Part 20

_Lakes._--There are numerous lakes in the central provinces of China. The largest of these is the Tung-t'ing in Hu-nan, which, according to the Chinese geographers, is upwards of 800 li, or 266 m., in circumference. In native gazetteers its various portions are known under distinct names; thus it is said to include the Ts'ing-ts'ao, or Green Grass Lake; the Ung, or Venerable Lake; the Chih-sha, or Red Sand Lake; the Hwang-yih, or Imperial Post-house Lake; the Ngan-nan, or Peaceful Southern Lake; and the Ta-tung, or Great Deep Lake. In ancient times it went by the name of the Kiu-kiang Hu, or Lake of the Nine Rivers, from the fact that nine rivers flowed into it. Its chief affluents are the Siang-kiang, which rises in the highlands in the north of Kwang-si and flows in a general N.N.E. direction, and the Yuen-kiang, which flows N. and then E. from the eastern border of Kwei-chow. The lake is connected with the Yangtsze-kiang by two canals, the Taping and the Yochow Fu. In summer it is fed by the overflow from the Yangtsze-kiang; in winter it pours its waters into that river through the Yochow Fu canal. During the winter and spring the water of the lake is so low that the shallow portions become islands, separated by rivers such as the Siang and Yuen, and numberless streams; but in summer, owing to the rise in the waters of the Yangtsze-kiang, the whole basin of the lake is filled. It is then about 75 m. long and 60 m. broad. About 180 m. E. of the Tung-t'ing lake is the Poyang lake, which occupies the low-lying part of the province of Kiang-si, and is connected with the Yangtsze by the Hu-kow canal. The Poyang lake is also subject to a wide difference between high and low water, but not quite to the same extent as the Tung-t'ing lake, and its landmarks are more distinctly defined. It is about 90 m. long by 20 broad. The T'ai lake, in the neighbourhood of Su-chow Fu, is also celebrated for its size and the beauty of its surroundings. It is about 150 m. in circumference, and is dotted over with islands, on which are built temples for the devotees of religion, and summer-houses for the votaries of pleasure from the rich and voluptuous cities of Hang-chow and Su-chow. The boundary line between the provinces of Cheh-kiang and Kiang-su crosses its blue waters, and its shores are divided among thirteen prefectures. Besides these lakes there are, among others, two in Yun-nan, the Kun-yang-hai (Tien-chi) near Yun-nan Fu, which is 40 m. long and is connected with the Yangtsze-kiang by the Pu-to river, and the Erh-hai (Urh-hai) to the east of the city of Tali.

_The Great Wall._--Along the northern provinces of Chih-li, Shan-si, Shen-si and Kan-suh, over 22° of longitude (98° to 120° E.), stretches the Great Wall of China, built to defend the country against foreign aggression. It was begun in the 3rd century B.C., was repaired in the 15th century, and in the 16th century was extended by 300 m. Following the windings the wall is 1500 m. long. Starting near the seashore[5] at Shan-hai-kwan on the gulf of Liao-tung, where the Chinese and Manchurian frontiers meet, it goes eastward past Peking (which is about 35 m. to the south) and then trends S. and E. across Shan-si to the Hwang-ho. From the neighbourhood of Peking to the Hwang-ho there is an inner and an outer wall. The outer (northern) wall passes through Kalgan, thus guarding the pass into Mongolia. A branch wall separates the greater part of the western frontier of Chih-li from Shan-si. West of the Hwang-ho the Great Wall forms the northern frontier of Shen-si, and west of Shen-si it keeps near the northern frontier of Kan-suh, following for some distance in that province the north bank of the Hwang-ho. It ends at Kiayu-kwan (98° 14'E.) just west of Su-chow. This part of the wall was built to protect the one main artery leading from central Asia to China through Kan-suh and Shen-si by the valley of the Wei-ho, tributary of the Hwang-ho. There is a branch wall in Kan-suh running west and south to protect the Tibetan frontier. The height of the wall is generally from 20 to 30 ft., and at intervals of some 200 yds. are towers about 40 ft. high. Its base is from 15 to 25 ft. thick and its summit 12 ft. wide. The wall is carried over valleys and mountains, and in places is over 4000 ft. above sea-level. Military posts are still maintained at the chief gates or passes--at Shan-hai-kwan, the Kalgan pass, the Yenmun pass (at the N. of Shan-si) and the Kaiyu pass in the extreme west, through which runs the caravan route to Barkal in Turkestan. Colonel A.W.S. Wingate, who in the opening years of the 20th century visited the Great Wall at over twenty places widely apart and gathered many descriptions of it in other places, states that its position is wrongly shown "on the maps of the day" (1907) in a number of places; while in others it had ceased to exist, "the only places where it forms a substantial boundary being in the valley bottoms, on the passes and where it crosses main routes. These remarks apply with particular force to the branch running south-west from the Nan-k'ow pass and forming the boundary of Chih-li and Shan-si provinces." In Colonel Wingate's opinion the wall was originally built by degrees and in sections, not of hewn stone, but of round boulders and earth, the different sections being repaired as they fell into ruin. "Only in the valley bottoms and on the passes was it composed of masonry or brickwork. The Mings rebuilt of solid masonry all those sections through which led a likely road for invading Tatars to follow, or where it could be seen at a distance from the sky-line." The building of the wall "was a sufficiently simple affair," not to be compared with the task of building the pyramids of Egypt.[6]

