The climate of Peking is exceedingly dry and bracing; no rain, and hardly any snow, falling between October and April.

The really hot weather lasts only for six or eight weeks, about July and August--and even then the nights are always cool; while for six or eight weeks between December and February there may be a couple of feet of ice on the river.

Canton, on the other hand, has a tropical climate, with a long damp enervating summer and a short bleak winter.

The old story runs that snow has only been seen once in Canton, and then it was thought by the people to be falling cotton-wool.
The northern provinces are remarkable for vast level plains, dotted with villages, the houses of which are built of mud.

In the southern provinces will be found long stretches of mountain scenery, vying in loveliness with anything to be seen elsewhere.