Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1868-09-13
CHINA.
interesting Resume Oh na
and Customs Of the People Oh
the Celestial Empire
Fran uns Cincinnati Commercially

ing itself 10 MANKIND. AH0
this direction in the last quarter OF a
century. and especially during the last
FIVE wears. has been unprecedentedly
rauid. Not only by commercial relations
and treaties, but also by outward emlgra-
tom. China is eyincing her growing desire
to mingle with the rest OF the world on
the same footing as the great European
and American nations. Already a large
and thriving element of our own popula-
| ton on the Pacific coast is made up OF
the natives of China.
The Chinese are, to a marked degree,
| Al industrious and economical race. Their
colossal empire is crowded with the artl-
sans Of almost every trade. One Of their
GREAT industries is the manufacture OF
porcelain, which is carried on chiefly IN
the province of Kisng-si. The single
| city of Kiantchaug contains more than a
million of Inhabitants, nearly all OF whom
are employed in the manufacture OF
china. The hustle and activity that
reign throughout this enormous I OF
human industry are almost indescrjbable.
All day long clouds of smoke and col
umns ofhame ascend from its multitude
nous chimneys, and atnightthe whole CITY
~appears like an immense coniagraton.
| Here are manufactured, in countless va
| riety. all those wares of fine porcelain,
! to which the Chinese empire has given
the name, by which they are known
| throughout the world. From the great
urns of China-ware, covered all over
with richly colored ~reliefs, representing
| scenes of Chinese life, down to the tiny
and fragile cups and saucers, so thin and
| delicate that they are known as egg-shell
| china, al kinds of porcelain ware are
| here turned out by more than five un-
dred separate factories, and thousands OF
| furnaces. The division Of labor Is car
/ ried to an extent almost infinitessimal.
| Every workman has his special depart
ment; one paints a certain flower, another
a bird: one plies a brush with the red
| color, another with the blue. A single
china vase has to pass through the hands
of more than fifty different workmen.
The beauty and perfection achieved by
/ the Chinese in this art were long the
envy and despair of Europeans. 1t dates
/ back many centuries, and specimens OF
beautiful china are still preserved that
| are older than the Christian era.
The art of p~isciculture, or rearing Of
| fish bv artificial means, has long been
known in China, although a wholly new
thing among the western nations. For
a few sapecks you may buy a bowiful OF
mud filed with spawn, large enough to
SOW a large pond with fish. In a few
davs. the Young come forth, and are fed
with tender vegetables chopped up and
thrown into the water the growth Of
these fish is prodigiously rapid; in three
to four weeks they are large enough for
the table.
Travelling in the Chinese Empire, al
though destitute of those swift convey
ances which the invention Of the past
fftv wears has contributed, is carried on
IN a peculiarly agreeable manner. The
whole southern portion of the Empire Is
so intersected by rivers and canals, that
it is easy to go to any point in boats or
iunks. These handsome boats, furnished
with all the luxuries of Chinese civiliza-
| ton. are ready for hire wherever you go.
Instead of being expressed through like
a bale of goods, at railroad speed, so that
you can see nothing, OF next to nothing,
! of the route. YOU glide gently from city
to city. with abundant room to move
about. to write or read, or view the
scenery, making of travelling a pleasure
and a luxury, instead of a penance.
Several great cities are built in the water,
ike Venice, having magnificent canals IN
place Of streets. In Northern China the
travelling is far more fatiguing. From
the absence of water facilities, 1t Is carried
on in palanquins, or IN coaches, or on
horseback. Theroads are terribly rough,
and the luxury Of springs Is unknown.
The Chinese hotels are only tolerable
in the largest towns and cities. In the
country they are extremely wretched,
though they generally bear inscriptions
in large letters on their doors, promising
the traveller peace, comfort, generosity,
and all kinds of good cheer. When you
getinto the interior, however, you quickly
discover that you are to be both cheated
and starved. China is not the only
country in which the promise Of hotel
keepers is not borne out by their per
Torrance. Chinese travellers, instructed
by experience, have a way of carrying
with them alittle bag of tea. suspendedto
the girdle. and a kind of bun, made of
boiled wheat or rice. But the poorer
classes, when they travel, swallow a vast
quantity of rice each morning, and fast
the rest of the day, having most accOmO-
dating stomachs, that support hunger
and thirst with perfect ease, but distend
themselves to take in an enormous guam
titv of provisions when feeding time
comes round.
The little feet Of Chinese women are a
traditional fashion Of a most despotic
kind, and dating from very remote an
%tiquity. The admiration for small feet
fairly amounts to a fanaticism and Chi
nese mothers never fail when a daughter
is born to them, to compress the feet in
the tightest Of ~bandages for years, until
the check to growth is placed beyond
the reach of accident. It results that
all Chinese IN are lame, and their
step is a kind of hop, as if walking upon
stills. The custom is undoubtedly q
most barbarous and absurd one, to say
nothing of its utter uselessness and it
would be equally difficult to defend the
parallel custom of many Europeans Of
compressingt the waist by artificial means
a practice even more barbarous and un-
wholesome, and which, ike the Chinese
one Of small feet, has nothing under
heaven but blind fashion to support it.
The newspaper press in China is an
established institution in most Of the
large cities, and each province has what
is known as an official gazette. The
Official Gazette, of Pekin, is among the
organs of Government. In it are printed
ali laws and ordinances, a sketch Of pub
lie affairs, the principal events of the
dav. petitions addressed to the Emperor
and his answer to them, important judi
cial proceedings, COMBINATIONS and par
dons granted By the Emperor, etc. The
Pekin Gazette is published daily, in the
form of apamphlet, and contains sixtyOr
seventy pages to each number. Yet its
subscription price is only two dollars
md a balfa wear and all printed mat