remote, as not to be ascertained from history; but the time when the
cotton plant was first brought from the northern parts of India into the
southern provinces of China is known, and noticed in their annals. That
species of the cotton plant, from which is produced the manufacture
usually called nankin cotton, is said to loose its peculiar yellow tint
in the course of two or three years when cultivated in the southern
provinces, owing, in all probability, to the great heat of the weather
and continued sunshine. I have raised this particular species at the
Cape of Good Hope where, upon the same plant, as well as on others
produced from its seed, the pods were as full and the tint of as deep a
yellow in the third year as in the first. As is generally the case in
most of their manufactures, those of silk and cotton do not appear to
have lately undergone progressive improvement. The want of proper
encouragement from the government, and the rigid adherence to ancient
usage, have rendered indeed all their fabrics stationary.
Of all the mechanical arts that in which they seem to have attained the
highest degree of perfection is the cutting of ivory. In this branch
they stand unrivalled, even at Birmingham, that great nursery of the
arts and manufactures where, I understand, it has been attempted by
means of a machine to cut ivory fans and other articles, in imitation of
those of the Chinese; but the experiment, although ingenious, has not
hitherto succeeded to that degree, so as to produce articles fit to vie
with those of the latter. Nothing can be more exquisitely beautiful than
the fine open work displayed in a Chinese fan, the sticks of which would
seem to be singly cut by the hand, for whatever pattern may be required,
or a shield with coat of arms, or a cypher, the article will be finished
according to the drawing at the shortest notice. The two outside sticks
are full of bold sharp work, undercut in such a manner as could not be
performed any other way than by the hand. Yet the most finished and
beautiful of these fans may be purchased at Canton for five to ten
Spanish dollars[19]. Out of a solid ball of ivory, with a hole in it not
larger than half an inch in diameter, they will cut from nine to fifteen
distinct hollow globes, one within another, all loose and capable of
being turned round in every direction, and each of them carved full of
the same kind of open work that appears on the fans. A very small sum of
money is the price of one of these difficult trifles. Models of temples,
pagodas, and other pieces of architecture, are beautifully worked in
ivory; and from the shavings, interwoven with pieces of quills, they
make neat baskets and hats, which are as light and pliant as those of
straw. In short, all kinds of toys for children, and other trinkets and
trifles, are executed in a neater manner and for less money in China,
than in any other part of the world.
[19] I am aware that those laboured pieces, of Italian make, of ivory
cut into landscapes, with houses, trees, and figures, sometimes so small
as to be comprehended within the compass of a ring, may be quoted
against me; but the work of a solitary and secluded monk to beguile the
weary hours, is not to be brought in competition with that of a common
Chinese artist, by which he earns his livelihood.
The various uses, to which that elegant species of reed called the
bamboo is applied, would require a volume to enumerate. Their chairs,
their tables, their skreens, their bedsteads and bedding, and many other
household moveables, are entirely constructed of this hollow reed, and
some of them in a manner sufficiently ingenious and beautiful. It is
used on board ships for poles, for sails, for cables, for rigging, and
for caulking. In husbandry for carts, for wheelbarrows, for wheels to
raise water, for fences, for sacking to hold grain, and a variety of
other utensils. The young shoots furnish an article of food; and the
wicks of their candles are made of its fibres. It serves to embellish
the garden of the prince, and to cover the cottage of the peasant. It is
the instrument, in the hand of power, that keeps the whole empire in
awe. In short, there are few uses to which a Chinese cannot apply the
bamboo, either entire or split into thin laths, or further divided into
fibres to be twisted into cordage, or macerated into a pulp to be
manufactured into paper.
That "there is nothing new under the sun," was the observation of a wise
man in days of yore. Impressed with the same idea an ingenious and
learned modern author[20] has written a book to prove, that all the late
discoveries and inventions of Europe were known to the ancients. The
discovery of making paper from straw, although new, perhaps, in Europe,
is of very ancient date in China. The straw of rice and other grain, the
bark of the mulberry-tree, the cotton shrub, hemp, nettles, and various
other plants and materials, are employed in the paper manufactories of
China, where sheets are prepared of such dimensions, that a single one
may be had to cover the whole side of a moderate sized room. The finer
sort of paper for writing upon has a surface as smooth as vellum, and is
washed with a strong solution of alum to prevent the ink from sinking.
