This absorption by the Chinese of many tribes,
stretching from the Burmese border to the eastern parts of Szech'wan,
whilst an interesting study, shows that the onward march of civilization
in China will sweep all racial relicts from the face of this great
awakening Empire.
But at the same time there are many branches of a tribal family, some
found as far west as British Burma and all more or less scattered and
disorganized as the result of this silent oppression going on through
the years, who still are ambitious of preserving their independent
isolation, particularly in sparsely-populated spheres far removed from
political activity. So remote are the districts in which these
principalities are found, that the Chinese themselves are entirely
ignorant of the characteristics of these tribes. They say of one tribe
which is scattered all over China Far West that they all have tails; and
of another tribe that the men and women have two faces! And into the
official records published by the Imperial Government the grossest
inaccuracies creep concerning the origin of these peoples.
Yuen-nan and Szech'wan--and a great part of Kwei-chow in the main still
untouched by the increased taxation necessary to provide revenue to
uphold the reforms brought about by the forward movement in various
parts of the Empire--are where the aboriginal population is most
evident.
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