AMONG the peasantry and labouring people of China, all are cooks. A
little earthen-ware stove and an iron pan is all that is required. Rice
is their principal food, which is simply boiled, and then a little fat
of pork or a salt fish put into the pan to mix with it and give it a
relish; they drink little else besides water, which is usually carried
about in a gourd slung on the back; and they require no table nor
chairs. Each person has his bowl and his chop-sticks, and squatting down
on his haunches before the pan, he makes a hearty and contented meal. It
is quite gratifying to see a party of youngsters making their dinner in
this way in the open air.
[Illustration:
CHINA—PLATE 41
]
Plate XLI.