China
Webster's Dictionary [1]
(1): (n.) A country in Eastern Asia.
(2): (n.) China ware, which is the modern popular term for porcelain. See Porcelain.
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [2]
(See Sinim), a vast county of Asia, extending (including its dependencies) from 20 º to 56 º N., and from 144 º 50 ´ E. to 90 º E. Its area is over four and a half million square miles, including one third of Asia, and nearly one tenth of the habitable globe. The empire is divided into three principal parts: first, the eighteen provinces; second, Manchooria; third, colonial possessions. The last includes Mongolia, Sungaria, Eastern Turkistan, Roko-nor, and Thibet. The second is the native country of the Manchoos, the reigning family in China, and includes the territory lying east of the Inner Duarian Mountains, and north of the Gulf of Lian Yung. Thefirst division is China Proper (between 18 º and 40 º N. lat., including Hainan on the south; and between 98 º and 124 º E. long.). It is the only part settled by Chinese. "It lies on the eastern slope of the high table-land of Central Asia, and in the south-east angle of the continent, and for beauty of scenery, fertility of soil, salubrity of climate, magnificent and beautiful rivers, and variety and abundance of its productions, will compare with any portion of the globe" (Williams, Middle Kingdom, 1:7). Its estimated area is nearly 2,000,000 square miles, or two fifths of the empire.
"Sang Ching, the 'Three Pure Ones,' is the title of certain three idols found in temples belonging to the Tauist religion and worshipped by Tauist priests. The images are seated side by side. One of them, as some explain, represents Lo-chii, or the 'O'd Boy,' the founder of that religion. Others explain that the three images refer to three different incarnations of L Ö -ch Ü There is very little known among the common people about these divinities, and they are very seldom worshipped by them, Tauist priests of both classes universally worship the Three Pure Ones" (Doolittle, Social Life of the Chinese, 1:249).
4. Buddha. — The third religion of China is that of Fo, or Buddha, introduced from India about the year A.D. 65, whic
The Nuttall Encyclopedia [3]
To 400,000), which, with Tibet, Mongolia (from which it is separated by the Great Wall), and parts of Turkestan, forms the Chinese Empire; is a vast, compact, and densely peopled country in Eastern Asia; bounded on the N. by Mongolia; W. by Tibet and Burmah; S. by Siam, Annam, and the China Sea; and E. by the Pacific. In the W. are lofty mountain ranges running N. and S., from which parallel ranges run E. and W., rising to greatest height in the S. Two great rivers traverse the country, the Hoang-ho and the Yangtse-kiang, the latter with many large lakes in its course, and bearing on its waters an innumerable fleet of boats and barges. Between the lower courses of these rivers lies the Great Plain, one of the vastest and richest in the world, whose yellow soil produces great crops with little labour and no manure. The coast-line is long and much indented, and out of it are bitten the gulfs of Pe-che-lee, the Yellow Sea, and Hang-chou. There are many small islands off the coast; the mountainous Hainau is the only large one still Chinese. The climate in the N. has a clear frosty winter, and warm rainy summer; in the S. it is hot. The country is rich in evergreens and flowering plants. In the N. wheat, millet, and cotton are grown; in the S. rice, tea, sugar, silk, and opium. Agriculture is the chief industry, and though primitive, it is remarkably painstaking and skilful. Forests have everywhere been cleared away, and the whole country is marvellously fertile. Its mineral wealth is enormous. Iron, copper, and coal abound in vast quantities; has coal-fields that, it is said, if they were worked, "would revolutionise the trade of the world." The most important manufactures are of silk, cotton, and china. Commerce is as yet chiefly internal; its inter-provincial trade is the largest and oldest in the world. Foreign trade is growing, almost all as yet done with Britain and her Colonies. Tea and silk are exported; cotton goods and opium imported. About twenty-five ports are open to British vessels, of which the largest are Shanghai and Canton. There are no railways; communication inland is by road, river, and canals. The people are a mixed race of Mongol type, kindly, courteous, peaceful, and extremely industrious, and in their own way well educated. Buddhism is the prevailing faith of the masses, Confucianism of the upper classes. The Government is in theory a patriarchal autocracy, the Emperor being at once father and high-priest of all the people, and vicegerent of heaven. The capital is Pekin, in the NE. Chinese history goes back to 2300 B.C. English intercourse with the Chinese began in 1635 A.D., and diplomatic relations between London and Pekin were established this century. The Anglo-Chinese wars of 1840,1857, and 1860 broke down the barrier of exclusion previously maintained against the outside world. The Japanese war of 1894-95 betrayed the weakness of the national organisation; and the seizure of Formosa by Japan, the Russo-Japanese protectorate over Manchuria and Corea, the French demand for Kwang-si and Kwang-tung, enforced lease of Kiao-chau to Germany, and of Wei-hai-wei to Britain, seem to forebode the partition of the ancient empire among the more energetic Western nations.
