CHI
149
CHI
a Ppear ^ ^ orm a miniature landscape, of picturesque
to tjj e nc ? - Some of the fish are so familiar, that they come^ith t > Uriace °f the water, and allow themselves to be fed8 0tn e ^ a nd. The sides of the courts are ornamentedflower” 16-8 flower-pots, and sometimes with shrubs inmiddle VlneS ’ or bamboos, forming green arbours. In theplaced' fin° n a P e< ^ esta '> a large porcelain vase is generallyTu. ’ filled with those beautiful flowers, called lien-hoa.
Thev , ■ ■ *vn tuuov/ t/vuutuui Jiiv/n vaxrvu inz/r/wwibantarn h° ^ re fl uent ly keep in these little courts, pheasants,
« Th 6ns> and other curious birds.
20 f ept . Sreat chamber, or saloon, is commonly from 18 toWhich i ln J en Sth> and about 20 feet in breadth. The sideJanes u- the court, is entirely open ; but a screen ofthe rav c * s fl° wn at pleasure, keeps out the rain andof stone °* sun - The pavement is composed of piecescovered °. r , ma rble, of several colours. The side walls arethe g ro " ’j 1 screens, to the height of three or four feet fromWhite . 5 an< t the upper part is neatly decorated with
“lUtlT^ 01- .^ p a P er -
°f satin U 0t P amt ingSj the Chinese hang up large piecesof marbl ° 1 ' P a P er > set i n frames, and painted in imitationa Wbamboo, on which are written, in characters ofP r 'ncip a i e oPr over bs and distichs of morality, taken from theleaves of \r nese philosophers. They also sometimes haveters > trace ik P a P er > quite smooth, containing large charac-|0ent j s by some skilful hand, in China ink ; this orna-’ s c °mp os es teemed. The bottom of the drawing-room^‘bpair/^-g-doors, over which is a lattice, coveredebarnber Th SUZe ’ ^ or admission of light into the bed-^ 0r kman s b - doors > which are of wood, are of very neat%ures, and^’ ornamen ted with different characters andblue, y e ii 0Vr S0lr >etimes richly varnished and painted red,
above •
“ In or some other colour.
cn e mirUi„ _ i ...
1 - " a tab] Imddle the lower part of the chamber, and
ea f of thick W ^' ck contains various ornaments, a very largea “ c 'ent Qp- Paper is frequently suspended, covered with
Sc l ll Hr es ,J“ ese paintings of different figures, enclosed in■the _* °_.i._
0r n ai
and
SfiVi
f ° l ' ( orL; ma ; Sters ,
for these
qq . _ mca Limb me painters were inspired;n °isseurs pretend to distinguish the hands of the
0l ''Q>nai s '" i, r a , nd S^ ve a ver y great price for such as pass
5,t yCOna >Bt
WJ -bite
I have seen many of these p ^ £ liinaof landscapes or figures, draw spirit,
" J Paper. In general they are touc e ( j eser ve
ttmcb aTt &re * t0 ° * ncorrect ’ and t0 ° A ms 16 ’
and furniture of the large room consists of chains tools,Arnett 1 !!’ road « of rosewood, ebony, varnished woo ,haat nr, s ' m ply of bamboo, which, though
are ' ofto WUei1 ' ‘
C t S'' 6 exclssive. On smidltalfiesorstands,
disl ‘es d j. Ve .j^et high, placed in a corner a ^ f
«or„i . «trons, and other odoriferous fruits, branclie
n .P°rcelain -
hen ti ** r "“Hi mu i, >viueu, liiuu”ii cheap, is veryof ^. e , .rniture is of wood, the tops of the stools
marbl — - ”Jr“ — — ■
!r y bard t'h ° 16 ° r P orce l a ' n > and though suchtlie e y are very agreeable in a climate whei
seatswhere the
''->3
coral
Ashe,
-.ua es r^fceiain vases, and glass They
also deco 11 a b’ nd °? kerb something sum * ornament,
Witfefc their tables, which and
a kind r,r l, anflsc apes, composed of ®be ’ ith -water.
*VhaU'V llat Srows among pebblesw^atnhej. e a ' sn artificial landscapes, ma that cost
a tho«?„ a r'* a ’hl precious stones. I have seen some^ ^tbfty '“ d h(efs, (more than three kandl ' ® 0 f nature,besides . 1 rQere toys, and wretched imlta atnen ted with^ r celain 'f* la ndscapes, the tables are per vessels,
Uu er 0 f es , . of various kinds ’ and ; ^The^orms of theseot which are much esteemed. I he
2d
vessels are generally simple and agreeable; the Chinese saythey were made two thousand years ago, by some of theirmost celebrated artists; and such as are really antique, (forthere are some counterfeits), sell at an excessive price; oneof them sometimes costs no less than three hundred pounds.They are kept in small pasteboard boxes, and are only shownon great occasions; nobody touches them but the master,and, to keep them clean, he brushes them from time to timewith a hair-pencil, made solely for the purpose.
“ Lamps form the most prominent ornaments of the cham-bers ; there are generally four of them hanging from theceiling, by cords of silk. They are of various shapes, assquare, octagon, &c., and are composed of an extremely finesilken stuff; decorated with very neat drawings of flowers,birds, and landscapes.
“ A partition of folding-doors separates the large roomfrom the bed-chamber. I have already observed, that, inwarm weather, these doors are left open all night, for theadmission of cool air. The chamber is very small, and hasno other furniture than the bed and some varnished clothes-trunks. The beds are sometimes extremely magnificent: thebedsteads, or frames, which very much resemble those ofEurope , are of rosewood engraved, or of lackered wood;the curtains are of taffety, or gauze, sometimes floweredwith gold, and commonly dyed blue or purple. > A band ofembroidered satin, about a foot in breadth, goes round thewhole top of the bed; the emboidery is in compartments, ofvarious forms, and represents flowers, landscapes, or humanfigures, accompanied with moral sentences and fables, writtenwith China ink and vermilion.
“ By the side of the bed-chamber is a passage, leading tothe cabinet, which is always enclosed by walls, and lightedby windows. The walls are ornamented, like those of thesaloon, witli moral sentences and antique pictures; the fur-niture consists of arm-chairs, settees, and tables. The booksare disposed on shelves, and on a table near the window, liethe pencils, and other things necessary for writing, theinstruments used for arithmetical calculations, and some selectbooks, all laid out in great order.
“ Besides these apartments, there are also the dining-room,the kitchen, the apartment for the domestics, the hath, theprivy, the office, or counting-house, and, towards the street,the shop.
“ Such is the distribution of the houses of all the mer-chants at Canton. Those of other people only differ inhaving their general plan accommodated to the ground onwhich they are built: for the apartments, the courts, and otherconveniences, have everywhere the order just described.
“ The leou, or upper-story, consists of many great halls,occupying all the breadth of the house, above the apartmentsof the ground-floor. They are used occasionally as cham-bers, for lodging strangers. In every house there is a numberof shutters, two or three feet broad, and ten or twelve feethigh. When they wish to make chambers, they fix theseshutters to the floor and ceiling, and in a few hours make asmany apartments as they wish. Some of these shutters arecut from the top to within four feet of the ground, and theopenings filled with very thin oyster-shells, which are suffi-ciently transparent to admit daylight. All the windows inChina are made of these shells.
“ In one of these great halls, and commonly in that nextthe door, the image and altar of the domestic idol are placed,so that all who enter may see it. The rest of the secondstory is divided into apartments for the family; and over theshops are the rooms for the shop-keepers.
“ The sides of the Chinese houses next the street, arealtogether plain, or employed as shops. There is no opening