ETHNOLOGY OF THE PRESENT DAY. 215 



which was a figure which always pointed towards the south, whatever 

 mio-ht be the direction of the vehicle. Nevertheless the Chinese crept 

 along the coasts in their clumsy junks, until the Europeans at last showed 

 them the mode of finding their way on the open sea by the help of the 

 magnetic needle. The Chinese invented gunpowder in the age of the 

 birth of Christ, but cannons and guns would have been unknown to them 

 without the Europeans. Printing was practised by them five hundred 

 years earlier than by the Europeans, but they print even at the present 

 time, like the first European wood cutters, by means of immovable tablets, 

 on which the characters are cut. Their physicians base their entire art 

 upon the miraculous harmony of the number five ; in the five points where 

 they feel the pulse, the five intestines, the five planets, and the five 

 elements. Their astronomers know with certainty that the stars rise and 

 set only in order to announce the elevation and fall of dynasties, and at 

 similar levels stand the remaining: sciences. 



These are only single features of Chinese civilization, to which, however, 

 might be added others without number. Does this blighted blossom spring 

 from a healthy stock ? Can that be a vigorous, moral nation, which for 

 centuries has produced no man of sufficient powers to enlarge the confines 

 of science ? Boeotia, after a long rest, produced a Pindar : China has 

 neglected to exercise her powers for too great a length of time to have 

 much vitality ; her existence is only the semblance of life. 



After this general description of the Chinese nation, we will now 

 mention more particularly a few customs and usages. 



No nation attaches such importance to ceremonies and the duties of 

 politeness as the Chinese. Among men the usual mode of saluting each 

 other is as follows : they fold the hands upon the breast, move them in a 

 peculiar manner, then incline the head somewhat, but not much, and at 

 the same time say zin-zin, a courteous exclamation without settled meaning. 

 If an individual meets a person entitled to a greater degree of respect, he 

 claps his hands, raises them, then lowers them almost to the ground, and at 

 the same time bends the head very low. When two acquaintances see 

 each other again for the first time after a long separation, both fall twice 

 or three times upon their knees, and bow to the ground. If two quang or 

 mandarins of the same rank meet in the street, they greet each other 

 without rising or descending from their sedan chairs, by clapping the hands 

 and then lowering and raising them to the head ; which process is repeated 

 until they can see each other no longer. If, however, one of them ranks 

 higher than the other, the latter is obliged to stop with his sedan, or if on 

 horseback, to dismount, and make a low bow. On this account, officers 

 of an inferior rank endeavor to avoid meeting their superiors. A main 

 point of Chinese politeness consists in the payment of visits to each other. 

 {PL 25, Jig. 2, mandarin paying visits.) In visitinsr, it is above all requisite 

 to deliver to the doorkeeper a portentous visiting card called " Tye-ze'' 

 This article consists of a sheet of red paper with gilt flowers, and folds up 

 like a screen. Upon it, the name of the visitor is printed, together with 

 some respectful expressions, which diflfer according to the rank or standing 



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