China and the Chinese by Herbert Allen Giles
page 41 of 180 (22%)
page 41 of 180 (22%)
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deaths, each accompanied by a telling illustration of the tragic scene.
Some of the incidents go far to dispose of the belief that patriotism is quite unknown to the Chinese. * * * * * Division C is devoted to Geography and to Topography. Here stands the Imperial Geography of the Empire, in twenty-four large volumes, with maps, in the edition of 1745. Here, too, stand many of the Topographies for which China is justly celebrated. Every Prefecture and every District, or Department,âand the latter number about fifteen hundred,âhas its Topography, a kind of local history, with all the noticeable features of the District, its bridges, temples, and like buildings, duly described, together with biographies of all natives of the District who have risen to distinction in any way. Each Topography would occupy about two feet of shelf; consequently a complete collection of all the Topographies of China, piled one upon the other, would form a vertical column as high as the Eiffel Tower. Yet Topography is only an outlying branch of Chinese literature. Division C further contains the oldest printed book in the Cambridge University Library, and a very interesting one to boot. It is entitled _An Account of Strange Nations_, and was published between 1368 and 1398. Its contents consist of short notices of about 150 nationalities known more or less to the Chinese, and the value of these is much enhanced by the woodcuts which accompany each notice. Among the rest we find Koreans, Japanese, Hsiung-nu (the forefathers of the Huns), Kitan Tartars, tribes of Central Asia, Arabs, Persians, and even Portuguese, Jean de Montecorvino, who had been appointed archbishop |
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