Many old persons and children earn a livelihood by washing the ink from
written paper, which, being afterwards beaten and boiled to a paste, is
re-manufactured into new sheets; and the ink is also separated from the
water, and preserved for future life. To this article of their
manufacture the arts in our own country owe so many advantages, that
little requires to be said in its favour. The Chinese, however,
acknowledge their obligations to the Coreans for the improvements in
making ink, which, not many centuries ago, were received from them.
[20] Mr. Dutens.
As to the art of printing, there can be little doubt of its antiquity in
China, yet they have never proceeded beyond a wooden block. The nature,
indeed, of the character is such, that moveable types would scarcely be
practicable. It is true, the component parts of the characters are
sufficiently simple and few in number; but the difficulty of putting
them together upon the frame, into the multitude of forms of which they
are capable, is perhaps not to be surmounted.
Like the rest of their inventions the chain-pump which, in Europe, has
been brought to such perfection as to constitute an essential part of
ships of war and other large vessels, continues among the Chinese nearly
in its primitive state, the principal improvement since its first
invention consisting in the substitution of boards or basket-work for
wisps of straw. Its power with them has never been extended beyond that
of raising a small stream of water up an inclined plane, from one
reservoir to another, to serve the purposes of irrigation. They are of
different sizes, some worked by oxen, some by treading in a wheel, and
others by the hand.
The great advantages attainable from the use of mechanical powers are
either not understood or, purposely, not employed. In a country of such
vast population, machinery may perhaps be considered as detrimental
especially as, at least, nine-tenths of the community must derive their
subsistence from manual labour. It may be a question, not at all decided
in their minds, whether the general advantages of facilitating labour,
and gaining time by means of machinery, be sufficient to counterbalance
the individual distress that would, for a time, be occasioned by the
introduction of such machinery. Whatever the reason may be, no such
means are to be met with in the country. Among the presents that were
carried out for the Emperor were an apparatus for the air pump, various
articles for conducting a set of experiments in electricity, and the
models of a complete set of mechanical powers placed upon a brass
pillar. The Emperor, happening to cast his eye upon them, enquired of
the eunuch in waiting for what they were intended. This mutilated
animal, although he had been daily studying the nature and use of the
several presents, in order to be able to say something upon them when
they should be exhibited to his master, could not succeed in making his
Imperial Majesty comprehend the intention of the articles in question.
"I fancy," says the old monarch, "they are meant as playthings for some
of my great grandchildren."
The power of the pulley is understood by them, and is applied on board
all their large vessels, but always in a single state; at least, I never
observed a block with more than one wheel in it. The principle of the
lever should also seem to be well known, as all their valuable wares,
even silver and gold, are weighed with the steelyard: and the tooth and
pinion wheels are used in the construction of their self-moving toys,
and in all their rice-mills that are put in motion by a water wheel. But
none of the mechanical powers are applied on the great scale to
facilitate and to expedite labour. Simplicity is the leading feature in
all their contrivances that relate to the arts and manufactures. The
tools of every artificer are of a construction the most simple that it
should seem possible to make them, and yet each tool is so contrived as
to answer several purposes. Thus, the bellows of the blacksmith, which
is nothing more than a hollow cylinder of wood, with a valvular piston,
beside blowing the fire, serves for his seat when set on end, and as a
box to contain the rest of his tools. The barber's bamboo basket, that
contains his apparatus, is also the seat for his customers. The joiner
makes use of his rule as a walking stick, and the chest that holds his
tools serves him as a bench to work on. The pedlar's box and a large
umbrella are sufficient for him to exhibit all his wares, and to form
his little shop.
