarins follow his example. The festival 

 i-iu-rs with the distribution of money and cloth 

 amongst the peasantry. In the same manner the 

 emperor again comes to sow the seed. In the pro- 

 vinces, the viceroys perform the same ceremony on 

 the same day. In the cultivation of trees, the Chi- 

 nese liave made comparatively little progress. They 

 liave many fruit-trees, but have done little for their 

 improvement. Grafting is not common. Currants, 

 raspberries, and, according to some, olives, do not 

 grow in China. But nature has conferred on this 

 country other treasures, such as the tea-plant, from 

 which the Chinese derive immense profits, the cam- 

 phor-tree, the aloe, the sugar-cane, the bamboo, in- 

 digo, cotton, rhubarb, the varnish-tree, soap-tree, tal- 

 low-tree, lime, wax-tree, and the li-tchi. The Chi- 

 nese have all the domestic animals of Europe and 

 America, amongst which the hog is the most numer- 

 ous. The camel is the usual beast of burden. The 

 wild animals are the elephant, the rhinoceros, the 

 tiger, die musk-ox, several kinds of apes, the deer, 

 the wild boar, the fox, &c. Poultry abounds in 

 China, particularly ducks. Several sorts of birds are 

 distinguished for the richness of their plumage, such 

 as the gold and silver pheasants, and the peacock 

 with spurs. Great quantities of fish are found in the 

 waters. The gold-fish are there, as with us, kept as 

 an ornament. Amongst the insects of China, the 

 silkworm, which is found in all parts of the country, 

 and appears to be indigenous, is the principal. Of 

 the mineral productions our information is very im- 

 perfect. Silver mines are abundant, but they are 

 little worked. The gold is, for the most part, ob- 

 tained from the sands of the rivers in the provinces of 

 Se-tchuen and Yun-nan ; but gold and silver are not 

 coined. Tutenague is a metallic substance peculiar 

 to China, which is used for the manufacture of ves- 

 sels and utensils, and which some suppose to be pure 

 zinc, and others an artificial composition. China pro- 

 duces a peculiar kind of copper ; also arsenic, much 

 quicksilver (hi Yun-nan), but little lead and tin. Of 

 valuable stones, it affords the lapis lazuli, the rock- 

 crystal, the loadstone, and various kinds of marble. 

 Of clays, the porcelain clay is the only kind we need 

 mention. Salt is a profitable monopoly of the go- 

 vernment. 



The features and the shape of the skull of the Chi- 

 nese prove their descent from the Mongols ; but a 

 residence of many centuries in a milder climate has 

 softened their characteristic marks. A Chinese wo- 

 man is proud of her beauty hi proportion to the small- 

 ness of her eyes, the protuberance of her lips, the 

 lankness and blackness of her hah-, and the smallness 

 of her feet The last completes the Chinese idea of 

 beauty, and is obtained by pressure and hindering the 

 growth. By the men, corpulence, as the sign of an 

 easy life, is regarded with respect. Lean people are 

 considered void of talent. The higher classes allow 

 the nails of their fingers to grow, some on one hand 



some on both, and dye their hair and beards black. 

 The Chinese possess the usual virtues and vices of a 

 slavish, industrious, and commercial people. 



The government is an absolute monarchy, but the 

 mandarins and tribunals are permitted to make re- 

 spectful remonstrances to the emperor. The emperor 

 calls himself holy son of heaven, sole guardian of the 

 earth, and father of his people. He is obliged to oc- 

 cupy himself constantly with the affairs of state. He 

 has three wives, of whom only one bears the title ami 

 rank of empress. He resides, generally, in I Ykin ; 

 in summer, at Tchehol. Offerings are made to his 

 image and to his throne; his person is worshipped ; 

 his subjects prostrate themselves in his presence. 

 The emperor never appears in public without 2000 

 lictors, bearing chains, axes, and other instruments 

 characteristic of Eastern despotism. The revenue is 

 estimated at 150,000,000 dollars, and consists, chiefly, 

 in the productions of the soil. It is raised by a land- 

 tax, by duties on imports and exports, and on articles 

 of internal commerce, and by a poll-tax on every 

 person between the ages of twenty and sixty. The 

 Chinese army is very numerous, consisting of about 

 900,000 men, but does not appear capable of resist- 

 ing the irregular Asiatic troops, much less European 

 soldiers. 



The Chinese nobility is of two kinds, the dignity 

 of the one being personal, that of Uie other official. 

 Of the former there are five degrees, the three first 

 of which are conferred only on the relations of the 

 emperor, and are generally translated by the term 

 prince. These princes are bound to live within the 

 precincts of the imperial palace. The personal no- 

 bility has precedence over the mandarins, or official 

 nobility. The rank of the mandarins is indicated by 

 the colour of the buttons on their caps. There are 

 likewise titular mandarins. 



Chinese Mandarins. 



There are, hi all, from 13,000 to 14,000 civil man- 

 darins, called governors, and 18,000 military manda- 

 rins. The former are divided into nine, the latter 

 into five classes. The highest body of officers in tire 

 empire is the council of the ministerial mandarins. 

 These transact business with the emperor. Subordi- 

 nate central authorities are, 1. LA-pu (guard of civil of- 

 ficers), which proposes pardons to the emperor ; 2. Ho- 

 pu (ministry of finance) ; 3. Li-pu (court of ceremonial); 

 4. Ping-pu (council of war) ; 5. Hong-pu (ministry of 

 justice, including Kong-pu, or that of architecture). 

 In every province, a mandarin is governor, with a 

 council to watch over his actions and execute his com- 

 mands. There are courts of justice hi the different 



