It cannot be said that there are no social distinctions in China, but the extent to which they are hereditary is so limited that every one has ancestors, relatives and friends in every degree, and as these relationships are not allowed to drop with altered circumstances, no degree of wealth or rank can be depended on to save its owner from having to reverence a social inferior as an elder brother. It is so common in China for poor men to grow rich, or what passes there for rich, that law and custom provide against the temptations which attend upon such changes. The usual liberty of divorce is restricted in these cases, and the lawful wife who has shared a man's poverty, is not allowed to be deprived of her position when he has become able to contract a more brilliant alliance. The traditional commentary upon an ancient formula for swearing friendship, illustrates the same view:

"By Heaven and Earth,

Before the moon and the sun,

By their father and mother,

A and B have sworn unalterable friendship.

Henceforward, if A in a chariot meet B wearing a coarse straw hat, A will descend from his chariot to meet B. And if B on a fine horse meets A bearing a porter's load, B will dismount from his horse as A from his chariot." 1 Nor is this a fancy picture; relatives from every class meet together at stated intervals in the ancestral home, and the senior who performs the rites of ancestral worship may be the poorest in the family. And it is still, as in Amyot's time, a common occurrence for a labourer in village dress to call upon an official relative and be received in the place of honour, without awkwardness or embarrassment on either side.

It is now a commonplace that any family may produce a graduate or a doctor, and it is matter of observation that in two or three generations the descendants of officers generally return to the ranks of the people. Hence, in the course of centuries, it would follow almost automatically that every family should have acquired the tradition of behaviour suitable to the grandparents or grandchildren of officers. Father Amyot explains that a graduate sprung from a poor family was expected to assist his relatives in their station of life, not to take them out of it. Those who neglected the obligation were locked upon, according to him, like the holders of rich. benefices who give away nothing in charity, while those who discharge it do so without any sense of humiliation or incongruity. The knowledge of letters carries with it, of course, that of the rules of propriety, and this knowledge gives a distinction like that accorded sometimes to noble birth in the West, over-riding all disparity of wealth.

Thus, in the well-known Chinese romance "Two literary young ladies,” 2 the second heroine is a peasant's daughter; a bachelor uncle tried to frighten her when she was to enter the household of the minister, whose daughter is the first heroine. She quotes a disciple of Confucius to jus

Les Chinois peints par eux-mêmes. By General Tcheng-ki-tong, p. 13.

2 Ping-Chan-ting-yen. Les deux jeunes filles lettrées, tr. by M. Stanislas Julien.

66

tify her composure, and is rebuked for presumption, but rejoins, was but a man; I too belong to the race of men; whoever knows how to act can resemble Shun." Accordingly, when she is introduced to the minister as his daughter's purchased maid-servant, she stands on her dignity, and inquires on what footing she is to be received, that she may know what will be the proper salutations for her to give him; and while that question remains in suspense, she gives none. Of course, after this she is received on terms befitting her accomplishments. Meanwhile, we learn from the intercourse of the corresponding pair of literary young gentlemen that "silk breeches" is a term of contempt applied to rich pretenders by poor scholars, among whom a certain presumption against the learning of a fils de famille might not unreasonably be entertained, so that the destined bridegroom of the second heroine begins by scorning his wealthy comrade in love and letters.

The case of the learned peasant girl in the novel exactly illustrates the saying of the Rites that when the poor know propriety, their minds do not become cowardly; and there is a closer connection than we might at first suppose between the diffusion of good manners and the equal distribution of wealth. The man who treats others with courtesy and consideration stands on too high a level to submit to be treated with insolence by his inferiors in breeding. The learned lady's maid of Chinese fiction is a contrast not merely to the Pamelas and Olivias of 18th century romance, but to the beautiful and accomplished governess of contemporary novelists, who is snubbed and ill-treated by illiterate employers. And if even a woman "who knows how to act" can command respect in the most humble of positions, a fortiori the Chinese father and husband will have a sense of his own dignity, which is wanting to the wage-earning masses of Europe, and might have saved them from acquiescing in the pitiably low standard of comfort prevalent in the first half of the present century.

The Chinese workman has too much self-respect to give his services to the community except upon terms which will allow him, for example, to fulfil the obligations of filial and fraternal piety, and to enjoy the pleasures and advantages of paternity. He works hard and continuously, but at his own pace, in his own way, and for his own advantage. The industry of the Chinese is proverbial, but Englishmen and Americans notice that they are slow or at least leisurely in their methods of work.1

2

3

Men devote to every job the length of time that is required to perform it comfortably. If their work is hot, they have boys to fan them while they do it; if it is fatiguing, they engage a substitute at their own expense while they rest from it; if it is dirty, they take a bath before going home; if it is dangerous, the moral sense of the Empire requires that they should let it alone. As a consequence, perhaps, of all these restrictions, labour is not regarded as an evil; it is necessary, with but few exceptions, to all, and it should be fair, easy, and pleasant; but in China, where language

1 Mrs. Gray, p. 28.

3 La Cité Chinoise, p. 9.

2 lb., p. 386.

4 Little, p. 285.

never fails for the clear enunciation of popular ideals, a life without work is not regarded as ideal.

The ideal occupations are still learning and agriculture, and the fourfold classification of the citizens, into the literati, the cultivators, manufacturers, and traders, is still quoted by native writers as applicable to modern China. Agriculture is the root; industry and commerce are the branches; and this is so far from being a mere rhetorical phrase that even within the same household, agriculture branches out into industry and trade. The culti vators display the technical skill of mechanics, and participate in the profits elsewhere reserved to manufacturers and merchants. The same resourcefulness and versatility, for which citizens of the United States are notable, characterize the Chinese in their own country, and the cause in both cases may be the same; viz., that it is still possible in the oldest country, as it has been hitherto in the newest, for every enterprising worker to obtain possession of a portion of the raw materials of industry. The resemblance ceases here, for China is emphatically a land of petty industry and petty commerce, as well as of small landed proprietors. And indeed it is self evident that this must be the case whenever wealth is equally distributed, since no country is so rich as to be able to make all its citizens wealthy.

