49‘2 C H I 
tlernen of the embaffy noticed a farmer, who with one 
hand drove his plough, to which his wife was yoked, 
while he fowed the ieed with the other hand in drills. 
This - , talk impofed upon the woman appeared to an Eu¬ 
ropean eye altogether unbecoming; yet a labouring fe¬ 
male is there prized fo much by the other fex, that where- 
ever they are known to be in greateft plenty, farmers 
will travel from diftant provinces to purchafe what they 
call a working wife. The wives are diftinguiftied from 
the maidens, by the latter allowing the hair near the 
forehead to hang down towards the eye-brows ; while 
the former have ail theirs bound together upon the crown 
of the head. From the united influence of thefe concur¬ 
rent circumftances, it will not, perhaps, appear furprif- 
ing, that it fliould be aflerted, that every fquare mile in 
China contains, upon an average, about one-third more 
inhabitants, being -upwards of three hundred, than are 
found upon an equal quantity of land, alfo upon an 
average, in the moll populous country in Europe. Thus 
the number and increafe of this people feems to befuch 
as almoft to flagger belief, and exhibits to the rnind a 
grand and curious fpe&acie of fo'large a proportion of 
the whole human race, connedted together in one great 
fyftem of polity, fubmitting quietly, and through fo con- 
• fiderable an extent of country, to one great lovereign 5 
and uniform in their laws, their manners, and their lan¬ 
guage; but differing effentially in each of thefe refpe&s, 
from every other portion of mankind; and neither de- 
firous of communicating with, nor forming any defigns 
againft, the reft of the world. 
In the article of drefs, the Chinefe feem never to have 
been the Haves of fancy or fafhion : whatever is thought 
fuitable to the condition of the wearer, or to the feal'on 
of the year, continues generally, under fimilar circum- 
ftances, to be the fame. Even among the ladies, there is 
little variety in their dreffes, except, perhaps, in the dif- 
pofition of the flowers or other ornaments of the head. 
In lieu of fhifts, the ladies wear a fort of filk netting; 
next to which they have a waiftcoat and drawers of filk, 
trimmed or lined, in cold weather, with fur; in warm, 
with thin cotton. Above this is worn a longfattin robe, 
which is gracefully gathered round the waift, and con¬ 
fined with a fafh. Thefe different parts of thin apparel 
are ufually each of a different colour, in the feleftion and 
^contraft of which, the wearers chiefly difplay their tafte. 
The lower orders of women wear cotton nettings inftead 
of filk ; and their other garments are of thecoarfer fabrics 
of the country. Though the ladies reckon corpulence a 
beauty in man, they confiderit as apalpableblemifhintheir 
own lex, and aim at preferving a flimnefs and delicacy 
of fhape. They fuffer thier nails to grow, but reduce 
their eye-brows to a beautiful arched line. The frail fe¬ 
males, who in this country are few, compared with thole 
of other nations, aim to make themfelves agreeable, and 
deck themfelves out to the belt advantage, in the double 
view of obtaining lovers, or hufbands; for thefe women 
very frequently marry. Some poor parents, therefore, 
feem to feel little reluftance in devoting their daughters 
to the profits of the one employment, with a view to 
more permanent advantage in the other. The Chinefe 
women, efpecially in the lower walks of life, are bred 
With little other principle than that of implicit obedi¬ 
ence to their fathers or their hufbands. To them they 
are taught to refer the good or bad qualities of their ac¬ 
tions, without any idea of virtue in the abftraft. Nor 
do the men feem to value chaftity, except what may tend 
to their own perfonal gratification. The cafe is probably 
fottiewhat otherwife in the upper claffes of life in China. 
