Journal of the Society of Arts : Volume LI, No. 2623 [‎732r] (21/32)

February 27,1903.] ^ JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF ARTS.
they wave their fans and nod their heads.
The whole effect is very picturesque and
pleasing.
The Chinese are past masters in the art of
irrigating their fields. Their staple food, rice,
must be grown in water until it ripens, and in
Yunnan they have all kinds of ingenious ways
of carrying water on to their farms. One
method is the wheel that is turned by a stream,
and to which is attached hollow pieces of
bamboo. These fill and empty themselves
automatically into a wooden shoot leading
into the fields.
After the rice is harvested, it has to be
hulled or skinned before it can be eaten, and
this labour calls for a further display of
ingenuity. The apparatus used in many
villages consists of a wooden log, hollowed
at one end, and with a piece of hard wood
fastened through the other. The log is evenly
balanced, and a stream of water is directed on
to the hollow end, which sinks down under the
weight of water, empties itself, and rises again.
The other end falls continually on to the grain,
and loosens the husk.
The Yunnanese live almost entirely on rice
and vegetables. When they can afford it
they buy some pork, or kill a fowl, but
meat to the majority of the inhabitants is
a luxury. Only the Mahommedans eat beef,
and where they live beef can usually be pur
chased daily in the market. The Mahomme
dans in Yunnan are probably descended from
the soldiers stationed there by the Great Mongol
Emperor, Ghenghis Khan, when he invaded
Burma and India in the 13th century. In
1855 occurred their terrible rebellion, and the
Mahommedans kept the field against the
Imperialist troops till 1873. The Chinese
eventually gained the ascendency, but not
before the population of the province had been
reduced by many millions.
The first Chinese settlers intermarried freely
with the native tribes around them, and the
result is that the beliefs and customs of their
descendants, the Yunnanese of the present day,
differ in many respects from those common to
other parts cf China. They are intensely
superstitious, and believe in divination of all
kinds. They would even have faith, I believe,
in the weather forecasts of our Meteorological
Department. The local diviner is usually a
blind man. When a young man wishes to
start a home of his own, he does not go on
his knees and ask some sweet maid to be his
everlasting cook and stocking darner. He
obtains instead her “ card of nativity” through
one of the recognised match-makers of the
place, and sends it with his own to a diviner.
If the “ stars are in conjunction ” negotiations
can continue, but if they don’t agree all is at
an end ! At least he must seek elsewhere.
Phrenology is not practised, so far as I am
aware, but physiognomists get a good living
amongst the Yunnanese. A Chinaman is not
supposed to grow a moustache until he is at
least 30 years of age. He makes a virtue of
necessity in this case. However, when he does
want to increase his attractions, the Yunnanese
applies to a physiognomist, who will discover
for him a lucky day on which to start growing a
moustache.
In Yunnan the “ five senses of man ” are
said to be the ears, eyes, mouth, nose, and
eyebrows. Blue or grey eyes are rarely met
with amongst the Chinese, the prevailing
colour being black. The consequence is that
the Yunnanese attribute extraordinary powers
to our eyes. According to them we can see
the precious minerals in the earth. I have
even been asked by some country people to aid
them to find the silver supposed to have been
hidden by their parents in their garden during
the Mahommedan rebellion.
The Yunnanese lady is fond of dressing her
self and her children in bright colours. The
most favoured material is Szechwan flowered
silk ; but for ordinary wear coloured cotton
cloth, made and dyed locally, is in general
use. Woollen cloth is much appreciated, but
is very dear, all on the market being of British
or German manufacture. As jewellery—ear
rings, bracelets, rings, necklaces, and hair
ornaments are worn. These are generally
made of silver, but the very poor classes
manage with brass or pewter.
In India the would-be beauty must imitate
the waddle of an elephant. In China the
“ waving willow ” walk is held up as the acme
of perfect progression for women. To obtain
this walk mothers bind the feet of their girl-
babies in rather a cruel fashion, so as to make
them small and pointed. In Yunnan it is only
the girls of the richer classes whose feet are
permanently deformed. It is a silly custom,
of course ; but one thing may be said in its
favour, and it is probably why the women have
so long permitted themselves to be the victims
of such a fashion. On account of their bound
feet the Chinese women are not compelled to
slave in the fields like the women of every
other Eastern race, whilst their husbands loaf
at home. To be in the fashion, the Yunnanese
women of the poorer classes bind their feet