Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 3.djvu/771

 CHINA

687

CHINA

Kai-feng, through Cheng-ehou, to Ho-nan-fu, 41 miles 'in addition to 75 miles under construction). Shan- tung: Tsing-chou, through Tsi-nan, to Po-shan, 270 mile s; Hwang-tai-kiao to Lo-kou, 1 miles. Kiang-su: Shanghai, through Su-chou, Chin-kiang, to Nan-king, 90 miles i in ad. lit inn to 113 miles under construction ), Che-kiang: Hang-chou City to Hang-ehou Settlement, 3 miles, under construction. In Kiang-si and Hu- nan: Yuen-chou to Shui-chou,64 miles. Kwang-tung: Swatow to Chao-chou-fu, 25 miles; Kung-yik through Sun-ning, to Sam-ka-hoi, ri~> miles under construction; Canton to Sam-shui, 30 miles. Kwang-tung, Hu-nan. and Hu-pe: Canton, through Chang-sha, to Ilan-kou, 720 miles. Yun-nan: Ilo-kou, through Meng-tze to Yun-nan-fu, 19 miles (in addition to 273 under con- struction).

Projected Railways. — Ilan-kou to Ch'eng-tu via Ch'ung-k'ing: Su-chou to Hang-chou and Ning-po; Chang-sha to Chenn-chou-fu; Shanghai to Kia-sing; Amoy to yen-ping, Tsean-chou-fu, Fu-chou-fu; Si- ngan-fu toTung-kwan (Shen-si); Tai-yuan-fu to Ping- yang-fu (Shan-ei : Tse-chou to Tao-kou; Ta-tung-fu to Kalgan; Tien-tsin to Te-chou and Chin-kiang; Canton to Kow-loon; Wu-hu to Kwang-te-chou (Ngan-hwei); Canton to Amoy; Canton to Kan-chou (Kiang-si) ; Chenn-chou-fu to Chang-te (Northern Hu- 1 1 : . 1 1 1 ; Heng-chou-fu to Yung-chou-fu (Hu-nan); Tung-kwan to Pu-chou-fu (Shen-si, Shan-si); Kiu- kiang to Nan-chang Kiang-si); Sin-ning to Yung- kiang (Kwang-tung); Kalgan to Kulun (Mongolia); Lan-chou-fu to Hi (Sin-kiang).

Weights and Measures. — Measuresof length: one hih), 1 tj inches = 10 tsun; 1 tsun = 10 fen; = 1 cliang; lo chang = 1 yu. One li = 360 kimg or 867 yards. The land measures are the mao = 240 pu or 26.73 sq. ft.; 100 mao = one king or 16.7 acres. The t'ou = 10 cheng or 2.269 Measuresof weight: The tan or picul = 100 kin oi catties = 133J His.; 1 kin (pound or catty) = 16 taels or 1J lb.; 1 tael (ounce or Hang) = 24 or li oz.; 1 Hang = 10 tsien; 1 tsien = 10 fen; 1 fen = 10 li. Money: 1 tael or Hang = 10 tsien (mace); 1 mace = 10 fen (candareen); 1 candareen = 10 li or cash (in French sapkgue). The tael is a weight of silver which varies considerably in value; in 1906 the Haikwan tael, in which the custom rev- enues and all values are given, was equivalent to 2. Hi Indian rupees, 1.60 Japanese ven, Mexican $1.54, English 3s. 3id., U. S. 10.80. Chinese lump silver. cailed sycee (fine silk), is made into ingots resem- bling in shape a shoe. The silver experts are called shroff.

