Page:EB1911 - Volume 24.djvu/835

Rh considerably. From December to March it is cool everywhere, and 10° of frost are experienced on the open downs. The hot season temperature is 80° to 90°, rising to 100° in the Salween valley. The rains begin about the end of April, but are not continual till August, which is usually the wettest month. They last until the end of October or beginning of November. The annual rainfall varies from 60 in. in the broader valleys to 100 on the higher mountains.

Race and Language.—According to the census of 1901 there were 787,087 Shans (see above) in Burma. The Thai or Tai, as they call themselves, were first known to the Burmese as Tarôks or Tarets. The original home of the Thai race was S.W. China, or rather that was the region where they attained to a marked separate development as a people. It is probable that their first settlement in Burma proper was in the Shweli valley, and that from this centre they radiated at a comparatively recent date N., W. and S.E. through Upper Burma into Assam. It is supposed that the Thai race boasts of representatives across the whole breadth of Indo-China, from the Brahmaputra as far as the gulfs of Siam and Tongking; that it numbers among its members not only the Shans proper, the Laos and the Siamese, but also the Muongs of French Indo-China, the Hakas of S. China, and the Li, the inhabitants of the interior of the far Eastern island of Hainan in the China seas. But no exhaustive survey of the Thai has yet been accomplished. For the purposes of Burma they may be divided into the N.W., the N.E., the E. and the S. Shans. The Siamese and the Laos are the principal representatives of the S. division. Siamese are found in considerable numbers in the districts of Amherst, Tavoy and Mergui in the Tenasserim division. The total at the time of the census of 1201 was 3I,800, while that of the Laos was 1047. The country of the E. Shans lies between the Rangoon-Mandalay railway and the Mekong, and is bounded roughly on the N. and S. by the 22nd and 20th parallels of latitude. It includes the S. Shan States, and comprises the country of the Lü and the Hkün of the states of Kēngtūng and Kēnghūng. Linguistically the connexion between the after two races and the Laos is very close, but apparently the racial affinity is not sufficiently near to justify the classification of the Hkün and the Lü with the S. Thai. The N.W. Shan region is the area extending from Bhamo to Assam between the 23rd and 28th parallels of latitude. It corresponds more or less with those portions of Katha, Myitkyina, Bhamo and Upper Chindwin districts which at one time or other during the palmy days of the Shan dominion acknowledged the suzerainty of the Sawbwa of Mogaungu The N.E. Shans are the Chinese-Shans who are found where Upper Burma and the N. Shan states border on China.

The Thai language may be divided into two sub-groups, the N. and the S. The S. includes Siamese, Lao, Lü and Hküh; the N., the three forms of Shan, namely, N. Burmese-Shan, S.-Burmese Shan and Chinese-Shan with Hkamti and Ahom. The vernacular of the people who are directly known in Burma as Shan is S. Burmese-Shan. This language is isolating and polytonic. It possesses five tones, a mastery of which is a sine quâ non if the language is to be properly learnt. It is exhaustively described in the works of Dr Cushing. The Shans are a peaceful race, fond of trading. During the past decade the trade with Burma has increased very largely, and with the construction of the railway to Lashio a still further increase may be expected in the N. states. The cultivation of wheat and potatoes in the S. states promise them wealth also when a railway furnishes them means of getting the produce out of the country. Since 1893 the peace of the Shan States has been practically undisturbed.

See Ney Elias, Introductory Sketch of the History of the Shans in Upper Burmah and West Yun-nan (Calcutta, 1876); Cushing, Shan Dictionary (Introduction); Bock, Temples and Elephants; Sir A. Phayre, History of Burmah; A. R. Colquhoun, Across Chrysé (London, 1883), and Amongst the Shans (1885); Diguet, Étude de la langue Thai (Paris, 1896).

SHAN-TUNG (“East of the Mountains”), a maritime province of China, bounded N. by the province of Chih-li and the Gulf of Chih-li, E. by the Yellow Sea, S. by Kiang-su and the Yellow Sea and W. by Chih-li. Area about 56,000 sq. m., population (estimated) 37,500,000. It is the most densely inhabited part of China, and is celebrated as the native province both of Confucius and Mencius. It is divided into ten prefectures, with as many prefectural cities, of which (q.v.), the provincial capital, is the chief.