_Climate._--The climate over so vast an area as China necessarily varies greatly. The southern parts of Yun-nan, Kwang-si and Kwang-tung (including the city of Canton) lie within the tropics. The northern zone (in which lies Peking) by contrast has a climate which resembles that of northern Europe, with winters of Arctic severity. The central zone (in which Shanghai is situated) has a generally temperate climate. But over both northern and central China the influence of the great plateau of Mongolia tends to establish uniform conditions unusual in so large an area. The prevailing winds during summer--the rainy season--are south-easterly, caused by heat and the ascending current of air over the sandy deserts of central Asia, thus drawing in a current from the Pacific Ocean. In the winter the converse takes place, and the prevailing winds, descending from the Mongolian plateau, are north and north-west, and are cold and dry. From October to May the climate of central China is bracing and enjoyable. The rainfall is moderate and regular.

In northern China the inequalities both of temperature and rainfall are greater than in the central provinces. In the province of Chih-li, for example, the heat of summer is as intense as is the cold of winter. In summer the rains often render the plain swampy, while the dry persistent westerly winds of spring create dust storms (experienced in Peking from March to June). The rainfall is, however, uncertain, and thus the harvests are precarious. The provinces of Shan-tung and Shan-si are peculiarly liable to prolonged periods of drought, with consequent severe famines such as that of 1877-1878, when many millions died. In these regions the air is generally extremely dry, and the daily variations of temperature consequent on excessive radiation are much greater than farther south.

Accurate statistics both of heat and rainfall are available from a few stations only. The rainfall on the southern coasts is said to be about 100 in. yearly; at Peking the rainfall is about 24 in. a year. In the coast regions the temperatures of Peking, Shanghai and Canton may be taken as typical of those of the northern, central and southern zones. In Peking (39° N.) the mean annual temperature is about 53° F., the mean for January 23°, for July 79°. In Shanghai (31° 11' N.)[7] the mean annual temperature is 59°, the mean for January 36.2°, for July 80.4°. In Canton (23° 15' N.) the mean annual temperature is 70°, the mean for January 54°, for July 82°. The range of temperature, even within the tropics, is noteworthy. At Peking and Tientsin the thermometer in winter falls sometimes to 5° below zero and rises in summer to 105° (at Taku 107° has been recorded); in Shanghai in winter the thermometer falls to 18° and in summer rises to 102°. In Canton frost is said to have been recorded, but according to the _China Sea Directory_ the extreme range is from 38° to 100°.[8] The climate of Shanghai, which resembles, but is not so good as, that of the Yangtsze-kiang valley generally, is fairly healthy, but there is an almost constant excess of moisture. The summer months, July to September, are very hot, while snow usually falls in December and January.

At Canton and along the south coast the hot season corresponds with the S.W. monsoon; the cool season--mid October to end of April--with the N.E. monsoon. Farther north, at Shanghai, the S.W. monsoon is sufficiently felt to make the prevailing wind in summer southerly.

