C H I 
the empire, in order that it may be observed according 
to the form prelcVibed. 
Each town is fuppofed to be under the protection of 
fome liar or confteliatioh, of which J aft the Chinefe reckon 
twenty-eight; and they have, befide, a divhion of the 
liars anfwei ing to the figns of the zodiac, which they call 
the twelve manfions of the fun. On fome of their ancient 
coins are to be found the characters denoting the man- 
lions of the fun, which (hews, in part, the great antiquity 
of their aftronomical knowledge. By dint of obfervation 
they at length came to know the true number of days in 
a tolar year; as well as other periods and phenomena of 
the heavenly bodies : but they fell chiefly into the delu- 
fipns of aftrology; the magnificent prophecies and pro- 
inifes of which, deltroyed their Lade for the patient la¬ 
bours and'fober fcitnce of aftronomy. Their altrologers, 
like thofe in Europe, pretend to foretell, and publilh an¬ 
nually in their almanacs, every variation of the weather 
in the feveral fealons of the next approaching year; and 
they mark, befides, the lucky and unlucky days for every 
poflible human undertaking, whether public or private, 
and whether applicable to individuals, or to the affairs of 
the nation. 
The Chinefe have invariably fixed the beginning of 
the aftronomical year at the winter folftice; but that of 
their civil year has varied, according to the will of their 
emperors ; fome of whom have fixed it at the third, or 
fecond moon, after the winter folllice, and others at the 
folftice itfelf. The Chinefe year has at all times confided 
of a certain number of lunations ; twelve lunations form¬ 
ing a common, and thirteen the etnbolilmic, year. They 
reckon their lunations by the number of days which fall 
between the moment in which the fun is in conjunction 
with the moon, and the moment of the conjunction fol¬ 
lowing ; and as in the interval between one conjunction 
and another, the number of days cannot be conftantly 
equal, they fometimes admit twfenty-nine, and fometimes 
thirty days, to complete their lunations. They divide 
their days into a greater or fmaller number of equal 
parts, but generally into twelve hours, which are double 
thofe ufed by us. Their day begins and ends at midnight. 
The Chinefe year, divided into lunations, is alfo di¬ 
vided into four equal parts, or feafons, each of which has 
three parts, its beginning, its middle, and its end; that 
is to lay, a lunation for each of the three parts. This 
year is itill fubdivided into twenty-four equal parts, each 
of which contains fifteen degrees; fo that the whole to¬ 
gether make up three hundred and fixty degrees. To 
exprefs the age of the moon, befides numbers, they ufe 
the words fuperior and inferior firing ; they fay, cbang- 
hiett, a bow having the firing uppennoft; and bia-hien, 
a bow having the firing undermolt: thus they diftinguifh 
what we call the oppofite quarters of the moon. The 
Chinefe altronomers divide the ftars according to the 
following order : they place firft the pe-teou, or celeftial 
btiftiel of the north; this is what we call the Great Bear: 
fecondly, the nan-teou , or celeftial bufhel of the fouth ; 
which comprehends the principal ftars oppofite to the 
Great Bear, and which together form a figure aimolt like 
that of the Great Bear in the north ; thirdly the five pla¬ 
nets, ou-hing, which are, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, 
and Mercury : fourthly, the twenty-eight conftellations, 
in which are comprehended all the ftars of our zodiac, 
and fome of thofe which lie neareft to it. 
The Chinefe fix the difcovery and firft fabrication of 
their paper, about the year 105 before Chrift. Prior to 
that epocha, they wrote upon cloth, and different kinds 
of lilk fluff. In more early ages, they wrote with a fort 
of flyle upon fmall flips of bamboo, and even upon plates 
of metal; feveral of thefe flips, ftrung and joined toge¬ 
ther, formed a volume. At length, under the reign of 
Ho-ti, a Chinefe mandarin invented a kind of paper 
much more commodious. He took the bark of different 
trees, hemp, and old pieces of filk fluff, and boiled thefe 
i'ubftances until they were reduced to a kind of pafte, of 
Vol. IV, No. 211. 
