CHINA 



1345 



CHINA 



tion is now going forward rap- 

 idly. Around the big cities 

 railroads are especially numer- 

 ous, and it is estimated that 

 there are in the country about 

 8,000 miles fewer miles for 

 China's 400,000,000 people than 

 for the nearly 6,000,000 of little 

 Illinois. 



But the great highways of 

 China are the rivers and canals, 

 of which there is a network all 

 over the country. On all the 

 large rivers, but especially on 

 the Yang-tse, the volume of 

 trade has steadily increased 



desired during the cold and the 

 rainy seasons. 



The People and Their Mode 

 of Life. The Chinese are a 

 Mongolian people, with the yel- 

 lowish skin, straight black hair, 

 obliquely - set almond - shaped 

 eyes and high cheek bones 

 characteristic of that race. In 

 general they are of rather low 

 stature and have small hands 

 and feet, but variations in 

 physical structure are to be 

 seen in the different parts of 

 the country. Many of their 

 moral qualities are excellent. 



until the waterways literally 

 swarm with boats, junks and 

 barges of all sizes. Probably 

 there are as many boats in 

 China as in all the rest of the 

 world together. Thousands and 

 thousands of people pass their 

 lives in houseboats or sampans, 

 and great stretches of the rivers 

 are so crowded with these along 

 the shore that no water shows 

 between. These are not lux- 

 urious houseboats, but tiny 

 cabins of one small room, which 

 are satisfactory enough in good 

 weather, but leave much to be 

 85 



For example, they are unusually 

 industrious and toil constantly 

 for the support of their fami- 

 lies; they are strongly attached 

 to their homes; they hold age 

 in great respect, and while they 

 are not as a race decidedly 

 trustworthy- in dealing with 

 white people, they are capable 

 of loyalty to the point of mar- 

 tyrdom. Gambling is almost 

 universal among them, and 

 opium-smoking was long a 

 dreadful curse, but it has been 

 decidedly lessened through the 

 efforts of the goverameot. 



