CENTRAL CHINA 31 



profusion of nature simply knows no bounds, whilst the 

 rapid and vast changes of elevation create an immense 

 variety. From the lowlands and the hill-lands, with 

 their mixture of pines and palms, of camphor and other 

 lauraceous trees, camellias and tea, and the hanging 

 vines of the wistaria, one passes upwards into the diffi- 

 cult and as yet little explored mountain region. In its 

 forests, vegetation simply runs riot. Amid the remark- 

 able and unsurpassed diversity of precious timber species, 

 the gorgeous wealth of rhododendrons and azaleas, mag- 

 nolias and bambus, fuchsias, roses and chrysanthemums, 

 and the countless beautifully blossomed plants generally 

 known to our gardeners as japonica, are found here in 

 their native haunts. A belt of temperate, summer-green 

 forests, including well-known trees, such as oaks and 

 alders and hazels, is followed further up by dense 

 forests of stately conifers. The alpine zone, with a large 

 variety of primroses and gentians, of ranunculus and 

 anemones, far surpassing the beauty of our own alpine 

 meadows, extends to the line of eternal snows. 



As regards agriculture, the range of produce is no less 

 striking: rice and cotton, mulberries and tea, poppies 

 and beans, wheat, maize, pulses, onions, indigo, sugar, 

 hemp, and tobacco, furnish profuse crops under the 

 skilled and patient labour of the Chinese. In brief, it is 

 hard to find any portion of the earth, including Europe, 

 where the diversity and abundance of fruits and other 

 produce are greater than in central China. For thousands 

 of years the natives have been an essentially agricultural 

 population and have carried their, methods of cultivation 

 to a high degree of perfection. Especially worthy of 

 notice are the valley of the Yangtse, those of Hunan 

 and Kwang-si, and the terraced region of Sechwan. 



Agriculture has always remained the primary and 



