China of the Chinese

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CAPPED COLUMN OF VICTORY, WESTERN IMPERIAL TOMBS

Frontispiece

China of the Chinese

By

E. T. C. Werner

H.B.M. CONSUL, FOOCHOW (RETIRED);
BARRISTER-AT-LAW, MIDDLE TEMPLE

AUTHOR OF
DESCRIPTIVE SOCIOLOGY CHINESE," ETC.

NEW YORK

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
597-599 Fifth Avenue

1920

PRINTED BY
SIR ISAAC PITMAN & SONS, LTD., LONDON, ENGLAND

To MY WIFE

("

PREFACE

THE history of China may be broadly divided into two equal
parts — the Feudal period and the Monarchical period. Each
of these lasted twenty-one centuries. Subject to the quali
fication presently to be mentioned, the duration in both cases
was exactly 2,136 years. The reign of the Great Yao, the
first authentic ruler of China, began in 2357 B.C. The feudal
system which obtained from that time and became more
definite and developed under the Kings of Chou, ended in
221 B.C. From 221 B.C. to A.D. 1915 — counting in the four
years, A D. 1912-1915, during which the Republic, though
nominally established, was not consolidated — the monarchical
form of government prevailed.

Of course, these two main divisions admit of sub-division,
but for the purpose of the present work they will serve very
well. Anyone who at this time undertakes to give a des
cription of " China of the Chinese," is confronted with this
difficulty : — The period covered by the rule of the Manchu
Monarchy, generally known as the Great Ch'ing Dynasty
(A.D. 1644-1912), recently concluded, would belong to
"China of the Manchus " rather than to "China of the
Chinese." Moreover, considering the enormous number of
existing works dealing with that period, to write another on
the same plan would, to say the least, be superfluous, unless
the treatment were original or the subject or sub-period one
not yet adequately dealt with. Whereas, to write a book
dealing with the four or five years since the overthrow of the
Manchu supremacy, during which things have been formu
lating, but have not yet formulated themselves, would be like
writing the life-history of an infant still in its cradle.

I have therefore adopted a plan which not only avoids
these difficulties but is, I submit, in itself sociologically

viii Preface

.e.,-.,.^ --., ^i

justifiable. I have endeavoured first, to describe the Chinese
national life in its earlier phase — its birth, childhood,
adolescence, and coming of age- — and then to indicate the
changes which that life underwent during the second phase —
its full-grown and fully-expanded manhood, which continued
until the nation decided to reform its life as hitherto lived.
Reckoning centuries as years, these two periods of China's
life take her from birth to 20, and from 20 to 40 respectively.
She has now entered upon the third great phase of her national
existence — one which cannot but be pregnant with vital
issues, profoundly affecting both herself and the world in
general. Respecting this phase, I have added to most of the
sections a few remarks indicating as far as possible what
changes have already occurred.

The above general plan, with its broad outlines, represents
neither the popular nor the academical method of viewing
Chinese history. The former pictures a misty past, in which
figures of the great Patriarchs and great Sages, the Builder
of the Great Wall and Burner of Books, with here and there
a chivalrous hero, are dimly discerned, and later epochs, of
which the knowledge is also misty, known as " Augustan
Ages " of Chinese literature and poetry, all of which are
completely overshadowed by the modern periods of foreign
intercourse and foreign wars, openings for trade and robbing
of territory which, though of historical value, are accorded
too large a space in the picture to constitute it a properly-
proportioned representation of the whole of Chinese history.

Votaries of the latter method, while not escaping this pit
fall of want of perspective are, moreover, one and all open to
the charge of treating history unscientifically. They are
obsessed by the " struggle-and-conquest," the " wars-and-
changes-of-dynasties " aspects of history rather than by the
world-wide and permanent causes and effects which make up
the life of a people. The histories hitherto written have been
political rather than sociological in character, and give us
long, wearisome lists of dynasties and insipid accounts of

Preface ix

wars and battles, political intrigue, plot and counter-plot,
with most of the things that matter left out of the account
altogether. Writers unable to consult the original Chinese
sources naturally find this result difficult to avoid, for all
the existing histories in foreign languages are either un
scientific or out of proportion, or both. Professor Herbert
H. Gowen, Lecturer on Oriental History at the University
of Washington, in his Outline History of China, recently
published in two volumes of 200 pages each, recognizes this
defect ; since he says in his preface : " Chinese history has
almost invariably been treated from the point of view of
foreign relations, with the result that a few pages have sufficed
for the four millenniums prior to the Manchu occupation,
while hundreds of pages have been used to discuss (from a
foreign point of view) the events of the past few decades."
Yet we find the first of these two volumes devoted to Chinese
history from the beginning of the mythical ages to the end of
the Ming Dynasty, a period of more than 4,500 years, and
the second to the history from the Manchu conquest in
1644 to the recognition of the Republic in 1913, a period of
only 269 years ! In another work in English by a Chinese
author, Mr. Li Ung Bing, exactly the same proportion is
observed, one-half of a volume of 600 pages being devoted to
the Manchu Dynasty and the other half to the enormously
long period which preceded it. These works have their
intrinsic value, but a properly-proportioned history of the
Chinese people has yet to be written. Careful study of that
history reveals the fact that, just as the influences to which
youth is subject largely determine the character for the rest
of life, so did the Feudal period leave its impress upon the
Chinese nation for at least two thousand years. During that
period the Chinese nation was growing up in its home ; during
the Monarchical -period it spread further afield. According
to the popular view, China became active to any great degree
only after the beginning of foreign intercourse, but in reality
its most significant activities took place during these two

x Preface

periods, and, contrary to the general impression, during tlie
Feudal as much as during the Monarchical. During the
former, the activity was no less real or important, because
it was chiefly formative in character.

This fact has not hitherto been properly appreciated.
Fully to understand China of the Chinese, we must study
both its youth and its manhood, note the changes which took
place during each, and endeavour to grasp the true signi
ficance of those changes. China has now, apparently once
for all, put off the garment of monarchism with its lining of
feudalism ; and any superficial opinion, lightly expressed,
regarding the probable results of this act, is sure to be dis
proved by the course of events, so long as it omits to take
into account both the true nature of the garment and the
fact that whether its style be feudal, monarchical, or repub
lican, there has all the time been the same nature
underneath.

My labours in the field of Sinology have been mainly
sociological. Since completing the Descriptive Sociology —
Chinese, the first work presenting the phenomena of the
Chinese civilization — its morphology, physiology, and develop
ment — in a complete and scientific form, and the outcome of
many years of arduous toil, my studies have been concen
trated on the superstructure. The method of investigation
involves the combination of two processes, which may best
be explained by the simile of a building composed of several
floors each containing many rooms, such as a large house
or hotel. In describing such a building completely, we may
begin with the first room on the ground floor, then proceed
to the corresponding room on the first floor, then that on the
second^floor, and so on until we reach the top, then beginning
again with the second room on the ground floor, we may in
like manner trace it up through the several floors, and so on,
until all the rooms of all the floors have been described. By
the second process, we first describe all the rooms on the
ground floor, then all on the first floor, then all on the second

Preface xi

floor, and so on, until we reach the top floor, or that most
recently constructed.

If, in this simile, for the rooms we substitute departments
of sociological phenomena, and for the floors phases or periods
of history, we sec that complete knowledge of the whole
structure requires us thoroughly to understand each class of
phenomena as it has taken root and evolved, and each phase
of history as the outcome of these classes of phenomena ;
their co-existence and sequence, and action and reaction
on one another. In this way we are enabled to give a full
account of the whole structure and of its life-history as far
as it has gone.

The small work herewith issued is an attempt to treat each
class of phenomena in the Chinese social structure from its
earliest beginnings to its latest developments. I have made
it in the hope that a short summary of a long life-history
like that of China may be useful to those who have neither
time nor inclination to study the whole record in detail.
Having lived in China — north, central, and south — for 30
years, and having been an eye-witness of many of the events
described and the changes which have taken place ; having
also for most of that time given special attention to socio
logical studies ; and being wholly unbiased except in favour
of the truth, and nothing but the truth, I may perhaps have
been able to treat the subject in a more scientific manner
than any hitherto attempted, and at least to avoid errors
of the kind which superficial, sensational, or prejudiced
writers on China have so frequently imposed upon the
Western world.

Of course a small treatise on the scale of the present book
cannot be more than a brief summary or imperfect sketch,
of which much must be left for detailed treatment in a more
elaborate work. But, as a map is useful for giving in minia
ture a bird's-eye view of the country it represents, so I may
peradventure be allowed to hope that this small book will
serve to give a general idea of the morphological and

xii Preface

physiological development of a community comprising one-
quarter of the world's inhabitants, whose long and unique
life presents some of the most fascinating problems to be
found in the whole history of mankind.

EDWARD THEODORE CHALMERS WERNER.

PEKING.

CONTENTS

CMAr. PAC1

PREFACE . . . . . . vii

I. ENVIRONMENTS AND CHARACTERS ... 1

II. SUMMARY OF POLITICAL HISTORY ... 9

in. DOMESTIC INSTITUTIONS: MARITAL— FILIAL . . 33

IV. CEREMONIAL INSTITUTIONS: BODILY MUTILATIONS
—FUNERAL RITES — LAWS OF INTERCOURSE —
HABITS AND CUSTOMS ..... 62

v. POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS: GENERAL GOVERNMENT-
LAWS — LOCAL GOVERNMENT — MILITARY INSTI
TUTIONS ....... 108

VI. ECCLESIASTICAL INSTITUTIONS — PROFESSIONAL

INSTITUTIONS ...... 187

vii. SENTIMENTS: AESTHETIC — MORAL . . . 217
viii. IDEAS: RELIGIOUS IDEAS — KNOWLEDGE . . 230

IX. LANGUAGE 264

x. PRODUCTS: LANDWORKS — -HABITATIONS — FOOD —

CLOTHING — IMPLEMENTS — WEAPONS — AESTHETIC
PRODUCTS ....... 274

INDEX . 299

ILLUSTRATIONS

faring
page

CAPPED COLUMN OF VICTORY, WESTERN IMPERIAL

TOMBS ...... Frontispiece

CITY WALL, PEKING ....... 22

A MAIN STREET IN PEKING ...... 48

COFFINS AWAITING BURIAL ...... 68

STONE FIGURE IN AVENUE LEAPING TO THE MING TOMBS. 72

SECOND GATE OF IMPERIAL CITY, PEKING . . . 122

ITINERANT BARBER . . . . . . 128

PUNISHMENT OF THE CANGUE . ..... 158

MARBLE BRIDGE AT SUMMER PALACE . . . .180

LAMA TEMPLE OF THE FIVE PAGODAS .... 200

FORTUNE-TELLER ...... 0 . 216

GATEWAY OF YUNG HO KUNG, LAMA TEMPLE, PEKING . 252

PASSAGE FROM THE CONFUCIAN ANALECTS . . . 268

THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA . 276

China of the Chinese

CHAPTER I

ENVIRONMENTS AND CHARACTERS

THE history of nations being largely determined by the
characters of the people composing them and the nature of
the surroundings in which they live, it will be necessary, in
order to obtain a clear idea of the Chinese type and the
various phases of its social development, to glance briefly
at the country of China and the physical, emotional, and
intellectual traits of its inhabitants.

The portion of the earth's surface known as China now

occupies an area of more than 5,000,000 square miles in the

Inor anic east °^ Asia, between 18° and 50° north lati-

Environment. tude and 80° and 130° east longitude. This
General includes China Proper, or the Eighteen
Provinces, and the outlying possessions of
Manchuria, Mongolia, Hi (comprising Sungaria and Eastern
Turkestan), Koko-nor, and Tibet. We shall see in the next
chapter that originally the Chinese occupied but a relatively
small portion of this huge area, or even of China Proper.
The latter measures about 1,474 miles from north to south,
and about 1,355 from east to west, is situated between 18°
and 40° north latitude and 98° and 122° east longitude, and
has an area of about 2,000,000 square miles, being bounded
on the north by Mongolia, on the west by Tibet and Burma,
on the south by Burma, Tongking, and the China Sea, and
on the east by the China Sea, Pacific Ocean, and Yellow Sea.
This area is almost rectangular in form and of varied eleva
tion, sloping generally from west to east. The north presents
a large plain, the west is generally mountainous, the south

1
i— (2383)

2 China of the Chinese

and east consist of level plains interspersed with hills. There
are three chief ranges of mountains, the Pei Ling, Yiin Ling,
and Nan Ling ; three rivers of the largest size (the Huang Ho,
or Yellow River, in the north, the Yang Tzu River in the
centre, and the Hsi Chiang, or West River, in the south),
and about thirty of considerable importance. These, with
their numerous tributaries, reach every part of the country ;
there are six large, and several smaller lakes ; with many
swamps and marshes.

The great plains of China are alluvial, resting upon granite,

new red sandstone, or limestone. A large portion of Northern

_ . . . China is covered by the loess formation, which

Features. stretches westward from the borders of the

Loess great north-eastern plain as far as Koko-nor

Formation. and the head.waters of the Yellow River,

covering the parallelogram enclosed between longitudes 99°
and 115° and latitudes 33° and 41°. This deposit, varying
from 10 to 1,000 feet in depth, has been formed by accumula
tions of dust blown from the deserts of Central Asia and
hardened into brownish or yellow earth by the rain and snow
of North China. Its vertical cleavage gives rise to multitu
dinous clefts intersecting the surface of the ground in every
direction. These vary from small shallow cracks to canons
half a mile wide and hundreds of feet deep, the bottoms of
which are often used as roads and the terraced sides culti
vated (the loess deposit being exceedingly fertile), or excavated
for habitations. The deep gullies would obviously render
travel on the surface impossible or exceedingly laborious,
and in any case traffic would soon wear away the loess, owing
to its soft nature, the loose dust being blown away by the
wind ; so the roads in these regions are often a very con
siderable distance below the surface of the ground. Large
masses of loess are constantly falling or being washed by rain
into the rivers and carried down towards the sea. In very
early times what is now known as the Gulf of Pei-chih-li (Peh-
chi-li on English maps) extended much farther inland, covering

Environments and Characters 3

the site of Peking and reaching probably to the foot of the
Western Hills. The loess deposits, carried down by the rivers
and also blown directly by the wind, are probably the chief
reason why the coast -line has receded to its present position,
and may eventually practically obliterate the Pei Ho and
convert Tientsin into an inland place inaccessible to vessels
coming from the sea, unless the river be artificially conserved.

In the south the geological succession is first granite, and
then grits and slates ; these are covered by old limestones,
Geological supporting another series of limestone strata.
Succession Generally, in the south we find older, and
in South. jn tjie north newer, rocks ; and from east
to west a similar series of rocks is found, the granites being
overlaid by crystalline schist, gneiss and quartzites, over
which again lie carboniferous beds, with patches of oolitic
rock yielding fossil fishes. In the west and south some vol
canic features are perceptible. The chief minerals are coal
and iron. Gold, silver, copper, lead, tin, jade, etc., are
also mined. A few fossil remains have been found, but
petrifactions, so far as is yet known, are rare.

In so vast a country as China, which, including its depen
dencies, is considerably larger than Europe and about the
same size as Australia, we naturally find a
Climate. great variety of climate. In the north the
winter is long and rigorous, the summer
hot and dry, the mean temperature being 52.3° F. and the
extremes 110° above and 20° below zero F. In the south
the summer is long, hot and moist, the mean temperature
being 70° F. and the extremes 112° and 29° above zero.
The extremes, of course, are rarely recorded. Owing to the
moisture-laden atmosphere in the south, a temperature of
80° is less tolerable than one of 100° in the north. Along the
coast the summer heat is tempered by refreshing monsoons.
Disastrous typhoons blow periodically between July and
October in the maritime region south of 32° north latitude.
The temperature of China is generally low for the latitude.

