210 Of the Checks to Population in Bk. i. 



lace, which obliged all the ministers and great 

 men of his court to do the same.* 



A great festival, of which this is thought to be 

 the origin, is solemnized every year in all the 

 cities of China on the day that the sun enters the 

 fifteenth degree of Aquarius, which the Chinese 

 consider as the beginning of their spring. The 

 emperor goes himself in a solemn manner to 

 plough a few ridges of land, in order to animate 

 the husbandman by his own example; and the 

 mandarins of every city perform the same cere- 

 mony :f Princes of the blood and other illustrious 

 persons hold the plough after the emperor, and 

 the ceremony is preceded by the spring sacrifice, 

 which the emperor as chief pontiff offers to Shang- 

 ti, to procure plenty in favour of his people. 



The reigning emperor in the time of Duhalde 

 celebrated this festival with extraordinary solem- 

 nity, and in other respects shewed an uncommon 

 regard for husbandmen. To encourage them in 

 their labours, he ordered the governors of all the 

 cities to send him notice every year of the person 

 in this profession, in their respective districts, 

 who was most remarkable for his application to 

 agriculture, for unblemished reputation, for pre- 

 serving union in his own family, and peace with 

 his neighbours, and for his frugality, and aversion 

 to all extravagance. J The mandarins in their 

 different provinces encourage with honours the 



* Duhalde's China, vol. i. p. 275. 



t Id. ib. 



% Id. p. 27G. 



