Chinese Empire

a vast country of eastern Asia, composed of China proper and four provinces. For an account of the provinces, the reader is referred to the articles on MANCHURIA, MONGOLIA, TURKESTAN, and TIBET. Chinese statistics are, at best, but an estimate. The Statesman's Year Book for 1909 estimates the area of China proper at 1,532,420 square miles, and the area of the entire empire at 4,277,170 square miles. Estimates of the population cannot be depended upon. The latest official estimate given out by the Chinese themselves, however, reports the population of China proper at 407,253,030, and that of the entire empire at 433,553,030. This estimate gives China proper a population of 266 per square mile. Mr. Rockhill, the American minister at Pekin, made a careful estimate in 1904. He came to the conclusion that the number of people in China proper at that time was less than 270,000,000.

TOPOGRAPHY. China proper is a compact and fertile country. It has 2,500 miles of seacoast, with numerous good harbors. The best way to carry the geography of China in mind is to regard it as a series of parallel valleys or river plains, running to the Pacific Ocean. The interior of the country about the head waters of these rivers is hilly or mountainous, and is practically unknown to travelers. The lower valleys are broad, alluvial plains, like those of the Mississippi, and are exceedingly fertile. The great cities are situated on these rivers or on harbors near their mouths. At a distance of 100 miles from the coast, the Hoang-Ho and the Yang-tse-Kiang are connected by the Grand Canal, 1,000 miles in length--the greatest canal system in the world. The soil of China is, for the most part, a rich red or yellow clay. In the north central part there are vast areas covered to a great depth with a peculiar, fertile soil called loess. It is believed to have been formed by a gradual accumulation of dust, carried by winds from the elevated table lands of central Asia. The Chinese are exceedingly industrious. When a hillside is too steep for cultivation, they form a series of broad steps or terraces, so that no part of the country may be useless.

MINERALS. China is rich in minerals, especially in coal. The most extensive coalbed known lies in the great bend of the Hoang-Ho. Gold, silver, and copper are found in limited quantities. There is an abundance of mercury and iron. Little is known of the lead, tin, and zinc which are believed to exist. Inexhaustible beds of kaolin, or porcelain earth, have given the country its reputation for chinaware.

FLORA AND FAUNA. The country is so large that it is difficult to characterize the plants and animals in a general description. There are said to be over 700 different birds and about 200 mammals. Tigers and leopards are still found on the Manchurian border. The bear, the lynx, the badger, the marten, and the weasel, as well as the elephant, rhinoceros, and the tapir, are still found in certain localities. Chinese pheasants have been imported into this country. The native home of the peacock is here. Eagles, hawks, and owls are found. The rivers teem with wild ducks and geese, swans and pelicans. The handsome mandarin duck is a native of China. The cormorant has been trained by the natives to capture fish. A ring is put around its neck so that it cannot swallow. It dives from the prow of the keeper's boat, pursues the fish with incredible rapidity, and brings them up in the pouch under its lower mandible. The catch of fish in the rivers and canals is large. The fish spawn in the rice fields when flooded. Our goldfish are from China. A mere list of trees and shrubs native to the country would occupy pages. A large number of our ornamental shrubs and varieties of fruit-bearing trees are from China. Of shrubs having special value, the most notable are the tea plant and the mulberry tree, on the leaves of which the silkworm feeds. The pine, yew, and cypress, various oaks and the chestnut, and several palms are found in different parts of the empire. The plant most used for building purposes, however, is the bamboo, to the article on which the reader is referred. The Chinese are famous fruit raisers, gardeners, florists. Some of our garden plants were developed first in China. Of fruits, the orange, peach, pomegranate, quince, plum, and apricot flourish. The camphor tree is a native. We are indebted to China for many varieties of azaleas, camelias, hydrangeas, asters, lilies, and roses.

AGRICULTURE. Agriculture is the leading industry. Rice is the principal crop. It is of two kinds--an upland rice, cultivated after the manner of wheat, and a lowland rice, requiring irrigation. Two crops of the latter are raised yearly in the river plains of the south. The Chinese are exceedingly industrious and utilize every inch of land, going to the extent of setting out rice plants by hand. Their implements, however, are rude, and they object strenuously to any change either in methods or tools. The sickle, the threshing floor, and the winnow are still in use. Sugar-cane, indigo, the castor oil plant, wheat, barley, peas, beans, all sorts of vegetables, Indian corn, buckwheat, and tobacco are raised in suitable districts. Chinese cotton is of immense importance to the inhabitants, but is of rather inferior quality. Chinese silk, on the contrary, has greater firmness and strength, as well as a more beautiful luster than that of any other country.

INDUSTRIES. At some time in their history the Chinese must have been inventive. They are credited with gunpowder, the mariner's compass, printing from wooden blocks, looms, waterworks of bamboo cane, the construction of canals, artesian wells, as well as many other enterprises requiring inventive ability. At the present time, however, the Chinese workman is not intelligent. It appears to be a part of the national religion to do as has been done. No matter how laborious or clumsy a method may be, it never occurs to the Chinese workman or laborer that there might be an easier or a quicker way. Instead of gaining credit, workmen who were to propose a better method would be attacked as irreligious.

