encing, rowing, and
cricket, are alike unknown; and archery, such as it is, claims the
attention chiefly of candidates for official honours. Within doors
they have chess, but it is not the game Europeans recognise by that
name, nor is it even worthy of being mentioned in the same breath.
There is also another game played with three hundred and sixty black
and white pips on a board containing three hundred and sixty-one
squares, but this is very difficult and known only to the few. It is
said to have been invented by His Majesty the Emperor Yao who lived
about two thousand three hundred and fifty years before Christ, so
that granting an error of a couple of thousand years or so, it is
still a very ancient pastime. Dominoes are known, but not much
patronised; cards, on the other hand, are very common, the favourite
games being those in which almost everything is left to chance. As to
open-air amusements, youths of the baser sort indulge in battledore
and shuttlecock without the battledore, and every resident in China
must have admired the skill with which the foot is used instead, at
this foot-shuttlecock game. Twirling heavy bars round the body, and
gymnastics generally, are practised by the coolie and horse-boy
classes; but the disciple of Confucius, who has already discovered how
"pleasant it is to learn with a constant perseverance and
application,"[+] would stare indeed if asked to lay aside for one
moment that dignified carriage on which so much stress has been laid
by the Master. Besides this, finger-nails an inch and a half long,
guarded with an elaborate silver sheath, are decidedly _impedimenta_
in the way of athletic success. No,--when the daily quantum of reading
has been achieved, a Chinese student has very little to fall back upon
in the way of amusement. He may take a stroll through the town and
look in at the shops, or seek out some friend as _ennuye_ as himself,
and while away an hour over a cup of tea and a pipe. Occasionally a
number of young men will join together and form a kind of literary
club, meeting at certain periods to read essays or poems on subjects
previously agreed upon by all. We heard of one youth who, burning for
the poet's laurel, produced the following quatrain on _snow_, which
had been chosen as the theme for the day:--

The north-east wind blew clear and bright,
Each hole was filled up smooth and flat:
The black dog suddenly grew white,
The white dog suddenly grew--