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Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 2 - "Chicago, University of" to "Chiton"
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Book of Changes.

But the tale of Chinese philosophers is a long one. It is a department of literature in which the leading scholars of all ages have mostly had something to say. The great Chu Hsi, A.D. 1130-1200, whose fame is chiefly perhaps that of a commentator and whose monument is his uniform exegesis of the Confucian Canon, was also a voluminous writer on philosophy. He took a hand in the mystery which surrounds the I Ching (or Yih King), generally known as the Book of Changes, which is held by some to be the oldest Chinese work and which forms part of the Confucian Canon. It is ascribed to King Wen, the virtual founder of the Chou dynasty, 1122-249 B.C., whose son became the first sovereign and posthumously raised his father to kingly rank. It contains a fanciful system of divination, deduced originally from eight diagrams consisting of triplet combinations of a line and a broken line, either one of which is necessarily repeated twice, and in two cases three times, in the same combination. Thus there may be three lines , or three broken lines , and other such combinations as and . Confucius declared that he would like to give another fifty years to the elucidation of this puzzling text. Shao Yung, A.D. 1011-1077, sought the key in numbers: Ch'eng I., A.D. 1033-1107, in the eternal fitness of things. "But Chu Hsi alone," says a writer of the 17th century, "was able to pierce through the meaning and appropriate the thoughts of the inspired man who composed it." No foreigner, however, has been able quite to understand what Chu Hsi did make of it, and several have gone so far as to set all native interpretations aside in favour of their own. Thus, the I Ching has been discovered by one to be a calendar of the lunar year; by another, to contain a system of phallic worship; and by a third, to be a vocabulary of the language of a tribe, whose very existence had to be postulated for the purpose.

Kuan Chung.

Political Economy.—This department of literature has been by no means neglected by Chinese writers. So early as the 7th century B.C. we find Kuan Chung, the prime minister of the Ch'i state, devoting his attention to economic problems, and thereby making that state the wealthiest and the strongest of all the feudal kingdoms. Beginning life as a merchant, he passed into the public service, and left behind him at death a large work, parts of which, as we now possess it, may possibly have come direct from his own hand, the remainder being written up at a later date in accordance with the principles he inculcated. His ideal State was divided into twenty-one parts, fifteen of which were allotted to officials and agriculturists, and six to manufacturers and traders. His great idea was to make his own state self-contained; and accordingly he fostered agriculture in order to be independent in time of war, and manufactures in order to increase his country's wealth in time of peace. He held that a purely agricultural population would always remain poor; while a purely manufacturing population would risk having its supplies of raw material cut off in time of war. He warmly encouraged free imports as a means of enriching his countrymen, trusting to their ability, under these conditions, to hold their own against foreign competition. He protected capital, in the sense that he considered capitalists to be necessary for the development of commerce in time of peace, and for the protection of the state in time of war.

Mencius (see above) was in favour of heavily taxing merchants who tried to engross for the purpose of regrating, that is, to buy up wholesale for the purpose of retailing at monopoly prices; he was in fact opposed to all trusts and corners in trade. He was in favour of a tax to be imposed upon such persons as were mere consumers, living upon property which had been amassed by others and doing no work themselves. No tax, however, was to be exacted from property-owners who contributed by their personal efforts to the general welfare of the community. The object of the tax was not revenue, but the prevention of idleness with its attendant evil consequences to the state.

Wang An-shih.

Wang An-shih, the Reformer, or Innovator, as he has been called, flourished A.D. 1021-1086. In 1069 he was appointed state councillor, and forthwith entered upon a series of startling reforms which have given him a unique position in the annals of China. He established a state monopoly in commerce, under which the produce of a district was to be used first for the payment of taxes, then for the direct use of the district itself, and the remainder was to be purchased by the government at a cheap rate, either to be held until there was a rise in price, or to be transported to some other district in need of it. The people were to profit by fixity of prices and escape from further taxation; and the government, by the revenue accruing in the process of administration. There was also to be a system of state advances to cultivators of land; not merely to the needy, but to all alike. The loan was to be compulsory, and interest was to be paid on it at the rate of 2% per month. The soil was to be divided into equal areas and taxed according to its fertility in each case, without reference to the number of inhabitants contained in each area. All these, and other important reforms, failed to find favour with a rigidly conservative people, and Wang An-shih lived long enough to see the whole of his policy reversed.

Sun-Tzŭ.

Military Writers.—Not much, relatively speaking, has been written by the Chinese on war in general, strategy or tactics. There is, however, one very remarkable work which has come down to us from the 6th century B.C., as to the genuineness of which there now seems to be no reasonable doubt. A biographical notice of the author, Sun Wu, is given in the Shih Chi (see above), from which we learn that "he knew how to handle an army, and was finally appointed General." His work, entitled the Art of War, is a short treatise in thirteen chapters, under the following headings: "Laying Plans," "Waging War," "Attack by Stratagem," "Tactical Dispositions," "Energy," "Weak Points and Strong," "Manoeuvring," "Variation of Tactics," "The Army on the March," "Terrain," "The Nine Situations," "The Attack by Fire," and "The Use of Spies." Although the warfare of Sun Wu's day was the warfare of bow and arrow, of armoured chariots and push of pike, certain principles inseparably associated with successful issue will be found enunciated in his work. Professor Mackail, in his Latin Literature (p. 86), declares that Varro's Imagines was "the first instance in history of the publication of an illustrated book." But reference to the Art Section of the history of the Western Han dynasty, 206 B.C.-A.D. 25, will disclose the title of fifteen or sixteen illustrated books, one of which is Sun Wu's Art of War.

Hsue Kuang-ch'i.

Agriculture.—In spite of the high place accorded to agriculturists, who rank second only to officials and before artisans and traders, and in spite of the assiduity with which agriculture has been practised in all ages, securing immunity from slaughter for the ploughing ox—what agricultural literature the Chinese possess may be said to belong entirely to modern times. Ch'en Fu of the 12th century A.D. was the author of a small work in three parts, dealing with agriculture, cattle-breeding and silkworms respectively. There is also a well-known work by an artist of the early 13th century, with forty-six woodcuts illustrating the various operations of agriculture and weaving. This book was reprinted under the emperor K'ang Hsi, 1662-1723, and new illustrations with excellent perspective were provided by Chiao Ping-chen, an artist who had adopted foreign methods as introduced by the famous Jesuit, Matteo Ricci. The standard work on agriculture, entitled Nung Cheng Ch'uean Shu, was compiled by Hsue Kuang-ch'i, 1562-1634, generally regarded as the only influential member of the mandarinate who has ever become a convert to Christianity. It is in sixty sections, the first three of which are devoted to classical references. Then follow two sections on the division of land, six on the processes of husbandry, none on hydraulics, four on agricultural implements, six on planting, six on rearing silkworms, four on trees, one on breeding animals, one on food and eighteen on provision against a time of scarcity.

Pen Ts'no.

Medicine and Therapeutics.—The oldest of the innumerable medical works of all descriptions with which China has been flooded from time immemorial is a treatise which has been credited to the Yellow Emperor (see above), 2698-2598 B.C. It is entitled Plain Questions of the Yellow Emperor, or Su Wen for short, and takes the form of questions put by the emperor and answered by Earl Ch'i, a minister, who was himself author of the Nei Ching, a medical work no longer in existence. Without accepting the popular attribution of the Su Wen, it is most probable that it is a very old book, dating back to several centuries before Christ, and containing traditional lore of a still more remote period. The same may be said of certain works on cautery and acupuncture, both of which are still practised by Chinese doctors; and also of works on the pulse, the variations of which have been classified and allocated with a minuteness hardly credible. Special treatises on fevers, skin-diseases, diseases of the feet, eyes, heart, &c., are to be found in great quantities, as well as veterinary treatises on the treatment of diseases of the horse and the domestic buffalo. But in the whole range of Chinese medical literature there is nothing which can approach the Pen Ts'ao, or Materia Medica, sometimes called the Herbal, a title (i.e. Pen Ts'ao) which seems to have belonged to some book of the kind in pre-historic ages. The work under consideration was compiled by Li Shih-chen, who completed his task in 1578 after twenty-six years' labour. No fewer than eighteen hundred and ninety-two species of drugs, animal, vegetable and mineral, are dealt with, arranged under sixty-two classes in sixteen divisions; and eight thousand one hundred and sixty prescriptions are given in connexion with the various entries. The author professes to quote from the original Pen Ts'ao, above mentioned; and we obtain from his extracts an insight into some curious details. It appears that formerly the number of recognized drugs was three hundred and sixty-five in all, corresponding with the days of the year. One hundred and twenty of these were called sovereigns (cf. a sovereign prescription); and were regarded as entirely beneficial to health, taken in any quantity or for any time. Another similar number were called ministers; some of these were poisonous, and all had to be used with discretion. The remaining one hundred and twenty-five were agents; all very poisonous, but able to cure diseases if not taken in over-doses. The modern Pen Ts'ao, in its sixteen divisions, deals with drugs classed under water, fire, earth, minerals, herbs, grain, vegetables, fruit, trees, clothes and utensils, insects, fishes, crustacea, birds, beasts and man. In each case the proper name of the drug is first given, followed by its explanation, solution of doubtful points, correction of errors, means of identification by taste, use in prescriptions, &c. The work is fully illustrated, and there is an index to the various medicines, classed according to the complaints for which they are used.

Divination, &c.—The practice of divination is of very ancient date in China, traceable, it has been suggested, back to the Canon of Changes (see above), which is commonly used by the lettered classes for that purpose. A variety of other methods, the chief of which is astrology, have also been adopted, and have yielded a considerable bulk of literature. Even the officially-published almanacs still mark certain days as suitable for certain undertakings, while other days are marked in the opposite sense. The spirit of Zadkiel pervades the Chinese empire. In like manner, geomancy is a subject on which many volumes have been written; and the same applies to the pseudo sciences of palmistry, physiognomy, alchemy (introduced from Greek sources) and others.

Painting.—Calligraphy, in the eyes of the Chinese, is just as much a fine art as painting; the two are, in fact, considered to have come into existence together, but as might be expected the latter occupies the larger space in Chinese literature, and forms the subject of numerous extensive works. One of the most important of these is the Hsuean Ho Hua P'u, the author of which is unknown. It contains information concerning two hundred and thirty-one painters and the titles of six thousand one hundred and ninety-two of their pictures, all in the imperial collection during the dynastic period Hsuean Ho, A.D. 1119-1126, from which the title is derived. The artists are classified under one of the following ten headings, supposed to represent the line in which each particularly excelled: Religion, Human Figures, Buildings, Barbarians (including their Animals), Dragons and Fishes, Landscape, Animals, Flowers and Birds, The Bamboo, Vegetables and Fruits.

