Part 21

China has a few peculiar types of freshwater tortoises, among which _Ocadia sinensis_ represents a genus unknown elsewhere, while there is also a species of the otherwise Indian genus _Damonia_. The Chinese alligator, _Alligator sinensis_, has been already mentioned. Among lizards, the genera _Plestiodon_, _Mabuia_, _Tachydromus_ and _Gecko_, of which the two latter are very characteristic of the Oriental region, range through China to Japan; and among snakes, the Malay python (_Python reticulatus_) is likewise Chinese. The giant salamander (_Cryptobranchus_, or _Megalobatrachus, maximus_) represents, as mentioned above, a type found elsewhere only in North America, while _Hynobius_ and _Onychodactylus_ are peculiar generic types of salamanders. Among fishes, it must suffice to refer to the spoon-beaked sturgeon (_Psephurus_) of the Yangtsze-kiang, and the numerous members of the carp family to be found in the rivers of China. From these native carp the Chinese have produced two highly coloured breeds, the goldfish and the telescope-eyed carp.

Among the invertebrates special mention may be made of the great ailanthus silk-moth (_Attacus cynthia_) of northern China and Japan, and also of its Manchurian relative _A. pernyi_; while it may be added that the domesticated "silkworm" (_Bombyx mori_) is generally believed to be of Chinese origin, although this is not certain. Very characteristic of China is the abundance of handsomely coloured swallow-tailed butterflies of the family _Papilionidae_. The Chinese kermes (_Coccus sinensis_) is also worth mention, on account of it yielding wax. As regards land and freshwater snails, China exhibits a marked similarity to Siam and India; the two groups in which the Chinese province displays decided peculiarities of its own being _Helix_ (in the wider sense) and _Clausilia_. There are, for instance, nearly half a score of subgenera of _Helix_ whose headquarters are Chinese, while among these, forms with sinistral shells are relatively common. The genus _Clausilia_ is remarkable on account of attaining a second centre of development in China, where its finest species, referable to several subgenera, occur. Carnivorous molluscs include a peculiar slug (_Rathouisia_) and the shelled genera _Ennea_ and _Streptaxis_. In the western provinces species of _Buliminus_ are abundant, and in the operculate group _Heudeia_ forms a peculiar type akin to _Helicina_, but with internal foldings to the shell.

Lastly, it has to be mentioned that the waters of the Yangtsze-kiang are inhabited by a small jelly-fish, or medusa (_Limnocodium kawaii_), near akin to _L. sowerbii_, which was discovered in the hot-house tanks in the Botanical Gardens in the Regent's Park, London, but whose real home is probably the Amazon. (R. L.*)

_Flora_.

The vegetation of China is extremely rich, no fewer than 9000 species of flowering plants having been already enumerated, of which nearly a half are endemic or not known to occur elsewhere. Whole provinces are as yet only partially explored; and the total flora is estimated to comprise ultimately 12,000 species. China is the continuation eastward of the great Himalayan mass, numerous chains of mountains running irregularly to the sea-board. Thousands of deep narrow valleys form isolated areas, where peculiar species have been evolved. Though the greater part of the country has long ago been cleared of its primeval forest and submitted to agriculture, there still remain some extensive forests and countless small woods in which the original flora is well preserved. Towards the north the vegetation is palaearctic, and differs little in its composition from that of Germany, Russia and Siberia. The flora of the western and central provinces is closely allied to that of the Himalayas and of Japan; while towards the south this element mingles with species derived from Indo-China, Burma and the plain of Hindostan. Above a certain elevation, decreasing with the latitude, but approximately 6000 ft. in the Yangtsze basin, there exist in districts remote from the traffic of the great rivers, extensive forests of conifers, like those of Central Europe in character, but with different species of silver fir, larch, spruce and Cembran pine. Below this altitude the woods are composed of deciduous and evergreen broad-leafed trees and shrubs, mingled together in a profusion of species. Pure broad-leafed forests of one or two species are rare, though small woods of oak, of alder and of birch are occasionally seen. There is nothing comparable to the extensive beech forests of Europe, the two species of Chinese beech being sporadic and rare trees. The heaths, _Calluna_ and _Erica_, which cover great tracts of barren sandy land in Europe, are absent from China, where the Ericaceous vegetation is made up of numerous species of _Rhododendron_, which often cover vast areas on the mountain slopes. Pine forests occur at low levels, but are always small in extent.

