Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 2 - "Chicago, University of" to "Chiton"

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Title: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 2 - "Chicago, University of" to "Chiton"
Author: Various
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 2 - "Chicago, University of" to "Chiton"" ***

Transcriber's notes:

(1) Numbers following letters (without space) like a2 or were originally
printed in subscript.

(2) Side-notes were moved as titles to their respective paragraphs.

(3) Chinese characters were denoted as [Ch].

(4) Letters topped by Macron are represented as [=x].

(5) Letters topped by Breve are represented as [)x].

(6) The following typographical errors have been corrected:

Page 159: "a detailed account of the period (Santiago, 1875); the
same author's," 'Santiago' amended from 'Sanitago'.

Page 183: "The more important are those that follow:--," amended
from 'folllow'.

Page 183: "The three provinces adjoining the metropolitan province
of Chih-li--Shan-tung, Shan-si and Ho-nan--have no viceroys over
them," 'Ho-nan' amended from 'Hon-an'.

Page 242: "The bats included in this suborder are so numerous in
genera (to say nothing of species) that only some of the more
important types can be mentioned).)," superfluous parenthesis
removed.

ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA

A DICTIONARY OF ARTS, SCIENCES, LITERATURE
AND GENERAL INFORMATION

ELEVENTH EDITION

VOLUME VI, SLICE II

Chicago, University of to Chiton

ARTICLES IN THIS SLICE:

CHICAGO, UNIVERSITY OF CHILPERIC
CHICANE CHILTERN HILLS
CHICHELEY, HENRY CHILTERN HUNDREDS
CHICHEN-ITZA CHILWA
CHICHESTER OF BELFAST, ARTHUR CHICHESTER CHIMAERA
CHICHESTER CHIMAY
CHICKAMAUGA CREEK CHIME
CHICKASAWS CHIMERE
CHICKASHA CHIMESYAN
CHICKEN-POX CHIMKENT
CHICLANA CHIMNEY
CHICOPEE CHIMNEYPIECE
CHICORY CHIMPANZEE
CHIDAMBARAM CHINA (country)
CHIEF CHINA (porcelain)
CHIEMSEE CHINANDEGA
CHIENG MAI CHI-NAN FU
CHIERI CHINCHA ISLANDS
CHIETI CHINCHEW
CHI-FU CHINCHILLA
CHIGI-ALBANI CHINDE
CHIGWELL CHINDWIN
CHIH-LI CHINDWIN, UPPER and LOWER
CHIHUAHUA (state of Mexico) CHINESE PAVILLON
CHIHUAHUA (city of Mexico) CHINGFORD
CHILAS CHINGLEPUT
CHILBLAINS CHIN HILLS
CHILD, SIR FRANCIS CHINKIANG
CHILD, FRANCIS JAMES CHINO-JAPANESE WAR
CHILD, SIR JOHN CHINON
CHILD, SIR JOSIAH CHINOOK
CHILD, LYDIA MARIA CHINSURA
CHILD CHINTZ
CHILDEBERT CHIOGGIA
CHILDERIC CHIOS
CHILDERS, HUGH CULLING EARDLEY CHIPPENDALE, THOMAS
CHILDERS, ROBERT CAESAR CHIPPENHAM
CHILDREN, LAW RELATING TO CHIPPEWA
CHILDRENITE CHIPPING CAMPDEN
CHILDREN'S COURTS CHIPPING NORTON
CHILDREN'S GAMES CHIQUITOS
CHILDS, GEORGE WILLIAM CHIROMANCY
CHILE CHIRON
CHILEAN CIVIL WAR CHIROPODIST
CHILE-PERUVIAN WAR CHIROPTERA
CHILIASM CHIRU
CHILLÁN CHIRURGEON
CHILLIANWALLA CHISEL
CHILLICOTHE (city in Missouri, U.S.A.) CHISLEHURST
CHILLICOTHE (city in Ohio, U.S.A.) CHISWICK
CHILLINGWORTH, WILLIAM CHITA
CHILOÉ CHITALDRUG
CHILON CHITON

CHICAGO, UNIVERSITY OF, one of the great educational institutions of the
United States, established under Baptist auspices in the city of
Chicago, and opened in 1892.[1] Though the president and two-thirds of
the trustees are always Baptists, the university is non-sectarian except
as regards its divinity school. An immense ambition and the
extraordinary organizing ability shown by its first president, William
R. Harper, determined and characterized the remarkable growth of the
university's first decade of activity. The grounds include about 140
acres. Of these about 60 acres--given in part by Marshall Field and laid
out by Frederick Law Olmsted--border the Midway Plaisance, connecting
Washington and Jackson parks. On these grounds the main part of the
university stands. The buildings are mostly of grey limestone, in Gothic
style, and grouped in quadrangles. The Mitchell tower is a shortened
reproduction of Magdalen tower, Oxford, and the University Commons,
Hutchinson Hall, is a duplicate of Christ Church hall, Oxford.
Dormitories accommodate about a fifth of the students. The quadrangles
include clubs, dining halls, dormitories, gymnasiums, assembly halls,
recitation halls, laboratories and libraries. In the first college year,
1892-1893, there were 698 students; in that of 1907-1908 there were
5038,[2] of whom 2186 were women. There are faculties of arts,
literature, science, divinity,[3] medicine (organized in 1901), law
(1902), education, and commerce and administration. The astronomical
department, the Yerkes Observatory, is located on William's Bay, Lake
Geneva, Wisconsin, about 65 m. from Chicago. It has the largest
refracting telescope in the world (clear aperture 40 in., focal length
about 61 ft.). The Chicago Institute, founded and endowed by Mrs Anita
McCormick Blaine as an independent normal school, became a part of the
university in 1901. The school of education, as a whole, brings under
university influence hundreds of children from kindergarten age upwards
to young manhood and womanhood, apart from the university classes
proper. Chicago was the second university of the country to give its
pedagogical department such scope in the union of theory and practice.
The nucleus of the library (450,000 volumes in 1908) was purchased in
Berlin soon after the university's organization, in one great collection
of 175,000 volumes. Scholarly research has been fostered in every
possible way, and the university press has been active in the
publication of various departmental series and the following
periodicals:--_Biblical World_, _American Journal of Theology, American
Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures, American Journal of
Sociology, Journal of Political Economy, Modern Philology, Classical
Philology, Classical Journal, Journal of Geology, Astrophysical Journal,
Botanical Gazette, Elementary School Teacher and School Review._ The
courses in the College of Commerce and Administration link the
university closely with practical life. In extension work the university
has been active from the beginning, instruction being given not only by
lectures but by correspondence (a novel and unique feature among
American universities); in the decade 1892-1902, 1715 persons were
prepared by the latter method for matriculation in the university (11.6%
of the total number of matriculants in the decade). Extension lectures
were given in twenty-two states. At Chicago the work of the university
is continuous throughout the year: the "summer quarter" is not as in
other American schools a supplement to the teaching year, but an
integral part; and it attracts the teachers of the middle western states
and of the south. In the work of the first two years, known together as
the Junior College, men and women are in the main given separate
instruction; but in the Senior College years unrestricted co-education
prevails. Students are mainly controlled by self-government in small
groups ("the house system"). Relations with "affiliated" (private)
colleges and academies and "co-operating" (public) high-schools also
present interesting features.

The value of the property of the university in 1908 was about
$25,578,000. Up to the 30th of June 1908 it had received from gifts
actually paid $29,651,849, of which $22,712,631 were given by John D.
Rockefeller.[4] The value of buildings in 1908 was $4,508,202, of
grounds $4,406,191, and of productive funds $14,186,235. Upon the death
of President Harper, Harry Pratt Judson (b. 1849), then head professor
of political science and dean of the faculties of arts, became acting
president, and on the 20th of January 1907 he was elected president.

See the _Decennial Publications_ of the University (since 1903),
especially vol. i. for details of history and administration.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] A small Baptist college of the same name---established in 1855
on land given by S.A. Douglas--went out of existence in 1886.

[2] If, however, the total is reckoned on the basis of nine months
of residence the figure for 1907-1908 would be 3202.

[3] The Divinity School has a graduate department and three
under-graduate departments, doing work in English, in Danish and
Norwegian, and in Swedish. Allied with the Divinity School of the
University is the "Disciples' Divinity House" (1894), a theological
school of the Disciples of Christ.

[4] The words "founded by John D. Rockefeller" follow the title of
the university on all its letterheads and official documents. Mr
Rockefeller would not allow his name to be a part of the title, nor
has he permitted the designation of any building by his name.
President Harper was selected by him to organize the university, and
it was his will that the president and two-thirds of the trustees
should be "always" Baptists. President Harper more than once stated
most categorically that contrary to prevalent beliefs no donor of
funds to the university "has ever (1902) by a single word or act
indicated his dissatisfaction with the instruction given to students
in the university, or with the public expression of opinion made by
any officer of the university"; and certainly so far as the public
press reveals, no other university of the country has had so many
professors who have in various lines, including economics, expressed
radical views in public.

CHICANE, the pettifogging subterfuge and delay of sharp
law-practitioners, also any deliberate attempt to gain unfair advantage
by petty tricks. A more common English form of the word is "chicanery."
"Chicane" is technically used also as a term in the game of bridge for
the points a player may score if he holds no trumps. The word is French,
derived either from _chaug[=a]n_, Persian for the stick used in the game
of "polo," still played on foot and called _chicane_ in Languedoc (the
military use of _chicaner_, to take advantage of slight variations in
ground, suits this derivation), or from _chic_, meaning little or petty,
from the Spanish _chico_, small, which appears in the phrase "_chic à
chic_," little by little.

CHICHELEY, HENRY (1364-1443), English archbishop, founder of All Souls
College, Oxford, was born at Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire, in 1363
or 1364. Chicheley told the pope in 1443, in asking leave to retire from
the archbishopric, that he was in his eightieth year. He was the third
and youngest son of Thomas Chicheley, who appears in 1368 in still
extant town records of Higham Ferrers as a suitor in the mayor's court,
and in 1381-1382, and again in 1384-1385, was mayor: in fact, for a
dozen years he and Henry Barton, school master of Higham Ferrers grammar
school, and one Richard Brabazon, filled the mayoralty in turns. His
occupation does not appear; but his eldest son, William, is on the
earliest extant list (1373) of the Grocers' Company, London. On the 9th
of June 1405 Chicheley was admitted, in succession to his father, to a
burgage in Higham Ferrers. His mother, Agnes Pincheon, is said to have
been of gentle birth. There is therefore no foundation in fact for the
silly story (copied into the _Diet. Nat. Biog._ from a local historian,
J. Cole, Wellingborough, 1838) that Henry Chicheley was picked up by
William of Wykeham when he was a poor ploughboy "eating his scanty meal
off his mother's lap," whatever that means. The story was unknown to
Arthur Duck, fellow of All Souls, who wrote Chicheley's life in 1617. It
is only the usual attempt, as in the cases of Whittington, Wolsey and
Gresham, to exaggerate the rise of a successful man. The first recorded
appearance of Henry Chicheley himself is at New College, Oxford, as
Checheley, eighth among the undergraduate fellows, in July 1387, in the
earliest extant hall-book, which contains weekly lists of those dining
in Hall. It is clear from Chicheley's position in the list, with eleven
fellows and eight scholars, or probationer-fellows, below him, that this
entry does not mark his first appearance in the college, which had been
going on since 1375 at least, and was chartered in 1379. He must have
come from Winchester College in one of the earliest batches of scholars
from that college, the sole feeder of New College, not from St John
Baptist College, Winchester, as guessed by Dr William Hunt in the _Dict.
Nat. Biog._ (and repeated in Mr Grant Robertson's _History of All Souls
College_) to cover the mistaken supposition that St Mary's College was
not founded till 1393. St Mary's College was in fact formally founded in
1382, and the school had been going on since 1373 (A.F. Leach, _History
of Winchester College_), while no such college as St John's College at
Winchester ever existed.

Chicheley appears in the Hall-books of New College up to the year
1392/93, when he was a B.A. and was absent for ten weeks from about the
6th of December to the 6th of March, presumably for the purpose of his
ordination as a sub-deacon, which was performed by the bishop of Derry,
acting as suffragan to the bishop of London. He was then already
beneficed, receiving a royal ratification of his estate as parson of
Llanvarchell in the diocese of St Asaph on the 20th of March 1391/92
(_Cal. Pat. Rolls_). In the Hall-book, marked 1393/94, but really for
1394/95, Chicheley's name does not appear. He had then left Oxford and
gone up to London to practise as an advocate in the principal
ecclesiastical court, the court of arches. His rise was rapid. Already
on the 8th of February 1395/96 he was on a commission with several
knights and clerks to hear an appeal in a case of _John Molton, Esquire
v. John Shawe, citizen of London_, from Sir John Cheyne, kt., sitting
for the constable of England in a court of chivalry. Like other
ecclesiastical lawyers and civil servants of the day; he was paid with
ecclesiastical preferments. On the 13th of April 1396 he obtained
ratification of the parsonage of St Stephen's, Walbrook, presented on
the 30th of March by the abbot of Colchester, no doubt through his
brother Robert, who restored the church and increased its endowment. In
1397 he was made archdeacon of Dorset by Richard Mitford, bishop of
Salisbury, but litigation was still going on about it in the papal court
till the 27th of June 1399, when the pope extinguished the suit,
imposing perpetual silence on Nicholas Bubwith, master of the rolls, his
opponent. In the first year of Henry IV. Chicheley was parson of
Sherston, Wiltshire, and prebendary of Nantgwyly in the college of
Abergwilly, North Wales; on the 23rd of February 1401/2, now called
doctor of laws, he was pardoned for bringing in, and allowed to use, a
bull of the pope "providing" him to the chancellorship of Salisbury
cathedral, and canonries in the nuns' churches of Shaftesbury and Wilton
in that diocese; and on the 9th of January 1402/3 he was archdeacon of
Salisbury. This year his brother Robert was senior sheriff of London. On
the 7th of May 1404, Pope Boniface IX. provided him to a prebend at
Lincoln, notwithstanding he already held prebends at Salisbury,
Lichfield, St Martin's-le-Grand and Abergwyly, and the living of
Brington. On the 9th of January 1405 he found time to attend a court at
Higham Ferrers and be admitted to a burgage there. In July 1405
Chicheley began a diplomatic career by a mission to the new Roman pope
Innocent VII., who was professing his desire to end the schism in the
papacy by resignation, if his French rival at Avignon would do likewise.
Next year, on the 5th of October 1406, he was sent with Sir John Cheyne
to Paris to arrange a lasting peace and the marriage of Prince Henry
with the French princess Marie, which was frustrated by her becoming a
nun at Poissy next year. In 1406 renewed efforts were made to stop the
schism, and Chicheley was one of the envoys sent to the new pope Gregory
XII. Here he utilized his opportunities. On the 31st of August 1407 Guy
Mone (he is always so spelt and not Mohun, and was probably from one of
the Hampshire Meons; there was a John Mone of Havant admitted a
Winchester scholar in 1397), bishop of St David's, died, and on the 12th
of October 1407 Chicheley was by the pope provided to the bishopric of
St David's. Another bull the same day gave him the right to hold all his
benefices with the bishopric.

At Siena in July 1408 he and Sir John Cheyne, as English envoys, were
received by Gregory XII. with special honour, and Bishop Repingdon of
Lincoln, ex-Wycliffite, was one of the new batch of cardinals created on
the 18th of September 1408, most of Gregory's cardinals having deserted
him. These, together with Benedict's revolting cardinals, summoned a
general council at Pisa. In November 1408 Chicheley was back at
Westminster, when Henry IV. received the cardinal archbishop of Bordeaux
and determined to support the cardinals at Pisa against both popes. In
January 1409 Chicheley was named with Bishop Hallum of Salisbury and the
prior of Canterbury to represent the Southern Convocation at the
council, which opened on the 25th of March 1409, arriving on the 24th of
April. Obedience was withdrawn from both the existing popes, and on the
26th of June a new pope elected instead of them. Chicheley and the other
envoys were received on their return as saviours of the world; though
the result was summed up by a contemporary as trischism instead of
schism, and the Church as giving three husbands instead of two.
Chicheley now became the subject of a leading case, the court of king's
bench deciding, after arguments reheard in three successive terms, that
he could not hold his previous benefices with the bishopric, and that,
spite of the maxim _Papa potest omnia_, a papal bull could not supersede
the law of the land (_Year-book_ ii. H. iv. 37, 59, 79). Accordingly he
had to resign livings and canonries wholesale (April 28, 1410). As,
however, he had obtained a bull (August 20, 1409) enabling him to
appoint his successors to the vacated preferments, including his nephew
William, though still an undergraduate and not in orders, to the
chancellorship of Salisbury, and a prebend at Lichfield, he did not go
empty away. In May 1410 he went again on an embassy to France; on the
11th of September 1411 he headed a mission to discuss Henry V.'s
marriage with a daughter of the duke of Burgundy; and he was again there
in November. In the interval Chicheley found time to visit his diocese
for the first time and be enthroned at St David's on the 11th of May
1411. He was with the English force under the earl of Arundel which
accompanied the duke of Burgundy to Paris in October 1411 and there
defeated the Armagnacs, an exploit which revealed to England the
weakness of the French. On the 30th of November 1411 Chicheley, with two
other bishops and three earls and the prince of Wales, knelt to the king
to receive public thanks for their administration. That he was in high
favour with Henry V. is shown by his being sent with the earl of Warwick
to France in July 1413 to conclude peace. Immediately after the death of
archbishop Arundel he was nominated by the king to the archbishopric,
elected on the 4th of March, translated by papal bull on the 28th of
April, and received the pall without going to Rome for it on the 24th of
July.

These dates are important as they help to save Chicheley from the
charge, versified by Shakespeare (_Henry V._ act i. sc. 2) from Hall's
_Chronicle_, of having tempted Henry V. into the conquest of France for
the sake of diverting parliament from the disendowment of the Church.
There is no contemporary authority for the charge, which seems to appear
first in Redman's rhetorical history of Henry V., written in 1540 with
an eye to the political situation at that time. As a matter of fact, the
parliament at Leicester, in which the speeches were supposed to have
been made, began on the 30th of April 1414 before Chicheley was
archbishop. The rolls of parliament show that he was not present in the
parliament at all. Moreover parliament was so far from pressing
disendowment that on the petition of the Commons it passed a savage act
against the heresies "commonly called Lollardry" which "aimed at the
destruction of the king and all temporal estates," making Lollards
felons and ordering every justice of the peace to hunt down their
schools, conventicles, congregations and confederacies.

In his capacity of archbishop, Chicheley remained what he had always
been chiefly, the lawyer and diplomatist. He was present at the siege of
Rouen, and the king committed to him personally the negotiations for the
surrender of the city in January 1419 and for the marriage of Katherine.
He crowned Katherine at Westminster (20th February 1421), and on the 6th
of December baptized her child Henry VI. He was of course a persecutor
of heretics. No one could have attained or kept the position of
archbishop at the time without being so. So he presided at the trial of
John Claydon, Skinner and citizen of London, who after five years'
imprisonment at various times had made public abjuration before the late
archbishop, Arundel, but now was found in possession of a book in
English called _The Lanterne of Light_, which contained the heinous
heresy that the principal cause of the persecution of Christians was the
illegal retention by priests of the goods of this world, and that
archbishops and bishops were the special seats of antichrist. As a
relapsed heretic, he was "left to the secular arm" by Chicheley. On the
1st of July 1416 Chicheley directed a half-yearly inquisition by
archdeacons to hunt out heretics. On the 12th of February 1420
proceedings were begun before him against William Taylor, priest, who
had been for fourteen years excommunicated for heresy, and was now
degraded and burnt for saying that prayers ought not to be addressed to
saints, but only to God. A striking contrast was exhibited in October
1424, when a Stamford friar, John Russell, who had preached that any
religious _potest concumbere cum muliere_ and not mortally sin, was
sentenced only to retract his doctrine. Further persecutions of a whole
batch of Lollards took place in 1428. The records of convocation in
Chicheley's time are a curious mixture of persecutions for heresy, which
largely consisted in attacks on clerical endowments, with negotiations
with the ministers of the crown for the object of cutting down to the
lowest level the clerical contributions to the public revenues in
respect of their endowments. Chicheley was tenacious of the privileges
of his see, and this involved him in a constant struggle with Henry
Beaufort, bishop of Winchester. In 1418, while Henry V. was alive, he
successfully protested against Beaufort's being made a cardinal and
legate _a latere_ to supersede the legatine jurisdiction of Canterbury.
But during the regency, after Henry VI.'s accession, Beaufort was
successful, and in 1426 became cardinal and legate. This brought
Chicheley into collision with Martin V. The struggle between them has
been represented as one of a patriotic archbishop resisting the
encroachments of the papacy on the Church of England. In point of fact
it was almost wholly personal, and was rather an incident in the rivalry
between the duke of Gloucester and his half-brother, Cardinal Beaufort,
than one involving any principle. Chicheley, by appointing a jubilee to
be held at Canterbury in 1420, "after the manner of the Jubilee ordained
by the Popes," threatened to divert the profits from pilgrims from Rome
to Canterbury. A ferocious letter from the pope to the papal nuncios, on
the 19th of March 1423, denounced the proceeding as calculated "to
ensnare simple souls and extort from them a profane reward, thereby
setting up themselves against the apostolic see and the Roman pontiff,
to whom alone so great a faculty has been granted by God" (_Cal. Pap.
Reg._ vii. 12). Chicheley also incurred the papal wrath by opposing the
system of papal provision which diverted patronage from English to
Italian hands, but the immediate occasion was to prevent the
introduction of the bulls making Beaufort a cardinal. Chicheley had been
careful enough to obtain "Papal provisions" for himself, his
pluralities, his bishopric and archbishopric.

But, after all, it is not as archbishop or statesman, persecutor,
papalist or antipapalist that Chicheley is remembered, but for his
educational foundations. He endowed a hutch, i.e. chest or loan-fund for
poor scholars at New College, and another for the university of Oxford
at large. He founded no less than three colleges, two at Oxford, one at
Higham Ferrers, while there is reason to believe that he suggested and
inspired the foundation of Eton and of King's College. His first college
at Oxford, in perishing, gave birth to St John's College, which now
holds its site. This was St Bernard's College, founded by Chicheley
under licence in mortmain in 1437 for Cistercian monks, on the model of
Gloucester Hall and Durham College for the southern and northern
Benedictines. Nothing more than a site and building was required by way
of endowment, as the young monks, who were sent there to study under a
provisor, were supported by the houses of the order to which they
belonged. The site was five acres, and the building is described in the
letters patent "as a fitting and noble college mansion in honour of the
most glorious Virgin Mary and St Bernard in Northgates Street outside
the Northgate of Oxford." It was suppressed with the Cistercian abbeys
in 1539, and granted on the 11th of December 1546 to Christ Church,
Oxford, who sold it to Sir Thomas Pope in 1553 for St John's College.

The college at Higham Ferrers was a much earlier design. On the 2nd of
May 1422 Henry V., in right of the duchy of Lancaster, "hearing that
Chicheley inflamed by the pious fervour of devotion intended to enlarge
divine service and other works of piety at Higham Ferrers, in
consideration of his fruitful services, often crossing the seas,
yielding to no toils, dangers or expenses ... especially in the
conclusion of the present final peace with our dearest father the king
of France," granted for 300 marks (£200) licence to found, on three
acres at Higham Ferrers, a perpetual college of eight chaplains and four
clerks, of whom one was to teach grammar and the other song ... "and six
choristers to pray for himself and wife and for Henry IV. and his wife
Mary ... and to acquire the alien priory of Merseye in Essex late
belonging to St Ouen's, Rouen," as endowment. A papal bull having also
been obtained, on the 28th of August 1425, the archbishop, in the course
of a visitation of Lincoln diocese, executed his letters patent founding
the college, dedicating it to the Virgin, St Thomas à Becket and St
Edward the Confessor, and handed over the buildings to its members, the
vicar of Higham Ferrers being made the first master or warden. He
further endowed it in 1434 with lands in Bedfordshire and
Huntingdonshire, and his brothers, William and Robert, gave some houses
in London in 1427 and 1438. The foundation was closely modelled on
Winchester College, with its warden and fellows, its grammar and song
schoolmasters, but a step in advance was made by the masters being made
fellows and so members of the governing body. Attached was also a bede
or almshouse for twelve poor men. Both school and almshouse had existed
before, and this was merely an additional endowment. The whole endowment
was in 1535 worth some £200 a year, about a fifth of that of Winchester
College. Unfortunately, All Souls being a later foundation, the college
at Higham Ferrers was not affiliated to it, and so fell with other
colleges not part of the universities. On the 18th of July 1542 it was
surrendered to Henry VIII., and its possessions granted to Robert Dacres
on condition of maintaining the grammar school and paying the master £10
a year, the same salary as the headmasters of Winchester and Eton, and
maintaining the almshouse. Both still exist, but the school has been
deprived of its house, and the Fitzwilliam family, who now own the
lands, still continue to pay only £10 a year.

All Souls College was considerably later. The patent for it, dated 20th
of May 1438, is for a warden and 20 scholars, to be called "the Warden
and College of the souls of all the faithful departed," to study and
pray "for the soul of King Henry VI. and the souls of Henry V., Thomas,
duke of Clarence, and all the dukes, earls, barons, knights, squires and
other nobles and subjects of our father who during the time and in the
service of our father and ourselves ended their lives in the wars of the
kingdom of France, and for the souls of all the faithful departed." For
this, the king granted Berford's Hall, formerly Charleston's Inn, which
Chicheley's trustees had granted to him so as to obtain a royal grant
and indefeasible title. Richard Andrews, the king's secretary, like
Chicheley himself a scholar of Winchester and fellow of New College, was
named as first warden. A papal bull for the college was obtained on the
21st of June 1439; and further patents for endowments from the 11th of
May 1441 to the 28th of January 1443, when a general confirmation
charter was obtained, for which £1000 (£30,000 at least of our money)
was paid. It is commonly represented that the endowment was wholly
derived from alien priories bought by Chicheley from the crown. In
truth, not so large a proportion of the endowment of All Souls was
derived from this source as was that of New College. The only alien
priories granted were Abberbury in Oxfordshire, Wedon Pinkney in
Northamptonshire, Romney in Kent, and St Clare and Llangenith in Wales,
all very small affairs, single manors and rectories, and these did not
form a quarter of the whole endowment. The rest, particularly the manor
of Edgware, which made the fortune of the college, was bought from
private owners. Early in 1443 the college was opened by Chicheley with
four bishops in state. The statutes, not drawn up until the end of April
1443, raised the number of the college to forty. Like the college
buildings, they are almost an exact copy of those of New College,
_mutatis mutandis_. The college is sometimes described as being
different from other colleges in being merely a large chantry to pray
for the souls of the dead warriors. But it was no more a chantry than
the other colleges, all of which, like the monasteries and collegiate
churches, were to pray for their founders' and other specified souls.
Indeed, All Souls was more of a lay foundation than its model. For while
at New College only twenty out of seventy fellows were to study law
instead of arts, philosophy and theology, at All Souls College sixteen
were to be "jurists" and only twenty-four "artists"; and while at New
College there were ten chaplains and three clerks necessarily, at All
Souls the number was not defined but left optional; so that there are
now only one chaplain and four bible clerks.

Ten days after he sealed the statutes, on the 12th of April 1443,
Chicheley died and was buried in Canterbury cathedral on the north side
of the choir, under a fine effigy of himself erected in his lifetime.
There is what looks like an excellent contemporary portrait in one of
the windows of All Souls College, which is figured in the _Victoria
County History_ for Hampshire, ii. 262. (A. F. L.)

CHICHEN-ITZA, or CHICHEN, an ancient ruined city of Yucatan, Mexico,
situated 22 m. W. of Valladolid. The name is derived from that of the
Itza, a tribe of the great Mayan stock, which formerly inhabited the
city, and _chichen_, having reference probably to two wells or pools
which doubtless originally supplied the inhabitants with water and are
still in existence. The history of the city is unknown, though it is
regarded as probable that it preserved its independence long after the
Spaniards had taken possession of the rest of the district. The area
covered by the ruins is approximately 1 sq. m., and other remains are
found in the neighbouring forest. (See CENTRAL AMERICA: _Archaeology_.)

CHICHESTER OF BELFAST, ARTHUR CHICHESTER, BARON (1563-1625), lord-deputy
of Ireland, second son of Sir John Chichester of Raleigh, Devonshire, by
Gertrude, daughter of Sir William Courtenay of Powderham, was born at
Raleigh in May 1563, and was educated at Exeter College, Oxford. He
commanded a ship against the Spanish Armada in 1588, and is said to have
served under Drake in his expedition of 1595. Having seen further
service abroad, he was sent to Ireland at the end of 1598, and was
appointed by the earl of Essex to the governorship of Carrickfergus.
When Essex returned to England, Chichester rendered valuable service
under Mountjoy in the war against the rebellious earl of Tyrone, and in
1601 Mountjoy recommended him to Cecil in terms of the highest praise as
the fittest person to be entrusted with the government of Ulster. On the
15th of October 1604 Chichester was appointed lord-deputy of Ireland. He
announced his policy in a proclamation wherein he abolished the
semi-feudal rights of the native Irish chieftains, substituting for them
fixed dues, while their tenants were to become dependent "wholly and
immediately upon his majesty." Tyrone and other Irish clan chieftains
resented this summary interference with their ancient social
organization, and their resistance was strengthened by the ill-advised
measures against the Roman Catholics which Chichester was compelled to
take by the orders of the English ministers. He himself was moderate and
enlightened in his views on this matter, and it was through his
influence that the harshness of the anti-Catholic policy was relaxed in
1607. Meantime his difficulties with the Irish tribal leaders remained
unsolved. But in 1607, by "the flight of the Earls" (see O'NEILL), he
was relieved of the presence of the two formidable Ulster chieftains,
the earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnell. Chichester's policy for dealing with
the situation thus created was to divide the lands of the fugitive earls
among Irishmen of standing and character; but the plantation of Ulster
as actually carried out was much less favourable and just to the native
population than the lord-deputy desired. In 1613 Chichester was raised
to the peerage as Baron Chichester of Belfast, and in the following year
he went to England to give an account of the state of Ireland. On his
return to Ireland he again attempted to moderate the persecuting policy
against the Irish Catholics which he was instructed to enforce; and
although he was to some extent successful, it was probably owing to his
opposition to this policy that he was recalled in November 1614. The
king, however, told him "You may rest assured that you do leave that
place with our very good grace and acceptation of your services"; and he
was given the post of lord-treasurer of Ireland. After living in
retirement for some years, Chichester was employed abroad in 1622; in
the following year he became a member of the privy council. He died on
the 19th of February 1625 and was buried at Carrickfergus.

Lord Chichester married Lettice, daughter of Sir John Perrot and widow
of Walter Vaughan of Golden Grove. He had no children, and his title
became extinct at his death. The heir to his estates was his brother Sir
Edward Chichester (d. 1648), governor of Carrickfergus, who in 1625 was
created Baron Chichester of Belfast and Viscount Chichester of
Carrickfergus. This nobleman's eldest son Arthur (1606-1675), who
distinguished himself as Colonel Chichester in the suppression of the
rebellion of 1641, was created earl of Donegall in 1647, and was
succeeded in his titles by his nephew, whose great-grandson, Arthur, 5th
earl of Donegall, was created Baron Fisherwick in the peerage of Great
Britain (the other family titles being in the peerage of Ireland) in
1790, and earl of Belfast and marquess of Donegall in the peerage of
Ireland in 1791. The present marquess of Donegall is his descendant.

See S.R. Gardiner in _Dict. Nat. Biog_. and _History of England,
1603-1642_ (London, 1883); Fynes Moryson, _History of Ireland,
1599-1603_ (Dublin, 1735). (R. J. M.)

CHICHESTER, a city and municipal borough in the Chichester parliamentary
division of Sussex, England, 69 m. S.S.W. from London by the London,
Brighton & South Coast railway. Pop. (1901) 12,224. It lies in a plain
at the foot of a spur of the South Downs, a mile from the head of
Chichester Harbour, an inlet of the English Channel. The cathedral
church of the Holy Trinity was founded towards the close of the 11th
century, after the see had been removed to Chichester from Selsey in
1075. The first church was consecrated in 1108, but fires in 1114 and
1187 caused building to continue steadily until the close of the 13th
century. Bishop Ralph Luffa (1091-1123) was the first great builder, and
was followed by Seffrid II. (1180-1204). Norman work appears in the nave
(arcade and triforium), choir (arcade) and elsewhere; but there is much
very beautiful Early English work, the choir above the arcade and the
eastern part being especially fine. The nave is remarkable in having
double aisles on each side, the outer pair being of the 13th century.
The church is also unique among English cathedrals in the possession of
a detached campanile, a massive and beautiful Perpendicular structure
with the top storey octagonal. The principal modern restorations are the
upper part of the north-west tower, which copies the Early English work
of that on the south-west; and the fine central tower and spire, which
had been erected at different periods in the 14th century, but
collapsed, doing little damage to the fabric, in 1861. Under the
direction of Sir Gilbert Scott and others they were reconstructed with
scrupulous care in preserving the original plan. The Lady chapel at the
east end is in the main early Decorated, but greatly restored; the
library is a fine late Norman vaulted room; the cloisters are
Perpendicular and well restored; and the bishop's palace retains an
Early English chapel. The cathedral is 393 ft. long within, 131 ft.
across the transepts, and 90 ft. across the nave with its double aisles.
The height of the spire is 277 ft.

At the junction of the four main streets of the town stands the market
cross, an exquisite octagonal structure in ornate Perpendicular style,
built by Bishop Story, c. 1500, perhaps the finest of its kind in the
United Kingdom. The hospital of St Mary was founded in the 12th century,
but the existing buildings are in a style transitional from Early
English to Decorated. Its use as an almshouse is maintained. Other
ancient buildings are the churches of St Olave, in the construction of
which Roman materials were used; and of St Andrew, where is the tomb of
the poet William Collins, whose memorial with others by the sculptor
Flaxman is in the cathedral; the Guildhall, formerly a Grey Friars'
chapel, of the 13th century; the Canon Gate leading into the cathedral
close; and the Vicars College. The city retains a great part of its
ancient walls, which have a circuit of about a mile and a half, and, at
least in part, follow the line of Roman fortifications. The principal
modern buildings, besides churches and chapels, are the council house,
corn exchange, market house, and museum of the Chichester Literary
Society. The grammar school was founded in 1497 by Bishop Story. There
is a large cattle market, and the town has a considerable agricultural
trade, with breweries and tanneries. A canal connects with Chichester
Harbour. The diocese includes the whole county of Sussex except a few
parishes, with very small portions of Kent and Surrey. The municipal
borough is under a mayor, six aldermen and eighteen councillors. Area,
1538 acres.

The Romano-British town on this site was perhaps Regnum or Regni. Many
inscriptions, pottery, coins, &c., have been found, and part of the
medieval walls contain a Roman cave. An interesting inscription from
this site is preserved at Goodwood. Situated on one Roman road in direct
connexion with London and another leading from east to west, Chichester
(_Cissaceaster_, _Cicestre_) remained of considerable importance under
the South Saxon kings. In 967 King Edgar established a mint here. Though
Domesday Book speaks of one hundred and forty-two burgages in Chichester
and a charter of Henry I. mentions the borough, the earliest extant
charter is that granted by Stephen, confirming to the burgesses their
customs and rights of the borough and gild merchant as they had them in
the time of his grandfather. This was confirmed by Henry II. Under Henry
III. the fee farm rent was £38: 10s., but this was reduced by a charter
of 10 Edward II. to £36, the customs of wool, hides and skins being
reserved to the king. Edward III. directed that the Sussex county court
should be held at Chichester, and this was confirmed in the following
year. Confirmations of the previous charters were also granted by Edward
III., Richard II., Henry VI., Edward IV., and Henry VII, who gave the
mayor and citizens cognizance of all kinds of pleas of assize touching
lands and hereditaments of freehold tenure. A court leet, court of
record and bailiffs' court of liberties still exist. The charters were
also confirmed by Henry VIII., Edward VI., Philip and Mary, and
Elizabeth. In 1604 the city was incorporated under a mayor and aldermen.
Since 1295, when it first returned a member, Chichester has been
regularly represented in parliament. Throughout the middle ages
Chichester was a place of great commercial importance, Edward III.
establishing a wool staple here in 1348. Fairs were granted by Henry I.
and Henry VII, Fuller mentions the Wednesday market as being famous for
corn, while Camden speaks of that on Saturday as the greatest for fish
in the county. The markets and a fair on the 20th of October are still
held.

See _Victoria County History, Sussex_; Alexander Hay, _History of
Chichester_ (Chichester, 1804).

CHICKAMAUGA CREEK, a small tributary of the Tennessee river, which it
joins near Chattanooga, Tennessee, U.S.A. It gives its name to the great
battle of Chickamauga in the American Civil War, fought on the 19-20th
of September 1863, between the Federal army of the Cumberland under
Major-General W.S. Rosecrans and the Confederate army under General
Braxton Bragg. For the general operations of Rosecrans' army in 1863 see
AMERICAN CIVIL WAR. A successful war of manoeuvre had brought the army
of the Cumberland from Murfreesboro to Decherd, Tenn., and Bragg's army
lay on the Tennessee at and above Chattanooga. Rosecrans was expected by
the enemy to manoeuvre so as to gain touch with the Union forces in
the upper Tennessee valley, but he formed an entirely different plan of
operations. One part of the army demonstrated in front of Chattanooga,
and the main body secretly crossed the river about Stevenson and
Bridgeport (September 4th). The country was mountainous, the roads few
and poor, and the Federals had to take full supplies of food, forage and
ammunition with them, but Rosecrans was an able commander, his troops
were in good hands, and he accepted the risks involved. These were
intensified by the want of good maps, and, in the event, at one moment
the army was placed in a position of great danger. A corps under A. McD.
McCook moved south-eastward across the ridges to Alpine, another under
Thomas marched via Trenton on McLemore's Cove. The presence of Federal
masses in Lookout Valley caused Bragg to abandon Chattanooga at once,
and the object of the manoeuvre was thus accomplished; but owing to
the want of good maps the Union army was at the same time exposed to
great danger. The head of Thomas's column was engaged at Dug Gap, on the
11th, against the flank guard of Bragg's army, and at the time McCook
was far away to the south, and Crittenden's corps, which had occupied
Chattanooga on the 9th, was also at a distance. Thomas was isolated, but
Rosecrans, like every other commander under whom he served, placed
unbounded confidence in his tenacity, and if Bragg was wrong in
neglecting to attack him on the 14th, subsequent events went far to
disarm criticism. By the 18th of September Rosecrans had at last
collected his army on Chickamauga Creek covering Chattanooga. But Bragg
had now received heavy reinforcements, and lay, concentrated for battle,
on the other side of the Creek.

[Illustration: CHICKAMAUGA]

The terrain of the battle of Chickamauga (19th-20th of September) had
little influence on its course. Both armies lay in the plain, the two
lines roughly parallel. Bragg's intention was to force his attack home
on Rosecrans' left wing, thus cutting him off from Chattanooga and
throwing him back into the mountain country whence he had come. On the
19th a serious action took place between the Confederate right and
Rosecrans' left under Thomas. On the 20th the real battle began. The
Confederates, in accordance with Bragg's plans, pressed hard upon
Thomas, to whom Rosecrans sent reinforcements. One of the divisions
detached from the centre for this purpose was by inadvertence taken out
of the first line, and before the gap could be filled the Confederate
central attack, led by Longstreet and Hood, the fighting generals of
Lee's army, and carried out by veteran troops from the Virginian
battlefields, cut the Federal army in two. McCook's army corps, isolated
on the Federal right, was speedily routed, and the centre shared its
fate. Rosecrans himself was swept off the field in the rout of half of
his army. But Thomas was unshaken. He re-formed the left wing in a
semicircle, and aided by a few fresh brigades from Rossville, resisted
for six hours the efforts of the whole Confederate army. Rosecrans in
the meantime was rallying the fugitives far to the rear near Chattanooga
itself. The fury of Bragg's assault spent itself uselessly on the heroic
divisions under Thomas, who remained on the field till night and then
withdrew in good order to Rossville. Here he remained on the 21st,
imposing respect upon the victors. On the 22nd Rosecrans had
re-established order, and Thomas fell back quietly to Chattanooga,
whither Bragg slowly pursued. For the subsequent events of the campaign
see CHATTANOOGA. The losses in the battle bear witness to a severity in
the fighting unusual even in the American Civil War. Of 70,000
Confederates engaged at least 18,000 were killed and wounded, and the
Federals lost 16,000 out of about 57,000. The battlefield has been
converted into a national park, and was used during the Spanish American
War (1898) as a place of mobilization for the U.S. volunteers.

CHICKASAWS, a tribe of North American Indians of Muskhogean stock, now
settled in the western part of Oklahoma. Their former range was northern
Mississippi and portions of Tennessee. According to their own tradition
and the evidence of philology, they are closely connected with the
Creeks and Choctaws; and they believe that they emigrated with these
tribes from the west, crossed the Mississippi, and settled in the
district that now forms the north-east part of the state of that name.
Here they were visited by De Soto in 1540. From the first they were
hostile to the French colonists. With the English, on the other hand,
their relations were more satisfactory. In 1786 they made a treaty with
the United States; and in 1793 they assisted the whites in their
operations against the Creeks. In the early years of the 19th century
part of their territory was ceded for certain annuities, and a portion
of the tribe migrated to Arkansas; and in 1832-1834, the remainder,
amounting to about 3600, surrendered to the United States the 6,442,400
acres of which they were still possessed, and entered into a treaty with
the Choctaws for incorporation with that tribe. In 1855, however, they
effected a separation of this union, with which they had soon grown
dissatisfied, and by payment to the Choctaws of $150,000 obtained a
complete right to their present territory. In the Civil War they joined
the Confederates and suffered in consequence; but their rights were
restored by the treaty of 1865. In 1866 they surrendered 7,000,000
acres; and in 1873 they adopted their former slaves. They had an
independent government consisting of a governor, a senate, and a house
of representatives; but tribal government virtually ceased in 1906. The
Chickasaws of pure or mixed blood numbered 4826 in 1900, and with the
fully admitted "citizens," i.e. the freed slaves and adopted whites, the
whole nation amounted to some 10,000.

See _Handbook of American Indians_ (Washington, 1907).

CHICKASHA, a city and the county-seat of Grady county, Oklahoma, U.S.A.,
near the Washita river, about 45 m. S.S.W. of Oklahoma city. Pop. (1900)
3209; (1907) 7862, including 1643 negroes; (1910) 10,320. Chickasha is
served by the St Louis & San Francisco, the Chicago, Rock Island &
Pacific and the Oklahoma Central railways. It is the trade centre of a
very fertile section of the Washita Valley, whose principal products are
Indian corn, cotton, fruits and vegetables and live-stock. The city has
various manufactures, including flour, cotton-seed oil, lumber,
furniture and farm implements. Chickasha was founded in 1892 and was
chartered as a city in 1899.

CHICKEN-POX (Syn. _varicella_, a Low Latin diminutive of _variola_), a
specific contagious disease characterized by an eruption of vesicles in
the skin. The disease usually occurs in epidemics, and is one of
childhood, the patients being generally between two and six years old.
The incubation period is from ten to fifteen days; there are practically
no prodromal symptoms, the only indication being a slight amount of
fever for some twenty-four hours, after which the eruption makes its
appearance. A number of raised red papules appear on the trunk, either
on the back or chest; in from twelve to twenty-four hours these develop
into tense vesicles filled with a clear fluid, which in another
thirty-six hours or so becomes opalescent. During the fourth day these
vesicles dry and shrivel up, and the scabs fall off, leaving as a rule
no scar. Fresh spots appear during the first three days, so that at the
end of that time they can be seen in all stages of growth and decay. The
eruption is most marked on the chest, but it also occurs on the face and
limbs, and on the mucous membrane of the mouth and palate. The
temperature begins to fall after the appearance of the rash, but a
certain slight amount may persist after the disappearance of all
symptoms. It rarely rises above 102 F. The disease runs a very
favourable course in the majority of cases, and after effects are rare.
One attack does not confer immunity, and in numerous cases one
individual has had three attacks. The diet should be light, and the
patient should be prevented from scratching the spots, which would lead
to ulceration and scarring. After the first few days there is no
necessity to confine the patient to bed. In the large majority of cases,
it is easy to distinguish the disease from smallpox, but in certain
patients it is very difficult. The chief points in the differential
diagnosis are as follows. (1) In chicken-pox the rash is distributed
chiefly on the trunk, and less on the limbs. (2) Some of the vesicles
are oval, whereas in smallpox they are always hemispherical. They are
also more superficial, and have not at the outset the hard shotty
feeling of the more virulent disease. (3) The vesicles attain their full
growth within twelve to twenty-four hours. (4) The pustules are usually
monocular. (5) There is no prodromal period.

CHICLANA, or CHICLANA DE LA FRONTERA, a town of southern Spain, in the
province of Cadiz, 12 m. by rail S.E. of Cadiz. Pop. (1900) 10,868.
Chiclana occupies a fertile valley, watered by the river Lirio, and
sheltered, on the north and south, by low hills covered with vines and
plantations. It faces the gulf of Cadiz, 3 m. W., and, from its mild
climate and pleasant surroundings, is the favourite summer residence of
the richer Cadiz merchants; its hot mineral springs also attract many
visitors. In the neighbourhood are the Roman ruins of Chiclana la Vieja,
the town of Medina Sidonia (q.v.), and, about 5 m. S., the battlefield
of Barrosa, where the British under Sir Thomas Graham (Lord Lynedoch)
defeated the French under Marshal Victor, on the 5th of March 1811.

CHICOPEE, a city of Hampden county, Massachusetts, U.S.A., situated on
the E. side of the Connecticut river, at the mouth of the Chicopee
river, immediately N. of Springfield. Pop. (1890) 14,050; (1900) 19,167,
of whom 8139 were foreign-born; (1910, census) 25,401. Chicopee is
served by the Boston & Maine railway. The city, which has an area of
about 25 sq. m., contains five villages. Chicopee Center, Chicopee
Falls, Willimansett, Fairview and Aldenville. Chicopee Falls lies on
both sides of the Chicopee river, which falls some 70 ft. in less than 3
m. and furnishes valuable power for manufactories. The most important
products are cotton goods (two large factories having, together, about
200,000 spindles), fire-arms (especially the Stevens rifles), tools,
rubber and elastic goods, sporting goods, swords, automobiles and
agricultural implements. Here, too, is a bronze statuary foundry, in
which some of the finest monuments, bronze doors, &c., in the country
have been cast, including the doors of the Capitol at Washington. The
bronze casting industry here was founded by Nathan Peabody Ames
(1803-1847), who was first a sword-maker and in 1836 began the
manufacture of cannon and church bells. The total value of the city's
factory product in 1905 was $7,715,653, an increase of 43.2% in five
years. There is a public library. The municipality owns and operates the
water-works system and the electric lighting plant. Chicopee was settled
about 1638, was set off from Springfield as an independent township in
1848, and was chartered as a city in 1890. Chicopee Falls was the home
of Edward Bellamy. The name of the city is an Indian word meaning
"cedar-tree" or "birch-bark place."

CHICORY. The chicory or succory plant, _Cichorium Intybus_ (natural
order, Compositae), in its wild state is a native of Great Britain,
occurring most frequently in dry chalky soils, and by road-sides. It has
a long fleshy tap-root, a rigid branching hairy stem rising to a height
of 2 or 3 ft.--the leaves around the base being lobed and toothed, not
unlike those of the dandelion. The flower heads are of a bright blue
colour, few in number, and measure nearly an inch and a half across.
Chicory is cultivated much more extensively on the continent of
Europe--in Holland, Belgium, France and Germany--than in Great Britain;
and as a cultivated plant it has three distinct applications. Its roots
roasted and ground are used as a substitute for, adulterant of, or
addition to coffee; both roots and leaves are employed as salads; and
the plant is grown as a fodder or herbage crop which is greedily
consumed by cattle. In Great Britain it is chiefly in its first
capacity, in connexion with coffee, that chicory is employed. A large
proportion of the chicory root used for this purpose is obtained from
Belgium and other neighbouring continental countries; but a considerable
quantity is cultivated in England, chiefly in Yorkshire. For the
preparation of chicory the older stout white roots are selected, and
after washing they are sliced up into small pieces and kiln-dried. In
this condition the material is sold to the chicory roaster, by whom it
is roasted till it assumes a deep brown colour; afterwards when ground
it is in external characteristics very like coffee, but is destitute of
its pleasing aromatic odour. Neither does the roasted chicory possess
any trace of the alkaloid caffeine which gives their peculiar virtues to
coffee and tea. The fact, however, that for over a hundred years it has
been successfully used as a substitute for or recognized addition to
coffee, while in the meantime innumerable other substances have been
tried for the same purpose and abandoned, indicates that it is agreeable
and harmless. It gives the coffee additional colour, bitterness and
body. It is at least in very extensive and general use; and in Belgium
especially its infusion is largely drunk as an independent beverage.

The blanched leaves are much esteemed by the French as a winter salad
known by the name of _Barbe de capucin_. When intended for winter use,
chicory is sown in May or June, commonly in drills, and the plants are
thinned out to 4 in. apart. If at first the leaves grow very strong,
they are cut off, perhaps in the middle of August, about an inch from
the ground, so as to promote the production of new leaves, and check the
formation of flower-stems. About the beginning of October the plants are
raised from the border, and all the large leaves cut off; the roots are
also shortened, and they are then planted pretty closely together in
boxes filled with rich light mould, and watered when needful. When frost
comes on, the boxes are protected by any kind of litter and haulm. As
the salad is wanted, they are removed into some place having a
moderately increased temperature, and where there is no light. Each box
affords two crops of blanched leaves, and these are reckoned fit for
cutting when about 6 in. long. Another mode of obtaining the young
leaves of this plant in winter is to sow seeds in a bed of light rich
mould, or in boxes in a heat of from 55° to 60°, giving a gentle
watering as required. The leaves will be fit to be cut in a fortnight
after sowing, and the plants will afford a second crop.

In Belgium a variety of chicory called _Witloef_ is much preferred as a
salad to the French _Barbe de capucin_. The seeds are sown and the
plants thinned out like those of the ordinary sort. They are eventually
planted in light soil, in succession, from the end of October to
February, at the bottom of trenches a foot or more in depth, and covered
over with from 2 to 3 ft. of hot stable manure. In a month or six weeks,
according to the heat applied, the heads are fit for use and should be
cut before they reach the manure. The plants might easily be forced in
frames on a mild hot-bed, or in a mushroom-house, in the same way as
sea-kale. In Belgium the fresh roots are boiled and eaten with butter,
and throughout the Continent the roots are stored for use as salads
during winter.

See also ENDIVE (_Cichorium endivia_).

CHIDAMBARAM, or CHEDUMBRUM, a town of British India, in the South Arcot
district of Madras, 7 m. from the coast and 151 m. S. of Madras by rail.
Pop. (1901) 19,909. The pagodas at Chidambaram are the oldest in the
south of India, and portions of them are gems of art. Here is supposed
to have been the northern frontier of the ancient Chola kingdom, the
successive capitals of which were Uriyur on the Cauvery, Combaconum and
Tanjore. The principal temple is sacred to Siva, and is said to have
been rebuilt or enlarged by a leper emperor, who came south on a
pilgrimage and was cured by bathing in the temple tank; upwards of
60,000 pilgrims visit the temple every December. It contains a "hall of
a thousand pillars," one of numerous such halls in India, the exact
number of pillars in this case being 984; each is a block of solid
granite, and the roof of the principal temple is of copper-gilt. Three
hundred of the highest-caste Brahmins live with their families within
the temple enclosure.

CHIEF (from Fr. _chef_, head, Lat. _caput_), the head or upper part of
anything, and so, in heraldry, the upper part of the escutcheon,
occupying one-third of the whole. When applied to a leading personage, a
head man or one having the highest authority, the term chief or
chieftain (Med. Lat. _capitanus_, O. Fr. _chevetaine_) is principally
confined to the leader of a clan or tribe. The phrase "in chief" (Med.
Lat. _in capite_) is used in feudal law of the tenant who holds his fief
direct from the lord paramount (see FEUDALISM).

CHIEMSEE, also called BAYRISCHES MEER, the largest lake in Bavaria,
lying on a high plateau 1600 ft. above the sea, between the rivers Inn
(to which it drains through the Alz) and Salzach. With a length of 6 and
a breadth of 9 m., it has an area of about 33 sq. m., and contains three
islands, Herrenwörth, Frauenwörth and Krautinsel. The first, which has a
circumference of 6½ m. and is beautifully wooded, is remarkable for the
romantic castle which Louis II. of Bavaria erected here. It was the seat
of a bishop from 1215 to 1805, and until 1803 contained a Benedictine
monastery. The shores of the lake are flat on the north and south sides,
but its other banks are flanked by undulating hills, which command
beautiful and extensive views. The waters are clear and it is well
stocked with trout and carp; but the fishing rights are strictly
preserved. Steamers ply on the lake, and the railway from Rosenheim to
Salzburg skirts the southern shores.

CHIENG MAI, the capital of the Lao state of the same name and of the
provincial division of Siam called Bayap, situated in 99° 0' E., 18° 46'
N. The town, enclosed by massive but decaying walls, lies on the right
bank of the river Me Ping, one of the branches of the Me Nam, in a plain
800 ft. above sea-level, surrounded by high, wooded mountains. It has
streets intersecting at right angles, and an enceinte within which is
the palace of the Chao, or hereditary chief. The east and west banks of
the river are connected by a fine teak bridge. The American Presbyterian
Mission, established here in 1867, has a large number of converts and
has done much good educational work. Chieng Mai, which the Burmese have
corrupted into Zimmé, by which name it is known to many Europeans, has
long been an important trade centre, resorted to by Chinese merchants
from the north and east, and by Burmese, Shans and Siamese from the west
and south. It is, moreover, the centre of the teak trade of Siam, in
which many Burmese and several Chinese and European firms are engaged.
The total value of the import and export trade of the Bayap division
amounts to about £2,500,000 a year. The Siamese high commissioner of
Bayap division has his headquarters in Chieng Mai, and though the
hereditary chief continues as the nominal ruler, as is also the case in
the other Lao states of Nan, Prè, Lampun, Napawn Lampang and Tern, which
make up the division, the government is entirely in the hands of that
official and his staff. The government forest department, founded in
1896, has done good work in the division, and the conservator of forests
has his headquarters in Chieng Mai. The headquarters of an army division
are also situated here. A British consul resides at Chieng Mai, where,
in addition to the ordinary law courts, there is an international court
having jurisdiction in all cases in which British subjects are parties.
The population, about 20,000, consists mainly of Laos, with many Shans,
a few Burmese, Chinese and Siamese and some fifty Europeans. Hill tribes
(Ka) inhabit the neighbouring mountains in large numbers.

Chieng Mai was formerly the capital of a united Lao kingdom, which, at
one time independent, afterwards subject to Burma and then to Siam, and
later broken up into a number of states, has finally become a provincial
division of Siam. In 1902 a rising of discontented Shans took place in
Bayap which at one time seemed serious, several towns being attacked and
Chieng Mai itself threatened. The disturbance was quelled and the
malcontents eventually hunted out, but not without losses which included
the commissioner of Prè and a European officer of gendarmerie.

CHIERI, a town and episcopal see of Piedmont, Italy, in the province of
Turin, 13 m. S.E. by rail and 8 m. by road from the town of Turin. Pop.
(1901) 11,929 (town), 13,803 (commune). Its Gothic cathedral, founded in
1037 and reconstructed in 1405, is the largest in Piedmont, and has a
13th century octagonal baptistery. Chieri was subject to the bishop of
Turin in the 9th and 10th centuries, it became independent in the 11th
century. In 1347 it submitted voluntarily to Count Amedeus VI. of Savoy
to save itself from the marquis of Monferrato, and finally came under
the dominion of Savoy in the 16th century. In 1785 it was made into a
principality of the duke of Aosta. It was an early centre of trade and
manufacture; and in the middle of the 15th century produced about
100,000 pieces of cotton goods per annum.

See L. Cibrario, _Delle storie di Chieri_ (Turin, 1855).

CHIETI, a city of the Abruzzi, Italy, the capital of the province of
Chieti, and the seat of an archbishop, 140 m. E.N.E. of Rome by rail,
and 9 m. W. of Castellammare Adriatico. Pop. (1901) 26,368. It is
situated at a height of 1083 ft. above sea-level, 3 m. from the railway
station, from which it is reached by an electric tramway. It commands a
splendid view of the Apennines on every side except the east, where the
Adriatic is seen. It is an active modern town, upon the site of the
ancient _Teate Marrucinorum_ (q.v.), with woollen and cotton
manufactories and other smaller industries. The origin of the see of
Chieti dates from the 4th century, S. Justinus being the first bishop.
The cathedral has been spoilt by restoration, and the decoration of the
exterior is incomplete; the Gothic campanile of 1335 is, however, fine.
The cathedral possesses two illuminated missals. Close by is the town
hall, which contains a small picture gallery, in which, in 1905, was
held an important exhibition of ancient Abruzzese art. The de Laurentiis
family possesses a private collection of some importance. To the north
of Chieti is the octagonal church of S. Maria del Tricaglio, erected in
1317, which is said (without reason) to stand upon the site of a temple
of Diana. The order of the Theatines, founded in 1524, takes its name
from the city. Under the Lombards Chieti formed part of the duchy of
Benevento; it was destroyed by Pippin in 801, but was soon rebuilt and
became the seat of a count. The Normans made it the capital of the
Abruzzi.

CHI-FU, CHEFOO, or YEN-T'AI (as it is called by the natives), a seaport
of northern China, on the southern coast of the Gulf of Chih-li, in the
province of Shan-tung, near the mouth of the Yi-ho, about 30 m. E. of
the city of Têng-chow-fu. It was formerly quite a small place, and had
only the rank of an unwalled village; but it was chosen as the port of
Têng-chow, opened to foreign trade in 1858 by the treaty of Tientsin,
and it is now the residence of a Tao-t'ai, or intendant of circuit, the
centre of a gradually increasing commerce, and the seat of a British
consulate, a Chinese custom-house, and a considerable foreign
settlement. The native town is yearly extending, and though most of the
inhabitants are small shop-keepers and coolies of the lowest class, the
houses are for the most part well and solidly built of stone. The
foreign settlement occupies a position between the native town and the
sea, which neither affords a convenient access for shipping nor allows
space for any great extension of area. Its growth, however, has hitherto
been steady and rapid. Various streets have been laid out, a large
hotel erected for the reception of the visitors who resort to the place
as a sanatorium in summer, and the religious wants of the community are
supplied by a Roman Catholic and a Protestant church. Though the harbour
is deep and extensive, and possessed of excellent anchorage, large
vessels have to be moored at a considerable distance from the shore.
Chi-fu has continued to show fair progress as a place of trade, but the
total volume is inconsiderable, having regard to the area it supplies.
In 1880 the total exports and imports were valued at £2,724,000, in 1899
they amounted to £4,228,000, and in 1904 to £4,909,908. In 1895 there
entered the port 905 vessels representing a tonnage of 835,248 tons,
while in 1905 the number of vessels had risen to 1842, representing a
tonnage of 1,492,514 tons. The imports are mainly woollen and cotton
goods, iron and opium, and the exports include bean cake, bean oil,
peas, raw silk, straw-braid, walnuts, a coarse kind of vermicelli,
vegetables and dried fruits. Communication with the interior is only by
roads, which are extremely defective, and nearly all the traffic is by
pack animals. From its healthy situation and the convenience of its
anchorage, Chi-fu has become a favourite rendezvous for the fleets of
the European powers in Chinese waters, and consequently it has at times
been an important coaling station. It lies in close proximity to Korea,
Port Arthur and Wei-hai-Wei, and it shared to some extent in the
excitement to which the military and naval operations in these quarters
gave rise. The Chi-fu convention was signed here in 1876 by Sir Thomas
Wade and Li-Hung-Chang.

CHIGI-ALBANI, the name of a Roman princely family of Sienese extraction
descended from the counts of Ardenghesca. The earliest authentic mention
of them is in the 13th century, and they first became famous in the
person of Agostino Chigi (d. 1520), an immensely rich banker who built
the palace and gardens afterwards known as the Farnesina, decorated by
Raphael, and was noted for the splendour of his entertainments; Pope
Julius II. made him practically his finance minister and gave him the
privilege of quartering his own (Della Rovere) arms with those of the
Chigi. Fabio Chigi, on being made pope (Alexander VII.) in 1655,
conferred the Roman patriciate on his family, and created his nephew
Agostino prince of Farnese and duke of Ariccia, and the emperor Leopold
I. created the latter _Reichsfürst_ (prince of the Holy Roman Empire) in
1659. In 1712 the family received the dignity of hereditary marshals of
the Church and guardians of the conclaves, which gave them a very great
importance on the death of every pope. On the marriage in 1735 of
another Agostino Chigi (1710-1769) with Giulia Albani, heiress of the
Albani, a Venetian patrician family, said to be of Albanian origin, her
name was added to that of Chigi. The family owns large estates at Siena.

See A. von Reumont, _Geschichte der Stadt Rom_, vol. iii. (Berlin,
1868); _Almanach de Gotha_.

CHIGWELL, a parish and residential district in the Epping parliamentary
division of Essex, England; with stations (Chigwell Lane and Chigwell)
on two branches of the Great Eastern railway, 12 m. N.E. from London.
Pop. (1901) 2508. The old village church of St Mary, principally
Perpendicular, has a Norman south door. The village lies in a branch of
the Roding valley, fragments of Hainault Forest lying to the south and
east, bordering the village of Chigwell Row. The village of Chigwell
appears in the Domesday survey. The pleasant scenery of the
neighbourhood, which attracts large numbers both of visitors and of
residents from London, is described in Dickens's novel, _Barnaby Rudge_,
and the King's Head Inn, Dickens's "Maypole," still stands. The old
grammar school, founded by Samuel Harsnett, archbishop of York (d.
1631), whose fine memorial brass is in St Mary's church, has become one
of the minor modern institutions of the English public school type.
William Penn attended school at Chigwell from his home at Wanstead.

CHIH-LI ("Direct Rule"), the metropolitan province of China, in which is
situated Peking, the capital of the empire. It contains eleven
prefectural cities, and occupies an area of 58,950 sq. m. The population
is 29,400,000, the vast majority of whom are resident in the plain
country. This province forms part of the great delta plain of China
proper, 20,000 sq. m. of which are within the provincial boundaries; the
remainder of the territory consists of the mountain ranges which define
its northern and western frontier. The plain of Chih-li is formed
principally by detritus deposited by the Pei-ho and its tributary the
Hun-ho ("muddy river"), otherwise known as the Yung-ting-ko, and other
streams having their sources in mountains of Shan-si and other ranges.
It is bounded E. by the Gulf of Chih-li and Shan-tung, and S. by
Shan-tung and Ho-nan. The proportion of Mahommedans among the population
is very large. In Peking there are said to be as many as 20,000
Mahommedan families, and in Pao-ting Fu, the capital of the province,
there are about 1000 followers of the prophet. The extremes of heat and
cold in Chih-li are very marked. During the months of December, January
and February the rivers are frozen up, and even the Gulf of Chih-li is
fringed with a broad border of ice. There are four rivers of some
importance in the province: the Pei-ho, with the Hun-ho, which rises in
the mountains in Mongolia and, flowing to the west of Peking, forms a
junction with the Pei-ho at Tientsin; the Shang-si-ho, which rises in
the mountains on the north of the province of Shan-si, and takes a
south-easterly course as far as the neighbourhood of Ki Chow, from which
point it trends north-east and eventually joines the Hun-ho some 15 m.
above Tientsin; the Pu-to-ho, which rises in Shan-si, and after running
a parallel course to Shang-si-ho on the south, empties itself in the
same way into the Hun-ho; and the Lan-ho, which rises in Mongolia,
enters the province on the north-east after passing to the west of
Jehol, passes the city of Yung-p'ing Fu in its course (which is
south-easterly) through Chih-li, and from thence winds its way to the
north-eastern boundary of the Gulf of Chih-li. The province contains
three lakes of considerable size. The largest is the Ta-lu-tsze Hu,
which lies in 37° 40' N. and 115° 20' E.; the second in importance is
one which is situated to the east of Pao-ting Fu; and the third is the
Tu-lu-tsze Hu, which lies east by north of Shun-te Fu. Four high roads
radiate from Peking, one leading to Urga by way of Süan-hwa Fu, which
passes through the Great Wall at Chang-kiu K'ow; another, which enters
Mongolia through the Ku-pei K'ow to the north-east, and after continuing
that course as far as Fung-ning turns in a north-westerly direction to
Dolonnor; a third striking due east by way of T'ung-chow and Yung-p'ing
Fu to Shan-hai Kwan, the point where the Great Wall terminates on the
coast; and a fourth which trends in a south-westerly direction to
Pao-ting Fu and on to T'ai-yuen Fu in Shan-si. The mountain ranges to
the north of the province abound with coal, notably at Chai-tang,
T'ai-gan-shan, Miao-gan-ling, and Fu-tao in the Si-shan or Western
Hills. "At Chai-tang," wrote Baron von Richthofen, "I was surprised to
walk over a regular succession of coal-bearing strata, the thickness of
which, estimating it step by step as I proceeded gradually from the
lowest to the highest strata, exceeds 7000 ft." The coal here is
anthracite, as is also that at T'ai-gan-shan, where are found beds of
greater value than any in the neighbourhood of Peking. In Süan-hwa Fu
coal is also found, but not in such quantities as in the places above
named. Iron and silver also exist in small quantities in different parts
of the province, and hot and warm springs are very common at the foot of
the hills along the northern and western edges of the province. The
principal agricultural products are wheat, kao-liang, oats, millet,
maize, pulse and potatoes. Fruits and vegetables are also grown in large
quantities. Of the former the chief kinds are pears, apples, plums,
apricots, peaches, persimmons and melons. Tientsin is the Treaty Port of
the province.

CHIHUAHUA, a northern frontier state of Mexico, bounded N. and N.E. by
the United States (New Mexico and Texas), E. by Coahuila, S. by Durango,
and W. by Sinaloa and Sonora. Pop. (1895) 260,008; (1900) 327,784. Area,
87,802 sq. m. The surface of the state is in great part an elevated
plateau, sloping gently toward the Rio Grande. The western side,
however, is much broken by the Sierra Madre and its spurs, which form
elevated valleys of great fertility. An arid sandy plain extending from
the Rio Grande inland for 300 to 350 m. is quite destitute of vegetation
where irrigation is not used. There is little rainfall in this region
and the climate is hot and dry. The more elevated plateaus and valleys
have the heavier rainfall, but the average for the state is barely 39
in.; an impermeable clay substratum prevents its absorption by the soil,
and the bare surface carries it off in torrents. The great Bolsón de
Mapimí depression, in the S.E. part of the state, was once considered to
be an unreclaimable desert, but experiments with irrigation have shown
its soil to be highly fertile, and the conversion of the narrow valleys
of the sierras on the west into irrigation reservoirs promises to
reclaim a considerable part of its area. The only river of consequence
is the Conchos, which flows north and north-east into the Rio Grande
across the whole length of the state. In the north there are several
small streams flowing northward into lakes. Agriculture has made little
progress in Chihuahua, and the scarcity of water will always be a
serious obstacle to its development outside the districts where
irrigation is practicable. The climate and soil are favourable to the
production of wheat, Indian corn, beans, indigo, cotton and grapes, from
which wine and brandy are made. The principal grape-producing district
is in the vicinity of Ciudad Juárez. Stock-raising is an important
industry in the mountainous districts of the west, where there is
excellent pasturage for the greater part of the year. The principal
industry of the state, however, is mining--its mineral resources
including gold, silver, copper, mercury, lead and coal. The silver mines
of Chihuahua are among the richest in Mexico, and include the famous
mining districts of Batopilas, Chihuahuilla, Cosihuiriachic, Jesús
María, Parral, and Santa Eulalia or Chihuahua el Viejo. There are more
than one hundred of these mines, and the total annual yield at the end
of the 19th century was estimated at $4,500,000. The state is traversed
from north to south by the Mexican Central railway, and there are short
branches to some of the mining districts.

Chihuahua originally formed part of the province of Nueva Viscaya, with
Durango as the capital. In 1777 the northern provinces, known as the
Provincias Internas, were separated from the viceroyalty, and in 1786
the provinces were reorganized as intendencias, but Chihuahua was not
separated from Durango until 1823. An effort was made to overthrow
Spanish authority in 1810, but its leader Hidalgo and two of his
lieutenants were captured and executed, after which the province
remained passive until the end of the struggle. The people of the state
have been active partizans in most of the revolutionary outbreaks in
Mexico, and in the war of 1862-66 Chihuahua was loyal to Juárez. The
principal towns are the capital Chihuahua, El Parral, 120 m. S.S.E. of
the state capital, in a rich mining district (pop. 14,748 in 1900),
Ciudad Juárez and Jimenez, 120 m. S.E. of Chihuahua (pop. 5881 in 1900).

CHIHUAHUA, a city of Mexico, capital of the above state, on the
Chihuahua river, about 1000 m. N.W. of Mexico City and 225 m. S. by E.
of El Paso. Pop. (1895) 18,279; (1900) 30,405. The city stands in a
beautiful valley opening northward and hemmed in on all other sides by
spurs of the Sierra Madre. It is 4635 ft. above sea-level, and its
climate is mild and healthy. The city is laid out regularly, with broad
streets, and a handsome plaza with a monument to Hidalgo and his
companions of the revolution of 1810, who were executed here. The most
noteworthy of its public buildings is the fine old parish church of San
Francisco, begun in 1717 and completed in 1789, one of the best
specimens of 18th-century architecture in Mexico. It was built, it is
said, with the proceeds of a small tax on the output of the Santa
Eulalia mine. Other prominent buildings are the government palace, the
Porfirio Diaz hospital, the old Jesuit College (now occupied by a modern
institution of the same character), the mint, and an aqueduct built in
the 18th century. Chihuahua is a station on the Mexican Central railway,
and has tramways and telephones. Mining is the principal occupation of
the surrounding district, the famous Santa Eulalia or Chihuahua el Viejo
mines being about 12 m. from the city. Next in importance is
agriculture, especially fruit-growing. Manufacturing is making good
progress, especially the weaving of cotton fabrics by modern methods.
The manufacture of cotton and woollen goods are old industries in
Chihuahua, but the introduction of American skill and capital toward the
end of the 19th century placed them on an entirely new footing. The
manufacture of gunpowder for mining operations is another old industry.

Chihuahua was founded between 1703 and 1705 as a mining town, and was
made a villa in 1715 with the title San Felipe el Real de Chihuahua.
Because of the rich mines in its vicinity it soon became one of the most
prosperous towns in northern Mexico, although the state was constantly
raided by hostile Indians. In 1763 it had a population of nearly 5000.
The war of independence was followed by a period of decline, owing to
political disorder and revolution, which lasted until the presidency of
General Porfirio Diaz. In the war between Mexico and the United States,
Chihuahua was captured on the 1st of March 1847, by Colonel A.W.
Doniphan, and again on the 7th of March by General Price. In 1864
President Juárez made the city his provisional capital for a short time.

CHILAS, a hill village in the North-West Frontier Province of India. It
is dominated by a fort on the left bank of the Indus, about 50 m. below
Bunji, 4100 ft. above sea-level. It was occupied by a British force
early in 1893, when a determined attack was made on the place by the
Kohistanis from the Indus valley districts to the south-west, aided by
contingents from Darel and Tangir west of Gilgit and north of the Indus.
Its importance consists in its position with reference to the
Kashmir-Gilgit route via Astor, which it flanks. It is now connected
with Bunji by a metalled road. Chilas is also important from its command
of a much shorter and more direct route to Gilgit from the Punjab
frontier than that of Kashmir and the Burzil pass. By the Kashmir route
Gilgit is 400 m. from the rail-head at Rawalpindi. The Kagan route would
bring it 100 m. nearer, but the unsettled condition of the country
through which the road passes has been a bar to its general use.

CHILBLAINS (or KIBE; _Erythema pernio_), a mild form of frostbite,
affecting the fingers or toes and other parts, and causing a painful
inflammatory swelling, with redness and itching of the affected part.
The chief points to be noticed in its aetiology are (1) that the lesions
occur in the extremities of the circulation, and (2) that they are
usually started by rapid changes from heat to cold or vice versa. The
treatment is both general and local. In the general treatment, if a
history of blanching fingers (fingers or hands going "dead") can be
obtained, the chilblains may be regarded as mild cases of Raynaud's
disease, and these improve markedly under a course of nitrites. Cardiac
tonics are often helpful, especially in those cases where there is some
attendant lesion of the heart. But the majority of cases improve
wonderfully on a good course of a calcium salt, _e.g._ calcium lactate
or chloride; fifteen grains three times a day will answer in most cases.
The patient should wash in soft tepid water, and avoid extremes of heat
and cold. In the local treatment, two drugs are of great value in the
early congestive stage--ichthyol and formalin. Ichthyol, 10 to 20% in
lanoline spread on linen and worn at night, often dispels an attack at
the beginning. Formalin is equally efficacious, but requires more skill
in its use. It can be used as an ointment, 10 to 50% for delicate skins,
stronger for coarser skins. It should be replaced occasionally by
lanoline. If the stage of ulceration has been reached, a paste made from
the following prescription, spread thickly on linen and frequently
changed, soon cures:--Hydrarg. ammoniat. gr. v., ichthyol [minim]x,
pulveris zinci oxidi [drachm]iv, vaseline [ounce]ss.

CHILD, SIR FRANCIS (1642-1713), English banker, was a Wiltshire man,
who, having been apprenticed to a goldsmith, became himself a London
goldsmith in 1664. In 1671 he married Elizabeth (d. 1720), daughter of
another goldsmith named William Wheeler (d. 1663), and with his wife's
stepfather, Robert Blanchard (d. 1681), took over about the same time
the business of goldsmiths hitherto carried on by the Wheelers. This was
the beginning of Child's Bank. Child soon gave up the business of a
goldsmith and confined himself to that of a banker. He inherited some
wealth and was very successful in business; he was jeweller to the
king, and lent considerable sums of money to the government. Being a
freeman of the city of London, Child was elected a member of the court
of common council in 1681; in 1689 he became an alderman, and in the
same year a knight. He served as sheriff of London in 1691 and as lord
mayor in 1699. His parliamentary career began about this time. In 1698
he was chosen member of parliament for Devizes and in 1702 for the city
of London, and was again returned for Devizes in 1705 and 1710. He died
on the 4th of October 1713, and was buried in Fulham churchyard. Sir
Francis, who was a benefactor to Christ's hospital, bought Osterley
Park, near Isleworth, now the residence of his descendant the earl of
Jersey.

Child had twelve sons. One, Sir Robert, an alderman, died in 1721.
Another, Sir Francis (c. 1684-1740), was lord mayor of London in 1732,
and a director of the East India Company. He was chosen member of
parliament for the city of London in 1722, and was member for Middlesex
from 1727 until his death. After the death of the younger Sir Francis at
Fulham on the 20th of April 1740 the banking business passed to his
brother Samuel, and the bank is still owned by his descendants, the
principal proprietor being the earl of Jersey. Child's Bank was at first
conducted at the Marygold, next Temple Bar in Fleet Street, London; and
the present bank occupies the site formerly covered by the Marygold and
the adjacent Devil tavern.

CHILD, FRANCIS JAMES (1825-1896), American scholar and educationist, was
born in Boston on the 1st of February 1825. He graduated at Harvard in
1846, taking the highest rank in his class in all subjects; was tutor in
mathematics in 1846-1848; and in 1848 was transferred to a tutorship in
history, political economy and English. After two years of study in
Europe, in 1851 he succeeded Edward T. Channing as Boylston professor of
rhetoric, oratory and elocution. Child studied the English drama (having
edited _Four Old Plays_ in 1848) and Germanic philology, the latter at
Berlin and Göttingen during a leave of absence, 1849-1853; and he took
general editorial supervision of a large collection of the British
poets, published in Boston in 1853 and following years. He edited
Spenser (5 vols., Boston, 1855), and at one time planned an edition of
Chaucer, but contented himself with a treatise, in the _Memoirs of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences_ for 1863, entitled "Observations
on the Language of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales," which did much to
establish Chaucerian grammar, pronunciation and scansion as now
generally understood. His largest undertaking, however, grew out of an
original collection, in his British Poets series, of _English and
Scottish Ballads_, selected and edited by himself, in eight small
volumes (Boston, 1857-1858). Thenceforward the leisure of his life--much
increased by his transfer, in 1876, to the new professorship of
English--was devoted to the comparative study of British vernacular
ballads. He accumulated, in the university library, one of the largest
folklore collections in existence, studied manuscript rather than
printed sources, and carried his investigations into the ballads of all
other tongues, meanwhile giving a sedulous but conservative hearing to
popular versions still surviving. At last his final collection was
published as _The English and Scottish Popular Ballads_, at first in ten
parts (1882-1898), and then in five quarto volumes, which remain the
authoritative treasury of their subject. Professor Child worked--and
overworked--to the last, dying in Boston on the 11th of September 1896,
having completed his task save for a general introduction and
bibliography. A sympathetic biographical sketch was prefixed to the work
by his pupil and successor George L. Kittredge.

CHILD, SIR JOHN (d. 1690), governor of Bombay, and in fact if not in
name the first governor-general of the British settlements in India, was
born in London. He was sent as a little boy to his uncle, the chief of
the factory at Rajapur; and in 1682 was appointed chief of the East
India Company's affairs at Surat and Bombay, while at the same time his
brother, Sir Josiah Child (q.v.), was governor of the company at home.
The two brothers showed themselves strong men and guided the affairs of
the company through the period of struggle between the Moguls and
Mahrattas. They have been credited by history with the change from
unarmed to armed trade on the part of the company; but as a matter of
fact both of them were loth to quarrel with the Mogul. War broke out
with Aurangzeb in 1689, but in the following year Child had to sue for
peace, one of the conditions being that he should be expelled from
India. He escaped this expulsion by his death in 1690.

CHILD, SIR JOSIAH (1630-1699), English merchant, economist and governor
of the East India Company, was born in London in 1630, the second son of
Richard Child, a London merchant of old family. After serving his
apprenticeship in the business, to which he succeeded, he started on his
own account at Portsmouth, as victualler to the navy under the
Commonwealth, when about twenty-five. He amassed a comfortable fortune,
and became a considerable stock-holder in the East India Company, his
interest in India being accentuated by the fact that his brother John
(q.v.) was making his career there. He was returned to parliament in
1659 for Petersfield; and in later years sat for Dartmouth (1673-1678)
and for Ludlow (1685-1687). He was made a baronet in 1678. His advocacy,
both by speech and by pen, under the pseudonym of Philopatris, of the
East India Company's claims to political power, as well as to the right
of restricting competition with its trade, brought him to the notice of
the shareholders, and he became a director in 1677, and, subsequently,
deputy-governor and governor. In this latter capacity he was for a
considerable time virtually the sole ruler of the company, and directed
its policy as if it were his own private business. He and his brother
have been credited with the change from unarmed to armed traffic; but
the actual renunciation of the Roe doctrine of unarmed traffic by the
company was resolved upon in January 1686, under Governor Sir Joseph
Ash, when Child was temporarily out of office. He died on the 22nd of
June 1699. Child made several important contributions to the literature
of economics; especially _Brief Observations concerning Trade and the
Interest of Money_ (1668), and _A New Discourse of Trade_ (1668 and
1690). He was a moderate in those days of the "mercantile system," and
has sometimes been regarded as a sort of pioneer in the development of
the free-trade doctrines of the 18th century. He made various proposals
for improving British trade by following Dutch example, and advocated a
low rate of interest as the "_causa causans_ of all the other causes of
the riches of the Dutch people." This low rate of interest he thought
should be created and maintained by public authority. Child, whilst
adhering to the doctrine of the balance of trade, observed that a people
cannot always sell to foreigners without ever buying from them, and
denied that the export of the precious metals was necessarily
detrimental. He had the mercantilist partiality for a numerous
population, and became prominent with a new scheme for the relief and
employment of the poor; it is noteworthy also that he advocated the
reservation by the mother country of the sole right of trade with her
colonies. Sir Josiah Child's eldest son, Richard, was created Viscount
Castlemain in 1718 and earl of Tylney in 1731.

See also Macaulay, _History of England_, vol. iv.; R. Grant, _Sketch
of the History of the East India Company_ (1813); D. Macpherson,
_Annals of Commerce_ (1805); B. Willson, _Ledger and Sword_ (1903).
(T. A. I.)

CHILD, LYDIA MARIA (1802-1880), American author, was born at Medford,
Massachusetts, on the 11th of February 1802. She was educated at an
academy in her native town and by her brother Convers Francis
(1795-1863), a Unitarian minister and from 1842 to 1863 Parkman
professor in the Harvard Divinity School. Her first stories, _Hobomok_
(1824) and _The Rebels_ (1825), were popular successes. She was a
schoolmistress until 1828, when she married David Lee Child (1794-1874),
a brilliant but erratic Boston lawyer and journalist. From 1826 to 1834
she edited _The Juvenile Miscellany_, the first children's monthly
periodical in the United States. About 1831 both she and her husband
began to identify themselves with the anti-slavery cause, and in 1833
she published _An Appeal for that Class of Americans called Africans_, a
stirring portrayal of the evils of slavery, and an argument for
immediate abolition, which had a powerful influence in winning recruits
to the anti-slavery cause. Henceforth her time was largely devoted to
the anti-slavery cause. From 1840 to 1844, assisted by her husband, she
edited the _Anti-Slavery Standard_ in New York City. After the Civil War
she wrote much in behalf of the freedmen and of Indian rights. She died
at Wayland, Massachusetts, on the 20th of October 1880. In addition to
the books above mentioned, she wrote many pamphlets and short stories
and _The (American) Frugal Housewife_ (1829), one of the earliest
American books on domestic economy, _The Mother's Book_ (1831), a
pioneer cook-book republished in England and Germany, _The Girls' Own
Book_ (1831), _History of Women_ (2 vols., 1832), _Good Wives_ (1833),
_The Anti-Slavery Catechism_ (1836), _Philothea_ (1836), a romance of
the age of Pericles, perhaps her best book, _Letters from New York_ (2
vols., 1843-1845), _Fact and Fiction_ (1847), _The Power of Kindness_
(1851), _Isaac T. Hopper: a True Life_ (1853), _The Progress of
Religious Ideas through Successive Ages_ (3 vols., 1855), _Autumnal
Leaves_ (1857), _Looking Toward Sunset_ (1864), _The Freedman's Book_
(1865), _A Romance of the Republic_ (1867), and _Aspirations of the
World_ (1878).

See _The Letters of Lydia Maria Child, with a Biographical
Introduction by J.G. Whittier_ (Boston, 1883); and a chapter in T.W.
Higginson's _Contemporaries_ (Boston, 1899).

CHILD, the common term for the offspring of human beings, generally
below the age of puberty; the term is the correlative of "parent," and
applies to either sex, though some early dialectical uses point to a
certain restriction to a girl. The word is derived from the A.S. _cild_,
an old Teutonic word found in English only, in other Teutonic languages
_kind_ and its variants being used, usually derived from the
Indo-European root _ken_, seen in Gr. [greek: genos], Lat. _genus_, and
Eng. "kin"; _cild_ has been held to be a modification of the same root,
but the true root is _kilth_, seen in Goth. _kilthei_, womb, an origin
which appears in the expressions "child-birth," "to be with child," and
the like; the plural in A.S. was _cild_, and later _cildru_, which in
northern M.E. became _childre or childer_, a form dialectically extant,
and in southern English _childeren_ or _children_ (with the plural
termination -en, as in "brethren"). There are several particular uses of
"child" in the English version of the Bible, as of a young man in the
"Song of the three holy children," of descendants or members of a race,
as in "children of Abraham," and also to express origin, giving a
description of character, as "children of darkness." During the 13th and
14th centuries "child" was used, in a sense almost amounting to a title
of dignity, of a young man of noble birth, probably preparing for
knighthood. In the _York Mysteries_ of about 1440 (quoted in the _New
English Dictionary_) occurs "be he churl or child," obviously referring
to gentle birth, cf. William Bellenden's translation (1553) of Livy (ii.
124) "than was in Rome ane nobill childe ... namit Caius Mucius." The
spelling "childe" is frequent in modern usage to indicate its archaic
meaning. Familiar instances are in the line of an old ballad quoted in
_King Lear_, "childe Roland to the dark tower came," and in Byron's
_Childe Harold_. With this use may be compared the Spanish and
Portuguese _Infante_ and _Infanta_, and the early French use of _Valet_
(q.v.).

_Child-study._--The physical, psychological and educational development
of children, from birth till adulthood, has provided material in recent
years for what has come to be regarded as almost a distinct part of
comparative anthropological or sociological science, and the literature
of adolescence (q.v.) and of "child-study" in its various aspects has
attained considerable proportions. In England the British Child Study
Association was founded in 1894, its official organ being the
_Paidologist_, while similar work is done by the Childhood Society, and,
to a certain extent, by the Parents' National Educational Union (which
issues the _Parents' Review_). In America, where specially valuable work
has been done, several universities have encouraged the study (notably
Chicago, while under the auspices of Professor John Dewey); and
Professor G. Stanley Hall's initiative has led to elaborate inquiries,
the principal periodical for the movement being the _Pedagogical
Seminary_. The impetus to this study of the child's mind and capacities
was given by the classic work of educationists like J.A. Comenius, J.H.
Pestalozzi, and F.W.A. Froebel, but more recent writers have carried it
much further, notably W.T. Preyer (_The Mind of the Child_, 1881), whose
psychological studies stamp him as one of the chief pioneers in new
methods of investigation. Other authorities of first-rate importance
(their chief works only being given here) are J. Sully (_Studies of
Childhood_, 1896), Earl Barnes (_Studies in Education_, 1896, 1902),
J.M. Baldwin (_Mental Development in the Child and the Race_, 1895),
Sigismund (_Kind und Welt_, 1897), A.F. Chamberlain (_The Child_, 1900),
G. Stanley Hall (_Adolescence_, 1904; he had from 1882 been the leader
in America of such investigations), H. Holman and R. Langdon Down
(_Practical Child Study_, 1899), E.A. Kirkpatrick (_Fundamentals of
Child-study_, 1903), and Prof. Tracy of Toronto (_Psychology of
Childhood_, 5th ed., 1901); while among a number of contributions worth
particular attention may be mentioned W.B. Drummond's excellent summary,
_Introduction to Child Study_ (1907), which deals succinctly with
methods and results; Irving King's _Psychology of Child Development_
(1906, useful for its bibliography); Prof. David R. Major's _First Steps
in Mental Growth_ (1906); and Miss M. Shinn's _Notes an the Development
of a Child_ (1893) and Mrs Louise E. Hogan's _Study of a Child_ (1898),
which are noteworthy among individual and methodical accounts of what
children will do. In such books as those cited a great deal of important
material has been collected and analysed, and a number of conclusions
suggested which bear both on psychology and the science of education;
but it must be borne in mind, as regards a great deal of the voluminous
literature of the subject, that it is often more pertinent to general
psychology and hygiene than to any special conclusions as to the
essential nature of a child--whatever "_a_ child" generically may be as
the special object of a special science. The child, after all, is in a
transition stage to an adult, and there is often a tendency in modern
"child students" to interpret the phenomena exhibited by a particular
child with a _parti pris_, or to exaggerate child-study--which is really
interesting as providing the knowledge of growth towards full human
equipment--as though it involved the discovery of some distinct form of
animal, of separate value on its own account.

_Growth._--Into the psychical characteristics and development of the
child and all the interesting educational problems involved it is
impossible to enter here, and reference must be made to the works cited
above. But a knowledge of the more important features of normal physical
development has a constant importance. Some of these, as matters of
comparative physiology or pathology, are dealt with in other articles in
this work. One of these chief matters of interest is weight and height,
and this is naturally affected by race, nutrition and environment. But
while the standard in different countries somewhat differs, the British
average for healthy children may here be followed. At birth the average
weight of a baby is a little over 7 lb and the length about 20 in. The
following are the averages for weight and height, taking the age in
years of the child at the last birthday:--

+--------+----------+---------+----------+---------+
| Age. | Height, in inches. | Weight, in pounds. |
+--------+----------+---------+----------+---------+
| | Girls | Boys | Girls | Boys |
| | | | | |
| 1 | 28.7 | 29 | 19.8 | 20.5 |
| 2 | 32.5 | 32.5 | 25.5 | 26.5 |
| 3 | 35 | 35 | 30 | 31.2 |
| 4 | 38 | 38 | 34 | 35 |
| 5 | 40.5 | 41 | 39.2 | 41.2 |
| 6 | 42.8 | 44 | 41.7 | 44.4 |
| 7 | 44.5 | 46 | 47.5 | 49.7 |
| 8 | 46.6 | 47 | 52.1 | 54.9 |
| 9 | 48.7 | 49 | 55.5 | 60.4 |
| 10 | 51 | 51.8 | 62 | 67.5 |
| 11 | 53.1 | 53.5 | 68 | 72 |
| 12 | 55.6 | 55 | 76.4 | 76.7 |
| 13 | 57.7 | 57 | 87.2 | 82.6 |
| 14 | 59.8 | 59.3 | 96.7 | 92 |
| 15 | 60.9 | 62 | 102.7 | 106 |
+--------+----------+---------+----------+---------+

See also CHILDREN, LAW RELATING TO; CHILDREN'S COURTS; CHILDREN'S
GAMES; INFANT; &c.

CHILDEBERT, the name of three Frankish kings.

CHILDEBERT I. (d. 558) was one of the four sons of Clovis. In the
partition of his father's realm in 511 he received as his share the town
of Paris, and the country to the north as far as the river Somme, and to
the west as far as the English Channel, with the Armorican peninsula. In
524, after the murder of Chlodomer's children, Childebert annexed the
cities of Chartres and Orleans. He took part in the various expeditions
against the kingdom of Burgundy, and in 534 received as his share of the
spoils of that kingdom the towns of Mâcon, Geneva and Lyons. When
Vitiges, the king of the Ostrogoths, ceded Provence to the Franks in
535, the possession of Arles and Marseilles was guaranteed to Childebert
by his brothers. Childebert also made a series of expeditions against
the Visigoths of Spain; in 542 he took possession of Pampeluna with the
help of his brother Clotaire I., and besieged Saragossa, but was forced
to retreat. From this expedition he brought back to Paris a precious
relic, the tunic of St Vincent, in honour of which he built at the gates
of Paris the famous monastery of St Vincent, known later as St
Germain-des-Prés. He died without issue in 558, and was buried in the
abbey he had founded, where his tomb has been discovered.

See "Nouveaux documents sur le tombeau de Childebert à
Saint-Germain-des-Prés," in the _Bulletin de la Société des
Antiquaires_ (1887).

CHILDEBERT II. (570-595), king of Austrasia, was a son of Sigebert. When
his father was assassinated in 575, Childebert was taken from Paris by
Gundobald, one of his faithful _leudes_, to Metz, where he was
recognized as sovereign. He was then only five years old, and during his
long minority the power was disputed between his mother Brunhilda and
the nobles. Chilperic, king at Paris, and King Gontran of Burgundy,
sought alliance with Childebert, who was adopted by both in turn. But
after the assassination of Chilperic in 584, and the dangers occasioned
to the Frankish monarchy by the expedition of Gundobald in 585,
Childebert threw himself unreservedly into the arms of Gontran. By the
pact of Andelot in 587 Childebert was recognized as Gontran's heir, and
with his uncle's help he quelled the revolts of the nobles and succeeded
in seizing the castle of Woëwre. Many attempts were made on his life by
Fredegond, who was anxious to secure Gontran's inheritance for her son
Clotaire II. On the death of Gontran in 592 Childebert annexed the
kingdom of Burgundy, and even contemplated seizing Clotaire's estates
and becoming sole king of the Franks. He died, however, in 595.
Childebert II. had had relations with the Byzantine empire, and fought
in 585 in the name of the emperor Maurice against the Lombards in Italy.

CHILDEBERT III. was one of the last and feeblest of the Merovingians. A
son of King Theuderich III., he succeeded his brother Clovis III. in
695, and reigned until 711.

See B. Krusch, "Zur Chronologie der merowingischen Könige," in
_Forschungen zur deutschen Geschichte_, xxii. 451-490. (C. PF.)

CHILDERIC, the name of three Frankish kings.

CHILDERIC I. (c. 437-481), king of the Salian Franks, succeeded his
father Merwich (Merwing) as king about. 457. With his tribe he was
established around the town of Tournai, on lands which he had received
as a _foederatus_ of the Romans, and for some time he kept the peace
with his allies. About 463, in conjunction with the Roman general
Egidius, he fought against the Visigoths, who hoped to extend their
dominion along the banks of the Loire; after the death of Egidius he
assisted Count Paul in attempting to check an invasion of the Saxons.
Paul having perished in the struggle, Childeric delivered Angers from
some Saxons, followed them to the islands at the mouth of the Loire, and
massacred them there. He also stopped a band of the Alamanni who wished
to invade Italy. These are all the facts known about him. The stories of
his expulsion by the Franks; of his stay of eight years in Thuringia
with King Basin and his wife Basine; of his return when a faithful
servant advised him that he could safely do so by sending to him half of
a piece of gold which he had broken with him; and of the arrival at
Tournai of Queen Basine, whom he married, are entirely legendary. After
the fall of the Western Empire in 476 there is no doubt that Childeric
regarded himself as freed from his engagements towards Rome. He died in
481 and was buried at Tournai, leaving a son Clovis (q.v.), afterwards
king of the Franks. His tomb was discovered in 1653, when numerous
precious objects, arms, jewels, coins and a ring with a figure of the
king, were found.

CHILDERIC II. (c. 653-673), king of Austrasia, was a son of the Frankish
king Clovis II., and in 660, although a child, was proclaimed king of
Austrasia, while his brother, Clotaire III., ruled over the rest of the
dominions of Clovis. After the death of Clotaire in 670 he became ruler
of the three Frankish kingdoms, Austrasia, Neustria and Burgundy, but
soon quarrelled with some supporters in Neustria, and was assassinated
whilst hunting. He was buried at St Germain near Paris.

CHILDERIC III. (d. c. 751), king of the Franks, was the last king of the
Merovingian dynasty. The throne had been vacant for seven years when the
mayors of the palace, Carloman and Pippin the Short, decided in 743 to
recognize Childeric as king. We cannot say whose son he was, or what
bonds bound him to the Merovingian family. He took no part in public
business, which was directed, as before, by the mayors of the palace.
When in 747 Carloman retired into a monastery, Pippin resolved to take
the royal crown for himself; taking the decisive step in 751 after
having received the celebrated answer of Pope Zacharias that it were
better to name king him who possessed the power than him who possessed
it not. Childeric was dethroned and placed in the monastery of St Omer;
his son, Theuderich, was imprisoned at Saint-Wandrille.

See W. Junghans, _Die Geschichte der fränkischen Könige Childerich und
Clodovech_ (Göttingen, 1857); J.J. Chiflet, _Anastasis Childerici I.
Francorum regis_ (Antwerp, 1655); J.B.D. Cochet, _Le Tombeau de
Childeric I, roi des Francs_ (Paris, 1859); and E. Lavisse, _Histoire
de France_, tome ii. (Paris, 1903).

CHILDERS, HUGH CULLING EARDLEY (1827-1896), British statesman, was born
in London on the 25th of June 1827. On leaving Cambridge he went out to
Australia (1850), and became a member of the government of Victoria, but
in 1857 returned to England as agent-general of the colony. Entering
parliament in 1860 as Liberal member for Pontefract (a seat that he
continued to hold till 1885), he became civil lord of the admiralty in
1864, and in 1865 financial secretary to the treasury. Childers occupied
a succession of prominent posts in the various Gladstone ministries. He
was first lord of the admiralty from 1868 to 1871, and as such
inaugurated a policy of retrenchment. Ill-health compelled his
resignation of office in 1871, but next year he returned to the ministry
as chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster. From 1880 to 1882 he was
secretary for war, a post he accepted somewhat unwillingly; and in that
position he had to bear the responsibility for the reforms which were
introduced into the war office under the parsimonious conditions which
were then part of the Liberal creed. During his term of office the
Egyptian War occurred, in which Childers acted with creditable energy;
and also the Boer War, in which he and his colleagues showed to less
advantage. From 1882 to 1885 he was chancellor of the exchequer, and the
beer and spirit duty in his budget of the latter year was the occasion
of the government's fall. Defeated at the general election at
Pontefract, he was returned as a Home Ruler (one of the few Liberals who
adopted this policy before Mr Gladstone's conversion) in 1886 for South
Edinburgh, and was home secretary in the ministry of 1886. When the
first Home Rule bill was introduced he demurred privately to its
financial clauses, and their withdrawal was largely due to his threat of
resignation. He retired from parliament in 1892, and died on the 29th of
January 1896, his last piece of work being the drafting of a report for
the royal commission on Irish financial relations, of which he was
chairman. Childers was a capable and industrious administrator of the
old Liberal school, and he did his best, in the political conditions
then prevailing, to improve the naval and military administration while
he was at the admiralty and war office. His own bent was towards
finance, but no striking reform is associated with his name. His most
ambitious effort was his attempt to effect a conversion of consols in
1884, but the scheme proved a failure, though it paved the way for the
subsequent conversion in 1888.

The _Life_ (1901) of Mr Childers, by his son, throws some interesting
side-lights on the inner history of more than one Gladstonian cabinet.

CHILDERS, ROBERT CAESAR (1838-1876), English Oriental scholar, son of
the Rev. Charles Childers, English chaplain at Nice, was born in 1838.
In 1860 he received an appointment in the civil service of Ceylon, which
he retained until 1864, when he was compelled to return to England owing
to ill-health. He had studied P[=a]li during his residence in Ceylon,
under Yátrámullé Unnánsé, a learned Buddhist for whom he cherished a
life-long respect, and he had gained an insight into the Sinhalese
character and ways of thought. In 1869 he published the first P[=a]li
text ever printed in England, and began to prepare a P[=a]li dictionary,
the first volume of which was published in 1872, and the second and
concluding volume in 1875. In the following year it was awarded the
Volney prize by the Institute of France, as being the most important
philological work of the year. He was a frequent contributor to the
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, in which he published the
_Mah[=a]-parinibb[=a]na Sutta_, the P[=a]li text giving the account of
the last days of Buddha's life. In 1872 he was appointed sub-librarian
at the India Office, and in the following year he became the first
professor of P[=a]li and Buddhist literature at University College,
London. He died in London on the 25th of July 1876.

CHILDREN, LAW RELATING TO. English law has always in theory given to
children the same remedies as to adults for ill-usage, whether by their
parents or by others, and has never recognized the _patria potestas_ as
known to the earlier Roman law; and while powers of discipline and
chastisement have been regarded as necessarily incident to paternal
authority, the father is civilly liable to his children for wrongs done
to them. The only points in which infancy created a defect in civil
status were that infants were subject to the restraints on complete
freedom of action involved in their being in the legal custody of the
father, and that it was and is lawful for parents, guardians, employers
and teachers to inflict corporal punishment proportioned in amount and
severity to the nature of the fault committed and the age and mental
capacity of the child punished. But the court of chancery, in delegated
exercise of the authority of the sovereign as _parens patriae_, always
asserted the right to take from parents, and if necessary itself to
assume the wardship of children where parental rights were abused or
serious cruelty was inflicted, the power being vested in the High Court
of Justice. Abuse of the power of correction was regarded as giving a
cause of action or prosecution for assault; and if attended by fatal
results rendered the parent liable to indictment for murder or
manslaughter.

The conception of what constitutes cruelty to children undoubtedly
changed considerably with the relaxation of the accepted standard of
severity in domestic or scholastic discipline and with the growth of new
ideas as to the duties of parents to children, which in their latest
developments tend enormously to enlarge the parental duties without any
corresponding increase of filial obligations.

Starting from the earlier conception, which limited ill-treatment
legally punishable to actual threats or blows, the common law came to
recognize criminal liability in cases where persons, bound under duty or
contract to supply necessaries to a child, unable by reason of its
tender years to provide for itself, wilfully neglected to supply them,
and thereby caused the death of the child or injury to its health,
although no actual assault had been committed. Questions have from time
to time arisen as to what could be regarded as necessary within this
rule; and quite apart from legislation, popular opinion has influenced
courts of justice in requiring more from parents and employers than used
to be required. But parliament has also intervened to punish abandonment
or exposure of infants of under two years, whereby their lives are
endangered, or their health has been or is likely to be permanently
injured (Offences against the Person Act of 1861, s. 27), and the
neglect or ill-treatment of apprentices or servants (same act, s. 26,
and Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act 1875, s. 6). By the Poor
Law Amendment Act 1868, parents were rendered _summarily_ punishable who
wilfully neglected to provide adequate food, clothing, medical aid or
lodging for their children under fourteen years of age in their custody,
whereby the health of the child was or was likely to be seriously
injured. This enactment (now superseded by later legislation) made no
express exception in favour of parents who had not sufficient means to
do their duty without resort to the poor law, and was construed as
imposing criminal liability on parents whose peculiar religious tenets
caused them advisedly to refrain from calling in a doctor to a sick
child.

The chief progress in the direction of adequate protection for children
prior to 1889 lay less in positive legal enactment on the subject than
in the institution of an effective system of police, whereby it became
possible to discover and repress cruelty punishable under the ordinary
law. It is quite inaccurate to say that children had very few rights in
England, or that animals were better protected. But before the
constitution of the present police force, and in the absence of any
proper system of public prosecution, it is undeniable that numberless
cases of neglect and ill-treatment went unpunished and were treated as
nobody's business, because there was no person ready to undertake in the
public interest the protection of the children of cruel or negligent
parents. In 1889 a statute was passed with the special object of
preventing cruelty to children. This act was superseded in 1894 by a
more stringent act, which was repealed by the Prevention of Cruelty to
Children Act 1904, in its turn superseded for the most part by the
Children Act 1908, which introduced many new provisions in the law
relating to children and specifically deals with the offence of
"cruelty" to them. This offence can only be committed by a person over
sixteen in respect of a child under sixteen of whom he has "custody,"
"charge" or "care." The act presumes that a child is in the custody of
its parents, step-parents, or a person cohabiting with its parent, or of
its guardians or persons liable by law to maintain it; that it is in the
charge of a person to whom the parent has committed such charge (e.g. a
schoolmaster), and that it is in the care of a person who has actual
possession or control of it. Cruelty is defined as consisting in
assault, ill-treatment (falling short of actual assault), neglect,
abandonment or exposure of the child in a manner likely to cause
_unnecessary_ suffering or injury to health, including injury to or loss
of sight, hearing or limb, or any organ of the body or any mental
derangement; and the act or omission must be wilful, i.e. deliberate and
intentional, and not merely accidental or inadvertent. The offence may
be punished either summarily or on indictment, and the offender may be
sent to penal servitude if it is shown that he was directly or
indirectly interested in any sum of money payable on the death of the
child, e.g. by having taken out a policy permitted under the Friendly
Societies Acts. A parent or other person legally liable to maintain a
child or young person will be deemed to have "neglected" him by failure
to provide adequate food, clothing, medical aid, or lodging, or if in
the event of inability to provide such food, &c., by failure to take
steps to procure the same under acts relating to the relief of the poor.

These statutes overlap the common law and the statutes already
mentioned. Their real efficacy lies in the main in the provisions which
facilitate the taking of evidence of young children, in permitting poor
law authorities to prosecute at the expense of the rates, and in
permitting a constable on arresting the offender to take the child away
from the accused, and the court of trial on conviction to transfer the
custody of the child from the offender to some fit and willing person,
including any society or body corporate established for the reception of
poor children or for the prevention of cruelty to children. The
provisions of the acts as to procedure and custody extend not only to
the offence of cruelty but also to all offences involving bodily injury
to a child under sixteen, such as abandonment, assault, kidnapping and
illegally engaging a child in a dangerous public performance. The act
of 1908 also makes an endeavour to check the heavy mortality of infants
through "overlaying,"[1] enacting that where it is proved that the death
of an infant under three years of age was caused by suffocation whilst
the infant was in bed with some other person over the age of sixteen,
and that that person was at the time of going to bed under the influence
of drink, that other person shall be deemed to have neglected the child
in manner likely to cause injury to its health, as mentioned above. The
acts have been utilized with great zeal and on the whole with much
discretion by various philanthropic societies, whose members make it
their business to discover the ill-treated and neglected children of all
classes in society, and particularly by the Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Children, which is incorporated under royal charter of the
28th of May 1895, for the purposes _inter alia_ of preventing the public
and private wrongs of children, and the corruption of their morals and
of taking action to enforce the laws for their protection.

The act of 1908 enacted more stringent provisions against baby-farming
(q.v.). The Infant Life Protection Act of 1897 did not apply where only
one child was taken, but now by the act of 1908, where a person
undertakes for reward the nursing and maintenance of one or more infants
under the age of _seven_ years apart from their parents or having no
parents, he must give notice in writing to the local authority within
forty-eight hours from the reception of the child. If an infant is
already in the care of a person without reward and he undertakes to
continue the nursing for reward, such undertaking is a reception of the
child. The notice to the local authority must state the name, sex, date
and place of birth of the infant, the name and address of the person
receiving the infant and of the person from whom the infant was
received. Notice must also be given of any change of address of the
person having the care of the infant, or of the death of the infant, or
of its removal to the care of some other person, whose name and address
must also be given. It is the duty of local authorities to provide for
the carrying-out in their districts of that portion of the act which
refers to nursing and maintenance of infants, to appoint infants'
protection visitors, to fix the number of infants which any person may
retain for nursing, to remove infants improperly kept, &c. Relatives or
legal guardians of an infant who undertake its nursing and maintenance,
hospitals, convalescent homes, or institutions, established for the
protection and care of infants, and conducted in good faith for
religious and charitable purposes, as well as boarding schools at which
efficient elementary education is given, are exempt from the provisions
of the act.

The acts of 1904 and 1908 deal with many other offences in relation to
children and young persons. The act of 1904 introduced restrictions on
the employment of children which lie on the border land between cruelty
and the regulation of child labour. It prohibits custodians of children
from taking them, or letting them be, in the street or in public-houses
to sing, play, perform or sell between 9 P.M. and 6 A.M. These
provisions apply to boys under fourteen and girls under sixteen. There
are further prohibitions (1) on allowing children under eleven to sing,
play, perform or be exhibited for profit, or offer anything for sale in
public-houses or places of public amusement at any hour without a
licence from a justice, which is granted only as to children over ten
and under stringent conditions; (2) on allowing children under sixteen
to be trained as acrobats, contortionists, or circus performers, or for
any dangerous performance; and the Children's Dangerous Performances Act
1879, as amended in 1897, makes it an offence to employ a male young
person under sixteen and a female under eighteen in a dangerous public
performance.

The act of 1908 renders liable to a fine not exceeding £25, or
alternatively, or in addition thereto, imprisonment with or without hard
labour for any term not exceeding three months, any custodian, &c., of
any child or young person who allows him to be in any street, premises
or place for the purpose of begging or receiving alms, or of inducing
the giving of alms, whether or not there is a pretence of singing,
playing, performing or offering anything for sale. An important
departure in the act of 1908 was the attempt to prevent the exposure of
children to the risk of burning. Any custodian, &c., of a child under
seven who allows that child to be in a room Containing an open grate not
sufficiently protected to guard against the risk of burning or scalding
is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £10. Provision
is made against allowing children between the ages of four and sixteen
to be in brothels; it is also made a misdemeanour if any custodian, &c.,
of a girl under sixteen causes or encourages her seduction or
prostitution, and any person having the custody of a young girl may be
bound over to exercise proper care if it is shown to the satisfaction of
a court of summary jurisdiction, on the complaint of any person, that
she is exposed to such risk.

The act of 1908, following legislation in many parts of the United
States and in some of the British colonies, places a penalty on selling
tobacco to any person apparently under the age of sixteen, whether for
his own use or not. It empowers constables and park keepers to seize
tobacco in the possession of any person apparently under sixteen found
smoking in any street or public place, as well as to search them; it
also empowers a court, of summary jurisdiction to prevent automatic
machines for the sale of tobacco being used by young persons. The act
also contains useful provisions empowering the clearing of a court
whilst a child or young person is giving evidence in certain cases (e.g.
of decency or morality), and the forbidding children (other than infants
in arms) being present in court during the trial of other persons; it
places a penalty on pawnbrokers taking an article in pawn from children
under fourteen; and on vagrants for preventing children above the age of
five receiving education. It puts a penalty on giving intoxicating
liquor to any child under the age of five, except upon the orders of a
duly qualified medical practitioner, or in case of sickness, or other
urgent cause; also upon any holder of the licence of any licensed
premises who allows a child to be at any time in the bar of the licensed
premises; or upon any person who causes or attempts to cause a child to
be in the bar of licensed premises other than railway refreshment rooms
or premises used for any purpose to which the holding of a licence is
merely auxiliary, or where the child is there simply for the purpose of
passing through to some other part of the premises. It makes provision
for the safety of children at entertainments, and consolidates the law
relating to reformatory and industrial schools, and to juvenile
offenders (see JUVENILE OFFENDERS).

In the act of 1908, "child" is denned as a person under the age of
fourteen years, and "young person" as a person who is fourteen years and
upwards and under the age of sixteen years. The act applies to Scotland
and Ireland. In the application of the act to Ireland exception is made
relative to the exclusion of children from bars of licensed premises, in
the case of a child being on licensed premises where a substantial part
of the business carried on is a drapery, grocery, hardware or other
business wholly unconnected with the sale of intoxicating liquor, and
the child is there for the purpose of purchasing goods other than
intoxicating liquor.

_British Possessions._--Legislation much on the lines of the acts of
1889-1908 has been passed in many British possessions, e.g. Tasmania
(1895, 1906), Queensland (1896, 1905), Jamaica (1896), South Australia
(1899, 1904), New South Wales (1892 and 1900), New Zealand (1906),
Mauritius (1906), Victoria (1905,1906). In South Australia a State
Children's Department has been created to care for and manage the
property and persons of destitute and neglected children, and the
officials of the council may act in cases of cruelty to children; the
legislation of Victoria and Queensland is based on that of South
Australia. See also CHILDREN'S COURTS, EDUCATION and LABOUR LEGISLATION.
(W. F. C.; T. A. I.)

FOOTNOTE:

[1] There has been some doubt as to whether it is more correct to
say a person "_overlays_" or "_overlies_" a child, and the question
came up in committee on the bill. According to Sir J.A.H. Murray
(see Letter in _The Times_, 12th of May 1908) "to lie," an
intransitive verb, becomes transitive when combined with a
preposition, e.g. a nurse lies over a child or overlies a child; "to
lay" is the causal derivative of "to lie," and is followed by two
objects, e.g. to lay the table with a cloth, or to lay a cloth on
the table; similarly, to overlay a surface with varnish, or to
overlay a child with a blanket, or with the nurse's or mother's
body. The instrument can be left unexpressed, and a person can be
said to overlay a child, i.e. with her own body, a pillow, &c. Thus,
while "overlie" covers the case where the woman herself lies over
the child, "overlay" is the more general word.

CHILDRENITE, a rare mineral species; a hydrous basic aluminium iron
phosphate, orthorhombic in crystallization. The ferrous oxide is in part
replaced by manganous oxide and lime, and in the closely allied and
isomorphous species eosphorite manganese predominates over iron. The
general formula for the two species is Al(Fe, Mn)(OH)2PO2 + H2O.
Childrenite is found only as small brilliant crystals of a
yellowish-brown colour, somewhat resembling chalybite in general
appearance. They are usually pyramidal in habit, often having the form
of double six-sided pyramids with the triangular faces deeply striated
parallel to their shorter edges. Hardness 4.5-5; specific gravity
3.18-3.24. The mineral, named after the zoologist and mineralogist J.G.
Children (1777-1852), secretary of the Royal Society, was detected in
1823 on specimens obtained some years previously during the cutting of a
canal near Tavistock in Devonshire. It has also been found in a few
copper mines in Cornwall and Devonshire.

Eosphorite occurs as crystals of prismatic habit with angles very nearly
the same as those of childrenite. Unlike childrenite, it has a distinct
cleavage in one direction, and often occurs in compact masses as well as
in crystals. The colour is sometimes yellowish-white, but usually
rose-pink, and on this account the mineral was named from [Greek:
êosphoros], dawn-bearer. Hardness 5; specific gravity 3.11-3.145. It was
discovered in 1878 in a pegmatite-vein at Branchville, Connecticut,
where it is associated with other rare manganese phosphates. (L. J. S.)

CHILDREN'S COURTS, or JUVENILE COURTS, a special system of tribunals for
dealing with juvenile offenders, first suggested in the United States.
The germ of such institutions was planted in Massachusetts in 1869, when
a plan was introduced at Boston of hearing charges against children
separately, and apart from the ordinary business of the lesser
tribunals. No great progress was made in the development of the idea in
Massachusetts, as the legal authorities were not fully convinced of the
utility or need for a separate court so long as the children were kept
strictly apart from adults, and this could be assured by a separate
session. But the system of "probation," by which children were handed
over to the kindly care and guardianship of an appointed officer, and
thus escaped legal repression, was created about the same time in Boston
and produced excellent results. The probation officer is present at the
judge's side when he decides a case, and is given charge of the
offender, whom he takes by the hand, either at his parent's residence or
at school, and continually supervises, having power if necessary to
bring him again before the judge. The example of Massachusetts in due
course influenced other countries, and especially the British colony of
South Australia, where a State Children's Department was created at
Adelaide in 1895, and three years later a juvenile court was opened
there for the trial of persons under eighteen and was conducted with
great success, though the system of probation officers was not
introduced. A juvenile court was also established at Toronto (Canada) on
the South Australian model.

The movement when once fully appreciated went ahead very rapidly. In the
United States Illinois was the first state to call a distinct children's
court into existence, and Judge Richard Tuthill was the pioneer at
Chicago, where the court was established in 1899. Many states followed
suit, including New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, Kansas,
Colorado, Indiana and others, till the number rose to nineteen in 1906.
In New York, where juvenile probation is supervised by the Society for
the Protection of Children, there is a separate children's court with
rooms attached, where the children for detention wait till they are
brought in for trial. Brooklyn has also a children's court. In
Pennsylvania, where the juvenile court was at first opposed as
unconstitutional, the difficulty was met by first bringing the child
before the magistrate in the police court, a course which (though
followed by his transferring the case to the special court) perpetuated
the very evils the children's court was intended to avoid; the work of
probation was, however, most effectively carried out, chiefly by female
officers. The Chicago Juvenile Court sits twice weekly under an
especially appointed judge, and policemen act as probation officers to
some extent. The court of Indianapolis, however, gained the reputation
of being the most complete and perfect in the United States. It works
with a large and highly efficient band of volunteer probation officers
under a chief. The juvenile court of Denver, Colorado, attained
remarkable results under Judge B. Lindsey, whose magnetic personality,
wonderful comprehension of boy nature, and extraordinary influence over
them achieved great results. The court meets once a fortnight, when
fresh cases are tried and boys already on probation report themselves,
often to the number of two hundred at a time. The latter appear before
the judge in batches, each hands in his school report in a sealed
letter, and according to its purport receives praise or blame, or he may
be committed to the Detention House. An efficient court was also
constituted at Baltimore, Maryland, with a judge especially chosen to
preside, probation being for fixed periods, varying from three months to
three years, and children being brought back to the court for parole or
discharge, or, if necessary, committal to the house of one of the
philanthropic societies. In Washington, D.C., the system of having no
distinct court or judge, but holding a separate session, was followed,
and it was found that numbers of children came to the court for help and
guidance, looking upon the judge for the time being as their friend and
counsellor. Probation in this instance offered peculiar difficulties on
account of the colour question, two-thirds of the children having negro
blood and a white boy being always preferred for a vacant situation.
Throughout, the action of juvenile courts in the United States has been
to bring each individual into "human touch" with kindly helpful workers
striving to lead the young idea aright and train it to follow the
straight path. It was the result always of the effort of private persons
and not due to government initiative, indeed the advocates and champions
of the system only established it by overcoming strong opposition from
the authorities.

Progress in the same direction has been made in England. The home office
had recommended London police magistrates to keep children's cases
separate from those of adults; the same practice or something analogous
obtained in many county boroughs, such as Bath, Birmingham, Bristol,
Bolton, Bradford, Hull, Manchester, Walsall, Halifax and others, and the
Children Act 1908 definitely established children's courts. This act
enacted that courts of summary jurisdiction when hearing charges, &c.,
against children or young persons should, unless the child or young
person is charged jointly with an adult, sit in a different building or
room from that in which the ordinary sittings of the court are held, or
on different days or at different times. Furthermore, provision must be
made for preventing persons apparently under the age of sixteen years
whilst being conveyed to or from court, or whilst waiting before or
after their attendance in court, from associating with adults, unless
such adults are charged jointly with them. The act prohibits any persons
other than members and officers of the court, the parties to the case,
their solicitors, counsel and other persons directly concerned in the
case, from being present in a juvenile court, except by leave of the
court. Bona-fide press representatives are also excepted. The main
object of the whole system is to keep the child, the embryotic offender
who has probably erred from ignorance or the pressure of circumstances
or misfortune, altogether free from the taint or contagion that attaches
to criminal proceedings. The moral atmosphere of a legal tribunal is
injurious to the youthful mind, and children who appear before a bench,
whether as accused or as witness, gain a contemptuous familiarity with
legal processes.

The most beneficial action of the children's court comes from its
association with the system of personal guardianship and close
supervision exercised by the probation officers, official and voluntary.
Where the intervention of the newly constituted tribunal can not only
save the child from evil association when first arrested, but can rescue
him without condemnation and committal to prison, its functions may be
relied upon to diminish crime by cutting it off at the source. Much
depends upon the quality and temperament of the presiding authority.
Where a judge with special aptitude can be appointed, firm, sympathetic,
tactful and able to gain the confidence of those brought before him, he
may do great good, by dealing with each individual and not merely with
his offence, realizing that the court does not exist to condemn but to
strengthen and give a fresh chance. Where the children's court is only a
branch of the existing jurisdiction worked by the regular magistrate or
judge fulfilling his ordinary functions and not specially chosen, the
beneficial results are not so noticeable. (A. G.)

CHILDREN'S GAMES. The study of traditional games has in recent years
become an important branch of folklore research in England, and has
contributed not a little towards elucidating many unrecorded facts in
early history. These games may be broadly divided into two
kinds--dramatic games, and games of skill and chance. These differ
materially in their object. Games of skill and chance are played for the
purpose of winning property from a less fortunate player. The dramatic
games consist of non-singing and singing games; they are divided between
boys' games and girls' games. Boys' games are mostly of a contest
character, girls' of a more domestic type. The boys' dramatic games have
preserved some interesting beliefs and customs, but the tendency in
these games, such as "prisoner's base," has been to drop the words and
tune and to preserve only that part (action) which tends best for
exercise and use in school playgrounds. The girls' singing-games have
not developed on these lines, and have therefore not lost so much of
their early characteristics. The singing games consist of words, tune
and action. The words, in verse, express ideas contained in customs not
now in vogue, and they may be traced back to events taking place between
men and women and between people of different villages. The tunes are
simple, and the same tune is frequently used for different games. The
actions are illustrative of the ideas to be expressed. The players
represent various objects--animals, villages and people. The singing
game is therefore not a game in the usual sense of the word. There is no
element of "gambling" or playing "to win" in it--no one is richer or
poorer for it; it also requires a number of children to play together.
It is really a "play," and has survived because it has handed down some
instances of custom and belief which were deeply rooted and which made a
strong appeal to the imagination of our ancestors. The singing games
represent in dramatic form the survival of those ceremonial dances
common to people in early stages of development. These dances celebrated
events which served to bind the people together and to give them a
common interest in matters affecting their welfare. They were dramatic
in character, singing and action forming a part of them, and their
performers were connected by ties of place or kindred. They are probably
survivals of what we might call folk drama. In these times it was held
imperative to perform religious ceremonies periodically; at sowing and
harvesting to ensure good crops; in the care of cattle and on occasions
of marriage, birth and death. These were matters affecting the welfare
of the whole community. Events were celebrated with dance, song and
feasting, and no event was too trivial to be unconnected with some
belief which rendered ceremony necessary.

At first these ceremonial dances had deep religious feeling for their
basis, but in process of time they became purely secular and were
performed at certain seasons only, because it was the custom to do so.
They then became recognized as beautiful or pleasing things in the life
of the people, and so continued, altering somewhat in ideas but
retaining their old dramatic forms. They were danced by old and young at
festivals and holidays, these being held about the same time of year as
that at which the previous religious ceremonies had been held.

Singing games are danced principally in one of two methods, "line" and
"circle." These represent two of the early forms of dramatic action. The
"line" form (two lines of players standing opposite each other having a
space of ground between them, advancing and retiring in turn) represents
two different and opposing parties engaged in a struggle or contest.
This method is used in all cases where contest is involved. The "circle"
form, on the other hand, where all players join hands, represents those
occasions when all the people of one place were engaged in celebrating
events in which all were interested. Thus games celebrating sowing and
harvest, and those associated with love and marriage, are played in this
form. Both these methods allow of development. The circle varies from
examples where all perform the same actions and say the same words to
that where two or more players have principal parts, the others only
singing or acting in dumb show, to examples where the singing has
disappeared. The form or method of play and the actions constitute the
oldest remaining parts of the game (the words being subject to
alterations and loss through ignorance of their meaning), and it is to
this form or method, the actions and the accompaniment of song, that
they owe their survival, appealing as they do to the strong dramatic
instinct of children and of uncultured folk.

It will be convenient to give a few instances of the best-known singing
games. In "line" form, a fighting game is "We are the Rovers." The words
tell us of two opposing parties fighting for their land; both sides
alternately deride one another and end by fighting until one side is
victorious. Two other "line" games, "Nuts in May" and "Here come three
dukes a-riding," are also games of contest, but not for territory. These
show an early custom of obtaining wives. They represent marriage by
capture, and are played in "line" form because of the element of contest
contained in the custom. Another form, the "arch," is also used to
indicate contest.

Circle games, on the contrary, show such customs as harvest and
marriage, with love and courting, and a ceremony and sanction by
assembled friends. "Oats and beans and barley" and "Sally Water" are
typical of this form. The large majority of circle games deal with love
or marriage and domestic life. The customs surviving in these games deal
with tribal life and take us back to "foundation sacrifice," "well
worship," "sacredness of fire," besides marriage and funeral customs.

Details may be found in the periodical publications of the Folk-lore
Society, and particularly in the following works:--A.B. Gomme's
_Traditional Games of Great Britain_ (2 vols., Nutt, 1894-1898);
Gomme's _Children's Singing Games_ (Nutt, 1904.); Eckenstein's
_Comparative Studies in Nursery Rhymes_ (Duckworth, 1906); Maclagan,
_Games of Argyllshire_, Folk-lore Society (1900); Newell's _Games of
American Children_ (Harper Bros., New York, 1884). In Mrs Gomme's
_Traditional Games_, several versions of each game, together with a
short account of the suggested origin and of the custom or belief
indicated, are given for each game. In vol. ii. (pp. 458-531) a memoir
of the history of games is given, and the customs and beliefs which
originated them, reviewing the whole subject from the anthropological
point of view, and showing the place which games occupy among the
evidences of early man. In Miss Eckenstein's comparative study of
nursery rhymes suggested origins are given for many of these, and an
attempt made to localize certain of the customs and events. In several
of the publications of the Folk-lore Society local collections of
games are given, all of which may be studied with advantage. Stubbes
and other early writers give many instances of boys' games in their
days, many of which still exist. Tylor and other writers on
anthropology, in dealing with savage custom, confirm the views here
expressed. For nursery rhymes see Halliwell, _Nursery Rhymes_ (1845),
and Chambers's _Popular Rhymes_ (first printed 1841, reprinted in
1870). The recently collected _Morris Dances_ by Mr Cecil Sharp should
also be consulted. One of the morris dances, bean-setting, evidently
dealing with planting or harvest, is danced in circle form, while
others indicating fighting or rivalry are danced in line form, each
line dancing in circle before crossing over to the opposite, side, and
thus conforming to the laws already shown to exist in the more
ordinary game. (A. B. G.*)

CHILDS, GEORGE WILLIAM (1829-1894), American publisher, was born in
Baltimore, Maryland, on the 12th of May 1829. He was educated in the
public schools, and after a brief term of service in the navy, he became
in 1843 a clerk in a book-shop at Philadelphia. There, in 1847, he
established an independent book-shop, and two years later organized the
publishing house of Childs & Peterson. In 1864, with Anthony J. Drexel,
he purchased the _Public Ledger_, at that time a little known newspaper;
he completely changed its policy and methods, and made it one of the
most influential journals in the country. He died at Philadelphia on the
3rd of February 1894. Childs was widely known for his public spirit and
philanthropy. In addition to numerous private benefactions in
educational and charitable fields, he erected memorial windows to
William Cowper and George Herbert in Westminster Abbey (1877), and to
Milton in St Margaret's, Westminster (1888), a monument to Leigh Hunt at
Kensal Green, a Shakespeare memorial fountain at Stratford-on-Avon
(1887), and monuments to Edgar Allan Poe and to Richard A. Proctor. He
gave Woodland Cemetery to the Typographical Society of Philadelphia for
a printers' burial-ground, and with Anthony J. Drexel founded in 1892 a
home for Union printers at Colorado Springs, Colorado.