Music.—The literature of music does not go back to a remote period. The Canon of Music, which was formerly included in the Confucian Canon, has been lost for many centuries; and the works now available, exclusive of entries in the dynastic histories, are not older than the 9th century A.D., to which date may be assigned the Chieh Ku Lu, a treatise on the deerskin drum, said to have been introduced into China from central Asia, and evidently of Scythian origin. There are several important works of the 16th and 17th centuries, in which the history and theory of music are fully discussed, and illustrations of instruments are given, with measurements in each case, and the special notation required.

Miscellaneous.—Under this head may be grouped a vast number of works, many of them exhaustive, on such topics as archaeology, seals (engraved), numismatics, pottery, ink (the miscalled "Indian"), mirrors, precious stones, tea, wine, chess, wit and humour, even cookery, &c. There is, indeed, hardly any subject, within reasonable limits, which does not find some corner in Chinese literature.

Lung Wei Pi Shu.

Collections.—Reprints of miscellaneous books and pamphlets in a uniform edition, the whole forming a "library," has long been a favourite means of disseminating useful (and other) information. Of these, the Lung Wei Pi Shu may be taken as a specimen. In bulk it would be about the equivalent of twenty volumes, 8vo, of four hundred pages to each. Among its contents we find the following. A handbook of phraseology, with explanations; a short account of fabulous regions to the N., S., E. and W.; notes on the plants and trees of southern countries; biographical sketches of ninety-two wonderful personages; an account of the choice of an empress, with standard measurements of the height, length of limb, &c., of the ideal woman; "Pillow Notes" (a term borrowed by the Japanese), or jottings on various subjects, ranging from the Creation to an account of Fusang, a country where the trees are thousands of feet high and of vast girth, thus supporting the California, as opposed to the Mexico, identification of Fusang; critiques on the style of various poets, and on the indebtedness of each to earlier writers; a list of the most famous bronze vessels cast by early emperors, with their dimensions, inscriptions, &c.; a treatise on the bamboo; a list of famous swords, with dates of forging and inscriptions; an account of the old Mongol palace, previous to its destruction by the first Ming emperor; notes on the wild tribes of China; historical episodes; biographical notices of one hundred and four poets of the present dynasty; notes on archaeological, supernatural and other topics, first published in the 9th century; notes for bibliophiles on the care of books, and on paper, ink, pictures and bric-a-brac; a collection of famous criminal cases; night thoughts suggested by a meteor. Add to the above, numerous short stories relating to magic, dreams, bilocation, and to almost every possible phase of supernatural manifestation, and the reader will have some idea of what he may expect in an ordinary "library" of a popular character. It must always be remembered that with the Chinese, style is of paramount importance. Documents, the subject-matter of which would be recognized to be of no educative value, would still be included, if written in a pleasing style, such as might be serviceable as a model.

Individual Authors.—In a similar manner it has always been customary for relatives or friends, sometimes for the trade, to publish the "complete works" of important and often unimportant writers; usually, soon after death. And as literary distinction has hitherto almost invariably led to high office under the state, the collected works of the great majority of authors open with selected Memorials to the Throne and other documents of an official character. The public interest in these may have long since passed away; but they are valued by the Chinese as models of a style to be imitated, and the foreign student occasionally comes across papers on once burning questions arising out of commercial or diplomatic intercourse with western nations. Then may follow—the order is not always the same—the prefaces which the author contributed from time to time to the literary undertakings of his friends. Preface-writing is almost a department of Chinese literature. No one ever thinks of publishing a book without getting one or more of his capable associates to provide prefaces, which are naturally of a laudatory character, and always couched in highly-polished and obscure terms, the difficulty of the text being often aggravated by a fanciful and almost illegible script. Prefaces written by emperors, many examples of which may be seen, are of course highly esteemed, and are generally printed in coloured ink. The next section may comprise biographical notices of eminent men and women, or of mere local celebrities, who happened to die in the author's day. Then will follow Records, a title which covers inscriptions carved on the walls of new buildings, or on memorial tablets, and also notes on pictures which the author may have seen, places which he may have visited, or allegorical incidents which he may have imagined. Then come disquisitions, or essays on various subjects; researches, being short articles of archaeological interest; studies or monographs; birthday congratulations to friends or to official colleagues; announcements, as to deities, a cessation of whose worship is threatened if the necessary rain or fair weather be not forthcoming; funeral orations, letters of condolence, &c. The above items will perhaps fill half a dozen volumes; the remaining volumes, running to twenty or thirty in all, as the case may be, will contain the author's poetry, together with his longer and more serious works. The essential of such a collection is, in Chinese eyes, its completeness.

San Kuo Chih.

Hung Lou Meng.

Liao Chai.

Fiction.—Although novels are not regarded as an integral part of literature proper, it is generally conceded that some novels may be profitably studied, if for no other reason, from the point of view of style. With the novel, however, we are no longer on perfectly safe ground in regard to that decency which characterizes, as has been above stated, the vast mass of Chinese literature. Chinese novels range, in this sense, from the simplest and most unaffected tale of daily life, down to low—not the lowest—depths of objectionable pornography. The San Kuo Chih, an historical romance based upon a period of disruption at the close of the 2nd century A.D., is a delightful book, packed with episodes of battle, heroism, self-sacrifice, skilful strategy, and all that goes to make up a stirring picture of strenuous times. Its author, who might almost have been Walter Scott, cannot be named for certain; but the work itself probably belongs to the 13th century, a date at which the novel begins to make its appearance in China. Previous to that time, there had been current an immense quantity of stories of various kinds, but nothing like a novel, as we understand the term. From the 13th century onwards, the growth of the novel was continuous; and finally, in the 17th century, a point was reached which is not likely to be surpassed. The Hung Lou Meng, the author of which took pains, for political reasons, to conceal his identity, is a creation of a very high order. Its plot is intricate and original, and the denouement startlingly tragic. In the course of the story, the chief clue of which is love, woven in with intrigue, ambition, wealth, poverty, and other threads of human life, there occur no fewer than over four hundred characters, each one possessed of a distinctive personality drawn with marvellous skill. It contains incidents which recall the licence tolerated in Fielding; but the coarseness, like that of Fielding, is always on the surface, and devoid of the ulterior suggestiveness of the modern psychological novel. But perhaps no work of fiction has ever enjoyed such vogue among literary men as a collection of stories, some graceful, some weird, written in 1679 by P'u Sungling, a disappointed candidate at the public examinations. This collection, known as the Liao Chai, is exceedingly interesting to the foreign student for its sidelights on folklore and family life; to the native scholar, who professes to smile at the subject-matter as beyond the pale of genuine literature, it is simply invaluable as an expression of the most masterly style of which his language is capable.

Hsi Hsiang Chi.

Drama.—Simultaneously with the appearance of the novel, stage-plays seem to have come into existence in China. In the earliest ages there were set dances by trained performers, to the accompaniment of music and singing; and something of the kind, more or less ornate as regards the setting, has always been associated with solemn and festive occasions. But not until the days of the Mongol rule, A.D. 1260-1368, can the drama proper be said to have taken root and flourished in Chinese soil. The probability is that both the drama and the novel were introduced from Central Asia in the wake of the Mongol conquerors; the former is now specially essential to the everyday happiness of the Chinese people, who are perhaps the most confirmed playgoers in the world. There is an excellent collection of one hundred plays of the Mongol dynasty, with an illustration to each, first published in 1615; there is also a further large collection, issued in 1845, which contains a great number of plays arranged under sixty headings, according to the style and purport of each, besides many others. There is one famous play of the Mongol period which deals largely in plot and passion, and is a great favourite with the educated classes. It is entitled Hsi Hsiang Chi, or the Story of the Western Pavilion; and as if there was a doubt as to the reception which would be accorded to the work, a minatory sentence was inserted in the prolegomena: "If any one ventures to call this book indecent, he will certainly have his tongue torn out in hell." So far as the written play is concerned, its language is altogether unobjectionable; on the stage, by means of gag and gesture, its presentation is often unseemly and coarse. What the Chinese playgoer delights in, as an evening's amusement, is a succession of plays which are more of the nature of sketches, slight in construction and generally weak in plot, some of them based upon striking historical episodes, and others dealing with a single humorous incident.

Dictionaries.—The Erh Ya, or Nearing the Standard, is commonly classed as a dictionary, and is referred by native scholars generally to the 12th century B.C. The entries are arranged under nineteen heads, to facilitate reference, and explain a large number of words and phrases, including names of beasts, birds, plants and fishes. The work is well illustrated in the large modern edition; but the actual date of composition is an entirely open question, and the insertion of woodcuts must necessarily belong to a comparatively late age (see Military Writers).

Shuo Wen.

With the Shuo Wen, or Explanation of Written Words, we begin the long list of lexicographical works which constitute such a notable feature in Chinese literature. A scholar, named Hsue Shen, who died about A.D. 120, made an effort to bring together and analyse all the characters it was possible to gather from the written language as it existed in his own day. He then proceeded to arrange these characters—about ten thousand in all—on a system which would enable a student to find a given word without having possibly to search through the whole book. To do this, he simply grouped together all such as had a common part, more or less indicative of the meaning of each, much as though an English dictionary were to consist of such groups as

Dog-days Dog-kennel Dog-collar Dog-meat Dog-nap

and so on.

Horse-collar Horse-flesh Horse-back Horse-fly Horse-chestnut

and so on.

Hsue Shen selected five hundred and forty of these common parts, or Radicals (see Language), a number which, as will be seen later on, was found to be cumbrously large; and under each Radical he inserted all the characters belonging to it, but with no particular order or arrangement, so that search was still, in many cases, quite a laborious task. The explanations given were chiefly intended to establish the pictorial origin of the language; but whereas no one now disputes this as a general conclusion, the steps by which Hsue Shen attempted to prove his theory must in a large number of instances be dismissed as often inadequate and sometimes ridiculous. Nevertheless, it was a great achievement; and the Shuo Wen is still indispensable to the student of the particular script in vogue a century or two before Christ. It is also of value in another sense. It may be used, with discretion, in testing the genuineness of an alleged ancient document, which, if an important or well-known document before the age of Hsue Shen, would not be likely to contain characters not given in his work. Under this test the Tao Te Ching, for instance, breaks down (see Huai-nan Tzŭ).

