Myths and Legends of China | Page 4

numerous tributaries reaching every part of it.
As regards geological features, the great alluvial plains rest upon
granite, new red sandstone, or limestone. In the north is found the
peculiar loess formation, having its origin probably in the accumulated

dust of ages blown from the Mongolian plateau. The passage from
north to south is generally from the older to the newer rocks; from east
to west a similar series is found, with some volcanic features in the
west and south. Coal and iron are the chief minerals, gold, silver,
copper, lead, tin, jade, etc., being also mined.
The climate of this vast area is not uniform. In the north the winter is
long and rigorous, the summer hot and dry, with a short rainy season in
July and August; in the south the summer is long, hot, and moist, the
winter short. The mean temperature is 50.3° F. and 70° F. in the north
and south respectively. Generally, the thermometer is low for the
latitude, though perhaps it is more correct to say that the Gulf Stream
raises the temperature of the west coast of Europe above the average.
The mean rainfall in the north is 16, in the south 70 inches, with
variations in other parts. Typhoons blow in the south between July and
October.
Organic Environment
The vegetal productions are abundant and most varied. The rice-zone
(significant in relation to the cultural distinctions above noted)
embraces the southern half of the country. Tea, first cultivated for its
infusion in A.D. 350, is grown in the southern and central provinces
between the twenty-third and thirty-fifth degrees of latitude, though it
is also found as far north as Shantung, the chief 'tea district,' however,
being the large area south of the Yangtzu River, east of the Tungting
Lake and great Siang River, and north of the Kuangtung Province. The
other chief vegetal products are wheat, barley, maize, millet, the bean,
yam, sweet and common potato, tomato, eggplant, ginseng, cabbage,
bamboo, indigo, pepper, tobacco, camphor, tallow, ground-nut, poppy,
water-melon, sugar, cotton, hemp, and silk. Among the fruits grown are
the date, mulberry, orange, lemon, pumelo, persimmon, lichi,
pomegranate, pineapple, fig, coconut, mango, and banana, besides the
usual kinds common in Western countries.
The wild animals include the tiger, panther, leopard, bear, sable, otter,
monkey, wolf, fox, twenty-seven or more species of ruminants, and
numerous species of rodents. The rhinoceros, elephant, and tapir still
exist in Yünnan. The domestic animals include the camel and the
water-buffalo. There are about 700 species of birds, and innumerable
species of fishes and insects.

Sociological Environment
On their arrival in what is now known as China the Chinese, as already
noted, fought with the aboriginal tribes. The latter were exterminated,
absorbed, or driven south with the spread of Chinese rule. The Chinese
"picked out the eyes of the land," and consequently the non-Chinese
tribes now live in the unhealthy forests or marshes of the south, or in
mountain regions difficult of access, some even in trees (a voluntary,
not compulsory promotion), though several, such as the Dog Jung in
Fukien, retain settlements like islands among the ruling race.
In the third century B.C. began the hostile relations of the Chinese with
the northern nomads, which continued throughout the greater part of
their history. During the first six centuries A.D. there was intercourse
with Rome, Parthia, Turkey, Mesopotamia, Ceylon, India, and
Indo-China, and in the seventh century with the Arabs. Europe was
brought within the sociological environment by Christian travellers.
From the tenth to the thirteenth century the north was occupied by
Kitans and Nüchêns, and the whole Empire was under Mongol sway
for eighty-eight years in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
Relations of a commercial and religious nature were held with
neighbours during the following four hundred years. Regular
diplomatic intercourse with Western nations was established as a result
of a series of wars in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Until
recently the nation held aloof from alliances and was generally averse
to foreign intercourse. From 1537 onward, as a sequel of war or treaty,
concessions, settlements, etc., were obtained by foreign Powers. China
has now lost some of her border countries and large adjacent islands,
the military and commercial pressure of Western nations and Japan
having taken the place of the military pressure of the Tartars already
referred to. The great problem for her, an agricultural nation, is how to
find means and the military spirit to maintain her integrity, the further
violation of which could not but be regarded by the student of
sociological history as a great tragedy and a world-wide calamity.
Physical, Emotional, and Intellectual Characters
The physical characters of the Chinese are too well known to need
detailed recital. The original immigrants into North China all belonged
to blond races, but the modern