The appearance of the vegetation is very different from that of the United States, which is comparable to China in situation and in extent. Though there are 60 species of oak in China, many with magnificent foliage and remarkable cupules, the red oaks, so characteristic of North America, with their bristle-pointed leaves, turning beautiful colours in autumn, are quite unknown. The great coniferous forest west of the Rocky Mountains has no analogue in China, the gigantic and preponderant Douglas fir being absent, while the giant _Sequoias_ are represented only on a small scale by _Cryptomeria_, which attains half their height.

Certain remnants of the Miocene flora which have disappeared from Europe are still conspicuous and similar in North America and China. In both regions there are several species of _Magnolia_; one species each of _Liriodendron, Liquidambar_ and _Sassafras_; and curious genera like _Nyssa, Hamamelis, Decumaria_ and _Gymnocladus_. The swamps of the south-eastern states, in which still survive the once widely spread _Taxodium_ or deciduous cypress, are imitated on a small scale by the marshy banks of rivers near Canton, which are clad with _Glyptostrobus_, the "water-pine" of the Chinese. _Pseudolarix, Cunninghamia_ and _Keteleeria_ are coniferous genera peculiar to China, which have become extinct elsewhere. The most remarkable tree in China, the only surviving link between ferns and conifers, _Ginkgo biloba_, has only been seen in temple gardens, but may occur wild in some of the unexplored provinces. Its leaves have been found in the tertiary beds of the Isle of Mull.

Most of the European genera occur in China, though there are curious exceptions like the plane tree, and the whole family of the _Cistaceae_, which characterize the peculiar _maquis_ of the Mediterranean region. The rhododendrons, of which only four species are European, have their headquarters in China, numbering 130 species, varying in size from miniature shrubs 6 in. high to tall trees. _Lysimachia, Primula, Clematis, Rubus_ and _Gentiana_ have each a hundred species, extraordinary variable in habit, in size and in colour of the flowers. The ferns are equally polymorphic, numbering 400 species, and including strange genera like _Archangiopteris_ and _Cheiropteris_, unknown elsewhere. About 40 species of bamboos have been distinguished; the one with a square stem from Fu-kien is the most curious.

With a great wealth of beautiful flowering shrubs and herbaceous plants, the Chinese at an early period became skilled horticulturists. The emperor Wu Ti established in 111 B.C. a botanic garden at Ch'ang-an, into which rare plants were introduced from the west and south. Many garden varieties originated in China. The chrysanthemum, perhaps the most variable of cultivated flowers, is derived from two wild species (small and inconspicuous plants), and is mentioned in the ancient Chinese classics. We owe to the skill of the Chinese many kinds of roses, lilies, camellias and peonies; and have introduced from China some of the most ornamental plants in our gardens, as _Wistaria, Diervilla, Kerria, Incarvillea, Deutzia, Primula sinensis, Hemerocallis_, &c. The peach and several oranges are natives of China. The varnish tree (_Rhus vernicifera_), from which lacquer is obtained; the tallow tree (_Sapium sebiferum_); the white mulberry, on which silkworms are fed; and the tea plant were all first utilized by the Chinese. The Chinese have also numerous medicinal plants, of which ginseng and rhubarb are best known. Nearly all our vegetables and cereals have their counterpart in China, where there are numerous varieties not yet introduced into Europe, though some, like the Soy bean, are now attracting great attention. (A. HE.*)

AUTHORITIES.--L. Richard (S.J.), _Géographie de l'empire de Chine_ (Shanghai, 1905)--the first systematic account of China as a whole in modern times. The work, enlarged, revised and translated into English by M. Kennelly (S.J.), was reissued in 1908 as Richard's _Comprehensive Geography of the Chinese Empire and Dependencies_. This is the standard authority for the country and gives for each section bibliographical notes. It has been used in the revision of the present article. Valuable information on northern, central and western China is furnished by Col. C.C. Manifold and Col. A.W.S. Wingate in the _Geog. Journ._ vol. xxiii. (1904) and vol. xxix. (1907). Consult also Marshall Broomhall (ed.), _The Chinese Empire: a General and Missionary Survey_ (London, 1907); B. Willis, E. Blackwelder and others, _Research in China_, vol. i. part i. "Descriptive Topography and Geology," part ii. "Petrography and Zoology," and Atlas (Washington, Carnegie Institution, 1906-1907); Forbes and Hemsley, "Enumeration of Chinese Plants," in _Journ. Linnean Soc. (Bot.)_, vols. xxiii. and xxxvi.; Bretschneider, _History of European Botanical Discoveries in China_; E. Tiessen, _China das Reich der achtzehn Provinzen_, Teil i. "Die allgemeine Geographie des Landes" (Berlin, 1902); and _The China Sea Directory_ (published by the British Admiralty), a valuable guide to the coasts: vol. ii. (5th ed., 1906) deals with Hong-Kong and places south thereof, vol. iii. (4th ed., 1906, supp. 1907) with the rest of the Chinese coast; vol. i. (5th ed., 1906) treats of the islands and straits in the S.W. approach to the China Sea. Much of China has not been surveyed, but considerable progress has been made since 1900. _The Atlas of the Chinese Empire_ (London, 1908), a good general atlas, which, however, has no hill shading, gives maps of each province on the scale of 1:3,000,000. The preface contains a list of the best regional maps.