4 China of the Chinese

The mean rainfall in the north is 16, and in the south 70
inches, with variations in other parts.

The vegetal productions are abundant and most varied.

About 7,000 species of plants are known, and more will

Organic doubtless be discovered. Forests are now

Environment, rare, but there is a very great diversity of
Vegetal. resinous plants, flowering shrubs and ever
greens. From north to south we may note a gradual pro
gression from the temperate flora of Mongolia and Manchuria
to the tropical vegetation of Indo-China. In the central dis
tricts the northern and southern species intermingle : we
see the oak with the bamboo, wheat and maize with sugar,
cotton, and rice. Owing to the even distribution of the rain
fall there is an extremely regular succession of seasons
favourable to methodical agriculture. There is a noticeable
absence of meadows and pasture-lands, especially in the
south, where the land is covered with paddy-fields to such an
extent that roads are mostly reduced to mere bridle-paths
and the sides of the hills are terraced in order to find room
for more crops. Besides those mentioned, the productions
comprise barley, millet, and other cereals, the bean, yam,
sweet and common potatoes, tomato, egg-plant, cabbage,
ginseng, indigo, cotton, hemp, silk, tea, sugar, pepper,
camphor, tobacco, varnish, ground nuts, poppy, water
melon, ginger, and other medicinal plants, and dye-woods.
Among fruit trees are the apple, pear, orange, lemon, grape,
date, peach, plum, apricot, fig, cherry, mulberry, pumelo,
persimmon, lichi, pomegranate, pineapple, chestnut, coco
nut, mango, banana, etc. There is in most parts excellent
timber for shipbuilding and carpentry.

As we shall see in the next chapter, China was, in early

times, covered with dense forests full of wild animals. Most

of the former and many of the latter have

Animal. disappeared, but the species of fauna are

still numerous and abundantly represented.

There are now no lions, but we find the tiger, panther, leopard,

Environments and Characters 5

tiger-cat, sable, civet, tree-civet, weasel, stoat, marten, otter,
lemur, ape, several varieties of monkeys, brown bear, black
bear, wolf, fox, racoon, badger, 27 or more species of rumi
nants, and many species of rodents. The elephant,
rhinoceros, and tapir are said still to exist in the forests and
swamps of Yunnan. The commonest domestic animals are
the horse and ox (dwarfish), ass, mule, camel (in north),
water-buffalo (in south), sheep, goat, pig, cat, and dog.
Fowls, ducks, and geese are very abundant. Of birds
there are about 700 species, including the vulture, eagle,
kite, falcon, sparrow-hawk, night-hawk, swallow, kingfisher,
cuckoo, hoopoe, bee-eater, nuthatch, wren, chat, pea
cock, parrot, mina, woodpecker, crow, pigeon, magpie,
lark, thrush, canary, nightingale, gold, silver and other
pheasants, partridge, grouse, teal, quail, sand-piper, curlew,
plover, crane, heron, egret, ibis. Of fish, there are more
than 1,000 different kinds, the ichthyology of China being
among the richest in the world. In some parts of the south
it is^said that one can have a different kind of fish for break
fast every day in the year, though this would include some
kinds eaten by the Chinese, but not palatable to Europeans.
In the seas, rivers, lakes, and marshes are found the mackerel,
goby, herring, shark, ray, saw-fish, sturgeon, torpedo, cod,
carp, tench, perch, pomfret, sole, mullet, shad, eel, bream,
gudgeon, saurus (" silver-fish "), gold-fish, paradise-fish, as
well as lobsters, mussels, crabs, oysters, etc., etc. Turtles,
tortoises, snakes, frogs, etc., abound, and alligators are found
in the Yang Tzu River. Beetles and insects too numerous
to mention exist everywhere. The honey-bee and silkworm
are extensively reared for commercial and industrial purposes.
Having noted the inorganic and the organic conditions amid
which the Chinese live, let us now glance briefly at the different
Sociological peoples by whom they are surrounded or
Environment with whom they come in contact. When the
in the Past. Chinese first arrived in China (having come,
it is supposed, from the west or north-west), they found the

6 China of the Chinese

land inhabited by aboriginal tribes, which they gradually
exterminated, absorbed, or drove to the south. Some are
still to be found in Hunan, Kuangsi, Kueichou, Fukien,
Chekiang, and elsewhere. They constitute an interesting
ethnological problem, as yet only partly investigated.
\ From the third century B.C. onwards, the Chinese have had
!to contend with hostile nomads from the north. In the
' second century B.C. Chinese military activity opened up the
west, and there was commercial intercourse with the Hsiung
Nu, Northern Corea, and the Tunguses. During the first
six centuries A.D., there was intercourse with Rome, Parthia,
Turkey, Mesopotamia, Ceylon, India, Indo-China, and, in
the seventh century, with the Arabs, with Tangut and with
Southern Corea. From the tenth to the thirteenth century,
the "northern part of the empire was occupied by Tungusic
invaders — Kitans and Niichens, — and for__88 years in the
thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the whole empire 'w,as
under Mongol sway. Though, between the fourteenth and the
seventeenth centuries, there was a certain amount of com
mercial and religious intercourse with neighbouring nations,
and from the eighteenth century onwards embassies were
received from more distant countries, the Chinese, as a rule,
avoided any relations with foreigners.

At the present "time, China's neighbours on the north

are the Russians in Siberia, on the west the Central Asian

Modern tribes and the British in Kashmere, and

Sociological on the south the British in India and the

Environment, ^epalese and other independent Indian races;

also the Shan tribes, the Annamese (under France), the

Burmese (under Britain), the Portuguese at Macao (since

1537), and the British at Hong Kong (since 1841). On the

south-east are the Japanese (in possession of Formosa since

1895), and on the east the Coreans (under the Japanese since

1910) and Japan. The Chinese are also in contact with

foreigners (chiefly British, French, Russians, and Japanese),

living in concessions, settlements, etc., on the coast and rivers.

Environments and Characters 7

The Chinese belong to the Mongolia type. The average

stature is lower than that of Europeans, though much greater

in the north than in the south, the men

Characters bdn& from 5ft' 2in> tO 5ft> 6in< in hci8ht»
and the women about 4in. less. The com
plexion is pale yellow, tawny, or olive, ranging from light
lemon or almost white in the north to deep brownish hues
in the south. The shape of the head is brachycephalic, that
is, round and short, rather than long or oblong when viewed
from the front ; the neck is short and thick-set ; the facial
angle is prognathous, being about 76 to 68 as compared
with 82 to 76 in the ideal Caucasic type ; the outline of the
face is square, not oval, and the features angular and flattened,
not rounded off ; the cheek-bones are high and prominent ;
the forehead low, receding, and narrow. The weight of the
brain is considerably below the average, the proportion of
the cerebrum to the cerebellum being five to one as com
pared with eight-and-a-half to one in high Caucasian types.
The eyes are almond-shaped, usually small, and more or less
oblique upwards and outwards, with a vertical fold of skin
over the inner canthus, the orbits far apart, and the iris in
variably black. The ears are large and prominent. The
nose is normally broad, square, and concave, but often large
and straight, especially among the upper classes. The
mouth is large, with thick lips. The chin is small and
receding. The hands and feet are disproportionately small.
The hair is black, lank, coarse, and cylindrical ; the eye
brows straight and scanty ; the beard scanty or absent,
seldom appearing before the fortieth year. The expression
is heavy, inanimate, and monotonously uniform.

Emotionally the Chinese are mild, frugal, sober, gregarious,
industrious, of remarkable endurance, but at the same time
cowardly, revengeful, very cruel, unsym-
fharacters Patnetic, mendacious, thievish, and libidi
nous. They are taciturn, but spasmodically
vehement. But they are also excessively courteous and

8 China of the Chinese

ceremonious, with a great capacity for gratitude, and a
very high sense of mercantile honour.

Intellectually the Chinese are non-progressive ; though in

modern times some have shown a desire for Western learning,

most have always been and still are slaves

Intellectual to uniformity and mechanism in culture.

Characters. _, J. • •, .• 11-

They are unimaginative, imitative, lacking

free individuality and creative power, slow in organizing,
lacking reflection and foresight, vague in expression, unable
to take a comprehensive grasp of a subject ; they attach little
importance to accuracy. They are also exceedingly suspicious
and superstitious.

Regarding Chinese character as a whole, we find in it
many traits common to races in early stages of development,

such as the inferiority of size and structure,
Sc£Sicter.0f the larSer alimentary system with smaller

nervous power ; a relative hardiness, with
less acute sensations resulting from injurious actions than
in the case of more highly developed types, and consequent
weakness of the feelings prompting to effort and leading
to improvement. With less plasticity of nature there is
earlier maturity. The Chinese consciousness is relatively
simple, exhibiting periodic impulsiveness, improvidence,
little-developed altruistic sentiments — giving rise to lack of
sympathy and to cruelty — and extreme conservatism. The
Chinese mind is deficient in conceptions of general facts and
distant results ; its ideas are rigid and concrete rather than
abstract, lacking definiteness and accuracy. The absence of
constructive imagination is shown by the few inventions
recorded during a very long national life.

CHAPTER II

SUMMARY OF POLITICAL HISTORY

THE origin of the Chinese people is still an unsolved problem.

The theory of a Sumcrian or Babylonian origin, and that

which alleges the Chinese to have come from

u°n£u" of somewhere in Eastern Turkestan, seem more
the Chinese.

plausible than those which argue that the
Chinese race came from the direction of Burma or originated
in the "Country now inhabited by it. When we first hear of
the Chinese they occupied but a comparatively small part
of modern China, though they subsequently spread all over
the vast territories until lately known as the Chinese Empire.
It is not alleged by the Chinese themselves or by foreign
historians that this was a re-conquest : it was an original
conquest of the land from nature and from its aboriginal
inhabitants. The Chinese have a tradition of a Western
origin. If that should prove to be correct, we shall, no doubt,
ultimately find that the Chinese originated somewhere in
Mesopotamia, and not in Central Asia, because it has recently
been discovered that the Khoten civilization was imported
from the Punjab about the third century B.C., by which
time the Chinese had been settled in China for more than
two thousand years. But this provisional acceptance of the
Mesopotamian origin of the Chinese will not rest on any such
fallacies as the identification of the Chinese Po hsing (Can
tonese Pak-sing), meaning " the people " (lit. " the hundred,"
i.e., all the " surnames ") with the Bak Sing tribes of Baby
lonia, or of the mythical Chinese Emperor Huang Ti with
the Babylonian King Nakhunte, as has been argued by at
least one writer. The ethnological and linguistic evidence
on which it is based cannot, consistently with the purpose
of this summary, be set forth in detail.

9

10 China of the Chinese

Reliable Chinese history begins about the time of Yao

the Great (2357 B.C.). Though Chinese historians have

carried their records back for many thousand

Beginning rs t>efore thjs date iittie jf anything,

of History. J . , , . Jr

can be regarded as authentic before it. In

order to get a clear idea of the Chinese settlement in China,
let us imagine a map of China absolutely blank, and some
nomad tribes — the ancestors of the Chinese race — approaching
from the west along the 40th parallel of latitude. Striking
the head-waters of the Yellow River, they would follow its
course, turning south at the great bend in longitude 111°,
and settle in latitude 35°, where the present frontiers of
Shansi, Shensi, and Honan come in contact. They may
possibly have been able to cross large rivers and difficult
mountain ranges, and so have followed a less circuitous
route, but it is here that we find them as an organized society,
possessing a considerable degree of civilization, at the dawn
of their reliable history. They found the country covered
with_dense forests, full of wild animals and sparsely inhabited
by aboriginal tribes. The former they gradually subdued ;
the aborigines they either absorbed, killed or gradually
expelled. Remnants of these tribes still exist in the southern
and south-western provinces. The Chinese also had to

contend with the horse-riding nomads who
Tribes constantly invaded their settlements from

the north,A and we shall see that these pre
datory incursions oFnostile northerners constituted a continual^
danger throughout Chinese history. The first period was
one of patriarchal chieftainship ; but these rulers, and
the kings who followed them during the next twenty-one
centuries, did not extend their frontiers beyond the relatively
small region covered by the modern province of Shansi
with a small part of Eastern Shensi, the southern part of
Chihli, and the strip of Shantung north-west of the Huang Ho
(Yellow River). As far as the Chinese themselves were
concerned, the rest of the map remained a blank for the whole

Summary of Political History 11

of the period, that is, for about half of their entire history

fronTthe time of the Great Yao to the present date. In the

second century B.C., this area was more than doubled, being

extended^ to the Yellow Sea on the east,

EXEm1r? °f to th"e~Yang Tzu River on the south, and

to the TCialing River in about longitude 106°

on the west. It was not until t^eHan period (about 200 B.C.

kto A.D. 200) that~frie Chinese estaHislieoT'their sovereignty

\over~~practically "the whole of what is now known as China

Proper.

(Manchuria^ became a portion of the Chinese Empire by

submitting to the Emperor Wu Ti in the Han period, but,

after being conquered by the Mongols in the

Greater China, thirteenth century, it was abandoned by them

to the Chinese in 1388. 'In 1644, China

may be said to have become a part of Manchuria, for the

Manchus became its rulers, and remained so until 1912,

when their dynasty gave place to a Chinese Republic.

Mongolia began to be incorporated with the Chinese Empire
in 1388, when the Chinese drove the Mongols back to the
Kerulun River and acquired that part of their territory
lying south of the desert. The Chinese Emperor, Ch'eng Tsu,
completed the subjugation of the whole country in 1410-14.
After the overthrow of the Manchu power in China in 1912,
Mongolia declared its independence, and the suzerainty of
the Chinese sovereign in that country must at present be
regarded as no more than nominal.

Chinese Turkestan (known also as Eastern Turkestan,
Kashgarfa, or Hsin Kiang, the New Dominion or New Terri
tory), has been conquered and lost several times since the
Christian era. It was subdued towards the end of the
eighteenth century, detached for about 20 years by the
revolt of Yakub Beg in 1866-7, and finally reconquered by
the Chinese Viceroy, Tso Tsung T'ang, in 1877-8.

Tibet was conquered by China in A.D. 684, but threw off
the yoke during the decline of the T'ang dynasty, being

12

China of the Chinese

Greatest
China.

however reconquered in 1698-1703. It declared its inde
pendence in 1912, and its position is at present similar to that
of Mongolia.

At various times during her history China has owned
territories which she now no longer possesses. From 73 to
48 B.C. all the peoples of Central Asia, from
Japan to the Caspian Sea, were tributary
to her. During subsequent ages Nepal,
Sikkim, Bhutan, Bengal, Cambel, Biyma, Malacca, Sumatra,
Java, Borneo, Cochin-China, Cambodia, Annam, Tongking,
Formosa, the Loochow (Liuchiu) Islands, and Corea have
owned allegiance or paid tribute. /The Chinese Empire has,
on the whole, decreased in size during the last few centuries,
having lost one possession after another, and it seems probable
that this process will go on unless China can become strong
enough to resist aggression, or unless Western nations should
adopt more Christian and civilized methods of dealing with
weaker peoples. She is surrounded on all sides either by
conquered peoples ready to declare their independence or
by those whose interests impel them to acquire some of her
territory : the Manchus, Japanese and Russians in Man
churia, the Mongols and Russians in Mongolia, the British
in Tibet, the French on the south, etc.

Having thus seen how the Chinese entered China, let us
return to the beginning and observe more in detail the
successive phases of their political history.

