| Show ohina china ohi Chi chingas naas he seen by sir john bowring EMPIRE STRICT CENSUS REG registration I 1 MORTALITY statistics POOR LAW SYSTEM FOOD SUPPLIES emigration RETURNS r niver eniver RIVER RIV navigation AND INLAND TRADE agriculture AND TILLAGE SYSTEM WHAT THE PEOPLE EAT FAT AND THEIR TASTES AT TABLE EFFECTS OF THE taie CIVIL WARS PEOPLE DIE MARRIAGE THE ARMY AND NAVY concluded from page hundreds and thou thousands saries of boats crowd the whole wholes coast of china cidna pome sometimes times acting in communities muni ties sometimes independent and isolated there is no species of craft by which a fish call can be inveigled that is not practised practiced with success in china every variety of net from vast seines embracing miles to the smallest hand liand filet in the care of a child fishing by night and fishing by day fisli fishing hig ili in moonlight by torchlight and arid ill in utter dark darkness ness fisli fishing ing jn in boats of all sizes fishing by those who are stationary on tile the rock roch by the gen sen seaside sloe sioe and alid by those who vile are absent for weeks on the wildest of seas geas fishing by cormorants fishing by divers fishing with iles lles lines iines ties with baskets by every imaginable decoy and devico there is I 1 no river which is not staked to assist the fig berman fisherman in his craft there is no lake no pond which ii is not riot crowded with fish A piece of water is nearly as valuable as a field of fertile land at kt day daybreak brenk breth every city is crowded willi sellers of live lire fish who wiio carry tarry their commodity comm odily in buckets of water saving all they do not riot sell bell to be returned to tile the pond or kept for another days service and the lakes and ponds of china not only supply largo large provisions of fisli fish they tiley produce confide rable rabie quantities of edlue loots and seeds winch which ure uro are largely consumed by the lite people among these lle ile lie the esculent arum artim tte tle tt e water chestnut tubero ius lus and tile the lotus are tile the most remarkable the enormous river population of china who live lire only in boats who are born and educated u MW no mary rear their families and die dle who in a end their existence on tile llie water and ana never have or dream of any shelter other than ihan tile the roof ard ulio wito seldom tread except on tile the deck or boards of their sampans show to what an extent the laii lail is crowded and liow how inadequate it is to maint maintain ain Lin the cumber ers of the soil in the city cily of canton alone close it is estimated that persons dwell upon upon the surface of the river the coats loats sometimes s 20 or 30 deep cover some miles and have llave their wants supplied pup plied piled by bory salesmen al esmen who wiio wend their way every accessible passage pas sege of this vast ilon tion somo sonio dwell 1 in 11 decorated river boats used usen fo for vers very purpose of license aud and festivity for theair pitres titres es for concerts conceits for feasts for gambling for lust for solitary and social recreations some craft ard are employed in convening goods and passengers aud and are in it a state of consta n taca others are moored and their owners owner are elig eng ged cs Ps servants or laborers on shore I 1 indeed their pur pui pursuits suits are probably nearly as various as a those thosa of tho tile land population the immense variety of boats which are found in chinese waters has never been adequately described bed some are of enormous size and are used aaman as magazines garines for salt or rice others have llave all domestic and are employed for the transfer of whole families with wilh all their domestic attendants ts and accommodations from one p place I 1 a cc to another some called centipedes from their beblo supposed to have rowers convey with exin ordinary rapidity file he more valuable car goes from the tile inner warehouses to the foreign shipping liping I in the ile lle ports all these from the tho huge and cumbrous jait hs which remind one of noahs ar kand anich cepres represent ent the I 1 lude ride and coarse constructions of the remotest remo test teEt ages to the f fragile aqile planks upon wh ohm solitary leper bangs hangs upon 0 of f society boats of every for foi form in and a blied plied to every purpose exhibit an incalculable population which may be called amphibious if not riot aquatic not only are land and water crowded with clinies chinese bur buc many dwell on artificial islands which float upon buoi 1 I tho the laars la ks k s islands es with v Y ardeck and houses aisom otis upon the rafters which the occupiers cil cit piers have baund together and on which they thay cultivate what fa is needful for the supply of lifes daily wants they liuio their poultry and their vegetables for use their flowers and their corolla for ornament their household gods for protection and v vor or ship ili ill alt ait of to we access we find not only ili til nut hut it every foot fool of ground is cul out Iti which is capable of producing anything if from tb evalue avalue of landrud lan lar dand daud the surplus of labor cultivation is rather that of or gardeners than of husbandmen the aldes aides of hills billi in it their natural declivity often unavailable