1846.] The Chinese. The costume of the Chinese is probably familiar to most of our readers. The shaven head, from the top of whichaccording to the custom that has been introduced since the Tartar ascendancy -the tails depend; the long, loose gown of silk gauze or linen, with large sleeves, sometimes gathered around the middle by a girdle of wrought silk, and which is fastened in front by a clasp of agate or jade stone; the worked silk fan-case suspended from the girdle; the small leather or silken bag containing the flint and steel for the purpose of lighting the pipe; the embroidered tobacco pouch; the large trowsers and high-soled shoes; the summer cap, composed of the woven filaments of the bamboo or of chip, surmounted at the apex by a red, blue, white, or gilded button, indicating the rank of the wearer, from which descends a fringe of crimson silk or red horse hair, and in front of which is sometimes worn a single large pearl; constitute an ordinary costume, which is daily becoming more common to our sight, in the shop-windows of our principal commercial towns. The dress worn in winter is somewhat different from that of summer. It consists of a larger gown of silk or cape, reaching nearly to the ancles, and over this is worn a loose spencer descending to the hips, composed entirely of fur or silk, or of broadcloth which is lined with skins. The neck is in winter protected by a narrow collar of silk or fur, the loose dresses folding over to the right breast, and fastened with gilt or crystal buttons. The winter cap fits close to the head, and the brim being turned up all around, consists of black velvet or fur, while the top is surmounted by a button from which is suspended a bunch of criinson silk. Woven cotton or silk stockings are also common among those who can afford them, and boots of cloth, velvet, or satin, with the wellknown thick white sole, are worn by the more opulent class. The Chinese dresses of ceremony, although they appear somewhat gaudy and meretricious to a cultivated taste, are in some respects exceedingly splendid; and indeed the relative degrees of rank are sometimes designated by the various costumes. The color of the ball upon the cap, whether red, light blue, dark blue, crystal, white stone, or gold, serves to distinguish the nine ranks, civil and military. Each of those balls is accompanied by a corresponding badge, consisting of a piece of silk embroidery about a foot square, with the representation of a bird, or other device, wrought upon the breast or back. To this is added a necklace of large court beads, which descends to the waist. In the ceremonial dresses, the color of the spencer is of dark blue or purple, and the long gown is usually of a lighter hue, which, on state occasions, is wrought with dragons and other devices embroidered in silk and gold. We are informed, that when the crowd of mandarins with their embroidered robes, crimson caps, and various colored balls, are in full court dress, they present a very imposing appearance, which is often contrasted with that of the Emperor, who, during the Embassy of Lord Macartney, appeared in a plain brown silk robe, and a black velvet cap adorned with a single pearl. Yet he occasionally presents himself among the mandarins of his court, in a yellow dress, that is the imperial color, upon which the five-clawed dragon is embroidered in gold. The ordinary costume of the females consists of a robe of silk or cotton with large sleeves, which is worn over a longer garment. Under these are loose trowsers fastened around the ancle above the deformed and cramped foot, the sleeve of the robe covering the hand, the whole being modest and becoming. It is not our purpose, however, to enter into the minute trifles of the toilet, but to exhibit the more general, political and moral features of the empire. It is the machinery of the government, which, after all, more directly indicates the actual condition of the country, as well as the character of the people over whom it is exercised. The government itself being a despotism, the Emperor with the interior Council Chamber and the great Council of State, constitute the grand source whence its administration in all its branches flows. The eighteen provinces into which the empire is divided, are placed singly under the jurisdiction of a governor, or two provinces are made subject to a general governor, who has the power of appointing governors under him for each province. Such is the political organization of the provinces of Canton and Kuang-sy, adjoining, which are made subject to a general governor who is entitled the Viceroy of Canton. For each government a chief criminal judge, as well as a treasurer, are appointed; the latter hav peror is concerned, in a beneficent spirit in many respects, and with remarkable judgment and discretion, when we consider the Asiatic character of the people. There is one peculiar circumstance which indicates the pacific tendency of the government, and this is the fact, that the military is subordinate to the civil power. The system of police is conducted upon the same plan throughout the various cities and towns of the empire, and its searching influence springs, in a great measure, from the principle of responsibility, each town being divided into tithings of ten houses, which are themselves combined in wards of one hundred. The viceroy is thus made to answer for the order of his own district, the hundred and tithing man each for their respective charge, and the householder for the conduct of his own family. Another feature of the Chinese government is the patriarchal character upon which it is based. The subordination which is preserved by a father over the members of his family, and the aged over the young, is extended to the relations of the Emperor over his subjects, he being deemed the father of the empire. This spirit is inculcated in their ancient books. Submission to parental authority is in fact, the type of all the political relations which exist, and it is probably the discipline which this state of things inculcates that produces general mildness of manners, a pacific spirit, as well as docility and subordination. The jurisprudence which prevails throughout the realm also exhibits a system of policy, marked by some of the benefits of the common law, and at the same time with