His _Recollections_ were published at Philadelphia in 1890.

CHILE, or CHILI (derived, it is said, from the Quichua _chiri_, cold, or
_tchili_, snow), a republic of South America, occupying the narrow
western slope of the continent between Peru and its southern extremity.
(For map see ARGENTINA.) It extends from the northern boundary of the
province of Tacna, about 17° 25' S., to Cape Horn at the extreme
southern point of the Fuegian archipelago in 55° 58' 40'' S., with an
extreme meridian length of 2661 m., and with a coast line considerably
exceeding that figure owing to a westward curve of about 3-1/2° and an
eastward trend south of 50° S. of nearly 8°. Its mainland width ranges
from about 46 to 228 m., and its area, including the islands of the
southern coast, is officially computed to be 307,774 sq. m., though the
Gotha computation (1904) places it at 293,062 sq. m. Chile is thus a
ribbon-like strip of territory between the Andes and the Pacific,
comparatively regular north of the 42nd parallel, but with an extremely
ragged outline south of that line. It is bounded N. by Peru, E. by
Bolivia and Argentina, S. and W. by the Pacific. Its eastern boundary
lines are described under ARGENTINA and BOLIVIA. The war of 1879-81 with
Peru and Bolivia gave to Chile 73,993 sq. m. of territory, or one-fourth
her total area. By subsequent agreements the Bolivian department of the
Literal, or Atacama, and the Peruvian department of Tarapacá, were
formally ceded to Chile, and the northern frontier was removed to the
river Camarones, which enters the Pacific at 19° 12' S. Under the treaty
of Ancon (20th October 1883) Chile was to retain possession of the
provinces of Tacna and Arica belonging to the Peruvian department of
Moquegua for a period of ten years, and then submit "to popular vote
whether those territories are to belong to Chile or Peru." At the
expiration of the period (1893) Chile evaded compliance with the
agreement, and under various pretexts retained forcible possession of
the territory. This arbitrary retention of Tacna and Arica, which became
the province of Tacna under Chilean administration, removed the frontier
still farther north, to the river Sama, which separates that province
from the remaining part of the Peruvian department of Moquegua. Starting
from the mouth of that river, in 17° 57' S., the disputed boundary
follows its course in an irregular N.E. direction to its source in the
Alto do Toledo range, thence S. and E. along the water parting to the
Bolivian boundary line in the Cordillera Silillica.

_Physiography._--For purposes of general topographical description
Chile may be divided into three regions: the desert region of the
north, the central agricultural region between the provinces of
Coquimbo and Llanquihue, and the heavily-forested rainy region south
of lat. 41° S. The desert region is an elevated arid plateau
descending gradually from the Andes towards the coast, where it breaks
down abruptly from elevations of 800 to 1500 ft. From the sea this
plateau escarpment has the appearance of a range of flat topped hills
closely following the coast line. The surface is made up of extensive
plains covered with sand and deposits of alkaline salts, broken by
ranges of barren hills having the appearance of spurs from the Andes,
and by irregular lateral ranges in the vicinity of the main cordillera
enclosing elevated saline plateaus. This region is rainless, barren
and inhospitable, absolutely destitute of vegetation except in some
small river valleys where irrigation is possible, and on the slopes of
some of the snow-covered peaks where the water from the melting snows
nourishes a scanty and coarse vegetation before it disappears in the
thirsty sands. It is very rich in mineral and saline deposits,
however. The eastern parts of this region lie within the higher ranges
of the Andes and include a large district awarded to Chile in 1899
(see ARGENTINA and ATACAMA). This arid, bleak area is apparently a
continuation southward of the great Bolivian _altaplanicie_, and is
known as the Puna de Atacama. Its average elevation is estimated at
11,000 to 12,000 ft. A line of volcanoes crosses it from north to
south, and extensive lava beds cover a considerable part of its
surface. Large shallow saline lakes are also characteristic features
of this region. From 28° S. the spurs from the cordillera toward the
coast are more sharply defined and enclose deeper valleys, where the
cultivation of the soil becomes possible, at first through irrigation
and then with the aid of light periodical rains. The slopes of the
Andes are precipitous, the general surface is rough, and in the north
the higher ground and coast are still barren. Beginning with the
province of Aconcagua the coast elevations crystallize into a range of
mountains, the Cordillera Maritima, which follows the shore line south
to the province of Llanquihue, and is continued still farther south by
the mountain range of Chiloé and the islands of the western coast,
which are the peaks of a submerged mountain chain. Lying between this
coast range and the Andes is a broad valley, or plain, extending from
the Aconcagua river south to the Gulf of Ancud, a distance slightly
over 620 m. with an average width of about 60 m. It is sometimes
called the "Vale of Chile," and is the richest and most
thickly-populated part of the republic. It is a highly fertile region,
is well watered by numerous streams from the Andes, has a moderate
rainfall, and forms an agricultural and grazing region of great
productiveness. It slopes toward the south, and its lower levels are
filled with lakes and with depressions where lakes formerly existed.
It is an alluvial plain for the greater part, but contains some sandy
tracts, as in Ñuble and Arauco; in the north very little natural
forest is found except in the valleys and on the slopes of the
enclosing mountain ranges, but in the south, where the rainfall is
heavier, the plain is well covered with forest. South of 41° S. the
country is mountainous, heavily-forested and inhospitable. There are
only a few scattered settlements within its borders, and a few nomadic
tribes of savages eke out a miserable existence on the coast. The
deeply-indented coast line is filled with islands which preserve the
general outline of the continent southward to the Fuegian archipelago,
the outside groups forming a continuation of the Cordillera Maritima.
The heavy and continuous rainfall throughout this region, especially
in the latitude of Chiloé, gives rise to a large number of rivers and
lakes. Farther south this excessive precipitation is in the form of
snow in the Cordilleras, forming glaciers at a comparatively low level
which in places discharge into the inlets and bays of the sea. The
extreme southern part of this region extends eastward to the Atlantic
entrance to the Straits of Magellan, and includes the greater part of
the large island of Tierra del Fuego with all the islands lying south
and west of it. There are some comparatively level stretches of
country immediately north of the Straits, partly forested and partly
grassy plains, where sheep farming has been established with some
degree of success, but the greater part of this extreme southern
territory is mountainous, cold, wet and inhospitable. The perpetual
snow-line here descends to 3500 to 4000 ft. above sea-level, and the
forest growth does not rise above an altitude of 1000 to 1500 ft.

Mountains.

It has been officially estimated that the arable lands of Chile
comprise about twenty-five millions of acres (slightly over 39,000 sq.
m.), or very nearly one-eighth of its total area. The desert regions
of the north include comparatively large areas of plains and gently
sloping surfaces, traversed by ranges of barren hills. The remainder
of the republic, probably more than three-fifths of its surface, is
extremely mountainous. The western slopes of the Andes, with its spurs
and lateral ranges, cover a broad zone on the eastern side of the
republic, and the Cordillera Maritima covers another broad zone on its
western side from about lat. 33° to the southern extremity of Chiloé,
or below lat. 43°. This maritime range is traversed by several river
valleys, some of which, like the Bio-Bio, are broad and have so gentle
a slope as to be navigable. The Andes, however, present an unbroken
barrier on the east, except at a few points in the south where the
general elevation is not over 5000 to 6000 ft., and where some of the
Chilean rivers, as the Palena and Las Heras, have their sources on its
eastern side. From the 52nd to about the 31st parallel this great
mountain system, known locally as the Cordillera de los Andes,
apparently consists of a single chain, though in reality it includes
short lateral ranges at several points; continuing northward several
parallel ranges appear on the Argentine side and one on the Chilean
side which are ultimately merged in the great Bolivian plateau. The
Chilean lateral range, which extends from the 29th to the 19th
parallels, traverses an elevated desert region and possesses several
noteworthy peaks, among which are Cerro Bolson, 16,017 ft., and Cerro
Dona Ines, 16,706 ft. It is broken to some extent in crossing the
province of Antofagasta, the southern division being known as the
Sierra de Huatacondo. At the southern frontier of Bolivia the main
chain, which has served as the boundary line between Argentina and
Chile, divides into two great ranges, the principal one continuing
almost due north along the eastern side of the great Bolivian
_alta-planicie_, and the other forming its western rim, where it is
known as the Cordillera Silillica, and then following the trend of the
coast north-westward into Peru becomes the Cordillera Occidental. The
western slopes of the Andes are precipitous, with short spurs
enclosing deep valleys. The whole system is volcanic, and a
considerable number of volcanoes are still intermittently active,
noticeably in central and southern Chile. The culminating point of the
Chilean Andes is Aconcagua, which rises to a height of 23,097 ft.

In southern Chile the coast is highly mountainous, but the relation of
these elevations to the Andes has not been clearly determined. The
highest of these apparently detached groups are Mt. Macá (lat. 45°
S.), 9711 ft., and Mt. Arenales (about 47° S. lat.), 11,286 ft.
Cathedral Peak on Wellington Island rises to a height of 3838 ft. and
the highest point on Taytao peninsula to 3937 ft. The coast range of
central Chile has no noteworthy elevations, the culminating point in
the province of Santiago being 7316 ft. Between central Chile and the
northern desert region there is a highly mountainous district where
distinct ranges or elongated spurs cross the republic from the Andes
to the coast, forming transverse valleys of great beauty and
fertility. The most famous of these is the "Vale of Quillota" between
Valparaiso and Santiago. The Chilean Andes between Tacna and Valdivia
are crossed by 24 passes, the majority of them at elevations exceeding
10,000 ft. The best-known of these is the Uspallata pass between
Santiago and the Argentine city of Mendoza, 12,870 ft. above
sea-level. The passes of central and southern Chile are used only in
the summer season, but those of northern Chile are open throughout the
whole year.

The volcanic origin of the Andes and their comparatively recent
elevation still subject Chile, in common with other parts of the
western coast region, to frequent volcanic and seismic disturbances.
In some instances since European occupation, violent earthquake shocks
have resulted in considerable elevations of certain parts of the
coast. After the great earthquake of 1835 Captain Robert FitzRoy
(1805-1865) of H.M.S. "Beagle" found putrid mussel-shells still
adhering to the rocks 10 ft. above high water on the island of Santa
Maria, 30 m. from Concepción, and Charles Darwin declares, in
describing that disaster, that "there can be no doubt that the land
round the bay of Concepción was upraised two or three feet." These
upheavals, however, are not always permanent, the upraised land
sometimes settling back to its former position. This happened on the
island of Santa Maria after 1835. The existence of sea-shells at
elevations of 350 to 1300 ft. in other parts of the republic shows
that these forces, supplemented by a gradual uplifting of the coast,
have been in operation through long periods of time and that the
greater part of central and southern Chile has been raised from the
sea in this way. These earthquake shocks have two distinct
characteristics, a slight vibration, sometimes almost imperceptible,
called a _temblor_, generally occurring at frequent intervals, and a
violent horizontal or rotary vibration, or motion, also repeated at
frequent intervals, called a _terremoto_, which is caused by a
fracture or displacement of the earth's strata at some particular
point, and often results in considerable damage. When the earthquake
occurs on the coast, or beneath the sea in its vicinity, tidal waves
are sometimes formed, which cause even greater damage than the
earthquake itself. Arica has been three times destroyed by tidal
waves, and other small towns of the north Chilean coast have suffered
similar disasters. Coquimbo was swept by a tidal wave in 1849, and
Concepción and Talcahuano were similarly destroyed in 1835. The great
earthquake which partially destroyed Valparaiso in 1906, however, was
not followed by a tidal wave. These violent shocks are usually limited
to comparatively small districts, though the vibrations may be felt at
long distances from the centre of disturbance. In this respect Chile
may be divided into at least four great earthquake areas, two in the
desert region, the third enclosing Valparaiso, and the fourth
extending from Concepción to Chiloé. A study of Chilean earthquake
phenomena, however, would probably lead to a division of southern
Chile into two or more distinct earthquake areas.

Coast.

The coast of Chile is fringed with an extraordinary number of islands
extending from Chiloé S. to Cape Horn, the grouping of which shows
that they are in part the summits of a submerged mountain chain, a
continuation southward of the Cordillera Maritima. Three groups of
these islands, called the Chiloé, Guaytecas and Chonos archipelagoes,
lie N. of the Taytao peninsula (lat. 45° 50' to 46° 55' S.), and with
the mainland to the E. form the province of Chiloé. The largest of
these is the island of Chiloé, which is inhabited. Some of the smaller
islands of these groups are also inhabited, though the excessive
rainfall of these latitudes and the violent westerly storms render
them highly unfavourable for human occupation. Some of the smallest
islands are barren rocks, but the majority of them are covered with
forests. These archipelagoes are separated from the mainland in the
north by the gulfs of Chacao (or Ancud) and Corcovado, 30 to 35 m.
wide, which appear to be a submerged part of the great central valley
of Chile, and farther south by the narrower Moraleda channel, which
terminates southward in a confusing network of passages between the
mainland and the islands of the Chonos group. One of the narrow parts
of the Chilean mainland is to be found opposite the upper islands of
this group, where the accidental juxtaposition of Magdalena island,
which indents the continent over half a degree at this point, and the
basin of Lake Fontana, which gives the Argentine boundary a sharp
wedge-shaped projection westward, narrows the distance between the
two to about 26 m. The Taytao peninsula, incorrectly called the Tres
Montes on some maps, is a westward projection of the mainland, with
which it is connected by the narrow isthmus of Ofqui, over which the
natives and early missionaries were accustomed to carry their boats
between the Moraleda Channel and Gulf of Peñas. A short ship canal
here would give an uninterrupted and protected inside passage from
Chacao Channel all the way to the Straits of Magellan, a distance of
over 760 m. A southern incurving projection of the outer shore-line of
this peninsula is known as Tres Montes peninsula, the most southern
point of which is a cape of the same name. Below the Taytao peninsula
is the broad open Gulf of Peñas, which carries the coast-line eastward
fully 100 m. and is noticeably free from islands. The northern
entrance to Messier Channel is through this gulf. Messier, Pitt,
Sarmiento and Smyth's Channels, which form a comparatively safe and
remarkably picturesque inside route for small steamers, about 338 m.
in length, separate another series of archipelagoes from the mainland.
These channels are in places narrow and tortuous. Among the islands
which thickly fringe this part of the coast, the largest are Azopardo
(lying within Baker Inlet), Prince Henry, Campaña, Little Wellington,
Great Wellington and Mornington (of the Wellington archipelago), Madre
de Dios, Duke of York, Chatham, Hanover, Cambridge, Contreras, Rennell
and the Queen Adelaide group of small barren rocks and islands lying
immediately north of the Pacific entrance to the Straits of Magellan.
The large number of English names on this coast is due to the fact
that the earliest detailed survey of this region was made by English
naval officers; the charts prepared from their surveys are still in
use and form the basis of all subsequent maps. None of these islands
is inhabited, although some of them are of large size, the largest
(Great Wellington) being about 100 m. long. It has likewise been
determined, since the boundary dispute with Argentina called attention
to these territories and led to their careful exploration at the
points in dispute, that Skyring Water, in lat. 53° S., opens westward
into the Gulf of Xaultegua, which transforms Ponsonby Land and Cordoba
(or Croker) peninsula into an island, to which the name of Riesco has
been given. The existence of such a channel was considered probable
when these inland waters were first explored in 1829 by Captain
FitzRoy, but it was not discovered and surveyed until three-quarters
of a century had elapsed. Belonging to the Fuegian group south of the
Straits of Magellan are Desolation, Santa Ines, Clarence, Dawson,
Londonderry, Hoste, Navarin and Wollaston islands, with innumerable
smaller islands and rocks fringing their shores and filling the
channels between them. Admirable descriptions of this inhospitable
region, the farthest south of the inhabited parts of the globe, may be
found in the _Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty's
Ships "Adventure" and "Beagle" between the years 1826 and 1836_ (3
vols., 1839).

The western and larger part of Tierra del Fuego (q.v.) belongs to
Chile. About 63 m. S.W. of Cape Horn, in lat. 56° 25' S., is the Diego
Ramirez group of small, rocky islands, the most southern possession of
the republic. Its westernmost possessions are Sala-y-Gomez and Easter
islands, the former in about 27° S., 105° W., and the latter, the
easternmost inhabited Polynesian island, in 27° 6' S., 109° 17' W.
Much nearer the Chilean coast (396 m.), lying between the 33rd and
34th parallels, are the three islands of the Juan Fernandez group, and
rising apparently from the same submerged plateau about 500 m. farther
north of the latter are the rocky islets of San Ambrosio and San
Felix, all belonging to Chile. North of Chiloé there are few islands
in close proximity to the coast. The more important of these are La
Mocha, off the southern coast of Arauco, in lat. 38° 20' S., which is
8 m. long and rises to an elevation of 1240 ft. above the sea; Santa
Maria, 30 m. south-west of Concepcion, which partially encloses the
Bay of Arauco and is well cultivated; and Quiriquina, lying off the
port of Talcahuano in the entrance to Concepción bay. There are a few
barren islands on the desert coast, the largest of which are between
Coquimbo and Caldera. Since the removal of their guano deposits they
have become practically worthless, except where they serve to shelter
anchorages.

Harbours.

The coast of northern and central Chile is singularly deficient in
good harbours. Those of the desert region are only slight indentations
in a remarkably uniform coast-line, sheltered on one side by a point
of land, or small island. The landings are generally dangerous because
of the surf, and the anchorages are unsafe from storms on the
unprotected side. Among the most frequented of these are Valparaiso,
Coquimbo, Caldera, Iquique and Arica. There are some small harbours
for coasting vessels of light draught along the coast of central
Chile, usually at the partially obstructed mouths of the larger
rivers, as San Antonio near the mouth of the Maipó, Constitución at
the mouth of the Maule, and Llico on the outlet of Lake Vichuquen, but
there is no harbour of importance until Conceptión (or Talcahuano) Bay
is reached. There are three harbours on this bay, El Tomé, Penco and
Talcahuano (q.v.), the last being the largest and best-protected port
on the inhabited part of the Chilean coast. Immediately south of this
bay is the large Bay of Arauco, into which the Bio-Bio river
discharges, and on which, sheltered by the island of Santa Maria, are
the ports of Coronel and Lota. The next important harbour is that of
El Corral, at the mouth of the Valdivia river and 15 m. below the
city of Valdivia. The Bay of San Carlos on the northern coast of
Chiloé, which opens upon the narrow Chacao channel, has the port of
Ancud, or San Carlos, and is rated an excellent harbour for vessels of
light and medium draught. Inside the island of Chiloé the large gulfs
of Chacao (or Ancud) and Corcovado are well protected from the severe
westerly storms of these latitudes, but they are little used because
the approach through the Chacao channel is tortuous and only 2 to 3 m.
wide, and the two gulfs, though over 30 m. wide and 150 m. long, are
beset with small rocky islands. At the north end of the first is the
Reloncavi, a large and nearly landlocked bay, on which stands Puerto
Montt, the southern terminus of the Chilean central railway. The large
Gulf of Peñas, south of Taytao peninsula, is open to the westerly
storms of the Pacific, but it affords entrance to several natural
harbours. Among these are the Gulfs of Tres Montes and San Estevan,
and Tarn Bay at the entrance to Messier Channel. The next 300 m. of
the Chilean coast contain numerous bays and inlets affording safe
harbours, but the mainland and islands are uninhabited and the climate
inhospitable. Behind Rennell Island in lat. 52° S., however, is a
succession of navigable estuaries which penetrate inland nearly to the
Argentine frontier. The central part of this group of estuaries is
called Worsley Sound, and the last and farthest inland of its arms is
Last Hope Inlet (Ultima Esperanza), on which is situated the Chilean
agricultural colony of Puerto Consuelo. The Straits of Magellan, about
360 m. in length, lie wholly within Chilean territory. Midway of them
is situated Punta Arenas, the most southern town and port of the
republic.

Rivers.

Except in the extreme south the hydrography of Chile is of the
simplest description, all the larger rivers having their sources in
the Andes and flowing westward to the Pacific. Their courses are
necessarily short, and only a few have navigable channels, the
aggregate length of which is only 705 m. Nearly all rivers in the
desert region are lost in the sands long before reaching the coast.
Their waterless channels are interesting, however, as evidence of a
time when climatological conditions on this coast were different. The
principal rivers of this region are Sama (which forms the provisional
boundary line with Peru), Tacna, Camarones, Loa, Copiapó, Huasco,
Elqui, Limari and Choapa. The Loa is the largest, having its sources
on the slopes of the Cordillera south of the Minho volcano, between
21° and 21° 30' S. lat., and flowing south on an elevated plateau to
Chiuchiu, and thence west and north in a great curve to Quillaga,
whence its dry channel turns westward again and reaches the Pacific in
lat. 21° 28' S., a few miles south of the small port of Huanillos. Its
total length is estimated at 250 m. The upper courses of the river are
at a considerable elevation above the sea and receive a large volume
of water from the Cordilleras. The water of its upper course and
tributaries is sweet, and is conducted across the desert in pipes to
some of the coast towns, but in its lower course, as in all the rivers
of this region, it becomes brackish. The Copiapó, which once
discharged into the sea, is now practically exhausted in irrigating a
small fertile valley in which stands the city of that name. The
Copiapó and Huasco have comparatively short courses, but they receive
a considerable volume of water from the higher sierras. The latter is
also used to irrigate a small, cultivated valley. The rivers of the
province of Coquimbo--the Elqui or Coquimbo, Limari and Choapa--exist
under less arid conditions, and like those of the province of
Aconcagua--the Ligua and Aconcagua--are used to irrigate a much larger
area of cultivated territory. The central agricultural provinces are
traversed by several important rivers, all of them rising on the
western slopes of the snow-clad Andes and breaking through the lower
coast range to the Pacific after being extensively used to irrigate
the great central valley of Chile. These are the Maipó (Maypó or
Maipú), Rapel, Mataquito, Maule, Itata, Bio-Bio, Imperial, Tolten,
Valdivia or Calle-Calle, Bueno and Maullin. With the exception of the
first three, these rivers have short navigable channels, but they are
open only to vessels of light draught because of sand-bars at their
mouths. The largest is the Bio-Bio, which has a total length of 220
m., 100 of which are navigable. These rivers have been of great
service in the agricultural development of this part of Chile,
affording means of transportation where railways and highways were
entirely lacking. Some of the larger tributaries of these rivers,
whose economic value has been equally great, are the Mapocho, which
flows through Santiago and enters the Maipó from the north; the
turbulent Cachapoal, which joins the Rapel from the north; the Claro,
which waters an extensive part of the province of Talca and enters the
Maule from the north; the Ñuble, which rises in the higher Andes north
of the peaks of Chillan and flows entirely across the province of
Ñuble to join the Itata on its western frontier; the Laja, which rises
in a lake of the same name near the Argentine frontier in about lat.
35° 30' S. and flows almost due west to the Bio-Bio; and the Cautin,
which rises in the north-east corner of Cautin and after a tortuous
course westward nearly across that province forms the principal
confluent of the Imperial. The unsettled southern regions of Chiloé
(mainland) and Magallanes are traversed by a number of important
rivers which have been only partially explored. They have their
sources in the Andes, some of them on the eastern side of the line of
highest summits. The Puelo has its origin in a lake of the same name
in Argentine territory, and flows north-west through the Cordilleras
into an estuary (Reloncavi Inlet) of the Gulf of Reloncavi at the
northern end of the Gulf of Chacao. Its lower course is impeded in
such a manner as to form three small lakes, called Superior, Inferior
and Taguatagua. A large northern tributary of the Puelo, the Manso,
has its sources in Lake Mascardi and other lakes and streams
south-east of the Cerro Tronador, also in Argentina, and flows
south-west through the Cordilleras to unite with the Puelo a few miles
west of the 72nd meridian. The Reloncavi Inlet also receives the
outflow of Lake Todos los Santos through a short tortuous stream
called the Petrohue. The Comau Inlet and river form the boundary line
between the provinces of Llanquihue and Chiloé, and traverse a densely
wooded country in a north-westerly direction from the Andes to the
north-eastern shore of the Gulf of Chacao. Continuing southward, the
Yelcho is the next important river to traverse this region. It drains
a large area of Argentine territory, where it is called the Rio
Fetaleufu or Fetalauquen, its principal source being a large lake of
the same name. It flows south-west through the Andes, and then
north-west through Lake Yelcho to the Gulf of Corcovado. The Argentine
colony of the 16th of October, settled principally by Welshmen from
Chubut, is located on some of the upper tributaries of this river, in
about lat. 43° S. The Palena is another river of the same character,
having its source in a large frontier lake called General Paz and
flowing for some distance through Argentine territory before crossing
into Chile. It receives one large tributary from the south, the Roo
Pico, and enters an estuary of the Gulf of Corcovado a little north of
the 44th parallel. The Frias is wholly a Chilean river, draining an
extensive Andean region between the 44th and 45th parallels and
discharging into the Puyuguapi channel, which separates Magdalena
island from the mainland. The Aisen also has its source in Argentine
territory near the 46th parallel, and drains a mountainous region as
far north as the 45th parallel, receiving numerous tributaries, and
discharging a large volume of water into the Moraleda channel in about
lat. 45° 20' S. The lower course of this river is essentially an
inlet, and is navigable for a short distance. The next large river is
the Las Heras, or Baker, through which the waters of Lakes Buenos
Aires and Pueyrredon, or Cochrane, find their way to the Pacific. Both
of these large lakes are crossed by the boundary line. The Las Heras
discharges into Martinez Inlet, the northern part of a large estuary
called Baker or Calen Inlet which penetrates the mainland about 75 m.
and opens into Tarn Bay at the south-east corner of the Gulf of Peñas.
Azopardo (or Merino Jarpa) island lies wholly within this great
estuary, while at its mouth lies a group of smaller islands, called
Baker Islands, which separate it from Messier Channel. The course of
the Las Heras from Lake Buenos Aires is south and south-west, the
short range of mountains in which are found the Cerros San Valentin
and Arenales forcing it southward for an outlet. Baker Inlet also
receives the waters of still another large Argentine-Chilean lake, San
Martin, whose far-reaching fjord-like arms extend from lat. 49° 10' to
48° 20' S.; its north-west arm drains into the Tero, or La Pascua,
river. Lake San Martin lies in a crooked deeply cut passage through
the Andes, and the divide between its southern extremity (Laguna Tar)
and Lake Viedma, which discharges through the Santa Cruz river into
the Atlantic, is so slight as to warrant the hypothesis that this was
once a strait between the two oceans. After a short north-westerly
course the Toro discharges into Baker Inlet in lat. 48° 15' S., long.
73° 24' W. South of the Toro there are no large rivers on this coast,
but the narrow fjords penetrate deeply into the mountains and bring
away the drainage of their snow-capped, storm-swept elevations. A
peculiar network of fjords and connecting channels terminating inland
in a peculiarly shaped body of water with long, widely branching arms,
called Worsley Sound, Obstruction Sound and Last Hope Inlet, covers an
extensive area between the 51st and 53rd parallels, and extends nearly
to the Argentine frontier. It has the characteristics of a tidewater
river and drains an extensive region. The sources of the Argentine
river Coile are to be found among the lakes and streams of this same
region, within Chilean territory. A noteworthy peculiarity of southern
Chile, from the Taytao peninsula (about 46° 50' S. lat.) to Tierra del
Fuego, is the large number of glaciers formed on the western and
southern slopes of the Cordilleras and other high elevations, which
discharge direct into these deeply cut estuaries. Some of the larger
lakes of the Andes have glaciers discharging into them. The formation
of these icy streams at comparatively low levels, with their discharge
direct into tidewater estuaries, is a phenomenon not to be found
elsewhere in the same latitudes.

Lakes.

The lakes of Chile are numerous and important, but they are found
chiefly in the southern half of the republic. In the north the only
lakes are large lagoons, or morasses, on the upper saline plateaus
between the 23rd and 28th parallels. They are fed from the melting
snows and periodical storms of the higher Andes, and most of them are
completely dry part of the year. Their waters are saturated with
saline compounds, which in some cases have considerable commercial
value. In central Chile above the Bio-Bio river the lakes are small
and have no special geographical interest, with the exception perhaps
of the Laguna del Maule, in 36° 7' S., and Laguna de la Laja, in 37°
20', which lie in the Andes near the Argentine frontier and are
sources of the two rivers of the same names. Below the Bio-Bio river
there is a line of large picturesque lakes extending from the province
of Cautin, south through that of Llanquihue, corresponding in
character and position to the dry lacustrine depressions extending
northward in the same valley. They lie on the eastern side near the
Cordilleras, and serve the purpose of great reservoirs for the
excessive precipitation of rain and snow on their western slopes. With
one exception they all drain westward into the Pacific through short
and partly navigable rivers, and some of the lakes are also utilized
for steamship navigation. These lakes are Villarica on the southern
frontier of Cautin, Rinihue and Ranco in Valdivia, and Puyehue,
Rupanco, Llanquihue and Todos los Santos in Llanquihue. The largest of
the number are Lakes Ranco and Llanquihue, the former with an
estimated area of 200 sq. m. and the latter of 300 sq. m. Lake Todos
los Santos is situated well within the Andean foothills north-east of
Puerto Montt and at an elevation of 509 ft., considerably above that
of the other lakes, Lake Ranco being 230 ft. above sea-level. The
great Andean lakes of General Paz (near the 44th parallel), Buenos
Aires (in lat. 46° 30' S.), Pueyrredon, or Cpchrane (47° 15' S.) and
San Martin (49° S.), lie partly within Chilean territory. In the
extreme south are Lagoa Blanca, a large fresh-water lake in lat. 52°
30' S., and two large inland salt-water sounds, or lagoons, called
Otway Water and Skyring Water, connected by FitzRoy Passage.

_Geology._--Chile may be divided longitudinally into two regions which
differ from each other in their geological structure. Along the coast
lies a belt of granite and schist overlaid unconformably by Cretaceous
and Tertiary deposits; inland the mountains are formed chiefly of
folded Mesozoic beds, together with volcanic rocks of later date. The
great longitudinal valley of Chile runs approximately, but only
approximately, along the boundary between the two zones. Towards the
north the coastal zone disappears beneath the sea and the Andean zone
reaches to the shore. The ancient rocks which form the most
characteristic feature of the former do indeed occur upon the coast of
Peru, but in the north of Chile they are found only in isolated masses
standing close to the shore or, as at Mejillones, projecting into the
sea. South of Antofagasta the old rocks form a nearly continuous band
along the coast, extending as far as Cape Horn and Staten Island, and
occupying the greater part of the islands of southern Chile.
Lithologically they are crystalline schists, together with granite,
diorite, gabbro and other igneous rocks. They are known to be
pre-Jurassic, but whether they are Palaeozoic or Archaean is
uncertain. They are strongly folded and are overlaid unconformably by
Cretaceous and Tertiary deposits. In the north both the Cretaceous and
Tertiary beds of this zone are limited in extent, but towards the
south Mesozoic beds, which are at least in part Cretaceous, form a
band of considerable width. The Tertiary beds include both marine and
terrestrial deposits, and appear to be chiefly of Miocene and Pliocene
age. The whole of the north part of Tierra del Fuego is occupied by
plateaus of horizontal Tertiary strata.

The Chilean Andes correspond with the Western Cordillera of Bolivia
and Peru, and consist almost entirely of Jurassic and Cretaceous beds,
together with the products of the Tertiary eruptions. The Mesozoic
beds are thrown into a series of parallel folds which run in the
direction of the chain and which are generally free from any
complications such as overthrusting or overfolding. The Cretaceous
beds form a synclinal upon the eastern side of the chain (and, in
general, beyond the Chilean boundary), while the Jurassic beds are
thrown into a number of folds which form the axis and the western
flank. Through the Mesozoic beds are intruded granitic and other
igneous rocks of Tertiary age, and upon the folded Mesozoic foundation
rise the volcanic cones of Tertiary and later date. The Trias is known
only at La Ternera near Copiapó, where coal-seams with Rhaetic plants
have been found; but the rest of the Mesozoic series, from the Lias to
the Upper Cretaceous, appears to be represented without a break of
more than local importance. The deposits are marine, consisting mainly
of sandstone and limestone, together with tuffs and conglomerates of
porphyry and porphyrite. These porphyritic rocks form a characteristic
feature of the southern Andes, and were at one time supposed to be
metamorphic; but they are certainly volcanic, and as they contain
marine fossils they must have been laid down beneath the sea. They are
not confined to any one horizon, but occur irregularly throughout the
Jurassic and occasionally also amongst the Cretaceous strata. They
form, in fact, a special facies which may frequently be traced
laterally into the more normal marine deposit of the same age. The
fauna of the Mesozoic beds is very rich, and includes forms which are
found in northern Europe, others which occur in central Europe, and
others again which are characteristic of the Mediterranean region. It
lends no support to Neumayr's theory of climatic zones. A large part
of the chain is covered by the products of the great volcanoes which
still form the highest summits of the Chilean and Argentine Andes. The
rocks are liparites, dacites, hornblende and pyroxene andesites. The
recent lavas of the still active volcanoes of the south are
olivine-bearing hypersthene-andesite and basalt.[1]

_Climate_.--The climate of Chile varies widely, from the tropical
heat and extreme arid conditions of the northern coast to the low
temperatures and extreme humidity of western Tierra del Fuego and the
southern coast. The high altitudes of the Andean region also introduce
vertical zones of temperature, modified to some extent by the rainless
plateaus of the north, and by the excessive rainfall of the south. In
general terms it may be said that the extremes of temperature are not
so great as in corresponding latitudes of the northern hemisphere,
because of the greater expanse of water in comparison with the land
areas, the summers being cooler and the winters warmer. The cold
antarctic, or Humboldt, current sweeps northward along the coast and
greatly modifies the heat of the arid, tropical plateaus. The climate
of northern and central Chile is profoundly affected by the high
mountain barrier on the eastern frontier and by the broad treeless
pampas of Argentina, which raise the easterly moisture-laden winds
from the Atlantic to so high an elevation that they sweep across Chile
without leaving a drop of rain. At very rare intervals light rains
fall in the desert regions north of Coquimbo, but these are brought by
the prevailing coast winds. With this exception these regions are the
most arid on the face of the globe, highly heated by a tropical sun
during the day and chilled at night by the proximity of snow-covered
heights and a cold ocean current. Going south the temperature slowly
falls and the rainfall gradually increases, the year being divided
into a short rainy season and a long, dry, cloudless season. At
Copiapó, in 27° 22' S., 1300 ft. above the sea, the mean annual
temperature is 60° and the rainfall about 1 in., but at Coquimbo, in
29° 56' S., the temperature is 59.2° and the rainfall 1½ in. At
Santiago, in 33° 27' S., 1755 ft. above the sea, the mean temperature
is 54° and the annual rainfall 16½ in., though the latter varies
considerably. The number of rainy days in the year averages about 21.
At Talca, in 35° 36' S. and 334 ft. above sea-level, the mean annual
temperature is nearly one degree above that of Santiago, but the
rainfall has increased to 19.7 in. The long dry season of this region
makes irrigation necessary, and vegetation has something of a
subtropical appearance, palms growing naturally as far south as 37°.
The climate is healthy and agreeable, though the death-rate among the
common people is abnormally high on account of personal habits and
unsanitary surroundings. In southern Chile the climate undergoes a
radical change--the prevailing winds becoming westerly, causing a long
rainy season with a phenomenal rainfall. The plains as well as the
western slopes of the Andes are covered with forest, the rivers become
torrents, and the sky is covered with heavy clouds a great part of the
year. At Valdivia, in 39° 49' S. and near the sea-level, the mean
annual temperature is 52.9° and the annual rainfall 108 to 115 in.,
with about 150 rainy days in the year. These meteorological conditions
are still more accentuated at Ancud, at the north end of the island of
Chiloé, in 41° 46' S., where the mean annual temperature is 50.7° and
the annual rainfall 134 in. The equable character of the climate at
this point is shown by the limited range between its summer and winter
temperatures, the mean for January being 56.5° and the mean for July
45.9°. The almost continual cloudiness is undoubtedly a principal
cause, not only of the low summer temperatures, but also of the
comparatively high winter temperatures. Frosts are infrequent, and
snow does not lie long. The climate is considered to be healthful
notwithstanding the excessive humidity. The 600 m. of coast from the
Chonos Archipelago south to the Fuegian islands have a climate closely
approximating that of the latter. It is wet and stormy all the year
through, though the rainfall is much less than that of Ancud and
Valdivia. The line of perpetual snow, which is 6000 ft. above
sea-level between lat. 41° and 43°, descends to 3500 (to 4000) ft. in
Tierra del Fuego, affording another indication of the low maximum
temperatures ruling during the summer. At the extreme south, where
Chilean territory extends across to the Atlantic entrance to the
Straits of Magellan, a new climatic influence is encountered in the
warm equatorial current flowing down the east coast of South America,
which gives to eastern Tierra del Fuego a higher temperature than that
of the western shore. The Andes, although much broken in these
latitudes, also exert a modifying influence on these eastern
districts, sheltering them from the cold westerly storms and giving
them a drier climate. This accounts for the surprising meteorological
data obtained from Punta Arenas, in 53° 10' S., where the mean annual
temperature is 43.2° and the annual rainfall only 22.5 in. Other
observations reduce this annual precipitation to less than 16 in.
According to observations made by the Swedish Antarctic Expedition
(1901-1903), at Orange Bay, Hoste Island, in lat. 55° 31' S., long.
68° 05' W., which is more exposed to the westerly storms, the mean
temperature for 11 months was 41.98° and the total precipitation (rain
and snow) 53.1 in. The mean maximum temperature was 49.24°, and the
mean minimum 35.83°. The observations showed 284 days with rain or
snow, of which 70 were with snow.

_Flora_.--The indigenous flora of Chile is less extensive and less
interesting than those of Argentina and Brazil, but contains many
peculiar genera and species. A classification of this flora
necessitates its division into at least three general zones--the
desert provinces of the north, central Chile, and the humid regions of
the south. The first is an arid desert absolutely barren along part of
the coast, between Tacna and Copiapó, but with a coarse scanty
vegetation near the Cordilleras along watercourses and on the slopes
where moisture from the melting snows above percolates through the
sand. In the valleys of the Copiapó and Huasco rivers a meagre
vegetation is to be found near their channels, apart from what is
produced by irrigation, but the surface of the plateau and the dry
river channels below the sierras are completely barren. Continuing
southward into the province of Coquimbo a gradual change in the arid
conditions may be observed. The higher summits of the Cordilleras
afford a larger and more continuous supply of water, and so dependent
are the people in the cultivated river valleys on this source of water
supply that they watch for snowstorms in the Cordilleras as an
indication of what the coming season is to be. The arborescent growth
near the mountains is larger and more vigorous, in which are to be
found the "algarrobo" (_Prosopis siliquastrum_) and "chañar"
(_Gourliea chilensis_), but the only shrub to be found on the coast is
a species of _Skytanthus_. Near the sierras where irrigation is
possible, fruit-growing is so successful, especially the grape and
fig, that the product is considered the best in Chile. In regard to
the indigenous flora of this region John Ball[2] says: "The species
which grow here are the more or less modified representatives of
plants which at some former period existed under very different
conditions of life." Proceeding southward cacti become common, first a
dwarfed species, and then a larger columnar form (_Cereus quisco_).
The streams are fringed with willows; fruit trees and alfalfa fields
fill the irrigated valleys, and the lower mountain slopes are better
covered with a thorny arborescent growth. The divides between the
streams, however, continue barren as far south as the transverse
ranges of mountains across the province of Aconcagua.

To some degree the flora of central Chile is of a transition character
between the northern and southern zones. It is much more than this,
however, for it has a large number of genera and species peculiarly
its own. A large majority of the 198 genera peculiar to the South
American temperate regions belong exclusively to central Chile. This
zone extends from about the 30th to the 36th parallel, perhaps a
little farther south to include some characteristic types. The
evergreens largely predominate here as well as in the extreme south,
and on the open, sunburnt plains the vegetation takes on a subtropical
aspect. One of the most characteristic trees of this zone is the
_peumo_ (_Cryptocarya peumus_), whose dense evergreen foliage is
everywhere conspicuous. The _quillay_ (_Quillaja saponaria_) is
another characteristic evergreen tree of this region, whose bark
possesses saponaceous properties. In earlier times the coquito palm
(_Jubaea spectabilis_) was to be found throughout this part of Chile,
but it has been almost completely destroyed for its saccharine sap,
from which a treacle was made. One of the most striking forest trees
is the _pehuen_ or Chilean pine (_Araucaria imbricata_), which often
grows to a height of 100 ft. and is prized by the natives for its
fruit. Three indigenous species of the beech--the _roble_ (_Fagus
obliqua_), _coyhue_ (_F. Dombeyi_), and _rauli_ (_F. procera_)--are
widely diffused and highly prized for their wood, especially the
first, which is misleadingly called _roble_ (oak). Most of the woods
used in construction and manufactures are found between the Bio-Bio
river and the Taytao peninsula, among which are the _alerce_
(_Fitzroya patagonica_), _ciprés_ or Chiloé cypress (_Libocedrus
tetragona_), the Chilean cypress (_L. Chilensis_), _lingue_ (_Persea
lingue_), laurel (_Laurus aromatica_), _avellano_ (_Guevina
avellana_), _luma_ (_Myrtus luma_), _espino_ (_Acacia cavenia_) and
many others. Several exotic species have been introduced into this
part of Chile, some of which have thriven even better than in their
native habitats. Among these are the oak, elm, beech (_F. sylvatica_),
walnut, chestnut, poplar, willow and eucalyptus. Through the central
zone the plains are open and there are forests on the mountain slopes,
but in the southern zone there are no plains, with the exception of
small areas near the Straits of Magellan, and the forests are
universal. In the variety, size and density of their growth these
forests remind one of the tropics. They are made up, in great part, of
the evergreen beech (_Fagus betuloides_), the deciduous antarctic
beech (_F. antarctica_),[3] and Winter's bark (_Drimys Winteri_),
intermingled with a dense undergrowth composed of a great variety of
shrubs and plants, among which are _Maytenus magellanica, Arbutus
rigida, Myrtus memmolaria_, two or three species of _Berberis_, wild
currant (_Ribes antarctica_), a trailing blackberry, tree ferns,
reed-like grasses and innumerable parasites. On the eastern side of
the Cordillera, in the extreme south, the climate is drier and open,
and grassy plains are found, but on the western side the dripping
forests extend from an altitude of 1000 to 1500 ft. down to the level
of the sea. A peculiar vegetable product of this inclement region is a
small globular fungus growing on the bark of the beech, which is a
staple article of food among the Fuegians--probably the only instance
where a fungus is the bread of a people.

It is generally conceded that the potato originated in southern Chile,
as it is found growing wild in Chiloé and neighbouring islands and on
the adjacent mainland. The strawberry is also indigenous to these
latitudes on both sides of the Andes, and Chile is credited with a
species from which the cultivated strawberry derives some of its best
qualities. Maize and quinoa (_Chenopodium quinoa_) were known in Chile
before the arrival of Europeans, but it is not certain that they are
indigenous. Species of the bean and pepper plant are also indigenous,
and the former is said to have been cultivated by the natives. Among
the many economic plants which have been introduced into Chile and
have become important additions to her resources, the more prominent
are wheat, barley, hemp and alfalfa (_Medicago sativa_), together with
the staple European fruits, such as the apple, pear, peach, nectarine,
grape, fig, olive and orange. The date-palm has also been introduced
into the southern provinces of the desert region. Among the marine
productions on the southern coast, a species of kelp, _Macrocystis
pyrifera_, merits special mention because of its extraordinary length,
its habit of clinging to the rocks in strong currents and turbulent
seas, and its being a shelter for innumerable species of marine
animals. Captain FitzRoy found it growing from a depth of 270 ft.

_Fauna._--The fauna of Chile is comparatively poor, both in species
and individuals. A great part of the northern deserts is as barren of
animal life as of vegetation, and the dense humid forests of the south
shelter surprisingly few species. There are no large mammals in all
this extensive region except the Cetacea and a species of the
_Phocidae_ of southern waters. Neither are there any dangerous species
of Carnivora, which are represented by the timid puma (_Felis
concolor_), three species of wildcats, three of the fox, two of
_Conepatus_, a weasel, sea-otter and six species of seal. The rodents
are the most numerously represented order, which includes the _coypu_
or nutria (_Myopotamus coypus_), the chinchilla (_Chinchilla
laniger_), the tuco-tuco (_Ctenomys brasiliensis_), a rabbit, and 12
species of mice--in all some 12 genera and 25 species. The coypu,
sometimes called the South American beaver, inhabits the river-banks,
and is highly prized for its fur. It is also found along the
river-courses of Argentina. The ruminants are represented by a few
species only--the guanaco (_Auchenia huanaco_), _vicuna_ (_A.
vicugna_), _huemul_ (_Cervus chilensis_), which appears on the Chilean
escutcheon, and the _pudu_ deer, a small and not very numerous
species. There are two species of the Edentata, _Dasypus_ and
_Pichiciego_, the latter very rare, and one of the opossums. European
animals, such as horses, cattle, sheep, swine and goats, have been
introduced into the country and do well. Sheep-raising has also been
inaugurated with some degree of success in the vicinity of the Straits
of Magellan. The avifauna, with the exception of waterfowl, is also
limited to comparatively few species. Birds of prey are represented by
the condor, vulture, two species of the carrion-hawk (_Polyborus_),
and owl. The Chilean slopes of the Andes appear to be a favourite
haunt of the condor, where neighbouring stock-raisers suffer severe
losses at times from its attacks. The _Insessores_ are represented by
a number of species. Parrots are found as far south as Tierra del
Fuego, where Darwin saw them feeding on seeds of the Winter's bark.
Humming-birds have a similar range on this coast, one species
(_Mellisuga Kingii_) being quite numerous as far south as Tierra del
Fuego. A characteristic genus is that of _Pteroptochus_, of which
there are three or four species each characterized by some conspicuous
peculiarity. These are _P. megapodius_, called _El Turco_ by the
natives, which is noticeable for its ungainly appearance and awkward
gait; the _P. albicollis_, which inhabits barren hillsides and is
called _tapacollo_ from the manner of carrying its tail turned far
forward over its back; the _P. rubecula_, of Chiloé, a small timid
denizen of the gloomy forest, called the _cheucau_ or _chuca_, whose
two or three notes are believed by the superstitious natives to be
auguries of impending success or disaster; and an allied species
(_Hylactes Tarnii_, King) called the _guid-guid_ or barking bird,
whose cry is a close imitation of the yelp of a small dog. The
southern coast and its inland waters are frequented by several species
of petrel, among which are the _Procellaria gigantea_, whose strength
and rapacity led the Spaniards to call it _quebranta huesos_
(breakbones), the _Puffinus cinereus_, which inhabits the inland
channels in large flocks, and an allied species (_Puffinuria
Berardii_) which inhabits the inland sounds and resembles the auk in
some particulars of habit and appearance. There are numerous species
in these sheltered channels, inlets and sounds of geese, ducks, swans,
cormorants, ibises, bitterns, red-beaks, curlew, snipe, plover and
moorhens. Conspicuous among these are the great white swan (_Cygnus
anatoides_), the black-necked swan (_Anser nigricollis_), the
antarctic goose (_Anas antarctica_) and the "race-horse" or "steamer
duck" (_Micropterus brachypterus_).

The marine fauna is less known than the others, but it is rich in
species and highly interesting in its varied forms and
characteristics. The northern coast has no sheltered waters of any
considerable extent, and the shore slopes abruptly to a great depth,
which gives it a marine life of no special importance. In the shoal
waters about Juan Fernandez are found a species of codfish (possibly
_Gadus macrocephalus_), differing in some particulars from the
Newfoundland cod, and a large crayfish, both of which are caught for
the Valparaiso market. The sheltered waters of the broken southern
coast, however, are rich in fish and molluscs, especially in mussels,
limpets and barnacles, which are the principal food resource of the
nomadic Indian tribes of those regions. A large species of barnacle,
_Balanus psittacus_, is found in great abundance from Concepción to
Puerto Montt, and is not only eaten by the natives, by whom it is
called _pico_, but is also esteemed a great delicacy in the markets of
Valparaiso and Santiago. Oysters of excellent flavour are found in
the sheltered waters of Chiloé. The Cetacea, which frequent these
southern waters, are represented by four species--two dolphins and the
sperm and right whale--and the _Phocidae_ by six species, one of which
(_Phoca lupina_) differs but little from the common seal. Another
species (_Macrorhinus leoninus_), popularly known as the sea-elephant,
is provided with short tusks and a short trunk and sometimes grows to
a length of 20 ft. Still another species, the sea-lion (_Otaria
jubata_), furnishes the natives of Tierra del Fuego with an acceptable
article of food, but like the _Phoca lupina_ it is becoming scarce.

Of Reptilia Chile is singularly free, there being recorded only eleven
species--five saurians, four ophidians, one frog and one toad--but a
more thorough survey of the uninhabited territories of the south may
increase this list. There are no alligators in the streams, and the
tropical north has very few lizards. There are no poisonous snakes in
the country, and, in a region so filled with lakes and rivers as the
rainy south, only two species of batrachians. The insect life of these
strangely associated regions is likewise greatly restricted by adverse
climatic conditions, a considerable part of the northern desert being
absolutely barren of animal and vegetable life, while the climate of
Tierra del Fuego and the southern coast is highly unfavourable to
terrestrial animal life, for which reason comparatively few species
are to be found. Writing of a journey inland from Iquique, Charles
Darwin says (_Journal of Researches, &c._, p. 444): "Excepting the
_Vultur aura_, ... I saw neither bird, quadruped, reptile, nor
insect." Of his entomological collection in Tierra del Fuego, which
was not large, the majority were of Alpine species. Moreover, he did
not find a single species common to that island and Patagonia. These
conditions subsist with but few modifications, if any, from the
Straits northward to the 42nd parallel, the extreme humidity, abnormal
rainfall and dark skies being unfavourable to the development of
insect life, while the Andes interpose an impassable barrier to
migration from the countries of the eastern coast. The only venomous
species to be found in central Chile is that of a spider which
frequents the wheat fields in harvest time.

_Population._--The population of Chile is largely concentrated in the
twelve agricultural provinces between and including Coquimbo and
Concepción, though the next six provinces to the south, of more recent
general settlement, have received some foreign immigrants, and are
rapidly growing. In the desert provinces the population is limited to
the mining communities, and to the ports and supply stations maintained
for their support and for the transport, smelting and export of their
produce. The province of Atacama has, in addition to its mining
population, a considerable number of agriculturists located in a few
irrigated river valleys, which class is largely increased in the
adjoining province of Coquimbo. The more northern provinces, however,
maintain their populations without the support of such small cultivated
areas. In the southern territories unfavourable conditions of a widely
different character prevail, and the population is restricted to a few
small settlements and some nomadic tribes of Indians. Here, however,
there are localities where settlements could be maintained by ordinary
means and the population could be greatly increased. Since the census of
1895 the population of Punta Arenas has been largely increased by the
discovery of gold in the vicinity. The twelve provinces first mentioned,
which include the celebrated "Vale of Chile," comprise only 17% of the
area of the republic, but the census of 1895 showed that 72% of the
total population was concentrated within their borders. The four desert
provinces north of Coquimbo had only 8% of the total, and the seven
provinces and one territory south of Concepción had 20%. According to
the census of 1895 the total population was 2,712,145, to which the
census officials added 10% to cover omissions. This shows an increase
slightly over 7% for the preceding decennial period, the population
having been returned as 2,527,320 in 1885. The census returns of 1875
and 1866 gave respectively 2,068,447 and 2,084,943, showing an actual
decrease in population. During these years Chile held the anomalous
position of a country spending large sums annually to secure immigrants
while at the same time her own labouring classes were emigrating by
thousands to the neighbouring republics to improve their condition.
Writing in 1879, a correspondent of _The Times_[4] stated that this
emigration then averaged 8000 a year, and in bad times had reached as
many as 30,000 in one year. The condition of the Chilean labourer has
been much improved since then, however, and Chile no longer suffers so
serious a loss of population. In 1895, the foreigners included in the
Chilean population numbered 72,812, of which 42,105 were European,
29,687 American, and 1020 Asiatic, &c. According to nationality there
were 8269 Spanish, 7809 French, 7587 Italian, 7049 German, 6241 British,
1570 Swiss, 1490 Austro-Hungarian, 13,695 Peruvian, 7531 Argentine, 6654
Bolivian, 701 American (U.S.), 797 Chinese. According to residence,
1,471,792 were inhabitants of rural districts, and 1,240,353 of towns.
The registration of births, marriages and deaths is compulsory since the
1st of January 1885, but the provisions of the law are frequently
eluded. Notwithstanding the healthiness of the climate, the death-rate
is high, especially in the large cities. In Santiago and Valparaiso the
death-rate sometimes rises to 42 and 60 per 1000, and infant mortality
is very high, being 73% of the births in some of the provincial towns.
This unfavourable state of affairs is due to the poverty, ignorance and
insanitary habits of the lower classes. The government has made repeated
efforts to secure immigrants from Europe, but the lands set apart for
immigrant settlers are in the forested provinces south of the Bio-Bio,
where the labour and hardships involved in establishing a home are
great, and the protection of the law against bandits and criminal
assaults is weak. The Germans have indeed settled in many parts of these
southern provinces since 1845, and by keeping together have succeeded in
building up several important towns and a large number of prosperous
agricultural communities. One German authority (Hüber) estimates the
number of Germans in two of these provinces at 5000. The arrivals,
however, have been on the whole discouragingly small, the total for the
years 1901-1905 being only 14,000.

Although Chileans claim a comparatively small admixture with the native
races, it is estimated that the whites and creoles of white extraction
do not exceed 30 to 40% of the population, while the _mestizos_ form
fully 60%. This estimate is unquestionably conservative, for there has
been no large influx of European blood to counterbalance the race
mixtures of earlier times. The estimated number of Indians living within
the boundaries of Chile is about 50,000, which presumably includes the
nomadic tribes of the Fuegian archipelago, whose number probably does
not reach 5000. The semi-independent Araucanians, whose territory is
slowly being occupied by the whites, are concentrated in the eastern
forests of Bio-Bio, Malleco and Cautin, all that remains to them of the
Araucania which they so bravely and successfully defended for more than
three centuries. Their number does not much exceed 40,000, which is
being steadily reduced by drunkenness and epidemic diseases. A small
part of these Indians live in settled communities and include some very
successful stock-raisers, but the greater part live apart from
civilization. There are also some remnants of tribes in the province of
Chiloé, which inhabit the island of that name, the Chonos and Guaytecas
archipelagoes and the adjacent mainland, who have the reputation of
being good boatmen and fishermen; and there are remnants of a people
called Changos, on the desert coast, and traces of Calchaqui blood in
the neighbouring Andean foothills.

There is a wide difference in every respect between the upper or ruling
class and the common people. The former includes the landed proprietors,
professional men and a part of those engaged in commercial and
industrial pursuits. These educated classes form only a small minority
of the population. Many of them, especially the landed proprietors, are
descendants of the original Spanish settlers and are celebrated for
their politeness and hospitality. The political control of the republic
was secured to them by the constitution of 1833. The common people were
kept in ignorance and practically in a state of hopeless servitude. They
were allowed to occupy small leaseholds on the large estates on
condition of performing a certain amount of work for the landlord. Every
avenue toward the betterment of their condition was practically closed.
The condition of the itinerant labourers (_peons_) was still worse, the
wages paid them being hardly sufficient to keep them from starvation.
The Chilean _peon_, however, comes from a hardy stock, and has borne all
these hardships with a fortitude and patience which go far to
counterbalance his faults. Recent reforms in education, &c., together
with the growth of manufacturing industries, are slowly leading to
improvements in the material condition of the common people.

The political organization of the country has not been favourable to the
development of artistic or scientific tastes, though Chile has produced
political leaders, statesmen and polemical writers in abundance.
Historical literature has been enriched by the works of Diego Barros
Arana, Benjamin Vicuña Mackenna, Miguel Luis Amunátegui, Carlos Walker
Martinez, and others. One of the earliest native histories of Chile was
that of Abbé J. Ignacio Molina, an English translation of which has long
been a recognized authority; it is full of errors, however, and should
be studied only in connexion with modern standard works. Among these
must be included Claude Gay's monumental work, _Historia General de
Chile_, and Sir C.R. Markham's admirable studies on special parts of the
subject. In science, nearly all the important work has been done by
foreigners, among whom are Charles Darwin, Claude Gay, Eduard Pöppig,
Rudolph A. Philippi and Hans Steffen, who deserves special mention for
his excellent geographical work in the southern Andes.

_Divisions and Towns._--Chile contains 23 provinces and one territory,
which are subdivided into 75 departments, 855 subdelegations and 3068
districts. The territory north of the Bio-Bio was originally divided
into 13 provinces, besides which the Spaniards held Chiloé, Juan
Fernandez and Valdivia, the latter being merely a military outpost.
During the years which have elapsed since the War of Independence the
territory south of the Bio-Bio has been effectively occupied and
divided into six provinces, Chiloé and the neighbouring islands and
mainland to the east became a province, and four provinces in the
northern deserts were acquired from Bolivia and Peru. In addition to
this, Chile claimed Patagonia and the adjacent islands, and has
finally secured not only the forested strip of territory west of the
Andes, but also a large piece of the Patagonian mainland, south of
lat. 52° S., the larger part of Tierra del Fuego, and all the western
islands. This extensive region, comprising an area of 71,127 sq. m.,
has been provisionally organized as the territory of Magallanes. For a
list of provinces, their areas, reduced from official returns, their
populations, and the names and populations of their capitals, see the
bottom of this page.

+------------------+--------+-----------+-------------+-------------------+
| | | | | Population. |
| Provinces. | Area. |Population.| Capitals. +---------+---------+
| | | Census | | Census | Est. |
| | | 1895. | | 1895. | 1902. |
+------------------+--------+-----------+-------------+---------+---------+
|Tacna | 9,251 | 24,160 |Tacna | 9,418 | 11,504 |
|Tarapacá | 18,131 | 89,751 |Iquique | 33,031 | 42,788 |
|Antofagasta | 46,611 | 44,035 |Antofagasta | 13,530 | 16,084 |
|Atacama | 30,729 | 59,713 |Copiapo | 9,301 | 8,991 |
|Coquimbo | 13,461 | 160,898 |La Serena | 15,712 | 19,536 |
|Aconcagua | 5,487 | 113,165 |San Felipe | 11,313 | 11,660 |
|Valparaiso | 1,953 | 220,756 |Valparaiso | 122,447 | 142,282 |
|Santiago | 5,665 | 415,636 |Santiago | 256,403 | 332,059 |
|O'Higgins | 2,342 | 85,277 |Rancagua | 6,665 | 7,133 |
|Colchagua | 3,856 | 157,566 |San Fernando | 7,447 | 8,164 |
|Curicó | 2,978 | 103,242 |Curicó | 12,669 | 14,340 |
|Talca | 3,840 | 128,961 |Talca | 33,232 | 42,766 |
|Lináres | 3,942 | 101,858 |Lináres | 7,331 | 7,256 |
|Maule | 2,475 | 119,791 |Cauquenes | 8,574 | 9,895 |
|Nuble | 3,407 | 152,935 |Chillan | 28,738 | 36,382 |
|Concepción | 3,252 | 188,190 |Concepción | 39,837 | 49,351 |
|Arauco | 2,458 | 59,237 |Lebú | 2,784 | 3,178 |
|Bio-Bio | 5,246 | 88,749 |Los Angeles | 7,868 | 7,777 |
|Malleco | 2,973 | 98,032 |Angol | 7,056 | 7,638 |
|Cautin | 5,832 | 78,221 |Temuco | 7,078 | 9,699 |
|Valdivia | 8,649 | 60,687 |Valdivia | 8,060 | 9,704 |
|Llanquihue | 45,515 | 78,315 |Puerto Montt | 3,480 | 4,140 |
|Chiloé | 8,593 | 77,750 |Ancud | 3,182 | 3,787 |
|Magallanes (Ter.) | 71,127 | 5,170 |Punta Arenas | 3,227 | 8,327 |
| +--------+-----------+ | | |
|Total, official | 307,774| 2,712,145 | | | |
|Total according to| | | | | |
| Gotha computation| 293,062| | | | |
|With 10% added for| | | | | |
| omissions | | 2,983,359 | | | |
|Official estimate | | | | | |
| for 1902 | | 3,173,783 | | | |
+------------------+--------+-----------+-------------+---------+---------+

In addition to the provincial capitals there are few towns of
importance. Among these may be mentioned:--

+------------------+---------------------+
| | Population. |
| +----------+----------+
| | 1895. |Est. 1902.|
+------------------+----------+----------+
| Arica | 2,853 | 2,824 |
| Pisagua | 3,635 | 4,720 |
| Taltal | 5,834 | 6,574 |
| Tocopilla | 3,383 | 4,752 |
| Vallenar | 5,052 | 5,199 |
| Coquimbo | 7,322 | 8,165 |
| Ovalle | 5,565 | 5,772 |
| Los Andes (Santa | | |
| Rosa) | 5,504 | 6,854 |
| Quillota | 9,621 | 9,876 |
| Vina del Mar | 10,651 | ... |
| Melipilla | 4,286 | 5,023 |
| Rengo | 6,463 | 7,232 |
| Vichuquen | 826 | 3,714 |
| Molina | 3,609 | 3,222 |
| Parral | 8,586 | 10,219 |
| Constitución | 6,400 | 6,453 |
| San Carlos | 7,051 | 6,579 |
| Coronel | 4,575 | 5,959 |
| Lota | 9,797 | ... |
| Talcahuano | 10,431 | 13,499 |
| El Tomé | 3,977 | 6,189 |
| Arauco | 3,008 | 3,334 |
| Cañete | 2,000 | 2,552 |
| Mulchen | 4,268 | 4,332 |
| Traiguen | 5,732 | 7,099 |
| Victoria | 6,989 | 10,002 |
| La Unión | 2,830 | 3,908 |
| Osorno | 4,667 | 5,888 |
| Castro (Chiloé) | 1,035 | 2,166 |
+------------------+----------+----------+

The population is not concentrated in large cities, but is well
distributed through the cultivated parts of the country. The large
number of small towns, important as ports, market towns, or
manufacturing centres, is a natural result. Many of the foregoing
towns are only villages in size, but their importance is not to be
measured in this way. Arica is one of the oldest ports on the coast,
and has long been a favoured port for Bolivian trade because the
passes through the Cordilleras at that point are not so difficult.
Moreover, the railway from Arica to La Paz will still further add to
its importance, though it may not greatly increase its population.
Another illustration is that of Vichuquen, province of Curicó,
situated on a tide-water lake on the coast, which is the centre of a
large salt-making industry. Still another instance is that of Castro,
the oldest settlement and former capital of Chiloé, which after a
century of decay is increasing again through the efforts to develop
the industries of that island.

_Communications._--Railway construction in Chile dates from 1850, when
work was begun on a short line between Copiapó and the port of
Caldera, in the Atacama desert region. Since then lines have been
built by private companies from the coast at several points to inland
mining centres. One of these, running from Antofagasta to the
Caracoles district, was afterwards extended to Oruro, Bolivia, and has
become a commercial route of international importance, with a total
length of 574 m., 224 of which are in Chile. It should be remembered
that many of these railway enterprises of the desert region originated
at a time when the territory belonged to Bolivia and Peru. The first
railway to be constructed in central Chile was the government line
from Valparaiso to Santiago, 115 m. in length, which was opened to
traffic in 1863. About the same time the government began the
construction of a longitudinal trunk line running southward from
Santiago midway between the Andes and the Coast range, and connecting
with all the provincial capitals and prominent ports. This is the only
railway "system" it is possible for Chile to have. The civil war of
1891 called attention to the need of a similar inland route through
the northern provinces. A branch of the Valparaiso and Santiago line
runs to Los Andes, and its extension across the Andes connects with
the Argentine lines from Buenos Aires to Mendoza and the Chilean
frontier--all sections together forming a transcontinental route about
850 m. in length. The Transandine section of this route crosses the
Cordillera through the Uspallata pass. A further Transandine scheme
provides for a line through the Pino Hachado pass (38° 30' to 39° S.),
and the Argentine Great Southern Company obtained a concession in 1909
to extend its Neuquen line to the frontier of Chile. The railways of
the republic had a total mileage at the end of 1906 of 2950 m., of
which 1495 m. were owned by the state, and 1455 m. belonged to private
companies. The private lines are located in the northern provinces and
are for the most part built and maintained for the transportation of
mining products and supplies.

In addition to her railway lines Chile has about 21,000 m. of public
roads of all descriptions, 135 m. of tramways, and 705 m. of navigable
river channels, besides a very considerable mileage of lake and coast
navigation. Telegraphic communication between all the important towns
of the republic, initiated in 1855 with a line between Santiago and
Valparaiso, is maintained by the state, which in 1903 owned 9306 m. of
line in a total of 11,080 m. Cable communication with Europe by way of
Buenos Aires was opened in 1875, and is now maintained by means of two
underground cables across the Andes, 32 m. in length. A West Coast
cable also connects with Europe and North American states by way of
Panama. There were 15,853 m. of telephone wires in the republic in
1906, all the principal cities having an admirable service. Modern
postal facilities date from 1853. The Chilean post-office is
administered by a director-general at Santiago, and has a high degree
of efficiency and liberality, compared with those of other South
American states. The postal rates are low, and newspapers and other
periodical publications circulate free, as a means of popular
instruction. The postal revenues for 1904 amounted to 2,775,730 pesos
and the expenditures to 2,407,753 pesos. Chile is a member of the
International Postal Union, and has arrangements with the principal
commercial nations for the exchange of postal money values.

The sea has been the only means of communication with distant parts of
the country, and must continue to be the chief transportation route.
There are said to be 56 ports on the Chilean coast, of which only 12
are prominent in foreign trade. Many of the so-called ports are only
landing-places on an open coast, others are on shallow bays and
obstructed river-mouths, and some are little-known harbours among the
channels and islands of the south. The prosperity of Chile is
intimately connected with her ocean-going trade, and no elaborate
system of national railway lines and domestic manufactures can ever
change this relationship. These conditions should have developed a
large merchant marine, but the Chileans are not traders and are
sailors only in a military sense. In 1905 their ocean-going merchant
marine consisted of only 148 vessels, of which 54 were steamers of
42,873 tons net, and 94 were sailing vessels of 39,346 tons. Nineteen
of the 54 steamers belonged to a subsidized national line whose West
Coast service once extended to San Francisco, California, and a large
part of the others belongs to a Lota coal-mining and copper-smelting
company which employs them in carrying coal to the northern ports and
bringing back metallic ores for smelting. The navigable rivers and
inland lakes employ a number of small steamers. The foreign commerce
of the republic is carried chiefly by foreign vessels, and the
coasting trade is also open to them. Three or four foreign companies
maintain a regular steamship service to Valparaiso and other Chilean
ports. The shipping entries at all Chilean ports during the year 1904,
both national and foreign, numbered 11,756, aggregating 17,723,138
tons, and the clearances 11,689, aggregating 17,370,763 tons. Very
nearly one-half this tonnage was British, a little over 18% German,
and about 29% Chilean.

_Commerce._--In the aggregate, the commerce of Chile is large and
important; in proportion to population it is exceeded among South
American states only by Argentina, Uruguay and the Guianas. Unlike
those states, it depends in great part on mining and its allied
occupations. The values of imports and exports (including bullion,
specie and re-exports) in pesos of 18d. during the five years
1901-1905 were as follows:--

Imports. Exports.
Year. pesos. pesos.

1901 139,300,766 171,844,976
1902 132,428,204 185,879,965
1903 149,081,524 210,442,144
1904 164,874,928 232,493,598
1905 188,596,418 265,209,192

The principal imports comprise live animals, fish, coffee, maté (_Ilex
paraguayensis_), tea, sugar, wood and its manufactures, structural
iron and steel, hardware and machinery, railway and telegraph
supplies, lime and cement, glass and earthenware, cotton, woollen and
silk manufactures, coal, petroleum, paints, &c. Import duties are
imposed at the rates of 60, 35, 15, 5 and 25%, and certain classes of
merchandise are admitted free. The higher rates are designed chiefly
to protect national industries, while wines, liquors, cigars and
tobacco are admitted at the lowest rate. The 25% rate covers all
articles not mentioned in the schedules, which number 2260 items. The
duty free list includes raw cotton, certain descriptions of live
animals, agricultural machinery and implements, metal wire, fire
engines, structural iron and steel, and machinery in general. The
tariff is nominally _ad valorem_, but as the rates are imposed on
fixed official valuations it is essentially specific. The duties on
imports in 1905 amounted to 91,321,860 pesos, and in 1906 to
103,507,556 pesos. The principal exports are gold, silver, copper
(bars, regulus and ores), cobalt and its ores, lead and its ores,
vanadium ores, manganese, coal, nitrate of soda, borate of lime,
iodine, sulphur, wheat and guano. Nitrate of soda forms from 70 to 75%
of the exports, and the royalty received from it is the principal
source of national revenue, yielding about £4,000,000 per annum. In
1904 mineral products made up fully seven-eighths of the exports,
while agricultural and pastoral products did not quite reach
one-eighth.

_Agriculture._--According to the census returns about one-half the
population of Chile lives in rural districts, and is engaged nominally
in agricultural pursuits. What may be called central Chile is
singularly well adapted to agriculture. The northern part of this
region has a sub-tropical climate, light rainfall and a long, dry
summer, but with irrigation it produces a great variety of products.
Alfalfa, or lucerne (_Medicago sativa_), is grown extensively for
shipment to the mining towns of the desert provinces. There were no
less than 108,384 acres devoted to it in 1904, a considerable part of
which was in the irrigated river valleys of Coquimbo and Aconcagua.
Considerable attention is also given to fruit cultivation in these
subtropical provinces, where the orange, lemon, fig, melon, pineapple
and banana are produced with much success. Some districts, especially
in Coquimbo, have gained a high reputation for the excellence of their
preserved fruits. The vine is cultivated all the way from Atacama and
Coquimbo, where excellent raisins are produced, south to Concepción,
where some of the best wines of Chile are manufactured. In 1904 there
were 93,370 acres devoted to grape production in this region, the
product for that year being 30,184,704 gallons of wine and 212,366
gallons of brandy. The universal beverage of the people--_chicha_--is
made from Indian corn. Although wheat is produced in the northern part
of this region, it is grown with greater success in the south, where
the rainfall is heavier and the average temperature is lower. There
were 1,044,025 acres devoted to this cereal in 1903, which produced
17,910,614 bushels, or an average of 17 bushels (of 60 lb) to the
acre. In 1904 the production was increased to 19,999,324 bushels, but
in 1905 it fell off to 15,771,477 bushels. At one time Chile supplied
Argentina and the entire West Coast as far north as California with
wheat, but Argentina and California have become wheat producers and
exporters, and Chile has been driven from all her old consuming
markets. Great Britain is now her best customer, and Brazil takes a
small quantity for milling mixtures. Chile has been badly handicapped
by her crude methods of cultivation, but these are passing away and
modern methods are taking their place. Formerly wheat was grown
chiefly in the region of long rainless summers, and the ripened grain
was thrown upon uncovered earth floors and threshed by horses driven
about over the straw, but this antiquated process was not suited to
the climate and enterprise of the more southern provinces, and the
modern threshing-machine has been introduced. Barley is largely
produced, chiefly for home consumption. Maize (Indian corn) is grown
in every part of Chile except the rainy south where the grain cannot
ripen, and is a principal article of food. The green maize furnishes
two popular national dishes, _choclos_ and _humitas_, which are eaten
by both rich and poor. Potatoes also are widely cultivated, but the
humid regions of the south, particularly from Valdivia to Chiloé,
produce the greatest quantity. The total annual production exceeds
three million bushels. The kidney bean (_Phaseolus vulgaris_) is
another staple product in every part of the country, and is perhaps
the most popular article of food among all classes of Chileans. Peas
are largely cultivated south of the Maule. Walnuts have become another
important product and are exported, the average annual produce being
48,000 to 50,000 bushels. The olive was introduced from Spain in
colonial times and is widely distributed through the north central
provinces, but its economic importance is not great. Of the European
fruits introduced into the southern provinces, the apple has been the
most successful. It grows with little care and yields even better than
in its original home. The peach, apricot, plum, quince and cherry are
also cultivated with success. Wild strawberries are found on both
sides of the Andes; the cultivated varieties are unsurpassed,
especially those of the province of Concepción.

The pastoral industries of Chile have been developed chiefly for the
home market. The climate is admirably suited to cattle-raising, as the
winters are mild and pasture is to be found throughout the whole year,
but the proximity of the Argentine pampas is fatal to its profitable
development. The government has been trying to promote cattle-breeding
by levying duties (as high as 16 pesos a head) on cattle imported from
Argentina, but with no great success. The importation, which formerly
numbered about 140,000 per annum, still numbers not far from 100,000
head. There are some districts in central Chile where cattle-raising
is the principal occupation, but the long dry summers limit the
pasturage on the open plains and prevent the development which perhaps
would otherwise result. As in Argentina, beef is generally dried in
the sun to make _charqui_ (jerked beef), in which form it is exported
to the desert provinces. Horse and mule breeding are carried on to a
limited extent, and since the opening of the far South more attention
has been given to sheep. Goats and swine are raised in small numbers
on the large estates, but in Chiloé swine-raising is one of the chief
occupations of the people. Some attention has been given to the
production of butter and cheese, but the industry has attained no
great importance. A new industry which has made noteworthy progress,
however, is that of bee-keeping, which is greatly favoured by the mild
climate and the long season and abundance of flowers.

_Manufactures._--The manufacturing interests of Chile have become
influential enough to force a high tariff policy upon the country.
They have been restricted principally to articles of necessity--food
preparations, beverages, textiles and wearing apparel, leather and
leatherwork, woodwork, pottery, chemicals, ironware, &c. In earlier
days, when Chile had less competition in the production of wheat,
flour mills were to be found everywhere in the wheat-producing
provinces, and flour was one of the leading exports. Concepción,
Talca, and other provincial capitals developed important milling
industries, which were extended to all the chief towns of the newer
provinces south of the Bio-Bio. There are over 500 large flour mills
in Chile, the greater part of which are equipped with modern
roller-process machinery. The development of the coal deposits in the
provinces of Concepción and Arauco has made possible other industries
besides those of smelting mineral ores, and numerous small
manufacturing establishments have resulted, especially in Santiago,
Valparaiso, Copiapó and other places where no permanent water power
exists. Tanning leather is an important industry, especially in the
south, some of the Chilean trees, notably the _algarrobilla_
(_Balsamocarpon brevifolium_) and _lingue_ (_Persea lingue_) being
rich in tannin. To provide a market for the leather produced,
factories have been established for the manufacture of boots and
shoes, harness and saddles, and under the protection of a high tariff
are doing well. Brewing and distilling have made noteworthy progress,
the domestic consumption of their products being very large. The
breweries are generally worked by Germans and are situated chiefly in
the south, though there are large establishments in Santiago and
Valparaiso. Small quantities of their products are exported. Furniture
and carriage factories, cooperages, and other manufactories of wood
are numerous and generally prosperous. There are likewise a large
number of factories for canning and preserving fruits and vegetables.
Foundries and machine shops have been established, especially for the
manufacture of railway material. The sugar beet has been added to the
productions of Chile, and with it the manufacture on a small scale of
beet sugar. There is one large refinery at Viña del Mar, however,
which imports raw cane sugar from Peru for refining. The manufacture
of textiles is carried on at Santiago and El Tomé, and numerous small
factories are devoted to clothing of various descriptions. The great
mining industries have led to a noteworthy development in the
production of chemicals, and a considerable number of factories are
engaged in the production of pharmaceutical preparations, perfumeries,
soaps, candles, &c.

_Mining_.--The most important of all the national industries, however,
is that of mining. In 1903 there were 11,746 registered mines, on
which mining dues were paid, the aggregate produce being valued at
178,768,170 pesos. These mines gave employment to 46,592 labourers, of
whom 24,445 were employed by the nitrate companies, 13,710 in various
metalliferous mines, 6437 in coal mines, and 2000 in other mines. Gold
is found in nearly all the provinces from Antofagasta to Concepción,
and in Llanquihue, Chiloé and Magallanes territory, but the output is
not large. There are a great many placer washings, among which are
some extensive deposits near the Straits of Magellan. Silver is found
principally on the elevated slopes and plateaus of the Andes in the
desert provinces of the north. The second most important mining
industry in Chile, however, is that of copper, which is found in the
provinces of Antofagasta, Atacama, Coquimbo, Aconcagua, Valparaiso,
Santiago, O'Higgins, Colchagua, Curicó and Talca, but the richest
deposits are in the three desert provinces. Chile was once the largest
producer of copper in the world, her production in 1860-1864 being
rated at 60 to 67% of the total. Low prices afterwards caused a large
shrinkage in the output, but she is still classed among the principal
producers. Iron mining has never been developed in Chile, although
extensive deposits are said to exist. Manganese ores are mined in
Atacama and Coquimbo, and their export is large. The other metals
reported in the official returns are lead, cobalt and vanadium, of
which only small quantities are produced. Bolivian tin is exported
from Chilean ports. Among the non-metallic minerals are nitrate of
soda, borate of lime, coal, salt and sulphur, together with various
products derived from these minerals, such as iodine, sulphuric acid,
&c. Guano is classed among the mineral products and still figures as
an export, though the richest Chilean deposits were exhausted long
before the war with Peru. Of non-metallic products nitrate of soda is
by far the most important. Extensive deposits of the salt (called
_caliche_ in its crude, impure state) in the provinces of Tacna,
Tarapacá, Antofagasta and Atacama owe their existence to the rainless
character of the climate. Those of the first-named province have been
discovered since the war between Chile and Peru, and have greatly
extended the prospective life of the industry. The nitrate fields,
which lie between 50 and 100 m. from the coast and at elevations
exceeding 2000 ft. above sea-level, have been officially estimated at
89,177 hectares (344 sq. m.) and to contain 2316 millions of metric
quintals (254,760,000 short tons). The first export of nitrates was in
1830, and in 1884 it reached an aggregate of 550,000 tons, and in 1905
of 1,603,140 tons. The latter figure is apparently about the
production agreed upon between the Chilean government and the nitrate
companies to prevent overproduction and a resulting decline in price.
Nearly all the _oficinas_, or working plants, are owned and operated
by British companies, and the railways of this desolate region are
generally owned by the same companies and form a part of the working
plant. Borate of lime also furnishes another important export, though
a less valuable one than nitrate of soda. Extensive deposits of borax
and common salt have been found in the same region, which with several
other products of these saline deposits, such as iodine, add
considerably to its exports. The coal deposits of Chile are found
chiefly in the provinces of Concepción and Arauco, the principal mines
being on the coast of the Bay of Arauco at Coronel and Lota. Coal is
found also in Valdivia, on the island of Chiloé, and in the vicinity
of Punta Arenas on the Straits of Magellan. Sulphur is found in the
volcanic regions of the north, but the principal mines are in the
provinces of Talca.

The relative magnitude and value of these mineral products may be seen
in the following abstract from the official returns of 1903:--

+-----------------------+---------------+------------+-------------+
| | Unit. | Quantity. | Value pesos |
| | | | (of 18d.). |
+-----------------------+---------------+------------+-------------+
| Gold | grammes | 1,424,625 | 1,745,115 |
| Silver | " | 39,012,382 | 1,284,308 |
| Copper | kilogrs. | 29,923,132 | 21,438,397 |
| Lead | " | 70,984 | 9,097 |
| Cobalt ore | " | 284,990 | 99,695 |
| Lead and Vanadium ores| " | 2,000 | |
| Manganese ore | " | 17,110,000 | 682,400 |
| Coal | tons | 827,112 | 8,250,720 |
| Nitrates |metric quintals| 14,449,200 | 140,102,012 |
| Iodine | kilogrs. | 157,444 | 1,687,327 |
| Borates | " | 16,878,913 | 2,363,048 |
| Salt |metric quintals| 162,635 | 324,270 |
| Sulphur | kilogrs. | 3,440,642 | 337,515 |
| Sulphuric acid | " | 1,600,000 | 176,000 |
| Guano |metric quintals| 111,335 | 267,466 |
| Various | kilogrs. | 200 | 800 |
+-----------------------+---------------+------------+-------------+

_Government._--Chile is a centralized republic, whose government is
administered under the provisions of the constitution of 1833 and the
amendments of the 9th of August 1888, the 11th of August 1890, the 20th
of August 1890, the 22nd of December 1891, and the 7th of July 1892.
According to this constitution the sovereignty resides in the nation,
but suffrage is restricted to married citizens over twenty-one and
unmarried citizens over twenty-five years of age, not in domestic
service, who can read and write, and who are the owners of real estate,
or who have capital invested in business or industry, or who receive
salaries or incomes proportionate in value to such real estate as
investment; and as 75% of the population is classed as illiterate, and a
great majority of the labouring classes is landless, badly paid, and
miserably poor, it is apparent that political sovereignty in Chile is
the well-guarded possession of a small minority. The dominant element in
this minority is the rich landholding interest, and the constitution and
the laws of the first half-century were framed for the special
protection of that interest.

The supreme powers of government are vested in three distinct
branches--legislative, executive and judicial. The legislative power is
exercised by a national congress, which consists of two chambers---a
senate of 32 members, and a chamber of deputies of 94 members. The
membership of the lower house is in the proportion of one deputy for
each 30,000 of the departmental population, and each fraction over
15,000; and the senate is entitled to one-third the membership of the
chamber. The senators are elected by provinces and by a direct
cumulative vote, and hold office for six years, one-half of the senate
being renewed every three years. The deputies are elected by departments
and by a direct cumulative vote, and hold office for three years. Both
senators and deputies must have reached the age of thirty-six, must have
a specified income, and are required to serve without salary. A
permanent committee of 14 members represents the two chambers during the
congressional recess and exercises certain supervisory and advisory
powers in the administration of public affairs. Congress convenes each
year on the 1st of June and sits until the 1st of September, but the
president may prorogue an ordinary session for a period of 50 days, and
with the consent of the council of state may convene it in extraordinary
session. Congress has the privilege of giving or withholding its
confidence in the acts of the government.

The executive is a president who is elected for a term of five years and
is ineligible for the next succeeding term. He is chosen by electors,
who are elected by departments in the manner prescribed for deputies and
in the proportion of three electors for each deputy. These elections are
held on the 25th of June in the last year of a presidential term, the
electors cast their votes on the 25th of July, and the counting takes
place in a joint session of the two chambers of congress on the 30th of
August, congress in joint session having the power to complete the
election when no candidate has been duly chosen by the electors. The
formal installation of the president takes place on the 18th of
September, the anniversary of the declaration of national independence.
In addition to the prerogatives commonly invested in his office, the
president is authorized to supervise the judiciary, to nominate
candidates for the higher ecclesiastical offices, to intervene in the
enforcement of ecclesiastical decrees, papal bulls, &c., to exercise
supervisory police powers, and to appoint the intendants of provinces
and the governors of departments, who in turn appoint the sub-delegates
and inspectors of subordinate political divisions. The president, who is
paid £2250 per annum, must be native-born, not less than thirty years of
age, and eligible for election to the lower house. He is assisted and
advised by a cabinet of six ministers whose departments are: interior,
foreign affairs, worship and colonization, justice and public
instruction, war and marine, finance, industry and public works. In case
of a vacancy in the presidential office, the minister of interior
becomes the "vice-president of the republic" and discharges the duties
of the executive office until a successor can be legally elected. A
council of state of 12 members, consisting of the president, 6 members
appointed by congress and 5 by the president, has advisory functions,
and its approval is required in many executive acts and appointments.

The provinces are administered by _intendentes_, and the departments by
_gobernadores_, both appointees of the national executive. The
sub-delegacies are governed by _sub-delegados_ appointed by the
governors, and the districts by _inspectores_ appointed by the
sub-delegates. Directly and indirectly; therefore, the administration of
all these political divisions is in the hands of the president, who, in
like manner, makes and controls the appointments of all judicial
functionaries, subject, however, to receiving recommendations of
candidates from the courts and to submitting appointments to the
approval of the council of state. This gives the national executive
absolute control of all administrative matters in every part of the
republic. The police force also is a national organization under the
immediate control of the minister of interior, and the public prosecutor
in every department is a representative of the national government.
There is no legislative body in any of these political divisions, nor
any administrative official directly representing the people, with this
exception: under the law of the 22nd of December 1891, municipalities,
or communes, are created and invested with certain specified powers of
local government affecting local police services, sanitation, local
improvements, primary instruction, industrial and business regulations,
&c.; they are authorized to borrow money for sanitary improvements,
road-making, education, &c., and to impose certain specified taxes for
their support; these municipalities elect their own _alcaldes_, or
mayors, and municipal councils, the latter having legislative powers
within the limits of the law mentioned.

_Justice._--The judicial power consists of a Supreme Court of Justice
of seven members located in the national capital, which exercises
supervisory and disciplinary authority over all the law courts of the
republic; six courts of appeal, in Tacna, Serena, Valparaiso,
Santiago, Talca and Concepción; tribunals of first instance in the
department capitals; and minor courts, or justices of the peace, in
the sub-delegacies and districts. The jury system does not exist in
Chile, and juries are unknown except in cases where the freedom of the
press has been abused. All trials, therefore, are heard by one or more
judges, and appeals may be taken from a lower to a higher court. The
government is represented in each department by a public prosecutor.
The police officials, who are under the direct control of the
minister of interior, also exercise some degree of judicial authority.
This force is essentially military in its organization, and consisted
in 1901 of 500 officers, 934 non-commissioned officers and 5400 police
soldiers. Small forces of local policemen are supported by various
municipalities. The judges of the higher courts are appointed by the
national executive, and those of the minor tribunals by the federal
official governing the political division in which they are located.

_Army_.--For military purposes the republic is divided into five
districts, the northern desert provinces forming the first, the
central provinces as far south as the Bio-Bio the second and third,
and the southern provinces and territory the fourth and fifth. Large
sums of money have been expended in arms, equipment, guns and
fortifications. The army is organized on the German model and has been
trained by European officers who have been employed both for the
school and regiment. Though the president and minister of war are the
nominal heads of the army, its immediate direction is concentrated in
a general staff comprising six service departments, at the head of
which is a chief of staff. After the triumph of the revolutionists in
the civil war of 1891, the army was reorganized under the direction of
Colonel Emil Körner, an accomplished German officer, who subsequently
served as chief of the general staff. In 1904 the permanent force
consisted of 12 battalions of infantry, 6 regiments of cavalry, 4
regiments of mountain artillery, 1 regiment of horse artillery, 2
regiments of coast artillery, and 5 companies of
engineers--aggregating 915 officers and 4757 men. To this nucleus were
added 6160 recruits, the contingent for that year of young men
twenty-one years of age compelled to serve with the colours. Under the
law of the 5th of September 1900, military service is obligatory for
all citizens between eighteen and forty-five years, all young men of
twenty-one years being required to serve a certain period with the
regular force. After this period they are transferred to the 1st
reserve for 9 years, and then to the 2nd reserve. The military rifle
adopted for all three branches of the service is the Mauser, 1895
model, of 7 mm. calibre, and the batteries are provided with Krupp
guns of 7 and 7.5 cm. calibre. Military instruction is given in a
well-organized military school at Santiago, a war academy and a school
of military engineering.

_Navy_.--The Chilean navy is essentially British in organization and
methods, and all its best fighting ships were built in British yards.
In 1906 the effective fighting force consisted of 1 battle ship, 2
belted cruisers, 4 protected cruisers, 3 torpedo gunboats, 6
destroyers and 8 modern torpedo boats. In addition to these there are
several inferior armed vessels of various kinds which bring the total
up to 40, not including transports and other auxiliaries. The
administration of the navy, under the president and minister of war
and marine, is confided to a general naval staff, called the
"Direccion jeneral de la Armada," with headquarters at Valparaiso. Its
duties also include the military protection of the ports, the
hydrographic survey of the coast, and the lighthouse service. The
_personnel_ comprises about 465 officers, including those of the
staff, and 4000 petty officers and men. There is a military port at
Talcahuano, in Concepción Bay, strongly fortified, and provided with
arsenal and repair shops, a large dry dock and a patent slip. The
naval school, which occupies one of the noteworthy edifices of
Valparaiso, is attended by 90 cadets and is noted for the thoroughness
of its instruction.

_Education_.--Under the old conservative régime very little was done
for the public school outside the larger towns. As a large proportion
of the labouring classes lived in the small towns and rural
communities, they received comparatively little attention. The
increasing influence of more liberal ideas greatly improved the
situation with reference to popular education, and the government now
makes vigorous efforts to bring its public school system within the
reach of all. The constitution provides that free instruction must be
provided for the people. School attendance is not compulsory, however,
and the gain upon illiteracy (75%) appears to be very slow. The
government also gives primary instruction to recruits when serving
with the colours, which, with the increasing employment of the people
in the towns, helps to stimulate a desire for education among the
lower classes. Education in Chile is very largely under the control of
the national government, the minister of justice and public
instruction being charged with the direction of all public schools
from the university down to the smallest and most remote primary
school. The system includes the University of Chile and National
Institute at Santiago, lyceums or high schools in all the provincial
capitals and larger towns, normal schools at central points for the
training of public school teachers, professional and industrial
schools, military schools and primary schools. Instruction in all
these is free, and under certain conditions text-books are supplied.
In the normal schools, where the pupils are trained to enter the
public service as primary teachers, not only is the tuition free, but
also books, board, lodging and everything needed in their school work.
The national university at Santiago comprises faculties of theology,
law and political science, medicine and pharmacy, natural sciences and
mathematics, and philosophy. The range of studies is wide, and the
attendance large. The National Institute at Santiago is the principal
high school of the secondary grade in Chile. There were 30 of these
high schools for males and 12 for females in 1903, with an aggregate
of 11,504 matriculated students. The normal schools for males are
located at Santiago, Chillán and Valdivia; and for females at La
Serena, Santiago and Concepción. The mining schools at Copiapó, La
Serena and Santiago had an aggregate attendance of 180 students in
1903, and the commercial schools at Iquique and Santiago an attendance
of 214. The more important agricultural schools are located at
Santiago, Chillán, Concepción and Ancud, the Quinta Normal de
Agricultura in the national capital having a large attendance. The
School of Mechanic Arts and Trades (_Escuela de Artes y Oficios_) of
Santiago has a high reputation for the practical character of its
instruction, in which it is admirably seconded by a normal handicraft
school (Slöyd system) and a night school of industrial drawing in the
same city, and professional schools for girls in Santiago and
Valparaiso, where the pupils are taught millinery, dress-making,
knitting, embroidery and fancy needlework. The government also
maintains schools for the blind and for the deaf and dumb. The public
primary schools numbered 1961 in 1903, with 3608 teachers, 166,928
pupils enrolled, and an average attendance of 108,582. The cost of
maintaining these schools was 4,146,574 pesos, or an average of
£2:17:3 per pupil in attendance. In addition to the public schools
there are a Roman Catholic university at Santiago, which includes law
and civil engineering among its regular courses of study; numerous
private schools and seminaries of the secondary grade, with a total of
11,184 students of both sexes in 1903; and 506 private primary
schools, with an attendance of 29,684. The private schools usually
conform to the official requirements in regard to studies and
examinations, which facilitates subsequent admission to the university
and the obtainment of degrees; probably they do better work than the
public schools, especially in the German settlements of the southern
provinces. A Consejo de Instrucción Pública (council of public
instruction) of 14 members exercises a general supervision over the
higher and secondary schools. There are schools of music and fine arts
in Santiago. The national library at Santiago, with 116,300 volumes in
1906, and the national observatory, are both efficiently administered.
At the beginning of the 20th century there were 41 public libraries in
the republic, including public school collections, with an aggregate
of 240,000 volumes.

_Charities._--According to the returns of 1903 there were 88 hospitals
in the republic, which reported 79,051 admissions during the year, and
had 6215 patients under treatment at its close; 628,536 patients
received gratuitous medical assistance at the public dispensaries
during the year; there were 24 foundling hospitals with 5570 children;
and there were 3092 persons in the various _hospicios_ or asylums, and
1478 in the imbecile asylums.

_Religion._--The Roman Catholic religion is declared by the
constitution to be the religion of the state, and the inaugural oath
of the president pledges him to protect it. A considerable part of its
income is derived from a subsidy included in the annual budget, which
makes it a charge upon the national treasury like any other public
service. The secular supervision of this service is entrusted to a
member of the president's cabinet, known as the minister of worship
and colonization. The executive and legislative powers intervene in
the appointments to the higher offices of the Church. The greater part
of the population remains loyal to the established faith. The law of
1865 gives the privilege of religious worship to other faiths, and the
laws of 1883 made civil marriage and the civil registry of births,
deaths and marriages obligatory, and secularized the cemeteries. Under
the reform of 1865 full religious freedom is practically accorded, and
it is provided that the services of religious organizations other than
the Roman Catholic may be held in private residences or in edifices
owned by private individuals or corporations. Of the 72,812 foreigners
residing in Chile in 1895, about 16,000 were described as Protestants.
Notwithstanding the opposition of some political elements to the
Church, the Chileans themselves may all be classed as Roman Catholics.
The ecclesiastical organization includes one archbishop, who resides
at Santiago, three bishops residing at La Serena, Concepción and
Ancud, and two vicars residing in Antofagasta and Tarapacá. These
benefices are filled by appointments from lists of three prepared by
the council of state and sent to Rome by the president, and in the
case of an archbishop or bishop the appointment must also receive the
approval of the Senate. The Chilean clergy are drawn very largely from
the higher classes, and their social standing is much better than in
many South American states. The Church also possesses much property of
its own, and is therefore able to maintain itself on a comparatively
small subsidy from the public treasury, which was 985,910 pesos
(£73,943) in 1902. The Church maintains seminaries in all cathedral
towns, and these also receive a subsidy from the government.

_Finance._--For a long time Chile was considered one of the poorest
states of Spanish America, but the acquisition of the rich
mineral-producing provinces of the north, together with the
development of new silver and copper mines in Atacama and Coquimbo,
largely increased her revenues and enabled her to develop other
important resources. During the decade 1831-1840 the annual revenues
averaged about 2,100,000 pesos (of 48d.), which in the decade
1861-1870 had increased to an average of only 8,200,000 pesos--and
this during a period of considerable agricultural activity on account
of wheat exports to California and Australia. After 1870 the revenues
increased more rapidly owing to the development of new mining
industries, the receipts in 1879 amounting to 15,300,000 pesos, and in
1882 to 28,900,000 pesos. The revenues from the captured Peruvian
nitrate fields then became an important part of the national income,
which ten years later (1902) reached an aggregate of 138,507,178 pesos
(of i8d.), of which 105,072,832 pesos were in gold. In 1906 the
receipts from all sources were estimated at 149,100,000 pesos, of
which 62,200,000 pesos gold were credited to the tax on nitrate,
39,800,000 pesos gold to import duties, and 23,500,000 pesos currency
to railway receipts. During these years of fiscal prosperity the
country suffered much from financial crises caused by industrial
stagnation, an excessive and depreciated paper currency and political
disorder. To ensure an income that would meet its foreign engagements,
the government collected the nitrate and iodine taxes and import
duties in gold. As a considerable part of the expenditures were in
gold, the practice was adopted of keeping the gold and currency
accounts separate. In 1895 a conversion law was passed in which the
sterling value of the peso was reduced to 18d., at which rate the
outstanding paper should be redeemed. A conversion fund was also
created, and, although the government afterwards authorized two more
large issues, the beneficial effects of this law were so pronounced
that the customs regulations were modified in 1907 to permit the
payment of import duties in paper. The national revenue is derived
chiefly from the nitrate taxes, customs duties, alcohol tax, and from
railway, postal and telegraph receipts. There is no land tax, and
licence or business taxes are levied by the municipalities for local
purposes. The national expenditures are chiefly for the interest and
amortization charges on the public debt, official salaries, military
expenses in connexion with the army and navy, public works (including
railway construction, port improvements, water and sewage works), the
administration of the state railways, telegraph lines and post office,
church subsidies, public instruction and foreign representation.

The ordinary and extraordinary receipts and expenditures for the five
years 1899-1903, in gold and currency, in pesos of 18d., were as
follows:--

+------+--------------------------+-----------------------------+
| | Receipts, pesos. | Expenditures, pesos. |
| +-------------+------------+--------------+--------------+
| | Gold. | Paper. | Gold. | Paper. |
+------+-------------+------------+--------------+--------------+
| 1899 | 83,051,604 | 45,239.970 | 31,732,797 | 76,749,793 |
| 1900 | 89,869,178 | 46,515,102 | 30,564,821 | 82,143,742 |
| 1901 | 74,665,061 | 35,394,434 | 39,808,517 | 91,087,171 |
| 1902 | 105,072,832 | 33,434,346 | 45,093,278[5]| 89,170,087[5]|
| 1903 | 108,503,565 | 32,490,145 | 12,508,075 | 84,721,437 |
+------+-------------+------------+--------------+--------------+

For 1906 the expenditures were fixed at 149,000,000 pesos, and the
revenues were estimated to produce 149,100,000 pesos, which included
62,200,000 pesos gold from nitrate taxes, 39,800,000 pesos gold and
200,000 pesos paper from import duties, 23,500,000 pesos paper from
the state railways, 2,500,000 pesos paper from postal and telegraph
receipts, and 15,000,000 pesos gold from loans. How the revenues are
expended is shown in the estimates for 1907, in which the total
expenditures were estimated at 134,830,532 pesos paper and 58,796,780
pesos gold, the principal appropriations being 16,192,780 pesos paper
and 99,733 gold for the war department, 10,460.781 paper and 6,315,731
gold for the marine department, 40,934,273 paper and 16,984,671 gold
for railways, and 6,324,817 paper for public works. In addition to
these the budget of 1906 provided for gold expenditures in 1907 of
7,000,000 pesos on sanitary works and 8,000,000 pesos on the Arica-La
Paz railway. The custom of dividing receipts and expenditures into
ordinary and extraordinary, of treating the receipts from loans as
revenue, of adding six months to the fiscal year for closing up
accounts, and of dividing receipts and expenditures into separate gold
and currency accounts, leads to much confusion and complication in the
returns, and is the cause of unavoidable discrepancies and
contradictions.

In May 1906 the external debt of the republic aggregated £21,700,000,
including the loans of 1905 and 1906, amounting to £5,700.000, for
sanitary works and railway construction. At the same time the internal
debt was 107,000,000 pesos (£8,025,000), which increases the funded
indebtedness to £29,725,000. Like Brazil, Chile has been careful to
preserve her foreign credit, and though an average indebtedness of
about £10 per capita may seem large for a nation with so much absolute
poverty among its people, the government is finding no difficulty in
negotiating new loans, the mineral resources of the country and the
conservative instincts of the people being considered satisfactory
guarantees. According to official returns, the real-estate valuations
in 1903-1904 aggregated 1,777,217,704 pesos, of which 1,020,609,215
pesos were in urban and 754,608,489 pesos in rural property. Of the
total returned, 1,775,217,704 is described as taxable, and 262,626,576
pesos as non-taxable. The large and steadily increasing receipts from
import duties, amounting to 91,321,860 pesos in 1905, and 103,507,556
pesos in 1906, appears to indicate an encouraging state of prosperity
in the country, although an average of 34½ pesos a year (nearly £2 :
12s.), in addition to the increased prices paid for home manufactures,
seems to be a very heavy indirect tax upon so poor a people.

_Currency._--The monetary circulation in Chile consists almost wholly
of paper currency, nominally based on a gold standard of 18d. per
peso. The conversion law of 1895 made the currency convertible at this
rate, although the gold peso was rated at 48d. previous to that date;
but the financial crisis of 1898 caused the suspension of specie
payments, and a forced issue of additional paper led to a further
postponement of conversion and the prompt withdrawal of specie from
circulation. The paper circulation consists of national and bank
issues. The former owes its existence very largely to the war with
Peru, the civil war of 1891, and the financial troubles of 1898. On
the 1st of January 1890 the national issues stood at 22,487,916 pesos,
and the bank issues at 16,679,790 pesos, making a total of 39,167,706
pesos currency in circulation. This total was largely increased by
President Balmaceda in 1891. On the 31st of July 1898 the conversion
of paper notes, under the law of 1st June 1895, was suspended, and the
government issued 27,989,929 pesos to the banks of issue, which was
described as a loan at 2%, and raised their outstanding circulation to
40,723,089 pesos, and at the same time issued on its own account
17,693,890 pesos and assumed responsibility for 1,193,641 pesos which
had been illegally put into circulation before 1896. This gave an
aggregate registered circulation of 86,045,166 pesos in 1898. In 1904
another issue of 30,000,000 pesos was authorized and the date of
conversion was still further postponed, and in 1907 a more general act
provided that the maximum paper circulation should not exceed
150,000,000 pesos of the value of 18d. per peso, and that new issues
should be made only through the issue department and against deposits
of gold, which deposits would be returned to depositors on the
presentation of the currency issued. The redemption of this issue was
guaranteed by a conversion fund of 100,000,000 pesos, and by an
authorization to issue a loan of 50,000,000 pesos to redeem the
balance, if necessary. The conversion fund under the act of 1895 stood
at 77,282,257 pesos (£5,796,170) on the 31st of May 1907. There are 23
joint-stock banks of issue, with an aggregate registered capital of
40,689,665 pesos (£3,051,724). Their circulating notes are secured by
deposits in the national treasury of gold, government notes and other
approved securities. There is no state bank, though the Bank of Chile,
with its numerous agencies and its paid-up capital of 20,000,000
pesos, may be said to fill the place of such an institution. Besides
these, there are four non-issue banks, two foreign banks and their
agencies, and three mortgage banks, with agencies at the important
provincial centres, which loan money on real-estate security and issue
interest bearing hypothecary notes to bearer. There are 8 savings
banks in the republic, whose aggregate deposits on the 31st of
December 1906 were 14,799,728 pesos.

The monetary unit, the gold peso, does not form a part of the actual
coinage. The gold coins authorized by this law are the _condor_ of 20
pesos, the _medio condor_, or _doblon_, of 10 pesos, and the _escudo_
of 5 pesos. The silver coins are the _peso_ of 100 centavos and its
fractional parts of 20, 10 and 5 centavos. The bronze coins are of 2½,
2, 1, and ½ centavos.

The metric system of weights and measures is the legal standard in
Chile, but the old Spanish standards are still widely used, especially
in handling mining and farm produce. Nitrate of soda is estimated in
Chilean quintals (101.41 lb) in the field, and metric quintals (220.46
lb) at the port of shipment. In silver and copper mining the _marc_ (8
oz.) is commonly used in describing the richness of the ores. Farm
produce is generally sold by the _arroba_ or _fanega_; the _vara_ is
used in lineal measurement, and the _cuadra_ is used by country people
in land measurement. (A. J. L.)

HISTORY.

Inca conquest.

Chile was the recognized name of the country from the beginning of its
known history. The land was originally inhabited by tribes of Indians,
who, though not mere savages, were far below the level of civilization
distinguishing the races of Mexico and Peru. When the country first
became known to the Spaniards in the 16th century the northern tribes
were found to be more civilized and much more submissive than those of
the south. The difference was no doubt due to the invasion and conquest
of northern Chile in the 15th century by Yupanqui, Inca of Peru,
grandfather of Atahualpa, ruler of Peru at the time of its conquest by
Pizarro. The dominion of the Incas in Chile was probably bounded by the
Rapel river (lat. 34° 10' S.), and, though their control of the country
was slight, the Peruvian influence led to the introduction of a higher
civilization, and, by weakening the power of the tribes, paved the way
for the invasion of the Spaniards. Beyond the limits of the Inca
conquest the Indians of Chile were distinguished by fierce independence
of character and by their warlike qualities. Rude and ignorant as they
were, they possessed a rough military organization; each community was
led by its _ulmen_ (chief), and in war the tribes fought together under
an elected leader (_toqui_). The name of the Araucanians, the most
powerful of the tribes, came to be applied to the whole confederation of
Indians living south of the Bio-bio river.

Spanish invasions.

The first Spanish invasion of Chile took place in 1535, when Diego de
Almagro, the companion and rival of Pizarro in the conquest of Peru,
marched into Chile in search of gold. Disappointed in his quest, and
meeting with obstinate resistance from the southern tribes, he returned
to Peru with his whole force in 1538. In 1540 Pizarro sent Pedro de
Valdivia to make a regular conquest and settlement of Chile. Valdivia
founded Santiago, the present capital of Chile, in February 1541, and
proceeded to build the towns of La Serena, Conceptión, Villarica,
Imperial, Valdivia and Angol, in order to secure his hold on the
country. But the Indians fought desperately for their independence, and
in 1553 a general rising of the tribes ended in the defeat and death of
Valdivia and in the destruction of most of his settlements. This was the
beginning of nearly a century of continuous warfare. As there was no
gold in the country the number of settlers was small, the loose tribal
organization of the natives made it impossible to inflict a vital defeat
on them, and the mountainous and thickly wooded country lent itself
admirably to a warfare of surprises and ambuscades. General after
general and army after army were despatched from Spain and Peru; Chile
was given a government independent of the viceroy of Lima; attack after
attack was made on the Indians, their lands were laid waste, and the
struggle was conducted with merciless ferocity: all in vain. Settlements
and forts were never free from assault and were taken and retaken; if
one Indian army was destroyed another took its place, if one _toqui_ was
killed another was chosen; when defeated, the Indians retired to their
forests, marshes and hills, recruited their forces, and fell on the
pursuing Spaniards. In 1612 an attempt was made by a Jesuit missionary
to negotiate a peace, but not till 1640 was the desperate struggle ended
by the treaty of Quillin, which left the Indians all the land south of
the Bio-bio river. Up to 1800 the peace was broken by three wars, in
1655, in 1723 and in 1766, the last ended by a treaty which actually
gave the Araucanians the right to have a minister at Santiago.

Colonial system.

It was this constant warfare with the Indians and the necessity for hard
continuous work, owing to the lack of precious metals in Chile, that no
doubt helped to produce in the settlers the strength and hardihood of
character that distinguishes the Chileans among South American races.
But not unnaturally the material condition of the country was the
reverse of prosperous. The expenditure far exceeded the revenue. The
Indian warfare occupied nearly the whole attention of the governors and
much of the time of the settlers. By the Spanish colonial system the
development of manufactures was prohibited and the trade of the colony
was limited not only to Spain but to the one port of Cadiz. Till the
18th century ships were not allowed to sail round Cape Horn, so that the
Chileans had to trade indirectly through Peru and the Argentine.
Agriculture was the one resource of the colony, and wheat was grown for
export to Peru, but the land was concentrated in the hands of a few big
landowners, and the cultivation of the vine and olive was forbidden. At
the end of the 17th century Santiago was a town of poor one-storeyed
houses and had only 8000 inhabitants; the other towns, Valparaiso,
Concepción, La Serena, were only large villages. Books were not allowed
to be imported, and education was limited to such as was given here and
there by priests and monks. The Indians within the limits of the Spanish
colony were treated like slaves, and horribly mutilated to prevent their
escape; but at the same time a gradual fusion of races was taking place,
and the Chilean peasant (_peon_) of to-day is as much of Indian as of
Spanish descent. The Araucanians, however, continued to preserve their
independence; they jealously resented the introduction of Spanish
influence, and the missionary efforts of the Jesuits met with little
success.

During the 18th century the condition of the colony was improved in many
ways. The Bourbon kings of Spain were more liberal in their colonial
policy. Merchant-ships were allowed to sail direct to Chile, trade with
France was sometimes permitted, and a large batch of hardy emigrants was
sent out from the Biscay provinces of Spain. Freed from the
preoccupation of the Indian wars, the governors gave more attention to
the general welfare of the country: a university was started in Santiago
in 1747, many towns were built about the same time, agriculture and
industries were promoted and a coasting trade grew up. In 1778 Charles
III. threw open all the ports of Spain to the colonies and allowed
freedom of trade with France. But in general the administration of the
colony was burdensome, oppressive and inefficient. The people had no
voice in the government. Ruling with the help of the Royal Audience, the
governor was absolute master of the country, and regulated the smallest
details of life. Such time as the officials could spare from the main
object of enriching themselves by extortion and corruption was given up
to endless official and religious ceremonies and to petty disputes of
etiquette and precedence. All the high posts and offices were filled by
men sent from Spain, with the result that bitter jealousy reigned
between them and the native-born colonists (_criollos_). The _criollos_
as a rule filled the posts in the municipalities (_cabildos_), disposed
of by sale, so that when the revolution broke out the _cabildos_
naturally became the centres of the movement. As in all Spanish
colonies, so in Chile, the Church played a large part in the public
life. Chile was divided into the two bishoprics of Santiago and
Concepción, and the Church managed to accumulate most of the wealth of
the country. At the same time the monks and Jesuits did useful work in
teaching industrial and agricultural arts, and in giving the people a
certain degree of education; but the influence of the Church was used to
bolster up the traditional narrow colonial system, and the constant
quarrels between the clergy and the secular powers often threw the
country into confusion.

At the opening of the 19th century Chile was a colony whose resources
had hardly been touched, with a population of about 500,000 persons, of
Spanish and mixed Spanish and Indian blood: a people endowed with the
vigour of character bred by a mountainous country and a bracing climate
and by a hard struggle for existence, but ignorant through lack of
education, shut out by a narrow-minded commercial system from knowledge
of the outside world, and destitute of the character-training that free
institutions afford.

Struggle for independence.

The national independence of Chile dates from the second decade of the
19th century. The revolt of England's North American colonies, and the
events of the French Revolution naturally suggested the idea of a
struggle for independence to the Spanish colonists, and the deposition
of Ferdinand VII. by Napoleon, and the ensuing disorganization of Spain,
supplied the desired opportunity. In 1809 risings took place in
Venezuela, in Ecuador, in Upper Peru and in the Argentine; the
revolutionary fever spread to Chile, and on the 18th of September 1810
the _cabildo_ of Santiago secured the resignation of the governor and
vested his powers in an elected _Junta_ (board) of seven members. This
event was the beginning of the independence of Chile. But it was some
time before independence was fully attained. The mass of the people were
ignorant, intercourse between them was slight, and there was a strong
section attached to the old régime. The party determined on independence
was at first small, and compelled to conceal its aims till the ground
had been prepared for open decisive action. Further, there were
divisions between the patriots of Santiago and those of Concepción, and
bitter jealousies between the leaders, the chief of whom were Juan
Martinez de Rozas, José Miguel Carrera and Bernardo O'Higgins. Owing to
the apathy of the people and the enmities existing among the leaders,
the Spanish forces, sent by the viceroy of Peru to crush the
revolutionary movement, succeeded after two years' indecisive fighting
in completely defeating the patriots at Rancagua in 1814. For three
years the Spaniards maintained their hold on Chile, ruling the country
with tyrannical harshness, but in the spring of 1817 a patriot force
which had been organized at Mendoza in the Argentine by José de San
Martin, an Argentine officer, and by O'Higgins, crossed the Andes and
overwhelmed the royalists at the battle of Chacabuco. O'Higgins was
named director-general of Chile, while San Martin, realizing that the
independence of each colony depended on the Spanish being expelled from
the whole of South America, set about preparing an invasion of Peru. The
viceroy of Lima made one more effort to uphold the power of Spain in
Chile, but the army he despatched under Mariano Osorio, the victor of
Rancagua, was decisively defeated at the river Maipo on the 3rd of April
1818. By this battle the independence of Chile, formally proclaimed by
O'Higgins in the previous February, was finally secured.

The republic.

The next few years witnessed the expulsion of the royalists from the
south of Chile, the equipment of a small fleet, placed under the command
of Manuel Blanco Encalada and Lord Cochrane (earl of Dundonald), and the
invasion of Peru by San Martin with the help of the fleet, ending in the
proclamation of Peruvian independence in 1821; though the Spanish power
was not finally broken until Bolivar's victory at Ayacucho in 1824.
Relieved from all fear of Spanish attacks from the north, the new
republic of Chile entered upon a period of internal confusion and
dissension bordering upon anarchy. As soon as the necessity for
establishing a stable government arose the lack of training in
self-government among the Chileans became painfully obvious. O'Higgins
as director-general, rightly perhaps, considered that firm orderly
government was more important than the concession of liberal
institutions, but his administration roused strong hostility, and in
1823 he was compelled to resign. From that date up to 1830 there were no
less than ten governments, while three different constitutions were
proclaimed. The nation was divided into small mutually hostile parties;
there were ecclesiastical troubles owing to the hostility of the Church
to the new republic; there were Indian risings in the south and royalist
revolts in the island of Chiloé; the expenditure exceeded the revenue,
and the employment of the old Spanish financial expedients naturally
increased the general discontent. Up to 1830 the Liberal party, which
favoured a free democratic régime, held the upper hand, but in that year
the Conservatives, backed by a military rising led by General Joaquin
Prieto, placed themselves in power after a sanguinary battle at Lircay.
Prieto was elected president in 1831, and a new constitution was drafted
and promulgated in 1833, which, with some modifications, remains the
constitution of Chile at the present time. This constitution invested
the executive with almost dictatorial powers, and the Conservatives
entered upon a long term of office.

The aim of the Conservative policy was to secure above all a strong
administration; power was concentrated in the hands of a small circle;
public liberties were restricted and all opposition crushed by force.
Inaugurated under General Prieto's administration (1831-1841) by his
able minister Diego Portales, this policy was continued by his
successors General Manuel Bulnes (1841-1851) and Manuel Montt
(1851-1861), each of whom like Prieto was elected to a double term of
office. In spite of the discontent of the Liberals, the Conservative
ascendancy secured a long period of firm stable government, which was
essential to put an end to the confusion in public life and to give time
for the people to awake to a fuller realization of the duties and
responsibilities of national independence. The internal peace of the
country was only disturbed three times, by Liberal risings in 1835, in
1851 and in 1859, all of which were crushed, but not without severe
fighting. In 1836 Chile also became involved in a war with a
confederation of Peru and Bolivia, which ended in the victory of Chile
and the dissolution of the confederation.

While refusing to allow the people any share in, or control over, the
government, the Conservative leaders devoted themselves to improving the
condition of the people and of the country, and under their firm rule
Chile advanced rapidly in prosperity. The government established a
department for education, a training college for teachers, and numerous
schools and libraries; literary magazines were started and a school of
art and an academy of music founded. By the consolidation of the foreign
debt, by the regular payment of interest, by the establishment of
several banks, and by the negotiation of commercial treaties, the
financial position of the country was improved. Internal development was
promoted by the working of the silver mines of Copiapo and the coal
mines of Lota, by the building of railways and erection of telegraphs,
and by the colonization of the rich Valdivia province with German
settlers.

The Straits of Magellan were occupied; under an American engineer,
William Wheelwright, a line of steamers was started on the coast, and,
by a wise measure allowing merchandise to be landed free of duty for
re-exportation, Valparaiso became a busy port and trading centre; while
the demand for food-stuffs in California and Australia, following upon
the rush for gold, gave a strong impetus to agriculture. A code of law
was drawn up and promulgated, and the ecclesiastical system was
organized under an archbishop appointed by the pope. To Montt, as
minister under Bulnes and afterwards as president, must be given the
main credit for the far-seeing policy which laid the foundations of the
prosperity of Chile; and though the administration was in many ways
harsh and narrow, firm government, rather than liberty that would have
tended to anarchy, was essential for the success of the young republic.

After 1861, however, a Liberal reaction set in, aided by divisions in
the Conservative party arising mainly over church questions. Montt's
successors, José Joaquin Perez (1861-1871), Federico Errázuriz
(1871-1876) and Anibal Pinto (1876-1881), abandoned the repressive
policy of their predecessors, invited the co-operation of the Liberals,
and allowed discontent to vent itself freely in popular agitation. Some
democratic changes were made in the constitution, notably a law
forbidding the re-election of a president, and the gradual and peaceful
transition to a Liberal policy was a proof of the progress which the
nation had made in political training. Outside the movement for
constitutional reform, the most important internal question was the
successful Liberal attack on the privileged position and narrow views of
the Church, which led to the birth of a strong ultra-montane party among
the clergy. The government continued to be animated by a progressive
spirit: schools, railways, telegraphs were rapidly extended; a steamship
mail service to Europe was subsidized, and the stability of the
government enabled it to raise new foreign loans in order to extinguish
the old high interest-bearing loans and to meet the expenses of public
works. In 1877 a financial crisis occurred, met by the emission of paper
money, but the depression was only temporary, and the country soon
rallied from the effects.

During this period there was desultory fighting with the Indians; there
was a long boundary dispute with the Argentine, settled in 1880; and in
1865 Chilean sympathy with Peru in a quarrel with Spain led to a foolish
war with Spain. The blockade of their ports and the bombardment of
Valparaiso by a Spanish squadron impressed the Chileans with the
necessity of possessing an adequate fleet to defend their long
coast-line; and it was under President Errázuriz that the ships were
obtained and the officers trained that did such good service in the
great war with Peru. With a population of over two millions, a rapidly
increasing revenue, ruled by a government that was firm and progressive
and that enjoyed the confidence of all classes, Chile was well equipped
for the struggle with Peru that began in 1879.

Close of the war with Peru.

The war of 1879-82 between Chile and Peru is the subject of a separate
article (see CHILE-PERUVIAN WAR). By the beginning of 1881 the war had
reached a stage when the final struggle was close at hand. On the 13th
of January of that year the Chilean forces under command of General
Baquedano attacked the entrenched positions of the Peruvians at daybreak
in the vicinity of Chorillos, a village some few miles from Lima, and
forming the outer line of defence for the capital. After a stubborn
fight the day ended in victory for the attacking forces; but the losses
on both sides were great, and on the following day negotiations for
peace were attempted by the representatives of the foreign powers in
Lima, the object being to avoid, if possible, any further bloodshed.
This attempt to end the conflict proved, however, abortive, and on the
15th of January at 2 P.M. hostilities recommenced in the neighbourhood
of Miraflores. After severe fighting for some four hours the Chileans
again proved victorious, and drove the Peruvians from the second line of
defence back upon the city of Lima. Lima was now at the mercy of the
Chileans, and on the 17th of January a division of 4000 men of all arms,
under the command of General Cornelio Saavedra, was sent forward to
occupy the Peruvian capital and restore order within the town limits. A
portion of the Chilean forces was shortly afterwards withdrawn from
Peru, and the army of occupation remaining in the conquered country was
in charge of Admiral Patricio Lynch, an officer who had been specially
promoted for distinguished services during the war. President Anibal
Pinto of Chile now set about to find means to conclude a treaty of peace
with Peru, but his efforts in this direction were frustrated by the
armed resistance offered in the country districts to the Chilean
authorities by the remainder of the Peruvian forces under command of
General Cáceres. So matters continued--the Chileans administering on the
seaboard and in the principal towns, the Peruvians maintaining a
guerilla warfare in the mountainous districts of the interior. In
September 1881 the term of office of president Pinto expired, and he was
succeeded in the post of chief executive of Chile by President Domingo
Santa Maria. Ex-President Pinto died three years later in Valparaiso,
leaving a memory respected and admired by all political parties in his
country. The name of Pinto will always occupy a prominent place in the
annals of Chilean history, not only because the war with Peru took place
during his term of office, but also on account of the fact that it was
largely due to the intelligent direction of all details by the president
during the struggle that the Chilean arms proved so absolutely
successful by land and sea.

President Santa Maria.

Señor Domingo Santa Maria, who now acceded to the presidency of Chile,
was a Liberal in politics, and had previously held various important
posts under the government. Under the rule of President Montt he had
been an active member of the opposition and involved in various
revolutionary conspiracies; for his participation in these plots he was
at one time exiled from the country, but returned and received official
employment under President Perez. The principal task confronting
President Santa Maria on assuming the presidency was to negotiate a
treaty of peace with Peru and provide for the evacuation of the Chilean
army of occupation. The presence of the Peruvian general Cáceres and his
forces in the interior of Peru prevented for some two years the
formation of any Peruvian national administration in Lima with which the
Chilean authorities could deal. In August of 1883 the Peruvians were
defeated by the forces commanded by Admiral Lynch, and a government was
then organized under the leadership of General Iglesias. A provisional
treaty of peace was then drawn up and signed by General Iglesias and the
Chilean representative, and this was finally ratified by the Chilean and
Peruvian congresses respectively in April 1884. By the terms of this
treaty Peru ceded to Chile unconditionally the province of Tarapacá, and
the provinces of Tacna and Arica were placed under Chilean authority for
the term of ten years, the inhabitants having then to decide by a
general vote whether they remained a part of Chile or elected to belong
once more to Peru. In the event of the decision being favourable to Peru
a sum of 10,000,000 dollars was to be paid by Peru to Chile. On the
ratification of this treaty the Chilean forces were immediately
withdrawn from Lima and other points of occupation in Peruvian
territory. The government of Bolivia also attempted to negotiate a
treaty of peace with Chile in 1884, and for this purpose sent
representatives to Santiago. No satisfactory terms, however, could be
arranged, and the negotiations ended in only an armistice being agreed
to, by which Chile remained in occupation of the Bolivian seaboard
pending a definite settlement at some future period.

The administration of President Santa Maria met with violent opposition
from the Conservatives, who included the Clerical party in their ranks,
and also from a certain section of the Liberals. The dislike of the
Conservatives to President Santa Maria was occasioned by his
introduction of the law of civil marriage, the civil registration of
births and deaths, and the freeing of the cemeteries. Hitherto no
marriage was legal unless celebrated according to the rites of the
Roman Catholic religion, and all registers of births and deaths were
kept by the parish priests. Civil employees were now appointed under the
new laws to attend to this work. Formerly the cemeteries were entirely
under the control of the Church, and, with the exception of a few places
specially created for the purpose, were reserved solely for the burial
of Roman Catholics. Under the new regime these cemeteries were made
common to the dead of all religions. Under President Perez, in 1865, a
clause in the law of constitution had been introduced permitting the
exercise of all creeds of religion, and this was now put into practice,
all restrictions being removed. On several occasions, notably in 1882
and 1885, President Santa Maria used his influence in the elections of
senators and deputies to congress for the purpose of creating a
substantial majority in his favour. He was induced to take this course
in consequence of the violent opposition raised in the chambers by the
liberal policy he pursued in connexion with Church matters. This
intervention caused great irritation amongst the Conservatives and
dissentient Liberals, and the political situation on more than one
occasion became so strained as to bring the country to the verge of
armed revolution. No outbreak, however, took place, and in 1886 the five
years of office for which President Santa Maria had been elected came to
an end, and another Liberal, Señor José Manuel Balmaceda, then succeeded
to power.

Balmaceda elected president.

Revolution of 1891.

