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290
EAST ASIA.
marvellous texture and dyed with inimitable shades the Chinese embroider with
flat silk figures of the natural size, complicated scenes, ornaments, birds, and
flowers, with unequalled truthfulness, elegance, and freshness. In the midst of
this rich needle picture
rise golden dragons, worked either in concfiure or low
relief, often ornamented with spangles and lama."
Nevertheless, except in a few cases, the Chinese can boast of no superiority over
the " "Western Barbarians." They even condescend to imitate European wares,
and the implements, ornaments, clocks and watches, and other objects made in
Canton and Fachan, and thence exported to all parts of the empire, are mostly
copied from specimens introduced from the West. Of the old local industries, some
have remained unmodified for four thousand years, and these may disappear or be
replaced, but cannot now be changed. In some cases the very processes have
55'
A
Coal. Iron.
Fig. 142. MINES OF SHANTUNG.
Scale 1 : 6,000,000.
c
'
Copper. Lead. Gold. Precious Stones.
120 Miles.
already been entirely lost, and the best hands now fail to produce inlaid bronzes,
enamels, or porcelain vases at all comparable to the old specimens preserved in the
museums. In the art of dyeing, especially from vegetable saps, the Chinese are
still our masters, and they possess several colours elsewhere unknown.
MINERAL RESOURCES METAL WORK BRONZES.
The country abounds in metals, salt, and coal. Great skill is shown in working
the saline springs, and in obtaining the salt, either by solar heat, artificial means,
* Jaeqiicmart's " History of Furniture," p. 154.
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