Page:Chinese Pictures.djvu/114

 A CHINESE VILLAGE

the Min or Fu River, above the point where it runs into the Upper Yangtze. The black-and-white architecture of the villages reminds one constantly of Switzerland and the Tyrol. As to the village, it is by no means lacking in organisation. Every village consists of a group or groups of families with their head men, and over the head men are the district magistrates. The family is the centre of everything. The members are bound together by the strongest ties, and the family is responsible for the individual. The people have quite a genius for self-government, and every village is self-governing, having its privileges, which no one dare interfere with.