Crepe de chine

“ The well-known and popular China, or Chinese, grass-cloth, specimens of which, generally in the shape of handkerchiefs, are brought home by most travellers in the East, is now likely to become yet more popular and have a far more extensive market in Europe than was formerly the case. This China grass—soie végétal, the French call it—is the fibre, not of a grass, but of a species of nettle, the Bœhmeria nivea and other specimens of the urtica. These nettles are carefully cultivated in China, where they grow in great quantities, as they do in India and Ceylon. ”

“ The Chinese variety, on the other hand, is stiff, globular, formal—like the Chinese character, conservative and solid. There is little doubt that each race, finding the flower adaptable, developed in it peculiarities to suit their tastes.
Amongst the most popular garden plants introduced by Fortune are the following:—Pæonies, azaleas, camellias, Gardenia fortunii and G. radicans, and roses in many varieties. The Tea rose, and its consequent hybrids, were all derived from Rosa Indica, a Chinese species. ”

“ Clumps of bamboo and plantations of fir encircled the farm-houses, and a tree called by the Chinese ching-mu—probably a species of beech—grew [89] extensively along the narrow waterways. It is a tree of rapid growth; it is allowed three years to develop, when it is cut down for firewood and supplanted by a young sapling. The primitive Chinese barrow was much in use in the plain for passenger and other traffic, nor was the squeaking of the wheel absent. ”

“ It is scarcely necessary to make mention of the numerous varieties of the orange, which is the most abundant and perfect fruit in the south of China.
As we advanced into the larger valleys and among the higher hills, the scenery became more picturesque; and often, far up the mountains, were some large white graves. The Chinese are unlike all other nations in their treatment of the dead. In the first place, they like to have their own coffins ready and in their houses, being in no way disturbed by having such a memento mori constantly before their eyes. ”

“ Fruits, too, of many kinds are abundant. A short time ago the poppy made every turn brilliant, but to-day imperial edicts, ruthlessly enforced, are saving the Chinese unwillingly from themselves, and the poppy has disappeared from sight. In spite of complaints it would seem as though the Chien-ch'ang farmers, better than many in West China, could support the loss of that remunerative crop, for their resources, properly exploited, seem almost exhaustless. Mulberry trees are grown about every village and farmhouse, and the silk export is of considerable value to the community. ”

“ The Chinese farmer, if his methods be primitive, is diligent and persevering. In the richer and most thickly populated districts terraces are raised on the mountain sides, and even the tops of lofty hills are cultivated. The nature of the soil and means of irrigation as well as climate are determining factors in the nature of the crops grown; rice and cotton, for example, are grown in the most northern as well as the most southern districts of China. This is, however, exceptional and each climatic region has its characteristic cultures. ”

“ When ripe, the crops are cut with a small instrument, not very unlike our own reaping-hook, and are generally thrashed out at once in the fields where they have grown. Sometimes, however, and more particularly in the north, the paddy is tied up in sheaves, and carried home before it is thrashed; indeed every thing in the northern agriculture of the Chinese has a great resemblance to what is practised in Europe.
The terrace cultivation of China has been noticed by nearly all writers upon this country, and, like most other subjects, it has been either much exaggerated or undervalued. ”

“ Bean pods were being broken up by means of stone rollers, worked by donkeys, blindfolded with neat straw goggles. On one occasion I saw a donkey22 wearing a pair of ornate blinkers, bright blue cotton with protuberant black eyes surrounded by a white line. The Chinese love to decorate the things in common use, and it is a perpetual joy to see the skill and ingenuity expended on simple objects. After the bean pods have been crushed the different parts of the plant are raked into separate heaps on the threshing floor—bean, husk, stalk, and chaff—for every particle is used in one way or other. ”