Passing over a long series of dictionaries and vocabularies which appeared at various dates, some constructed on Hsue Shen's plan, with modifications and improvements, and others, known as phonetic dictionaries, arranged under the finals according to the Tones, we come to the great standard lexicon produced under the auspices, and now bearing the name of the emperor K'ang Hsi, A.D. 1662-1723.

Phonetic dictionaries.

But before proceeding, a rough attempt may be made to exhibit in English terms the principle of the phonetic as compared with the radical dictionary described above. In the spoken language there would occur the word light, the opposite of dark, and this would be expressed in writing by a certain symbol. Then, when it became necessary to write down light, the opposite of heavy, the result would be precisely what we see in English. But as written words increased, always with a limited number of vocables (see Language), this system was found to be impracticable, and Radicals were inserted as a means of distinguishing one kind of light from another, but without altering the original sound. Now, in the phonetic dictionary the words are no longer arranged in such groups as

Sun-light Sun-beam Sun-stroke Sun-god, &c.

according to the Radicals, but in such groups as

Sun-light Moon-light Foot-light Gas-light, &c.

according to the phonetics, all the above four being pronounced simply light, without reference to the radical portion which guides towards the limited sense of the term. So, in a phonetic dictionary, we should have such a group as

Brass-bound Morocco-bound Half-bound Spell-bound Homeward-bound Wind-bound

and so on, all the above six being pronounced simply bound. To return to "K'ang Hsi," as the lexicon in question is familiarly styled, the total number of characters given therein amounts to over forty-four thousand, grouped no longer under the five hundred and forty Radicals of Hsue Shen, but under the much more manageable number of two hundred and fourteen, as already used in earlier dictionaries. Further, as the groups of characters would now be more than four times as large as in the Shuo Wen, they were subdivided under each Radical according to the number of strokes in the other, or phonetic part of the character. Thus, adopting letters as strokes, for the purpose of illustration, we should have "dog-nap" in the group of Radical "dog" and three strokes, while "dog-days" and "dog-meat" would both be found under Radical "dog" with four strokes, and so on. The two hundred and fourteen Radicals are themselves arranged in groups according to the number of strokes; so that it is not a very arduous task to turn up ordinary characters in a Chinese dictionary. Finally, although Chinese is a monosyllabic and non-alphabetic language, a method has been devised, and has been in use since the 3rd century A.D., by which the sound of any word can be indicated in a dictionary otherwise than by simply quoting a word of similar sound, which of course may be equally unknown to the searcher. Thus, the sound of a word pronounced ching can be exhibited by selecting two words, one having the initial ch, and the other a final ing. E.g. the sound ching is given as chien ling; that is ch[ien l]ing = ching.

The Concordance.—Considering the long unbroken series of years during which Chinese literature has always, in spite of many losses, been steadily gaining in bulk, it is not astonishing to find that classical, historical, mythological and other allusions to personages or events of past times have also grown out of all proportion to the brain capacity even of the most brilliant student. Designed especially to meet this difficulty, there are several well-known handbooks, elementary and advanced, which trace such allusions to their source and provide full and lucid explanations; but even the most extensive of these is on a scale incommensurate with the requirements of the scholar. Again, it is due to the emperor K'ang Hsi that we possess one of the most elaborate compilations of the kind ever planned and carried to completion. The P'ei Wen Yuen Fu, or Concordance to Literature, is a key, not only to allusions in general, but to all phraseology, including allusions, idiomatic expressions and other obscure combinations of words, to be found in the classics, in the dynastic histories, and in all poets, historians, essayists, and writers of recognized eminence in their own lines. No attempt at explanation is given; but enough of the passage, or passages, in which the phrase occurs, is cited to enable the reader to gather the meaning required. The trouble, of course, lies with the arrangement of these phrases in a non-alphabetic language. Recourse has been had to the Rhymes and the five Tones (see Language); and all phrases which end with the same word form one of a number of groups which appear under the same Rhyme, the Rhymes themselves being distributed over five Tones. Thus, to find any phrase, the first point is to discover what is its normal Rhyme; the next is to ascertain the Tone of that Rhyme. Then, under this Tone-group the Rhyme-word will be found, and under the Rhyme-word group will be found the final word of the phrase in question. It will now only remain to run through this last group of phrases, all of which have this same final word, and the search—so vast is the collection—will usually yield a satisfactory result. The P'ei Wen Yuen Fu runs of course to many volumes; a rough estimate shows it to contain over fifteen million words.

Yuan Lo Ta Tien.

Encyclopaedias.—In their desire to bring together condensed, yet precise, information on a large variety of subjects, the Chinese may be said to have invented the encyclopaedia. Though not the earliest work of this kind, the T'ai P'ing Yue Lan is the first of any great importance. It was produced towards the close of the 10th century A.D., under the direct supervision of the emperor, who is said to have examined three sections every day for about a year, the total number of sections being one thousand in all, arranged under fifty-five headings. Another similar work, dealing with topics drawn from the lighter literature of China, is the T'ai P'ing Kuang Chi, which was issued at about the same date as the last-mentioned. Both of these, and especially the former, have passed through several editions. They help to inaugurate the great Sung dynasty, which for three centuries to follow effected so much in the cause of literature. Other encyclopaedias, differing in scope and in plan, appeared from time to time, but it will be necessary to concentrate attention upon two only. The third emperor of the Ming dynasty, known as Yung Lo, A.D. 1403-1425, issued a commission for the production of a work on a scale which was colossal even for China. His idea was to collect together all that had ever been written in the four departments of (1) the Confucian Canon, (2) History, (3) Philosophy and (4) General Literature, including astronomy, geography, cosmogony, medicine, divination, Buddhism, Taoism, arts and handicrafts; and in 1408 such an encyclopaedia was laid before the Throne, received the imperial approval and was named Yung Lo Ta Tien, or The Great Standard of Yung Lo. To achieve this, 3 commissioners, with 5 directors, 20 sub-directors and a staff of 2141 assistants, had laboured for the space of five years. Its contents ran to no fewer than 22,877 separate sections, to which must be added an index filling 60 sections. Each section contained about 20 leaves, making a total of 917,480 pages for the whole work. Each page consisted of sixteen columns of characters averaging twenty-five to each column, or a total of 366,992,000 characters, to which, in order to bring the amount into terms of English words, about another third would have to be added. This extraordinary work was never printed, as the expense would have been too great, although it was actually transcribed for that purpose; and later on, two more copies were made, one of which was finally stored in Peking and the other, with the original, in Nanking. Both the Nanking copies perished at the fall of the Ming dynasty; and a similar fate overtook the Peking copy, with the exception of a few odd volumes, at the siege of the legations in 1900. The latter was bound up in 11,100 volumes, covered with yellow silk, each volume being 1 ft. 8 in. in length by 1 ft. in breadth, and averaging over 1/2 in. in thickness. This would perhaps be a fitting point to conclude any notice of Chinese encyclopaedias, but for the fact that the work of Yung Lo is gone while another encyclopaedia, also on a huge scale, designed and carried out sonic centuries later, is still an important work of reference.

T'u Shu.

The T'u Shu Chi Ch'eng was planned, and to a great extent made ready, under instructions from the emperor K'ang Hsi (see above), and was finally brought out by his successor, Yung Cheng, 1723-1736. Intended to embrace all departments of knowledge, its contents were distributed over six leading categories, which for want of better equivalents may be roughly rendered by (l) Heaven, (2) Earth, (3) Man, (4) Arts and Sciences, (5) Philosophy and (6) Political Science. These were subdivided into thirty-two classes; and in the voluminous index which accompanies the work a further attempt was made to bring the searcher into still closer touch with the individual items treated. Thus, the category Heaven is subdivided into four classes, namely—again, for want of better terms—(a) The Sky and its Manifestations, (b) The Seasons, (c) Astronomy and Mathematics and (d) Natural Phenomena. Under these classes come the individual items; and here it is that the foreign student is often at a loss. For instance, class a includes Earth, in its cosmogonic sense, as the mother of mankind; Heaven, in its original sense of God; the Dual Principle in nature; the Sun, Moon and Stars; Wind; Clouds; Rainbow; Thunder and Lightning; Rain; Fire, &c. But Earth is itself a geographical category; and all strange phenomena relating to many of the items under class a are recorded under class d. Category No. 6, marked as Political Science, contains such classes as Ceremonial, Music and Administration of Justice, alongside of Handicrafts, making it essential to study the arrangement carefully before it is possible to consult the work with ease. Such preliminary trouble is, however, well repaid, the amount of information given on any particular subject being practically coextensive with what is known about that subject. The method of presenting such information, with variations to suit the nature of the topics handled, is to begin with historical excerpts, chronologically arranged. These are usually followed by sometimes lengthy essays dealing with the subject as a theme, taken from the writings of qualified authors, and like all the other entries, also chronologically arranged. Then come elegant extracts in prose and verse, in all of which the subject may be simply mentioned and not treated as in the essays. After these follow minor notices of incidents, historical and otherwise, and all kinds of anecdotes, derived from a great variety of sources. Occasionally, single poetical lines are brought together, each contributing, some thought or statement germane to the subject, expressed in elegant or forcible terms; and also, wherever practicable, biographies of men and women are inserted.

Chronological and other tables are supplied where necessary, as well as a very large number of illustrations, many of these being reproductions of woodcuts from earlier works. It is said that the T'u Shu Chi Ch'eng was printed from movable copper type cast by the Jesuit Fathers employed by the emperor K'ang Hsi at Peking; also that only a hundred copies were struck off, the type being then destroyed. An 8vo edition of the whole encyclopaedia was issued at Shanghai in 1889; this is bound up in sixteen hundred and twenty-eight handy volumes of about two hundred pages each. A copy of the original edition stands on the shelves of the British Museum, and a translation of the Index has recently been completed.