The physical features of the province are very plainly marked. The centre and eastern are occupied by mountain ranges running N.E. and S.W:, between which lie fertile valleys, while the north-western, southern and western portions form part of the great deltaic plain of the north of China. The mountainous region projects seaward beyond the normal coast line forming a large peninsula, the shores of which are deeply indented and contain some good harbours, such as that of Kiao-chow. The most considerable range of mountains occupies the centre of the province, the highest peak being the T'ai-shan (5060 ft.), a mountain famous in Chinese history for more than 4000 years, and to which hundreds of pilgrims annually resort. The Lao-shan, east of Kiao-chow, fringes the south-eastern coast for about 18 m. With the exception of the Hwang-ho, which traverses the province in a north-easterly direction to the sea, there are no large rivers in Shan-tung. The most considerable are the Wei, which flows into the Gulf of Chih-li; the I-ho, which empties into a lake lying east of the Grand Canalyand the Ta-wen, which rises at the southern foot of the I-sham Mountains and terminates in the Grand Canal. The canal traverses the provinces S. to N. east of the mountain region. There are several lakes, notably the Tu-shan Hu, which borders on the Grand Canal in the south-west. The fauna includes wild boars, wolves, foxes, badgers, partridges, quails and snipe. Cotton, silk, coal, grain, &c. are produced in the fertile tracts in the neighbourhood of the lakes. Not being a loess region, the mountains are unproductive, and yield only brushwood and grass, while the plain to the north is so impregnated with salt that it is almost valueless, especially near the sea, for agricultural purposes. The valleys between the mountains and the plain to the south-west are, however, extremely rich and fertile.

The chief wealth of Shan-tung consists in its minerals, the principal of which is coal. Several coal-fields are worked; the most considerable lies in the valley of the Lao-fu river in the centre of the province. Another large field lies on the plain a little to the south of I-chow Fu in the south. A third field is in the district of Wei Hien to the north; and a fourth in the neighbourhood of I-Hien in the south-west. Iron ore, ironstone, gold, galena, lead and copper are also found in considerable quantities in many districts.

Agricultural products are wheat, millet, Indian corn, pulse, arrowroot and many varieties of fruits and vegetables. Rice is grown in the extreme south of the province. Among trees, stunted pines, dwarf oaks, poplars, willows and the cypress are fairly plentiful. The castor-oil plant, is common, and the wax tree grows plentifully in the neighbourhood of Lai-yang in the east, giving rise to a considerable trade in the wax produced by the wax insects. Unlike those of their kind in Sze Ch'uen, the Wax insects of Shan-tung breed and become productive in the same districts. They are placed upon the trees in the spring, and at the close of the summer they void a peculiar substance which when melted forms wax. In the autumn they are taken off the trees, and are preserved within doors until the following spring. Sericulture is an important industry. The worms are fed in the west on mulberry leaves, in the east on those of the dwarf oak, the material made from the silk produced from the oak-fed worms being known as pongee or Chifu silk. The worm itself, after the cocoon has been used, is eaten and is esteemed a delicacy.

Besides Chi-nan Fu, the provincial capital, other inland cities are Tsao-Chow Fu (pop. 150,000) on the Grand Canal. (an industrial centre) and Wei-hsien (100,000), a commercial centre. The ports of Shan-tung include Chifu, Wei-hai-Wei and Kiao-chow (Tsing-tao), all separately noticed.

As part of compensation for the murder of two German missionaries in 1897 in this province—Protestant mission work in Shan-tung dates from 1860—the Germans took possession on lease of the port of Kiao-chow, 300 m. N. of Shanghai, a 36 hours run by steamer, with which were associated many railway and mining rights in the district. In fulfilment of these rights a railway has been constructed connecting Kiao-chow with Chinan-fu, the capital; there it connects with another railway crossing the province north to south and forming part of the Tientsin and Chin-kiang line. In consequence of this acquisition, of territory by Germany and the subsequent seizure of Port Arthur by Russia, Great Britain accepted the lease of Wei-hai-Wei on the same terms. The convention confirming this arrangement was signed on the 1st of Tuly 1898. It was in Shang-tung that the Boxer movement was first turned against foreigners (see, § History).

See M. Broomhall, The Chinese Empire (London, 1907), pp. 93-100; L. Richard, Comprehensive Geography of the Chinese Empire (Shanghai, 1908), pp. 79-89, and authorities there cited.

SHAPIRA, M. W. (c. 1830–1884), Polish vendor of spurious antiquities, was of Jewish birth, but appears to have become a Christian early in life. He opened a shop for the sale of antiquities in Palestine, and after the discovery of the Moabite Stone in 1872 was successful in selling to the Prussian government for 20,000 thaler a number of alleged pieces of Moabite pottery. These were shown by Clermont-Ganneau and others (cf. Kautzsch and A. Socin, Ächtheit der moabitischen Altertümer, 1876) to be forgeries produced by Shapira's client Selim al-Kari. Undeterred by this exposure, Shapira continued to do a considerable trade especially in Hebrew MSS. from Yemen, but