Life in China is not wholly made up of book-learning and commerce.  The earliest Chinese records exhibit the people as following the chase in the wake of the great nobles, more as a sport than as the serious business it must have been in still more remote ages; and the first emperors of the present dynasty were also notable sportsmen, who organized periodical hunting-tours on a scale of considerable magnificence.

Hawking was practised at least so far back as a century before Christ; for we have a note on a man of that period who “loved to gallop after wily animals with horse and dog, or follow up with falcon the pheasant and the hare.”  The sport may be seen in northern China at the present day.  A hare is put up, and a couple of native greyhounds are dispatched after it; these animals, however, would soon be distanced by the hare, which can run straight away from them without doubling, but for the sudden descent of the falcon, and a blow from its claw, often stunning the hare at the first attempt, and enabling the dogs to come up.

Sportsmen who have to make their living by the business frequently descend to methods which are sometimes very ingenious, and more remunerative than the gun, but can hardly be classified as sport.  Thus, a man in search of wild duck will mark down a flock settled on some shallow sheet of water.  He will then put a crate over his head and shoulders, and gradually approach the flock as though the crate were drifting on the surface.  Once among them, he puts out a hand under water, seizes hold of a duck’s legs, and rapidly pulls the bird down.  The sudden disappearance of a colleague does not seem to trouble its companions, and in a short time a very considerable bag has been obtained.  Tradition says that Confucius was fond of sport, but would never let fly at birds sitting; which, considering that his weapon was a bow-and-arrow, must be set down as a marvel of self-restraint.

Scores of Chinese poets have dwelt upon the joys of angling, and fishing is widely carried on over the inland waters; but the rod, except as a matter of pure sport, has given place to the businesslike net.  The account of the use of fishing cormorants was formerly regarded as a traveller’s tale.  It is quite true, however, that small rafts carrying several of these birds, with a fisherman gently sculling at the stern, may be seen on the rivers of southern China.  The cormorant seizes a passing fish, and the fisherman takes the fish from its beak.  The bird is trained with a ring round its neck, which prevents it from swallowing the prey; while for each capture it is rewarded with a small piece of fish.  Well-trained cormorants can be trusted to fish without the restraint of the ring.  Confucius, again, is said to have been fond of fishing, but he would not use a net; and there was another sage of antiquity who would not even use a hook, but fished with a straight piece of iron, apparently thinking that the advantage would be an unfair one as against the resources of the fish; and declaring openly that he would only take such fish as wished to be caught.  By such simple narratives do the Chinese strive to convey great truths to childish ears.