FEUDAL PERIOD

The Great Yao, the patriarch whom we may regard as the
first authentic ruler of China, emerging from the mists of
mythological history, ruled from 2357 to
2255 B.C. The comparatively small extent
of his territory we have already noted. The
Miao tribes, probably autochthonous, were serious rivals for
the throne of the young kingdom, and it was only after many
years (perhaps a century and a half) of severe fighting that

Politk3SHis°tory

Summary of Political History 13

the Chinese obtained a firm foothold in the land which was
to be the theatre of their subsequent history. Yao's son
being considered unworthy to succeed him, the chieftain
ship passed to Shun (2255-2205 B.C.), an
YandSYtkn> agriculturist selected for his "brilliant
virtues," and then to Yii (2205-2197 B.C.),
who had been chosen by Shun as his associate and successor
for his skill in draining off a great flood which threatened the
destruction of the whole country. Yii founded the first
Chinese dynasty. From his reign onwards, the succession
became hereditary in the male line of the king's family, and
this_ remained the rule throughout the national history until
the institution of the republican form of government in 1912.
Yii wished to follow the example of Yao and Shun, and select
a worthy successor not of his own family, but both officials
and people insisted upon his son being king after him. It
is to be noted that it was thus the people who decided upon
the sovereignty's being hereditary.

The conditions of these early colonies soon determined

the form of a feudal kingdom. The ruler granted lands to

his lords in return for service and aid when

Feudalism. necessary. These territories, established here

and there among the aborigines, formed the

nuclei of provinces and states, governed on the same system

as the central or " middle " kingdom, and, because the latter

was still too weak to subdue all the hostile tribes, each state

had its own military constitution. This, as we shall see,

eventually led to very important results.

The Hsia dynasty was brought to an end through the gross
licentiousness of Chieh Kuei, the last king of the house, who
wasted the public money and neglected affairs

°f State in °rder tO indulge in revolting
orgies and cruelties in company with Mei Hsi,
a beautiful but wicked woman presented to him as a pro
pitiatory gift by the Lord of Shih, who thereby averted a
military expedition projected against him by Chieh. The

14 China of the Chinese

Shang dynasty (1766-1122 B.C.) was in a similar manner
brought to an end by an unscrupulous and immoral monarch
named Chou Hsin, also under the influence of a cruel and
vicious woman, Ta Chi. By thus setting a bad example and
neglecting the affairs of State, he was regarded as having
incurred the displeasure of Heaven, which justified his murder
and the extermination of his clan. Under this dynasty the
tribe still dwelt in the neighbourhood of the Yellow River,
but was frequently obliged to migrate on account of inun
dations. The capital was moved several times before its
final transference in 1401 B.C. (some writers say 1399 B.C.)
by P'an Keng to Po, also called Yin Po, or Shan, identified
with the modern Yen Shih, in the modern province of Honan.
The former sites had been rendered unsafe through proximity
to the Yellow River, so P'an moved from the north of that
river to a more elevated site on the south.

The dynasty lasted for nearly three hundred years more,
and with the overthrow of Chou Hsin the first Feudal period
came to an end. The later Feudal period,

which followed i1' was the most important

in Chinese history. It lasted for 900 years
(1122 to 221 B.C.) and comprised the Chou dynasty (1122 to
255 B.C.) and part of the Ch'in dynasty (255-221 B.C.). It
is divisible into three parts. The founder, Wu Wang, who

had defeated Chou Hsin, rewarded the vassals
Chow Dynasty, who had helped him to conquer the kingdom,

by enfeoffing them of petty states in what
are now the provinces of Honan, Shantung, Shansi, and
Chihli, his own appanage being part of Shensi, with his capital
at Hao (Ch'ang An). This feudal kingdom of Chou lasted
from 1122 to 770 B.C , when the capital was moved by P'ing
Wang to Lo Yang in Honan, and from this time the central
authority gradually declined, while that of the feudal states
increased. This period of decline and anarchy is known as
the Ch'un Ch'iu Period (770-484 B.C.), because it is described
in a work of that name meaning " The Annals " (lit. " Spring

Summary of Political History 15

and Autumn "), edited by Confucius. In order to counteract
the jealousies of the rival states and preserve as far as possible
the waning authority of the middle kingdom, the singular
device of " presiding chiefs " or " leading states " was adopted,

the leading state professing loyalty to the
'stat "|S House of Chou and exercising royal functions

in the guidance or direction of all the others.
This resulted in the absorption of the smaller states, who
under this system had to bear the double burden of contri
butions to the central and to the presiding state, by the
larger. From 484 to 221 B.C. the period is aptly named
that of the " Warring States." By 475 B.C. the number of

states had been reduced to seven. In 314 B.C.

the victory of the Duke of Ch>in over the
reigning Emperor Nan Wang made it clear

that the Ch'in State, the latest formed of the more important
states, had sufficient resources to make itself master of all
the rest. Its chief rival was the large state of Ch'u ; but it
succeeded in annexing this in 223 B.C., and, two years later,
successfully defying the remaining smaller states, united the
empire under one rule.

MONARCHICAL PERIOD

This brought the Feudal regime to a close. On its ruins,
the " First Emperor," Ch'in Shih Huang Ti, laid the founda
tions of the monarchical system, only abolished

Mona^h 2'133 years later' In order to strengthen his
position and more effectually prevent the

revival of feudalism, Ch'in Shih Huang (as he is usually called l)
ordered all records of the past to be destroyed except those

relating to agriculture, medicine, astrology,
of^he BoolS1" and divination ; and 460 scholars who ds-

obeyed his commands were buried aliie.
To define the northern and north-western frontiers of his

1 The name Huang Ti, "Emperor," was made up from San Huang,
the Three Primordial Sovereigns, and Wu Ti, the Five Emperors of
legendary antiquity.

16 China of the Chinese

kingdom and to check the constant incursions of the Tartar

tribes, he united several pre-existing walls into one Great

Wall, 1,145 miles in length, extending from

Brildhtgwfifhe the seashore at Shan Hai Kuan in longitude
119°.44' to Chia Yii Kuan in 98M4' east.
Seeing the danger caused by the states having each its own
military system, Ch'in, who had his capital at Hsien Yang in
Central Shensi, disarmed the provinces in order further to
centralize his imperial power and strengthen his position.
But his ambition to found a dynasty which should continue
for ever was not destined to be realized. His line came to
an end with the treacherous murder, in 206 B.C., of his son,
who was only the " second emperor," after a reign of but
three years' duration. The empire, however, had been
increased by the addition of parts of modern Shantung,
Kiangsu, Anhui, Honan, Hupei, and Shensi.

But, though the Ch'in dynasty was thus quickly over
thrown, the principle established was maintained, and for
427 years under the Han emperors (first
The Hans. the Former or Western Han, 206 B.C. to
A.D. 25, and then, though in less degree,
under the Later or Eastern Han, A.D. 25 to 221), the nation
prospered, the period being one of the most illustrious in
Chinese history. There was great literary, artistic, com
mercial, and military activity. The Chinese are still
proud to refer to themselves as " Sons of Han." During
this time Chinese influence penetrated southward. Under
the Emperor Wen (179-156 B.C.) the Prince of Canton
recognized the imperial sway. But the Hun tribes made
frequent incursions, and the political history of the next 250
years is largely concerned with wars carried on against these
northern invaders, who were frequently successful, though
some of them were won over to the Chinese side. Yet in
spite of these and other disturbing elements, such as the
wars with the Turkish tribes on the west, the empire made
much progress towards tranquillity and prosperity. The

Summary of Political History 17

Ordos tribes were conquered, and parts of Liao Tung, North
ern Corea, as well as portions of Kansu, Ssuch'uan, Hupei,
Anhui, Kiangsu, Chekiang, Fukien, Kiangsi, Hunan, Kuei-
chou, Yunnan, Kuangsi, and Kuangtung (including Hainan)
were added to the empire. Chinese Turkestan was tributary.
The ruler of Manchuria tendered submission. The majority
of these extensions were due to the military skill of the great
Emperor Wu Ti (140-86 B.C.), who, unable to subdue the
Tartars on the north, utilized his energies in various other
directions. By the time of Hsiian Ti (73-48 B.C.), as we have
already noticed, all the tribes and countries of Central Asia
sent tribute to the Chinese Emperor. But the Huns, who had
been induced to sue for peace, again became aggressive
when the imperial authority had been so weakened by the
intrigues of the palace eunuchs, that the usurper Wang
Mang was able to set it aside for a period of fourteen years
(A.D. 9 to 23). On his being killed by the Princes of Han,
the dynasty was restored and was thenceforward known by
the name of Later or Eastern Han. The capital was removed
from Ch'ang An, in Shensi, to Lo Yang, in Honan. Soon
after this the Chinese drove the Huns from the empire,
carrying their victories as far as Khiva and the Caspian Sea.
Fifty Bokhara princes submitted and sent tribute to China.
It was probably about this time that the Chinese generals
came into contact with the Roman Empire. The Queen of
Kao Chi was overthrown. Cochin-China (Annam) became a
vassal state. But from 126-45 rebellions and internal dis
sensions were frequent, and from the reign of Huan Ti
(147-68) the dynasty rapidly declined, and after several
changes the imperial power, which was latterly disputed
for by the generals rather than wielded by the emperors,
was usurped by Ts'ao Ts'ao, a successful warrior, and his
son, who founded a new dynasty.

We now come to a succession of minor dynasties, num
bering fourteen in all and covering a period of 368 years (221-
589). The country was first divided into the Three Kingdoms,

^-(2383)

18 China of the Chinese

viz., Shu (or Minor Han) in the west, regarded by Chinese
historians as the legitimate successor of the Eastern Han,
with its capital at Ch'engtu in Ssuch'uan ;
Minor ^yu^ OCCUpying the centre and south,
with its capital at Nanking ; and Wei,
in the north, with its capital at Lo Yang. This was a
period of romance, chivalry, and unbridled militarism.
When the Wei kingdom obtained the supremacy, the empire
was temporarily re-united in 265 under the Western Chin
dynasty, but was not really consolidated; and in 310 the
Tartars took Lo Yang and reigned supreme over North
China, the enfeebled Chins removing their capital to Chien
K'ang, which they called Nanking, or Southern Capital.
Here they carried on their rule under the title of the Eastern
Chin Dynasty (317-420). This was followed by the " Epoch
of the Division between North and South," when a succession
of unstable dynasties ruled China for 169 years. About the
middle of the sixth century, a new kingdom named Chou,
arose in the north and, reversing the history of its more famous
prototype of feudal times, conquered and absorbed its rivals,
and in 589 re-united the empire under one sovereign.

This period of disruption was naturally unproductive in
the arts of peace, but towards its close the empire was greatly
enlarged by annexations in the west. China now opened
diplomatic relations with Japan.

On the re-union of the empire under the Sui dynasty
(589-618) — the name adopted by the victorious Chou ruler —
the southern provinces were developed
throu§h the immigration of many Chinese
from the north. Internal peace fostered
agriculture and trade, but wars were carried on in order to
extend the western frontier, and also, in 612-14, against
Corea, which was made to pay tribute two years later. The
Sui dynasty was brought to an end by the treachery of Li
Yuan, a Chinese general who leagued with the K'itan Tun-
guses against the Emperor Yang Ti, and established the

Summary of Political History 19

T'ang dynasty, 618-907, which formed the third great period
of progress and prosperity. Poetry is said to have "reached
perfection," and literature, art, and commerce
T'ang Dynasty, flourished. Kashgaria was formed into a
Chinese province, and the Tibetan Chief
acknowledged himself a Chinese vassal. But wars on land
and sea continued with Tibet, Corea, and Japan, and the
Kingdom of Sinlo was annexed. These successful activities
greatly increased Chinese prestige in Central Asia. Yet,
though the Tibetans and the K'itan Tartars were vanquished
during the period 683-704, they defeated Ming Ti (713-56),
who was ultimately driven to Ssuch'uan. Hsi-an was re
covered by Su Tsung (756-63). The struggle between the
northern and southern powers continued, the capital being
abandoned by Tai Tsung (763-80) on the approach of a small
Tibetan army. The prosperity of the empire declined, and
the sovereign power was further weakened by the surrender
of the imperial prerogative when Te Tsung (780-805) con
sented to make the great governorships
hereditary. A rebel prince wrested Yunnan
from the empire during the reign of I Tsung
(860-74), and his successor Hsi Tsung (874-89) was driven
from his capital by another rebel, but saved the dynasty
from immediate extinction by alliance with a Turkish chief.
The closing years of the T'ang period formed a sad contrast
to its previous prosperity. Most of the towns of Central
China were in ruins, and the condition of the country was
deplorable. The power of the palace eunuchs had so in
creased that from about 820 they practically ruled the
country and appointed the emperors. Between these threaten
ing dangers — the influence of the eunuchs, the power of the
provincial governors, the attacks of border tribes, and disas
trous famines — the House of T'ang was hard pressed, and
after a temporary revival under Chao Tsung (889-905) came
to an end with the murder of his son by Chu Wen, who, origi
nally a revolutionary, had been made Governor of Honan

20 China of the Chinese

for surrendering to the emperor Hsi Tsung (874-89) . Chao

Tsung, the latter's brother and successor, successfully sought

Chu's aid against the eunuchs, but eventually Chu caused

both Hsi and Chao to be murdered and,

The Five assuming the title of emperor, established the

Dynasties. T- j TU- i t -n,

Liang dynasty. This was the signal for the

partition of China, and from 907-960 the empire was divided
into various states under a succession of five minor dynasties.

At the end of this time another Chou dynasty (the Hou
Chou or Posterior Chou) prevailed, and the brief period of
disunion came to an end. Chao K'uang-yin, a Chou general
raised to the throne by his soldiery, established the Sung
dynasty (960-1280), divided into the Nor-
Sung Dynasty, them Sung (960-1127) and Southern Sung
(1127-1280). This was a period of unequalled
literary activity. As the T'ang period is celebrated for its
poetry, so the Sung is famous for its philosophy. Peace and
the restriction of the powers of the provincial Governors
consolidated the empire. But the K'itan Tartars (after
wards called Liao) on the north had gradually increased
their extensive territory by periodical encroachments on
Chihli, Shansi, Shantung, and Honan, though the boundary
between the two empires had never been satisfactorily de
termined. They had established their capital first at Liao
Yang and later at Peking, the Sung capital being at K'ai
Feng Fu. Subject to the K'itans on the east were the
Kins (or N lichens) who, however, drove back the Liao and
then (1127) forced the Chinese themselves to retreat beyond
the Yangtzu River, where they established their capital at
Nanking and later at Lin An (modern Hangchow).

During the period of the Northern Sung the central states

between the Yellow River and the Yangtzu were subjected.

These were the Chou (under whom Ssiich'uan

Cp°ancqificationd with 40,000,000 Chinese subjects had been

independent for forty years), the important

district held by the Southern Han, with Canton (on which

Summary of Political History 21

Kiangsu and Anhui were dependent) for its capital, and
the remainder of the South, as well as the Northern Han.
During the period of the Southern Sung the Chinese were
concerned only to retain what territories they possessed.
In 1161 began a war ending with the subju-

. gation °f the KinS • but' bef°re the lonS
contest had been finally decided, both sides

were swallowed up in the wave of the Mongol invasion.

The Mongol conquest began in 1211, when Genghis Khan
(summoned to help the Chinese against the Kins), having
subdued the desert tribes, concluded an
Yuan Dynasty, alliance with the K'itans and devastated
Chihli, Shensi, and Shansi. Capturing Liao
Tung, he overthrew the Kin power and made the King of
Corea his vassal. In 1218-19, Honan was invaded, and the
Sung emperor ceased paying tribute to the Kins, who were
obliged to resign the imperial title in exchange for the prin
cipality of Honan. In 1234 the Kin rule came to an end.
The Mongols, who, at this time, were all but supreme in Asia,
repudiated the Sung alliance and took Honan. Their chief,
Kublai, next invaded South China, conquered Yunnan
(then independent), extended his operations to the west
and annexed Burma. Hangchow and Nanking having
fallen, the surrender of Fukien and Kuangtung completed
the Mongol supremacy.