Manuscripts and Printing.—At the conclusion of this brief survey of Chinese literature it may well be asked how such an enormous and ever-increasing mass has been handed down from generation to generation. According to the views put forth by early Chinese antiquarians, the first written records were engraved with a special knife upon bamboo slips and wooden tablets. The impracticability of such a process, as applied to books, never seems to have dawned upon those writers; and this snowball of error, started in the 7th century, long after the knife and the tablet had disappeared as implements of writing, continued to gather strength as time went on. Recent researches, however, have placed it beyond doubt that when the Chinese began to write in a literary sense, as opposed to mere scratchings on bones, they traced their characters on slips of bamboo and tablets of wood with a bamboo pencil, frayed at one end to carry the coloured liquid which stood in the place of ink. The knife was used only to erase. So things went on until about 200 B.C., when it would appear that a brush of hair was substituted for the bamboo pencil; after which, silk was called into requisition as an appropriate vehicle in connexion with the more delicate brush. But silk was expensive and difficult to handle, so that the invention of paper in A.D. 105 by a eunuch, named Ts'ai Lun, came as a great boon, although it seems clear that a certain kind of paper, made from silk floss, was in use before his date. However that may be, from the 1st century onwards the Chinese have been in possession of the same writing materials that are in use at the present day.

In A.D. 170, Ts'ai Yung, who rose subsequently to the highest offices of state, wrote out on stone in red ink the authorized text of the Five Classics, to be engraved by workmen, and thus handed down to posterity. The work covered forty-six huge tablets, of which a few fragments are said to be still in existence. A similar undertaking was carried out in 837, and the later tablets are still standing at a temple in the city of Hsi-an Fu, Shensi. With the T'ang dynasty, rubbings of famous inscriptions, wherein the germ of printing may be detected, whether for the style of the composition or for the calligraphic excellence of the script, came very much into vogue with scholars and collectors. It is also from about the same date that the idea of multiplying on paper impressions taken from wooden blocks seems to have arisen, chiefly in connexion with religious pictures and prayers. The process was not widely applied to the production of books until the 10th century, when in A.D. 932 the Confucian Canon was printed for the first time. In 981 orders were issued for the T'ai P'ing Kuang Chi, an encyclopaedia extending to many volumes (see above) to be cut on blocks for printing. Movable types of baked clay are said to have been invented by an alchemist, named Pi Sheng, about A.D. 1043; and under the Ming dynasty, 1368-1644, these were made first of wood, and later of copper or lead, but movable types have never gained the favour accorded to block-printing, by means of which most of China's great typographical triumphs have been achieved. The process is, and always has been, the same all over China. Two consecutive pages of a book, separated by a column containing the title, number of section, and number of leaf, are written out and pasted face downwards on a block of wood (Lindera tzŭ-mu, Hemsl.). This paper, where not written upon, is cut away with sharp tools, leaving the characters in relief, and of course backwards, as in the case of European type. The block is then inked, and an impression is taken off, on one side of the paper only. This sheet is then folded down the middle of the separating column above mentioned, so that the blank halves come together, leaving two pages of printed matter outside; and when enough sheets have been brought together, they are stabbed at the open ends and form a volume, to be further wrapped in paper or pasteboard, and labelled with title, &c. It is almost superfluous to say that the pages of a Chinese book must not be cut. There is nothing inside, and, moreover, the column bearing the title and leaf-number would be cut through. The Chinese newspapers of modern times are all printed from movable types, an ordinary fount consisting of about six to seven thousand characters.

See J. Legge, The Chinese Classics (1861-1872); A. Wylie, Notes on Chinese Literature (1867); E. Chavannes, Memoires historiques (1895-1905); H.A. Giles, Chuang Tzŭ (1889), A Chinese Biographical Dictionary (1898), and A History of Chinese Literature (1901); A. Forke, Lun-Heng (1907); F. Hirth, The Ancient History of China (1908); L. Giles, Sun Tzŭ (1910). (H. A. GI.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] As to the origin of the names China and Cathay (the medieval name) see below Sec. History. According to one theory the name China is of Malay origin, designating originally the region now called Indo-China, but transferred in early times to China proper. By the Chinese the country is often called Shih-pa-sheng, "the Eighteen Provinces," from the number of its great territorial divisions. It is also called Chung-kwo, "the Middle Kingdom," properly used of the central part of China, and Hwa-kwo, "the Flowery Kingdom."

[2] A Chinese mile, li, or le = 0.36 English mile.

[2] For the Grand Canal the chief authority is Dominique Gandar, S.J., "Le Canal Imperial. Etude historique et descriptive," Varietes sinologiques No. 4 (Shanghai, 1903); see also Stenz, "Der Kaiserkanal," in Beitraegen zur Kolonialpolitik, Band v. (Berlin, 1903-1904), and the works of Ney Elias, Sir J.F. Davis, A. Williamson, E.H. Parker and W.R. Carles.

[4] Nevertheless there is considerable local traffic. The transit trade with Shan-tung, passing the Chin-kiang customs and using some 250 m. of the worst part of the canal, was valued in 1905 at 3,331,000 taels.

[5] The portion of the wall which abutted on to the sea has been destroyed.

[6] See the Geog. Jnl. (Feb. and March 1907). For a popular account of the wall, with numerous photographs, see The Great Wall of China (London, 1909), by W.E. Giel, who in 1908 followed its course from east to west. Consult also A. Williamson, Journey in North China (London, 1870); Martin, "La Grande Muraille de la Chine," Revue scientifique (1891).

[7] For Shanghai the figures are compiled from twenty-six years' observations. See China Sea Directory, vol. iii. (4th ed., 1904) p. 660.

[8] The thermometer registered 23 deg. F. in January 1893, on the river 28 m. below Canton. This is the lowest reading known. Ibid, pp. 104-105.

[9] See W.W. Rockhill, Inquiry into the Population of China (Washington, 1904).

[10] For a bibliography of works relating to the aboriginal races of China see Richard's Comprehensive Geography of the Chinese Empire (1908 ed.), pp. 371-373.

[11] Evidences of the social changes taking place in China are to be found in the strong movement for the education of girls, and in the formation of societies, under official patronage, to prevent the binding of women's feet.

[12] It must be remembered that there is great variety in the costumes worn in the various provinces. The particulars here given are of the most general styles of dress.

[13] Richard's Comprehensive Geography, &c. (1908 edition), pp. 340-341.

[14] Otherwise Abū Ja'far Ibn Mahommed al-Mansūr (see CALIPHATE, C. Sec. 2).

[15] For a summary of Chang Chih-tung's treatise, see Changing China (1910 edition), chap. xxii.

[16] It was announced in June 1910 that the throne had approved a recommendation of the Board of Education that English should be the official language for scientific and technical education, and that the study of English should be compulsory in all provincial scientific and technical schools.

[17] See The Times of the 19th of February and the 3rd of May 1910.

[18] Another peculiarity of loess in China is that it lends itself readily to the excavation of dwellings for the people. In many places whole villages live in cave dwellings dug out in the vertical wall of loess. They construct spiral staircases, selecting places where the ground is firm, and excavate endless chambers and recesses which are said to be very comfortable and salubrious.

[19] See J. Edkins, The Poppy in China, and H.B. Morse, The Trade and Administration of the Chinese Empire, chap. xi.

[20] Richard's Comprehensive Geography, &c. (1908 edition), p. 144.

[21] In the 18th century foreign trade was restricted to Canton. In the 17th century, however, the Dutch traded to Formosa and Amoy, and the English to Amoy also. The Portuguese traded with Canton as early as 1517. For the early intercourse between Portugal and China see the introductory chapter in Donald Ferguson's Letters from Portuguese Captives in Canton (Bombay, 1902).

[22] From The Statesman's Year Book, 1910 edition.

[23] See The Times of the 28th of March 1910.

[24] See Morse, op. cit. chap. x.

[25] The maritime customs had established a postal service for its own convenience in 1861, and it first gave facilities to the general public in 1876. An organized service for the conveyance of government despatches has existed in China for many centuries, and the commercial classes maintain at their own expense a system ("letter hongs") for the transmission of correspondence.

[26] For the causes leading to this movement and the progress of reform see Sec. History.

[27] For recent authoritative accounts of the government of China see H.B. Morse, The Trade and Administration of the Chinese Empire, chap. iii.; Richard's Comprehensive Geography, &c., Bk. I. Sec. v., and The Statesman's Year Book.

[28] The empress-consort is chosen by the emperor from a number of girls selected by his ministers from the families of Manchu nobles. From the same candidates the emperor also selects secondary-empresses (usually not more than four). Concubines, not limited in number, are chosen from the daughters of Manchu nobles and free-men. All the children are equally legitimate.

[29] Recent emperors have been children at accession and have been kept in seclusion.

[30] See "Democratic China" in H.A. Giles, China and the Chinese.

[31] W.F. Mayers, The Chinese Government (1878).

[32] This body is superseded by the Imperial Senate summoned to meet for the first time on the 3rd of October 1910.

[33] Yamen is the name given to the residences of all high officials. Tsung-li Yamen = the bureau for managing each (foreign) kingdom's affairs.

[34] An edict of the 15th of July 1909 created a naval and military advisory board. Up to that time the navy was controlled by the viceroys at Canton, Nanking, Fu-chow and Tientsin; the viceroys at Canton and Tientsin being ministers superintendent of the southern and northern ports respectively.

[35] Thus in 1910 Prince Ching, president of the grand council, was, for the third time, impeached by censors, being denounced as an "old treacherous minister," who filled the public service with a crowd of men as unworthy as himself. The censor who made the charge was stripped of his office (see The Times of the 30th of March 1910).

[36] For details of local government see Richard's Comprehensive Geography, 1908 edition, pp. 301 et seq.

[37] Morse, op. cit., 1908 edition, p. 76

[38] See The Times of the 28th of February 1910.

[39] See The Statesman's Year-Book (1910 edition).

[40] A few of the old native customs stations, which are deemed perquisites of the imperial court, may also be excepted, as, for instance, the native custom-house at Canton, Hwei Kwan on the Grand Canal, and various stations in the neighbourhood of Peking.

[41] The production of a budget in 1915 was promised in one of the reform edicts of 1908.

[42] In this article the tael used as a standard is the Haikwan (i.e. customs) tael, worth about 3s. It fluctuates with the value of silver.

[43] Roughly L43,000,000.

[44] Trade and Administration of the Chinese Empire (1910), p. 118.

[45] Temporary reductions are granted in provinces affected by rebellion, drought or flood.

[46] Information as to what extent the expenses of the new army and navy are met by the central government is lacking.

[47] To meet the expenditure on interest and redemption of the indemnities for the Boxer outrages the Peking government required the provincial authorities to increase their annual remittances by taels 18,700,000 during the years 1902-1910.