The election of Balmaceda was bitterly opposed by the Conservatives and
dissentient Liberals, but was finally successfully carried by the
official influence exercised by President Santa Maria. On assuming
office President Balmaceda endeavoured to bring about a reconciliation
of all sections of the Liberal party in congress and so form a solid
majority to support the administration, and to this end he nominated as
ministers representatives of the different political groups. Six months
later the cabinet was reorganized, and two most bitter opponents to the
recent election of President Balmaceda were accorded portfolios.
Believing that he had now secured the support of the majority in
congress on behalf of any measures he decided to put forward, the new
president initiated a policy of heavy expenditure on public works, the
building of schools, and the strengthening of the naval and military
forces of the republic. Contracts were given out to the value of
£6,000,000 for the construction of railways in the southern districts;
some 10,000,000 dollars were expended in the erection of schools and
colleges; three cruisers and two sea-going torpedo boats were added to
the squadron; the construction of the naval port at Talcahuano was
actively pushed forward; new armament was purchased for the infantry and
artillery branches of the army, and heavy guns were acquired for the
purpose of permanently and strongly fortifying the neighbourhoods of
Valparaiso, Talcahuano and Iquique. In itself this policy was not
unreasonable, and in many ways extremely beneficial for the country.
Unfortunately corruption crept into the expenditure of the large sums
necessary to carry out this programme. Contracts were given by favour
and not by merit, and the progress made in the construction of the new
public works was far from satisfactory. The opposition in congress to
President Balmaceda began to increase rapidly towards the close of 1887,
and further gained ground in 1888. In order to ensure a majority
favourable to his views, the president threw the whole weight of his
official influence into the elections for senators and deputies in 1888;
but many of the members returned to the chambers through this official
influence joined the opposition shortly after taking their seats. In
1889 congress became distinctly hostile to the administration of
President Balmaceda, and the political situation became grave, and at
times threatened to involve the country in civil war. According to usage
and custom in Chile, a ministry does not remain in office unless
supported by a majority in the chambers. Balmaceda now found himself in
the impossible position of being unable to appoint any ministry that
could control a majority in the senate and chamber of deputies and at
the same time be in accordance with his own views of the administration
of public affairs. At this juncture the president assumed that the
constitution gave him the power of nominating and maintaining in office
any ministers he might consider fitting persons for the purpose, and
that congress had no right of interference in the matter. The chambers
were now only waiting for a suitable opportunity to assert their
authority. In 1890 it was stated that President Balmaceda had determined
to nominate and cause to be elected as his successor at the expiration
of his term of office in 1891 one of his own personal friends. This
question of the election of another president brought matters to a head,
and congress refused to vote supplies to carry on the government. To
avoid trouble Balmaceda entered into a compromise with congress, and
agreed to nominate a ministry to their liking on condition that the
supplies for 1890 were voted. This cabinet, however, was of short
duration, and resigned when the ministers understood the full amount of
friction between the president and congress. Balmaceda then nominated a
ministry not in accord with the views of congress under Señor Claudio
Vicuña, whom it was no secret that Balmaceda intended to be his
successor in the presidential chair, and, to prevent any expression of
opinion upon his conduct in the matter, he refrained from summoning an
extraordinary session of the legislature for the discussion of the
estimates of revenue and expenditure for 1891. When the 1st of January
1891 arrived, the president published a decree in the _Diario Oficial_
to the effect that the budget of 1890 would be considered the official
budget for 1891. This act was illegal and beyond the attributes of the
executive power. As a protest against the action of President Balmaceda,
the vice-president of the senate, Señor Waldo Silva, and the president
of the chamber of deputies, Señor Ramon Barros Luco, issued a
proclamation appointing Captain Jorje Montt in command of the squadron,
and stating that the navy could not recognize the authority of Balmaceda
so long as he did not administer public affairs in accordance with the
constitutional law of Chile. The majority of the members of the chambers
sided with this movement, and on the 7th of January Señores Waldo Silva,
Barros Luco and a number of senators and deputies embarked on board the
Chilean warship "Blanco Encalada," accompanied by the "Esmeralda" and
"O'Higgins" and other vessels, sailing out of Valparaiso harbour and
proceeding northwards to Tarapaca to organize armed resistance against
the president (see CHILEAN CIVIL WAR). It was not alone this action of
Balmaceda in connexion with congress that brought about the revolution.
He had alienated the sympathy of the aristocratic classes of Chile by
his personal vanity and ambition. The oligarchy composed of the great
landowners have always been an important factor in the political life of
the republic; when President Balmaceda found that he was not a _persona
grata_ to this circle he determined to endeavour to govern without their
support, and to bring into the administration a set of men who had no
traditions and with whom his personality would be all-powerful. The
Clerical influence was also thrown against him in consequence of his
radical ideas in respect of Church matters.

Immediately on the outbreak of the revolution President Balmaceda
published a decree declaring Montt and his companions to be traitors,
and without delay organized an army of some 40,000 men for the
suppression of the insurrectionary movement. While both sides were
preparing for extremities, Balmaceda administered the government under
dictatorial powers with a congress of his own nomination. In June 1891
he ordered the presidential election to be held, and Señor Claudio
Vicuña was duly declared chosen as president of the republic for the
term commencing in September 1891. The resources of Balmaceda were
running short on account of the heavy military expenses, and he
determined to dispose of the reserve of silver bullion accumulated in
the vaults of the Casa de Moneda in accordance with the terms of the law
for the conversion of the note issue. The silver was conveyed abroad in
a British man-of-war, and disposed of partly for the purchase of a fast
steamer to be fitted as an auxiliary cruiser and partly in payment for
other kinds of war material.

The organization of the revolutionary forces went on slowly. Much
difficulty was experienced in obtaining the necessary arms and
ammunition. A supply of rifles was bought in the United States, and
embarked on board the "Itata," a Chilean vessel in the service of the
rebels. The United States authorities refused to allow this steamer to
leave San Diego, and a guard was stationed on the ship. The "Itata,"
however, slipped away and made for the Chilean coast, carrying with her
the representatives of the United States. A fast cruiser was immediately
sent in pursuit, but only succeeded in overhauling the rebel ship after
she was at her destination. The "Itata" was then forced to return to San
Diego without landing her cargo for the insurgents. The necessary arms
and ammunition were arranged for in Europe; they were shipped in a
British vessel, and transferred to a Chilean steamer at Fortune Bay, in
Tierra del Fuego, close to the Straits of Magellan and the Falkland
Islands, and thence carried to Iquique, where they were safely
disembarked early in July 1891. A force of 10,000 men was now raised by
the _junta_ of the revolution, and preparations were rapidly pushed
forward for a move to the south with the object of attacking Valparaiso
and Santiago. Early in April a portion of the revolutionary squadron,
comprising the "Blanco Encalada" and other ships, was sent to the
southward for reconnoitring purposes and put into the port of Caldera.
During the night of the 23rd of April, and whilst the "Blanco Encalada"
was lying quietly at anchor, a torpedo boat called the "Almirante
Lynch," belonging to the Balmaceda faction, steamed into the bay of
Caldera and discharged a torpedo at the rebel ship. The "Blanco
Encalada" sank in a few minutes and 300 of her crew perished.

Defeat and suicide of Balmaceda.

In the middle of August 1891 the rebel forces were embarked at Iquique
(where a provisional government under Captain Jorje Montt had been set
up), numbering in all about 9000 men, and sailed for the south. On the
20th of August the congressist army was disembarked at Quinteros, about
20 m. north of Valparaiso, and marched to Concon, where the Balmacedists
were entrenched. A severe fight ensued, in which the troops of President
Balmaceda were defeated with heavy loss. This reverse roused the worst
passions of the president, and he ordered the arrest and imprisonment of
all persons suspected of sympathy with the revolutionary cause. The
population generally were, however, distinctly antagonistic to
Balmaceda; and this feeling had become accentuated since the 17th of
August 1891, on which date he had ordered the execution of a number of
youths belonging to the military college at San Lorenzo on a charge of
seditious practices. The shooting of these boys created a feeling of
horror throughout the country, and a sensation of uncertainty as to what
measures of severity might not be practised in the future if Balmaceda
won the day. After the victory at Concon the insurgent army, under
command of General Campos, marched in a southerly direction towards Viña
del Mar, and thence to Placilla, where the final struggle in the
conflict took place. Balmaceda's generals Barbosa and Alcérrica had here
massed their troops in a strong position. The battle, on the 28th of
August, resulted in victory for the rebels. Both the Balmacedist
generals were killed and Valparaiso was at once occupied. Three days
later the victorious insurgents entered Santiago and assumed the
government of the republic. After the batile of Placilla it was clear to
President Balmaceda that he could no longer hope to find a sufficient
strength amongst his adherents to maintain himself in power, and in view
of the rapid approach of the rebel army he abandoned his official duties
to seek an asylum in the Argentine legation. The president remained
concealed in this retreat until the 18th of September. On the evening of
that date, when the term for which he had been elected president of the
republic terminated, he committed suicide by shooting himself. The
excuse for this act, put forward in letters written shortly before his
end, was that he did not believe the conquerors would give him an
impartial trial. The death of Balmaceda finished all cause of contention
in Chile, and was the closing act of the most severe and bloodiest
struggle that country had ever witnessed. In the various engagements
throughout the conflict more than 10,000 lives were lost, and the joint
expenditure of the two governments on military preparations and the
purchase of war material exceeded £10,000,000 sterling.

An unfortunate occurrence soon after the close of the revolution brought
strained relations for a short period between the governments of the
United States and Chile. A number of men of the U.S.S. "Baltimore"
having been given liberty on shore, an argument arose between some of
them and a group of Chilean sailors in a drinking den in Valparaiso.
Words led to blows. The Americans were badly handled, one of their
number being killed and others severely hurt. The United States
government characterized the affair as an outrage, demanding an
indemnity as satisfaction. The Chilean authorities demurred at this
attitude, and attempted to argue the matter. James G. Elaine, then
secretary of state, refused peremptorily to listen to any explanations.
In the end Chile paid an indemnity of $75,000 as asked, but the affair
left bad feeling in its train.

President Jorje Montt.

The close of the revolution against Balmaceda left the government of
Chile in the hands of the _junta_ under whose guidance the military and
naval operations had been organized. Admiral Jorje Montt had been the
head of this revolutionary committee, and he acted as president of the
provisional government when the administration of the country changed
hands after the victory of the Congressional party. An election was now
immediately ordered for the choice of a president of the republic and
for representatives in the senate and chamber of deputies. Admiral
Montt, as head of the executive power, stanchly refused to allow
official influence to be brought to bear in any way in the presidential
campaign. The great majority of the voters, however, required no
pressure to decide who was in their opinion the man most fitted to
administer the affairs of the republic. For the first time in the
history of Chile a perfectly free election was held, and Admiral Montt
was duly chosen by a nearly unanimous vote to be chief magistrate for
the constitutional term of five years. The senate and chamber of
deputies were formally constituted in due course, and the government of
the republic resumed normal conditions of existence. The new president
showed admirable tact in dealing with the difficult problem he was
called upon to face. Party feeling still ran high between the partisans
of the two sides of the recent conflict. Admiral Montt took the view
that it was politic and just to let bygones be bygones, and he acted
conscientiously by this principle in all administrative measures in
connexion with the supporters of the late President Balmaceda. Early in
1892 an amnesty was granted to the officers of the Balmaceda régime, and
they were freely permitted to return to Chile without any attempt being
made to molest them. The first political act of national importance of
the new government was the grant of control to the municipalities, which
hitherto had possessed little power to direct local affairs, and were
not even permitted to dispose of the municipal revenues to any important
amount without first obtaining the consent of the central government.
Almost absolute power was now given these corporations to manage their
own concerns, and the organization of the police was placed in their
hands; at a later period, however, it was found necessary to modify this
latter condition.

President Montt next turned his attention towards the question of how
best to repair the damage occasioned to the country by eight months of
civil warfare. The plan of public works authorized in 1887 was
reconsidered, and the construction of portions of the various
undertakings recommenced. The army and navy were reorganized. Additional
instructors were brought from Germany, and all arms of the military
service were placed on a thoroughly efficient footing in matters of
drill and discipline. Several new and powerful cruisers were added to
the navy, and the internal economy of this branch of the national
defence was thoroughly inspected and many defects were remedied.
President Montt then took in hand the question of a reform of the
currency, the abolition of inconvertible paper money, and the
re-establishment of a gold basis as the monetary standard of the
republic. This reform of the currency became the keynote of the
president's policy during the remainder of his term of office. Great
opposition was raised by the representatives of the debtor class in
congress to the suppression of the inconvertible paper money, but in the
end President Montt carried the day, and on the 11th of February 1895 a
measure finally became law establishing a gold currency as the only
legal tender in Chile. In July 1896 the Conversion Act was put in force,
a dollar of 18d. being the monetary unit adopted. In 1895 relations with
the neighbouring republic of Argentina began to become somewhat strained
in regard to the interpretation of the treaty concerning the boundary
between the two countries. The treaties of 1881, 1893 and 1895 left
doubts in the minds of both Chileans and Argentines as to the position
of the frontier line. On the 17th of April 1896 another protocol was
drawn up, by which the contending parties agreed to submit any
differences to the arbitration of Great Britain, at the instance of one
or both governments. President Montt had now fulfilled his term of
office, and on the 18th of September 1896 he handed over the
presidential power to his successor, Señor Federico Errázuriz, who had
been duly elected in the month of June previously.

President Errázuriz.

Crisis with Argentina.

The election for the position of president of the republic was closely
contested in 1896 between Señor Errázuriz and Señor Reyes, and ended in
the triumph of the former candidate by the narrow majority of one vote.
The father of the new president had been chief magistrate of Chile from
1871 to 1876, and his administration had been one of the best the
country had ever enjoyed; his son had therefore traditions to uphold in
the post he was now called upon to fill. At the beginning of 1897 the
public attention was absorbed by foreign political questions. The
problems to be solved were the frontier difficulty with Argentina, the
question of the possession of Tacna and Arica with Peru, and the
necessity of fulfilling the obligation contracted with Bolivia to give
that country a seaport on the Pacific coast. The treaty made in 1896
with the Argentine government, referring to the arbitration of disputed
points concerning the boundary, became practically for the moment a dead
letter, and both Argentines and Chileans began to talk openly of an
appeal to arms to settle the matter once for all. The governments of
both countries began to purchase large supplies of war material, and
generally to make preparations for a possible conflict. In these
circumstances no final settlement with Peru and Bolivia was possible,
the authorities of those republics holding back to see the issue of the
Chile-Argentine dispute, and Chile being in no position at the time to
insist on any terms being arranged. So matters drifted until the
beginning of 1898. In July of that year the crisis reached an acute
stage. Both Chile and Argentina put forward certain pretensions to
territory in the Atacama district to the north, and also to a section of
Patagonia in the south. Neither side would give way, nor was any
disposition exhibited to refer the matter to arbitration under the
protocol of 1896. The cry of an acute financial crisis emanating from
the fear of war with Argentina was now raised in Chile. The president
was advised that the only way of averting the financial ruin of the
banking institutions of the republic was to suspend the conversion law
and lend from the national treasury inconvertible notes to the banks.
Señor Errázuriz weakly gave way, and a decree was promulgated placing
the currency once more on an inconvertible paper money basis until 1902.
In August of 1898 the Chilean government determined to insist upon the
terms of the protocol of 1896 being acted upon, and intimated to
Argentina that they demanded the fulfilment of the clause relating to
arbitration on disputed points. This was practically an ultimatum, and a
refusal on the part of the Argentine government to comply with the terms
of the 1896 agreement meant a declaration of war by Chile. For a few
days the issue hung in the balance, and then the Argentine government
accepted the provisions made in 1896 for arbitration. The dispute
concerning the Atacama district was submitted to an arbitration
tribunal, consisting of the representative of the United States in
Argentina, assisted by one Argentine and one Chilean commissioner. This
tribunal, after due investigation, gave their decision in April 1899,
and the verdict was accepted unreservedly by both governments. The
dispute regarding the Patagonian territory was submitted to the
arbitration of Great Britain, and a commission--consisting of Lord
Macnaghten, Sir John Ardagh and Sir T.H. Holdich--was appointed in 1899
to hear the case.

The Argentine difficulty was ended, but Chile still had to find a
settlement with Peru and Bolivia. The treaty made with the former
country in 1893 was not ratified, as it was thought to concede too much
to Peru, and the subsequent _ad referendum_ treaty was rejected on
account of Peru claiming that only Peruvians, and not all residents,
should have the right to vote in the plebiscite to be taken by the terms
of the treaty of 1883 for the possession of Tacna and Arica. By the
terms of the armistice of 1883 between Chile and Bolivia, a three years'
notice had to be given by either government wishing to denounce that
agreement. By the protocol of 1895 Chile agreed to give to Bolivia the
port of Arica, or some other suitable position on the seaboard. On these
lines a settlement was proposed. Vitor, a landing-place a little to the
south of Arica, was offered by the Chilean government to Bolivia, but
refused as not complying with the conditions stated in the protocol of
1895; the Bolivians furthermore preferred to wait and see if Arica was
finally ceded by Peru to Chile, and if so to claim the fulfilment of the
terms of the protocol.

After the accession to office of President Errázuriz there was no
stability of any ministry. Political parties in congress were so evenly
balanced and so subdivided into groups that a vote against the ministry
was easy to obtain, and the resignation of the cabinet immediately
followed in accordance with the so-called parliamentary system in vogue
in Chile. The president of the republic has no power to dissolve the
chambers, to endeavour to remedy the evil by one or another political
party obtaining a substantial working majority, but must wait to see the
results of the triennial elections. As a consequence of these conditions
Conservative, Liberal and coalition ministries held office at short
intervals. These unsettled political circumstances checked any
continuity of policy, and tended to block the passage of all useful
legislation to help forward the economic development of the country and
inhabitants; on the other hand, the financial situation was better by
the end of 1899 than in the previous year, since all proposals for a
fresh paper issue had been vetoed; and the elections for congress and
municipal office at the opening of 1900 returned a majority favourable
to a stable currency policy.

In September 1900 a fresh outburst of hostile feeling against Chile was
created in Argentina by a note addressed by the Chilean government to
Bolivia, intimating that Chile was no longer inclined to hand over the
port of Arica or any other port on the Pacific, but considered the time
ripe for a final settlement of the questions connected with the Chilean
occupation of Bolivian territory, which had now been outstanding for
sixteen years. The foreign policy of Chile, as indicated by this note,
was considered by Argentina to be grasping and unconciliatory, and there
were rumours of an anti-Chilean South American federation. Chile
disclaimed any aggressive intentions; but in December the Bolivian
congress declined to relinquish their claim to a port, and refused to
conclude a definite treaty of peace. The year closed with a frontier
incident between Chile and Argentina in the disputed territory of Ultima
Esperanza, where some Argentine colonists were ejected by Chilean
police; but both governments signed protocols agreeing not to take
aggressive action in consequence.

President Riesco.

At the opening of 1901 the country was chiefly interested in the
forthcoming presidential election, for which the candidates were Don
Pedro Montt (Conservative and Clerical) and Señor German Riesco
(Liberal). The relations between President Errázuriz and congress became
rather strained, owing to the former's inclination to retain in office a
ministry on which congress had passed a vote of censure; but Errázuriz
had been in ill-health for more than a year, and on the 1st of May he
resigned, and died in July. At the ensuing election Riesco was elected
president. The attitude of Chile towards the Pan-American Congress at
Mexico became a matter of interest in the autumn, particularly in
connexion with the proposal for compulsory arbitration between all
American governments. The Chilean government made it quite clear that
they would withdraw from the congress if this proposal was meant to be
retroactive; and their unyielding attitude testified to the
apprehensions felt by Chile concerning United States interference. In
October the Chilean government announced that the contemplated
conversion scheme, for which gold had been accumulated, would be
postponed for two years (till October 1903), the gold being held as a
reserve fund pending the result of the arbitration over the Argentine
frontier. This was generally considered to be a reasonable and
statesmanlike course. Unfortunately, a recrudescence of the excitement
over the boundary dispute was occasioned by the irritation created in
Argentina by the fact that, pending a decision, Chile was constructing
roads in the disputed territory. During December 1901 relations were
exceedingly strained, and troops were called out on both sides. But at
the end of the month it was agreed to leave the question to the British
arbitrators, and the latter decided to send one of their number, Sir
T.H. Holdich, to examine the territory.

Argentine boundary award.

The survey occupied some eight months, and it was not until the autumn
that Sir T.H. Holdich returned to England to make his report. The
difficulty of ascertaining the true line watershed had been very great,
but the result was eminently successful. The award of King Edward was
signed on the 20th of November 1902, and both parties to the litigation
were satisfied. In order that future disputes might be amicably settled,
a treaty was signed by which it was agreed that any question that might
arise should be submitted to the arbitration of Great Britain or in
default of that power to the Swiss Confederation. The removal of this
source of irritation and the restoration of friendly relations between
the two republics was a great relief to the finance of Chile. Had it not
been for the political instability of the country, the effects of the
diminution of expenditure on military and naval preparations would have
effected a rapid improvement in its financial position. The constant
change of ministry (there being no stable majority in the congress)
prevented during 1903 any settled policy, or that confidence in the
government which is the basis of commercial prosperity. In 1904,
however, both trade and revenue showed signs of improvement, and the
sale of the warships "Esmeralda" and "Chambuco" for £1,000,000 furnished
a surplus, which was devoted to the improvement of the port of
Valparaiso. This was the beginning of a period of steady industrial
growth and development. The settlement of the long outstanding dispute
with Bolivia in a treaty of peace signed on the 17th of October 1905 was
very advantageous to both countries. By this treaty Bolivia ceded all
claims to a seaport and strip of the coast, on condition that Chile
constructed at her own charges a railway to Lapaz from the port of
Arica, giving at the same time to Bolivia free transit across Chilean
territory to the sea. A cash indemnity of £300,000 was also paid, and
certain stipulations were made with regard to the construction of other
railways giving access from Chile to the Bolivian interior.

Valparaiso earthquake

The prosperity of Chile was to suffer a rude shock. On the 17th of
August 1906 a terrible earthquake visited Valparaiso and the surrounding
district. The town of Valparaiso was almost entirely destroyed, while
Santiago and other towns were severely shaken and suffered much damage.
It was estimated that about 3000 persons were killed, a still larger
number injured, and at least 100,000 rendered homeless. The loss of
property was enormous. The fire which broke out after the earthquake
shock had subsided added to the horror of the catastrophe. Measures
were, however, promptly taken for succouring the people, who had been
driven from their homes, and the task of restoration was vigorously
taken in hand. Before the end of the year the rebuilding of the city was
rapidly progressing.

President Pedro Montt.

In 1906 Señor Pedro Montt was elected president and entered upon his
office on the 17th of September. The personality of the president,
however, had become of much less importance in modern Chile than in
earlier days. Up to 1870 the government was in the hands of a small
oligarchy of Santiago families, but the president enjoyed large powers
of initiative. Nowadays the congress has virtually absorbed the
executive power, with the result that the cabinet is often changed many
times in one year. This prevents indeed any continuity of policy, for
the majority in congress is perpetually fluctuating, and ministerial
crises rapidly follow one another. Chile, however, except in the
Balmacedist civil war, is happily distinguished by its freedom from
revolution and serious political unrest. Its history in this respect is
in marked contrast to that of the neighbouring South American states.
The completion of the Trans-Andean railway between Valparaiso and Buenos
Aires was bound to be of immense commercial and industrial value; and
eventually the making of a longitudinal railway route uniting the
nitrate province of the north with Santiago, and Santiago with Puerto
Montt in the distant south, opened up further important prospects. Such
a line of through communication, binding together the different
provinces forming the long narrow strip of territory stretching along
more than 2000 m. of the Pacific littoral, could only be looked forward
to, both politically and economically, as an inestimable benefit to the
country.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--_General History_.--The most valuable authority is D.
Barros Arana's _Historia jeneral de Chile_ (15 vols., Santiago, 1884),
from the earliest days up to 1830. Smaller handbooks covering the
whole period are: A.U. Hancock, a _History of Chile_ (Chicago, 1893),
the only general history in English, and containing a bibliography;
Gaspar Toro, _Compendio de la historia de Chile_ (Santiago, 1879), a
good clear abstract of Chilean history; and F. Valdes Vergara,
_Historia de Chile_ (Valparaiso, 1898), written primarily for schools,
but containing useful sketches of leading figures in Chilean history.

_Works on Special Periods_.--Colonial Period: M.L. Amunátequi,
_Descubri miento y conquista de Chile_ (Santiago, 1885), a valuable
detailed account of the Spanish conquest; by same author, _Los
Precursores de la independencia de Chile_ (Santiago, 1870), a clear
useful description of the evils of the Spanish colonial system;
Horacio Lara, _Cronica de la Araucania_ (Santiago, 1889), a history of
the Araucanian Indians right up to recent dates; Abbé Eyzaguirre,
_Histoire du Chili_ (Lille, 1855), mainly dealing with the position of
the Church during the colonial period. Perez Garcia's _Historia del
reino de Chile_ (Santiago, 1900), an old history by a Spanish officer
written about 1780, and Molina's _History of Chili_ in the English
translation (London, 1809), will also be found useful. Useful material
for research exists in J.T. Medina's _Coleccion de documentos para la
historia de Chile_ (Santiago, 1888), a collection of despatches and
official documents; his _Cosas de la colonia_ (Santiago, 1889), an
accumulation of undigested information about life in the colonial
period; and _Historiadores de Chile_ (21 vols., Santiago, 1861), a
collection of ancient chronicles and official documents up to the
early part of the 17th century.

_Revolutionary Period_.--A. Roldan, _Las Primeras Asambleas
nacionales_ (Santiago, 1890), an account of the struggles in the first
national assemblies; A. Valdes, _Revolucion Chilena y campañas de la
independencia_ (Santiago, 1888), an account of the early fighting and
rivalry of the revolutionary leaders; W. Pilling, _Emancipation of
South America_ (London, 1893), a translation of B. Mitre's life of San
Martin, describing the fighting in the wars of independence; Lord
Cochrane, _Narrative of Services in Chile, Peru and Brazil_ (London,
1859), an autobiography describing the naval exploits that helped to
secure the expulsion of the Spaniards; B. Vicuña Machenna, _Vida de
O'Higgins_ (Santiago, 1882), giving a useful account of the
revolutionary struggle and the main actors; and the same author's
_Historia jeneral de la republica de Chile_, a collection of essays on
the early republican history by various writers.

_Later History_.--R. Sotomayor Valdes, _Historia de Chili,
1831-1871_, a detailed account of the period (Santiago, 1875); the
same author's _Campaña del ejercito Chileno en 1837_ (Santiago, 1896),
describing the fighting of the first Peruvian War; B. Vicuña Machenna,
_D. Diego Portales_ (Valparaiso, 1863), a good account of the life and
time of Portales, the famous minister of the Conservative party; P.B.
Fiqueroa, _Historia de la revolution constituyente 1858-59_ (Santiago,
1889), an account of the revolution at the end of Montt's presidency;
F. Fonch, _Chile in der Gegenwart_ (Berlin, 1870), a description of
Chile at the time; _Statement on Behalf of Chile_ (in the
Chilean-Argentine Boundary Arbitration) (6 vols., London, 1901-1902);
Sir Thomas Holdich, _Countries of the King's Award_ (1904); Beltran y
Rospido, _Los Pueblos hispano-americanos en el siglo XX._ (Madrid,
1904); P.F. Martin, _Through Five Republics of South America_ (London,
1906); Wright, _The Republic of Chile_ (London, 1905); G.F. Scott
Elliot, _Chilé_ (London, 1907); Sir W.M. Conway, _Aconcagua and
Tierra del Fuego_ (London, 1902); "Chile-Argentine Arbitration" in the
_Geog. Journal_ (January 1903); C.M. Pepper, _Panama to Patagonia_
(London, 1907); C.E. Akers, _History of South America, 1854-1904_
(London, 1904); M. Hume, _Lecture on the Republic of Chile_ (London,
1902). (E. G. J. M.; C. E. A.; G. E.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] See A. Pissis, "Sur la constitution géologique de la chaîne des
Andes entre le 16° et le 55° degré de latitude sud," _Ann. des
mines_, ser. 7, vol. iii. (Mém.), 1873, pp. 402-426, pils. ix., x.;
R.A. Philippi, _Die tertiären und quartären Versteinerungen Chiles_
(Leipzig, 1887), (includes also descriptions of some Cretaceous
fossils), and _Los Fósiles secondarios de Chile_ (Santiago, 1899);
Karl Burckhardt, "Profils géologiques transversaux de la Cordillère
argentino-chilienne. Stratigraphie et tectonique," _Anales Mus. La
Plata_, 1900, and "Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Jura- und
Kreide-formation der Cordillere," _Palaeontographica_, vol. 1.
(1903-1904) pp. 1-144, pls. i.-xvi.; see also a series of papers on
South American geology by G. Steinmann and his collaborators in
_Neues Jahrb, für Min._ Beil.-band viii. et seq.

[2] _Notes of a Naturalist in South America_, p. 134.

[3] Also classified as _Nothofagus_ (Mirb.).

[4] A. Gallenga, _South America_ (London, 1880), p. 181.

[5] The expenditures of 1902 are also given as 25,882,702 pesos gold,
and 108,844,693 pesos currency.

CHILEAN CIVIL WAR (1891). The Chilean civil war grew out of political
dissensions between the president of Chile, J.M. Balmaceda, and his
congress (see CHILE: _History_), and began in January 1891. On the 6th,
at Valparaiso, the political leaders of the Congressional party went on
board the ironclad "Blanco Encalada," and Captain Jorje Montt of that
vessel hoisted a broad pennant as commodore of the Congressional fleet.
Preparations had long been made for the naval _pronunciamento_, and in
the end but few vessels of the Chilean navy adhered to the cause of the
"dictator" Balmaceda. But amongst these were two new and fast torpedo
gunboats, "Almirante Condell" and "Almirante Lynch," and in European
dockyards (incomplete) lay the most powerful vessel of the navy, the
"Arturo Prat," and two fast cruisers. If these were secured by the
Balmacedists the naval supremacy of the congress would be seriously
challenged. For the present, and without prejudice to the future,
command of the sea was held by Montt's squadron (January). The rank and
file of the army remained faithful to the executive, and thus in the
early part of the war the "Gobernistas," speaking broadly, possessed an
army without a fleet, the congress a fleet without an army. Balmaceda
hoped to create a navy; the congress took steps to recruit an army by
taking its sympathizers on board the fleet. The first shot was fired, on
the 16th of January, by the "Blanco" at the Valparaiso batteries, and
landing parties from the warships engaged small parties of government
troops at various places during January and February. The dictator's
principal forces were stationed in and about Iquique, Coquirabo,
Valparaiso, Santiago and Concepción. The troops at Iquique and Coquimbo
were necessarily isolated from the rest and from each other, and
military operations began, as in the campaign of 1879 in this quarter,
with a naval descent upon Pisagua followed by an advance inland to
Dolores. The Congressional forces failed at first to make good their
footing (16th-23rd of January), but, though defeated in two or three
actions, they brought off many recruits and a quantity of munitions of
war. On the 26th they retook Pisagua, and on the 15th of February the
Balmacedist commander, Eulojio Robles, who offered battle in the
expectation of receiving reinforcements from Tacna, was completely
defeated on the old battlefield of San Francisco. Robles fell back along
the railway, called up troops from Iquique, and beat the invaders at
Haura on the 17th, but Iquique in the meanwhile fell to the
Congressional fleet on the 16th. The Pisagua line of operations was at
once abandoned, and the military forces of the congress were moved by
sea to Iquique, whence, under the command of Colonel Estanislao Del
Canto, they started inland. The battle of Pozo Almonte, fought on the
7th of March, was desperately contested, but Del Canto was superior in
numbers, and Robles was himself killed and his army dispersed. After
this the other Balmacedist troops in the north gave up the struggle.
Some were driven into Peru, others into Bolivia, and one column made a
laborious retreat from Calama to Santiago, in the course of which it
twice crossed the main chain of the Andes.

The Congressional _Junta de Gobierno_ now established in Iquique
prosecuted the war vigorously, and by the end of April the whole country
was in the hands of the "rebels" from the Peruvian border to the
outposts of the Balmacedists at Coquimbo and La Serena. The _Junta_ now
began the formation of a properly organized army for the next campaign,
which, it was believed universally on both sides, would be directed
against Coquimbo. But in a few months the arrival of the new ships from
Europe would reopen the struggle for command of the sea; the
_torpederas_ "Condell" and "Lynch" had already weakened the
Congressional squadron severely by sinking the "Blanco Encalada" in
Caldera Bay (23rd of April), and the Congressional party could no longer
aim at a methodical conquest of successive provinces, but was compelled
to attempt to crush the dictator at a blow. Where this blow was to fall
was not decided up to the last moment, but the instrument which was to
deliver it was prepared with all the care possible under the
circumstances. Del Canto was made commander-in-chief, and an ex-Prussian
officer, Emil Körner, chief of staff. The army was organized in three
brigades of all arms, at Iquique, Caldera and Vallenar. Körner
superintended the training of the men, gave instruction in tactics to
the officers, caused maps to be prepared, and in general took every
precaution that his experience could suggest to ensure success. Del
Canto was himself no mere figurehead, but a thoroughly capable leader
who had distinguished himself at Tacna (1880) and Miraflores (1881), as
well as in the present war. The men were enthusiastic, and the officers
unusually numerous. The artillery was fair, the cavalry good, and the
train and auxiliary services well organized. About one-third of the
infantry were armed with the (Männlicher) magazine rifle, which now made
its first appearance in war, the remainder had the Gras and other
breech-loaders, which were also the armament of the dictator's infantry.
Balmaceda could only wait upon events, but he prepared his forces as
best he was able, and his _torpederas_ constantly harried the
Congressional navy. By the end of July Del Canto and Körner had done
their work as well as time permitted, and early in August the troops
prepared to embark, not for Coquimbo, but for Valparaiso itself.

The expedition by sea was admirably managed, and Quinteros, N. of
Valparaiso and not many miles out of range of its batteries, was
occupied on the 20th of August 1891. Balmaceda was surprised, but acted
promptly. The first battle was fought on the Aconcagua at Concon on the
21st. The eager infantry of the Congressional army forced the passage of
the river and stormed the heights held by the Gobernistas, capturing 36
guns. The killed and wounded of the Balmacedists numbered 1600, and
nearly all the prisoners, about 1500 men, enrolled themselves in the
rebel army, which thus more than made good its loss of 1000 killed and
wounded. The victors pressed on towards Valparaiso, but were soon
brought up by the strong fortified position of the Balmacedist general
Barbosa at Viña del Mar, whither Balmaceda hurried up all available
troops from Valparaiso and Santiago, and even from Concepción. Del Canto
and Körner now resolved on a daring step. Supplies of all kinds were
brought up from Quinteros to the front, and on the 24th of August the
army abandoned its line of communications and marched inland. The flank
march was conducted with great skill, little opposition was encountered,
and the rebels finally appeared to the south-east of Valparaiso. Here,
on the 28th, took place the decisive battle of La Placilla. Concon had
been perhaps little more than the destruction of an isolated corps; the
second battle was a fair trial of strength, for Barbosa was well
prepared, and had under his command the greater part of the existing
forces of the dictator. But the splendid fighting qualities of the
Congressional troops and the superior generalship of their leaders
prevailed in the end over every obstacle. The government army was
practically annihilated, 941 men were killed, including Barbosa and his
second in command, and 2402 wounded. The Congressional army lost over
1800 men. Valparaiso was occupied the same evening and Santiago soon
afterwards. There was no further fighting, for so great was the effect
of the battles of Concon and La Placella that even the Coquimbo troops
surrendered without firing a shot.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Lieut. Sears and Ensign Wells, U.S.N., _The Chilian
Revolution of 1891_ (Office of Naval Intelligence, Washington, 1893);
_The Capture of Valparaiso, 1891_ (Intelligence Department, War
Office, London, 1892); Hermann Kunz, _Taktische Beispiele aus den
Kriegen der neuesten Zeit; der Bürgerkrieg in Chile_ (Berlin, 1901);
_Revista militar de Chile_ (February-March 1892); Hugo Kunz, _Der
Bürgerkrieg in Chile_ (Vienna, 1892); _Militär Wochenblatt_ (5th
supplement, 1892); Sir W. Laird Clowes, _Four Modern Naval Campaigns_
(London, 1902); _Proceedings of U.S. Naval Institute_ (1894) (for La
Placilla); and the military and naval periodicals of 1892.

CHILE-PERUVIAN WAR (1879-1882). The proximate cause of this war was the
seizure, by the authorities of Bolivia, of the effects of the Chilean
Nitrate Company at Antofagasta, then part of the Bolivian province of
Atacama. The first act of hostility was the despatch of 500 soldiers to
protect Chilean interests at Antofagasta. This force, under Colonel
Sotomayor, landed and marched inland; the only resistance encountered
was at Calama on the river Loa, where a handful of newly raised militia
was routed (23rd March 1879). About the same time Chilean warships
occupied Cobija and Tocapilla, and Sotomayor, after his victory at
Calama, marched to the latter port. Bolivia had declared war on the 1st
of March, but Peru not till the 5th of April: this delay gave the
Chileans time to occupy every port on the Bolivian coast. Thus the
Chilean admiral was able to proceed at once to the blockade of the
southern ports of Peru, and in particular Iquique, where there took
place the first naval action of the war. On the 21st of April the
Chilean sloop "Esmeralda" and the gunboat "Covadonga"--both small and
weak ships--engaged the Peruvian heavy ironclads "Huascar" and
"Independencia"; after a hot fight the "Huascar" under Miguel Grau sank
the "Esmeralda" under Arturo Piat, who was killed, but Carlos Condell in
the "Covadonga" manoeuvred the "Independencia" aground and shelled her
into a complete wreck. The Chileans now gave up the blockade and
concentrated all their efforts on the destruction of the "Huascar,"
while the allies organized a field army in the neighbourhood of Tacna
and a large Chilean force assembled at Antofagasta.

On the 8th of October 1879 the "Huascar" was brought to action off
Angamos by the "Blanco Encalada," and the "Almirante Cochrane." Grau was
outmatched as hopelessly and made as brave a fight as Prat at Iquique.
Early in the action a shot destroyed the Peruvian's conning tower,
killing Grau and his staff, and another entered her turret, killing the
flag captain and nearly all the crew of the turret guns. When the
"Huascar" finally surrendered she had but one gun left in action, her
fourth commander and three-quarters of her crew were killed and wounded,
and the steering-gear had been shot away. The Peruvian navy had now
ceased to exist. The Chileans resumed the blockade, and more active
operations were soon undertaken. The whole force of the allies was about
20,000 men, scattered along the seaboard of Peru. The Chileans on the
other hand had a striking force of 16,000 men in the neighbourhood of
Antofagasta, and of this nearly half was embarked for Pisagua on the
26th of October. The expeditionary force landed, in the face of
considerable opposition, on the 2nd of November, and captured Pisagua.
From Pisagua the Peruvians and Bolivians fell back along the railway to
their reinforcements, and when some 10,000 men had been collected they
moved forward to attack the Chilean position of San Francisco near
Dolores station (19th November). In the end the Chileans were
victorious, but their only material gain was the possession of Iquique
and the retreat of the allies, who fell back inland towards Tarapacá.
The tardy pursuit of the Chileans ended in the battle of Tarapacá on the
27th. In this the allies were at first surprised, but, rapidly
recovering themselves, took the offensive, and after a murderous fight,
in which more men were killed than were wounded, the Chileans suffered a
complete defeat. For some inexplicable reason the allies made no use of
their victory, continued to retreat and left the Chileans in complete
possession of the Tarapacá region. With this the campaign of 1879 ended.
Chile had taken possession of the Bolivian seaboard and of the Peruvian
province of Tarapacá, and had destroyed the hostile navy.

The objective of the Chileans in the second campaign was the province
of Tacna and the field force of the allies at Tacna and Arica. The
invasion was again carried out by sea, and 12,000 Chileans were landed
at Pacocha (Ylo), far to the N. of Arica. Careful preparations were
made for a desert march, and on the 12th of March 1880 the advanced
corps started inland for Moquegua, which was occupied on the 20th.
Near Moquegua the Peruvians, some 2000 strong, took up an unusually
strong position in the defile of Cuesta de los Angeles. But the great
numerical superiority of the assailants enabled them to turn the
flanks and press the front of the Peruvian position, and after a
severe struggle the defence collapsed (March 22nd), In April the army
began its advance southward from Moquegua to Tacna, while the Chilean
warships engaged in a series of minor naval operations in and about
the bay of Callao. Arica was also watched, and the blockade was
extended north of Lima. The land campaign had ere this culminated in
the battle of Tacna (May 26th), in which the Chileans attacked at
first in several disconnected bodies, and suffered severely until all
their forces came on the field. Then a combined advance carried all
before it. The allies engaged under General Narciso Campero, the new
president of Bolivia, lost nearly 3000 men, and the Chileans,
commanded by Manuel Baquedano, lost 2000 out of 8500 on the field. The
defeated army was completely dissolved, and it only remained for the
Chileans to march on Arica from the land side. The navy co-operated
with its long-range guns, on the 7th of June a general assault was
made, and before nightfall the whole of the defences were in the hands
of the Chileans. Their second campaign had given them entire
possession of another strip of Peru (from Pisagua to Ylo), and they
had shown themselves greatly superior, both in courage and leadership,
to their opponents. While the army prepared for the next campaign, the
Chilean navy was active; the blockade became more stringent and
several fights took place, in one of which the "Covadonga" was sunk;
an expeditionary force about 3000 strong, commanded by Patricio Lynch,
a captain in the Chilean navy, carried out successful raids at various
places on the coast and inland.

The Chilean army was reorganized during the summer, and prepared for
its next operation, this time against Lima itself. General Baquedano
was in command. The leading troops disembarked at Pisco on the 18th of
November 1880, and the whole army was ready to move against the
defences of Lima six weeks later. These defences consisted of two
distinct positions, Chorrillos and Miraflores, the latter being about
4000 yds. outside Lima. The first line of defence was attacked by
Baquedano on the 13th of January 1881. Reconnaissances proved that the
Peruvian lines could not be turned, and the battle was a pure frontal
attack. The defenders had 22,000 men in the lines, the Chileans
engaged about 24,000. The battle of Chorrillos ended in the complete
defeat of the Peruvians, less than a quarter of whose army rallied
behind the Miraflores defences. The Chileans lost over 3000 men. Two
days later took place the battle of Miraflores (January 15th). Here
the defences were very strong, and the action began with a daring
counter-attack by some Peruvians. Neither party had intended to fight
a battle, for negotiations were in progress, but the action quickly
became general. Its result was, as before, the complete dissolution of
the defending army. Lima, incapable of defence, was occupied by the
invaders on the 17th, and on the 18th Callao surrendered. The
resistance of the Peruvians was so far broken that Chile left only a
small army of occupation to deal with the remnants of their army. The
last engagement took place at Caxacamara in September 1882, when the
Peruvians won an unimportant success.

See T.B.M. Mason, _The War on the Pacific Coast, 1879-1881_ (U.S.
Office of Naval Intelligence, Washington, 1883); Captain Châteauminois
(transl.), _Mémoire du Ministre de la Guerre du Chili sur la guerre
Chilo-Péruvienne_ (1882); Barros Arana, _Hist. de la guerre du
Pacifique_ (1884); Sir W. Laird Clowes, _Four Modern Naval Campaigns_
(London, 1902); Anon., _Précis de la guerre du Pacifique_ (Paris,
1886); Clements R. Markham, _The War between Peru and Chile_.

CHILIASM (from Gr. [Greek: Chiliasmos, Chilioi], a thousand), the belief
that Christ will return to reign in the body for a thousand years, the
doctrine of the Millennium (q.v.).

CHILLÁN, a city and the capital of the province of Ñuble, in the
southern part of central Chile, 35° 56' S., 71° 37' W., 246 m. by rail
S.S.W. of Santiago and about 56 m. direct (108 by rail) N.E. of
Concepción. Pop. (1895) 28,738; (1902, official estimate) 36,382.
Chillán is one of the most active commercial cities of central Chile,
and is surrounded by a rich agricultural and grazing country. Chillán
was founded by Ruiz de Gambôa in 1594. Its present site was chosen in
1836. The original site, known as Chillán Viejo, forms a suburb of the
new city. The hot sulphur springs of Chillán, which were discovered in
1795, are about 45 m. E.S.E. They issue from the flanks of the "Volcan
Viejo," about 7000 ft. above sea-level. The highest temperature of the
water issuing from these springs is a little over 135°. The principal
volcanoes of the Chillán group are the Nevado (9528 ft.) and the Viejo.
After a repose of about two centuries the Nevado de Chillán broke out in
eruption early in 1861 and caused great destruction. The eruption ceased
in 1863, but broke out again in 1864.

CHILLIANWALLA, a village of British India in the Punjab, situated on the
left bank of the river Jhelum, about 85 m. N.W. of Lahore. It is
memorable as the scene of a battle on the 13th of January 1849, between
a British force commanded by Lord Gough and the Sikh army under Sher
Singh. The loss of the Sikhs was estimated at 4000, while that of the
British in killed and wounded amounted to 2800, of whom nearly 1000 were
Europeans and 89 were British and 43 native officers. An obelisk
erected at Chillianwalla by the British government preserves the names
of those who fell.

CHILLICOTHE, a city and the county-seat of Livingston county, Missouri,
U.S.A., situated in the N. part of the state, on the Grand river, about
80 m. N.E. of Kansas City. Pop. (1890) 5717; (1900) 6905 (538 negroes);
(1910) 6265. It is served by the Chicago, Milwaukee & St Paul, the
Wabash, and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railways. There are various
manufactures. Coal and limestone are found in the vicinity, and much
live stock is raised, wool and hides being shipped from Chillicothe.
Chillicothe was settled about 1830, and the town was laid out in 1837 on
land granted directly by the Federal government; it was incorporated in
1855.

CHILLICOTHE, a city and the county-seat of Ross county, Ohio, U.S.A., on
the W. bank of the Scioto river, on the Ohio & Erie Canal, about 50 m.
S. of Columbus. Pop. (1890) 11,288; (1900) 12,976, of whom 986 were
negroes, and 910 were foreign-born; (1910 census) 14,508. Chillicothe is
served by the Baltimore & Ohio South-Western (which has railway shops
here), and other railways. The city has two parks. There are several
ancient mounds in the vicinity. Chillicothe is built on a plain about 30
ft. above the river, in the midst of a fertile agricultural region, and
has a large trade in grain and coal, and in manufactures. The value of
the city's factory products increased from $1,615,959 in 1900 to
$3,146,890 in 1905, or 94.7%. Chillicothe was founded in 1796, and was
first incorporated in 1802. In 1800-1803 it was the capital of the
North-West Territory, and in 1803-1810 and 1812-1816 the capital of
Ohio. Three Indian villages bore the name Chillicothe, each being in
turn the chief town of the Chillicothe, one of the four tribal divisions
of the Shawnee, in their retreat before the whites; the village near
what is now Oldtown in Greene county was destroyed by George Rogers
Clark in 1780; that in Miami county, where Piqua is now, was destroyed
by Clark in 1782; and the Indian village near the present Chillicothe
was destroyed in 1787 by Kentuckians.

See Henry Howe, _Historical Collections of Ohio_ (Columbus, 1891).

CHILLINGWORTH, WILLIAM (1602-1644), English divine and controversialist,
was born at Oxford in October 1602. In June 1618 he became a scholar of
Trinity College, Oxford, and was made a fellow of his college in June
1628. He had some reputation as a skilful disputant, excelled in
mathematics, and gained some credit as a writer of verses. The marriage
of Charles I. with Henrietta Maria of France had stimulated the
propaganda of the Roman Catholic Church, and the Jesuits made the
universities their special point of attack. One of them, "John Fisher,"
who had his sphere at Oxford, succeeded in making a convert of young
Chillingworth, and prevailed upon him to go to the Jesuit college at
Douai. Influenced, however, by his godfather, Laud, then bishop of
London, he resolved to make an impartial inquiry into the claims of the
two churches. After a short stay he left Douai in 1631 and returned to
Oxford. On grounds of Scripture and reason he at length declared for
Protestantism, and wrote in 1634, but did not publish, a confutation of
the motives which had led him over to Rome. This paper was lost; the
other, on the same subject, was probably written on some other occasion
at the request of his friends. He would not, however, take orders. His
theological sensitiveness appears in his refusal of a preferment offered
to him in 1635 by Sir Thomas Coventry, lord keeper of the great seal. He
was in difficulty about subscribing the Thirty-nine Articles. As he
informed Gilbert Sheldon, then warden of All Souls, in a letter, he was
fully resolved on two points--that to say that the Fourth Commandment is
a law of God appertaining to Christians is false and unlawful, and that
the damnatory clauses in the Athanasian Creed are most false, and in a
high degree presumptuous and schismatical. To subscribe, therefore, he
felt would be to "subscribe his own damnation." At this time his
principal work was far towards completion. It was undertaken in defence
of Dr Christopher Potter, provost of Queen's College in Oxford, who had
for some time been carrying on a controversy with a Jesuit known as
Edward Knott, but whose real name was Matthias Wilson. Potter had
replied in 1633 to Knott's _Charity Mistaken_ (1630), and Knott
retaliated with _Mercy and Truth_. This work Chillingworth engaged to
answer, and Knott, hearing of his intention and hoping to bias the
public mind, hastily brought out a pamphlet tending to show that
Chillingworth was a Socinian who aimed at perverting not only
Catholicism but Christianity.

Laud, now archbishop of Canterbury, was not a little solicitous about
Chillingworth's reply to Knott, and at his request, as "the young man
had given cause why a more watchful eye should be held over him and his
writings," it was examined by the vice-chancellor of Oxford and two
professors of divinity, and published with their approbation in 1637,
with the title _The Religion of Protestants a Safe Way to Salvation_.
The main argument is a vindication of the sole authority of the Bible in
spiritual matters, and of the free right of the individual conscience to
interpret it. In the preface Chillingworth expresses his new view about
subscription to the articles. "For the Church of England," he there
says, "I am persuaded that the constant doctrine of it is so pure and
orthodox, that whosoever believes it, and lives according to it,
undoubtedly he shall be saved, and that there is no error in it which
may necessitate or warrant any man to disturb the peace or renounce the
communion of it. This, in my opinion, is all intended by subscription."
His scruples having thus been overcome, he was, in the following year
(1638), promoted to the chancellorship of the church of Sarum, with the
prebend of Brixworth in Northamptonshire annexed to it. In the great
civil struggle he used his pen against the Scots, and was in the king's
army at the siege of Gloucester, inventing certain engines for
assaulting the town. Shortly afterwards he accompanied Lord Hopton,
general of the king's troops in the west, in his march; and, being laid
up with illness at Arundel Castle, he was there taken prisoner by the
parliamentary forces under Sir William Waller. As he was unable to go to
London with the garrison, he was conveyed to Chichester, and died there
in January 1644. His last days were harassed by the diatribes of the
Puritan preacher, Francis Cheynell.

Besides his principal work, Chillingworth wrote a number of smaller
anti-Jesuit papers published in the posthumous _Additional Discourses_
(1687), and nine of his sermons have been preserved. In politics he
was a zealous Royalist, asserting that even the unjust and tyrannous
violence of princes may not be resisted, although it might be avoided
in terms of the instruction, "when they persecute you in one city,
flee into another." His writings long enjoyed a high popularity. The
_Religion of Protestants_ is characterized by much fairness and
acuteness of argument, and was commended by Locke as a discipline of
"perspicuity and the way of right reasoning." The charge of
Socinianism was frequently brought against him, but, as Tillotson
thought, "for no other cause but his worthy and successful attempts to
make the Christian religion reasonable." His creed, and the whole gist
of his argument, is expressed in a single sentence, "I am fully
assured that God does not, and therefore that men ought not to,
require any more of any man than this, to believe the Scripture to be
God's word, and to endeavour to find the true sense of it, and to live
according to it."

A _Life_ by Rev. T. Birch was prefixed to the 1742 edition of
Chillingworth's _Works_.

CHILOÉ (from _Chile_ and _hué_, "part of Chile"), a province of southern
Chile, and also the name of a large island off the Chilean coast forming
part of the province. The province, area 8593 sq. m., pop. (1895)
77,750, is composed of three groups of islands, Chiloé, Guaitecas and
Chonos, and extends from the narrow strait of Chacao in 41° 40' S. to
the peninsula of Taytao, about 45° 45' S. The population is composed
mainly of Indians, distantly related to the tribes of the mainland, and
mestizos. The capital of the province is Ancud or San Carlos, at the
northern end of the island of Chiloé, on the sheltered bay of San
Carlos, once frequented by whalers. It is the seat of a bishopric; pop.
(1905) 3182. Other towns are Castro, the former capital, on the eastern
shore of Chiloé, and the oldest town of the island (founded 1566), once
the seat of a Jesuit mission, and Melinca on an island of the Guaitecas
group.

The island of Chiloé, which lies immediately south of the province of
Llanquihue, is a continuation of the western Chilean formation, the
coast range appearing in the mountainous range of western Chiloé and
the islands extending south along the coast. Between this coast range
and the Andes, the gulfs of Chacao, or Ancud and Corcovado (average
width, 30 m.) separate the island from the mainland. Chiloé has an
extreme length north to south of about 118 m., and an average width of
35 to 40 m., with an area of about 4700 sq. m. There are several lakes
on the island--Cucao, 12 m. long, being the largest,--and one small
river, the Pudeto, in the northern part of the island, is celebrated
as the scene of the last engagement in the war for independence, the
Spanish retaining possession of Chiloé until 1826.

CHILON, of Sparta, son of Damagetus, one of the Seven Sages of Greece,
flourished about the beginning of the 6th century B.C. In 560 (or 556)
he acted as ephor, an office which he is even said to have founded. The
tradition was that he died of joy on hearing that his son had gained a
prize at the Olympic games. According to Chilon, the great virtue of man
was prudence, or well-grounded judgment as to future events.

A collection of the sayings attributed to him will be found in F.W.
Mullach, _Fragmenta Philosophorum Graecorum_, i.; see Herodotus i. 69;
Diogenes Laertius i. 68; Pausanias iii. 16, x. 24.

CHILPERIC, the name of two Frankish kings.

CHILPERIC I. (d. 584) was one of the sons of Clotaire I. Immediately
after the death of his father in 561 he endeavoured to take possession
of the whole kingdom, seized the treasure amassed in the royal town of
Berny and entered Paris. His brothers, however, compelled him to divide
the kingdom with them, and Soissons, together with Amiens, Arras,
Cambrai, Thérouanne, Tournai and Boulogne, fell to Chilperic's share,
but on the death of Charibert in 567 his estates were augmented. When
his brother Sigebert married Brunhilda, Chilperic also wished to make a
brilliant marriage. He had already repudiated his first wife, Audovera,
and had taken as his concubine a serving-woman called Fredegond. He
accordingly dismissed Fredegond, and married Brunhilda's sister,
Galswintha. But he soon tired of his new partner, and one morning
Galswintha was found strangled in her bed. A few days afterwards
Chilperic married Fredegond. This murder was the cause of long and
bloody wars, interspersed with truces, between Chilperic and Sigebert.
In 575 Sigebert was assassinated by Fredegond at the very moment when he
had Chilperic at his mercy. Chilperic retrieved his position, took from
Austrasia Tours and Poitiers and some places in Aquitaine, and fostered
discord in the kingdom of the east during the minority of Childebert II.
One day, however, while returning from the chase to the town of Chelles,
Chilperic was stabbed to death.

Chilperic may be regarded as the type of Merovingian sovereigns. He was
exceedingly anxious to extend the royal authority. He levied numerous
imposts, and his fiscal measures provoked a great sedition at Limoges in
579. He wished to bring about the subjection of the church, and to this
end sold bishoprics to the highest bidder, annulled the wills made in
favour of the bishoprics and abbeys, and sought to impose upon his
subjects a rationalistic conception of the Trinity. He pretended to some
literary culture, and was the author of some halting verse. He even
added letters to the Latin alphabet, and wished to have the MSS.
rewritten with the new characters. The wresting of Tours from Austrasia
and the seizure of ecclesiastical property provoked the bitter hatred of
Gregory of Tours, by whom Chilperic was stigmatized as the Nero and the
Herod of his time.

See Sérésia, _L'Église et l'État sous les rois francs au VIe siècle_
(Ghent, 1888).

CHILPERIC II. (d. 720) was the son of Childeric II. He became king of
Neustria in 715, on which occasion he changed his name from Daniel to
Chilperic. At first he was a tool in the hands of Ragenfrid, the mayor
of the palace. Charles Martel, however, overthrew Ragenfrid, accepted
Chilperic as king of Neustria, and, on the death of Clotaire IV., set
him over the whole kingdom. The young king died soon afterwards.
(C. PF.)

CHILTERN HILLS, or THE CHILTERNS, a range of chalk hills in England,
extending through part of Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire.
Running from S.W. to N.E., they form a well-marked escarpment
north-westward, while the south-eastern slope is long. The name of
Chilterns is applied to the hills between the Thames in the
neighbourhood of Goring and the headwaters of its tributary the Lea
between Dunstable and Hitchin, the crest line between these points being
about 55 m. in length. But these hills are part of a larger chalk
system, continuing the line of the White Horse Hills from Berkshire, and
themselves continued eastward by the East Anglian ridge. The greatest
elevation of the Chilterns is found in the centre from Watlington to
Tring, where heights from 800 to 850 ft. are frequent. Westward towards
the Thames gap the elevation falls away but little, but eastward the
East Anglian ridge does not often exceed 500 ft., though it continues
the northward escarpment across Hertfordshire. There are several passes
through the Chilterns, followed by main roads and railways converging on
London, which lies in the basin of which these hills form part of the
northern rim. The most remarkable passes are those near Tring, Wendover
and Prince's Risborough, the floors of which are occupied by the gravels
of former rivers. The Chilterns were formerly covered with a forest of
beech, and there is still a local supply of this wood for the
manufacture of chairs and other articles in the neighbourhood of
Wycombe.

CHILTERN HUNDREDS. An old principle of English parliamentary law
declared that a member of the House of Commons, once duly chosen, could
not _resign_ his seat. This rule was a relic of the days when the local
gentry had to be compelled to serve in parliament. The only method,
therefore, of avoiding the rule came to be by accepting an office of
profit from the crown, a statute of 1707 enacting that every member
accepting an office of profit from the crown should thereby vacate his
seat, but should be capable of re-election, unless the office in
question had been created since 1705, or had been otherwise declared to
disqualify for a seat in parliament. Among the posts of profit held by
members of the House of Commons in the first half of the 18th century
are to be found the names of several crown stewardships, which
apparently were not regarded as places of profit under the crown within
the meaning of the act of 1707, for no seats were vacated by appointment
to them. The first instance of the acceptance of such a stewardship
vacating a seat was in 1740, when the house decided that Sir W.W. Wynn,
on inheriting from his father, in virtue of a royal grant, the
stewardship of the lordship and manor of Bromfield and Yale, had _ipso
facto_ vacated his seat. On the passing of the Place Act of 1742, the
idea of utilizing the appointment to certain crown stewardships
(possibly suggested by Sir W.W. Wynn's case) as a pretext for enabling a
member to resign his seat was carried into practice. These nominal
stewardships were eight in number, but only two survived to be used in
this way in contemporary practice--those of the Chilterns and
Northstead; and when a member wished to vacate his seat, he was
accordingly spoken of as taking the Chiltern Hundreds.

1. _Steward and Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds, County Bucks._--The
Chiltern Hundreds formed a bailiwick of the ordinary type. They are
situated on the Chiltern Hills, and the depredations of the bandits,
who found shelter within their recesses, became at an early period so
alarming that a special officer, known as the steward of the Chiltern
Hundreds, was appointed for the protection of the inhabitants of the
neighbouring districts. It is doubtful at what date the necessity for
such an appointment disappeared, but the three hundreds of Stoke,
Burnham and Desborough are still distinguished by the old name. The
appointment of steward was first used for parliamentary purposes in
1750, the appointment being made by the chancellor of the exchequer
(and at his discretion to grant or not), and the warrant bestowing on
the holder "all wages, fees, allowances and other privileges and
pre-eminences." Up to the 19th century there was a nominal salary of
20s. attached to the post. It was laid down in 1846 by the chancellor
of the exchequer that the Chilterns could not be granted to more than
one person in the same day, but this rule has not been strictly
adhered to, for on four occasions subsequent to 1850 the Chilterns
were granted twice on the same day. The Chilterns might be granted to
members whether they had taken the oath or not, or during a recess,
though in this case a new writ could not be issued until the House met
again. Each new warrant expressly revoked the grant to the last
holder, the new steward retaining it in his turn until another should
be appointed.

2. _Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of East Hundred, or Hendred,
Berks._--This stewardship was first used for parliamentary purposes in
1763, and was in more or less constant use until 1840, after which it
disappeared. This manor comprised copyholds, the usual courts were
held, and the stewardship was an actual and active office, the duties
being executed by a deputy steward. The manor was sold by public
auction in 1823 for £910, but in some manner the crown retained the
right of appointing a steward for seventeen years after that date.

3. _Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead, Yorkshire._--This
manor was crown property before 1750, but was in lease until 1838. It
has no copyhold lands, nor are there any records of manor courts.
There are no traces of any profits having ever been derived from the
office. It was used for parliamentary purposes in 1844 and
subsequently.

4. _Steward of the Manor of Hempholme, Yorkshire._--This manor appears
to have been of the same nature as that of Northstead. It was in lease
until 1835. It was first used for parliamentary purposes in 1845 and
was in constant use until 1865. It was sold in 1866.

5. _Escheator of Munster._--Escheators were officers commissioned to
secure the rights of the crown over property which had legally
escheated to it. In Ireland mention is made of escheators as early as
1256. In 1605 the escheatorship of Ireland was split up into four, one
for each province, but the duties soon became practically nominal. The
escheatorship of Munster was first used for parliamentary purposes in
the Irish parliament from 1793 to 1800, and in the united parliament
(24 times for Irish seats and once for a Scottish seat) from 1801 to
1820. After 1820 it was discontinued and finally abolished in 1838.

6. _Steward of the Manor of Old Shoreham, Sussex._--This manor
belonged to the duchy of Cornwall, and it is difficult to understand
how it came to be regarded as a crown appointment. It was first used
for parliamentary purposes in 1756, and then, occasionally, until
1799, in which year it was sold by the duchy to the duke of Norfolk.

7. _Steward of the Manor of Poynings, Sussex._--This manor reverted to
the crown on the death of Lord Montague about 1804, but was leased up
to about 1835. It was only twice used for parliamentary purposes, in
1841 and 1843.

8. _Escheator of Ulster._--This appointment was used in the united
parliament three times, for Irish seats only; the last time in 1819.

See parliamentary paper--_Report from the Select Committee on House of
Commons (Vacating of Seats)_ (1894). (T.A.I.)

CHILWA (incorrectly SHIRWA), a shallow lake in south-east Africa, S.S.E.
of Lake Nyasa, cut by 35°20'E., and lying between 15° and 15°35'S. The
lake is undergoing a process of desiccation, and in some dry seasons (as
in 1879 and 1903) the "open water" is reduced to a number of large
pools. Formerly the lake seems to have found an outlet northwards to the
Lujenda branch of the Rovuma, but with the sinking of its level it is
now separated from the Lujenda by a wooded ridge some 30 to 40 ft. above
the surrounding plains. There are four islands, the largest rising 500
ft. above the water. The lake was discovered by David Livingstone in
1859 and was by him called Shirwa, from a mishearing of the native name.

CHIMAERA, in Greek mythology, a fire-breathing female monster resembling
a lion in the fore part, a goat in the middle, and a dragon behind
(_Iliad_, vi. 179), with three heads corresponding. She devastated Caria
and Lycia until she was finally slain by Bellerophon (see H.A. Fischer,
_Bellerophon_, 1851). The origin of the myth was the volcanic nature of
the soil of Lycia (Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ ii. 110; Servius on _Aeneid_, vi.
288), where works have been found containing representations of the
Chimaera in the simple form of a lion. In modern art the Chimaera is
usually represented as a lion, with a goat's head in the middle of the
back, as in the bronze Chimaera of Arezzo (5th century). The word is now
used generally to denote a fantastic idea or fiction of the imagination.

CHIMAY, a town in the extreme south-east of the province of Hainaut,
Belgium, dating from the 7th century. Pop. (1904) 3383. It is more
commonly spoken of as being in the district _entre Sambre et Meuse_.
Owing to its proximity to the French frontier it has undergone many
sieges, the last of which was in 1640, when Turenne gave orders that it
should be reduced to such ruin that it could never stand another. The
town is chiefly famous for the castle and park that bear its name.
Originally a stronghold of the Cröy family, it has passed through the
D'Arenbergs to its present owners, the princes of Caraman-Chimay. The
castle, which before Turenne's order to demolish it possessed seven
towers, has now only one in ruins, and a modern château was built in the
Tudor style in the 18th century. This domain carried with it the right
to one of the twelve peerages of Hainaut. Madame Tallien, daughter of Dr
Cabarrus, the Lady of Thermidor, married as her second husband the
prince de Chimay, and held her little court here down to her death in
1835. There is a memorial to her in the church, which also contains a
fine monument of Phillippe de Cröy, chamberlain and comrade in arms of
the emperor Charles V. John Froissart the chronicler died and was buried
here. There is a statue in his honour on the Grand Place. Chimay is
situated on a stream called the White Water, which in its lower course
becomes the Viroin and joins the Meuse.

CHIME, (1) (Probably derived from a mistaken separation into two words,
_chimbe bell_, of _chymbal_ or _chymbel_, the old form of "cymbal," Lat.
_cymbalum_), a mechanical arrangement by which a set of bells in a
church or other tower, or in a clock, are struck so as to produce a
sequence of musical sounds or a tune. For the mechanism of such an
arrangement in a clock and in a set of bells, see the articles CLOCK and
BELL. The word is also applied to the tune thus played by the bells and
also to the harmonious "fall" of verse, and so, figuratively, to any
harmonious agreement of thought or action. (2) (From Mid. Eng. _chimb_,
a word meaning "edge," common in varied forms to Teutonic languages, cf.
Ger. _Kimme_), the bevelled rim formed by the projecting staves at the
ends of a cask.

CHIMERE (Lat. _chimera, chimaera_; O. Fr. _chamarre_, Mod. Fr.
_simarre_; Ital. _zimarra_; cf. Span. _zamarra_, a sheepskin coat;
possibly derived ultimately from Gr. [Greek: cheimerios], "wintry," i.e.
a winter overcoat), in modern English use the name of a garment worn as
part of the ceremonial dress of Anglican bishops. It is a long
sleeveless gown of silk or satin, open down the front, gathered in at
the back between the shoulders, and with slits for the arms. It is worn
over the rochet (q.v.), and its colour is either black or scarlet
(convocation robes). By a late abuse the sleeves of the rochet were,
from motives of convenience, sometimes attached to the chimere. The
origin of the chimere has been the subject of much debate; but the view
that it is a modification of the cope (q.v.) is now discarded, and it is
practically proved to be derived from the medieval tabard (_tabardum,
taberda_ or _collobium_), an upper garment worn in civil life by all
classes of people both in England and abroad. It has therefore a common
origin with certain academic robes (see ROBES, § _Academic dress_).

The word "chimere," which first appears in England in the 14th century,
was sometimes applied not only to the tabard worn over the rochet, but
to the sleeved cassock worn under it. Thus Archbishop Scrope is
described as wearing when on his way to execution (1405) a blue chimere
with sleeves. But the word properly applies to the sleeveless tabard
which tended to supersede, from the 15th century onwards, the
inconvenient _cappa clausa_ (a long closed cloak with a slit in front
for the arms) as the out-of-doors upper garment of bishops. These
chimeres, the colours of which (murrey, scarlet, green, &c.) may
possibly have denoted academical rank, were part of the civil costume of
prelates. Thus in the inventory of Walter Skirlawe, bishop of Durham
(1405-1406), eight chimeres of various colours are mentioned, including
two for riding (_pro equitatura_). The chimere was, moreover, a cold
weather garment. In summer its place was taken by the tippet.

In the Anglican form for the consecration of bishops the newly
consecrated prelate, hitherto vested in rochet, is directed to put on
"the rest of the episcopal habit," i.e. the chimere. The robe has thus
become in the Church of England symbolical of the episcopal office, and
is in effect a liturgical vestment. The rubric containing this direction
was added to the Book of Common Prayer in 1662; and there is proof that
the development of the chimere into at least a choir vestment was
subsequent to the Reformation. Foxe, indeed, mentions that Hooper at his
consecration wore "a long scarlet chymere down to the foot" (_Acts and
Mon._, ed. 1563, p. 1051), a source of trouble to himself and of scandal
to other extreme reformers; but that this was no more than the full
civil dress of a bishop is proved by the fact that Archbishop Parker at
his consecration wore surplice and tippet, and only put on the chimere,
when the service was over, to go away in. This civil quality of the
garment still survives alongside the other; the full dress of an
Anglican prelate at civil functions of importance (e.g. in parliament,
or at court) is still rochet and chimere.

The continental equivalent of the chimere is the _zimarra_ or
_simarre_, which is defined by foreign ecclesiologists (Moroni,
Barbier de Montault) as a kind of _soutane_ (cassock), from which it
is distinguished by having a small cape and short, open arms
(_manches-fausses_) reaching to the middle of the upper arm and
decorated with buttons. In France and Germany it is fitted more or
less to the figure; in Italy it is wider and falls down straight in
front. Like the _soutane_, the _zimarra_ is not proper to any
particular rank of clergy, but in the case of bishops and prelates it
is ornamented with red buttons and bindings. It never has a train
(_cauda_). It is not universally worn, e.g. in Germany apparently only
by prelates. G. Moroni identifies the _zimarra_ with the _epitogium_
which Domenico Magri, in his _Hierolexicon_ (ed. 1677), calls the
uppermost garment of the clergy, worn over the _soutane_ (_toga_)
instead of the _mantellum_ (_vestis suprema clericorum loco pallii_),
with a cross-reference to _Tabardum_, the "usual" upper garment
(_pallium usuale_); and this definition is repeated in the 8th edition
of the work (1732). From this it appears that so late as the middle of
the 18th century the _zimarra_ was still in common use as an
out-of-doors overcoat. But, according to Moroni, by the latter half of
the 19th century the _zimarra_, though still worn by certain civilians
(e.g. notaries and students), had become in Italy chiefly the domestic
garment of the clergy, notably of superiors, parish priests, rectors,
certain regulars, priests of congregations, bishops, prelates and
cardinals. It was worn also by the Roman senators, and is still worn
by university professors. A black _zimarra_ lined with white, and
sometimes ornamented with a white binding and gold tassels, is worn by
the pope.

More analogous to the Anglican chimere in shape, though not in
significance, is the purple _mantelletum_ worn over the rochet by
bishops, and by others authorized to wear the episcopal insignia, in
presence of the pope or his legates. This symbolizes the temporary
suspension of the episcopal jurisdiction (symbolized by the rochet) so
long as the pope or his representative is present. Thus at the Curia
cardinals and prelates wear the _mantelletum_, while the pope wears
the _zimarra_, and the first act of the cardinal camerlengo after the
pope's death is to expose his rochet by laying aside the
_mantelletum_, the other cardinals following his example, as a symbol
that during the vacancy of the papacy the pope's jurisdiction is
vested in the Sacred College. On the analogy of the _mantelletum_
certain Anglican prelates, American and colonial, have from time to
time appeared in purple chimeres; which, as the Rev. N.F. Robinson
justly points out, is a most unhappy innovation, since it has no
historical justification, and its symbolism is rather unfortunate.

AUTHORITIES.--See the _Report_ of the sub-committee of Convocation on
the ornaments of the church and its ministers, p. 31 (London, 1908);
the Rev. N.F. Robinson, "The black chimere of Anglican Prelates: a
plea for its retention and proper use," in _Transactions of the St
Paul's Ecclesiological Soc._ vol. iv. pp. 181-220 (London, 1898);
Herbert Druitt, _Costume on Brasses_ (London, 1906); G. Moroni,
_Dizionario dell' erudizione storico-ecclesiastica_ (Venice, 1861),
vol. 103, s.v. "Zimarra": X. Barbier de Montault, _Traité pratique de
la construction, &c., des églises_, ii. 538 (Paris, 1878). (W. A. P.)

CHIMESYAN (_Tsimshian_), a tribe of North American Indians, now some
3000 in number, living around the mouth of the Skeena river, British
Columbia, and on the islands near the coast. They are a powerfully built
people, who tattoo and wear labrets and rings in noses and ears. They
are skilful fishermen, and live in large communal houses. They are
divided into clans and distinct social orders.

CHIMKENT, a town of Asiatic Russia, in the province of Syr-darya, 70 m.
by rail N.N.E. of Tashkent. Pop. (1897) 10,756, mostly Sarts. It
occupies a strategical position at the west end of the valley between
the Alexander range and the Ala-tau (or Talas-tau), at the meeting of
commercial routes from (1) Vyernyi and Siberia beyond, from the
north-east, (2) the Aral Sea and Orenburg (connected with it by rail
since 1905) to the north-west, and (3) Ferghana and Bokhara to the
south. The citadel, which was stormed by the Russians in 1864, stands on
high ground above the town, but is now in ruins. Chimkent is visited by
consumptive patients who wish to try the koumiss cure. It has cotton
mills and soap-works.

CHIMNEY (through the Fr. _cheminée_, from _caminata_, sc. _camera_, a
Lat. derivative of _caminus_, an oven or furnace), in architecture, that
portion of a building, rising above the roof, in which are the flues
conveying the smoke to the outer air. Originally the term included the
fireplace as well as the chimney shaft. At Rochester Castle (1130) and
Heddington, Essex, there were no external chimney shafts, and the flue
was carried through the wall at some height above the fireplace. In the
early examples the chimney shaft was circular, with one flue only, and
was terminated with a conical cap, the smoke issuing from openings in
the side, which at Sherborne Abbey (A.D. 1300) were treated
decoratively. It was not till the 15th century that the smoke issued at
the top, and later in the century that more than one flue was carried up
in the same shaft. There are a few examples of the clustered shaft in
stone, but as a rule they are contemporaneous with the general use of
brick. The brick chimney shafts, of which there are fine specimens at
Hampton Court, were richly decorated with chevrons and other geometrical
patterns. One of the best examples is that at Thornton Castle,
Gloucestershire.

In the 15th and 16th centuries in France the chimney shaft was
recognized as an important architectural feature, and was of
considerable elevation in consequence of the great height of the roofs.
In the château of Meillant (1503) the chimney shafts are decorated with
angle buttresses, niches and canopies, in the late Flamboyant style; and
at Chambord and Blois they are carved with pilasters and niches with
panelling above, carved with the salamander and other armorial devices.
In the Roman palaces they are sometimes masked by the balustrades, and
(when shown) take the form of sepulchral urns, as if to disguise their
real purpose. Though not of a very architectural character, the chimneys
at Venice present perhaps the greatest variety of terminations, and as a
rule the smoke comes out on the sides and not through the top.
(R. P. S.)

_Factory Chimneys_.--Chimneys, besides removing the products of
combustion, also serve to provide the fire with the air requisite for
burning the fuel. The hot air in the shaft, being lighter than the
cold air outside it, tends to rise, and as it does so air flows in at
the bottom to take its place. An ascending current is thus established
in the chimney, its velocity, other things being equal, varying as the
square root of the height of the shaft above the grate. The velocity
also increases with increase of temperature in the gas column, but
since the weight of each cubic foot grows less as the gases expand,
the amount of smoke discharged by a chimney does not increase
indefinitely with the temperature; a maximum is reached when the
difference in temperature between the gases in the shaft and the
outside air is about 600° F., but the rate of increase is very slow
after the difference has passed about 300° F. In designing a chimney
the dimensions (height and sectional area) have to be so proportioned
to the amount of fuel to be burnt in the various furnaces connected
with it that at the temperature employed the products of combustion
are effectively removed, due allowance being made for the frictional
retardation of the current against the sides of the flues and shafts
and in passing through the fire. The velocity of the current in actual
chimneys varies widely, from 3 or 4 to 50 or 60 ft. a second.
Increased velocity, obtainable by increasing the height of the shaft,
gives increased delivering capacity, but a speed of 10 or 12 ft. a
second is regarded as good practice. Ordinary factory chimneys do not
in general exceed 180 or 200 ft. in height, but in some cases,
especially when, as in chemical works, they are employed to get rid of
objectionable vapours, they have been made double that height, or even
more. In section they are round, octagonal or square. The circular
form offers the least resistance to wind pressure, and for a given
height and sectional area requires less material to secure stability
than the octagonal and still less than the square; on the other hand,
there is more liability to cracking. Brick is the material commonly
used, but many chimneys are now made of iron or steel. Reinforced
concrete is also employed.

CHIMNEYPIECE, the term given to the projecting hood which in medieval
times was built over a fireplace to catch the smoke, and at a later date
to the decorative framework, often carried up to the ceiling.
"Chimneypiece" or "mantelpiece" is now the general term for the jambs,
mantelshelf and external accessories of a fireplace. For many centuries
the chimneypiece was the most ornamental and most artistic feature of a
room, but as fireplaces have become smaller, and modern methods of
heating have been introduced, its artistic as well as its practical
significance has grown less.

Up to the 12th century rooms were warmed entirely by a hypocaust, or
with braziers, or by fires on the hearth, the smoke finding its way up
to a lantern in the roof. The earliest chimneypiece known is that in
the King's House at Southampton, with Norman shafts in the joints
carrying a segmental arch, which is attributed to the first half of
the 12th century. At a later date, in consequence of the greater width
of the fireplace, flat or segmental arches were thrown across and
constructed with voussoirs, sometimes joggled, the thrust of the arch
being resisted by bars of iron at the back. In domestic work of the
14th century the chimneypiece was greatly increased in order to allow
of the members of the family sitting on either side of the fire on the
hearth, and in these cases great beams of timber were employed to
carry the hood; in such cases the fireplace was so deeply recessed as
to become externally an important architectural feature, as at Haddon
Hall. The largest chimneypiece existing is in the great hall of the
Palais des Comtes at Poitiers, which is nearly 30 ft. wide, having two
intermediate supports to carry the hood; the stone flues are carried
up between the tracery of an immense window above. In the early
Renaissance style, the chimneypiece of the Palais de Justice at Bruges
is a magnificent example; the upper portion, carved in oak, extends
the whole width of the room, with statues of nearly life size of
Charles V. and others of the royal family of Spain. The most prolific
modern designer of chimneypieces was J.B. Piranesi, who in 1765
published a large series, on which at a later date the Empire style in
France was based. In France the finest work of the early Renaissance
period is to be found in the chimneypieces, which are of infinite
variety of design.

The English chimneypieces of the early 17th century, when the purer
Italian style was introduced by Inigo Jones, were extremely simple in
design, sometimes consisting only of the ordinary mantelpiece, with
classic architraves and shelf, the upper part of the chimney breast
being panelled like the rest of the room. In the latter part of the
century the classic architrave was abandoned in favour of a much
bolder and more effective moulding, as in the chimneypieces at Hampton
Court, and the shelf was omitted.

In the 18th century the architects returned to the Inigo Jones classic
type, but influenced by the French work of Louis XIV. and XV. Figure
sculpture, generally represented by graceful figures on each side,
which assisted to carry the shelf, was introduced, and the overmantel
developed into an elaborate frame for the family portrait over the
chimneypiece. Towards the close of the 18th century the designs of the
brothers Adam superseded all others, and a century later they came
again into fashion. The Adam mantels are in wood enriched with
ornament, cast in moulds, sometimes copied from the carved wood
decoration of old times. (R. P. S.)

CHIMPANZEE (_Chimpanzi_), the vernacular name of the highest species of
the man-like apes, forming the typical representatives of the genus
_Anthropopithecus_. Chimpanzees, of which there appear to be at least
two species, range through the tropical forest-zone of Africa from the
west coast to Uganda. The typical _A. troglodytes_ has been long known
to European science, Dr Tyson, a celebrated surgeon and anatomist of his
time, having dissected a young individual, and described it, as a pigmy
or _Homo sylvestris_, in a book published in 1699. Of this baby
chimpanzee the skeleton may be seen in the Natural History branch of the
British Museum alongside the volume in which it is described. It was
not, however, till 1788 that the chimpanzee received what is now
recognized as a scientific name, having been christened in that year
_Simia troglodytes_ by the naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin. In his
classification it was included in the same genus as the orang-utan; and
it has recently been suggested that the name _Simia_ pertains of right
to the chimpanzee rather than to the orang-utan. Between the typical
West African chimpanzee and the gorilla (q.v.) there is no difficulty in
drawing a distinction; the difficulty comes in when we have to deal with
the aberrant races, or species, of chimpanzee, some of which are so
gorilla-like that it is by no means easy to determine to which group
they really pertain. In height the adult male chimpanzee of the typical
form does not exceed 5 ft., and the colour of the hair is a full black,
while the skin, especially that of the face, is light-coloured; the ears
are remarkably large and prominent, and the hands reach only a short
distance below the knees. The head is rounded and short, without
prominent beetling ridges above the eyes, or a strong crest along the
middle line of the back of the skull; and the tusks of the old males are
of no very great length and prominence. Moreover, there is no very
marked difference in the size of the two sexes. Gentleness and docility
are specially characteristic of the species, even when full-grown; while
in the native state its habits are thoroughly arboreal.

In central Africa the chimpanzees assume more or less marked
gorilla-like traits. The first of these aberrant types is
Schweinfurth's chimpanzee (_Anthropopithecus troglodytes
schweinfurthi_), which inhabits the Niam-Niam country, and, although
evidently belonging to the same species as the typical race, exhibits
certain gorilla-like features. These traits are still more developed
in the bald chimpanzee (_A. tschego_) of Loango, the Gabun, and other
regions of French Congo, which takes its English name from the sparse
covering of hair on the head. The most gorilla-like of all the races
is, however, the kulu-kamba chimpanzee (_A. kulu-kamba_) of du
Chaillu, which inhabits central Africa. The celebrated ape "Mafuka,"
which lived in the Dresden zoological gardens during 1875, and came
from Loango, was apparently a member of this species, although it was
at one time regarded as a hybrid between a chimpanzee and a gorilla.
These gorilla-like traits were still more pronounced in "Johanna," a
female chimpanzee living in Barnum & Bailey's show in 1899, which has
been described and figured by Dr A. Keith. The heavy ridges over the
brow, originally supposed to be distinctive of the gorilla, are
particularly well marked in "Johanna," and they would doubtless be
still more noticeable in the male of the same race, which seems to be
undoubtedly du Chaillu's kulu-kamba. Still the large size and
prominence of the ears proclaim that both "Mafuka" and "Johanna" were
chimpanzees and not gorillas. A gorilla-like feature in "Johanna" is,
however, the presence of large folds at the sides (_ala_) of the
nostrils, which are absent in the typical chimpanzee, but in the
gorilla extend down to the upper lip. Chimpanzees exhibit great
docility in confinement, where, however, they seldom survive for any
great length of time. They likewise display a much higher degree of
intelligence than any of the other man-like apes. (See PRIMATES.)
(R. L.*)

CHINA, a country of eastern Asia, the principal division of the Chinese
empire. In addition to China proper the Chinese Empire includes
Manchuria, Mongolia, Tibet and Sin-kiang (East Turkestan, Kulja,
Dzungaria, &c., _i.e._ all the Chinese dependencies lying between
Mongolia on the north and Tibet on the south). Its most southern point
is in 18° 50' N.; its most northern in 53° 25' N.; its most western in
74° E., and its most eastern in 135° E. It lies, however, mainly between
20° and 50° N. and 80° and 130° E. It is considerably larger than the
whole of Europe. Though its area has not been exactly ascertained the
various estimates closely approximate, varying between 4,277,000 and
4,300,000 sq. m. It is bounded N.W., N. and N.E. by Asiatic Russia,
along a frontier extending some 6000 m.; E. by Korea and those parts of
the Pacific known as the Yellow Sea and China Sea; S. and S.W. by the
China Sea, French Indo-China, Upper Burma and the Himalayan states. It
is narrowest in the extreme west. Chinese Turkestan along the meridian
of Kashgar (76° E.) has a breadth of but 250 m. It rapidly broadens and
for the greater part of its area is over 1800 m. across in a direct N.
and S. line. Its greatest length is from the N.E. corner of Manchuria to
the S.W. confines of Tibet, a distance of 3100 m. in a direct line. Its
seaboard, about 5000 m. following the indentations of the coast, is
almost, wholly in China proper, but the peninsula of Liao-tung and also
the western shores of the Gulf of Liao-tung are in Manchuria.

China[1] proper or the Eighteen Provinces (_Shih-pa-shêng_) occupies the
south-eastern part of the empire. It is bounded N. by Mongolia, W. by
Turkestan and Tibet, S.W. by Burma, S. by Tongking and the gulf of that
name, S.E. by the South China Sea, E. by the East China Sea, the Yellow
Sea, Gulf of Chih-li and Manchuria. Its area is approximately 1,500,000
sq. m.

This vast country is separated from the rest of continental Asia by
lofty tablelands and rugged mountain ranges, which determine the general
course--west to east--of its principal rivers. On the north and west the
Mongolian and Tibetan tablelands present towards China steep escarpments
across which are very few passes. On the S.W. and S., on the borders of
Yun-nan, high mountains and deep valleys separate China from Burma and
Tongking. On the narrow N.E. frontier the transition from the Manchurian
plateau to the alluvial plain of northern China is not abrupt, but,
before the advent of railways, Manchuria afforded few and difficult
means of access to other regions. Thus China was almost cut off from the
rest of the world save by sea routes.

I. THE COUNTRY

Western China consists of highlands often sparsely, and eastern China of
lowlands densely peopled. Western China contains the only provinces
where the population is under 100 per sq. m. From the Tibetan and
Mongolian tablelands project mountain ranges which, ramifying over the
western region, enclose elevated level tracts and lower basins and
valleys. East of this mountainous region, which extends into central
China and covers probably fully half of the kingdom, are, in the north
a great alluvial plain and in the south a vast calcareous tableland
traversed by hill ranges of moderate elevation (see §§ _Mountains_ and
_Geology_). In north-eastern China there is only one mountain system,
the group of hills---highest peak 5060 ft.---forming the Shan-tung
peninsula. This peninsula was formerly an island, but has been attached
to the mainland by the growth of the alluvial plain. Besides the broad
division of the country into western and eastern China it may also be
considered as divided into three regions by the basins of its chief
rivers, the Hwang-ho (Yellow river) in the north, the Yangtsze-kiang in
the centre, and the Si-kiang (West river) in the south. In the northern
provinces of Kan-suh and Shen-si the basins of the Hwang-ho and
Yangtsze-kiang are separated by a mountain chain with various names--the
eastern termination of the Kuen-lun range of central Asia. These
mountains, in China, attain, in the Tsing-ling Shan, a maximum elevation
of 13,000 ft. East of Shen-si, in Ho-nan the Fu-niu-shan continue the
range, but with decreasing elevation, and beyond this the deltaic plain
is entered.

The watershed between the Yangtsze-kiang and that of the Si-kiang is
less clearly marked. It traverses the immense tableland which occupies a
great part of the south-west provinces of Yun-nan and Kwei-chow and is
continued eastward by the lower tableland of Kwang-si and the Nanshan
hills (whose elevation seldom exceeds 6000 ft.). The basin of the
Yangtsze-kiang forms the whole of central China. Its western border, in
Sze-ch'uen and Yun-nan, is wholly mountainous, with heights exceeding
19,000 ft. Central Sze-ch'uen, which is shut in by these mountains on
the west, by the Yun-nan and Kwei-chow plateau on the south, by the
Kiu-lung range on the north, and by highlands eastward (save for the
narrow valley through which the Yangtsze-kiang forces its way), is a
vast red sandstone tableland of about 1600 ft. elevation. It is
exceedingly fertile and supports a dense population. Eastward of
Sze-ch'uen the Yangtsze valley is studded with lakes. Finally it enters
the deltaic plain. The basin of the Si-kiang fills the two southern
provinces of Kwang-si and Kwang-tung and contains no very striking
orographic features. It may be added that in the extreme S.W. portion of
China is part of a fourth drainage area. Here the Mekong, Salween,
Song-koi (Red river), &c. flow south to Indo-China.

_The Coast_.--The coast-line, following all the minor indentations,
is reckoned at over 4500 m.; if only the larger inlets and
promontories be regarded, the coast-line is about 2150 m. in length.
Its shape is that of a semicircle, with its most easterly point midway
(30° N.) between its northern and southern extremities. At either end
of this semicircular sweep lies a peninsula, and beyond the peninsula
a gulf. In the north are the peninsula of Shan-tung and the gulf of
Chih-li; in the south the Lien-chow peninsula and the gulf of
Tongking. Due south of Lien-chow peninsula, separated rom it by a
narrow strait, is Hai-nan, the only considerable island of China. From
the northern point of the gulf of Chih-li to 30° N., where is
Hang-chow bay, the shores are flat and alluvial save where the
Shan-tung peninsula juts out. Along this stretch there are few good
natural harbours, except at the mouths of rivers and in the Shan-tung
promontory; the sea is shallow and has many shoals. The waters
bordering the coast of Chih-li are partly frozen in winter; at 10 m.
from the shore the water is only 20 ft. deep. The proximity of Peking
gives its few ports importance; that of Taku is at the mouth of the
Peiho. In Shan-tung, deeply indented on its southern coast, are the
ports of Chi-fu, Wei-hai-wei and Tsing-tao (the last in Kiao-chow
bay). South of Shan-tung and north of the mouth of the Yangtsze huge
sandbanks border the coast, with narrow channels between them and the
shore. The estuary of the Yangtsze is 60 m. across; it contains
islands and sandbanks, but there is easy access to Wusung (Shanghai)
and other river ports. The bay of Hangchow, as broad at its entrance
as the Yangtsze estuary, forms the mouth of the Tsien-tang-kiang. The
Chusan and other groups of islands lie across the entrance of the bay.

South of Hang-chow bay the character of the coast alters. In place of
the alluvial plain, with flat, sandy and often marshy shores, the
coast is generally hilly, often rocky and abrupt; it abounds in small
indentations and possesses numerous excellent harbours; in this region
are Fu-chow, Amoy, Swatow, Hongkong, Macao, Canton and other
well-known ports. The whole of this coast is bordered by small
islands. Formosa lies opposite the S.E. coast, the channel between it
and Fu-kien province being about 100 m. wide. Formosa protects the
neighbouring regions of China from the typhoons experienced farther
north and farther south.

Deltaic Plain.

_Surface_.---As already indicated, one of the most noticeable features
in the surface of China is the immense deltaic plain in the
north-eastern portion of the country, which, curving round the
mountainous districts of Shan-tung, extends for about 700 m. in a
southerly direction from the neighbourhood of Peking and varies from
150 to 500 m. in breadth. This plain is the delta of the Yellow river
and, to some extent, that of the Yangtsze-kiang also. Beginning in the
prefecture of Yung-p'ing Fu, in the province of Chih-li, its outer
limit passes in a westerly direction as far as Ch'ang-p'ing Chow,
north-west of Peking. Thence running a south-south-westerly course it
passes westward of Chêng-ting Fu and Kwang-p'ing Fu till it reaches
the upper waters of the Wei river in Ho-nan. From this point it turns
westward and crosses the Hwang-ho or Yellow river in the prefecture of
Hwai-k'ing. Leaving this river it takes a course a little to the east
of south, and passing west of Ju-ning Fu, in the province of Ho-nan,
it turns in a more easterly direction as far as Luchow Fu. From this
prefecture an arm of the plain, in which lies the Chao Lake, stretches
southward from the Hwai river to the Yangtsze-kiang, and trending
eastward occupies the region between that river and Hangchow Bay. To
the north of this arm rises a hilly district, in the centre of which
stands Nanking. The greater part of this vast plain descends very
gently towards the sea, and is generally below the level of the Yellow
river, hence the disastrous inundations which so often accompany the
rise of that river. Owing to the great quantity of soil which is
brought down by the waters of the Yellow river, and to the absence of
oceanic currents, this delta is rapidly increasing and the adjoining
seas are as rapidly becoming shallower. As an instance, it is said
that the town of P'utai was one Chinese mile[2] west of the seashore
in the year 200 B.C., and in 1730 it was 140 m. inland, thus giving a
yearly encroachment upon the sea of about 100 ft. Again,
Sien-shwuy-kow on the Peiho was on the seashore in A.D. 500, and it is
now about 18 m. inland.

Mountains.

Some of the ranges connected with the mountain system of central Asia
which enter the western provinces of China have been mentioned above,
others may be indicated here. In the eastern portion of Tibet the
Kuen-lun range throws off a number of branches, which spread first of
all in a south-easterly direction and eventually take a north and
south course, partly in the provinces of Sze-ch'uen and Yun-nan, where
they divide the beds of the rivers which flow into Siam and French
Indo-China, as well as the principal northern tributaries of the
Yangtsze-kiang. In the north-west, traversing the western portion of
the province of Kan-suh, are parallel ranges running N.W. and S.E. and
forming a prolongation of the northern Tibetan mountains. They are
known as the Lung-shan, Richthofen and Nan-shan, and join on the
south-east the Kuen-lun range. The Richthofen range (locally called
Tien-shan, or Celestial Mountains) attains elevations of over 20,000
ft. Several of its peaks are snowclad, and there are many glaciers.
Forming the northern frontier of the province of Sze-ch'uen run the
Min-shan and the Kiu-lung (or Po-mêng) ranges, which, entering China
in 102° E., extend in a general easterly course as far as 112° E. in
the province of Hu-peh. These ranges have an average elevation of 8000
and 11,000 ft. respectively. In the south a number of parallel ranges
spread from the Yun-nan plateau in an easterly direction as far as the
province of Kwang-tung. Then turning north-eastward they run in lines
often parallel with the coast, and cover large areas of the provinces
of Fu-kien, Kiang-si, Cheh-kiang, Hu-nan and southern Ngan-hui, until
they reach the Yangtsze-kiang; the valley of that river from the
Tung-ting Lake to Chin-kiang Fu forming their northern boundary. In
Fu-kien these hills attain the character of a true mountain range with
heights of from 6500 to nearly 10,000 ft. Besides the chief ranges
there are the Tai-hang Mountains in Shan-si, and many others, among
which may be mentioned the ranges--part of the escarpment of the
Mongolian plateau--which form the northern frontier of Chih-li. Here
the highest peak is Ta-kuang-ting-tzu (6500 ft.), about 300 m. N.N.E.
of Peking and immediately north of Wei Ch'ang (the imperial hunting
grounds).

The Yellow River.

_Rivers and Canals._--The rivers of China are very numerous and there
are many canals. In the north the rivers are only navigable by small
craft; elsewhere they form some of the most frequented highways in the
country. The two largest rivers, the Yangtsze-kiang and the Hwang-ho
(Yellow river), are separately noticed. The Hwang-ho (length about
2400 m.) has only one important tributary in China, the Wei-ho, which
rises in Kan-suh and flows through the centre of Shen-si. Below the
confluence the Hwang-ho enters the plains. According to the Chinese
records this portion of the river has changed its course nine times
during 2500 years, and has emptied itself into the sea at different
mouths, the most northerly of which is represented as having been in
about 39° N., or in the neighbourhood of the present mouth of the
Peiho, and the most southerly being that which existed before the
change in 1851-1853, in 34° N. Owing to its small value as a navigable
highway and to its propensity to inundate the regions in its
neighbourhood, there are no considerable towns on its lower course.

The Yangtsze-kiang.

The Yangtsze-kiang is the chief waterway of China. The river, flowing
through the centre of the country, after a course of 2900 m., empties
itself into the Yellow Sea in about 31° N. Unlike the Yellow river,
the Yangtsze-kiang is dotted along its navigable portions with many
rich and populous cities, among which are Nanking, An-ch'ing
(Ngank'ing), Kiu-kiang, Hankow and I-ch'ang. From its mouth to
I-ch'ang, about 1000 m., the river is navigable by large steamers.
Above this last-named city the navigation becomes impossible for any
but light native craft or foreign vessels specially constructed for
the navigation, by reason of the rapids which occur at frequent
intervals in the deep mountain gorges through which the river runs
between Kwei-chow and I-ch'ang. Above Kwei-chow it receives from the
north many tributaries, notably the Min, which water the low
table-land of central Sze-ch'uen. The main river itself has in this
province a considerable navigable stretch, while below I-ch'ang it
receives the waters of numerous navigable affluents. The Yangtsze
system is thus all important in the economic and commercial
development of China.

Perhaps the most remarkable of the affluents of the Yangtsze is the
Han-kiang or Han river. It rises in the Po-mêng mountains to the north
of the city of Ning-kiang Chow in Shen-si. Taking a generally easterly
course from its source as far as Fan-cheng, it from that point takes a
more southerly direction and empties itself into the Yangtsze-kiang at
Han-kow, "the mouth of the Han." Here it is only 200 ft. wide, while
higher up it widens to 2600 ft. It is navigable by steamers for 300 m.
The summer high-water line is for a great part of its course, from
I-ch'eng Hien to Han-kow, above the level of its banks. Near
Sien-t'ao-chên the elevation of the plain above low water is no more
than 1 ft., and in summer the river rises about 26 ft. above its
lowest level. To protect themselves against inundations the natives
have here, as elsewhere, thrown up high embankments on both sides of
the river, but at a distance from the natural banks of about 50 to 100
ft. This intervening space is flooded every year, and by the action of
the water new layers of sand and soil are deposited every summer, thus
strengthening the embankments from season to season.

The Hwai-ho is a large river of east central China flowing between the
Hwang-ho and the Yangtsze-kiang. The Hwai-ho and its numerous
affluents (it is said to have 72 tributaries) rise in Ho-nan. The main
river flows through the centre of Ngan-hui, in which province it
receives from the N.W. the Sha-ho, Fei-ho and other important
affluents. Formerly it received through the Sha-ho part of the waters
of the Hwang-ho. The Hwai-ho flows into the Hungtso lake, through
which it feeds the Grand Canal, not far from the old course of the
Hwang-ho, and probably at one time joined that river not far from its
mouth. It has a length of about 800 m. and is navigable from the point
where it leaves the hill country of Ho-nan to Lake Hungtso. It is
subject to violent floods, which inundate the surrounding country for
a distance of 10 to 20 m. Many of its tributaries are also navigable
for considerable distances.

Grand Canal.

Next in importance to the Yangtsze-kiang as a water highway is the
Yun-ho, or, as it is generally known in Europe, the Grand Canal. This
magnificent artificial river reaches from Hang-chow Fu in the province
of Cheh-kiang to Tientsin in Chih-li, where it unites with the Peiho,
and thus may be said to extend to Tung-chow in the neighbourhood of
Peking. According to the itineraries published by Père Gandar, the
total length of the canal is 3630 _li_, or about 1200 m. A rough
measurement, taking account only of the main bends of the canal, makes
its length 850 m. After leaving Hang-chow the canal passes round the
eastern border of the Tai-hu or Great Lake, surrounding in its course
the beautiful city of Su-chow, and then trends in a generally
north-westerly direction through the fertile districts of Kiang-su as
far as Chin-kiang on the Yangtsze-kiang. In this, the southern
section, the slope is gentle and water is plentiful (from 7 ft. at low
water to 11 ft., and occasionally 13 ft. at high water). Between
Su-chow and Chin-kiang the canal is often over 100 ft. wide, and its
sides are in many places faced with stone. It is spanned by fine stone
bridges, and near its banks are many memorial arches and lofty
pagodas. In the central portion of the canal, that is between
Chin-kiang and Tsing-kiang-pu, at which latter place it crosses the
dry channel which marks the course of the Yellow river before 1852,
the current is strong and difficult to ascend in the upward (northern)
journey. This part of the canal skirts several lakes and is fed by the
Hwai-ho as it issues from the Hungtso lake. The country lying west of
the canal is higher than its bed; while the country east is lower than
the canal. The two regions are known respectively as Shang-ho (above
the river) and Ssia-ho (below the river). Waste weirs opening on the
Ssia-ho (one of the great rice-producing areas of China) discharge the
surplus water in flood seasons. The northern and considerably the
longest section of the canal extends from the old bed of the Yellow
river to Tientsin. It largely utilizes existing rivers and follows
their original windings. Between Tsing-kiang-pu and the present course
of the Yellow river the canal trends N.N.W., skirting the highlands of
Shan-tung. In this region it passes through a series of lagoons, which
in summer form one lake--Chow-yang. North of that lake on the east
bank of the canal, is the city of Tsi-ning-chow. About 25 m. N. of
that city the highest level of the canal is reached at the town of Nan
Wang. Here the river Wen enters the canal from the east, and about 30
m. farther N. the Yellow river is reached. On the west side of the
canal, at the point where the Yellow river now cuts across it, there
is laid down in Chinese maps of the 18th century a dry channel which
is described as being that once followed by the Yellow river, i.e.
before it took the channel it abandoned in 1851-1853. The passage of
the Yellow river to the part of the canal lying north of that stream
is difficult, and can only be effected at certain levels of the
river. Frequently the waters of the river are either too low or the
current is too strong to permit a passage. Leaving this point the
canal passes through a well-wooded and hilly country west of
Tung-p'ing Chow and east of Tung-ch'ang Fu. At Lin-ching Chow it is
joined at right angles by the Wei river in the midst of the city. Up
to this point, i.e. from Tsing-kiang-pu to Lin-ching Chow, a distance
of over 300 m., navigation is difficult and the water-supply often
insufficient. The differences of level, 20 to 30 ft., are provided for
by barrages over which the boats--having discharged their cargo--are
hauled by windlasses. Below the junction with the Wei the canal
borrows the channel of the river and again becomes easily navigable.
Crossing the frontier into Chih-li, between Te Chow and Tsang Chow,
which it passes to the west, it joins the Peiho at Tientsin, after
having received the waters of the Keto river in the neighbourhood of
Tsing Hien.[3]

The most ancient part of the canal is the section between the Yangtsze
and the Hwai-ho. This part is thought, on the strength of a passage in
one of the books of Confucius, to have been built c. 486 B.C. It was
repaired and enlarged in the 3rd century A.D. The southern part,
between the Yangtsze and Hang-chow, was built early in the 7th century
A.D. The northern part is stated to have been constructed in the three
years 1280-1283. The northern portion of the canal is now of little
use as a means of communication between north and south.[4] It is
badly built, neglected and charged with the mud-laden waters of the
Yellow river. The "tribute fleet" bearing rice to Peking still uses
this route; but the rice is now largely forwarded by sea. The central
and southern portions of the canal are very largely used.

The Peiho (length about 350 m.) is of importance as being the high
waterway to Peking. Taking its rise in the Si-shan, or Western
Mountains, beyond Peking, it passes the city of T'sung-chow, the port
of Peking, and Tientsin, where it meets the waters of the Hun-ho and
empties itself into the gulf of Chih-li at the village of Taku. The
Peiho is navigable for small steamers as far as Tientsin during the
greater part of the year, but from the end of November to the
beginning of March it is frozen up.

The Si-kiang.

In the southern provinces the Si-kiang, or Western river, is the most
considerable. It has a length of over 1000 m. This river takes its
rise in the prefecture of Kwang-nan Fu in Yun-nan, whence it reaches
the frontier of Kwang-si at a distance of about 90 li from its source.
Then trending in a north-easterly direction it forms the boundary
between the two provinces for about 150 li. From this point it takes a
generally south-easterly course, passing the cities of Tsien Chow,
Fung-e Chow, Shang-lin Hien, Lung-ngan Hien, Yung-kang Chow and
Nan-ning Fu to Yung-shan Hien. Here it makes a bend to the north-east,
and continues this general direction as far as Sin-chow Fu, a distance
of 800 li, where it meets and joins the waters of the Kien-kiang from
the north. Its course is then easterly, and after passing Wu-chow Fu
it crosses the frontier into Kwang-tung. In this part of its course it
flows through a gorge 3 m. long and in places but 270 yds. in width.
Both above and below this gorge it is 1 m. wide. Some 30 m. above
Canton it divides into two main and several small branches. The
northern branch, called Chu-kiang, or Pearl river, flows past Fat-shan
and Canton and reaches the sea through the estuary called the Bocca
Tigris or Bogue, at the mouth of which is the island of Hong-Kong. The
southern branch, which retains the name of Si-kiang, reaches the sea
west of Macao. Near the head of its delta the Si-kiang receives the
Pei-kiang, a considerable river which flows through Kwang-tung in a
general N. to S. direction. Like the Yangtsze-kiang the Si-kiang is
known by various names in different parts of its course. From its
source to Nan-ning Fu in Kwang-si it is called the Si-yang-kiang, or
river of the Western Ocean; from Nan-ning Fu to Sin-chow Fu it is
known as the Yu-kiang, or the Bending river; and over the remainder of
its course it is recognized by the name of the Si-kiang, or Western
river. The Si-kiang is navigable as far as Shao-king, 130 m., for
vessels not drawing more than 15 ft. of water, and vessels of a light
draught may easily reach Wu-chow Fu, in Kwang-si, which is situated 75
m. farther up. In winter the navigation is difficult above Wu-chow Fu.
Above that place there is a rapid at low water, but navigation is
possible to beyond Nan-ning Fu.

[Illustration: CHINA]

_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.

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.

In the traditional Chinese social system four classes are
distinguished: the literary, the agricultural, the artisan and the
trading class. Hereditary nobility, in the European sense, scarcely
exists, and the possession of an hereditary title gives in itself no
special privileges. Official position is more highly esteemed than
birth and the bureaucracy takes the place of the aristocracy in the
west. There are, nevertheless, besides personal decorations for merit,
such as the yellow jacket, five hereditary rewards for merit; these
last only for a fixed number of lives. A few Chinese families,
however, enjoy hereditary titles in the full sense, the chief among
them being the Holy Duke of Yen (the descendant of Confucius). The
Imperial Clansmen consist of those who trace their descent direct from
the founder of the Manchu dynasty, and are distinguished by the
privilege of wearing a yellow girdle; collateral relatives of the
imperial house wear a red girdle. Twelve degrees of nobility (in a
descending scale as one generation succeeds another) are conferred on
the descendants of every emperor; in the thirteenth generation the
descendants of emperors are merged in the general population, save
that they retain the yellow girdle. The heads of eight houses, the
"Iron-capped" (or helmeted) princes, maintain their titles in
perpetuity by rule of primogeniture in virtue of having helped the
Manchu in the conquest of China. Imperial princes apart, the highest
class is that forming the civil service. (See also § _Government and
Administration_.) The peasant class forms the bulk of the population.
The majority of Chinese are small landowners; their standard of living
is very low in comparison with European standards. This is in part due
to the system of land tenure. A parent cannot, even if he wished to do
so, leave all his land to one son. There must be substantially an
equal division, the will of the father notwithstanding. As early
marriages and large families are the rule, this process of continual
division and subdivision has brought things down to the irreducible
minimum in many places. Small patches of one-tenth or even
one-twentieth of an acre are to be found as the estate of an
individual landowner, and the vast majority of holdings run between
one and three acres. With three acres a family is deemed very
comfortable, and the possession of ten acres means luxury.

The only class which at all resembles the territorial magnates of
other countries is the class of retired officials. The wealth of an
official is not infrequently invested in land, and consequently there
are in most provinces several families with a country seat and the
usual insignia of local rank and influence. On the decease of the
heads or founders of such families it is considered dignified for the
sons to live together, sharing the rents and profits in common. This
is sometimes continued for several generations, until the country seat
becomes an agglomeration of households and the family a sort of clan.
A family of this kind, with literary traditions, and with the means to
educate the young men, is constantly sending its scions into the
public service. These in turn bring their earnings to swell the common
funds, while the rank and dignity which they may earn add to the
importance and standing of the group as a whole. The members of this
class are usually termed the _literati_ or gentry.

The complex character of the Chinese is shown in various ways. Side by
side with the reverence of ancestors the law recognizes the right of
the parent to sell his offspring into slavery and among the poor this
is not an uncommon practice, though in comparison with the total
population the number of slaves is few. The kidnapping of children for
sale as slaves is carried on, but there is no slave raiding. There are
more female than male slaves; the descendants of male slaves acquire
freedom in the fifth generation. While every Chinese man is anxious to
have male children, girls are often considered superfluous.

The position of women is one of distinct inferiority; a woman is
always subject to the men of her family--before marriage to her
father, during marriage to her husband, in widowhood to her son; these
states being known as "the three obediences." Sons who do not,
however, honour their mothers outrage public opinion. Polygamy is
tolerated, secondary wives being sometimes provided by the first wife
when she is growing old. Secondary wives are subordinate to first
wives. A wife may be divorced for any one of seven reasons. The sale
of wives is practised, but is not recognized by law. Women of the
upper classes are treated with much respect. The home of a Chinese man
is often in reality ruled by his mother, or by his wife as she
approaches old age, a state held in veneration. Chinese women
frequently prove of excellent business capacity, and those of high
rank--as the recent history of China has conspicuously
proved--exercise considerable influence on public affairs.

Deforming the feet of girls by binding and stopping their growth has
been common for centuries. The tottering walk of the Chinese lady
resulting from this deformation of the feet is the admiration of her
husband and friends. Foot-binding is practised by rich and poor in all
parts of the country, but is not universal. In southern and western
China Hakka women and certain others never have their feet bound. It
has been noted that officials (who all serve on the itinerary system)
take for secondary wives natural-footed women, who are frequently
slaves.[11] Every child is one at birth, and two on what Europeans
call its first birthday, the period of gestation counting as one year.

In their social intercourse the Chinese are polite and ceremonious;
they do not shake hands or kiss, but prostrations (kotowing),
salutations with joined hands and congratulations are common. They
have no weekly day of rest, but keep many festivals, the most
important being that of New Year's Day. Debts are supposed to be paid
before New Year's Day begins and for the occasion new clothes are
bought. Other notable holidays are the Festival of the First Full
Moon, the Feast of Lanterns and the Festival of the Dragon Boat. A
feature of the festivals is the employment of thousands of lanterns
made of paper, covered with landscapes and other scenes in gorgeous
colours. Of outdoor sports kite-flying is the most popular and is
engaged in by adults; shuttle-cock is also a favourite game, while
cards and dominoes are indoor amusements. The theatre and marionette
shows are largely patronized. The habit of opium smoking is referred
to elsewhere; tobacco smoking is general among both sexes.

Except in their head-dress and their shoes little distinction is made
between the costumes of men and women.[12] Both sexes wear a long
loose jacket or robe which fits closely round the neck and has wide
sleeves, and wide short trousers. Over the robe shorter jackets--often
sleeveless--are worn, according to the weather. For winter wear the
jackets are wadded, and a Chinaman will speak of "a three, four or six
coat cold day." A man's robe is generally longer than that of a woman.
Petticoats are worn by ladies on ceremonial occasions and the long
robe is removed when in the house. "It is considered very unwomanly
not to wear trousers, and very indelicate for a man not to have skirts
to his coat." No Chinese woman ever bares any part of her body in
public--even the hands are concealed in the large sleeves--and the
evening dress of European ladies is considered indelicate; but Hakka
women move about freely without shoes or stockings. A Chinese man
will, however, in warm weather often strip naked to the waist. Coolies
frequently go bare-legged; they use sandals made of rope and possess
rain-coats made of palm leaves. The garments of the poorer classes are
made of cotton, generally dyed blue. Wealthy people have their clothes
made of silk. Skirts and jackets are elaborately embroidered. Costly
furs and fur-lined clothes are much prized, and many wealthy Chinese
have fine collections of furs. Certain colours may only be used with
official permission as denoting a definite rank or distinction, e.g.
the yellow jacket. The colours used harmonize--the contrasts in colour
seen in the clothes of Europeans is avoided. Dark purple over blue are
usual colour combinations. The mourning colour is white. Common shoes
are made of cotton or silk and have thick felt soles; all officials
wear boots of satin into which is thrust the pipe or the fan--the
latter carried equally by men and women. The fan is otherwise stuck at
the back of the neck, or attached to the girdle, which may also hold
the purse, watch, snuff-box and a pair of chop-sticks.

Formerly Chinese men let their hair grow sufficiently long to gather
it in a knot at the top; on the conquest of the country by the Manchu
they were compelled to adopt the queue or pigtail, which is often
artificially lengthened by the employment of silk thread, usually
black in colour. The front part of the head is shaved. As no Chinese
dress their own hair, barbers are numerous and do a thriving trade.
Women do not shave the head nor adopt the queue. Men wear in general a
close-fitting cap, and the peasants large straw hats. Circular caps,
larger at the crown than round the head and with an outward slope are
worn in winter by mandarins, conical straw hats in summer. Women have
elaborate head ornaments, decking their hair with artificial flowers,
butterflies made of jade, gold pins and pearls. The faces of Chinese
ladies are habitually rouged, their eyebrows painted. Pearl or bead
necklaces are worn both by men and women. Officials and men of leisure
let one or two finger nails grow long and protect them with a metal
case.

The staple food of the majority of the Chinese in the south and
central provinces is rice; in the northern provinces millet as well as
rice is much eaten. In separate bowls are placed morsels of pork,
fish, chicken, vegetables and other relishes. Rice-flour, bean-meal,
macaroni, and shell fish are all largely used. Flour balls cooked in
sugar are esteemed. Beef is never eaten, but Mahommedans eat mutton,
and there is hardly any limit to the things the Chinese use as food.
In Canton dogs which have been specially fed are an article of diet.
Eggs are preserved for years in a solution of salt, lime and wood-ash,
or in spirits made from rice. Condiments are highly prized, as are
also preserved fruits. Special Chinese dishes are soups made from
sea-slugs and a glutinous substance found in certain birds' nests,
ducks' tongues, sharks' fins, the brains of chickens and of fish, the
sinews of deer and of whales, fish with pickled fir-tree cones, and
roots of the lotus lily. A kind of beer brewed from rice is a usual
drink; _samshu_ is a spirit distilled from the same grain and at
dinners is served hot in small bowls. Excellent native wines are
made. The Chinese are, however, abstemious with regard to alcoholic
liquors. Water is drunk hot by the very poor, as a substitute for tea.
Tea is drunk before and after meals in cups without handle or saucer;
the cups are always provided with a cover. Two substantial meals are
taken during the day--luncheon and dinner; the last named at varying
hours from four till seven o'clock. At dinner a rich man will offer
his guest twenty-four or more dishes (always a multiple of 4), four to
six dishes being served at a time. Food is eaten from bowls and with
chop-sticks (q.v.) and little porcelain spoons. Men dine by themselves
when any guests are present; dinner parties are sometimes given by
ladies to ladies. Chinese cookery is excellent; in the culinary art
the Chinese are reputed to be second only to the French.

Ethnologically the Chinese are classed among the Mongolian races (in
which division the Manchus are also included), although they present
many marked contrasts to the Mongols. The Tatars, Tibetans, Burmese,
Shans, Manchu and other races--including the Arab and Japanese--have
mingled with the indigenous population to form the Chinese type, while
aboriginal tribes still resist the pressure of absorption by the
dominant race (see ante, _Population_). The Chinese are in fact
ethnically a very mixed people, and the pure Mongol type is uncommon
among them. Moreover, natives of different provinces still present
striking contrasts one to another, and their common culture is
probably the strongest national link. By some authorities it is held
that the parent stock of the Chinese came from the north-west, beyond
the alluvial plain; others hold that it was indigenous in eastern
China. Notwithstanding the marked differences between the inhabitants
of different provinces and even between those living in the same
province, certain features are common to the race. "The stature is
below the average and seldom exceeds 5 ft. 4 in., except in the North.
The head is normally brachycephalic or round horizontally, and the
forehead low and narrow. The face is round, the mouth large, and the
chin small and receding. The cheek-bones are prominent, the eyes
almond-shaped, oblique upwards and outwards, and the hair coarse, lank
and invariably black. The beard appears late in life, and remains
generally scanty. The eyebrows are straight and the iris of the eye is
black. The nose is generally short, broad and flat. The hands and feet
are disproportionately small, and the body early inclines to obesity.
The complexion varies from an almost pale-yellow to a dark-brown,
without any red or ruddy tinge. Yellow, however, predominates."[13]

A few words may be added concerning the Manchus, who are the ruling
race in China. Their ethnic affinities are not precisely known, but
they may be classed among the Ural-Altaic tribes, although the term
Ural-Altaic (q.v.) denotes a linguistic rather than a racial group. By
some authorities they are called Tung-tatze, i.e. Eastern Tatars---the
Tatars of to-day being of true Mongol descent. Manchu is the name
adopted in the 13th century by one of several tribes which led a
nomadic life in Manchuria and were known collectively in the 11th
century as Nüchihs. Some authorities regard the Khitans (whence the
European form Cathay), who in the 9th and 10th centuries dwelt in the
upper Liao region, as the ancestors of this race. It was not until the
16th century that the people became known generally as Manchus and
obtained possession of the whole of the country now bearing their name
(see MANCHURIA). They had then a considerable mixture of Chinese and
Korean blood, but had developed a distinct nationality and kept their
ancient Ural-Altaic language. In China the Manchus retained their
separate nationality and semi-military organization. It was not until
the early years of the 20th century that steps were officially taken
to obliterate the distinction between the two races. The Manchus are a
more robust race than the inhabitants of central and southern China,
but resemble those of northern China save that their eyes are
horizontally set. They are a lively and enterprising people, but have
not in general the intellectual or business ability of the Chinese.
They are courteous in their relations with strangers. The common
people are frugal and industrious. The Manchu family is generally
large. The women's feet are unbound; they twist their hair round a
silver bangle placed cross-wise on the top of the head. The Manchus
have no literature of their own, but as the language of the court
Manchu has been extensively studied in China.

AUTHORITIES.--Sir John F. Davies, _China_ (2 vols., London, 1857); É.
Réclus, _The Universal Geography_, vol. vii. (Eng. trans. ed. by E.G.
Ravenstein and A.H. Keane); É. and O. Réclus, _L'Empire du milieu_
(Paris, 1902); Sir R.K. Douglas, _Society in China_ (London, 1895); J.
Doolittle, _Social Life of the Chinese_ (2 vols., New York, 1867);
H.A. Giles, _China and the Chinese_ (1902); E. Bard, _Les Chinois chez
eux_ (Paris, 1900); A.G. Jones, _Desultory Notes on Chinese Etiquette_
(Shanghai, 1906); Mrs Archibald Little, _Intimate China_ (London,
1899) and _The Land of the Blue Gown_ (London, 1902); E.H. Parker,
_John Chinaman and a Few Others_ (London, 1901); J. Dyer-Ball, _Things
Chinese_ (Shanghai, 1903); Cheng Kitung, _The Chinese Painted by
Themselves_ (Eng. trans. by J. Millington, London, 1885); L. Richard,
_Comprehensive Geography of the Chinese Empire_ (Shanghai, 1908). (X.)

_Religion._

The ancient faith.

The earliest traces of religious thought and practice in China point to
a simple monotheism. There was a Divine Ruler of the universe, abiding
on high, beyond the ken of man. This Power was not regarded as the
Creator of the human race, but as a Supreme Being to whom wickedness was
abhorrent and virtuous conduct a source of joy, and who dealt out
rewards and punishments with unerring justice, claiming neither love nor
reverence from mankind. If a man did his duty towards his neighbour, he
might pass his whole time on earth oblivious of the fact that such a
Power was in existence; unless perchance he wished to obtain some good
or attain some end, in which case he might seek to propitiate Him by
sacrifice and prayer. There was no Devil to tempt man astray, and to
rejoice in his fall; neither was there any belief that righteous
behaviour in this world would lead at death to absorption in the Deity.
To God, understood in this sense, the people gave the name _Tien_, which
in the colloquial language was used of the sky; and when, in the first
stages of the written character, it became necessary to express the idea
of _Tien_, they did not attempt any vague picture of the heavens, but
set down the rude outline of a man. Perhaps about this period the title
_Shang Ti_, or Supreme Ruler, came into vogue as synonymous with _Tien_.
But although the two terms were synonyms, and both may be equally
rendered by "God," there is nevertheless an important distinction to be
observed, much as though _Tien_ and _Shang Ti_ were two Persons in one
substance. _Tien_ is far more an abstract Being, while _Shang Ti_
partakes rather of the nature of a personal God, whose anthropomorphic
nature is much more strongly accentuated. _Shang Ti_ is described as
walking and talking, as enjoying the flavour of sacrifices, as pleased
with music and dancing in his honour, and even as taking sides in
warfare; whereas _Tien_ holds aloof, wrapped in an impenetrable majesty,
an _ignotum pro mirifico_. So much for religion in primeval days,
gathered scrap by scrap from many sources; for nothing like a history of
religion is to be found in Chinese literature.

Gradually to this monotheistic conception was added a worship of the
sun, moon and constellations, of the five planets, and of such
noticeable individual stars as (e.g.) Canopus, which is now looked upon
as the home of the God of Longevity. Earth, too--Mother Earth--came in
for her share of worship, indicated especially by the God of the Soil,
and further distributed among rivers and hills. Wind, rain, heat, cold,
thunder and lightning, as each became objects of desire or aversion,
were invested with the attributes of deities. The various parts of the
house--door, kitchen-stove, courtyard, &c.--were also conceived of as
sheltering some spirit whose influence might be benign or the reverse.
The spirits of the land and of grain came to mean one's country, the
commonwealth, the state; and the sacrifices of these spirits by the
emperor formed a public announcement of his accession, or of his
continued right to the throne. Side by side with such sacrificial rites
was the worship of ancestors, stretching so far back that its origin is
not discernible in such historical documents as we possess. In early
times only the emperor, or the feudal nobles, or certain high officials,
could sacrifice to the spirits of nature; the common people sacrificed
to their own ancestors and to the spirits of their own homes. For three
days before performing such sacrifices, a strict vigil with purification
was maintained; and by the expiration of that time, from sheer
concentration of thought, the mourner was able to see the spirits of the
departed, and at the sacrifice next day seemed to hear their movements
and even the murmur of their sighs. Ancestral worship in China has
always been, and still is, worship in the strict sense of the term. It
is not a memorial service in simple honour of the dead; but sacrifices
are offered, and the whole ceremonial is performed that the spirits of
former ancestors may be induced to extend their protection to the living
and secure to them as many as possible of the good things of this world.

For Confucianism, which cannot, strictly speaking, be classed as a
religion, see CONFUCIUS.

Taoism.

Around the scanty utterances of Lao Tz[)u] or Lao-tsze (q.v.; see also
§ _Chinese Literature, §§ Philosophy_) an attempt was made by later
writers to weave a scheme of thought which should serve to satisfy the
cravings of mortals for some definite solution of the puzzle of life.
Lao Tz[)u] himself had enunciated a criterion which he called _Tao_,
or the Way, from which is derived the word Taoism; and in his usual
paradoxical style he had asserted that the secret of this Way, which
was at the beginning apparently nothing more than a line of right
conduct, could not possibly be imparted, even by those who understood
it. His disciples, however, of later days proceeded to interpret the
term in the sense of the Absolute, the First Cause, and finally as
One, in whose obliterating unity all seemingly opposed conditions of
time and space were indistinguishably blended. This One, the source of
human life, was placed beyond the limits of the visible universe; and
for human life to return thither at death and to enjoy immortality, it
was only necessary to refine away all corporeal grossness by following
the doctrines of Lao Tz[)u]. By and by, this One came to be regarded
as a fixed point of dazzling luminosity in remote ether, around which
circled for ever and ever, in the supremest glory of motion, the souls
of those who had left the slough of humanity behind them. These
transcendental notions were entirely corrupted at a very early date by
the introduction of belief in an elixir of life, and later still by
the practice of alchemistic experiments. Opposed by Buddhism, which
next laid a claim for a share in the profits of popular patronage,
Taoism rapidly underwent a radical transformation. It became a
religion, borrowing certain ceremonial, vestments, liturgies, the idea
of a hell, arrangement of temples, &c., from its rival; which rival
was not slow in returning the compliment. As Chu Hsi said, "Buddhism
stole the best features of Taoism; Taoism stole the worst features of
Buddhism. It is as though one took a jewel from the other, and the
loser recouped the loss with a stone." At the present day there is not
much to choose between the two religions, which flourish peaceably
together. As to their temples, priests and ceremonial, it takes an
expert to distinguish one from the other.

Buddhism.

There is no trustworthy information as to the exact date at which
Buddhism first reached China. It is related that the emperor Ming Ti
(A.D. 58-76) had a dream in which a golden man appeared to him, and
this mysterious visitant was interpreted by the emperor's brother to
be none other than Sh[=a]kyamuni Buddha, the far-famed divinity of the
West. This shows that Buddhism must then have been known to the
Chinese, at any rate by hearsay. The earliest alleged appearance of
Buddhism in China dates from 217 B.C., when certain Shamans who came
to proselytize were seized and thrown into prison. They escaped
through the miraculous intervention of a golden man, who came to them
in the middle of the night and opened their prison doors. Hsü Kuan, a
writer of the Sung dynasty, quotes in his _Tung Chai Chi_ passages to
support the view that Buddhism was known in China some centuries
before the reign of Ming Ti; among others, the following from the _Sui
Shu Ching Chi Chih_: "These Buddhist writings had long been circulated
far and wide, but disappeared with the advent of the Ch'in dynasty,"
under which (see § _Chinese Literature, §§ History_) occurred the
Burning of the Books. It is, however, convenient to begin with the
alleged dream of Ming Ti, as it was only subsequent to that date that
Buddhism became a recognized religion of the people. It is certain
that in A.D. 65 a mission of eighteen members was despatched to Khotan
to make inquiries on the subject, and that in 67 the mission returned,
bringing Buddhist writings and images, and accompanied by an Indian
priest, Kashiapmadanga, who was followed shortly afterwards by another
priest, Gobharana. A temple was built for these two at Lo-yang, then
the capital of China, and they settled down to the work of translating
portions of the Buddhist scriptures into Chinese; but all that now
remains of their work is the S[=u]tra of Forty-two Sections,
translated by Kashiapmadanga. During the next two hundred and fifty
years an unbroken line of foreign priests came to China to continue
the task of translation, and to assist in spreading the faith. Such
work was indeed entirely in their hands, for until the 4th century the
Chinese people were prohibited from taking orders as priests; but by
that date Buddhism had taken a firm hold upon the masses, and many
Chinese priests were attracted towards India, despite the long and
dangerous journey, partly to visit the birthplace of the creed and to
see with their own eyes the scenes which had so fired their
imaginations, and partly in the hope of adding to the store of books
and images already available in China (see § _Chinese Literature, §§
Geography and Travel_). Still, the train of Indian missionaries,
moving in the opposite direction, did not cease. In 401, Kumarajiva,
the nineteenth of the Western Patriarchs and translator of the Diamond
S[=u]tra, finally took up his residence at the court of the soi-disant
emperor, Yao Hsing. In 405 he became State Preceptor and dictated his
commentaries on the sacred books of Buddhism to some eight hundred
priests, besides composing a _sh[=a]stra_ on Reality and Semblance.
Dying in 417, his body was cremated, as is still usual with priests,
but his tongue, which had done such eminent service during life,
remained unharmed in the midst of the flames. In the year 520
B[=o]dhidharma, or Ta-mo, as he is affectionately known to the
Chinese, being also called the White Buddha, reached Canton, bringing
with him the sacred bowl of the Buddhist Patriarchate, of which he was
the last representative in the west and the first to hold office in
the east. Summoned to Nanking, he offended the emperor by asserting
that real merit lay, not in works, but solely in purity and wisdom
combined. He therefore retired to Lo-yang, crossing the swollen waters
of the Yangtsze on a reed, a feat which has ever since had a great
fascination for Chinese painters and poets. There he spent the rest of
his life, teaching that religion was not to be learnt from books, but
that man should seek and find the Buddha in his own heart. Thus
Buddhism gradually made its way. It had to meet first of all the
bitter hostility of the Taoists; and secondly, the fitful patronage
and opposition of the court. Several emperors and empresses were
infatuated supporters of the faith; one even went so far as to take
vows and lead the life of an ascetic, further insisting that to render
full obedience to the Buddhist commandment, "Thou shalt not kill," the
sacrificial animals were to be made of dough. Other emperors,
instigated by Confucian advisers, went to the opposite extreme of
persecution, closed all religious houses, confiscated their property,
and forced the priests and nuns to return to the world. From about the
11th century onwards Buddhism has enjoyed comparative immunity from
attack or restriction, and it now covers the Chinese empire from end
to end. The form under which it appears in China is to some extent of
local growth; that is to say, the Chinese have added and subtracted
not a little to and from the parent stock. The cleavage which took
place under Kanishka, ruler of the Indo-Scythian empire, about the 1st
century A.D., divided Buddhism into the Mah[=a]y[=a]na, or Greater
Vehicle, and the Hin[=a]y[=a]na, as it is somewhat contemptuously
styled, or Lesser Vehicle. The latter was the nearer of the two to the
Buddhism of Sh[=a]kyamuni, and exhibits rather the mystic and esoteric
sides of the faith. The former, which spread northwards and on to
Nepaul, Tibet, China, Mongolia and Japan, leaving southern India,
Burma and Siam to its rival, began early to lean towards the
deification of Buddha as a personal Saviour. New Buddhas and
B[=o]dhisatvas were added, and new worlds were provided for them to
live in; in China, especially, there was an enormous extension of the
mythological element. In fact, the Mah[=a]y[=a]na system of Buddhism,
inspired, as has been observed, by a progressive spirit, but without
contradicting the inner significance of the teachings of Buddha,
broadened its scope and assimilated other religio-philosophical
beliefs, whenever this could be done to the advantage of those who
came within its influence. Such is the form of this religion which
prevails in China, of which, however, the Chinese layman understands
nothing. He goes to a temple, worships the gods with prostrations,
lighted candles, incense, &c., to secure his particular ends at the
moment; he may even listen to a service chanted in a foreign tongue
and just as incomprehensible to the priests as to himself. He pays his
fees and departs, absolutely ignorant of the history or dogmas of the
religion to which he looks for salvation in a future state. All such
knowledge, and there is now not much of it, is confined to a few of
the more cultured priests.

