. The awakening of China . soilthan the other members of the group, its populationis more dense. Divided from Chihli by a range ofhills, its whole stirface is hilly, but not highlands give variety to its temperature—con-densing the moisture and supplying water for irriga-tion. The valleys are extremely fertile, and of themit may be said in the words of Job, As for the earth,out of it Cometh bread: and underneath it is turnedup as it were fire. Not only do the fields yield finecrops of wheat and millet, but there are extensivecoal measures of excellent quality. Iron ore also isf
. The awakening of China . soilthan the other members of the group, its populationis more dense. Divided from Chihli by a range ofhills, its whole stirface is hilly, but not highlands give variety to its temperature—con-densing the moisture and supplying water for irriga-tion. The valleys are extremely fertile, and of themit may be said in the words of Job, As for the earth,out of it Cometh bread: and underneath it is turnedup as it were fire. Not only do the fields yield finecrops of wheat and millet, but there are extensivecoal measures of excellent quality. Iron ore also isfound in great abundance. Mining enterprises haveaccordingly been carried on from ancient times, andthey have now, with the advent of steam, acquireda fresh impetus. It follows, of course, that the prov-ince is prolific of bankers. Shansi bankers monopo-lise the business of finance in all the adjacent prov on the west comes the province of Shensi,from shen, a strait or pass (not shan a hill), andsi, west. S4 ^4. NORTHWESTERN PROVINCES 55 Here was the earliest home of the Chinese race ofwhich there is any jecord. On the Yellow River,which here forms the boundary of two provinces,stands the city of Si-ngan where the Chou dynastyset up its throne in the twelfth century b. c. Sincethat date many dynasties have made it the seat ofempire. Their palaces have disappeared; but mostof them have left monumental inscriptions from whicha connected history might be extracted. To us themost interesting monument is a stone, erected about800 to commemorate the introduction of Christian-ity by some Nestorian missionaries from western Asia. The province of Kansuh is comparatively boundaries extend far out into regions peopledby Mongol tribes; and the neighbourhood of greatdeserts gives it an arid climate tmf avourable to agricvil-ture. Many of its inhabitants are immigrants fromCentral Asia and profess the Mohammedan is almost surrounded by the Yellow River, li
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