[48] It must be remembered that the Haikwan tael is here indicated.

[49] See Morse's Trade and Administration of the Chinese Empire, chap. ix.

[50] A supplementary exchange of notes of the same date excepted from the scope of this agreement the Shan-hai-kwan-Niu-chwang extension which had already been conceded to the Hongkong & Shanghai Bank.

[51] The religious aspect of the Boxer movement gave it strength. Its disciples believed that the spirits which defended China were incensed by the introduction of Western methods and ideals. Many of them believed themselves to be invulnerable to any Western weapon. (See Lord W. Cecil, Changing China, 1910, ch. i.)

[52] The diary of a Manchu noble printed in China under the Empress Dowager (1910) by J.O. Bland and E. Backhouse throws light on the subject. It was to Jung-Lu, father-in-law of Prince Chin, that the legations owed their escape from extermination.

[53] It was at this time (July 17th) that the intense anxiety of the civilized world with regard to the fate of the besieged reached its culminating point. Circumstantial accounts of the fall of the legations and the massacre of their inmates were circulated in Shanghai and found general credence. It was not till near the end of the month that an authentic message from the American minister proved these fears to be premature.

[54] In negotiating this agreement Lord Salisbury appears to have been largely influenced by the aggressive features of Russia's action in North China, while Germany appears to have been actuated by a desire to forestall isolated action by Great Britain in the Yangtsze basin. In Germany the agreement was known as the Yangtsze Agreement. Great Britain held, however, that it applied equally to Manchuria.

[55] Liu Kun-yi died in 1902. In the same year died Tao-mu, the viceroy of Canton. In these men China lost two of her most capable and enlightened officials.

[56] Prince Chun was born in 1882. He was the first member of the imperial family to be sent on a foreign mission.

[57] Tung Fu-hsiang died in 1908. A sum of some L80,000 belonging to him, and left in the provincial treasury, was appropriated for works of public utility (see The Times, April 9th, 1910).

[58] Lord W. Cecil, op. cit. p. 9.

[59] This institution was nominally a private concern which financed the Manchurian railway, but it acted as part of the Russian government machinery. The existence of the contract of the 27th of August 1896 was frequently denied until expressly admitted by the Russo-Chinese agreement of the 8th of April 1902.

[60] On the 8th of October the Russian troops had been withdrawn from Mukden, but they reoccupied the town on the 28th of the same month, Admiral Alexeiev, the viceroy of the Far East, alleging that the inertia of the Chinese officials seriously hindered the work of extending civilization in Manchuria.

[61] The form of outrage, probably the first of its kind in China, was itself a symptom of the changed times. The bomb injured Prince Tsai Tse and another commissioner, and the departure of the commission was consequently delayed some months.

[62] In 1907 further commissions were appointed, on the initiative of Yuan Shih-kai, to study specifically the constitutions of Great Britain, Germany and Japan.

[63] This department was organized at Shanghai in 1854. The Taiping rebels being in possession of the native city, the collection of customs dues, especially on foreign ships, was placed in the hands of foreigners. This developed into a permanent institution, the European staff being mainly British.

[64] The British official view, as stated in parliament on the 27th of April 1910, was that the changes resulting from the creation of the Board of Control had, so far, been purely departmental changes of form, and that the position of the inspector-general remained unaltered.

[65] See The Times of the 21st of April and 11th of May 1910.

[66] A chest contained from 135 lb to 160 lb.

[67] A picul = 133-1/2 lb.

[68] Changing China, p. 118.

[69] See The Times of 7th and 8th of March and 8th of April 1910.

[70] The first recorded importation of morphia into China was in 1892, and it is suggested that it was first used as an anti-opium medicine. Morphia-taking, however, speedily became a vice, and in 1902 over 195,000 oz. of morphia were imported (enough for some 300,000,000 injections). To check the evil the Chinese government during 1903 imposed a tax of about 200% ad valorem, with the result that the imports declared to the customs fell in 1905 to 54 oz. only. The falling off was explained "not by a diminished demand, but by smuggling" (Morse's Trade and Administration of the Chinese Empire, p. 351).

[71] A regulation by the ministry of education, dated the 14th of January 1910, ordered that no girl should be admitted to school dressed in foreign clothes or with unnatural (i.e. bound) feet.

[72] For the growth of the education movement see The Times, 4th of September 1909.

[73] The Dalai Lama left Peking in December 1908 on his return to Lhassa, which he reached in November 1909. Differences had arisen between him and the Chinese government, which sought to make the spiritual as well as the temporal power of the Dalai Lama dependent on his recognition by the emperor of China. Early in 1910 the Dalai Lama, in consequence of the action of the Chinese amban in Lhassa, fled from that city and sought refuge in India.

[74] Chang Chih-tung died in October 1909. He was a man of considerable ability, and one whose honesty and loyalty had never been doubted. He was noted as an opponent of opium smoking, and for over thirty years had addressed memorials to the throne against the use of the drug.

[75] See The Times of the 7th of September 1909.

[76] Proposals made early in 1910 by the American secretary of state for the neutralization of the Manchurian railway received no support.

[77] By a convention signed on July 4th, 1910, Russia and Japan agreed to "maintain and respect" the status quo in Manchuria.

[78] See the Quinzaine coloniale of the 10th of December 1909.

[79] See The Times of the 20th of January 1910.

[80] See for the prospects of reform The Times of 30th May 1910.

[81] La Sculpture sur pierre en Chine ait temps des deux dynasties Han (Paris, 1893).



CHINA, the common name for ware made of porcelain, given because it came from China, where the first vitrified, translucent, white ware was produced. The Portuguese or Italians gave it the name of "porcelain" (q.v.). English usage was influenced by India and the East, where the Persian chīnī was widely prevalent as the name of the ware. This is seen also in some of the earlier forms and pronunciations, e.g. chiney, cheney, and later chaney (see CERAMICS; and for "china-clay" KAOLIN).



CHINANDEGA, or CHINENDEGA, the capital of the department of Chinandega in western Nicaragua, 10 m. N.N.E. of the seaport of Corinto by the Corinto-Managua railway. Pop. (1900) about 12,000. Chinandega is the centre of a fertile corn-producing district, and has a large transit trade owing to its excellent situation on the chief Nicaraguan railway. Its manufactures include coarse cloth, pottery and Indian feather ornaments. Cotton, sugar-cane and bananas are cultivated in the neighbourhood.



CHI-NAN FU, the capital of Shan-tung, China, in 36 deg. 40' N., 117 deg. 1' E. Pop. about 100,000. It is situated in one of the earliest settled districts of the Chinese empire. The city, which lies in the valley of the present channel of the Yellow river (Hwang-Ho), and about 4 m. south of the river, is surrounded by a triple line of defence. First is the city wall, strongly built and carefully guarded, outside this a granite wall, and beyond this again a mud rampart. Three springs outside the west gate throw up streams of tepid water to a height of about 2 ft. This water, which is highly prized for its healing qualities, fills the moat and forms a fine lake in the northern quarter of the city.

Chi-nan Fu was formerly famous for its manufacture of silks and of imitation precious stones. It is now the chief commercial entrepot of Western Shan-tung but no longer a manufacturing centre. A highway connects it with the Yellow river, and it is joined by a railway 280 m. long to Kiaochow. The city has a university for instruction on Western lines, and an efficient military school. American Presbyterians began mission work in the city in 1873; it is also the see of a Roman Catholic bishop.



CHINCHA ISLANDS, three small islands in the Pacific Ocean, about 12 m. from the coast of Peru (to which country they belong), opposite the town of Pisco, and 106 m. distant from Callao, in 13 deg. 38' S., 76 deg. 28' W. The largest of the group, known as the North Island or Isla del Norte, is only four-fifths of a mile in length, and about a third in breadth. They are of granitic formation, and rise from the sea in precipitous cliffs, worn into countless caves and hollows, which furnish convenient resting-places for the sea-fowl. Their highest points attain an elevation of 113 ft. The islands have yielded a few remains of the Chincha Indian race. They were formerly noted for vast deposits of guano, and its export was begun by the Peruvian government in 1840. The supply, however, was exhausted in 1874. In 1853-1854 the Chincha Islands were the chief object in a contest known as the Guano War between President Echenique and General Castilla; and in April 1864 they were seized by the Spanish rear-admiral Pinzon in order to bring the Peruvian government to apologize for its treatment of Spanish immigrants.



CHINCHEW, or CHINCHU, the name usually given in English charts to an ancient and famous port of China in the province of Fu-kien, of which the Chinese name is Ch'ueanchow-fu or Ts'ueanchow-fu. It stands in 24 deg. 57' N., 118 deg. 35' E. The walls have a circuit of 7 or 8 m., but embrace much vacant ground. The chief exports are tea and sugar, tobacco, china-ware, nankeens, &c. There are remains of a fine mosque, founded by the Arab traders who resorted thither. The English Presbyterian Mission has had a chapel in the city since about 1862. Beyond the northern branch of the Min (several miles from the city) there is a suburb called Loyang, approached by the most celebrated bridge in China.

Ch'ueanchow, owing to the obstruction of its harbour by sand banks, has been supplanted as a port by Amoy, and its trade is carried on through the port of Nganhai. It is still, however, a large and populous city. It was in the middle ages the great port of Western trade with China, and was known to the Arabs and to Europeans as Zaitūn or Zayton, the name under which it appears in Abulfeda's geography and in the Mongol history of Rashīddudīn, as well as in Ibn Batuta, Marco Polo and other medieval travellers. Some argument has been alleged against the identity of Zayton with Ch'ueanchow, and in favour of its being rather Changchow (a great city 60 m. W.S.W. of Ch'ueanchow), or a port on the river of Changchow near Amoy. "Port of Zayton" may have embraced the great basin called Amoy Harbour, the chief part of which lies within the Fu or department of Ch'ueanchow; but there is hardly room for doubt that the Zayton of Marco Polo and Abulfeda was the Ch'ueanchow of the Chinese. Ibn Batuta informs us that a rich silk texture made here was called Zaitūniya; and there can be little doubt that this is the real origin of the word "Satin," Zettani in medieval Italian, Aceytuni in Spanish.



