Page:Glimpses into Chinese homes.djvu/18

12 Empire every Chinese living room has a brick platform termed k’ang, built across one side. These structures are about two feet high and six feet wide. They are covered with straw matting manufactured for the purpose. They serve as a bedstead at night, and the family sit, upon them during the day, à la Turk, and take their meals from a small, low table placed thereon. A large open kettle is set in the bricks at one end, where the food is cooked. The heat and smoke from the fire pass through a flue in the platform into the chimney. This arrangement makes a very warm and comfortable bed in winter, but an extremely hot and uncomfortable one in summer, as there is no other outlet for the heat, and the stove must be used whenever food is prepared.

The furniture of the homes of the poor consists of a table, chair, bench or two, a few cooking utensils, bowls, cups and chopsticks.

In such apartments, amid dampness, smoke and vermin, the most of the people live. Some-