Little can be said in favour of the state of the fine arts in this
country. Of their poetry, modern and ancient, I have given a specimen;
but I think it right once more to observe that, with regard to Asiatic
compositions, Europeans cannot form a proper judgment, and more
especially of those of the Chinese, which, to the mysterious and obscure
expressions of metaphor, add the disadvantage of a language that speaks
but little to the ear; a whole sentence, or a combination of ideas,
being sometimes shut up in a short monosyllable, whose beauties are most
studiously addressed to the sense of seeing alone.
Of the other two sister arts, painting and music, a more decided opinion
may be passed. Of the latter I have little to observe. It does not seem
to be cultivated as a science: it is neither learned as an elegant
accomplishment, nor practiced as an amusement of genteel life, except by
those females who are educated for sale, or by such as hire themselves
out for the entertainment of those who may be inclined to purchase their
favours. And as the Chinese differ in their ideas from all other
nations, these women play generally upon wind instruments, such as
small pipes and flutes; whilst the favourite instrument of the men is
the guittar or something not very unlike it, some of which have two
strings, some four, and others seven. Eunuchs, and the lowest class of
persons, are hired to play; and the merit of a performance should seem
to consist in the intenseness of the noise brought out of the different
instruments. The gong or, as they call it, the _loo_ is admirably
adapted for this purpose. This instrument is a sort of shallow kettle,
or rather the lid of a kettle, which they strike with a wooden mallet
covered with leather. The composition is said to be copper, tin, and
bismuth. They have also a kind of clarinet, three or four different
sorts of trumpets, and a stringed instrument not unlike a violoncello.
Their _sing_ is a combination of uneven reeds of bamboo, not unlike the
pipe of Pan; the tones are far from being disagreeable, but its
construction is so wild and irregular, that it does not appear to be
reducible to any kind of scale. Their kettle drums are generally shaped
like barrels; and these, as well as different-sized bells fixed in a
frame, constitute parts in their sacred music. They have also an
instrument of music which consists of stones, cut into the shape of a
carpenter's square, each stone suspended by the corner in a wooden
frame. Those which I saw appeared to belong to that species of the
silicious genus usually called Gneiss, a sort of slaty granite. In the
Keswick museum are musical stones of the same kind, which were picked up
in a rivulet at the foot of Skiddaw mountain; but these seem to contain
small pieces of black shorl or tourmaline. It is indeed the boast of
their historians, that the whole empire of nature has been laid
under contribution in order to complete their system of music: that the
skins of animals, the fibres of plants, metals, stones, and baked
earths, have all been employed in the production of sounds. Their
instruments, it is true, are sufficiently varied, both as to shape and
materials, but I know of none that is even tolerable to an European ear.
An English gentleman in Canton took some pains to collect the various
instruments of the country, of which the annexed plate is a
representation, but his catalogue is not complete.
[Illustrations:
_A sheet of bell Metal_
_A pot of bell Metal_
_The Great Bell of Canton 20 feet diameter 8-16 Inches thick._
_A Barrel drum sometimes of Wood & sometimes Metal._
_A Log of Wood shaped like a Skull and used in Temples._
_A Metal Bell._
_A Lyre of silken Strings._
_A small Flute._
_A Muffled Drum._
_The Metal Gong or Loo_
_Cymbals._
_Uncertain_
_A Pair of Rattles or Castanets._
_Cymbals struck with a rod._
_Alommon Flute._
_Two Stringed Violins_
_A Three Stringed Guitar._
_A Pipe of inequal reeds or bamboos._
_Four Stringed Guitars._
_Three Trumpets._
_A Lyre of 11 Metallic Strings._
_Metal Plates an Instrument used in Sacred Music._
_A small barrell Drum._
_A fixed Drum used in Sacred Music._
_A small Gong or Loo._
_Published May 10^th, 1804 by Cadell and Davies Strand._
_Neele sc. Strand_]
A Chinese band generally plays, or endeavours to play, in unison, and
sometimes an instrument takes the octave; but they never attempt to play
in separate parts, confining their art to the melody only, if I may
venture to apply a name of so much sweetness to an aggregation of harsh
sounds. They have not the least notion of counter-point, or playing in
parts: an invention indeed to which the elegant Greeks had not arrived,
and which was unknown in Europe as well as Asia, until the monkish ages.
