Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/736

* CHINESE ABT. 640 CHINESE EMPIRE. porcelaine (Paris, 1862). Palfiologue, L'art chi- vols I Paris, 1888), one of a set of the liibtio- tht'quf lie l'e)iseiynement des beaux-url.t, is a con- venient handbook. The special excellence of Chinese artists, their great ingenuity and taste in lirodiicing surface ornamentation in color, is well exeniplilied in Owen Jones, Examples of Chinese Ormnncnt (London, 1807). William Anderson, in his Catalogue of Japanese and Chinese Paint- inrjs in the British Museum (London, 1880). and in the elaborately illustrated work The Pictorial Arts of Japan (London, 1880), deals with Chi- nese pictorial art in color and in monochrome. Chinese architecture in the strict sense has hard- ly been treated by Europeans. There are several essays scantily illustrated in the Publications of the Hoiial Institute of ISritish Architects (Lon- don, 1800-07, 1873-74, and 1805). The Diction- urii of Architecture of the Architectural Publica- tion Society of London, Vol. II. (published about iSOo), contains an essay on Chinese architecture which summarizes the small amount of knowl- edge then existing. The separate paragrai>hs are signed by dilVerent writers, but the name of the editor isnol given. There is little of more recent date. Chois3-, in his Histoire dc I'architecture (Paris, 1801)'), has given a short but trustworthy analysis of Chinese methods of building, and of the resilting architectural effect. VioUet-le-Duc, Histoire dc Vhabitation humaine (Paris, 187.5), though With a more popular treatment, shows an almo.st equal understanding of the earliest con- struction in bamboos and round timber of small scantling. Cram, in the Dictionary of Architec- ture and ISuilding (New York, lOOl-O-i), lias sunnned up accurately what is really known of Chinese architecture, and his. article on .Jajian in the snme work cnntinnes the subject. CHINESE EMPIRE (Fr. Chine, Med. Lat. China, Ar. .SVh, Pers. Chin. 8kt. Cina ; Gk., for the people, Strai, Sihoi, S^pet, Scre.s, Lat. Seres; Turk. Khatai. Mongol. Kitnt, whence Engl. Cathaif. Russ. Kitai, from the race, generally held to be Tungusic. of Kitan, or Khitan. who ruled in the north of China from the Tenth to the Twelfth Century: the natives call their country Chung- Aifo, 'Midland,' poetically Chung-llua. 'Flower of the Middle.' or Ta-Tsing-Kwo. 'Realm of the Great Light.' an appellation applied to the empire in /o(o, and one which shows the origin of the word China). An imperial dtmiain extending over ■most of the southeastern third of Asia, and em- liracing the whole area of continental drainage into the Pacilic south of the .mur River, with the exception of Indo-China. It has an esti- mated area of about 4.225.000 sipiare miles, and an estimated population of 400.000,000 souls. It is irregularly circular in shape, lying between latitudes 18°' and 54° N. and longitudes 74° and l:)5° F,. : and it includes, besides China proper and Tibet. Eastern Turkestan, Mongolia, and Man- churia. These dependencies are described under their names, and need here only a few words. Tibet is an elevated, cold, and largely sterile plateau, surrounded by lofty mountains: and Kastern Turkestan is an elevated and almost waterless basin (the Tarim) northwest of Tibet. Its northern border is the gigantic Tian Shan range. -An area of elevated desert jjlateaus (including the Desert of Gobi, or Shamo) north of Tibet and China proper is known as .Mongo- lia (or Sungaria at its western end). It is bounded on the east bv the north and south Khingan ^Mountains, between which and the coast lies Manchuria. All of these regions are hab- itable only in limited districts, and support a scattered native population under the nominal control of China; while they represent in space two-thirds of the Chinese Empire, they amount hardly to a tenth of its population or resources, the other nine-tenths belonging to China in the connnon and restricted meaning of the term. Cinx. Proper. This is the compact, roughly quadrangular area forming the southeastern tliird of the empire, extending from the coast (some 2500 miles in length) westward to the lofty and crowded mountain ranges that form the eastern border of the Tibetan Plateau, and northward to the southern border of ilongolia. The only artificial lionndaiy is the com))ara- tively short one between Cliina and Tongking. The total area of China proper is estimated at about 1,500.000 square miles, or about one-third of that of the whole empire, and within this area is included all bvit three or four per cent, of the tol:il imijulation of the Chinese Kmpire. The whole circviit of the land frontier (about 4500 miles) consists of almost impassable mountains and deserts, which from remote antiquity have effectu- ally cut off this corner of tiie world from inter- change of people, products, and ideas with other regions and races; from this physical isolation have arisen most of the peculiarities characteris- tic of Chinese civilization and manner of thought. The vast mountains and ])lafe;uis liefween (Tiina and Tibet cover a wide are;i. :uiil send many spurs eastward and southward, especially into north- central China, where the Kuen-lun is prolonged eastward in two lines, which diminish to hills towaril the coast, but rise again in the Shan- tung Peninsula. Similarly, the Himalayas are continued across the southern ])art of China in reduced and broken lines of elevation, and this ])rolongation then sweeps northward in the jiromi- nenl range which reaches from Canton to Ning- po, outside of which is the coast region of Fu- kien. South westward of :i!l lie the heights that form the northern l)ackbone of Indo-China. These primary east-and-«est lines of moun- tains divide China into three great valleys. The southernmost, south of the Hinuilayan exten- sions, is that of the Si-kiang. which drains the two Kwang provinces into the sea at Macao. North of its watershed between the Himalayan extensions and the central Kuen-hm extensions lies the valley of the Yang-tsckiang. which is the most densely populated, highly cultivated, and im- ])orlant part of the whole emi)ire. This mighty river, exccedin.g .3000 miles in length, originates in central Tibet, and flows through hundreds of miles of self-eroded mountain valley, leading first eastward, then southward to northern Yim-nan, then northeastward through the canons of the Province of S/.e-cbnen. until it finally reaches the plains and traverses them to Hie Yellow Sea. It has many names, but all recognize it as Ta-kiang — 'great river.' .s far up as llankow-U'uchang (.500 miles) it may be navigated by ocean steam- ers; still farther. .S03 miles up to I-cliang. by smaller vessels. There the gorges begin, and fur- ther navigation is by handboats, which often must be hauled along the hank. Like all snow- fed rivers, the Yang-tsckiang is subject to sudden floods, which often amount to 50 feet as far down as Hankow: a resultant compensation, how- ever, is the constant renewal of fertility to the