With a great wealth of beautiful flowering shrubs and herbaceous plants, the Chinese at an early period became skilled horticulturists. The emperor Wu Ti established in 111 B.C. a botanic garden at Ch'ang-an, into which rare plants were introduced from the west and south. Many garden varieties originated in China. The chrysanthemum, perhaps the most variable of cultivated flowers, is derived from two wild species (small and inconspicuous plants), and is mentioned in the ancient Chinese classics. We owe to the skill of the Chinese many kinds of roses, lilies, camellias and peonies; and have introduced from China some of the most ornamental plants in our gardens, as _Wistaria, Diervilla, Kerria, Incarvillea, Deutzia, Primula sinensis, Hemerocallis_, &c. The peach and several oranges are natives of China. The varnish tree (_Rhus vernicifera_), from which lacquer is obtained; the tallow tree (_Sapium sebiferum_); the white mulberry, on which silkworms are fed; and the tea plant were all first utilized by the Chinese. The Chinese have also numerous medicinal plants, of which ginseng and rhubarb are best known. Nearly all our vegetables and cereals have their counterpart in China, where there are numerous varieties not yet introduced into Europe, though some, like the Soy bean, are now attracting great attention. (A. HE.*)
AUTHORITIES.--L. Richard (S.J.), _Géographie de l'empire de Chine_ (Shanghai, 1905)--the first systematic account of China as a whole in modern times. The work, enlarged, revised and translated into English by M. Kennelly (S.J.), was reissued in 1908 as Richard's _Comprehensive Geography of the Chinese Empire and Dependencies_. This is the standard authority for the country and gives for each section bibliographical notes. It has been used in the revision of the present article. Valuable information on northern, central and western China is furnished by Col. C.C. Manifold and Col. A.W.S. Wingate in the _Geog. Journ._ vol. xxiii. (1904) and vol. xxix. (1907). Consult also Marshall Broomhall (ed.), _The Chinese Empire: a General and Missionary Survey_ (London, 1907); B. Willis, E. Blackwelder and others, _Research in China_, vol. i. part i. "Descriptive Topography and Geology," part ii. "Petrography and Zoology," and Atlas (Washington, Carnegie Institution, 1906-1907); Forbes and Hemsley, "Enumeration of Chinese Plants," in _Journ. Linnean Soc. (Bot.)_, vols. xxiii. and xxxvi.; Bretschneider, _History of European Botanical Discoveries in China_; E. Tiessen, _China das Reich der achtzehn Provinzen_, Teil i. "Die allgemeine Geographie des Landes" (Berlin, 1902); and _The China Sea Directory_ (published by the British Admiralty), a valuable guide to the coasts: vol. ii. (5th ed., 1906) deals with Hong-Kong and places south thereof, vol. iii. (4th ed., 1906, supp. 1907) with the rest of the Chinese coast; vol. i. (5th ed., 1906) treats of the islands and straits in the S.W. approach to the China Sea. Much of China has not been surveyed, but considerable progress has been made since 1900. _The Atlas of the Chinese Empire_ (London, 1908), a good general atlas, which, however, has no hill shading, gives maps of each province on the scale of 1:3,000,000. The preface contains a list of the best regional maps.