There is, iii faft, a greater difference often between dif¬ 
ferent' ranks 'in the fame country, than between the fame 
ranks in different countries. The Chinefe women, of 
whatever condition in life, are, for the moft part, de¬ 
prived of the benefit of reading, or of acq ring know¬ 
ledge by obfervation. Their ignorance, their inexpert- 
N A. 
ence,-their retirement, their 5 We alfo of tliofe whom they 
confiaer as their fuperiors, difqualify them, in a great mea"- 
fure, from becoming the friends or habitual companions 
ot the leifure of their hufbands. Even a relifh for their 
perional charms is fubjedt gradually to diminifli; and lefs 
horror is felt againft unnatural practices, which, however 
they are, as well as all perverle and impure deftres, juftly 
reprobated by the Chinefe moralifts, are feldom or ever 
punilhed by the law, at leaft when committed by the 
mandarins. Where the ladies never form a part of fo- 
ciety with men, mutual improvement, or delicacy of tafte 
and feutiment, the fofniefs of addrefs, the graces of ele- 
gant converfe, the refinement and play of paffions, can™ 
not take place; and unguarded manners in the men, are 
liable to degenerate into coarfe pieafantry or broad allu- 
fions. The, exterior demeanour of the Chinefe is, in¬ 
deed, very ceremonious ; but when thefe ceremonies have 
palled, the performers of them mutually relapfe into eafe 
and familiarity. Their good manners and complaifance 
is entirely fyftematic. The greateft mandarin, or even 
the emperor, in fpeaking of himfelf, contradiftinguifhed 
from any of his anceftors or predeceffors, ufes the moft 
modeft, and, indeed, humble expreffions, in every thiriT 
that relates to his own perfon. Hence the excefs of pre¬ 
caution againft egotifm is fo great in China, that, in the 
mention of one’s felf, the moft abjedt terms are employ¬ 
ed, and the moft exalted towards tliofe unto whom they 
are fpeaking. In their addrefs to ftrangers, however, they 
are not reftrained by any bafhfulnefs, but prelent them- 
ielves with an eafy confident air, as if they confidered 
themfelves as the fuperiors, and as if nothing in their 
manners and appearance could be deficient or inaccurate. 
This habit of confidence in themfelves arofe originally 
from a confcioufnefs of furpafling their neighbours ir* 
merit of every kind. Before the period of the Mongol 
invafion of their country, in the midft of the dark ages 
of Europe, when China was vifited by Marco Polo, the 
natives of it had already reached their highelt pitch of 
civilization, in which they were certainly fuperior to 
their conquerors, as well as their European cotempora¬ 
ries ; but, not having fince advanced, whilll the nations 
of Europe have been every day improving in manners, 
and in arts and knowledge of every kind, the Chinefe are 
feen by the latter with lefs admiring eyes than they were 
by the firft travellers who gave accounts of them. The 
Chinefe themfelves felt lately, in their intercourfe with 
the embaffy, fome of the advantages which the Englifh 
had confeffedly over them, even in their own country ; 
particularly in thole gifts which are derived from uncon- 
trouled literature and fcience. 
One of the moft curious and not the leaft interefting 
delcriptions with which fir George Staunton has favoured 
us, is that of the burial-place belonging to the city of 
Han-choo-foo. This facred diftridt occupies both hills 
and dales, to a very confiderable extent, and is covered 
with many thoufand monuments or tombs, generally 
built in the form of fmall houfes, about fix or eight feet 
high, painted moftly blue, and fronted with white pil¬ 
lars, the whole ranged in the form of pigmy ftreets. 
The tombs of perlons of high rank were fituated apart, 
generally on the Hope of hills, on terraces of a femicir- 
cular form, and fupported by breaft-walls of ftone, and 
doors of black marble, infcribed with the names, quali¬ 
ties, and: virtues, of the deceafed ; and-oftentimes obe- 
lilks are eredted upon the terraces. The chief' monu¬ 
ments of departed greatnefs are furrounded by trees, 
fuch as different fpecies of the lofty cyprefs, whofe deep 
and melancholy hue feems to have pointed them every 
where out, as well fuited for fcenes of woe. In this fo- 
lemn and lonely retirement, fcarcely a night paft'es 
without a vifit byperfons accompanied by torches, to 
pay frelh tributes of i'oirow to their deceafed relations, 
whofe monuments they decorate with flips of filk or 
painted paper, befides ftrewing a profufion. of -flowers, 
and 
