CHAPTER V.
The Chinese have an antipathy to everything like symmetry in the decoration of an apartment. Anyone, on seeing the inside of their rooms, would say that diversity is their only motto; in everything, however, relating to costume and the exteriors of their habitations, the Chinese restrict themselves to fixed rules, which impart the most monotonous character to their apparel and architecture. People following the same profession, and having the same social habits, are dressed uniformly, and housed uniformly. Thus the description I am about to give applies exclusively to all the houses with signboards, whether the sign be that of a druggist or a jeweller, a glassman or an enameller, a weaver or a tailor—the only difference is their stock-in-trade. A tradesman's house has only one storey; it consists of the shop, or principal room, on the basement; a back-shop; an upper gallery, communicating with the storey below by means of a staircase; two rooms adjoining the gallery, and an uncovered terrace. The back shop, according to the profession, serves