Mardaism.

The 7th century seems to have been notable in the religious history of
China. Early in that century, Mazdaism, or the religion of Zoroaster,
based upon the worship of fire, was introduced into China, and in 621
the first temple under that denomination was built at Ch'ang-an in
Shensi, then the capital. But the harvest of converts was
insignificant; the religion failed to hold its ground, and in the 9th
century disappeared altogether.

Mahommedanism.

Mahommedans first settled in China in the Year of the Mission, A.D.
628, under Wahb-Abi-Kabha, a maternal uncle of Mahomet, who was sent
with presents to the emperor. Wahb-Abi-Kabha travelled by sea to
Canton, and thence overland to Ch'ang-an, the capital, where he was
well received. The first mosque was built at Canton, where after
several restorations, it still exists. Another mosque was erected in
742; but many of the Mahommedans went to China merely as traders, and
afterwards returned to their own country. The true stock of the
present Chinese Mahommedans was a small army of 4000 Arab soldiers
sent by the caliph Abu Giafar[14] in 755 to aid in putting down a
rebellion. These soldiers had permission to settle in China, where
they married native wives; and four centuries later, with the
conquests of Jenghiz Khan, large numbers of Arabs penetrated into the
empire and swelled the Mahommedan community. Its members are now
indistinguishable from the general population; they are under no civic
disabilities, and are free to open mosques wherever they please, so
long as, in common with Buddhists and Taoists, they exhibit the tablet
of the emperor's sovereignty in some conspicuous position.

Nestorianism.

In A.D. 631 the Nestorians sent a mission to China and introduced
Christianity under the name of the Luminous Doctrine. In 636 they were
allowed to settle at Ch'ang-an; and in 638 an Imperial Decree was
issued, stating that Olopun, a Nestorian priest who is casually
mentioned as a Persian, had presented a form of religion which his
Majesty had carefully examined and had found to be in every way
satisfactory, and that it would henceforth be permissible to preach
this new doctrine within the boundaries of the empire. Further, the
establishment of a monastery was authorized, to be served by
twenty-one priests. For more than a century after this, Nestorian
Christianity seems to have flourished in China. In 781 the famous
Nestorian Tablet, giving a rough outline of the object and scope of
the faith, was set up at Ch'ang-an (the modern Si-gan Fu),
disappearing soon afterwards in the political troubles which laid the
city in ruins, to be brought to light again in 1625 by Father Semedo,
S.J. The genuineness of this tablet was for many years in dispute,
Voltaire, Renan, and others of lesser fame regarding it as a pious
Jesuit fraud; but all doubts on the subject have now been dispelled by
the exhaustive monograph of Père Havret, S.J., entitled _La Stèle de
Si-ngan_. The date of the tablet seems to mark the zenith of Nestorian
Christianity in China; after this date it began to decay. Marco Polo
refers to it as existing in the 13th century; but then it fades out of
sight, leaving scant traces in Chinese literature of ever having
existed.

Manichaeism.

The Manichaeans, worshippers of the Chaldaean Mani or Man[=e]s, who
died about A.D. 274, appear to have found their way to China in the
year 694. In 719 an envoy from Tokharestan reached Ch'ang-an, bringing
a letter to the emperor, in which a request was made that an
astronomer who accompanied the mission might be permitted to establish
places of worship for persons of the Manichaean faith. Subsequently, a
number of such chapels were opened at various centres; but little is
known of the history of this religion, which is often confounded by
Chinese writers with Mazdeism, the fate of which it seems to have
shared, also disappearing about the middle of the 9th century.

Judaism.

By "the sect of those who take out the sinew," the Chinese refer to
the Jews and their peculiar method of preparing meat in order to make
it _kosher_. Wild stories have been told of their arrival in China
seven centuries before the Christian era, after one of the numerous
upheavals mentioned in the Old Testament; and again, of their having
carried the Pentateuch to China shortly after the Babylonish
captivity, and having founded a colony in Ho-nan in A.D. 72. The Jews
really reached China for the first time in the year A.D. 1163, and
were permitted to open a synagogue at the modern K'ai-fêng Fu in 1164.
There they seem to have lived peaceably, enjoying the protection of
the authorities and making some slight efforts to spread their tenets.
There their descendants were found, a dwindling community, by the
Jesuit Fathers of the 17th century; and there again they were visited
in 1850 by a Protestant mission, which succeeded in obtaining from
them Hebrew rolls of parts of the Pentateuch in the square character,
with vowel points. After this, it was generally believed that the few
remaining stragglers, who seemed to be entirely ignorant of everything
connected with their faith, had become merged in the ordinary
population. A recent traveller, however, asserts that in 1909 he found
at K'ai-fêng Fu a Jewish community, the members of which keep as much
as possible to themselves, worshipping in secret, and preserving their
ancient ritual and formulary.

See H. Hackmann, _Buddhism as a Religion_ (1910); H.A. Giles,
_Religions of Ancient China_ (1905); G. Smith, _The Jews at
K'ae-fung-foo_ (1851); Dabry de Thiersant, _Le Mahométisme en Chine_
(1878); P. Havret. S.J., _La Stèle chrétienne de Si-ngan-fou_ (1895).
(H. A. GI.)

Christian missions.

[Christian missions, both Roman Catholic and Protestant, are
established in every province in China. Freedom to embrace the
Christian faith has been guaranteed by the Chinese government since
1860, and as a rule the missionaries have free scope in teaching and
preaching, though local disturbances are not infrequent. The number of
members of the Roman Catholic Church in China was reckoned by the
Jesuit fathers at Shanghai to be, in 1907, "about one million"; in the
same year the Protestant societies reckoned in all 250,000 church
members. By the Chinese, Roman Catholicism is called the "Religion of
the Lord of Heaven"; Protestantism the "Religion of Jesus." For the
progress and effects of Christianity in China see § _History_, and
MISSIONS, § _China_. ED.]

_Education and the Press._

The educational system of China till nearly the close of the 19th
century was confined in its scope to the study of Chinese classics.
Elementary instruction was not provided by the state. The well-to-do
engaged private tutors for their sons; the poorer boys were taught in
small schools on a voluntary basis. No curriculum was compulsory, but
the books used and the programme pursued followed a traditional rule.
The boys (there were no schools for girls) began by memorizing the
classics for four or five years. Then followed letter-writing and easy
composition. This completed the education of the vast majority of the
boys not intended for the public service. The chief merit of the system
was that it developed the memory and the imitative faculty. For
secondary education somewhat better provision was made, practically the
only method of attaining eminence in the state being through the schools
(see § _Civil Service_). At prefectural cities and provincial capitals
colleges were maintained at the public expense, and at these
institutions a more or less thorough knowledge of the classics might be
obtained. At the public examinations held periodically the exercises
proposed were original poems and literary essays. Three degrees were
conferred, _Siu-ts'ai_ (budding talent), _Chû-jên_ (promoted scholar)
and _Chin-shih_ (entered scholar). The last degree was given to those
who passed the final examination at Peking, and the successful
candidates were also called metropolitan graduates.

The first education on western lines was given by the Roman Catholic
missionaries. In 1852 they founded a college for the education of
native priests; they also founded and maintained many primary and some
higher schools--mainly if not exclusively for the benefit of their
converts. The Protestant missions followed the example of the Roman
Catholics, but a new departure, which has had a wide success, was
initiated by the American Protestant missionary societies in founding
schools--primary and higher--and colleges in which western education
was given equally to all comers, Christian or non-Christian.
Universities and medical schools have also been established by the
missionary societies. They also initiated a movement for the education
of girls and opened special schools for their instruction.

Missionary effort apart, the first step towards western education was
the establishment of two colleges in 1861, one at Peking, the other at
Canton in connexion with the imperial maritime customs. These
institutions were known as T'ung Wen Kwan, and were provided with a
staff of foreign professors and teachers. These colleges were mainly
schools of languages to enable young Chinese to qualify as
interpreters in English, French, &c. Similar schools were established
at Canton, Fuchow and one or two other places, with but indifferent
results. A more promising plan was conceived in 1880, or thereabouts,
by the then viceroy of Nanking, who sent a batch of thirty or forty
students to America to receive a regular training on the understanding
that on their return they would receive official appointments. The
promise was not kept. A report was spread that these students were
becoming too much Americanized. They were hastily recalled, and when
they returned they were left in obscurity. The next step was taken by
the viceroy Chang Chih-tung after the Chino-Japanese War of 1894-95.
The viceroy wrote a book, _China's Only Hope_, which he circulated
throughout the empire, and in which he strongly advocated a reform of
the traditional educational system. His scheme was to make Chinese
learning the foundation on which a western education should be
imparted.[15] The book was one of the factors in the 1898 reform
movement, and Chang Chih-tung's proposals were condemned when that
movement was suppressed. But after the Boxer rising the Peking
government adopted his views, and in 1902 regulations were issued for
the reform of the old system of public instruction. A university on
western lines was established in that year at Peking, the T'ung Wen
Kwan at the capital being incorporated in it. The new educational
movement gained enormously in strength as the result of the
Russo-Japanese War, and in 1906 a new system, theoretically almost
perfect, was established. The new system comprises the study of the
Chinese language, literature and composition, modern sciences, history
and geography, foreign languages,[16] gymnastics, drill and, in the
higher grades, political economy, and civil and international law.

By 1910 primary and secondary government schools and schools for
special subjects (such as agriculture and engineering) had been
established in considerable numbers. In every province an Imperial
University was also established. The Imperial University at Peking now
teaches not only languages and Chinese subjects but also law,
chemistry, mathematics, &c. A medical school was founded at Peking in
1906 through the energy of British Protestant missionaries, and is
called the Union Medical College. When in 1908, the United States,
finding that the indemnity for the Boxer outrages awarded her was
excessive, agreed to forgo the payment of £2,500,000, China undertook
to spend an equal amount in sending students to America.

The general verdict of foreign observers on the working of the new
system up to 1910 was that in many instances the teaching was
ineffective, but there were notable exceptions. The best teachers,
next to Europeans, were foreign or mission-trained Chinese. The
Japanese employed as teachers were often ignorant of Chinese and were
not as a rule very successful. (See further § _History_.) A remarkable
indication of the thirst for western learning and culture was the
translation into Chinese and their diffusion throughout the country of
numerous foreign standard and other works, including modern fiction.

Native press.

The _Peking Gazette_, which is sometimes called the oldest paper in
the world, is not a newspaper in the ordinary sense, but merely a
court gazette for publishing imperial decrees and such public
documents as the government may wish to give out. It never contains
original articles nor any discussion of public affairs. The first
genuine native newspaper was published at Shanghai about 1870. It was
termed the _Shen Pao_ or _Shanghai News_, and was a Chinese
speculation under foreign protection, the first editor being an
Englishman. It was some years before it made much headway, but success
came, and it was followed by various imitators, some published at
Shanghai, some at other treaty ports and at Hong-Kong. In 1910 there
were over 200 daily, weekly or monthly journals in China. The effect
of this mass of literature on the public mind of China is of
first-rate importance.

The attitude of the central government towards the native press is
somewhat undefined. Official registration of a newspaper is required
before postal facilities are given. There are no press laws, but as
every official is a law unto himself in these matters, there is
nothing to prevent him from summarily suppressing an obnoxious
newspaper and putting the editor in prison. The emperor, among other
reform edicts which provoked the _coup d'état_ of 1898, declared that
newspapers were a boon to the public and appointed one of them a
government organ. The empress-dowager revoked this decree, and
declared that the public discussion of affairs of state in the
newspapers was an impertinence, and ought to be suppressed.
Nevertheless the newspapers continued to flourish, and their outspoken
criticism had a salutary effect on the public and on the government.
The official classes seem to have become alarmed at the independent
attitude of the newspapers, but instead of a campaign of suppression
the method was adopted, about 1908, of bringing the vernacular press
under official control. This was accomplished chiefly by the purchase
of the newspapers by the mandarins, with the result that at the
beginning of 1910 there was said to be hardly an independent native
daily newspaper left in China. The use of government funds to
subsidize or to purchase newspapers and thus to stifle or mislead
public opinion provoked strong protests from members of the Nanking
provincial council at its first sitting in the autumn of 1909. The
appropriation by the Shanghai Taot'ai of moneys belonging to the
Huangpu conservancy fund for subsidizing papers led to his impeachment
by a censor and to the return of the moneys.[17] (X.)

III. ECONOMICS

_Agriculture and Industry._

China is pre-eminently an agricultural country. The great majority of
its inhabitants are cultivators of the soil. The holdings are in general
very small, and the methods of farming primitive. Water is abundant and
irrigation common over large areas. Stock-raising, except in Sze-ch'uen
and Kwang-tung, is only practised to a small extent; there are few large
herds of cattle or flocks of sheep, nor are there any large meadows,
natural or cultivated. In Sze-ch'uen yaks, sheep and goats are reared in
the mountains, and buffaloes and a fine breed of ponies on the plateau.
Cattle are extensively reared in the mountainous districts of
Kwang-tung. The camel, horse and donkey are reared in Chih-li. Forestry
is likewise neglected. While the existing forests, found mainly in high
regions in the provinces of Hu-nan, Fu-kien and Kwei-chow, are
disappearing and timber has to be imported, few trees are planted. This
does not apply to fruit trees, which are grown in great variety, while
horticulture is also a favourite pursuit.

The Chinese farmer, if his methods be primitive, is diligent and
persevering. In the richer and most thickly populated districts terraces
are raised on the mountain sides, and even the tops of lofty hills are
cultivated. The nature of the soil and means of irrigation as well as
climate are determining factors in the nature of the crops grown; rice
and cotton, for example, are grown in the most northern as well as the
most southern districts of China. This is, however, exceptional and each
climatic region has its characteristic cultures.

Soils.

The loess soil (see § _Geology_) is the chief element in determining
the agricultural products of north China. Loess soil bears excellent
crops, and not merely on the lower grounds, but at altitudes of 6000
and 8000 ft. Wherever loess is found the peasant can live and thrive.
Only one thing is essential, and that is the annual rainfall. As,
owing to the porous nature of loess, no artificial irrigation is
possible, if the rain fails the crops must necessarily fail. Thus
seasons of great famine alternate with seasons of great plenty. It
appears, also, that the soil needs little or no manuring and very
little tillage. From its extremely friable nature it is easily broken
up, and thus a less amount of labour is required than in other parts.
The extreme porosity of the soil probably also accounts for the length
of time it will go on bearing crops without becoming exhausted. The
rainfall, penetrating deeply into the soil in the absence of
stratification, comes into contact with the moisture retained below,
which holds in solution whatever inorganic salts the soil may
contain, and thus the vegetation has an indefinite store to draw
upon.[18]

There is no one dominant deposit in south China, where red sandstone
and limestone formations are frequent. Cultivation here is not
possible on the high elevations as in the north, but in the plains and
river valleys the soil is exceedingly fertile, while the lower slopes
of the mountains are also cultivated. In the north, moreover, but one
crop, in general, can be raised in the year. In the centre two and
sometimes three crops are raised yearly, and in the south, especially
in the lower basin of the Si-kiang, three crops are normally gathered.
In the north, too, the farmer has frequently to contend with drought
or with rain or floods; in the central and southern regions the
weather is more settled.

Distribution of crops.

In the north of China wheat, barley, millet, buckwheat and maize are
the staple crops. Beans and peas are also cultivated. Rice thrives in
north-east Kan-suh, in some districts of Shan-si, in the extreme south
of Shan-tung and in parts of the Wei-ho plain in Shen-si. Cotton is
grown in Shen-si and Shan-tung. In Kan-suh and Shen-si two crops are
raised in favoured localities, cereals in spring and cotton or rice in
summer. Tobacco and the poppy are also grown in several of the
northern provinces. Rhubarb and fruit trees are largely cultivated in
the western part of north China.

In the central provinces tea, cotton, rice and ramie fibre are the
chief crops. Tea is most largely cultivated in Ngan-hui, Kiang-si,
Hu-peh, Hu-nan, Sze-ch'uen and Yun-nan. Cotton is chiefly grown in
Kiang-su, Ngan-hui and Hu-peh. The seed is sown in May and the crops
gathered in September. The cotton is known as white and yellow, the
white variety being the better and the most cultivated. The poppy is
largely cultivated and, in connexion with the silk industry, the
mulberry tree. The mulberry is found principally in the provinces of
Sze-ch'uen, Kiang-su and Cheh-kiang. The central provinces are also
noted for their gum-lac, varnish and tallow trees.

The crops of the south-eastern provinces are much the same as those of
the central provinces, but are predominantly rice, the sugar-cane,
ground-nuts and cinnamon. Tea is the chief crop in Fu-kien. The
sugar-cane is principally cultivated in Kwang-tung, Fu-kien and
Sze-ch'uen. In the south-western provinces the poppy, tea, tobacco and
rice are the chief crops. Wheat, maize and barley are also largely
raised.

While rice does not, unlike tea and cotton, form the principal crop of
any one province it is more universally cultivated than any other
plant and forms an important item in the products of all the central
and southern provinces. Regarding China as a whole it forms the staple
product and food of the country. Two chief varieties are grown, that
suited only to low-lying regions requiring ample water and the red
rice cultivated in the uplands. Next to rice the most extensively
cultivated plants are tea and cotton, the sugar-cane, poppy and
bamboo. Besides the infinite variety of uses to which the wood of the
bamboo is applied, its tender shoots and its fruit are articles of
diet.

Fruits.

Fruit is extensively cultivated throughout China. In the northern
provinces the chief fruits grown are pears, plums, apples, apricots,
peaches, medlars, walnuts and chestnuts, and in Kan-suh and Shan-tung
the jujube (q.v.). Strawberries are an important crop in Kan-suh. In
Shan-si, S.W. Chih-li and Shan-tung the vine is cultivated; the grapes
of Shan-si are reputed to produce the best wine of China. Oranges are
also grown in favoured localities in the north. The chief fruits of
the central and southern provinces are the orange, lichi, mango,
persimmon, banana, vine and pineapple, but the fruits of the northern
regions are also grown. The coco-nut and other palms flourish on the
southern coast.

The poppy.

As shown above, the poppy has been grown in almost every district of
China. In 1906 it was chiefly cultivated in the following provinces:
Yun-nan, Kwei-chow, Sze-ch'uen, Kan-suh, Shen-si, Shan-si, Shan-tung,
Ho-nan, Kiang-su (northern part) and Cheh-kiang. The poppy is first
mentioned in Chinese literature in a book written in the first half of
the 8th century A.D., and its medicinal qualities are referred to in
the _Herbalist's Treasury_ of 973. It was not then nor for centuries
later grown in China for the preparation of opium.[19] There is no
evidence to show that the Chinese ever took opium in the shape of
pills (otherwise than medicinally). The cultivation of the poppy for
the manufacture of opium began in China in the 17th century, but it
was not until after 1796, when the importation of foreign opium was
declared illegal, that the plant was cultivated on an extensive scale.
After 1906 large areas which had been devoted to the poppy were given
over to other crops, in consequence of the imperial edict aimed at the
suppression of opium-smoking (see § _History_).

_Mining._--The mineral resources of China are great, but the government
has shown a marked repugnance to allow foreigners to work mines, and
the mineral wealth has been very inadequately exploited. Mining
operations are controlled by the Board of Commerce. In 1907 this board
drew up regulations respecting the constitution of mining and other
companies. They contained many features against which foreign powers
protested.

Coal.

Coal, iron, copper and tin are the principal minerals found in China;
there are also extensive deposits of coal and other minerals in
Manchuria. In China proper the largest coal measures are found in
Shan-si, Hu-nan, Kwei-chow and Sze-ch'uen. There are also important
coalfields in Chih-li, Shan-tung, Shen-si, Ho-nan, Yun-nan, Hu-peh and
Kwang-tung--and almost all of the seven other provinces have also coal
measures of more or less value. The lack of transport facilities as
well as the aversion from the employment of foreign capital has
greatly hindered the development of mining. Numerous small mines have
been worked for a long period by the natives in the province of
Hu-nan. There are two principal local fields in this province, one
lying in the basin of the Lei river and yielding anthracite, and the
other in the basin of the Siang river yielding bituminous coal. Both
rivers drain into the Yangtsze, and there is thus an easy outlet by
water to Hankow. The quality of the coal, however, is inferior, as the
stratification has been much disturbed, and the coal-seams have been
in consequence crushed and broken. The largest coalfield in China lies
in the province of Shan-si. Coal and iron have here been worked by the
natives from time immemorial, but owing to the difficulty of transport
they have attained only a limited local circulation. The whole of
southern Shan-si, extending over 30,000 sq. m., is one vast coalfield,
and contains, according to the estimate of Baron von Richthofen,
enough coal to last the world at the present rate of consumption for
several thousand years. The coal-seams, which are from 20 to 36 ft. in
thickness, rest conformably on a substructure of limestone. The
stratification is throughout undisturbed and practically horizontal.
As the limestone bed is raised some 2000 ft. above the neighbouring
plain the coal-seams crop out in all directions. Mining is thus
carried on by adits driven into the face of the formation, rendering
the mining of the coal extremely easy. The coalfield is divided into
two by a mountain range of ancient granitic formation running
north-east and south-west, termed the Ho-shan. It is of anterior date
to the limestone and coal formations, and has not affected the
uniformity of the stratification, but it has this peculiarity, that
the coal on the east side is anthracite, and that on the west side is
bituminous. A concession to work coal and iron in certain specified
districts in this area was granted to a British company, the Peking
Syndicate, together with the right to connect the mines by railway
with water navigation. The syndicate built a railway in Shan-si from
P'ingyang to Tsi-chow-fu, the centre of a vast coalfield, and
connected with the main Peking-Hankow line; lines to serve coal mines
have also been built in Hu-nan and other provinces. The earliest in
date was that to the K'aip'ing collieries in the east of the province
of Chih-li, the railway connecting the mines with the seaport of Taku.
The coal at K'aip'ing is a soft bituminous coal with a large
proportion of dust. The output is about 1,500,000 tons per annum. A
mine has also been opened in the province of Hu-peh, about 60 m. below
Hankow, and near the Yangtsze, in connexion with iron-works.

Iron.

Iron ore of various qualities is found almost as widely diffused as
coal. The districts where it is most worked at present lie within the
coalfield of Shan-si, viz. at Tsi-chow-fu and P'ing-ting-chow. The ore
is a mixture of clay iron ore and spathic ore, together with limonite
and hematite. It is found abundantly in irregular deposits in the Coal
Measures, and is easily smelted by the natives in crucibles laid in
open furnaces. This region supplies nearly the whole of north China
with the iron required for agricultural and domestic use. The out-turn
must be very considerable, but no data are available for forming an
accurate estimate. The province of Sze-ch'uen also yields an abundance
of iron ores of various kinds. They are worked by the natives in
numerous places, but always on a small scale and for local consumption
only. The ores occur in the Coal Measures, predominant among them
being a clay iron ore. Hu-nan, Fu-kien, Cheh-kiang and Shan-tung all
furnish iron ores. Iron (found in conjunction with coal) is worked in
Manchuria.

Copper, tin, &c.

Copper is found chiefly in the provinces of Kwei-chow and Yun-nan,
where a rich belt of copper-bearing ores runs east and west across
both provinces, and including south Sze-ch'uen. The chief centres of
production are at the cities of Tung-ch'uen-fu, Chow-t'ung and
Ning-yuen. The mines are worked as a government monopoly, private
mining being nominally prohibited. The output is considerable, but no
statistics are published by government. Rich veins of copper ore are
also worked near Kiu-kiang. Tin is mined in Yun-nan, the headquarters
of the industry being the city of Meng-tsze, which since 1909 has been
connected with Hanoi by railway. This is an important industry, the
value of tin exported in 1908 being £600,000. Tin is also mined in
Hai-nan and lead in Yun-nan. Antimony ore is exported from Hu-nan;
petroleum is found in the upper Yangtsze region. Quicksilver is
obtained in Kwei-chow. Salt is obtained from brine wells in Shan-si
and Sze-ch'uen, and by evaporation from sea water. Excellent kaolin
abounds in the north-eastern part of Kiang-si, and is largely used in
the manufacture of porcelain.

Precious metals.

The Chinese government has opened small gold mines at Hai-nan, in
which island silver is also found. A little gold-washing is done in
the sandy beds of certain rivers, for instance, the Han river and the
upper Yangtsze, above Su-chow (Suifu), which here goes by the name of
the "Goldsand" river. The amount so extracted is extremely small and
hardly pays the labour of washing, but the existence of gold grains
points to a matrix higher up. The whole of south-western China has the
reputation of being highly metalliferous. Gold is obtained in some
quantities on the upper waters of the Amur river, on the frontier
between China and Siberia. The washings are carried on by Chinese.
Gold has also been found in quartz veins at P'ing-tu, in Shan-tung,
but hardly in paying quantities. There are silver mines in Yun-nan.

Silk and porcelain.

_Manufactures._--The principal native manufactures before the
competition of western nations made itself felt were--apart from the
preparation of tea and other produce for the market--those of
porcelain and silk. The silks and gauzes of Su-chow and Nanking in the
province of Kiang-su, and those of Hang-chow in Cheh-kiang, are highly
esteemed throughout China. Silk-weaving is still carried on solely in
native looms and chiefly in the cities named. The greater part of the
silk spun is used in China, but a considerable export trade has grown
up and 27% of the world's supply of raw silk is from China. The
reeling of silk cocoons by steam-machinery is supplanting native
methods. There are filatures for winding silk at Shanghai, Canton,
Chifu and other cities.

The most famous porcelain came from the province of Kiang-si, the seat
of the industry being the city of King-te-chen. Imperial works were
established here about the year A.D. 1000, and the finest porcelain is
sent to Peking for the use of the emperor. At one time 1,000,000
work-people were said to be employed, and the kilns numbered 600. The
Taiping rebels destroyed the kilns in 1850. Some of them have been
rebuilt. "Activity begins to reign anew, but the porcelain turned out
is far from equalling in colour and finish that of former times. At
the present day King-te-chen has but 160 furnaces and employs 160,000
workmen."[20] The common rice bowls sold throughout China are
manufactured here. The value of the export sales is said to be about
£500,000 yearly.

Cotton, &c.

The spinning and weaving of cotton on hand-looms is carried on almost
universally. Besides that locally manufactured, the whole of the large
import of Indian yarn is worked up into cloth by the women of the
household. Four-fifths of the clothing of the lower classes is
supplied by this domestic industry. Of minor industries Indian ink is
manufactured in Ngan-hui and Sze-ch'uen, fans, furniture, lacquer ware
and matting in Kwang-tung, dyes in Cheh-kiang and Chih-li, and
varnished tiles in Hu-nan. Paper, bricks and earthenware are made in
almost all the provinces.

Of industries on a large scale--other than those indicated--the most
important are cotton-spinning and weaving mills established by foreign
companies at Shanghai. Permission to carry on this industry was
refused to foreigners until the right was secured by the Japanese
treaty following the war of 1894-95. Some native-owned mills had been
working before that date, and were reported to have made large
profits. Nine mills, with an aggregate of 400,000 spindles, were
working in 1906, five of them under foreign management. There are also
four or five mills at one or other of the ports working 80,000
spindles more. These mills are all engaged in the manufacture of yarn
for the Chinese market, very little weaving being done. Chinese-grown
cotton is used, the staple of which is short; only the coarser counts
can be spun.

At certain large centres flour and rice mills have been erected and
are superseding native methods of treating wheat and rice; at Canton
there are sugar refineries. At Hanyang near Hankow are large
iron-works owned by Chinese. They are supplied with ore from the mines
at Ta-ye, 60 m. distant, and turn out (1909) about 300 steel rails a
day.

_Commerce_.

The foreign trade of China is conducted through the "treaty ports,"
i.e. sea and river ports and a few inland cities which by the treaty
of Nanking (1842) that of Tientsin (1860) and subsequent treaties have
been thrown open to foreigners for purposes of trade. (The Nanking
treaty recognized five ports only as open to foreigners--Canton,[21]
Amoy, Fu-chow, Ning-po and Shanghai.) These places are as follows,
treaty ports in Manchuria being included: Amoy, Antung, Canton,
Chang-sha, Dairen, Chin-kiang, Chinwantao, Ch'ungk'ing, Chifu,
Fu-chow, Funing (Santuao), Hang-chow, Hankow, I-ch'ang, Kang-moon,
Kiao-chow, Kiu-kiang, K'iung-chow, Kow-loon, Lappa, Lung-chow,
Mengtsze, Mukden, Nanking, Nanning, Ning-po, Niu-chwang, Pakhoi,
Sanshui, Shanghai, Shasi, Su-chow, Swatow, Szemao, Tatungkow,
Tientsin, Teng-yueh, Wen-chow, Wu-chow, Wuhu, Yo-chow.

The progress of the foreign trade of China is set out in the
following table. The values are given both in currency and sterling,
but it is to be remarked that during the period when silver was
falling, that is, from 1875 to 1893, the silver valuation represents
much more accurately variations in the volume of trade than does the
gold valuation. Gold prices fell continuously during this period,
while silver prices were nearly constant. Since 1893 silver prices
have tended to rise, and the gold valuation is then more accurate. The
conversion from silver to gold is made at the rate of exchange of the
day, and therefore varies from year to year.

_Table of Imports and Exports, exclusive of Bullion._

+--------+---------------------------+---------------------------+
| | Imports. | Exports. |
| +-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+
| Year. | Value in |Equivalent in| Value in |Equivalent in|
| | Taels. | Sterling. | Taels. | Sterling. |
+--------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+
| 1875 | 66,344,000 | £19,903,000 | 77,308,000 | £23,193,000 |
| 1885 | 84,803,000 | 22,618,000 | 73,899,000 | 19,206,000 |
| 1890 | 113,082,000 | 29,213,000 | 96,695,000 | 24,980,000 |
| 1895 | 154,685,000 | 25,136,000 | 154,964,000 | 25,181,000 |
| 1898 | 189,991,000 | 28,498,000 | 170,743,000 | 25,612,000 |
|[A]1904 | 344,060,000 | 49,315,000 | 239,486,000 | 34,326,000 |
|[A]1905 | 447,100,791 | 67,065,118 | 227,888,197 | 34,183,229 |
+--------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+

[A] This marked increase is partly owing to a more complete
presentation of statistics; in 1903 an additional number of vessels
were placed under the control of the imperial maritime customs.

In 1907 the net imports were valued at £67,664,222 and the exports at
£42,961,863. In 1908 China suffered from the general depression in
trade. In that year the imports were valued at £52,600,730, the
exports at £36,888,050. The distribution of the trade among the
various countries of the world is shown in the table which is given
below. Hong-Kong is a port for trans-shipment. The imports into China
from it come originally from Great Britain, India, Germany, France,
America, Australia, the Straits Settlements, &c., and the exports from
China to it go ultimately to the same countries.

_Imports into China._ (000's omitted.)

+-------------------------+-----+-----+-----+------+------+------+--------+
| Imports from |1875.|1880.|1885.| 1890.| 1895.| 1905.| 1908.|
+-------------------------+-----+-----+-----+------+------+------+--------+
|United Kingdom |£6340|£6382|£6396|£6,357|£5,518|£1,971| £9,647|
|Hong-Kong | 8282| 8829| 9404|18,615|14,331|22,240| 20,033|
|India | 4451| 6039| 4306| 2,661| 2,753| 5,220| 4,066|
|Other British possessions| 396| 346| 542| 571| 732| 963| |
|United States | 304| 351| 884| 949| 827|11,538| 5,499|
|Continent of Europe | | | | | | | |
| (except Russia) | 230| 671| 671| 638| 1,227| 4,295|[B]3,332|
|Russian Empire | .. | .. | .. | 231| 309| 302| 422|
|Japan | 746| 1021| 1404| 1,909| 2,794| 9,197| 7,000|
+-------------------------+-----+-----+-----+------+------+------+--------+

_Exports from China._ (000's omitted.)

[B] Germany, France, Belgium and Italy only.

The chief imports are cotton goods, opium, rice and sugar, metals,
oil, coal and coke, woollen goods and raw cotton, and fish. Cotton
goods are by far the most important of the imports. They come chiefly
from the United Kingdom, which also exports to China woollen
manufactures, metals and machinery. China is next to India the
greatest consumer of Manchester goods. The export of plain cotton
cloths to China and Hong-Kong has for some years averaged 500,000,000
yds. per annum. The only competitor which Great Britain has in this
particular branch of trade is the United States of America, which has
been supplying China with increasing quantities of cotton goods. The
value in sterling of the total imports into China from the United
Kingdom long remained nearly constant, but inasmuch as the gold prices
were falling the volume of the export was in reality steadily growing.
The imports into England, however, of Chinese produce have fallen off,
mainly because China tea has been driven out of the English market by
the growth of the India and Ceylon tea trade, and also because the
bulk of the China silk is now shipped directly to Lyons and other
continental ports instead of to London, as formerly was the rule. The
growth of the import of Indian yarn into China has been very rapid. In
1884 the import was 35,000,000 lb and in 1904 it reached 217,171,066
lb. The imports into China from all countries for 1908 were as
follows:--

Opium £4,563,000 Coal and coke 1,124,000
Cotton goods 14,786,000 Oil, kerosene 2,666,000
Raw cotton 232,000 Rice 3,543,000
Woollen goods 717,000 Sugar 3,514,000
Metals 2,956,000 Fish, &c. 1,028,000

The principal exports from China are silk and tea. These two articles,
indeed, up to 1880 constituted more than 80% of the whole export.
Owing, however, mainly to the fall in silver, and partly also to cheap
ocean freights, it has become profitable to place on the European
market a vast number of miscellaneous articles of Chinese produce
which formerly found no place in the returns of trade. The silver
prices in China did not change materially with the fall in silver, and
Chinese produce was thus able to compete favourably with the produce
of other countries. The following table shows the relative condition
of the export trade in 1880 and 1908:--

+---------------+-------------+-------------+
| Exports of | 1880. | 1908. |
+---------------+-------------+-------------+
| Silk | £9,750,000 | £11,055,000 |
| Tea | 11,774,000 | 4,384,000 |
| Miscellaneous | 4,058,000 | 21,448,000 |
+---------------+-------------+-------------+
| Total | £25,582,000 | £36,888,000 |
+---------------+-------------+-------------+

In the miscellaneous class the chief items of exports in 1908 were
beans and beancake, £3,142,000; raw cotton, £1,379,000; hides,
£1,028,000; straw braid, £1,002,000; furs and skin rugs, £760,000;
paper, £458,000; and clothing, £177,000. Sugar, tobacco, mats and
matting are also exported. The export of all cereals except pulse is
forbidden. Of the tea exported in 1908 the greater part went to Russia
and Siberia, the United States and Great Britain. There is a regular
export of gold amounting on an average to about a million sterling per
annum. A part of it would seem to be the hoardings of the nation
brought out by the high price of gold in terms of silver, but a part
is virgin gold derived from gold workings in Manchuria on the upper
waters of the Amur river.

Customs duty is levied on exports as well as imports, both being
assessed at rates based on a nominal 5% ad val.

_Shipping and Navigation._--Besides the over-sea trade China has a
large coasting and river trade which is largely carried on by British
and other foreign vessels. During the year 1908, 207,605 vessels, of
83,991,289 tons (86,600 being steamers of 77,955,525 tons), entered
and cleared Chinese ports.[22] Of these 28,445 vessels of 34,405,761
tons were British; 33,539 of 11,998,588 tons, Chinese vessels of
foreign type; 103,124 of 4,947,272 tons, Chinese junks; 5496 vessels
of 6,585,671 tons, German; 30,708 of 18,055,138 tons, Japanese; 653 of
998,775 tons, American; 3901 of 5,071,689 tons, French; 1033 of
980,635 tons, Norwegian.

Of vessels engaged in the foreign trade only the entrances during the
year numbered 38,556 of 12,187,140 tons, and the clearances 36,602 of
12,057,126 tons. The nationality of the vessels (direct foreign trade)
was mainly as follows:--

+-------------+--------------------+--------------------+
| | Entrances. | Clearances. |
| Nationality +--------+-----------+--------+-----------+
| 1908. | No. | Tons. | No. | Tons. |
+-------------+--------+-----------+--------+-----------+
| British | 4,569 | 4,678,094 | 4,614 | 4,754,087 |
| German | 891 | 1,195,775 | 928 | 1,124,872 |
| Norwegian | 255 | 254,211 | 259 | 255,295 |
| French | 468 | 629,680 | 468 | 616,883 |
| American | 136 | 440,602 | 131 | 439,947 |
| Japanese | 2,187 | 2,587,818 | 2,046 | 2,461,132 |
| Chinese | 29,775 | 2,001,872 | 27,888 | 1,915,258 |
+-------------+--------+-----------+--------+-----------+

The tonnage of the Dutch, Austrian and Russian vessels cleared and
entered was in each case between 102,000 and 127,000.

_Communications._

External communication is carried on by ancient caravan routes
crossing Central Asia, by the trans-Siberian railway, which is
increasingly used for passenger traffic, but chiefly by steamship,
the steamers being almost entirely owned by foreign companies. There
is regular and rapid communication with Europe (via the Suez canal
route) and with Japan and the Pacific coast of America. Other lines
serve the African and the Australasian trade. The only important
Chinese-owned steamers are those of the Chinese Merchants' Steam
Navigation Company, which has its headquarters at Shanghai.

Internal communications are by river, canal, road and railway, the
railways since the beginning of the 20th century having become a very
important factor. In 1898 the Chinese government agreed that all
internal waterways should be open to foreign and native steamers, and
in 1907 there were on the registers of the river ports for inland
water traffic 609 steamers under the Chinese flag and 255 under
foreign flags.

The Pioneer Line destroyed.

China's first efforts.

The era of concessions.

Administration.

_Railways._--A short line of railway between Shanghai and Wusung was
opened in 1875. The fate of this pioneer railway may be mentioned as
an introduction to what follows. The railway was really built without
any regular permission from the Chinese government, but it was hoped
that, once finished and working, the irregularity would be overlooked
in view of the manifest benefit to the people. This might have been
accomplished but for an unfortunate accident which happened on the
line a few months after it was opened. A Chinaman was run over and
killed, and this event, of course, intensified the official
opposition, and indeed threatened to bring about a riot. The working
of the line was stopped by order of the British minister, and
thereupon negotiations were entered into with a view to selling the
line to the Chinese government. A bargain was struck sufficiently
favourable to the foreign promoters of the line, and it was further
agreed that, pending payment of the instalments which were spread over
a year, the line should continue to be worked by the company. The
expectation was that when the officials once got the line into their
own hands, and found it a paying concern, they would continue to run
it in their own interest. Not so, however, did things fall out. The
very day that the twelve months were up the line was closed; the
engines were dismantled, the rails and sleepers were torn up, and the
whole concern was shipped off to the distant island of Formosa, where
carriages, axles and all the rest of the gear were dumped on the shore
and left for the most part to disappear in the mud. The spacious area
of the Shanghai station was cleared of its buildings, and thereon was
erected a temple to the queen of heaven by way of purifying the sacred
soil of China from such abomination. This put a stop for nearly twenty
years to all efforts on the part of foreigners to introduce railways
into China. The next step in railway construction was taken by the
Chinese themselves, and on the initiative of Li Hung-chang. In 1886 a
company was formed under official patronage, and it built a short
line, to connect the coal-mines of K'aip'ing in Chih-li with the mouth
of the Peiho river at Taku. The government next authorized the
formation of a Native Merchants' Company, under official control, to
build a line from Taku to Tientsin, which was opened to traffic in
1888. It was not, however, till nine years later, viz. in 1897, that
the line was completed as far as Peking. A British engineer, Mr
Kinder, was responsible for the construction of the railway. Meantime,
however, the extension had been continued north-east along the coast
as far as Shanhai-Kwan, and a farther extension subsequently connected
with the treaty port of Niu-chwang. The money for these extensions was
mostly found by the government, and the whole line is now known as the
Imperial Northern railway. The length of the line is 600 m. Meanwhile
the high officials of the empire had gradually been brought round to
the idea that railway development was in itself a good thing. Chang
Chih-tung, then viceroy of the Canton provinces, memorialized strongly
in this sense, with the condition, however, that the railways should
be built with Chinese capital and of Chinese materials. In particular,
he urged the making of a line to connect Peking with Hankow for
strategic purposes. The government took him at his word, and he was
transferred from Canton to Hankow, with authority to proceed forthwith
with his railway. True to his purpose, he at once set to work to
construct iron-works at Hankow. Smelting furnaces, rolling mills, and
all the machinery necessary for turning out steel rails, locomotives,
&c., were erected. Several years were wasted over this preliminary
work, and over £1,000,000 sterling was spent, only to find that the
works after all were a practical failure. Steel rails could be made,
but at a cost two or three times what they could be procured for in
Europe. After the Japanese War the hope of building railways with
Chinese capital was abandoned. A prominent official named Sheng
Hsuan-hwai was appointed director-general of railways, and empowered
to enter into negotiations with foreign financiers for the purpose of
raising loans. It was still hoped that at least the main control would
remain in Chinese hands, but the diplomatic pressure of France and
Russia caused even that to be given up, and Great Britain insisting on
equal privileges for her subjects, the future of railways in China
remained in the hands of the various concessionaires. But after the
defeat of Russia by Japan (1904-1905) the theory of the undivided
Chinese control of railways was resuscitated. The new spirit was
exemplified in the contracts for the financing and construction of
three railways--the Canton-Kowloon line in 1907, and the
Tientsin-Yangtsze and the Shanghai-Hangchow-Ning-po lines in 1908. In
the first of these instances the railway was mortgaged as security for
the loan raised for its construction, and its finance and working were
to be modelled on the arrangements obtaining in the case of the
Imperial Northern railway, under which the administration, while
vested in the Chinese government, was supervised by a British
accountant and chief engineer. In the other two instances, however, no
such security was offered; the Chinese government undertook the
unfettered administration of the foreign capital invested in the
lines, and the Europeans connected with these works became simply
Chinese employés. Moreover, in 1908 the Peking-Hankow line was
redeemed from Belgian concessionaires, a 5% loan of £5,000,000 being
raised for the purpose in London and Paris. In that year there was
much popular outcry against foreign concessionaires being allowed to
carry out the terms of their contract, and the British and Chinese
corporation in consequence parted with their concession for the
Su-chow, Ning-po and Hang-chow railway, making instead a loan of
£1,500,000 to the ministry of communications for the provinces through
which the line would run. A double difficulty was encountered in the
construction and management of the railways; the reconciliation of the
privileges accorded to foreign syndicates and governments with the
"Recovery of Rights" campaign, and the reconciliation of the claims of
the central government at Peking with the demands of the provincial
authorities. As to the foreigners, Great Britain, France, Germany, the
United States, Russia and Japan, all had claims and concessions, many
of them conflicting; while as between Peking and the provinces there
was a quarrel mainly concerned with the spoils and "squeezes" to be
obtained by railway construction; in some instances the provinces
proved more powerful than the central government, as in the case of
the Su-chow-Ning-po line, and notably in the matter of the
Tientsin-Pukau (Nanking) railway. In that case the provincial
authorities overrode the central government, with the result that "for
wholesale jobbery, waste and mismanagement the enterprise acquired
unenviable notoriety in a land where these things are generally
condoned." The good record of one or two lines notwithstanding, the
management of the railways under Chinese control had proved, up to
1910, inefficient and corrupt.[23] Nevertheless, so great was the
economic development following the opening of the line, that in
Chinese hands the Peking-Hankow railway yielded a profit.

The Railway systems.

The main scheme of the railway systems of China is simple. It consists
of lines, more or less parallel, running roughly north and south,
linked by cross lines with coast ports, or abutting on navigable
rivers. One great east and west line will run through central China,
from Hankow to Sze-ch'uen. Connexion with Europe is afforded by the
Manchuria-trans-Siberia main line, which has a general east and west
direction. From Harbin on this railway a branch runs south to Mukden,
which since 1908 has become an important railway centre. Thence one
line goes due south to Port Arthur; another south-east to An-tung (on
the Yalu) and Korea; a third south and west to Tientsin and Peking. A
branch from the Mukden-Tientsin line goes round the head of the Gulf
of Liao-tung and connects Niu-chwang with the Mukden-Port Arthur line.
By this route it is 470 m. from Peking to Niu-chwang.

From Peking the trunk line (completed in 1905) runs south through the
heart of China to Hankow on the Yangtsze-kiang. This section (754 m.
long) is popularly known as "the Lu-Han line," from the first part of
the names of the terminal stations. The continuation south of this
line from Hankow to Canton was in 1910 under construction. Thus a
great north and south connexion nearly 2000 m. long is established
from Canton to Harbin. From Mukden southward the line is owned and
worked by China.

A railway (German concession) starts from Kiao-chow and runs westward
through Shan-tung to Chinan Fu, whence an extension farther west to
join the main Lu-Han line at Cheng-ting Fu in Chih-li was undertaken.
Westward from Cheng-ting Fu a line financed by the Russo-Chinese Bank
runs to T'ai-yuen Fu in Shan-si.

Another main north and south railway parallel to, but east of, the
Lu-Han line and following more or less the route of the Grand Canal,
is designed to connect Tientsin, Su-chow (in Kiang-su), Chin-kiang,
Nanking, Shanghai, Hang-chow and Ning-po. The southern section
(Nanking, Shanghai, &c.) was open in 1909. This Tientsin-Ning-po
railway connects at Chinan-Fu with the Shan-tung lines.

A third north and south line starts from Kiu-Kiang on the Yangtsze
below Hankow and traversing the centre of Kiang-si province will join
the Canton-Hankow line at Shao-Chow in Kwang-tung province. The
construction of the first section, Kiu-Kiang to Nanchang (76 m.),
began in 1910.

In southern China besides the main Canton to Hankow railway (under
construction) a line (120 m. long) runs from Canton to Kowloon
(opposite Hong-Kong), and there are local lines running inland from
Swatow and Fuchow. The French completed in 1909 a trunk line (500 m.
long) from Haiphong in Tong King to Yun-nan Fu, the capital of
Yun-nan, some 200 m. being in Chinese territory. The French hold
concessions for railways in Kwang-si and Kwang-tung. The British
government has the right to extend the Burma railway system through
Yun-nan and north to the Yangtsze.

There are local lines in Hu-nan and Ho-nan which connect with the
trunk line from Canton to Peking. The Peking-Kalgan line (122 m. long)
is a distinct undertaking. The Chinese propose to continue it another
530 m. north-westward to Urga in Mongolia, and an eventual junction
with the trans-Siberian railway in the neighbourhood of Lake Baikal is
contemplated. This line would greatly shorten the distance between
Moscow and Peking.

In 1910 there were open for traffic in China (not reckoning the
Russian and Japanese systems in Manchuria, _q.v._) over 3000 m. of
railway, and 1500 m. of trunk lines were under construction.

Roads, rivers, and canals.

China is traversed in all directions by roads. Very few are paved of
metalled and nearly all are badly kept; speaking generally, the
government spends nothing in keeping either the roads or canals in
repair. The roads in several instances are subsidiary to the canals
and navigable rivers as a means of communication. The ancient trade
routes were twelve in number, viz.[24]:--

1. The West river route (W. from Canton).
2. The Cheling Pass route (N.W. from Canton).
3. The Meiling Pass route (N. from Canton).
4. The Min river route (N.W. from Fu-chow).
5. The Lower Yangtsze route (as far W. as Hu-peh and Hu-nan).
6. The Upper Yangtsze route (from I'chang to Sze-ch'uen).
7. The Kwei-chow route.
8. The Han river route (Hankow to Shen-si).
9. The Grand Canal (already described).
10. The Shan-si route.
11. The Kiakhta route.
12. The Manchurian route.

Of the routes named, that by the West river commands the trade of
Kwang-si and penetrates to Yun-nan (where it now has to meet the
competition of the French railway from Tong King) and Kwei-chow. The
Cheling Pass route from Canton is so named as it crosses that pass
(1500 ft. high) to reach the water-ways of Hu-nan at Chen-chow on an
affluent of the Siang, and thus connects with the Yangtsze. The trade
of this route--whence in former times the teas of Hu-nan (Oonam) and
Hu-peh (Oopaek) reached Canton--has been largely diverted via Shanghai
and up the Yangtsze. The Canton-Hankow railway also supersedes it for
through traffic. The route by the Meiling Pass (1000 ft. High) links
Canton and Kiu-kiang. This route is used by the King-te Chen porcelain
works to send, to Canton the commoner ware, there to be painted with
florid and multicoloured designs. The Min river route serves mainly
the province of Fu-kien. The Lower Yangtsze is a river route, now
mainly served by steamers (though the salt is still carried by junks),
and the Upper Yangtsze is a river route also, but much more difficult
of navigation. The Kwei-chow route is up the river Yuen from Changte
and the Tung-t'ing lake. The Han river route becomes beyong Sing-nagn
Fu a land route over the Tsingling mountains to the capital of
Shen-si, and thence on to Kan-suh, Mongolia and Siberia. The Shan-si
route from Peking, wholly by road, calls for no detailed account; the
Manchurian route is now adequately served by railways. There remains
the important Kiakhta route. From Peking it goes to Kalgan (this
section is now served by a railway), whence the main route traverses
Mongolia, while branches serve Shan-si, Shen-si, Kan-suh, Turkestan,
&c. By this route go the caravans bearing tea to Siberia and Russia.
Other routes are from Yun-nan to Burma and from Sze-ch'uen province to
Tibet.

The government maintains a number of courier roads, which, like the
main trade roads, keep approximately to a straight line. These courier
roads are sometimes cut in the steep sides of mountains or run through
them in tunnels. They are, in the plains, 20 to 25 ft. wide and are
occasionally paved. The chief courier roads starting from Peking go to
Sze-chu'en, Yun-nan, Kweilin (in Kwang-si), Canton and Fu-chow. Canals
are numerous, especially in the deltas of the Yangtsze and Si-kiang.

In the centre and south of China the roads are rarely more than 5 ft.
broad and wheeled traffic is seldom possible. Bridges are generally of
stone, sometimes of wood; large rivers are crossed by bridges of
boats. In the north carts drawn by ponies, mules or oxen are employed;
in the centre and south passengers travel in sedan-chairs or in
wheelbarrows, or ride on ponies. Occasionally the local authorities
employ the corvée system to dig out the bed of a canal, but as a rule
roads are left to take care of themselves.

_Posts and Telegraphs._--Every important city is now connected by
telegraph with the capital, and the service is reasonably efficient.
In 1907 there were 25,913 m. of telegraph lines. Connexion is also
established with the British lines in Burma and the Russian lines in
Siberia. The Great Northern Telegraph Company (Danish) and the Eastern
Extension Telegraph Company (British) connect Shanghai by cable with
Hong-Kong, Japan, Singapore and Europe. An imperial _postal service_
was established in 1896 under the general control of the maritime
customs.[25] By an edict of November 1906 the control of the postal
services was transferred to the Board of Communication. The Post
Office serves all the open ports, and every important city in the
interior. There were in 1910 some 4000 native post-offices, employing
15,000 persons, of whom about 200 only were foreigners. The treaty
powers however, still maintain their separate post offices at
Shanghai, and several other treaty ports for the despatch and receipt
of mails from Europe. During the years 1901-1908 mail matters
increased from ten millions to two hundred and fifty-two millions of
items; and the 250 tons of parcels handled to 27,155 tons. In postal
matters China has adopted a most progressive attitude. The imperial
post conforms in all respects to the universal Postal Union
regulations. (G. J.; X.)

IV. GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION

Changes in the traditional form of government in China--an autocracy
based on parental rule--were initiated in 1905 when a commission was
appointed to study the forms of government in other countries.[26] On
the 1st of September 1906 an imperial edict was issued in which the
establishment of parliamentary institutions in China was foreshadowed.
In 1907 an advisory council--as a sort of stepping-stone to
representative government--was established by another edict. On the
27th of August 1908 an edict announced the convocation of a parliament
in the ninth year from that date. An edict of the 3rd of December 1908
reaffirmed that of the 27th of August. An edict of the 31st of October
1909 fixed the classes from which an Imperial Assembly (or Senate) was
to be selected, and an edict of the 9th of May 1910 gave the names of
the senators, all of whom had been nominated by the throne. The assembly
as thus constituted consisted of 200 members drawn from eight classes:
(1) princes and nobles of the imperial house--16 members; (2) Manchu and
Chinese nobles--12 members; (3) princes and nobles of dependencies--14
members; (4) imperial clansmen other than those mentioned--6 members;
(5) Peking officials--32 members; (6) eminent scholars--10 members; (7)
exceptional property owners--10 members; (8) representatives of
provincial assemblies--100 members. The national assembly, which was
opened by the regent on the 3rd of October 1910, thus contained the
elements of a two-chambered parliament. The edict summoning the assembly
contained the following exhortations:--

The members should understand that this assemblage of the senate is an
unprecedented undertaking in China and will be the forerunner of the
creation of a parliament. They are earnestly desired to devote to it
their patriotism and sincerity, to observe proper order, and to fulfil
their duties in representing public opinion. Thus it is hoped that our
sincere wish to effect constitutional reforms in their proper order
and to aim at success may be duly satisfied.

Concurrently with these steps towards a fundamental alteration in the
method of government, changes were made in many departments of the
state, and an elective element was introduced into the provincial
administrations. The old conception of government with such
modifications as had been made up to 1910 are set forth below.

The Chinese conception of government.

The laws of the state prescribe the government of the country to be
based on the government of the family.[27] The emperor is the sole and
supreme head of the state, his will being absolute alike in the
highest affairs and in the humblest details of private life. The
highest form of legislation was an imperial decree, whether
promulgated in general terms or to meet a special case. In either form
it was the law of the land, and no privilege or prescriptive right
could be pleaded against it. All officers of state, all judges and
magistrates, hold their offices entirely at the imperial pleasure.
They can be dismissed, degraded, punished, without reason assigned and
without form of trial--even without knowing by whom or of what they
are accused. The monarch has an advisory council, but he is not bound
by its advice, nor need he pretend that he is acting by and with its
advice and concurrence. This condition of affairs dates back to a
primitive state of society, which probably existed among the Chinese
who first developed a civilized form of government. That this system
should have been maintained in China through many centuries is a fact
into the causes of which it is worth while to inquire. We find it
pictured in the records which make up the _Book of History_, and we
find it enforced in the writings of the great apostle of patriarchal
institutions, Confucius, and in all the other works which go to make
up the Confucian Canon. The reverence with which these scriptures are
viewed was the principal means of perpetuating the primitive form of
Chinese imperialism. The contents of their pages formed the study of
every schoolboy, and supplied the themes at the competitive
examinations through which every one had to pass who sought an
official career. Thus the mind of the nation was constantly and almost
exclusively turned towards them, and their dogmas became part and
parcel of the national training. The whole theory of government is the
embodiment of parental love and filial piety. As the people are the
children of the emperor, so is he the _T'ien-tsze_ or the Son of
Heaven.

The emperor.

In practice the arbitrary power of the emperor is tempered in several
ways. Firstly, although the constitution conferred this absolute and
unchecked power on the emperor, it was not for his gratification but
that he might exercise it for the good of his people. He rules by
divine authority, and as the vicegerent of heaven upon earth. If he
rules corruptly or unjustly, heaven will send disasters and calamity
on the people as a reproof; if the rule becomes tyrannical, heaven may
withdraw its favour entirely, and then rebellion may be justified. The
Manchu dynasty came to the throne as foreign conquerors, nevertheless
they base their right to rule, not on the power of the sword, but on
divine approval. On this moral ground they claim the obedience of
their subjects, and submit themselves to the corresponding
obligations. The emperor, unless he has gained the throne by conquest,
is selected by his predecessor or by the imperial family in conclave.
He is usually a son (but seldom the eldest son) of his predecessor,
and need not be the child of the empress-consort,[28] though (other
things being equal) a son of the empress is preferred. Failing a son
another prince of the imperial house is chosen, the choice being
properly among the princes of a generation below that of the preceding
emperor, so that the new emperor may be adopted as the son of his
predecessor, and perform for him the due ceremonies at the ancestral
tablets. Apart from this ancestor-worship the emperor worships only at
the Altar of Heaven, leaving Buddhism, Taoism, and any other form of
worship to his subjects. The emperor's sacrifices and prayers to
heaven are conducted with great parade and ceremony. The chief of
these state observances is the sacrifice at the winter solstice, which
is performed before sunrise on the morning of the 21st of December at
the Temple of Heaven. The form of the altar is peculiar.

"It consists of a triple circular terrace, 210 ft. wide at the base,
150 in the middle, and 90 at the top.... The emperor, with his
immediate suite, kneels in front of the tablet of Shang-ti (The
Supreme Being, or Heaven), and faces the north. The platform is laid
with marble stones, forming nine concentric circles; the inner circle
consists of nine stones, cut so as to fit with close edges round the
central stone, which is a perfect circle. Here the emperor kneels, and
is surrounded first by the circles of the terraces and their enclosing
walls, and then by the circle of the horizon. He then seems to himself
and to his court to be in the centre of the universe, and turning to
the north, assuming the attitude of a subject, he acknowledges in
prayer and by his position that he is inferior to heaven, and to
heaven alone. Round him on the pavement are the nine circles of as
many heavens, consisting of nine stones, then eighteen, then
twenty-seven, and so on in successive multiples of nine till the
square of nine, the favourite number of Chinese philosophy, is reached
in the outermost circle of eighty-one stones."

On this occasion, also, a bullock of two years old, and without
blemish, is offered as a whole burnt-offering in a green porcelain
furnace which stands close beside the altar. The emperor's life is
largely occupied with ceremonial observances, and custom ordains that
except on state occasions he should not leave the walls of the palace.

For his knowledge of public affairs the emperor is thus largely
dependent upon such information as courtiers and high officers of
state permit to reach him.[29] The palace eunuchs have often exercised
great power, though their influence has been less under the Manchus
than was the case during previous dynasties. Though in theory the
throne commands the services and money of all its subjects yet the
crown as such has no revenues peculiarly its own. It is dependent on
contributions levied through the high officials on the several
provinces, subject always to the will of the people, and without their
concurrence and co-operation nothing can be done.[30] The power of the
purse and the power of the sword are thus exercised mediately, and the
autocratic power is in practice transferred to the general body of
high functionaries, or to that clique which for the time being has
the ear of the emperor, and is united enough and powerful enough to
impose its will on the others.

China governed by its civil service.

The functionaries who thus really wield the supreme power are almost
without exception civil officials. Naturally the court has shown an
inclination to choose Manchu rather than Chinese, but of late years
this preference has become less marked, and in the imperial
appointments to provincial administrations the proportion of Manchus
chosen was at the beginning of the 20th century not more than
one-fifth of the whole number. The real reason for this change is the
marked superiority of the Chinese, in whose hands the administration
is stated to be safer for the Manchu dynasty. Practically all the high
Chinese officials have risen through the junior ranks of the civil
service, and obtained their high position as the reward--so it must be
presumed--of long and distinguished public service.

Functions of the central government.

Through the weakness of some of the emperors the functions of the
central government gradually came to be to check the action of the
provincial governments rather than assume a direct initiative in the
conduct of affairs. "The central government may be said to criticize
rather than to control the action of the provincial administrations,
wielding, however, at all times the power of immediate removal from
his post of any official whose conduct may be found irregular or
considered dangerous to the stability of the state."[31] This was
written in 1877, and since then the pressure of foreign nations has
compelled the central government to assume greater responsibilities,
and the empire is now ruled from Peking in a much more effective
manner than was the case when Lord Napier in 1834 could find no
representative of the central government with whom to transact
business.

If the central authorities take the initiative, and issue orders to
the provincial authorities, it, however, does not follow that they
will be carried out. The orders, if unwelcome, are not directly
disobeyed, but rather ignored, or specious pleas are put forward,
showing the difficulty or impossibility of carrying them out at that
particular juncture. The central government always wields the power of
removing or degrading a recalcitrant governor, and no case has been
known where such an order was not promptly obeyed. But the central
government, being composed of officials, stand by their order, and are
extremely reluctant to issue such a command, especially at the bidding
of a foreign power. Generally the opinion of the governors and
viceroys has great weight with the central government.

Departments of the central administration.

Under the Ming dynasty the _Nuiko_ or Grand Secretariat formed the
supreme council of the empire. It is now of more honorific than actual
importance. Active membership is limited to six persons, namely, four
grand secretaries and two assistant grand secretaries, half of whom,
according to a general rule formerly applicable to nearly all the high
offices in Peking, must be Manchu and half Chinese. It constitutes the
imperial chancery or court of archives, and admission to its ranks
confers the highest distinction attainable by Chinese officials,
though with functions that are almost purely nominal. Members of the
grand secretariat are distinguished by the honorary title of
_Chung-t'ang._ The most distinguished viceroys are usually advanced to
the dignity of grand secretary while continuing to occupy their posts
in the provinces. The best known of recent grand secretaries was Li
Hung-chang.

Under the Manchu dynasty the Grand Council (_Chün Chi Ch'u_) became
the actual privy council of the sovereign, in whose presence its
members daily transacted the business of the state. This council is
composed of a small knot of men holding various high offices in the
government boards at Peking. The literal meaning of Chün Chi Ch'u is
"place of plans for the army," and the institution derives its name
from the practice established by the early emperors of the Manchu
dynasty of treating public affairs on the footing of a military
council. The usual time of transacting business is from 4 to 6 a.m. In
addition to the grand council and the grand secretariat there were
boards to supervise particular departments. By a decree of the 6th of
November 1906 the central administration was remodelled, subsequent
decrees making other changes. The administration in 1910 was carried
on by the following agencies:--

A. _Councils._--(1)The grand council. Its title was modified in 1906
and it is now known as the Grand Council of State Affairs or Privy
Council. It has no special function, but deals with all matters of
general administration and is presided over by the emperor (or
regent). (2) The Grand Secretariat. This body gained no increase of
power in 1906. (3) The advisory council or senate (_Tu Chêng Yuen_)
created in 1907 and containing representatives of each province. It
includes all members of the grand council and the grand secretariat
and the heads of all the executive departments.[32] The members of
these three bodies form advisory cabinets to the emperor.

B. _Boards._--Besides boards concerned with the affairs of the court
there were, before the pressure of foreign nations and the movement
for reform caused changes to be made, six boards charged with the
conduct of public affairs. They were: (1) _Li Pu_, the Board of Civil
Appointments, controlling all appointments in the civil service from
the rank of district magistrate upwards. (2) _Hu Pu_, the Board of
Revenue, dealing with all revenues which reached the central
government. (3) _Li Pu_, the Board of Ceremonies. (4) _Ping Pu_, the
Board of War. It controlled the provincial forces. The Manchu forces
were an independent organization attached to the palace. (5) _Hsing
Pu_, the Board of Punishments. It dealt with the criminal law only,
especially the punishment of officials guilty of malpractices. (6)
_Kung Pu_, the Board of Works. Its work was limited to the control of
the construction and repair of official residences.

As rearranged and enlarged there are now the following boards, given
in order of precedence:--

1. _Wai-wu Pu_.--This was established in 1901 in succession to the
_Tsung-li Yamên_,[33] which was created in 1861 after the
Anglo-Chinese War in 1860 as a board for foreign affairs. Previous to
that war, which established the right of foreign powers to have their
representatives in Peking, all business with Western nations was
transacted by provincial authorities, chiefly the viceroy at Canton.
The only department at Peking which dealt specially with foreign
affairs was the _Li Fan Yuen_, or board of control for the
dependencies, which regulated the affairs of Mongolia, Tibet and the
tributary states generally. With the advent of formally accredited
ambassadors from the European powers something more than this was
required, and a special board was appointed to discuss all questions
with the foreign envoys. The number was originally four, with Prince
Kung, a brother of the emperor Hien Fêng, at their head. It was
subsequently raised to ten, another prince of the blood, Prince Ching,
becoming president. The members were spoken of collectively as the
prince and ministers. For a long time the board had no real power, and
was looked on rather as a buffer between the foreign envoys and the
real government. The importance of foreign affairs, however,
especially since the Japanese War, identified the _Yamên_ more with
the grand council, several of the most prominent men being members of
both. At the same time that the _Tsung-li Yamên_ was created, two
important offices were established in the provinces for dealing with
foreign commercial questions, viz. the superintendencies of trade for
the northern and southern ports. The negotiations connected with the
Boxer outbreak proved so conclusively that the machinery to the
_Tsung-li Yamên_ was of too antiquated a nature to serve the new
requirements, that it was determined to abolish the _Yamên_ and to
substitute for it a board (_Pu_) to be styled the _Wai-wu Pu_, or
"board of foreign affairs."

2. Board of Civil Appointments.

3. Board of Home Affairs.

4. Board of Finance and Paymaster General's Department.

5. Board of Ceremonies.

6. Army Board or Ministry of War (instituted 1906).[34]

7. Board of Judicature.

8. Board of Agriculture, Works and Commerce (instituted 1903).

9. Board of dependencies.

10. Board of Education (instituted 1903).

11. Board of Communications (instituted 1906).

Each board has one president and two vice-presidents, with the
exception of the Wai-wu Pu, which has a comptroller-general and two
presidents, and the Boards of War and Education, each of which has a
comptroller-general in addition to the president. According to the
decree of 1906 no distinction, in filling up the various boards, is to
be made between Manchu and Chinese.

Besides the boards named there are other departments of state, some of
them not limited to any one branch of the public service. The more
important are those that follow:--

The Censorate (_Tu Ch'a Yuen_).--An institution peculiar to China. The
constitution provides a paid body of men whose duty it is to inform
the emperor of all facts affecting the welfare of the people and the
conduct of government, and in particular to keep an eye on the
malfeasance of his officers. These men are termed _Yü shih_ (imperial
recorder), generally translated censors. Their office has existed
since the 3rd century B.C. The body consists of two presidents, a
Chinese and a Manchu, 24 supervising censors attached to the
ministries at Peking, and 56 censors, divided into fifteen divisions,
each division taking a particular province or area, so as to embrace
the whole eighteen provinces, besides one metropolitan division. The
censors are privileged to animadvert on the conduct even of the
emperor himself; to censure the manner in which all other officials
perform or neglect their duties and to denounce them to the throne.
They receive appeals made to the emperor, either by the people against
the officials or by subordinate officials against their superiors.
They exercise, in accord with the Board of Justice, an oversight over
all criminal cases and give their opinion whenever the death penalty
is to be pronounced. They superintend the working of the different
boards and are sometimes sent to various places as imperial
inspectors, hence they are called _êrh mu kuan_ (the eyes and ears of
the emperor). The censors exercise their office at times with great
boldness;[35] their advice if unpalatable may be disregarded and the
censor in question degraded. The system of the censorate lends itself
to espionage and to bribery, and it is said to be more powerful for
mischief than for good. With the growth in influence of the native
press the institution appears to lose its _raison d'être_.

The grand court of revision (_Ta-li sze_) or Court of Cassation
exercises, in conjunction with the Board of Justice and the Censorate,
a general supervision over the administration of the criminal law.
These bodies are styled collectively _San-fah sze_ (the Three High
Justices).

The Hanlin College (_Hanlin Yuen_, literally Forest of Pencils) is
composed of all the literate who have passed the palace examination
and obtained the title of _Hanlin_ or imperial academist. It has two
chancellors--a Manchu and a Chinese. Its functions are of a purely
literary character and it is of importance chiefly because the heads
of the college, who are presumably the most eminent scholars of the
empire, have the right of advising the throne on all public affairs,
and are eligible as members of the grand council or of the Wai-wu Pu.
The Chinese set fire to it during the fighting in Peking in June 1900
in the hope of burning out the adjoining British legation. The whole
of the library, containing some of the most valuable manuscripts in
the world, was destroyed.

Provincial government.

Each of the eighteen provinces of China proper, the three provinces of
Manchuria and the province of Sin-kiang are ruled by a viceroy placed
over one, two and in one instance three provinces, or by a governor
over a single province either under a viceroy or depending directly on
the central government, the viceroy or the governor being held
responsible to the emperor for the entire administration, political,
judicial, military and fiscal. The most important viceroyalties are
those of Chih-li, Liang-kiang and Liang-kwang. The viceroyalty of
Liang-kiang comprises the provinces of Kiang-su, Ngan-hui and
Kiang-si. The viceroy resides at Nanking and hence is sometimes called
the viceroy of Nanking. Similarly the viceroy of Liang-kwang
(comprising the provinces of Kwang-tung and Kwang-si) through having
his residence at Canton is sometimes styled the viceroy of Canton. The
three provinces adjoining the metropolitan province of
Chih-li--Shan-tung, Shan-si and Ho-nan--have no viceroys over them;
seven provinces--including Chih-li--have no governors, the viceroy
officiating as governor. In provinces where there are both a viceroy
and a governor they act conjointly, but special departments are
administered by the one rather than the other. The viceroy controls
the military and the salt tax; the governor the civil service
generally.

The viceroy or governor is assisted by various other high officials,
all of whom down to the district magistrate are nominated from Peking.
The chief officials are the treasurer, the judicial commissioner or
provincial judge, and the commissioner of education (this last post
being created in 1903). The treasurer controls the finances of the
whole province, receiving the taxes and paying the salaries of the
officials. The judge, the salt commissioner, and the grain collector
are the only other officials whose authority extends over the whole
province. Each province is subdivided into prefectures ruled by
prefects, and each prefecture into districts ruled by a district
magistrate, _Chih-hsien_, the official through whom the people in
general receive the orders of the government. Two or more prefectures
are united into a _tao_ or circuit, the official at the head of which
is called a _Taot'ai_. Each town and village has also its unofficial
governing body of "gentry."[36] The officials appointed from Peking
hold office for three years, but they may be re-appointed once, and in
the case of powerful viceroys they may hold office for a prolonged
period. Another rule is that no official is ever appointed to a post
in the province of his birth; a rule which, however, did not apply to
Manchuria. The Peking authorities take care also in making the high
appointments to send men of different political parties to posts in
the same province.

The edict of the 6th of November 1906 initiating changes in the
central administration was accompanied by another edict outlining
changes in the provincial government, and an edict of the 22nd of July
1908 ordered the election of provincial assemblies. The edict made it
clear that the functions of the assemblies were to be purely
consultative. The elections took place according to the regulations,
the number of members allotted to each province varying from 30 (Kirin
province, Manchuria, and two others) to 140 in Chih-li. The franchise
was restricted, but the returns for the first elections showed nearly
1000 voters for each representative. The first meetings of the
assemblies were held in October 1909.

_The Civil Service._--The bureaucratic element is a vital feature in
the government of China, the holding of office being almost the only
road to distinction. Officials are by the Chinese called collectively
_Kwan_ (rulers or magistrates) but are known to foreigners as mandarins
(q.v.). The mandarins are divided into nine degrees, distinguished by
the buttons worn on the top of their caps. These are as follows:--first
and highest, a plain red button; second, a flowered red button; third, a
transparent blue button; fourth, an opaque blue button; fifth, an
uncoloured glass button; sixth, an opaque white shell button; seventh, a
plain gilt button; eighth, a gilt button with flowers in relief; ninth,
a gilt button with engraved flowers. The buttons indicate simply rank,
not office. The peacock feathers worn in their hats are an order granted
as reward of merit, and indicate neither rank nor office. The Yellow
Jacket similarly is a decoration, the most important in China.

The ranks of the civil service are recruited by means of examinations.
Up to the beginning of 1906 the subjects in which candidates were
examined were purely Chinese and literary with a smattering of history.
In 1906 this system was modified and an official career was opened to
candidates who had obtained honours in an examination in western
subjects (see § _Education_). The old system is so closely identified
with the life of China that some space must be devoted to a description
of it.

As a general rule students preparing for the public examination read
with private tutors. There were neither high schools nor universities
where a regular training could be got. In most of the provincial
capitals, and at some other places, there were indeed institutions
termed colleges, supported to some extent from public funds, where
advanced students could prosecute their studies; but before the
movement initiated by the viceroy Chang Chih-tung after the
China-Japan War of 1894, they hardly counted as factors in the
national education. The private tutors, on the other hand, were
plentiful and cheap. After a series of preliminary trials the student
obtained his first qualification by examination held before the
literary chancellor in the prefecture to which he belonged. This was
termed the _Siuts'ai_, or licentiate's degree, and was merely a
qualification to enter for the higher examinations. The number of
licentiate degrees to be given was, however, strictly limited; those
who failed to get in were set back to try again, which they might do
as often as they pleased. There was no limit of age. Those selected
next proceeded to the great examination held at the capital of each
province, once in three years, before examiners sent from Peking for
the purpose. Here again the number who passed was strictly limited.
Out of 10,000 or 12,000 competitors only some 300 or 350 could obtain
degrees. The others, as before, must go back and try again. This
degree, termed _Chü jên_, or provincial graduate, was the first
substantial reward of the student's ambition, and of itself qualified
for the public service, though it did not immediately nor necessarily
lead to active employment. The third and final examination took place
at Peking, and was open to provincial graduates from all parts of the
empire. Out of 6000 competitors entering for this final test, which
was held triennially, some 325 to 350 succeeded in obtaining the
degree of _Chin shih_, or metropolitan graduate. These were the
finally selected men who became the officials of the empire.

Several other doors were, however, open by which admission to the
ranks of bureaucracy could be obtained. In the first place, to
encourage scholars to persevere, a certain number of those who failed
to reach the _chü jên_, or second degree, were allowed, as a reward of
repeated efforts, to get into a special class from which selection for
office might be made. Further, the government reserved to itself the
right to nominate the sons and grandsons of distinguished deceased
public servants without examination. And, lastly, by a system of
"recommendation," young men from favoured institutions or men who had
served as clerks in the boards, might be put on the roster for
substantive appointment. The necessities of the Chinese government
also from time to time compelled it to throw open a still wider door
of entry into the civil service, namely, admission by purchase. During
the T'aip'ing rebellion, when the government was at its wits' end for
money, formal sanction was given to what had previously been only
intermittently resorted to, and since then immense sums of money have
been received by the sale of patents of rank, to secure either
admission to office or more rapid promotion of those already employed.
As a result of this policy, the country has been saddled with
thousands of titular officials far in excess of the number of
appointments to be given away. Deserving men were kept waiting for
years, while inferior and less capable officials were pushed ahead,
because they had money wherewith to bribe their way. Nevertheless the
purchase system admitted into the service a number of men free from
that bigoted adherence to Confucian doctrine which characterizes the
literary classes, and more in touch with modern progress.

All candidates who succeed in entering the official ranks are eligible
for active employment, but as the number of candidates is far in
excess of the number of appointments a period of weary waiting ensues.
A few of the best scholars get admitted at once into the Hanlin
college or into one or other of the boards at Peking. The rest are
drafted off in batches to the various provinces to await their turn
for appointment as vacancies occur. During this period of waiting they
are termed "expectants" and draw no regular pay. Occasional service,
however, falls in their way, as when they are commissioned for special
duty in outlying districts, which they perform as _Wei yuens_, or
deputies of the regular officials. The period of expectancy may be
abridged by recommendation or purchase, and it is generally supposed
that this last lever must invariably be resorted to to secure any
lucrative local appointment. A poor but promising official is often,
it is said, financed by a syndicate of relations and friends, who look
to recoup themselves out of the customary perquisites which attach to
the post. Appointments to the junior provincial posts are usually left
to the provincial government, but the central government can always
interfere directly. Appointments to the lucrative posts of customs,
_taot'ai_, at the treaty ports are usually made direct from Peking,
and the officer selected is neither necessarily nor usually from the
provincial staff. It would perhaps be safe to say that this
appointment has hitherto always been the result of a pecuniary
arrangement of greater or less magnitude.

Bribery and torture.

During the first five years (1906-1910) of the new method, by which
candidates for the civil service were required, in addition to Chinese
classics, to have a knowledge of western science, great efforts were
made in several provinces to train up a better class of public
official. The old system of administration had many theoretical
excellencies, and there had been notable instances of upright
administration, but the regulation which forbade a mandarin to hold
any office for more than three years made it the selfish interest of
every office-holder to get as much out of the people within his
jurisdiction as he possibly could in that time. This corruption in
high places had a thoroughly demoralizing effect. While among the
better commercial classes Chinese probity in business relations with
foreigners is proverbial, the people generally set little or no value
upon truth, and this has led to the use of torture in their courts of
justice; for it is argued that where the value of an oath is not
understood, some other means must be resorted to to extract evidence.

_Justice._--The _Chih-Hsien_ or district magistrate decides ordinary
police cases; he is also coroner and sheriff, he hears suits for
divorce and breach of promise, and is a court of first instance in all
civil cases; "the penalty for taking a case first to a higher court is
fifty blows with the bamboo on the naked thigh."[37] Appeal from the
_Hsien_ court lies to the _Fu_, or prefectural court, and thence cases
may be taken to the provincial judge, who signs death warrants, while
there are final courts of appeal at Peking. Civil cases are usually
settled by trade gilds in towns and by village elders, or by
arbitration in rural districts. Reference has been made to the use of
torture. Flogging is the only form of torture which has been allowed
under the Manchus. The obdurate witness is laid on his face, and the
executioner delivers his blows on the upper part of the thighs with
the concave side of a split bamboo, the sharp edges of which mutilate
the sufferer terribly. The punishment is continued until the man
either supplies the evidence required or becomes insensible.
Punishment by bamboo was formally abolished by imperial edict in 1905,
and other judicial reforms were instituted. They remained largely
inoperative, and even in Shanghai, under the eyes of foreign
residents, gross cases of the infliction of torture occurred in
1909.[38]

For capital offences the usual modes of inflicting the extreme penalty
of the law are--in bad cases, such as parricides, "cutting to pieces,"
and for less aggravated crimes either strangulation or decapitation.
The culprit who is condemned to be "cut to pieces" is fastened to a
cross, and while thus suspended cuts are made by the executioner on
the fleshy parts of the body; and he is then beheaded. Strangulation
is reserved for lesser degrees of guilt, it being considered a
privilege to pass out of life with a whole body. When it has been
granted to a criminal of rank thus to meet his end, a silken cord is
sent to him at his own home. No explanatory message is considered
necessary, and he is left to consummate his own doom. Popular
sentiment regards decapitation as a peculiarly disgraceful mode of
death. Constant practice makes the executioners wonderfully expert in
the performance of their office. No block or resting-place for the
head is used. The neck is simply outstretched to its full length by
the aid of an assistant, and one blow invariably leaves the body
headless.

Consular jurisdiction.

The laws are in accord with the principle which regards the family as
a unit. Thus there is no bankruptcy law--if a debtor's own estate will
not suffice to pay his debts the deficiency must be made good by his
relatives; if a debtor absconds his immediate family are imprisoned.
By analogy if one member of a party commits an offence and the guilty
person cannot be detected, the whole party must suffer. Foreigners
residing in China resented the application of this principle of law to
themselves. As a result extra-territorial rights were sought by
European powers. They were secured by Russia as early as 1689, but it
was not until 1843 that any other nation acquired them. In that year
Great Britain obtained the right to try British subjects by its own
consuls, a right secured in more explicit terms by the United States
and France in 1844. Now eighteen powers, including Japan, have
consular courts for the trial of their own subjects according to the
laws of their native lands. Mixed courts have also been established,
that is, a defendant is tried in the court of his own nationality, the
court giving its decision under the supervision of a representative of
the plaintiff's nationality. In practice the Chinese have seldom sent
representatives to sit on the bench of consular courts, but, as the
Europeans lack confidence in the administration of Chinese justice, no
suit brought by a foreigner against a Chinese is decided without the
presence of an assessor of the plaintiff's nationality.

Army.

_Defence._--The Chinese constitution in the period before the reform
edicts of 1905-1906 provided for two independent sets of military
organizations--namely, the Manchu army and the several provincial
armies. On the establishment of the dynasty in 1644 the victorious
troops, composed mainly of Manchus, but including also Mongols and
Chinese, were permanently quartered in Peking, and constituted a
hereditary national army. The force was divided into eight banners,
and under one or other of these all Manchus and all the descendants of
the members of other nationalities were enrolled. They form the bulk
of the population of the "Tatar city" of Peking. Each adult male was
by birth entitled to be enrolled as a soldier, and by virtue of his
enrolment had a right to draw rations--i.e. his allowance of the
tribute rice, whether on active service or not. Detachments from one
or other of the banners were stationed as garrisons in the chief
provincial centres, as at Canton, Fuchow and Hang-chow, &c., and their
descendants still occupy the same position. As a fighting force the
Manchu garrisons both in the capital and in the provinces had long
become quite effete. In the capital, however, the _élite_ of the
Manchu soldiery were formed into a special corps termed the Peking
Field Force. Its nominal strength was 20,000, the men were armed and
drilled after the European fashion, and fairly well paid. There were
other corps of picked Manchus better paid and better armed than the
ordinary soldier, and it was computed that in 1901 the Manchu army in
or near Peking could muster 40,000, all more or less efficient.

The second organization was termed the army of the Green Standard,
being the Chinese provincial forces. The nominal strength was from
20,000 to 30,000 for each province, or about 500,000 in all; the
actual strength was about one-third of this. They were enrolled to
keep the peace within their own province, and resembled a militia or
local constabulary rather than a national army. They were generally
poorly paid and equally badly drilled and armed.

The only real fighting force which China possessed at the beginning of
the 20th century was made up of certain special corps which were not
provided for in the constitution, and consequently used to be termed
_yung_, "braves," or irregulars, but had acquired various distinctive
names. They were enlisted by provincial governors, and all had some
smattering of foreign drill. They were also fairly well paid and
armed. After the Chino-Japanese War of 1894-95 some of these corps
were quartered near Peking and Tientsin, and came generally to be
spoken of as the Army of the North.

An imperial decree issued in 1901 after the Boxer rising ordered the
reorganization of the military forces of the empire, and on provincial
lines something was accomplished--especially in Chih-li under Yuan
Shih-k'ai, who practically created "the Army of the North." It was
not, however, until after the Russo-Japanese War that determined
efforts were made to organize a national army on western lines; an
army which should be responsible to the central government and not
dependent upon the provincial administrations. A decree of 1905
provided (on paper) for training schools for officers in each of the
provinces, middle grade military schools in selected provinces, and a
training college and military high school in Peking. The Army Board
was reorganized and steps taken to form a general staff. Considerable
progress had been made by 1910 in the evolution of a body of efficient
officers. In practice the administration remained largely
provincial--for instance the armament of the troops was provided by
the provincial governors and was far from uniform. The scheme[39]
contemplated the creation of a force about 400,000 strong in 36
divisions and in two armies, the northern and the southern.
Recruitment is on the voluntary principle, except in the case of the
Manchus, who apparently enter the new army instead of the "eight
banners." The terms of service are three years with the colours, three
in the reserve and four in the territorial army. The Japanese system
of training is followed. Reservists are called out for 30 days every
year and the territorialists for 30 days every other year.

Up to 1909 six divisions and one mixed brigade of the northern army
had been organized in Shan-tung, Chih-li and Ho-nan; elsewhere three
divisions and six mixed brigades; total strength about 60,000 with 350
guns. (These figures do not include all the provincial foreign trained
troops.) The efficiency of the troops varied; the northern army was
superior to the others in training and armament. About a third of the
60,000 men of the new army were in 1909 stationed in Manchuria (See
also § _History_.)

An imperial edict of the 15th of September 1907 reorganized the army
of the Green Standard. It was placed under the control of the minister
of war and formed in battalions and squadrons. The duty of the troops
in peace time remained much as previously. In war they pass under the
control of regular officers, though their use outside their own
provinces does not seem to be contemplated.

Navy.

The Chinese navy in 1909 consisted of the 4300 ton cruiser "Hai Chi"
(two 8-in., ten 4.7-in. guns) of 24 knot original speed, three 3000
ton cruisers, "Hai Yung," "Hai Schew" and "Hai Shen" (three 6-in.,
eight 4-in. guns) of 19.5 knot original speed, some modern gunboats
built in Japan, a few miscellaneous vessels and some old torpedo
boats. With the destruction of the northern fleet by the Japanese at
the capture of Wei-hai-wei in 1895, the Chinese navy may be said to
have ceased to exist. Previously it consisted of two divisions, the
northern and southern, of which the former was by far the more
formidable. The southern was under the control of the viceroy of
Nanking, and took no part in the Chino-Japanese War. While the
northern fleet was grappling in a death-struggle, the southern was
lying snugly in the Yangtsze waters, the viceroy of Nanking apparently
thinking that as the Japanese had not attacked him there was no reason
why he should risk his ships.

_The New Scheme._--An edict of the 15th of July 1909 created a naval
and military advisory board. Nimrod Sound, centrally situated on the
coast of Cheh-kiang, was chosen as naval base, and four naval schools
were ordered to be established; a navigation school at Chifu, an
engineering school at Whampoa, a school for naval artificers at
Fuchow, and a gunnery and musketry school at Nimrod Sound. A superior
naval college was founded at Peking. The coast defences were placed
under the control of the naval department, and the reorganization of
the dockyards undertaken. During 1910 orders for cruisers were placed
abroad.

_Arsenals and Dockyards._--After the loss of Port Arthur, China
possessed no dockyard which could dock vessels over 3000 tons. Many
years ago the Chinese government established at Fuchow a shipbuilding
yard, placing it in the hands of French engineers. Training schools
both for languages and practical navigation were at the same time
organized, and a training ship was procured and put under the command
of a British naval officer. Some twenty-five or thirty small vessels
were built in the course of as many years, but gradually the whole
organization was allowed to fall into decay. Except for petty repairs
this establishment was in 1909 valueless to the Chinese government.
There were also small dockyards at Kiang-nan (near Shanghai), Whampoa
and Taku. There are well-equipped arsenals at Shanghai and at
Tientsin, but as they are both placed up shallow rivers they are
useless for naval repairs. Both are capable of turning out heavy guns,
and also rifles and ammunition in large quantities. There are also
military arsenals at Nanking, Wuchang, Canton and Chêngtu.

_Forts._--A great number of forts and batteries have been erected
along the coast and at the entrance to the principal rivers. Chief
among these, now that the Taku forts formerly commanding the entrance
to Tientsin have been demolished, are the Kiangyin forts commanding
the entrance to the Yangtsze, the Min forts at the entrance of the
Fuchow river, and the Bogue forts at the entrance to the Canton river.
These are supplied with heavy armament from the Krupp and Armstrong
factories.

_Finance._

In fiscal matters, as for many other purposes, the Chinese empire is an
agglomeration of a number of quasi-independent units. Each province has
a complete administrative staff, collects its own revenue, pays its own
civil service, and other charges placed upon it, and out of the surplus
contributes towards the expenses of the imperial government a sum which
varies with the imperiousness of the needs of the latter and with its
own comparative wealth or poverty. The imperial government does not
collect directly any part of the revenues, unless the imperial maritime
customs be excepted, though these, too, pass through the books of the
provincial authorities.[40]

It has hitherto been extremely difficult to obtain anything like
trustworthy figures for the whole revenue of China, for the reason that
no complete statistics are published by the central government at
Peking.[41] The only available data are, first, the returns published by
the imperial maritime customs for the duties levied on foreign trade;
and, secondly, the memorials sent to Peking by the provincial
authorities on revenue matters, certain of which are published from time
to time in the _Peking Gazette_. These are usually fragmentary, being
merely reports which the governor has received from his subordinates,
detailing, as the case may be, the yield of the land tax or the likin
for his particular district, with a dissertation on the causes which
have made it more or less than for the previous period. Or the return
may be one detailing the expenditure of such and such a department, or
reporting the transmission of a sum in reply to a requisition of the
board of revenue, with a statement of the source from which it has been
met. It is only by collating these returns over a long period that
anything like a complete statement can be made up. And even then these
returns do not represent anything like the total of taxation paid by the
people, but, as far as they go, they may be taken to represent the
volume of taxation on which the Peking government can draw revenue.

The following table, taken from a memorandum by Sir Robert Hart, dated
the 25th of March 1901, shows the latest official estimate (up to 1910)
of the revenue and expenditure of China:--

_Revenue._
Taels.[42]
Land tax 26,500,000
Provincial duties 1,600,000
" receipts (various) 1,000,000
Grain commutation 3,100,000
Salt gabelle 13,500,000
Li-kin 16,000,000
Native customs 2,700,000
Maritime customs:--
General cargo 17,000,000
Foreign opium 5,000,000
Native opium 1,800,000
----------
Total 88,200,000

_Expenditure._
Taels.
Provincial 20,000,000
Military and naval 35,000,000
Metropolitan 10,000,000
Bannermen (Manchu "soldiers") 1,380,000
Palace 1,100,000
Customs 3,600,000
Legations 1,000,000
River works 940,000
Railways 800,000
Loans 24,000,000
Contingent reserve 3,300,000
-----------
Total 101,120,000

A calculation of revenue from all sources published by the Shanghai
_Shen Pao_ in 1908, apparently derived from official sources, gave a
total revenue of 105,000,000 taels, or about 15 million sterling. This
sum is obviously less than the actual figures. In 1907 Mr H.B. Morse,
commissioner of customs and statistical secretary in the inspectorate
general of customs, drew up the following table based on the amounts
presumed to be paid by the tax payer:--

+-----------------------+------------+-------------+------------+
| | Imperial | Provincial | Local |
| | Adminis- | Adminis- | Adminis- |
| | tration. | tration. | tration. |
+-----------------------+------------+-------------+------------+
| | Taels. | Taels. | Taels. |
| I. Land Tax | 25,887,000 | 67,060,000 | 9,315,000 |
| II. Tribute | 7,420,000 | 15,582,000 | 2,300,000 |
| III. Native Customs | 3,790,000 | 1,290,000 | 249,000 |
| IV. Salt Gabelle | 13,050,000 | 26,000,000 | 25,000,000 |
| V. Miscellaneous | 3,856,000 | 5,998,000 | 985,000 |
| VI. Foreign Customs | 31,169,000 | 3,942,000 | 1,230,000 |
| VII. Li-kin | 13,890,060 | 22,502,000 | 3,639,000 |
+-----------------------+------------+-------------+------------+
| Total | 99,062,000 | 142,374,000 | 42,718,000 |
+-----------------------+------------+-------------+------------+

Mr Morse adds that the grand total shown, taels 284,150,000[43] "is an
obviously insufficient sum on which to maintain the fabric of government
in an empire like China, but it has been reached by calculations based
on a few known facts and ... is offered as throwing some light on a
subject veiled in obscurity."[44]

The service of the foreign debt, together with the pressure of other
needs--such as the cost of education and the army--made more manifest
than previously the chaos of the Chinese fiscal system. A scheme to
reform the national finances was promulgated under an edict of the 11th
of January 1909, but it did not appear to be of a practical character.

_Sources of Revenue_. I. _Land Tax_.--In China, as in most oriental
countries, the land has from time immemorial been the mainstay of the
revenue. In the early years of the present dynasty there was levied
along with the land tax a poll tax on all adult males, but in 1712 the
two were amalgamated, and the whole burden was thrown upon land,
families not possessing land being thereafter exempted from taxation.
At the same time it was decreed that the amount of the land tax as
then fixed should be permanent and settled for all time coming. It
would appear from the records that this promise has been kept as far
as the central government has been concerned. In all its many
financial difficulties it does not seem ever to have tried to increase
the revenue by raising the land tax. The amount of tax leviable on
each plot is entered on the title deed, and, once entered, it cannot
be changed.[45] The tax on almost all lands is thus stated to be so
much in silver and so much in rice, wheat or whatever the principal
crop may be. Except in two provinces, however, the grain tax is now
commuted and paid in silver. The exceptions are Kiang-su and
Cheh-kiang, which still send forward their taxes in grain. The value
of the grain forwarded (generally called tribute rice) is estimated at
taels 6,500,000. The total collection in silver, as reported by the
responsible officials, amounts in round numbers to taels 25,000,000.
The total yield of the land tax, therefore, is taels 31,500,000, or
say £4,725,000. It will readily be granted that for such a large
country as China this is a very insignificant one. In India the land
tax yields about £20,000,000, and China has undoubtedly a larger
cultivated area, a larger population, and soil that is on the whole
more fertile; but it is certain that this sum by no means represents
the amounts actually paid by the cultivators. It is the sum which the
various magistrates and collectors have to account for and remit in
hard cash. But as nothing is allowed them for the costs of collection,
they add on a percentage beforehand to cover the cost. This they
usually do by declaring the taxes leviable not in silver, but in
copper "cash", which indeed is the only currency that circulates in
country places, and by fixing the rate of exchange to suit themselves.
Thus while the market rate is, say, 1500 cash to the tael, they
declare by general proclamation that for tax-paying purposes cash will
be received at the rate of 3500 or 4000 to the tael. Thus while the
nominal land tax in silver remains the same it is in effect doubled or
trebled, and, what is worse, no return is made or account required of
the extra sums thus levied. Each magistrate or collector is in effect
a farmer. The sum standing opposite the name of his district is the
sum which he is bound to return under penalty of dismissal, but all
sums which he can scrape together over and above are the perquisites
of office less his necessary expenses. Custom, no doubt, sets bounds
to his rapacity. If he went too far he would provoke a riot; but one
may safely say there never is any reduction, what change can be
effected being in the upward direction. According to the best
information obtainable a moderate estimate of the sums actually paid
by the cultivators would give two shillings per acre. This on an
estimate of the area under cultivation should give for the eighteen
provinces £19,000,000 as being actually levied, or more than four
times what is returned.

2. _The Salt Duty._--The trade in salt is a government monopoly. Only
licensed merchants are allowed to deal in it, and the import of
foreign salt is forbidden by the treaties. For the purpose of salt
administration China is divided into seven or eight main circuits,
each of which has its own sources of production. Each circuit has
carefully defined boundaries, and salt produced in one circuit is not
allowed to be consigned into or sold in another. There are great
differences in price between the several circuits, but the consumer is
not allowed to buy in the cheapest market. He can only buy from the
licensed merchants in his own circuit, who in turn are debarred from
procuring supplies except at the depot to which they belong.
Conveyance from one circuit to another is deemed smuggling, and
subjects the article to confiscation.

Duty is levied under two heads, the first being a duty proper, payable
on the issue of salt from the depot, and the second being likin levied
on transit or at the place of destination. The two together amount on
an average to about taels 1.50 per picul of 133-1/2 lb or 3s. 9d. per
cwt. The total collection returned by the various salt collectorates
amounts to taels 13,500,000 (£2,025,000) per annum. The total
consumption of salt for all China is estimated at 25 million piculs,
or nearly 1-1/2 million tons, which is at the rate of 9 lb per annum
per head of the population. If the above amount of taels 1.50 were
uniformly levied and returned, the revenue would be 37-1/2 million
taels instead of 13-1/2. In this calculation, however, no allowance is
made for the cost of collection.

3. _Likin on General Merchandise_.--By the term likin is meant a tax
on inland trade levied while in transit from one district to another.
It was originally a war tax imposed as a temporary measure to meet the
military expenditure required by the T'aip'ing and Mahommedan
rebellions of 1850-1870. It is now one of the permanent sources of
income, but at the same time it is in form as objectionable as a tax
can be, and is equally obnoxious to the native and to the foreign
merchant. Tolls or barriers are erected at frequent intervals along
all the principal routes of trade, whether by land or water, and a
small levy is made at each on every conceivable article of commerce.
The individual levy is small, but over a long transit it may amount to
15 or 20%. The objectionable feature is the frequent stoppages with
overhauling of cargo and consequent delays. By treaty, foreign goods
may commute all transit dues for a single payment of one-half the
import tariff duty, but this stipulation is but indifferently
observed. It must also be remembered, per contra, that dishonest
foreign merchants will take out passes to cover _native-owned_ goods.
The difficulty in securing due observance of treaty rights lies in the
fact that the likin revenue is claimed by the provincial authorities,
and the transit dues when commuted belong to the central government,
so that the former are interested in opposing the commutation by every
means in their power. As a further means of neutralizing the
commutation they have devised a new form of impost, viz. a terminal
tax which is levied on the goods after the termination of the transit.
The amount and frequency of likin taxation are fixed by provincial
legislation--that is, by a proclamation of the governor. The levy is
authorized in general terms by an imperial decree, but all details are
left to the local authorities. The yield of this tax is estimated at
taels 13,000,000 (£l,950,000), a sum which probably represents
one-third of what is actually paid by the merchants, the balance being
costs of collection.

4. _Imperial Maritime Customs_.--The maritime customs is the one
department of finance in China which is managed with probity and
honesty, and this it owes to the fact that it is worked under foreign
control. It collects all the duties leviable under the treaties on the
foreign trade of China, and also all duties on the coasting trade so
far as carried on by vessels of foreign build, whether Chinese or
foreign owned. It does not control the trade in native craft, the
so-called junk trade, the duties on which are still levied by the
native custom-house officials. By arrangement between the British and
Chinese governments the foreign customs levy at the port of entry a
likin on Indian opium of taels 80 per chest, in addition to the tariff
duty of taels 30. This levy frees the opium from any further duty on
transit into the interior. The revenue of the maritime customs rose
from taels 8,200,000 in 1865 to taels 35,111,000 in 1905.

5. _Native Customs_,--The administration of the native customs
continues to be similar to what prevailed in the maritime customs
before the introduction of foreign supervision. Each collector is
constituted a farmer, bound to account for a fixed minimum sum, but
practically at liberty to retain all he may collect over and above. If
he returns more he may claim certain honorary rewards as for extra
diligence, but he generally manages to make out his accounts so as to
show a small surplus, and no more. Only imperfect and fragmentary
returns of the native collectorates have been published, but the total
revenue accruing to the Chinese government from this source did not
appear up to 1900 much to exceed two million taels (£300,000). In
November 1901 native customs offices within 15 m. of a treaty port
were placed under the control of the maritime customs, their revenues
having been hypothecated for the service of the Boxer indemnity. The
result was that the amount of the native customs collected by the
commissioners of customs increased from taels 2,206,000 in 1902 to
taels 3,699,000 in 1906.

6. _Duty on Native Opium_.--The collection of the duty on opium is in
the hands of the provincial officials, but they are required to
rendera separate account of duty and likin collected on the drug, and
to hold the sum at the disposal of the board of revenue at Peking. The
annual import into China of Indian opium used to amount to about
50,000 chests, the exact amount of opium imported in 1904 being 54,750
piculs, on which the Chinese government received from duty and likin
combined about 5-1/2 million taels (£825,000). The total amount of
native-grown opium was estimated in 1901 at about 400,000 chests
(53,000,000 lb), and if this were taxed at taels 60 per chest, which
in proportion to its price was a similar rate to that levied on Indian
opium, it should give a revenue of 24 million taels. Compared with
this the sums actually levied, or at least returned by the local
officials as levied, were insignificant. The returns gave a total levy
for all the eighteen provinces of only taels 2,200,000 (£330,000). The
anti-opium smoking campaign initiated by the Chinese government in
1905 affected the revenue both by the decreased importation of the
drug and the decrease in the area under poppy cultivation in China. In
1908 the opium likin revenue had fallen to taels 3,800,000.

7. _Miscellaneous_.--Besides the main and regular sources of income,
the provincial officials levy sums which must in the aggregate amount
to a very large figure, but which hardly find a place in the returns.
The principal are land transfer fees, pawnbrokers' and other licences,
duties on reed flats, commutation of corvée and personal services, &c.
The fee on land transfers is 3%, and it could be shown, from a
calculation based on the extent and value of the arable land and the
probable number of sales, that this item alone ought to yield an
annual return of between one and two millions sterling. Practically
the whole of this is absorbed in office expenses. Under this heading
should also be included certain items which though not deemed part of
the regular revenue, have been so often resorted to that they cannot
be left out of account. These are the sums derived from sale of office
or of brevet rank, and the subscriptions and benevolences which under
one plea or another the government succeeds in levying from the
wealthy. Excluding these, the government is always ready to receive
subscriptions, rewarding the donor with a grant of official rank
entitling him to wear the appropriate "button." The right is much
sought after, and indeed there are very few Chinamen of any standing
that are not thus decorated, for not only does the button confer
social standing, but it gives the wearer certain very substantial
advantages in case he should come into contact with the law courts.
The minimum price for the lowest grade is taels 120 (£18), and more of
course for higher grades. The proceeds of these sales go directly to
the Peking government, and do not as a rule figure in the provincial
returns. The total of the miscellaneous items accruing for the benefit
of the government is estimated at taels 5,500,000.

_Expenditure._--In regard to expenditure a distinction has to be drawn
between that portion of the revenue which is controlled by the central
government, and that controlled by the several provincial authorities.
As the provinces collect the revenue, and as the authorities there are
held responsible for the peace, order and good government of their
respective territories, it follows that the necessary expenses of the
provinces form a sort of first charge on the revenue. (As the tables
given show, the provinces spend the greater part of the revenue
collected.) The board of revenue at Peking, which is charged with a
general supervision of finance matters all over the empire, makes up
at the end of the year a general estimate of the funds that will be
required for imperial purposes during the ensuing year, and apportions
the amount among the several provinces and the several collectorates
in each province. The estimate is submitted to the emperor, and, when
sanctioned, instructions are sent to all the viceroys and governors in
that sense, who, in turn, pass them on to their subordinate officers.
In ordinary times these demands do not materially vary from year to
year, and long practice has created a sort of equilibrium between
imperial and provincial demands. The remittances to the capital are,
as a rule, forwarded with reasonable regularity, mostly in the form of
hard cash. There is, however, a constant pull going on between Peking
and the provinces--the former always asking for more, the latter
resisting and pleading impecuniosity, yet generally able to find the
amounts required. The expenses which the central government has to
meet are:--(1) Imperial household; (2) pay of the Manchu garrison in
and about Peking; (3) costs of the civil administration in the
capital; (4) cost of the army so far as the expenses are not borne by
the provinces; (5) naval expenses;[46] (6) foreign loans--interest and
sinking fund. To meet all these charges the Peking government for
several years up to 1900 drew on the provinces for about taels
20,000,000 (£3,000,000), including the value of the tribute rice,
which goes to the support of the Manchu bannermen.[47] No estimates
are furnished of the sums allowed under such heading. The imperial
household appears to receive in silver about taels 1,500,000
(£225,000) but it draws besides large supplies in kind from the
provinces, e.g. silks and satins from the imperial factories at
Su-chow and Hangchow, porcelain from the Kiang-si potteries, &c., the
cost of which is defrayed by the provinces. The imperial government
has also at its disposal the revenue of the foreign customs. Prior to
the Chino-Japanese war of 1894-95 this revenue, which, after allowing
for the costs of collection, amounted to about 20,000,000 taels
(£3,000,000), was nominally shared with the provinces in the
proportion of four-tenths and six-tenths. The whole of the customs
revenue is now pledged to foreign bondholders and absorbed by the
service of the several loans. Besides supplying its own wants the
imperial government has to provide for outlying portions of the empire
which are unable to maintain themselves--(1) Manchuria, (2) Kan-suh
and the central Asian dominion, (3) the south-western provinces of
Yun-nan, Kwei-chow and Kwang-si. Manchuria, or, as it is termed, the
north-east frontier defence, costs about taels 2,000,000 over and
above its own resources. The central Asian territories constitute a
drain on the imperial government of about taels 4,000,000 a year. This
is met by subsidies from Sze-ch'uen, Shan-si, Ho-nan and other wealthy
provinces. Yun-nan, Kwei-chow and Kwang-si require aids aggregating
taels 2,000,000 to keep things going.

_External Debt._--Prior to the war with Japan in 1894 the foreign debt
of China was almost nil. A few trifling loans had been contracted at 7
and 8%, but they had been punctually paid off, and only a fraction of
one remained. The expenses of the war, however, and the large
indemnity of taels 230,000,000 (£34,500,000) which Japan exacted,
forced China for the first time into the European market as a serious
borrower. The sum of £6,635,000 was raised in 1894-1895 in four small
loans at 6 or 7% interest. In 1895 a Franco-Russian loan of fr.
440,000,000 (£15,820,000) was raised in Paris. Two Anglo-German loans,
each of £16,000,000 (one in 1896, the other in 1898) were raised
through the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank. The Franco-Russian loan bears
4% interest, the first Anglo-German 5%, the second 4½%. The foreign
loans contracted up to 1900 amounted altogether to £54,455,000. The
charges for interest and sinking fund, which amounted to over
£3,000,000, were secured on the revenue of the maritime customs, and
on the likin taxes of certain specified provinces. The net income from
these two sources amounted to over taels 24,000,000, equivalent at
existing rate of exchange to £3,400,000, which was amply sufficient.

Between 1899 and 1907 (both years inclusive) £12,200,000 was raised on
loan for railway purposes. The charges on the first loan--for
£2,300,000--were secured on the revenue of the Imperial Northern
railway, the interest being 5%. The same interest was secured on the
other loans, save one for £1,000,000 in which the Hong Kong government
was concerned, which bears 4% interest.

The foreign debt also includes the indemnities exacted in 1901 by the
powers for the Boxer outrages. These indemnities, secured on imperial
revenue, are divided into five series amounting altogether to
£67,500,000, the amount payable on these indemnities (at 4% interest)
in 1907 being £2,824,425. The burden of meeting this amount was
apportioned between the eighteen provinces--the sums allocated ranging
from taels 2,500,000 for Kiang-su to taels 300,000 for Kwei-chow. In
1909 the grand total of China's indebtedness exceeded £140,000,000 and
the interest called for the payment of £7,427,450 in gold.

_Banks and Banking._--Native banks for purposes of inland exchange are
to be found in most large cities. They are private banks using their
own capital, and seldom receiving deposits from the public. The best
known are the Shan-si banks, which have branches all over the empire.
They work on a small capital, seldom over £50,000 each, and do a small
but profitable business by selling their drafts on distant places.
None of them issues notes, although they are not debarred from doing
so by law. They lend money on personal security, but do not advance
against shipments of goods. In some places there are small local
banks, usually called cash shops, which issue paper notes for small
sums and lend money out on personal security. The notes never reach
more than a very limited local circulation, and pass current merely on
the credit of the institution. There is no law regulating the
formation of banks or the issue of notes. _Pawnshops_ occupy a
prominent position in the internal economy of China. They lend on
deposit of personality at very high rates, 18 and 24%, and they
receive deposits of money from the public, usually allowing 6 to 10%.
They are the real banks of deposit of the country, and the better
class enjoy good credit. _Foreign Banks_ do a large business at
Shanghai and other treaty ports, and a _Government Bank_ has been
established at Peking.

_Currency._--In the commercial treaty between Great Britain and China
of 1902 China agreed to provide a uniform national coinage. An
imperial decree of October 1908 commanded the introduction of a
uniform tael currency; but another decree of May 1910 established a
standard currency dollar weighing 72 candareens (a candareen is the
100th part of the tael ounce) and subsidiary coins of fixed values in
decimal ratio. This decree properly enforced would introduce a much
needed stability into the monetary system of China.

The actual currency (1910) consists of (l) _Silver_, which may be
either uncoined ingots passing current by weight, or imported coins,
Mexican dollars and British dollars; and (2) _Copper_ "cash," which
has no fixed relation to silver. The standard is silver, the unit
being the Chinese ounce or tael, containing 565 grains. The tael is
not a coin, but a weight. Its value in sterling consequently
fluctuates with the value of silver; in 1870 it was worth about 6s.
8d., in 1907 it was worth 3s. 3d.[48] The name given in China to
uncoined silver in current use is "sycee." It is cast for convenience
sake into ingots weighing one to 50 taels. Its average fineness is
916.66 per 1000. When foreign silver is imported, say into Shanghai,
it can be converted into currency by a very simple process. The bars
of silver are sent to a quasi-public office termed the "Kung K'u," or
public valuers, and by them melted down and cast into ingots of the
customary size. The fineness is estimated, and the premium or
betterness, together with the exact weight, is marked in ink on each
ingot. The whole process only occupies a few hours, and the silver is
then ready to be put into use. The Kung K'u is simply a local office
appointed by the bankers of the place, and the weight and fineness are
only good for that locality. The government takes no responsibility in
the matter, but leaves merchants and bankers to adjust the currency as
they please. For purposes of taxation and payment of duties there is a
standard or treasury tael, which is about 10% heavier than the tael of
commerce in use at Shanghai. Every large commercial centre has its own
customary tael, the weight and therefore the value of which differ
from that of every other. Silver dollars coined in Mexico, and British
dollars coined in Bombay, also circulate freely at the open ports of
trade and for some distance inland, passing at a little above their
intrinsic value. Carolus dollars, introduced long ago and no longer
coined, are retained in current use in several parts of the interior,
chiefly the tea-growing districts. Being preferred by the people, and
as the supply cannot be added to, they have reached a considerable
premium above their intrinsic value. Provincial mints in Canton,
Wuchang, and other places have issued silver coins of the same weight
and touch as the Mexican dollar, but very few have gone into use. As
they possess no privilege in debt-paying power over imported Mexican
dollars there is no inducement for the people to take them up unless
they can be had at a cheaper rate than the latter, and these are laid
down at so small a cost above the intrinsic value that no profit is
left to the mint. The coinage has in consequence been almost
discontinued. Subsidiary coins, however, came largely into use, being
issued by the local mints. One coin "the hundredth part of a dollar"
proved very popular (the issue to the end of 1906 being computed at
12,500,000,000), but at rates corresponding closely to the intrinsic
value of the metal in it. The only coin officially issued by the
government--up to 1910--was the so-called copper _cash_. It is a small
coin which by regulation should weigh 1/16 of a tael, and should
contain 50 parts of copper, 40 of zinc, and 10 of lead or tin, and it
should bear a fixed ratio to silver of 1000 cash to one tael of
silver. In practice none of these conditions was observed. Being
issued from a number of mints, mostly provincial, the standard was
never uniform, and in many cases debased. Excessive issues lowered the
value of the coins, and for many years the average exchange was 1600
or more per tael. The rise in copper led to the melting down of all
the older and superior coins, and as for the same reason coining was
suspended, the result was an appreciation of the "cash," so that a
tael in 1909 exchanged for about 1220 cash or about 35 to a penny
English. Inasmuch as the "cash" bore no fixed relation to silver, and
was, moreover, of no uniform composition, it formed a sort of mongrel
standard of its own, varying with the volume in circulation.
(G.J.; X.)

V. HISTORY

(A)--_European Knowledge of China up to 1615._

_China as known to the Ancients._--The spacious seat of ancient
civilization which we call China has been distinguished by different
appellations, according as it was reached by the southern sea-route or
by the northern land-route traversing the longitude of Asia. In the
former aspect the name has nearly always been some form of the name
_Sin, Chin, Sinoe, China_. In the latter point of view the region in
question was known to the ancients as the land of the _Seres_, to the
middle ages as the empire of _Cathay_. The name of _Chin_ has been
supposed (doubtfully) to be derived from the dynasty of _Ts'in_, which a
little more than two centuries before the Christian era enjoyed a
vigorous existence, uniting all the Chinese provinces under its
authority, and extending its conquests far beyond those limits to the
south and the west. The mention of the _Chinas_ in ancient Sanskrit
literature, both in the laws of Manu and in the Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata, has
often been supposed to prove the application of the name long before the
predominance of the Ts'in dynasty. But the coupling of that name with
the _Daradas_, still surviving as the people of Dardistan, on the Indus,
suggests it as more probable that those _Chinas_ were a kindred race of
mountaineers, whose name as _Shinas_ in fact likewise remains applied to
a branch of the Dard races. Whether the _Sinim_ of the prophet Isaiah
should be interpreted of the Chinese is probably not susceptible of any
decision; by the context it appears certainly to indicate a people of
the extreme east or south. The name probably came to Europe through the
Arabs, who made the _China_ of the farther east into _Sîn_, and perhaps
sometimes into _Thîn_. Hence the _Thîn_ of the author of the _Periplus
of the Erythraean Sea_, who appears to be the first extant writer to
employ the name in this form (_i.e._ assuming Max Müller's view that he
belongs to the 1st century); hence also the _Sinae_ and _Thinae_ of
Ptolemy.

It has often indeed been denied that the Sinae of Ptolemy really
represented the Chinese. But if we compare the statement of Marcianus
of Heraclea (a mere condenser of Ptolemy), when he tells us that the
"nations of the Sinae lie at the extremity of the habitable world, and
adjoin the eastern Terra Incognita," with that of Cosmas, who says, in
speaking of _Tzinista_, a name of which no one can question the
application to China, that "beyond this there is neither habitation
nor navigation"--we cannot doubt the same region to be meant by both.
The fundamental error of Ptolemy's conception of the Indian Sea as a
closed basin rendered it _impossible_ but that he should misplace the
Chinese coast. But considering that the name of _Sin_ has come down
among the Arabs from time immemorial as applied to the Chinese,
considering that in the work of Ptolemy this name certainly
represented the farthest known East, and considering how inaccurate
are Ptolemy's configurations and longitudes much nearer home, it seems
almost as reasonable to deny the identity of his India with ours as to
deny that his Sinae were Chinese.

If we now turn to the _Seres_ we find this name mentioned by classic
authors much more frequently and at an earlier date, for the passages
of Eratosthenes (in Strabo), formerly supposed to speak of a parallel
passing through _Thinae_--[Greek: dia Thinôn]--are now known to read
correctly [Greek: di'Athênôn]. The name _Seres_ indeed is familiar to
the Latin poets of the Augustan age, but always in a vague way, and
usually with a general reference to Central Asia and the farther East.
We find, however, that the first endeavours to assign more accurately
the position of this people, which are those of Mela and Pliny,
gravitate distinctly towards China in its northern aspect as the true
ideal involved. Thus Mela describes the remotest east of Asia as
occupied by the three races (proceeding from south to north), Indians,
Seres and Scyths; just as in a general way we might still say that
eastern Asia is occupied by the Indies, China and Tartary.

Ptolemy first uses the names of _Sera_ and _Serice_, the former for
the chief city, the latter for the country of the Seres, and as usual
defines their position with a precision far beyond what his knowledge
justified--the necessary result of his system. Yet even his definition
of Serice is most consistent with the view that this name indicated
the Chinese empire in its northern aspect, for he carries it eastward
to the 180th degree of longitude, which is also, according to his
calculation, in a lower latitude the eastern boundary of the Sinae.

Ammianus Marcellinus devotes some paragraphs to a description of the
Seres and their country, one passage of which is startling at first
sight in its seeming allusion to the Great Wall, and in this sense it
has been rashly interpreted by Lassen and by Reinaud. But Ammianus is
merely converting Ptolemy's dry tables into fine writing, and speaks
only of an encircling rampart of mountains within which the spacious
and happy valley of the Seres lies. It is true that Ptolemy makes his
Serice extend westward to Imaus, _i.e._ to Pamir. But the Chinese
empire _did_ so extend at that epoch, and we find Lieut. John Wood in
1838 speaking of "_China_" as lying immediately beyond Pamir, just as
the Arabs of the 8th century spoke of the country beyond the Jaxartes
as "_Sin_," and as Ptolemy spoke of "_Serice_" as immediately beyond
Imaus.

If we fuse into one the ancient notices of the Seres and their
country, omitting anomalous statements and manifest fables, the result
will be somewhat as follows: "The region of the Seres is a vast and
populous country, touching on the east the ocean and the limits of the
habitable world, and extending west to Imaus and the confines of
Bactria. The people are civilized, mild, just and frugal, eschewing
collisions with their neighbours, and even shy of close intercourse,
but not averse to dispose of their own products, of which raw silk is
the staple, but which included also silk-stuffs, fine furs, and iron
of remarkable quality." That is manifestly a definition of the
Chinese.

That Greek and Roman knowledge of the true position of so remote a
nation should at best have been somewhat hazy is nothing wonderful.
And it is worthy of note that the view entertained by the ancient
Chinese of the Roman empire and its inhabitants, under the name of
_Ta-thsin_, had some striking points of analogy to those views of the
Chinese which are indicated in the classical descriptions of the
Seres. There can be no mistaking the fact that in this case also the
great object was within the horizon of vision, yet the details
ascribed to it are often far from being true characteristics, being
only the accidents of its outer borders.

_The Medieval Cathay._--"Cathay" is the name by which the Chinese empire
was known to medieval Europe, and it is in its original form (_Kitai_)
that China is still known in Russia and to most of the nations of
Central Asia. West of Russia this name has long ceased to be a
geographical expression, but it is associated with a remarkable phase in
the history of geography and commerce. The name first became known to
Europe in the 13th century, when the vast conquests of Jenghiz Khan and
his house drew a new and vivid attention to Asia. For some three
centuries previously the northern provinces of China had been detached
from indigenous rule, and subject to northern conquerors. The first of
these foreign dynasties was of a race called _Khitán_ issuing from the
basin of the Sungari river, and supposed (but doubtfully) to have been
of the blood of the modern Tunguses. The rule of this race endured for
two centuries and originated the application of the name _Khitât_ or
_Khitâï_ to northern China. The dynasty itself, known in Chinese history
as _Liao_, or "Iron," disappeared from China 1123, but the name remained
attached to the territory which they had ruled.

The Khitán were displaced by the Nüchih (_Nyûché_ or _Chûrché_) race,
akin to the modern Manchus. These reigned, under the title of _Kin_, or
"Golden," till Jenghiz and his Mongols invaded them in turn. In 1234 the
conquest of the Kin empire was completed, and the dynasty extinguished
under Ogdai (Ogotai), the son and successor of Jenghiz Khan. Forty years
later, in the reign of Kublai, grandson and ablest successor of Jenghiz,
the Mongol rule was extended over southern China (1276), which till
then had remained under a native dynasty, the Sung, holding its royal
residence in a vast and splendid city, now known as Hang-chow, but then
as Ling-nan, or more commonly as _King-sze_, i.e. the court. The
southern empire was usually called by the conquerors _Mantzi_ (or as
some of the old travellers write, _Mangi_), a name which western
Asiatics seem to have identified with _Mâchîn_ (from the Sanskrit
_Mahâchîn_), one of the names by which China was known to the traders
from Persian and Arabian ports.

The conquests of Jenghiz and his successors had spread not only over
China and the adjoining East, but westward also over all northern Asia,
Persia, Armenia, part of Asia Minor and Russia, threatening to deluge
Christendom. Though the Mongol wave retired, as it seemed almost by an
immediate act of Providence, when Europe lay at its feet, it had
levelled or covered all political barriers from the frontier of Poland
to the Yellow Sea, and when western Europe recovered from its alarm,
Asia lay open, as never before or since, to the inspection of
Christendom. Princes, envoys, priests--half-missionary,
half-envoy--visited the court of the great khan in Mongolia; and besides
these, the accidents of war, commerce or opportunity carried a variety
of persons from various classes of human life into the depths of Asia.
"'Tis worthy of the grateful remembrance of all Christian people," says
an able missionary friar of the next age (Ricold of Monte Croce), "that
just at the time when God sent forth into the Eastern parts of the world
the Tatars to slay and to be slain, He also sent into the West his
faithful and blessed servants, Dominic and Francis, to enlighten,
instruct and build up in the faith." Whatever on the whole may be
thought of the world's debt to Dominic, it is to the two mendicant
orders, but especially to the Franciscans, that we owe a vast amount of
information about medieval Asia, and, among other things, the first
mention of _Cathay_. Among the many strangers who reached Mongolia were
(1245-1247) John de Plano Carpini and (1253) William of Rubruk
(Rubruquis) in French Flanders, both Franciscan friars of high
intelligence, who happily have left behind them reports of their
observations.

Carpini, after mentioning the wars of Jenghiz against the _Kitai_,
goes on to speak of that people as follows: "Now these _Kitai_ are
heathen men, and have a written character of their own... They seem,
indeed, to be kindly and polished folks enough. They have no beard,
and in character of countenance have a considerable resemblance to the
Mongols" [are _Mongoloid_, as our ethnologists would say], "but are
not so broad in the face. They have a peculiar language. Their betters
as craftsmen in every art practised by man are not to be found in the
whole world. Their country is very rich in corn, in wine, in gold and
silver, in silk, and in every kind of produce tending to the support
of mankind." The notice of Rubruk, shrewder and more graphic, runs
thus: "Farther on is Great Cathay, which I take to be the country
which was anciently called the Land of the Seres. For the best silk
stuffs are still got from them... The sea lies between it and India.
Those Cathayans are little fellows, speaking much through the nose,
and, as is general with all those eastern people, their eyes are very
narrow. They are first-rate artists in every kind, and their
physicians have a thorough knowledge of the virtues of herbs, and an
admirable skill in diagnosis by the pulse... The common money of
Cathay consists of pieces of cotton-paper, about a palm in length and
breadth, upon which certain lines are printed, resembling the seal of
Mangu Khan. They do their writing with a pencil, such as painters
paint with, and a single character of theirs comprehends several
letters, so as to form a whole word."

Here we have not only what is probably the first European notice of
paper-money, but a _partial_ recognition of the peculiarity of Chinese
writing, and a perception that puts to shame the perverse boggling of
later critics over the identity of these Cathayans with the Seres of
classic fame.

But though these travellers saw Cathayans in the bazaars in the great
khan's camps, the first actual visitors of Cathay itself were the Polo
family, and it is to the book of Marco Polo's recollections mainly that
Cathay owed the growing familiarity of its name in Europe during the
14th and 15th centuries. It is, however, a great mistake to suppose, as
has often been assumed, that the residence of the Polos in that country
remained an isolated fact. They were but the pioneers of a very
considerable intercourse, which endured till the decay of the Mongol
dynasty in Cathay, i.e. for about half a century.

We have no evidence that either in the 13th or 14th century Cathayans,
i.e. Chinese, ever reached Europe, but it is possible that some did, at
least in the former century. For, during the campaigns of Hulagu in
Persia (1256-1265), and the reigns of his successors, Chinese engineers
were employed on the banks of the Tigris, and Chinese astrologers and
physicians could be consulted at Tabriz. Many diplomatic communications
passed between the Hulaguid Ilkhans and the princes of Christendom. The
former, as the great khan's liegemen, still received from him their
seals of state; and two of their letters which survive in the archives
of France exhibit the vermilion impressions of those seals in Chinese
characters--perhaps affording the earliest specimen of that character
which reached western Europe.