CHINCHILLA, a small grey hopping rodent mammal (Chinchilla lanigera), of the approximate size of a squirrel, inhabiting the eastern slopes of the Andes in Chile and Bolivia, at altitudes between 8000 and 12,000 ft. It typifies not only the genus Chinchilla, but the family Chinchillidae, for the distinctive features of which see RODENTIA. The ordinary chinchilla is about 10 in. in length, exclusive of the long tail, and in the form of its head somewhat resembles a rabbit. It is covered with a dense soft fur 3/4 in. long on the back and upwards of an inch in length on the sides, of a delicate French grey colour, darkly mottled on the upper surf ace and dusky white beneath; the ears being long, broad and thinly covered with hair. Chinchillas live in burrows, and these subterranean dwellings undermine the ground in some parts of the Chilean Andes to such an extent as to cause danger to travellers on horseback. They associate in communities, forming their burrows among loose rocks, and coming out to feed in the early morning and towards sunset. They feed chiefly on roots and grasses, in search of which they often travel considerable distances; and when eating they sit on their haunches, holding their food in their fore-paws. The Indians in hunting them employ the grison (Galictis vittata), a member of the weasel family, which is trained to enter the crevices of the rocks where the chinchillas lie concealed during the day. The fur (q.v.) of this rodent was prized by the ancient Peruvians, who made coverlets and other articles with the skin, and at the present day the skins are exported in large numbers to Europe, where they are made into muffs, tippets and trimmings. That chinchillas have not under such circumstances become rare, if not extinct, is owing to their extraordinary fecundity, the female usually producing five or six young twice a year. They are docile in disposition, and thus well fitted for domestication. The Peruvian chinchilla (C. brevicaudata) is larger, with relatively shorter ears and tail; while still larger species constitute the genus Lagidium, ranging from the Andes to Patagonia, and distinguished by having four in place of five front-toes, more pointed ears, and a somewhat differently formed skull. (See also VISCACHA). (R. L.*)



CHINDE, a town of Portuguese East Africa, chief port for the Zambezi valley and British Central Africa, at the mouth of the Chinde branch of the Zambezi, in 18 deg. 40' S., 36 deg. 30' E. Pop. (1907) 2790, of whom 218 were Europeans. Large steamers are unable to cross the bar, over which the depth of water varies from 10 to 18 ft. Chinde owes its existence to the discovery in 1889 that the branch of the river on the banks of which it is built is navigable from the ocean (see ZAMBEZI). The Portuguese in 1891 granted on lease for 99 years an area of 5 acres—subsequently increased to 25—to the British government, on which goods in transit to British possessions could be stored duty free. This block of land is known as the British Concession, or British Chinde. The prosperity of the town largely depends on the transit trade with Nyasaland and North East Rhodesia. There is also a considerable export from Portuguese districts, sugar, cotton and ground nuts being largely cultivated in the Zambezi valley, and gold and copper mines worked.



CHINDWIN, a river of Burma, the largest tributary of the Irrawaddy, its entire course being in Burmese territory. It is called Ningthi by the Manipuris. The Chindwin is formed by the junction of the Tanai, the Tawan and the Taron or Turong, but it is still uncertain which is the main stream. The Tanai has hitherto been looked on as the chief source. It rises in about 25 deg. 30' N. and 97 deg. E., on the Shwedaung-gyi peak of the Kumon range, 12 m. N. of Mogaung, and flows due N. for the first part of its course until it reaches the Hukawng valley, when it turns to the W. and flows through the middle of the plain to the end of the valley proper. There it curves round to the S., passes through the Taron or Turong valley, takes the name of the Chindwin, and maintains a general southerly course until it enters the Irrawaddy, after flowing through the entire length of the Upper and Lower Chindwin districts, in about 21 deg. 30' N. and 95 deg. 15' E. Its extreme outlets are 22 m. apart, the interval forming a succession of long, low, partially populated islands. The most southerly mouth of the Chindwin is, according to tradition, an artificial channel, cut by one of the kings of Pagān. It was choked up for many centuries until in 1824 it was opened out by an exceptional flood. The Tanai (it is frequently called Tanaikha, but kha is merely the Kachin word for river), as long as it retains that name, is a swift, clear river, from 50 to 300 yds. wide and from 3 to 15 ft. deep. The river is navigated by native boats in the Hukawng valley, but launches cannot come up from the Chindwin proper because of the reefs below Taro.

The Taron, Turong or Towang river seems to be the real main source of the Chindwin. It flows into the Hukawng valley from the north, and has a swift current with a succession of rapids. Its sources are in the hills to the south of Sadiya, rising from 10,000 to 11,000 ft. above sea-level. It flows through a deep valley, with a general E. and W. direction, as far as its junction with the Loglai. It then turns S., and after draining an intricate system of hills, breaks into the Hukawng valley a few miles N. of Saraw, and joins or receives the Tanai about 10 m. above Kintaw village. Except the Tanai, the chief branches of the Upper Chindwin rise in mountains that are covered at least with winter snows. Below the Hukawng valley the Chindwin is interrupted at several places by fails or transverse reefs. At the village of Haksa there is a fall, which necessitates transhipment from large boats to canoes. Not far below this the Uyu river comes in on the left bank at Homalin, and from this point downwards the steamers of the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company ply for the greater part of the year. The Uyu flows through a fertile and well-cultivated valley, and during the rainy season it is navigable for a distance of 150 m. from its mouth by steamers of light draught. Ordinarily regular steam communication with Homalin ceases in the dry weather, but from Kindat, nearly 150 m. below it, there are weekly steamers all the year round. Below Kindat the only considerable affluent of the Chindwin is the Myit-tha, which receives the Chin hills drainage. The Chindwin rises considerably during the rains, but in March and April it is here and there so shallow as to make navigation difficult even for small steam launches. Whirlpools and narrows and shifting sandbanks also give some trouble, but much has been done to improve navigation since the British annexation. Kindat, the headquarters of the Upper Chindwin district, and Monywa of the Lower, are on the banks of the river. (J. G. SC.)



CHINDWIN, UPPER and LOWER, two districts in the Sagaing division of Upper Burma. Upper Chindwin has an area of 19,062 sq. m., and a population, according to the census of 1901, of 154,551. Lower Chindwin has an area of 3480 sq. m., and a population of 276,383. Upper Chindwin lies to the north of the lower district, and is bounded on the N. by the Chin, Nāga and Kachin hills; on the E. they are bounded by the Myitkyina, Katha and Shwebo districts; Lower Chindwin is bounded on the S. by the Pakokku and Sagaing districts; and both districts are bounded on the W. by the Chin hills, and by Pakokku on the southern stretch. The western portion of both districts is hilly, and the greater part of Upper Chindwin is of the same character. Both have valuable teak forests. The total rainfall averages in Lower Chindwin 27 and in Upper Chindwin 60 in. Coal exists in extensive fields, but these are not very accessible. Rice forms the great crop, but a certain amount of til-seed and of indigo is also cultivated. Kindat, a mere village, is the headquarters of the upper district, and Monywa, with a population of 7869, of the lower. Both are on the Chindwin river, and are served by the steamers of the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company. Alon, close to Monywa, and formerly the headquarters, is the terminus of the railway from Sagaing westwards, which was opened in 1900.



CHINESE PAVILLON, TURKISH CRESCENT, TURKISH JINGLE, or JINGLING JOHNNY (Fr. chapeau chinois; Ger. tuerkischer Halbmond, Schellenbaum; Ital. cappello chinese), an instrument of percussion of indefinite sonorousness, i.e. not producing definite musical tones. The chapeau chinois was formerly an adjunct in military bands, but never in the orchestra, where an instrument of somewhat similar shape, often confused with it and known as the Glockenspiel (q.v.), is occasionally called into requisition. The Chinese pavilion consists of a pole about 6 ft. high terminating in a conical metal cap or pavilion, hung with small jingling bells and surmounted by a crescent and a star. Below this pavilion are two or more metal bands forming a fanciful double crescent or squat lyre, likewise furnished with tiny bells. The two points of the crescent are curved over, ending in fanciful animal heads from whose mouths hang low streaming tails of horse-hair. The Chinese pavilion is played by shaking or waving the pole up and down and jingling the bells, a movement which can at best be but a slow one repeated once or at most twice in a bar to punctuate the phrases and add brilliancy to the military music. The Turkish crescent or "jingling Johnny," as it was familiarly called in the British army bands, was introduced by the Janissaries into western Europe. It has fallen into disuse now, having been replaced by the glockenspiel or steel harmonica. Edinburgh University possesses two specimens.[1] In the 18th century at Bartholomew Fair one of the chief bands hired was one well known as playing in London on winter evenings in front of the Spring-Garden coffee house and opposite Wigley's. This band consisted of a double drum, a Dutch organ (see BARREL-ORGAN), a tambourine, a violin, pipes and the Turkish jingle.[2] (K.S.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] See Captain C.R. Day, Descriptive Catalogue of Musical Instruments (London, 1891), p. 233.

[2] See Hone's Everyday Book, i. 1248.



CHINGFORD, an urban district in the Epping parliamentary division of Essex, England, 101/2 m. N. of London (Liverpool Street station) by the Great Eastern railway. Pop. (1901) 4373. It lies between the river Lea and the western outskirts of Epping Forest. The church of All Saints has Early English and Perpendicular remains. Queen Elizabeth's or Fair Mead hunting lodge, a picturesque half-timbered building, is preserved under the Epping Forest Preservation Act. A majestic oak, one of the finest trees in the Forest, stands near it. Buckhurst Hill (an urban district; pop. 4786) lies to the N.E.



CHINGLEPUT, or CHENGALPAT, a town and district of British India, in the Madras presidency. The town, situated 36 m. by rail from Madras, had a population in 1901 of 10,551. With Chandragiri in North Arcot, Chingleput was once the capital of the Vijayanagar kings, after their overthrow by the Mussulmans at Talikota in 1565. In 1639 a chief, subject to these kings, granted to the East India Company the land on which Fort St George now stands. The fort built by the Vijayanagar kings in the 16th century was of strategic importance, owing to its swampy surroundings and the lake that flanked its side. It was taken by the French in 1751, and was retaken in 1752 by Clive, after which it proved invaluable to the British, especially when Lally in his advance on Madras left it unreduced in his rear. During the wars of the British with Hyder Ali it withstood his power, and afforded a refuge to the natives; and in 1780, after the defeat of Colonel W. Baillie, the army of Sir Hector Munro here found refuge. The town is noted for its manufacture of pottery, and carries on a trade in rice.

