s.

The "Middle Kingdom" is China proper, but the "Son of Heaven" also rules
over four dependencies, Eastern Turkestan, Mongolia, Manchuria, and
Tibet. The area of the Chinese Empire altogether is thirty-five times
that of the British Isles, and its population is ten times as numerous,
being about 433 millions; indeed, every third or fourth man in the world
is a Chinaman.

Owing to the situation of the country the climate is good and healthy.
The differences of temperature between winter and summer are large; in
the south reigns almost tropical heat; in the north, in the districts
round Peking, the winter is bitterly cold. The soil is exceedingly
fruitful. Tea, rice, millet, maize, oats, barley, beans, peas,
vegetables, and many other crops are grown. In the southern provinces
the fields are full of sugar-cane and cotton bushes. The whole country
is intersected by large rivers, which serve for irrigation and the
transport of goods. In the west rise lofty mountains, forming
continuations of the Tibetan ranges. Eastwards they become lower. The
greater part of China is a mountainous country, but lowlands extend
along the coast. Six of the eighteen provinces border on the coast,
which abounds in excellent harbours.

The "Middle Kingdom" is, then, a fortunate country, one richly endowed
by nature in every respect. In the mountains lies inexhaustible wealth
of minerals, and China possesses larger coal-fields than any other land
in the world. Its future is, therefore, secured, and China's development
may some time surpass that of America.

It is well known that a country which has deeply indented coasts gains
an early and extensive development. Thus Greece was in old times the
home of learning and art; and thus Europe now dominates the rest of the
world. For a people which dwells within such coasts comes sooner and
more easily than others into contact with its neighbours, and by
commercial intercourse can avail itself of their resources and
inventions. But in this, as in so many other respects, China is an
exception. The Chinese have never made use of their coast. They have, on
the contrary, avoided all contact with foreigners, and their development
within their own boundaries has therefore been exceedingly peculiar.
Their culture is different from anything else, and yet it is most
estimable and refined.

Two thousand years before Christ the Chinese had written characters.
Later they invented the hair pencil, which is in