Just as the Polos were reaching their native city (1295), after an
absence of a quarter of a century, the forerunner of a new series of
travellers was entering southern China by way of the Indian seas. This
was John of Monte Corvino, another Franciscan who, already some fifty
years of age, was plunging single-handed into that great ocean of
paganism to preach the gospel according to his lights. After years of
uphill and solitary toil converts began to multiply; coadjutors joined
him. The Papal See became cognizant of the harvest that was being reaped
in the far East. It made Friar John archbishop in Cambaluc (or Peking),
with patriarchal authority, and sent him batches of suffragan bishops
and preachers of his own order. The Roman Church spread; churches and
Minorite houses were established at Cambaluc, at Zayton or Tsuan-chow in
Fu-kien, at Yang-chow and elsewhere; and the missions flourished under
the smile of the great khan, as the Jesuit missions did for a time under
the Manchu emperors three centuries and a half later. Archbishop John
was followed to the grave, about 1328, by mourning multitudes of pagans
and Christians alike. Several of the bishops and friars who served under
him have left letters or other memoranda of their experience, e.g.
Andrew, bishop of Zayton, John of Cora, afterwards archbishop of
Sultania in Persia, and Odoric of Pordenone, whose fame as a pious
traveller won from the _vox populi_ at his funeral a beatification which
the church was fain to seal. The only ecclesiastical narrative regarding
Cathay, of which we are aware, subsequent to the time of Archbishop
John, is that which has been gathered from the recollections of Giovanni
de' Marignolli, a Florentine Franciscan, who was sent by Pope Benedict
XII. with a mission to the great khan, in return for one from that
potentate which arrived at Avignon from Cathay in 1338, and who spent
four years (1342-1346) at the court of Cambaluc as legate of the Holy
See. These recollections are found dispersed incoherently over a
chronicle of Bohemia which the traveller wrote by order of the emperor
Charles IV., whose chaplain he was after his return.

But intercourse during the period in question was not confined to
ecclesiastical channels. Commerce also grew up, and flourished for a
time even along the vast line that stretches from Genoa and Florence to
the marts of Cheh-kiang and Fu-kien. The record is very fragmentary and
imperfect, but many circumstances and incidental notices show how
frequently the remote East was reached by European traders in the first
half of the 14th century--a state of things which it is very difficult
to realize when we see how all those regions, when reopened to knowledge
two centuries later, seemed to be discoveries as new as the empires
which, about the same time, Cortes and Pizarro were conquering in the
West.

This commercial intercourse probably began about 1310-1320. John of
Monte Corvino, writing in 1305, says it was twelve years since he had
heard any news from Europe; the only Western stranger who had arrived
in all that time being a certain Lombard chirurgeon (probably one of
the _Patarini_ who got hard measure at home in those days), who had
spread the most incredible blasphemies, about the Roman Curia and the
order of St Francis. Yet even on his first entrance to Cathay Friar
John had been accompanied by one Master Peter of Lucolongo, whom he
describes as a faithful Christian man and a great merchant, and who
seems to have remained many years at Peking. The letter of Andrew,
bishop of Zayton (1326), quotes the opinion of Genoese merchants at
that port regarding a question of exchanges. Odoric, who was in Cathay
about 1323-1327, refers for confirmation of the wonders which he
related of the great city of Cansay (i.e. King-sze, or Hang-chow) to
the many persons whom he had met at Venice since his return, who had
themselves been witnesses of those marvels. And Marignolli, some
twenty years later, found attached to one of the convents at Zayton,
in Fu-kien, a _fondaco_ or factory for the accommodation of the
Christian merchants.

But by far the most distinct and notable evidence of the importance
and frequency of European trade with Cathay, of which silk and silk
goods formed the staple, is to be found in the commercial hand-book
(c. 1340) of Francesco Balducci Pegolotti, a clerk and factor of the
great Florentine house of the Bardi, which was brought to the ground
about that time by its dealings with Edward III. of England. This
book, called by its author _Libro di divisamenti di Paesi_, is a sort
of trade-guide, devoting successive chapters to the various ports and
markets of his time, detailing the nature of imports and exports at
each, the duties and exactions, the local customs of business,
weights, measures and money. The first two chapters of this work
contain instructions for the merchant proceeding to Cathay; and it is
evident, from the terms used, that the road thither was not
unfrequently travelled by European merchants, from whom Pegolotti had
derived his information. The route which he describes lay by Azov,
Astrakhan, Khiva, Otrar (on the Jaxartes), Almálik (Gulja in Ili),
Kan-chow (in Kan-suh), and so to Hang-chow and Peking. Particulars are
given as to the silver ingots which formed the currency of Tatary, and
the paper-money of Cathay. That the ventures on this trade were not
insignificant is plain from the example taken by the author to
illustrate the question of expenses on the journey, which is that of a
merchant investing in goods there to the amount of some £12,000 (i.e.
in actual gold value, not as calculated by any fanciful and fallacious
equation of values).

Of the same remarkable phase of history that we are here considering
we have also a number of notices by Mahommedan writers. The
establishment of the Mongol dynasty in Persia, by which the great khan
was acknowledged as lord paramount, led (as we have already noticed in
part) to a good deal of intercourse. And some of the Persian
historians, writing at Tabriz, under the patronage of the Mongol
princes, have told us much about Cathay, especially Rashiduddin, the
great minister and historian of the dynasty (died 1318). We have also
in the book of the Moorish traveller Ibn Batuta, who visited China
about 1347-1348, very many curious and in great part true notices,
though it is not possible to give credence to the whole of this
episode in his extensive travels.

About the time of the traveller first named the throne of the
degenerate descendants of Jenghiz began to totter to its fall, and we
have no knowledge of any Frank visitor to Cathay in that age later
than Marignolli; missions and merchants alike disappear from the
field. We hear, indeed, once and again of ecclesiastics despatched
from Avignon, but they go forth into the darkness, and are heard of no
more. Islam, with all its jealousy and exclusiveness, had recovered
its grasp over Central Asia; the Nestorian Christianity which once had
prevailed so widely was vanishing, and the new rulers of China
reverted to the old national policy, and held the foreigner at arm's
length. Night descended upon the farther East, covering Cathay with
those cities of which the old travellers had told such marvels,
Cambaluc and Cansay, Zayton and Chinkalan. And when the veil rose
before the Portuguese and Spanish explorers of the 16th century, those
names are heard no more. In their stead we have China, Peking,
Hangchow, Chinchew, Canton. Not only were the old names forgotten, but
the fact that those places had ever been known before was forgotten
also. Gradually new missionaries went forth from Rome--Jesuits and
Dominicans now; new converts were made, and new vicariates
constituted; but the old Franciscan churches, and the Nestorianism
with which they had battled, had alike been swallowed up in the ocean
of pagan indifference. In time a wreck or two floated to the
surface--a MS. Latin Bible or a piece of Catholic sculpture; and when
the intelligent missionaries called Marco Polo to mind, and studied
his story, one and another became convinced that Cathay and China were
one.

But for a long time all but a sagacious few continued to regard Cathay
as a region distinct from any of the new-found Indies; whilst
map-makers, well on into the 17th century, continued to represent it
as a great country lying entirely to the north of China, and
stretching to the Arctic Sea.

It was Cathay, with its outlying island of Zipangu (Japan), that
Columbus sought to reach by sailing westward, penetrated as he was by
his intense conviction of the smallness of the earth, and of the vast
extension of Asia eastward; and to the day of his death he was full of
the imagination of the proximity of the domain of the great khan to
the islands and coasts which he had discovered. And such imaginations
are curiously embodied in some of the maps of the early 16th century,
which intermingle on the same coast-line the new discoveries from
Labrador to Brazil with the provinces and rivers of Marco Polo's
Cathay.

Cathay had been the aim of the first voyage of the Cabots in 1496, and
it continued to be the object of many adventurous voyages by English
and Hollanders to the N.W. and N.E. till far on in the 16th century.
At least one memorable land-journey also was made by Englishmen, of
which the exploration of a trade-route to Cathay was a chief
object--that in which Anthony Jenkinson and the two Johnsons reached
Bokhara by way of Russia in 1558-1559. The country of which they
collected notices at that city was still known to them only as
_Cathay_, and its great capital only as _Cambaluc_.

Cathay as a supposed separate entity may be considered to come to an
end with the journey of Benedict Goës, the lay-Jesuit. This admirable
person was, in 1603, despatched through Central Asia by his superiors
in India with the specific object of determining whether the Cathay of
old European writers and of modern Mahommedans was or was not a
distinct region from that China of which parallel marvels had now for
some time been recounted. Benedict, as one of his brethren pronounced
his epitaph, "seeking Cathay found Heaven." He died at Suchow, the
frontier city of China, but not before he had ascertained that China
and Cathay were the same. After the publication of the narrative of
his journey (in the _Expeditio Christiana apud Sinas_ of Trigault,
1615) inexcusable ignorance alone could continue to distinguish
between them, but such ignorance lingered many years longer. (H. Y.)

(B)--_Chinese Origins._

Chinese literature contains no record of any kind which might justify us
in assuming that the nucleus of the nation may have immigrated from some
other part of the world; and the several ingenious theories pointing to
Babylonia, Egypt, India, Khotan, and other seats of ancient civilization
as the starting-points of ethnical wanderings must be dismissed as
untenable. Whether the Chinese were seated in their later homes from
times immemorial, as their own historians assume, or whether they
arrived there from abroad, as some foreign scholars have pretended,
cannot be proved to the satisfaction of historical critics. Indeed,
anthropological arguments seem to contradict the idea of any connexion
with Babylonians, Egyptians, Assyrians, or Indians. The earliest
hieroglyphics of the Chinese, ascribed by them to the Shang dynasty
(second millennium B.C.), betray the Mongol character of the nation that
invented them by the decided obliquity of the human eye wherever it
appears in an ideograph. In a pair of eyes as shown in the most ancient
pictorial or sculptural representations in the west, the four corners
may be connected by a horizontal straight line; whereas lines drawn
through the eyes of one of the oldest Chinese hieroglyphics cross each
other at a sharp angle, as shown in the accompanying diagrams:--

[Illustration: Egyptian.]

[Illustration: Chinese.]

This does not seem to speak for racial consanguinity any more than the
well-known curled heads and bearded faces of Assyrian sculptures as
compared to the straight-haired and almost beardless Chinese.
Similarities in the creation of cultural elements may, it is true, be
shown to exist on either side, even at periods when mutual intercourse
was probably out of the question; but this may be due to uniformity in
the construction of the human brain, which leads man in different parts
of the world to arrive at similar ideas under similar conditions, or to
prehistoric connexions which it is as impossible for us to trace now as
is the origin of mankind itself. Our standpoint as regards the origin of
the Chinese race is, therefore, that of the agnostic. All we can do is
to reproduce the tradition as it is found in Chinese literature. This
tradition, as applying to the very earliest periods, may be nothing more
than historical superstition, yet it has its historical importance.
Supposing it were possible to prove that none of the persons mentioned
in the Bible from Adam down to the Apostles ever lived, even the most
sceptical critic would still have to admit that the history of a great
portion of the human race has been materially affected by the belief in
the examples of their alleged lives. Something similar may be said of
the alleged earliest history of the Chinese with its model emperors and
detestable tyrants, the accounts of which, whether based on reality or
not, have exercised much influence on the development of the nation.

The Chinese have developed their theories of prehistoric life.
Speculation as to the origin and gradual evolution of their civilization
has resulted in the expression of views by authors who may have
reconstructed their systems from remnants of ancestral life revealed by
excavations, or from observation of neighbouring nations living in a
state of barbarism. This may account for a good deal of the repetition
found in the Chinese mythological and legendary narratives, the personal
and chronological part of which may have been invented merely as a
framework for illustrating social and cultural progress. The scene of
action of all the prehistoric figures from P'an-ku, the first human
being, down to the beginning of real history has been laid in a part of
the world which has never been anything but Chinese territory. P'an-ku's
epoch, millions of years ago, was followed by ten distinct periods of
sovereigns, including the "Heavenly emperors," the "Terrestrial
emperors," and the "Human emperors," the _Yu-ch'au_ or "Nest-builders,"
and _Sui-jön_, the "Fire Producer," the Prometheus of the Chinese, who
borrowed fire from the stars for the benefit of man. Several of the
characteristic phases of cultural progress and social organization have
been ascribed to this mythological period. Authors of less fertile
imagination refer them to later times, when the heroes of their accounts
appear in shapes somewhat resembling human beings rather than as gods
and demigods.

The Chinese themselves look upon Fu-hi as their first historical
emperor; and they place his lifetime in the years 2852-2738 B.C. Some
accounts represent him as a supernatural being; and we see him depicted
as a human figure with a fish tail something like a mermaid. He is
credited with having established social order among his people, who,
before him, had lived like animals in the wilds. The social chaos out of
which Chinese society arose is described as being characterized by the
absence of family life; for "children knew only their mothers and not
their fathers." Fu-hi introduced matrimony; and in so doing he placed
man as the husband at the head of the family and abolished the original
matriarchate. This quite corresponds with his views on the dualism in
natural philosophy, of which he is supposed to have laid the germs by
the invention of the so-called _pa-kua_, eight symbols, each consisting
of three parallel lines, broken or continuous. The continuous lines
represented the male element in nature; the broken ones, the female. It
is characteristic that the same ruler who assigned to man his position
as the head of the family is also credited with the invention of that
natural philosophy of the "male and female principles," according to
which all good things and qualities were held to be male, while their
less sympathetic opposites were female, such as heaven and earth, sun
and moon, day and night, south and north. If these traditions really
represent the oldest prehistoric creations of the popular mind, it would
almost seem that the most ancient Chinese shared that naïve sentiment
which caused our own forefathers to invent gender. The difference is
that, with us, the conception survives merely in the language, where the
article or suffixes mark gender, whereas with the Chinese, whose
language does not express gender, it survives in their system of
metaphysics. For all their attempts at fathoming the secrets of nature
are based on the idea that male or female powers are inherent in all
matter.

To the same Emperor Fu-hi are ascribed many of the elementary inventions
which raise man from the life of a brute to that of a social being. He
taught his people to hunt, to fish, and to keep flocks; he constructed
musical instruments, and replaced a kind of knot-writing previously in
use by a system of hieroglyphics. All this cannot of course be
considered as history; but it shows that the authors of later centuries
who credited Fu-hi with certain inventions were not quite illogical in
starting from the matriarchal chaos, after which he is said to have
organized society with occupations corresponding to those of a period of
hunting, fishing and herding. This period was bound to be followed by a
further step towards the final development of the nation's social
condition; and we find it quite logically succeeded by a period of
agricultural life, personified in the Emperor, Shön-nung, supposed to
have lived in the twenty-eighth century B.C. His name may be freely
translated as "Divine Labourer"; and to him the Chinese ascribe the
invention of agricultural implements, and the discovery of the medicinal
properties of numerous plants.

The third historical emperor was Huang-ti, the "Yellow emperor,"
according to the literal translation. Ssï-ma Ts'ién, the Herodotus of
the Chinese, begins his history with him; but Fu-hi and Shön-nung are
referred to in texts much older than this historian, though many details
relating to their alleged reigns have been added in later times.
Huang-ti extended the boundaries of the empire, described as being
originally confined to a limited territory near the banks of the Yellow
river and the present city of Si-an-fu. Here were the sites of cities
used as capitals of the empire under various names during long periods
since remote antiquity. To Huang-ti, whose reign is said to have
commenced in 2704 according to one source and in 2491 according to
another, are ascribed most of the cultural innovations which historians
were not able otherwise to locate within historical times. Under
Huang-ti we find the first mention of a nation called the Hun-yü, who
occupied the north of his empire and with whom he is represented to have
engaged in warfare. The Chinese identify this name with that of the
Hiung-nu, their old hereditary enemy and the ancestors of Attila's Huns.
Even though the details of these legendary accounts may deserve little
confidence, there must have been an old tradition that a nation called
the Hun-yü, occupying the northern confines of China, were the ancestors
of the Hiung-nu tribes, well known in historical times, a scion of whose
great khans settled in territory belonging to the king of Sogdiana
during the first century B.C., levied tribute from his neighbours, the
Alans, and with his small but warlike horde initiated that era of
migrations which led to the overrunning of Europe with Central-Asiatic
Tatars.

Fu-hi, Shön-nung and Huang-ti represent a group of rulers comprised by
the Chinese under the name of _San-huang_, i.e. "The Three Emperors."
Although we have no reason to deny their existence, the details recorded
concerning them contain enough in the way of improbabilities to justify
us in considering them as mythical creations. The chronology, too, is
apparently quite fictitious; for the time allotted to their reigns is
much too long as a term of government for a single human life, and, on
the other hand, much too short, if we measure it by the cultural
progress said to have been brought about in it. Fu-hi's period of
hunting life must have lasted many generations before it led to the
agricultural period represented by the name Shön-nung; and this period
in turn could not possibly have led within a little more than one
hundred years to the enormous progress ascribed to Huang-ti. Under the
latter ruler a regular board of historians is said to have been
organized with Ts'ang-kié as president, who is known also as Shi-huang,
i.e. "the Emperor of Historians," the reputed inventor of hieroglyphic
writing placed by some authors into the Fu-hi period and worshipped as
Tz'ï-shön, i.e. "God of writing," to the present day. Huang-ti is
supposed to have been the first builder of temples, houses and cities;
to have regulated the calendar, to which he added the intercalary month;
and to have devised means of traffic by cars drawn by oxen and by boats
to ply on the lakes and rivers of his empire. His wife, known as "the
lady of Si-ling," is credited with the invention of the several
manipulations in the rearing of silkworms and the manufacture of silk.
The invention of certain flutes, combined to form a kind of reed organ,
led to a deeper study of music; and in order to construct these
instruments with the necessary accuracy a system of weights and measures
had to be devised. Huang-ti's successors, Shau-hau, Chuan-hü, and
Ti-k'u, were less prominent, though each of them had their particular
merits.

_The Model Emperors._--Most of the stories regarding the "Three
Emperors" are told in comparatively late records. The _Shu-king_,
sometimes described as the "Canon of History," our oldest source of
pre-Confucian history, supposed to have been edited by Confucius
himself, knows nothing of Fu-hi, Shön-nung and Huang-ti; but it begins
by extolling the virtues of the emperor _Yau_ and his successor
_Shun_. Yau and Shun are probably the most popular names in Chinese
history as taught in China. Whatever good qualities may be imagined of
the rulers of a great nation have been heaped upon their heads; and
the example of their lives has at all times been held up by
Confucianists as the height of perfection in a sovereign's character.
Yau, whose reign has been placed by the fictitious standard chronology
of the Chinese in the years 2357-2258, and about 200 years later by
the less extravagant "Annals of the Bamboo Books," is represented as
the patron of certain astronomers who had to watch the heavenly
bodies; and much has been written about the reputed astronomical
knowledge of the Chinese in this remote period. Names like Deguignes,
Gaubil, Biot and Schlegel are among those of the investigators. On the
other side are the sceptics, who maintain that later editors
interpolated statements which could have been made only with the
astronomical knowledge possessed by their own contemporaries.
According to an old legend, Shun banished "the four wicked ones" to
distant territories. One of these bore the name _T'au-t'ié_, i.e.
"Glutton"; called also San-miau. _T'au-t'ié_ is also the name of an
ornament, very common on the surface of the most ancient bronze
vessels, showing the distorted face of some ravenous animal. The
San-miau as a tribe are said to have been the forefathers of the
Tangutans, the Tibetans and the Miau-tz'ï in the south-west of China.
This legend may be interpreted as indicating that the non-Chinese
races in the south-west have come to their present seats by migration
from Central China in remote antiquity. During Yau's reign a
catastrophe reminding one of the biblical deluge threatened the
Chinese world. The emperor held his minister of works, Kun,
responsible for this misfortune, probably an inundation of the Yellow
river such as has been witnessed by the present generation. Its
horrors are described with poetical exaggeration in the _Shu-king_.
When the efforts to stop the floods had proved futile for nine years,
Yau wished to abdicate, and he selected a virtuous young man of the
name of Shun as his successor. Among the legends told about this
second model emperor is the story that he had a board before his
palace on which every subject was permitted to note whatever faults he
had to find with his government, and that by means of a drum suspended
at his palace gate attention might be drawn to any complaint that was
to be made to him. Since Kun had not succeeded in stopping the floods,
he was dismissed and his son Yü was appointed in his stead. Probably
the waters began to subside of their own accord, but Yü has been
praised up as the national hero who, by his engineering works, saved
his people from utter destruction. His labours in this direction are
described in a special section of the Confucian account known as
_Yü-kung_, i.e. "Tribute of Yü." Yü's merit has in the sequel been
exaggerated so as to credit him with more than human powers. He is
supposed to have cut canals through the hills, in order to furnish
outlets to the floods, and to have performed feats of engineering
compared to which, according to Von Richthofen, the construction of
the St Gotthard tunnel without blasting materials would be child's
play, and all this within a few years.

_The Hia Dynasty._--As a reward for his services Yü was selected to
succeed Shun as emperor. He divided the empire into nine provinces, the
description of which in the _Yü-kung_ chapter of the "Canon of History"
bears a suspicious resemblance to later accounts. Yü's reign has been
assigned to the years 2205-2198, and the Hia Dynasty, of which he became
the head, has been made to extend to the overthrow in 1766 B.C. of Kié,
its eighteenth and last emperor, a cruel tyrant of the most vicious and
contemptible character. Among the Hia emperors we find _Chung-k'ang_
(2159-2147), whose reign has attracted the attention of European
scholars by the mention of an eclipse of the sun, which his court
astronomers had failed to predict. European astronomers and sinologues
have brought much acumen to bear on the problem involved in the
_Shu-king_ account in trying to decide which of the several eclipses
known to have occurred about that time was identical with the one
observed in China under Chung-k'ang.

_The Shang, or Yin, Dynasty._--This period, which preceded the classical
Chóu dynasty, is made to extend from 1766 to 1122 B.C. We must now be
prepared to see an energetic or virtuous ruler at the head of a dynasty
and either a cruel tyrant or a contemptible weakling at the end of it.
It seems natural that this should be so; but Chinese historians, like
the writers of Roman history, have a tendency to exaggerate both good
and bad qualities. Ch'öng-tang, its first sovereign, is represented as a
model of goodness and of humane feeling towards his subjects. Even the
animal world benefited by his kindness, inasmuch as he abolished all
useless torture in the chase. His great minister I Yin, who had greatly
assisted him in securing the throne, served two of his successors.
P'an-köng (1401) and Wu-ting (1324) are described as good rulers among a
somewhat indifferent set of monarchs. The Shang dynasty, like the Hia,
came to an end through the reckless vice and cruelty of a tyrant
(Chóu-sin with his consort Ta-ki). China had even in those days to
maintain her position as a civilized nation by keeping at bay the
barbarous nations by which she was surrounded. Chief among these were
the ancestors of the Hiung-nu tribes, or Huns, on the northern and
western boundaries. To fight them, to make pacts and compromises with
them, and to befriend them with gifts so as to keep them out of the
Imperial territories, had been the rôle of a palatinate on the western
frontier, the duchy of Chóu, while the court of China with its vicious
emperor gave itself up to effeminate luxury. Chóu-sin's evil practices
had aroused the indignation of the palatine, subsequently known as
Wön-wang, who in vain remonstrated with the emperor's criminal treatment
of his subjects. The strength and integrity of Wön-wang's character had
made him the corner-stone of that important epoch; and his name is one
of the best known both in history and in literature. The courage with
which he spoke his mind in rebuking his unworthy liege lord caused the
emperor to imprison him, his great popularity alone saving his life.
During his incarceration, extending over three years, he compiled the
_I-king_, or "Canon of Changes," supposed to be the oldest book of
Chinese literature, and certainly the one most extensively studied by
the nation. Wön-wang's son, known as Wu-wang, was destined to avenge his
father and the many victims of Chóu-sin's cruelty. Under his leadership
the people rose against the emperor and, with the assistance of his
allies, "men of the west," possibly ancestors of the Huns, overthrew the
Shang dynasty after a decisive battle, whereupon Chóu-sin committed
suicide by setting fire to his palace.

_Chóu Dynasty._--Wu-wang, the first emperor of the new dynasty, named
after his duchy of Chóu on the western frontier, was greatly assisted in
consolidating the empire by his brother, Chóu-kung, i.e. "Duke of Chóu."
As the loyal prime-minister of Wu-wang and his successor the duke of
Chóu laid the foundation of the government institutions of the dynasty,
which became the prototype of most of the characteristic features in
Chinese public and social life down to recent times. The brothers and
adherents of the new sovereign were rewarded with fiefs which in the
sequel grew into as many states. China thus developed into a
confederation, resembling that of the German empire, inasmuch as a
number of independent states, each having its own sovereign, were united
under one liege lord, the emperor, styled "The Son of Heaven," who as
high priest of the nation reigned in the name of Heaven. The emperor
represented the nation in sacrificing and praying to God. His relations
with his vassals and government officials, and those of the heads of the
vassal states with their subjects as well as of the people among
themselves were regulated by the most rigid ceremonial. The dress to be
worn, the speeches to be made, and the postures to be assumed on all
possible occasions, whether at court or in private life, were subject to
regulations. The duke of Chóu, or whoever may have been the creator of
this system, showed deep wisdom in his speculations, if he based that
immutability of government which in the sequel became a Chinese
characteristic, on the physical and moral immutability of individuals by
depriving them of all spontaneous action in public and private life.
Originally and nominally the emperor's power as the ruler over his
vassals, who again ruled in his name, was unquestionable; and the first
few generations of the dynasty saw no decline of the original strength
of central power. A certain loyalty based on the traditional ancestral
worship counteracted the desire to revolt. The rightful heir to the
throne was responsible to his ancestors as his subjects were to theirs.
"We have to do as our ancestors did," the people argued; "and since they
obeyed the ancestors of our present sovereign, we have to be loyal to
him." Interference with this time-honoured belief would have amounted to
a rupture, as it were, in the nation's religious relations, and as long
as the people looked upon the emperor as the Son of Heaven, his moral
power would outweigh strong armies sent against him in rebellion. The
time came soon enough when central power depended merely on this
spontaneous loyalty.

Not all the successors of Wu-wang profited by the lessons given them by
past history. Incapacity, excessive severity and undue weakness had
created discontent and loosened the relations between the emperor and
his vassals. Increase in the extent of the empire greatly added to this
decline of central power. For the emperor's own dominion was centrally
situated and surrounded by the several confederate states; its
geographical position prevented it from participating in the general
aggrandisement of China, and increase in territory, population and
prestige had become the privilege of boundary states. Tatar tribes in
the north and west and the aboriginal Man barbarians in the south were
forced by warfare to yield land, or enticed to exchange it for goods, or
induced to mingle with their Chinese neighbours, thus producing a mixed
population combining the superior intelligence of the Chinese race with
the energetic and warlike spirit of barbarians. These may be the main
reasons which gradually undermined the Imperial authority and brought
some of the confederate states to the front, so as to overshadow the
authority of the Son of Heaven himself, whose military and financial
resources were inferior to those of several of his vassals. A few out of
the thirty-five sovereigns of the Chóu dynasty were distinguished by
extraordinary qualities. Mu-wang of the 10th century performed journeys
far beyond the western frontier of his empire, and was successful in
warfare against the Dog Barbarians, described as the ancestors of the
Hiung-nu, or Huns. The reign of Süan-wang (827-782 B.C.) was filled with
warfare against the Tangutans and the Huns, called Hién-yün in a
contemporaneous poem of the "Book of Odes"; but the most noteworthy
reign in this century is that of the lascivious Yu-wang, the
oppressiveness of whose government had caused a bard represented in the
"Book of Odes" to complain about the emperor's evil ways. The writer of
this poem refers to certain signs showing that Heaven itself is
indignant at Yu-wang's crimes. One of these signs was an eclipse of the
sun which had recently occurred, the date and month being clearly
stated. This date corresponds exactly with August 29, 776 B.C.; and
astronomers have calculated that on that precise date an eclipse of the
sun was visible in North China. This, of course, cannot be a mere
accident; and since the date falls into the sixth year of Yu-wang's
reign, the coincidence is bound to increase our confidence in that part
of Chinese history. Our knowledge of it, however, is due to mere chance;
for the record of the eclipse would probably not have been preserved
until our days had it not been interpreted as a kind of _tekel upharsin_
owing to the peculiarity of the political situation. It does not follow,
therefore, as some foreign critics assume, that the historical period
begins as late as Yu-wang's reign. China has no architectural witnesses
to testify to her antiquity as Egypt has in her pyramids and temple
ruins; but the sacrificial bronze vessels of the Shang and Chóu
dynasties, with their characteristic ornaments and hieroglyphic
inscriptions, seem to support the historical tradition inasmuch as
natural development may be traced by the analysis of their artistic and
paleographic phases. Counterfeiters, say a thousand years later, could
not have resisted the temptation to introduce patterns and hieroglyphic
shapes of later periods; and whatever bronzes have been assigned to the
Shang dynasty, i.e. some time in the second millennium B.C., exhibit the
Shang characteristics. The words occurring in their inscriptions,
carefully collected, may be shown to be confined to ideas peculiar to
primitive states of cultural life, not one of them pointing to an
invention we may suspect to be of later origin. But, apart from this, it
seems a matter of individual judgment how far back beyond that
indisputable year 776 B.C. a student will date the beginning of real
history.

In the 7th century central authority had declined to such an extent that
the emperor was merely the nominal head of the confederation, the
hegemony in the empire falling in turn to one of the five principal
states, for which reason the Chinese speak of a period of the "Five
Leaders." The state of Ts'i, corresponding to North Shan-tung, had begun
to overshadow the other states by unprecedented success in economic
enterprise, due to the prudent advice of its prime minister, the
philosopher Kuan-tzï. Other states attained leadership by success in
warfare. Among these leaders we see duke Mu of T'sin (659 B.C.), a state
on the western boundary which was so much influenced by amalgamation
with its Hunnic neighbours that the purely Chinese states regarded it as
a barbarian country. The emperor was in those days a mere shadow;
several of his vassals had grown strong enough to claim and be granted
the title "king," and they all tried to annihilate their neighbours by
ruse in diplomacy and by force of arms, without referring to their
common ruler for arbitration, as they were in duty bound. In this
_bellum omnium contra omnes_ the state of Ts'in, in spite of repeated
reverses, remained in possession of the field.

The period of this general struggle is spoken of by Chinese historians
as that of "The Contending States." Like that of the "Five Leaders" it
is full of romance; and the examples of heroism, cowardice, diplomatic
skill and philosophical equanimity which fill the pages of its history
have become the subject of elegant literature in prose and poetry. The
political development of the Chóu dynasty is the exact counterpart of
that of its spiritual life as shown in the contemporaneous literature.
The orthodox conservative spirit which reflects the ethical views of
the emperor and his royal partisans is represented by the name
Confucius (551-479 B.C.). The great sage had collected old traditions
and formulated the moral principles which had been dormant in the
Chinese nation for centuries. His doctrines tended to support the
maintenance of central power; so did those of other members of his
school, especially Mencius. Filial love showed itself as obedience to
the parents in the family and as loyalty to the emperor and his
government in public life. It was the highest virtue, according to the
Confucian school. The history of the nation as taught in the
_Shu-king_ was in its early part merely an illustration of
Confucianist ideas about good and bad government. The perpetual advice
to rulers was: "Be like Yau, Shun and Yü, and you will be right."
Confucianism was dominant during the earlier centuries of the Chóu
dynasty, whose lucky star began to wane when doctrines opposed to it
got the upper hand. The philosophical schools built up on the
doctrines of Lau-tzï had in the course of generations become
antagonistic, and found favour with those who did not endorse that
loyalty to the emperor demanded by Mencius; so had other thinkers,
some of whom had preached morals which were bound to break up all
social relations, like the philosopher of egotism, Yang Chu, according
to Mencius disloyalty personified and the very reverse of his ideal,
the duke of Chóu. The egotism recommended by Yang Chu to the
individual had begun to be practised on a large scale by the
contending states, their governments and sovereigns, some of whom had
long discarded Confucian rites under the influence of Tatar
neighbours. It appears that the anti-Confucian spirit which paved the
way towards the final extinction of Wu-wang's dynasty received its
chief nourishment from the Tatar element in the population of the
northern and western boundary states. Among these Ts'in was the most
prominent. Having placed itself in the possession of the territories
of nearly all of the remaining states, Ts'in made war against the last
shadow emperor, Nan-wang who had attempted to form an alliance against
the powerful usurper, with the result that the western part of the
Chóu dominion was lost to the aggressor.

Nan-wang died soon after (256 B.C.), and a relative whom he had
appointed regent was captured in 249 B.C., when the king of Ts'in put
an end to this last remnant of the once glorious Chóu dynasty by
annexing its territory. The king had already secured the possession of
the Nine Tripods, huge bronze vases said to have been cast by the
emperor Yü as representing the nine divisions of his empire and since
preseryed in the treasuries of all the various emperors as a symbol of
Imperial power. With the loss of these tripods Nan-wang had forfeited
the right to call himself "Son of Heaven." Another prerogative was the
offering of sacrifice to Shang-ti, the Supreme Ruler, or God, with
whom only the emperor was supposed to communicate. The king of Ts'in
had performed the ceremony as early as 253 B.C. (F. H.*)

(C)--_From the Ts'in Dynasty to 1875._

Ts'in dynasty 249-210 B.C.

Shi Hwang-ti.

After the fall of the Chóu dynasty a kind of interregnum followed during
which China was practically without an emperor. This was the time when
the state of Ts'in asserted itself as the leader and finally as the
master of all the contending states. Its king, Chau-siang, who died in
251 B.C., though virtually emperor, abstained from adopting the imperial
title. He was succeeded by his son, Hiao-wên Wang, who died after a
three days' reign. Chwan-siang Wang, his son and successor, was a man of
no mark. He died in 246 B.C. giving place to Shi Hwang-ti, "the first
universal emperor." This sovereign was then only thirteen, but he
speedily made his influence felt everywhere. He chose Hien-yang, the
modern Si-gan Fu, as his capital, and built there a magnificent palace,
which was the wonder and admiration of his contemporaries. He abolished
the feudal system, and divided the country into provinces over whom he
set officers directly responsible to himself. He constructed roads
through the empire, he formed canals, and erected numerous and handsome
public buildings.

Having settled the internal affairs of his kingdom, he turned his
attention to the enemies beyond his frontier. Chief among these were
the Hiung-nu Tatars, whose attacks had for years disquieted the
Chinese and neighbouring principalities. Against these foes he marched
with an army of 300,000 men, exterminating those in the neighbourhood
of China, and driving the rest into Mongolia. On his return from this
campaign he was called upon to face a formidable rebellion in Ho-nan,
which had been set on foot by the adherents of the feudal princes whom
he had dispossessed. Having crushed the rebellion, he marched
southwards and subdued the tribes on the south of the Nan-shan ranges,
i.e. the inhabitants of the modern provinces of Fu-kien, Kwang-tung
and Kwang-si. The limits of his empire were thus as nearly as possible
those of modern China proper. One monument remains to bear witness to
his energy. Finding that the northern states of Ts'in, Chao and Yen
were building lines of fortification along their northern frontier for
protection against the Hiung-nu, he conceived the idea of building one
gigantic wall, which was to stretch across the whole northern limit of
the huge empire from the sea to the farthest western corner of the
modern province of Kan-suh. This work was begun under his immediate
supervision in 214 B.C. His reforming zeal made him unpopular with the
upper classes. Schoolmen and pedants held up to the admiration of the
people the heroes of the feudal times and the advantages of the system
they administered. Seeing in this propaganda danger to the state Shi
Hwang-ti determined to break once and for all with the past. To this
end he ordered the destruction of all books having reference to the
past history of the empire, and many scholars were put to death for
failing in obedience to it. (See _infra § Chinese Literature, §§
History._) The measure was unpopular and on his death (210 B.C.)
rebellion broke out. His son and successor Erh-shi, a weak and
debauched youth, was murdered after having offered a feeble resistance
to his enemies. His son Tsze-yung surrendered to Liu Pang, the prince
of Han, one of the two generals who were the leaders of the rebellion.
He afterwards fell into the hands of Hiang Yu, the other chieftain,
who put him and his family and associates to death. Hiang Yu aspiring
to imperial honours, war broke out between him and Liu Pang. After
five years' conflict Hiang Yu was killed in a decisive battle before
Wu-kiang. Liu Pang was then proclaimed emperor (206 B.C.) under the
title of Kao-ti, and the new line was styled the Han dynasty.

Han dynasty 206 B.C.

Kao-ti established his capital at Lo-yang in Ho-nan, and afterwards
removed it to Chang-an in Shen-si. Having founded his right to rebel on
the oppressive nature of the laws promulgated by Shi Hwang-ti, he
abolished the ordinances of Ts'in, except that referring to the
destruction of the books--for, like his great predecessor, he dreaded
the influence exercised by the _literati_--and he exchanged the worship
of the gods of the soil of Ts'in for that of those of Han, his native
state. His successor Hwei-ti (194-179 B.C.), however, gave every
encouragement to literature, and appointed a commission to restore as
far as possible the texts which had been destroyed by Shi Hwang-ti. In
this the commission was very successful. It was discovered that in many
cases the law had been evaded, while in numerous instances scholars were
found to write down from memory the text of books of which all copies
had been destroyed, though in some cases the purity of the text is
doubtful and in other cases there were undoubted forgeries. A period of
repose was now enjoyed by the empire. There was peace within its
borders, and its frontiers remained unchallenged, except by the
Hiung-nu, who suffered many severe defeats. Thwarted in their attacks on
China, these marauders attacked the kingdom of the Yueh-chi, which had
grown up in the western extremity of Kan-suh, and after much fighting
drove their victims along the T'ien-shan-nan-lu to the territory between
Turkestan and the Caspian Sea. This position of affairs suggested to the
emperor the idea of forming an offensive and defensive alliance with the
Yueh-chi against the Hiung-nu. With this object the general Chang K'ien
was sent as an ambassador to western Tatary. After having been twice
imprisoned by the Hiung-nu he returned to China. Chang K'ien had
actually reached the court of the Yueh-chi, or Indo-Scythians as they
were called owing to their having become masters of India later on, and
paid a visit to the kingdom of Bactria, recently conquered by the
Yueh-chi. His report on the several kingdoms of western Asia opened up a
new world to the Chinese, and numerous elements of culture, plants and
animals were then imported for the first time from the west into China.
While in Bactria Chan K'ien's attention was first drawn to the existence
of India, and attempts to send expeditions, though at first fruitless,
finally led to its discovery. Under Wu-ti (140-86 B.C.) the power of the
Hiung-nu was broken and eastern Turkestan changed into a Chinese colony,
through which caravans could safely pass to bring back merchandise and
art treasures from Persia and the Roman market. By the Hans the feudal
system was restored in a modified form; 103 feudal principalities were
created, but they were more or less under the jurisdiction of civil
governors appointed to administer the thirteen _chows_ (provinces) into
which the country was divided. About the beginning of the Christian era
Wang Mang rose in revolt against the infant successor of P'ing-ti (A.D.
1), and in A.D. 9 proclaimed himself emperor. He, however, only gained
the suffrages of a portion of the nation, and before long his oppressive
acts estranged his supporters. In A.D. 23 Liu Siu, one of the princes of
Han, completely defeated him. His head was cut off, and his body was
torn in pieces by his own soldiery.

Eastern Han dynasty, A.D. 23.

Liu Siu, was proclaimed emperor under the title of Kwang-wu-ti, reigned
from A.D. 58 to 76. Having fixed on Lo-yang in Ho-nan as his capital,
the line of which he was the first emperor became known as the Eastern
Han dynasty. It is also known as the Later Han dynasty. During the reign
of his successor Ming-ti, A.D. 65, Buddhism was introduced from India
into China (see ante § _Religion_). About the same time the celebrated
general Pan Ch'ao was sent on an embassy to the king of Shen-shen, a
small state of Turkestan, near the modern Pidjan. Before long he added
the states of Shen-shen, Khotan, Kucha and Kashgar as apanages to the
Chinese crown, and for a considerable period the country enjoyed
prosperity. The Han dynasty (including in the term the Eastern Han
dynasty) has been considered the first national dynasty and is one of
the most famous in China; nor has any ruling family been more popular.
The Chinese, especially the northern Chinese, still call themselves "the
sons of Han." The wealth and trade as well as the culture of the country
was greatly developed, and the competitive examinations for literary
degrees instituted. The homogeneity of the nation was so firmly
established that subsequent dissensions and conquests could not alter
fundamentally the character of the nation.

Wei dynasty

Towards the end of the 2nd century the power of the Eastern Hans
declined. In 173 a virulent pestilence, which continued for eleven
years, broke out. A magical cure for this plague was said to have been
discovered by a Taoist priest named Chang Chio, who in a single month
won a sufficiently large following to enable him to gain possession of
the northern provinces of the empire. He was, however, defeated by
Ts'aou Ts'aou, another aspirant to imperial honours, whose son, Ts'aou
P'ei, on the death of Hien-ti (A.D. 220), proclaimed himself emperor,
adopting the title of Wei as the appellation of his dynasty. There
were then, however, two other claimants to the throne, Liu Pei and Sun
Ch'üan, and the three adventurers agreed to divide the empire between
them. Ts'aou P'ei, under the title of Wên-ti, ruled over the kingdom
of Wei (220), which occupied the whole of the central and northern
portion of China. Liu Pei established the Shuh Han dynasty in the
modern province of Sze-ch'uen (221), and called himself Chao-lieh-ti;
and to Sun Ch'üan fell the southern provinces of the empire, from the
Yangtsze-kiang southwards, including the modern Tongking, which he
formed into the kingdom of Wu with Nan-king for his capital, adopting
for himself the imperial style of Ta-tê (A.D. 222).

"Three kingdom" period.

Western Tsin dynasty.

China during the period of the "Three Kingdoms" was a house divided
against itself. Liu Pei, as a descendant of the house of Han, looked
upon himself as the rightful sovereign of the whole empire, and he
despatched an army under Chu-ko Liang to support his claims. This army
was met by an Oppossing force under the Wei commander Sze-ma I, of
whom Chinese historians say that "he led armies like a god," and who,
by adopting a Fabian policy, completely discomfited his adversary. But
the close of this campaign brought no peace to the country. Wars
became chronic, and the reins of power slipped out of the hands of
emperors into those of their generals. Foremost among these were the
members of the Sze-ma family of Wei. Sze-ma I left a son, Sze-ma Chao,
scarcely less distinguished than himself, and when Sze-ma Chao died
his honours descended to Sze-ma Yen, who deposed the ruling sovereign
of Wei, and proclaimed himself emperor of China (A.D. 265). His
dynasty he styled the Western Tsin dynasty, and he adopted for himself
the title of Wu-ti. The most noticeable event in this reign was the
advent of the ambassadors of the emperor Diocletian in 284. For some
years the neighbouring states appear to have transferred their
allegiance from the house of Wei to that of Tsin. Wu-ti's successors
proving, however, weak and incapable, the country soon fell again into
disorder. The Hiung-nu renewed incursions into the empire at the
beginning of the 4th century, and in the confusion which followed, an
adventurer named Liu Yuen established himself (in 311) as emperor,
first at P'ing-yang in Shan-si and afterwards in Lo-yang and Chang-an.
The history of this period is very chaotic. Numerous states sprang
into existence, some founded by the Hiung-nu and others by the Sien-pi
tribe, a Tungusic clan, inhabiting a territory to the north of China,
which afterwards established the Liao dynasty in China. In 419 the
Eastern Tsin dynasty came to an end, and with it disappeared for
nearly two hundred years all semblance of united authority. The
country became divided into two parts, the north and the south. In the
north four families reigned successively, two of which were of Sien-pi
origin, viz. the Wei and the How Chow, the other two, the Pih Ts'i and
the How Liang, being Chinese. In the south five different houses
supplied rulers, who were all of Chinese descent.

Suy dynasty.

This period of disorder was brought to a close by the establishment of
the Suy dynasty (590). Among the officials of the ephemeral dynasty of
Chow was one Yang Kien, who on his daughter becoming empress (578) was
created duke of Suy. Two years later Yang Kien proclaimed himself
emperor. The country, weary of contention, was glad to acknowledge his
undivided authority; and during the sixteen years of his reign the
internal affairs of China were comparatively peaceably administered.
The emperor instituted an improved code of laws, and added 5000
volumes to the 10,000 which composed the imperial library. Abroad, his
policy was equally successful. He defeated the Tatars and chastised
the Koreans, who had for a long period recognized Chinese suzerainty,
but were torn by civil wars and were disposed to reject her authority.
After his death in 604 his second son forced the heir to the throne to
strangle himself, and then seized the throne. This usurper, Yang-ti,
sent expeditions against the Tatars, and himself headed an expedition
against the Uighurs, while one of his generals annexed the Lu-chu
Islands to the imperial crown. During his reign the volumes in the
imperial library were increased to 54,000, and he spent vast sums in
erecting a magnificent palace at Lo-yang, and in constructing
unprofitable canals. These and other extravagances laid so heavy a
burden on the country that discontent began again to prevail, and on
the emperor's return from a successful expedition against the Koreans,
he found the empire divided into rebellious factions. In the troubles
which followed General Li Yuen became prominent. On the death of the
emperor by assassination this man set Kung-ti, the rightful heir, on
the throne (617) until such time as he should have matured his
schemes.

Tang dynasty.

Kung-ti was poisoned in the following year and Li Yuen proclaimed
himself as Kao-tsu, the first emperor of the T'ang dynasty. At this time
the Turks were at the height of their power in Asia (see TURKS:
_History_), and Kao-tsu was glad to purchase their alliance with money.
But divisions weakened the power of the Turks, and T'ai-tsung (reigned
627-650), Kao-tsu's son and successor, regained much of the position in
Central Asia which had formerly been held by China. In 640 Hami, Turfan
and the rest of the Turkish territory were again included within the
Chinese empire, and four military governorships were appointed in
Central Asia, viz. at Kucha, Khotan, Kharastan and Kashgar. At the same
time the frontier was extended as far as eastern Persia and the Caspian
Sea. So great was now the fame of China, that ambassadors from Nepal,
Magadha, Persia and Constantinople (643) came to pay their court to the
emperor. Under T'ai-tsung there was national unity and peace, and in
consequence agriculture and commerce as well as literature flourished.
The emperor gave direct encouragements to the Nestorians, and gave a
favourable reception to an embassy from Mahommed (see ante §
_Religion_). On the accession of Kao-tsung (650) his wife, Wu How,
gained supreme influence, and on the death of her husband in 683 she set
aside his lawful successor, Chung-tsung, and took possession of the
throne. This was the first occasion the country was ruled by a dowager
empress. She governed with discretion, and her armies defeated the
Khitán in the north-east and also the Tibetans, who had latterly gained
possession of Kucha, Khotan and Kashgar. On her death, in 705,
Chung-tsung partially left the obscurity in which he had lived during
his mother's reign. But his wife, desiring to play a similar rôle to
that enjoyed by her mother-in-law, poisoned him and set his son,
Jui-tsung (710), on the throne. This monarch, who was weak and vicious,
was succeeded by Yuen-tsung (713), who introduced reform into the
administration and encouraged literature and learning. The king of
Khokand applied for aid against the Tibetans and Arabs, and Yuen-tsung
sent an army to his succour, but his general was completely defeated.
During the disorder which arose in consequence of the invasion of the
northern provinces by the Khitán, General An Lu-shan, an officer of
Turkish descent, placed himself at the head of a revolt, and having
secured Tung-kwan on the Yellow river, advanced on Chang-an. Thereupon
the emperor fled, and placed his son, Su-tsung (756-762), on the throne.
This sovereign, with the help of the forces of Khotan, Khokand and
Bokhara, of the Uighurs and of some 4000 Arabs sent by the caliph
Mansur, completely defeated An Lu-shan. During the following reigns the
Tibetans made constant incursions into the western provinces of the
empire, and T'ai-tsung (763-780) purchased the assistance of the Turks
against those intruders by giving a Chinese princess as wife to the
khan.

At this epoch the eunuchs of the palace gained an unwonted degree of
power, and several of the subsequent emperors fell victims to their
plots. The T'ang dynasty, which for over a hundred years had governed
firmly and for the good of the nation, began to decline. The history
of the 8th and 9th centuries is for the most part a monotonous record
of feeble governments, oppressions and rebellions. Almost the only
event worth chronicling is the iconoclastic policy of the emperor
Wu-tsung (841-847). Viewing the increase of monasteries and
ecclesiastical establishments as an evil, he abolished all temples,
closed the monasteries and nunneries, and sent the inmates back to
their families. Foreign priests were subjected to the same repressive
legislation, and Christians, Buddhists and Magi were bidden to return
whence they came. Buddhism again revived during the reign of the
emperor I-tsung (860-874), who, having discovered a bone of Buddha,
brought it to the capital in great state. By internal dissensions the
empire became so weakened that the prince of Liang found no difficulty
in gaining possession of the throne (907). He took the title of
T'ai-tsu, being the first emperor of the Later Liang dynasty. Thus
ended the T'ang dynasty, which is regarded as being the golden age of
Chinese literature.

Five dynasties, viz. the Later Liang, the Later T'ang, the Later Tsin,
the Later Han and the Later Chow, followed each other between the
years 907 and 960. Though the monarchs of these lines nominally held
sway over the empire, their real power was confined to very narrow
limits. The disorders which were rife during the time when the T'ang
dynasty was tottering to its fall fostered the development of
independent states, and so arose Liang in Ho-nan and Shan-tung, Ki in
Shen-si, Hwai-nan in Kiang-nan, Chow in Sze-ch'uen and parts of
Shen-si and Hu-kwang, Wu-yu[)e] in Cheh-kiang, Tsu and King-nan in
Hu-kwang, Ling-nan in Kwang-tung and the Uighurs in Tangut.

Sung dynasty.

A partial end was made to this recognized disorganization when, in 960,
General Chao Kw'ang-yin was proclaimed by the army emperor in succession
to the youthful Kung-ti, who was compelled to abdicate. The
circumstances of the time justified the change. It required a strong
hand to weld the empire together again, and to resist the attacks of the
Khitán Tatars, whose rule at this period extended over the whole of
Manchuria and Liao-tung. Against these aggressive neighbours T'ai-tsu
(_né_ Chao Kw'ang-yin) directed his efforts with varying success, and he
died in 976, while the war was still being waged. His son T'ai-tsung
(976-997) entered on the campaign with energy, but in the end was
compelled to conclude a peace with the Khitán. His successor, Chên-tsung
(997-1022), paid them tribute to abstain from further incursions.
Probably this tribute was not sent regularly; at all events, under
Jên-tsung (1023-1064), the Khitán again threatened to invade the empire,
and were only bought off by the promise of an annual tribute of taels
200,000 of silver, besides a great quantity of silken piece goods.
Neither was this arrangement long binding, and so formidable were the
advances made by the Tatars in the foilowing reigns, that Hwei-tsung
(1101-1126) invited the Nüchih Tatars to expel the Khitán from
Liao-tung. This they did, but having once possessed themselves of the
country they declined to yield it to the Chinese, and the result was
that a still more aggressive neighbour was established on the
north-eastern frontier of China. The Nüchih or Kin, as they now styled
themselves, overran the provinces of Chih-li, Shen-si, Shan-si and
Ho-nan, and during the reign of Kao-tsung (1127-1163) they advanced
their conquests to the line of the Yangtsze-kiang. From this time the
Sung ruled only over southern China; while the Kin or "Golden" dynasty
reign«d in the north. The Kin made Chung-tu, which occupied in part the
site of the modern Peking, their usual residence. The Sung fixed their
capital at Nanking and afterwards at Hangchow. Between them and the Kin
there was almost constant war.

Mongol invasion: 12th century.

During this period the Mongols began to acquire power in eastern Asia,
and about the beginning of the 12th century the forces of Jenghiz Khan
(q.v.) invaded the north-western frontier of China and the principality
of Hia, which at that time consisted of the modern provinces of Shen-si
and Kan-suh. To purchase the good-will of the Mongols the king of Hia
agreed to pay them a tribute, and gave a princess in marriage to their
ruler. In consequence of a dispute with the Kin emperor Wei-shao Wang,
Jenghiz Khan determined to invade Liao-tung. He was aided by the
followers of the Khitán leader Yeh-lü Ts'u-ts'ai, and in alliance with
this general he captured Liao-yang, the capital city.

After an unsuccessful invasion of China in 1212, Jenghiz Khan renewed
the attack in 1213. He divided his armies into four divisions, and
made a general advance southwards. His soldiers swept over Ho-nan,
Chih-li and Shan-tung, destroying upwards of ninety cities. It was
their boast that a horseman might ride without stumbling over the
sites where those cities had stood. Panic-stricken, the emperor moved
his court from Chung-tu to K'ai-fêng Fu, much against the advice of
his ministers, who foresaw the disastrous effect this retreat would
have on the fortunes of Kin. The state of Sung, which up to this time
had paid tribute, now declined to recognize Kin as its feudal chief,
and a short time afterwards declared war against its quondam ally.
Meanwhile, in 1215, Yeh-lü Ts'u-ts'ai advanced into China by the
Shan-hai Kwan, and made himself master of Peking, one of the few
cities in Chih-li which remained to Kin. After this victory his nobles
wished him to proclaim himself emperor, but he refused, being mindful
of an oath which he had sworn to Jenghiz Khan. In 1216 Tung-kwan, a
mountain pass on the frontiers of Ho-nan and Shen-si, and the scene of
numerous dynastic battles (as it is the only gateway between
north-eastern and north-western China), was taken by the invaders. As
the war dragged on the resistance offered by the Kin grew weaker and
weaker. In 1220 Chi-nan Fu, the capital of Shan-tung, was taken, and
five years later Jenghiz Khan marched an army westward into Hia and
conquered the forces of the king. Two years later (1227) Jenghiz Khan
died.

With the view to the complete conquest of China by the Mongols,
Jenghiz declined to nominate either of the eldest two sons who had
been born to his Chinese wives as his heir, but chose his third son
Ogdai, whose mother was a Tatar. On hearing of the death of Jenghiz
Khan the Kin sent an embassy to his successor desiring peace, but
Ogdai told them there would be no peace for them until their dynasty
should be overthrown. Hitherto the Mongols had been without any code
of laws. But the consolidation of the nation by the conquests of
Jenghiz Khan made it necessary to establish a recognized code of laws,
and one of the first acts of Ogdai was to form such a code. With the
help also of Yeh-lü Ts'u-ts'ai, he established custom-houses in
Chih-li, Shan-tung, Shan-si and Liao-tung; and for this purpose
divided these provinces into ten departments. Meanwhile the war with
the Kin was carried on with energy. In 1230 Si-gan Fu was taken, and
sixty important posts were captured. Two years later, Tu-lé, brother
of Ogdai, took Fêng-siang Fu and Han-chung Fu, in the flight from
which last-named place 100,000 persons are said to have perished.
Following the course of the river Han in his victorious career, this
general destroyed 140 towns and fortresses, and defeated the army of
Kin at Mount San-fêng.

The Kin dynasty overthrown.

In 1232 the Mongols made an alliance with the state of Sung, by which,
on condition of Sung helping to destroy Kin, Ho-nan was to be the
property of Sung for ever. The effect of this coalition soon became
apparent. Barely had the Kin emperor retreated from K'ai-fêng Fu to
Ju-ning Fu in Ho-nan when the former place fell into the hands of the
allies. Next fell Loyang, and the victorious generals then marched on
to besiege Ju-ning Fu. The presence of the emperor gave energy to the
defenders, and they held out until every animal in the city had been
killed for food, until every old and useless person had suffered death
to lessen the number of hungry mouths, until so many able-bodied men
had fallen that the women manned the ramparts, and then the allies
stormed the walls. The emperor burned himself to death in his palace,
that his body might not fall into the hands of his enemies. For a few
days the shadow of the imperial crown rested on the head of his heir
Chang-lin, but in a tumult which broke out amongst his followers he
lost his life, and with him ended the "Golden" dynasty.

Notwithstanding the treaty between Ogdai and Sung, no sooner were the
spoils of Kin to be divided than war broke out again between them, in
prosecuting which the Mongol armies swept over the provinces of
Sze-ch'uen, Hu-kwang, Kiang-nan and Ho-nan, and were checked only when
they reached the walls of Lu-chow Fu in Ngan-hui. Ogdai died in 1241,
and was nominally succeeded by his grandson Cheliemên. But one of his
widows, Tolickona, took possession of the throne, and after exercising
rule for four years, established her son Kwei-yew as great khan. In
1248 his life was cut short, and the nobles, disregarding the claims
of Cheliemên, proclaimed as emperor Mangu, the eldest son of Tu-lé.
Under this monarch the war against Sung was carried on with energy,
and Kublai, outstripping the bounds of Sung territory, made his way
into the province of Yun-nan, at that time divided into a number of
independent states, and having attached them to his brother's crown he
passed on into Tibet, Tongking and Cochin-China, and thence striking
northwards entered the province of Kwang-si.

Kublai Khan emperior.

On the death of Mangu in 1259 Kublai (q.v.) ascended the throne. Never
in the history of China was the nation more illustrious, nor its power
more widely felt, than under his sovereignty. During the first twenty
years of his reign Sung kept up a resistance against his authority.
Their last emperor Ping-ti, seeing his cause lost, drowned himself in
the sea. The Sung dynasty, which had ruled southern China 320 years,
despite its misfortunes is accounted one of the great dynasties of
China. During its sway arts and literature were cultivated and many
eminent writers flourished. His enemies subdued, Kublai Khan in 1280
assumed complete jurisdiction as emperor of China. He took the title of
Shit-su and founded what is known as the Yuen dynasty. He built a new
capital close to Chung-tu, which became known as Kaanbaligh (city of the
khan), in medieval European chronicles, Cambaluc, and later as Peking.
At this time his authority was acknowledged "from the Frozen Sea, almost
to the Straits of Malacca. With the exception of Hindustan, Arabia and
the westernmost parts of Asia, all the Mongol princes as far as the
Dnieper declared themselves his vassals, and brought regularly their
tribute." It was during this reign that Marco Polo visited China, and he
describes in glowing colours the virtues and glories of the "great
khan." His rule was characterized by discretion and munificence. He
undertook public works, he patronized literature, and relieved the
distress of the poor, but the Chinese never forgot that he was an alien
and regarded him as a barbarian. He died unregretted in 1294. His son
had died during his lifetime, and after some contention his grandson
Timur ascended the throne under the title of Yuen-chêng. This monarch
died in 1307 after an uneventful reign, and, as he left no son,
Wu-tsung, a Mongol prince, became emperor. To him succeeded Jên-tsung in
1312, who made himself conspicuous by the honour he showed to the memory
of Confucius, and by distributing offices more equally between Mongols
and Chinese than had hitherto been done. This act of justice gave great
satisfaction to the Chinese, and his death ended a peaceful and
prosperous reign in 1320. At this time there appears to have been a
considerable commercial intercourse between Europe and China. But after
Jên-tsung's death the dynasty fell on evil days. The Mongols in adopting
Chinese civilization had lost much of their martial spirit. They were
still regarded as alien by the Chinese and numerous secret societies
were formed to achieve their overthrow. Jên-tsung's successors were weak
and incapable rulers, and in the person of Shun-ti (1333-1368) were
summed up the vices and faults of his predecessors. Revolts broke out,
and finally this descendant of Jenghiz Khan was compelled to fly before
Chu Yüen-chang, the son of a Chinese labouring man. Deserted by his
followers, he sought refuge in Ying-chang Fu, and there the last of the
Yüen dynasty died. These Mongol emperors, whatever their faults, had
shown tolerance to Christian missionaries and Papal legates (see _ante_
§ _The Medieval Cathay_).

Ming dynasty.

Chu Yüen-chang met with little opposition, more especially as his first
care on becoming possessed of a district was to suppress lawlessness and
to establish a settled government. In 1355 he captured Nanking, and
proclaimed himself duke of Wu, but carefully avoided adopting any of the
insignia of royalty. Even when master of the empire, thirteen years
later, he still professed to dislike the idea of assuming the imperial
title. His scruples were overcome, and he declared himself emperor in
1368. He carried his arms into Tatary, where he subdued the last
semblance of Mongol power in that direction, and then bent his steps
towards Liao-tung. Here the Mongols defended themselves with the bravery
of despair, but unavailingly, and the conquest of this province left
Hung-wu, as the founder of the new or Ming ("Bright") dynasty styled
himself, without a foe in the empire.

All intercourse with Europe seems now to have ceased until the
Portuguese arrived in the 16th century, but Hung-wu cultivated
friendly relations with the neighbouring states. As a quondam Buddhist
priest he lent his countenance to that religion to the exclusion of
Taoism, whose priests had for centuries earned the contempt of all but
the most ignorant by their pretended magical arts and their search
after the philosopher's stone. Hung-wu died in 1398 and was succeeded
by his grandson Kien-Wên. Aware that the appointment of this
youth--his father was dead--would give offence to the young emperor's
uncles, Hung-wu had dismissed them to their respective governments.
However, the prince of Yen, his eldest surviving son, rose in revolt
as soon as the news reached him of his nephew's accession, and after
gaining several victories over the armies of Kien-wên he presented
himself before the gates of Nanking, the capital. Treachery opened the
gates to him, and the emperor having fled in the disguise of a monk,
the victorious prince became emperor and took the title of Yung-lo
(1403). At home Yung-lo devoted himself to the encouragement of
literature and the fine arts, and, possibly from a knowledge that
Kien-wên was among the Buddhist priests, he renewed the law
prohibiting Buddhism. Abroad he swept Cochin-China and Tongking within
the folds of his empire and carried his arms into Tatary, where he
made new conquests of waste regions, and erected a monument of his
victories. He died in 1425, and was succeeded by his son Hung-hi.

Hung-hi's reign was short and uneventful. He strove to promote only
such mandarins as had proved themselves to be able and honest, and to
further the welfare of the people. During the reign of his successor,
Süen-tê (1426-1436), the empire suffered the first loss of territory
since the commencement of the dynasty. Cochin-China rebelled and
gained her independence. The next emperor, Chêng-t'ung (1436), was
taken prisoner by a Tatar chieftain, a descendant of the Yüen family
named Yi-sien, who had invaded the northern Erovinces. Having been
completely defeated by a Chinese force from Liao-tung, Yi-sien
liberated his captive, who reoccupied the throne, which during his
imprisonment (1450-1457) had been held by his brother King-ti. The two
following reigns, those of Chêng-hwa (1465-1488) and of Hung-chi
(1488-1506), were quiet and peaceful.

Struggle with Japan for Korea.

The most notable event in the reign of the next monarch, Chêng-te
(1506-1522), was the arrival of the Portuguese at Canton (1517). From
this time dates modern European intercourse with China. Chêng-te
suppressed a formidable insurrection headed by the prince of Ning, but
disorder caused by this civil war encouraged the foreign enemies of
China. From the north came a Tatar army under Yen-ta in 1542, during
the reign of Kia-tsing, which laid waste the province of Shen-si, and
even threatened the capital, and a little later a Japanese fleet
ravaged the littoral provinces. Ill-blood had arisen between the two
peoples before this, and a Japanese colony had been driven out of
Ningpo by force and not without bloodshed a few years previously.
Kia-tsing (d. 1567) was not equal to such emergencies, and his son
Lung-king (1567-1573)sought to placate the Tatar Yen-ta by making him
a prince of the empire and giving him commercial privileges, which
were supplemented by the succeeding emperor Wan-li (1573-1620) by the
grant of land in Shen-si. During the reign of this sovereign, in the
year 1592, the Japanese successfully invaded Korea, and Taikosarna,
the regent of Japan, was on the point of proclaiming himself king of
the peninsula, when a large Chinese force, answering to the invitation
of the king, appeared and completely routed the Japanese army, at the
same time that the Chinese fleet cut off their retreat by sea. In this
extremity the Japanese sued for peace, and sent an embassy to Peking
to arrange terms. But the peace was of short duration. In 1597 the
Japanese again invaded Korea, defeated the Chinese army, destroyed the
Chinese fleet and ravaged the coast. Suddenly, however, when in the
full tide of conquest, they evacuated Korea, which again fell under
the direction of China. Four years later the missionary Matteo Ricci
(q.v.) arrived at the Chinese court; and though at first the emperor
was inclined to send him out of the country, his abilities gradually
won for him the esteem of the sovereign and his ministers, and he
remained the scientific adviser of the court until his death in 1610.

Manchu invasion: 17th century.

About this time the Manchu Tatars, goaded into war by the injustice they
were constantly receiving at the hands of the Chinese, led an army into
China (in 1616) and completely defeated the force which was sent against
them. Three years later they gained possession of the province of
Liao-tung. These disasters overwhelmed the emperor, and he died of a
broken heart in 1620.

In the same year T'ien-ming, the Manchu sovereign, having declared
himself independent, moved the court to San-ku, to the east of Mukden,
which, five years later, he made his capital. In 1627 Ts'ung-chêng, the
last emperor of the Ming dynasty, ascended the Chinese throne. In his
reign English merchants first made their appearance at Canton. The
empire was now torn by internal dissensions. Rebel bands, enriched by
plunder, and grown bold by success, began to assume the proportion of
armies. Two rebels, Li Tsze-ch'êng and Shang K'o-hi, decided to divide
the empire between them. Li besieged K'ai-fêng Fu, the capital of
Ho-nan, and so long and closely did he beleaguer it that in the
consequent famine human flesh was regularly sold in the markets. At
length an imperial force came to raise the siege, but fearful of meeting
Li's army, they cut through the dykes of the Yellow River, "China's
Sorrow," and flooded the whole country, including the city. The rebels
escaped to the mountains, but upwards of 200,000 inhabitants perished in
the flood, and the city became a heap of ruins (1642). From K'ai-fêng Fu
Li marched against the other strongholds of Ho-nan and Shen-si, and was
so completely successful that he determined to attack Peking. A
treacherous eunuch opened the gates to him, on being informed of which
the emperor committed suicide. When the news of this disaster reached
the general-commanding on the frontier of Manchu Tatary, he, in an
unguarded moment, concluded a peace with the Manchus, and invited them
to dispossess Li Tsze-ch'êng. The Manchus entered China, and after
defeating a rebel army sent against them, they marched towards Peking.
On hearing of the approach of the invaders, Li Tsze-ch'êng, after having
set fire to the imperial palace, evacuated the city, but was overtaken,
and his force was completely routed.

Ta-ts'ing dynasty.

The Chinese now wished the Manchus to retire, but, having taken
possession of Peking, they proclaimed the ninth son of T'ien-ming
emperor of China under the title of Shun-chi, and adopted the name of
Ta-ts'ing, or "Great Pure," for the dynasty (1644). Meanwhile the
mandarins at Nanking had chosen an imperial prince to ascend the throne.
At this most inopportune moment "a claimant" to the throne, in the
person of a pretended son of the last emperor, appeared at court. While
this contention prevailed inside Nanking the Tatar army appeared at the
walls. There was no need for them to use force. The gates were thrown
open, and they took possession of the city without bloodshed. Following
the conciliatory policy they had everywhere pursued, they confirmed the
mandarins in their offices and granted a general amnesty to all who
would lay down their arms. As the Tatars entered the city the emperor
left it, and after wandering about for some days in great misery, he
drowned himself in the Yangtsze-kiang. Thus ended the Ming dynasty, and
the empire passed again under a foreign yoke. By the Mings, who partly
revived the feudal system by making large territorial grants to members
of the reigning house, China was divided into fifteen provinces; the
existing division into eighteen provinces was made by the Manchus.

All accounts agree in stating that the Manchu conquerors are
descendants of a branch of the family which gave the Kin dynasty to
the north of China; and in lieu of any authentic account of their
early history, native writers have thrown a cloud of fable over their
origin (see MANCHURIA). In the 16th century they were strong enough to
cope with their Chinese neighbours. Doubtless the Mings tried to check
their ambition by cruel reprisals, but against this must be put
numerous Manchu raids into Liao-tung.

The accession to the throne of the emperor Shun-chi did not restore
peace to the country. In Kiang-si, Fu-kien, Kwang-tung and Kwang-si
the adherents of the Ming dynasty defended themselves vigorously but
unsuccessfully against the invaders, while the pirate Chêng Chi-lung,
the father of the celebrated Coxinga, kept up a predatory warfare
against them on the coast. Eventually he was induced to visit Peking,
where he was thrown into prison and died. Coxinga, warned by his
father's example, determined to leave the mainland and to seek an
empire elsewhere. His choice fell on Formosa, and having driven out
the Dutch, who had established themselves in the island in 1624, he
held possession until the reign of K'ang-hi, when (1682) he resigned
in favour of the imperial government. Meanwhile a prince of the house
of Ming was proclaimed emperor in Kwang-si, under the title of
Yung-li. The Tatars having reduced Fu-kien and Kiang-si, and having
taken Canton after a siege of eight months, completely routed his
followers, and Yung-li was compelled to fly to Pegu. Some years later,
with the help of adherents in Yun-nan and Kwei-chow, he tried to
regain the throne, but his army was scattered, and he was taken
prisoner and strangled. Gradually opposition to the new régime became
weaker and weaker, and the shaved head with the pig-tail--the symbol
of Tatar sovereignty--became more and more adopted. In 1651 died Ama
Wang, the uncle of Shun-chi, who had acted as regent during his
nephew's minority, and the emperor then assumed the government of the
state. He appears to have taken a great interest in science, and to
have patronized Adam Schaal, a German Jesuit, who was at that time
resident at Peking. It was during his reign (1656) that the first
Russian embassy arrived at the capital, but as the envoy declined to
_kowtow_ before the emperor he was sent back without having been
admitted to an audience.

After an unquiet reign of seventeen years Shun-chi died (1661). and
was succeeded by his son K'ang-hi. He came into collision with the
Russians, who had reached the Amur regions about 1640 and had built a
fort on the upper Amur; but by the Treaty of Nerchinsk, concluded in
1689 (the first treaty made between China and a European power), the
dispute was settled, the Amur being taken as the frontier. K'ang-hi
was indefatigable in administering the affairs of the empire, and he
devoted much of his time to literary and scientific studies under the
guidance of the Jesuits. The dictionary of the Chinese language,
published under his superintendence, proves him to have been as great
a scholar as his conquests over the Eleuths show him to have been
famous as a general. During one of his hunting expeditions to Mongolia
he caught a fatal cold, and he died in 1721. Under his rule Tibet was
added to the empire, which extended from the Siberian frontier to
Cochin-China, and from the China Sea to Turkestan. During his reign
there was a great earthquake at Peking, in which 400,000 people are
said to have perished.

K'ien-lung, who began to reign in 1735, was ambitious and warlike. He
marched an army into Hi, which he converted into a Chinese province,
and he afterwards added eastern Turkestan to the empire. Twice he
invaded Burma, and once he penetrated into Cochin-China, but in
neither country were his arms successful. He is accused of great
cruelty towards his subjects, which they repaid by rebelling against
him. During his reign the Mahommedan standard was first raised in
Kan-suh. (Since the Mongol conquest in the 13th century there had been
a considerable immigration of Moslems into western China; and numbers
of Chinese had become converts). But the Mussulmans were unable to
stand against the imperial troops; their armies were dispersed; ten
thousand of them were exiled; and an order was issued that every
Mahommedan in Kan-suh above the age of fifteen should be put to death
(1784).

K'ien-lung wrote incessantly, both poetry and prose, collected
libraries and republished works of value. His campaigns furnished him
with themes for his verses, and in the Summer Palace was found a
handsome manuscript copy of a laudatory poem he composed on the
occasion of his war against the Gurkhas. This was one of the most
successful of his military undertakings. His generals marched 70,000
men into Nepal to within 60 miles of the British frontiers, and having
subjugated the Gurkhas they received the submission of the Nepalese,
and acquired an additional hold over Tibet (1792). In other directions
his arms were not so successful. There is no poem commemorating the
campaign against the rebellious Formosans, nor lament over the loss of
100,000 men in that island, and the last few years of his reign were
disturbed by outbreaks among the Miao-tsze, hill tribes living in the
mountains in the provinces of Kwei-chow and Kwang-si. In 1795, after a
reign of sixty years, K'ien-lung abdicated in favour of his fifteenth
son, who adopted the title of Kia-k'ing as the style of his reign.
K'ien-lung died at the age of eighty-eight in 1798.

Trade with Europe.

During the reign of K'ien-lung commerce between Europe and Canton--the
only Chinese port then open to foreign trade--had attained important
dimensions. It was mainly in the hands of the Portuguese, the British
and the Dutch. The British trade was then a monopoly of the East India
Company. The trade, largely in opium, tea and silk, was subject to many
exactions and restrictions,[49] and many acts of gross injustice were
committed on the persons of Englishmen. To obtain some redress the
British government at length sent an embassy to Peking (1793) and Lord
Macartney was chosen to represent George III. on the occasion. The
mission was treated as showing that Great Britain was a state tributary
to China, and Lord Macartney was received with every courtesy. But the
concessions he sought were not accorded, and in this sense his mission
was a failure.

Kia-k'ing's reign was disturbed and disastrous. In the northern and
western provinces, rebellion after rebellion broke out, due in a great
measure to the carelessness, incompetency and obstinacy of the emperor,
and the coasts were infested with pirates, whose number and organization
enabled them for a long time to hold the imperial fleet in check.
Meanwhile the condition of the foreign merchants at Canton had not
improved, and to set matters on a better footing the British government
despatched a second ambassador in the person of Lord Amherst to Peking
in 1816. As he declined to _kowtow_ before the emperor, he was not
admitted to the imperial presence and the mission proved abortive.
Destitute of all royal qualities, a slave to his passions, and the
servant of caprice, Kia-k'ing died in 1820. The event fraught with the
greatest consequences to China which occurred in his reign (though at
the time it attracted little attention) was the arrival of the first
Protestant missionary, Dr R. Morrison (q.v.), who reached Canton in
1807.

Tao-kwang (1820-1850), the new emperor, though possessed in his early
years of considerable energy, had no sooner ascended the throne than he
gave himself up to the pursuit of pleasure. The reforms which his first
manifestoes foreshadowed never seriously occupied his attention.
Insurrection occurred in Formosa, Kwang-si, Ho-nan and other parts of
the empire, and the Triad Society, which had originated during the reign
of K'ang-hi, again became formidable.

War with Great Britain, 1840.

More important to the future of the country than the internal
disturbances was the new attitude taken at this time towards China by
the nations of Europe. Hitherto the European missionaries and traders in
China had been dependent upon the goodwill of the Chinese. The
Portuguese had been allowed to settle at Macao (q.v.) for some
centuries; Roman Catholic missionaries since the time of Ricci had been
alternately patronized and persecuted; Protestant missionaries had
scarcely gained a foothold; the Europeans allowed to trade at Canton
continued to suffer under vexatious regulations--the Chinese in general
regarded Europeans as barbarians, "foreign devils." Of the armed
strength of Europe they were ignorant. They were now to be undeceived,
Great Britain being the first power to take action. The hardships
inflicted on the British merchants at Canton became so unbearable that
when, in 1834, the monopoly of the East India Company ceased, the
British government sent Lord Napier as minister to superintend the
foreign trade at that port. Lord Napier was inadequately supported, and
the anxieties of his position brought on an attack of fever, from which
he died at Macao after a few months' residence in China. The chief cause
of complaint adduced by the mandarins was the introduction of opium by
the merchants, and for years they attempted by every means in their
power to put a stop to its importation. At length Captain (afterwards
Admiral Sir Charles) Elliot, the superintendent of trade, in 1839 agreed
that all the opium in the hands of Englishmen should be given up to the
native authorities, and he exacted a pledge from the merchants that they
would no longer deal in the drug. On the 3rd of April 20,283 chests of
opium were handed over to the mandarins and were by them destroyed. The
surrender of the opium led to further demands by Lin Tze-su, the Chinese
imperial commissioner, demands which were considered by the British
government to amount to a _casus belli_, and in 1840 war was declared.
In the same year the fleet captured Chusan, and in the following year
the Bogue Forts fell, in consequence of which operations the Chinese
agreed to cede Hong-Kong to the victors and to pay them an indemnity of
6,000,000 dollars. As soon as this news reached Peking, Ki Shen, who had
succeeded Commissioner Lin, was dismissed from his post and degraded,
and Yi Shen, another Tatar, was appointed in his room. Before the new
commissioner reached his post Canton had fallen into the hands of Sir
Hugh Gough, and shortly afterwards Amoy, Ning-po, Tinghai in Chusan,
Chapu, Shanghai and Chin-kiang Fu shared the same fate. Nanking would
also have been captured had not the imperial government, dreading the
loss of the "Southern Capital," proposed terms of peace. Sir Henry
Pottinger, who had succeeded Captain Elliot, concluded, in 1842, a
treaty with the imperial commissioners, by which the four additional
ports of Amoy, Fu-chow, Ningpo and Shanghai were declared open to
foreign trade, and an indemnity of 21,000,000 dollars was to be paid to
the British.

Hien-fêng emperor.

T'ai-p'ing rebellion.

On the accession of Hien-fêng in 1850, a demand was raised for the
reforms which had been hoped for under Tao-kwang, but Hien-fêng
possessed in an exaggerated form the selfish and tyrannical nature of
his father, together with a voluptuary's craving for every kind of
sensual pleasure. For some time Kwang-si had been in a very disturbed
state, and when the people found that there was no hope of relief from
the oppression they endured, they proclaimed a youth, who was said to
be the representative of the last emperor of the Ming dynasty, as
emperor, under the title of T'ien-tê or "Heavenly Virtue." From
Kwang-si the revolt spread into Hu-peh and Hu-nan, and then languished
from want of a leader and a definite political cry. When, however,
there appeared to be a possibility that, by force of arms and the
persuasive influence of money, the imperialists would re-establish
their supremacy, a leader presented himself in Kwang-si, whose energy
of character, combined with great political and religious enthusiasm,
speedily gained for him the suffrages of the discontented. This was
Hung Siu-ts'üan. He proclaimed himself as sent by heaven to drive out
the Tatars, and to restore in his own person the succession to China.
At the same time, having been converted to Christianity and professing
to abhor the vices and sins of the age, he called on all the virtuous
of the land to extirpate rulers who were standing examples of all that
was base and vile in human nature. Crowds soon flocked to his
standard. T'ien-tê was deserted; and putting himself at the head of
his followers (who abandoned the practice of shaving the head), Hung
Siu-ts'üan marched northwards and captured Wu-ch'ang on the
Yangtsze-kiang, the capital of Hu-peh. Then, moving down the river, he
proceeded to the attack of Nanking. Without much difficulty Hung
Siu-ts'üan in 1853 established himself within its walls, and
proclaimed the inauguration of the T'ai-p'ing dynasty, of which he
nominated himself the first emperor under the title of T'ien Wang or
"Heavenly king." During the next few years his armies penetrated
victoriously as far north as Tientsin and as far east as Chin-kiang
and Su-chow, while bands of sympathizers with his cause appeared in
the neighbourhood of Amoy. As if still further to aid him in his
schemes, Great Britain declared war against the Tatar dynasty in 1857,
in consequence of an outrage known as the "Arrow" affair (see PARKES,
SIR HARRY SMITH). In December 1857 Canton was taken by the British,
and a further blow was struck against the prestige of the Manchu
dynasty by the determination of Lord Elgin, who had been sent as
special ambassador, to go to Peking and communicate directly with the
emperor. In May 1858 the Taku Forts were taken, and Lord Elgin went up
the Peiho to Tientsin _en route_ for the capital. At Tientsin,
however, imperial commissioners persuaded him to conclude a treaty
with them on the spot, which treaty it was agreed should be ratified
at Peking in the following year. When, however, Sir Frederick Bruce,
who had been appointed minister to the court of Peking, attempted to
pass Taku to carry out this arrangement, the vessels escorting him
were treacherously fired on from the forts and he was compelled to
return. Thereupon Lord Elgin was again sent out with full powers,
accompanied by a large force under the command of Sir Hope Grant. The
French (to seek reparation for the murder of a missionary in Kwang-si)
took part in the campaign, and on the 1st of August 1860 the allies
landed without meeting with any opposition at Pei-tang, a village 12
m. north of Taku. A few days later the forts at that place were taken,
and thence the allies marched to Peking. Finding further resistance to
be hopeless, the Chinese opened negotiations, and as a guarantee of
their good faith surrendered the An-ting gate of the capital to the
allies. On the 24th of October 1860 the treaty of 1858 was ratified by
Prince Kung and Lord Elgin, and a convention was signed under the
terms of which the Chinese agreed to pay a war indemnity of 8,000,000
taels. The right of Europeans to travel in the interior was granted
and freedom guaranteed to the preaching of Christianity. The customs
tariff then agreed upon legalized the import of opium, though the
treaty of 1858, like that of 1842, was silent on the subject.

Great Britain and France were not the only powers of Europe with whom
Hien-fêng was called to deal. On the northern border of the empire
Russia began to exercise pressure. Russia had begun to colonize the
lower Amur region, and was pressing towards the Pacific. This was a
remote region, only part of the Chinese empire since the Manchu
conquest, and by treaties of 1858 and 1860 China ceded to Russia all
its territory north of the Amur and between the Ussuri and the Pacific
(see AMUR, province). The Russians in their newly acquired land
founded the port of Vladivostok (q.v.).

T'ung-chi emperor; dowager empress regent.

Hien-fêng died in the summer of the year 1861, leaving the throne to
his son T'ung-chi (1861-1875), a child of five years old, whose
mother, Tsz'e Hsi (1834-1908), had been raised from the place of
favourite concubine to that of Imperial Consort. The legitimate
empress, Tsz'e An, was childless, and the two dowagers became joint
regents. The conclusion of peace with the allies was the signal for a
renewal of the campaign against the T'ai-p'ings, and, benefiting by
the friendly feelings of the British authorities engendered by the
return of amicable relations, the Chinese government succeeded in
enlisting Major Charles George Gordon (q.v.) of the Royal Engineers in
their service. In a suprisingly short space of time this officer
formed the troops, which had formerly been under the command of an
American named Ward, into a formidable army, and without delay took
the field against the rebels. From that day the fortunes of the
T'ai-p'ings declined. They lost city after city, and, finally in July
1864, the imperialists, after an interval of twelve years, once more
gained possession of Nanking. T'ien Wang committed suicide on the
capture of his capital, and with him fell his cause. Those of his
followers who escaped the sword dispersed throughout the country, and
the T'ai-p'ings ceased to be.

With the measure of peace which was then restored to the country trade
rapidly revived, except in Yun-nan, where the Mahommedan rebels, known
as Panthays, under Suleiman, still kept the imperial forces at bay.
Against these foes the government was careless to take active
measures, until in 1872 Prince Hassan, the adopted son of Suleiman,
was sent to England to gain the recognition of the queen for his
father's government. This step aroused the susceptibilities of the
imperial government, and a large force was despatched to the scene of
the rebellion. Before the year was out the Mahommedan capital Ta-li Fu
fell into the hands of the imperialists, and the followers of Suleiman
were mercilessly exterminated. In February 1873 the two dowager
empresses resigned their powers as regents. This long-expected time
was seized upon by the foreign ministers to urge their right of
audience with the emperor, and on the 29th of June 1873 tne privilege
of gazing on the "sacred countenance" was accorded them.

Accession of Kwang-su, 1875.

The emperor T'ung-chi died without issue, and the succession to the
throne, for the first time in the annals of the Ts'ing dynasty, passed
out of the direct line. As already stated, the first emperor of the
Ts'ing dynasty, Shih-tsu Hwangti, on gaining possession of the throne
on the fall of the Ming, or "Great Bright" dynasty, adopted the title
of Shun-chi for his reign, which began in the year 1644. The legendary
progenitor of these Manchu rulers was Aisin Gioro, whose name is said
to point to the fact of his having been related to the race of
Nü-chih, or Kin, i.e. Golden Tatars, who reigned in northern China
during the 12th and 13th centuries. K'ang-hi (1661-1722) was the third
son of Shun-chi; Yung-chêng (1722-1735) was the fourth son of
K'ang-hi; K'ien-lung (1736-1795) was the fourth son of Yung-chêng;
Kia-k'ing (1796-1820) was the fifteenth son of K'ien-lung; Tao-Kwang
(1821-1850) was the second son of Kia-k'ing; Hien-fêng (1851-1861) was
the fourth of the nine sons who were born to the emperor Tao-kwang;
and T'ung-chi (1862-1875) was the only son of Hien-fêng. The choice
now fell upon Tsai-t'ien (as he was called at birth), the infant son
(born August 2, 1872) of Yi-huan, Prince Chun, the seventh son of the
emperor Tao-kwang and brother of the emperor Hien-fêng; his mother was
a sister of the empress Tsz'e Hsi, who, with the aid of Li Hung-chang,
obtained his adoption and proclamation as emperor, under the title of
Kwang-su, "Succession of Glory."

Imperial family nomenclature and rank.

In order to prevent the confusion which would arise among the princes
of the imperial house were they each to adopt an arbitrary name, the
emperor K'ang-hi decreed that each of his twenty-four sons should have
a _personal_ name consisting of two characters, the first of which
should be _Yung_, and the second should be compounded with the
determinative _shih_, "to manifest," an arrangement which would, as
has been remarked, find an exact parallel in a system by which the
sons in an English family might be called Louis _Edward_, Louis
_Edwin_, Louis _Edwy_, Louis _Edgar_ and so on. This device obtained
also in the next generation, all the princes of which had _Hung_ for
their first name, and the emperor K'ien-lung (1736-1795) extended it
into a system, and directed that the succeeding generations should
take the four characters _Yung_, _Mien_, _Yih_ and _Tsai_
respectively, as the first part of their names. Eight other
characters, namely, _P'u_, _Yu_, _Hêng_, _K'i_, _Tao_, _K'ai_,
_Tsêng_, _Ki_, were subsequently added, thus providing generic names
for twelve generations. With the generation represented by Kwang-su
the first four characters were exhausted, and any sons of the emperor
Kwang-su would therefore have been called _P'u_. By the ceremonial law
of the "Great Pure" dynasty, twelve degrees of rank are distributed
among the princes of the imperial house, and are as follows: (1)
Ho-shih Tsin Wang, prince of the first order; (2) To-lo Keun Wang,
prince of the second order; (3) To-lo Beileh, prince of the third
order; (4) Ku-shan Beitsze, prince of the fourth order; 5 to 8, Kung,
or duke (with distinctive designations); 9 to 12, Tsiang-keun, general
(with distinctive designations). The sons of emperors usually receive
patents of the first or second order on their reaching manhood, and on
their sons is bestowed the title of _Beileh_. A _Beileh's_ sons become
_Beitsze_; a Beitsze's sons become _Kung_, and so on. (R. K. D.; X.)

(D)--_From 1875 to 1901._

The two dowager-empresses.

The accession to the throne of Kwang-su in January 1875 attracted little
notice outside China, as the supreme power continued to be vested in the
two dowager-empresses--the empress Tsz'e An, principal wife of the
emperor Hien-fêng, and the empress Tsz'e Hsi, secondary wife of the same
emperor, and mother of the emperor T'ung-chi. Yet there were
circumstances connected with the emperor Kwang-su's accession which
might well have arrested attention. The emperor T'ung-chi, who had
himself succumbed to an ominously brief and mysterious illness, left a
young widow in an advanced state of pregnancy, and had she given birth
to a male child her son would have been the rightful heir to the throne.
But even before she sickened and died--of grief, it was officially
stated, at the loss of her imperial spouse--the dowager-empresses had
solved the question of the succession by placing Kwang-su on the throne,
a measure which was not only in itself arbitrary, but also in direct
conflict with one of the most sacred of Chinese traditions. The solemn
rites of ancestor-worship, incumbent on every Chinaman, and, above all,
upon the emperor, can only be properly performed by a member of a
younger generation than those whom it is his duty to honour. The emperor
Kwang-su, being a first cousin to the emperor T'ung-chi, was not
therefore qualified to offer up the customary sacrifices before the
ancestral tablets of his predecessor. The accession of an infant in the
place of T'ung-Tchi achieved, however, for the time being what was
doubtless the paramount object of the policy of the two empresses,
namely, their undisturbed tenure of the regency, in which the junior
empress Tsz'e Hsi, a woman of unquestionable ability and boundless
ambition, had gradually become the predominant partner.

Murder of Mr Margary.

The first question that occupied the attention of the government under
the new reign was one of the gravest importance, and nearly led to a war
with Great Britain. The Indian government was desirous of seeing the old
trade relations between Burma and the south-west provinces, which had
been interrupted by the Yun-nan rebellion, re-established, and for that
purpose proposed to send a mission across the frontier into China. The
Peking government assented and issued passports for the party, which was
under the command of Colonel Browne. Mr A.R. Margary, a young and
promising member of the China consular service, who was told off to
accompany the expedition as interpreter, was treacherously murdered by
Chinese at the small town of Manwyne and almost simultaneously an attack
was made on the expedition by armed forces wearing Chinese uniform
(January 1875). Colonel Browne with difficulty made his way back to
Bhamo and the expedition was abandoned.

Chifu convention 1876.

Tedious negotiations followed, and, more than eighteen months after the
outrage, an arrangement was come to on the basis of guarantees for the
future, rather than vengeance for the past. The arrangement was embodied
in the Chifu convention, dated 13th September 1876. The terms of the
settlement comprised (1) a mission of apology from China to the British
court; (2) the promulgation throughout the length and breadth of the
empire of an imperial proclamation, setting out the right of foreigners
to travel under passport, and the obligation of the authorities to
protect them; and (3) the payment of indemnity. Additional articles were
subsequently signed in London relative to the collection of likin on
Indian opium and other matters.

Revolt in Central Asia.

Imperial consolidation.

Simultaneously with the outbreak of the Mahommedan rebellion in Yun-nan,
a similar disturbance had arisen in the north-west provinces of Shen-si
and Kan-suh. This was followed by a revolt of the whole of the Central
Asian tribes, which for two thousand years had more or less acknowledged
the imperial sway. In Kashgaria a nomad chief named Yakub Beg, otherwise
known as the Atalik Gh[=a]zi, had made himself amir, and seemed likely
to establish a strong rule. The fertile province of Kulja or Ili, lying
to the north of the T'ianshan range, was taken possession of by Russia
in 1871 in order to put a stop to the prevailing anarchy, but with a
promise that when China should have succeeded in re-establishing order
in her Central Asian dominions it should be given back. The interest
which was taken in the rebellion in Central Asia by the European powers,
notably by the sultan of Turkey and the British government, aroused the
Chinese to renewed efforts to recover their lost territories, and, as in
the case of the similar crisis in Yun-nan, they undertook the task with
sturdy deliberation. They borrowed money--£1,600,000--for the expenses
of the expedition, this being the first appearance of China as a
borrower in the foreign markets, and appointed the viceroy, Tso
Tsung-t'ang, commander-in-chief. By degrees the emperor's authority was
established from the confines of Kan-suh to Kashgar and Yarkand, and
Chinese garrisons were stationed in touch with the Russian outpost in
the region of the Pamirs (December 1877). Russia was now called upon to
restore Kulja, China being in a position to maintain order. China
despatched Chung-how, a Manchu of the highest rank, who had been
notoriously concerned in the Tientsin massacre of 1870, to St Petersburg
to negotiate a settlement. After some months of discussion a document
was signed (September 1879), termed the treaty of Livadia, whereby China
recovered, not indeed the whole, but a considerable portion of the
territory, on her paying to Russia five million roubles as the cost of
occupation. The treaty was, however, received with a storm of
indignation in China. Memorials poured in from all sides denouncing the
treaty and its author. Foremost among these was one by Chang Chih-tung,
who afterwards became the most distinguished of the viceroys, and
governor-general of Hu-peh and Hu-nan provinces. Prince Chun, the
emperor's father, came into prominence at this juncture as an advocate
for war, and under these combined influences the unfortunate Chung-how
was tried and condemned to death (3rd of March 1880). For some months
warlike preparations went on, and the outbreak of hostilities was
imminent. In the end, however, calmer counsels prevailed. It was decided
to send the Marquis Tseng, who in the meantime had become minister in
London, to Russia to negotiate. A new treaty which still left Russia in
possession of part of the Ili valley was ratified on the 19th of August
1881. The Chinese government could now contemplate the almost complete
recovery of the whole extensive dominions which had at any time owned
the imperial sway. The regions directly administered by the officers of
the emperor extended from the borders of Siberia on the north to Annam
and Burma on the south, and from the Pacific Ocean on the east to
Kashgar and Yarkand on the west. There was also a fringe of tributary
nations which still kept up the ancient forms of allegiance, and which
more or less acknowledged the dominioi of the central kingdom. The
principal tributary nations then were Korea, Lu-chu, Annam, Burma and
Nepal.

Korea and Japan.

Korea was the first of the dependencies to come into notice. In 1866
some Roman Catholic missionaries were murdered, and about the same time
an American vessel was burnt in one of the rivers and her crew murdered.
China refused satisfaction; both to France and America, and suffered
reprisals to be made on Korea without protest. America and Japan both
desired to conclude commercial treaties for the opening up of Korea, and
proposed to negotiate with China. China refused and referred them to the
Korean government direct, saying she was not wont to interfere in the
affairs of her vassal states. As a result Japan concluded a treaty in
1876, in which the independence of Korea was expressly recognized. This
was allowed to pass without protest, but as other nations proceeded to
conclude treaties on the same terms China began to perceive her mistake,
and endeavoured to tack on to each a declaration by the king that he was
in fact a tributary--a declaration, however, which was quietly ignored.
Japan, however, was the only power with which controversy immediately
arose. In 1882 a faction fight, which had long been smouldering, broke
out, headed by the king's father, the Tai Won Kun, in the course of
which the Japanese legation was attacked and the whole Japanese colony
had to flee for their lives. China sent troops, and by adroitly
kidnapping the Tai Won Kun, order was for a time restored. The Japanese
legation was replaced, but under the protection of a strong body of
Japanese troops. Further revolutions and riots followed, in which the
troops of the two countries took sides, and there was imminent danger of
war. To obviate this risk, it was agreed in 1885 between Count Ito and
Li Hung-Chang that both sides should withdraw their troops, the king
being advised to engage officers of a third state to put his army on
such a footing as would maintain order, and each undertook to give the
other notice should it be found necessary to send troops again. In this
way a _modus vivendi_ was established which lasted till 1894.

Domestic affairs, 1875-1882.

We can only glance briefly at the domestic affairs of China during the
period 1875-1882. The years 1877-1878 were marked by a famine in
Shan-si and Shan-tung, which for duration and intensity has probably
never been equalled. It was computed that 12 or 13 millions perished. It
was vainly hoped that this loss of life, due mainly to defective
commumcations, would induce the Chinese government to listen to
proposals for railway construction. The Russian scare had, however,
taught the Chinese the value of telegraphs, and in 1881 the first line
was laid from Tientsin to Shanghai. Further construction was continued
without intermission from this date. A beginning also was made in naval
affairs. The arsenal at Fuchow was turning out small composite gunboats,
a training ship was bought and put under the command of a British
officer. Several armoured cruisers were ordered from England, and some
progress was made with the fortifications of Port Arthur and
Wei-hai-wei. Forts were also built and guns mounted at Fuchow, Shanghai,
Canton and other vulnerable points. Money for these purposes was
abundantly supplied by the customs duties on foreign trade, and China
had learnt that at need she could borrow from the foreign banks on the
security of this revenue.

In 1881 the senior regent, the empress Tsz'e An, was carried off by a
sudden attack of heart disease, and the empress Tsz'e Hsi remained in
undivided possession of the supreme power during the remainder of the
emperor Kwang-su's minority. Li Hung-Chang, firmly established at
Tientsin, within easy reach of the capital, as viceroy of the home
province of Chih-li and superintendent of northern trade, enjoyed a
larger share of his imperial mistress's favour than was often granted by
the ruling Manchus to officials of Chinese birth, and in all the graver
questions of foreign policy his advice was generally decisive.

Tongking and Hanoi.

While the dispute with Japan was still going on regarding Korea, China
found herself involved in a more serious quarrel in respect of another
tributary state which lay on the southern frontier. By a treaty made
between France and Annam in 1874, the Red river or Songkoi, which rising
in-south-western China, flows through Tongking, was opened to trade,
together with the cities of Haiphong and Hanoi situated on the delta.
The object of the French was to find a trade route to Yun-nan and
Sze-ch'uen from a base of their own, and it was hoped the Red river
would furnish such a route. Tongking at this time, however, was infested
with bands of pirates and cut-throats, many of whom were Chinese rebels
or ex-rebels who had been driven across the frontier by the suppression
of the Yun-nan and Taiping rebellions, conspicuous among them being an
organization called the Black Flags. And when in 1882 France sent troops
to Tongking to restore order (the Annamese government having failed to
fulfil its promises in that respect) China began to protest, claiming
that Annam was a vassal state and under her protection.

Troubles with France.

France took no notice of the protest, declaring that the claim had
merely an archaeological interest, and that, in any case, China in
military affairs was a _quantité négligeable_. France found, however,
that she had undertaken a very serious task in trying to put down the
forces of disorder (see TONGKING). The Black Flags were, it was
believed, being aided by money and arms from China, and as time went
on, the French were more and more being confronted with regular
Chinese soldiers. Several forts, well within the Tongking frontier,
were known to be garrisoned by Chinese troops. Operations continued
with more or less success during the winter and spring of 1883-1884.
Both sides, however, were desirous of an arrangement, and in May 1884
a convention was signed between Li Hung-Chang and a Captain Fournier,
who had been commissioned _ad hoc_, whereby China agreed to withdraw
her garrisons and to open her frontiers to trade, France agreeing, on
her part, to respect the fiction of Chinese suzerainty, and guarantee
the frontier from attack by brigands. No date had been fixed in the
convention for the evacuation of the Chinese garrisons, and Fournier
endeavoured to supplement this by a memorandum to Li Hung-Chang, at
the same time announcing the fact to his government. In pursuance of
this arrangement the French troops proceeded to occupy Langson on the
date fixed (21st June 1884). The Chinese commandant refused to
evacuate, alleging, in a despatch which no one in the French camp was
competent to translate, that he had received no orders, and begged for
a short delay to enable him to communicate with his superiors. The
French commandant ordered an attack, which was repulsed with severe
loss. Mutual recriminations ensued. From Paris there came a demand for
a huge indemnity as reparation for the insult. The Peking government
offered to carry out the convention, and to pay a small indemnity for
the lives lost through the misunderstanding. This was refused, and
hostilities recommenced, or, as the French preferred to call them,
reprisals, for the fiction was still kept up that the two countries
were not at war. Under cover of this fiction the French fleet
peaceably entered the harbour of Fuchow, having passed the forts at
the entrance to the river without hindrance. Once inside, they
attacked and destroyed the much inferior Chinese fleet which was then
quietly at anchor, destroying at the same time a large part of the
arsenal which adjoins the anchorage (23rd August 1884). Retracing its
steps, the French fleet attacked and destroyed with impunity the forts
which were built to guard the entrance to the Min river, and could
offer no resistance to a force coming from the rear. After this
exploit the French fleet left the mainland and continued its reprisals
on the coast of Formosa. Kelung, a treaty port, was bombarded and
taken, October 4th. A similar attempt, however, on the neighbouring
port of Tamsui was unsuccessful, the landing party having been driven
back to their ships with severe loss. The attempt was not renewed, and
the fleet thereafter confined itself to a semi-blockade of the island,
which was prolonged into 1885 but led to no practical results.
Negotiations for peace, however, which had been for some time in
progress through the mediation of Sir Robert Hart, were at this
juncture happily concluded (April 1885). The terms were practically
those of the Fournier convention of the year before, the demand for an
indemnity having been quietly dropped.

Increased prestige of China.

China, on the whole, came out of the struggle with greatly increased
prestige. She had tried conclusions with a first-class European power
and had held her own. Incorrect conclusions as to the military strength
of China were consequently drawn, not merely by the Chinese
themselves--which was excusable--but by European and even British
authorities, who ought to have been better informed. War vessels were
ordered by China both from England and Germany, and Admiral Lang, who
had withdrawn his services while the war was going on, was re-engaged
together with a number of British officers and instructors. The
completion of the works at Port Arthur was taken in hand, and a
beginning was made in the construction of forts at Wei-hai-wei as a
second naval base. A new department was created for the control of naval
affairs, at the head of which was placed Prince Chun, father of the
emperor, who since the downfall of Prince Kung in 1884 had been taking a
more and more prominent part in public affairs.

1885-1894.

From 1885 to 1894 the political history of China does not call for
extended notice. Two incidents, however, must be recorded, (1) the
conclusion in 1886 of a convention with Great Britain, in which the
Chinese government undertook to recognize British sovereignty in Burma,
and (2) the temporary occupation of Port Hamilton by the British fleet
(May 1885-February 1887). In 1890 Admiral Lang resigned his command of
the Chinese fleet. During a temporary absence of Lang's colleague,
Admiral Ting, the Chinese second in command, claimed the right to take
charge--a claim which Admiral Lang naturally resented. The question was
referred to Li Hung-Chang, who decided against Lang, whereupon the
latter threw up his commission. From this point the fleet on which so
much depended began to deteriorate. Superior officers again began to
steal the men's pays, the ships were starved, shells filled with
charcoal instead of powder were supplied, accounts were cooked, and all
the corruption and malfeasance that were rampant in the army crept back
into the navy.

War with Japan, 1894.

European intervention.

The year 1894 witnessed the outbreak of the war with Japan. In the
spring, complications again arose with Japan over Korea, and hostilities
began in July. The story of the war is told elsewhere (see
CHINO-JAPANESE WAR), and it is unnecessary here to recount the details
of the decisive victory of Japan. A new power had arisen in the Far
East, and when peace was signed by Li Hung-Chang at Shimonoseki on the
17th of April 1895 it meant the beginning of a new epoch. The terms
included the cession of Liao-tung peninsula, then in actual occupation
by the Japanese troops, the cession of Formosa, an indemnity of H. taels
200,000,000 (about £30,000,000) and various commercial privileges.

The signature of this treaty brought the European powers on the scene.
It had been for some time the avowed ambition of Russia to obtain an
ice-free port as an outlet to her Siberian possessions--an ambition
which was considered by British statesmen as not unreasonable. It did
not, therefore, at all suit her purposes to see the rising power of
Japan commanding the whole of the coast-line of Korea. Accordingly in
the interval between the signature and the ratification of the treaty,
invitations were addressed by Russia to the great powers to intervene
with a view to its modification on the ground of the disturbance of the
balance of power, and the menace to China which the occupation of Port
Arthur by the Japanese would involve. France and Germany accepted the
invitation, Great Britain declined. In the end the three powers brought
such pressure to bear on Japan that she gave up the whole of her
continental acquisitions, retaining only the island of Formosa. The
indemnity was on the other hand increased by H. taels 30,000,000. For
the time the integrity of China seemed to be preserved, and Russia,
France and Germany could pose as her friends. Evidence was, however,
soon forthcoming that Russia and France had not been disinterested in
rescuing Chinese territory from the Japanese grasp. Russia now obtained
the right to carry the Siberian railway across Chinese territory from
Stryetensk to Vladivostok, thus avoiding a long détour, besides giving a
grasp on northern Manchuria. France obtained, by a convention dated the
20th of June 1895, a rectification of frontier in the Mekong valley and
certain railway and mining rights in Kiang-si and Yun-nan. Both powers
obtained concessions of land at Hankow for the purposes of a settlement.
Russia was also said to have negotiated a secret treaty, frequently
described as the "Cassini Convention," but more probably signed by Li
Hung-Chang at Moscow, giving her the right in certain contingencies to
Port Arthur, which was to be refortified with Russian assistance. And by
way of further securing her hold, Russia guaranteed a 4% loan of
£15,000,000 issued in Paris to enable China to pay off the first
instalment of the Japanese indemnity.

Mekong valley dispute, 1895.

The convention between France and China of the 20th of June 1895 brought
China into sharp conflict with Great Britain. China, having by the Burma
convention of 1886 agreed to recognize British sovereignty over Burma,
her quondam feudatory, also agreed to a delimitation of boundaries at
the proper time. Effect was given to this last stipulation by a
subsequent convention concluded in London (1st of March 1894), which
traced the boundary line from the Shan states on the west as far as the
Mekong river on the east. In the Mekong valley there were two
semi-independent native territories over which suzerainty had been
claimed in times gone by both by the kings of Ava and by the Chinese
emperors. These territories were named Meng Lun and Kiang Hung--the
latter lying partly on one side and partly on the other of the Mekong
river, south of the point where it issues from Chinese territory. The
boundary line was so drawn as to leave both these territories to China,
but it was stipulated that China should not alienate any portion of
these territories to any other power without the previous consent of
Great Britain. Yielding to French pressure, and regardless of the
undertaking she had entered into with Great Britain, China, in the
convention with France in June 1895, so drew the boundary line as to
cede to France that portion of the territory of Kiang Hung which lay on
the left bank of the Mekong. Compensation was demanded by Great Britain
from China for this breach of faith, and at the same time negotiations
were entered into with France. These resulted in a joint declaration by
the governments of France and Great Britain, dated the 15th of January
1896, by which it was agreed as regards boundary that the Mekong from
the point of its confluence with the Nam Huk northwards as far as the
Chinese frontier should be the dividing line between the possessions or
spheres of influence of the two powers. It was also agreed that any
commercial privileges obtained by either power in Yun-nan or Sze-ch'uen
should be open to the subjects of the other. The negotiations with China
resulted in a further agreement, dated the 4th of February 1897, whereby
considerable modifications in favour of Great Britain were made in the
Burma boundary drawn by the 1894 convention.

Kiaochow, Port Arthur, Wei-hai-wei.

While Russia and France were profiting by what they were pleased to call
the generosity of China, Germany alone had so far received no reward for
her share in compelling the retrocession of Liao-tung; but, in November
1897, she proceeded to help herself by seizing the Bay of Kiaochow in
the province of Shan-tung. The act was done ostensibly in order to
compel satisfaction for the murder of two German missionaries. A cession
was ultimately made by way of a lease for a term of ninety-nine
years--Germany to have full territorial jurisdiction during the
continuance of the lease, with liberty to erect fortifications, build
docks, and exercise all the rights of sovereignty. In December the
Russian fleet was sent to winter in Port Arthur, and though this was at
first described as a temporary measure, its object was speedily
disclosed by a request made, in January 1898, by the Russian ambassador
in London that two British cruisers, then also anchored at Port Arthur,
should be withdrawn "in order to avoid friction in the Russian sphere of
influence." They left shortly afterwards, and their departure in the
circumstances was regarded as a blow to Great Britain's prestige in the
Far East. In March the Russian government peremptorily demanded a lease
of Port Arthur and the adjoining anchorage of Talienwan--a demand which
China could not resist without foreign support. After an acrimonious
correspondence with the Russian government Great Britain acquiesced in
the _fait accompli_. The Russian occupation of Port Arthur was
immediately followed by a concession to build a line of railway from
that point northwards to connect with the Siberian trunk line in north
Manchuria. As a counterpoise to the growth of Russian influence in the
north, Great Britain obtained a lease of Wei-hai-wei, and formally took
possession of it on its evacuation by the Japanese troops in May 1898.

"Open door," and "spheres of influence."

After much hesitation the Chinese government had at last resolved to
permit the construction of railways with foreign capital. An influential
official named Sheng Hsuan-hwai was appointed director-general of
railways, and empowered to enter into negotiations with foreign
capitalists for that purpose. A keen competition thereupon ensued
between syndicates of different nationalities, and their claims being
espoused by their various governments, an equally keen international
rivalry was set up. Great Britain, though intimating her preference for
the "open door" policy, meaning equal opportunity for all, yet found
herself compelled to fall in with the general movement towards what
became known as the "spheres of influence" policy, and claimed the
Yangtsze valley as her particular sphere. This she did by the somewhat
negative method of obtaining from the Chinese government a declaration
that no part of the Yangtsze valley should be alienated to any foreign
power. A more formal recognition of the claim, as far as railway
enterprise was concerned, was embodied in an agreement (28th of April
1899) between Great Britain and Russia, and communicated to the Chinese
government, whereby the Russian government agreed not to seek for any
concessions within the Yangtsze valley, including all the provinces
bordering on the great river, together with Cheh-kiang and Ho-nan, the
British government entering into a similar undertaking in regard to the
Chinese dominions north of the Great Wall.[50]

In 1899 Talienwan and Kiaochow were respectively thrown open by Russia
and Germany to foreign trade, and, encouraged by these measures, the
United States government initiated in September of the same year a
correspondence with the great European powers and Japan, with a view
to securing their definite adhesion to the "open door" policy. The
British government gave an unqualified approval to the American
proposal, and the replies of the other powers, though more guarded,
were accepted at Washington as satisfactory. A further and more
definite step towards securing the maintenance of the "open door" in
China was the agreement concluded in October 1900 between the British
and German governments. The signatories, by the first two articles,
agreed to endeavour to keep the ports on the rivers and littoral free
and open to international trade and economic activity, and to uphold
this rule for all Chinese territory as far as (_wo_ in the German
counterpart) they could exercise influence; not to use the existing
complications to obtain territorial advantages in Chinese dominions,
and to seek to maintain undiminished the territorial condition of the
Chinese empire. By a third article they reserved their right to come
to a preliminary understanding for the protection of their interests
in China, should any other power use those complications to obtain
such territorial advantages under any form whatever. On the submission
of the agreement to the powers interested, Austria, France, Italy and
Japan accepted its principles without express reservation--Japan first
obtaining assurances that she signed on the same footing as an
original signatory. The United States accepted the first two articles,
but expressed no opinion on the third. Russia construed the first as
limited to ports actually open in regions where the two signatories
exercise "their" influence, and favourably entertained it in that
sense, ignoring the reference to other forms of economic activity. She
fully accepted the second, and observed that in the contingency
contemplated by the third, she would modify her attitude according to
circumstances.

Meanwhile, negotiations carried on by the British minister at Peking
during 1898 resulted in the grant of very important privileges to
foreign commerce. The payment of the second instalment of the Japanese
indemnity was becoming due, and it was much discussed how and on what
terms China would be able to raise the amount. The Russian government,
as has been stated, had made China a loan of the sum required for the
first portion of the indemnity, viz. £15,000,000, taking a charge on
the customs revenue as security. The British government was urged to
make a like loan of £16,000,000 both as a matter of friendship to
China and as a counterpoise to the Russian influence. An arrangement
was come to accordingly, on very favourable terms financially to the
Chinese, but at the last moment they drew back, being overawed, as
they said, by the threatening attitude of Russia. Taking advantage of
the position which this refusal gave him, the British minister
obtained from the Tsung-Li-Yamen, besides the declaration as to the
non-alienation of the Yangtsze valley above mentioned, an undertaking
to throw the whole of the inland waterways open to steam traffic. The
Chinese government at the same time undertook that the post of
inspector-general of customs (then held by Sir Robert Hart) should
always be held by an Englishman so long as the trade of Great Britain
was greater than that of any other nation. Minor concessions were also
made, but the opening of the waterways was by far the greatest advance
that had been made since 1860.

Of still greater importance were the railway and mining concessions
granted during the same year (1898). The Chinese government had been
generally disposed to railway construction since the conclusion of the
Japanese War, but hoped to be able to retain the control in their own
hands. The masterful methods of Russia and Germany had obliged them to
surrender this control so far as concerned Manchuria and Shan-tung. In
the Yangtsze valley, Sheng, the director-general of railways, had been
negotiating with several competing syndicates. One of these was a
Franco-Belgian syndicate, which was endeavouring to obtain the trunk
line from Hankow to Peking. A British company was tendering for the
same work, and as the line lay mainly within the British sphere it was
considered not unreasonable to expect it should be given to the
latter. At a critical moment, however, the French and Russian
ministers intervened, and practically forced the Yamen to grant a
contract in favour of the Franco-Belgian company. The Yamen had a few
days before explicitly promised the British minister that the contract
should not be ratified without his having an opportunity of seeing it.
As a penalty for this breach of faith, and as a set-off to the
Franco-Belgian line, the British minister required the immediate grant
of all the railway concessions for which British syndicates were then
negotiating, and on terms not inferior to those granted to the Belgian
line. In this way all the lines in the lower Yangtsze, as also the
Shan-si Mining Companies' lines, were secured. A contract for a trunk
line from Canton to Hankow was negotiated in the latter part of 1898
by an American company.

The reform movement, 1898

There can be little doubt that the powers, engrossed in the diplomatic
conflicts of which Peking was the centre, had entirely underrated the
reactionary forces gradually mustering for a struggle against the
aggressive spirit of Western civilization. The lamentable consequences
of administrative corruption and incompetence, and the superiority of
foreign methods which had been amply illustrated by the Japanese War,
had at first produced a considerable impression, not only upon the more
enlightened commercial classes, but even upon many of the younger
members of the official classes in China. The dowager-empress, who, in
spite of the emperor Kwang-su having nominally attained his majority,
had retained practical control of the supreme power until the conflict
with Japan, had been held, not unjustly, to blame for the disasters of
the war, and even before its conclusion the young emperor was adjured by
some of the most responsible among his own subjects to shake himself
free from the baneful restraint of "petticoat government," and himself
take the helm. In the following years a reform movement, undoubtedly
genuine, though opinions differ as to the value of the popular support
which it claimed, spread throughout the central and southern provinces
of the empire. One of the most significant symptoms was the relatively
large demand which suddenly arose for the translations of foreign works
and similar publications in the Chinese language which philanthropic
societies, such as that "for the Diffusion of Christian and General
Knowledge amongst the Chinese," had been trying for some time past to
popularize, though hitherto with scant success. Chinese newspapers
published in the treaty ports spread the ferment of new ideas far into
the interior. Fifteen hundred young men of good family applied to enter
the foreign university at Peking, and in some of the provincial towns
the Chinese themselves subscribed towards the opening of foreign
schools. Reform societies, which not infrequently enjoyed official
countenance, sprang up in many of the large towns, and found numerous
adherents amongst the younger _literati_. Early in 1898 the emperor, who
had gradually emancipated himself from the dowager-empress's control,
summoned several of the reform leaders to Peking, and requested their
advice with regard to the progressive measures which should be
introduced into the government of the empire. Chief amongst these
reformers was Kang Yu-wei, a Cantonese, whose scholarly attainments,
combined with novel teachings, earned for him from his followers the
title of the "Modern Sage." Of his more or less active sympathizers who
had subsequently to suffer with him in the cause of reform, the most
prominent were Chang Yin-huan, a member of the grand council and of the
Tsung-Li-Yamen, who had represented his sovereign at Queen Victoria's
jubilee in 1897; Chin Pao-chen, governor of Hu-nan; Liang Chichao, the
editor of the reformers' organ, _Chinese Progress_; Su Chiching, a
reader of the Hanlin College, the educational stronghold of Chinese
conservatism; and his son Su In-chi, also a Hanlin man, and provincial
chancellor of public instruction in Hu-nan.

It soon became evident, that there was no more enthusiastic advocate of
the new ideas than the emperor himself. Within a few months the
vermilion pencil gave the imperial sanction to a succession of edicts
which, had they been carried into effect, would have amounted to a
revolution as far-reaching as that which had transformed Japan thirty
years previously. The fossilized system of examinations for the public
service was to be altogether superseded by a new schedule based on
foreign learning, for the better promotion of which a number of temples
were to be converted into schools for Western education; a state
department was to be created for the translation and dissemination of
the standard works of Western literature and science; even the scions of
the ruling Manchu race were to be compelled to study foreign languages
and travel abroad; and last, but not least, all useless offices both in
Peking and in the provinces were to be abolished. A further edict was
even reported to be in contemplation, doing away with the _queue_ or
pigtail, which, originally imposed upon the Chinese by their Manchu
conquerors as a badge of subjection, had gradually become the most
characteristic and most cherished feature of the national dress. But the
bureaucracy of China, which had battened for centuries on corruption and
ignorance, had no taste for self-sacrifice. Other vested interests felt
themselves equally threatened, and behind them stood the whole latent
force of popular superstition and unreasoning conservatism.

The Empress's coup d'état.

The dowager-empress saw her opportunity. The Summer Palace, to which she
had retired, had been for some time the centre of resistance to the new
movement, and in the middle of September 1898 a report became current
that, in order to put an end to the obstruction which hampered his
reform policy, the emperor intended to seize the person of the
dowager-empress and have her deported into the interior. Some colour was
given to this report by an official announcement that the emperor would
hold a review of the foreign-drilled troops at Tientsin, and had
summoned Yuan Shihkai, their general, to Peking in order to confer with
him on the necessary arrangements. But the reformers had neglected to
secure the goodwill of the army, which was still entirely in the hands
of the reactionaries. During the night of the 20th of September the
palace of the emperor was occupied by the soldiers, and on the following
day Kwang-su, who was henceforth virtually a prisoner in the hands of
the empress, was made to issue an edict restoring her regency. Kang
Yu-wei, warned at the last moment by an urgent message from the emperor,
succeeded in escaping, but many of the most prominent reformers were
arrested, and six of them were promptly executed. The _Peking Gazette_
announced a few days later that the emperor himself was dangerously ill,
and his life might well have been despaired of had not the British
minister represented in very emphatic terms the serious consequences
which might ensue if anything happened to him. Drastic measures were,
however, adopted to stamp out the reform movement in the provinces as
well as in the capital. The reform edicts were cancelled, the reformers'
associations were dissolved, their newspapers suppressed, and those who
did not care to save themselves by a hasty recantation of their errors
were imprisoned, proscribed or exiled. In October the reaction had
already been accompanied by such a recrudescence of anti-foreign feeling
that the foreign ministers at Peking had to bring up guards from the
fleet for the protection of the legations, and to demand the removal
from the capital of the disorderly Kan-suh soldiery which subsequently
played so sinister a part in the troubles of June 1900. But the
unpleasant impression produced by these incidents was in a great measure
removed by the demonstrative reception which the empress Tsz'e Hsi gave
on the 15th of October to the wives of the foreign representatives--an
act of courtesy unprecedented in the annals of the Chinese court.

The Boxer movement, 1900.

The reactionary tide continued to rise throughout the year 1899, but it
did not appear materially to affect the foreign relations of China.
Towards the end of the year the brutal murder of Mr Brooks, an English
missionary, in Shan-tung, had compelled attention to a popular movement
which had been spreading rapidly throughout that province and the
adjoining one of Chih-li with the connivance of certain high officials,
if not under their direct patronage. The origin of the "Boxer" movement
is obscure. Its name is derived from a literal translation of the
Chinese designation, "the fist of righteous harmony." Like the kindred
"Big Sword" Society, it appears to have been in the first instance
merely a secret association of malcontents chiefly drawn from the lower
classes. Whether the empress Tsz'e Hsi and her Manchu advisers had
deliberately set themselves from the beginning to avert the danger by
deflecting what might have been a revolutionary movement into
anti-foreign channels, or whether with Oriental heedlessness they had
allowed it to grow until they were powerless to control it, they had
unquestionably resolved to take it under their protection before the
foreign representatives at Peking had realized its gravity. The outrages
upon native Christians and the threats against foreigners generally went
on increasing. The Boxers openly displayed on their banners the device:
"Exterminate the foreigners and save the dynasty," yet the
representatives of the powers were unable to obtain any effective
measures against the so-called "rebels," or even a definite condemnation
of their methods.[51]

Four months (January-April 1900) were spent in futile interviews with
the Tsung-Li-Yamen. In May a number of Christian villages were destroyed
and native converts massacred near the capital. On the 2nd of June two
English missionaries, Mr Robinson and Mr Norman, were murdered at Yung
Ching, 40 m. from Peking. The whole country was overrun with bands of
Boxers, who tore up the railway and set fire to the stations at
different points on the Peking-Tientsin line. Fortunately a mixed body
of marines and bluejackets of various nationalities, numbering 18
officers and 389 men, had reached Peking on the 1st of June for the
protection of the legations. The whole city was in a state of turmoil.
Murder and pillage were of daily occurrence. The reactionary Prince Tuan
(grandson of the emperor Tao-kwang) and the Manchus generally, together
with the Kan-suh soldiery under the notorious Tung-fu-hsiang, openly
sided with the Boxers. The European residents and a large number of
native converts took refuge in the British legation, where preparations
were hastily made in view of a threatened attack. On the 11th the
chancellor of the Japanese legation, Mr Sugiyama, was murdered by
Chinese soldiers. On the night of the 13th most of the foreign
buildings, churches and mission houses in the eastern part of the Tatar
city were pillaged and burnt, and hundreds of native Christians
massacred. On the 20th of June the German minister, Baron von Ketteler,
was murdered whilst on his way to the Tsung-Li-Yamen. At 4 P.M. on the
afternoon of the 20th the Chinese troops opened fire upon the legations.
The general direction of the defence was undertaken by Sir Claude
Macdonald, the British minister.

International expedition.

Meanwhile Peking had been completely cut off since the 14th from all
communication with the outside world, and in view of the gravity of the
situation, naval and military forces were being hurried up by all the
powers to the Gulf of Chih-li. On the 10th of June Admiral Sir E.
Seymour had already left Tientsin with a mixed force of 2000 British,
Russian, French, Germans, Austrians, Italians, Americans and Japanese,
to repair the railway and restore communications with Peking. But his
expedition met with unexpectedly severe resistance, and it had great
difficulty in making good its retreat after suffering heavy losses. When
it reached Tientsin again on the 26th of June, the British contingent of
915 men had alone lost 124 killed and wounded out of a total casualty
list of 62 killed and 218 wounded. The Chinese had in the meantime made
a determined attack upon the foreign settlements at Tientsin, and
communication between the city and the sea being also threatened, the
Taku forts at the mouth of the Pei-ho were captured by the allied
admirals on the 17th. The situation at Tientsin nevertheless continued
precarious, and it was not till the arrival of considerable
reinforcements that the troops of the allied powers were able to assume
the offensive, taking the native city by storm on July 14th, at a cost,
however, of over 700 killed and wounded. Even in this emergency
international jealousy had grievously delayed the necessary
concentration of forces. No power was so favourably situated to take
immediate action as Japan, and the British government, who had strongly
urged her to act speedily and energetically, undertook at her request to
sound the other powers with regard to her intervention. No definite
objection was raised, but the replies of Germany and Russia barely
disguised their ill-humour. Great Britain herself went so far as to
offer Japan the assistance of the British treasury, in case financial
difficulties stood in the way, but on the same day on which this
proposal was telegraphed to Tokyo (6th of July), the Japanese government
had decided to embark forthwith the two divisions which it had already
mobilized. By the beginning of August one of the Indian brigades had
also reached Tientsin together with smaller reinforcements sent by the
other powers, and thanks chiefly to the energetic counsels of the
British commander, General Sir Alfred Gaselee, a relief column,
numbering 20,000 men, at last set out for Peking on the 4th of August, a
British naval brigade having started up river the previous afternoon.
After a series of small engagements and very trying marches it arrived
within striking distance of Peking on the evening of the 13th. The
Russians tried to steal a march upon the allies during the night, but
were checked at the walls and suffered heavy losses. The Japanese
attacked another point of the walls the next morning, but met with
fierce opposition, whilst the Americans were delayed by getting
entangled in the Russian line of advance. The British contingent was
more fortunate, and skilfully guided to an unguarded water-gate, General
Gaselee and a party of Sikhs were the first to force their way through
to the British legation. About 2 p.m. on the afternoon of the 14th of
August, the long siege was raised.

Siege of the Peking legations.

For nearly six weeks after the first interruption of communications, no
news reached the outside world from Peking except a few belated
messages, smuggled through the Chinese lines by native runners, urging
the imperative necessity of prompt relief. During the greater part of
that period the foreign quarter was subjected to heavy rifle and
artillery fire, and the continuous fighting at close quarters with the
hordes of Chinese regulars, as well as Boxers, decimated the scanty
ranks of the defenders. The supply of both ammunition and food was
slender. But the heroism displayed by civilians and professional
combatants alike was inexhaustible. In their anxiety to burn out the
British legation, the Chinese did not hesitate to set fire to the
adjoining buildings of the Hanlin, the ancient seat of Chinese classical
learning, and the storehouse of priceless literary treasures and state
archives. The _Fu_, or palace, of Prince Su, separated only by a canal
from the British legation, formed the centre of the international
position, and was held with indomitable valour by a small Japanese force
under Colonel Sheba, assisted by a few Italian marines and volunteers of
other nationalities and a number of Christian Chinese. The French
legation on the extreme right, and the section of the city wall held
chiefly by Germans and Americans, were also points of vital importance
which had to bear the brunt of the Chinese attack.

Little is known as to what passed in the councils of the Chinese court
during the siege.[52] But there is reason to believe that throughout
that period grave divergences of opinion existed amongst the highest
officials. The attack upon the legations appears to have received the
sanction of the dowager-empress, acting upon the advice of Prince Tuan
and the extreme Manchu party, at a grand council held during the night
of the 18th/19th June, upon receipt of the news of the capture of the
Taku forts by the international forces. The emperor himself, as well
as Prince Ching and a few other influential mandarins, strongly
protested against the empress's decision, but it was acclaimed by the
vast majority of those present. Three members of the Tsung-Li-Yamen
were publicly executed for attempting to modify the terms of an
imperial edict ordering the massacre of all foreigners throughout the
provinces, and most of the Manchu nobles and high officials, and the
eunuchs of the palace, who played an important part in Chinese
politics throughout the dowager-empress's tenure of power, were heart
and soul with the Boxers. But it was noted by the defenders of the
legations that Prince Ching's troops seldom took part, or only in a
half-hearted way, in the fighting, which was chiefly conducted by
Tung-fu-hsiang's soldiery and the Boxer levies. The modern artillery
which the Chinese possessed was only spasmodically brought into play.
Nor did any of the attacking parties ever show the fearlessness and
determination which the Chinese had somewhat unexpectedly displayed on
several occasions during the fighting at and around Tientsin.
Nevertheless, the position of the defenders at the end of the first
four weeks of the siege had grown well-nigh desperate. Mining and
incendiarism proved far greater dangers than shot and shell. Suddenly,
just when things were looking blackest, on the 17th of July the
Chinese ceased firing, and a sort of informal armistice secured a
period of respite for the beleaguered Europeans. The capture of the
native city of Tientsin by the allied forces had shaken the
self-confidence of the Chinese authorities, who had hitherto not only
countenanced, but themselves directed the hostilities.[53] Desultory
fighting, nevertheless, continued, and grave fears were entertained
that the approach of the relief column would prove the signal for a
desperate attempt to rush the legations. The attempt was made, but
failed. The relief, however, came not a day too soon. Of the small
band of defenders which, including civilian volunteers, had never
mustered 500, 65 had been killed and 131 wounded. Ammunition and
provisions were almost at an end. Even more desperate was the
situation at the Pei-tang, the Roman Catholic northern cathedral and
mission house, where, with the help of a small body of French and
Italian marines, Mgr Favier had organized an independent centre of
resistance for his community of over 3000 souls. Their rations were
absolutely exhausted when, on the 15th of August, a relief party was
despatched to their assistance from the legations.