The DISTRICT OF CHINGLEPUT surrounds the city of Madras, stretching along the coast for about 115 m. The administrative headquarters are at Saidapet. Area, 3079 sq. m. Pop. (1901) 1,312,122, showing an increase of 9% in the decade. Salt is extensively manufactured all along the coast. Cotton and silk weaving is also largely carried on, and there are numerous indigo vats, tanneries and an English cigar factory.

CHIN HILLS, a mountainous district of Upper Burma. It lies on the border between the Lushai districts of Eastern Bengal and Assam and the plains of Burma, and has an area of 8000 sq. m. It is bounded N. by Assam and Manipur, S. by Arakan, E. by Burma, and W. by Tippera and the Chittagong hill tracts. The Chins, Lushais and Kukis are to the north-east border of India what the Pathan tribes are to the north-west frontier. In 1895 the Chin Hills were declared a part of the province of Burma, and constituted a scheduled district which is now administered by a political officer with headquarters at Falam. The tract forms a parallelogram 250 m. from N. to S. by 100 to 150 m. wide. The country consists of a much broken and contorted mass of mountains, intersected by deep valleys. The main ranges run generally N. to S., and vary in height from 5000 to 9000 ft., among the most important being the Letha or Tang, which is the watershed between the Chindwin and Manipur rivers; the Imbukklang, which divides the Sokte tribe from the Whenchs and sheds the water from its eastern slopes into Upper Burma and that from its western slopes into Arakan; and the Rong-klang, which with its prolongations is the main watershed of the southern hills, its eastern slopes draining into the Myittha and thus into the Chindwin, while the western fall drains into the Boinu river, which winding through the hills discharges itself eventually in the Bay of Bengal. The highest peak yet discovered is the Liklang, between Rawywa and Lungno, some 70 m. S. of Haka (nearly 10,000 ft.).

It is supposed that the Kukis of Manipur, the Lushais of Bengal and Assam, and the Chins originally lived in Tibet and are of the same stock; their form of government, method of cultivation, manners and customs, beliefs and traditions all point to one origin. The slow speech, the serious manner, the respect for birth and the knowledge of pedigrees, the duty of revenge, the taste for and the treacherous method of warfare, the curse of drink, the virtue of hospitality, the clannish feeling, the vice of avarice, the filthy state of the body, mutual distrust, impatience under control, the want of power of combination and of continued effort, arrogance in victory, speedy discouragement and panic in defeat, are common traits. The Chins, Lushais and Kukis were noted for the secrecy of their plans, the suddenness of their raids, and their extraordinary speed in retreating to their fastnesses. After committing a raid they have been known to march two days and two nights consecutively without cooking a meal or sleeping, so as to escape from any parties which might follow them. The British, since the occupation of Upper Burma, have been able to penetrate the Chin-Lushai country from both sides at once. The pacification of the Chin Hills is a triumph for British administration. Roads, on which Chin coolies now readily work, have been constructed in all directions. The rivers have been bridged; the people have taken up the cultivation of English vegetables, and the indigenous districts have been largely developed. The Chin Hills had a population (1901 census) of 87,189, while the Chins in Burma totalled 179,292. The Pakokku Chin Hills, which form a separate tract, have an area of 2260 sq. m.; pop. (1901) 13,116. (J. G. SC.)



CHINKIANG, or CHEN-KIANG-FU, a treaty port of China, in the province of Kiang-su, on the Yangtsze-kiang above Shanghai, from which it is distant 160 m. It is in railway communication both with Shanghai and Nanking (40 m. distant), and being at the point where the Grand Canal running N. and S. intersects the Yangtsze, which runs E. and W., is peculiarly well situated to be a commercial entrepot. The total value of exports and imports for 1904 was L4,632,992; estimated pop. 168,000. In the war of 1842 it yielded to the British only after a desperate resistance. It was laid waste by the T'aip'ing rebels in 1853, and was recaptured by the imperial forces in 1858.



CHINO-JAPANESE WAR (1894-95). The causes of this conflict arose out of the immemorial rivalry of China and Japan for influence in Korea. In the 16th century a prolonged war in the peninsula had ended with the failure of Japan to make good her footing on the mainland—a failure brought about largely by lack of naval resources. In more modern times (1875, 1882, 1884) Japan had repeatedly sent expeditions to Korea, and had fostered the growth of a progressive party in Seoul. The difficulties of 1884 were settled between China and Japan by the convention of Tientsin, wherein it was agreed that in the event of future intervention each should inform the other if it were decided to despatch troops to the peninsula. Nine years later the occasion arose. A serious rebellion induced the Korean government to apply for military assistance from China. Early in June 1894 a small force of Chinese troops were sent to Asan, and Japan, duly informed of this action, replied by furnishing her minister at Seoul with an escort, rapidly following up this step by the despatch of about 5000 troops under Major-General Oshima. A complicated situation thus arose. Chinese troops were present in Korea by the request of the government to put down rebellion. The Japanese controlled the capital, and declined to recognize Korea as a tributary of China. But she proposed that the two powers should unite to suppress the disturbance and to inaugurate certain specified reforms. China considered that the measures of reform must be left to Korea herself. The reply was that Japan considered the government of Korea "lacking in some of the elements which are essential to responsible independence." By the middle of July war had become inevitable unless the Peking government were willing to abandon all claims over Korea, and as Chinese troops were already in the country by invitation, it was not to be expected that the shadowy suzerainty would be abandoned.

At Seoul the issue was forced by the Japanese minister, who delivered an ultimatum to the Korean government on the 20th of July. On the 23rd the palace was forcibly occupied. Meanwhile China had despatched about 8000 troops to the Yalu river. The outbreak of war thus found the Japanese in possession of Seoul and ready to send large forces to Korea, while the Chinese occupied Asan (about 40 m. south of the capital), and had a considerable body of troops in Manchuria in addition to those despatched to the Yalu river. To Japan the command of the sea was essential for the secure transport and supply of her troops. Without it the experience of the war of the 16th century would be repeated. China, too, could only utilize overland routes to Korea by submitting to the difficulties and delays entailed. To both powers the naval question was thus important.

By the time war was finally declared (August 1) hostilities had already begun. On the 25th of July Oshima set out from Seoul to attack the Chinese at Asan. On the 29th he won a victory at Soeng-hwan, but the Chinese commander escaped with a considerable part of his forces by a detour to Ping-Yang (Phyong-Yang). Meanwhile a portion of the Japanese fleet had encountered some Chinese warships and transports off Phung-Tao, and scored an important success, sinking, amongst other vessels, the transport "Kowshing" (July 25). The loss of more than 1000 Chinese soldiers in this vessel materially lightened Oshima's task. The intention of the Chinese to crush their enemies between their forces at Asan and Ping-Yang was completely frustrated, and the Japanese obtained control of all southern Korea.

Reinforcements from Japan were now pouring into Korea, in spite of the fact that the rival navies had not yet tried conclusions, and General Nozu, the senior Japanese officer present, soon found himself in a position to move on Ping-Yang. Three columns converged upon the place on the 15th of September, and in spite of its strong walls carried it, though only after severe fighting.

Nearly all the troops on either side had been conveyed to the scene of war by sea, though the decisive contest for sea supremacy was still to be fought. The Chinese admiral Ting with the Northern Squadron (which alone took part in the war) had hitherto remained inactive in Wei-hai-wei, and on the other side Vice-Admiral Ito's fleet had not directly interfered with the hostile transports which were reinforcing the troops on the Yalu. But two days after the battle of Ping-Yang, Ting, who had conveyed a large body of troops to the mouth of the Yalu, encountered the Japanese fleet on his return journey off Hai-Yang-Tao on the 17th of September. The heavy battleships "Chen-Yuen" and "Ting-Yuen" constituted the strongest element of the Chinese squadron, for the Japanese, superior as they were in every other factor of success, had no vessels which could compare with these in the matter of protection. Ting advanced in a long irregular line abreast; the battleships in the centre, the lighter vessels on the wings. Ito's fast cruisers steamed in line ahead against the Chinese right wing, crushing their weaker opponents with their fire. In the end the Chinese fleet was defeated and scattered, but the two heavy battleships drew off without serious injury. This battle of the Yalu gave Japan command of the sea, but Ito continued to act with great caution. The remnants of the vanquished fleet took refuge in Port Arthur, whence after repairs Ting proceeded to Wei-hai-wei.

The victory of Ping-Yang had cleared Korea of the Chinese troops, but on the lower Yalu—their own frontier—large forces threatened a second advance. Marshal Yamagata therefore took the offensive with his 1st army, and on the 24th and 25th of October, under great difficulties—though without serious opposition from the enemy—forced the passage of the river and occupied Chiulien-cheng. Part of the Chinese force retired to the north-east, part to Feng-hwang-cheng and Hsiu-yuen (Siu-Yen). The Japanese 1st army advanced several columns towards the mountains of Manchuria to secure its conquests and prepare for a future advance. General Tachimi's brigade occupied Feng-hwang-cheng on the 29th of October. On the 7th of November a column from the Yalu took Takushan, and a few days later a converging attack from these two places was made upon Hsiu-yuen, which was abandoned by the Chinese. Meanwhile Tachimi, skirmishing with the enemy on the Mukden and Liao-Yang roads, found the Chinese in force. A simultaneous forward move by both sides led to the action of Tsao-ho-ku (November 30), after which both sides withdrew—the Chinese to the line of the mountains covering Hai-cheng, Liao-Yang and Mukden, with the Tatar general Ikotenga's force, 14,000 strong, on the Japanese right north-east of Feng-hwang-cheng; and the Japanese to Chiulien-cheng, Takushan and Hsiu-yuen. The difficulties of supply in the hills were almost insurmountable, and no serious advance was intended by the Japanese until January 1895, when it was to be made in co-operation with the 2nd army. This army, under Marshal Oyama, had been formed in September and at first sent to Chemulpo as a support to the forces under Yamagata; but its chief task was the siege and capture of the Chinese fortress, dockyard and arsenal of Port Arthur.