are by a of terraces turned ta kopro profitable account Z evers every very iery little wi bit of eo soil il though it bo be only a few feet in length and is arned burned to account ind and not only is the stir surce berce ice of iee the land and thus cared for aut bul every device is for the gathering together of every article that can serve lor for manuro manure scavengers mrs aro constantly clearing the streets litlie tire tiie are farmed by speculators ill in hum vi or dures the anost populous places ara afe often maje mace maie offensive by the tile means taken to pre prevent present the prec pree precious flus deposits from being lost the tire fields in china havo have almost gi a v cys way ag yg large earthen arthen ware vessels ves seia sela for the tho reception of ule hie contributions of the iha peasant cr or ler you cannot outer enter any of theli their great cities without meeting es of men uw omeri omen nud gud ren conveying liqua id manure into tile iha fields alid g girdens alou ltd the tile stimulants to production are applied with most untiring industry in inglus awis col coi coiny ny of iau Isca t scarcely reply reely ever ride rida out out finding bit of ground either elther newly c dt d MW for or it aw i soil sol nol ilo iio 11 at t billy to in m ate i t pro abutas a s rauch mauch mil 1 I pro attivo es ia inculcated as a political and social duty 4 one of tile the most admired gages sages of china yuli suii chin i sas says let there be no u cultivated uncultivated it spot in the tile country no unemployed person in the city end and tile tiie fourth maxim of tile tiie sacred edict of ean Kan kanichi eang Kang gehl gehi chi which is is required to be red through the tle tie empire on the lite and day of every ili in lle ile lie the presence of all the tiie officers of the tile state is la to the fe I 1 effect let husbandry occupy lite lle ile lie principal place and tile the culture of tile tiie mulberry tree so that there may he be sufficient supply of food and clothing shin nung the tire name of one of the most ancient and lio iio honored nored of the tile chinese emperors means tiie the lite divine husbandman the arts of drawing and irrigating of preserve ing preparing and manure in a great variety of of fertilizing seeds indeed elli all the details of chinene ahme e agriculture ign culture ar arm are evrell well weli de serving of note and all display evidence of the in inadequate proportion which the produce of tile the soil bears to the demands for the consumption of the tile people the Chin chinese eie eje again have prejudice no whatever as regards food they eat anything an thing and ever eier thing from which iv inch they tiie tile can derive nutrition dogs es specially ally aily pur pies ples are habitually sold for food and I 1 have seen in m the butchers 7 shops large dogs skinned and hanging with their by the tile side of pigs and goats coats even to rats and inice mice the chinese have no neither to tile the flesh of nion ni onles onies keys heys and snakes snake the sea slug dug is is an aris ans and costly delicacy which is neer never wanting any more than the edible birds nests at a feast where honor lionor is int intended endea erdea to be bedone done dole to the guests unhatched ducks and chickens are a fa fionte dish nor do the early stages of put putrefaction reaction create any dis dip disgust di gust rotten erga eggs are by bujno lcy aci means condemned to perdition fish is la tile the more capp table n when hen ben it lias has a strong fre fra fragrance grance and flavor to give more gusto to theirbee the rice irlee r F As the food the chinese fat rat is 13 for the part hard coarse and ard ai d of little cost coit ao ao their 9 are singularly economical isadre vice ill fit iii ili china and fermented spirits or strong drinks are seldom used tea ma be sald said te be the national beve beverage rage und though that ern plod by the multitude dos does not cost more than from ad to gd per lb b an infusion of less costly leaves is is commonly employed especially in it localities te remote from tle tio lle tie tea ten te i district both in in eating and di bunking dunking illk ilik ilig tile the chinese are ure temperate and satisfied with two daily meals tiie the tile morning rio at 10 A al and tile the file evening rice at 5 P M the tile only repugnance chave I 1 liae ilae observed in china is is to the tile u use usa e of milk an air extraordinary prejudice especially considering tile the tartar influences which haye been long iong on dp minin tm in tile the land but I 1 never saw or heard of butter cream milk or whey being I 1 introduced at git any native chinese table while wr lie lle so many elements of vitality are in a state of activity for the reproduction and sustenance of the human race there is is probably no part of the world ili in which the harvests har ban verts of mortality are more sweeping and destructive than in china producing voids which require no ordinary ap to aill allup up multitudes perish absolutely from want of mcants of existence inundations destroy towns and ard villages ald ard all their inhabitants it would riot not be eoy ewy to calculate the loss of life by the typhoons or hurricanes which visit the tle coasts of china in which boats and ju junks aks are sometimes