During the short period (1280-1368) of Mongol rule,
though Kublai was both a just and generous monarch, many

Overthrow of natives migrated from the northern to the
Mongol southern portions of the empire. In 1337
Supremacy. the Chinese rebelled near Canton, and in
1356 Chu Yuan-chang, a Buddhist priest who had joined
and, later, superseded the insurgent leader Kuo Tzu-hsing,
captured Nanking and extended his power over Central
China. By 1367 the country from the Canton provinces on
the south to the Yellow River on the north had been re
covered, and in the following year the Mongol supremacy

22 China of the Chinese

was brought to an end by Chu proclaiming himself emperor.
The Chinese thus again became rulers of their own country,
though it was nearly twenty years more before the Mongols
were finally expelled from all the provinces.

Under the native Ming emperors (1368-1644), who had their
principal capital at Ying T'ien (Nanking) and their secondary

capital at K'ai Feng Fu, but transferred
Ming Dynasty, the seat of government to Pei P'ing (Peking)

in 1421, Mongol raids occurred in the north,
but were suppressed without difficulty. In the reign of Yung
Lo (1403-25) Tongking was annexed, but again became
tributary in 1426. Under Ch'eng Tsung (1436-50) the
Mongols again invaded the Chinese empire, and this time
defeated the Chinese army ; but the captured Chinese
emperor was allowed to return. In the reign of Ch'eng Hua
(1465-88) much discontent, which eventually resulted in
the downfall of the dynasty, was caused by territorial grants
to members of the imperial family who had been instru
mental in the emperor's elevation to the throne. In 1506-22
Relations relations with western nations became im-
with Western portant. Some Portuguese reached Canton,
Nations. but, having committed acts of piracy, they
were massacred at Ningpo (1545). The survivors fled to
Ch'iian Chou in Fukien, but were subsequently (1553-57)
allowed to settle at Macao on payment of an annual rent.
Since 1849 this place has been held as a Portuguese colony,
though not officially recognized as such by the Chinese until
the treaty of 1887. In Chia Ch'ing's reign (1522-67) the
Mongols made repeated incursions in the north and the
Japanese on the coast. The latter captured Ningpo, Hang-
chow, Sungkiang, Soochow, and Shanghai (1554). From this
date the dynasty began to decline. In the reign of Shen
Tsung (1573-1620) the Manchus began to move towards the
conquest of the empire. The Japanese, who had been allowed
to settle at Fusan, evacuated Corea after a seven years'
war. Intercourse was opened with the Spaniards in the

Summary of Political History 23

Philippines. The Dutch settled in Formosa, and the English
explored the Pearl River as far as Canton. The first Jesuit
missionaries entered China in 1579 and 1583. In 1618 the
Niuche tribes, remnants of the old "Kin dynasty, invaded
Liao Tung and, uniting under the general name of Manchus,
drove the Chinese behind the Great Wall and established
their capital at Mukden. Shansi and Corea were also con
quered, and the Mongol tribes tendered their allegiance to
China.

In the meanwhile a Chinese rebel, 'Li Tzii-ch'eng, allied
with the Mohammedans in Kansu, having conquered one-
third of the empire, eventually took the capital
Ch'ing Dynasty. (Peking), and set up a dynasty which he
called Ta Chiin ; but the Chinese, summoning
the Manchus to their aid, drove him out. While the Chinese
army was pursuing him in the south, the Manchus estab
lished themselves in Peking and, refusing to return, set up
their own dynasty, which they styled Ta Ch'ing (1644-1912),
and occupied the country. The Chinese were allowed to
share in the administration by K'ang Hsi (1662-1723).
Embassies arrived from Russia and Holland. Formosa was
subdued and annexed (1683). A treaty was made with
Russia in 1689. In 1696 the Eleuths, a Kalmuck tribe of
Hi, were defeated. Manchu garrisons were stationed through
out the provinces. During the next fifty years several re
bellions were suppressed. In 1768, Ch'ien Lung exacted
a triennial tribute from Burma, and in 1790 declared war
against the Gurkhas of Nepal, who had invaded Tibet. In
1793, Lord Macartney's embassy was received by the same
emperor (though regarded as a tribute-
bearing mission), and obtained leave to trade
at Canton, subject to official restrictions
and exactions. The rebellion of the " White Lily Society,"
caused by official exactions and general discontent, broke
out during the reign of Chia Ch'ing (1796-1821), and was
suppressed only at great expense of lives and money, after

24 China of the Chinese

it had involved five provinces. In 1816, Lord Amherst's

embassy, refusing to perform the k'out'ou

. TIle (kowtow) ceremony, was obliged to return

"KOWtOW." . , • TT !

without being received in audience. Under
Tao Kuang (1821-50), occurred the first war with Great
First War Britain (1840-43). Its causes were : the
with uncivil treatment accorded to Lord Amherst,

Great Bntam. China's claim to universal sovereignty, her
refusal to treat on equal terms with foreign nations or to
grant liberty of commerce, and the destruction of 20,000
chests of British-owned opium at Canton. The war is not
therefore rightly described as the " opium war," since it
would have occurred had the destruction of the opium never
taken place, the crucial question being the claim of China
to exercise jurisdiction over foreigners residing in the country,
to admit which would have been suicidal. As the result of
this war, China was compelled to open
Treaty Ports. Canton, Amoy, Fqochow, Ningpo, and Shang
hai to foreign trade, to cede, Hong Kong to
Great Britain, and to pay an indemnity. In 1844, treaties s
were also made with France and the United States. The '
T'aip'ing rebellion, having its roots in the Ao Fei rebellion
of 1849 and aiming at the overthrow of the Manchu dynasty,
lasted from 1850 to 1864, and was at length
RebdHon suppressed with foreign aid, after having
involved twelve provinces, ruined 600 cities,
and cost 20,000,000 lives. In the meantime (1856-60), the
second war with Great Britain (in alliance with France),
Second War arismg from the non-observance of treaty
with stipulations and from continual outrages on

Great Britain. British subjects, led to the Convention of
Peking (1860), providing for diplomatic residence at the
capital, payment of indemnity, opening of Tientsin, cession
of Kowloon, rights for French missionaries, etc. Besides the
great Mohammedan rebellions of 1861 lasting, in Kansu until
1878, and until 1872 in Yunnan, the most important event

Summary of Political History 25

of T'ung Chih's reign (1861-75), as far as foreign relations
were concerned, was the Tientsin massacre
Tientsin ^ j g^Q^ ^ cause(j by atrocious accusations against
Catholic missionaries spread by means of
anonymous pamphlets and verbal slanders. In 1875, under
Kuang Hsu (1875-1908), the murder of Margary, a British
Consular officer, led to the opening of Ichang, Wuhu, Pakhoi,
F , and Wenchow to foreign trade, and to the

Opening of establishment of commercial intercourse be-
Ports to tween Burma and Yunnan. By a treaty made
Foreign Trade. ^.^ Russia in 1881> China rccovere(i posses
sion of Hi, which had been occupied since 1871. A war with
France, concluded in 1885, caused the surrender of Tongking.
In March, 1891, the emperor gave the first audience to foreign
representatives, but received them in the Hall of tribute-
bearing nations. Another war, in 1894, with Japan, arising
w ... chiefly out of the dispute regarding Corea,
Japan. and settled by the Treaty of Shimonoseki
Independence (1895), established the independence of Cor^a
orea' and forced China to cede Formosa and the
Pescadores Islands to Japan, and open Shashi, Ch'ungking,
Soochow, and HL ngchow to foreign trade. Further en
croachments — the seizure of Kiaochow by Germany, the
lease of Port Arthur by Russia, of Weihaiwei by Great Britain,
of Kuangchou Wan by France, and the demand for con
cessions of various kinds by these and other nations — aroused
China to extraordinary military activity, which culminated
in the " Boxer " outbreak (1900), aiming
Outbreak' at the expulsion of all foreigners from the
empire. The Legations in Peking were be
sieged for seven weeks, and more than 200 Protestant and
Catholic missionaries and several thousands of native con
verts put to death in different parts of the empire. The
Legations were relieved on August 14th ; the Chinese Court
fled to Hsi-an, but was allowed to return after peace had been
concluded. The chief stipulations of the treaty were : the

26 China of the Chinese

punishment of the persons chiefly responsible, the payment of an

indemnity, the razing of the Taku forts,

Necessity of proper reception of foreign representatives, etc.

Recognized The victories of Japan impressed upon China

both the need and the possibility of reform,

and from 1900 onwards foreigners were placed on a footing of

greater equality.

REPUBLICAN PERIOD

The despotic government of the Manchus, however, con
tinuing under the mask of constitutional reforms, at length
provoked the revolution of 1911 which overthrew the dynasty.
Subversion of Hsiian T'ung, a child, had, on the death of
Manchu Kuang Hsu in 1908, been placed on the
Supremacy, throne under the supervision of the Empress
Dowager, and on February 12th, 1912, an edict proclaiming
his abdication was promulgated. Meanwhile the prime
mover of the revolution, Sun Wen, also known as Sun Yat-sen,
had been elected President of the Chinese

InSitUti?" of Republic set up in the provinces south of
Kepublic. r _ „ £.. n. i IT

the Yang fzu River. On the abdication of

the Manchus he resigned in favour of Yuan Shih-k'ai, a
general who, having been recalled from exile to help the
Manchu cause, had become Premier and Commander-in-Chief .
The North and South being united, the Republic now em
braced all the provinces of China. The first Chinese Parlia
ment met on April 8th, 1913. A rule of the constitution,
unprecedented in the case of any other republic, provided
that the President should enclose in a gold box to be kept
in a stone room a golden tablet bearing the names of three
persons from whom, at his death, his successor was to be
chosen. Naturally, as the event proved, one of the nominees
was his eldest son. However, on December 12th, 1915, the
President, supported by the unanimous vote of all the pro
vincial assemblies, declared that by the wish of the people

Summary of Political History 27

he would ascend the throne, thus reverting to the monar-
Attem t to chical form of government. But the unani-
Re-institute mity of the provinces, perhaps largely due
Monarchical to the fact that all the chief posts were filled
Government. by ytian's staunchest adherents, did not
prove so complete as was supposed. Signs of discontent
became apparent, and rebellion broke out almost immediately
in Yunnan. This province being joined by Kueichou,
Kuanghsi, Ssuch'uan and others, Yuan Shih-k'ai deemed it
expedient to cancel his monarchical proclamation by a
simple edict, dated March 21st, 1916. Some
have alle§ed that thc incipient revolution
would not have broken out but for the secret
interference of interested Powers, but, ostensibly, the Re
public had been restored in deference to the supposed wisli
of the people for a " national " government. The strong
anti-monarchist party, however, was not so easily appeased,
and declared that a man who had betrayed his trust, whether
through selfish ambition or weakness, could no longer be
allowed to administer the affairs of the nation.

The deadlock thus produced was unexpectedly and oppor
tunely solved by the death of Yuan Shih-k'ai on June 6th, 1916,
owing, so I was informed by Dr. Bussiere,

v Delu^u°f . • the able French physician who attended him,
Yuan bnin-k ai. .

to kidney disease brought on by chagrin

at the desertion of two among his most trusted henchmen,
whom he had raised from insignificance to high positions in
the State. He was succeeded by the Vice-President, Li
Yuan-hung, who shortly took steps to reassemble the par
liament dissolved by Yuan three years before,
LipTes1den?ng after an existence of only a few months
(April 8th to November 4th, 1913). This
met on August 1st, 1916 ; and among the earliest matters
discussed were the restoration of the Provincial Assemblies,
which were the nurseries of the central parliament; the
drafting of the Constitution ; and the amendment of the
Presidential Election Law.

28 China of the Chinese

At the time of writing the prospects of the young Republic
seem fairly bright, but in China so many complicated factors

enter into politics that it would be rash to
The Future. make any definite prophecy. Whether the
Chinese are ready for republican institutions and capable of
satisfactorily carrying on a national government remains to be
seen. The bulk of the people would undoubtedly be satisfied
with any form of government which secured them freedom
both from external aggression and from internal oppression.
On the other hand, many who desire the benefits of modern
institutions are unwilling to pay for them, or at least to
incur the burden of increased taxation. This may be partly
due to past experience, which has taught them that money
taken from the people in the shape of taxes is not always
wholly devoted to the purposes for which the officials allege
it to be required. The crux of the whole matter lies in the

question whether the racial character of the

So??e Xhl,ngs nation will allow her to become strong
Needful. . .

and coherent enough for resisting aggression,
developing her own resources, and reforming administrative
corruption before other interested nations step in, on one
pretext or another, either to " protect " her or to seize some
more of her territory. Only by sinking individual interests
and uniting for the national welfare can she hope, in the
absence of higher codes of international morality than those
now universally prevalent, to retain her national integrity
and independence.

As a result of all this we find the China of to-day a country
which, though politically a unit, is divided by its great

central river, the Yang Tzu, into two widely
Result different parts. In the north we find dry,

dusty plains, broad roads, and compara
tively few watercourses ; in the south, rice-fields, narrow
paths and watercourses everywhere. Wheat, barley, and
millet, and the ox drawing the plough are characteristic
of the north ; rice and the water-buffalo, of the south ; in the

Summary of Political History 29

north the plough and the " broad acres," in the south the
hoe and the " market -garden." The northerners are chil
dren of the soil, heavy and conservative ; — using the mule-
drawn two-wheeled cart, and the horse, donkey, and camel
for pack-animals and riding. The southerners, children of
the water, are boatmen, seafarers, and emigrants ; quick
tempered, alert, enterprising merchants, using the sedan-
chair or the boat for travel or transport. The northerners
have been moulded by perpetual defensive warfare ; and
the influence of the horse-riding and bow-shooting nomads
is seen in their industries ; they are felt- and rug-weavers ;
the southerners show Malayan and Indian influence in
the laying-out of their settlements, in their domestic
architecture, implements, industries, and products.

We have now, bearing these differences of ethnological
type in mind, to observe the sociological results of environ
ment and the action of various internal and
external forces on a people with the charac
teristics already described. All works which
have hitherto dealt with the historical development of China
have adopted, in a more or less pronounced form, the old
unscientific division according to the dynasties which have
successively ruled over the country. In my work, Descriptive
Sociology — Chinese, I have followed what is, I believe, a more
correct and scientific method, but, as reference to the names
and dates of dynasties is occasionally necessary, I append
here a table giving a list of these with the principal political
changes and their causes, as far as it is possible to state them
clearly in a condensed summary.

Cause of Termination or
B.C. Change.

MYTHICAL RULERS 2953-2357

T'ai Hao (Fu Hsi Shih) 2953

Yen Ti (Shen Nung Shih) 2838

Huang Ti (Yu Hsmng Shih) 2698

Shao Hao (Chin Tien Shih) 2598

Chuan Hsu (Kao Yang Shih) 2514

Ti K'u (Kao Hsin Shih) 2436

Ti Chih (Kao Hsin Shih) 2366

30

China of the Chinese

PATRIARCHS

Yao (T'ao T'ang Shih)
Shun (Yu Yu Shih)

Q.C.

2357-2205

2357

2255

Cause of Termination or
Change.

Death of Yao.
Death of Shun.

HSIA DYNASTY
Yu

2205-1766
2205-2197

Chieh Kuei's immorality.

SHANG DYNASTY 1766-1122

Yin Dynasty (Change of

name) 1401-1122

Chou Hsin's immorality.

CHOU DYNASTY
Kingdom of Chou

1122-255
1122-770

Ch'un Ch'iu (Period of the

Annals) 770-484

Chan Kuo (Warring States) 484-221

CH'IN DYNASTY 255-206

HAN DYNASTY (Former or
Western)

HAN DYNASTY (Later or
Eastern)

Supremacy of Ch'in State.

Transfer of Capital to Lo

Yi due to Jung inroads.