“ China is pre-eminently an agricultural country. The great majority of its inhabitants are cultivators of the soil. The holdings are in general very small, and the methods of farming primitive. Water is abundant and irrigation common over large areas. Stock-raising, except in Sze-chʽuen and Kwang-tung, is only practised to a small extent; there are few large herds of cattle or flocks of sheep, nor are there any large meadows, natural or cultivated. In Sze-chʽuen yaks, sheep and goats are reared in the mountains, and buffaloes and a fine breed of ponies on the plateau. ”

“ In the fact that unpruned or unpicked plants (for picking is a miniature pruning) give fewer and less succulent young leaves which harden quicker than pruned ones, the two varieties would seem to be alike. The China variety is much more prolific of seed than the indigenous; the former also gives it when younger, and as seed checks leaf, the China is inferior in this as in other respects. The China is by far the hardier plant; it is much easier to rear, and it will grow in widely differing climates, which the indigenous will not. ”

“ A long list of the Chinese porcelain flowers given by Bushell includes the orchid (lan) , rose, jasmine, olea fragrans, pyrus japonica, gardenia, syringa, several kinds of peony, magnolia (yü lan) , iris, hydrangea, hibiscus, begonia, pink and water fairy flower (narcissus tazetta) . Many more no doubt can be identified, for the Chinese are great cultivators as they are great lovers of flowers. In fact, the word hua flowery is synonymous with Chinese, and chung hua is China. ”

“ THE majority of the fruits grown in China are indigenous to the country, and there are many which have not yet been introduced into the orchards of Europe. A proportion, however, of the Chinese fruits are common also to the more temperate climates of the west, although, with one or two exceptions, these varieties are not reared to a perfection in China, equal to that obtained in other countries, where the same fruit is to be found. ”

“ This is popularly believed to take on new life through another sprout as often as one dies, thus bridging all the centuries between the planter and present-day China, and certainly a large old tree of the same variety now leans forth from what seems to be the same root. Beyond is an open temple of kiosk shape where Confucius sat under a plum-tree and taught—even in winter no doubt, for he was probably as impervious to cold and discomfort as are the Chinese of to-day in their cotton-padded garments. ”

“ It has been truly said that the whole face of China is burrowed under by these graves.
The turpid yellow waters of the Peiho swirl against our boat, particularly at the reaches, where the current is strongest. The harvest is over, the poppy fields are bare, and there are only a few tall straggly castor-oil plants along the banks. A few, very few coolies, in loose blue cotton garments, [237] are at work, ploughing with ancient and rude ploughshares. The teams they use are delightfully mixed. You may often see an ox and horse, a donkey and a mule all pulling together. ”

“ To begin with, almost all Chinese have black hair, almost all wear blue clothes, and almost all eat rice. And the obvious differences between the natives of Chihli and the natives of Kwangtung, for example, are no greater than you would note in passing from Maine to Mississippi; while in Yunnan and Szechuan, just as in the Western States of America, you seem to be among people from "back East," only slightly modified by different conditions of climate and life. ”

“ It has, however, none of the ever-blooming qualities which distinguish the China roses. It is remarkable, as a class, for vigor of growth, in which, strange as it may appear, it surpasses, in some cases, both its parents. Most of the Hybrid China roses are, moreover, perfectly hardy even in the climate of the Northern States; and they are admirably adapted for forming pillars. For this purpose, they should be planted in a very deep and rich soil. If the soil is naturally poor, dig it out to the width and depth of three feet, and replace it with a mixture of strong loam and old manure. ”

“ He is an excellent gardener in a small way, and if he can obtain only a very little plot of ground, he will cultivate it so constantly and so carefully that he will be able to maintain himself in comfort with the money which he obtains from the sale of his vegetables and fruits. Many gardens belonging to Chinamen are to be seen on the outskirts of the cities of Australia and New Zealand, and early in the morning the Chinamen hawk their products through the streets.
The Chinaman is equally good as a laundryman, and in some cities the Chinese colonists do the whole of the laundry-work. ”