LANGUAGE. In race and speech the Chinese are related to the inhabitants of Tibet, Mongolia, Manchuria, and Japan. They are supposed to have entered the country from central or western Asia. A few remnants of a preceding people still persist in certain mountainous districts, just as the Celts have persisted in the Highlands, in Wales, Cornwall, and Brittany. The Chinese language consists of words of but one syllable. Words seemingly of more than one syllable, as Pekin and Canton, are compound or agglutinated words like our stovepipe, sheepfold, and the like. In writing, a separate character is used for each of these monosyllabic words. The character has the same meaning in all parts of China and in Japan. It may, however, be pronounced differently, just as our figure 4 has the same meaning in all parts of the civilized world, but goes by many different names. It is necessary for a Chinese boy to learn the meanings of about 50,000 characters. They are arranged in vertical columns instead of in lines running crosswise of the page and are read up instead of down. Chinese writings are perhaps the most ancient in existence. If we except the Scriptures of the Hebrews, Chinese literature may be considered the most extensive and important produced in Asia. All officeholders must be highly educated.

RELIGION. The prevailing religion of the people is Taoism, a sort of ancestor worship. Many profess a form of Buddhism. The state religion is a system of ethics taught by Confucius, who lived about 550 B. C. Reverence for things as they are, obedience to parents, and ancestor worship are carried to an extreme. More attention is bestowed on the dead than on the living. The family graves are protected with so much veneration and take up so much space as to interfere seriously with the agricultural productivity of the country. One of the chief difficulties to be experienced in the building of railways is the frenzied opposition of the inhabitants to the excavating of railway cuts that disturb their private burial grounds, which it is impossible for the most skillful engineer to avoid. In 1905, aside from Russian lines, China had but one mile of railway for each 1,000,000 of people.

HABITS AND CUSTOMS. Owing, possibly, to the prevalence of earthquake shocks, dwelling houses are of one story. They are without windows. The material varies greatly in different parts of the country. It may be brick, straw, thatch, bamboo, or woodwork filled in with plaster. Adobe huts predominate. There are 4,000 walled towns. The houses of the wealthy consist of numerous chambers constructed frequently around an inside open court. In these houses, the floors are covered with matting and are kept scrupulously clean. Rich and well-to-do women dress attractively. To distinguish them from the peasantry, who walk and work, the feet of ladies are bandaged from infancy, so as to prevent their growing. They hobble about in delicate little high heeled slippers about large enough for a child three years old. The Chinaman shaves off his hair around the edge of his scalp and braids the rest of it into a long queue. To cut off a Chinaman's queue disgraces him.

A writer quoted by the Britannica describes China as a country "where the roses have no fragrance, the women no petticoats, the laborers no Sabbath, and the legislature no sense of honor; where the needle points to the south pole; where the place of honor is on the left hand and seat of intellect in the stomach; where to take off your hat is an insolent gesture and to wear a white garment is to put yourself into mourning."

There are evidences that China is about to come out of its traditional attitude. The victory of Japan over Russia and the standing acquired by Japan in consequence of modern methods have stirred educated Chinamen. In 1906 an imperial commission of five members was sent abroad to visit the more important nations and report on changes to be desired in Chinese forms of government. In 1906 the emperor issued an edict promising a constitution when the people should seem ready for it. Numerous decrees followed, commanding the formation of consultative provincial assemblies; strengthening the army; reorganizing the police force; and calling upon the viceroys to suggest reforms. In spite of a feeling that the rulers were indulging in paper reforms, correspondents speak of an increase in the number of newspapers; improved postal facilities; the public burning of elegant opium pipes by wealthy merchants; the prohibition of the growth of the opium poppy and the importation of opium; an increasing demand for teachers, physicians, nurses, dentists; a falling away of the practice of binding the feet; and many other indications that the spirit of unrest is abroad in the land.

In 1908, a red-letter year for China, the emperor died, and a day or two later the empress dowager, who had dominated him and China, died also. A child ascended the throne; the regency issued a decree foreshadowing a progressive administration. The Chinese do nothing in a hurry. An imperial decree was promulgated announcing a constitution and the election of a parliament to take effect in nine years from 1908; that is to say, in 1917. The viceroys are commanded to prepare the minds of the people for so sudden an event. In the meantime the provinces continue to be governed by viceroys responsible to the emperor and his court.

ARMY. The Chinese army, a kind of militia, includes nearly a million men.

STATISTICS. The following statistics are the latest to be had from trustworthy sources:

See Tea; Silk; Pekin; Camphor; Hoang-Ho; Yang-Tse-Kiang; Canton; Manchuria; Mongolia; Tibet; Turkestan; Confucius; Buddha; Great Wall