Inter-State wars.
Victories of Ch'in State.
Re-union of Empire.

Massacre of literati.
Eunuch influence.

206-A.D.25 Injustice. Corruption.

' ' Mad race for wealth. ' '
Liu Hsin's popularity
A.D. and power.

25-221 Eunuchs. Tung Cho's
usurpation. Ts'ao's
conspiracy.

THE THREE KINGDOMS 221-265

Wei (in North) 220-265

Minor Han or Shu (in West) 221-265

Wu (in South) 222-280

Military strategy.

WESTERN CHIN DYNASTY 265-317

EASTERN CHIN DYNASTY 317-420

Degeneration. Corrup
tion. Barbarian in
vasion.

Conquest by Sung.

Summary of Political History

31

Cause of Termination or

A.D.

Change.

PERIOD OF DIVISION BETWEEN
NORTH AND SOUTH
Sung Dynasty
Ch'i

420-589

420-479
479-502

Restoration of unity by
Yang Chien.

Liang ,,
Ch'en

502-557
557-589

N. Wei

386-535

W. Wei

535-557

E. Wei

534-550

N. Ch'i

550-589

N. Chou „

557-589

Sui DYNASTY

589-618

Li Yiian's alliance with

Turkish tribes.

T'ANG DYNASTY

618-907

Eunuch influence. Insub

ordinate Governors.

Pressure of border

tribes. Famine.

THE FIVE DYNASTIES
Posterior Liang
T'ang
Chin

907-960
907-923
923-936
936-947

Military power.

Han

947-951

,, Chou

TARTAR DYNASTIES
Liao (K'itan or Iron Tun-
guses)
W. Liao

951-960

907-1234
907-1125

1125-1168

Conquest by Chao
K'uang-ym.
Mongol conquest.
Kin alliance with Chinese.

Kin conquest.

Kin or Chin (Niichen or
Golden Tunguses)
SUNG DYNASTY (Northern
Sung)
SOUTHERN SUNG DYNASTY

1115-1234
960-1127
1127-1280

Mongol conquest.
Kin invasion.
Mongol invasion.

YUAN DYNASTY (Mongol)

1280-1368

Corruption. Degenera
tion. Lama lawlessness.

MING DYNASTY

1368-1644

Eunuch influence. De-

CH'ING DYNASTY (Manchu) 1644-1912

REPUBLIC

1912-

generation. Rebellion.
Manchu conquest.
Manchu degeneration.
Corruption. War with
Japan. Foreign en
croachments. Western
education. Revolution.

32 China of the Chinese

PERIODS

B.C.

EARLY FEUDAL 2357-1122

LATER FEUDAL 1122-221
MONARCHICAL 221-A.o. 221

DISRUPTION 221-A.D. 589

RESTORATION OF UNITY 589-960

SUNG 960-1280

MONGOL 1280-1368

MING 1368-1644

MANCHU 1644-1912

REPUBLICAN 1912-

1 Full-grown China is composed of Manchuria, Mongolia, Sinkiang
or the New Territory, Tibet, and China Proper or the Eighteen Pro
vinces. The New Territory, also called Chinese Turkestan, Eastern
Turkestan, or Kashgaria, was reorganized in 1878 as an additional
Province, making, with the Tung San She"ng or Three Eastern Pro
vinces of Manchuria (Feng T'ien or Shfing Ching, Kirin or Chi Lin,
and Hei Lung Chiang or Tsitsihar), twenty-two Provinces in all.
Formosa has belonged to Japan since 1895, and Corea since 1910.

The " Five Nations " represented in the modern Chinese national
flag by red, yellow, blue, white, and black stripes are the Manchus,
Chinese, Mongolians, Mohammedans, and Tibetans respectively.

CHAPTER III

DOMESTIC INSTITUTIONS
MARITAL : FEUDAL PERIOD

THE family is the earliest form of social organization, without
which the life of the society could not continue, for the hypo-
The Family thesis of general promiscuity is essentially
and the unscientific. Even had a universally pro-
Society, miscuous society been possible, it would
soon have become extinct. Thus, the family preceding the
nation, an account of the domestic institutions must precede
that of the ceremonial and political institutions.

In the early history of many countries we find it stated

that marriage \vas " instituted " by some wise sovereign

Alleged Origin or °tner ; and so — in accordance with the

of Marriage tendency of nations in an unscientific age

in China. ^o account for their origin by myths which

matured judgment repudiates — we find it in China. After an

alleged period of promiscuity during which the people " knew

their mothers but not their fathers," the Emperor Fu Hsi (a

mythical sovereign said to have reigned from 2953 to 2838 B.C.)

and his immediate successors, equally mythical, are stated

to have introduced the rite of marriage. The " period of

promiscuity," however, rests on the supposition that descent

was traced through the mother, which in turn

Traces of j founded on the fact that the character
Matriarchahsm. .

for woman is a component part of the

character for " surname " ; but even if this be admitted,
we cannot infer from it that a state of promiscuity prevailed
in early China. At most it would indicate the existence of
the matriarchate, or tracing of descent through the mother.
Marriage by capture may have been the

y original form> but if & ever existed it had
died out as the recognized form of marriage
before authentic history begins ; though instances of actual

33

3— (2383)

34 China of the Chinese

capture (probably, however, not de facto, but against the
will of the girl only, not of her parents) occur in some districts
in China at the present day. Of the nature of marriage in
the earliest times, so little is recorded that it is difficult to
describe it without introducing facts belonging to later periods.
With regard to the Early Feudal Period, we may say that,
for part of it at least, marriage was permitted with members
of the same clan, that the consent of the
Parents was indispensable, and that the pre
sents of skins and feathers may have repre
sented purchase-money. Whether polygamy proper obtained
(save in exceptional cases, such as when Yao presented
his two daughters to Shun, appointing him as his successor
to the throne) is not known ; but there is no doubt that
concubinage prevailed and that it was a source of constant
disorder. The imperial palaces contained hundreds of con
cubines. There is some evidence of polyandry, but this would
never have become general in a fertile country like China.
Prostitution is also mentioned, and there are allusions to
unnatural crime.

With regard to the later Feudal Period, the classical writings

enable us to obtain a more complete view of marital institu-

Marriage in tions. The age for marriage was twenty

the Later for the man and fifteen for the girl, and it

Feudal Period. was considered improper for them to remain

unmarried after thirty and twenty respectively. If any

remained unmarried after those ages, the State acted as

match-maker. In all cases of marriage, the consent of the

parents had to be obtained, and, if they were

Parents0 dead, an announcement was made in the

ancestral temple. Marriage with those of

the same surname was now forbidden. Five classes of women

were excluded from marriage, viz., those belonging to a

family guilty of rebellion, or of disorder, or one which had

produced criminals for more than one generation, or was

leprous; and those who had lost both father and elder

Domestic Institutions 35

brother. Marriage could not take place during the three
years of mourning. Celibacy was regarded as a disgrace ;
one result of which was the curious custom of what may
be called posthumous or post-mortem mar-
Post-mortem rjages . where, one or both of a betrothed
Marriages. ? . '

pair having died before marriage, the marriage

ceremony was nevertheless performed. The custom was
forbidden at this time, but apparently without effect, for
the formality of the posthumous marriage has continued
to the present day. In every case of betrothal the services
of a " go-between " or " match-maker "
" G b^tw " were indispensable. The introductory cere
monies were : the proposal accompanied
by the gift of a pair of wild geese (these birds being regarded
as possessing the power of harmonizing the male and female
elements in nature) ; inquiries about the lady's name ;
intimation that the divination resorted to by the man's
family had proved favourable ; and the request, made to
the girl's family, to fix the day. Ten pieces of red silk or
cloth were presented as betrothal gifts.

The marriage was concluded by the progress of the bride
from the home of her parents. If one of her parents-in-law
died whilst she was on the way, she had

tO d°n mourninS Sarb and hurry to their
home. But it is curious to observe that if

the bride died before she had revisited her parents after

her marriage (see below) she was taken back and buried

among her own kindred, " showing that she had not become

the established wife." In the former case, of course, the

marriage would eventually take place, and she could worship

at her husband's ancestral shrine. This fetching of

Fetching the ^ie bride with the parents' consent may

Bride. possibly be a survival of the form of

marriage by capture, in which the bride was

fetched without their consent. The son, carrying the wild

geese, proceeded in a black carriage to the house of the girl's

36 China of the Chinese

father to receive her from her parents. He then drove her in the
carriage for a few steps, dismounted, and went ahead to receive
her at the door. They then ate together of the same animal
and sipped from cups made from the same melon, " thus
showing that they now formed one body and were pledged
to mutual affection."

Marriages were usually arranged at the beginning of the

year and took place " at the flowering of the peach tree."

After a short interval the bride revisited her

Bride's Revisit paj-g^s an(j the marriage was not considered
to Parents. r .... 3 .

complete until this period ended. After

three months the wife was presented in the ancestral temple.

The type of marriage which has always been followed in China,

definitely emerges during this period, namely, a qualified

monogamy, i.e., one legal or principal wife,

Qualified an(^ one or more concubines, only in case

of the legal wife having no son. Whether
the law was ever strictly complied with may well be doubted,
for it is certain that before long the number of concubines
was only limited by the means or inclination of the husband.
This polygyny was, however, considered prejudicial to the
national interests. Prostitution, also, was common.

The status of women was low. The relation between
husband and wife was stricter than in later times. A stern
Relation between CO(^e °^ etiquette existed between the two.
Husband All disrespectful familiarity was avoided,
and Wife. an(j they did not even speak directly to
each other, but employed internuncios. When the wife
wished to visit her parents, she intimated her purpose through
the matron. The power of the husband was so great that he
could kill his wife with impunity. Confucius expressed
his approval of the " rule of the three obediences " : a woman,
when young, must obey her father and elder brother ; when
married, her husband ; and when a widow, her son. " No
instructions or orders must issue from the harem. Woman's
business is simply the preparation of food and wine. Beyond

Domestic Institutions 37

the threshold of her apartment she should not be known
for good or evil. She may take no step on her own initiative
nor come to any conclusion on her own deliberation." Yet
there can be no doubt that true affection often existed, and
in the Odes we read the plaintive regrets of wives at the
absence of their husbands on military duty.

There were seven grounds on which a marriage might be

dissolved, namely, disobedience of the wife to her husband's

parents ; failure to give birth to a son ;

Dissolution of dissoiute conduct ; jealousy of the other
Marriage.

inmates of the harem ; incurable disease ;

talkativeness ; and thieving. These might be overruled
if the wife had no home to return to ; if, since marriage,
she had mourned her parents for three years ; and if the
husband, originally poor, had become rich. Apparently
divorce was common. Confucius, his son, his grandson,
and Mencius all divorced their wives. The legitimate wife
was repudiated only for a very grave cause.

The wife on her part had no means of separating from her
husband, except, perhaps, in case of leprosy. Widows were
supposed to remain single, refusal to remarry

f bein& esteemed as an act of chastity. But
a wife who had been wrongfully divorced,
i.e., was innocent of any of the faults, etc., above mentioned,
was allowed to remarry. On the remarriage of a widow,
the children belonged to the second husband's family.

MONARCHICAL PERIOD

The system above described has remained the same in its
essentials until the present day. During the interval the
Changes since chief changes were as follows —
the Feudal In the period A.D. 221-589, stricter 'class-
Period, regulations forbade the royal family, scholars,
and the common people to marry out of their own classes.
We find the first mention of " pre-natal " betrothals, the
origin of which is variously ascribed to the Han and T'ang

38 China of the Chinese

periods. They chiefly took place where two men were very
firm friends and agreed that their children should be regarded
as brothers or sisters, if of the same sex, or, if of opposite
sexes, be affianced as husband and wife, and married on reach
ing maturity. In 907-60, musical bands were introduced into
the marriage ceremony, a decline from the classical standard,
disapproved by the orthodox. In 960-1280 and 1280-1368,
cases of couvade (probably also existing
La Couvade. in earlier times), are recorded from Kuangsi
and Western Yunnan. By this custom, on
the birth of a child, the husband retired to bed, abstained
from certain kinds of food and from touching certain articles,
such as weapons, being meanwhile fed and cared for by the
women of his household. Its origin and explanation have
not yet been ascertained, but it is supposed to be connected
with the transition from the matriarchal system, according
to which descent and inheritance were reckoned through the
mother alone, to the patriarchal system. Under the Chinese
rule in 1368-1644, it would seem that in certain circum
stances two women might have the status
Bigamy. of wife. There were also, in Yung Lo's
time (1403-25), relaxations permitting mar
riage between the military families and those of the people.
Under the Manchu rule in 1644-1912, we find but few
radical changes from the system of feudal times. The family,
Marriage during as before, embraced all members of the house-
the Manchu hold bearing the same surname under one
Period. paterfamilias. Within the family were four
degrees of relationship. Slaves were included. The whole
social and political edifice was based on the family. It has
even been said that " China consists of families and of nothing
else " ! The essentials of marriage, as in
Marriage tne feudal times, were consent of parents,
acceptance of presents, the bringing home
of the bride, the worship of ancestors, and the subsequent
visit of the bride to her father's home. Priests neither married

Domestic Institutions 39

nor performed marriages. Marriage was not compulsory,
nor did the State now play the part of match-maker ; but
old bachelors and old maids were exceedingly rare ; there
were hardly any bachelors over twenty-four, and celibacy
was still regarded as a vice. Polygamy was legally pro
hibited : only one wife was allowed, but an unlimited number

of concubines. The former was chosen by
Concubinage, the parents, or rather by the paterfamilias ;

the latter by the husband, and these were
subject to the wife, though of equal rank among themselves.
Manchu women could not become concubines. The wife
was considered as the mother of all the children born to the
husband. Such unusual forms of marriage as polyandry,
and the levirate, were so rare as not to require detailed notice.
The age for marriage remained the same, though tending
to be later than formerly, and it was not determined, as

in Roman law, by the attainment of puberty,
Age. but by custom. However, the non-attain

ment of puberty, disease, etc., were impedi
ments if no notice had been given. Lunacy was not regarded
as a bar to marriage, and a betrothed woman might not
break off the engagement on account of the insanity of her
spouse. Marriage between relations of all degrees of agnatic

relationship, i.e., within the clan, was pro-
Relationship, hibited. Marriage was also forbidden during

the legal time of mourning, though this
seems to have become a dead letter in most parts of China
except in the case of mourning for parents. It was con
sidered to be a time of mourning if the father, mother or
grandparent were confined in prison for a capital offence.
A woman who had fled from justice, or an adulteress and her

seducer, were unmarriageable. If anyone
Impediments, forced the wife or daughter of a free man

to marry either himself or a filius familias
he was liable to be strangled ; nor could marriage be concluded
between those standing in the relation of tutor and pupilla ;

40 China of the Chinese

nor with a runaway female slave ; nor with a widow except
by consent. No official could marry anyone under his jurisdic
tion or an actress or singing-girl ; nor could play-actors,
policemen, or boatmen marry women of any class but their
own; nor a male slave a free woman. Buddhist priests
and nuns, or Taoist priests and nuns, who did not shave
their heads, could not marry, though priests, and presumably
nuns, also, might do so after returning to the laity. Difference
of religion had no influence on marriage. Any one of these
impediments rendered a marriage null and

Impediments. Void' the PartieS P"^ to k with ^^
knowledge being punished, and the husband

and wife also if sui juris. The purchase-money was forfeited.

In the absence of any valid impediment, the match-maker

or go-between (nearly always a woman) proceeded to make

the contract, fixing the amount of the presents and the

latest day for concluding the marriage.