Looting of Peking.

The ruin wrought in Peking during the two months' fighting was
appalling. Apart from the wholesale destruction of foreign property in
the Tatar city, and of Chinese as well as European buildings in the
vicinity of the legations, the wealthiest part of the Chinese city had
been laid in ashes. The flames from a foreign drug store fired by the
Boxers had spread to the adjoining buildings, and finally consumed the
whole of the business quarter with all its invaluable stores of silks,
curiosities, furs, &c. The retribution which overtook Peking after its
capture by the international forces was scarcely less terrible. Looting
was for some days almost universal. Order was, however, gradually
restored, first in the Japanese and then in the British and American
quarters, though several months elapsed before there was any real
revival of native confidence.

Flight of the Chinese court.

So unexpected had been the rapid and victorious advance of the allies,
that the dowager-empress with the emperor and the rest of the court did
not actually leave Peking until the day after the legations had been
relieved. But the northern and western portions of the Tatar city had
not yet been occupied, and the fugitives made good their escape on the
15th. When the allies some days later marched through the Forbidden
City, they only found a few eunuchs and subordinate officials in charge
of the imperial apartments. At the end of September, Field Marshal Count
von Waldersee, with a German expeditionary force of over 20,000 men,
arrived to assume the supreme command conferred upon him with the more
or less willing assent of the other powers.

Restoration of order.

The political task which confronted the powers after the occupation of
Peking was far more arduous than the military one. The action of the
Russians in Manchuria, even in a treaty port like Niu-chwang, the
seizure of the railway line not only to the north of the Great Wall, but
also from Shan-hai-kwan to Peking, by the Russian military authorities,
and the appropriation of an extensive line of river frontage at Tientsin
as a Russian "settlement," were difficult to reconcile with the pacific
assurances of disinterestedness which Russia, like the rest of the
powers, had officially given. Great anxiety prevailed as to the effect
of the flight of the Chinese court in other parts of the empire. The
anti-foreign movement had not spread much beyond the northern provinces,
in which it had had the open support of the throne and of the highest
provincial officials. But among British and Americans alone, over 200
defenceless foreigners, men, women and children, chiefly missionaries,
had fallen victims to the treachery of high-placed mandarins like Yü
Hsien, and hundreds of others had had to fly for their lives, many of
them owing their escape to the courageous protection of petty officials
and of the local gentry and peasantry. In the Yangtsze valley order had
been maintained by the energy of the viceroys of Nanking and Wu-chang,
who had acted throughout the critical period in loyal co-operation with
the British consuls and naval commanders, and had courageously
disregarded the imperial edicts issued during the ascendancy of the
Boxers. After some hesitation, an Indian brigade, followed by French,
German and Japanese contingents, had been landed at Shanghai for the
protection of the settlements, and though the viceroy, Liu Kun-yi, had
welcomed British support, and even invited the joint occupation of the
Yangtsze forts by British and Chinese troops, the appearance of other
European forces in the Yangtsze valley was viewed with great suspicion.
In the south there were serious symptoms of unrest, especially after Li
Hung-Chang had left Canton for the north, in obedience, as he alleged at
the time, to an imperial edict which, there is reason to believe, he
invented for the occasion. The Chinese court, after one or two
intermediate halts, had retired to Si-gan-fu, one of the ancient
capitals of the empire, situated in the inaccessible province of
Shen-si, over 600 m. S.W. of Peking. The influence of the
ultra-reactionaries, headed by Prince Tuan and General Tung-fu-hsiang,
still dominated its councils, although credentials were sent to Prince
Ching and to Li Hung-Chang, who, after waiting upon events at Shanghai,
had proceeded to Peking, authorizing them to treat with the powers for
the re-establishment of friendly relations.

Measures of reparation.

The harmony of the powers, which had been maintained with some
difficulty up to the relief of the legations, was subjected to a severe
strain as soon as the basis of negotiations with the Chinese government
came to be discussed. While for various reasons Russia, Japan and the
United States were inclined to treat China with great indulgence,
Germany insisted upon the signal punishment of the guilty officials as a
_conditio sine qua non_, and in this she had the support not only of the
other members of the Triple Alliance, but also of Great Britain, and to
some extent even of France, who, as protector of the Roman Catholic
Church in Eastern countries, could not allow the authors of the
atrocities committed upon its followers to escape effectual punishment.
It was not until after months of laborious negotiations that the demands
to be formally made upon the Chinese government were embodied in a joint
note signed by all the foreign ministers on the 20th and 21st of
December 1900. The demands were substantially as follows:

Honourable reparation for the murder of von Ketteler and of Mr
Sugiyama, to be made in a specified form, and expiatory monuments to
be erected in cemeteries where foreign tombs had been desecrated. "The
most severe punishment befitting their crimes" was to be inflicted on
the personages designated by the decree of the 21st of September, and
also upon others to be designated later by the foreign ministers, and
the official examinations were to be suspended in the cities where
foreigners had been murdered or ill-treated. An equitable indemnity,
guaranteed by financial measures acceptable to the powers, was to be
paid to states, societies and individuals, including Chinese who had
suffered because of their employment by foreigners, but not including
Chinese Christians who had suffered only on account of their faith.
The importation or manufacture of arms or _matériel_ was to be
forbidden; permanent legation guards were to be maintained at Peking,
and the diplomatic quarter was to be fortified, while communication
with the sea was to be secured by a foreign military occupation of the
strategic points and by the demolition of the Chinese forts, including
the Taku forts, between the capital and the coast. Proclamations were
to be posted throughout China for two years, threatening death to the
members of anti-foreign societies, and recording the punishment of the
ringleaders in the late outrages: and the viceroys, governors and
provincial officials were to be declared by imperial edict
responsible, on pain of immediate dismissal and perpetual disability
to hold office, for anti-foreign outbreaks or violations of treaty
within their jurisdictions. China was to facilitate commercial
relations by negotiating a revision of the commercial treaties. The
Tsung-Li-Yamen was to be reformed and the ceremonial for the reception
of foreign ministers modified as the powers should demand. Compliance
with these terms was declared to be a condition precedent to the
arrangement of a time limit to the occupation of Peking and of the
provinces by foreign troops.

Under instructions from the court, the Chinese plenipotentiaries affixed
their signatures on the 14th of January 1901 to a protocol, by which
China pledged herself to accept these terms in principle, and the
conference of ministers then proceeded to discuss the definite form in
which compliance with them was to be exacted. This further stage of the
negotiations proved even more laborious and protracted than the
preliminary proceedings. No attempt was made to raise the question of
the dowager-empress's responsibility for the anti-foreign movement, as
Russia had from the first set her face against the introduction of what
she euphemistically termed "the dynastic question." But even with regard
to the punishment of officials whose guilt was beyond dispute, grave
divergences arose between the powers. The death penalty was ultimately
waived in the case even of such conspicuous offenders as Prince Tuan and
Tung-fu-hsiang, but the notorious Yü Hsien and two others were
decapitated by the Chinese, and three other metropolitan officials were
ordered to commit suicide, whilst upon others sentences of banishment,
imprisonment and degradation were passed, in accordance with a list
drawn up by the foreign representatives. The question of the punishment
of provincial officials responsible for the massacre of scores of
defenceless men, women and children was unfortunately reserved for
separate treatment, and when it came up for discussion it became
impossible to preserve even the semblance of unanimity, the Russian
minister at once taking issue with his colleagues, although he had
originally pledged himself as formally as the others to the principle.
Count Lamsdorff frankly told the British ambassador at St Petersburg
that Russia took no interest in missionaries, and as the foreigners
massacred in the provinces belonged mostly to that class, she declined
to join in the action of the other powers.

Russia and Manchuria.

The real explanation of Russia's cynical secession from the concert of
powers on this important issue must be sought in her anxiety to
conciliate the Chinese in view of the separate negotiations in which she
was at the same time engaged with China in respect of Manchuria. When
the Boxer movement was at its height at the end of June 1900, the
Chinese authorities in Manchuria had wantonly "declared war" against
Russia, and for a moment a great wave of panic seems to have swept over
the Russian administration, civil and military, in the adjoining
provinces. The reprisals exercised by the Russians were proportionately
fierce. The massacre at Blagovyeshchensk, where 5000 Chinese--men, women
and children--were flung into the Amur by the Cossacks, was only one
incident in the reign of terror by which the Russians sought to restore
their power and their prestige. The resistance of the Chinese troops was
soon overcome, and Russian forces overran the whole province, occupying
even the treaty port of Niu-chwang. The Russian government officially
repudiated all responsibility for the proclamations issued by General
Gribsky and others, foreshadowing, if not actually proclaiming, the
annexation of Chinese territory to the Russian empire. But Russia was
clearly bent on seizing the opportunity for securing a permanent hold
upon Manchuria. In December 1900 a preliminary agreement was made
between M. Korostovetz, the Russian administrator-general, and Tseng,
the Tatar general at Mukden, by which the civil and military
administration of the whole province was virtually placed under Russian
control. In February 1901 negotiations were opened between the Russian
government and the Chinese minister at St Petersburg for the conclusion
of a formal convention of a still more comprehensive character. In
return for the restoration to China of a certain measure of civil
authority in Manchuria, Russia was to be confirmed in the possession of
exclusive military, civil and commercial rights, constituting in all but
name a protectorate, and she was also to acquire preferential rights
over all the outlying provinces of the Chinese empire bordering on the
Russian dominions in Asia. The clauses relating to Chinese Turkestan,
Kashgar, Yarkand, Khotan and Mongolia were subsequently stated to have
been dropped, but the convention nevertheless provoked considerable
opposition both in foreign countries and amongst the Chinese themselves.
Most of the powers, including Germany, who, however, denied that the
Anglo-German agreement of the 16th of October 1900 applied to
Manchuria,[54] advised the Chinese government not to pursue separate
negotiations with one power whilst collective negotiations were in
progress at Peking, and both Japan and Great Britain pressed for
definite information at St Petersburg with regard to the precise tenor
of the proposed convention. At the same time the two viceroys of the
lower Yangtsze memorialized the throne in the strongest terms against
the convention, and these protests were endorsed not only by the great
majority of Chinese officials of high rank throughout the provinces, but
by popular meetings and influential guilds and associations. Ultimately
the two viceroys, Chang Chih-tung and Liu Kun-yi,[55] took the extreme
step of warning the throne that they would be unable to recognize the
convention, even if it were ratified, and notwithstanding the pressure
exercised in favour of Russia by Li Hung-Chang, the court finally
instructed the Chinese minister at St Petersburg to decline his
signature. The attitude of Japan, where public feeling ran high, was
equally significant, and on the 3rd of April the Russian government
issued a circular note to the powers, stating that, as the generous
intentions of Russia had been misconstrued, she withdrew the proposed
convention.

The peace protocol, 1901.

The work of the conference at Peking, which had been temporarily
disturbed by these complications, was then resumed. Friction between
European troops of different nationalities and an Anglo-Russian dispute
over the construction of certain roads and railway sidings at Tientsin
showed that an international occupation was fraught with manifold
dangers. The question of indemnities, however, gave rise to renewed
friction. Each power drew up its own claim, and whilst Great Britain,
the United States and Japan displayed great moderation, other powers,
especially Germany and Italy, put in claims which were strangely out of
proportion to the services rendered by their military and naval forces.
It was at last settled that China should pay altogether an indemnity of
450 million taels, to be secured (1) on the unhypothecated balance of
the customs revenue administered by the imperial maritime customs, the
import duties being raised forthwith to an effective 5% basis; (2) on
the revenues of the "native" customs in the treaty ports; (3) on the
total revenues of the salt gabelle. Finally the peace protocol was drawn
up in a form which satisfied all the powers as well as the Chinese
court. The formal signature was, however, delayed at the last moment by
a fresh difficulty concerning Prince Chun's penitential mission to
Berlin. This prince, an amiable and enlightened youth,[56] son of the
Prince Chun who was the emperor Hien-fêng's brother, and thus himself
half-brother to the emperor Kwang-su, had reached Basel towards the end
of August on his way to Germany, when he was suddenly informed that he
and his suite would be expected to perform _kowtow_ before the German
emperor. The prince resented this unexpected demand, and referred home
for instructions. The Chinese court appear to have remained obdurate,
and the German government perceived the mistake that had been made in
exacting from the Chinese prince a form of homage which Western
diplomacy had for more than a century refused to yield to the Son of
Heaven, on the ground that it was barbarous and degrading. The point was
waived, and Prince Chun was received in solemn audience by the emperor
William at Potsdam on the 4th of September. Three days later, on the 7th
of September, the peace protocol was signed at Peking.

The articles recorded the steps to be taken to satisfy the demands of
the powers as to commerce. Article 11 provided for the amendment of
existing treaties of commerce and navigation, and for river conservancy
measures at Tientsin and Shanghai. The British government appointed a
special commission, with Sir J. Mackay, member of the council of India,
as chief commissioner, to proceed to Shanghai to carry on the
negotiations, and a commercial treaty was signed at Shanghai on the 6th
of September 1902, by which existing obstacles to foreign trade, such as
_likin_, &c., were removed, regulations were made for facilitating
steamer navigation on inland waters, and several new ports were opened
to foreign commerce.

In accordance with the terms of the protocol, all the foreign troops,
except the legation guards, were withdrawn from Peking on the 17th of
September, and from the rest of Chih-li, except the garrisons at the
different points specified along the line of communications, by the 22nd
of September. On the 7th of October it was announced that the Chinese
court had left Si-gan-fu on its way back to the northern capital. A
month later (7th of November) the death of Li Hung-Chang at Peking
removed, if not the greatest of Chinese statesmen, at any rate the one
who had enjoyed the largest share of the empress-dowager's confidence.
(V. C.)

(E)--_From 1901 to 1910._

"Awakening of China."

The events connected with the Boxer rising and its suppression
demonstrated even more forcibly than had the war with Japan in 1894-1895
the necessity for the adoption of Western methods in many departments
of life and administration if China was to maintain the position of a
great power. The necessity for a thorough reform of the administration
was widely recognized in 1901, and among the progressive classes of the
community much disappointment was manifested because the powers had
failed to insist, in the conditions of peace, on a reorganization of the
machinery of government. The Yangtsze viceroys, the viceroy at Canton,
Yuan Shih-kai and other high mandarins repeatedly memorialized the
throne to grant effective reforms. While at Si-gan-fu the court did in
fact issue several reform decrees, but at the same time all authority
remained in the hands of reactionaries. There had been an awakening in
China, but another lesson--afforded a few years later by the
Russo-Japanese War--was needed before the reform party was able to gain
real power.

For three or four years following the signing of the peace protocol of
1901 it seemed indeed that there would be little change in the system of
government, though in some directions a return to the old state of
affairs was neither possible nor desired. On the 7th of January 1902 the
court returned to Peking--a step which marked the restoration, more or
less, of normal conditions. The failure of the Boxer movement, in which,
as has been shown, she was deeply implicated, had impressed upon the
dowager empress the need for living on better terms with foreign powers,
but the reform edicts issued from Si-gan-fu remained largely
inoperative, though some steps were taken to promote education on
Western lines, to readjust the land tax, and especially to reorganize
the military forces (though on provincial rather than on a national
basis). The building of railways was also pushed on, but the dowager
empress was probably at heart as reactionary as she had proved in 1898.
The emperor himself from his return to Peking until the day of his death
appeared to have little influence on public affairs. The most
disquieting feature of the situation in the years immediately following
the return of the court to Peking was the continued efforts of Russia to
obtain full control of Manchuria and a predominant influence in north
China. The Chinese government was powerless to stem the advance of
Russia, and the dowager empress herself was credited with indifference
to the fate of Manchuria. It was the menace to other powers, notably
Japan, involved in Russia's action which precipitated an issue in which
the destinies of China were involved. Before considering the results of
that struggle (the Russo-Japanese War) the chief events of the years
1902-1905 may be outlined.

Relations with Europeans.

The dowager empress from the day of her return from Si-gan-fu set
herself to conciliate the foreign residents in Peking. Many foreign
onlookers were gathered on the wall of the Tatar city to witness the
return of the court, and to these the dowager empress made a deep bow
twice, an apparently trivial incident which made a lasting impression.
On the 1st of February following the dowager empress received the ladies
of the various embassies, when she bewailed the attack on the legations,
entertained her guests to tea and presented each with articles of
jewelry, and from that time onward, as occasion offered, Tsz'e Hsi
exchanged compliments and civilities with the foreign ladies in Peking.
Moreover, Sir Robert Hart--after having been nearly forty years in
China--was now presented at court, as well as Bishop Favier and others.
Henceforth attacks on foreigners received no direct encouragement at
court. Tung Fu-hsiang,[57] who had been banished to the remote province
of Kan-suh, had at his command there his old Boxer troops, and his
attitude caused anxiety at the end of 1902. He was said to have received
support from Prince Tuan--who had been obliged to retire to
Mongolia--but events proved that the power or the intention of these
reactionaries to create trouble had been miscalculated. There were
indeed serious Boxer disturbances in Sze-ch'uen in 1902, but they were
put down by a new viceroy sent from Peking. Notwithstanding the murder
of fifteen missionaries during 1902-1905, there was in general a marked
improvement in the relations between the missionaries, the official
classes and the bulk of the people, and an eagerness was shown in
several provinces to take advantage of their educational work. This was
specially marked in Hu-nan, a province which had been for long hostile
to missionary endeavours. Illustrative of the attitude of numbers of
high officials was the attendance of the viceroy of Sze-ch'uen, with the
whole of his staff, at the opening in 1905 at Cheng-tu of new buildings
of the Canadian Methodist Mission. This friendly attitude towards the
missions was due in part to the influence of Chinese educated abroad and
also, to a large extent, to the desire to take advantage of Western
culture. The spread of this new spirit was coincident with an agitation
for independence of foreign control and the determination of the Chinese
to use modern methods to attain their ends. Thus in 1905 there was an
extensive boycott of American goods throughout China, as a retaliatory
measure for the exclusion of Chinese from the United States. Regarding
China as a whole the attitude of the people towards Europeans was held
to indicate that the general view was, not that the Boxer teaching was
false, but that the spirits behind Western religion were more powerful
than those behind Boxer-dom. The spiritual prestige of Christianity and
respect for the power of the foreigner were direct outcomes of the
failure of the Boxers.[58] The British expedition to Tibet in 1904, the
occupation of Lhassa in August of that year, the flight of the Dalai
Lama to Mongolia, gave grave concern to the Chinese government--which
showed much persistence in enforcing its suzerain rights in Tibet--but
did not, apparently, cause any ill-feeling towards Great Britain among
the Chinese people--who viewed with seeming equanimity the flight of the
head of the Buddhist religion from the headquarters of that faith. The
country generally was peaceful, a rebellion in Kwang-si--where a
terrible famine occurred in 1903--being suppressed in 1904 by the forces
of the viceroy at Canton.

Commercial and railway progress.

The expiatory measures required of China in connexion with the Boxer
rising were carried through. China during 1902 recovered possession of
the Peking-Tientsin railway and of the city of Tientsin, which was
evacuated by the foreign troops in August of that year. The foreign
troops were also all withdrawn from Shanghai by January 1903. The
conclusion of a new commercial treaty between Great Britain and China in
September 1902 has already been recorded. The payment of the indemnity
instalments occasioned some dispute owing to the fall in silver in 1902,
but the rise in the value of the tael in subsequent years led China to
agree to the payment of the indemnity on a gold basis. The increase in
revenue was a notable feature of the maritime customs in 1903-1905. This
result was in part due to the new arrangements under the commercial
treaty of 1902, and in part to the opening up of the country by
railways. In especial the great trunk line from Peking to Hankow was
pushed on. The line, including a bridge nearly 2 m. long over the Yellow
river was completed and opened for traffic in 1905. The first section of
the Shanghai-Nanking railway was opened in the same year. At this time
the Chinese showed a strong desire to obtain the control of the various
lines. During 1905, for instance, the Canton-Hankow railway concession
was repurchased by the Chinese government from an American company,
while the Pekin Syndicate, a British concern, also sold their railway in
Ho-nan to the Chinese government.

Manchuria.

Russia's action regarding Manchuria overshadowed, however, all other
concerns during this period. The withdrawal of the proposed
Russo-Chinese agreement of 1901 has been chronicled. The Russian
government had, however, no intention of abandoning its hold on
Manchuria. It aimed not only at effective military control but the
reservation to Russian subjects of mining, railway and commercial
rights. Both the sovereignty of China and the commercial interests of
other nations were menaced. This led to action by various powers. The
preamble of the Anglo-Japanese treaty of the 30th of January 1902
declared the main motives of the contracting parties to be the
maintenance of the independence and territorial integrity of China and
Korea, and the securing of equal opportunities in those countries for
the commerce and industry of all nations, i.e. the policy of the "open
door." Protests were lodged by Great Britain, Japan and the United
States against the grant of exclusive rights to Russian subjects in
Manchuria. Russia asserted her intention to respect the commercial
rights of other nations, and on the 8th of April 1902 an agreement was
signed at Peking which appeared to show the good faith of the Russian
government, as it provided for the withdrawal of the Russian troops in
Manchuria within eighteen months from that date. In accordance with this
agreement the Shan-hai-kwan-Niu-chwang railway was transferred to China
in October 1902 and the district between Shan-hai-kwan and the Liao
river evacuated by Russia. But it soon appeared that Russia's hold on
the country had not relaxed. Advantage was taken of the terms of
concession granted in August 1896 to the Russo-Chinese Bank[59] to erect
towns for Russian colonists and to plant garrisons along the line of
railway, and to exclude Chinese jurisdiction altogether from the railway
zone. The so-called evacuation became in fact the concentration of the
Russian forces along the line of railway. Moreover, the maritime customs
at Niu-chwang were retained by the Russo-Chinese Bank despite protests
from the Chinese imperial authorities, and a Russian civil
administration was established at that port. The evacuation of southern
Manchuria should have taken place in April 1903, but in that month,
instead of fulfilling the conditions of the 1902 agreement, the Russian
chargé d'affaires in Peking made a series of further demands upon China,
including the virtual reservation of the commerce of Manchuria for
Russian subjects. Though Russia officially denied to the British and
American governments that she had made these demands, it was
demonstrated that they had been made. The United States and Japan
thereupon insisted that China should conclude with them commercial
treaties throwing open Mukden and two ports on the Yalu river to foreign
trade. The American treaty was signed on the 8th of October 1903--the
day fixed for the complete evacuation of Manchuria by Russia--and the
Japanese treaty on the day following. Both treaties provided that the
ports should be opened after ratifications had been exchanged. From fear
of Russia China, however, delayed the ratification of the treaties.
Meantime, in August 1903, a regular through railway service between
Moscow and Port Arthur was established. In the same month a Russian
Viceroyalty of the Far East was created which in effect claimed
Manchuria as a Russian province. In September Russia withdrew some of
the demands she had made in April, but her concessions proved illusory.
When the 8th of October passed and it was seen that the Russians had not
withdrawn their troops[60] there issued for a time threats of war from
Peking. Yuan Shih-kai, the viceroy of Chih-li, who had at his command
some 65,000 troops trained by Japanese officers, pressed on the
government the necessity of action. At this point Japan intervened. Her
interests were vitally affected by Russia's action not only in
Manchuria, but in Korea, and seeing that China was powerless the
Japanese government negotiated directly with St Petersburg. In these
negotiations Russia showed that she would not yield her position in
either country except to force. Japan chose the issue of war and proved
successful.

Lessons of the Russo-Japanese War.

The Russo-Japanese War did not very greatly alter China's position in
Manchuria. In the southern part of that country Japan succeeded to the
special privileges Russia had wrung from China (including the lease of
Port Arthur); in the north Russia remained in possession of the railway
zone. For Japan's position as at once the legatee of special privileges
and the champion of China's territorial integrity and "the open door"
see JAPAN, § _History_. However, the attitude of Japan was more
conciliatory than that of Russia had been; Mukden and other places were
thrown open to foreign trade and Chinese civil administration was
re-established. The important results of the war, so far as China was
concerned, were not to be looked for in Manchuria, but in the new spirit
generated in the Chinese. They had been deeply humiliated by the fact
that in the struggle between Russia and Japan China had been treated as
a negligible quantity, and that the war had been fought on Chinese
territory. The lesson which the loot of Peking and the fall of the
Boxers in 1900 had half taught was now thoroughly mastered; the
awakening of China was complete. The war had shown that when an Eastern
race adopted Western methods it was capable of defeating a European
nation.

Army reform.

It was fortunate that among the influential advisers of the throne at
this time (1905-1908) were Prince Chun (the prince who had visited
Germany in 1901), Yuan Shih-kai, the viceroy of Chih-li, and Chang
Chih-tung, the viceroy of Hu-kwang (i.e. the provinces of Hu-peh and
Hu-nan), all men of enlightened and strong character. In 1907 both the
viceroys named were summoned to Peking and made members of the grand
council, of which Prince Ching, a man of moderate views, was president.
Yuan Shih-kai was an open advocate of a reform of the civil service, of
the abolition of Manchu privileges, of education and other matters. He
had specially advocated the reconstitution of the military forces of the
empire, and in Chih-li in 1905 he demonstrated before a number of
foreign military attachés the high efficiency attained by the forces of
the metropolitan province. The success achieved by Yuan Shih-kai in this
direction incited Chang Chih-tung to follow his example, while a decree
from the throne called upon the princes and nobles of China to give
their sons a military education. The formerly despised military
profession was thus made honourable, and with salutary effects. The
imperial princes sought high commands, officers were awarded ranks and
dignities comparable with those of civil servants, and the pay of the
troops was increased. The new foreign drilled northern army was called
upon to furnish a large proportion of a force sent under Prince Su into
Mongolia--a country which had been on the point of falling into the
hands of Russia, but over which, as one result of the Russo-Japanese
War, China recovered control. In 1906 a step was taken towards the
formation of a national army by withdrawing portions of the troops from
provincial control and placing them under officers responsible to the
central government, which also took over the charge of the provincial
arsenals. In the years which followed further evidence was given of the
earnestness and success with which the military forces were being
reorganized. Less attention was given to naval affairs, but in the
autumn of 1909 a naval commission under Tsai Hsün, a brother of the
emperor Kwang-su, was sent to Europe to report on the steps necessary
for the re-establishment of a fleet. Previously (in 1907) societies had
been started in several provinces to collect funds for naval purposes.

A parliamentary constitution promised.

The most striking evidence of the change which had occurred was,
however, the appointment (in 1905) of an Imperial Commission, headed by
Prince Tsai Tse, to study the administrative systems of foreign
countries with a view to the possible establishment of a representative
government in China. The revolutionary nature of this proposal excited
indignation among the adherents to the old order, and a bomb was thrown
among the commissioners as they were preparing to leave Peking.[61]
After visiting Japan, America and Europe the commission returned to
Peking in July 1906.[62] A committee over which Prince Ching presided
was appointed to study the commission's report, and on the 1st of
September following an edict was issued in which the establishment of a
parliamentary form of government was announced, at a date not fixed. To
fit the country for this new form of government (the edict went on to
declare) the administration must be reformed, the laws revised,
education promoted and the finances regulated. This edict, moreover, was
but one of many edicts issued in 1906 and following years which showed
how great a break with the past was contemplated. In November 1906 two
edicts were issued with the object of reorganizing the central
administrative offices. Their effect was to simplify the conduct of
business, many useless posts being abolished, while an audit board was
created to examine the national accounts. In November 1907 another edict
was promulgated stating that for the present the formation of Houses of
Lords and of Commons to determine all public questions was not
practicable, but that it was proposed, as a preliminary measure, to
create an Imperial Assembly. At the same time a scheme of provincial
councils was ordered to be prepared. A more definite step followed in
1908 when a decree (dated the 27th of August) announced the convocation
of a parliament in the ninth year from that date.

The control of the Maritime Customs.

One of the changes made in the public offices brought China into
conflict with Great Britain. On the 9th of May 1906 a decree appointed
Chinese commissioners to control the Imperial Maritime Customs.[63] This
was the only department of the government under European (British)
control, and the only department also against which no charge of
inefficiency or corruption could be brought. The change decreed by China
was in accord with the new national sentiment, but by all the foreign
powers interested it was felt that it would be a retrograde step if the
customs were taken out of the control of Sir Robert Hart (q.v.), who had
been since 1863 inspector-general of the customs. The British secretary
of state for foreign affairs (Sir Edward Grey) at once protested against
the decree of the 6th of May, pointing out that the continuation of the
established system had been stipulated for in the loan agreements of
1896 and 1898. As a result of this and other representations the Board
of Control of the Customs was late in 1906 made a department of the
Board of Finance. The Chinese controllers-general continued in office,
and despite the assurances given to Great Britain by China (in a note of
the 6th of June 1906) that the appointment of the controllers-general
was not intended to interfere with the established system of
administration, the absolute authority of Sir Robert Hart was
weakened.[64] Sir Robert Hart returned to England in 1908 "on leave of
absence," Sir Robert Bredon, the deputy inspector-general, being placed
in charge of the service under the authority of the Board of Control, of
which on the 5th of April 1910 it was announced that he had been
appointed a member. This step was viewed with disfavour by the British
government, for, unless Sir Robert Bredon's post was to be merely a
sinecure, it imposed two masters on the maritime customs. On the 20th of
April Sir Robert Bredon severed his connexion with the Board of Control.
At the same time Mr F.A. Aglen (the Commissioner of Customs at Hankow)
became acting Inspector General (Sir Robert Hart being still nominally
head of the service). The attempt on the part of the Chinese to control
the customs was evidence of the strength of the "young China" or
Recovery of Rights party--the party which aspired to break all the
chains, such as extra-territoriality, which stamped the country as not
the equal of the other great nations.[65]

The anti-opium agitation.

In the steps taken to suppress opium smoking evidence was forthcoming of
the earnestness with which the governing body in China sought to better
the condition of the people. Opium smoking followed, in China, the
introduction of tobacco smoking, and is stated to have been introduced
from Java and Formosa in the early part of the 17th century. The first
edict against the habit was issued in 1729. At that time the only
foreign opium introduced was by the Portuguese from Goa, who exported
about 200 chests[66] a year. In 1773 English merchants in India entered
into the trade, which in 1781 was taken over by the East India
Company--the import in 1790 being over 4000 chests. In 1796 the
importation of foreign opium was declared contraband, and between 1839
and 1860 the central government attempted, without success, to suppress
the trade. It was legalized in 1858 after the second "opium war" with
Great Britain. At that time the poppy was extensively grown in China,
and the bulk of the opium smoked was, and continued to be, of home
manufacture. But after 1860 the importation of opium from India greatly
increased. Opium was also imported from Persia (chiefly to Formosa,
which in 1895 passed into the possession of Japan). The total foreign
import in 1863 was some 70,000 piculs,[67] in 1879 it was 102,000
piculs, but in 1905 had fallen to 56,000 piculs. The number of opium
smokers in China in the early years of the 20th century was estimated at
from 25 to 30 millions. The evil effects of opium smoking were fully
recognized, and Chang Chih-tung, one of the most powerful of the
opponents of the habit, was high in the councils of the dowager-empress.
On the 20th of September 1906 an edict was issued directing that the
growth, sale and consumption of opium should cease in China within ten
years, and ordering the officials to take measures to execute the
imperial will. The measures promulgated, in November following, made the
following provisions:--

(1) The cultivation of the poppy to be restricted annually by
one-tenth of its existing area; (2) all persons using opium to be
registered; (3) all shops selling opium to be gradually closed, and
all places where opium is smoked to discontinue the practice within
six months; (4) anti-opium societies to be officially encouraged, and
medicines distributed to cure the opium-smoking habit; (5) all
officials were requested to set an example to the people, and all
officials under sixty were required to abandon opium smoking within
six months or to withdraw from the service of the state.

It was estimated that the suppression of opium smoking would entail a
yearly loss of revenue of over £1,600,000, a loss about equally divided
between the central and provincial governments. The first step taken to
enforce the edict was the closing of the opium dens in Peking on the
last day of 1906.

During 1907 the opium dens in Shanghai, Canton, Fu-chow and many other
large cities were closed, and restrictions on the issue of licences
were introduced in the foreign settlements; even the eunuchs of the
palace were prohibited from smoking opium under severe penalties. The
central government continued during 1908 and 1909 to display
considerable energy in the suppression of the use of opium, but the
provincial authorities were not all equally energetic. It was noted in
1908 that while in some provinces--even in Yun-nan, where its
importance tc trade and commerce and its use as currency seemed to
render it very difficult to do anything effective--the governor and
officials were whole-hearted in carrying out the imperial regulations,
in other provinces--notably in Kwei-chow and in the provinces of the
lower Yangtsze valley--great supineness was exhibited in dealing with
the subject. Lord William Cecil, however, stated that travelling in
1909 between Peking and Hankow, through country which in 1907 he had
seen covered with the poppy, he could not then see a single poppy
flower, and that going up the Yangtsze he found only one small patch
of poppy cultivation.[68] The Peking correspondent of _The Times_, in
a journey to Turkestan in the early part of 1910, found that in
Shen-si province the people's desire to suppress the opium trade was
in advance of the views of the government. Every day trains of opium
carts were passed travelling under official protection. But in the
adjoining province of Shan-si there had been complete suppression of
poppy cultivation and in Kan-suh the officials were conducting a very
vigorous campaign against the growth of the poppy.[69]

In their endeavours to suppress opium smoking the Chinese government
appealed to the Indian government for help, and in 1907 received a
promise that India would decrease the production of opium annually by
one-tenth for four years and subsequently if China did likewise. The
Indian government also assented to Indian opium being taxed equally
with Chinese opium, but China did not raise the duty on foreign opium.
In 1908 the Indian government undertook to reduce the amount of opium
exported by 5100 chests yearly. In the same year the opium dens in
Hong-Kong were closed. In February 1909, on the initiative of the
United States, an international conference was held at Shanghai to
consider the opium trade and habit. At this conference the Chinese
representative claimed that the consumption of opium had already been
reduced by one-half--a claim not borne out by the ascertained facts.
The conference was unable to suggest any heroic measures, but a number
of proposals were agreed to (including the closing of opium dens in
the foreign settlements), tending to the restriction of the opium
trade. The conference also dealt with another and growing habit in
China--the use of morphia.[70] Japan agreed to prohibit the export of
morphia to China, a prohibition to which the other powers had
previously agreed.

Education.

The attempts to reform the educational system of China on a
comprehensive scale date from the year of the return of the court to
Peking after the Boxer troubles. In 1902 regulations were sanctioned by
the emperor which aimed at remodelling the methods of public
instruction. These regulations provided among other things for the
establishment at Peking of a university giving instruction in Western
learning, a technical college, and a special department for training
officials and teachers. A much more revolutionary step was taken in
September 1905 when a decree appeared announcing as from the beginning
of 1906 the abolition of the existing method of examinations. The new
system was to include the study of modern sciences, history, geography
and foreign languages, and in the higher grades political economy and
civil and international law. Thousands of temples were converted to
educational purposes. In Canton, in 1907, the old examination hall was
demolished to make way for a college with every appliance on Western
lines. Equal zeal was noticeable in such conservative cities as
Si-gan-fu, and in remote provinces like Kan-suh. By May 1906 fifteen
so-called universities had been founded. Moreover, many young Chinese
went abroad to acquire education--in Japan alone in 1906 there were
13,000 students. In the same year primary schools for girls were
established.[71] Perhaps the most striking evidence of the new spirit
regarding education was the tenour of a communication to the throne from
the head of the Confucian family. On the 31st of December 1906 an
imperial edict had appeared raising Confucius to the same rank as Heaven
and Earth--an action taken to indicate the desire of the government to
emphasize the value of ethical training. In thanking the throne for the
honour conferred on his ancestor the head of the family urged that at
the new college founded at the birth-place of Confucius the teaching
should include foreign languages, physical culture, political science
and military drill.[72]

While China, with the consent of the emperor and the empress-dowager,
and under the guidance of Prince Ching, Yuan Shih-kai and Chang
Chih-tung, was endeavouring to bring about internal reforms, her
attitude to foreign powers was one of reserve and distrust. This was
especially marked in the negotiations with Japan and with Russia
concerning Manchuria, and was seen also in the negotiations with Great
Britain concerning Tibet. It was not until April 1908, after four
years' negotiations, that a convention with Great Britain respecting
Tibet was signed, Chinese suzerain rights being respected. In September
the Dalai Lama arrived in Peking from Mongolia and was received by the
emperor, who also gave audience to a Nepalese mission.[73]

Death of the emperor and of the dowager empress.

The emperor Kwang-su had witnessed, without being able to guide, the new
reform movement. In August 1908 an edict was issued in his name
announcing the convocation of a parliament in nine years' time. In
November he died. His death occasioned no surprise, as disquieting
reports about his health had been current since July, but the
announcement that the dowager empress died on the 15th of November (the
day after that on which the emperor was officially stated to have died)
was totally unexpected. She had celebrated her birthday on the 3rd of
November and appeared then to be in good health. The empress dowager had
taken part in the choice of a successor to the throne, Kwang-su's
valedictory edict had been drawn up under her supervision, and it is
believed that the emperor died some days previous to the date officially
given for his death. Kwang-su died childless and was succeeded by his
infant nephew Pu-Yi (born on the 8th of February 1906), a son of Prince
Chun, who was appointed regent. Prince Chun--himself then only
twenty-six years old--had exercised considerable influence at court
since his mission to Germany in 1901, and was one of the most
enlightened of the Manchu princes. The death of the dowager empress
removed a powerful obstacle to a reformed regime, and with her passed
away the last prominent representative of the old era in China.

Accession of Hsuan Tung.

The accession to the throne of Pu-Yi, who was given as reigning title
Hsuan Tung ("promulgating universally"), was unaccompanied by
disturbances, save for an outbreak at Ngan-king, easily suppressed.
Prince Chun had the support of Yuan Shih-kai and Chang Chih-tung,[74]
the two most prominent Chinese members of the government at Peking--and
thus a division between the Manchus and Chinese was avoided. On the 2nd
of December 1908 the young emperor was enthroned with the usual rites.
On the day following another edict, which, it was stated, had had the
approval of the late dowager empress, was issued, reaffirming that of
the 27th of August regarding the grant of a parliamentary constitution
in nine years' time, and urging the people to prepare themselves for the
change. Other edicts sought to strengthen the position of the regent as
_de facto_ emperor. Yuan Shih-kai and Chang Chih-tung received the title
of Grand Guardians of the Heir, and the year 1908 closed with the chief
Chinese members of the government working, apparently, in complete
harmony with the regent.

Dismissal of Yuan Shih-kai.

Agreement with Japan.

On the 1st of January 1909, however, the political situation was rudely
disturbed by the dismissal from office of Yuan Shih-kai. This step led
to representations by the British and American ministers to Prince
Ching, the head of the foreign office, by whom assurances were given
that no change of policy was contemplated by China, while the regent in
a letter to President Taft reiterated the determination of his
government to carry through its reform policy. The dismissal of Yuan
Shih-kai was believed by the Chinese to be due to his "betrayal" of the
emperor Kwang-su in the 1898 reform movement. He had nevertheless
refused to go to extremes on the reactionary side, and in 1900, as
governor of Shan-tung, he preserved a neutrality which greatly
facilitated the relief of the Peking legations. During the last years
of the life of the dowager empress it was his influence which largely
reconciled her to the new reform movement. Yet Kwang-su had not
forgotten the _coup d'état_ of 1898, and it is alleged that he left a
testament calling upon his brother the prince regent to avenge the
wrongs he had suffered.[75] During the greater part of the year there
was serious estrangement between China and Japan, but on the 4th of
September a convention was signed which settled most of the points in
dispute respecting Manchuria and Korea. In Korea the boundary was
adjusted so that Chientao, a mountainous district in eastern Manchuria
regarded as the ancestral home of the reigning families of China and
Korea, was definitely assigned to China; while in Manchuria, both as to
railways and mines, a policy of co-operation was substituted for one of
opposition.[76] Although Japan had made substantial concessions, those
made by China in return provoked loud complaints from the southern
provinces--the self-government society calling for the dismissal of
Prince Ching. In northern Manchuria the Russian authorities had assumed
territorial jurisdiction at Harbin, but on the 4th of May an agreement
was signed recognizing Chinese jurisdiction.[77]

The control of railways.

The spirit typified by the cry of "China for the Chinese" was seen
actively at work in the determined efforts made to exclude foreign
capital from railway affairs. The completion in October 1909 of the
Peking-Kalgan railway was the cause of much patriotic rejoicing. The
railway, a purely Chinese undertaking, is 122 m. long and took four
years to build. It traversed difficult country, piercing the Nan K'ow
Pass by four tunnels, one under the Great Wall being 3580 ft. long.
There was much controversy between foreign financiers, generally backed
by their respective governments, as to the construction of other lines.
In March 1909 the Deutschasiatische Bank secured a loan of £3,000,000
for the construction of the Canton-Hankow railway. This concession was
contrary to an undertaking given in 1905 to British firms and was
withdrawn, but only in return for the admittance of German capital in
the Sze-ch'uen railway. After prolonged negotiations an agreement was
signed in Paris on the 24th of May 1910 for a loan of £6,000,000 for the
construction of the railway from Hankow to Sze-ch'uen, in which British,
French, German and American interests were equally represented. In
January 1910 the French line from Hanoi to Yunnan-fu was opened;[78] the
railway from Shanghai to Nanking was opened for through traffic in 1909.

Provincial Assemblies constituted. A senate formed.

The progress of the anti-opium movement and the dispute over the control
of the Imperial Maritime Customs have already been chronicled. A notable
step was taken in 1909 by the institution of elected assemblies in each
of the provinces. The franchise on which the members were elected was
very limited, and the assemblies were given consultative powers only.
They were opened on the 14th of October (the 1st day of the 9th moon).
The businesslike manner in which these assemblies conducted their work
was a matter of general comment among foreign observers in China.[79] In
February 1910 decrees appeared approving schemes drawn up by the
Commission for Constitutional Reforms, providing for local government in
prefectures and departments and for the reform of the judiciary. This
was followed on the 9th of May by another decree summoning the senate to
meet for the first time on the 1st day of the 9th moon (the 3rd of
October 1910). All the members of the senate were nominated, and the
majority were Manchus. Neither to the provincial assemblies nor to the
senate was any power of the purse given, and the drawing up of a budget
was postponed until 1915.[80]

Anti-dynastic movements. Riots in Hu-nan.

The efforts of the central government to increase the efficiency of the
army and to re-create a navy were continued in 1910. China was credited
with the intention of spending £40,000,000 on the rehabilitation of its
naval and military forces. It was estimated in March 1910 that there
were about 200,000 foreign-trained men, but their independent spirit and
disaffection constituted a danger to internal peace. The danger was
accentuated by the mutual jealousy of the central and provincial
governments. The anti-dynastic agitation, moreover, again seemed to be
growing in strength. In April 1910 there was serious rioting at
Changsha, Hu-nan, a town whence a few years previously had issued a
quantity of anti-foreign literature of a vile kind. The immediate causes
of the riots seem to have been many: rumours of the intention of the
foreign powers to dismember China, the establishment of foreign firms at
Changsha competing with native firms and exporting rice and salt at a
time when the province was suffering from famine, and the approach of
Halley's comet. Probably famine precipitated the outbreak, which was
easily crushed, as was also a rising in May at Yung chow, a town in the
south of Hu-nan. Much mission and mercantile property was wrecked at
Changsha, but the only loss of life was the accidental drowning of three
Roman Catholic priests.

The regent's policy.

An edict of the 17th of August 1910 effected considerable and unexpected
changes in the personnel of the central government. Tang Shao-yi, a
former lieutenant of Yuan Shih-kai, was appointed president of the Board
of Communications, and to him fell the difficult task of reconciling
Chinese and foreign interests in the development of the railway system.
Sheng Kung-pao regarded as the chief Chinese authority on currency
questions, and an advocate of the adoption of a gold standard, was
attached to the Board of Finance to help in the reforms decreed by an
edict of May of the same year (see ante, _Currency_). The issue of the
edict was attributed to the influence with the regent of Prince
Tsai-tao, who had recently returned from a tour in Europe, where he had
specially studied questions of national defence. The changes made among
the high officials tended greatly to strengthen the central
administration. The government had viewed with some disquiet the
Russo-Japanese agreement of the 4th of July concerning Manchuria (which
was generally interpreted as in fact lessening the authority of China in
that country); it had become involved in another dispute with Great
Britain, which regarded some of the measures taken to suppress opium
smoking as a violation of the terms of the Chifu convention, and its
action in Tibet had caused alarm in India. Thus the appointment to high
office of men of enlightenment, pledged to a reform policy, was
calculated to restore confidence in the policy of the Peking
authorities. This confidence would have been greater had not the changes
indicated a struggle for supreme power between the regent and the
dowager empress Lung Yu, widow of Kwang-su.

The strength of the various movements at work throughout China was at
this time extremely difficult to gauge; the intensity of the desire for
the acquisition of Western knowledge was equalled by the desire to
secure the independence of the country from foreign control. The second
of these desires gave the force it possessed to the anti-dynastic
movement. At the same time some of the firmest supporters of reform were
found among the Manchus, nor did there seem to be any reason to doubt
the intention of the regent--if he retained power--to guide the nation
through the troubled period of transition into an era of constitutional
government and the full development of the resources of the empire.
(X.)

PLATE I.

[Illustration: FIG. 1.--KU K'AI-CHIH. TOILET SCENE. (British Museum. 4th
Cent. A.D.).]

[Illustration: FIG. 2.--ATTRIBUTED TO WU TAOTZÜ. SAKYAMUNI. (8th Cent.)]

[Illustration: FIG. 3.--CHAO MÊNG-FU, AFTER WANG WEI (8th CENT.). SCENE
ON THE WANG CH'UAN. (Dated 1309. British Museum.)]

[Illustration: FIG. 4.--HSÜ HSI. BIRD ON APPLE-BOUGH. (10th Cent.)]

[Illustration: FIG. 5.--CHIEN SHUN-CHU. THE EMPEROR HUAN-YEH. (15th
Cent.)]

[Illustration: FIG. 6.--KIU YING. COURT LADIES. (British Museum. 15th
Cent.)]

[Illustration: FIG. 7.--EAGLE. By LIN LIANG. (15th Cent. British
Museum.)]

Figs. 2, 4, and 5 are reproduced by permission of the Kokka Company,
Tokyo.

PLATE II

[Illustration: FIG. 9.--TEMPLE VASE (c. 1200 B.C.).]

[Illustration: FIG. 10.--WINE VASE (c. 1000 B.C.).]

[Illustration: FIG. 11--WINE VASE (c. 600 B.C.).]

[Illustration: FIG. 12.--INLAID VESSEL (C. 500 B.C.).]

[Illustration: FIG. 13.--WINE VESSEL (c. 100 B.C.).]

[Illustration: FIG. 14.--INLAID VASE (c. 200 A.D.). In possession of
C.J. Holmes.]

[Illustration: FIG. 15.--VASE (c. 1450 A.D.).]

[Illustration: FIG. 16.--WINE VESSEL (c. 1450 A.D.).]

[Illustration: FIG. 17.--TEMPLE VASE (c. 1700 A.D.).]

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE.--Knowledge of the ancient history of China is
necessarily derived from the native writers on the subject.
Fortunately, the Chinese have always regarded the preservation of the
national records as a matter of supreme importance. Confucius set an
example in this respect, and has preserved for us in the _Spring and
Autumn Annals_ and the _Shu-king_, or _Book of History_, records of
his country's progress during the past and then present centuries. The
celebrated emperor Shih Hwang-ti, in establishing the empire,
attempted to strengthen his cause by destroying all works on the
national history. But so strongly was the historical sense inculcated
in the people that immediately on the death of the tyrant the
nation's records were again brought to light, and have been carefully
preserved and edited since that time. Prof. Legge's translation of the
_Spring and Autumn Annals_ and the _Shu-king, or Book of History_, in
the "Sacred Books of the East" series, have opened for students the
stores of historical knowledge which were at the command of Confucius,
and European writers on Chinese history have found in the dynastic
annals a never-failing source of valuable information. It was from
these works and epitomes of these that de Maillac gathered the facts
for his celebrated _Histoire générale de la Chine_, and it is from
similar sources that all other writers on Chinese history have drawn
their inspiration.

The following works on ancient and modern Chinese history may be
specially mentioned: J.A. de Moyria de Maillac, _Histoire générale de
la Chine_ (1777), &c.; J B. du Halde, _General History of China_ (4
vols., 1736); M. de Guignes, _Voyages à Péking ..._ (3 vols., 1808);
D. Boulger, _A History of China_ (3 vols., 1881); Valentine Chirol,
_The Far Eastern Question_ (1896); E.R. Huc, _The Chinese Empire_ (2
vols., 1855); T.T. Meadows, _The Chinese and their Rebellions_ (1856);
G. Pauthier, _Histoire des relations politiques de la Chine avec les
puissances occidentales depuis les temps les plus anciens jusqu'à nos
jours ..._ (1859); Sir George Staunton, _Notes of Proceedings and
Occurrences during the British Embassy to Peking in 1816_ (1824);
_Chinese Expansion historically reviewed_, a paper read before the
Central Asian Society by Baron Suyematsu on January 11, 1905; F.
Hirth, _Ancient History of China_ (New York, 1908); Prof. Herbert A.
Giles's _Chinese Biographical Dictionary_ (1897) is a storehouse of
biographical detail and anecdote.

For Chinese relations with foreign powers see H. Cordier, _Histoire
des relations de la Chine avec les puissances occidentales, 1860-1902_
(3 vols., Paris, 1901-1902); _Hertslet's China Treaties. Treaties,
&c., between Great Britain and China, and between China and Foreign
Powers, and Orders in Council, &c., affecting British Interests in
China_ (3rd ed., revised by G.G.P. Hertslet and E. Parkes, London,
1908); J.O. Bland and E. Backhouse, _China under the Empress Dowager_
(London, 1910). More general works are Sir R.K. Douglas, _China_,
history since the time of Marco Polo (London, 1899); E.H. Parker,
_China; Her History, Diplomacy and Commerce_ (London, 1901); _China,
Past and Present_ (London, 1903); A.J. Sargent, _Anglo-Chinese
Commerce and Diplomacy_--mainly in the 19th century (Oxford, 1907).
For current affairs see the authorities cited in the footnotes.

VI. CHINESE ART

1. _Painting._--Painting is the pre-eminent art of China, which can
boast of a succession of great painters for at least twelve centuries.
Though the Chinese have an instinctive gift for harmonious colour, their
painting is above all an art of _line_. It is intimately connected with
writing, itself a fine art demanding the same skill and supple power in
the wielding of the brush. The most typical expression of the Chinese
genius in painting is the ink sketch, such as the masters of the Sung
dynasty most preferred and the Japanese from the 15th century adopted
for an abiding model. Utmost vigour of stroke was here combined with
utmost delicacy of modulation. Rich colour and the use of gold are an
integral part of the Buddhist pictures, though in the masterpieces of
the religious painters a grand rhythm of linear design gives the
fundamental character. Exquisite subdued colour is also found in the
"flower and bird pieces" and still-life subjects of the Sung artists,
and becomes more emphatic and variegated in the decorative artists of
the Ming period.

Not to represent facts, but to suggest a poetic idea (often perfumed, so
to speak, with reminiscence of some actual poem), has ever been the
Chinese artist's aim. "A picture is a voiceless poem" is an old saying
in China, where very frequently the artist was a literary man by
profession. Oriental critics lay more stress on loftiness of sentiment
and tone than on technical qualities. This idealist temper helps to
explain the deliberate avoidance of all emphasis on appearances of
material solidity by means of chiaroscuro, &c., and the exclusive use of
the light medium of water-colour. The Chinese express actual dislike for
the representation of relief. Whoever compares the painting of Europe
with that of Asia (and Chinese painting is the central type for the one
continent, as Italian may claim to be for the other) must first
understand this contrast of aim. The limitations of the Chinese are
great, but these limitations save them from mistaking advances in
science for advances in art, and from petty imitation of fact. Their
religious painting has great affinity with the early religious art of
Italy (e.g. that of Siena). But the ideas of the Renaissance, its
scientific curiosity, its materialism, its glorification of human
personality, are wholly missing in China. For Europe, Man is ever the
hero and the foreground--hence the dominant study of the nude, and the
tendency to thronged compositions, with dramatic motives of effort and
conflict. The Chinese artists, weak in the plastic, weak in the
architectural sense, paint mostly in a lyric mood, with a contemplative
ideal. Hence the value given to space in their designs, the
semi-religious passion for nature, and the supremacy of landscape.
Beauty is found not only in pleasant prospects, but in wild solitudes,
rain, snow and storm. The life of things is contemplated and portrayed
for its own sake, not for its uses in the life of men. From this point
of view the body of Chinese painting is much more modern in conception
than that of Western art. Landscape was a mature and free art in China
more than a thousand years ago, and her school of landscape is the
loftiest yet known to the world. Nor was man ever dissociated from
nature. As early as the 4th century Ku K'ai-chih says that in painting a
certain noble character he must give him a fit background of great peaks
and deep ravines. Chinese painting, in sum, finely complements rather
than poorly supplements that of Europe; where the latter is strong, it
is weak; but in certain chosen provinces it long ago found consummate
expression for thoughts and feelings scarcely yet expressed with us.

History: Early periods (to A.D. 618).

The origin of Chinese painting is lost in legend, though there is no
reason to doubt its great antiquity. References in literature prove that
by the 3rd century B.C. it was a developed art. To this period is
ascribed the invention of the hair-brush, in the use of which as an
instrument both for writing and drawing the Chinese have attained
marvellous skill; the usual material for the picture being woven silk,
or, less often and since the 1st century A.D., paper. In early times
wood panels were employed; and large compositions were painted on walls
prepared with white lime. These mural decorations have all disappeared.
History and portraiture seem to have been the prevailing subjects; a
secular art corresponding to the social ideals of Confucianism. Yet long
before the introduction of Buddhism (A.D. 67) with its images and
pictures, we find that the two great symbolic figures of the Chinese
imagination, the Tiger and the Dragon--typifying the forces of Nature
and the power of the Spirit--had been evolved in art; and to imaginative
minds the mystic ideas of Lao Tzü and the legends of his hermit
followers proved a fruitful field for artistic motives of a kind which
Buddhism was still more to enrich and multiply. Early classifications
rank Buddhist and Taoist subjects together as one class.

With the 2nd century A.D. we come to individual names of artists and to
the beginnings of landscape. Ku K'ai-chih (4th century) ranks as one of
the greatest names of Chinese art. A painting by him now in the British
Museum (Plate I. fig. 1) shows a maturity which has nothing tentative
about it. The dignified and elegant types are rendered with a mastery of
sensitive brush-line which is not surpassed in later art. Ku K'ai-chih
painted all kinds of subjects, but excelled in portraiture. During the
next century the criticism of painting was formulated in six canons by
Hsieh Ho. Rhythm, organic or structural beauty, is the supreme quality
insisted on.

T'ang dynasty (A.D. 618-907).

During the T'ang dynasty the empire expanded to its utmost limits,
stretching as far as the Persian Gulf. India was invaded; Buddhism,
taught by numbers of Indian missionaries, became firmly established, and
controlled the ideals and imaginations of the time. The vigorous style
of a great era was impressed upon the T'ang art, which culminated in Wu
Taotzü, universally acknowledged as the greatest of all Chinese
painters. It is doubtful if any of his work remains. The picture
reproduced (Plate I. fig. 2) was long attributed to him, but is now
thought to be of later date, like the two landscapes well known under
his name in Japan. Wu Taotzü seems to have given supreme expression to
the central subject of Buddhist art, the Nirvana of Buddha, who lies
serenely asleep, with all creation, from saints and kings to birds and
beasts, passionately bewailing him. The composition is known from
Japanese copies; and it is in fact from the early religious schools of
Japan that we can best conjecture the grandeur of the T'ang style. Wu
Taotzü excelled in all subjects: other masters are best known for some
particular one. Han Kan was famous for his horses, the models for
succeeding generations of painters, both Chinese and Japanese. A
specimen of his brush is in the British Museum; and in the same
collection is a long roll which gives a glimpse of the landscape of this
age. It is a copy by a great master of the Yuen dynasty, Chao Mêng-fu,
from a famous painting by Wang Wei, representing scenes on the Wang
Ch'uan, the latter's home (Plate I. fig. 3 shows a fragment). With the
T'ang age landscape matured, and two schools arose, one headed by Wang
Wei, the other by Li Ssü-hsün. The style of Wang Wei, who was equally
famous as a poet, had a romantic idealist character--disdainful of mere
fact--which in later developments created the "literary man's picture"
of the Southern school, as opposed to the vigorous naturalism of the
North.

Five dynasties (A.D. 907-960).

Next come five brief dynasties, memorable less for any corporate style
or tradition, than for some fine painters like Hsü Hsi, famous for his
flowers, and Huang Ch'uan, a great master in a delicate style. Two
pictures by him, fowls and peonies, of extraordinary beauty, are in the
British Museum.

Sung dynasty (A.D. 960-1280).

The empire, which had been broken up, was reunited, though shorn of its
outer dependencies, under the house of Sung. This was an age of culture
in which the freedom of the individual was proclaimed anew; glorious in
art as in poetry and philosophy; the period which for Asia stands in
history as the Periclean age for Europe.

The religious paintings of Li Lung-mien, the grandest of Sung masters,
if less forcible than those of T'ang, were unsurpassed in harmonious
rhythm of design and colour. But the most characteristic painting of
this period is in landscape and nature-subjects. With a passion
unmatched in Europe till Wordsworth's day, the Sung artists portrayed
their delight in mountains, mists, plunging torrents, the flight of
the wild geese from the reed-beds, the moonlit reveries of sages in
forest solitudes, the fisherman in his boat on lake or stream. To them
also, steeped in the Zen philosophy of contemplation, a flowering
branch was no mere subject for a decorative study, but a symbol of the
infinite life of nature. A mere hint to the spectator's imagination is
often all that they rely on; proof of the singular fulness and reality
of the culture of the time. The art of suggestion has never been
carried farther. Such traditional subjects as "Curfew from a Distant
Temple" and "The Moon over Raging Waves" indicate the poetic
atmosphere of this art. Ma Yuan, Hsia Kuei and the emperor Hwei-tsung
are among the greatest landscape artists of this period. They belong
to the South Sung school, which loved to paint the gorges and towering
rock-pinnacles of the Yangtsze. The sterner, less romantic scenery of
the Hwang-Ho inspired the Northern school, of which Kuo Hsi and Li
Ch'eng were famous among many others. Muh Ki was one of the greatest
masters of the ink sketch; Chao Tan Lin was famed for his tigers; Li
Ti for his flowers as for his landscapes; Mao I for still-life: to
name a few among a host.

Yuen dynasty (A.D. 1280-1368).

The Mongol dynasty continues in art the Sung tradition. Chao Mêng-fu,
the greatest master of his time, belongs to both periods, and ranks with
the highest names in Chinese painting. A landscape by him, copied from
Wang Wei, has been already mentioned as in the British Museum, which
also has two specimens of Yen Hui, a painter less known in his own
country than in Japan. He painted especially figures of Taoist legend.
The portrait by Ch'ien Shun-chü (Plate I. fig. 5) is a fine example of
purity of line and lovely colour, reminding us of Greek art.

Ming dynasty (A.D. 1368-1644).

The simplicity of motive and directness of execution which had been the
strength of the Sung art gradually gave way during the Ming era to
complicated conceptions and elaborate effects. The high glow of life
faded; the lyrical temper and impassioned work of the Sung time were
replaced by love of ornament and elegance. In this respect Kiu Ying is
typical of the period, with his richly coloured scenes from court life
(Plate I. fig. 6). None the less, there were a number of painters who
still upheld the grander style of earlier ages. The greatest of these
was Lin Liang (Plate I. fig. 7), whose brush work, if somewhat coarser,
is as powerful as that of the Sung masters. But though individual
painters of the first rank preserved the Ming age from absolute decline,
it cannot be said that any new development of importance took place in a
vitalizing direction.

Tsing dynasty (from A.D. 1644).

The present dynasty prolongs the history of Ming art. The literary
school of the South became more prominent, sending out offshoots in
Japan. There has been no movement of national life to be reflected in
art, though a great body of admirable painting has been produced, down
to the present day. The four landscape masters known as the "four
Wangs," Yün Shou-p'ing and Wu Li are pre-eminent names.

SOURCES AND AUTHORITIES.--While the designs on porcelain, screens,
&c., have long been admired in the West, the paintings of which these
are merely reproductions have been utterly ignored. Ignorance has
gained authority with time, till the very existence of a great school
of Chinese painting has been denied. Materials for study are scanty.
Fires, wars and the recent armed ravages of Western civilization have
left but little. The profound indifference of the Chinese to European
admiration has prevented their collections from being known. The
Japanese, always enthusiastic students and collectors of the
continental art, claim (whether justly or not, is hard to ascertain)
that the finest specimens are now in their country. Many of these are
reproduced in the invaluable Tokyo publications, the _Kokka_, Mr
Tajima's _Select Relics_, &c., with Japanese criticisms in English. Of
actual paintings the British Museum possesses a fair number, and the
Louvre a few, of real importance. Copies and forgeries abound.

See H.A. Giles, _Introduction to the History of Chinese Pictorial Art_
(1905); F. Hirth, _Scraps from a Collector's Note-Book_ (1905),
(supplements Giles's work and especially valuable for the art of the
Ch'ing dynasty); S.W. Bushell, _Chinese Art_, vol. ii. (1906); K.
Okakura, _Ideals of the East_ (1903); M. Paléologue, _L'Art chinois_
(1887); W. Anderson, _Catalogue of Japanese and Chinese Paintings_
(1886); Sei-ichi Taki, "Chinese Landscape Painting," _The Kokka_, Nos.
191, &c. (1906); _Chinesische Malereien aus der Sammlung Hirth_
(Catalogue of an exhibition held at Dresden) (1897); W. von Seidlitz,
article in _Kunstchronik_ (1896-1897), No. 16.

2. _Engraving_.--According to native historians, the art of printing
from wooden blocks was invented in China in the 6th century A.D., when
it was employed for the publication of texts. The earliest evidence we
have for the existence of woodcuts made to reproduce pictures or
drawings is a passage in a work by Chang Yen-yüan, from which it appears
that these were not made before the beginning of the T'ang dynasty,
under which that author lived. The method employed was to cut the design
with a knife on the plank of the wood, in the manner followed by
European artists till the end of the 18th century, when engraving with a
burin on boxwood ousted the older process. The Japanese borrowed the art
from China; and in Japan a whole school of artists arose who worked
specially for the woodcutters and adapted their designs to the
limitations of the material employed. In China the art has remained
merely reproductive, and its history is therefore of less interest.
_Printing in colours_ was known to the Chinese in the 17th century, and
probably earlier. In the British Museum is a set of prints brought from
the East by Kaempfer in 1693, in which eight colours and elaborate
_gauffrage_ are used. Some fine albums of colour prints have been issued
in China, but nothing equal in beauty to the prints produced in Japan by
the co-operation of woodcutter and designer. _Engraving on copper_ was
introduced to China by the Jesuits, and some well-known sets of prints
illustrating campaigns in Mongolia were made in the 18th century. But
the method has never proved congenial to the artists of the Far East.

See Sir R.K. Douglas, _Guide to the Chinese and Japanese Illustrated
Books_ (British Museum, 1887); W. Anderson, _Japanese Wood Engraving_
(1895).

3. _Architecture_.--In architecture the Chinese genius has found but
limited and uncongenial expression. A nation of painters has built
picturesquely, but this picturesqueness has fought against the
attainment of the finest architectural qualities. There has been little
development; the arch, for instance, though known to the Chinese from
very early times, has been scarcely used as a principle of design, and
the cupola has been undiscovered or ignored; and though foreign
architectural ideas were introduced under the influence of the Buddhist
and Mahommedan religions, these were more or less assimilated and
subdued to the dominant Chinese design. Ruins scarcely exist and no
building earlier than the 11th century A.D. is known; but we know from
records that the forms of architecture still prevalent imitate in
essentials those of the 4th and 5th centuries B.C. and doubtless
represent an immemorial tradition.

The grand characteristic of Chinese architecture is the pre-eminent
importance of the roof. The _t'ing_ is the commonest model of building.
The roof is the main feature; in fact the _t'ing_ consists of this roof,
massive and immense, with recurved edges, and the numerous short columns
on which the roof rests. The columns are of wood, the straight stems of
the _nanmu_ being specially used for this purpose. The walls are not
supports, but merely fill in, with stone or brickwork, the spaces
between the columns. The scheme of construction is thus curiously like
that of the modern American steel-framed building, though the external
form may be derived from the tent of primitive nomads. The roof, being
the preponderant feature, is that on which the art of the architect has
been concentrated. A double or a triple roof may be devised; the ridges
and eaves may be decorated with dragons and other fantastic animals, and
the eaves underlaid with carved and lacquered woodwork; the roof itself
is often covered with glazed tiles of brilliant hue. In spite of
efforts, sometimes desperate, to give variety and individual character
by ornament and detail, the general impression is one of poverty of
design. "Chinese buildings are usually one-storeyed and are developed
horizontally as they are increased in size or number. The principle
which determines the plan of projection is that of symmetry" (Bushell).
All important buildings must face the south, and this uniform
orientation increases the general architectural monotony produced by a
preponderance of horizontal lines.

A special characteristic of Chinese architecture is the _pai-lou_, an
archway erected only by special authority, usually to commemorate famous
persons. The _pai-lou_ is commonly made of wood with a tiled roof, but
sometimes is built entirely of stone, as is the gateway at the avenue of
the Ming tombs. A magnificent example of the _pai-lou_ is that on the
avenue leading to Wo Fo Ssü, the temple of the Sleeping Buddha, near
Peking. This is built of marble and glazed terra-cotta. The _pai-lou_,
like the Japanese _torii_, derives its origin from the _toran_ of Indian
_stupas_. Lofty towers called _t'ai_, usually square and of stone, seem
to have been a common type of important building in early times. They
are described in old books as erected by the ancient kings and used for
various purposes. The towers of the Great Wall are of the same
character, and are made of stone, with arched doors and windows. Stone,
though plentiful in most provinces of the empire, has been singularly
little used by the Chinese, who prefer wood or brick. M. Paléologue
attributes this preference of light and destructible materials to the
national indifference of the Chinese to posterity and the future, their
enthusiasm being wholly devoted to their ancestors and the past.

Temples are designed on the general _t'ing_ model. The Temple of Heaven
is the most imposing of the Confucian temples, conspicuous with its
covering of deep-blue tiles and its triple roof. Near this is the great
Altar of Heaven, consisting of three circular terraces with marble
balustrades. Buddhist temples are built on the general plan of secular
residences, and consist of a series of rectangular courts with the
principal building in the centre, the lesser at the sides. Lama temples
differ little from these except in the interior decorations and
symbolism. Mahommedan mosques are far simpler and severer in internal
arrangement, but outwardly these also are in the Chinese style.

The _pagoda_ (Chinese _taa_), the type of Chinese architecture most
familiar to the West, probably owes its peculiar form to Buddhist
influence. In the pagoda alone may be found some trace of a religious
imagination such as in Europe made Gothic architecture so full and
splendid an expression of the aspiring spirit. The most famous pagoda
was the Porcelain Tower of Nanking, destroyed by the T'aip'ing rebels in
1854. This was covered with slabs of faience coated with coloured
glazes. The ordinary pagoda is built of brick on a stone foundation; it
is octagonal with thirteen storeys.

No Chinese buildings show more beauty than some of the graceful stone
bridges for which the neighbourhood of Peking has been famous for
centuries.

See M. Paléologue, _L'Art chinois_ (1887): S.W. Bushell, _Chinese
Art_, vol. i. (1904); J. Fergusson, _History of Architecture_;
Professor Chûta Itô, articles in _The Kokka_, Nos. 197, 198.
(L. B.)

4. _Sculpture_.--Except in the casting and decoration of bronze vessels
the Chinese have not obtained distinction as sculptors. They have
practised sculpture in stone from an early period, but the incised
reliefs of the 2nd century B.C., a number of which are figured in
Professor E. Chavannes's standard work,[81] while they display a certain
spirit, lack the true plastic sense, and though the power of the Chinese
draughtsmen increased rapidly under the T'ang and Sung dynasties, their
work in stone showed no parallel progress. The feeling for solidity,
which in Japan was a natural growth, was always somewhat exotic in
China. With the impulse given to the arts by Buddhism a school of
sculpture arose. The pilgrim Fa Hsien records sculpture of distinctive
Chinese type in the 5th century. But Indian models dominated the art.
Colossal Buddhas of stone were typical of the T'ang era. Little,
however, remains of these earlier times, and such true sculpture in
stone, wood or ivory as we know dates from the 14th and succeeding
centuries. The well-known sculptures on the arch at Chu Yung Kuan (A.D.
1345) are Hindu in style, though not without elements of breadth and
strength, which seem to promise a greater development than actually took
place. The colossal figures guarding the approach to the Ming tombs
(15th century) show that the national taste rapidly became conventional
and petrified so far as monumental sculpture was concerned, though
occasional examples of devotional or portrait sculpture on a smaller
scale in wood and ivory are found, which in power, grace, sincerity and
restraint can rank with the work of more gifted nations. Such pieces,
however, are extremely rare, and at South Kensington the ivory "Kwanyin
and Child" (274. 1898) is a solitary example. As a rule the Chinese
sculptor valued his art in proportion to the technical difficulties it
conquered. He thus either preferred intractable materials like jade or
rock-crystal, or, if he wrought in wood, horn or ivory, sought to make
his work curious or intricate rather than beautiful. There is,
nevertheless, beauty of a kind in Chinese bowls of jade, and there is
dignity in some of the pieces of rock-crystal, but the bulk of the
carving done in wood, horn and ivory does not deserve a moment's serious
thought from the aesthetic point of view. The few fine specimens may be
referred to the earlier part of the Ming dynasty when Chinese art in
general was sincere and simple. After the middle of the 15th century
there set in the taste for profuse ornament which injured all subsequent
Chinese work, and wholly ruined Chinese sculpture.

_Bronzes._--In Chinese bronzes we have a more consistent and exceptional
form of plastic art, which can be traced continuously for some three
thousand years. These bronzes take the form of ritual or honorific
vessels, and the archaic shapes used in the service of the prehistoric
religion of the country are repeated and copied with slight changes in
decoration or detail to the present day.

The oldest extant specimens, chiefly derived from the sack of the Summer
Palace at Peking, may be referred to the Shang and Chow dynasties
(1766-255 B.C.). These ancient pieces have a certain savage monumental
grandeur of design, are usually covered with a rich and thick patina of
red, green and brown, and are decorated with simple patterns--scrolls,
zigzag lines and a form of what is known as the Greek key-pattern
symbolizing respectively waves, mountains and storm clouds. The animal
forms used are those of the _tao-tieh_ (glutton), a fabulous monster
(possibly a conventionalized tiger) representing the powers of the
earth, the serpent and the bull. These two last in later pieces combine
to form the dragon, representing the power of the air. In the Chow
dynasty libation vessels were also made in the form of a deer, a ram or
a rhinoceros. These characteristics are shown in figures 9-17, Plate II.
Fig. 9 is a temple vessel of a shape still in use, but which must date
from before 1000 B.C. With this massive piece may be contrasted the
flower-like wine vase shown in fig. 10, a favourite shape which is the
prototype of some of the most graceful forms of Chinese porcelain and
Japanese bronze. Its date is about 1000 B.C. The large wine vase shown
in fig. 11 is some 400 years later. On the body appears the head of the
tao-tieh, on the handles are superbly modelled serpents. The technique,
which in the previous pieces was somewhat rude, has now become perfect,
yet the menacing majestic feeling remains. We see it no less clearly in
fig. 12, a marvellous vessel richly inlaid with gold and silver and
covered with an emerald-green patina. It may date from about 500 B.C.,
and indicates that even in this remote epoch the Chinese were not only
daring and powerful artists but also master-craftsmen in metal.

It is indeed at this period that the art reaches its climax. The
monumental grandeur of the Shang specimens is often allied to
clumsiness; the later work, if more elaborate, is always less powerful.
Nevertheless, it is to a later period that ninety-nine out of a hundred
Chinese bronzes must be referred, and the great majority belong either
to the Han and succeeding dynasties (220 B.C.-A.D. 400), or to the
Renaissance of the arts which culminated under the Ming dynasty a
thousand years later.

The characteristics of the first of these periods is the free use of
small solid figures of animals as decoration--the phoenix, the elephant,
the frog, the ox, the tortoise, and occasionally men; shapes grow less
austere and less significant, as a comparison between figures 11 and 13
will indicate; then towards the end of the 2nd century A.D. the
influence of Buddhism is felt in the general tendency towards suavity of
form (fig. 14). This vase is most delicately though sparingly inlaid
with silver and a few touches of gold. Some small pieces, very richly
and delicately inlaid and covered with a magnificent emerald-green
patina, belonging to this period, form a connecting link between the
inlaid work of the Chow dynasty and that of the Sung and Ming dynasties.
The mirrors with Graeco-Bactrian designs, a conclusive proof of the
external influences brought to bear upon Chinese art, are also
attributed to the Han epoch.

The troubled period between A.D. 400 and A.D. 960, in spite of the
interval of activity under the T'ang dynasty, produced, it would seem,
but few bronzes, and those few were of no distinct or noteworthy
style. Under the Sung dynasty the arts revived, and to this time some
of the most splendid specimens of inlaid work belong--pieces of
workmanship and taste no less perfect than that of the Japanese, in
which the gold and silver of the earlier work are occasionally
reinforced with malachite and lapis-lazuli. The coming of Kublai Khan
and the Yuen dynasty (1280-1367) once more brought the East into
contact with the West, and to this time we may assign certain fine
pieces of Persian form such as pilgrim bottles. The vessels bearing
Arabic inscriptions belong to the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), with which
the modern history of Chinese art begins.

The work done while the Ming dynasty was still young provides the
student of Chinese art with many problems, and in one or two cases
even the South Kensington authorities assign to pre-Christian times
pieces that are clearly of Ming workmanship. The tendency of the
period was eclectic and archaistic. The products of earlier days were
reproduced with perfect technical command of materials, and with
admirable taste; it is indeed by an excess of these qualities that
archaistic Ming work may be distinguished from the true archaic. In
fig. 15 we see how the Ming bronze worker took an earlier Buddhistic
form of vase and gave it a new grace that amounted almost to artifice.
A parallel might be found among the products of the so-called _art
nouveau_ of to-day, in which old designs are revived with just that
added suavity or profusion of curvature that robs them of character.
Fig. 16 again might be mistaken almost for a piece of the Chow
dynasty, were not the grandeur of its form modified by just so much
harmony in the curvature of the body and neck, and by just so much
finish in the details as to rob the design of the old majestic vigour
and to mark it as the splendid effort of an age of culture, and not
the natural product of a period of strength.

It is, however, in the inlaid pieces that the difference tells most
clearly. Here we find the monstrous forms of the Shang and Chow
dynasties revived by men who appreciated their spirit but could not
help making the revival an excuse for the display of their own
superior skill. The monstrous vases and incense-burners of the past
thus appear once more, but are now decorated with a delicate
embroidery of inlay, are polished and finished to perfection, but lose
therewith just the rudeness of edge and outline which made the older
work so gravely significant. At times even some grandly planned vessel
will appear with such a festoon of pretty tracery wreathed about it
that the incongruity is little short of ridiculous, and we recognize
we have passed the turning-point to decline.

Decline indeed came rapidly, and to the latter part of the Ming epoch
we must assign those countless bronzes where dragons and flowers and
the stock symbols of happiness, good luck and longevity sprawl
together in interminable convolutions. When once we reach this stage
of contortion, of elaborate pierced and relief work, we come to the
place in history of Chinese bronzes where serious study may cease,
except in so far as the study of the symbols themselves throws light
upon the history of Chinese procelain (see CERAMICS). One class of
bronze alone needs a word of notice, namely, the profusely decorated
pieces which have a Tibetan origin, and are obviously no older than
the end of the Ming period. Of these fig. 17 will serve as a specimen,
and a comparison with fig. 9 will show how the softer rounded forms
and jewelled festoons of Hindu-Greek taste enervated the grand
primitive force of the earlier age, and that neither the added
delicacy of texture and substance nor the vastly increased dexterity
of workmanship can compensate for the vanished majesty. (C. J. H.)

VII. THE CHINESE LANGUAGE

_Colloquial._--In treating of Chinese, it will be found convenient to
distinguish, broadly, the spoken from the written language and to deal
with each separately. This is a distinction which would be out of place
if we had to do with any European, or indeed most Oriental languages.
Writing, in its origin, is merely a symbolic representation of speech.
But in Chinese, as we shall see, for reasons connected with the peculiar
nature ot the script, the two soon began to move along independent and
largely divergent lines. This division, moreover, will enable us to
employ different methods of inquiry more suited to each. With regard to
the colloquial, it is hardly possible to do more than consider it in the
form or forms in which it exists at the present day throughout the
empire of China. Although Chinese, like other living languages, must
have undergone gradual changes in the past, so little can be stated with
certainty about these changes that an accurate survey of its evolution
is quite out of the question. Obviously a different method is required
when we come to the written characters. The familiar line, "Litera
scripta manet, volat irrevocabile verbum," is truer perhaps of Chinese
than of any other tongue. We have hardly any clue as to how Chinese was
spoken or pronounced in any given district 2000 years ago, although
there are written remains dating from long before that time; and in
order to gain an insight into the structure of the characters now
existing, it is necessary to trace their origin and development.

The dialects.

Beginning with the colloquial, then, and taking a linguistic survey of
China, we find not one spoken language but a number of dialects, all
clearly of a common stock, yet differing from one another as widely as
the various Romance languages in southern Europe--say, French, Italian
and Spanish. Most of these dialects are found fringing the coast-line of
China, and penetrating but a comparatively short way into the interior.
Starting from the province of Kwang-tung in the south, where the
Cantonese and farther inland the Hakka dialects are spoken, and
proceeding northwards, we pass in succession the following dialects:
Swatow, Amoy--these two may almost be regarded as one--Foochow, Wenchow
and Ningpo. Farther north we come into the range of the great dialect
popularly known as Mandarin (_Kuan hua_ or "official language"), which
sweeps round behind the narrow strip of coast occupied by the various
dialects above-mentioned, and dominates a hinterland constituting nearly
four-fifths of China proper. Mandarin, of which the dialect of Peking,
the capital since 1421, is now the standard form, comprises a
considerable number of sub-dialects, some of them so closely allied that
the speakers of one are wholly intelligible to the speakers of another,
while others (e.g. the vernaculars of Yangchow, Hankow or Mid-China and
Ss[)u]-ch'uan) may almost be considered as separate dialects. Among all
these, Cantonese is supposed to approximate most nearly to the primitive
language of antiquity, whereas Pekingese perhaps has receded farthest
from it. But although philologically and historically speaking Cantonese
and certain other dialects may be of greater interest, for all practical
purposes Mandarin, in the widest sense of the term, is by far the most
important. Not only can it claim to be the native speech of the majority
of Chinamen, but it is the recognized vehicle of oral communication
between all Chinese officials, even in cases where they come from the
same part of the country and speak the same _patois_. For these
reasons, all examples of phraseology in this article will be given in
Pekingese.

So far, stress has been laid chiefly on the dissimilarity of the
dialects. On the other hand, it must be remembered that they proceed
from the same parent stem, are spoken by members of the same race, and
are united by the bond of writing which is the common possession of all,
and cannot be regarded as derived from one more than from another. They
also share alike in the two most salient features of Chinese as a whole:
(1) they are all monosyllabic, that is, each individual word consists of
only one syllable; and (2) they are strikingly poor in vocables, or
separate sounds for the conveyance of speech. The number of these
vocables varies from between 800 and 900 in Cantonese to no more than
420 in the vernacular of Peking. This scanty number, however, is eked
out by interposing an aspirate between certain initial consonants and
the vowel, so that for instance _p'u_ is distinguished from _pu_. The
latter is pronounced with little or no emission of breath, the "p"
approximating the farther north one goes (e.g. at Niuchwang) more
closely to a "b." The aspirated _p'u_ is pronounced more like our
interjection "Pooh!" To the Chinese ear, the difference between the two
is very marked. It will be found, as a rule, that an Englishman imparts
a slight aspirate to his p's, t's, k's and ch's, and therefore has
greater difficulty with the unaspirated words in Chinese. The aspirates
are better learned by the ear than by the eye, but in one way or another
it is essential that they be mastered by any one who wishes to make
himself intelligible to the native.

The influence of the Mongolian population, assisted by the progress of
time, has slowly but surely diminished the number of vocables in
Pekingese. Thus the initials _ts_ and _k_, when followed by the vowel
_i_ (with its continental value) have gradually become softer and more
assimilated to each other, and are now all pronounced _ch_. Again, all
consonantal endings in _t_ and _k_, such as survive in Cantonese and
other dialects, have entirely disappeared from Pekingese, and _n_ and
_ng_ are the only final consonants remaining. Vowel sounds, on the other
hand, have been proportionately developed, such compounds as _ao, ia,
iao, iu, ie, ua_ occurring with especial frequency. (It must be
understood, of course, that the above are only equivalents, not in all
cases very exact, for the sounds of a non-alphabetic language.)

An immediate consequence of this paucity of vocables is that one and the
same sound has to do duty for different words. Reckoning the number of
words that an educated man would want to use in conversation at
something over four thousand, it is obvious that there will be an
average of ten meanings to each sound employed. Some sounds may have
fewer meanings attached to them, but others will have many more. Thus
the following represent only a fraction of the total number of words
pronounced _shih_ (something like the "shi" in shirt): [Ch] "history,"
[Ch] "to employ," [Ch] "a corpse," [Ch] "a market," [Ch] "an army," [Ch]
"a lion," [Ch] "to rely on," [Ch] "to wait on," [Ch] "poetry," [Ch]
"time," [Ch] "to know," [Ch] "to bestow," [Ch] "to be," [Ch] "solid,"
[Ch] "to lose," [Ch] "to proclaim," [Ch] "to look at," [Ch] "ten," [Ch]
"to pick up," [Ch] "stone," [Ch] "generation," [Ch] "to eat," [Ch] "a
house," [Ch] "a clan," [Ch] "beginning," [Ch] "to let go," [Ch] "to
test," [Ch] "affair," [Ch] "power," [Ch] "officer," [Ch] "to swear,"
[Ch] "to pass away," [Ch] "to happen." It would be manifestly impossible
to speak without ambiguity, or indeed to make oneself intelligible at
all, unless there were some means of supplementing this deficiency of
sounds. As a matter of fact, several devices are employed through the
combination of which confusion is avoided. One of these devices is the
coupling of words in pairs in order to express a single idea. There is a
word [Ch] _ko_ which means "elder brother." But in speaking, the sound
_ko_ alone would not always be easily understood in this sense. One must
either reduplicate it and say _ko-ko_, or prefix [Ch] (_ta_, "great")
and say _ta-ko_. Simple reduplication is mostly confined to family
appellations and such adverbial phrases as [Ch][Ch] _man-man_, "slowly."
But there is a much larger class of pairs, in which each of the two
components has the same meaning. Examples are: [Ch][Ch] _k'ung-p'a_,
"to be afraid," [Ch][Ch] _kao-su_, "to tell," [Ch][Ch] _shu-mu_, "tree,"
[Ch][Ch] _p'i-fu_, "skin," [Ch][Ch] _man-ying_, "full," [Ch][Ch]
_ku-tu_, "solitary." Sometimes the two parts are not exactly synonymous,
but together make up the sense required. Thus in [Ch][Ch] _i-shang_,
"clothes," _i_ denotes more particularly clothes worn on the upper part
of the body, and _shang_ those on the lower part. [Ch][Ch] _fêng-huang_
is the name of a fabulous bird, _fêng_ being the male, and _kuang_ the
female. In another very large class of expressions, the first word
serves to limit and determine the special meaning of the second:
[Ch][Ch] "milk-skin," "cream"; [Ch][Ch] "fire-leg," "ham"; [Ch][Ch]
"lamp-cage," "lantern"; [Ch][Ch] "sea-waist," "strait." There are,
besides, a number of phrases which are harder to classify. Thus, [Ch]
_hu_ means "tiger." But in any case where ambiguity might arise,
_lao-hu_, "old tiger," is used instead of the monosyllable. [Ch]
(another _hu_) is "fox," and [Ch] _li_, an animal belonging to the
smaller cat tribe. Together, _hu-li_, they form the usual term for fox.
[Ch][Ch] _chih tao_ is literally "to know the way," but has come to be
used simply for the verb "to know." These pairs or two-word phrases are
of such frequent occurrence, that the Chinese spoken language might
almost be described as bi-syllabic. Something similar is seen in the
extensive use of suffixes or enclitics, attached to many of the
commonest nouns. [Ch] _nü_ is the word for "girl," but in speech
[Ch][Ch] _nü-tz[)u]_ or [Ch][Ch] _nü-'rh_ is the form used. [Ch] and
[Ch] both mean child, and must originally have been diminutives. A
fairly close parallel is afforded by the German suffix _chen_, as in
_Mädchen_. The suffix [Ch], it may be remarked, belongs especially to
the Peking vernacular. Then, the use of so-called numeratives will often
give some sort of clue as to the class of objects in which a substantive
may be found. When in pidgin English we speak of "one piecee man" or
"three piecee dollar," the word _piecee_ is simply a Chinese numerative
in English dress. Even in ordinary English, people do not say "four
cattle" but "four _head_ of cattle." But in Chinese the use of
numeratives is quite a distinctive feature of the language. The
commonest of them, [Ch] _ko_, can be used indifferently in connexion
with almost any class of things, animal, vegetable or mineral. But there
are other numeratives--at least 20 or 30 in everyday use--which are
strictly reserved for limited classes of things with specific
attributes. [Ch] _mei_, for instance, is the numerative of circular
objects such as coins and rings; [Ch] _k'o_ of small globular
objects--pearls, grains of rice, &c.; [Ch] _k'ou_ classifies things
which have a mouth--bags, boxes and so forth; [Ch] _chien_ is used of
all kinds of affairs; [Ch] _chang_ of chairs and sheets of paper; [Ch]
_chih_ (literally half a pair) is the numerative for various animals,
parts of the body, articles of clothing and ships; [Ch] _pa_ for things
which are grasped by a handle, such as fans and knives.

This by no means exhausts the list of devices by which the difficulties
of a monosyllabic language are successfully overcome. Mention need only
be made, however, of the system of "tones," which, as the most curious
and important of all, has been kept for the last.

The tones.

The tones may be defined as regular modulations of the voice by means of
which different inflections can be imparted to the same sound. They may
be compared with the half-involuntary modulations which express
emotional feeling in our words. To the foreign ear, a Chinese sentence
spoken slowly with the tones clearly brought out has a certain sing-song
effect. If we speak of the tones as a "device" adopted in order to
increase the number of vocables, this must be understood rather as a
convenient way of explaining their practical function than as a
scientific account of their origin. It is absurd to suppose the tones
were deliberately invented in order to fit each written character with a
separate sound. A tone may be said to be as much an integral part of the
word to which it belongs as the sound itself; like the sound, too, it is
not fixed once and for all, but is in a constant, though very gradual,
state of evolution. This fact is proved by the great differences of
intonation in the dialects. Theoretically, four tones have been
distinguished--the even, the rising, the sinking and the entering--each
of which falls again into an upper and a lower series. But only the
Cantonese dialect possesses all these eight varieties of tone (to which
a ninth has been added), while Pekingese, with which we are especially
concerned here, has no more than four: the even upper, the even lower,
the rising and the sinking. The history of the tones has yet to be
written, but it appears that down to the 3rd century B.C. the only tones
distinguished were the [Ch] "even," [Ch] "rising" and [Ch] "entering."
Between that date and the 4th century A.D. the [Ch] sinking tone was
developed. In the 11th century the even tone was divided into upper and
lower, and a little later the entering tone finally disappeared from
Pekingese. The following monosyllabic dialogue gives a very fair idea of
the quality of the four Pekingese tones--_1st tone_: Dead (spoken in a
raised monotone, with slightly plaintive inflection); _2nd tone_: Dead?
(simple query); _3rd tone_: Dead? (an incredulous query long drawn out);
_4th tone_: Dead! (a sharp and decisive answer). The native learns the
tones unconsciously and by ear alone. For centuries their existence was
unsuspected, the first systematic classification of them being
associated with the name of Shên Yo, a scholar who lived A.D. 441-513.
The Emperor Wu Ti was inclined to be sceptical, and one day said to him:
"Come, tell me, what are these famous four tones?" "They are
[Ch][Ch][Ch][Ch] whatever your Majesty pleases to make them," replied
Shên Yo, skilfully selecting for his answer four words which
illustrated, and in the usual order, the four tones in question.
Although no native is ever taught the tones separately, they are none
the less present in the words he utters, and must be acquired
consciously or unconsciously by any European who wishes to be
understood. It is a mistake, however, to imagine that every single word
in a sentence must necessarily be given its full tonic force. Quite a
number of words, such as the enclitics mentioned above, are not
intonated at all. In others the degree of emphasis depends partly on the
tone itself, partly on its position in the sentence. In Pekingese the
3rd tone (which is really the second in the ordinary series, the 1st
being subdivided into upper and lower) is particularly important, and
next to it in this respect comes the 2nd (that is, the lower even, or
2nd division of the 1st). It may be said, roughly, that any speaker
whose second and third tones are correct will at any rate be understood,
even if the 1st and 4th are slurred over.

The characters.

Pictorial characters.

It is chiefly, however, on its marvellous script and the rich treasures
of its literature that the Chinese language depends for its unique
fascination and charm. If we take a page of printed Chinese or carefully
written manuscript and compare it with a page, say, of Arabic or
Sanskrit, the Chinese is seen at once to possess a marked characteristic
of its own. It consists of a number of wholly independent units, each of
which would fit into a small square, and is called a character. These
characters are arranged in columns, beginning on the right-hand side of
the page and running from top to bottom. They are _words_, inasmuch as
they stand for articulate sounds expressing root-ideas, but they are
unlike our words in that they are not composed of alphabetical elements
or letters. Clearly, if each character were a distinct and arbitrarily
constructed symbol, only those gifted with exceptional powers of memory
could ever hope to read or write with fluency. This, however, is far
from being the case. If we go to work synthetically and first see how
the language is built up, it will soon appear that most Chinese
characters are susceptible of some kind of analysis. We may accept as
substantially true the account of native writers who tell us that means
of communication other than oral began with the use of knotted cords,
similar to the _quippus_ of ancient Mexico and Peru, and that these were
displaced later on by the practice of notching or scoring rude marks on
wood, bamboo and stone. It is beyond question that the first four
numerals, as written with simple horizontal strokes, date from this
early period. Notching, however, carries us but a little way on the road
to a system of writing, which in China, as elsewhere, must have sprung
originally from pictures. In Chinese writing, especially, the
indications of such an origin are unmistakable, a few characters,
indeed, even in their present form, being perfectly recognizable as
pictures of objects pure and simple. Thus, for "sun" the ancient Chinese
drew a circle with a dot in it: [Ch], now modified into [Ch]; for "moon"
[Ch], now [Ch]; for "God" they drew the anthropomorphic figure [Ch],
which in its modern form appears as [Ch]; for "mountains" [Ch], now [Ch];
for "child" [Ch], now [Ch]; for "fish" [Ch], now [Ch]; for "mouth" a
round hole, now [Ch]; for "hand" [Ch], now [Ch]; for "well" [Ch], now
written without the dot. Hence we see that while the origin of all
writing is pictographic, in Chinese alone of living languages certain
pictures have survived, and still denote what they had denoted in the
beginning. In the script of other countries they were gradually
transformed into hieroglyphic symbols, after which they either
disappeared altogether or became further conventionalized into the
letters of an alphabet. These picture-characters, then, accumulated
little by little, until they comprised all the common objects which
could be easily and rapidly delineated--sun, moon, stars, various
animals, certain parts of the body, tree, grass and so forth, to the
number of two or three hundred. The next step was to a few compound
pictograms which would naturally suggest themselves to primitive man:
[Ch] the sun just above the horizon = "dawn"; [Ch] trees side by side =
"a forest"; [Ch] a mouth with something solid coming out of it = "the
tongue"; [Ch] a mouth with vapor or breath coming out of it = "words."

Suggestive compounds.

Phonetic characters.

But a purely pictographic script has its limitations. The more complex
natural objects hardly come within its scope; still less the whole body
of abstract ideas. While writing was still in its infancy, it must have
occurred to the Chinese to join together two or more pictorial
characters in order that their association might suggest to the mind
some third thing or idea. "Sun" and "moon" combined in this way make the
character [Ch], which means "bright"; woman and child make [Ch] "good";
"fields" and "strength" (that is, labour in the fields) produce the
character [Ch] "male"; two "men" on "earth" [Ch] signifies "to
sit"--before chairs were known; the "sun" seen through "trees" [Ch]
designates the east; [Ch] has been explained as (1) a "pig" under a
"roof," the Chinese idea, common to the Irish peasant, of home, and also
(2) as "several persons" under "a roof," in the same sense; a "woman"
under a "roof" makes the character [Ch] "peace"; "words" and "tongue"
[Ch] naturally suggest "speech"; two hands ([Ch], in the old form [Ch])
indicate friendship; "woman" and "birth" [Ch] = "born of a woman," means
"clan-name," showing that the ancient Chinese traced through the mother
and not through the father. Interesting and ingenious as many of these
combinations are, it is clear that their number, too, must in any
practical system of writing be severely limited. Hence it is not
surprising that this class of characters, correctly called ideograms, as
representing ideas and not objects, should be a comparatively small one.
Up to this point there seemed to be but little chance of the written
language reaching a free field for expansion. It had run so far on lines
sharply distinct from those of ordinary speech. There was nothing in the
character _per se_ which gave the slightest clue to the sound of the
word it represented. Each character, therefore, had to be learned and
recognized by a separate effort of memory. The first step in a new, and,
as it ultimately proved, the right direction, was the borrowing of a
character already in use to represent another word identical in sound,
though different in meaning. Owing to the scarcity of vocables noted
above, there might be as many as ten different words in common use, each
pronounced _fang_. Out of those ten only one, we will suppose, had a
character assigned to it--namely [Ch] "square" (originally said to be a
picture of two boats joined together). But among the other nine was
_fang_, meaning "street" or "locality," in such common use that it
became necessary to have some means of writing it. Instead of inventing
an altogether new character, as they might have done, the Chinese took
[Ch] "square" and used it also in the sense of "locality." This was a
simple expedient, no doubt, but one that, applied on a large scale,
could not but lead to confusion. The corresponding difficulty which
presented itself in speech was overcome, as we saw, by many devices, one
of which consisted in prefixing to the word in question another which
served to determine its special meaning. A native does not say _fang_
simply when he wishes to speak of a place, but _li-fang_ "earth-place."
Exactly the same device was now adopted in writing the character. To
_fang_ "square" was added another part meaning "earth," in order to show
that the _fang_ in question had to do with location on the earth's
surface. The whole character thus appeared as [Ch]. Once this phonetic
principle had been introduced, all was smooth sailing, and writing
progressed by leaps and bounds. Nothing was easier now than to provide
signs for the other words pronounced _fang_. "A room" was [Ch]
door-_fang_; "to spin" was [Ch] silk-_fang_; "fragrant" was [Ch]
herbs-_fang_; "to inquire" was [Ch] words-_fang_; "an embankment," and
hence "to guard against," was [Ch] mound-_fang_; "to hinder" was [Ch]
woman-_fang_. This last example may seem a little strange until we
remember that man must have played the principal part in the development
of writing, and that from the masculine point of view there is something
essentially obstructive and unmanageable in woman's nature. It may be
remarked, by the way, that the element "woman" is often the
determinative in characters that stand for unamiable qualities, e.g.
[Ch][Ch] "jealous," [Ch][Ch] "treacherous," [Ch] "false" and [Ch]
"uncanny." This class of characters, which constitutes at least
nine-tenths of the language, has received the convenient name of
_phonograms_. It must be added that the formation of the phonogram or
phonetic compound did not always proceed along such simple lines as in
the examples given above, where both parts are pictorial characters, one
the "phonetic," representing the sound, and the other, commonly known as
the "radical," giving a clue to the sense. In the first place, most of
the phonetics now existing are not simple pictograms, but themselves
more or less complex characters made up in a variety of ways. On
analysing, for instance, the word [Ch] _hsün_, "to withdraw," we find it
is composed of the phonetic [Ch] combined with the radical [Ch], an
abbreviated form of [Ch] "to walk." But [Ch] _sun_ means "grandson," and
is itself a suggestive compound made up of the two characters [Ch] "a
son" and [Ch] "connect." The former character is a simple pictogram, but
the latter is again resolvable into the two elements [Ch] "a down stroke
to the left" and [Ch] "a strand of silk," which is here understood to be
the radical and appears in its ancient form as [Ch], a picture of
cocoons spun by the silkworm. Again, the sound is in most cases given by
no means exactly by the so-called phonetic, a fact chiefly due to the
pronunciation having undergone changes which the written character was
incapable of recording. Thus, we have just seen that the phonetic of
[Ch] is not _hsün_ but _sun_. There are extreme cases in which a
phonetic provides hardly any clue at all as to the sound of its
derivatives. The character [Ch], for example, which by itself is
pronounced _ch'ien_, appears in combination as the modern phonetic of
[Ch] _k'an_, [Ch] _juan_, [Ch] _yin_ and [Ch] _ch'ui_; though in the
last instance it was not originally the phonetic but the radical of a
character which was analysed as [Ch] _ch'ien_, "to emit breath" from
[Ch] "the mouth," the whole character being a suggestive compound rather
than an illustration of radical and phonetic combined. In general,
however, it may be said that the "final" or rhyme is pretty accurately
indicated, while in not a few cases the phonetic does give the exact
sound for all its derivatives. Thus, the characters in which the element
[Ch] enters are pronounced _chien, ch'ien, hsien_ and _lien_; but [Ch]
and its derivatives are all _i_. A considerable number of phonetics are
nearly or entirely obsolete as separate characters, although their
family of derivatives may be a very large one. [Ch], for instance, is
never seen by itself, yet [Ch], [Ch], and [Ch] are among the most
important characters in the language. Objections have been raised in
some quarters to this account of the phonetic development of Chinese. It
is argued that the primitives and sub-primitives, whereby is meant any
character which is capable of entering into combination with another,
have really had some influence on the meaning, and do not merely possess
a phonetic value. But insufficient evidence has hitherto been advanced
in support of this view.

The whole body of Chinese characters, then, may conveniently be divided
up, for philological purposes, into pictograms, ideograms and
phonograms. The first are pictures of objects, the second are composite
symbols standing for abstract ideas, the third are compound characters
of which the more important element simply represents a spoken sound. Of
course, in a strict sense, even the first two classes do not directly
represent either objects or ideas, but rather stand for sounds by which
these objects and ideas have previously been expressed. It may, in fact,
be said that Chinese characters are "nothing but a number of more or
less ingenious devices for suggesting spoken words to a reader." This
definition exposes the inaccuracy of the popular notion that Chinese is
a language of ideographs, a mistake which even the compilers of the
_Oxford English Dictionary_ have not avoided. Considering that all the
earliest characters are pictorial, and that the vast majority of the
remainder are constructed on phonetic principles, it is absurd to speak
of Chinese characters as "symbolizing the idea of a thing, without
expressing the name of it."

The "Six Scripts."

The Chinese themselves have always been diligent students of their
written language, and at a very early date (probably many centuries
B.C.) evolved a sixfold classification of characters, the so-called
[Ch][Ch] _liu shu_, very inaccurately translated by the Six Scripts,
which may be briefly noticed:--

1. [Ch][Ch] _chih shih_, indicative or self-explanatory characters. This
is a very small class, including only the simplest numerals and a few
others such as [Ch] "above" and [Ch] "below."

2. [Ch][Ch] _hsiang hsing_, pictographic characters.

3. [Ch][Ch] _hsing shêng_ or [Ch][Ch] _hsieh shêng_, phonetic compounds.

4. [Ch][Ch] _hui i_, suggestive compounds based on a natural association
of ideas. To this class alone can the term "ideographs" be properly
applied.

5. [Ch][Ch] _chuan chu_. The meaning of the name has been much disputed,
some saying that it means "turned round"; e.g. [Ch] _mu_ "eye" is now
written [Ch]. Others understand it as comprising a few groups of
characters nearly related in sense, each character consisting of an
element common to the group, together with a specific and detachable
part; e.g. [Ch], [Ch], and [Ch], all of which have the meaning "old."
This class may be ignored altogether, seeing that it is concerned not
with the origin of characters but only with peculiarities in their use.

6. [Ch][Ch] _chia chieh_, borrowed characters, as explained above, that
is, characters adopted for different words simply because of the
identity of sound.

The order of this native classification is not to be taken as in any
sense chronological. Roughly, it may be said that the development of
writing followed the course previously traced--that is, beginning with
indicative signs, and going on with pictograms and ideograms, until
finally the discovery of the phonetic principle did away with all
necessity for other devices in enlarging the written language. But we
have no direct evidence that this was so. There can be little doubt that
phonetic compounds made their appearance at a very early date, probably
prior to the invention of a large number of suggestive compounds, and
perhaps even before the whole existing stock of pictograms had been
fashioned. It is significant that numerous words of daily occurrence,
which must have had a place in the earliest stages of human thought,
are expressed by phonetic characters. We can be fairly certain, at any
rate, that the period of "borrowed characters" did not last very long,
though it is thought that traces of it are to be seen in the habit of
writing several characters, especially those for certain plants and
animals, indifferently with or without their radicals. Thus [Ch][Ch] "a
tadpole" is frequently written [Ch][Ch], without the part meaning
"insect" or "reptile."

Styles of writing.

[Illustration]

In the very earliest inscriptions that have come down to us, the
so-called [Ch][Ch] _ku-wên_ or "ancient figures," all the
above-mentioned forms occur. None are wholly pictorial, with one or
two unimportant exceptions. These early inscriptions are found on
bronzes dating from the half-legendary period extending from the
beginning of the Shang dynasty in the 18th century B.C., or possibly
earlier, down to a point in the reign of King Hsüan of the Chou
dynasty, generally fixed at 827 B.C. They have been carefully
reproduced and for the most part deciphered by painstaking Chinese
archaeologists, and form the subject of many voluminous works. The
following may be taken as a specimen, in which it will be noticed that
only the last character is unmistakably pictorial: This is read:
[Ch][Ch][Ch][Ch]--"Shên made [this] precious _ting_." These ancient
bronzes, which mainly take the shape of bells, cauldrons and
sacrificial utensils, were until within the last decade our sole
source of information concerning the origin and early history of
Chinese writing. But recently a large number of inscribed bone
fragments have been excavated in the north of China, providing new and
unexpected matter for investigation. The inscriptions on these bones
have already furnished a list of nearly 2500 separate characters, of
which not more than about 600 have been so far identified. They appear
to be responses given by professional soothsayers to private
individuals who came to them seeking the aid of divination in the
affairs of their daily life. It is difficult to fix their date with
much exactitude. The script, though less archaic than that of the
earlier bronzes, is nevertheless of an exceedingly free and irregular
type. Judging by the style of the inscriptions alone, one would be
inclined to assign them to the early years of the Chou dynasty, say
1100 B.C. But Mr L.C. Hopkins thinks that they represent a mode of
writing already obsolete at the time of their production, and retained
of set purpose by the diviners from obscurantist motives, much as the
ancient hieroglyphics were employed by the Egyptian priesthood. He
would therefore date them about 500 years later, or only half a
century before the birth of Confucius. If that is so, they are merely
late specimens of the "ancient figures" appearing long after the
latter had made way for a new and more conventionalized form of
writing. This new writing is called in Chinese [Ch] _chuan_, which is
commonly rendered by the word Seal, for the somewhat unscientific
reason that many ages afterwards it was generally adopted for use on
seals. Under the Chou dynasty, however, as well as the two succeeding
it, the meaning of the word was not "seal," but "sinuous curves," as
made in writing. It has accordingly been suggested that this epoch
marks the first introduction into China of the brush in place of the
bamboo or wooden pencil with frayed end which was used with some kind
of colouring matter or varnish. There are many arguments both for and
against this view; but it is unquestionable, at any rate, that the
introduction of a supple implement like the brush at the very time
when the forms of characters were fast becoming crystallized and
fixed, would be sufficient to account for a great revolution in the
style of writing. Authentic specimens of the [Ch][Ch] _ta chuan_,
older or Greater Seal writing, are exceedingly rare. But it is
generally believed that the inscriptions on the famous stone drums,
now at Peking, date from the reign of King Hsüan, and they may
therefore with practical certainty be cited as examples of the Greater
Seal in its original form. These "drums" are really ten roughly
chiselled mountain boulders, which were discovered in the early part
of the 7th century, lying half buried in the ground near Fêng-hsiang
Fu in the province of Shensi. On them are engraved ten odes, a
complete ode being cut on each drum, celebrating an Imperial hunting
and fishing expedition in that part of the country. A facsimile of one
of these, taken from an old rubbing and reproduced in Dr Bushell's
_Handbook of Chinese Art_, shows that great strides had been made in
this writing towards symmetry, compactness and conventionalism. The
vogue of the Greater Seal appears to have lasted until the reign of
the First Emperor, 221-210 B.C. (see _History_), when a further
modification took place. For many centuries China had been split up
into a number of practically independent states, and this circumstance
seems to have led to considerable variations in the styles of writing.
Having succeeded in unifying the empire, the First Emperor proceeded,
on the advice of his minister Li Ss[)u], to standardize its script by
ordaining that only the style in use in his own state of Ch'in should
henceforward be employed throughout China. It is clear, then, that
this new style of writing was nothing more than the Greater Seal
characters in the form they had assumed after several centuries of
evolution, with numerous abbreviations and modifications. It was
afterwards known as the [Ch][Ch] _hsiao chuan_, or Lesser Seal, and is
familiar to us from the _Shuo Wen_ dictionary (see _Literature_).
Though a decided improvement on what had gone before, the Lesser Seal
was destined to have but a short career of undisputed supremacy.
Reform was in the air; and something less cumbrous was soon felt to be
necessary by the clerks who had to supply the immense quantity of
written reports demanded by the First Emperor. Thus it came about that
a yet simpler and certainly more artistic form of writing was already
in use, though not universally so, not long after the decree
abolishing the Greater Seal. This [Ch][Ch] _li shu_, or "official
script," as it is called, shows a great advance on the Seal character;
so much so that one cannot help suspecting the traditional account of
its invention. It is perhaps more likely to have been directly evolved
from the Greater Seal. If the Lesser Seal was the script of the
semi-barbarous state of Ch'in, we should certainly expect to find a
more highly developed system of writing in some of the other states.
Unlike the Seal, the _li shu_ is perfectly legible to one acquainted
only with the modern character, from which indeed it differs but in
minor details. How long the Lesser Seal continued to exist side by
side with the _li shu_ is a question which cannot be answered with
certainty. It was evidently quite obsolete, however, at the time of
the compilation of the _Shuo Wên_, about a hundred years after the
Christian era. As for the Greater Seal and still earlier forms of
writing, they were not merely obsolete but had fallen into utter
oblivion before the Han Dynasty was fifty years old. When a number of
classical texts were discovered bricked up in old houses about 150
B.C., the style of writing was considered so singular by the literati
of the period that they refused to believe it was the ordinary ancient
character at all, and nicknamed it _k'o-t'ou shu_, "tadpole
character," from some fancied resemblance in shape. The theory that
these tadpole characters were not Chinese but a species of cuneiform
script, in which the wedges might possibly suggest tadpoles, must be
dismissed as too wildly improbable for serious consideration; but we
may advert for a moment to a famous inscription in which the real
tadpole characters of antiquity are said to appear. This is on a stone
tablet alleged to have been erected on Mount Hêng in the modern Hupeh
by the legendary Emperor Yü, as a record of his labours in draining
away the great flood which submerged part of China in the 23rd century
B.C. After more than one fruitless search, the actual monument is said
to have been discovered on a peak of the mountain in A.D. 1212, and a
transcription was made, which may be seen reproduced as a curiosity in
Legge's _Classics_, vol. iii. For several reasons, however, the whole
affair must be regarded as a gross imposture.

Out of the "official script" two other forms were soon developed,
namely the [Ch][Ch] _ts'ao shu_, or "grass character," which so
curtails the usual strokes as to be comparable to a species of
shorthand, requiring special study, and the [Ch][Ch] _hsing shu_ or
running hand, used in ordinary correspondence. Some form of grass
character is mentioned as in use as early as 200 B.C. or thereabouts,
though how nearly it approximated to the modern grass hand it is hard
to say; the running hand seems to have come several centuries later.
The final standardization of Chinese writing was due to the great
calligraphist Wang Hsi-chih of the 4th century, who gave currency to
the graceful style of character known as [Ch][Ch] _k'ai shu_,
sometimes referred to as the "clerkly hand." When block-printing was
invented some centuries later, the characters were cut on this model,
which still survives at the present day. It is no doubt owing to the
early introduction of printing that the script of China has remained
practically unchanged ever since. The manuscript rolls of the T'ang
and preceding dynasties, recently discovered by Dr Stein in Turkestan,
furnish direct evidence of this fact, showing as they do a style of
writing not only clear and legible but remarkably modern in
appearance.

The whole history of Chinese writing, then, is characterized by a slow
progressive development which precludes the idea of sharply-marked
divisions between one period and another. The Chinese themselves,
however, have canonized quite a series of alleged inventors, starting
from Fu Hsi, a mythical emperor of the third millennium B.C., who is
said to have developed a complete system of written characters from
the markings on the back of a dragon-horse; hence, by the way, the
origin of the dragon as an Imperial emblem. As a rule, the credit of
the invention of the art of writing is given to Ts'ang Chieh, a being
with fabulous attributes, who conceived the idea of a written language
from the markings of birds' claws upon the sand. The diffusion of the
Greater Seal script is traced to a work in fifteen chapters published
by Shih Chou, historiographer in the reign of King Hsüan. The Lesser
Seal, again, is often ascribed to Li Ss[)u] himself, whereas the
utmost he can have done in the matter was to urge its introduction
into common use. Likewise, Ch'êng Mo, of the 3rd century B.C., is
supposed to have invented the _li shu_ while in prison, and one
account attributes the Lesser Seal to him as well; but the fact is
that the whole history of writing, as it stands in Chinese authors, is
in hopeless confusion.

_Grammar._--When about to embark on the study of a foreign language, the
student's first thought is to provide himself with two indispensable
aids--a dictionary and a grammar. The Chinese have found no difficulty
in producing the former (see _Literature_). Now what as to the grammar?
He might reasonably expect a people so industrious in the cultivation of
their language to have evolved some system of grammar which to a certain
degree would help to smooth his path. And yet the contrary is the case.
No set of rules governing the mutual relations of words has ever been
formulated by the Chinese, apparently because the need of such rules has
never been felt. The most that native writers have done is to draw a
distinction between [Ch][Ch] and [Ch][Ch] "full" and "empty words,"
respectively, the former being subdivided into [Ch][Ch] "living words"
or verbs, and [Ch][Ch] "dead words" or noun-substantives. By "empty
words" particles are meant, though sometimes the expression is loosely
applied to abstract terms, including verbs. The above meagre
classification is their nearest approach to a conception of grammar in
our sense. This in itself does not prove that a Chinese grammar is
impossible, nor that, if constructed, it might not be helpful to the
student. As a matter of fact, several attempts have been made by
foreigners to deduce a grammatical system which should prove as rigid
and binding as those of Western languages, though it cannot be said that
any as yet has stood the test of time or criticism. Other writers have
gone to the other extreme, and maintained that Chinese has no grammar at
all. In this dictum, exaggerated as it sounds, there is a very
substantial amount of truth. Every Chinese character is an indivisible
unit, representing a sound and standing for a root-idea. Being free from
inflection or agglutination of any kind, it is incapable of indicating
in itself either gender, number or case, voice, mood, tense or person.
Of European languages, English stands nearest to Chinese in this
respect, whence it follows that the construction of a hybrid jargon like
pidgin English presents fewer difficulties than would be the case, for
instance, with pidgin German. For pidgin English simply consists in
taking English words and treating them like Chinese characters, that is,
divesting them of all troublesome inflections and reducing them to a set
of root-ideas arranged in logical sequence. "You wantchee my no
wantchee" is nothing more nor less than literally rendered Chinese:
[Ch][Ch][Ch][Ch][Ch] "Do you want me or not?" But we may go further, and
say that no Chinese character can be definitely regarded as being any
particular part of speech or possessing any particular function
absolutely, apart from the general tenor of its context. Thus, taken
singly, the character [Ch] conveys only the general idea "above" as
opposed to "below." According to its place in the sentence and the
requirements of common sense, it may be a noun meaning "upper person"
(that is, a ruler); an adjective meaning "upper," "topmost" or "best";
an adverb meaning "above"; a preposition meaning "upon"; and finally a
verb meaning "to mount upon," or "to go to." [Ch] is a character that
may usually be translated "to enter" as in [Ch][Ch] "to enter a door";
yet in the locution [Ch][Ch] "enter wood," the verb becomes causative,
and the meaning is "to put into a coffin." It would puzzle grammarians
to determine the precise grammatical function of any of the words in the
following sentence, with the exception of [Ch] (an interrogative, by the
way, which here happens to mean "why" but in other contexts is
equivalent to "how," "which" or "what"): [Ch][Ch][Ch][Ch] "Affair why
must ancient," or in more idiomatic English, "Why necessarily stick to
the ways of the ancients in such matters?" Or take a proverbial saying
like [Ch][Ch][Ch][Ch][Ch][Ch], which may be correctly rendered "The less
a man has seen, the more he has to wonder at." It is one thing, however,
to translate it correctly, and another to explain how this translation
can be inferred from the individual words, of which the bald equivalents
might be given as: "Few what see, many what Strange." To say that
"strange" is the literal equivalent of [Ch] does not mean that [Ch] can
be definitely classed as an adjective. On the other hand, it would be
dangerous even to assert that the word here plays the part of an active
verb, because it would be equally permissible to translate the above
"Many things are strange to one who has seen but little."

Chinese grammar, then, so far as it deals with the classification of
separate words, may well be given up as a bad job. But there still
remains the art of syntax, the due arrangement of words to form
sentences according to certain established rules. Here, at any rate,
we are on somewhat firmer ground; and for many years the dictum that
"the whole of Chinese grammar depends upon position" was regarded as a
golden key to the written language of China. It is perfectly true that
there are certain positions and collocations of words which tend to
recur, but when one sits down to formulate a set of hard-and-fast
rules governing these positions, it is soon found to be a thankless
task, for the number of qualifications and exceptions which will have
to be added is so great as to render the rule itself valueless.
[Ch][Ch] means "on a horse," [Ch][Ch] "to get on a horse." But it will
not do to say that a preposition becomes a verb when placed before the
substantive, as many other prepositions come before and not after the
words they govern. If we meet such a phrase as [Ch][Ch], literally
"warn rebels," we must not mentally label [Ch] as a verb and [Ch] as a
substantive, and say to ourselves that in Chinese the verb is followed
immediately by its object. Otherwise, we might be tempted to
translate, "to warn the rebels," whereas a little reflection would
show us that the conjunction of "warning" and "rebels" naturally leads
to the meaning "to warn (the populace or whoever it may be) _against_
the rebels." After all our adventurous incursions into the domain of
syntax, we are soon brought back to the starting-point and are obliged
to confess that each particular passage is best interpreted on its own
merits, by the logic of the context and the application of common
sense. There is no reason why Chinese sentences should not be
dissected, by those who take pleasure in such operations, into
subject, copula and predicate, but it should be early impressed upon
the beginner that the profit likely to accrue to him therefrom is
infinitesimal. As for fixed rules of grammatical construction, so far
from being a help, he will find them a positive hindrance. It should
rather be his aim to free his mind from such trammels, and to accustom
himself to look upon each character as a root-idea, not a definite
part of speech.

_The Book Language._--Turning now to some of the more salient
characteristics of the book language, with the object of explaining how
it came to be so widely separated from common speech, we might
reasonably suppose that in primitive times the two stood in much closer
relation to each other than now. But it is certainly a striking fact
that the earliest literary remains of any magnitude that have come down
to us should exhibit a style very far removed from any possible
colloquial idiom. The speeches of the Book of History (see _Literature_)
are more manifestly fictitious, by many degrees, than the elaborate
orations in Thucydides and Livy. If we cannot believe that Socrates
actually spoke the words attributed to him in the dialogues of Plato,
much less can we expect to find the _ipsissima verba_ of Confucius in
any of his recorded sayings. In the beginning, all characters doubtless
represented spoken words, but it must very soon have dawned on the
practical Chinese mind that there was no need to reproduce in writing
the bisyllabic compounds of common speech. _Chien_ "to see," in its
written form [Ch], could not possibly be confused with any other
_chien_, and it was therefore unnecessary to go to the trouble of
writing [Ch][Ch] _k'an-chien_ "look-see," as in colloquial. There was a
wonderful outburst of literary activity in the Confucian era, when it
would seem that the older and more cumbrous form of Seal character was
still in vogue. If the mere manual labour of writing was so great, we
cannot wonder that all superfluous particles or other words that could
be dispensed with were ruthlessly cut away. So it came about that all
the old classical works were composed in the tersest of language, as
remote as can be imagined from the speech of the people. The passion for
brevity and conciseness was pushed to an extreme, and resulted more
often than not in such obscurity that detailed commentaries on the
classics were found to be necessary, and have always constituted an
important branch of Chinese literature. After the introduction of the
improved style of script, and when the mechanical means of writing had
been simplified, it may be supposed that literary diction also became
freer and more expansive. This did happen to some extent, but the
classics were held in such veneration as to exercise the profoundest
influence over all succeeding schools of writers, and the divorce
between literature and pooular speech became permanent and
irreconcilable. The book language absorbed all the interest and energy
of scholars, and it was inevitable that this elevation of the written
should be accompanied by a corresponding degradation of the spoken word.
This must largely account for the somewhat remarkable fact that the art
of oratory and public speaking has never been deemed worthy of
cultivation in China, while the comparatively low position occupied by
the drama may also be referred to the same cause. At the same time, the
term "book language," in its widest sense, covers a multitude of styles,
some of which differ from each other nearly as much as from ordinary
speech. The department of fiction (see _Literature_), which the lettered
Chinaman affects to despise and will not readily admit within the
charmed circle of "literature," really constitutes a bridge spanning the
gulf between the severer classical style and the colloquial; while an
elegant terseness characterises the higher-class novel, there are others
in which the style is loose and shambling. Still, it remains true that
no book of any first-rate literary pretensions would be easily
intelligible to any class of Chinamen, educated or otherwise, if read
aloud exactly as printed. The public reader of stories is obliged to
translate, so to speak, into the colloquial of his audience as he goes
along. There is no inherent reason why the conversation of everyday life
should not be rendered into characters, as is done in foreign handbooks
for teaching elementary Chinese; one can only say that the Chinese do
not think it worth while. There are a few words, indeed, which, though
common enough in the mouths of genteel and vulgar alike, have positively
no characters to represent them. On the other hand, there is a vast
store of purely book words which would never be used or understood in
conversation.

The book language is not only nice in its choice of words, it also has
to obey special rules of construction. Of these, perhaps the most
apparent is the carefully marked antithesis between characters in
different clauses of a sentence, which results in a kind of parallelism
or rhythmic balance. This parallelism is a noticeable feature in
ordinary poetical composition, and may be well illustrated by the
following four-line stanza:

"[Ch][Ch][Ch][Ch][Ch] The bright sun completes its course behind the
mountains; [Ch][Ch][Ch][Ch][Ch] The yellow river flows away into the
sea. [Ch][Ch][Ch][Ch][Ch] Would you command a prospect of a thousand
_li_? [Ch][Ch][Ch][Ch][Ch] Climb yet one storey higher." In the first
line of this piece, every single character is balanced by a
corresponding one in the second: [Ch] white by [Ch] yellow, [Ch] sun by
[Ch] river, and so on. In the 3rd and 4th lines, where more laxity is
generally allowed, every word again has its counterpart, with the sole
exception of [Ch] "wish" and [Ch] "further."

The question is often asked: What sort of instrument is Chinese for the
expression of thought? As a medium for the conveyance of historical
facts, subtle emotions or abstruse philosophical conceptions, can it
compare with the languages of the Western world? The answers given to
this question have varied considerably. But it is noteworthy that those
who most depreciate the qualities of Chinese are, generally speaking,
theorists rather than persons possessing a profound first-hand knowledge
of the language itself. Such writers argue that want of inflection in
the characters must tend to make Chinese hard and inelastic, and
therefore incapable of bringing out the finer shades of thought and
emotion. Answering one a priori argument with another, one might fairly
retort that, if anything, flexibility is the precise quality to be
predicated of a language in which any character may, according to the
requirements of the context, be interpreted either as noun, verb or
adjective. But all such reasoning is somewhat futile. It will scarcely
be contended that German, being highly inflected, is therefore superior
in range and power to English, from which inflections have largely
disappeared. Some of the early Jesuit missionaries, men of great natural
ability who steeped themselves in Oriental learning, have left very
different opinions on record. Chinese appeared to them as admirable for
the superabundant richness of its vocabulary as for the conciseness of
its literary style. And among modern scholars there is a decided
tendency to accept this view as embodying a great deal more truth than
the other.

Another question, much debated years ago, which time itself is now
satisfactorily answering, was whether the Chinese language would be able
to assimilate the vast stock of new terminology which closer contact
with the West would necessarily carry with it. Two possible courses, it
seemed, were open: either fresh characters would be formed on the
radical-phonetic principle, or the new idea might be expressed by the
conjunction of two or more characters already existing. The former
expedient had been tried on a limited scale in Japan, where in the
course of time new characters were formed on the same principle as of
old, which were yet purely Japanese and find no place in a Chinese
dictionary. But although the field for such additions was boundless, the
Chinese have all along been chary of extending the language in this way,
probably because these modern terms had no Chinese sound which might
have suggested some particular phonetic. They have preferred to adopt
the other method, of which [Ch][Ch][Ch] (rise-descend-machine) for
"lift," and [Ch][Ch][Ch][Ch] (discuss-govern-country-assembly) for
"parliament" are examples. Even a metaphysical abstraction like The
Absolute has been tentatively expressed by [Ch][Ch] (exclude-opposite);
but in this case an equivalent was already existing in the Chinese
language.

A very drastic measure, strongly advocated in some quarters, is the
entire abolition of all characters, to be replaced by their equivalent
sounds in letters of the alphabet. Under this scheme [Ch] would figure
as _jên_ or _ren_, [Ch] as _ma_, and so on. But the proposal has fallen
extremely flat. The vocables, as we have seen, are so few in number that
only the colloquial, if even that, could possibly be transcribed in this
manner. Any attempt to transliterate classical Chinese would result in a
mere jumble of sounds, utterly unintelligible, even with the addition of
tone-marks. There is another aspect of the case. The characters are a
potent bond of union between the different parts of the Empire with
their various dialects. If they should ever fall into disuse, China will
have taken a first and most fatal step towards internal disruption. Even
the Japanese, whose language is not only free from dialects, but
polysyllabic and therefore more suitable for romanization, have utterly
refused to abandon the Chinese script, which in spite of certain
disadvantages has hitherto triumphantly adapted itself to the needs of
civilized intercourse.

See P. Premare, _Notitiae Linguae Sinicae_ (1831); Ma Kien-chung, _Ma
shih wên t'ung_ (1899); L.C. Hopkins, _The Six Scripts_ (1881) and
_The Development of Chinese Writing_ (1910); H.A. Giles, _A
Chinese-English Dictionary_ (2nd ed., 1910). (H. A. GI.; L. GI.)

VIII. CHINESE LITERATURE

The literature of China is remarkable (1) for its antiquity, coupled
with an unbroken continuity down to the present day; (2) for the variety
of subjects presented, and for the exhaustive treatment which, not only
each subject, but also each subdivision, each separate item, has
received, as well as for the colossal scale on which so many literary
monuments have been conceived and carried out; (3) for the accuracy of
its historical statements, so far as it has been possible to test them;
and further (4) for its ennobling standards and lofty ideals, as well as
for its wholesome purity and an almost total absence of coarseness and
obscenity.

