f all
the people in the world live in China.
3. All round this city of Canton there is a high wall. From the wall the
city seems to be a beautiful place. When, however, you enter it, you
soon find that it is dirty and full of foul smells.
[Illustration: A Chinese Street.
(From the picture by T. Hodgson Liddell, R.B.A.)]
4. The streets are very narrow, and are always crowded with people. Many
of them are roofed in to keep them cool. Most of them are so narrow that
no carriage can pass along them. People who wish to ride must be carried
in a kind of box on the shoulders of two or more men.
[Illustration: {Person riding in a box}]
5. I am sure you would like to see the signboards that hang down in
front of the shops. The strange letters on them are painted in gold and
in bright colours. They look very gay indeed.
6. The shops sell all sorts of things--silk, books, drugs, flowers,
china, and birds. Some of the shops only sell gold and silver paper. The
Chinese burn this paper at the graves of their friends. When they do
this they think that they are sending money for their dead friends to
spend in the other world.
7. Many things are also sold in the streets. The street traders carry a
bamboo pole across the shoulder. From the ends of this pole they sling
the baskets in which they carry their wares. Many workmen ply their
trades in the open street, and you are sure to see quack doctors,
letter-writers, and money-changers.
8. The Chinese do in the open street many things which we do inside our
houses. A Chinaman likes to eat his meals where every one can see him.
9. Sometimes he will sit in front of his house and wash his feet.
Yesterday I saw a man having his tooth drawn out of doors. A crowd stood
round him, watching to see how it was done.
10. How should you like to go for a ride in a wheelbarrow? In China the
wheelbarrow is often used for carrying people or goods from place to
place. It has a large wheel in the middle. Round the wheel there is a
platform for people or goods.
[Illustration: {People riding in a wheelbarrow}]
11. A broad river runs through the city. It is crowded with boats, in
which live many thousands of people. Many of these people never go
ashore at all.
12. Over the sterns of the boats there are long baskets. These are the
backyards of the floating city. Hens, ducks, geese, and sometimes pigs,
are kept in these baskets.
[Illustration: {A boy on a boat}]
13. The littl
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