Untitled

TOPOGRAPHY. 255
porcelains, and marble slabs from the neighbouring hills. Beyond this point the
traffic and population
increase continually on both sides of the river, coming to a
focus at the confluence of the Si-kiang and Pe-kiang, where stand the cities of
Sanshui and Sainan, near the head of the delta. Fac/ian (Fu-shan), although rank-
in- as a simple village, without walls or fortifications, is no less than 12 miles long,
and is classed among the " Four Marts " of the Middle Kingdom. It forms the
largest centre of population in the district connecting the Sanshui, or " Three
Waters," with the Pearl River. Here the channel seems to have become much
shallower than formerly, whence probably the decadence of Fachan, whose popu-
lation has fallen from about one million in the seventeenth century to half that
number. It may now be considered not so much a rival as a dependency of
Canton, where silks, hardware, mats, paper, sails, and all sorts of wares are manu-
factured. Another dependency of Canton is S/iih/uny (S/i akin at
'#),
the head of
the delta formed by the Tung-kiang, which is the great depot for the sugar and
other produce of the East destined for the capital. In the Pe-kiang valley there
are also several large places, such as Naithiung, at the foot of the Mei-liug, and
Shnochew, a much-frequented riverain port.
Mention is made of Canton in the Chinese records as far back as the fourth
century before the vulgar era, at which time it bore the name of Nanwu-cheng, or
" Warlike City of the South," a title fully justified by its frequent revolts. In
A.D. 250 it succeeded in expelling the Imperial forces, and maintained its
independence for half a century. At the beginning of the tenth it century became
the capital of a separate state, paying an annual tribute to the empire, but sixty
years afterwards it was again conquered by the founder of the Sung dynasty. In
1648 it rose against the Manchus in the name of the Ming dynasty, and held out
for over a year. Upwards of 700,000 Cantonese perished during the siege, and
the city, given up to plunder, became a heap of ruins.
At present Kwangchew-fu, or Shencheng, as Canton is called in the local dialect,
is one of the most thoroughly Chinese cities of the empire, although lying on its
southern limits over against the great southern peninsulas and archipelagos. It
probably exceeds all the other imperial cities in population, as it certainly does in
the originality of its appearance and fidelity
to the national
types. It lacks the
broad dusty streets and tent-shaped houses of Peking, recalling the neighbourhood
'of the Mongolian steppes. It presents no such imposing aspect as Shanghai or
Hankow, with their new European quarters, houses, quays, and shipping ; nor has it
had to be rebuilt in recent times, like Hangchew-fu and so many other cities
destroyed by the " long-haired " rebels. Canton is still what it was over four hundred
years ago, when first visited by Europeans, altogether a unique city as approached
through a floating quarter, where are anchored all kinds of craft, disposed in blocks
like tlic houses ashore, with intervening water streets crowded with traffic. Although
at this point nearly three-quarters of a mile broad, the river is completely covered by
this city of boats, no less animated by its dealers, artisans, innkeepers, pleasure-
seekers, than the city on terra firma.
Canton proper, lying on the north side of the Chu-kiang, is enclosed by a