No history of Chinese literature in the Chinese language has yet been
produced; native scholars, however, have adopted, for bibliographical
purposes, a rough division into four great classes. Under the first of
these, we find the Confucian Canon, together with lexicographical,
philological, and other works dealing with the elucidation of words.
Under the second, histories of various kinds, officially compiled,
privately written, constitutional, &c.; also biography, geography and
bibliography. Under the third, philosophy, religion, e.g. Buddhism; the
arts and sciences, e.g. war, law, agriculture, medicine, astronomy,
painting, music and archery; also a host of general works, monographs,
and treatises on a number of topics, as well as encyclopaedias. The
fourth class is confined to poetry of all descriptions, poetical
critiques, and works dealing with the all-important rhymes.

_Poetry._--Proceeding chronologically, without reference to Chinese
classification, we have to begin, as would naturally be expected, with
the last of the above four classes. Man's first literary utterances in
China, as elsewhere, took the form of verse; and the earliest Chinese
records in our possession are the national lyrics, the songs and
ballads, chiefly of the feudal age, which reaches back to over a
thousand years before Christ. Some pieces are indeed attributed to the
18th century B.C.; the latest bring us down to the 6th century B.C. Such
is the collection entitled _Shih Ching_ (or _She King_), popularly known
as the Odes, which was brought together and edited by Confucius, 551-479
B.C., and is now included among the Sacred Books, forming as it does an
important portion of the Confucian Canon. These Odes, once over three
thousand in number, were reduced by Confucius to three hundred and
eleven; hence they are frequently spoken of as "the Three Hundred." They
treat of war and love, of eating and drinking and dancing, of the
virtues and vices of rulers, and of the misery and happiness of the
people. They are in rhyme. Rhyme is essential to Chinese poetry; there
is no such thing as blank verse. Further, the rhymes of the Odes have
always been, and are still, the only recognized rhymes which can be used
by a Chinese poet, anything else being regarded as mere jingle. Poetical
licence, however, is tolerated; and great masters have availed
themselves freely of its aid. One curious result of this is that whereas
in many instances two given words may have rhymed, as no doubt they did,
in the speech of three thousand years ago, they no longer rhyme to the
ear in the colloquial of to-day, although still accepted as true and
proper rhymes in the composition of verse.

It is noticeable at once that the Odes are mostly written in lines of
four words, examples of lines consisting of any length from a single
word to eight, though such do exist, being comparatively rare. These
lines of four words, generally recognized as the oldest measure in
Chinese poetry, are frequently grouped as quatrains, in which the
first, second and fourth lines rhyme; but very often only the second
and fourth lines rhyme, and sometimes there are groups of a larger
number of lines in which occasional lines are found without any rhyme
at all. A few stray pieces, as old as many of those found among the
Odes, have been handed down and preserved, in which the metre consists
of two lines of three words followed by one line of seven words. These
three lines all rhyme, but the rhyme changes with each succeeding
triplet. It would be difficult to persuade the English reader that
this is a very effective measure, and one in which many a gloomy or
pathetic tale has been told. In order to realise how a few Chinese
monosyllables in juxtaposition can stir the human heart to its lowest
depths, it is necessary to devote some years to the study of the
language.

At the close of the 4th century B.C., a dithyrambic measure, irregular
and wild, was introduced and enjoyed considerable vogue. It has indeed
been freely adopted by numerous poets from that early date down to the
present day; but since the 2nd century B.C. it has been displaced from
pre-eminence by the seven-word and five-word measures which are now,
after much refinement, the accepted standards for Chinese poetry. The
origin of the seven-word metre is lost in remote antiquity; the
five-word metre was elaborated under the master-hand of Mei Shêng, who
died 140 B.C. Passing over seven centuries of growth, we reach the
T'ang dynasty, A.D. 618-905, the most brilliant epoch in the history
of Chinese poetry. These three hundred years produced an
extraordinarily large number of great poets, and an output of verse of
almost incredible extent. In 1707 an anthology of the T'ang poets was
published by Imperial order; it ran to nine hundred books or sections,
and contained over forty-eight thousand nine hundred separate poems. A
copy of this work is in the Chinese department of the University
Library at Cambridge.

It was under the T'ang dynasty that a certain finality was reached in
regard to the strict application of the tones to Chinese verse. For
the purposes of poetry, all words in the language were ranged under
one or the other of two tones, the _even_ and the _oblique_, the
former now including the two even tones, of which prior to the 11th
century there was only one, and the latter including the rising,
sinking and entering tones of ordinary speech. The incidence of these
tones, which may be roughly described as sharps and flats, finally
became fixed, just as the incidence of certain feet in Latin metres
came to be governed by fixed rules. Thus, reading downward from right
to left, as in Chinese, a five-word stanza may run:

Sharp Flat Flat Sharp
sharp flat flat sharp
flat sharp flat sharp
o o o o
flat sharp sharp flat
sharp flat sharp flat

A seven-word stanza may run:

Flat Sharp Sharp
flat sharp sharp flat
sharp flat flat sharp
sharp flat flat sharp
o o o o
flat sharp flat flat
flat sharp sharp flat
sharp flat sharp sharp

The above are only two metres out of many, but enough perhaps to give
to any one who will read them with a pause or quasi-caesura, as marked
by o in each specimen, a fair idea of the rhythmic lilt of Chinese
poetry. To the trained ear, the effect is most pleasing; and when this
scansion, so to speak, is united with rhyme and choice diction, the
result is a vehicle for verse, artificial no doubt, and elaborate, but
admirably adapted to the genius of the Chinese language. Moreover, in
the hands of the great poets this artificiality disappears altogether.
Each word seems to slip naturally into its place; and so far from
having been introduced by violence for the ends of prosody, it appears
to be the very best word that could have been chosen, even had there
been no trammels of any kind, so effectually is the art of the poet
concealed by art. From the long string of names which have shed lustre
upon this glorious age of Chinese poetry, it may suffice for the
present purpose to mention the following, all of the very first rank.

Mêng Hao-jan, A.D. 689-740, failed to succeed at the public
competitive examinations, and retired to the mountains where he led
the life of a recluse. Later on, he obtained an official post; but he
was of a timid disposition, and once when the emperor, attracted by
his fame, came to visit him, he hid himself under the bed. His
hiding-place was revealed by Wang Wei, a brother poet who was present.
The latter, A.D. 699-759, in addition to being a first-rank poet, was
also a landscape-painter of great distinction. He was further a firm
believer in Buddhism; and after losing his wife and mother, he turned
his mountain home into a Buddhist monastery. Of all poets, not one has
made his name more widely known than Li Po, or Li T'ai-po, A.D.
705-762, popularly known as the Banished Angel, so heavenly were the
poems he dashed off, always under the influence of wine. He is said to
have met his death, after a tipsy frolic, by leaning out of a boat to
embrace the reflection of the moon. Tu Fu, A.D. 712-770, is generally
ranked with Li Po, the two being jointly spoken of as the chief poets
of their age. The former had indeed such a high opinion of his own
poetry that he prescribed it for malarial fever. He led a chequered
and wandering life, and died from the effects of eating roast beef and
drinking white wine to excess, immediately after a long fast. Po
Chü-i, A.D. 772-846, was a very prolific poet. He held several high
official posts, but found time for a considerable output of some of
the finest poetry in the language. His poems were collected by
Imperial command, and engraved upon tablets of stone. In one of them
he anticipates by eight centuries the famous ode by Malherbe, _À Du
Perrier, sur la mort de sa fille_.

The T'ang dynasty with all its glories had not long passed away before
another imperial house arose, under which poetry flourished again in
full vigour. The poets of the Sung dynasty, A.D. 960-1260, were many
and varied in style; but their work, much of it of the very highest
order, was becoming perhaps a trifle more formal and precise. Life
seemed to be taken more seriously than under the gay and
pleasure-loving T'angs. The long list of Sung poets includes such
names as Ss[)u]-ma Kuang, Ou-yang Hsiu and Wang An-shih, to be
mentioned by and by, the first two as historians and the last as
political reformer. A still more familiar name in popular estimation
is that of Su Tung-p'o, A.D. 103-1101, partly known for his romantic
career, now in court favour, now banished to the wilds, but still more
renowned as a brilliant poet and writer of fascinating essays.

The Mongols, A.D. 1260-1368, who succeeded the Sungs, and the Mings
who followed the Sungs and bring us down to the year 1644, helped
indeed, especially the Mings, to swell the volume of Chinese verse,
but without reaching the high level of the two great poetical periods
above-mentioned. Then came the present dynasty of Manchu Tatars, of
whom the same tale must be told, in spite of two highly-cultured
emperors, K'ang Hsi and Ch'ien Lung, both of them poets and one of
them author of a collection containing no fewer than 33,950 pieces,
most of which, it must be said, are but four-line stanzas, of no
literary value whatever. It may be stated in this connexion that
whereas China has never produced an epic in verse, it is not true that
all Chinese poems are quite short, running only to ten or a dozen
lines at the most. Many pieces run to several hundred lines, though
the Chinese poet does not usually affect length, one of his highest
efforts being the four-line stanza, known as the "stop-short," in
which "the words stop while the sense goes on," expanding in the mind
of the reader by the suggestive art of the poet. The "stop-short" is
the converse of the epigram, which ends in a satisfying turn of
thought to which the rest of the composition is intended to lead up;
it aims at producing an impression which, so far from being final, is
merely the prelude to a long series of visions and of feelings. The
last of the four lines is called the "surprise line"; but the
revelation it gives is never a complete one: the words stop, but the
sense goes on. Just as in the pictorial art of China, so in her
poetic art is suggestiveness the great end and aim of the artist.
Beginners are taught that the three canons of verse composition are
lucidity, simplicity and correctness of diction. Yet some critics have
boldly declared for obscurity of expression, alleging that the
piquancy of a thought is enhanced by its skilful concealment. For the
foreign student, it is not necessary to accentuate the obscurity and
difficulty even of poems in which the motive is simple enough. The
constant introduction of classical allusions, often in the vaguest
terms, and the almost unlimited licence as to the order of words,
offer quite sufficient obstacles to easy and rapid comprehension.
Poetry has been defined by one Chinese writer as "clothing with words
the emotions which surge through the heart." The chief moods of the
Chinese poet are a pure delight in the varying phenomena of nature,
and a boundless sympathy with the woes and sufferings of humanity.
Erotic poetry is not absent, but it is not a feature proportionate in
extent to the great body of Chinese verse; it is always restrained,
and never lapses from a high level of purity and decorum. In his love
for hill and stream which he peoples with genii, and for tree and
flower which he endows with sentient souls, the Chinese poet is
perhaps seen at his very best; his views of life are somewhat too
deeply tinged with melancholy, and often loaded with an overwhelming
sadness "at the doubtful doom of human kind." In his lighter moods he
draws inspiration, and in his darker moods consolation from the
wine-cup. Hard-drinking, not to say drunkenness, seems to have been
universal among Chinese poets, and a considerable amount of talent has
been expended upon the glorification of wine. From Taoist, and
especially from Buddhist sources, many poets have obtained glimpses to
make them less forlorn; but it cannot be said that there is any
definitely religious poetry in the Chinese language.

_History._--One of the labours undertaken by Confucius was connected
with a series of ancient documents--that is, ancient in his day--now
passing under a collective title as _Shu Ching_ (or _Shoo King_), and
popularly known as the Canon, or Book, of History. Mere fragments as
some of these documents are, it is from their pages of unknown date that
we can supplement the pictures drawn for us in the Odes, of the early
civilization of China. The work opens with an account of the legendary
emperor Yao, who reigned 2357-2255 B.C., and was able by virtue of an
elevated personality to give peace and happiness to his "black-haired"
subjects. With the aid of capable astronomers, he determined the summer
and winter solstices, and calculated approximately the length of the
year, availing himself, as required, of the aid of an intercalary month.
Finally, after a glorious reign, he ceded the throne to a man of the
people, whose only claim to distinction was his unwavering practice of
filial piety. Chapter ii. deals with the reign, 2255-2205 B.C., of this
said man, known in history as the emperor Shun. In accordance with the
monotheism of the day, he worshipped God in heaven with prayer and burnt
offerings; he travelled on tours of inspection all over his then
comparatively narrow empire; he established punishments, to be tempered
with mercy; he appointed officials to superintend forestry, care of
animals, religious observances, and music; and he organized a system of
periodical examinations for public servants. Chapter iii. is devoted to
details about the Great Yü, who reigned 2205-2197 B.C., having been
called to the throne for his engineering success in draining the empire
of a mighty inundation which early western writers sought to identify
with Noah's Flood. Another interesting chapter gives various
geographical details, and enumerates the articles, gold, silver, copper,
iron, steel, silken fabrics, feathers, ivory, hides, &c., &c., brought
in under the reign of the Great Yü, as tribute from neighbouring
countries. Other chapters include royal proclamations, speeches to
troops, announcements of campaigns victoriously concluded, and similar
subjects. One peculiarly interesting document is the Announcement
against Drunkenness, which seems to have been for so many centuries a
national vice, and then to have practically disappeared as such. For the
past two or three hundred years, drunkenness has always been the
exception rather than the rule. The Announcement, delivered in the 12th
century B.C., points out that King Wên, the founder of the Chou dynasty,
had wished for wine to be used only in connexion with sacrifices, and
that divine favours had always been liberally showered upon the people
when such a restriction had been observed. On the other hand, indulgence
in strong drink had invariably attracted divine vengeance, and the fall
and disruption of states had often been traceable to that cause. Even
on sacrificial occasions, drunkenness is to be condemned. "When,
however, you high officials and others have done your duty in
ministering to the aged and to your sovereign, you may then eat to
satiety and drink to elevation." The Announcement winds up with an
ancient maxim, "Do not seek to see yourself reflected in water, but in
others,"--whose base actions should warn you not to commit the same;
adding that those who after a due interval should be unable to give up
intemperate habits would be put to death. It is worth noting, in
concluding this brief notice of China's earliest records, that from
first to last there is no mention whatever of any distant country from
which the "black-haired people" may have originally come; no vestige of
any allusion to any other form of civilization, such as that of
Babylonia, with its cuneiform script and baked-clay tablets, from which
an attempt has been made to derive the native-born civilization of
China. A few odd coincidences sum up the chief argument in favour of
this now discredited theory.

Annals of the Lu state.

The next step lands us on the confines, though scarcely in the domain,
of history properly so called. Among his other literary labours,
Confucius undertook to produce the annals of Lu, his native state; and
beginning with the year 722 B.C., he carried the record down to his
death in 479, after which it was continued for a few years, presumably
by Tso-ch'iu Ming, the shadowy author of the famous Commentary, to
which the text is so deeply indebted for vitality and illumination.
The work of Confucius is known as the _Ch'un Ch'iu_, the Springs and
Autumns, q.d. Annals. It consists of a varying number of brief entries
under each year of the reign of each successive ruler of Lu. The
feudal system, initiated more than four centuries previously, and
consisting of a number of vassal states owning allegiance to a central
suzerain state, had already broken hopelessly down, so far as
allegiance was concerned. For some time, the object of each vassal
ruler had been the aggrandizement of his own state, with a view either
to independence or to the hegemony, and the result was a state of
almost constant warfare. Accordingly, the entries in the _Ch'un Ch'iu_
refer largely to covenants entered into between contracting rulers,
official visits from one to another of these rulers, their births and
deaths, marriages, invasions of territory, battles, religious
ceremonies, &c., interspersed with notices of striking natural
phenomena such as eclipses, comets and earthquakes, and of important
national calamities, such as floods, drought and famine. For instance,
Duke Wên became ruler of Lu in 625 B.C., and under his 14th year, 612
B.C., we find twelve entries, of which the following are specimens:--

2. In spring, in the first month, the men of the Chu State invaded our
southern border.

3. In summer, on the I-hai day of the fifth month, P'an, Marquis of
the Ch'i State, died.

5. In autumn, in the seventh month, there was a comet, which entered
Pei-ton ([Greek: abgd] in Ursa Major).

9. In the ninth month, a son of the Duke of Ch'i murdered his ruler.

Entry 5 affords the earliest trustworthy instance of a comet in China.
A still earlier comet is recorded in what is known as The Bamboo
Annals, but the genuineness of that work is disputed.

It will be readily admitted that the _Ch'un Ch'iu_, written throughout
in the same style as the quotations given, would scarcely enable one
to reconstruct in any detail the age it professes to record. Happily
we are in possession of the _Tso Chuan_, a so-called commentary,
presumably by some one named Tso, in which the bald entries in the
work of Confucius are separately enlarged upon to such an extent and
with such dramatic brilliancy that our commentary reads more like a
prose epic than "a treatise consisting of a systematic series of
comments or annotations on the text of a literary work." Under its
guidance we can follow the intrigues, the alliances, the treacheries,
the ruptures of the jealous states which constituted feudal China; in
its picture pages we can see, as it were with our own eyes,
assassinations, battles, heroic deeds, flights, pursuits and the
sufferings of the vanquished from the retribution exacted by the
victors. Numerous wise and witty sayings are scattered throughout the
work, many of which are in current use at the present day.

The Historical Record.

History as understood in Europe and the west began in China with the
appearance of a remarkable man. Ss[)u]-ma Ch'ien, who flourished
145-87 B.C., was the son of an hereditary grand astrologer, also an
eager student of history and the actual planner of the great work so
successfully carried out after his death. By the time he was ten years
of age, Ss[)u]-ma Ch'ien was already well advanced with his studies;
and at twenty he set forth on a round of travel which carried him to
all parts of the empire. Entering the public service, he was employed
upon a mission of inspection to the newly-conquered regions of
Ss[)u]ch'uan and Yünnan; in 110 B.C. his father died, and he stepped
into the post of grand astrologer. After devoting some time and energy
to the reformation of the calendar, he took up the work which had
been begun by his father and which was ultimately given to the world
as the _Shih Chi_, or Historical Record. This was arranged under five
great headings, namely, (l) Annals of Imperial Reigns, (2)
Chronological Tables, (3) Monographs, (4) Annals of Vassal Princes,
and (5) Biographies.

Burning of the Books.

The Historical Record begins with the so-called Yellow Emperor, who is
said to have come to the throne 2698 B.C. and to have reigned a
hundred years. Four other emperors are given, as belonging to this
period, among whom we find Yao and Shun, already mentioned. It was
China's Golden Age, when rulers and ruled were virtuous alike, and all
was peace and prosperity. It is discreetly handled in a few pages by
Ss[)u]-ma Ch'ien, who passes on to the somewhat firmer but still
doubtful ground of the early dynasties. Not, however, until the Chou
dynasty, 1122-255 B.C., had held sway for some three hundred years can
we be said to have reached a point at which history begins to separate
itself definitely from legend. In fact, it is only from the 8th
century before Christ that any trustworthy record can be safely dated.
With the 3rd century before Christ, we are introduced to one of the
feudal princes whose military genius enabled him to destroy beyond
hope of revival the feudal system which had endured for eight hundred
years, and to make himself master of the whole of the China of those
days. In 221 B.C. he proclaimed himself the "First Emperor," a title
by which he has ever since been known. Everything, including
literature, was to begin with his reign; and acting on the advice of
his prime minister, he issued an order for the burning of all books,
with the exception only of works relating to medicine, divination and
agriculture. Those who wished to study law were referred for oral
teaching to such as had already qualified in that profession. To carry
out the scheme effectively, the First Emperor made a point of
examining every day about 120 lb weight of books, in order to get rid
of such as he considered to be useless; and he further appointed a
number of inspectors to see that his orders were carried out. The
result was that about four hundred and sixty scholars were put to
death for having disobeyed the imperial command, while many others
were banished for life. This incident is known as the Burning of the
Books; and there is little doubt that, but for the devotion of the
literati, Chinese literature would have had to make a fresh start in
212 B.C. As it was, books were bricked up in walls and otherwise
widely concealed in the hope that the storm would blow over; and this
was actually the case when the Ch'in (Ts'in) dynasty collapsed and the
House of Han took its place in 206 B.C. The Confucian books were
subsequently recovered from their hiding-places, together with many
other works, the loss of which it is difficult now to contemplate.
Unfortunately, however, a stimulus was provided, not for the recovery,
but for the manufacture of writings, the previous existence of which
could be gathered either from tradition or from notices in the various
works which had survived. Forgery became the order of the day; and the
modern student is confronted with a considerable volume of literature
which has to be classified as genuine, doubtful, or spurious,
according to the merits of each case. To the first class belongs the
bulk, but not all, of the Confucian Canon; to the third must be
relegated such books as the _Tao Tê Ching_, to be mentioned later on.

Ss[)u]-ma Ch'ien, dying in 87 B.C., deals of course only with the
opening reigns of the Han dynasty, with which he brings to a close the
first great division of his history. The second division consists of
chronological tables; the third, of eight monographs on the following
topics: (1) Rites and Ceremonies, (2) Music, (3) Natural Philosophy,
(4) The Calendar, (5) Astronomy, (6) Religion, (7) Water-ways, and (8)
Commerce. On these eight a few remarks may not be out of place, (1)
The Chinese seem to have been in possession, from very early ages, of
a systematic code of ceremonial observances, so that it is no surprise
to find the subject included, and taking an important place, in
Ss[)u]-ma Ch'ien's work. The _Li Chi_, or Book of Rites, which now
forms part of the Confucian Canon, is however a comparatively modern
compilation, dating only from the 1st century B.C. (2) The
extraordinary similarities between the Chinese and Pythagorean systems
of music force the conclusion that one of these must necessarily have
been derived from the other. The Jesuit Fathers jumped to the
conclusion that the Greeks borrowed their art from the Chinese; but it
is now common knowledge that the Chinese scale did not exist in China
until two centuries after its appearance in Greece. The fact is that
the ancient Chinese works on music perished at the Burning of the
Books; and we are told that by the middle of the 2nd century B.C. the
hereditary Court music-master was altogether ignorant of his art. What
we may call modern Chinese music reached China through Bactria, a
Greek kingdom, founded by Diodotus in 256 B.C., with which intercourse
had been established by the Chinese at an early date. (3) The term
Natural Philosophy can only be applied by courtesy to this essay,
which deals with twelve bamboo tubes of varying lengths, by means of
which, coupled with the twenty-eight zodiacal constellations and with
certain calendaric accords, divine communication is established with
the influences of the five elements and the points of the compass
corresponding with the eight winds. (4) In this connexion, it is worth
noting that in 104 B.C. the Chinese first adopted a cycle of nineteen
years, a period which exactly brings together the solar and the lunar
years; and further that this very cycle is said to have been
introduced by Meton, 5th century B.C., and was adopted at Athens about
330 B.C., probably reaching China, via Bactria, some two centuries
afterwards. (5) This chapter deals specially with the sun, moon and
five planets, which are supposed to aid in the divine government of
mankind. (6) Refers to the solemn sacrifices to Heaven and Earth, as
performed by the emperor upon the summit of Mt. T'ai in Shan-tung. (7)
Refers to the management of the Hoang Ho, or Yellow river, so often
spoken of as "China's Sorrow," and also of the numerous canals with
which the empire is intersected. (8) This chapter, which treats of the
circulation of money, and its function in the Chinese theory of
political economy, is based upon the establishment in 110 B.C. of
certain officials whose business it was to regularize commerce. It was
their duty to buy up the chief necessaries of life when abundant and
when prices were in consequence low, and to offer these for sale when
there was a shortage and when prices would otherwise have risen
unduly. Thus it was hoped that a stability in commercial transactions
would be attained, to the great advantage of the people. The fourth
division of the _Shih Chi_ is devoted to the annals of the reigns of
vassal princes, to be read in connexion with the imperial annals of
the first division. The final division, which is in many ways the most
interesting of all, gives biographical notices of eminent or notorious
men and women, from the earliest ages downwards, and enables us to
draw conclusions at which otherwise it would have been impossible to
arrive. Confucius and Mencius, for instance, stand out as real
personages who actually played a part in China's history; while all we
can gather from the short life of Lao Tz[)u], a part of which reads
like an interpolation by another hand, is that he was a more or less
legendary individual, whose very existence at the date usually
assigned to him, 7th and 6th centuries B.C., is altogether doubtful.
Scattered among these biographies are a few notices of frontier
nations; e.g. of the terrible nomads known as the Hsiung-nu, whose
identity with the Huns has now been placed beyond a doubt.

Ss[)u]-ma Ch'ien's great work, on which he laboured for so many vears
and which ran to five hundred and twenty-six thousand five hundred
words, has been described somewhat at length for the following reason.
It has been accepted as the model for all subsequent dynastic
histories, of which twenty-four have now been published, the whole
being produced in 1747 in a uniform edition, bound up (in the
Cambridge Library) in two hundred and nineteen large volumes. Each
dynasty has found its historian in the dynasty which supplanted it;
and each dynastic history is notable for the extreme fairness with
which the conquerors have dealt with the vanquished, accepting without
demur such records of their predecessors as were available from
official sources. The T'ang dynasty, A.D. 618-906, offers in one sense
a curious exception to the general rule. It possesses two histories,
both included in the above series. The first of these, now known as
the Old T'ang History, was ultimately set aside as inaccurate and
inadequate, and a New T'ang History was compiled by Ou-yang Hsiu, a
distinguished scholar, poet and statesman of the 11th century.
Nevertheless, in all cases, the scheme of the dynastic history has,
with certain modifications, been that which was initiated in the 1st
century B.C. by Ss[)u]-ma Ch'ien.

The Mirror of History.

The output of history, however, does not begin and end with the
voluminous records above referred to, one of which, it should be
mentioned, was in great part the work of a woman. History has always
been a favourite study with the Chinese, and innumerable histories of
a non-official character, long and short, complete and partial,
political and constitutional, have been showered from age to age upon
the Chinese reading world. Space would fail for the mere mention of a
tithe of such works; but there is one which stands out among the rest
and is especially enshrined in the hearts of the Chinese people. This
is the _T'ung Chien_, or Mirror of History, so called because "to view
antiquity as though in a mirror is an aid in the administration of
government." It was the work of a statesman of the 11th century, whose
name, by a coincidence, was Ss[)u]-ma Kuang. He had been forced to
retire from office, and spent nearly all the last sixteen years of his
life in historical research. The Mirror of History embraces a period
from the 5th century B.C. down to A.D. 960. It is written in a
picturesque style; but the arrangement was found to be unsuited to the
systematic study of history. Accordingly, it was subjected to
revision, and was to a great extent reconstructed by Chu Hsi, the
famous commentator, who flourished A.D. 1130-1200, and whose work is
now regarded as the standard history of China.

_Biography._--In regard to biography, the student is by no means limited
to the dynastic histories. Many huge biographical collections have been
compiled and published by private individuals, and many lives of the
same personages have often been written from different points of view.
There is nothing very much by which a Chinese biography can be
distinguished from biographies produced in other parts of the world. The
Chinese writer always begins with the place of birth, but he is not so
particular about the year, sometimes leaving that to be gathered from
the date of death taken in connexion with the age which the person may
have attained. Some allusion is usually made to ancestry, and the steps
of an official career, upward by promotion or downward by disgrace, are
also carefully noted.

_Geography and Travel._--There is a considerable volume of Chinese
literature which comes under this head; but if we exclude certain brief
notices of foreign countries, there remains nothing in the way of
general geography which had been produced prior to the arrival of the
Jesuit Fathers at the close of the 16th century. Up to that period
geography meant the topography of the Chinese empire; and of
topographical records there is a very large and valuable collection.
Every prefecture and department, some eighteen hundred in all, has each
its own particular topography, compiled from records and from tradition
with a fullness that leaves nothing to be desired. The buildings,
bridges, monuments of archaeological interest, &c., in each district,
are all carefully inserted, side by side with biographical and other
local details, always of interest to residents and often to the outside
public. An extensive general geography of the empire was last published
in 1745; and this was followed by a chronological geography in 1794.

Fa Hsien.

The Chinese have always been fond of travel, and hosts of travellers
have published notices, more or less extensive, of the different parts
of the empire, and even of adjacent nations, which they visited either
as private individuals or, in the former case, as officials proceeding
to distant posts. With Buddhism came the desire to see the country which
was the home of the Buddha; and several important pilgrimages were
undertaken with a view to bring back images and sacred writings to
China. On such a journey the Buddhist priest, Fa Hsien, started in A.D.
399; and after practically walking the whole way from central China,
across the desert of Gobi, on to Khoten, and across the Hindu Kush into
India, he visited many of the chief cities of India, until at length
reaching Calcutta he took ship, and after a most adventurous voyage, in
the course of which he remained two years in Ceylon, he finally arrived
safely, in A.D. 414, with all his books, pictures, and images, at a spot
on the coast of Shan-tung, near the modern German port of Kiao-chow.

Hsüan Tsang.

Another of these adventurous priests was Hsüan Tsang (wrongly, Yüan
Chwang), who left China on a similar mission in 629, and returned in
645, bringing with him six hundred and fifty-seven Buddhist books,
besides many images and pictures, and one hundred and fifty relics. He
spent the rest of his life in translating, with the help of other
learned priests, these books into Chinese, and completed in 648 the
important record of his own travels, known as the Record of Western
Countries.

Lao Tz[)u].

_Philosophy._--Even the briefest _résumé_ of Chinese philosophical
literature must necessarily include the name of Lao Tz[)u], although his
era, as seen above, and his personality are both matters of the vaguest
conjecture. A number of his sayings, scattered over the works of early
writers, have been pieced together, with the addition of much
incomprehensible jargon, and the whole has been given to the world as
the work of Lao Tz[)u] himself, said to be of the 6th century B.C.,
under the title of the _Tao Tê Ching_. The internal evidence against
this book is overwhelming; e.g. one quotation had been detached from the
writer who preserved it, with part of that writer's text clinging to
it--of course by an oversight. Further, such a treatise is never
mentioned in Chinese literature until some time after the Burning of the
Books, that is, about four centuries after its alleged first appearance.
Still, after due expurgation, it forms an almost complete collection of
such apophthegms of Lao Tz[)u] as have come down to us, from which the
reader can learn that the author taught the great doctrine of
Inaction--Do nothing, and all things will be done. Also, that Lao Tz[)u]
anticipated the Christian doctrine of returning good for evil, a
sentiment which was highly reprobated by the practical mind of
Confucius, who declared that evil should be met by justice. Among the
more picturesque of his utterances are such paradoxes as, "He who knows
how to shut, uses no bolts; yet you cannot open. He who knows how to
bind uses no ropes; yet you cannot untie"; "The weak overcomes the
strong; the soft overcomes the hard," &c.

Chuang Tz[)u].

These, and many similar subtleties of speech, seem to have fired the
imagination of Chuang Tz[)u], 4th and 3rd centuries B.C., with the
result that he put much time and energy into the glorification of Lao
Tz[)u] and his doctrines. Possessed of a brilliant style and a master
of irony, Chuang Tz[)u] attacked the schools of Confucius and Mo Ti
(see below) with so much dialectic skill that the ablest scholars of
the age were unable to refute his destructive criticisms. His pages
abound in quaint anecdotes and allegorical instances, arising as it
were spontaneously out of the questions handled, and imparting a
lively interest to points which might otherwise have seemed dusty and
dull. He was an idealist with all the idealist's hatred of a
utilitarian system, and a mystic with all the mystic's contempt for a
life of mere external activity. Only thirty-three chapters of his work
now remain, though so many as fifty-three are known to have been still
extant in the 3rd century; and even of these, several complete
chapters are spurious, while in others it is comparatively easy to
detect here and there the hand of the interpolator. What remains,
however, after all reductions, has been enough to secure a lasting
place for Chuang Tz[)u] as the most original of China's philosophical
writers. His book is of course under the ban of heterodoxy, in common
with all thought opposed to the Confucian teachings. His views as
mystic, idealist, moralist and social reformer have no weight with the
aspirant who has his way to make in official life; but they are a
delight, and even a consolation, to many of the older men, who have no
longer anything to gain or to lose.

Confucius.

Confucius, 551-479 B.C., who imagined that his Annals of the Lu State
would give him immortality, has always been much more widely
appreciated as a moralist than as an historian. His talks with his
disciples and with others have been preserved for us, together with
some details of his personal and private life; and the volume in which
these are collected forms one of the Four Books of the Confucian
Canon. Starting from the axiomatic declaration that man is born good
and only becomes evil by his environment, he takes filial piety and
duty to one's neighbour as his chief themes, often illustrating his
arguments with almost Johnsonian emphasis. He cherished a shadowy
belief in a God, but not in a future state of reward or punishment for
good or evil actions in this world. He rather taught men to be
virtuous for virtue's sake.

Mencius.

Mo Ti.

Yang Chu.

Hsün Tz[)u].

Yang Hsiung.

The discourses of Mencius, who followed Confucius after an interval of
a hundred years, 372-289 B.C., form another of the Four Books, the
remaining two of which are short philosophical treatises, usually
ascribed to a grandson of Confucius. Mencius devoted his life to
elucidating and expanding the teachings of the Master; and it is no
doubt due to him that the Confucian doctrines obtained so wide a
vogue. But he himself was more a politician and an economist (see
below) than a simple preacher of morality; and hence it is that the
Chinese people have accorded to him the title of The Second Sage. He
is considered to have effectually "snuffed out" the heterodox school
of Mo Ti, a philosopher of the 5th and 4th centuries B.C. who
propounded a doctrine of "universal love" as the proper foundation for
organized society, arguing that under such a system all the calamities
that men bring upon one another would altogether disappear, and the
Golden Age would be renewed. At the same time Mencius exposed the
fallacies of the speculations of Yang Chu, 4th century B.C., who
founded a school of ethical egoism as opposed to the exaggerated
altruism of Mo Ti. According to Mencius, Yang Chu would not have
parted with one hair of his body to save the whole world, whereas Mo
Ti would have sacrificed all. Another early philosopher is Hsün
Tz[)u], 3rd century B.C. He maintained, in opposition to Mencius, who
upheld the Confucian dogma, and in conformity with Christian doctrine,
that the nature of man at his birth is evil, and that this condition
can only be changed by efficient moral training. Then came Yang
Hsiung, 53-18 B.C., who propounded an ethical criterion midway between
the rival positions insisted on by Mencius and Hsün Tz[)u], teaching
that the nature of man at birth is neither good nor evil, but a
mixture of both, and that development in either direction depends
wholly upon circumstances.

Huai-nan Tz[)u].

There is a voluminous and interesting work, of doubtful age, which
passes under the title of _Huai-nan Tz[)u]_, or the Philosopher of
Huai-nan. It is attributed to Liu An, prince of Huai-nan, who died 122
B.C., and who is further said to have written on alchemy; but alchemy
was scarcely known in China at the date of his death, being introduced
about that time from Greece. The author, whoever he may have been,
poses as a disciple of Lao Tz[)u]; but the speculations of Lao Tz[)u],
as glorified by Chuang Tz[)u], were then rapidly sinking into vulgar
efforts to discover the elixir of life. It is very difficult in many
cases of this kind to decide what books are, and what books are not,
partial or complete forgeries. In the present instance, the aid of the
_Shuo Wên_, a dictionary of the 1st century A.D. (see below), may be
invoked, but not in quite so satisfactory a sense as that in which it
will be seen lower down to have been applied to the _Tao Tê Ching_.
The _Shuo Wên_ contains a quotation said to be taken from _Huai-nan
Tz[)u]_; but that quotation cannot be found in the work under
consideration. It may be argued that the words in question may have
been taken from another work by the same author; but if so, it becomes
difficult to believe that a book, more than two hundred years old,
from which the author of the _Shuo Wên_ quoted, should have been
allowed to perish without leaving any trace behind. China has produced
its Bentleys in considerable numbers; but almost all of them have
given their attention to textual criticism of the Confucian Canon, and
few have condescended to examine critically the works of heterodox
writers. The foreign student therefore finds himself faced with many
knotty points he is entirely unable to solve.

Wang Ch'ung.

Of Wang Ch'ung, a speculative and materialistic philosopher, A.D.
27-97, banned by the orthodox for his attacks on Confucius and
Mencius, only one work has survived. it consists of eighty-four essays
on such topics as the nature of things, destiny, divination, death,
ghosts, poisons, miracles, criticisms of Confucius and Mencius,
exaggeration, sacrifice and exorcism. According to Wang Ch'ung, man,
endowed at birth sometimes with a good and sometimes with an evil
nature, is informed with a vital fluid, which resides in the blood and
is nourished by eating and drinking, its two functions being to
animate the body and keep in order the mind. It is the source of all
sensation, passing through the blood like a wave. When it reaches the
eyes, ears and mouth, the result is sight, hearing and speech
respectively. Disturbance of the vital fluid leads to insanity.
Without the fluid, the body cannot be maintained; without the body,
the fluid loses its vitality. Therefore, argues Wang Ch'ung, when the
body perishes and the fluid loses its vitality, each being dependent
on the other, there remains nothing for immortality in a life beyond
the grave. Ghosts he held to be the hallucinations of disordered
minds, and miracles to be natural phenomena capable of simple
explanations. His indictments of Confucius and Mencius are not of a
serious character; though, as regards the former, it must be borne in
mind that the Chinese people will not suffer the faintest aspersion on
the fair fame of their great Sage. It is related in the _Lun Yü_ that
Confucius paid a visit to the notoriously immoral wife of one of the
feudal nobles, and that a certain disciple was "displeased" in
consequence, whereupon the Master swore, saying, "If I have done any
wrong, may the sky fall and crush me!" Wang Ch'ung points out that the
form of oath adopted by Confucius is unsatisfactory and fails to carry
conviction. Had he said, "May I be struck dead by lightning!" his
sincerity would have been more powerfully attested, because people are
often struck dead by lightning; whereas the fall of the sky is too
remote a contingency, such a thing never having been known to happen
within the memory of man. As to Mencius, there is a passage in his
works which states that a thread of predestination runs through all
human life, and that those who accommodate themselves will come off
better in the end than those who try to oppose; it is in fact a
statement of the [Greek: ouk uper moron] principle. On this Wang
Ch'ung remarks that the will of God is consequently made to depend on
human actions; and he further strengthens his objection by showing
that the best men have often fared worst. For instance, Confucius
never became emperor; Pi Kan, the patriot, was disembowelled; the bold
and faithful disciple, Tz[)u] Lu, was chopped into small pieces.

Book of Changes.

But the tale of Chinese philosophers is a long one. It is a department
of literature in which the leading scholars of all ages have mostly
had something to say. The great Chu Hsi, A.D. 1130-1200, whose fame is
chiefly perhaps that of a commentator and whose monument is his
uniform exegesis of the Confucian Canon, was also a voluminous writer
on philosophy. He took a hand in the mystery which surrounds the _I
Ching_ (or _Yih King_), generally known as the Book of Changes, which
is held by some to be the oldest Chinese work and which forms part of
the Confucian Canon. It is ascribed to King Wên, the virtual founder
of the Chou dynasty, 1122-249 B.C., whose son became the first
sovereign and posthumously raised his father to kingly rank. It
contains a fanciful system of divination, deduced originally from
eight diagrams consisting of triplet combinations of a line and a
broken line, either one of which is necessarily repeated twice, and in
two cases three times, in the same combination. Thus there may be
three lines [Illustration], or three broken lines [Illustration], and
other such combinations as [Illustration] and [Illustration].
Confucius declared that he would like to give another fifty years to
the elucidation of this puzzling text. Shao Yung, A.D. 1011-1077,
sought the key in numbers: Ch'êng I., A.D. 1033-1107, in the eternal
fitness of things. "But Chu Hsi alone," says a writer of the 17th
century, "was able to pierce through the meaning and appropriate the
thoughts of the inspired man who composed it." No foreigner, however,
has been able quite to understand what Chu Hsi did make of it, and
several have gone so far as to set all native interpretations aside in
favour of their own. Thus, the _I Ching_ has been discovered by one to
be a calendar of the lunar year; by another, to contain a system of
phallic worship; and by a third, to be a vocabulary of the language of
a tribe, whose very existence had to be postulated for the purpose.

Kuan Chung.

_Political Economy._--This department of literature has been by no
means neglected by Chinese writers. So early as the 7th century B.C.
we find Kuan Chung, the prime minister of the Ch'i state, devoting his
attention to economic problems, and thereby making that state the
wealthiest and the strongest of all the feudal kingdoms. Beginning
life as a merchant, he passed into the public service, and left behind
him at death a large work, parts of which, as we now possess it, may
possibly have come direct from his own hand, the remainder being
written up at a later date in accordance with the principles he
inculcated. His ideal State was divided into twenty-one parts, fifteen
of which were allotted to officials and agriculturists, and six to
manufacturers and traders. His great idea was to make his own state
self-contained; and accordingly he fostered agriculture in order to be
independent in time of war, and manufactures in order to increase his
country's wealth in time of peace. He held that a purely agricultural
population would always remain poor; while a purely manufacturing
population would risk having its supplies of raw material cut off in
time of war. He warmly encouraged free imports as a means of enriching
his countrymen, trusting to their ability, under these conditions, to
hold their own against foreign competition. He protected capital, in
the sense that he considered capitalists to be necessary for the
development of commerce in time of peace, and for the protection of
the state in time of war.

Mencius (see above) was in favour of heavily taxing merchants who
tried to engross for the purpose of regrating, that is, to buy up
wholesale for the purpose of retailing at monopoly prices; he was in
fact opposed to all trusts and corners in trade. He was in favour of a
tax to be imposed upon such persons as were mere consumers, living
upon property which had been amassed by others and doing no work
themselves. No tax, however, was to be exacted from property-owners
who contributed by their personal efforts to the general welfare of
the community. The object of the tax was not revenue, but the
prevention of idleness with its attendant evil consequences to the
state.

Wang An-shih.

Wang An-shih, the Reformer, or Innovator, as he has been called,
flourished A.D. 1021-1086. In 1069 he was appointed state councillor,
and forthwith entered upon a series of startling reforms which have
given him a unique position in the annals of China. He established a
state monopoly in commerce, under which the produce of a district was
to be used first for the payment of taxes, then for the direct use of
the district itself, and the remainder was to be purchased by the
government at a cheap rate, either to be held until there was a rise
in price, or to be transported to some other district in need of it.
The people were to profit by fixity of prices and escape from further
taxation; and the government, by the revenue accruing in the process
of administration. There was also to be a system of state advances to
cultivators of land; not merely to the needy, but to all alike. The
loan was to be compulsory, and interest was to be paid on it at the
rate of 2% per month. The soil was to be divided into equal areas and
taxed according to its fertility in each case, without reference to
the number of inhabitants contained in each area. All these, and other
important reforms, failed to find favour with a rigidly conservative
people, and Wang An-shih lived long enough to see the whole of his
policy reversed.

Sun-Tz[)u].

_Military Writers._--Not much, relatively speaking, has been written
by the Chinese on war in general, strategy or tactics. There is,
however, one very remarkable work which has come down to us from the
6th century B.C., as to the genuineness of which there now seems to be
no reasonable doubt. A biographical notice of the author, Sun Wu, is
given in the _Shih Chi_ (see above), from which we learn that "he knew
how to handle an army, and was finally appointed General." His work,
entitled the _Art of War_, is a short treatise in thirteen chapters,
under the following headings: "Laying Plans," "Waging War," "Attack by
Stratagem," "Tactical Dispositions," "Energy," "Weak Points and
Strong," "Manoeuvring," "Variation of Tactics," "The Army on the
March," "Terrain," "The Nine Situations," "The Attack by Fire," and
"The Use of Spies." Although the warfare of Sun Wu's day was the
warfare of bow and arrow, of armoured chariots and push of pike,
certain principles inseparably associated with successful issue will
be found enunciated in his work. Professor Mackail, in his _Latin
Literature_ (p. 86), declares that Varro's _Imagines_ was "the first
instance in history of the publication of an illustrated book." But
reference to the Art Section of the history of the Western Han
dynasty, 206 B.C.-A.D. 25, will disclose the title of fifteen or
sixteen illustrated books, one of which is Sun Wu's _Art of War_.

Hsü Kuang-ch'i.

_Agriculture._--In spite of the high place accorded to agriculturists,
who rank second only to officials and before artisans and traders, and
in spite of the assiduity with which agriculture has been practised in
all ages, securing immunity from slaughter for the ploughing ox--what
agricultural literature the Chinese possess may be said to belong
entirely to modern times. Ch'ên Fu of the 12th century A.D. was the
author of a small work in three parts, dealing with agriculture,
cattle-breeding and silkworms respectively. There is also a well-known
work by an artist of the early 13th century, with forty-six woodcuts
illustrating the various operations of agriculture and weaving. This
book was reprinted under the emperor K'ang Hsi, 1662-1723, and new
illustrations with excellent perspective were provided by Chiao
Ping-chên, an artist who had adopted foreign methods as introduced by
the famous Jesuit, Matteo Ricci. The standard work on agriculture,
entitled _Nung Chêng Ch'üan Shu_, was compiled by Hsü Kuang-ch'i,
1562-1634, generally regarded as the only influential member of the
mandarinate who has ever become a convert to Christianity. It is in
sixty sections, the first three of which are devoted to classical
references. Then follow two sections on the division of land, six on
the processes of husbandry, none on hydraulics, four on agricultural
implements, six on planting, six on rearing silkworms, four on trees,
one on breeding animals, one on food and eighteen on provision against
a time of scarcity.

Pên Ts'no.

_Medicine and Therapeutics._--The oldest of the innumerable medical
works of all descriptions with which China has been flooded from time
immemorial is a treatise which has been credited to the Yellow Emperor
(see above), 2698-2598 B.C. It is entitled _Plain Questions of the
Yellow Emperor_, or _Su Wên_ for short, and takes the form of
questions put by the emperor and answered by Earl Ch'i, a minister,
who was himself author of the _Nei Ching_, a medical work no longer in
existence. Without accepting the popular attribution of the _Su Wên_,
it is most probable that it is a very old book, dating back to several
centuries before Christ, and containing traditional lore of a still
more remote period. The same may be said of certain works on cautery
and acupuncture, both of which are still practised by Chinese doctors;
and also of works on the pulse, the variations of which have been
classified and allocated with a minuteness hardly credible. Special
treatises on fevers, skin-diseases, diseases of the feet, eyes, heart,
&c., are to be found in great quantities, as well as veterinary
treatises on the treatment of diseases of the horse and the domestic
buffalo. But in the whole range of Chinese medical literature there is
nothing which can approach the _Pên Ts'ao_, or _Materia Medica_,
sometimes called the Herbal, a title (i.e. _Pên Ts'ao_) which seems to
have belonged to some book of the kind in pre-historic ages. The work
under consideration was compiled by Li Shih-chên, who completed his
task in 1578 after twenty-six years' labour. No fewer than eighteen
hundred and ninety-two species of drugs, animal, vegetable and
mineral, are dealt with, arranged under sixty-two classes in sixteen
divisions; and eight thousand one hundred and sixty prescriptions are
given in connexion with the various entries. The author professes to
quote from the original _Pên Ts'ao_, above mentioned; and we obtain
from his extracts an insight into some curious details. It appears
that formerly the number of recognized drugs was three hundred and
sixty-five in all, corresponding with the days of the year. One
hundred and twenty of these were called _sovereigns_ (cf. a sovereign
prescription); and were regarded as entirely beneficial to health,
taken in any quantity or for any time. Another similar number were
called _ministers_; some of these were poisonous, and all had to be
used with discretion. The remaining one hundred and twenty-five were
_agents_; all very poisonous, but able to cure diseases if not taken
in over-doses. The modern _Pên Ts'ao_, in its sixteen divisions, deals
with drugs classed under water, fire, earth, minerals, herbs, grain,
vegetables, fruit, trees, clothes and utensils, insects, fishes,
crustacea, birds, beasts and man. In each case the proper name of the
drug is first given, followed by its explanation, solution of doubtful
points, correction of errors, means of identification by taste, use in
prescriptions, &c. The work is fully illustrated, and there is an
index to the various medicines, classed according to the complaints
for which they are used.

_Divination, &c._--The practice of divination is of very ancient date
in China, traceable, it has been suggested, back to the Canon of
Changes (see above), which is commonly used by the lettered classes
for that purpose. A variety of other methods, the chief of which is
astrology, have also been adopted, and have yielded a considerable
bulk of literature. Even the officially-published almanacs still mark
certain days as suitable for certain undertakings, while other days
are marked in the opposite sense. The spirit of Zadkiel pervades the
Chinese empire. In like manner, geomancy is a subject on which many
volumes have been written; and the same applies to the pseudo sciences
of palmistry, physiognomy, alchemy (introduced from Greek sources) and
others.

_Painting._--Calligraphy, in the eyes of the Chinese, is just as much
a fine art as painting; the two are, in fact, considered to have come
into existence together, but as might be expected the latter occupies
the larger space in Chinese literature, and forms the subject of
numerous extensive works. One of the most important of these is the
_Hsüan Ho Hua P'u_, the author of which is unknown. It contains
information concerning two hundred and thirty-one painters and the
titles of six thousand one hundred and ninety-two of their pictures,
all in the imperial collection during the dynastic period _Hsüan Ho_,
A.D. 1119-1126, from which the title is derived. The artists are
classified under one of the following ten headings, supposed to
represent the line in which each particularly excelled: Religion,
Human Figures, Buildings, Barbarians (including their Animals),
Dragons and Fishes, Landscape, Animals, Flowers and Birds, The Bamboo,
Vegetables and Fruits.

_Music._--The literature of music does not go back to a remote period.
The Canon of Music, which was formerly included in the Confucian
Canon, has been lost for many centuries; and the works now available,
exclusive of entries in the dynastic histories, are not older than the
9th century A.D., to which date may be assigned the _Chieh Ku Lu_, a
treatise on the deerskin drum, said to have been introduced into China
from central Asia, and evidently of Scythian origin. There are several
important works of the 16th and 17th centuries, in which the history
and theory of music are fully discussed, and illustrations of
instruments are given, with measurements in each case, and the special
notation required.

_Miscellaneous._--Under this head may be grouped a vast number of
works, many of them exhaustive, on such topics as archaeology, seals
(engraved), numismatics, pottery, ink (the miscalled "Indian"),
mirrors, precious stones, tea, wine, chess, wit and humour, even
cookery, &c. There is, indeed, hardly any subject, within reasonable
limits, which does not find some corner in Chinese literature.

Lung Wei Pi Shu.

_Collections_.--Reprints of miscellaneous books and pamphlets in a
uniform edition, the whole forming a "library," has long been a
favourite means of disseminating useful (and other) information. Of
these, the _Lung Wei Pi Shu_ may be taken as a specimen. In bulk it
would be about the equivalent of twenty volumes, 8vo, of four hundred
pages to each. Among its contents we find the following. A handbook of
phraseology, with explanations; a short account of fabulous regions to
the N., S., E. and W.; notes on the plants and trees of southern
countries; biographical sketches of ninety-two wonderful personages;
an account of the choice of an empress, with standard measurements of
the height, length of limb, &c., of the ideal woman; "Pillow Notes" (a
term borrowed by the Japanese), or jottings on various subjects,
ranging from the Creation to an account of Fusang, a country where the
trees are thousands of feet high and of vast girth, thus supporting
the California, as opposed to the Mexico, identification of Fusang;
critiques on the style of various poets, and on the indebtedness of
each to earlier writers; a list of the most famous bronze vessels cast
by early emperors, with their dimensions, inscriptions, &c.; a
treatise on the bamboo; a list of famous swords, with dates of forging
and inscriptions; an account of the old Mongol palace, previous to its
destruction by the first Ming emperor; notes on the wild tribes of
China; historical episodes; biographical notices of one hundred and
four poets of the present dynasty; notes on archaeological,
supernatural and other topics, first published in the 9th century;
notes for bibliophiles on the care of books, and on paper, ink,
pictures and bric-à-brac; a collection of famous criminal cases; night
thoughts suggested by a meteor. Add to the above, numerous short
stories relating to magic, dreams, bilocation, and to almost every
possible phase of supernatural manifestation, and the reader will have
some idea of what he may expect in an ordinary "library" of a popular
character. It must always be remembered that with the Chinese, style
is of paramount importance. Documents, the subject-matter of which
would be recognized to be of no educative value, would still be
included, if written in a pleasing style, such as might be serviceable
as a model.

_Individual Authors_.--In a similar manner it has always been
customary for relatives or friends, sometimes for the trade, to
publish the "complete works" of important and often unimportant
writers; usually, soon after death. And as literary distinction has
hitherto almost invariably led to high office under the state, the
collected works of the great majority of authors open with selected
Memorials to the Throne and other documents of an official character.
The public interest in these may have long since passed away; but they
are valued by the Chinese as models of a style to be imitated, and the
foreign student occasionally comes across papers on once burning
questions arising out of commercial or diplomatic intercourse with
western nations. Then may follow--the order is not always the
same--the prefaces which the author contributed from time to time to
the literary undertakings of his friends. Preface-writing is almost a
department of Chinese literature. No one ever thinks of publishing a
book without getting one or more of his capable associates to provide
prefaces, which are naturally of a laudatory character, and always
couched in highly-polished and obscure terms, the difficulty of the
text being often aggravated by a fanciful and almost illegible script.
Prefaces written by emperors, many examples of which may be seen, are
of course highly esteemed, and are generally printed in coloured ink.
The next section may comprise biographical notices of eminent men and
women, or of mere local celebrities, who happened to die in the
author's day. Then will follow Records, a title which covers
inscriptions carved on the walls of new buildings, or on memorial
tablets, and also notes on pictures which the author may have seen,
places which he may have visited, or allegorical incidents which he
may have imagined. Then come disquisitions, or essays on various
subjects; researches, being short articles of archaeological interest;
studies or monographs; birthday congratulations to friends or to
official colleagues; announcements, as to deities, a cessation of
whose worship is threatened if the necessary rain or fair weather be
not forthcoming; funeral orations, letters of condolence, &c. The
above items will perhaps fill half a dozen volumes; the remaining
volumes, running to twenty or thirty in all, as the case may be, will
contain the author's poetry, together with his longer and more serious
works. The essential of such a collection is, in Chinese eyes, its
completeness.

San Kuo Chih.

Hung Lou Mêng.

Liao Chai.

_Fiction_.--Although novels are not regarded as an integral part of
literature proper, it is generally conceded that some novels may be
profitably studied, if for no other reason, from the point of view of
style. With the novel, however, we are no longer on perfectly safe
ground in regard to that decency which characterizes, as has been above
stated, the vast mass of Chinese literature. Chinese novels range, in
this sense, from the simplest and most unaffected tale of daily life,
down to low--not the lowest--depths of objectionable pornography. The
_San Kuo Chih_, an historical romance based upon a period of disruption
at the close of the 2nd century A.D., is a delightful book, packed with
episodes of battle, heroism, self-sacrifice, skilful strategy, and all
that goes to make up a stirring picture of strenuous times. Its author,
who might almost have been Walter Scott, cannot be named for certain;
but the work itself probably belongs to the 13th century, a date at
which the novel begins to make its appearance in China. Previous to that
time, there had been current an immense quantity of stories of various
kinds, but nothing like a novel, as we understand the term. From the
13th century onwards, the growth of the novel was continuous; and
finally, in the 17th century, a point was reached which is not likely to
be surpassed. The _Hung Lou Mêng_, the author of which took pains, for
political reasons, to conceal his identity, is a creation of a very high
order. Its plot is intricate and original, and the _dénouement_
startlingly tragic. In the course of the story, the chief clue of which
is love, woven in with intrigue, ambition, wealth, poverty, and other
threads of human life, there occur no fewer than over four hundred
characters, each one possessed of a distinctive personality drawn with
marvellous skill. It contains incidents which recall the licence
tolerated in Fielding; but the coarseness, like that of Fielding, is
always on the surface, and devoid of the ulterior suggestiveness of the
modern psychological novel. But perhaps no work of fiction has ever
enjoyed such vogue among literary men as a collection of stories, some
graceful, some weird, written in 1679 by P'u Sungling, a disappointed
candidate at the public examinations. This collection, known as the
_Liao Chai_, is exceedingly interesting to the foreign student for its
sidelights on folklore and family life; to the native scholar, who
professes to smile at the subject-matter as beyond the pale of genuine
literature, it is simply invaluable as an expression of the most
masterly style of which his language is capable.

Hsi Hsiang Chi.

_Drama._--Simultaneously with the appearance of the novel, stage-plays
seem to have come into existence in China. In the earliest ages there
were set dances by trained performers, to the accompaniment of music and
singing; and something of the kind, more or less ornate as regards the
setting, has always been associated with solemn and festive occasions.
But not until the days of the Mongol rule, A.D. 1260-1368, can the drama
proper be said to have taken root and flourished in Chinese soil. The
probability is that both the drama and the novel were introduced from
Central Asia in the wake of the Mongol conquerors; the former is now
specially essential to the everyday happiness of the Chinese people, who
are perhaps the most confirmed playgoers in the world. There is an
excellent collection of one hundred plays of the Mongol dynasty, with an
illustration to each, first published in 1615; there is also a further
large collection, issued in 1845, which contains a great number of plays
arranged under sixty headings, according to the style and purport of
each, besides many others. There is one famous play of the Mongol period
which deals largely in plot and passion, and is a great favourite with
the educated classes. It is entitled _Hsi Hsiang Chi_, or the Story of
the Western Pavilion; and as if there was a doubt as to the reception
which would be accorded to the work, a minatory sentence was inserted in
the prolegomena: "If any one ventures to call this book indecent, he
will certainly have his tongue torn out in hell." So far as the written
play is concerned, its language is altogether unobjectionable; on the
stage, by means of gag and gesture, its presentation is often unseemly
and coarse. What the Chinese playgoer delights in, as an evening's
amusement, is a succession of plays which are more of the nature of
sketches, slight in construction and generally weak in plot, some of
them based upon striking historical episodes, and others dealing with a
single humorous incident.

_Dictionaries._--The _Erh Ya_, or Nearing the Standard, is commonly
classed as a dictionary, and is referred by native scholars generally
to the 12th century B.C. The entries are arranged under nineteen
heads, to facilitate reference, and explain a large number of words
and phrases, including names of beasts, birds, plants and fishes. The
work is well illustrated in the large modern edition; but the actual
date of composition is an entirely open question, and the insertion of
woodcuts must necessarily belong to a comparatively late age (see
_Military Writers_).

Shuo Wên.

With the _Shuo Wên_, or Explanation of Written Words, we begin the
long list of lexicographical works which constitute such a notable
feature in Chinese literature. A scholar, named Hsü Shên, who died
about A.D. 120, made an effort to bring together and analyse all the
characters it was possible to gather from the written language as it
existed in his own day. He then proceeded to arrange these
characters--about ten thousand in all--on a system which would enable
a student to find a given word without having possibly to search
through the whole book. To do this, he simply grouped together all
such as had a common part, more or less indicative of the meaning of
each, much as though an English dictionary were to consist of such
groups as

Dog-days
Dog-kennel
Dog-collar
Dog-meat
Dog-nap

and so on.

Horse-collar
Horse-flesh
Horse-back
Horse-fly
Horse-chestnut

and so on.

Hsü Shên selected five hundred and forty of these common parts, or
Radicals (see _Language_), a number which, as will be seen later on,
was found to be cumbrously large; and under each Radical he inserted
all the characters belonging to it, but with no particular order or
arrangement, so that search was still, in many cases, quite a
laborious task. The explanations given were chiefly intended to
establish the pictorial origin of the language; but whereas no one now
disputes this as a general conclusion, the steps by which Hsü Shên
attempted to prove his theory must in a large number of instances be
dismissed as often inadequate and sometimes ridiculous. Nevertheless,
it was a great achievement; and the _Shuo Wên_ is still indispensable
to the student of the particular script in vogue a century or two
before Christ. It is also of value in another sense. It may be used,
with discretion, in testing the genuineness of an alleged ancient
document, which, if an important or well-known document before the age
of Hsü Shên, would not be likely to contain characters not given in
his work. Under this test the _Tao Tê Ching_, for instance, breaks
down (see _Huai-nan Tz[)u]_).

Passing over a long series of dictionaries and vocabularies which
appeared at various dates, some constructed on Hsü Shên's plan, with
modifications and improvements, and others, known as phonetic
dictionaries, arranged under the finals according to the Tones, we
come to the great standard lexicon produced under the auspices, and
now bearing the name of the emperor K'ang Hsi, A.D. 1662-1723.

Phonetic dictionaries.

But before proceeding, a rough attempt may be made to exhibit in
English terms the principle of the phonetic as compared with the
radical dictionary described above. In the spoken language there would
occur the word _light_, the opposite of dark, and this would be
expressed in writing by a certain symbol. Then, when it became
necessary to write down _light_, the opposite of heavy, the result
would be precisely what we see in English. But as written words
increased, always with a limited number of vocables (see _Language_),
this system was found to be impracticable, and Radicals were inserted
as a means of distinguishing one kind of _light_ from another, but
without altering the original sound. Now, in the phonetic dictionary
the words are no longer arranged in such groups as

Sun-light
Sun-beam
Sun-stroke
Sun-god, &c.

according to the Radicals, but in such groups as

Sun-light
Moon-light
Foot-light
Gas-light, &c.

according to the phonetics, all the above four being pronounced simply
_light_, without reference to the radical portion which guides towards
the limited sense of the term. So, in a phonetic dictionary, we should
have such a group as

Brass-bound
Morocco-bound
Half-bound
Spell-bound
Homeward-bound
Wind-bound

and so on, all the above six being pronounced simply _bound_. To
return to "K'ang Hsi," as the lexicon in question is familiarly
styled, the total number of characters given therein amounts to over
forty-four thousand, grouped no longer under the five hundred and
forty Radicals of Hsü Shên, but under the much more manageable number
of two hundred and fourteen, as already used in earlier dictionaries.
Further, as the groups of characters would now be more than four times
as large as in the _Shuo Wên_, they were subdivided under each Radical
according to the number of strokes in the other, or phonetic part of
the character. Thus, adopting letters as strokes, for the purpose of
illustration, we should have "dog-nap" in the group of Radical "dog"
and three strokes, while "dog-days" and "dog-meat" would both be found
under Radical "dog" with four strokes, and so on. The two hundred and
fourteen Radicals are themselves arranged in groups according to the
number of strokes; so that it is not a very arduous task to turn up
ordinary characters in a Chinese dictionary. Finally, although Chinese
is a monosyllabic and non-alphabetic language, a method has been
devised, and has been in use since the 3rd century A.D., by which the
sound of any word can be indicated in a dictionary otherwise than by
simply quoting a word of similar sound, which of course may be equally
unknown to the searcher. Thus, the sound of a word pronounced _ching_
can be exhibited by selecting two words, one having the initial _ch_,
and the other a final _ing_. E.g. the sound _ching_ is given as _chien
ling_; that is _ch[ien l]ing = ching_.

_The Concordance._--Considering the long unbroken series of years
during which Chinese literature has always, in spite of many losses,
been steadily gaining in bulk, it is not astonishing to find that
classical, historical, mythological and other allusions to personages
or events of past times have also grown out of all proportion to the
brain capacity even of the most brilliant student. Designed especially
to meet this difficulty, there are several well-known handbooks,
elementary and advanced, which trace such allusions to their source
and provide full and lucid explanations; but even the most extensive
of these is on a scale incommensurate with the requirements of the
scholar. Again, it is due to the emperor K'ang Hsi that we possess one
of the most elaborate compilations of the kind ever planned and
carried to completion. The _P'ei Wên Yün Fu_, or Concordance to
Literature, is a key, not only to allusions in general, but to all
phraseology, including allusions, idiomatic expressions and other
obscure combinations of words, to be found in the classics, in the
dynastic histories, and in all poets, historians, essayists, and
writers of recognized eminence in their own lines. No attempt at
explanation is given; but enough of the passage, or passages, in which
the phrase occurs, is cited to enable the reader to gather the meaning
required. The trouble, of course, lies with the arrangement of these
phrases in a non-alphabetic language. Recourse has been had to the
Rhymes and the five Tones (see _Language_); and all phrases which end
with the same word form one of a number of groups which appear under
the same Rhyme, the Rhymes themselves being distributed over five
Tones. Thus, to find any phrase, the first point is to discover what
is its normal Rhyme; the next is to ascertain the Tone of that Rhyme.
Then, under this Tone-group the Rhyme-word will be found, and under
the Rhyme-word group will be found the final word of the phrase in
question. It will now only remain to run through this last group of
phrases, all of which have this same final word, and the search--so
vast is the collection--will usually yield a satisfactory result. The
_P'ei Wên Yün Fu_ runs of course to many volumes; a rough estimate
shows it to contain over fifteen million words.

Yuan Lo Ta Tien.

_Encyclopaedias._--In their desire to bring together condensed, yet
precise, information on a large variety of subjects, the Chinese may
be said to have invented the encyclopaedia. Though not the earliest
work of this kind, the _T'ai P'ing Yü Lan_ is the first of any great
importance. It was produced towards the close of the 10th century
A.D., under the direct supervision of the emperor, who is said to have
examined three sections every day for about a year, the total number
of sections being one thousand in all, arranged under fifty-five
headings. Another similar work, dealing with topics drawn from the
lighter literature of China, is the _T'ai P'ing Kuang Chi_, which was
issued at about the same date as the last-mentioned. Both of these,
and especially the former, have passed through several editions. They
help to inaugurate the great Sung dynasty, which for three centuries
to follow effected so much in the cause of literature. Other
encyclopaedias, differing in scope and in plan, appeared from time to
time, but it will be necessary to concentrate attention upon two only.
The third emperor of the Ming dynasty, known as Yung Lo, A.D.
1403-1425, issued a commission for the production of a work on a scale
which was colossal even for China. His idea was to collect together
all that had ever been written in the four departments of (1) the
Confucian Canon, (2) History, (3) Philosophy and (4) General
Literature, including astronomy, geography, cosmogony, medicine,
divination, Buddhism, Taoism, arts and handicrafts; and in 1408 such
an encyclopaedia was laid before the Throne, received the imperial
approval and was named _Yung Lo Ta Tien_, or The Great Standard of
Yung Lo. To achieve this, 3 commissioners, with 5 directors, 20
sub-directors and a staff of 2141 assistants, had laboured for the
space of five years. Its contents ran to no fewer than 22,877 separate
sections, to which must be added an index filling 60 sections. Each
section contained about 20 leaves, making a total of 917,480 pages for
the whole work. Each page consisted of sixteen columns of characters
averaging twenty-five to each column, or a total of 366,992,000
characters, to which, in order to bring the amount into terms of
English words, about another third would have to be added. This
extraordinary work was never printed, as the expense would have been
too great, although it was actually transcribed for that purpose; and
later on, two more copies were made, one of which was finally stored
in Peking and the other, with the original, in Nanking. Both the
Nanking copies perished at the fall of the Ming dynasty; and a similar
fate overtook the Peking copy, with the exception of a few odd
volumes, at the siege of the legations in 1900. The latter was bound
up in 11,100 volumes, covered with yellow silk, each volume being 1
ft. 8 in. in length by 1 ft. in breadth, and averaging over ½ in. in
thickness. This would perhaps be a fitting point to conclude any
notice of Chinese encyclopaedias, but for the fact that the work of
Yung Lo is gone while another encyclopaedia, also on a huge scale,
designed and carried out sonic centuries later, is still an important
work of reference.

T'u Shu.

The _T'u Shu Chi Ch'êng_ was planned, and to a great extent made
ready, under instructions from the emperor K'ang Hsi (see above), and
was finally brought out by his successor, Yung Chêng, 1723-1736.
Intended to embrace all departments of knowledge, its contents were
distributed over six leading categories, which for want of better
equivalents may be roughly rendered by (l) Heaven, (2) Earth, (3) Man,
(4) Arts and Sciences, (5) Philosophy and (6) Political Science. These
were subdivided into thirty-two classes; and in the voluminous index
which accompanies the work a further attempt was made to bring the
searcher into still closer touch with the individual items treated.
Thus, the category Heaven is subdivided into four classes,
namely--again, for want of better terms--(_a_) The Sky and its
Manifestations, (_b_) The Seasons, (_c_) Astronomy and Mathematics and
(_d_) Natural Phenomena. Under these classes come the individual
items; and here it is that the foreign student is often at a loss. For
instance, class _a_ includes Earth, in its cosmogonic sense, as the
mother of mankind; Heaven, in its original sense of God; the Dual
Principle in nature; the Sun, Moon and Stars; Wind; Clouds; Rainbow;
Thunder and Lightning; Rain; Fire, &c. But Earth is itself a
geographical category; and all strange phenomena relating to many of
the items under class _a_ are recorded under class _d_. Category No.
6, marked as Political Science, contains such classes as Ceremonial,
Music and Administration of Justice, alongside of Handicrafts, making
it essential to study the arrangement carefully before it is possible
to consult the work with ease. Such preliminary trouble is, however,
well repaid, the amount of information given on any particular subject
being practically coextensive with what is known about that subject.
The method of presenting such information, with variations to suit the
nature of the topics handled, is to begin with historical excerpts,
chronologically arranged. These are usually followed by sometimes
lengthy essays dealing with the subject as a theme, taken from the
writings of qualified authors, and like all the other entries, also
chronologically arranged. Then come elegant extracts in prose and
verse, in all of which the subject may be simply mentioned and not
treated as in the essays. After these follow minor notices of
incidents, historical and otherwise, and all kinds of anecdotes,
derived from a great variety of sources. Occasionally, single poetical
lines are brought together, each contributing, some thought or
statement germane to the subject, expressed in elegant or forcible
terms; and also, wherever practicable, biographies of men and women
are inserted.

Chronological and other tables are supplied where necessary, as well
as a very large number of illustrations, many of these being
reproductions of woodcuts from earlier works. It is said that the _T'u
Shu Chi Ch'êng_ was printed from movable copper type cast by the
Jesuit Fathers employed by the emperor K'ang Hsi at Peking; also that
only a hundred copies were struck off, the type being then destroyed.
An 8vo edition of the whole encyclopaedia was issued at Shanghai in
1889; this is bound up in sixteen hundred and twenty-eight handy
volumes of about two hundred pages each. A copy of the original
edition stands on the shelves of the British Museum, and a translation
of the Index has recently been completed.

_Manuscripts and Printing._--At the conclusion of this brief survey of
Chinese literature it may well be asked how such an enormous and
ever-increasing mass has been handed down from generation to generation.
According to the views put forth by early Chinese antiquarians, the
first written records were engraved with a special knife upon bamboo
slips and wooden tablets. The impracticability of such a process, as
applied to books, never seems to have dawned upon those writers; and
this snowball of error, started in the 7th century, long after the knife
and the tablet had disappeared as implements of writing, continued to
gather strength as time went on. Recent researches, however, have placed
it beyond doubt that when the Chinese began to write in a literary
sense, as opposed to mere scratchings on bones, they traced their
characters on slips of bamboo and tablets of wood with a bamboo pencil,
frayed at one end to carry the coloured liquid which stood in the place
of ink. The knife was used only to erase. So things went on until about
200 B.C., when it would appear that a brush of hair was substituted for
the bamboo pencil; after which, silk was called into requisition as an
appropriate vehicle in connexion with the more delicate brush. But silk
was expensive and difficult to handle, so that the invention of paper in
A.D. 105 by a eunuch, named Ts'ai Lun, came as a great boon, although it
seems clear that a certain kind of paper, made from silk floss, was in
use before his date. However that may be, from the 1st century onwards
the Chinese have been in possession of the same writing materials that
are in use at the present day.

In A.D. 170, Ts'ai Yung, who rose subsequently to the highest offices of
state, wrote out on stone in red ink the authorized text of the Five
Classics, to be engraved by workmen, and thus handed down to posterity.
The work covered forty-six huge tablets, of which a few fragments are
said to be still in existence. A similar undertaking was carried out in
837, and the later tablets are still standing at a temple in the city of
Hsi-an Fu, Shensi. With the T'ang dynasty, rubbings of famous
inscriptions, wherein the germ of printing may be detected, whether for
the style of the composition or for the calligraphic excellence of the
script, came very much into vogue with scholars and collectors. It is
also from about the same date that the idea of multiplying on paper
impressions taken from wooden blocks seems to have arisen, chiefly in
connexion with religious pictures and prayers. The process was not
widely applied to the production of books until the 10th century, when
in A.D. 932 the Confucian Canon was printed for the first time. In 981
orders were issued for the _T'ai P'ing Kuang Chi_, an encyclopaedia
extending to many volumes (see above) to be cut on blocks for printing.
Movable types of baked clay are said to have been invented by an
alchemist, named Pi Shêng, about A.D. 1043; and under the Ming dynasty,
1368-1644, these were made first of wood, and later of copper or lead,
but movable types have never gained the favour accorded to
block-printing, by means of which most of China's great typographical
triumphs have been achieved. The process is, and always has been, the
same all over China. Two consecutive pages of a book, separated by a
column containing the title, number of section, and number of leaf, are
written out and pasted face downwards on a block of wood (_Lindera
tz[)u]-mu_, Hemsl.). This paper, where not written upon, is cut away
with sharp tools, leaving the characters in relief, and of course
backwards, as in the case of European type. The block is then inked, and
an impression is taken off, on one side of the paper only. This sheet is
then folded down the middle of the separating column above mentioned, so
that the blank halves come together, leaving two pages of printed matter
outside; and when enough sheets have been brought together, they are
stabbed at the open ends and form a volume, to be further wrapped in
paper or pasteboard, and labelled with title, &c. It is almost
superfluous to say that the pages of a Chinese book must not be cut.
There is nothing inside, and, moreover, the column bearing the title and
leaf-number would be cut through. The Chinese newspapers of modern times
are all printed from movable types, an ordinary fount consisting of
about six to seven thousand characters.

See J. Legge, _The Chinese Classics_ (1861-1872); A. Wylie, _Notes on
Chinese Literature_ (1867); E. Chavannes, _Mémoires historiques_
(1895-1905); H.A. Giles, _Chuang Tz[)u]_ (1889), _A Chinese
Biographical Dictionary_ (1898), and _A History of Chinese Literature_
(1901); A. Forke, _Lun-Hêng_ (1907); F. Hirth, _The Ancient History of
China_ (1908); L. Giles, _Sun Tz[)u]_ (1910). (H. A. GI.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] As to the origin of the names China and Cathay (the medieval
name) see below § _History_. According to one theory the name China
is of Malay origin, designating originally the region now called
Indo-China, but transferred in early times to China proper. By the
Chinese the country is often called _Shih-pa-shêng_, "the Eighteen
Provinces," from the number of its great territorial divisions. It
is also called _Chung-kwo_, "the Middle Kingdom," properly used of
the central part of China, and _Hwa-kwo_, "the Flowery Kingdom."

[2] A Chinese mile, _li_, or _le_ = 0.36 English mile.

[2] For the Grand Canal the chief authority is Dominique Gandar, S.J.,
"Le Canal Impérial. Étude historique et descriptive," _Variétés
sinologiques_ No. 4 (Shanghai, 1903); see also Stenz, "Der
Kaiserkanal," in _Beiträgen zur Kolonialpolitik_, Band v. (Berlin,
1903-1904), and the works of Ney Elias, Sir J.F. Davis, A.
Williamson, E.H. Parker and W.R. Carles.

[4] Nevertheless there is considerable local traffic. The transit
trade with Shan-tung, passing the Chin-kiang customs and using some
250 m. of the worst part of the canal, was valued in 1905 at
3,331,000 taels.

[5] The portion of the wall which abutted on to the sea has been
destroyed.

[6] See the _Geog. Jnl._ (Feb. and March 1907). For a popular
account of the wall, with numerous photographs, see _The Great Wall
of China_ (London, 1909), by W.E. Giel, who in 1908 followed its
course from east to west. Consult also A. Williamson, _Journey in
North China_ (London, 1870); Martin, "La Grande Muraille de la
Chine," _Revue scientifique_ (1891).

[7] For Shanghai the figures are compiled from twenty-six years'
observations. See _China Sea Directory_, vol. iii. (4th ed., 1904)
p. 660.

[8] The thermometer registered 23° F. in January 1893, on the river
28 m. below Canton. This is the lowest reading known. Ibid, pp.
104-105.

[9] See W.W. Rockhill, _Inquiry into the Population of China_
(Washington, 1904).

[10] For a bibliography of works relating to the aboriginal races of
China see Richard's _Comprehensive Geography of the Chinese Empire_
(1908 ed.), pp. 371-373.

[11] Evidences of the social changes taking place in China are to be
found in the strong movement for the education of girls, and in the
formation of societies, under official patronage, to prevent the
binding of women's feet.

[12] It must be remembered that there is great variety in the
costumes worn in the various provinces. The particulars here given
are of the most general styles of dress.

[13] Richard's _Comprehensive Geography_, &c. (1908 edition), pp.
340-341.

[14] Otherwise Ab[=u] Ja'far Ibn Mahommed al-Mans[=u]r (see CALIPHATE,
C. § 2).

[15] For a summary of Chang Chih-tung's treatise, see _Changing
China_ (1910 edition), chap. xxii.

[16] It was announced in June 1910 that the throne had approved a
recommendation of the Board of Education that English should be the
official language for scientific and technical education, and that
the study of English should be compulsory in all provincial
scientific and technical schools.

[17] See _The Times_ of the 19th of February and the 3rd of May 1910.

[18] Another peculiarity of loess in China is that it lends itself
readily to the excavation of dwellings for the people. In many
places whole villages live in cave dwellings dug out in the vertical
wall of loess. They construct spiral staircases, selecting places
where the ground is firm, and excavate endless chambers and recesses
which are said to be very comfortable and salubrious.

[19] See J. Edkins, _The Poppy in China_, and H.B. Morse, _The Trade
and Administration of the Chinese Empire_, chap. xi.

[20] Richard's _Comprehensive Geography, &c._ (1908 edition), p. 144.

[21] In the 18th century foreign trade was restricted to Canton. In
the 17th century, however, the Dutch traded to Formosa and Amoy, and
the English to Amoy also. The Portuguese traded with Canton as early
as 1517. For the early intercourse between Portugal and China see
the introductory chapter in Donald Ferguson's _Letters from
Portuguese Captives in Canton_ (Bombay, 1902).

[22] From _The Statesman's Year Book_, 1910 edition.

[23] See _The Times_ of the 28th of March 1910.

[24] See Morse, _op. cit._ chap. x.

[25] The maritime customs had established a postal service for its
own convenience in 1861, and it first gave facilities to the general
public in 1876. An organized service for the conveyance of
government despatches has existed in China for many centuries, and
the commercial classes maintain at their own expense a system
("letter hongs") for the transmission of correspondence.

[26] For the causes leading to this movement and the progress of
reform see § _History_.

[27] For recent authoritative accounts of the government of China
see H.B. Morse, _The Trade and Administration of the Chinese
Empire_, chap. iii.; Richard's _Comprehensive Geography_, &c., Bk.
I. § v., and _The Statesman's Year Book_.

[28] The empress-consort is chosen by the emperor from a number of
girls selected by his ministers from the families of Manchu nobles.
From the same candidates the emperor also selects
secondary-empresses (usually not more than four). Concubines, not
limited in number, are chosen from the daughters of Manchu nobles
and free-men. All the children are equally legitimate.

[29] Recent emperors have been children at accession and have been
kept in seclusion.

[30] See "Democratic China" in H.A. Giles, _China and the Chinese_.

[31] W.F. Mayers, _The Chinese Government_ (1878).

[32] This body is superseded by the Imperial Senate summoned to meet
for the first time on the 3rd of October 1910.

[33] Yamên is the name given to the residences of all high
officials. Tsung-li Yamên = the bureau for managing each (foreign)
kingdom's affairs.

[34] An edict of the 15th of July 1909 created a naval and military
advisory board. Up to that time the navy was controlled by the
viceroys at Canton, Nanking, Fu-chow and Tientsin; the viceroys at
Canton and Tientsin being ministers superintendent of the southern
and northern ports respectively.

[35] Thus in 1910 Prince Ching, president of the grand council, was,
for the third time, impeached by censors, being denounced as an "old
treacherous minister," who filled the public service with a crowd of
men as unworthy as himself. The censor who made the charge was
stripped of his office (see _The Times_ of the 30th of March 1910).

[36] For details of local government see Richard's _Comprehensive
Geography_, 1908 edition, pp. 301 et seq.

[37] Morse, op. cit., 1908 edition, p. 76

[38] See _The Times_ of the 28th of February 1910.

[39] See _The Statesman's Year-Book_ (1910 edition).

[40] A few of the old native customs stations, which are deemed
perquisites of the imperial court, may also be excepted, as, for
instance, the native custom-house at Canton, Hwei Kwan on the Grand
Canal, and various stations in the neighbourhood of Peking.

[41] The production of a budget in 1915 was promised in one of the
reform edicts of 1908.

[42] In this article the tael used as a standard is the Haikwan (i.e.
customs) tael, worth about 3s. It fluctuates with the value of
silver.

[43] Roughly £43,000,000.

[44] _Trade and Administration of the Chinese Empire_ (1910), p. 118.

[45] Temporary reductions are granted in provinces affected by
rebellion, drought or flood.

[46] Information as to what extent the expenses of the new army and
navy are met by the central government is lacking.

[47] To meet the expenditure on interest and redemption of the
indemnities for the Boxer outrages the Peking government required
the provincial authorities to increase their annual remittances by
taels 18,700,000 during the years 1902-1910.

[48] It must be remembered that the Haikwan tael is here indicated.

[49] See Morse's _Trade and Administration of the Chinese Empire_,
chap. ix.

[50] A supplementary exchange of notes of the same date excepted
from the scope of this agreement the Shan-hai-kwan-Niu-chwang
extension which had already been conceded to the Hongkong & Shanghai
Bank.

[51] The religious aspect of the Boxer movement gave it strength.
Its disciples believed that the spirits which defended China were
incensed by the introduction of Western methods and ideals. Many of
them believed themselves to be invulnerable to any Western weapon.
(See Lord W. Cecil, _Changing China_, 1910, ch. i.)

[52] The diary of a Manchu noble printed in _China under the Empress
Dowager_ (1910) by J.O. Bland and E. Backhouse throws light on the
subject. It was to Jung-Lu, father-in-law of Prince Chin, that the
legations owed their escape from extermination.

[53] It was at this time (July 17th) that the intense anxiety of the
civilized world with regard to the fate of the besieged reached its
culminating point. Circumstantial accounts of the fall of the
legations and the massacre of their inmates were circulated in
Shanghai and found general credence. It was not till near the end of
the month that an authentic message from the American minister
proved these fears to be premature.

[54] In negotiating this agreement Lord Salisbury appears to have
been largely influenced by the aggressive features of Russia's
action in North China, while Germany appears to have been actuated
by a desire to forestall isolated action by Great Britain in the
Yangtsze basin. In Germany the agreement was known as the Yangtsze
Agreement. Great Britain held, however, that it applied equally to
Manchuria.

[55] Liu Kun-yi died in 1902. In the same year died Tao-mu, the
viceroy of Canton. In these men China lost two of her most capable
and enlightened officials.

[56] Prince Chun was born in 1882. He was the first member of the
imperial family to be sent on a foreign mission.

[57] Tung Fu-hsiang died in 1908. A sum of some £80,000 belonging to
him, and left in the provincial treasury, was appropriated for works
of public utility (see _The Times_, April 9th, 1910).

[58] Lord W. Cecil, op. cit. p. 9.

[59] This institution was nominally a private concern which financed
the Manchurian railway, but it acted as part of the Russian
government machinery. The existence of the contract of the 27th of
August 1896 was frequently denied until expressly admitted by the
Russo-Chinese agreement of the 8th of April 1902.

[60] On the 8th of October the Russian troops had been withdrawn
from Mukden, but they reoccupied the town on the 28th of the same
month, Admiral Alexeiev, the viceroy of the Far East, alleging that
the inertia of the Chinese officials seriously hindered the work of
extending civilization in Manchuria.

[61] The form of outrage, probably the first of its kind in China,
was itself a symptom of the changed times. The bomb injured Prince
Tsai Tse and another commissioner, and the departure of the
commission was consequently delayed some months.

[62] In 1907 further commissions were appointed, on the initiative
of Yuan Shih-kai, to study specifically the constitutions of Great
Britain, Germany and Japan.

[63] This department was organized at Shanghai in 1854. The Taiping
rebels being in possession of the native city, the collection of
customs dues, especially on foreign ships, was placed in the hands
of foreigners. This developed into a permanent institution, the
European staff being mainly British.

[64] The British official view, as stated in parliament on the 27th
of April 1910, was that the changes resulting from the creation of
the Board of Control had, so far, been purely departmental changes
of form, and that the position of the inspector-general remained
unaltered.

[65] See _The Times_ of the 21st of April and 11th of May 1910.

[66] A chest contained from 135 lb to 160 lb.

[67] A picul = 133-1/2 lb.

[68] _Changing China_, p. 118.

[69] See _The Times_ of 7th and 8th of March and 8th of April 1910.

[70] The first recorded importation of morphia into China was in
1892, and it is suggested that it was first used as an anti-opium
medicine. Morphia-taking, however, speedily became a vice, and in
1902 over 195,000 oz. of morphia were imported (enough for some
300,000,000 injections). To check the evil the Chinese government
during 1903 imposed a tax of about 200% _ad valorem_, with the
result that the imports declared to the customs fell in 1905 to 54
oz. only. The falling off was explained "not by a diminished demand,
but by smuggling" (Morse's _Trade and Administration of the Chinese
Empire_, p. 351).

[71] A regulation by the ministry of education, dated the 14th of
January 1910, ordered that no girl should be admitted to school
dressed in foreign clothes or with unnatural (i.e. bound) feet.

[72] For the growth of the education movement see _The Times_, 4th
of September 1909.

[73] The Dalai Lama left Peking in December 1908 on his return to
Lhassa, which he reached in November 1909. Differences had arisen
between him and the Chinese government, which sought to make the
spiritual as well as the temporal power of the Dalai Lama dependent
on his recognition by the emperor of China. Early in 1910 the Dalai
Lama, in consequence of the action of the Chinese amban in Lhassa,
fled from that city and sought refuge in India.

[74] Chang Chih-tung died in October 1909. He was a man of considerable
ability, and one whose honesty and loyalty had never been doubted. He
was noted as an opponent of opium smoking, and for over thirty years
had addressed memorials to the throne against the use of the drug.

[75] See _The Times_ of the 7th of September 1909.

[76] Proposals made early in 1910 by the American secretary of state
for the neutralization of the Manchurian railway received no
support.

[77] By a convention signed on July 4th, 1910, Russia and Japan agreed
to "maintain and respect" the _status quo_ in Manchuria.

[78] See the _Quinzaine coloniale_ of the 10th of December 1909.

[79] See _The Times_ of the 20th of January 1910.

[80] See for the prospects of reform _The Times_ of 30th May 1910.

[81] _La Sculpture sur pierre en Chine ait temps des deux dynasties
Han_ (Paris, 1893).

CHINA, the common name for ware made of porcelain, given because it came
from China, where the first vitrified, translucent, white ware was
produced. The Portuguese or Italians gave it the name of "porcelain"
(q.v.). English usage was influenced by India and the East, where the
Persian _ch[=i]n[=i]_ was widely prevalent as the name of the ware. This
is seen also in some of the earlier forms and pronunciations, e.g.
_chiney_, _cheney_, and later _chaney_ (see CERAMICS; and for
"china-clay" KAOLIN).

CHINANDEGA, or CHINENDEGA, the capital of the department of Chinandega
in western Nicaragua, 10 m. N.N.E. of the seaport of Corinto by the
Corinto-Managua railway. Pop. (1900) about 12,000. Chinandega is the
centre of a fertile corn-producing district, and has a large transit
trade owing to its excellent situation on the chief Nicaraguan railway.
Its manufactures include coarse cloth, pottery and Indian feather
ornaments. Cotton, sugar-cane and bananas are cultivated in the
neighbourhood.

CHI-NAN FU, the capital of Shan-tung, China, in 36° 40' N., 117° 1' E.
Pop. about 100,000. It is situated in one of the earliest settled
districts of the Chinese empire. The city, which lies in the valley of
the present channel of the Yellow river (Hwang-Ho), and about 4 m. south
of the river, is surrounded by a triple line of defence. First is the
city wall, strongly built and carefully guarded, outside this a granite
wall, and beyond this again a mud rampart. Three springs outside the
west gate throw up streams of tepid water to a height of about 2 ft.
This water, which is highly prized for its healing qualities, fills the
moat and forms a fine lake in the northern quarter of the city.

Chi-nan Fu was formerly famous for its manufacture of silks and of
imitation precious stones. It is now the chief commercial entrepôt of
Western Shan-tung but no longer a manufacturing centre. A highway
connects it with the Yellow river, and it is joined by a railway 280 m.
long to Kiaochow. The city has a university for instruction on Western
lines, and an efficient military school. American Presbyterians began
mission work in the city in 1873; it is also the see of a Roman Catholic
bishop.

CHINCHA ISLANDS, three small islands in the Pacific Ocean, about 12 m.
from the coast of Peru (to which country they belong), opposite the town
of Pisco, and 106 m. distant from Callao, in 13° 38' S., 76° 28' W. The
largest of the group, known as the North Island or Isla del Norte, is
only four-fifths of a mile in length, and about a third in breadth. They
are of granitic formation, and rise from the sea in precipitous cliffs,
worn into countless caves and hollows, which furnish convenient
resting-places for the sea-fowl. Their highest points attain an
elevation of 113 ft. The islands have yielded a few remains of the
Chincha Indian race. They were formerly noted for vast deposits of
guano, and its export was begun by the Peruvian government in 1840. The
supply, however, was exhausted in 1874. In 1853-1854 the Chincha Islands
were the chief object in a contest known as the Guano War between
President Echenique and General Castilla; and in April 1864 they were
seized by the Spanish rear-admiral Pinzon in order to bring the Peruvian
government to apologize for its treatment of Spanish immigrants.

CHINCHEW, or CHINCHU, the name usually given in English charts to an
ancient and famous port of China in the province of Fu-kien, of which
the Chinese name is _Ch'üanchow-fu_ or _Ts'üanchow-fu_. It stands in 24°
57' N., 118° 35' E. The walls have a circuit of 7 or 8 m., but embrace
much vacant ground. The chief exports are tea and sugar, tobacco,
china-ware, nankeens, &c. There are remains of a fine mosque, founded by
the Arab traders who resorted thither. The English Presbyterian Mission
has had a chapel in the city since about 1862. Beyond the northern
branch of the Min (several miles from the city) there is a suburb called
Loyang, approached by the most celebrated bridge in China.

Ch'üanchow, owing to the obstruction of its harbour by sand banks, has
been supplanted as a port by Amoy, and its trade is carried on through
the port of Nganhai. It is still, however, a large and populous city. It
was in the middle ages the great port of Western trade with China, and
was known to the Arabs and to Europeans as _Zait[=u]n_ or _Zayton_, the
name under which it appears in Abulfeda's geography and in the Mongol
history of Rash[=i]ddud[=i]n, as well as in Ibn Batuta, Marco Polo and
other medieval travellers. Some argument has been alleged against the
identity of Zayton with Ch'üanchow, and in favour of its being rather
Changchow (a great city 60 m. W.S.W. of Ch'üanchow), or a port on the
river of Changchow near Amoy. "Port of Zayton" may have embraced the
great basin called Amoy Harbour, the chief part of which lies within the
_Fu_ or department of Ch'üanchow; but there is hardly room for doubt
that the Zayton of Marco Polo and Abulfeda was the Ch'üanchow of the
Chinese. Ibn Batuta informs us that a rich silk texture made here was
called _Zait[=u]niya_; and there can be little doubt that this is the
real origin of the word "Satin," _Zettani_ in medieval Italian,
_Aceytuni_ in Spanish.

CHINCHILLA, a small grey hopping rodent mammal (_Chinchilla lanigera_),
of the approximate size of a squirrel, inhabiting the eastern slopes of
the Andes in Chile and Bolivia, at altitudes between 8000 and 12,000 ft.
It typifies not only the genus _Chinchilla_, but the family
_Chinchillidae_, for the distinctive features of which see RODENTIA. The
ordinary chinchilla is about 10 in. in length, exclusive of the long
tail, and in the form of its head somewhat resembles a rabbit. It is
covered with a dense soft fur ¾ in. long on the back and upwards of an
inch in length on the sides, of a delicate French grey colour, darkly
mottled on the upper surf ace and dusky white beneath; the ears being
long, broad and thinly covered with hair. Chinchillas live in burrows,
and these subterranean dwellings undermine the ground in some parts of
the Chilean Andes to such an extent as to cause danger to travellers on
horseback. They associate in communities, forming their burrows among
loose rocks, and coming out to feed in the early morning and towards
sunset. They feed chiefly on roots and grasses, in search of which they
often travel considerable distances; and when eating they sit on their
haunches, holding their food in their fore-paws. The Indians in hunting
them employ the grison (_Galictis vittata_), a member of the weasel
family, which is trained to enter the crevices of the rocks where the
chinchillas lie concealed during the day. The fur (q.v.) of this rodent
was prized by the ancient Peruvians, who made coverlets and other
articles with the skin, and at the present day the skins are exported in
large numbers to Europe, where they are made into muffs, tippets and
trimmings. That chinchillas have not under such circumstances become
rare, if not extinct, is owing to their extraordinary fecundity, the
female usually producing five or six young twice a year. They are docile
in disposition, and thus well fitted for domestication. The Peruvian
chinchilla (_C. brevicaudata_) is larger, with relatively shorter ears
and tail; while still larger species constitute the genus _Lagidium_,
ranging from the Andes to Patagonia, and distinguished by having four in
place of five front-toes, more pointed ears, and a somewhat differently
formed skull. (See also VISCACHA). (R. L.*)

CHINDE, a town of Portuguese East Africa, chief port for the Zambezi
valley and British Central Africa, at the mouth of the Chinde branch of
the Zambezi, in 18° 40´ S., 36° 30´ E. Pop. (1907) 2790, of whom 218
were Europeans. Large steamers are unable to cross the bar, over which
the depth of water varies from 10 to 18 ft. Chinde owes its existence to
the discovery in 1889 that the branch of the river on the banks of which
it is built is navigable from the ocean (see ZAMBEZI). The Portuguese in
1891 granted on lease for 99 years an area of 5 acres--subsequently
increased to 25--to the British government, on which goods in transit to
British possessions could be stored duty free. This block of land is
known as the British Concession, or British Chinde. The prosperity of
the town largely depends on the transit trade with Nyasaland and North
East Rhodesia. There is also a considerable export from Portuguese
districts, sugar, cotton and ground nuts being largely cultivated in the
Zambezi valley, and gold and copper mines worked.

CHINDWIN, a river of Burma, the largest tributary of the Irrawaddy, its
entire course being in Burmese territory. It is called Ningthi by the
Manipuris. The Chindwin is formed by the junction of the Tanai, the
Tawan and the Tarôn or Turông, but it is still uncertain which is the
main stream. The Tanai has hitherto been looked on as the chief source.
It rises in about 25° 30´ N. and 97° E., on the Shwedaung-gyi peak of
the Kumôn range, 12 m. N. of Mogaung, and flows due N. for the first
part of its course until it reaches the Hukawng valley, when it turns to
the W. and flows through the middle of the plain to the end of the
valley proper. There it curves round to the S., passes through the Tarôn
or Turông valley, takes the name of the Chindwin, and maintains a
general southerly course until it enters the Irrawaddy, after flowing
through the entire length of the Upper and Lower Chindwin districts, in
about 21° 30´ N. and 95° 15´ E. Its extreme outlets are 22 m. apart, the
interval forming a succession of long, low, partially populated islands.
The most southerly mouth of the Chindwin is, according to tradition, an
artificial channel, cut by one of the kings of Pag[=a]n. It was choked
up for many centuries until in 1824 it was opened out by an exceptional
flood. The Tanai (it is frequently called Tanaikha, but _kha_ is merely
the Kachin word for river), as long as it retains that name, is a swift,
clear river, from 50 to 300 yds. wide and from 3 to 15 ft. deep. The
river is navigated by native boats in the Hukawng valley, but launches
cannot come up from the Chindwin proper because of the reefs below Taro.

The Tarôn, Turông or Towang river seems to be the real main source of
the Chindwin. It flows into the Hukawng valley from the north, and has
a swift current with a succession of rapids. Its sources are in the
hills to the south of Sadiya, rising from 10,000 to 11,000 ft. above
sea-level. It flows through a deep valley, with a general E. and W.
direction, as far as its junction with the Loglai. It then turns S.,
and after draining an intricate system of hills, breaks into the
Hukawng valley a few miles N. of Saraw, and joins or receives the
Tanai about 10 m. above Kintaw village. Except the Tanai, the chief
branches of the Upper Chindwin rise in mountains that are covered at
least with winter snows. Below the Hukawng valley the Chindwin is
interrupted at several places by fails or transverse reefs. At the
village of Haksa there is a fall, which necessitates transhipment from
large boats to canoes. Not far below this the Uyu river comes in on
the left bank at Homalin, and from this point downwards the steamers
of the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company ply for the greater part of the
year. The Uyu flows through a fertile and well-cultivated valley, and
during the rainy season it is navigable for a distance of 150 m. from
its mouth by steamers of light draught. Ordinarily regular steam
communication with Homalin ceases in the dry weather, but from Kindat,
nearly 150 m. below it, there are weekly steamers all the year round.
Below Kindat the only considerable affluent of the Chindwin is the
Myit-tha, which receives the Chin hills drainage. The Chindwin rises
considerably during the rains, but in March and April it is here and
there so shallow as to make navigation difficult even for small steam
launches. Whirlpools and narrows and shifting sandbanks also give some
trouble, but much has been done to improve navigation since the
British annexation. Kindat, the headquarters of the Upper Chindwin
district, and Mônywa of the Lower, are on the banks of the river.
(J. G. SC.)

CHINDWIN, UPPER and LOWER, two districts in the Sagaing division of
Upper Burma. Upper Chindwin has an area of 19,062 sq. m., and a
population, according to the census of 1901, of 154,551. Lower Chindwin
has an area of 3480 sq. m., and a population of 276,383. Upper Chindwin
lies to the north of the lower district, and is bounded on the N. by the
Chin, N[=a]ga and Kachin hills; on the E. they are bounded by the
Myitkyina, Katha and Shwebo districts; Lower Chindwin is bounded on the
S. by the Pakôkku and Sagaing districts; and both districts are bounded
on the W. by the Chin hills, and by Pakôkku on the southern stretch. The
western portion of both districts is hilly, and the greater part of
Upper Chindwin is of the same character. Both have valuable teak
forests. The total rainfall averages in Lower Chindwin 27 and in Upper
Chindwin 60 in. Coal exists in extensive fields, but these are not very
accessible. Rice forms the great crop, but a certain amount of til-seed
and of indigo is also cultivated. Kindat, a mere village, is the
headquarters of the upper district, and Mônywa, with a population of
7869, of the lower. Both are on the Chindwin river, and are served by
the steamers of the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company. Alôn, close to Mônywa,
and formerly the headquarters, is the terminus of the railway from
Sagaing westwards, which was opened in 1900.

CHINESE PAVILLON, TURKISH CRESCENT, TURKISH JINGLE, or JINGLING JOHNNY
(Fr. _chapeau chinois_; Ger. _türkischer Halbmond, Schellenbaum_; Ital.
_cappello chinese_), an instrument of percussion of indefinite
sonorousness, i.e. not producing definite musical tones. The _chapeau
chinois_ was formerly an adjunct in military bands, but never in the
orchestra, where an instrument of somewhat similar shape, often confused
with it and known as the _Glockenspiel_ (q.v.), is occasionally called
into requisition. The Chinese pavilion consists of a pole about 6 ft.
high terminating in a conical metal cap or pavilion, hung with small
jingling bells and surmounted by a crescent and a star. Below this
pavilion are two or more metal bands forming a fanciful double crescent
or squat lyre, likewise furnished with tiny bells. The two points of the
crescent are curved over, ending in fanciful animal heads from whose
mouths hang low streaming tails of horse-hair. The Chinese pavilion is
played by shaking or waving the pole up and down and jingling the bells,
a movement which can at best be but a slow one repeated once or at most
twice in a bar to punctuate the phrases and add brilliancy to the
military music. The Turkish crescent or "jingling Johnny," as it was
familiarly called in the British army bands, was introduced by the
Janissaries into western Europe. It has fallen into disuse now, having
been replaced by the glockenspiel or steel harmonica. Edinburgh
University possesses two specimens.[1] In the 18th century at
Bartholomew Fair one of the chief bands hired was one well known as
playing in London on winter evenings in front of the Spring-Garden
coffee house and opposite Wigley's. This band consisted of a double
drum, a Dutch organ (see BARREL-ORGAN), a tambourine, a violin, pipes
and the Turkish jingle.[2] (K.S.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] See Captain C.R. Day, _Descriptive Catalogue of Musical
Instruments_ (London, 1891), p. 233.

[2] See Hone's _Everyday Book_, i. 1248.

CHINGFORD, an urban district in the Epping parliamentary division of
Essex, England, 10½ m. N. of London (Liverpool Street station) by the
Great Eastern railway. Pop. (1901) 4373. It lies between the river Lea
and the western outskirts of Epping Forest. The church of All Saints has
Early English and Perpendicular remains. Queen Elizabeth's or Fair Mead
hunting lodge, a picturesque half-timbered building, is preserved under
the Epping Forest Preservation Act. A majestic oak, one of the finest
trees in the Forest, stands near it. Buckhurst Hill (an urban district;
pop. 4786) lies to the N.E.

CHINGLEPUT, or CHENGALPAT, a town and district of British India, in the
Madras presidency. The town, situated 36 m. by rail from Madras, had a
population in 1901 of 10,551. With Chandragiri in North Arcot,
Chingleput was once the capital of the Vijayanagar kings, after their
overthrow by the Mussulmans at Talikota in 1565. In 1639 a chief,
subject to these kings, granted to the East India Company the land on
which Fort St George now stands. The fort built by the Vijayanagar kings
in the 16th century was of strategic importance, owing to its swampy
surroundings and the lake that flanked its side. It was taken by the
French in 1751, and was retaken in 1752 by Clive, after which it proved
invaluable to the British, especially when Lally in his advance on
Madras left it unreduced in his rear. During the wars of the British
with Hyder Ali it withstood his power, and afforded a refuge to the
natives; and in 1780, after the defeat of Colonel W. Baillie, the army
of Sir Hector Munro here found refuge. The town is noted for its
manufacture of pottery, and carries on a trade in rice.

The DISTRICT OF CHINGLEPUT surrounds the city of Madras, stretching
along the coast for about 115 m. The administrative headquarters are at
Saidapet. Area, 3079 sq. m. Pop. (1901) 1,312,122, showing an increase
of 9% in the decade. Salt is extensively manufactured all along the
coast. Cotton and silk weaving is also largely carried on, and there are
numerous indigo vats, tanneries and an English cigar factory.

CHIN HILLS, a mountainous district of Upper Burma. It lies on the border
between the Lushai districts of Eastern Bengal and Assam and the plains
of Burma, and has an area of 8000 sq. m. It is bounded N. by Assam and
Manipur, S. by Arakan, E. by Burma, and W. by Tippera and the Chittagong
hill tracts. The Chins, Lushais and Kukis are to the north-east border
of India what the Pathan tribes are to the north-west frontier. In 1895
the Chin Hills were declared a part of the province of Burma, and
constituted a scheduled district which is now administered by a
political officer with headquarters at Falam. The tract forms a
parallelogram 250 m. from N. to S. by 100 to 150 m. wide. The country
consists of a much broken and contorted mass of mountains, intersected
by deep valleys. The main ranges run generally N. to S., and vary in
height from 5000 to 9000 ft., among the most important being the Letha
or Tang, which is the watershed between the Chindwin and Manipur rivers;
the Imbukklang, which divides the Sokte tribe from the Whenchs and sheds
the water from its eastern slopes into Upper Burma and that from its
western slopes into Arakan; and the Rong-klang, which with its
prolongations is the main watershed of the southern hills, its eastern
slopes draining into the Myittha and thus into the Chindwin, while the
western fall drains into the Boinu river, which winding through the
hills discharges itself eventually in the Bay of Bengal. The highest
peak yet discovered is the Liklang, between Rawywa and Lungno, some 70
m. S. of Haka (nearly 10,000 ft.).

It is supposed that the Kukis of Manipur, the Lushais of Bengal and
Assam, and the Chins originally lived in Tibet and are of the same
stock; their form of government, method of cultivation, manners and
customs, beliefs and traditions all point to one origin. The slow
speech, the serious manner, the respect for birth and the knowledge of
pedigrees, the duty of revenge, the taste for and the treacherous
method of warfare, the curse of drink, the virtue of hospitality, the
clannish feeling, the vice of avarice, the filthy state of the body,
mutual distrust, impatience under control, the want of power of
combination and of continued effort, arrogance in victory, speedy
discouragement and panic in defeat, are common traits. The Chins,
Lushais and Kukis were noted for the secrecy of their plans, the
suddenness of their raids, and their extraordinary speed in retreating
to their fastnesses. After committing a raid they have been known to
march two days and two nights consecutively without cooking a meal or
sleeping, so as to escape from any parties which might follow them.
The British, since the occupation of Upper Burma, have been able to
penetrate the Chin-Lushai country from both sides at once. The
pacification of the Chin Hills is a triumph for British
administration. Roads, on which Chin coolies now readily work, have
been constructed in all directions. The rivers have been bridged; the
people have taken up the cultivation of English vegetables, and the
indigenous districts have been largely developed. The Chin Hills had a
population (1901 census) of 87,189, while the Chins in Burma totalled
179,292. The Pakôkku Chin Hills, which form a separate tract, have an
area of 2260 sq. m.; pop. (1901) 13,116. (J. G. SC.)

CHINKIANG, or CHEN-KIANG-FU, a treaty port of China, in the province of
Kiang-su, on the Yangtsze-kiang above Shanghai, from which it is distant
160 m. It is in railway communication both with Shanghai and Nanking (40
m. distant), and being at the point where the Grand Canal running N. and
S. intersects the Yangtsze, which runs E. and W., is peculiarly well
situated to be a commercial entrepôt. The total value of exports and
imports for 1904 was £4,632,992; estimated pop. 168,000. In the war of
1842 it yielded to the British only after a desperate resistance. It was
laid waste by the T'aip'ing rebels in 1853, and was recaptured by the
imperial forces in 1858.

CHINO-JAPANESE WAR (1894-95). The causes of this conflict arose out of
the immemorial rivalry of China and Japan for influence in Korea. In the
16th century a prolonged war in the peninsula had ended with the failure
of Japan to make good her footing on the mainland--a failure brought
about largely by lack of naval resources. In more modern times (1875,
1882, 1884) Japan had repeatedly sent expeditions to Korea, and had
fostered the growth of a progressive party in Seoul. The difficulties of
1884 were settled between China and Japan by the convention of Tientsin,
wherein it was agreed that in the event of future intervention each
should inform the other if it were decided to despatch troops to the
peninsula. Nine years later the occasion arose. A serious rebellion
induced the Korean government to apply for military assistance from
China. Early in June 1894 a small force of Chinese troops were sent to
Asan, and Japan, duly informed of this action, replied by furnishing her
minister at Seoul with an escort, rapidly following up this step by the
despatch of about 5000 troops under Major-General Oshima. A complicated
situation thus arose. Chinese troops were present in Korea by the
request of the government to put down rebellion. The Japanese controlled
the capital, and declined to recognize Korea as a tributary of China.
But she proposed that the two powers should unite to suppress the
disturbance and to inaugurate certain specified reforms. China
considered that the measures of reform must be left to Korea herself.
The reply was that Japan considered the government of Korea "lacking in
some of the elements which are essential to responsible independence."
By the middle of July war had become inevitable unless the Peking
government were willing to abandon all claims over Korea, and as Chinese
troops were already in the country by invitation, it was not to be
expected that the shadowy suzerainty would be abandoned.

At Seoul the issue was forced by the Japanese minister, who delivered an
ultimatum to the Korean government on the 20th of July. On the 23rd the
palace was forcibly occupied. Meanwhile China had despatched about 8000
troops to the Yalu river. The outbreak of war thus found the Japanese
in possession of Seoul and ready to send large forces to Korea, while
the Chinese occupied Asan (about 40 m. south of the capital), and had a
considerable body of troops in Manchuria in addition to those despatched
to the Yalu river. To Japan the command of the sea was essential for the
secure transport and supply of her troops. Without it the experience of
the war of the 16th century would be repeated. China, too, could only
utilize overland routes to Korea by submitting to the difficulties and
delays entailed. To both powers the naval question was thus important.

By the time war was finally declared (August 1) hostilities had
already begun. On the 25th of July Oshima set out from Seoul to attack
the Chinese at Asan. On the 29th he won a victory at Söng-hwan, but
the Chinese commander escaped with a considerable part of his forces
by a detour to Ping-Yang (Phyong-Yang). Meanwhile a portion of the
Japanese fleet had encountered some Chinese warships and transports
off Phung-Tao, and scored an important success, sinking, amongst other
vessels, the transport "Kowshing" (July 25). The loss of more than
1000 Chinese soldiers in this vessel materially lightened Oshima's
task. The intention of the Chinese to crush their enemies between
their forces at Asan and Ping-Yang was completely frustrated, and the
Japanese obtained control of all southern Korea.

Reinforcements from Japan were now pouring into Korea, in spite of the
fact that the rival navies had not yet tried conclusions, and General
Nozu, the senior Japanese officer present, soon found himself in a
position to move on Ping-Yang. Three columns converged upon the place
on the 15th of September, and in spite of its strong walls carried it,
though only after severe fighting.

Nearly all the troops on either side had been conveyed to the scene of
war by sea, though the decisive contest for sea supremacy was still to
be fought. The Chinese admiral Ting with the Northern Squadron (which
alone took part in the war) had hitherto remained inactive in
Wei-hai-wei, and on the other side Vice-Admiral Ito's fleet had not
directly interfered with the hostile transports which were reinforcing
the troops on the Yalu. But two days after the battle of Ping-Yang,
Ting, who had conveyed a large body of troops to the mouth of the
Yalu, encountered the Japanese fleet on his return journey off
Hai-Yang-Tao on the 17th of September. The heavy battleships
"Chen-Yuen" and "Ting-Yuen" constituted the strongest element of the
Chinese squadron, for the Japanese, superior as they were in every
other factor of success, had no vessels which could compare with these
in the matter of protection. Ting advanced in a long irregular line
abreast; the battleships in the centre, the lighter vessels on the
wings. Ito's fast cruisers steamed in line ahead against the Chinese
right wing, crushing their weaker opponents with their fire. In the
end the Chinese fleet was defeated and scattered, but the two heavy
battleships drew off without serious injury. This battle of the Yalu
gave Japan command of the sea, but Ito continued to act with great
caution. The remnants of the vanquished fleet took refuge in Port
Arthur, whence after repairs Ting proceeded to Wei-hai-wei.

The victory of Ping-Yang had cleared Korea of the Chinese troops, but
on the lower Yalu--their own frontier--large forces threatened a
second advance. Marshal Yamagata therefore took the offensive with his
1st army, and on the 24th and 25th of October, under great
difficulties--though without serious opposition from the enemy--forced
the passage of the river and occupied Chiulien-cheng. Part of the
Chinese force retired to the north-east, part to Feng-hwang-cheng and
Hsiu-yuen (Siu-Yen). The Japanese 1st army advanced several columns
towards the mountains of Manchuria to secure its conquests and prepare
for a future advance. General Tachimi's brigade occupied
Feng-hwang-cheng on the 29th of October. On the 7th of November a
column from the Yalu took Takushan, and a few days later a converging
attack from these two places was made upon Hsiu-yuen, which was
abandoned by the Chinese. Meanwhile Tachimi, skirmishing with the
enemy on the Mukden and Liao-Yang roads, found the Chinese in force. A
simultaneous forward move by both sides led to the action of
Tsao-ho-ku (November 30), after which both sides withdrew--the Chinese
to the line of the mountains covering Hai-cheng, Liao-Yang and Mukden,
with the Tatar general Ikotenga's force, 14,000 strong, on the
Japanese right north-east of Feng-hwang-cheng; and the Japanese to
Chiulien-cheng, Takushan and Hsiu-yuen. The difficulties of supply in
the hills were almost insurmountable, and no serious advance was
intended by the Japanese until January 1895, when it was to be made in
co-operation with the 2nd army. This army, under Marshal Oyama, had
been formed in September and at first sent to Chemulpo as a support to
the forces under Yamagata; but its chief task was the siege and
capture of the Chinese fortress, dockyard and arsenal of Port Arthur.

The Liao-Tong peninsula was guarded by the walled city of Kinchow and
the forts of Ta-lien-wan (Dalny under the Russian régime, and Tairen
under the Japanese) as well as the fortifications around Port Arthur
itself. On the 24th of October the disembarkation of the 2nd army
began near Pi-tsze-wo, and the successive columns of the Japanese
gradually moved towards Kinchow, which was carried without difficulty
on the 6th of November. Even less resistance was offered by the modern
forts of Ta-lien-wan. The Japanese now held a good harbour within a
few miles of the main fortress. Here they landed siege artillery, and
on the 17th of November the advance was resumed. The attack was made
on the 19th at dawn. Yamaji's division (Nogi's and Nishi's brigades)
after a trying night march assaulted and carried the western defences
and moved upon the town. Hasegawa in the centre, as soon as Yamaji
began to appear in rear of his opponents in the northern forts, pushed
home his attack with equal success, and by 3 P.M. practically all
resistance was at an end. The Japanese paid for this important success
with but 423 casualties. Meanwhile the Chinese general Sung, who had
marched from Hai-cheng to engage the 2nd army, appeared before
Kinchow, where he received on the 22nd a severe repulse at the hands
of the Japanese garrison. Marshal Oyama subsequently stationed his
advanced guard towards Hai-cheng, the main body at Kinchow, and a
brigade of infantry at Port Arthur. Soon after this overtures of peace
were made by China; but her envoy, a foreigner unfurnished with
credentials, was not received by the Tokyo government.

The Japanese 1st army (now under General Nozu) at Antung and
Feng-hwang-cheng prepared, in spite of the season, to move across the
mountains, and on the 3rd of December General Katsura left Antung for
Hai-cheng. His line of march was by Hsi-mu-cheng, and strong flank
guards followed parallel routes on either side. The march was
accomplished safely and Hai-cheng occupied on the 13th of December. In
the meantime Tachimi had moved northward from Feng-hwang-cheng, in
order to distract the attention of the Chinese from Hai-cheng, and
there were some small engagements between this force and that of
Ikotenga, who ultimately retired beyond the mountains to Liao-Yang.
Sung had already left Kai-ping to secure Hai-cheng when he heard of
the fall of that place; his communications with Ikotenga being now
severed, he swerved to the north-west and established a new base at
Niu-chwang. Once on his new line Sung moved upon Hai-cheng. As it was
essential that he should be prevented from joining forces with
Ikotenga, General Katsura marched out of Hai-cheng to fight him. At
Kang-wang-tsai (December 19th) the Chinese displayed unusual
steadiness, and it cost the Japanese some 343 casualties to dislodge
the enemy. The victors returned to Hai-cheng exhausted with their
efforts, but secure from attack for some time to come. The advanced
troops of the 2nd army (Nogi's brigade) were now ready to advance, and
only the Kai-ping garrison (left behind by Sung) barred their junction
with Katsura. At Kai-ping (January 10th) the resistance of the Chinese
was almost as steady as at Kang-wang-tsai, and the Japanese lost 300
killed and wounded in their successful attack. In neither of these
actions was the defeated force routed, nor did it retire very far. On
the 17th of January and again on the 22nd Ikotenga attacked Hai-cheng
from the north, but was repulsed.

Meanwhile the 2nd army, still under Oyama, had undertaken operations
against Wei-hai-wei, the second great fortress and dockyard of
northern China, where Admiral Ting's squadron had been refitting since
the battle of the Yalu; and it was hoped that both armies would
accomplish their present tasks in time to advance in the summer
against Peking itself. On the 18th of January a naval demonstration
was made at Teng-chow-fu, 70 m. west of Wei-hai-wei, and on the 19th
the Japanese began their disembarkation at Yung-cheng Bay, about 12 m.
from Wei-hai-wei. The landing was scarcely opposed, and on the 26th
the Japanese advance was begun. The south-eastern defences of
Wei-hai-wei harbour were carried by the 6th division, whilst the 2nd
division reached the inner waters of the bay, driving the Chinese
before them. The fleet under Ito co-operated effectively. On the night
of the 4th-5th of February the Chinese squadron in harbour was
attacked by ten torpedo boats. Two boats were lost, but the
armour-clad "Ting-Yuen" was sunk. On the following night a second
attack was made, and three more vessels were sunk. On the 9th the
"Ching-Yuen" was sunk by the guns in one of the captured forts. On the
12th Admiral Ting wrote to Admiral Ito offering to surrender, and then
took poison, other officers following his example. Wei-hai-wei was
then dismantled by the Japanese, who recovered the remnant of the
Chinese squadron, including the "Chen Yuen," and the 2nd army
concentrated at Port Arthur for the advance on Peking.

While this campaign was in progress the Chinese despatched a second
peace mission, also with defective credentials. The Japanese declined
to treat, and the mission returned to China. In February the Chinese
made further unsuccessful attacks on Hai-cheng. Yamaji near Kai-ping
fought a severe action on the 21st, 22nd and 23rd of February at
Taping-shan against a part of Sung's army under General Ma-yu-kun.
This action was fought with 2 ft. of snow on the ground, the
thermometer registering zero F., and no less than 1500 cases of
frost-bite were reported. It was the intention of General Nozu, after
freeing the Hai-cheng garrison from Ikotenga, to seize Niu-chwang
port. Two divisions converged on An-shan-chan, and the Chinese,
threatened in front and flank, retired to Liao-Yang. Meanwhile two
more attacks on Hai-cheng had been repulsed. The 3rd and 5th divisions
then moved on Niu-chwang, and Yamaji's 1st division at Kai-ping joined
in the advance. The column from An-shan-chan stormed Niu-chwang, which
was obstinately defended, and cost the stormers nearly 400 men. All
three divisions converged on Niu-chwang port (Ying-kow), and the
final engagement took place at Tien-chwang-tai, which was captured on
the 9th of March. The Chinese forces in Manchuria being thoroughly
broken and dispersed, there was nothing to prevent the Japanese from
proceeding to the occupation of Peking, since they could, after the
break-up of the ice, land and supply large forces at Shan-hai-kwan,
within 170 m. of the capital. Two more Japanese divisions were sent
out, with Prince Komatsu as supreme commander. Seven divisions were at
Port Arthur ready to embark, when negotiations were reopened. Li
Hung-Chang proceeded to Shimonoseki, where the treaty was signed on
the 17th of April 1895. An expedition was sent towards the end of
March to the Pescadores, and later the Imperial Guard division was
sent to Formosa.

It is impossible to estimate the Chinese losses in the war. The
Japanese lost 4177 men by death in action or by sickness, and 56,862
were wounded or disabled by sickness, exclusive of the losses in the
Formosa and Pescadores expeditions. Nearly two-thirds of these losses
were incurred by the 1st army in the trying winter campaign in
Manchuria.

The most important works dealing with the war are: Vladimir,
_China-Japan War_ (London, 1896); Jukichi Inouye, _The Japan-China
War_ (Yokohama, &c., 1896); du Boulay, _Epitome of the China-Japanese
War_ (London, 1896), the official publication of the British War
Office; Atteridge, _Wars of the Nineties_, pp. 535-636 (London, 1899);
von Kunowski and Fretzdorff, _Der japanisch-chinesische Krieg_
(Leipzig, 1895); von Müller, _Der Krieg zwischen China und Japan_
(Berlin, 1895); Bujac, _Précis de quelques campagnes contemporaines:
II. La Guerre sino-japonaise_ (Paris and Limoges).

CHINON, a town of western France, capital of an arrondissement in the
department of Indre-et-Loire, on the right bank of the Vienne, 32m. S.W.
of Tours on the State railway. Pop. (1906) 4071. Chinon lies at the foot
of the rocky eminence which is crowned by the ruins of the famous
castle. Its narrow, winding streets contain many houses of the 15th and
16th centuries. The oldest of its churches, St Mexme, is in the
Romanesque style, but only the façade and nave are left. The church of
St Etienne dates from the 15th century, that of St Maurice from the
12th, 15th and 16th centuries. The castle, which has undergone
considerable modern restoration, consists of three portions. That to the
east, the Château de St Georges, built by Henry II. of England, has
almost vanished, only the foundation of the outer wall remaining. The
Château du Milieu (11th to 15th centuries) comprises the keep, the
Pavilion de l'Horloge and the Grand Logis, in the principal apartment of
which the first meeting between Joan of Arc and Charles VII. took place.
Of the Château du Coudray, which is separated by a moat from the Château
du Milieu, the chief remains are the Tour du Moulin (10th century) and
two less ancient towers. A statue of Rabelais, who was born in the
vicinity of the town, stands on the river-quay. Chinon has trade in
wheat, brandy, red wine and plums. Basket and rope manufacture, tanning
and cooperage are among its industries. Chinon (Caïno) existed before
the Roman occupation of Gaul, and was from early times an important
fortress. It was occupied by the Visigoths, and subsequently, after
forming part of the royal domain, came to the counts of Touraine and
from them to the counts of Anjou. Henry II. often resided in the castle,
and died there. The place was taken by Philip Augustus in 1205 after a
year's siege.

CHINOOK, a tribe of North American Indians, dwelling at the mouth of the
Columbia river, Washington. They were fishermen and traders, and used
huge canoes of hollowed cedar trunks. The tribe is practically extinct,
but the name survives in the trade language known as "Chinook jargon."
This has been analysed as composed of two-fifths Chinook, two-fifths
other Indian tongues, and the rest English and Canadian French; but the
proportion of English has tended to increase. The Chinookan linguistic
family includes a number of separate tribes.

The name CHINOOK is also applied to a wind which blows from W. or N.
over the slopes of the Rocky Mountains, where it descends as a dry wind
warm in winter and cool in summer (cf. _Föhn_). It is due to a cyclone
passing northward, and continues from a few hours to several days. It
moderates the climate of the eastern Rockies, the snow melting quickly
on account of its warmth and vanishing on account of its dryness, so
that it is said to "lick up" the snow from the slopes.

See Gill, _Dictionary of Chinook Jargon_ (Portland, Ore., 1891); Boas,
"Chinook Texts," in _Smithsonian Report_, Bureau of Ethnology
(Washington, 1894); J.C. Pilling, "Bibliography of Chinookan
Languages," _Smithsonian Report_, Bureau of Ethnology (Washington,
1893); Horatio Hale, _Manual of Oregon Trade Language_ (London, 1890);
G.C. Shaw, _The Chinook Jargon_ (Seattle, 1909); _Handbook of American
Indians_ (Washington, 1907).

CHINSURA, a town of British India, on the Hugli river, 24 m. above
Calcutta, formerly the principal Dutch settlement in Bengal. The Dutch
erected a factory here in 1656, on a healthy spot of ground, much
preferable to that on which Calcutta is situated. In 1759 a British
force under Colonel Forde was attacked by the garrison of Chinsura on
its march to Chandernagore, but in less than half an hour the Dutch were
entirely routed. In 1795, during the Napoleonic wars, the settlement was
occupied by a British garrison. At the peace of 1814 it was restored to
the Dutch. It was among the cessions in India made by the king of the
Netherlands in 1825 in exchange for the British possessions in Sumatra.
Hugli College is maintained by government; and there are a number of
schools, several of which are carried on by Scottish Presbyterian
missionaries. Chinsura is included in the Hugli municipality.

CHINTZ, a word derived from the Hindu _ch[=i]nt_, spotted or variegated.
This name was given to a kind of stained or painted calico produced in
India. It is now applied to a highly glazed printed calico, commonly
made in several colours on a light ground and used for bed hangings,
covering furniture, &c.

CHIOGGIA, a town and episcopal see of Venetia, Italy, in the province of
Venice, from which it is 18½ m. S. by sea. Pop. (1901) 21,384 (town),
31,218 (commune). It is inhabited mostly by fishermen, and is situated
upon an island at the S. end of the lagoons. It is traversed by one main
canal, La Vena. The peculiar dialect and customs of the inhabitants
still survive to some extent. It is of earlier origin than Venice, and
indeed is probably identical with the Roman Portus Aedro, or Ebro,
though its name is derived from the Roman Fossa Claudia, a canalized
estuary which with the two mouths of the Meduacus (Brenta) went to form
the harbour. In 672 it entered the league of the cities of the lagoons,
and recognized the authority of the doge. In 809 it was almost destroyed
by Pippin, but in 1110 was made a city, remaining subject to Venice,
whose fortunes it thenceforth followed. It was captured after a
determined resistance by the Genoese in 1379, but recovered in 1380.
Chioggia is connected by rail with Rovigo, 35 m. to the south-west.
(T. AS.)

_Naval War of Chioggia (1378-80)._--The naval war of 1378-1380, carried
on by Venice against the Genoese and their allies, the lord of Carrara
and the king of Hungary, is of exceptional interest as one in which a
superior naval power, having suffered disaster in its home waters, and
having been invaded, was yet able to win in the end by holding out till
its squadrons in distant seas could be recalled for its defence.

