GREATNESS OF CHINA

Waikato Times, Volume 122, Issue 20500, 17 May 1938, Page 9

GREATNESS OF CHINA

A VAST LAND SELF-CONTAINED NATION HOW THE PEOPLE LIFE [The following is the first of a senes of articles written ror the Waikato Tirrip-* by Captain t. Roberts, or Hamilton, who nas recently returned arter ependlny six years in China. — Copyright.] Imagine the continent of Europe with the boundaries between *the nations destroyed, and a population as great as that of Europe, but all of one race, with a common language, and an uninterrupted history longer by far than that of any of the present nations of Europe. It is a good way of measuring the greatness of China in area, in population, and in history. The Land Most of the vast territory is composed of China s dependencies, Thibet, Turkestan and Mongolia, rich in undeveloped resources, but sparsely inhabited. Their relationship to China is at the present time doubtful. Practically the whole population of the country is contained in what is called China Proper, or the twenty-two provinces. This can best be represented by thinking of the people of the whole British Empire, including India, living in that part of Europe which Is outside of Russia. In size and population each of the provinces Is a nation in itself. The largest, Szechwan, is as big as France, with a population equal to two-thirds that of the United States; the smallest. Chekiang, is two-thirds the size of England and Wales.

China is sometimes pictured as a flat, monotonous plain. This is to some extent true. In the north are great stretches of thousands of square miles of wheat land; in the east are whole provinces with scarcely a hill, and perfectly ad.mtcd to the growth of rice. But the south and west are mountainous, while spurs of mountains cut eastwards through the plains, and in Shantung even reach to the sea. China is blessed with abundant There are no fewer than ten rivers over four hundred miles in length. The greatest of these are the Yellow River, two thousand seven hundred miles long, and the Yang-tse River, more than three thousand miles in length. They flow from west to east across the country, and with their numerous tributaries have been the chief means of communication. The Yang-tse is navigable for some twelve hundred miles from Its month, and with its tributaries drains an area equal to that of Germany, France and Spain together. The climate is on the whole a healthy one. There is a considerable rainfall, and the soil Is naturally fertile. Thus the country Is capable of maintaining a large population. One need not be surprised to learn that “China is perhaps the only country in the world which in the past has been entirely capable of supplying its own wants” That China is so self-contained is due to two causes. First, she is geographically cut off from the rest of the world. On the east the Pacific Ocean has been a complete barrier, for the Chinese have never been seafarers. On the other sides are great mountainous ranges, beyond which lie the and almost trackless deserts of the Mongolia and the plateaux of Thibet. China's immediate neighbours have owed their civilisation to her. Intercourse with nations farther off was very difficult. So the Chinese learned to rely upon themselves. Natural Resources The country itself, in the second place, is one of great fertility, and rich in natural resources. Had China been a small and compaartively infertile land like Japan, she would have been unable to support her large population, and her people would have been forced to travel; her history, and probably that of the rest of the world, would have been different. But the Chinese found, almost to their hand, all they needed to support life and to develop a comparatively high type of civilisation. From this dependence upon the resources of their own land has come a tireless development of what they have, and an adaptation of simple means to their ends unequalled arflrwhere on the face of the earth.

Food Consider the average middle-class family in any part of China. Food, clothing, shelter, utensils—these comprise their wants. All are supplied by home products. Three bowls of rice twice a day, with a few mouthfuls of vegetables, constitute the average fare of the average Chinese family. Little meat is eaten. The wealthy, indeed. eat It daily, but the very poor only once or twice a year. Y'ear in and year out the food is the same, and on it the race has nourished and multiplied. Rice is produced in all but three of the provinces. In the north, wheat or millet takes its place. These crops are plentiful. Indeed. the three Manchurian provinces are rapidly becoming on* 1 of the great wheat-pro-ducing parts of the world, and therefore a possession to be valued. The vegetables eaten are all grown in the family garden, or. if the home is in a city, come from the surrounding country. "Meat means pork unless particularly described as “row s meat, ‘•goat’s m* at,* etc. Every family of any pretensions keeps a p g. which in the poorest homos, together with the family dog. chickens and children, roams freely through the house. At every street corner may be found fruit of many kinds according to the seasons. On this, with bits of sugar cane and sweetmeats, the passers-by usually have a spare cash or two to spend. Its cheapness is •iue to the fact that it is all grown at most a few miles away. Next to rice no other commodity is so universal as tea. It is the great national beveraee, and takes the place of wine or spirits, coffee. milk or water in other lands. No Chinese, except the boatman on the rivers, would willingly drink cold water, which Is a blessing, for the water is invariably polluted. While wine is distilled from rice, its use is restricted to the drinking of occasional tiny cups, or to festive occasions. The universal fondness for tea results In the comparative absence of drunken-

