CHINA AND HER PEOPLE— SOME REFLECTIONS ON THEIR 

 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS, HABITS, AND LIVES 



By Commander Harrie Webster, 



United States Navy 



The geographical boundaries of China proper, that huge Mongolian 

 Empire, about which the world is now so deeply concerned, are : on 

 the north, Mongolia, from whence, at irregular intervals in the past, 

 have come those overwhelming currents of humanity which have 

 modified in a remarkable degree the race characteristics of the Chi- 

 nese; on the east, the great Gulf of Pechili, the Yellow Sea, and the 

 Pacific Ocean ; on the south, the China Sea, the Gulf of Tonkin, 

 Tonkin, and Siam ; and on the west, Upper Burma and Tibet. Some 

 writers, notably Wells Williams, the well-known author of " The Middle 

 Kingdoin,^^ divide China proper into three portions — the mountainous, 

 the hilly, and the level countr3^ Emplo3nng this S3^stem, we find 

 more than half of the whole area is mountainous, and lies west of a 

 north and south line passing through the cit}^ of Wuchang, in the 

 province of Hupeh. The hilly portion lies east of this same line and 

 south' of the great Yangtze River. The great plain or level countr}'' 

 comprises the remaining part of the empire, and forms the northeast 

 portion. The agricultural wealth of the nation lies in the level 

 country. 



China is divided into eighteen provinces, each of which is governed 

 by a vicero}', who administers the affairs of his province nominally 

 under instructions fi'om Pekin, but actually in accordance with his 

 individual ideas. During the progress of ages the spoken language 

 of these provinces has undergone such modifications that it is prac- 

 tically impossible for a traveler to understand or be understood out- 

 side the borders of his own province. The partial exception to this 

 rule is the Cantonese. The spoken tongue of the province of Canton, 

 or Kuangtong, as it is pronounced by the natives, appears to be the 

 parent speech of a large part of China, so that today a native of 

 Kuangtong can make his way with more or less ease from one end 

 of China to the other. A witty Chinese gentleman once said to the 

 writer at a native dinner in Shanghai, " With two languages, a man 

 may travel all over the world. Knowing tlie Kuangtong dialect, he 



