THE EDEN OF THE FLOWERY REPUBLIC 



30' 



to a warrior, but many to virtuous wid- 

 ows, who refused to remarry after their 

 husbands had died. Others reared by 

 royal permit have the four characters 

 Wu K'm, Tung Tang, five generations 

 living together in one home. This, 

 though not common, is by no means un- 

 known in West China, and surely, if five 

 generations can live together in one home 

 and live peaceably, they deserve recogni- 

 tion, and the Chinese accord it, as these 

 massive stone and tile mosaic monuments 

 attest (see illustration in color). 



the; land of pagodas 



West China might be called "The Land 

 of the Pagoda," for nearly every city has 

 its towering sentinel from three to fifteen 

 stories in height. They are generally 

 placed upon some eminence overlooking 

 the city they protect, and may have 

 served as watch-towers in times of trou- 

 ble, but the real purpose of their erection 

 most likely was to exert a benign influ- 

 ence upon the fung suei — the spirits of 

 wind and wave that bring prosperity and 

 ward off disaster. 



Out from the crush and the hum of 

 the city of the living and past the quiet 

 camp of the dead, we come to the coun- 

 try — not, however, the country of the 

 Western world ; rather a mass of ter- 

 raced paddy fields and farm gardens, 

 with human beings always in sight. Peo- 

 ple are the only feature of the landscape 

 that we cannot leave behind or ignore ; so 

 we stop here in our journey to glance at 

 the inhabitants of Sze-chuan, who sur- 

 pass in rugged diversity of race the 

 variety of the province's scenery. 



More valuable than its rich mineral 

 deposits and superbly tilled land, the 

 people of Sze-chuan are at once its prime 

 asset and interest. 



the; four epochs of thf sze-chuanese 



Four epochs mark the Sze-chuanese 

 and help to explain them : 



First, the slow retreat of the ancient 

 aborigines up into the mountains of the 

 south and west and the occupation of the 

 fertile land by the oncoming victorious 

 Chinese. 



Second, the ruthless Chinese wars, cul- 

 minating in the ravages of the tyrant 

 Chang, who, in accordance with his slo- 

 gan, "Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! 



Kill ! for all men are evil/' left many of 

 its cities desolate and its fields without 

 inhabitants. 



Third, the repeopling of the province 

 by emigrants from the north, central, 

 and southeastern provinces of China, 

 who, fusing with the scattered Chinese 

 and aboriginal inhabitants and with Mo- 

 hammedan mercenaries from western 

 Asia, formed the composite Sze-chuanese, 

 styled "Chinese, with a difference." 



Fourth, the contact of Christian life 

 and thought upon these peoples, a period 

 of reforms and revolutions, a transition 

 from the old order to the New China oi 

 today and the China of promise of to- 

 morrow. 



Prof. Edward A. Ross, author of "The 

 Changing Chinese," says of them : 



"Those who have known these people 

 longest question whether in a match on 

 even terms our own race could keep up 

 with them. Their physiognomy tends to 

 be intellectual and refined, with little of 

 the Mongolian cast of feature. One 

 comes on youthful shepherds who recall 

 the wonderful shepherd Antinous, who 

 became the favorite of the Emperor 

 Hadrian. 



"Oval faces with penciled, arching eye- 

 brows, fine eyes, delicate temples, straight 

 noses with high-cut nostrils, challenge 

 one's notion that male beauty went out 

 with the Greeks. 



"Of course, the yellow race can never 

 match the whites in charm of tint ; but, 

 as regards mold, I doubt if there is any- 

 where a countenance more worthy of the 

 supermen of the year 10,000 A D. than 

 that of the high-bred Chinese.'' 



"thf museum of the human races*' 



The picture may be somewhat over- 

 embellished, but one notes, however, one 

 objection. There are too many of them! 



It is this complex human amalgam that 

 we call the Sze-chuanese who occupy the 

 eastern half of the province. 



The western part of Sze-chuan might 

 well be called the Museum of the Human 

 Races, the as-yet-undiscovered happy 

 hunting-ground of the ethnologist and 

 physiognomist. Here are to be found the 

 surviving remnants in the most heroic 

 struggle for existence that humanity has 

 ever waged and who, for lack of a better 

 term, we call the "Tribesmen." 