Calendar. — The common year has twelve lunar months. In a period of 19 years there are seven intercalary years, each of 13 months. Years are reckoned either from the beginning of the reign of the emperor, or from th-'r place in the cycle of 60 years. The sexagenary cycle was devised by Ta-nao. Minis- Bwang-ti, the sixty-first year of whose reign ras taken for the first cyclical sign. A common civil year consists of 354 or 355 days, and the intercalary year of from 383 to 385 days. Since the time of Emperor K'ang-hi the day is divided into 96 re, sub-divided into 15 /en, or minutes, the minute into 60 rtliao, or seconds, each second into in turn are divided into 12 shih, sub- divided into 2 i ' i

- DIAL] i iiuly name of a Chinaman is

■ii,i, the "hundred families". Tin- preiiomen is ming-tzi; the Christian name sheng-ming; the name given to children by parents niii-ming; the official name kinm-ming. An emperor, besides his personal name, has a title

title or pos- thumous name miao-hao; some of the emperors have had several nien-hao. Thus Iliwm-yi was the personal name of the emperor, whose nien-hao

(period) was K'ang-hi, and his miao-hao was Sheng Tsu.

The marriage ceremonies include the visit to the pro.pectiv: bri l< : fath.r an 1 brother |i in intr mediary (mei-jin) sent by the prospective bride- groom's father and brother to inquire her name, which is to be examined by the horoscope; if the horoscope be auspicious, the met fin is senl to make

an offer of marriage which, if accepted, is confin 1

in writing: presents are sent to the parents of the bride; a lucky day is selected for the wedding, and the bridegroom sends some of his friends to hiing the bride to his house. The seven valid grounds for divorce are: talkativeness, wantonness, theft, bar- renness, disobedience to a husband's parents, jeal- ousy, and inveterate infirmity; to these infidelity has been added.

The burial ceremonies are more or less varied, short or long according to the wealth of the deceased, and the dead are buried in graves. The graves of the Ming emperors at Nan-king and in Mongolia are famous. The emperors of the present dynasty are buried in Chi-li in mausoleums called Tung-ling and Si-ling; their ancestors rest at Mukden. The period of mourning for a father is three years, which is re- duced in practice to twenty-seven months. \\ hue is the mourning colour in China: it is blue for the emperor, and the seals are inked blue instead of ver- milion.

The main food is rice (fan), and as it does not grow in Northern China, great quantities are transported from the southern provinces and Cochin-China. Among Chinese delicacies are birds' nests i!Yit-»7i>, nests of the colloculia brevirostris, which arc ma< a sea-weed (gelidium); dried shark's fins, black in- white (pe-yu-ehi or he-yu-rhi); beehe-de-mer sari); preserved eggs (pi-tan, sung-hwa-tari). The Chinese use a great deal of oil (hiang-yu) extracted from the sesamum orientals, the Arachis hypogasa, or the Brassica sinensis. The Chinese drink tea and fermented liquors (sam-shoo and others). They eat with small wooden or ivory sticks, called chop- sticks (kwai-tze); they know the use of the fork (cho-tze), the spoon (pian-keng), and the knife (too).

Festivals. — The first day of the first moon (Fuon- tan) or New Year's Day, is the occasion of great festivity. Houses are decorated with paper ft and small strips of gilt and red paper; debt-- are paid, and accounts are settled. The first Full moon of the year is the Feast of Lantern- Shang-yuan ! when lanterns of various forms, colours, and mile rials are suspended before each door. The fifth day of the fifth moon is the Feast of the Dragon's Boats (T'ien-chung-sieh), instituted in the memory of (he statesman K'iu Yuan, who drowned himself in the river Mi-lo, an affluent of the Tung-ting lake, in the fourth century B. c. Other festivals are those of the village gods (T'u-ti-tiut), of the god of literature ch'ang-tan), of Sakyamuni. Kwan-yn, Confucius, etc.

On 9 Oct., 1907, an imperial edicf wat issued in Peking, ordering the Board of Revenues and Com- merce forthwith to introduce a uniform system of weights and measures throughout the Chinese Em- pire, the standards to be fixed within six months.

Gbnbral. — For a complete bibliography Bee ' i

I empire Paris, 1904-08); Richard, < ■■■,■■' ■ '■■ ography

"1 th> i 'lant.se Empire- in < / I

hfli, 19081 I Ip Men

del BTOfl R >.rl<» dc

lii China (Madrid, L642); Magaillans, A relation

Hi l.i

present > I ic Halde, /'>

d» Vemp rrnanl

177ii

1S1 I .; I. | ;

i (London, 1883); Richthofen, CI - Berlin, 1877);

Gray, I :

Maters, The Chinese <