N A. 465 
which he formed paper. Chinefe Induftry improved this 
difcovery, and found out the fecret of whitening and 
fmoothing different kinds of paper, and of giving them 
a beauty and luftre. Different papers are at prelent 
greatly multiplied. The Chinefe, for making paper, ufe 
the bamboo reed, the cotton fhrub, the bark pf the kou- 
chu, and of the mulberry-tree ; hemp, the ftraw of wheat 
aiid rice, parchment, the cods of the filk-worm, and fe¬ 
veral other fubitances, the greater part of which are un¬ 
known in this manufacture in Europe, 
The Chinefe ink is made from the fmoke of different 
fubftances, but principally from that of pines, or of oil 
burnt in lamps. Care is taken to add to it a little mu fie, 
or fome other perfume, to correCt the ftrong and dila- 
greeabie fmell which it would otherwife retain. The in¬ 
gredients are mixed, until they acquire the confidence 
of pafte, which is afterwards divided, and put into fmall 
wooden moulds. The interior part of thefe moulds is 
neatly cut and carved, fo that the cake of ink, when 
taken out, appears ornamented with different figures, 
fuch as dragons, birds, trees, and flowers; one of its fides 
is generally marked with fome beautiful characters. This 
we ft-e on ail the fquarfcs of what we term Indian ink. 
The art of printing, fo recent in Europe, has long 
exifted in China,” but it differs very much from ours. 
The fmall number of letters which conipofe our alpha¬ 
bet permit us to call a certain number of moveable cha¬ 
racters, which, by their arrangement and fuccefilve com¬ 
binations, are fufficient to print the largeft works ; the 
types employed in printing the firft (beet may furniih 
characters to print the whole volume. But this is not 
the cafe in China, where the characters are fo numerous. 
The Chinefe find it more commodious to engrave upon 
pieces of wood the whole work which they intend to 
print. Their method of proceeding in this operation is 
thus : They firft employ a writer to tranlcribe the work. 
The engrqver glues each of the leaves of the manufeript 
upon a piece of plank, made of any hard wood ; he then 
correCtly traces the ftrokes of the writing, carves out the 
characters in relief, and cuts down the intermediate part 
of the wood. Each page of a book, therefore, requires, 
a feparate plank. The Chinefe, however, are not unac¬ 
quainted with the ufe of moveable characters; they have 
a kind, not call, but made of wood, and it is with, thefe 
characters they correft every three months The State of 
China, and the Gazettes, which are printed at Pekin. 
Other fmall works are alfo printed in the fame manner. 
Ink ufed for printing is made in a particular manner; 
it is liquid, and different from that which is formed into 
oblong flicks, or cakes. The leaves are printed upon 
one fide only, becaufe thin and transparent paper, fuch 
as the Chinefe, w'ould not bear a double imprefiion, with¬ 
out confounding the characters of the different pages. 
Each leaf of a book is, on that account, double ; lo that 
the fold Hands uppermoft, and the opening is towards 
the back tSvhere it is Hitched. Hence it happens that the 
Chinefe books are not cut upon the edges. They are ge¬ 
nerally bound in grey pafteboard, which is very neat; 
thofe who with to have them done in a richer and more 
elegant manner, get the pafteboard covered with thin fa- 
tin, flowered taffety, and fometimes with gold and filver 
brocade. The edges are neither gilt nor coloured. 
The culture of the mulberry-tree, and the manufactur¬ 
ing of filk, have been greatly extended in China. The 
nioft beautiful and valuable filk of the whole empire is 
that which comes from the province of Tche-kiang, 
which is wrought in the manufactories of Nankin, by 
the belt workmen of China; thence are brought all thole 
filk fluffs, deftined for the ufe of the emperor, and thole 
which he diltributes in prefents to the nobility of his 
court. The open commerce carried on with A.fia and 
Europe draws alfo to the manufactories of Canton a great- 
number of excellent workmen. The principal filk fluffs 
manufactured by the Chinefe, are plain and flowered 
gauzes, of which they make dreffes for fummer; damafk 