When the war began in the spring of 1378, Venice was mainly concerned
for the safety of its trading stations in the Levant and the Black
Sea, which were exposed to the attacks of the Genoese. The more
powerful of the two fleets which it sent out was despatched into the
eastern Mediterranean under Carlo Zeno, the bailiff and captain of
Negropont. A smaller force was sent to operate against the Genoese in
the western Mediterranean, and was placed under the command of Vettor
Pisani. The possessions of Venice on the mainland, which were then
small, were assailed by Francesco Carrara and the Hungarians. Her only
ally in the war, Bernabó Visconti of Milan, gave her little help on
this side, but his mercenaries invaded the territory of Genoa. The
danger on land seemed trifling to Venice so long as she could keep the
sea open to her trade and press the war against the Genoese in the
Levant.

During the first stage of the war the plans of the senate were carried
out with general success. While Carlo Zeno harassed the Genoese
stations in the Levant, Vettor Pisani brought one of their squadrons
to action on the 30th of May 1378 off Punta di Anzio to the south of
the Tiber, and defeated it. The battle was fought in a gale by 10
Venetian against 11 Genoese galleys. The Genoese admiral, Luigi de'
Fieschi, was taken with 5 of his galleys, and others were wrecked.
Four of the squadron escaped, and steered for Famagusta in Cyprus,
then held by Genoa. If Pisani had directed his course to Genoa itself,
which was thrown into a panic by the defeat at Anzio, it is possible
that he might have dictated peace, but he thought his squadron too
weak, and preferred to follow the Genoese galleys which had fled to
Famagusta. During the summer of 1378 he was employed partly in
attacking the enemy in Cyprus, but mainly in taking possession of the
Istrian and Dalmatian towns which supported the Hungarians from fear
of the aggressive ambition of Venice. He was ordered to winter on the
coast of Istria, where his crews suffered from exposure and disease.
Genoa, having recovered from the panic caused by the disaster at
Anzio, decided to attack Venice at home while the best of her ships
were absent with Carlo Zeno. She sent a strong fleet into the Adriatic
under Luciano Doria. Pisani had been reinforced early in the spring of
1378, but when he was sighted by the Genoese fleet of 25 sail off Pola
in Istria on the 7th of May, he was slightly outnumbered, and his
crews were still weak. The Venetian admiral would have preferred to
avoid battle, and to check an attack on Venice itself, by threatening
the Genoese fleet from his base on the Istrian coast. He was forced
into battle by the commissioner (_proveditore_) Michael Steno, who as
agent of the senate had authority over the admiral. The Venetians were
defeated with the loss of all their galleys except six. Luciano Doria
fell in the battle, and the Genoese, who had suffered severely, did
not at once follow up their success. On the arrival of his successor,
Pietro Doria, with reinforcements, they appeared off the Lido, the
outer barrier of the lagoon of Venice, in July, and in August they
entered on a combined naval and military attack on the city, in
combination with the Carrarese and the Hungarians. The Venetians had
closed the passages through the outer banks except at the southern
end, at the island of Brondolo, and the town of Chioggia. The barrier
here approaches close to the mainland, and the position facilitated
the co-operation of the Genoese with the Carrarese and Hungarians, but
Chioggia is distant from Venice, which could only be reached along the
canals across the lagoon. The Venetians had taken up the buoys which
marked the fairway, and had placed a light squadron on the lagoon. The
allies, after occupying the island of Brondolo, attacked, and on the
13th of August took the town of Chioggia with its garrison of 3000
men.

There appeared to be nothing to prevent the enemy from advancing to
the city of Venice except the difficult navigation of the lagoon. The
senate applied for peace, but when the Genoese replied that they were
resolved to "bit and bridle the horses of Saint Mark" the Venetians
decided to fight to the end. Vettor Pisani, who had been imprisoned
after the defeat at Pola, but who possessed the confidence of the
people and the affection of the sailors, was released and named
commander-in-chief against the wish of the aristocracy. Under his
guidance the Venetians adopted a singularly bold and ingenious policy
of offensive defence. The heavy Genoese vessels were much hampered by
the shallow water and intricate passages through the lagoon. By taking
advantage of their embarrassment and his own local knowledge, Pisani
carried out a series of movements which entirely turned the tables on
the invaders. Between the 23rd and 25th of August he executed a
succession of night attacks, during which he sank vessels laden with
stores not only in the canals leading through the lagoon to Venice,
but in the fairways leading from Chioggia to the open sea round both
ends of the island of Brondolo. The Genoese were thus shut in at the
very moment when they thought they were about to besiege Venice.
Pisani stationed the galleys under his command in the open sea outside
Brondolo, and during the rest of the year blockaded the enemy closely.
The distress of the Venetians themselves was great, but the Doge
Andrea Contarini and the nobles set an example by sharing the general
hardships, and taking an oath not to return to Venice till they had
recovered Chioggia. Carlo Zeno had long since been ordered to return,
but the slowness and difficulty of communication and movement under
14th century conditions delayed his reappearance. The besiegers of
Chioggia were at the end of their powers of endurance, and Pisani had
been compelled to give a promise that the siege would be raised, when
Zeno's fleet reached the anchorage off Brondolo on the 1st of January
1380. The attack on Chioggia was now pressed with vigour. The Genoese
held out resolutely in the hope of relief from home. But the resources
of Genoa had been taxed to fit out the squadrons she had already sent
to sea. It was not until the 12th of May 1380 that her admiral, Matteo
Maruffo, was able to reach the neighbourhood of Brondolo with a
relieving force. By this time the Venetians had recovered the island,
and their fleet occupied a fortified anchorage from which they refused
to be drawn. Maruffo could do nothing, and on the 24th of June 1380
the defenders of Chioggia surrendered. The crisis of the war was past.
Venice, being now safe at home, recovered the command of the sea, and
before the close of the year was able to make peace as a conqueror.

AUTHORITIES.--S. Romanin, _Storia documentata di Venezia_ (Venice,
1855); W.C. Hazlitt, _History of the Venetian Republic_ (London,
1860); Horatio F. Brown, _Venice_ (London, 1893). (D.H.)

CHIOS, an island on the west coast of Asia Minor, called by the Greeks
Chios ([Greek: Chios, 's tê Chio]) and by the Turks Saki Adasi; the soft
pronunciation of [CHI] before [iota] in modern Greek, approximating to
_sh_, caused [Greek: Chio] to be Italianized as Scio. It forms, with the
islands of Psara, Nikaria, Leros, Calymnus and Cos, a sanjak of the
Archipelago vilayet. Chios is about 30 m. long from N. to S., and from 8
to 15 m. broad; pop. 64,000. It well deserves the epithet "craggy"
([Greek: paipaloessa]) of the Homeric hymn. Its figs were noted in
ancient times, but wine and gum mastic have always been the most
important products. The climate is healthy; oranges, olives and even
palms grow freely. The wine grown on the N.W. coast, in the district
called by Strabo Ariusia, was known as _vinum Arvisium_. Early in the
7th century B.C. Glaucus of Chios discovered the process of welding iron
([Greek: kollêsis]: see J.G. Frazer's _Pausanias_, note on x. 16. 1,
vol. v. pp. 313-314), and the iron stand of a large crater whose parts
were all connected by this process was constructed by him, and preserved
as one of the most interesting relics of antiquity at Delphi. The long
line of Chian sculptors (see GREEK ART) in marble bears witness to the
fame of Chian art. In literature the chief glory of Chios was the school
of epic poets called Homeridae, who helped to create a received text of
Homer and gave the island the reputation of being the poet's birthplace.
The chief town, Chios (pop. 16,000), is on the E. coast. A theatre and a
temple of Athena Poliuchus existed in the ancient city. About 6 m. N. of
the city there is a curious monument of antiquity, commonly called "the
school of Homer"; it is a very ancient sanctuary of Cybele, with an
altar and a figure of the goddess with her two lions, cut out of the
native rock on the summit of a hill. On the west coast there is a
monastery of great wealth with a church founded by Constantine IX.
Monomachus (1042-1054). Starting from the city and encompassing the
island, one passes in succession the promontory Posidium; Cape Phanae,
the southern extremity of Chios, with a harbour and a temple of Apollo;
Notium, probably the south-western point of the island; Laii, opposite
the city of Chios, where the island is narrowest; the town Bolissus (now
Volisso), the home of the Homerid poets; Melaena, the north-western
point; the wine-growing district Ariusia; Cardamyle (now Cardhamili);
the north-eastern promontory was probably named Phlium, and the
mountains that cross the northern part of the island Pelinaeus or
Pellenaeus.

The history of Chios is very obscure. According to Pherecydes, the
original inhabitants were Leleges, while according to other accounts
Thessalian Pelasgi possessed the island before it became an Ionian
state. The name Aethalia, common to Chios and Lemnos in very early
times, suggests the original existence of a homogeneous population in
these and other neighbouring islands. Oenopion, a mythical hero, son
of Dionysus or of Rhadamanthus, was an early king of Chios. His
successor in the fourth generation, Hector, united the island to the
Ionian confederacy (Pausan. vii. 4), though Strabo (xiv. p. 633)
implies an actual conquest by Ionian settlers. The regal government
was at a later time exchanged for an oligarchy or a democracy. The
names of two tyrants, Amphiclus and Polytecnus, are mentioned. The
products of the island were largely exported on the ships of Miletus,
with which city Chios formed a close mercantile alliance in opposition
to the rival league of Phocaea and Samos. Similar commercial
considerations determined the Chians in their attitude towards the
Persian conquerors: in 546 they submitted to Cyrus as eagerly as
Phocaea resisted him; during the Ionian revolt their fleet of 100 sail
joined the Milesians in offering a desperate opposition at Lade (494).
The island was subsequently punished with great rigour by the
Persians. The Chian ships, under the tyrant Strattis, served in the
Persian fleet at Salamis. After its liberation in 479 Chios joined the
Delian League and long remained a firm ally of the Athenians, who
allowed it to retain full autonomy. But in 413 the island revolted,
and was not recaptured. After the Peloponnesian War it took the first
opportunity to renew the Athenian alliance, but in 357 again seceded.
As a member of the Delian League it had regained its prosperity, being
able to equip a fleet of 50 or 60 sail. Moreover, it was reputed one
of the best-governed states in Greece, for although it was governed
alternately by oligarchs and democrats neither party persecuted the
other severely. It was not till late in the 4th century that civil
dissension became a danger to the state, leaving it a prey to Idrieus,
the dynast of Caria (346), and to the Persian admiral Memnon (333).
During the Hellenistic age Chios maintained itself in a virtually
independent position. It supported the Romans in their Eastern wars,
and was made a "free and allied state." Under Roman and Byzantine rule
industry and commerce were undisturbed, its chief export at this time
being the Arvisian wine, which had become very popular. After
temporary occupations by the Seljuk Turks (1089-1092) and by the
Venetians (1124-1125, 1172, 1204-1225), it was given in fief to the
Genoese family of Zaccaria, and in 1346 passed definitely into the
hands of a Genoese _maona_, or trading company, which was organized in
1362 under the name of "the Giustiniani." This mercantile brotherhood,
formerly a privileged class, alone exploited the mastic trade; at the
same time the Greeks were allowed to retain their rights of
self-government and continued to exercise their industries. In 1415
the Genoese became tributary to the Ottomans. In spite of occasional
secessions which brought severe punishment upon the island (1453,
1479), the rule of the Giustiniani was not abolished till 1566. Under
the Ottoman government the prosperity of Chios was hardly affected.
But the island underwent severe periods of suffering after its capture
and reconquest from the Florentines (1595) and the Venetians
(1694-1695), which greatly reduced the number of the Latins. Worst of
all were the massacres of 1822, which followed upon an attack by some
Greek insurgents executed against the will of the natives. In 1881
Chios was visited by a very severe earthquake in which over 5600
persons lost their lives and more than half the villages were
seriously damaged. The island has now recovered its prosperity. There
is a harbour at Castro, and steam flour-mills, foundries and tanneries
have been established. Rich antimony and calamine mines are worked by
a French undertaking, and good marble is quarried by an Italian
company.

AUTHORITIES.--Strabo xiv. pp. 632 f.; Athenaeus vi. 265-266; Herodotus
i. 160-165, vi. 15-31; Thucydides viii. 14-61; _Corpus Inscr.
Atticarum_, iv. (2), pp. 9, 10; H. Houssaye in _Revue des deux
mondes_, xlvi. (1876), pp. 1 ff.; T. Bent in _Historical Review_
(1889), pp. 467-480; Fustel de Coulanges, _L'Île de Chio_ (ed.
Jullian, Paris, 1893); for coinage, B.V. Head, _Historia numorum_
(Oxford, 1887), pp. 513-515, and NUMISMATICS: _Greek_. (E. GR.;
M. O. B. C.)

CHIPPENDALE, THOMAS (d. 1779), the most famous of English cabinetmakers.
The materials for the biography of Chippendale are exceedingly scanty,
but he is known to have been the son of Thomas Chippendale I., and is
believed to have been the father of Thomas Chippendale III. His father
was a cabinet-maker and wood-carver of considerable repute in Worcester
towards the beginning of the 18th century, and possibly he originated
some of the forms which became characteristic of his son's work. Thus a
set of chairs and settees was made, apparently at Worcester, for the
family of Bury of Knateshill, at a period when the great cabinetmaker
could have been no more than a boy, which are practically identical with
much of the work that was being turned out of the family factory as late
as the 'sixties of the 18th century. Side by side with the Queen Anne or
early Georgian feeling of the first quarter of the 18th century we find
the interlaced splats and various other details which marked the
Chippendale style. By 1727 the elder Chippendale and his son had removed
to London, and at the end of 1749 the younger man--his father was
probably then dead--established himself in Conduit Street, Long Acre,
whence in 1753 he removed to No. 60 St Martin's Lane, which with the
addition of the adjoining three houses remained his factory for the rest
of his life. In 1755 his workshops were burned down; in 1760 he was
elected a member of the Society of Arts; in 1766 his partnership with
James Ranni was dissolved by the latter's death.

It has always been exceedingly difficult to distinguish the work
executed in Chippendale's factory and under his own eye from that of the
many copyists and adapters who throughout the second half of the 18th
century--the golden age of English furniture--plundered remorselessly.
Apart from his published designs, many of which were probably never made
up, we have to depend upon the very few instances in which his original
accounts enable us to earmark work which was unquestionably his. For
Claydon House, the seat of the Verneys in Buckinghamshire, he executed
much decorative work, and the best judges are satisfied that the Chinese
bedroom there was designed by him. At Harewood House, the seat of the
earl of Harewood in Yorkshire, we are on firmer ground. The house was
furnished between 1765 and 1771, and both Robert Adam and Chippendale
were employed upon it. Indeed, there is unmistakable evidence to show
that certain work, so closely characteristic of the Adams that it might
have been assigned to them without hesitation, was actually produced by
Chippendale. This may be another of the many indications that
Chippendale was himself an imitator, or it may be that Adam, as
architect, prescribed designs which Chippendale's cabinetmakers and
carvers executed. Chippendale's bills for this Adam work are still
preserved. Stourhead, the famous house of the Hoares in Wiltshire,
contains much undoubted Chippendale furniture, which may, however, be
the work of Thomas Chippendale III.; at Rowton Castle, Shropshire,
Chippendale's bills as well as his works still exist.

Our other main source of information is _The Gentleman and Cabinet
Maker's Director_, which was published by Thomas Chippendale in 1754.
This book, the most important collection of furniture designs issued up
to that time in England, contains one hundred and sixty engraved plates,
and the list of subscribers indicates that the author had acquired a
large and distinguished body of customers. The book is of folio size;
there was a second edition in 1759, and a third in 1762.

In the rather bombastic introduction Chippendale says that he has been
encouraged to produce the book "by persons of distinction and taste, who
have regretted that an art capable of so much perfection and refinement
should be executed with so little propriety and elegance." He has some
severe remarks upon critics, from which we may assume that he had
already suffered at their hands. Perhaps, indeed, Chippendale may have
been hinted at in the caustic remarks of Isaac Ware, surveyor to the
king, who bewailed that it was the misfortune of the world in his day
"to see an unmeaning scrawl of C's inverted and looped together, taking
the place of Greek and Roman elegance even in our most expensive
decorations. It is called French, and let them have the praise of it!
The Gothic shaft and Chinese bell are not beyond nor below it in
poorness of imitation." It is the more likely that these barbs were
intended for Chippendale, since he was guilty not only of many essays in
Gothic, but of a vast amount of work in the Chinese fashion, as well as
in the flamboyant style of Louis XV. The _Director_ contains examples of
each of the manners which aroused the scorn of the king's surveyor.
Chippendale has even shared with Sir William Chambers the obloquy of
introducing the Chinese style, but he appears to have done nothing worse
than "conquer," as Alexandre Dumas used to call it, the ideas of other
people. Nor would it be fair to the man who, whatever his occasional
extravagances and absurdities, was yet a great designer and a great
transmuter, to pretend that all his Chinese designs were contemptible.
Many of them, with their geometrical lattice-work and carved tracery,
are distinctly elegant and effective. Occasionally we find in one piece
of furniture a combination of the three styles which Chippendale most
affected at different periods--Louis XV., Chinese and Gothic--and it
cannot honestly be said that the result is as incongruous as might have
been expected. Some of his most elegant and attractive work is derived
directly from the French, and we cannot doubt that the inspiration of
his famous ribbon-backed chair came directly from some of the more
artistic performances in rococo.

The primary characteristic of his work is solidity, but it is a solidity
which rarely becomes heaviness. Even in his most lightsome efforts, such
as the ribbon-backed chair, construction is always the first
consideration. It is here perhaps that he differs most materially from
his great successor Sheraton, whose ideas of construction were eccentric
in the extreme. It is indeed in the chair that Chippendale is seen at
his best and most characteristic. From his hand, or his pencil, we have
a great variety of chairs, which, although differing extensively in
detail, may be roughly arranged in three or four groups, which it would
sometimes be rash to attempt to date. He introduced the cabriole leg,
which, despite its antiquity, came immediately from Holland; the claw
and ball foot of ancient Oriental use; the straight, square,
uncompromising early Georgian leg; the carved lattice-work Chinese leg;
the pseudo-Chinese leg; the fretwork leg, which was supposed to be in
the best Gothic taste; the inelegant rococo leg with the curled or
hoofed foot; and even occasionally the spade foot, which is supposed to
be characteristic of the somewhat later style of Hepplewhite. His
chair-backs were very various. His efforts in Gothic were sometimes
highly successful; often they took the form of the tracery of a church
window, or even of an ovalled rose window. His Chinese backs were
distinctly geometrical, and from them he would seem to have derived some
of the inspiration for the frets of the glazed book-cases and cabinets
which were among his most agreeable work. The most attractive feature of
Chippendale's most artistic chairs--those which, originally derived from
Louis Quinze models, were deprived of their rococo extravagances--is the
back, which, speaking generally, is the most elegant and pleasing thing
that has ever been done in furniture. He took the old solid or slightly
pierced back, and cut it up into a light openwork design exquisitely
carved--for Chippendale was a carver before everything--in a vast
variety of designs ranging from the elaborate and extremely elegant, if
much criticized, ribbon back, to a comparatively plain but highly
effective splat. His armchairs, however, often had solid or stuffed
backs. Next to his chairs Chippendale was most successful with settees,
which almost invariably took the shape of two or three conjoined chairs,
the arms, backs and legs identical with those which he used for single
seats. He was likewise a prolific designer and maker of book-cases,
cabinets and escritoires with doors glazed with fretwork divisions. Some
of those which he executed in the style which in his day passed for
Gothic are exceedingly handsome and effective. We have, too, from his
hand many cases for long clocks, and a great number of tables, some of
them with a remarkable degree of Gallic grace. He was especially
successful in designing small tables with fretwork galleries for the
display of china. His mirrors, which were often in the Chinese taste or
extravagantly rococo, are remarkable and characteristic. In his day the
cabinetmaker still had opportunities for designing and constructing the
four-post bedstead, and some of Chippendale's most graceful work was
lavished upon the woodwork of the lighter, more refined and less
monumental four-poster, which, thanks in some degree to his initiative,
took the place of the massive Tudor and the funereally hung Jacobean
bed. From an organ case to a washhand-stand, indeed, no piece of
domestic furniture came amiss to this astonishing man, and if sometimes
he was extravagant, grotesque or even puerile, his level of achievement
is on the whole exceedingly high.

Since the revival of interest in his work he has often been criticized
with considerable asperity, but not always justly. Chippendale's work
has stood the supreme test of posterity more completely than that of any
of his rivals or successors; and, unlike many men of genius, we know him
to have been warmly appreciated in his lifetime. He was at once an
artist and a prosperous man of business. His claims to distinction are
summed up in the fact that his name has by general consent been attached
to the most splendid period of English furniture.

Chippendale was buried on the 13th of November 1779, apparently at the
church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, and administration of his intestate
estate was granted to his widow Elizabeth. He left four children, Thomas
Chippendale III., John, Charles and Mary. He was one of the assignees in
bankruptcy of the notorious Theresa Cornelys of Soho Square, of whom we
read in Casanova and other scandalous chronicles of the time. Thomas
Chippendale III. succeeded to the business of his father and
grandfather, and for some years the firm traded under the style of
Chippendale & Haig. The factory remained in St Martin's Lane, but in
1814 an additional shop was opened at No. 57 Haymarket, whence it was in
1821 removed to 42 Jermyn Street. Like his father, Thomas Chippendale
III. was a member of the Society of Arts; and he is known to have
exhibited five pictures at the Royal Academy between 1784 and 1801. He
died at the end of 1822 or the beginning of 1823. (J. P. -B.)

CHIPPENHAM, a market town and municipal borough in the Chippenham
parliamentary division of Wiltshire, England, 94 m. W. of London by the
Great Western railway. Pop. (1901) 5074. Chippenham is governed by a
mayor, 4 aldermen and 12 councillors. Area, 361 acres. It lies in a
hollow on the south side of the Upper Avon, here crossed by a
picturesque stone bridge of 21 arches. St Andrew's church, originally
Norman of the 12th century, has been enlarged in different styles. A
paved causeway running for about 4 m. between Chippenham Cliff and Wick
Hill is named after Maud Heath, said to have been a market-woman, who
built it in the 15th century, and bequeathed an estate for its
maintenance. After the decline of its woollen and silk trades,
Chippenham became celebrated for grain and cheese markets. There are
also manufactures of broadcloth, churns, condensed milk,
railway-signals, guns and carriages; besides bacon-curing works, flour
mills, tanneries and large stone quarries. Bowood, the seat of the
marquess of Lansdowne, is 3-1/2 m. S.E. of Chippenham. Lanhill barrow,
or Hubba's Low, 2-1/2 m. N.W., is an ancient tomb containing a
_kistvaen_ or sepulchral chamber of stone; it is probably British,
though tradition makes it the grave of Hubba, a Danish leader.

Chippenham (_Chepeham, Chippeham_) was the site of a royal residence
where in 853 Æthelwulf celebrated the marriage of his daughter
Æthelswitha with Burhred, king of Mercia. The town also figured
prominently in the Danish invasion of the 9th century, and in 933 was
the meeting-place of the witan. In the Domesday Survey Chippenham
appears as a crown manor and is not assessed in hides. The town was
governed by a bailiff in the reign of Edward I., and returned two
members to parliament from 1295, but it was not incorporated until 1553,
when a charter from Mary established a bailiff and twelve burgesses and
endowed the corporation with certain lands for the maintenance of two
parliamentary burgesses and for the repair of the bridge over the Avon.
In 1684 this charter was surrendered to Charles II., and in 1685 a new
charter was received from James II., which was shortly abandoned in
favour of the original grant. The Representation Act of 1868 reduced the
number of parliamentary representatives to one, and the borough was
disfranchised by the Redistribution Act of 1885. The derivation of
Chippenham from _cyppan_, to buy, implies that the town possessed a
market in Saxon times. When Henry VII. introduced the clothing
manufacture into Wiltshire, Chippenham became an important centre of the
industry, which has lapsed. A prize, however, was awarded to the town
for this commodity at the Great Exhibition of 1851.

CHIPPEWA[1] FALLS, a city and the county-seat of Chippewa county,
Wisconsin, U.S.A., on the Chippewa river, about 100 m. E. of St Paul,
Minnesota, and 12 m. N.E. of Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Pop. (1890) 8670;
(1900) 8094; (1910, census) 8893. It is served by the Minneapolis, St
Paul & Sault Ste Marie, the Chicago & North-Western, and the Chicago,
Milwaukee & St Paul railways, and by the electric line to Eau Claire.
The first settlement on the site was made in 1837; and the city was
chartered in 1870.

FOOTNOTE:

[1] For the Chippewa Indians see OJIBWAY, of which the word is a
popular adaptation.

CHIPPING CAMPDEN, a market town in the northern parliamentary division
of Gloucestershire, England, on the Oxford and Worcester line of the
Great Western railway. Pop. (1901) 1542. It is picturesquely situated
towards the north of the Cotteswold hill-district. The many interesting
ancient houses afford evidence of the former greater importance of the
town. The church of St James is mainly Perpendicular, and contains a
number of brasses of the 15th and 16th centuries and several notable
monumental tombs. A ruined manor house of the 16th century and some
almshouses complete, with the church, a picturesque group of buildings;
and Campden House, also of the 16th century, deserves notice.

Apart from a medieval tradition preserved by Robert de Brunne that it
was the meeting-place of a conference of Saxon kings, the earliest
record of Campden (_Campedene_) is in Domesday Book, when Earl Hugh is
said to hold it, and to have there fifty villeins. The number shows that
a large village was attached to the manor, which in 1173 passed to Hugh
de Gondeville, and about 1204 to Ralph, earl of Chester. The borough
must have grown up during the 12th century, for both these lords granted
the burgesses charters which are known from a confirmation of 1247,
granting that they and all who should come to the market of Campedene
should be quit of toll, and that if any free burgess of Campedene should
come into the lord's amerciament he should be quit for 12d. unless he
should shed blood or do felony. Probably Earl Ralph also granted the
town a portman-mote, for the account of a skirmish in 1273 between the
men of the town and the county mentions a bailiff and implies the
existence of some sort of municipal government. In 1605 Campedene was
incorporated, but it never returned representatives to parliament.
Camden speaks of the town as a market famous for stockings, a relic of
that medieval importance as a mart for wool that had given the town the
name of Chipping.

CHIPPING NORTON, a market town and municipal borough in the Banbury
parliamentary division of Oxfordshire, England, 26 m. N.W. of Oxford by
a branch of the Great Western railway. Pop. (1901) 3780. It lies on the
steep flank of a hill, and consists mainly of one very wide street. The
church of St Mary the Virgin, standing on the lower part of the slope,
is a fine building of the Decorated and Perpendicular periods, the
hexagonal porch and the clerestory being good examples of the later
style. The town has woollen and glove factories, breweries and an
agricultural trade. It is governed by a mayor, 4 aldermen and 12
councillors. Area, 2456 acres. Chipping Norton (_Chepyngnorton_) was
probably of some importance in Saxon times. At the Domesday Survey it
was held in chief by Ernulf de Hesding; it was assessed at fifteen
hides, and comprised three mills. It returned two members to parliament
as a borough in 1302 and 1304-1305, but was not represented after this
date, and was not considered to be a borough in 1316. The first and only
charter of incorporation was granted by James I., in 1608; it
established a common council consisting of 2 bailiffs and 12 burgesses;
a common clerk, 2 justices of the peace, and 2 serjeants-at-mace; and a
court of record every Monday. In 1205 William Fitz-Alan was granted a
four days' fair at the feast of the Invention of the Cross; and in 1276
Roger, earl of March, was granted a four days' fair at the feast of St
Barnabas. In the reign of Henry VI. the market was held on Wednesday,
and a fair was held at the Translation of St Thomas Becket. These
continued to be held in the reign of James I., who annulled the former
two fairs, and granted fairs at the feasts of St Mark, St Matthew, St
Bartholomew, and SS. Simon and Jude.

CHIQUITOS (Span, "very small"), a group of tribes in the province of
Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, and between the head waters of the
rivers Mamoré and Itenez. When their country was first invaded they fled
into the forests, and the Spaniards, coming upon their huts, the
doorways of which are built excessively low, supposed them to be dwarfs:
hence the name. They are in fact well formed and powerful, of middle
height and of an olive complexion. They are an agricultural people, but
made a gallant resistance to the Spaniards for nearly two centuries. In
1691, however, they made the Jesuit missionaries welcome, and rapidly
became civilized. The Chiquito language was adopted as the means of
communication among the converts, who soon numbered 50,000, representing
nearly fifty tribes. Upon the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767 the
Chiquitos became decadent, and now number short of 20,000. Their houses,
regularly ranged in streets, are built of adobes thatched with coarse
grass. They manufacture copper boilers for making sugar and understand
several trades, weave ponchos and hammocks and make straw hats. They are
fond of singing and dancing, and are a gentle-mannered and hospitable
folk. The group is now divided into forty tribes.

CHIROMANCY (from Gr. [Greek: cheir], hand, and [Greek: manteia],
divination), the art of telling the character or fortune of persons by
studying the lines of the palms of the hands (see PALMISTRY).

CHIRON, or CHEIRON, in Greek mythology, one of the Centaurs, the son of
Cronus and Philyra, a sea nymph. He dwelt at the foot of Mount Pelion,
and was famous for his wisdom and knowledge of the healing art. He
offers a remarkable contrast to the other Centaurs in manners and
character. Many of the most celebrated heroes of Greece were brought up
and instructed by him (Apollodorus iii. 10. 13). Accidentally pierced by
a poisoned arrow shot by Heracles, he renounced his immortality in
favour of Prometheus, and was placed by Zeus among the stars as the
constellation _Sagittarius_ (Apollodorus ii. 5; Ovid, _Fasti_, v. 414).
In a Pompeian wall-painting he is shown teaching Achilles to play the
lyre.

See articles in Pauly-Wissowa's _Realencyclopädie_ and W.H. Roscher's
_Lexikon der Mythologie_; W. Mannhardt, _Wald- und Feldkulte_ (1904).

CHIROPODIST (an invented word from Gr. [Greek: cheir], hand, and [Greek:
pous], foot), properly one who treats the ailments of the hands and
feet, or is consulted as to keeping them in good condition; the use of
the word is now restricted, however, to the care of the toes,
"manicurist" having been invented for the corresponding attentions to
the fingers. The word was first introduced in 1785, by a "corncutter" in
Davies Street, London.

CHIROPTERA (Greek for "hand-wings"), an order of mammals containing the
bats, all of which are unique in the class in possessing the power of
true flight, and have their fore-limbs specially modified for this
purpose.

[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Skeleton and Wing-Membranes of the Noctule Bat
(_Pipistrellus noctula_).

c, Clavicle.
h, Humerus.
r, Radius.
u, Ulna.
d1, First digit.
d2, d3, d4, d5, Other digits of the fore-limb
supporting wm, the wing-membrane.
m, m, Metacarpal bones.
ph1, First phalanx.
ph2, Second phalanx.
ph3, Third phalanx.
am, Antebrachial membrane.
f, Femur.
t, Tibia.
fb, Fibula.
c, Calcar supporting im, the interfemoral membrane.
pcb, Post-calcaneal lobe.]

The mammals comprised in this order are at once distinguished by the
possession of true wings; this peculiarity being accompanied by other
modifications of bodily structure having relation to aerial locomotion.
Thus, in direct contrast to all other mammals, in which locomotion is
chiefly effected by action from behind, and the hind-limbs consequently
greatly preponderate in size over the fore, in the Chiroptera the
fore-limbs, being the agents in propelling the body forward during
flight, immensely exceed the short and weak hinder extremities. The
thorax, giving origin to the great muscles which sustain flight, and
containing the proportionately large lungs and heart, is remarkably
capacious; and the ribs are flattened and close together; while the
shoulder-girdle is greatly developed in comparison with the weak pelvis.
The fore-arm (fig. 1) consists of a rudimentary ulna, a long curved
radius, and a carpus of six bones supporting a thumb and four elongated
fingers, between which, the sides of the body, and the hinder
extremities a thin expansion of skin, the wing-membrane, is spread. The
knee is directed backwards, owing to the rotation of the hind-limb,
outwards by the wing-membrane; an elongated cartilaginous process (the
calcar), rarely rudimentary or absent, arising from the inner side of
the ankle-joint, is directed inwards, and supports part of the posterior
margin of an accessory membrane of flight, extending from the tail or
posterior extremity of the body to the hind-limbs, and known as the
interfemoral membrane. The penis is pendent; the testes are abdominal
or inguinal; the teats, usually two in number, thoracic; the uterus is
simple or with more or less long cornua; the placenta discoidal and
deciduate; and the smooth cerebral hemispheres do not extend backwards
over the cerebellum. The teeth comprise incisors, canines, premolars and
molars; and the dental formula never exceeds i. 2/3, c. 1/1, p. 3/8, m.
3/3; total 38. Despite the forward position of the teats, which is
merely an adaptive feature, bats are evidently mammals of low
organization, and are most nearly related to the Insectivora.

In consequence of the backward direction of the knee, a bat, when placed
on the ground, rests on all fours, having the knees directed upwards,
while the foot is rotated forwards and inwards on the ankle. Walking is
thus a kind of shuffle; but, notwithstanding a general belief, bats can
take wing from the walking posture.

The bones of the skeleton are characterized by their slenderness and the
great size of the medullary canals in those of the extremities. The
vertebral column is short, and the vertebrae differ but slightly in
number and form throughout the group. The general number of dorso-lumbar
vertebrae is 17, whereof 12 are dorsal; the cervical vertebrae are
broad, but short. Except in fruit-bats (_Pteropodidae_), the vertebrae,
from the third cervical backwards, are devoid of spinous processes. From
the first dorsal to the last lumbar the vertebral column forms a single
curve, most pronounced in the lumbar region. The bodies of the vertebrae
are but slightly movable on each other, and in old individuals become
partially welded. The caudal vertebrae are cylindrical bones without
processes; their number and length varying in allied species. The
development of these vertebrae is correlated with habits, the long tail
in the insectivorous species supporting and controlling the position of
the interfemoral membrane which aids bats in their doubling motions when
in pursuit of insects by acting as a rudder, and assists them in the
capture of the larger insects. In the fruit-bats this is not required,
and the tail is rudimentary or absent. In all bats the presternum has a
prominent keel for the attachment of the great pectoral muscles.

The shape of the skull varies greatly; but post-orbital processes are
developed only in some _Pteropodidae_ and a few _Nycteridae_ and
_Emballonuridae_; in _Pteropus leucopterus_ alone does a process from
the zygomatic arch meet the post-orbital so as to complete the orbital
ring. Zygomatic arches, though slender, are present in all except in
some of the species of _Phyllostomatidae_.

The milk-teeth differ from those of all other mammals in that they are
unlike those of the permanent series. They are slender, with pointed
recurved cusps, and are soon shed, but exist for a short time with the
permanent teeth. In the _Rhinolophidae_ the milk-teeth are absorbed
before birth. The permanent teeth exhibit great variety, sometimes even
in the same family, as in _Phyllostomatidae_, whilst in other families,
as _Rhinolophidae_, the resemblance between the dentition of species
differing in many respects is remarkable. In all they are provided with
well-developed roots, and their crowns are acutely tuberculate, with
more or less well-defined W-shaped cusps, in the insectivorous species,
or variously hollowed out or longitudinally grooved in the frugivorous
kinds.

The shoulder-girdle varies but slightly, the clavicle being long, strong
and curved; and the scapula large, oval and triangular, with a long
curved coracoid process. The humerus, though long, is scarcely
two-thirds the length of the radius; and the rudimentary ulna is welded
with the radius. A sesamoid bone exists in the tendon of the triceps
muscle. The upper row of the carpus consists of the united scaphoid,
lunar and cuneiform bones.

The "hand" has five digits, the first, fourth and fifth of which consist
each of a metacarpal and two phalanges; but in the second and third the
number of phalanges is different in certain families. The first digit
terminates in a claw, most developed in the frugivorous species, in most
of which the second digit is also clawed, although in other bats this
and the remaining digits are unarmed.

In the weak pelvis the ilia are long and narrow, while in most species
the pubes of opposite sides are loosely united in front in males, and
widely separated in females; in the _Rhinolophidae_ alone they form a
symphysis. Only in the _Molossinae_ is there a well-developed fibula; in
the rest this bone is either very slender or cartilaginous and
ligamentous in its upper third, or reduced to a small bony process
above the heel, or absent. The foot consists of a short tarsus, and of
slender, laterally compressed toes, with much-curved claws.

Although the brain is of a low type, probably no animals possess so
delicate a sense of touch as Chiroptera. In ordinary bats tactile organs
exist, not only in the bristles on the sides of the muzzle, but in the
sensitive structures forming the wing-membranes and ears, while in many
species leaf-like expansions surrounding the nasal apertures or
extending backwards behind them are added. These nose-leaves are made up
partly of the extended and thickened integument of the nostrils, and
partly of the glandular eminences occupying the sides of the muzzle, in
which in other bats the sensitive bristles are implanted.

In no mammals are the ears so developed or so variable in form; in most
insectivorous species they are longer than the head, while in the
long-eared bat their length nearly equals that of the head and body. The
form is characteristic in each of the families; in most the "earlet," or
tragus, is large, in some cases extending nearly to the outer margin of
the conch; its office appears to be to intensify and prolong the waves
of sound by producing undulations in them. In the _Rhinolophidae_, the
only family of insectivorous bats wanting the tragus, the auditory
bullae reach their greatest size, and the nasal appendages their highest
development. In frugivorous bats the ear is simple and but slightly
variable. In all bats the ears are extremely mobile, each independently
at will.

The oesophagus is narrow, especially in blood-sucking vampires. The
stomach presents two types of structure, corresponding respectively to
the two divisions of the order, Megachiroptera and Microchiroptera; in
the former the pyloric extremity is, with one exception, elongated and
folded upon itself, in the latter simple; an exceptional type is met
with in the blood-suckers, where the cardiac extremity is elongated,
forming a long appendage. The intestine is comparatively short, varying
from one and a half to four times the length of the head and body;
longest in the frugivorous, shortest in the insectivorous species. In
_Rhinopoma_ and _Megaderma_ a small caecum has been found. The liver is
characterized by the great size of the left lateral lobe, which
occasionally equals half that of the whole organ; the right and left
lateral fissures are usually very deep; in Megachiroptera the spigelian
lobe is, with one exception, ill defined or absent, and the caudate is
generally large; but in Microchiroptera the former lobe is large, while
the caudate is small. The gall-bladder is generally well developed.

In most species the hyoids are simple, consisting of a chain of slender,
long, cylindrical bones connecting the basi-hyoid with the skull, while
the pharynx is short, and the larynx shallow with feebly developed vocal
cords, and guarded by a short pointed epiglottis. In the African
epauletted bats, _Epomophorus_, the pharynx is long and capacious, the
aperture of the larynx far removed from the fauces, and, opposite to it,
opens a canal, leading from the nasal chambers, and extending along the
back of the pharynx; the laryngeal cavity is spacious and its walls are
ossified; the hyoids are unconnected, except by muscle with the skull;
while the cerato-hyals and epi-hyals are cartilaginous and expanded,
entering into the formation of the walls of the pharynx, and (in males
of some species) supporting the orifices of a pair of air-sacs
communicating with the pharynx (fig. 2).

The extent and shape of the wings generally depend on the form of the
bones of the fore-limbs, and on the presence or absence of the tail. The
wings consist of an "antebrachial membrane," which extends from the
point of the shoulder along the humerus and more or less of the fore-arm
to the base of the thumb, the metacarpal bone of which is partially or
wholly included in it; the "wing-membrane" spread out between the
elongated fingers, and extending along the sides of the body to the
posterior extremities, generally reaching to the feet; and the
"interfemoral membrane," the most variable of all, which is supported
between the extremity of the body, the legs and the calcar (fig. 1). The
antebrachial and wing membranes are most developed in species fitted
only for aerial locomotion which when at rest hang with the body
enveloped in the wings; but in the _Emballonuridae_, and also in the
_Molossinae_, which are the best fitted for terrestrial progression, the
antebrachial membrane is reduced to a small size, and not developed
along the fore-arm, leaving the thumb quite free, while the
wing-membrane is narrow and folded in repose under the forearm. The
relative development of the interfemoral membrane has been referred to
in connexion with the caudal vertebrae. Its small size in the
frugivorous and blood-sucking species, which do not require it, is
easily understood. Scent-glands and pouches opening on the surface of
the skin are developed in many species, but in most cases more so in
males than in females (fig. 3). As rule, bats produce only a single
offspring at a birth, which for some time is carried about by the female
parent clinging to the fur of her breast; but certain North American
bats commonly give birth to three or four young ones at a time, which
are carried about in the same manner.

[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Head and Neck of _Epomophorus franqueti_ (adult
male). From Dobson. The anterior (_a.ph.s_) and posterior (_p.ph.s_)
pharyngeal sacs are opened from without, the dotted lines indicating the
points where they communicate with the pharynx; _s_, thin membranous
partition in middle line between the anterior pharyngeal sacs of
opposite sides; _s.m_, sterno-mastoid muscle separating the anterior
from the posterior sac.]

[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Frontal Sac and Nose-Leaf in Male and Female
Masked Bat (_Phyllorhina larvata_). From Dobson.]

Bats are divisible into two suborders, Megachiroptera and
Microchiroptera.

_Megachiroptera_.

Fruit-eating bats.

The first of these comprises the fruit-eating species, which are
generally of large size, with the crowns of the cheek-teeth smooth and
marked with a longitudinal groove. The bony palate is continued behind
the last molar, narrowing slowly backwards; there are three phalanges
in the index finger, the third phalange being terminated generally by
a claw; the sides of the ear form a ring at the base; the tail, when
present, is inferior to (not contained in) the interfemoral membrane;
the pyloric extremity of the stomach is generally much elongated; and
the spigelian lobe of the liver is ill-defined or absent, while the
caudate is well developed. This group is limited to the tropical and
sub-tropical parts of the Eastern Hemisphere.

All the members of this suborder are included in the single family
_Pteropodidae_, the first representatives of which are the African
epauletted bats, forming the genus _Epomophorus_. In this the dental
formula is _i._ 2/2 (or ½), _c._ 1/1, _p._ 2/3, _m._ ½. Tail short or
absent, when present free from the interfemoral membrane; second
finger with a claw; premaxillae united in front. The species are
strictly limited to Africa south of the Sahara, and are distinguished
by the large and long head, expansible and often folded lips, and the
white tufts of hair on the margins of the ears. The males are provided
with glandular pouches, situated in the skin of the side of the neck
near the point of the shoulder, which are rudimentary or absent in
females. In the males they are lined with glandular membrane, from
which long coarse yellowish hairs project to form conspicuous
epaulet-like tufts on the shoulders. The males often have a pair of
air-sacs extending outwards on each side from the pharynx beneath the
integument of the neck, in the position shown in fig. 2. These bats
appear to live principally on figs, the juicy contents of which their
voluminous lips and capacious mouths enable them to swallow without
loss. The huge and ugly West African hammer-headed bat, _Hypsignathus
monstrosus_, represents an allied genus distinguished by the absence
of shoulder-pouches, and the presence of leaf-like expansions of skin
on the front of the muzzle, and of distinct cusps on the outer sides
of the cheek-teeth. The great majority of the bats of this group,
commonly known as "flying-foxes," are included in the typical genus
_Pteropus_, of which the dental formula is _i._ 2/2, _c._ 1/1, _p._
3/3, _m._ 2/3. All are of large size, and the absence of a tail, the
long pointed muzzle, and the woolly fur covering the neck render their
recognition easy. One of the species, _P. edulis_, inhabiting Java,
measures 5 ft. across the fully extended wings, and is the largest
member of the order.

[Illustration: FIG. 4.--Head of a Flying-Fox or Fruit-Bat (_Pteropus
personatus_). From Gray.]

The range of the genus extends from Madagascar through the Seychelles
to India, Ceylon, Burma, the Malay Archipelago, Japan, New Guinea,
Australia and Polynesia. Although two species inhabit the Comoro
Islands, scarcely 200 m. from the mainland, not one is found in
Africa; while the common Indian species is closely allied to the
Madagascar flying-fox. The Malay Archipelago and Australia form the
headquarters of these bats, which in some places occur in countless
multitudes. The colonies exhale a strong musky odour, and when awake
the occupants utter a loud incessant chatter. Wallace's fruit-bat of
Celebes and Macassar has been made the type of a separate genus, as
_Styloctenium wallacei_. In _Roussettus_ (or _Cynonycteris_) the
dentition is as in _Pteropus_, but the tail is short, and the fur of
the nape of the neck not different from that of the back: its
distribution accords with that of _Pteropus_, except that it includes
Africa and does not reach farther east than New Ireland. _R.
aegyptiacus_ inhabits the chambers of the Great Pyramid and other
deserted buildings in Egypt, and is probably the species figured in
Egyptian frescoes. _Boneia_, with two species, from Celebes, differs
in having only two upper incisors. _Harpyionycteris_ and
_Scotonycteris_, respectively from the Philippines and West Africa,
are represented by a single species each; but of _Cynopterus_, which
is mainly confined to the Indo-Malay countries, there are some
half-score different kinds. The dentition is _i._ 2/[2 or 1], _c._
1/1, _p._ 3/3, _m._ 3/3, the muzzle is shorter than in _Roussettus_,
with the upper lip grooved in front as in _Pteropus_, while the tail
and fur resemble those of the former genus. These bats are extremely
voracious, a specimen of the Indian _C. marginatus_ having eaten a
banana twice its own weight in three hours. Among several Austro-Malay
genera, such as _Ptenochirus_ and _Balionycteris_, the tube-nosed bats
of the genus _Gelasinus_ (or _Harpyia_) are remarkable for the
conformation of the nostrils (fig. 5). _Cephalotes_, with one species,
ranging from Celebes to the Solomon group, has the dentition _i._ 1/1,
_c._ 1/1, _p._ 2/3, _m._ 2/3, premaxillae not united in front,
nostrils simple, muzzle short, index finger without a claw, tail
short. As in _Gelasinus_, the wing-membrane arises from the middle
line of the back, to which it is attached by a longitudinal thin
process of skin; the wings are naked, but the back covered with hair.
_Leipenyx_ is an allied West African genus with one species.

[Illustration: FIG. 5.--Head of Papuan Tube-Nosed Bat (_Gelasinus
major_). From G.E. Dobson.]

The foregoing belong to the typical subfamily _Pteropodinae_, while
the remainder represent a second group, _Carponycterinae_ (or
_Macroglossinae_), characterized by having the facial part of the
skull produced, the molar teeth narrow, and scarcely raised above the
gum, and the tongue exceedingly long, attenuated in the anterior
third, and armed with long recurved papillae near the tip. The single
representative of the first genus, _Notopteris macdonaldi_, inhabiting
Fiji, New Guinea and the New Hebrides, is distinguished from other
bats of this family by the length of its tail, which is nearly as long
as the forearm. The dentition is _i._ 2/1, _c._ 1/1, _p._ 2/3, _m._
2/2, while the index finger has no claw, and the wings arise from the
spine. _Eonycteris_, with the dentition _i._ 2/2, _c._ 1/1, _p._ 3/3,
_m._ 2/3, is also represented by a single species, _E. spelaea_, from
Tenasserim, Burma, and the Malay Peninsula and Islands, which has
somewhat the appearance of a _Roussettus_, but the absence of a claw
in the index finger and the presence of the characteristic tongue and
teeth at once distinguish it. _Carponycteris_ (_Macroglossus_) and
_Melonycteris_, the former with several and the latter with a single
species, are closely allied Indo-Malay and Papuan genera, the index
finger in both having a claw, but the number of the teeth being the
same as in _Eonycteris_. _C. minimus_ is the smallest known species of
the suborder, much smaller than the serotine bat of Europe, with the
fore-arm scarcely longer than that of the long-eared bat. It is nearly
as common in certain parts of Burma as _Cynopterus marginatus_, and
extends eastwards through the Malay Archipelago as far as New Ireland,
where it is associated with _Melonycteris melanops_, distinguished by
its larger size and the total absence of the tail. An allied small
_Carpopycteris_ inhabits India. _Trygenycteris_ (_Megaloglossus_)
_woermanni_, of West Africa, is the only member of the group occurring
west of the Himalaya. _Callinycteris_ of Celebes, with the dentition
_i._ 2/2, _c._ 1/1, _p._ 2/2, _m._ 3/3, has a short tail and no
index-claws, while _Nesonycteris_ of the Solomons, with the dentition
_i._ 2/1, _c._ 1/1, _p._ 3/3, _m._ 3/3, differs by the absence of the
tail.

_Microchiroptera._

Insect-eating bats.

The second and larger suborder, the Microchiroptera, includes all the
insectivorous species, the majority of which are of relatively small
size as compared with the Megachiroptera. In these bats, with a few
specialized exceptions, the crowns of the cheek-teeth are surmounted
by sharp cusps, divided by transverse grooves. In the skull the bony
palate narrows abruptly and is not continued backwards laterally
behind the last molar; there is one rudimentary phalange (rarely two
or none) in the index finger, which is never terminated by a claw; the
outer and inner sides of the ear commence interiorly from separate
points of origin; the tail, when present, is contained in the
interfemoral membrane, or appears on its upper surface; the stomach,
except in the blood-sucking group, is simple; and the spigelian lobe
of the liver large, and the caudate generally small.

The bats included in this suborder are so numerous in genera (to say
nothing of species) that only some of the more important types can be
mentioned.

Brief references have already been made to the manner in which in many
or most of these bats the tail aids in the capture of prey. From the
observations of C. Oldham, it appears that these bats, when walking,
carry the tail downwards and forwards, so that the membrane connecting
this organ with the hind-legs forms a kind of pouch or bag. If a large
insect be encountered the bat seizes it with a snatch, and slightly
spreading its folded wings and pressing them on the ground in order to
steady itself, brings its feet forwards so as to increase the capacity
of the tail-pouch, into which, by bending its neck and thrusting its
head beneath the body, it pushes the insect. Although the latter,
especially if large, will often struggle violently, when once in the
pouch it but rarely escapes, from which it is subsequently extracted
and devoured. It is assumed that the same method of capture is
employed when on the wing; and a naturalist who has observed the
long-eared bat picking moths off willows states that the bat always
hovers when taking off the moth, and bends up the tail so as to form a
receptacle for the insect as it drops.

In the _Rhinolophidae_, Horse-shoe and Leaf-nosed bats of the Old
World, the nose-leaf is developed and surrounds the nasal apertures,
which are situated in a depression on the upper surface of the muzzle
so as to look upwards; the ears are large and generally separate,
without trace of a tragus or earlet; the premaxillae are rudimentary,
suspended from the nasal cartilages, and support a single pair of
small incisors; the molars have acute W-shaped cusps; the skull is
large, and the nasal bones which support the nose-leaf much expanded
vertically and laterally. In females a pair of teat-like appendages
are found in front of the pubis; and the long tail extends to the
margin of the interfemoral membrane. The middle finger has two
phalanges, but the index is rudimentary. The fibula is rudimentary.

[Illustration: FIG. 6.--Head of Mitred Horseshoe Bat (_Rhinolophus
mitratus_). From Dobson.]

The _Rhinolophidae_ are the most highly organized of insectivorous
bats, in which the osseous and cutaneous systems reach the fullest
development. Compared with theirs, the bones of the extremities and
the wings of other bats appear coarsely formed, and their teeth seem
less perfectly fitted to crush the hard bodies of insects. The
complicated nasal appendages reach their highest development, and the
differences in their form afford characters in the discrimination of
the species, which resemble one another closely in dentition and the
colour of the fur.

In the first subfamily, _Rhinolophinae_, the first toe has two, and
the other toes three phalanges each; and the ilio-pectineal spine is
not connected by bone with the antero-inferior surface of the ilium.
In the horseshoe bats, _Rhinolophus_, the dentition is i. 1/2, c. 1/1,
p. 2/3, m. 3/8, the nose-leaf has a central process behind and between
the nasal orifices, with the posterior extremity lanceolate, and the
antitragus large. Among the numerous forms _R. luctus_ is the largest,
and inhabits elevated hill-tracts in India and Malaysia; _R.
hipposiderus_ of Europe, extending into south England and Ireland, is
one of the smallest; and _R. ferrum-equinum_ represents the average
size of the species, which are mainly distinguished from one another
by the form of the nose-leaf. The last-named species extends from
England to Japan, and southward to the Cape of Good Hope, but is
represented by a number of local races. When sleeping, the horseshoe
bats, at least in some instances, suspend themselves head downwards,
with the wings wrapped round the body after the manner of fruit bats.
The posture of ordinary bats is quite different, and while the lesser
horseshoe (_R. hipposiderus_) alights from the air in an inverted
position, other bats, on first coming to rest, do so with the head
upwards, and then reverse their position.

[Illustration: FIG. 7.--Head of Squirrel Leaf-Bat (_Phyllorhina
calcarata_). From Dobson.]

[Illustration: FIG. 8.--Head of Persian Leaf-Bat. (_Triaenops
persicus_). From Dobson.]

In the second subfamily, _Hippo-siderinae_ (formerly called
_Phyllorhinae_), the toes are equal and include two phalanges each,
while the ilio-pectineal spine is united by a bony isthmus with a
process derived from the antero-inferior surface of the ilium.
_Hipposiderus, Clöeotis, Rhinonycteris, Triaenops, Anthops_ and
_Coelops_ represent this subfamily. _Hipposiderus_ (_Phyllorhina_),
with many species, ranging over Asia, Africa and Australasia, and the
dental formula i. 1/2, c. 1/1, p. 2/2, or 1/2, m. 3/3, differs from
_Rhinolophus_ in the form of the nose-leaf, which is not lanceolate
behind (fig. 6), and is unprovided with a central process covering the
nostrils; the largest species, _H. armiger_, appears to be the most
northerly, having been taken at Amoy in China, and in the Himalaya at
an elevation of 5500 ft. Many are provided with a frontal sac behind
the nose-leaf, rudimentary in females (see fig. 7), which can be
everted at pleasure; the sides of this sac secrete a waxy substance,
and its extremity supports a tuft of straight hairs. _Rhinonycteris_,
represented by _R. aurantia_ from Australia, and _Triaenops_. by _T.
persicus_ from Persia and other species from Africa and Madagascar,
are closely allied genera. _Triaenops_ (fig. 8) is characterized by
the remarkable form of its nasal appendages and ears, and the presence
of a bony projection from the upper extremity of the second phalange
of the fourth finger. _Coelops_ (_C. Frithi_), from the Bengal
Sanderbans, Java and Siam is distinguished by the peculiar form of its
nose-leaf and the length of the metacarpal bone of the index finger,
as well as by the shortness of the calcar and interfemoral membrane.
_Clöeotis_ is represented by a single East African species, and
_Anthops_ by one from the Solomon Islands characterized by the
nose-leaf covering the whole front of the face.

False vampires.

The next family, _Nycteridae_, which is also Old World, is a small
one, nearly allied to the last, in which it is included by Prof. Max
Weber as a subfamily under the name of _Myadermatinae_. It differs by
the presence of a small tragus in the ears, which are united at their
bases; and by the nasal chamber not being inflated. The premaxillae
are either small and separated in front, or rudimentary; and the first
phalange of the middle finger when in repose is laid back on the
metacarpus. There are only pectoral teats.

Of the two genera, _Megaderma_, as represented by the five species of
false vampires, is distinguished by the absence of ossified
premaxillae and upper incisors (i. 0/2, p. (2 or 1)/2), the
cylindrical narrow muzzle surmounted by an erect nose-leaf the base of
which conceals the nasal orifices, the immense joined ears with large
bifid tragus, and the great extent of the interfemoral membrane, in
the base of which the short tail is concealed. _M. gigas_ (fig. 9),
from central Queensland, is the largest species of the genus, and of
the suborder. _M. lyra_, common in India (fore-arm 2.7 in.), has been
caught in the act of sucking the blood, while flying, from a small bat
which it afterwards devoured. The range of the genus includes Africa,
the Indo-Malay countries and Australasia. _Nycteris_, which is common
to Africa and the Malay Peninsula and Islands, has ossified
premaxillae and upper incisors (_i._ 2/3, _p._ 1/2), and a long tail;
but lacks a nose-leaf. As in _Megaderma_, the frontal bones are deeply
hollowed and expanded laterally, the muzzle presents a similar
cylindrical form, and the lower jaw also projects; but, instead of a
nose-leaf, the face is marked by a deep longitudinal sharp-edged
groove extending from the nostrils to the band connecting the base of
the large ears; the sides of this depression being margined as far
back as the eyes by small horizontal cutaneous appendages. With the
exception of _N. javanica_, the species are limited to Africa.

[Illustration: FIG. 9.--The False Vampire (_Megaderma gigas_). From
Dobson.]

Vampires.

According to the classification followed by Dr G.E. Dobson, the
extensive family of New World bats known as _Phyllostomatidae_ was
widely sundered from the two preceding groups; but in Prof. Max
Weber's system they are placed next one another--an arrangement which
has the great advantage of bringing together all the bats furnished
with nose-leaves. It is indeed probable that the vampires, as the
members of the present family may be collectively termed, are the New
World representatives of the Old World _Rhinolophidae_ and
_Nycteridae_.

The _Phyllostomatidae_ are characterized by the presence of a
nose-leaf, or of lappets on the chin, but the nostrils are not
directed upwards. The ethmoturbinal bones of the nasal cavity form
simple plates (much as in the two preceding families). The premaxillae
are always well developed, with their palatal portions forming a
suture and denning the boundaries of distinct palatine foramina (in
place of being rudimentary, as in _Nycteridae_ and _Rhinolophidae_).
The large ears have a tragus. The middle finger has three phalanges,
and the index one. There is an incomplete fibula. The tail may be
either long or short. Generally the dentition is _i._ 2/2, _c._ 1/1,
_p._ 2/3, _m._ 3/3.

[Illustration: FIG. 10.--Head of Blainville's Vampire (_Mormops
blainvillei_). From Dobson.]

All the bats of this family may be readily recognized by the presence
of a well-developed third phalange in the middle finger, associated
either with a distinct nose-leaf, or with central upper incisors, or
with both. Unlike the _Rhinolophidae_, their eyes are generally large
and the tragus is well developed, maintaining almost the same form
throughout the species, however much the other parts of the body may
vary. Their fur is of a dull colour, and the face and back are often
marked with white streaks. A few species, probably all those with the
tail and interfemoral membrane well developed, feed principally on
insects, while the greater number of the species of the groups
_Vampyreae_ and _Glossophageae_ appear to live on a mixed diet of
insects and fruits, and the _Desmodonteae_, of which two species are
known, are true blood-suckers, and have their teeth and intestinal
tract specially modified in accordance with their habits. The group is
practically limited to the tropical and subtropical parts of Central
and South America, although one species of _Otopterus_ reaches
California. In the first subfamily, _Mormopsinae_ (_Lobostominae_),
the nostrils open by simple apertures at the extremity of the muzzle
in front, not margined by a distinct nose-leaf; while, in
compensation, the chin is furnished with expanded leaf-like
appendages. The tail is short. It includes two genera. In
_Chilonycteris_ the crown of the head is moderately elevated above the
face-line, and the basi-cranial axis is almost in the same plane as
the facial, while in _Mormops_ (fig. 10) the crown of the head is
greatly elevated above the face-line, and the basi-cranial axis is
nearly at right angles to the facial; _i._ 2/2, _p._ 2/3, in both
genera. As regards the species of _Chilonycteris_, the most striking
feature is the occurrence of a rufous and a dark brown phase in each.
In some the two phases are very marked, but in others they are
connected by intermediate shades. Here may be mentioned the two
species of tropical American hare-lipped bats, forming the genus
_Noctilio_, which presents characters common to this and the following
family, to which latter it is often referred. The typical _N.
leporinus_ is a bat of curious aspect, with strangely folded lips,
erect skin-processes on the chin, and enormous feet and claws. The two
middle incisors are close together, and so large as to conceal the
small outer ones, while in the lower jaw there are but two small
incisors; the premolars numbering 1/2. These bats live near the coast,
and feed on small crabs and fishes.

Most of the remaining members of the family are included in the
subfamily _Phyllostomatinae_, characterized by the presence of a
distinct nose-leaf and the warty chin. The clitoris is imperforate,
whereas it is perforated in the _Mormopsinae_. The incisors are
generally 2/2 (occasionally 2/1), and the molars well developed. The
subfamily is divided into a number of groups or sections. The first of
them, the _Vampyreae_, is characterized as follows: Muzzle long and
narrow in front, the distance between the eyes generally less than
(rarely equal to) that from the eye to the extremity of the muzzle;
nose-leaf horseshoe-shaped in front, lanceolate behind; interfemoral
membrane well developed; tail generally distinct, rarely absent; inner
margin of the lips not fringed; _i._ 2/2 or 2/1, _p._ 2/2 or 2/3;
molars with W-shaped cusps, usually well developed.

Nearly all the _Vampyreae_ appear to be insectivorous, so that the
term cannot be considered indicative of habits; but a few, if not all,
probably supplement their insect diet with fruit. _Vampyrus spectrum_
(the largest bat in the New World) is said to be wholly frugivorous,
and _Otopterus waterhousei_ appears to prey occasionally on smaller
bats. The genera may be arranged in two subgroups according as the
tail is produced to the margin of the interfemoral membrane or
perforates it to appear on its upper surface. In the first division
are included three genera, _Lonchorhina_, _Otopterus_ (or _Macrotus_)
and _Dolichophyllum_ (or _Macrophyllum_), the first represented by _L.
aurita_, characterized by an extraordinary long nose-leaf, and
peculiarly large ears and tragus. In the second subsection are
included _Vampyrus_, _Chrotopterus_, _Tonatia_ (_Lophostoma_)
_Micronycteris_, _Glyphonycteris_, _Trachyops_, _Phylloderma_,
_Phyllostoma_, _Anthorhina_ (_Tylostoma_), _Mimon_, _Hemiderma_
(_Carollia_) and _Rhinophylla_; all, with the exception of the last,
distinguished chiefly by the form of the skull and the presence or
absence of the second lower premolar. _Phyllostoma hastatum_, next in
point of size to _Vampyrus spectrum_, is a well-known species in South
America; _P. elongatum_ (fig. 11) differs in its smaller size and
larger nose-leaf. _Hemiderma brevicauda_, a small species, closely
resembles _Glossophaga soricina_, and forms a connecting link between
this and the next group. _Rhinophylla pumilio_ is the smallest species
of the family; further distinguished by the absence of a tail, the
narrowness of its molars, which do not form W-shaped cusps, and the
small size of the last upper molar, characters connecting it and the
group with the _Stenodermateae_. Both in _Hemiderma_ and _Rhinophylla_
the zygomatic arch is incomplete.

[Illustration: FIG. 11.--Head of Lesser Javelin Vampire (_Phyllostoma
elongatura_).]

The next subsection, _Glossophageae_, presents the following
distinctive features: Muzzle long and narrow; tongue long and
extensible, attenuated towards the tip, and beset with long filiform
recurved papillae; lower lip with a wide groove above, and in front
margined by small warts; nose-leaf small; tail short or none; _i._
2/2, _p._ 2/3 or 3/3 or 2/2, _m._ 3/3 or 2/3 or 2/2; teeth narrow;
molars with narrow W-shaped cusps, sometimes indistinct or absent;
lower incisors small or deciduous. The species included in this group
represent some ten genera, distinguished principally by differences in
the form and number of the teeth, and the presence or absence of the
zygomatic, arch of the skull. In _Glossophaga_ and _Phyllonycteris_
the upper incisors form a continuous row between the canines. In
_Monophyllus_ and _Leptonycteris_ (_Ischnoglossa_) they are separated
into pairs by a narrow interval in front; while in _Lonchoglossa_,
_Glossonycteris_ and _Choeronycteris_ they are widely separated and
placed in pairs near the canines. In the first four of these genera
the lower incisors are present (at least to a certain age), in the
last three they are deciduous even in youth. The zygomatic arch is
wanting in _Phyllonycteris_, _Glossonycteris_ and _Choeronycteris_.
The typical species is _Glossophaga soricina_, which, as already
mentioned, closely resembles _Hemiderma brevicauda_, both in form
and dentition. Its long brush-tipped tongue (which it possesses in
common with other species of the group) is used to lick out the pulpy
contents of fruits having hard rinds. The food of the species of this
group appears to consist of both fruit and insects, and the long
tongue may be used for extracting the latter from the deep corollas of
flowers. Other genera are _Lonchophylla_, _Rhithronycteris_,
_Hylonycteris_ and _Lychonycteris_, each with a single species (in
1904).

[Illustration: FIG. 12.--Head of Long-tongued Vampire (_Choeronycteris
mexicana_), showing brush-tipped tongue. From Dobson.]

The third group, _Stenodermateae_, presents the following
characteristics:--Muzzle very short and generally broad in front, the
distance between the eyes nearly always exceeding (rarely equalling)
the distance from the eye to the extremity of the muzzle; nose-leaf
short, horseshoe-shaped in front, lanceolate behind (except in
_Brachyphylla_ and _Centurio_); interfemoral membrane concave behind;
tail none; inner margin of the lips fringed with conical papillae;
_i._ 2/2 or 2/1, _p._ 2/2, _m._ 3/3 or 2/3 or 2/2; cheek-teeth broad
(except in _Sturnira_), molars with concave or flat crowns margined
externally by raised cutting-edges. Although the _Stenodermateae_ are
generally easily distinguished from the _Vampyreae_ by the shortness
and breadth of the muzzle and the form of the cheek-teeth, certain
species of the latter resemble the former in external appearance,
agreeing almost absolutely in the form of the nose-leaf, the ears and
the tragus, and the warts on the chin. These resemblances show that,
while the form of the teeth and jaws has become modified to suit the
food, the external characters have remained much the same, and
indicate the common origin of the two sections. The food of these bats
appears to be wholly or in great part fruit. The species are divided
into some eleven genera, mostly distinguished by the form of the skull
and teeth. _Artibeus_ includes the frugivorous _A. perspicillatus_.
_Stenoderma achradophilum_, found in Jamaica and Cuba, with the last,
from which it is scarcely distinguishable externally except by its
much smaller size, differs in the absence of the horizontal plate of
the premaxillae on the palate. _Sturnira lilium_, while agreeing with
these in the form of the nose-leaf and ears, differs from all the
species of the family in its longitudinally-grooved molars, which
resemble those of the _Pteropodidae_ more closely than those of any
other bats; and the presence of tufts of long differently-coloured
hairs over glands in the sides of the neck is another character in
common with that group. _Centurio senex_ (fig. 13) is the type of a
small genus distinguished from _Stenoderma_ and other genera of this
group by the absence of a distinct nose-leaf. Some naturalists make
this genus the type of a distinct subgroup, _Centurioneae_. Up to 1904
the genera, exclusive of _Centurio_, included in the _Stenodermateae_
were _Artibeus_ (with several sub-genera), _Vampyrops_ (also with
subgenera), _Mesophylla_, _Chiroderma_, _Stenoderma_ (with 3
subgenera), _Ectophylla_, _Ametrida_ (with 2 sub-genera), _Pygoderma_,
_Sturnira_ and _Brachyphylla_.

[Illustration: FIG. 13.--Head of Masked Vampire (_Centurio senex_).
From Dobson.]

The third subfamily, _Desmodontieae_, is represented only by the
blood-sucking bats, and distinguished by having _i._ ½, of which the
upper pair are cutting, the rudimentary molars, the very short
interfemoral membrane, and the blood-sucking habit. They are further
characterized as follows: Muzzle short and conical; nose-leaf
distinct; _p._ 2/3, _m._ 1/1 or 0/0; upper incisors occupying the
whole space between the canines; premolars narrow, with sharp-edged
longitudinal crowns; molars rudimentary or absent; stomach elongated,
and intestiniform. There are two genera, _Desmodus_, without calcar or
molars, and _Diphylla_, with a short calcar and a single rudimentary
molar on each side--restricted to Central and South America. _Desmodus
rufus_, the commoner species, is a little larger than the noctule bat,
and abundant in certain parts of South America, where it is
troublesome owing to its attacks upon domestic animals, sucking their
blood and leaving them weakened from repeated bleedings. (See
VAMPIRE.)

Free-tailed bats.

The fourth family of bats, unlike any of the three previous ones, has
a cosmopolitan distribution. These free-tailed bats, as they are
conveniently called, constituting the family _Emballonuridae_, present
the following distinctive features. The nostrils are of normal form
and without a nose-leaf. The premaxillae have their palatal portion
imperfectly developed, and united by a slender process with the
maxillae. The ears are large, with a small tragus. The middle finger
has two phalanges, and the index generally a single one. The fibula is
incomplete. The tail is generally short, and always partly free from
the interfemoral membrane. There is generally only a single pair of
upper incisors, separated by gaps from the canines, and from one
another in the middle line.

The distinctive feature of these bats is the free tail-tip, which
pierces the interfemoral membrane to appear on its upper surface, and
may project beyond its margin. As a rule, these bats may also be
recognized by the peculiar form of the muzzle, which is obliquely
truncated, the nostrils projecting more or less in front beyond the
lower lip, by the first phalange of the middle finger being folded in
repose forwards on the upper surface of the metacarpal bone, and by
the upper incisors. Although cosmopolitan, these bats rarely extend
north or south of the thirtieth parallels of latitude.

[Illustration: FIG. 14.--Ear of _Emballonura raffrayana_. From
Dobson.]

The family may be divided into two subfamilies, of which the
_Emballonurinae_ is characterized by the incomplete premaxillae, the
presence of only one phalange in the index finger, and the short tail.
The dental formula is generally _i._ 1/3 (sometimes 2/3 or 1/2), _c._
1/1, _p._ 2/3, _m._ 3/3. This subfamily may be further subdivided into
subgroups or sections of which the first, _Embalionurae_, is
characterized by the slender tail perforating the interfemoral
membrane, so as to appear on its upper surface; the legs long, with a
slender fibula; the incisors weak; and the premolars 2/2. The typical
genus _Emballonura_ presents the following features: _i._ 2/3,
extremity of the muzzle more or less produced beyond the lower lip,
forehead flat. The genus contains several species, inhabiting islands
from Madagascar through the Malay Archipelago and Siam to the
Navigator Islands. _Coleura_, with _i._ 1/3, the extremity of the
muzzle broad, and the forehead concave, has two species from East
Africa and the Seychelles. _Rhynchonycteris_ is distinguished from
_Coleura_ by the produced extremity of the muzzle. The single species,
_R. naso_, from Central and South America, is common in the vicinity
of streams, where it is usually found during the day resting on the
vertical faces of rocks, or on trunks of trees growing over water; it
escapes notice owing to the greyish colour of the fur of the body and
of small tufts on the antebrachial membrane counterfeiting the
weathered surfaces of rocks and bark. As evening approaches it appears
on the wing, flying close to the water. _Saccopteryx_ has _i._ 1/3 and
the antibrachial membrane with a pouch opening on its upper surface;
it contains several species from Central and South America. This sac
is developed only in the male and in the female is rudimentary. In
adult males a valvular longitudinal opening occupies the upper surface
of the membrane leading into a small pouch, the interior of which is
lined with a glandular membrane secreting an unctuous reddish
substance with a strong ammoniacal odour. Allied genera are the
tropical American _Peropteryx_ and the Brazilian _Cormura_. The
various species of tomb-bats (_Taphozous_) inhabit the tropical and
subtropical parts of all the eastern hemisphere except Polynesia, and
are distinguished by the cartilaginous premaxillaries, the deciduous
pair of upper incisors, and the presence of only two pairs of lower
incisors. Most of the species have a glandular sac (fig. 15) between
the angles of the lower jaw, more developed in males than in females,
in some species absent in the latter. An open throat-sac is wanting in
_T. melanopogon_, but about its position are the openings of small
pores, the secretion from which probably causes the hairs to grow
long, forming the black beard found in many males. The three tropical
American white bats, _Diclidurus_, with _i._ 1/3, _c._ 1/1, _p._ 3/2,
_m._ 3/3, resemble _Taphozous_ in the form of the head and ears, but,
besides other characters, differ from all other bats in possessing a
pouch, opening off the centre of the interior surface of the
interfemoral membrane; the extremity of the tail enters this, and
perforates its base.

[Illustration: FIG. 15.--Heads of Tomb-Bat (_Taphozous longimanus_),
showing relative development of throat-sacs in male and female. From
Dobson.]

The second subfamily of the _Emballonuridae_, _Rhinopomatinae_, is
represented only by the genus _Rhinopoma_, with several species
ranging from Egypt through Arabia to India, Burma and Sumatra. The
premaxillae (fig. 16) are complete; the index finger has two
phalanges; the tail is very long and mouselike; and the dental formula
_i._ 1/2, _c._ 1/1, _p._ 1/2, _m._ 2/3. Dr G.E. Dobson has remarked
that these mouse-tailed bats might be elevated to the rank of a
family, for it is difficult to determine their affinities, a kind of
cross relationship attaching them to the _Nycteridae_ on the one hand
and to the _Emballonuridae_ on the other. These bats, distinguished
from all other Microchiroptera by the presence of two phalanges in the
index finger and the long and slender tail projecting far beyond the
narrow interfemoral membrane, inhabit the subterranean tombs in Egypt
and deserted buildings generally from north-east Africa to Burma and
Sumatra.

Typical bats.

[Illustration: FIG. 16.--Skull of Mouse-tailed Bat (_Rhinopoma
microphyllum_). X2. (From Dobson.)]

The last group, according to the system adopted by Prof. Max Weber, is
that of the _Vespertilionidae_, which includes such typical bats as
the pipistrelle, the noctule, and the long-eared species. By Mr G.S.
Miller[1] the first section of the family--_Natalinae_--is regarded as
of family rank, while the last section, or _Molossinae_, is included
by Dr G.E. Dobson in the _Emballonuridae_, from the typical forms of
which its members differ widely in tail-structure. In this extended
sense the family, which has a cosmopolitan distribution, may be
defined as follows:--The nostrils are normal and without a nose-leaf.
The ethmoturbinal bones of the nasal chamber are involuted. The
palatine processes of the premaxillae do not form a suture. The ear is
mostly large, with a tragus. The middle finger (except in
_Thyroptera_) has two phalanges. The fibula is usually rudimentary.
The tail is long and does not perforate the interfemoral membrane. The
incisors are generally 2/3 or 1/2, but may be reduced to 1/1 in the
_Molossinae_.

In the first subfamily, _Natalinae_, which is exclusively tropical
American, the other upper incisors are separated from one another and
from the canines; palatine processes of the premaxillae are at least
partially developed; and the dental formula is _i._ 2/3, _c._ 1/1,
_p._ {2 or 3}/3, _m._ 3/3. In general appearance these bats recall the
more typical _Vespertilionidae_, although the form of the muzzle is
suggestive of the _Mormopsinae_ among the _Phyllostomatidae_. Again,
while the form of the skull is vespertilione, the relation of the
vomer to the front end of the premaxillae is of the phyllostomine
type. The molars and incisors are likewise vespertilione, whereas the
premolars are as distinctly phyllostomine. Finally, while the third,
or middle, finger normally has two phalanges, as in typical
_Vespertilionidae_, the second of these is elongated and in
_Thyroptera_ divided into two, as in _Phyllostomatidae_.

[Illustration: FIG. 17.--Head of _Chilonatalus micropus_. x2. (From
Dobson.)]

The first two genera, _Furipterus_ and _Amorphochilus_, each have a
single species, the latter being distinguished from the former by the
wide separation of the nostrils and the backward prolongation of the
palate. In both the crown of the head is elevated, the thumb and first
phalange of the middle finger are very short, and the premolars are
2/3. The same elevation of the crown characterizes the genera
_Natalus_ and _Chilonatalus_ (fig. 17), in which the premolars are
3/3: in general appearance these bats are very like the Old World
vespertilionine genus _Cerivoula_, except for the short triangular
tragus. Lastly, _Thyroptera_ includes two species distinguished by an
additional phalange in the middle finger and by accessory
clinging-organs attached to the extremities. In _Thyroptera tricolor_,
_i._ 2/3, _p._ 3/3, from Brazil, these have the appearance of small,
circular, stalked, hollow disks (fig. 18), resembling miniature
sucking-cups of cuttle-fishes, and are attached to the inferior
surfaces of the thumbs and the soles of the feet. By their aid the bat
is able to maintain its hold when creeping over smooth vertical
surfaces.

[Illustration: FIG. 18.--Suctorial Disks in _Thyroptera tricolor_,
_a_, side, and _b_, concave surface, of thumb disk; _c_, foot with
disk, and calcar with projections (all much enlarged). (From Dobson.)]

The second or typical subfamily, _Vespertilioninae_, includes all the
remaining members of the family with the exception of the aberrant
_Molossinae_. The upper incisors are in proximity to the canines; the
premaxillae widely separated; the ears medium or large; the dental
formula is _i._ 2/3 (or 1/3), _c._ 1/1, _p._ 3/3 (2/3, 2/2, or 1/2),
_m._ 3/3; and the fibula very small and imperfect. All the members of
this large cosmopolitan group are closely allied, and differ chiefly
by external characters. They may be divided into subgroups. In the
first of these, the _Plecoteae_, of which the long-eared bat
(_Plecotus auritus_) is the type, the crown of the head is but
slightly raised above the face-line, the upper incisors are close to
the canines, and the nostrils are margined behind by grooves an the
upper surface of the muzzle, or by rudimentary nose-leaves; the ears
being generally very large and united. Of the six genera, _Plecotus_,
with _i._ 2/3, _p._ 2/3, has three species:--one the long-eared
European bat referred to above; _P. macrotis_, restricted to North
America, is distinguished by the great size of the glandular
prominences of the sides of the muzzle, which meet in the centre above
and behind the nostrils; the third species being also American. The
second, _Barbastella_, with _i._ 2/3, _p._ 2/2, distinguished by its
dentition and by the outer margin of the ear being carried forwards
above the mouth and in front of the eye, includes the European
barbastelle bat, _B. barbastellus_, and _B. darjelingensis_ from the
Himalaya. _Otonycteris_, _i._ 1/3, _pm._, 1/2, connecting this group
with the _Vespertilioneae_, is represented by _O. hemprichii_, from
North Africa and the Himalaya, and an Arabian species. The next two
genera are distinguished by the presence of a rudimentary nose-leaf:
_Nyctophilus_, _i._ 1/3, _p._ 1/2, with three species from
Australasia; and _Antrozous_, _i._ 1/2, _p._ 1/2, distinguished from
all the other members of the subfamily by having but two lower
incisors, and from other _Plecoteae_ by the separate ears; the two
species inhabit California. The sixth genus, _Euderma_, is also
represented by a Californian species.

[Illustration: FIG. 19.--Head of _Scotophilus emarginatus_. (From
Dobson.)]

[Illustration: FIG. 20.--Head of _Cerivoula hardwickei_. (From
Dobson.)]

The second group _Vespertilioneae_, with about thirteen genera,
includes the great majority of the species; and a large number of
these may be classed under _Vespertilio_, which is divisible into
subgenera, differing from one another in the number of premolars, and
often ranked as separate genera. One group is represented by _V._
(_Histiolus_) _magellanicus_, a species remarkable for its extreme
southern range, its relatives being also South American. A second
group, with _p._ 1/2, includes the British serotine, _V._
(_Eptesicus_) _serotinus_, of Europe and northern Asia, and
represented in North America by the closely allied _V._ (_E._)
_fuscus_. In the typical group, which includes the Old World _V.
murinus_, one species, _V. borealis_, ranges to the Arctic circle. The
European noctule, _V._ (_Pierygistes_) _noctula_, and Leisler's bat,
_V._ (_P._) _leisleri_, represent another group; and the common
pipistrelle, _V._ (_Pipistrellus_) _pipistrellus_, yet another, with
_p._ 2/2. The only other group that need be mentioned is one
represented by the North American _V._ (_Lasionycteris_)
_noctivagans_, with _p._ 2/3. The African _Läephotes_, the Chinese
_Ia_, and the Papuan _Philetor_ are allied genera, each with a single
species. _Chalinolobus_ and _Glauconycteris_ have the same general
dental character as _Vespertilio_, but are distinguished by the
presence of a lobe projecting from the lower lip near the gape; the
former, with _p._ 2/2, is represented by five Australasian species,
one of which extends into New Zealand; while the latter, with _p._
1/2, is African. The species of _Glauconycteris_ are noticeable for
their peculiarly thin membranes traversed by distinct reticulations
and parallel lines. _Scotophilus_, with _i._ 1/3, _p._ 1/2, includes
several species, restricted to the tropical and subtropical regions of
the eastern hemisphere, though widely distributed within these limits.
These bats, though approaching certain species of _Vespertilio_ in
many points, are distinguished by the single (in place of two) pair of
unicuspidate upper incisors separated by a wide space and placed close
to the canines, by the small transverse first lower premolar crushed
in between the canine and second premolar, and, generally, by their
conical, nearly naked, muzzles and thick leathery membranes. _S.
temmincki_ is the commonest bat in India, and appears often before the
sun has touched the horizon. _S. gigas_, from equatorial Africa, is
the largest species. _Nycticejus_, with the same dental formula as
_Scotophilus_, is distinguished, by the first lower premolar not being
crushed in between the adjoining teeth, and the comparatively greater
size of the last upper molar. It includes only the North American _N.
humeralis_ (_crepuscularis_), a bat scarcely larger than the
pipistrelle. The hairy-membraned bats of the genus _Lasiurus_
(_Atalapha_), with _i._ 1/3, _p._ 2/2 or 1/2, are also limited to the
New World, and generally characterized by the interfemoral membrane
being more or less covered with hair and by the peculiar form of the
tragus, which is expanded above and abruptly curved inwards. In those
species which have two upper premolars the first is extremely small
and internal to the tooth-row. The genus, which is divided into
_Lasiurus_ proper and _Dasypterus_, is further characterized by the
presence of four teats in the female, and by the general production
of three or four offspring at a birth. _Rhogëessa_ and _Tomopeas_ are
allied tropical American types. _Murina_, with the subgenus
_Harpiocephalus_, has _i._ 2/3, _p._ 2/2, and includes several small
bats distinguished by the prominent tube-like nostrils and hairy
interfemoral membrane. _M. suilla_, from Java, the Malay and
neighbouring islands, is a well-known species, and the closely allied
_M. hilgendorfi_ is from Japan. The remaining species are from the
Himalaya, Tibet and Ceylon; and apparently restricted to the
hill-tracts of the countries in which they are found. Next to
_Vespertilio_ the genus _Myotis_ (divisible into several subgenera),
with _i._ 2/3, _p._ 3/3, includes the largest number of species, and
has rather a wider geographical distribution in both hemispheres, one
species being recorded from the Navigator Islands. The species may be
recognized by the peculiar character of the pairs of upper incisors on
each side, the cusps of which diverge from each other, by the large
number of premolars, of which the second upper is always small, and by
the oval elongated ear and narrow tragus. The British _M. bechsteini_
and _M. nattereri_ are examples of this group. _Cerivoula_
(_Kerivoula_), which also has _p._ 3/3, is distinguished by the
parallel upper incisors and the large second upper premolar. There are
numerous African and Indo-Malayan species, of which _C. picta_, from
India and Indo-Malay, is characterized by its brilliant orange fur,
and membranes variegated with orange and black. The genus includes
delicately formed insectivorous, tropical, forest-haunting bats, whose
colouring approximates them to the ripe bananas among which they often
pass the daytime.

Another subgroup, _Minioptereae_, is represented solely by the genus
_Miniopterus_, with _i._ 2/3, _p._ 2/3. The incisors are separated
from one another in front and from the canines; the first phalange of
the middle finger is very short, the crown of the head elevated, and
the tail long. The genus is represented by some half-dozen Old World
species, among which the typical _M. schreibersi_ ranges from Europe,
southern Asia, and Africa to Japan and Australasia.

[Illustration: FIG. 21.--Head of Mastiff-bat (_Molossus glaucinus_).
(From Dobson.)]

[Illustration: FIG. 22.--Head of _Nyctinomops macrotis_. (From
Dobson.)]

The last subfamily is that of the _Molossinae_, included by Dobson in
the family _Emballonuridae_. In this group the premaxillae are in
contact or but very slightly separated; the ears are large, with the
tragus small; the dental formula is _i._ 1/1 (1/2 or 1/3), _c._ 1/1,
_p._ 1/2 (2/2), _m._ 3/3; and the fibula is strongly developed. In
their blunt muzzles and many other features these bats undoubtedly
resemble the _Emballonuridae_, from the typical members of which they
differ by the production of the thick tail far beyond the margin of
the interfemoral membrane. They are further characterized by their
broad and stout feet, in which the first, and in most cases also the
fifth, toe is thicker than the rest, and furnished with long bent
hairs; and by the presence of callosities at the base of the thumbs,
and a single pair of large upper incisors occupying the centre of the
space between the canines. The feet are free from the wing-membrane,
which folds up under the fore-arm and legs; the interfemoral membrane
is retractile, being movable backwards and forwards along the tail;
this power of varying its superficial extent confers on these bats
great dexterity in changing the direction of flight. All are able to
walk or crawl well, and spend much of their time on trees. The genus
_Chiromeles_, with _i._ 1/1, _c._ 1/1, _p._ 1/2, _m._ 3/3, the first
hind-toe much larger than and separate from the others, and the widely
sundered ears, is represented by _C. torquata_, a large bat of
peculiar aspect, inhabiting the Indo-Malay countries. This species is
nearly naked, a collar only of thinly spread hairs half surrounding
the neck, and is remarkable for its enormous throat-sac and
nursing-pouches. The former consists of a semicircular fold of skin
forming a pouch round the neck beneath, concealing the orifices of
subcutaneous pectoral glands which discharge an oily fluid of
offensive smell. The nursing-pouch is formed on each side by an
extension of a fold of skin from the side of the body to the inferior
surfaces of the humerus and femur. In the anterior part of this pouch
the teat is placed. The typical genus _Molossus_ (fig. 21) includes
the mastiff-bats, characterized by the dental formula _i._ 1/1 or 1/2,
_p._ 1/2 or 2/2; and by the upper incisors being close together in
front. The genus is restricted to the tropical and subtropical regions
of the New World. _M. obscurus_, a small species common in tropical
America, inhabits the hollow trunks of palms and other trees and the
roofs of houses. The males and females live apart (as is the case in
most if not all bats). In West Africa the mastiff-bats are represented
by _Eomops_, with one species; while _Nyctinomops_ includes a number
of tropical American species more nearly related to the next genus, in
which some of them (fig. 22) were formerly included. The widely spread
_Nyctinomus_, with _i._ 1/3 or 1/2, _p._ 2/2 or 1/2, and the upper
incisors separate in front, includes numerous species inhabiting the
tropical and subtropical parts of both hemispheres. The lips of the
bats of this genus are even more expansible than in _Molossus_, in
many of the species (fig. 22) showing vertical wrinkles. _N.
toeniotis_ (or _cestonii_), one of the largest species, alone extends
into Europe, as far north as Switzerland. _N. johorensis_, from the
Malay Peninsula, is remarkable for the extraordinary form of its ears.
_N. brasiliensis_ is common in tropical America, and extends as far
north as California.

Myzopoda and Mystacops.

[Illustration: FIG. 23.--Thumb and leg and foot of New Zealand bat
(_Mystacops tuberculatus_), enlarged. (From Dobson.)]

Here may be conveniently noticed two very rare and aberrant bats,
_Myzopoda_ (or _Myxopoda_) _aurita_ of Madagascar, and _Mystacops_ (or
_Mystacina_) _tuberculatas_ of New Zealand, the latter of which is
believed to be well-nigh, if not entirely, exterminated. Their
systematic position and affinities are somewhat uncertain; but in the
opinion of O. Thomas[2] the former should typify a separate family,
_Myzopodidae_, in which the latter may also find a place. From all
other bats _Myzopoda_ is distinguished by the presence of a peculiar
mushroom-shaped organ at the base of the large ear, and by the union
of the tragus with the latter, on the inner base of which it forms a
small projection. There are three phalanges in the middle finger; and
the whole inferior surface of the thumb supports a large sessile
horseshoe-shaped adhesive pad, with the circular margin directed
forwards and notched along its edge, while a smaller pad occupies part
of the sole of the hind-foot. Mr Thomas regards this bat as related on
the one hand to the subfamily _Mormopsinae_ of the _Phyllostomatidae_,
and on the other to the _Natalinae_ among the _Vespertilionidae_; both
these groups being regarded by him as of family rank.

_Mystacops_ resembles _Myzopoda_ in having three phalanges to the
middle finger, but differs in that the tail perforates the
interfemoral membrane to appear on its upper surface in the manner
characteristic of the _Emballonuridae_. The greater part of the
wing-membrane is exceedingly thin, but a narrow portion along the
fore-arm, the sides of the body, and the legs, is thick and leathery,
and beneath this thickened portion the wings are folded. Other
peculiarities of structure are found in the form of the claws of the
thumbs and toes, each of which has a small heel projecting from its
concave surface near the base, also in the sole of the foot and
inferior surface of the leg, as shown in fig. 23. The plantar surface,
including the toes, is covered with soft and very lax, deeply wrinkled
skin, and each toe is marked by a central longitudinal groove with
short grooves at right angles to it. The lax wrinkled integument is
continued along the inferior flattened surface of the ankle and leg.
These peculiarities appear to be related to climbing habits in the
species.

_Extinct Bats_.

Palaeontology tells us nothing with regard to the origin of the
Chiroptera, all the known fossil species, some of which date back to the
Oligocene, being more or less closely allied to existing types, and
therefore of comparatively little interest. The origin of the order from
primitive insectivorous mammals must have taken place at least as early
as the Lower Eocene. It is, however, noteworthy that several of the
earlier extinct species appear to be related to the _Rhinolophidae_,
which is the most generalized family of the order. Remains of
_Pteropodidae_ belonging to existing genera occur in the caves of
tropical countries in the eastern hemisphere; and the skeleton of an
extinct generic type, _Archaeopteropus_, has been obtained from the
Miocene lignite of Italy, which indicates a form to a certain extent
transitional in character between typical fruit-bats and the
insectivorous bats. The tail, for instance, which in most modern
fruit-bats is rudimentary, with only three or four vertebrae, in the
fossil has eight complete vertebrae; while the teeth of the extinct
form are distinctly cusped. Whether, however, the tail is longer than in
the existing _Notopteris_ of Fiji and New Guinea, or whether the molars
are more distinctly cusped than is the case with the Solomon Island
_Pteropus_ (_Pteralopex_), is not stated. Still, the fact that the
Miocene fruit-bat does show certain signs of approximation to the
insectivorous (and more generalized) section of the order is of
interest. Of the Oligocene forms, _Pseudorhinolophus_ of Europe is
apparently a member of the _Rhinolophidae_; but the affinities of
_Alastor_ and _Vespertiliavus_, which are likewise European, are more
doubtful, although the latter may be related to _Taphozous_. The North
American _Vespertilio_ (_Vesperugo_) _anemophilus_ and the European _V.
aquensis_ and _V. parisiensis_ are, on the other hand, members of the
_Vespertilionidae_, the last being apparently allied to the serotine
(_V. serotinus_).

AUTHORITIES.--The above article is based to some extent on the article
in the 9th edition of this work by G.E. Dobson, whose British Museum
"Catalogue" is, however, now obsolete. Professor H. Winge's
"Jordfundae og nulevende Flagermus (Chiroptera)," published in _E.
Mus. Lundi_ (Copenhagen, 1892), contains much valuable information;
and for _Pteropodidae_ Dr P. Matschie's _Megachiroptera_ (Berlin,
1899), should be consulted. For the rest the student must refer to
namerous papers by G.M. Allen, K. Andersen, F.A. Jentink, G.S. Miller,
T.S. Palmer, A.G. Rehn, O. Thomas and others, in various English and
American zoological serials, all of which are quoted in the volumes of
the _Zoological Record_. (R. L.*)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] _Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist._ vol. xii. (1899).

[2] _Proc. Zool. Soc._ (London, 1904), vol. ii.

CHIRU, a graceful Tibetan antelope (_Pantholops Hodgsoni_), of which the
bucks are armed with long, slender and heavily-ridged horns of an
altogether peculiar type, while the does are hornless. Possibly this
handsome antelope may be the original of the mythical unicorn, a single
buck when seen in profile looking exactly as if it had but one long
straight horn. Although far from uncommon, chiru are very wary, and
consequently difficult to approach. They are generally found in small
parties, although occasionally in herds. They inhabit the desolate
plateau of Tibet, at elevations of between 13,000 and 18,000 ft., and,
like all Tibetan animals, have a firm thick coat, formed in this
instance of close woolly hair of a grey fawn-colour. The most peculiar
feature about the chiru is, however, its swollen, puffy nose, which is
probably connected with breathing a highly rarefied atmosphere. A second
antelope inhabiting the same country as the chiru is the goa (_Gazella
picticaudata_), a member of the gazelle group characterized by the
peculiar form of the horns of the bucks and certain features of
coloration, whereby it is markedly distinguished from all its kindred
save one or two other central Asian species. The chiru, which belongs to
the typical or antilopine section of antelopes, is probably allied to
the saiga. (R. L.*)

CHIRURGEON, one whose profession it is to cure disease by operating with
the hand. The word in its original form is now obsolete. It derives from
the Mid. Eng. _cirurgien_ or _sirurgien_, through the Fr. from the Gr.
[Greek: cheirourgos], one who operates with the hand (from [Greek:
cheir], hand, [Greek: ergon], work); from the early form is derived the
modern word "surgeon." "Chirurgeon" is a 16th century reversion to the
Greek origin. (See SURGERY.)

CHISEL (from the O. Fr. _cisel_, modern _ciseau_, Late Lat. _cisellum_,
a cutting tool, from _caedere_, to cut), a sharp-edged tool for cutting
metal, wood or stone. There are numerous varieties of chisels used in
different trades; the carpenter's chisel is wooden-handled with a
straight edge, transverse to the axis and bevelled on one side; stone
masons' chisels are bevelled on both sides, and others have oblique,
concave or convex edges. A chisel with a semicircular blade is called a
"gouge." The tool is worked either by hand-pressure or by blows from a
hammer or mallet. The "cold chisel" has a steel edge, highly tempered to
cut unheated metal. (See TOOL.)

CHISLEHURST, an urban district in the Sevenoaks parliamentary division
of Kent, England, 11-1/4 m. S.E. of London, by the South-Eastern &
Chatham railway. Pop. (1901) 7429. It is situated 300 ft. above
sea-level, on a common of furze and heather in the midst of picturesque
country. The church of St Nicholas (Perpendicular with Early English
portions, but much restored) has a tomb of the Walsingham family, who
had a lease of the manor from Elizabeth; Sir Francis Walsingham, the
statesman, being born here in 1536. Another statesman of the same age,
Sir Nicholas Bacon, was born here in 1510. Near the church is an ancient
cockpit. The mortuary chapel attached to the Roman Catholic church of St
Mary was built to receive the body of Napoleon III., who died at Camden
Place in 1873; and that of his son was brought hither in 1879. Both were
afterwards removed to the memorial chapel at Farnborough in Hampshire.
Camden Place was built by William Camden, the antiquary, in 1609, and in
1765 gave the title of Baron Camden to Lord Chancellor Pratt. The house
was the residence not only of Napoleon III., but of the empress Eugénie
and of the prince imperial, who is commemorated by a memorial cross on
Chislehurst Common. The house and grounds are now occupied by a golf
club. There are many villa residences in the neighbourhood of
Chislehurst.

CHISWICK, an urban district in the Ealing parliamentary division of
Middlesex, England, suburban to London, on the Thames, 7½ m. W. by S. of
St Paul's cathedral. Pop. (1901) 29,809. The locality is largely
residential, but there are breweries, and the marine engineering works
of Messrs Thornycroft on the river. Chiswick House, a seat of the duke
of Devonshire, is surrounded by beautiful grounds; here died Fox (1806)
and Canning (1827). The gardens near belonged till 1903 to the Royal
Horticultural Society. The church of St Nicholas has ancient portions,
and in the churchyard is the tomb of William Hogarth the painter, with
commemorative lines by David Garrick. Hogarth's house is close at hand.
Chiswick Hall, no longer extant, was formerly a country seat for the
masters and sanatorium for the scholars of Westminster school. Here in
1811 the Chiswick Press was founded by Charles Whittingham the elder, an
eminent printer (d. 1840).

CHITA, a town of east Siberia, capital of Transbaikalia, on the Siberian
railway, 500 m. E. of Irkutsk, on the Chita river, half a mile above its
confluence with the Ingoda. Pop. (1883) 12,600; (1897) 11,480. The
Imperial Russian Geographical Society has a museum here. Several of the
palace revolutionaries, known as Decembrists, were banished to this
place from St Petersburg in consequence of the conspiracy of December
1825. The inhabitants support themselves by agriculture and by trade in
furs, cattle, hides and tallow bought from the Buriats, and in
manufactured wares imported from Russia and west Siberia.

CHITALDRUG, a district and town in the native state of Mysore, India.
The district has an area of 4022 sq. m. and a population (1901) of
498,795. It is distinguished by its low rainfall and arid soil. It lies
within the valley of the Vedavati or Hagari river, mostly dry in the hot
season. Several parallel chains of hills, reaching an extreme height of
3800 ft., cross the district; otherwise it is a plain. The chief crops
are cotton and flax; the chief manufactures are blankets and cotton
cloth. The west of the district is served by the Southern Mahratta
railway. The largest town in the district is Davangere (pop. 10,402).
The town of CHITALDRUG, which is the district headquarters (pop. 1901,
5792), was formerly a military cantonment, but this was abandoned on
account of its unhealthiness. It has massive fortifications erected
under Hyder Ali and Tippoo Sahib towards the close of the 18th century;
and near it on the west are remains of a city of the 2nd century A.D.

CHITON, the name[1] given to fairly common littoral animals of rather
small size which belong to the phylum Mollusca, and, in the possession
of a radula in the buccal cavity, resemble more especially the
Gastropoda. Their most important characteristic in comparison with the
latter is that they are, both in external and internal structure,
bilaterally symmetrical. The dorsal integument or mantle bears, not a
simple shell, but eight calcareous plates in longitudinal series
articulating with each other. The ventral surface forms a flat creeping
"foot," and between mantle and foot is a pallial groove in which there
is on each side a series of gills. Originally the Chitons were placed
with the limpets, _Patella_, in Cuvier's _Cyclobranchia_, an order of
the Gastropoda. In 1876 H. von Jhering demonstrated the affinities of
_Neomenia_ and _Chaetoderma_, vermiform animals destitute of shell, with
the Chitons, and placed them all in a division of worms which he named
Amphineura. The discovery by A.A.W. Hubrecht in 1881 of a typical
molluscan radula and odontophore in a new genus _Proneomenia_, allied to
_Neomenia_, showed that the whole group belonged to the Mollusca. E. Ray
Lankester (_Ency. Brit._, 9th ed., 1883) placed them under the name
Isopleura as a subclass of Gastropoda. Paul Pelseneer (1906) raised the
group to the rank of a class of Mollusca, under von Jhering's name
Amphineura.

The Amphineura are divided into two orders: (1) the Polyplacophora, or
Chitons; (2) the Aplacophora, or forms without shells, _Neomenia_,
_Chaetoderma_ and their allies.

Order I.--POLYPLACOPHORA

[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Three views of Chiton.

A. Dorsal view of _Chiton Wosnessenksii_, Midd., showing the eight
shells. (After Middendorf.)

B. View from the pedal surface of a species of Chiton from the Indian
Ocean, _p_, foot; _o_, mouth (at the other end of the foot is seen the
anus raised on a papilla); _kr_, oral fringe; _br_, the numerous
ctenidia (branchial plumes); spreading beyond these, and all round the
animal, is the mantle-skirt. (After Cuvier.)

C. The same species of Chiton, with the shells removed and the dorsal
integument reflected, _b_, buccal mass; _m_, retractor muscles of the
buccal mass; _ov_, ovary; _od_, oviduct; _i_, coils of intestines;
_ao_, aorta; _c'_, left auricle; _c_, ventricle.]

[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Pallial eye and aesthetes of _Acanthopleura
spiniger_ (Moseley).]

Each of the eight valves of the shell is made up of two distinct
calcareous layers: (a) an outer or upper called the tegmentum, which is
visible externally; (b) a deeper layer called articulamentum which is
porcellaneous, quite compact, and entirely covered by the tegmentum. In
the lower forms the two layers are coextensive and have smooth edges,
but in the higher forms the articulamentum projects laterally beyond and
beneath the tegmentum into the substance of the mantle. These
projections are termed insertion plates; they are usually slit or
notched to form teeth, the edges of which may be smooth and sharp, or
may be crenulated. The anterior margin of each valve except the first is
provided with two projections called sutural laminae which underlie the
posterior margin of the preceding valve.

[Illustration: From Lankester, _Treatise on Zoology_.

FIG. 3.--Ventral aspect of three species of Polyplacophora showing
position of gills.

A. _Lepidopleurus benthus_.

B. _Boreochiton cinereus_.

C. _Schizochiton incisus_. _a_, anus; _f_, foot; _g_, gills; _m_,
mouth; _pa_, mantle; _pa'_, anal lobe of mantle; _ps_, pallial slit;
_te_, pallial tentacles.]

The tegmentum is formed by the fold of mantle covering the edge of the
articulamentum, and extends over the latter from the sides. It is the
first part of the shell formed in development. The tegmentum is much
reduced in _Acanthochiton_, and absent in the adult _Cryptochiton_. The
tegmentum is pierced by numerous vertical ramified canals which contain
epithelial papillae of the epidermis. These papillae form pallial
sense-organs, containing nerve-end bulbs, covered by a dome of cuticle,
and innervated from the pallial nerve-cords. They are termed according
to their size, micraesthetes and megalaesthetes. In the common species
of _Chiton_ and many others of the family _Chitonidae_ the
megalaesthetes are developed into definite eyes, the most complicated of
which have retina, pigment within the eye, cornea and crystalline lens
(intra-pigmental eyes) (fig. 2). The eyes are arranged in rows running
diagonally from the median anterior beak of each valve to its lateral
borders There may be only one such row on either side, or many rows. In
some species the total number present amounts to thousands.

[Illustration: FIG. 4.--Diagrams of the alimentary canal of Amphineura
(from Hubrecht).]

A. Neomenia and Proneomenia.
B. Chaetoderma.
C. Chiton.
_o_, Mouth.
_a_, Anus.
_d_, Alimentary canal.
_l_, Liver (digestive gland).]

_Branchiae._--The series of gills may extend the whole length of the
body in the pallial groove, or may be confined to the posterior end.
Each gill has the structure of a typical molluscan ctenidium,
consisting of an axis bearing an anterior and posterior row of
filaments or lamellae. The gills are thus metamerically repeated;
there may be from four to eighty pairs, but there is often a numerical
asymmetry on the two sides. The largest pair of branchiae is placed
immediately behind the renal openings and corresponds to the single
pair of other molluscs, the organs being repeated anteriorly only
(Metamacrobranchs) or anteriorly and posteriorly (Mesomacrobranchs).

_Intestine._--The digestive tube in the Polyplacophora, which are
herbivorous, is longer than the body, and thrown into a few coils, the
anus being median and posterior. The mouth leads into the buccal
cavity, on the ventral side of which opens the radular caecum. Each
transverse row of teeth of the radula contains 17 teeth, one of which
is median, while the second and the fifth on each side are enlarged.
Two pairs of glands open into the buccal cavity, and at the junction
of pharynx and oesophagus is another pair called the sugar glands. The
stomach is surrounded by the liver or digestive gland, consisting of
two lobes which are symmetrical in the young animals, but in the adult
the right lobe is anterior and smaller.

[Illustration: FIG. 5.--Diagrams of the excretory and reproductive
organs of Amphineura (after Hubrecht).

A, Chaetoderma.
B, Neomenia.
C, Proneomenia.
D, Chiton.
O, Ovary.
P, Pericardium.
N, Nephridium.
u, External aperture of nephridium.
g, External aperture of the genital duct of Chiton.
r, Rectum.
Cl, Cloacal or pallial chamber of Neomeniae and Chaetoderma.
Br, Ctenidia (branchial plumes).]

_Coelom, Gonads and Excretory Organs._--As in other molluscs the
coelom is represented by a large pericardial cavity, situated above
the intestine posteriorly, and a generative sac which is single and
median and situated in front of the pericardium, except in the
_Nuttalochiton hyadesi_, where the gonads are in a similar position,
but are paired. The excretory organs are coelomoducts with an internal
ciliated opening into the pericardium and an opening to the exterior.
Both the openings are close together, the external opening being just
in front of the principal gill near the posterior end of the body. The
renal tube is doubled on itself, its middle part where the bend occurs
being situated more or less anteriorly. The excretory surface is
increased by numerous ramified caeca which extend beneath the body
wall laterally and ventrally, and open into the tube (fig. 6). The
sexes are distinct, and the ovary is frequently greenish in colour,
the testis red. The gonad is transversely wrinkled and lies between
the aorta and the intestine, extending from the pericardium to the
anterior end of the body. A simple gonaduct on each side arises from
the gonad near its posterior end and passes first forwards, then
backwards, and lastly outwards to the external opening in the pallial
groove, anterior to the renal aperture. There may be from one to nine
gills between the genital and renal pores.

_Heart and Vascular System._--The heart is enclosed in the
pericardium, and consists of a median elongated ventricle and a pair of
lateral auricles, so that the structure somewhat resembles that in
the Lamellibranchiata. The openings of the auricles into the
ventricle vary in different forms. In many of the lower forms
(_Lepidopleuridae, Mopalidae, Ischnochitonidae_) the opening on each
side is single and anterior. In the true _Chitonidae_ there are generally
two apertures on each side, and in two species three or four, another
instance of the tendency to metameric repetition in the group.
The auricles are connected with one another posteriorly behind the
ventricle. The ventricle leads into a single anterior median aorta.
As in other molluscs, the arteries do not extend far, but lead into
inter-visceral blood-spaces. The venous blood is conducted from
the tissues to a large sinus on either side above the pallial groove,
and from this sinus passes to the gills by an afferent vessel in each
gill on the internal or pedal margin of the axis. The oxygenated
blood is carried from each gill by an efferent vessel on the external
or pallial side of the axis to another longitudinal vessel which leads
to the auricle on each side.

[Illustration: After Haller (_Arbeiten zool. Instit._), Vienna, 1882.

FIG. 6.--Dissection of the renal organs (nephridia) of _Chiton siculus._

F, Foot.
L, Edge of the mantle not removed in the front part of the specimen.
s.o., Oesophagus.
af, Anus.
gg, Genital duct.
go, External opening of the same.
eg, Stem of the nephridium leading to no, its external aperture.
nk, Reflected portion of the nephridial stem.
ng, Fine caeca of the nephridium, which are seen ramifying
transversely over the whole inner surface of the pedal muscular
mass.]

_Nervous System._--There are no well-marked specialized ganglia in the
central nervous system, nerve-cells being distributed uniformly along
the cords. There are two pairs of longitudinal cords, a pedal pair
situated ventrally and united beneath the intestine by numerous
commissures, and a pallial pair situated laterally and continuous with
one another above the rectum (fig. 7). The four cords are all
connected anteriorly with the cerebral commissure which lies above the
buccal mass anteriorly. From the points where the cords meet the
cerebral commissure, arise on each an anterior labial commissure and a
stomatogastric commissure. The letter bears two ganglion swellings,
the buccal ganglia. The labial commissure gives off a subradular
commissure which also bears two ganglia, these being in close relation
to a special sense-organ called the subradular organ, an epithelial
projection with nerve-endings, lying in front of the radula and
probably gustatory in function. One osphradium or branchial olfactory
organ is usually present on each side, on either side of the anus on
the inner wall of the mantle, near the base of the last gill. In
_Lepidopleuridae_ an osphradium occurs at the base of each gill. The
sense organs of the shell-valves have already been described.

_Development._--The eggs may be laid separately invested by a
chitinous envelope, or as in _Ischnochiton magdalenensis_ they may
form strings containing nearly 200,000 eggs, or the ova may be
retained in the pallial groove and undergo development there, as in
_Chiton polii_ and _Hemiarthrum setulosum_. One species
_Callistochiton viviparus_ is viviparous and its ova develop without a
larval stage in the maternal oviduct. Segmentation is total and at
first regular, and is followed by invagination, the blastopore passing
to the position of the future mouth. By the development of a ciliated
ring just in front of the mouth the embryo becomes a trochosphere. In
the centre of the praeoral lobe is a tuft of cilia. Just behind the
ciliated ring is a pair of larval eyes which disappear in the adult;
these correspond to the cephalic eyes of Lamellibranchs. An ectodemic
invagination forms a large mucous gland on the foot, which is more or
less atrophied in adult life. The gonads originate by proliferation of
the anterior wall of the pericardium. The shell-valves arise as
transverse thickenings of the dorsal cuticle behind the ciliated ring,
the tegmentum being the first part formed.

_Classification_.

[Illustration: After Hubrecht, loc. cit.

FIG. 7.--Diagrams of the nervous system of Amphineura.

A, Proneomenia.
B, Neomenia.
C, Chaetoderma.
D, Chiton.
c, Cerebral ganglia.
s, Sublingual ganglia.
v, Pedal (ventral) nerve-cord.
l, Visceral (lateral) nerve-cord.
pc. Post-anal junction of the visceral nerve-cords.]

[Illustration: From Gegenbaur, _Elements of Comp. Anatomy._

FIG. 8.--Anterior part of the nervous system of _Chiton cinereus_,
in more detail.

B, Buccal ganglia (concerned with the odontophore).
C, Cerebral nerve-mass.
P, Pedal ganglion and commencement of pedal nerve-cord.
pl, Visceral nerve-cord. The sublingual ganglia are not lettered.]

Suborder I. EOPLACOPHORA, Pilsbry.--Tegmentum coextensive with
articulamentum, or the latter projecting in smooth unslit plates.

Fam. 1. _Lepidopleuridae._--Terminal margins of end valves never
elevated; form oval or oblong. _Lepidopleurus cancellatus_, Sow.
North Atlantic and Mediterranean; various abyssal species. _Hanleya
hanleyi_, Bean, north Atlantic. _Hemiarthrum Microplax_. The extinct
_Gryptochitonidae_, Pilsbry, with other Palaeozoic genera, narrow
and elongated in form with terminal margins of end valves elevated,
belong to this group.

Suborder II. MESOPLACOPHORA, Pilsbry.--Insertion plates well developed
and slit.

Fam. 2. _Ischnochitonidae._--All the valves with slits, and the
inner layer well covered by the outer.

Subfam. 1. _Ischnochitoninae._--No shell-eyes: sutural laminae
separated; slits in the valves 1-7 do not correspond with the ribs
of the tegmentum. _Ischnochiton, Trachydermon, Chaetopleura,
Stenoplax, Stenoradsia_.

Subfam. 2. _Callochitoninae._ With shell-eyes and united sutural
laminae. _Callochiton laevis_, North Atlantic and Mediterranean.

Subfam. 3. _Callistoplacinae._ No shell-eyes, slits in the valves
1-7 corresponding with the ribs of the tegmentum. _Callistochiton_
(viviparous). _Nuttalochiton._

Fam. 3. _Mopaliidae._ Each intermediate valve with a single slit;
girdle hairy. _Mopalia, Placiphorella, Plaxiphora, Placophoropsis._

Fam. 4. _Acanthochitonidae._ Valves immersed in the girdle, with
small tegmentum. _Acanthochiton_ (A_. fascicularis_, North Atlantic
and Mediterranean). _Spongiochiton, Katharina, Amicula, Cryptochiton_
(_C. stelleri_, arctic).

Fam. 5. _Cryptoplacidae._ Vermiform, with thick girdle and small
valves; insertion and sutural plates strongly drawn forward, sharp
and smooth. _Cryptoplax, Choneplax._

Suborder III. TELEOPLACOPHORA, Pilsbry.--All the valves, or at least
the seven anterior, with insertion plates cut into teeth by slits.

Fam. 6. _Chitonidae._ Characters of the suborder.

Subfam. 1. _Chitoninae._ No extra-pigmental eyes; insertion plates
with pectinations between the fissures. _Chiton, Eudoxochiton,
Trachyodon, Radsia._

Subfam. 2. _Toniciinae._ Extra-pigmental shell-eyes. _Tonicia,
Acanthopleura, Enoplochiton, Onithochiton, Schizochiton, Lorica,
Loricella, Liolophura._

Order 2.--APLACOPHORA, von Jhering.

_Chaetoderma_ was first described by S. Lovén, in 1841, and was for a
long time believed to be a Gephyrean worm. _Neomenia_, mentioned first
by Michael Sars in 1868 under the name _Solenopus_, was afterwards
included among the Opisthobranchs by J. Koren and D.C. Danielssen. C.
Gegenbaur placed the two genera in a division of Vermes which he called
Solenogastres.

The chief points in which the Aplacophora differ from the Polyplacophora
are: (1) they are worm-like in shape; (2) there is no distinct foot, and
the mantle bears no shell-valves, but only numerous calcareous spicules;
(3) the digestive tube is straight.

_Neomenia_ and its allies are marine animals living at depths of 15 to
800 fathoms on soft muddy ground; they are found crawling on corals and
hydrozoa, on which they feed. The British genera are: _Neomenia,
Rhopalomenia_ and _Myzomenia_. They have been taken in nearly all seas
except the South Atlantic and S.E. and N.W. Pacific. About forty species
are known. _Chaetoderma_, of which nine species have been described, has
similar habits and distribution, but feeds chiefly on Protozoa. The
order Aplacophora is divided into two suborders.

Suborder I. NEOMENIOMORPHA.--Aplacophora with a distinct longitudinal
ventral groove; bisexual with paired genital glands and no distinct
liver. The whole of the skin except the ventral groove corresponds to
the mantle of _Chiton_. The cuticle, in some species very thick,
contains numerous spicules which are long, hollow and calcified; they
are secreted by epithelial papillae. In some species there are also
sensory papillae comparable to the aesthetes of Chitons. A small
longitudinal projection in the ventral groove represents the foot.
Into the groove open mucous glands, a large one anteriorly and another
opening into a posteriorly cloacal, branchial cavity.

[Illustration: FIG. 9.--_Neomenia carinata_, Tullberg (after Tullberg).

A, Lateral view.
B, Ventral view.
C, Dorsal view.
D, Ventral view of a more extended specimen.
a, Anterior.
b, Posterior extremity.
c, Furrow, in which the narrow foot is concealed.]

_Branchiae._--In _Neomeniidae_ and most of the _Parameniidae_ there is
a circlet of gills on the inner walls of the cloacal chamber. These
gills are simple folds or laminae of the body wall. In other species
they are absent.

_Intestine._---The mouth opens into a muscular pharynx lined by a
thick cuticle. Into the pharyngeal cavity open salivary glands and
radular sac. The former are paired and ventral, and open on a
subradular prominence. In some species there is a second dorsal pair.
_Neomenia_ and other genera have no salivary glands.

The radula when present comprises several transverse rows of teeth,
and each transverse row may have several teeth (polystichous), two
teeth (distichous), or one tooth (monostichous). It is a curious fact
that in the original type _Neomenia_ the radula is entirely absent, as
it likewise is in several genera of _Proneomeniidae_. The oesophagus
is short and leads into a long, straight stomach, provided with
numerous symmetrical lateral caeca. The stomach opens into a short
straight rectum which opens into the branchial chamber.

_Coelom, Gonads and Excretory Organs._--The coelom differs from that
of the Chitons in the fact that the cavities of the genital organs are
continuous with it, and in the fact that there is only one pair of
coelomoducts resembling the renal organs of Chitons, but serving also
as genital ducts. The gonads are paired and hermaphrodite, they form a
pair of anterior prolongations of the pericardium, extending nearly to
the anterior end of the body. Ova are developed on the median,
spermatozoa on the outer wall of each genital tube. The pericardium is
ciliated internally on its dorsal and lateral walls. The urino-genital
tubes arise from the posterior angles of the pericardium, pass first
forwards, then backwards, and unite to open by a common opening into
the cloaca below the anus except in _Strophomenia_, where the openings
are separate. Usually each tube is provided with caecal appendages on
its proximal portion, and these serve as vesiculae seminales, while
the distal portion is enlarged and glandular and secretes the
egg-shell.

_Heart and Vascular System._--There is a heart in the pericardium
consisting of a median ventricle attached, except in _Neomenia_, to
the dorsal wall of the pericardium, and in _Neomenia_ a pair of
auricular ducts returning blood from the gills to the ventricle. The
aorta is not independent as in Chitons, but is a sinus like the other
channels of the circulation. A single median ventral sinus passes
backwards to the gills or cloaca. The blood is coloured red by
haemoglobin in blood corpuscles.

_Nervous System._--Ganglionic enlargements are more conspicuous than
in the Chitons. In front of the buccal mass is a median cerebral
ganglion. From this pass off two pairs of cords, the pleural and
pedal, in _Proneomenia_ separate from their origin, in _Neomenia_
united at first and diverging at a pleural ganglion. The pedal cords
anteriorly form a pair of pedal ganglia united by a thick commissure.
The supra-rectal commissure may be present and bear an ovoid ganglion;
or may be wanting. With regard to sense organs the epithelial papillae
of the mantle have been mentioned. There is also in some genera a
median retractile sensory papilla on the dorsal posterior surface
above the rectum, not covered by the cuticle.

_Development_ has only been described in _Myzomenia banyulensis_, by
G. Pruvot. It closely resembles in the early stages that of Chitons.
The external surface of the trochosphere is formed of a number of
ciliated test-cells. The ectoderm behind the ciliated ring develops
spicules, and the post-oral region of the larva elongates. Later the
ciliated ring or velum disappears and seven imbricated calcareous
plates, made up of flattened spicules, are formed on the dorsal
surface. This appears to indicate that the Neomeniomorpha are
descended from _Chiton_-like ancestors, and that they have lost their
shell valves.

_Classification of the_ NEOMENIOMORPHA.--Fam. 1. _Lepidomeniidae._
Slender, tapering behind, with subventral cloacal orifice; thin
cuticle without papillae; flattened spicules; no gills.
_Lepidomenia, Ismenia, Ichthyodes, Stylomenia, Dondersia,
Nematomenia, Myzomenia, M. banyulensis_, Mediterranean and Plymouth.

Fam. 2. _Neomeniidae._ Short, truncate in front and behind; cloacal
orifice transverse; gills present; rather thin cuticle; no radula.
_Neomenia_ (_N. carinata_, N. Atlantic and N. and N.W. Scotland),
_Hemimenia_.

Fam. 3. _Proneomeniidae._ Elongated, cylindrical, rounded at both
ends; thick cuticle with acicular spicules; radula polystichous or
wanting. _Proneomenia, Amphimenia, Echinomenia, Rhopalomenia_ (_R.
aglaopheniae_, Mediterranean and Plymouth), _Notomenia, Pruvotia,
Strophomenia_.

Fam. 4. _Parameniidae._ Short and truncated in front; thick cuticle,
often without papillae; gills and radula present. _Paramenia,
Macellomenia, Pararhopalia, Dinomenia, Cyclomenia, Proparamenia,
Uncimenia, Kruppomenia._

Suborder II. CHAETODERMOMORPHA.--Aplacophora without distinct ventral
groove, with single median unisexual gonad, with differentiated
hepatic sac, and with cloacal chamber furnished with two bipectinate
gills. There are only two genera in this suborder: _Chaetoderma_, and
_Limifossor_ from Alaska. The characters therefore are very uniform.
The body is worm-like and cylindrical, the posterior half a little
thicker than the anterior; the posterior extremity forms the enlarged
funnel-like branchial or cloacal chamber. The anterior extremity is
also somewhat enlarged. The whole surface is uniformly covered with
short compressed calcareous spicula embedded in the cuticle.

[Illustration: FIG. 10.--_Chaetoderma nitidulum_, Lovén (after Graff).
The cephalic enlargement is to the left, the anal chamber (reduced
pallial chamber, containing the concealed pair of ctenidia) to the
right.]

_Branchiae._--The single pair of branchiae are placed symmetrically
right and left of the anus, and each has the structure of a ctenidium
bearing a row of lamellae on each side as in the Polyplacophora.

_Intestine._--The mouth is anterior, terminal and crescentic, and
beneath it is a rounded ventral shield. On the floor of the pharynx or
buccal mass is a rudimentary radula, which in many species consists of
a single large tooth, bearing two small teeth or a row of teeth. In
other species the radula is more of the usual type consisting of
several transverse rows of two or three teeth each. Two pairs of
salivary glands open into the buccal cavity. The digestive tube is
straight and simple, wider in its anterior part, into which opens the
duct of the hepatic caecum (fig. 4, B). The latter extends backwards
on the ventral side of the intestine.

_Coelom, Gonads and Excretory Organs._--These are closely similar in
their relations to those of the Neomeniomorpha. The chief difference
is that the gonad or generative portion of the coelom is single and
median, opening into the pericardium by a single posterior aperture.
The excretory organs or coelomoducts arise from the posterior corners
of the pericardium, run forwards and then backwards to open by
separate apertures lateral to the gills (fig. 5, A). There are no
accessory generative organs.

_The heart and vascular system_ are similar to those of the
Neomeniomorpha, the only important differences being that the
ventricle is nearly free in the pericardial cavity, and that the
latter is traversed by the retractor muscles of the gills.

_Nervous System._--There are two closely connected cerebral ganglia,
from which arise the usual two pairs of nerve cords. Pallial and pedal
on each side are closer together than in the other groups, and
posteriorly they unite into a supra-rectal cord provided with a median
ganglionic enlargement (fig. 7, C). A small stomatogastric commissure
bearing two small ganglia arises from the cerebral ganglia and
surrounds the oesophagus.

The development is at present entirely unknown.

_General Remarks on the Amphineura._

The most important theoretical question concerning the Amphineura is how
far do they represent the original condition of the ancestral mollusc?
That is to say, we have to inquire which of their structural features is
primitive and which modified. Their bilateral symmetry is obviously to
be regarded as primitive, and the nervous system shows an original
condition from which that of the asymmetrical twisted Gastropods can be
derived. But in many other features both external and internal the three
principal divisions differ so much from one another that we have to
consider in the case of each organ-system which condition is the more
primitive. According to Paul Pelseneer the Polyplacophora are the most
archaic, the Aplacophora being specialized in (1) the great reduction of
the foot, (2) the disappearance of the shell (_Cryploplax_ among the
Polyplacophora showing both reductions in progress), (3) the
disappearance of the radula. But it is a widely recognized principle of
morphology that a much modified animal is by no means modified to the
same degree in all its organs. A form which is primitive on the whole
may show a more advanced stage of evolution in some particular system of
organs than another animal which is on the whole more highly developed
and specialized. Thus the independent metamerism of certain organs in
the Chitons is not primitive but acquired within the group: e.g. the
shell valves and the ctenidia. And although embryology seems to prove
that the Neomeniomorphs are derived from forms with a series of
shell-valves, nevertheless it seems probable that the calcareous
spicules which alone are present in adult Aplacophora preceded the solid
shell in evolution.

It is held by some morphologists that the mollusc body is unsegmented,
and therefore is to be compared to a single segment of a Chaetopod or
Arthropod. In this case there should be only one pair of coelomoducts in
the adult, the pair of true nephridia which should also occur being
represented by the larval nephridia. There should also be only a single
coelom, or a pair of lateral coelomic cavities. On this view then the
Aplacophora are more primitive than the Polyplacophora in the relations
of coelom, gonad and coelomoducts; and the genital ducts of the Chitons
have arisen either by metameric repetition within the group, or by the
gradual loss of an original connexion between the generative sac and the
renal tube, as in Lamellibranchs and Gastropods, the generative sac
acquiring a separate duct and opening to the exterior on each side.

LITERATURE.--A. Sedgwick, "On certain Points in the Anatomy of
Chiton," _Proc. R. Soc. Lond._ xxxiii., 1881; J. Blumrich, "Das
Integument der Chitonen," _Zeitsch. f. wiss. Zool._ lii., 1891; A.C.
Haddon, "Report on the Polyplacophora," _Challenger Reports. Zool._
pt. xliii., 1886; H.N. Moseley, "On the presence of Eyes in the Shells
of certain Chitonidae, and on the structure of these Organs," _Quart.
Journ. Mic. Sci._ new ser. xxv., 1885; A.A.W. Hubrecht, "Proneomenia
Sluiteri," _Nied. Arch. f. Zool._ Suppl. 1., 1881; A. Kowalewsky and
A.F. Marion, "Contr. à l'histoire des Solenogastres ou Aplacophores,"
_Ann. Mus. Marseille, Zool._ iii., 1887; A. Kowalewsky, "Sur le genre
Chaetoderma," _Arch. de zool. expér_. (3) ix., 1901; P. Pelseneer,
"Mollusca," _Treatise on Zoology_, edited by E. Ray Lankester, pt. v.,
1906; E. Ray Lankester, "Mollusca," in the 9th ed. of this
Encyclopaedia, to which this article is much indebted. (J. T. C.)

FOOTNOTE:

[1] The Gr. [Greek: chitôn] was a garment in the shape of a loose
tunic, varying at different periods: see COSTUME: _Greek_.

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