objectionable features, yet upon the whole, much superior to that of other Asiatic nations. The penal code is extremely simple and clear, the first head being composed of definitions and explanations in reference to the whole code, and the six following relating to those subjects, which correspond with the six supreme boards of Pekin. In this code are considered, the system of government, the conduct of officers, the enrollment of the people, lands and tenements, marriage in its statistical relations, public property, duties and customs, private property, sales and markets, and ritual laws, under which are included, sacred rites and miscellaneous observances. That portion of the code which treats of military laws in volves the consideration of the protection of the palace, the regulation of the army, the guard of the frontier, military horses and cattle, expresses and public posts. The next embraces criminal laws, and comprises eleven books, the principal heads of which are treason, robbery, theft, murder, homicide, criminal intercourse, disturbing graves, quarreling and fighting, and incendiarism; while the last division treats of public works, and contains two books relating to public buildings and public ways. The character of the Chinese laws is as equitable as might be supposed, from the circumstances which have marked the progress of the empire. In the case of treason, not only does the traitor undergo the punishment of death, but all the members of his family. The capital punishments are strangulation, decollation, and for treason, parricides, sacrilege, and other crimes of such character, a lingering death is required;-the heads of murderers and robbers being publicly exposed in a cage which is suspended upon a pole. The Chinese prisons are likewise very severe; although women, in ordinary cases, have the privilege of being placed in the custody of their nearest relatives. There are also sometimes exercised certain modes of torture in forcing evidence, and these consist in squeezing the ankles or fingers between three sticks, tied triangularly. Oaths are never required in judicial proceedings, but severe punishments are attached to false evidence. A species of king's evidence is permitted in some cases, and there are ten privileged classes who cannot be tried and punished, without a special reference to the Emperor!-the exemption being based upon public station, or upon relationship to the imperial line. All persons under fifteen years of age, and over seventy, are permitted to redeem themselves from punishment by a fine, in those cases which are less than capital, and relatives and servants who live under the same roof, are usually held innocent, although they conceal the offences of their fellow inmates, or even assist in effecting their escape. In order to spread a knowledge of the laws throughout the empire, it is enacted that those private individuals, who are able to explain their nature or to comprehend them, shall receive pardon for all offences which result from accident, or that are imputable to them in consequence of the guilt of others, provided it be the first offence, and is not implicated with any act of treason or rebellion. A part of the code is also devoted to providing for justice in the administration of legal punishments, and in establishing what are considered proper safeguards of the subject. There are severe punishments denounced against officers of government for unjust imprisonments, delays of justice, cruelty, and such misdemeanors. In cases of sickness, a species of bail is allowed to minor offenders, and they are exempted or released from imprisonment on sufficient security being given for their return. Torture is prohibited to be exercised upon all persons who are under fifteen and over seventy, as well as upon those laboring under permanent disease. Women can never be imprisoned excepting for capital offences or for adultery, nor can torture or death be inflicted upon a pregnant woman, until one hundred days after her confinement. Slavery exists in China to a considerable extent. For a slave to kill his master is punishable with a lingering death, while the converse is not capital. Yet for some offences servitude is visited upon a whole family, and personal service is frequently levied by the government upon the lowest class, or that which has only its labor to contribute. Robbery with offensive weapons is punishable with death, and if a burglar is killed by one whose house he invades, it is deemed an act of homicide which is justifiable. Stealing is punished with the bamboo or with exile, which is proportioned to the magnitude of the offence, while theft among near relations is visited with a less punishment than ordinary theft. The Chinese law of homicide is somewhat extraordinary. Affrays are treated with great severity: killing in an affray, and killing with a regular weapon without intent, are punished with strangling, and killing by pure accident is redeemable by a fine of about four pounds sterling to the relatives of the deceased. When a person is wounded with the hands or a stick, twenty days constitute the term of responsibility, after which the death of the sufferer does not make the offence capital. With a sharp instrument, fire or scalding water, the term is extended to thirty days; gun-shot wounds, forty days; broken bones or violent wounds, fifty days. Parents have virtually the power of death over their children; for even if they kill them intentionally, they are subject only to the punishment of the bamboo and a banishment of one year, and if struck by them, to no punishment at all. The penalty for striking parents, or for cursing them, is also death. The law of China is, it appears, very tena cious of social order-so much so, indeed, that a punishment is inflicted upon the act of striking another with the hand or foot, that being made a public offence in order to prevent the chances of death by quarrels. The law also provides a pun ishment for opprobrious language, on the ground of its having a tendency to produce quarrels and affrays. In reterence to the subject of debt, a period is allowed by law, on the expiration of which the debtor becomes liable to the bamboo, if his obligations are not discharged; and a creditor sometimes quarters himself and his family upon his debtor, and provided