I never heard but one single Chinese who could be said to sing with
feeling or plaintiveness. Accompanied with a kind of guittar, he sung
the following air in praise of the flower _Moo-lee_, which it seems is
one of the most popular songs in the whole country. The simple melody
was taken down by Mr. Hittner, and I understand has been published in
London, with head and tail-pieces, accompaniments, and all the refined
arts of European music; so that it ceases to be a specimen of the plain
melody of China. I have therefore given it in its unadorned state, as
sung and played by the Chinese, together with the words of the first
stanza, and their literal translation.
[Music: MOO-LEE-WHA.
I.
1 2 3 4 5
_Hau ye-to sien wha,_
6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
_Yeu tchau yeu jie lo tsai go kia_
14 15 16 17 18 19
_Go pun tai, poo tchoo mun_
20 21 22 23 24 25
_Twee tcho sien wha ul lo._
II.
1 2 3 4 5 6
_Hau ye to Moo-lee-wha_
7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
_Man yuen wha kai soy poo quee ta_
15 16 17 18 19 20
_Go pun tai tsai ye ta_
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
_Tai you kung kan wha jin ma._
_Literal Translation._
I.
1 2 3 4 5
How delightful this branch of fresh flowers
6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
One morning one day it was dropped in my house
14 15 16 17 18 19
I the owner will wear it not out of doors
20 21 22 23 24 25
But I will hold the fresh flower and be happy.
II.
1 2 3 4 5 6
How delightful this branch of the _Moo-lee_ flower
7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
In the full plot of flowers blowing freely none excels it
15 16 17 18 19 20
I the owner will wear this gathered branch
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
Wear it yet fear, the flower seen, men will envy.]
I have thought it not amiss to subjoin a few other airs of the popular
kind, which were written by the same gentleman at Canton, who made the
drawings of their musical instruments.
CHINESE POPULAR AIRS.
[Music: No. I.]
[Music: No. II.]
[Music: No. III.]
[Music: No. IV.]
[Music: No. V.]
[Music: No. VI.]
[Music: No. VII.]
[Music: No. VIII.]
[Music: No. IX.]
They have no other notion of noting down music than that of employing a
character expressing the name of every note in the scale; and even this
imperfect way they learned from Pereira the Jesuit. They affected to
dislike the Embassador's band which they pretended to say produced no
music, but a confusion of noises; yet the Emperor's chief musician gave
himself a great deal of trouble in tracing out the several instruments
on large sheets of paper, each of its particular size, marking the
places of the holes, screws, strings, and other parts, which they
conceived necessary to enable them to make others of a similar
construction.
It would be difficult to assign the motive that induced Father Amiot to
observe, that "the Chinese, in order to obtain their scale of notes or
gamut perfect, were not afraid of submitting to the most laborious
operations of geometry, and to the most tedious and disgusting
calculations in the science of numbers;" as he must have known, that
they were altogether ignorant of geometry, and that their arithmetic
extended not beyond their _Swan-pan_. Of the same nature is the bold and
unfounded assertion of another of the Jesuits, "that the musical system
of the Chinese was borrowed from them by the Greeks and Egyptians,
anterior to the time of Hermes or Orpheus!"