ness. The tea-bowl and the tobacco pipe are the bonds of social intercourse among the most sociable people alive. Tea and tobacco are grown throughout the south, centre and west of China. • • Clothing Next in importance to food is clothing. China has been called “the land of the blue cotton gown,” for the almost universal dress has been the blue cotton gown. Until very recent years all the cotton has been grown and woven in China. To-day, however, “foreign” cotton goods are becoming popular, and It is stated that the United States export more cotton goods to China than to all the rest of the world combined. In winter the Chinese have worn not wool but

cotton garments wadded with cotton wool or lined with fur. Furs are used abundantly, -and are secured in the wilds of the north and extreme west, which teem with gameThe better-class people wear silks or satins for outer garments. These are produced chiefly in four provinces, but are sold very cheaply all over the country. Felt and leather are used for shoes, though the majority of the people usually can afford only straw sandals. It is said that one can tell a man’s standing In China by looking at his feet! Building Material The houses of the better-class Chinese are built of brick, beam and plaster, or wood. The poorer people live in houses with thick mud walls, protected from the rain by low hanging eaves. Timber is scarce, and the most common types of house have mud or plaster walls. The roofs arc covered with clay tiles, burnt a dull grey colour, or with heavy thatch. In and about Canton,, and in some other parts, thousands of people live on boats. The very poorest in every part of the country have hovels made of a few poles to which are lashed bamboo mats for walls and roof. These portable houses are found by the riverside; when the river rises they can be moved to higher ground.

The houses are almost Invariably one storey in height, and the roofs of the more pretentious have an upward tilt to the eaves. This is variously explained as a survival of prehistoric days when the Chinese lived a nomadic life in tents, or as due to superstition, being supposed to prevent evil spirits from sliding down the roof to molest theinhabitants at the doorway. The household utensils of the average family are very simple, but well adapted to their needs. While timber is not usually plentiful there is enough to make cheaply the square tables, benches, cupboards, and heavy beds required In every home. A poor family can buy this outfit for not more than three dollars Mexican, or six shillings. The cooking Is done on a rough but effective square stove built of brick or stone plastered with mud, In which is set a deep round iron pan. In this pan (called a “go”) all the cooking for the family Is done. The fuel used may be coal or wood, but the great majority of the Chinese depend for firing on twigs, leaves and grass gathered by children who are too young to do other work. In the north the brick stove is used as a bed at night. In the homes of the well-to-do there is much more comfort. The floor, instead of being of beaten earth, is of board, concrete or brick. The beds are gorgeously gilded, and draped with handsome curtains. The bedding is covered with silk, the furniture is solid and expensive, and there are beautiful porcelain vases on stands, painted scrolls on the walls, and matting on the floors. But whether the home is rich or poor, all Its necessary furnishings are products of China. The Bamboo Mention must be made of the bamboo, which may truly be called China s greatest resource. Its graceful plumes are seen in all parts of China except the north, and it is put to every possible use. It Is eaten, as bamboo sprouts; itis braided into hats; houses of woven bamboo mats resting on bamboo poles are entirely built of it; and it is used for seats, tables, rakes, baskets, boat-poles, boxes, rope, water-wheels, sedan chairs, and many other things. A foreigner once made a list of over seventy uses to which he had known it put. If anything breaks, it will probably be rebound with bamboo strips. Yet, while some may call it “China’s friend,” a machinist once said to the author that it had been “one of China’s greatest enemies.” The very ease with which it ran be used has made it unnecessary to perfect the use of the metals. Hence China has not developed the manufacture of iron, steel, or other metals.

Mineral Wealth This is not because she laoks them. She has immense mineral resources. But the superstitious fear of disturbing the dragons, supposed to be sleeping in the earth, and to be able to bring terrible disaster if aroused, has prevented any extensive opening of mines. Only guesses (which may be wide of the mark' can be made at the real extent of China’s mineral wealth, but it must be very great. Coal is found In every province, and “it is estimated that the vast coal measures of South Shansi would amply supply the world with coal, at the present rate of consumption, for thousands of years to coine.” Iron is found in large quantities throughout China, being never far from coal. Other minerals found extensively are copper (the copper mines arc owned by the Government, and tl utput is used for coining copper money . silver, zinc. tin. gold, and lead. With Hie introduction of western machinery and ttie increase of railway facilities China will undoubtedly become one of the greatest mineral producing countries of the world. To sum up the natural resources of primarily agricultural. In China the science of farming has been brought to a very high state of perfection. She lias also produced the truest silks and satins in the world, and these, with cotton, have clothed her people. A country that, with simple methods and without steamdriven machinery, can feed and clothe a quarter of the world’s population is on*' to be accounted a serious rival in the coming competition of the nations. Her mineral resources are enormous, and only await development to bring China great wealth from abroad.