Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 42904-h.htm or 42904-h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/42904/42904-h/42904-h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/42904/42904-h.zip) Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive/American Libraries. See http://archive.org/details/chinachi00blakrich Transcriber's note: Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). [)a] represents the character a-breve. Menpes Crown Series CHINA * * * * * BY THE SAME ARTIST BRITTANY 75 ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR _Square Demy 8vo._ PARIS 24 ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR _Large Crown 8vo._ INDIA 75 ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR _Square Demy 8vo._ THE THAMES 75 ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR _Square Demy 8vo._ SIR HENRY IRVING 8 PENCIL, AND TINT PORTRAITS 6¼ X 4 _inches_ VENICE 100 ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR _Square Demy 8vo._ JAPAN 100 ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR _Square Demy 8vo._ WAR IMPRESSIONS 99 ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR _Square Demy 8vo._ PUBLISHED BY A. & C. BLACK · SOHO SQUARE · LONDON · W. _AGENTS_ AMERICA THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 64 & 66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK AUSTRALASIA OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 205 FLINDERS LANE, MELBOURNE CANADA THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. 27 RICHMOND ST. WEST, TORONTO INDIA MACMILLAN & COMPANY, LTD. MACMILLAN BUILDING, BOMBAY 309 BOW BAZAAR ST., CALCUTTA * * * * * [Illustration: A SHOEMAKER] CHINA by MORTIMER MENPES Text by SIR HENRY ARTHUR BLAKE, G.C.M.G. London Adam and Charles Black 1909 CONTENTS CHAPTER I PAGE Description of China; Her Early History; Tartar Garrisons; Chinese Soldiers; Family Life; Power of Parents; Foot-Binding 1 CHAPTER II Marriage Customs; Ancestral Halls; Official Hierarchy; Competitive Examinations; Taxation; Punishments; Torture; Story of Circumstantial Evidence 15 CHAPTER III Gradations of Chinese Society; Agriculture; _Fung Sui_; Pawn Offices; River Boats and Junks; The Bore at Haining; Fishing Industry; Piracy on Rivers; Li Hung Chang; The West River; Temples of the Seven Star Hills; Howlick 33 CHAPTER IV The Yangtze; Opium; Conclusions of Singapore Commission; British and German Trade in the Far East; Town and Country Life; Chinese Cities; Peking; Temple of Agriculture; Spring Ceremony of Ploughing by the Emperor and his Court 56 CHAPTER V