The Middlebury Register And Addison County Journal

Villages in China.

Villages, not badly built by any means, occur at intervals of a mile or more apart all along the roads of China. Very good brick—much about the same size, shape and material as those made in this country—compose the walls of the better houses, while for the poorer order of edifices mud is used. The brick walls in China are excellent—better than the cheap brick walls in America, and but little inferior to our best preserved brick. When villages are constructed of mud there is a striking resemblance to the villages of Egypt. The houses have no outside windows and but one opening, which is the door. The openings for lights are upon inner courts or back yards, and are without glass. The eaves are made to project, so as to keep out the rain, and in doing so exclude much light as well. Blinds made of slats are sometimes used, and thin light paper pasted over the slats serves to keep out some of the cold air and let in a little light.

The houses are invariably one story high, and at the bottom of this custom is a superstition that higher houses would interfere with the spirits of the air ("Fung Chui") and offend them, thus bringing disaster upon the house or village. In front of each door, and at a distance of eight or ten feet, stands a detached wall, fifteen feet long and as high as the eaves of the house, concealing the door from any person standing in front of it. This is for the purpose of defending the house and family from the malignant "Fung Chui" or spirits, which are popularly believed to fly only in straight lines and to be incapable of turning a corner. It follows that when traversing the air in search of a certain house when they come in contact with the wall they are thrown off at an angle, and thus baffled of their purpose, and thy in a tangent through infinite space and are lost.

A Chinese village has but little in common with those of this country, either in detail or in general appearances. While the villages of America, copied from English prototypes, are peculiar from their detached and separate build, with gardens and grass plats, those of China are compact, huddled together, and present from a distance the aspect of a mere dead wall. One peculiar aspect of all Chinese cities and villages is the absence of all steeples, spires or pinnacles of any kind. While Mahommedan countries have the mosque, with its flashing domes and graceful minarets, and European and American centers of population are marked by lofty towers and spires, China is almost absolutely without any of these striking architectural points. The result is great monotony and dullness of aspect.