his soul has gone astray. They
carry his clothes round the spot where he lost consciousness in order to
bring his soul into the right track again; and at night they go up to
the roof and wave a lantern to guide the soul home.

"THE MIDDLE KINGDOM"

The first things a Chinese schoolboy is taught are that the sky is
round, the earth quadrangular, and that China is situated in the middle
of the earth, and on that account is called the "Middle Kingdom." All
other countries lie around China and are its vassals.

The Emperor is called the "Son of Heaven," and holds the supreme
spiritual and temporal power in his hands. On his accession he gives an
arbitrary name to his reign, which also becomes his own. He chooses
his successor himself from among his sons. If he is childless he chooses
one of his nearest relations, but then he adopts his future successor
that the latter may make offerings to the souls of himself and his
ancestors. The yellow robe and the five-clawed dragon are the emblems of
the imperial house. The Emperor is immeasurably superior to his people,
and the mortals who may speak to him are easily counted. A few years ago
the European ambassadors in Peking exacted the right to see the Emperor
every New Year's Day. This they did, but had no talk with him.

[Illustration: PLATE XVII. THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA.]

China is the oldest, the most populous, and the most conservative
kingdom in the world. In the time of Nineveh and Babylon it had attained
to a high civilization, and has remained the same through 4000 years. Of
Nineveh and Babylon only rubbish heaps are left, but China still shows
no sign of decay. Western Asia is like a vast graveyard with innumerable
monuments of bygone times. There devastating migrations of peoples took
place, and races and dynasties contended and succeeded one another. But
China is still the same as ever. The isolated position of the country
and the objection of the people to contact with foreigners have
contributed to this. The reverence for the old state of things and for
the memory of their forefathers makes a new generation similar to the
preceding.

During the twenty-two centuries before the birth of Christ three
imperial families ruled in China in succession. Two and a half centuries
before our era a powerful and far-sighted emperor built the Great Wall,
the mightiest erection ever completed by human hands (Plate XVII.). This
wall is 1500 miles long, 50 feet high, and 26 th