Part 20
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.