The Liao-Tong peninsula was guarded by the walled city of Kinchow and the forts of Ta-lien-wan (Dalny under the Russian regime, and Tairen under the Japanese) as well as the fortifications around Port Arthur itself. On the 24th of October the disembarkation of the 2nd army began near Pi-tsze-wo, and the successive columns of the Japanese gradually moved towards Kinchow, which was carried without difficulty on the 6th of November. Even less resistance was offered by the modern forts of Ta-lien-wan. The Japanese now held a good harbour within a few miles of the main fortress. Here they landed siege artillery, and on the 17th of November the advance was resumed. The attack was made on the 19th at dawn. Yamaji's division (Nogi's and Nishi's brigades) after a trying night march assaulted and carried the western defences and moved upon the town. Hasegawa in the centre, as soon as Yamaji began to appear in rear of his opponents in the northern forts, pushed home his attack with equal success, and by 3 P.M. practically all resistance was at an end. The Japanese paid for this important success with but 423 casualties. Meanwhile the Chinese general Sung, who had marched from Hai-cheng to engage the 2nd army, appeared before Kinchow, where he received on the 22nd a severe repulse at the hands of the Japanese garrison. Marshal Oyama subsequently stationed his advanced guard towards Hai-cheng, the main body at Kinchow, and a brigade of infantry at Port Arthur. Soon after this overtures of peace were made by China; but her envoy, a foreigner unfurnished with credentials, was not received by the Tokyo government.

The Japanese 1st army (now under General Nozu) at Antung and Feng-hwang-cheng prepared, in spite of the season, to move across the mountains, and on the 3rd of December General Katsura left Antung for Hai-cheng. His line of march was by Hsi-mu-cheng, and strong flank guards followed parallel routes on either side. The march was accomplished safely and Hai-cheng occupied on the 13th of December. In the meantime Tachimi had moved northward from Feng-hwang-cheng, in order to distract the attention of the Chinese from Hai-cheng, and there were some small engagements between this force and that of Ikotenga, who ultimately retired beyond the mountains to Liao-Yang. Sung had already left Kai-ping to secure Hai-cheng when he heard of the fall of that place; his communications with Ikotenga being now severed, he swerved to the north-west and established a new base at Niu-chwang. Once on his new line Sung moved upon Hai-cheng. As it was essential that he should be prevented from joining forces with Ikotenga, General Katsura marched out of Hai-cheng to fight him. At Kang-wang-tsai (December 19th) the Chinese displayed unusual steadiness, and it cost the Japanese some 343 casualties to dislodge the enemy. The victors returned to Hai-cheng exhausted with their efforts, but secure from attack for some time to come. The advanced troops of the 2nd army (Nogi's brigade) were now ready to advance, and only the Kai-ping garrison (left behind by Sung) barred their junction with Katsura. At Kai-ping (January 10th) the resistance of the Chinese was almost as steady as at Kang-wang-tsai, and the Japanese lost 300 killed and wounded in their successful attack. In neither of these actions was the defeated force routed, nor did it retire very far. On the 17th of January and again on the 22nd Ikotenga attacked Hai-cheng from the north, but was repulsed.

Meanwhile the 2nd army, still under Oyama, had undertaken operations against Wei-hai-wei, the second great fortress and dockyard of northern China, where Admiral Ting's squadron had been refitting since the battle of the Yalu; and it was hoped that both armies would accomplish their present tasks in time to advance in the summer against Peking itself. On the 18th of January a naval demonstration was made at Teng-chow-fu, 70 m. west of Wei-hai-wei, and on the 19th the Japanese began their disembarkation at Yung-cheng Bay, about 12 m. from Wei-hai-wei. The landing was scarcely opposed, and on the 26th the Japanese advance was begun. The south-eastern defences of Wei-hai-wei harbour were carried by the 6th division, whilst the 2nd division reached the inner waters of the bay, driving the Chinese before them. The fleet under Ito co-operated effectively. On the night of the 4th-5th of February the Chinese squadron in harbour was attacked by ten torpedo boats. Two boats were lost, but the armour-clad "Ting-Yuen" was sunk. On the following night a second attack was made, and three more vessels were sunk. On the 9th the "Ching-Yuen" was sunk by the guns in one of the captured forts. On the 12th Admiral Ting wrote to Admiral Ito offering to surrender, and then took poison, other officers following his example. Wei-hai-wei was then dismantled by the Japanese, who recovered the remnant of the Chinese squadron, including the "Chen Yuen," and the 2nd army concentrated at Port Arthur for the advance on Peking.

While this campaign was in progress the Chinese despatched a second peace mission, also with defective credentials. The Japanese declined to treat, and the mission returned to China. In February the Chinese made further unsuccessful attacks on Hai-cheng. Yamaji near Kai-ping fought a severe action on the 21st, 22nd and 23rd of February at Taping-shan against a part of Sung's army under General Ma-yu-kun. This action was fought with 2 ft. of snow on the ground, the thermometer registering zero F., and no less than 1500 cases of frost-bite were reported. It was the intention of General Nozu, after freeing the Hai-cheng garrison from Ikotenga, to seize Niu-chwang port. Two divisions converged on An-shan-chan, and the Chinese, threatened in front and flank, retired to Liao-Yang. Meanwhile two more attacks on Hai-cheng had been repulsed. The 3rd and 5th divisions then moved on Niu-chwang, and Yamaji's 1st division at Kai-ping joined in the advance. The column from An-shan-chan stormed Niu-chwang, which was obstinately defended, and cost the stormers nearly 400 men. All three divisions converged on Niu-chwang port (Ying-kow), and the final engagement took place at Tien-chwang-tai, which was captured on the 9th of March. The Chinese forces in Manchuria being thoroughly broken and dispersed, there was nothing to prevent the Japanese from proceeding to the occupation of Peking, since they could, after the break-up of the ice, land and supply large forces at Shan-hai-kwan, within 170 m. of the capital. Two more Japanese divisions were sent out, with Prince Komatsu as supreme commander. Seven divisions were at Port Arthur ready to embark, when negotiations were reopened. Li Hung-Chang proceeded to Shimonoseki, where the treaty was signed on the 17th of April 1895. An expedition was sent towards the end of March to the Pescadores, and later the Imperial Guard division was sent to Formosa.

It is impossible to estimate the Chinese losses in the war. The Japanese lost 4177 men by death in action or by sickness, and 56,862 were wounded or disabled by sickness, exclusive of the losses in the Formosa and Pescadores expeditions. Nearly two-thirds of these losses were incurred by the 1st army in the trying winter campaign in Manchuria.

The most important works dealing with the war are: Vladimir, China-Japan War (London, 1896); Jukichi Inouye, The Japan-China War (Yokohama, &c., 1896); du Boulay, Epitome of the China-Japanese War (London, 1896), the official publication of the British War Office; Atteridge, Wars of the Nineties, pp. 535-636 (London, 1899); von Kunowski and Fretzdorff, Der japanisch-chinesische Krieg (Leipzig, 1895); von Mueller, Der Krieg zwischen China und Japan (Berlin, 1895); Bujac, Precis de quelques campagnes contemporaines: II. La Guerre sino-japonaise (Paris and Limoges).



CHINON, a town of western France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Indre-et-Loire, on the right bank of the Vienne, 32m. S.W. of Tours on the State railway. Pop. (1906) 4071. Chinon lies at the foot of the rocky eminence which is crowned by the ruins of the famous castle. Its narrow, winding streets contain many houses of the 15th and 16th centuries. The oldest of its churches, St Mexme, is in the Romanesque style, but only the facade and nave are left. The church of St Etienne dates from the 15th century, that of St Maurice from the 12th, 15th and 16th centuries. The castle, which has undergone considerable modern restoration, consists of three portions. That to the east, the Chateau de St Georges, built by Henry II. of England, has almost vanished, only the foundation of the outer wall remaining. The Chateau du Milieu (11th to 15th centuries) comprises the keep, the Pavilion de l'Horloge and the Grand Logis, in the principal apartment of which the first meeting between Joan of Arc and Charles VII. took place. Of the Chateau du Coudray, which is separated by a moat from the Chateau du Milieu, the chief remains are the Tour du Moulin (10th century) and two less ancient towers. A statue of Rabelais, who was born in the vicinity of the town, stands on the river-quay. Chinon has trade in wheat, brandy, red wine and plums. Basket and rope manufacture, tanning and cooperage are among its industries. Chinon (Caino) existed before the Roman occupation of Gaul, and was from early times an important fortress. It was occupied by the Visigoths, and subsequently, after forming part of the royal domain, came to the counts of Touraine and from them to the counts of Anjou. Henry II. often resided in the castle, and died there. The place was taken by Philip Augustus in 1205 after a year's siege.



CHINOOK, a tribe of North American Indians, dwelling at the mouth of the Columbia river, Washington. They were fishermen and traders, and used huge canoes of hollowed cedar trunks. The tribe is practically extinct, but the name survives in the trade language known as "Chinook jargon." This has been analysed as composed of two-fifths Chinook, two-fifths other Indian tongues, and the rest English and Canadian French; but the proportion of English has tended to increase. The Chinookan linguistic family includes a number of separate tribes.

The name CHINOOK is also applied to a wind which blows from W. or N. over the slopes of the Rocky Mountains, where it descends as a dry wind warm in winter and cool in summer (cf. Foehn). It is due to a cyclone passing northward, and continues from a few hours to several days. It moderates the climate of the eastern Rockies, the snow melting quickly on account of its warmth and vanishing on account of its dryness, so that it is said to "lick up" the snow from the slopes.

See Gill, Dictionary of Chinook Jargon (Portland, Ore., 1891); Boas, "Chinook Texts," in Smithsonian Report, Bureau of Ethnology (Washington, 1894); J.C. Pilling, "Bibliography of Chinookan Languages," Smithsonian Report, Bureau of Ethnology (Washington, 1893); Horatio Hale, Manual of Oregon Trade Language (London, 1890); G.C. Shaw, The Chinook Jargon (Seattle, 1909); Handbook of American Indians (Washington, 1907).



CHINSURA, a town of British India, on the Hugli river, 24 m. above Calcutta, formerly the principal Dutch settlement in Bengal. The Dutch erected a factory here in 1656, on a healthy spot of ground, much preferable to that on which Calcutta is situated. In 1759 a British force under Colonel Forde was attacked by the garrison of Chinsura on its march to Chandernagore, but in less than half an hour the Dutch were entirely routed. In 1795, during the Napoleonic wars, the settlement was occupied by a British garrison. At the peace of 1814 it was restored to the Dutch. It was among the cessions in India made by the king of the Netherlands in 1825 in exchange for the British possessions in Sumatra. Hugli College is maintained by government; and there are a number of schools, several of which are carried on by Scottish Presbyterian missionaries. Chinsura is included in the Hugli municipality.

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