With regard to painting, they can be considered in no other light than
as miserable daubers, being unable to pencil out a correct outline of
many objects, to give body to the same by the application of proper
lights and shadows, and to lay on the nice shades of colour, so as to
resemble the tints of nature. But the gaudy colouring of certain
flowers, birds, and insects, they imitate with a degree of exactness and
brilliancy to which Europeans have not yet arrived. To give distance to
objects on canvas, by diminishing them, by faint colouring, and by
perspective, they have no sort of conception. At _Yuen-min-yuen_ I found
two very large paintings of landscapes which, as to the pencilling, were
done with tolerable execution, but they were finished with a minuteness
of detail, and without any of those strong lights and masses of shade,
which give force and effect to a picture; none of the rules of
perspective were observed, nor any attempt to throw the objects to their
proper distances; yet I could not help fancying that I discovered in
them the hand of an European. The old eunuch, who carried the keys of
the room, frequently asked me, when looking at these pictures, if I did
not think his countrymen were excellent painters; and having one day
expressed great admiration for the talents of the artist, he led me into
a recess of the room, and opening a chest, supported upon a pedestal, he
observed, with a significant look, he was now going to produce something
that would astonish me. He then took out several large volumes, which
were full of figures, drawn in a very superior style and tinted with
water colours, representing the several trades and occupations carried
on in the country; but they seemed to be stuck against the paper, having
neither shadow nor foreground, nor distance, to give them any relief. On
the opposite page to each figure was a description, in the Mantchoo
Tartar and the Chinese languages. Having turned over one of the volumes,
I observed, on the last page, the name of _Castaglione_, which at once
solved the riddle. On re-examining the large pictures in the hall, I
found the same name in the corner of each. While going through the
volume, the old eunuch frequently asked, if any one in Europe could
paint like the Chinese? but, on my pointing to the name, and repeating
the word _Castaglione_, he immediately shut the book and returned them
all into the chest, nor, from that time, could I ever prevail upon him
to let me have another sight of them. On enquiry, I found that
Castaglione was a missionary in great repute at court, where he executed
a number of paintings, but was expressly directed by the Emperor to
paint all his subjects after the Chinese manner, and not like those of
Europe, with broad masses of shade and the distant objects scarcely
visible, observing to him, as one of the missionaries told me, that the
imperfections of the eye afforded no reason why the objects of nature
should also be copied as imperfect. This idea of the Emperor accords
with a remark made by one of his ministers, who came to see the portrait
of His Britannic Majesty, "that it was great pity it should have been
spoiled by the dirt upon the face," pointing, at the same time, to the
broad shade of the nose.
Ghirrardini, an European painter, published an account of his voyage to
China, where, it appears, he was so disgusted that, having observed how
little idea they possess of the fine arts, he adds, with rather more
petulancy than truth, "these Chinese are fit for nothing but weighing
silver, and eating rice." Ghirrardini painted a large colonnade in
vanishing perspective, which struck them so very forcibly that they
concluded he must certainly have dealings with the Devil; but, on
approaching the canvas and feeling with their hands, in order to be
fully convinced that all they saw was on a flat surface, they persisted
that nothing could be more unnatural than to represent distances, where
there actually neither was, nor could be, any distance.
It is scarcely necessary to add any thing further with regard to the
state of painting in China. I shall only observe, that the Emperor's
favourite draughtsman, who may of course be supposed as good or better
than others of the same profession in the capital, was sent to make
drawings of some of the principal presents to carry to his master, then
in Tartary, as elucidations of the descriptive catalogue. This man,
after various unsuccessful attempts to design the elegant time-pieces
of Vulliamy, supported by beautiful figures of white marble, supplicated
my assistance in a matter which he represented as of the last importance
to himself. It was in vain to assure him that I was no draughtsman; he
was determined to have the proof of it; and he departed extremely well
satisfied in obtaining a very mean performance with the pencil, to copy
after or cover with his China ink. Every part of the machines, except
the naked figures which supported the time-piece and a barometer, he
drew with neatness and accuracy, but all his attempts to copy these were
unsuccessful. Whether it was owing to any real difficulty that exists in
the nice turns and proportions of the human figure, or that by being
better acquainted with it we more readily perceive the defects in the
imitation of it, or from the circumstance of the human form being
concealed in this country in loose folding robes, that caused the
Chinese draughtsman so completely to fail, I leave to the artists of our
own country to determine: but the fact was as I state it; all his
attempts to draw these figures were preposterous.