Betrothal The betrothal usually took place when the
Contract. J r

bridegroom and bride — who, until the actual

marriage, played no part at all in the matter, their inclinations
not being taken into account, and there being thus no possi
bility of an animus matrimonii — were between seven and
fourteen years of age. As we have seen, they could be
affianced in infancy or even before birth, but this custom
was not generally regarded with favour. Sons and daughters
were betrothed in order of seniority. The effect of betrothal
was to give both parties a right to sue for
Betrothal specific performance, i.e., for the conclusion
of the marriage. If the contract was found
to contain false statements, it was declared void ; and, if the
marriage had already been concluded before the fraud was
discovered, there was a right of action for divorce. The
contract was also revocable in certain cases, such as develop
ment of great physical deformity, outbreak of leprosy, or
if one party were found to be a notorious thief, etc.

When it was desired to conclude the marriage, presents of

Domestic Institutions 41

silk were sent to the bride's father, and another contract

stipulating the amount of purchase-money was drawn up.

The marriage was thus a real purchase, not

Marriage a mere simulation, as in the Roman coemtio.
Purchase.

By accepting this purchase-money, the

father sold and manumitted his daughter to the bride
groom's family, to which she thenceforth belonged. But,
as the feeling against selling their daughters among the
better-minded people caused the price to be referred to as
the " presents," so also the parents of the

'Presents" bride often handed over these presents to
and " Price."

her for her own use, or employed them to

buy her a wedding outfit. The bride brought no dowry,
but one was sometimes given, when parents and brothers
were able to provide it. The Church in China had nothing
to do with marriage. The formality called " receiving the
bride," viz., the public procession of the bridegroom to the
bride's house for the purpose of bringing her to his own home
to worship his ancestors, formed (as in earlier periods) the
close of the marriage ceremonies.

We thus sec that there were six principal essentials to a
valid marriage, corresponding generally to those of early
times, namely (1) the sending of a " go-
EssemtUds between " to the girl's family, to make the
necessary inquiries ; (2) the sending of the
" go-between " to make a definite offer of marriage ; (3) the
expression of assent in writing ; (4) the " presents " to the
girl's parents ; (5) the choosing of an auspicious day for the
wedding; and (6) the fetching of the bride by the bridegroom.
The effect of the relation of husband and wife thus estab
lished was not only to make the wife uxor but to bring her
into the manus mariti, thus entering the
Wife agnatic union of her husband and acquiring
few rights. She was in no sense " mistress
of the house," and was too young and uneducated to be so
effectually. Implicit obedience to her husband was exacted

42 China of the Chinese

from her : she could not even leave the house without his
permission. The husband had a right to inflict corporal
punishment, though if he wounded her he was liable to
legal penalty. She could possess no property of her own.
The husband was not allowed to hire her out to prostitution,
but could kill her with impunity in case of adultery, provided
he killed the paramour also.

Dissolution of marriage, which of course took place on the
death of either husband or wife, was obligatory in case of

an impediment to the marriage or of the

Dissolution of wife's adultery. Divorce might also take

Marriage. place by consent of both parties (e.g., owing

to incompatibility of temper), if the wife
left the house against the will of her husband on account
of suspicion of adultery, if she struck her husband, if the
marriage contract contained false statements, or if the wife
had any of the faults which would have entailed divorce
in early times (see page 37), and might be overruled for the
reasons already given. Desertion was punished not only
by divorce but by accusation before the city tribunal and
100 blows ; but ordinary disagreements were settled by the
heads of the families concerned, legal process being rarely
resorted to. If, in addition to desertion, the wife married
another man, she was liable to be strangled. Leprosy was the
only defect which justified repudiation by the wife. In

all cases the status quo was re-established
Dissolution on dissolution of marriage, the wife returning

to her family, the children remaining with
the father, and the purchase-money being returned to the
husband, unless he was the cause of the divorce. If her
family would not receive her back, the divorced wife became
sui juris. Bigamy rendered the second marriage null and
void, the girl returning to her family. On the death of his
wife a husband might remarry immediately, but remarriage
of widows was regarded, as of old, as an act of unchastity,
and widows who steadfastly refused to remarry, or who

Domestic Institutions 43

committed suicide on the death of their husbands, had
honorary gateways known as p'ai lou or p'ai fang erected

in their honour by imperial command. Monu-

Honours to ments were erected to four great virtues : filial

Chaste Widows, piety, patriotism, fidelity, and righteousness,

and the most commemorated of these was the
fidelity of women. Early widowhood was the greatest calamity
which could befall a Chinese woman. The struggles of a poor
widow practising fidelity were always pitiful. The widow
was required to remain in the paternal home, and if child
less usually adopted a son. Among the poorer classes the
pinch of necessity caused widows to be encouraged to remarry.

REPUBLICAN PERIOD

During recent years, and especially since the establishment
of the Republic in 1912, China has in large measure adopted

M- . , what is known as " Western progress." As

Chinese and regards marital institutions this seems to
Foreign have had little effect on essentials, though
ia ' some changes, not always for the better,
are to be observed in outward ceremonial forms. Some of
these seem, to the sociologist, to give the ceremonial a hybrid
character. For instance, a short while ago, in a marriage
procession passing along one of the main streets of Peking,
I noticed that, while the greater part of the procession was
very much as of old, the bride, instead of riding, as formerly,
in a red sedan-chair borne by bearers clothed in green and
red, in harmony with the rest of the procession, was seated
in a foreign, glass-panelled, horse-drawn brougham, with
a string of flowers fastened round the top on the outside.
I could not help thinking that this was a " half-caste "
ceremony and might (though I trust this was not the case)
be productive of a half-hearted union !

Looking back over the history of marital institutions in
China, we find but little real progress in the " things that

44 China of the Chinese

matter " from the archaic type of early feudal times.
The changes which have occurred have been in outward
formalities, not in the inwardness and essentials
of progress. The future husband and wife
have still no choice, but are chosen for
each other, through the medium of a " go-between," by their
parents ; and (in spite of the sophistical request made to
the " go-between " to choose a girl from a family remarkable
for virtue rather than wealth), material considerations have
greater weight than the sentiments of the parties entering
into this important compact. The unit of Chinese society
is still the family and not the individual ; and moreover,
so long as the parties are married when mere children, the
choice could not well be left to them. The son, as a rule,
marries before he is capable of making a living or estab
lishing a home for himself, and his father has to support both
him and his wife. Marriage in most primitive countries is
early, and the character of purchase and sale, however dis
guised, is yet real ; and it is to these primitive types that
marriage still conforms in China. Concubinage continues to
be permitted and is universally practised. In a public address
recently given in Peking to a Chinese audience, I advocated
its abolition as one of the best and easiest means of solving
the over-population problem, the average Chinese family
being, as the result of concubinage, about four to five times
as large as the average family in the West. The prohibition
of marriage between tutor and pupilla, or in case of great
inequality of rank, and the stigma attaching to remarriage
of a widow, might be abolished without any social injury.
The relation of husband and wife, both during marriage
and in case of divorce, is also more unequal than that ob
taining in more civilized communities, though, since the
recent imitation of what is called " Western progress " set
in, women are no longer, as they used to be, kept literally
in the background of the house (the women's apartment).
Another evil is the increasing number of European and

Domestic Institutions 45

American women who marry Chinese husbands — a union which
tends to reproduce in the offspring the worst traits of both
parents. One change of a progressive nature, belonging
perhaps more properly to the next section of this chapter
but intimately connected with marital institutions, has taken
place in the relation of the married woman to her own parents.
In former days, according to the Li Chi, or Book of Rites,
a married woman mourned in the second degree only for her
parents, but in the first degree for her parents-in-law. Marriage
thus meant that she showed less respect for her deceased
parents than she would have done had they died whilst she
was still a spinster. Now she wears the same degree of mourn
ing for both, and is regarded as belonging equally to
both houses. Formerly, also, the deepest mourning was
worn only for the father ; now it is worn for both
parents.

Having observed the general character of the marital
institution in China and the main points in its history, let
us, in conclusion, note the ceremonial which
accompanies a wedding in China, from the
first steps to the actual conclusion of the
marriage. Details differ in various parts of the empire, but
the principal formalities are practically the same. They
represent more particularly the ceremonial in force during
the recent Manchu regime, but this still obtains with little
if any variation in most parts of China, and is therefore
described in the present tense.

The preliminary ceremonies begin a long time before the

actual marriage. The first consists of a gift, called " the

" The Passing Passmg of the big parade," made by the

of the bridegroom's parents to the bride's family,

Big Parade." composed largely of eatables, together with

some hair-ornaments for the bride and a small sum of money.

The bride's family shows its acceptance and appreciation

of theseTgifts by sending back small red packages containing

money, and also baked pigs, which are a sign of prosperity.

46 China of the Chinese

As the day approaches, invitations are sent out to the wedding
guests, and the mother packs her daughter's trunks, and
Preparations employs tailors to make her dresses and
in the bed-clothes, packers to pack the furniture,
Bride's Home, decorators to ornament the trunks, tables,
chairs, cooking utensils, etc., so that they may look new
and attract attention as the procession passes through the
streets. For ten or more, sometimes as much as thirty, days
the bride-elect, together with her sisters, female friends,
and attendants, bewails and laments her intended removal
from the home of her fathers. On learning that the time for
her marriage is at hand, she often conceals herself in her
room, refusing to appear at meals or to come out to see
anybody. Three days before the wedding the trunks, furni
ture, etc., are removed to the bridegroom's house by men
dressed in red tunics, who pass through the principal streets
in order to demonstrate the father's liberality. On arrival
at the bridegroom's house, the articles are placed in rooms
vacated for the purpose, and the house is made ready for
the guests. The bride-elect's hair, which has hitherto been
hanging down in long tresses, is now put up in the fashion
of married women, and fastened with bodkins. The night
immediately preceding the wedding is wholly given up to
weeping and wailing, principally by the future
bride's attendants, and this noise may con
tinue all night for several nights in succession.
Some time previous to the wedding day the bridegroom is
ceremoniously invested with a dress-cap or bonnet, and
takes an additional name.

On the wedding day a feast is prepared at the house of
the bridegroom, who, if an official or son of an official, attires
himself in official dress and, after doing
obeisance to his father and drinking wine,
is requested to send for the bride. Sending
for the bride has now practically taken the place of the
early custom of fetching the bride (which might and often

Domestic Institutions 47

did involve journeys of great length, sometimes all across
the empire). The bridegroom sends a large sedan-chair,
richly carved and gilt, which comes last in a procession
formed of many elaborately-carved and gilded wooden
pavilions, borne on poles, and containing sweetmeats, orna
ments, a wild goose and gander, and the figure of a dolphin,
emblematic of rank and wealth. Red boards with the titles
of the ancestors of the bride and bridegroom carved in letters
of gold are carried by men clad in red, while others carry
large carved and gilded lanterns, each containing a red
candle. There are also bannermen, musicians, umbrella-
bearers, fan-bearers, and equerries in number proportionate
to the rank of the bridegroom, the whole procession often
being headed by a goat, with its horns gilt and its head
decorated with a wreath of red paper.

The bride usually remains in her room until dusk, when
the mother, with the help of the servants, forces open the
The Bride door, and proceeds to dress her in red gar-
Leaves ments. She then makes her farewell
Her Home. obeisances to the household gods and her
parents. Her face is covered with a thick red veil, usually
of silk. On the arrival of the procession, the bride, or her
father, is handed a letter written by the bridegroom's father
on red paper tinged with gold, requesting her to enter the
bridal chair and set out for her new home, where the bride
groom is awaiting her. This letter has taken the place of
the former personal fetching of the bride by the bridegroom,
and is an important document carefully preserved, which
must "be returned in case of divorce, being practically equiva
lent to a marriage certificate. The parting is accompanied
by much lamentation. She then leaves the house (which is
called ch'u men> '' going out of the door," or ch'u chia, to
'' go out to be married," those being the expressions for
the marriage of a girl, that for the marriage of a man being
ch'u ch'i, to '' take a wife" ,) and enters the gilded sedan-
chair. Her mother locks her into it and hands the key to

48 China of the Chinese

the bridegroom's representative, who has accompanied the
chair and brought the letter. The procession then starts
on its way, to the accompaniment of fire-crackers and music,
which to a Western ear is most inappropriately inharmonious.
The younger brothers of the bride accompany their sister
to report her safe arrival. Should a man marry before his
elder brother, or a woman before her elder

A Pair of sister (which is unusual), a pair of trousers,
Trousers.

representing the elder brother or sister, is

suspended over the door of the bridal chair and also over
the door of the house where the marriage takes place.

Of the lanterns, those borne in the front of the procession
are inscribed with the bridegroom's name, and those in the
middle with that of the bride. About mid-
of way to the bridegroom's house the procession
halts in the street, and large red cards bearing
the ancestral name of the bridegroom's family, and similar
ones bearing that of the bride's family, are exchanged, with
the customary salutations. The carriers of the lanterns
with the bride's name now turn round and return to her
home, accompanied by her kinsmen, the rest of the pro
cession going on to the bridegroom's house. It is said that
from the moment when the two parties carrying lanterns
separate from each other in the street, the name of the bride
is changed into that of her betrothed (who is not yet her
husband) ; and it is possible that this is a survival of the
time when the bride's relatives gave up the pursuit of the
captor in the chase. It should be noticed, however, that,
though the bride leaves her parents' home, she is after
marriage regarded as belonging to both families, for she has
to worship both her father's and her husband's ancestors.

Meanwhile the bridegroom's family has been feasting and
drinking. The bridal chair, the arrival of which is announced
by more letting-off of fire-crackers and playing of music, passes
to the principal entrance between the ranks of the banner-
bearers, musicians, lantern-carriers, etc., who have fallen into

• '

Domestic Institutions 49

line on either side. The bridegroom, who has previously con
cealed himself while the " go-between " has brought out a
Arrival at voun& child to salute the bride, now comes
the Bridegroom's ouf~arKi~taps on the chair with his fan.
House. He__bows to the chair and to the bride's
brothers. The chair is opened" either by the female attendants
or " bridesmaids " who have accompanied her, or by the
" luckiest old women " of the family, and the bride, still
closely veiled, steps out. The bridegroom then returns to
the hall, and the bride is carried on the back of a female
servant over the threshold, on which has been placed a
brazier containing a charcoal fire, on each side of which are
arranged the shoes borne in the procession as a gift to her
future husband. Sometimes a saddle is placed under the
brazier, sometimes the saddle alone is used. As she is con
veyed over the fire, another female servant holds above her
head a tray containing several pairs of chop-sticks, sorrie
rice, and betel-nuts. The bridegroom has taken his place on
a high stool, where he receives EHe obeisances of the bride. _
He then descends and they drink, or go through the gesture/
'of drinking, from two cups of spirit joined by a red cord./ ,Y
'The bride having retired to her chamber is soon followed by I
.the bridegroom, who, removing her veil, either with his/
fan or with a carpenter's foot-rule, sees
Removal of h f f the first ti e though it is still
the Veil.

partially concealed by a veil formed of strings

of pearls. The foot-rule is used to indicate that this is done
according to rule (kuci-chit}. The pair then proCtrd to the
ancestral hall and kowtow to Heaven and Earth, their ancestors,
the parents, and each other. This worship sometimes takes
place earlier, as soon as the bride and bride-
Joint Worship gj-oom meet> This is the moment when the
of Ancestors.

two become husband and wife, for, (though

the marriage is not complete until the whole ceremonial,
including the revisit of the bride to her parents has been ;
performed), if, for legal or other purposes, the question were

50 China of the Chinese

to arise whether the man and woman had been married or
not, it would be decided by ascertaining whether or not this
" announcement to the ancestors " had been made. At
the beginning of the Manchu Period it became the custom
to postpone this " worship of the ancestors " until the next
day ; but this was regarded as disrespectful. The bride
groom having further poured out a drink-offering to his

ancestors, the couple are escorted to the
^h Budal bridal-chamber, which has been profusely

decorated with emblems of fruitfulness and
wealth, such as orange trees, strings of " cash," and the
tapers, etc., which were carried in the procession. Red
paper streamers, on which felicitous phrases are written,
are suspended from the top of the bed. The bridegroom
salutes the bride, and they sit down and partake of tea and
cakes. The veil of pearls is now drawn aside and the relatives
and wedding guests enter and pass remarks on her in the
freest possible manner, regardless of her feelings, and fre
quently in a most uncomplimentary manner, while the
relatives and friends also invoke blessings on the union.
The demeanour of the bride during this ordeal (aptly called
" teasing the bride "), fixes her reputation with the relatives
for life. The bridegroom now rejoins the guests, who are
expected to make money presents to his family. In the
evening a banquet is prepared by the bride in honour of

her parents-in-law, and she waits upon them
Banquet3 an(^ ^e guests in person, after which she

herself partakes of a repast. Up to this
time she is not supposed to have eaten anything, and to do
so would be regarded as most unlucky. The guests play jokes
mercilessly upon the newly-married couple, especially the bride,

making them guess conundrums, do magicians'
jokes3 tricks, and answer embarrassing questions.