_Provinces._--China proper is divided into the following provinces: Cheh-kiang, Chih-li, Fu-kien, Ngan-hui (An-hui), Ho-nan, Hu-nan, Hu-peh, Kan-suh, Kiang-si, Kiang-su, Kwang-si, Kwang-tung, Kwei-chow, Shan-si, Shan-tung, Shen-si, Sze-ch'uen and Yun-nan. See the separate notices of each province and the article on Shêng-king, the southern province of Manchuria. (X.)

_Geology._

The Palaeozoic formations of China, excepting only the upper part of the Carboniferous system, are marine, while the Mesozoic and Tertiary deposits are estuarine and freshwater or else of terrestrial origin. From the close of the Palaeozoic period down to the present day the greater part of the empire has been dry land, and it is only in the southern portion of Tibet and in the western Tian Shan that any evidence of a Mesozoic sea has yet been found. The geological sequence may be summarized as follows:--

_Archean._--Gneiss, crystalline schists, phyllites, crystalline limestones. Exposed in Liao-tung, Shan-tung, Shan-si, northern Chih-li and in the axis of the mountain ranges, e.g. the Kuen-lun and the ranges of southern China.

_Sinian._--Sandstones, quartzites, limestones. Sometimes rests unconformably upon the folded rocks of the Archaen system; but sometimes, according to Lóczy, there is no unconformity. Covers a large area in the northern part of China proper; absent in the eastern Kuen-lun; occurs again in the ranges of S.E. China. In Liao-tung Cambrian fossils have been found near the summit of the series; they belong to the oldest fauna known upon the earth, the fauna of the _Olenellus_ zone. It is, however, not improbable that in many places beds of considerably later date have been included in the Sinian system.

_Ordovician._--Ordovician fossils have been found in the Lung-shan, Kiang-su (about 50 m. east of Nan-king), in the south-west of Cheh-kiang and in the south-east of Yun-nan. Ordovician beds probably occur also in the Kuen-lun.

_Silurian._--Limestones and slates with Silurian corals and other fossils have been found in Sze-ch'uen.

_Devonian._--Found in Kan-suh and in the Tsing-ling-shan, but becomes much more important in southern China. Occurs also on the south of the Tian-shan, in the Altyn-tagh, the Nan-shan and the western Kuen-lun.

_Carboniferous._--Covers a large area in northern China, in the plateau of Shen-si and Shan-si, extending westwards in tongues between the folds of the Kuen-lun. In this region it consists of a lower series of limestones and an upper series of sandstones with seams of coal, which may perhaps be in part of Permian age. This is probably the most extensive coalfield in the world.

In south China the whole series consists chiefly of limestones, and the coal seams are comparatively unimportant. Carboniferous beds are also found in the Tian-shan, the Nan-shan, Kan-suh, on the southern borders of the Gobi, &c.

_Mesozoic._--Marine Triassic beds containing fossils similar to those of the German Muschelkalk have been found by Lóczy near Chung-tien, on the eastern border of the Tibetan plateau. Elsewhere, however, the Mesozoic is represented chiefly by a red sandstone, which covers the greater part of Sze-ch'uen and fills also a number of troughs amongst the older beds of southern China. No marine fossils are found in this sandstone, but remains of plants are numerous, and these belong to the Rhaetic, Lias and Lower Oolite. No Cretaceous beds are known in China excepting in S. Tibet (on the shores of the Tengri-nor) and in the western portion of the Tian-shan.

_Cainozoic and Recent._--No marine deposits of this age are known. Although the loess of the great plain and the sand of the desert are still in process of formation, the accumulation of these deposits probably began in the Tertiary period.

_Volcanic Rocks._--Amongst the Archean rocks granitic and other intrusions are abundant, but of more modern volcanic activity the remains are comparatively scanty. In south China there is no evidence of Tertiary or Post-Tertiary volcanoes, but groups of volcanic cones occur in the great plain of north China. In the Liao-tung and Shan-tung peninsulas there are basaltic plateaus, and similar outpourings occur upon the borders of Mongolia. All these outbursts appear to be of Tertiary or later data.