sacrificed by hundreds and by thousands the lat idt ciril wars in in china must have led to the tha loss kossof millions of lives the tile sacrifices of human man beings angs by b executions execution alone aro are frightful at the moment at which I 1 write rite rile it is is believed that from to victims fall daily by tile the fiands lianda of tile the headsman in the tile province of Kwang turg alone reverence for life there here ia 13 none as life exists in in superfluous abundance 4 dead body isan is sti ill object of so little concerti concern that thai it is is borne sometimes it not ot thought 0 u 1 worth v 0 rth while to remove it from aher tt tile the spot where I 1 it p purifies u rufies on oil the surface of the tha earth often have I 1 seen a corpse under the table of gamblers gan ibers often have I 1 trod over a putrid body at the thresh hold of a door in ili many parts of china there are towers of brick or oi stone where toot toothless hiess neli aily ally female children are thrown by their parents into a hole bole made in ili the side of tho the wall there are aro various various opinions as to the extent of infanticide in ghina china hut bat that it is is a common practice ticy lu in many province vinces admits of no doubt one ono of the lite moet most elo quent chinese writers against agama infanticide kwei ewel chung ghung fu pro professes to been specially inspired by the god of literature to call upon the tile chinese people to refrain froin frein the inhuman practice and declares that the god had filled his house with honoreand honor horion fand sand and given riven him literary descendants ants as the recompense for his exer lions yet hrs lisa denunciations scat scarcely cels eely go further than to pronounce it wicked in those to destroy their female children who have hare the means of or br bringing ingin them up and aud some of his arguments are ore strange elou enough 17 h to destroy daughters lie says sas mis Pis isto to make war upon heavenly harmony lii lil ili in the tile equal number odthe of the sexes the more daughters you drown the more daughters you will have and never was it known that the drowning of daughters led to the birth of sons lie he recommends abandoning children to their fate on the wayside way saide faide as preferable to drowning them and then says there thero are instances of children ch idren so exposed having been nursed and lear i eared by tigers where should we have beer bell he asks 1111 il our grandmothers and mothers had been drowned in ili their infancy and lie he quotes two instances instance s of tile the punishment of mother a who had lied destroyed their i infants ow one of whom hud had abbood red serpent fast fust fastened ened to lier tier thigh and arid the other her four extremities turned irto aws feet doubt ha has been bien som bom sometimes betimes expressed v as s to tile the practice ra C ti ce of infanticide in china oil on any areat great scale spate I 1 but abundance pt ot evidence of tle tb tie extent of the usage may na y be boull rou fou lid iid d in lio iio books aks the sot jol lowing is 0 ll 11 OA of decre of bf the tho em 1 1 T k 1 A I 1 p V des def r eil ell EDICT prohibiting TIIE THE DROWNING OF 2 cirild 1 t nr q wh a mother mercilessly piu plu plunges ages beneath the lite water the tender offspring to which she has given birth iirth can it be said that it owes its life to ber her ahus away what it has just begun to enjoy the pr of the parents is tile the cause causa of tills this wrongdoing tiley they have difficulty in ili earning subi subsistence stence for themselves still stilt jess can tile tiie they pay nurses and undertake all tile tho necessary expenses for jor their children thus driven to despair and unwilling to cause the death of two persons to preserve the life of one it comes to pass that a mother to save cave her husbands life consents to destroy her ob children ildren their natural tenderness they at length detent ine lite to take teke this part thinking themselves at liberty to dispose of the life of their thor children in order to prolong their own what then do they they cast the unfortunate babe into the current of a river that they may at once lose sight of it and in tin an instant deprive it of life you have given me the tle name of father fattier of the tile people though I 1 cannot feel for these infants infanta the tenderness s of tile the parents to whom they owe their being I 1 cannot refrain from declaring to you with the most painful feelings that I 1 absolutely forbid such homicides the tiger says fays one of our books though it be a tiger ilger does not ilot rend its own young towards them then it has a feeling breast and continually cares for them poor as its you may be is it possible that y you hould become the murderers of your own child children ten ren it ia is to show you yourselves nelves neives more unnatural atral iban than the very beasts of prey lettres vol 19 pp ap 1012 jol loi 2 father ripa mentions men lions that of or abandoned children tile the J baptized ia in pekin alone not less thun 5 early I 1 bave hare seen ponds which are the tho th habitual receptacle of bemsle infants whose bodies bodi eilio lie iid floating about aut on pit heir their surface it iti by no llo means unusual to carry persons in a |
