s essential, but apply rather to matters
of detail. Many travellers and others have described as customs of the
Chinese customs which, as presented, refer to a part of China only, and
not to the whole. For instance, the ornamental ceremonies connected with
marriage vary in different provinces; but there is a certain ceremony,
equivalent in one sense to signing the register, which is almost
essential to every marriage contract. Bride and bridegroom must kneel
down and call God to witness; they also pledge each other in wine from
two cups joined together by a red string. Red is the colour for joy,
as white is the colour for mourning. Chinese note-paper is always ruled
with red lines or stamped with a red picture. One Chinese official who
gave a dinner-party in foreign style, even went so far as to paste a
piece of red paper on to each dinner-napkin, in order to counteract the
unpropitious influence of white.

Reference has been made above to journeys performed by boat. In addition
to the Yangtsze and the Yellow River or Hoang ho (pronounced _Hwong
haw_), two of the most important rivers in the world, China is covered
with a network of minor streams, which in southern China form the chief
lines of transport. The Yangtsze is nothing more than a huge navigable
river, crossing China Proper from west to east. The Yellow River, which,
with the exception of a great loop to the north, runs on nearly parallel
lines of latitude, has long been known as "China's Sorrow," and has been
responsible for enormous loss of life and property. Its current is so
swift that ordinary navigation is impossible, and to cross it in boats
is an undertaking of considerable difficulty and danger. It is so called
from the yellowness of its water, caused by the vast quantity of mud
which is swept down by its rapid current to the sea; hence, the common
saying, "When the Yellow River runs clear," as an equivalent of the
Greek Kalends. The huge embankments, built to confine it to a given
course, are continually being forced by any unusual press of extra
water, with enormous damage to property and great loss of life, and from
time to time this river has been known to change its route altogether,
suddenly diverging, almost at a right angle. Up to the year 1851 the
mouth of the river was to the south of the Shantung promontory, about
lat. 34 N.; then, with hardly any warning, it began to flow to the
north-east, finding an outlet to the north of the Shantung pro