Bears appear in Chinese art as far back as the Shang Dynasty (1776- 1122 B.C.), a stone sculpture of one of these animals having been excavated from a tomb of this period in the famous An-yang site "in northern Honan, where once stood the last capital of this dynasty.
Several very life-like bronze statues of bears dating from the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.—220 A.D.) are also io be found in famous collections of Chinese antiquities in Europe and America. The latter all represent the black bear type, as may be judged by the distinct manes shown On the sides of the neck, and it may be inferred from them that these bears were even then being taken round the country and made to perform, just as they are to-day.
The Chinese showman who travel about the country with monkeys, sheep and dogs differ from the bear showman in that they themselves do not take any part in the shows they put on other than directing the animals. Most people who have lived in China any length of time, specially in the interior, must have seen one of these monkey shows.
They are always heralded by the loud beating of a gong, which is the monkey showman's exclusive means of announcing their presence. The bear showman always beat a drum for this purpose. The monkey, a species of macaque known to science Macaca mulatta (Zimmermann), of course, the star performer in these shows. This species is found all over China, ranging as far north the old Imperial Hunting Grounds in the Tung Ling or Eastern Tombs area of present-day Jehol Province (formerly north-eastern Chihli).
This, it may be noted, is the most northerly range in the world today of any of the monkey family or Primates. The species is also found to-day in the highlands of the Chinese-Tibetan borders, as well as in the mountains of southeastern Shansi. Indeed, it is from the last named area that the Honanese monkey showman secure their animals, there a regular market for the latter in the city of Chiaotso, the headquarters of the well-known Peking Syndicate's coal mining concession.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.