_The Journal af the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society_ contains papers on all subjects relating to China.

II. THE PEOPLE

Population.

China is noted for the density of its population, but no accurate statistics are forthcoming. The province of Shan-tung is reputed to have a population of 680 per sq. m. The provinces of central China, in the basin of the Yangtsze-kiang--namely Sze-ch'uen, Hu-peh, Ngan-hui, Kiang-su and Cheh-kiang--contain probably a third of thes total population, the density of the people in these provinces being represented as from 490 to 310 per sq. m. Ho-nan, which belongs partly to the basin of the Hwang-ho and partly to that of the Yangtsze-kiang, as well as the S.E. coast provinces of Fu-kien and Kwang-tung, are also densely peopled, Ho-nan being credited with 520 persons per sq. m., Fu-kien with 490 and Kwang-tung with about 320.

The Chinese government prints from time to time in the _Peking Gazette_ returns of the population made by the various provincial authorities. The method of numeration is to count the households, and from that to make a return of the total inhabitants of each province. There would be no great difficulty in obtaining fairly accurate returns if sufficient care were taken. It does not appear, however, that much care is taken. Mr E.H. Parker published in the _Statistical Society's Journal_ for March 1899 tables translated from Chinese records, giving the population from year to year between 1651 and 1860. These tables show a gradual rise, though with many fluctuations, up till 1851, when the total population is stated to be 432 millions. From that point it decreases till 1860, when it is put down at only 261 millions. The Chinese Imperial Customs put the total population of the empire in 1906 at 438,214,000 and that of China proper at 407,253,000. It has been held by several inquirers that these figures are gross over-estimates. Mr Rockhill, American minister at Peking (1905-1909), after careful inquiry[9] concluded that the inhabitants of China proper did not exceed, in 1904, 270,000,000. Other competent authorities are inclined to accept the round figure of 400,000,000 as nearer the accurate number. Eleven cities were credited in 1908 with between 500,000 and 1,000,000 inhabitants each, and smaller cities are very numerous, but the population is predominantly rural. In addition to the Chinese the population includes a number of aboriginal races such as the Lolos (q.v.), the Miaotsze (q.v.), the Ikias of Kwei-chow and Kwang-si, the Hakka, found in the south-east provinces, and the Hoklos of Kwang-tung province.[10] The Manchus resident in China are estimated to number 4,000,000. According to the Imperial Customs authorities, the number of foreigners resident in China in 1908 was 69,852. Of these 44,143 were Japanese, 9520 Russian, 9043 British, 3637 German, 3545 American, 3353 Portuguese, 2029 French, 554 Italian and 282 Belgian.

Emigration.

The Chinese are a colonizing race, and in Manchuria, Mongolia and Turkestan they have brought several districts under cultivation. In the regions where they settle they become the dominant race--thus southern Manchuria now differs little from a province of China proper. In Indo-China, the Malay Peninsula and throughout the Far East Chinese are numerous as farmers, labourers and traders; in some places, such as Singapore, Chinese are among the principal merchants. This colonizing spirit is probably due more to the enterprise of the people than to the density of the population. There were Chinese settlements at places on the east coast of Africa before the 10th century A.D. Following the discovery of gold in California there was from 1850 onwards a large emigration of Chinese to that state and to other parts of America. But in 1879 Chinese exclusion acts were passed by the United States, an example followed by Australia, where Chinese immigration was also held to be a public danger. Canada also adopted the policy of excluding Chinese, but not before there had been a considerable immigration into British Columbia. Two factors, a racial and an economic, are at work to bring about these measures of exclusion. As indentured labourers Chinese have been employed in the West Indies, South America and other places (see COOLIE).

