Untitled

INDUSTRIES. 295
landlord, and keep the winter ones for themselves. They supply the live stock,
manure, and implements, while the owner pays the land tax, which is not a heavy
charge. In the fertile coast lands, where the soil is more divided, an estate of 15
acres is considered a large domain, and the holdings do not probably exceed 3 acres
on. the average. The head of the family may sell or mortgage his property, but
he must first offer it to the next of kin, and so on, according to the order of blood
relationship. At his death it must be divided in equal shares amongst all his sons.
He is compelled by law to keep it in good condition, land
lying fallow for three
years being forfeited and assigned to a fresh occupant. Even the head of the
commune is made responsible for the state of the arable tracts, being subject to
twenty blows of a bamboo in case of neglect or sldvenly tillage. The right of
settling on waste spaces belongs to all, nothing being required beyond
an intimation
to the authorities, with a petition for exemption from the impost, which is usually
granted for a certain term. The Government itself founds military or penal colonies
in remote districts, and especially in Kansu and Zungaria. The Crown lands,
relatively of small extent, lie mostly beyond China proper, in Mongolia, near the
Great Wall, and in Manchuria, home of the reigning dynasty.* The plantations
round the temples, lands set apart for educational purposes or bequeathed to
hospitals and other public foundations, and lastly, portions of the marshy grounds
and the foreshore on the coast and estuaries, are all administered by the commune.
INDUSTRIES.
The Chinese industries are many centuries older than those of the West, and
some of the more important discoveries made in Europe towards the close of the
Middle Ages had long been anticipated in the extreme East. Marco Polo and the
early European explorers speak with admiration of the woven goods, chased metals,
and other products of the " Manzi." But the first trustworthy accounts of the
native manufactures was not received in Europe till the close of the seventeenth
century. Several manufacturing processes were revealed by the missionaries, and
the work has been completed during the present century by the translation of
numerous technical treatises. The ready wit and manual skill of the Chinese
artisans are not merely prerogatives of the race, but are also due to the fact that
our minute division of labour has not yet been introduced amongst them. Every
artistic object is the work of one artist, who designs, models, and paints it. In
many provinces the peasantry themselves are craftsmen, spinning and weaving
their cottons and linens. They excel especially in wicker-work, and so closely
plaited are their baskets, that they serve, like wooden or metal vessels, to hold all
kinds of
liquids. The lloa-lnrei, or " renowned for the
embroiderers," have also
skill and perfection
of their workmanship.
been at all times
" On fabrics of
* Crown lands in 1831 :
AppanriK'-s of the Imperial Family
Lands of the Eight Manners . .
Lands of Temples, Schools, and Hospitals
....
730,000 acres.
2,162,000
327,000
Marshes and Foreshore on the Coast 1,567,000
Total 4,786,000