The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1900-11-09


5: J; =: !: :
| NH1szGVifil nv iNg@|llI| Nthe population of
NJ ',INffIHT4. 1.-THE Celestial
/ HsY1. FS DK in e d M IS
I'M T. IN y-Zz Xgreater than that
| llSNrrfBZZ ~ of Russia, Ger
1 LsSn<I ~ Nv many, England,
| I ~ - -. ~ Japan, France,
Austria and the
United States combined The coast
line of China, an unbroken stretch from
Korea to Hainan, is 100 miles in
length. The center of China proper, by
which term is meant the original 1S
provinces, exclusive of Manchuria and
Mongolia, is 1000 miles from the sea
board. A division of the empire into
! three sections northern, central and
southern China-is a help to the com
prehension of its varied physical char
acter Northern China comprises the
great plain extending from Peking
south 1000 miles, the valley of the Ho-
ang- Ho, or Yellow river, which courses
through the provinces of Honan, Shan
| 81 and Shensi. and the remote noun
famous province of kansu.
Central China is separated from the
northern section by two lofty noun
| tain ranges stretching from the bor-
/ ders of Tibet on the west almost to the
sea. South of these ranges lies the
basin of the Yang-tse-Kiang, covering
an area of 100000 square miles. In Sc
4 Letting the valley of the Yang-tSe for
her sphere CT interest England modest
/ ly covets an area over six times as
large as the United Kingdom of Great
Britain
The Chinese have two designations
for the Yang-tse to show their esteem
for the wonderful river. Yang is the
name of the ocean, and tse means son;
hence Yang-tse is the "son of the
ocean," Generally the river is called
eta Kiang.' meaning the Great riv-
en-" The length of the Yang-tse is
about 5000 miles, and steamers have
assembled it 1900 miles to the geograph-
zeal center of the IS provinces. lchang
4 is the head of navigation for foreign
steamers, but native junks and other
light draft vessels go as far as Chung
King. and even 200 miles beyond, into
the province of Szechuen. Ichang and
Chung King are treaty ports and. with
Shanghai Chin-Kiang, Wuhu, Kin-IIi-.
1 ang, Shashi and Hankow, constitute
the open doors for foreign trade in the
valley of the Yang-tse
The various spellings of Chinese
names render the study of maps of the
country difficult, but there is a consist
ency in the arrangement of syllables
hD1r faS in
The points of the compass are often
\ added to the name of a city, province
or river. Tung means east, and Shan
means mountain. so Shan-Tung is east
mountain, and Shan-Si is west noun
tain, 81 meaning west. Pei means
north and nan south; tsin kin or king
means capital or metropolis; hence Pc
king and Nankin stand for the north
ern and southern capitals of the en-
pire.
Shang is Chinese for city, and Shang-
hal means city by the sea. hal being
the word for sea rs distinct from the
ocean IIo and liang both mean riy-
en-; hence Pei-Io is northern river, ST
kiang west river and hoang yellow
4 gives its name to Uoang- TIo yellow
4 river and Hoang Hal yellow sea). Ku
or kow means pass and cho or chow
depot or stopping place. These words
are often combined with others for the
names of cities, as Ta-Ilu, great pass
or mouth of the Pei-Uo and Tung-
Chow, the eastern depot of Picking.
Nan Kow, meaning south pass. hap
pens TO be ON the northern borders of
China proper, but it means the south
pass from Mongolia into the Middle
Kingdom
6 Southern China is a mountain re-
gion 1000 to 1900 miles long and 400
to 600 miles broad The highlands
touch the coast on the east and south
and on the north occasionally reach
the line Of the Yang-tse. The mountain
ranges in the south trend with the
coast, but are short and irregular, Civ
ing free passage to hundreds of
streams finding their sources in the
hills and swelling to rivers on their
way to the sea. These rivers, in spite
of their numerous rapids, are used as
waterways by the patient and skillful
Chinese Throughout the southern
mountain area of over 100000 square
miles there are no table lands. no eX-
tensive plains and no conspicuous
) mountain peaks.
. Central China has vast lake region
comprising the whole of the province
of Hupeh, the southern part of Honan
and the northern portion of Human
The Chinese call this section of their
country Hu-Kwang. or Broad lakes.
, The scenery of the region is pictur-
esque, the mountain sides often termi-
mating at the borders of a lake of
crystal clealness. Lake Poyang, 90
: miles long and 20 broad, and Taihu, 40
, miles long and 30 broad, are very shall
low and are dotted with islands. Lake
Tungting, in Human, is the principal
lake in China. 1t is formed by the wa
tiers of the river Yuen emptying them
'selves into basin 200 miles in circum-
ference having an outlet into thn