China hath on the North, Catay, and the Tartars; on the South, Cauchin-China; on the East, the Sea; and on the West, Brama. It reacheth from 17 Degrees to 42 of Northerly Latitude, and lyeth after their own description almost foursquare. On the West it is separated and secure from unneighbourly Nations, by a Sandy Wilderness. On the North, by a Wall, which Nature hath framed partly of high Mountains, and Art hath supplyed with the nature and industry of men.

Natures of the People

The people are in composition of their body, short nosed, and small black eyes; their beards are thin, not having above twenty hairs: They are white, but not so much as in Europe; the men as well as the women suffer their hair to grow long, colour it, and gather it into a Net or Cawl on the top of their head; those which are unmarried, wear their hair curled on the top of their foreheads. They are for the most part an ingenuous and politick people, much delighting in the exercise of manual Arts.

Fertility

The air is very temperate, the soyl pleasant and fertil; they have two, and somewhere three Harvests in a year. It aboundeth likewise in Rice, Wool, Cotton, Olives, Vines, Flax, Silk, all kinds of Metal, Fruits, Cattel, Sugar, Honey, Rheubarb, Porcelyne Dishes, Camphir, Ginger, all kinds of Spices, Wood, Musk, and Salt.

The Countrey is for the most part plain, in so much that they have Coaches and Carts driven ordinarily with Sails; few Mountains, but plains of an hundred miles compass.

Diet

They eat thrice in a day, but sparingly, not touching their meat with their hands, but with two sticks of Ivory, Ebony, and the like.

Provinces

China is of wonderfull bigness, well-nigh equalizing all Europe; it is said to be 3000 leagues in compass, and 1800 leagues in length. As for the name of China, it is only used by us, the Inhabitants calling themselves Tamans, and Tabencos. It is divided into 15 Provinces, to the least of which our European Countreys cannot admit comparison. Six of these border on the Sea, Cantan, Foquien, Chequiam, Nanquin, Xantam, Paquin; the other nine be In-land, Quiansi, Huquam, Honan, Xiensi, Xansi, Suchnon, Queichen, Junan, Coansi; some reckon these names somewhat differently. The King holdeth his Court in Naquin; his Predecessors before the Tartarian Conquest, are said to have resided in Nanquin, or as some say in Quinsay. They have 244 Cities, of name dignified by the title Fu; and as many smaller Cities, entituled Cheu, with their several Jurisdictions: and a third sort called Hieu, as big as the meaner Cities of Spain, above 1120. Two sorts of Castles, both for Fortification and Habitation, with priviledges also of Markets; the greater sort named Huy, 293: the less of greater number, 2593: their Villages are innumerable.

The Cities generally are like one another, except in greatness; the Streets are strait, yielding prospect from one Gate to the other. Canton is accounted the least of the Metropolitan Cities, yet the Walls of it have 83 Bulwarks; the Streets so broad, that ten men may ride in front, and paved and adorned with many triumphant Arches and Shops on both sides; the Bridges here and elsewhere are many, of large Free-Stones, very costly; the High-wayes which lead to the Cities, very stately; and the Kings Houses for the publick Officers, very magnificent, after their manner.

Of all countries, Japan included, China has probably felt the war least. Not only is she in pocket by the supply of labour—the wages of her 150,000 coolies has practically all been returned to China—but the extraordinary increnase in the value of silver enables her to import goods from gold countries, and practically all countries are gold countries nowadays, at about the same cost as in pre-war days. With an area of 4,287,000 square miles and a population of 421,000,000, she has greater potentialities than any other large country today.

Her foreign trade, considering her population, is relatively small, but is rapidly increasing. Her principal exports are tea, beans, millet, and other grain, silk, hides and skins, and metals. The great mineral resources of the country are hardly touched, although the war has speeded them up.

Cottons, woollens, machinery of all kinds, power plants for electrical and other purposes, paints, paper, glass and medicines are only a few of the principal imports increasingly in demand. The value of Imports from the United Kingdom in 1920 amounted to £43,970,382 and Exports to us £26,898,466.

The capital, Peking, has a population of 1,328,420. Shanghai, the gate of China, in the centre of her coast line and tapping the great waterway of the Yangtzekiang, is her largest port: it has a population of a million Chinese and about 20,000 foreigners, the largest European population by far in the Par East; Hankow, the second commercial centre in China, 1,000,000, and the chief ports are Canton, of which the British Colony of Hong Kong is the port, in South China; Hankow on the Yangtze River in Central China, and Tientsin, of which Chingwangtao is the winter port, in North China.