If they fail in any of these things, they
have to pay forfeits of cakes. This custom is attended
with much drinking and often with quarrelling. Among the

Domestic Institutions 51

poor, male and female all sit at the same table, but many
richer families entertain the ladies in a separate room. The
merry-making frequently lasts all night. The bride retires
first, and later on, when the guests are about to leave, they
escort the bridegroom to the door of the chamber, and either
disperse or wait until the pair are supposed to be asleep,
when they endeavour to enter the house in order to carry
off some article, which the bridegroom must redeem at their
own price.

On the morning of the third day after the marriage, the

bride revisits her parents. During the evening of the same

Bride ^ay ^^e husband pays his respects to his

Revisits her parents-in-law, who entertain him at a feast.

Parents. jje then returns home. This formal ceremony

of the third day brings the wedding festivities to a close.

FILIAL

In order to complete our account of Chinese domestic

institutions, it is necessary to examine the laws of succession

and inheritance and the relations between parents and children.

I have referred already to the supposed succession through

the female line and the importance of female kinship, but

Inheritance fr°m the earliest historical times succession

and to property in the male line was already

Succession, the rule. So little change has taken place

in regard to inheritance that it will be sufficient to state

briefly the rules, or rather customs, in force during the Manchu

Period recently terminated.

Titles, etc., descended to the eldest son, but real and
personal property devolved equally upon all the sons of
wives and concubines. The eldest son,
however, would usually have a larger share,
so that he could adequately carry on the
ancestral sacrifices, but the father's power as to the dis
position of his property was as absolute as his power
over his children. The eldest son was usually regarded as

52 China of the Chinese

trustee for the others. He was the heir or " continuator "
of the line, but, primogeniture being unknown, he as a rule
enjoyed no special privilege of inheritance. He became
paterfamilias at his father's death if he had no uncle older
than himself. Succession to the throne was hereditary
in the male line, but the sovereign had the power to nominate
one of his own sons, or even any one not of royal blood,
though if not unworthy the eldest son would usually be
appointed.

If there were no continuator, the property escheated to

the Crown or passed to the daughter. If there were no other

son, a natural son would either receive

Rule if no the Wh0le or divide it with the chosen
Continuator. .

representative of the family. Members

senior to the inheritor acted as executors. Estates were
indivisible during the lifetime of the parents or
grandparents.

A man might adopt a person as son or daughter or, if he
had a son, as grandchild, but not as brother, wife, or con
cubine. Childless families nearly always
Adoption. adopted heirs, and these were almost in
variably sons. About five per cent, of all
the families in China had adopted children. The most frequent
cases were the adoption by a childless uncle of a nephew,
whose son became the uncle's grandson. Adoption rested
on a contract of purchase. Where the adopted nephew was
the only continuator of his father's line, the family resorted
to the ingenious device of his marrying another wife, whose
male issue were regarded as the children of the uncle. The
Double nephew had thus to perform double ancestor-
Ancestor- worship, but on their decease he mourned
Worship. oniv one vear for j-jg parents and three for

his adopted father. If he had only one son, the latter had
also to marry two wives, the issue of one being regarded
as that of his grandfather and of the other of his
great-uncle.

Domestic Institutions 53

The general object of adoption was to continue the stock,
and only children of families bearing the same
Adoption* surname could be adopted. The adopter
was usually, but not necessarily, older than
the adopted. No distinction was made between a natural-
born and an adopted son.

The transaction was in reality a sale, but an adult married

son was practically never sold into adoption against his

own will. The wife of the adopted followed her husband,

but the children remained in the family of the paterfamilias.

A filius posthumus might be adopted for a man by his relatives

or friends in case he died without leaving any male descendants.

The effect of adoption and arrogation was to give the

adopted all the rights of a son. He could not be sold without

Effects of the consent of his natural parents. If sons

Adoption and were born to the adopter after the adoption,

Arrogation. so -|-}ia^ ^he reason for the adoption no longer

existed, the transaction might be cancelled, provided the

parents were willing to take their child back, but if none of

the family survived the contract had to be adhered to.

Wills, in the Western sense of the word, were and are
unknown in China, because unnecessary. Property being
owned, not by individuals separately, but
Wills. by the family as a body, devolved by law
either to the male children in equal shares,
or, failing them, to collaterals according to fixed rules. The
head of the family was regarded as having the use for life
of the family property, even that acquired by himself, and he
had to pass it on without materially altering the mode of
devolution. But, as has been stated above, the power of and
respect for parents allowed modifications to be made if they
so wished. Thus, they might designate a particular part
of the patrimony for a particular son or member of the family,
or to support an unmarried daughter ; and this was often
done by what were called i-shu, i-ming, i-chu, or i-kao, which
were the dying commands or last instructions. These might

54 China of the Chinese

be either written or .verbal and need not be witnessed, though
it was usual for one or more relatives to add their names
when the instructions were in writing. This was the only
kind of will known in China.

If children were left orphans at an early age, male relatives

of the same surname assumed the guardianship in the absence

of anyone having a right to the patria potestas

Guardianship, or of any testamentary dispositions. If no

relative of the same surname existed, one

of a different surname was chosen. The guardian had the

full potestas over the child and the usufruct, but not the

possession, of the child's property.

The relation of parents and children seems to have under
gone considerable improvement since the earliest times,

Relation of but t^ie Power °f the father over his children,

Parents and whether real or adopted, was still unlimited.
Children. jje, or after ^is death the mother, could
chastise, sell, expose, or kill them, but the selling or killing
of a grown-up son was strongly reprobated by public opinion
and practically an impossibility. Towards the end of the
period chastisement causing the death of a child was a statu
tory offence. Instances, however, did occur in which the
law was ignored with impunity, when a son was regarded as
a disgrace to the family. When I was in Hangchow about
sixteen years ago, a case was brought to my notice in which
the police had taken a man in charge for stealing an umbrella,
and the reason he gave was that he had nothing to live on,
having run away from home because the family had decided
to beat him to death. I was glad to hear afterwards that
my representations had had the desired effect.

Infanticide, due chiefly to poverty, though not practised
by the poor only, existed in most parts of China, but was
frequent only in some districts, especially in the south-east and
south, and in times of famine or great distress. Though it was
a punishable offence to kill a disobedient child, there does
not seem to have been any prescribed punishment for what

Domestic Institutions 55

is usually designated by the term " infanticide," i.e., the

killing of an infant at, or soon after, birth ; but edicts and

proclamations, based on appeals to the

Infanticide. popular sense of humanity, were issued

against it when excessive. Male children

were practically never killed, so that the term in

China might be reserved for the killing of female infants

only. The province most notorious for the practice was

Most Fukien, and this is supposed to have been due

Prevalent in to the very large number of the male inhab-
Fukien. itants killed by the garrison which T'ai Tsung
(763-80) left there when he made his expedition to Corea.
It thus became necessary to keep down the number of female
births. Female children, being regarded as a burden, were
killed, drowned, or exposed either immediately on birth
or soon after. A son is not merely one who continues in
the family and carries on the ancestral sacrifices, but a positive
wealth-bringer, while a daughter not only brings in nothing,
but is a source of expense until her marriage. The Chinese
love of gain, coupled with disappointment at the birth of
a girl instead of a boy, might induce the poor to kill the
newly-born infant, especially where, as often happened,
some superstition affected the case.

Other provinces notorious for infanticide were Chekiang,
Kiangsi, Kuangtung, and Kuangsi. Public feeling, when

But also in not indifferent, might be said to condemn
Other this inhuman practice, though approval

Provinces. was oftcn expressed. In the latter case,
a Chinese, in giving an opinion, would probably have at the
back of his mind some concrete fact, which he would not
reveal to his questioner. In speaking with the Chinese,
one finds that, while verbally they condemn the practice
when directly questioned, the usual attitude is rather one of
indifference. One feels that in their own case they would
be guided by circumstances and, other things being equal,
by utilitarian considerations. The natives I have consulted

56 China of the Chinese

during my long residence in China all admitted the existence
of the practice, and certainly did so without any sign of
wishing to exaggerate their own vices, to which tendency
some writers have attributed the accounts which describe
infanticide as extremely prevalent in China.

Of course, when it is said that infanticide is prevalent
in China, it must not be supposed that a resident in that

Question as country would often see cases of it. The

to Extent of truth seems to be that the practice exists,
the Evil. anc[ that it has at some periods and in some
districts been more prevalent than in others. Like the
bubonic plague, it would break out with varying intensity
during one age in one or more districts ; and while some would
be almost free from it, in others it would be endemic, and
occasionally epidemic. If severe, an antidote in the shape
of a magisterial prohibition was applied. To say that in
fanticide is no more prevalent in China than in the Christian
communities of Western nations is to raise a point which
could only be decided satisfactorily by reliable statistics,
exceedingly difficult to obtain.

It is scarcely necessary to say that much controversy has
taken place regarding the extent of the practice. The mis-
Argument understanding has arisen, I think, chiefly
Based on through want of definiteness in the use of

Proportion to the word " prevalent." If on the average
Population. £ • r ,• -j j j

one case of infanticide occurred every day

in each magisterial district throughout China, that would
be a total of about 1,200 per day, or, say, about 400,000 a
year. That would mean that every 1,000 inhabitants killed
one child per day — an incredibly large total. Let us suppose
that only one case takes place every day in each province,
say, twenty cases per day for all China. That would be
7,300 every year. In this case, every 60,000 of the inhabi
tants kill one infant each year. There being but five provinces
with a bad reputation for infanticide, we may divide this
by four ; that is, five cases per day for all China, 1,825 cases

Domestic Institutions 57

in a year, and every 240,000 inhabitants killing one infant
annually. When we look at the teeming populations of the
large Chinese cities, and the great number of these congested
social communities struggling for the means of existence,
we may well believe this estimate is by no means excessive.
Ten infants (which would mean a total of 73,000 per annum
for all China) might, most certainly, be killed in a Chinese
F feigners' Pr°vince every day without any foreigner
Means knowing anything about it. Much stress
of Observation has been laid on the statements of some
missionaries and other foreigners that they
have seen so few cases, but the admitted fact that cases have
often been seen seems to lend support to the opposite conclu
sion rather than that the small number seen implies the small
number killed. We must remember that a Chinese province
is, on the average, about the size of England and Wales.
Supposing the total to vary as the deaths, for example, in
outbreaks of bubonic plague, we may conclude, until reliable
statistics are forthcoming, that the number of deaths from
infanticide varies between these two figures (say 2,000 and
7,000 per annum), and that in an ordinary year there could
quite conceivably be 2,000 cases of infanticide, whereas
during an " epidemic " year this might be multiplied several
times. On this assumption, the relative proportion in England
would be roughly about 250 and 2,500 per annum respectively,
both of which would probably be considered as justifying
the application of the word " prevalent " to the practice.
The probability is that in a certain proportion of poor families
(though, of course, not in all) the ratio of the sexes would
be adjusted, as the children were born, so as to suit, first,
the family purse, and, secondly, the Chinese ideal of five
sons to two daughters. If we assume that 2,000,000 female
infants are born in China every year, the killing of even
20,000 would still leave 1,980,000 alive. Some writers have
argued (1) that more male than female children are born
in China ; (2) that every adult Chinaman has a wife, and those

58 China of the Chinese

who can afford it two or three concubines as well ; and (3) that
therefore, to constitute infanticide a national crime, girls
must be born in an overwhelmingly large proportion
to boys.

Merely to say that more male than female children are

born, and that every man has at least one wife and most

more — without saying anything further —

A" APParent seems to involve a contradiction. In the
absence of any known disturbing cause, we
must presume that the ratio of male and female births has
not materially altered during recent times. There is nothing
to show that up to, say, the last generation but one, more
females were born and since then more males. But, unless
there are more females than males in China, how is it possible
for practically every adult man to have one wife, and for all
who can afford it to have two or three concubines as well ?
We cannot suppose that the female birth-rate in China was
so obliging as to increase sufficiently as long as it suited
one side of the argument and to stop when it began to suit
the other ! If the female births are sufficient to provide
every adult man with, on the average, one wife and a fraction
of a concubine (some men have no concubines, some have
one, and some have many), it would not involve any over
whelming increase in the number of female births to provide,
say, even as many as 10,000 a year more as victims of in
fanticide. Whether this figure, or, if not, what other figure
greater or less, would be considered as " constituting infanti
cide a national crime," must be a matter of opinion. Leaving
out of account the enormous number of females in brothels
all over China, we may, for the sake of argument, say that
of the 400 millions of people inhabiting that country, 100
millions are unmarried boys and girls (say under eighteen
years of age). That leaves 300 millions of married men and
women. If every married man has on the average a wife
and a little more, more than half of these 300 millions must
be women. If 140 millions are men and 160 millions women,

Domestic Institutions 59

and there are thus more women than men in China, the

supposition (and probable fact) that more boys are born

than girls requires explanation ; , and the

J?oIoti0Ki °f solution seems to be that, though more
the Problem.

males are born, more females survive : there
is a greater mortality of male children. The reason for this,
given me by a physician, is that there is greater difficulty
at birth in the case of males. This greater mortality of male
infants may even be one excuse for using infanticide to keep
the proportion of the sexes in the family more equal, or at
least to keep down what, from the native point of view,
would be an over-large predominance of females ; thus
solving, in the crude Chinese way, a problem which presses
for serious consideration in England. Unless any sudden
change has affected the ratio between male and female
births (which is not alleged), if more boys are born than
girls, then more boys than girls must die before reaching
adult age (after which the rate of mortality appears to differ
very little) ; otherwise there would not, to put it bluntly,
be enough women to go round and to provide as well the
enormous number of concubines and inmates of disorderly
houses existing in China.

Probably, with the spread of more humane ideas, the
practice will gradually die out — is possibly on the wane
already ; but, as things are, the conclusion
of the matter would seem to be that, abso
lutely, supposing from 2,000 to 7,000 infants
are killed every year (though this is not a large proportion
for a population of 400,000,000) the custom must be regarded
as prevalent in China ; but relatively, taking into considera
tion that in some countries as many as two-thirds of the child
population are wilfully destroyed (which, in the same pro
portion in China would, at the very lowest estimate, be more
than 1,000,000 per annum), the practice cannot in this sense
rightly be said to be prevalent in China ; though it must
always be remembered that infanticide, like an epidemic,

60 China of the Chinese

must vary at different periods and in different districts.
Absolutely, infanticide in China must be regarded as a great
evil ; relatively, as a small one. In the absence of any such
analytical consideration of the matter as that given above,
there can be no doubt that the popular ideas existing on the
subject in Western countries have been exaggerated, and
that it has been imagined that far more female children
are annually killed in China than is actually the case.