The standard of comfort for the labouring masses is no doubt fixed by that of the smaller cultivators, who form one of the largest sections of the population; and it so happens that fuller accounts have been published of the condition of this class than of the life led by artisans or other wage.

earners.

CHAPTER XXVI.

LIFE IN CHINESE VILLAGES.

STATISTICS relating to the total production of a whole country require a very full commentary before they can be relied on for instruction, and naturally China has not yet begun to throw the information possessed by her Board of Finance into a form suitable for comparison with European documents. But the authentic budget of a single peasant is quite as valuable as—and perhaps more interesting than—a statistical summary of the production of so many millions. M. Simon had the good fortune to make friends with such a household, when visiting Wang-mo-ki, a romantic valley in Fo-kien, with pagodas to which the Chinese amateurs of rural scenery are wont to repair to escape the summer heats of Fu-chow.

He was sitting under a tree eating an orange, when a peasant, whose clothes and teapot were lying close by, offered him tea, and sent his son to the adjoining house for some of the new season's buds. The tea made from these is a choice luxury, denounced as an extravagance by the severest moralists, and selling at 8s. a lb. straight from the grower; but the family retain a small quantity for their own hospitable use. It was the eldest son who acted as host on this occasion, and his report of the well-behaved foreigner, staying at the fashionable pagoda, induced his father to make inquiries as to M. Simon's status and reputation.

On receiving a satisfactory reply, the peasants sent to inquire when they might have the honour of calling on the European, an inquiry followed forthwith by the despatch of a large visiting card bearing the name of Wang-ming-tse and the arrival of father and son in robes of ceremony. On the following day the visit was returned and the whole family presented to the venerable stranger Si, who was constrained to remain and partake of an ample refection, lasting for two hours and consisting of fish in broth, ducks and chickens, pork and mutton, vegetables of different sorts, a variety of entremets, sweet and pickled, with of course the usual bowl of rice, and sweets, fruits, cakes, rice-wine, and liqueurs for dessert. Not less than two half-days' work must have been given up to the exchange of visits, and the food, though ample and good, consisted only of the usual holiday fare of the family.

How many acres, we naturally ask ourselves, would an English tenant have to farm, to be able without impropriety to sport visiting cards, pay morning calls, and invite distinguished foreigners to luncheon-or afternoon tea at 8s. alb.? The Chinese cultivator, who allows himself these luxuries,

owns and occupies 29 mow, or a little over 4 acres! Nearly half of this is planted with tea, but the remainder produces rice, corn, maize, beans, rape, sugar-cane, yams, cotton, clover, turnips, cabbages, and small quantities of other fruits and vegetables not specified; pigs are fatted and poultry reared in addition, and the total money value of the gross produce of the 4 acres is estimated by M. Simon at a little over £285; but as the purchasing power of money is not the same in China as in Europe, for the more security he subjoins a list of the different crops by weight.1 The outgoings or working expenses-including seeds, manures, hired labour, maintenance of live stock, wear and tear and taxes-come to about £65, and the food of the family, including that of one female and two male servants, to £64. By what seems a rather liberal estimate, M. Simon allows £20 a year for keeping up the family wardrobe, the total value of which is put at £88, besides about £18 worth of jewelry and ornaments. They spend about £2 a year on religious ceremonies, mostly of the Buddhist type, in the efficacy of which they half believe, and 245. in voluntary subscriptions for the repair of roads, bridges, canals, and public buildings; £8 a year is spent on theatrical performances and pleasure parties. The family therefore spends at the rate of £160 a year, in round numbers, and has £125 to save or to spend in marrying daughters and starting sons in business, or enlarging the holding so that employment may be found for them on the land as they grow up.

The capital which brings in this return is estimated at a little under £800, the land being worth £440, and the house, furniture, tools, and personal effects about £350; the cultivator's profit is thus as nearly as possible 36 per cent., 3 per cent. per mensem-a fact which at once explains how in modern China as in ancient Egypt, it was possible for the legal rate of interest to be fixed at 30 per cent. The ample margin available for saving also explains the universality of thrift in China. It is not in human nature to save for the problematical wants of the future at the expense of present needs; but it is easy and natural, when all the customary wants of the moment have been supplied, to economize the surplus earnings, which will secure an equal portion of well-being for the years to come. Extreme poverty in China consists, not in having to go without food, but in having to eat plain rice. Our peasants eat four meals a day of varied and savoury food, or five in summer-time, when the day's work begins at dawn, and they have an appetite for two breakfasts before the noonday meal. The hired servants have the same food as the family, and though economy is universal there is no pinching or grinding; there may be intervals of hardship, but there is no abject want and no terror of destitution.

1 Viz. 9,910 kilogrammes of rice (the kilogramme is rather over 2 lbs.); 2,100 ditto of wheat; 1,604 of tea; 300 of large beans; 160 of maize; 291 of oil; 180 of sarrazin; 230 of sugar; 180 of tobacco; 5,000 of yams; 9,600 of turnips; 15,000 of cabbages; 9,720 of clover; 1,095 of oil cake; 1,200 kilo of stalks of sorghum, soy and sugar cane for fodder; 150,000 ditto of rice and other straw, not all included in the money valuation, and 80 pieces of cotton stuff. Omitting the smaller and more valuable crops, in round numbers the farm produced about 14 tons of straw and 10 tons of grain.