In addition to several million Chinese settlers in Manchuria, and smaller numbers in Mongolia, Turkestan and Tibet, it was estimated in 1908 that there were over 9,000,000 Chinese resident beyond the empire. Of these 2,250,000 were in Formosa, which for long formed a part of the empire, and over 6,000,000 in neighbouring regions of Asia and in Pacific Islands. In the West Indies (chiefly Cuba) the number of Chinese was estimated at 100,000, in South America (Brazil, Peru and Chile) at 72,000, in the United States at 150,000, in Canada at 12,000, and in Australia and New Zealand at 35,000. There are comparatively few Chinese in Japan (if Formosa be excepted) and Korea. The number is given in 1908 as 17,000 in Japan and 11,000 in Korea.

_Social Life._

The awakening of the East which has followed the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-5 has affected China also. It is too soon to say how far the influx of European ideas will be able to modify the immemorial customs and traditions of perhaps the most conservative people in the world; but the process has begun, and this fact makes it difficult to give a picture of Chinese habits and customs which shall be more than historical or provisional. Moreover, the difficulty of presenting a picture which shall be true of China as a whole is enhanced by the different characteristics observable in various regions of so vast a country. The Chinese themselves, until the material superiority of Western civilization forced them to a certain degree to conform to its standards, looked down from the height of their superior culture with contempt on the "Western barbarians." Nor was their attitude wholly without justification. Their civilization was already old at a time when Britain and Germany were peopled by half-naked barbarians, and the philosophical and ethical principles on which it was based remain, to all appearances, as firmly rooted as ever. That these principles have, on the whole, helped to create a national type of a very high order few Europeans who know the Chinese well would deny. The Chinese are naturally reserved, earnest and good-natured; for the occasional outbursts of ferocious violence, notably against foreign settlements, are no index to the national character. There is a national proverb that "the men of the Four Seas are all brothers," and even strangers can travel through the country without meeting with rudeness, much less outrage. If the Chinese character is inferior to the European, this inferiority lies in the fact that the Chinaman's whole philosophy of life disinclines him to change or to energetic action. He is industrious; but his industry is normally along the lines marked out by authority and tradition. He is brave; but his courage does not naturally seek an outlet in war. The jealously exclusive empire, into which in the 19th century the nations of the West forced an entrance, was organized for peace; the arts of war had been all but forgotten, and soldiers were of all classes the most despised.

The whole social and political organization of the Chinese is based, in a far more real sense than in the West, on the family. The supreme duty is that of the child to its parent; on this the whole Chinese moral system is built up. Filial piety, according to the teaching of Confucius, is the very foundation of society; the nation itself is but one great family, and the authority of the government itself is but an extension of the paternal authority, to which all its children are bound to yield implicit obedience. The western idea of the liberty and dignity of the individual, as distinct from the community to which he belongs, is wholly alien to the Chinese mind. The political unit in China is not the individual but the family, and the father of the family is supposed to be responsible for the qualities and views of all his kin. He is rewarded for their virtues, punished for their faults; the deserts of a son ennoble the father and all his ancestors, and conversely his crimes disgrace them.

An outcome of this principle is the extraordinary importance in China of funeral rites, especially in the case of the father. The eldest son, now head of the family, or, failing him, his first-born or adopted son, fixes one of the three souls of the dead in the tablet commemorating his virtues, burns incense to his shade, and supplies him with paper money and paper representations of everything (clothes, servants, horses) that he may require in his journey to the other world. Mourning lasts for three years, during which the mourners wear white garments and abstain from meat, wine and public gatherings. Custom, too, dictates that wherever the Chinaman may die he must be brought back for burial to the place of his birth; one of the objects of the friendly societies is to provide funds to charter ships to transport home the bodies of those who have died abroad. Annually, in May, the white-clad people stream to the graves and mortuary temples with flowers, fruit and other offerings for the dead. Christian missionaries have found in this ancestor worship the most serious obstacle to the spread of a religion which teaches that the convert must, if need be, despise his father and his mother and follow Christ.

The same elaborate ceremonialism that characterizes the Chinese funeral customs is found also in their marriage rites and the rules of their social intercourse generally. Confucius is reported to have said that "all virtues have their source in etiquette," and the due observance of the "ceremonial" (_li_) in the fulfilling of social duties is that which, in Chinese opinion, distinguishes civilized from barbarous peoples. The Board of Rites, one of the departments of the central government, exists for the purpose of giving decisions in matters of etiquette and ceremony. As to marriage, the rule that the individual counts for nothing obtains here in its fullest significance. The breeding of sons to carry on the ancestral cult is a matter of prime importance, and the marriage of a young man is arranged at the earliest possible age. The bride and bridegroom have little voice in the matter, the match being arranged by the parents of the parties; the lifting of the bride's veil, so that the bridegroom may see her face, is the very last act of the long and complicated ceremony.