“ The soil is exceedingly fruitful. Tea, rice, millet, maize, oats, barley, beans, peas, vegetables, and many other crops are grown. In the southern provinces the fields [Pg 167] are full of sugar-cane and cotton bushes. The whole country is intersected by large rivers, which serve for irrigation and the transport of goods. In the west rise lofty mountains, forming continuations of the Tibetan ranges. Eastwards they become lower. The greater part of China is a mountainous country, but lowlands extend along the coast. ”

“ By intensive farming a Chinese gets as much from a ten-acre farm as we get from a hundred-acre one, and he never permits a soil to be impoverished by its crop. You never see his implements, rude as they are, left uncovered over night. He carries home even his straw fork, which is made three-pronged by training nature instead of fashioning by hand. When the farmer’s wife and girls are not in the field they are working up straw braid for America’s and Europe’s hats and weaving silk and making embroidery for western gowns. ”

“ THE FLORA OF CHINA.
HINA possesses what is probably one of the largest flora in the world. "The most moderate estimate cannot put the whole flora as containing less than twelve thousand species," says Sir W. T. Thiselton Dyer in the "Index Floræ Sinensis," which enumerates 8,271 species, 4,230 of which are endemic, or not known to occur outside the Chinese Empire.
The popular cry that China requires nothing from abroad, having all that she needs within her own boundaries, is no empty boast so far as her vegetation is concerned. ”

“ To conserve the physical health and productiveness of China, the Chinese have exercised the most rigid self-sacrifice.
For thousands of years the Chinese have developed the many resources of their wonderful country. They have had the great wisdom of patience. The southern part of the Malay Peninsula and the island of Singapore have been nearly devastated by the mad over-production of nutmeg trees. Thousands and tens of thousands of acres of North America are barren or nearly barren to-day ”

“ With a great wealth of beautiful flowering shrubs and herbaceous plants, the Chinese at an early period became skilled horticulturists. The emperor Wu Ti established in 111 B.C. a botanic garden at Ch’ang-an, into which rare plants were introduced from the west and south. Many garden varieties originated in China. The chrysanthemum, perhaps the most variable of cultivated flowers, is derived from two wild species (small and inconspicuous plants) , and is mentioned in the ancient Chinese classics. We owe to the skill of the Chinese many kinds of roses, lilies, camellias and peonies ”

“ The Chinese excel in horticulture, and the passionate love of flowers which prevails among all classes is quite a national characteristic. A Chinaman, however, has his own particular standpoint. The vulgar nosegay or the plutocratic bouquet would have no charms for him. He can see, with satisfaction, only one flower at a time. His best vases are made to hold a single spray, and large vases usually have covers perforated so as to isolate each specimen. A primrose by the river’s brim would be to him a complete poem. ”

“ In the great fertile plain of Sze Chuan, where four crops a year are taken off the ground, this is an enormous industry. The Chinese cannot afford any waste; everything must go back to the ground. We seek to get over the deterioration of the land by changing the crops. In China the same crops have been grown on the land for a thousand years, and it shows no signs of deterioration. ”

“ But by elaborate irrigation, unstinted spade labour, and abundant application of manure, the Chinese raise crop after crop of vegetables at all seasons, and in all soils. I saw two acres of ground in one of the suburbs which had been left uncultivated, and was altogether unprofitable, till five Chinamen rented it for 25l. a year, and now they contrive to raise 300l. worth of garden produce yearly. They are a race living quite apart. They do not bring their wives with them from China; there are not more than three or four Chinese women in all Victoria, it is said. ”

“ In agricultural possibilities and mineral wealth China is particularly fortunate. On account of its great dimensions north and south it enjoys all varieties of climate from the tropical to the temperate, and in consequence possesses the ability to raise almost any crop. The great bottom lands of the Yang-tze, Hoang and other rivers, which are subject to annual overflow, are thus by nature enriched and automatically fertilized as are the bottom lands along the Mississippi and other alluvium-bearing streams. ”