In general the Chinese present the eharacteris tie features of the Mongolian race, its yellowish skin, lank, coarse black hair, almost rudimentary beard and whiskers, scanty growth of hair on the rest of the body. prominent eheek-bones, black eyes lacking somewhat in lustre and expression and sloping obliquely toward the nose, which is hroad-nostriled with little or no bridge, round face, small hands and feet, long and tapering fingers. The features are square. angular, and flattened, the elleek-bones high, the ears usually large and standing out from the head, the chin usually small, the neck short and thickset, and the expression of the face monotonously uniform, although familiarity with the type shows that amid a general uniformity there are many points of difference. The average height is 5 feet 4 inches. The cranial capacity is from 1200 to 1300 cubic centimeters, or about 100 cubic centi meters below the Caucasian average. (For illus tration, see Colored Plate of YELLOW RACES OF ASIA-) Closer study tends to show that among the Chinese proper three physical types may per haps he distinguished: (1) A northern, taller, lighter-skinned, less brachycephalie group. Baelz (1901) considers this type to be `_Manchu-Korean' in origin, in part at least, with perhaps proto Aryan admixture. (2) A central group, which Deniker (1900) thinks has preserved best the original Chinese type. (3) A southern. shorter, darker-skinned, partly brachycephalic and partly mesoeephalie type. presenting generally an ap proximation to the physical type of southern Mon golia, according to Deniker. with many sug gestions of Malayan admixture. In the opinion of Baelz, the Mongol type prevails in central and southern China, while in the extreme south :Ma layan influences are very perceptible. Underlying all the non-Chinese admixtures Baelz believes there is an element derived from a quasi-Cauea sian race (the Aino of .Tapan, etc.. are perhaps a distant offshoot), once widespread over north eastern Asia, and split in two by the advancing Mongol-Tartar tribes. but this theory needs proof. Zaborowski (19C0) holds that the Ilak kas (immigrants from northern China into the extreme south), a dolichocephalic Alongolian type, which lie considers related to the long headed element found among the 'funguses and in the tumuli of the Trans-Baikal country, are the real representatives of the ancient Chinese proper. of the more or less 'aboriginal' and non-Chinese people of China the following may be mentioned: the in the eastern parts of Kwei-chow, the south of Ilu-nan, northern Kwang-si, and northwestern Kwang-tung; the Lobos (or N(.sus) of western Sze-chuen and north eastern Yun-nan ; the Tu-jen, iMeo. Vac). etc., of liwang-si: the Shans and other Thal' tribes of the Iturmese-Chinese frontier. who belong more or less remotely to the same stock as the Bur mese, Siamese, etc. Of these aboriginal peoples the most important are the Miao-tse. looked upon by many authorities as representing the earlier population of a great part of China and as hav ing a 'sub-Caucasian' strain of blood. but con sidered by otln rs as allied to the Tibetan type. The Lobos appear, by speech at least, to be closer to the Thai peoples of Farther India. All through the south and west of China the intermingling of peoples has taken place, sometimes on a large scale. The 'savages' have not been so nearly ex terminated or driven out as some believe.
In temperament the Chinese are usually taci turn, often morose, lethargic, or fitfully vehe ment. The most marked menial peculiarity in the Chinaman is the wonderful deveiopment of the faculty of memory. without a corresponding exercise of the faculty of judgment. Books are frequently learned by heart and repeated from beginning to end without mistake. The Chinese
are persevering and industrious, patient, peace able, and polite. Their dread of giving offence makes them seem to the foreigner deceitful, often when they are least so. Credulity and sympathy are marked characteristics. As to their morals and religion, the judgments of for eigners are worth very little, for these differ greatly and are so tinged with the personality of the observer that fair conclusions are impos sible. With little fear of death, though they politely avoid the subject in conversation or make use of euphemisms, the Chinese resort readily to suicide when in difficulties. In the stolidity with which they undergo torture they resemble the North American Indians. As a rule they look with contempt upon arms and war, and have always cultivated the arts which maintain peace- and harmonious human inter course, so that. for ages China has been prac tically without an army and without a police force. In one respect China is the freest country in Asia ; local self-government has been carried to a very high degree, insuring both persona] freedom and excellence in civil organization. The Chinese are lacking. however. in military or naval discipline. and are apt to lose self-control and yield to panic in times of sudden danger. In the main they are temperate, practical to the last degree, unimaginative. imbued with a mer cantile spirit, yet literary. Though there are manifold varieties of character and disposition, the inhabitants of China proper are practically one people, notwithstanding that differenees in dialect are so great as to make it nearly Minos slide for the uneducated of distant provinces to understand one another.
The essence of the Chinese social system, which has survived all political changes, assimilating all new elements, and absorbing China's con querors, is the worship of ancestors, the word worship being taken in the old English sense of honor. Filial piety is the first of all virtues. All Chinese worship at the tombs of their parents. In the houses of the well-to-do, one room, the domestic sanctuary. is set apart for the tablets inscribed with the names of deceased relatives and ancestors, before which ceremonies, regulated by the classic Book of kites, are performed. Indeed, China is ruled more from the cemetery than from the Emperor's palace. the care of the dead being often apparently a more important duty than the sustenance of the living. It is always the past that is the Golden Age. and reverence for a man or thing is in proportion to age. .Much thought is given to the location of graves and cemeteries, this matter, like a myriad of others, being regulated by the feamshiti (liter ally, wind and water), a most elaborate system of superstition which contains the germs of a rude natural science. To be buried properly is the anibition of every Chinaman; the possession of a handsome coffin is often the most desirable of assets, and frequently this article is a most acceptable present to elders or relatives. The dead are honored by banquets, and in the crises of life ancestors are appealed to for help and direction. In ancient times human sacrifices were made at the graves of the dead. The fire crackers, which are set off in such great numbers at the burial of the dead or in visits to ceme teries, are but substitutes for the figures of men; in the course of time the powde•-charged paper has taken the place of the human sacrifice. At the present time these pyrotechnics are supposed to drive away the foul spirits which love to lurk about the haunts of men, and with which the Chinese imagination overpopulates heaven, earth, and air.