Each province is thus a State in itself and bases its administrative system upon the real official unit of Chinese corporate life, the hien, or city district. Of these there are 1300 in the empire. Each province has from 70 to 100 or more hien, a term which Europeans translate 'district,' 'department,' 'canton,' or 'prefec ture.' Thus the half-barbarian Kwei-chow has but 34 hien, with numerous districts in which dwell half-civilized natives. while Pe-chili has 140 Men, the total including the Peking and :Mongol districts. The hien always consists, in pure Chi nese tracts, of a walled city and an area of 500 or 1000 square miles around the town. The hien magistrate is the heart and soul of all official life. The people call him 'father and mother officer,' for he has. or may have, relations direct with the Emperor and is always close to the masses. Usually entering office with literary or scholastic qualifications only, he is assisted by a permanent staff of trained specialists. He must keep also from 30 to 300 runners, collectors, hi -tors, and policemen for the administration of justice.
Every group of two or more lien is under a f u, or city of the first class, and each province has from five to ten fa. The ancient customs and privileges of each province. district, and city are still potent in practical politics and make it utterly impossible to give a uniform description of the system of administration, for in reality this federation of States and cities is more like the medheval Germany than like the modern centralized German Empire. The empire is studded with villages and hamlets, and, as in European nomenclature. many popular names for places are words denoting shop, temple, nunnery, rapids, schools, inn, fair, market, bend, etc. The various Chinese districts less than provinces may be likened to the capital, cathedral town. State capital, municipality of the first rank, municipal ity of the second rank, abbey town, and borough of Europe, differing greatly in territory and popu lation, however, and also in relative historical or commercial importance. But, on the whole, China is an empire of villages, three-fourths of the people dwelling in these. Relatively to the whole population, there are fewer large cities in China than in Western lands.
The various grades of ollicers are distinguished by the color and material of the tiny knob sur mounting the cap. The only permanent nobility consists of the descendants of Confucius. In the imperial or Manchu class there are nine orders of nobility, but with every generation the holder of title declines in dignity until he readies the common people. There are also five ancient orders open to the civil and military servants of the State. The existing Chinese system of conferring patents of nobility and honorary titles has descended from the feudal States of the Sixth Century B.C.
The government of China, then, is a harmoni ous blending of local liberty with centralized authority. The general maxim of politics is to rule the nation by moral agency rather than by physical force, relying on education more than on arms, keeping the line of promotion open to the wisest and ablest men, who may come from any social level or position in life. Thus China is a great democracy, and the Chinese in a way one of the freest people in Asia. Even an aborig inal savage may become a Viceroy. Though in theory the Emperor is the Son of Heaven, if he does not reign wisely, or is wicked, or indolent, the people may depose him, and if their rebellion succeeds it is because Heaven has willed it so.' Chinese law is the growth of many centuries. and is based on immemorial custom. Though voluminous and complex. it is regulated by the fundamental principle of parental authority. which has been the great conserving force and unifying power throughout the ages. Tradition ally referred in their origin to the sovereigns Yao and Shun (my. 2357-220S), the laws have been repromulgated in modified forms with every change of dynasty, until. with all their faults, they are admirably adapted to the requirements of China's teeming population of peace-loving subjects. The LIM'S are divided into lot and lai, that is, fundamental and supplemental, the former permanent, the latter liable to revision every few years. They may be classified as gen eral. civil, fiscal. military, criminal, and those relating to public works. The criminal code is remarkable for the conciseness and simplicity of its language, yet the actual punishment inflicted depends very much upon the judge. Torture is used to testimony. Theoretically no one is eondemned until he has confessed his crime. though often, doubtless, the innocent will confess lo any charge to escape torture and die quickly; for as a rule the Chinese prefer death to long venfinement, and capital punishment follows quickly after sentence. The punishments in Ilided are flogging with the bamboo, banishment, and death by strangling or decapitation. Man acles of wood, iron fetters, the ratigur or portable pillory, and not a few other instrnments of tor lure are in use. Lawyers, in the Western sense of the term, are unknown, and those aiding prison ers form a disreputable class not allowed in court. Oaths are taken on a cock's head chopped from its body. in theory the accused is already guilty, and a Chinese judge, like the Freud], acts as prosecutor as well as arbiter. In spite of the prevalence of bribery, judges are apt to give coin mon.sense decisions.