_Loess._--One of the most characteristic deposits of China is the loess, which not merely imparts to north China the physical character of the scenery, but also determines the agricultural products, the transport, and general economic life of the people of that part of the country. It is peculiar to north China and it is not found south of the Yangtsze. The loess is a solid but friable earth of brownish-yellow colour, and when triturated with water is not unlike loam, but differs from the latter by its highly porous and tubular structure. The loess soil is extremely favourable to agriculture. (See LOESS and _infra, § Agriculture._)

The loess is called by the Chinese _Hwang-t'u_, or yellow earth, and it has been suggested that the imperial title _Hwang-ti_, Yellow Emperor or Ruler of the Yellow, had its origin in the fact that the emperor is lord of the loess or yellow earth.

Structure.

Structurally, China proper may be divided into two regions, separated from each other by the folded range of the Tsing-ling-shan, which is a continuation of the folded belt of the Kuen-lun. North of this chain the Palaeozoic beds are in general nearly horizontal, and the limestones and sandstones of the Sinian and Carboniferous systems form an extensive plateau which rises abruptly from the western margin of the great plain of northern China. The plateau is deeply carved by the rivers which flow through it; and the strata are often faulted, but they are never sharply folded. South of the Tsing-ling-shan, on the other hand, the Palaeozoic beds are thrown into a series of folds running from W. 30° S. to E. 30° N., which form the hilly region of southern China. Towards Tongking these folds probably bend southwards and join the folds of Further India. Amongst these folded beds lie trough-like depressions filled with the Mesozoic red sandstone which lies unconformably upon the Palaeozoic rocks.

The present configuration of China is due, in a very considerable degree, to faulting. The abrupt eastern edge of the Shan-si plateau, where it overlooks the great plain, is a line of fault, or rather a series of step faults, with the downthrow on the east; and von Richthofen has shown reason to believe that this line of faulting is continued far to the south and to the north. He believed also that the present coast-line of China has to a large extent been determined by similar faults with their downthrow on the east.

Concerning the structure of the central Asian plateau our knowledge is still incomplete. The great mountain chains, the Kuen-lun, the Nan-shan and the Tian-shan, are belts of folding; but the Mongolian Altai is a horst--a strip of ancient rock lying between two faults and with a depressed area upon each side. In the whole of this northern region faulting, as distinct from folding, seems to have played an important part. Along the southern margin of the Tian-shan there is a remarkable trough-like depression which appears to lie between two approximately parallel faults. (P. LA.)

_Fauna_.

China lies within two zoological provinces or regions, its southern portion forming a part of the Oriental or Indian region and having a fauna close akin to that of the western Himalaya, Burma and Siam, whereas the districts to the north of Fu-chow and south of the Yangtsze-kiang lie within the eastern Holarctic (Palaearctic) region, or rather the southern fringe of the latter, which has been separated as the Mediterranean transitional region. Of these two divisions of the Chinese fauna, the northern one is the more interesting, since it forms the chief home of a number of peculiar generic types, and also includes types represented elsewhere at the present day (exclusive in one case of Japan) only in North America. The occurrence in China of these types common to the eastern and western hemispheres is important in regard to the former existence of a land-bridge between Eastern Asia and North America by way of Bering Strait.

Of the types peculiar to China and North America the alligator of the Yangtsze-kiang is generically identical with its Mississippi relative. The spoon-beaked sturgeon of the Yangtsze and Hwang-ho is, however, now separated, as _Psephurus_, from the closely allied American _Polyodon_. Among insectivorous mammals the Chinese and Japanese shrew-moles, respectively forming the genera _Uropsilus_ and _Urotrichus_, are represented in America by _Neurotrichus_. The giant salamander of the rivers of China and Japan and the Chinese mandarin duck are by some included in the same genera as their American representatives, while by others they are referred to genera apart. Whichever view we take does not alter their close relationship. One wapiti occurs on the Tibetan frontier, and others in Manchuria and Amurland.

