Page:A Pocket Guide to China (1943).pdf/32

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for quick mathematical intuition. If your hands are nim­ble you may enjoy learning a skilled handicraft. Col­lecting stamps or old Chinese coins might well prove a source of profit. If you are interested in food you might even learn to prepare a few choice Chinese dishes.

You won't get much chance to dip deeply into China's age-old wisdom as found in her philosophy and literature. But you could pick up from your Chinese friends a col­lection of proverbs and other wise sayings, many of which are known to every schoolboy. The more you do this, the more you will understand the Chinese character and why it is that the Chinese have held together, under un­believably difficult conditions, during their long fight for freedom.


THE COUNTRY

CHINA is divided in provinces of which there are 28—24 in China proper, 3 in Manchuria, and 1 in Chinese Turkestan. Besides this, she has certain regions that cor­respond to our territory of Alaska—the special terri­tories—outer Mongolia and Tibet. China has two of the greatest rivers in the world, the Yangtse and the Yellow Rivers. Her sea coast is long, and she has high mountains to the west and south, deserts to the north and northwest. Her cultivated soil is generally rich, for the Chinese are famous farmers and have conserved the soil through over

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