this is done without violence and tumult no relief is granted for such act by the civil authority. In the light of the Chinese law it is deemed a much greater offence to owe money to a foreigner than to a native, and a banishment to Tartary was formerly inflicted upon insolvent Hong merchants. The scrupulous jealousy with which the government regards indebtedness to foreigners is based upon the fact that there were frequent embarrassing claims and demands made by strangers for debts which were thus incurred. The civil code of the present imperial dynasty of China is composed of not less than two hundred and sixty-one volumes! and it contains an account of the changes and modifications which have been made in the laws by successive emperors since the conquest in 1644, frequently the reasons assigned for the repeal of the old laws and for the enacting of the new, as well as the entire body of the existing laws. It is divided into nine parts, the first containing all the regulations concerning the imperial house now reigning, with the privileges of the descendants of the Tartar conquerors in the direct and collateral lines. The second part relates to the palace and its regulations. The next six parts refer to the six boards to which we have before referred, among which the duty of regulating the details of the government is distributed; and under the ninth division are included all those laws relating to public education, the examination of candidates for public offices, as well as those peculiar laws which concern the Tartar dependencies and the courts which take cognizance of their affairs. In the part which relates to the first of the six executive boards-that of civil officers-is an accurate list of all the appointments in the empire, the relative rank of each officer, and the regulations which govern them. In the arrangement of public officers, there is kept in view a comparison of the merits and demerits of each, and a record of this merit is preserved and consulted, with a view either of degrading or of promoting the incumbent. In a country so densely populated as China, where the pursuit of agriculture must from the nature of things supply the essential means of subsistence, it holds the first rank among the useful arts. It is in itself deemed second only to literature; and we can scarcely wonder at the homage which it receives from the Emperor himself, who, with the princes and officers of the court, repairs every year to the temple which is dedicated to the inventor of agriculture, to plough the land as well as to offer sacrifices. Without equaling the most advanced European nations in husbandry, it must be admitted that the Chinese exceed all the Asiatic nations in the excellence to which they have carried this useful pursuit. The principal object of culture is the rice, which supplies a great proportion of the food to the inhabitants; and two crops as well as one of vegetables are produced upon the same spot of ground during a single year. The farms are small and without fences, but are usually guarded with ditches, and the low wet lands, where the rice is cultivated, are divided by narrow embankments which are used as walks. Most of their agricultural implements are simple; and it is alleged that we are indebted to them for the winnowing machine which is now used in our own country. From the over-crowded population of the empire, space is greatly economized, and the terrace cultivation has been long an object of admiration to travelers. Garden vegetables, such as cabbages, pease and potatoes, grow abundantly at Macao; but these were formerly, and we presume are now cultivated only for the supply of the European and native Portuguese population at that place. There is however one ornate branch of agriculture in which the Chinese peculiarly excel, and this is the department of landscape gardening. The construction of artificial ponds, streams, and rustic work, and the disposition of grounds, woods, and lawns, are calculated to heighten the beauty of nature by the aid of art, at least so far as Asiatic taste is concerned. The landscape gardening of the Chinese, although conspicuous in most of the more elegant country houses within and around the principal cities, is most conspicuously displayed in the grounds around the imperial palace of Pekin, and in those extensive parks called Yuen-ming-yuen, which are decorated with all the elegant embellishments that are calculated to gratify imperial pride. In the manufacture of certain articles, it is well known that China formerly excelled all other nations, especially in their porcelain and silk, lackered ware, carved work in wood, ivory, and other materials. They were the first who manufactured porcelain, for which they have been long celebrated, and other nations who have borrowed the art from them, although they excel them in the painting and gilding of the surface, have not attained the art of making it so hard, in the resistance which it offers to the heat without cracking, or in composing so well the substance of the material. They can also boast of the silk manufacture as an original invention. Silk has long been an article of extensive use in various parts of the empire as well as a principal staple of export, and its culture has received the principal care of the court, the empress according to authoritative tradition, having originally planted the mulberry tree. With looms of simple construction they imitate the choicest patterns of the silk both of England and France, and they produce elegant specimens of damask and flowered satins. The crape manufactured by them is also of a very fine quality, and they make also a species of silk called in Canton ponge, which washes and is highly prized. The agricultural staple which now forms the principal article of export from China to foreign ports, will be but briefly considered. It would be unnecessary to describe the various kinds of tea which are produced in the different parts of the empire, or their mode of preparation; but as is known to most of our readers, it is yielded in vast quantity in the interior provinces, and is transported by water in the boats which crowd the rivers and canals to the seaboard-principally to Canton-where the greater portion is shipped to Great Britain and the United States, and more recently to other parts |