As regards mammals and birds, the largest number of generic and specific types peculiar to China are met with in Sze-ch'uen. Foremost among these is the great panda (_Aeluropus melanoleucus_), representing a genus by itself, probably related to bears and to the true panda (_Aelurus_), the latter of which has a local race in Sze-ch'uen. Next come the snub-nosed monkeys (_Rhinopithecus_), of which the typical species is a native of Sze-ch'uen, while a second is found on the upper Mekong, and a third in the mountains of central China. In the Insectivora the swimming-shrew (_Nectogale_) forms another generic type peculiar to Sze-ch'uen, which is also the sole habitat of the mole-like _Scaptochirus_, of _Uropsilus_, near akin to the Japanese _Urotrichus_, of _Scaptonyx_, which connects the latter with the moles (_Talpa_), and of _Neotetracus_, a relative of the Malay rat-shrews (_Gymnura_). Here also may be mentioned the raccoon-dog, forming the subgenus _Nyctereutes_, common to China and Japan. The Himalayan black and the Malay bear have each a local race in Sze-ch'uen, where the long-haired Fontanier's cat (_Felis tristis_) and the Tibet cat (_F. scripta_) connect Indo-Malay species with the American ocelots, while the bay cat (_F. temmincki_), a Malay type, is represented by local forms in Sze-ch'uen and Fu-chow. The Amurland leopard and Manchurian tiger likewise constitute local races of their respective species.

Among ruminants, the Sze-ch'uen takin represents a genus (_Budorcas_) found elsewhere in the Mishmi Hills and Bhutan, while serows (_Nemorhaedus_) and gorals (_Urotragus_), allied to Himalayan and Burmo-Malay types, abound. The Himalayan fauna is also represented by a race of the Kashmir hangul deer. Of other deer, the original habitat of Père David's milu (_Elaphurus_), formerly kept in the Peking park, is unknown. The sika group, which is peculiar to China, Japan and Formosa, is represented by _Cervus hortulorum_ in Manchuria and the smaller _C. manchuricus_ and _sika_ in that province and the Yangtsze valley; while musk-deer (_Moschus_) abound in Kan-suh and Sze-ch'uen. The small water-deer (_Hydropotes_ or _Hydrelaphus_) of the Yangtsze valley represents a genus peculiar to the country, as do the three species of tufted deer (_Elaphodus_), whose united range extends from Sze-ch'uen to Ning-po and I-ch'ang. Muntjacs (_Cervulus_) are likewise very characteristic of the country, to which the white-tailed, plum-coloured species, like the Tenasserim _C. crinifrons_, are peculiar. The occurrence of races of the wapiti in Manchuria and Amurland has been already mentioned.

To refer in detail to the numerous forms of rodents inhabiting China is impossible here, and it must suffice to mention that the flying-squirrels (_Pteromys_) are represented by a large and handsome species in Sze-ch'uen, where is also found the largest kind of bamboo-rat (_Rhizomys_), the other species of which are natives of the western Himalaya and the Malay countries. Dwarf hamsters of the genus _Cricetulus_ are natives of the northern provinces. In the extreme south, in Hai-nan, is found a gibbon ape (_Hylobates_), while langur (_Semnopithecus_) and macaque monkeys (_Macacus_) likewise occur in the south, one of the latter also inhabiting Sze-ch'uen.

To give an adequate account of Chinese ornithology would require space many times the length of this article. The gorgeous mandarin duck (_Aix galerita_) has already been mentioned among generic types common to America. In marked distinction to this is the number of species of pheasants inhabiting north-western China, whence the group ranges into the eastern Himalaya. Among Chinese species are two of the three species of blood-pheasants (_Ithagenes_), two tragopans (_Ceriornis_ or _Tragopan_), a monal (_Lophophorus_), three out of the five species of _Crossoptilum_, the other two being Tibetan, two kinds of _Pucrasia_, the gorgeous golden and Amherst's pheasants alone representing the genus _Chrysolophus_, together with several species of the typical genus _Phasianus_, among which it will suffice to mention the long-tailed _P. reevesi_. The Himalayan bamboo-partridges (_Bambusicola_) have also a Chinese representative. The only other large bird that can be mentioned is the Manchurian crane, misnamed _Grus japonensis_. Pigeons include the peculiar subgenus _Dendroteron_; while among smaller birds, warblers, tits and finches, all of an Eastern Holarctic type, constitute the common element in the avifauna. Little would be gained by naming the genera, peculiar or otherwise.