Patria potestas could be acquired through marriage, pro
creation, adoption, or purchase. It continued during the

lifetime of the father, unless the son entered
P^testas *ke g°vernment service, and over the daughter

until she was married. Divorce re-estab
lished it ; and a widow remained in her husband's family.
If acquired by one already under it, the potestas pertained
to his paterfamilias. Children, whether of the wife or con
cubine, were all under the potestas of the father. Patria
potestas ceased if the father became insane or poor, or in case
of self-arrogation, sale of a son into adoption, or of a daughter
into marriage, or if the child entered a religious order, or
were exposed while still of tender age. The father might
relinquish his power without taking into account the wish
of the child, and there was no emancipation, as in Rome.
A son became sui juris on the death of his father; so also
could a daughter, if a widow with sons.

Filial piety (involving reverence due from the child to the
parent, from the parent to the magistrate, and from the

magistrate to the emperor), which formed the
Filial Piety, central doctrine of the Confucian system,

having been raised by the Chinese practically
to the status of a religion, it was to be expected that con
spicuous or extreme instances of it should be recorded in
history and held up as examples to future generations. We
have already noted the custom of erecting honorary archways,
etc., to chaste widows, or to those who preferred suicide to
remarriage. Similar marks of approval were erected in cases

Domestic Institutions 61

of extraordinary filial piety. There are in Chinese history
twenty-four examples of filial piety, which give a good insight
into the quaintness and naivete cf the Chinese mind. I quote
three of them — •

" In the Chou dynasty lived Lao Lai Tzu, who was very obedient
and reverent towards his parents, manifesting his dutifulness by
exerting himself to provide them with every deli-
Amusing his cacy. Although upwards of seventy years of age.
Aged Parents, he declared that he was not yet old, and, dressing
himself in gaudy-coloured garments, would frisk
and cut capers in front of his parents. He would also fetch buckets
of water, and whilst carrying them into the house would pretend to
slip, and falling to the ground would wail and cry like a child. All
this he did in order to amuse his parents.

" During the Chin dynasty lived Wang Hsiang, who early lost his

mother, and whose step-mother had no affection for him. His father,

also, hearing many evil reports against him, in

Catching Carp course of time ceased to regard him with kindness.

in Winter. His mother was in the habit of eating fresh fish at

her meals, but, winter coming, the ice bound up the

rivers. Wang unloosed his clothes, and went to sleep on the ice in

order to seek them; when suddenly the ice opened of itself, and a

brace of carp jumped out, which he took up and carried home to his

mother. The villagers, hearing of the occurrence, were surprised,

and expressed admiration for one whose filial duty had been the cause

of such an unusual phenomenon.

" Wu Meng, a lad eight years of age, who lived in the Chin dynasty,
was very dutiful to his parents. They were so poor that they could
not afford to furnish their beds with mosquito-
Diverting curtains; and every summer night myriads of
Mosquitoes from mosquitos attacked them without restraint, feasting
his Parents. upon their flesh and blood. Although there were
so many, yet Wu would not drive them away
from himself, lest they should go to his parents and annoy them.
Such was his filial affection ! "

CHAPTER IV

CEREMONIAL INSTITUTIONS

BODILY MUTILATIONS

THE earliest, most influential, and most general kind of
government, the kind which more than any other regulates

, social life, is the government of cere-
Influence Of -IT. TU T, 1, 1J

Ceremonial monial observances. Ihese have held

Observances, tyrannical sway in China from the earliest

times. The first class of these observances to be noted is

that of Bodily Mutilations. In China, as might be expected

from a people largely industrial, they have been comparatively

few. With the exception of those inflicted as punishments,

most of them date from Post -Feudal times.

Mutilations The Chinese have not been in the habit of

in China.

knocking out the front teeth, nor of wearing

bones or crabs' claws or large copper rings stuck through the
septum of the nose, or large stone cheek studs, or pieces of
wood thrust through the central part of the upper lip. The
bodily mutilations found in China are the following : —
flattening the skulls of babies by means of stones — the Manchus
applying the process at the back, the Chinese at the sides —
so as to cause them to taper at the top ; breaking or bending
of children's backs to give a scholarly stoop ; tattooing
(formerly a punishment, now found only amongst hill
tribes) ; cutting the hair and nails as a sign of grief (this
custom was afterwards reversed) ; castration ; compressing
women's feet (from about A.D. 934 onwards) ; cutting,
piercing, or marking the flesh in confirmation of oaths ;
branding of impressed soldiers ; and piercing of ears for
ear-rings. Further mutilations, such as cutting flesh from
the arms or thighs, piercing the tongue, cutting off a finger,
arm, or hand, or disfiguring the face, were performed for

62

Ceremonial Institutions 63

filial purposes, and widows mutilated themselves to prevent
remarriage. In warfare, ears were cut from the bodies of
the slain, and at times people maimed themselves to avoid
conscription or oppressive exactions, military or other.
Priestly practices — branding the crown, cutting off fingers, etc.
— existed, though forbidden and temporarily in abeyance
about A.D. 1110. In 1621 the Manchus imposed on the
Chinese the custom of shaving the front part of the head
and wearing the queue, or " pigtail," as a sign of submission,
the custom being abolished on the subversion of Manchu
rule in 1912. The cruel mutilations inflicted as legal
punishments will be referred to under " Laws."

With the exception of the cutting of ears from the van
quished in warfare, these mutilations were not, or at least
Not Direct are not' ^ie direct result of trophy-taking
Result of from the slain. They had become signs of
Trophy-Taking, submission or propitiation, or of that voluntary
imitative emulation known as fashion.

The most important of the mutilations named were cas
tration, the cramping of women's feet, and the shaving of
the front part of the head and adoption

of the <lueue' the two last having long
given the Chinese some of their most
noticeable distinguishing characteristics. The first seems
to have been inflicted as a punishment in the earliest times,
but, later, palace eunuchs became a recognized institution.
For the cramping of women's feet, various origins have been
assigned. The custom is supposed to have begun at the
end of the fifth century, A.D., with P'an Fei, the favourite
concubine of Hsiao Paochiian (known in history as Tung
Hun Hou), the sixth sovereign of the Southern Ch'i dynasty,
who reigned from A.D. 498-501. The emperor, enraptured
with her dancing, caused the ground on which she trod to
be strewn with lilies made of gold-leaf, or (as some state)
the ground to be covered with gold-leaf and the soles of her shoes
to be carved with lilies in relief, so that each step left behind

64 China of the Chinese

the impress of a " golden lily " ; hence the term " golden
lilies " or " lily hooks " applied to the small feet of women.

By some writers the origin of the practice
" Golden Lilies. ' ' is ascribed (probably through confusion

of dates and individuals) to the time of
Ch'en Hou Chu (A.D. 583-89), the last sovereign of the Ch'en
dynasty. Others, again, think it originated during the period
of the Five Dynasties (A.D. 907-60), in the attempts of the
court ladies to imitate the exceptionally small feet of Yao

Niang, the favourite concubine of Li Yii,

the last prince of the Southern T'ang State
and pretender to the Sung throne. Her

feet are described by some (possibly her rivals) as not naturally
small, and therefore bandaged so as to make them the shape
of the new moon and small and graceful for dancing. It has
been argued, but on insufficient grounds, that the later
date is more probable, since the Empress of Hsiian Tsung
(A.D. 713-56) had large, or at least unbound, feet. The
practice is also, though somewhat crudely, described as a
method adopted by husbands to prevent their wives
" gadding about."

It was only gradually that the custom spread all over the

empire. It was firmly established by 1068-86 and flourished

Gradual especially in the Sung and Yuan dynasties.

Extension of It was seized upon by the Chinese women
Custom. t0 distinguish themselves from the large-
footed, nomadic Tartars and Hakkas. The most probable
explanation of the fashion is that, like the wearing of long
finger-nails, it, when once established, came

Explanation6 *° ^e regarded as a sign of freedom from the
necessity of labour, which also reciprocally
aided its establishment and ensured its permanence, but,
so tyrannical is fashion and so powerful the instinct of com
petitive imitation, that the cramping of feet spread even
among the labouring classes, especially in the south. It
is probable that actual mutilating compression of the feet

Ceremonial Institutions 65

was only a later result. At first a small shoe was worn which
could only accommodate a part of the foot, the wearer merely
inserting her toes and being supported, when walking, by
two maids. The next step was to bandage the feet of the
Mutilation children, so that their shape was modified
Begun in to fit the small shoes. Towards the end
Infancy. of ^e Manchu Period steps, initiated by
some foreign philanthropists, were adopted to stop the cruel
custom, and it is now dying out, that is, comparatively few
new cases occur. The binding process was usually begun
at the age of from six to eight, sometimes later. The
fashionable size was about four inches, the longest five to
seven inches ; the smallest two-and-a-half. The bandages
were applied so as to bring the second, third, fourth, and
fifth toes right under the foot, the instep being thus made
to bulge into a crescent form. The result of the compression
is said to have been that the body was hardly ever free from
pain, until the toes became entirely numb and atrophied,
and not always even then ; and doubtless many cases of
spinal disease could be traced to it.

When the Manchus conquered China, they imposed upon
the Chinese (in 1621) as a sign of subjection the shaving of

the hair on the front part of the head and
thlToueue *^e plaiting of the long unshaved hair at

the back into a queue or " pigtail," though
the length and richness of the hair forming the plait rendered
the latter term a misnomer in most cases. The Manchu
costume is said to have been designed in imitation of the prin
cipal characteristics of the horse, the favourite animal of that
people, the broad sleeves representing the hoofs, the queue
the mane, etc., and it was this derived fashion which was
imposed on all who wished to escape massacre when the
Chinese Ming emperors were deposed. Not only did the
fashion spread all over the empire, but absence of the queue
eventually became a sign of disgrace to the Chinese them
selves, and on the subversion of the Manchu supremacy

5— (2383)

66 China of the Chinese

268 years later, the queue had in innumerable cases to be
forcibly removed by the agents of the newly-inaugurated
Republic. It was both interesting and amusing at the time
to watch soldiers stationed at the ends of narrow streets,
armed with blunt scissors, seize passers-by who had not obeyed
the order and saw off their queues amid the victims' remon
strances and struggles. Thus the once-detested badge of
defeat and servitude was only relinquished with great
reluctance.

FUNERAL RITES : FEUDAL PERIOD

The ceremonial accompaning the attitude of the Chinese

towards their dead has probably had greater effect in shaping

the national life than any other influence.

Preparation These ceremonial observances began before
tor Death. . c

death had taken place. The dying man was

removed from his bed and his clothes changed. It was not
considered proper to die on the bed, but the moribund was
conveyed on to a bed formed of three boards supported on
trestles and spread with mats, called the " water-bed "
(because the corpse was to be washed on it), erected near
the lattice-window. " A man," says an old ritual, " does
not expire in the hands of women, nor a woman in the hands of
men." When death had taken place, the death-howl was
raised, the principal mourners crying, the
Death^howl brothers wailing, and the women wailing
and stamping their feet. The non-recognition
of the fact of death is clearly shown in the earliest times.
The soul or spirit was supposed to have left the body, but
might be induced to return. Consequently
attempts were made to recall it. This was
done from the house-top, the caller facing
the north. During the calling, the principal costume pos
sessed by the deceased was held up towards the west, the idea
being that the garments dearest to the soul would be those
which it would be most likely to recognize and re-enter.

Ceremonial Institutions 67

The ordinary call was simply : " Ho-o-o. So-and-so, come
back," but for the king it was : " Come back, O Son of
Heaven ! " and there were appropriate variations for each
rank, as there were various forms of addressing the living.
The longer revival was delayed, the further the soul was
supposed to have wandered, and the wider became the circle
of activity in recalling it. " In the case of the ruler of a State,"
says the Li Chi, " the soul is recalled in the smaller back
chamber, in the larger back chamber, in the smaller ancestral
temple, in the greater ancestral temple, at the gates of the
arsenals and treasuries, in the four suburbs of the capital."
In order that the soul on its return might be able to re-enter
the body, it was necessary that the latter should be pre
served in good condition. The first step
towards this end was to wash the corpse.
This was in most cases done with rice and
millet washings. The head was also washed, and the hair
combed, the beard trimmed, and the nails pared. All this
was done on the " water-bed," the corpse being then covered
with the shroud, lights placed by its side, and a torch lit at
night in the central part of the courtyard. The furniture
was removed, and the deceased's family vacated the premises.
The kinsmen and friends paid visits of condolence, presenting
grave-clothes, and performing the ceremonies of leaning
over the corpse, " laying-on of hands," and other marks of
respect. Rulers were escorted on these visits by exorcists
and invokers, whose duty was to request the soul to partake
of the offerings, to interrogate the spirits as to future events,
and to expel disease and evil in general, especially droughts.
The corpse was fed, the mouth being filled with rice, cowries,
and other articles supposed to arrest decomposition. Food
Corpse not was a^so placcd by the side of the corpse, and
Regarded as the fact that no funereal vessels were allowed
Dead. to ^e use(j for .^is purpose, and that the food
was placed near to its right hand, indicate that the body
was not yet regarded as dead. The dressing, coffining, and

68 China of the Chinese

burial were delayed as long as possible in hope of revival.
The grave-clothes were numerous and elaborate, and graduated
for all ranks. The corpse was carefully preserved from muti
lation, which would annihilate its chances of satisfactory
resurrection, so much so that mutilated bodies were excluded
from the burial grounds, these being merely temporary
abodes of those awaiting return to life. There is, however,
curiously enough, no evidence of embalming being practised,
nor any but two or three, evidently exceptional, references
to it in Chinese literature.

Various mourning and sacrificial ceremonies were per
formed before burial. Coffins were made occasionally of

solid marble or granite, but mostly of thick,
Preparations substantial wooden boards. They were var

nished, but, in the case of men belonging
to the lower official ranks, the lid was left unvarnished.
For a king the coffin was fourfold. No nails were used, the
boards being fastened together with wooden or bone pegs,
ropes, and straps, a survival from the time when iron was
unknown. Vaults were in most cases of wood, and both

they and the coffins were objects of great
9°*fns1 solicitude, often prepared during lifetime.

The encoffining of a corpse did not by any
means indicate that burial was at hand. The coffin (kuan
ts'ai), now called ling chiu, or " coffin of the spirit," since
it contained the corpse, was stored for a considerable time
inside the dwelling, baskets with scorched grain and dried
fish and meat being placed near by in case the dead should
revive, with an inscription (the prototype of the more
modern soul-banner) made by the invoker, to guide the
wandering soul to the spot where the body had been deposited.
During the interval and on leaving the dwelling— perhaps
months or even years later — sacrifices were

Tprocess1ional Performed> and were continued whilst the

funeral procession was on its way to the

grave. These processions were very elaborate. They were

Ceremonial Institutions 69

headed by the k'ai lu shen or ' spirit that clears the way,"
and accompanied by music and presents sent by friends.
Linen banners were used to direct the men who drew the
catafalque. The latter, which represented the dwelling
occupied by the deceased during his lifetime, was of large
size, wheeled and curtained, decorated with the insignia of
rank, and drawn to the tomb by large numbers of men, 500
for a feudal prince (usually close connections of the
deceased). These drawers of the catafalque were all gagged
The Catafalque ^y means of a stick fixed in the mouth
and its by two cords knotted behind the neck, lest
Bearers. their talking might drown the orders given
by the sixteen controllers, under the superintendence of the
Minister of War, who gave his signals by means of a clapper
held in his hands. This talking is said to have been
originally the death-howl, or reproach or recall of the
dead, and the gags employed to give it a more mournful
wailing sound (the gagged being mostly related to the de
ceased). Many sacrificial articles, including food, silk,
clothes, implements, weapons, etc., were
Articles Placed p}aced in the tomb. Human beings, wives,
in iomb. i • i

concubines, slaves, etc., were buried with

the dead, cases occurring with great regularity up to
A.D. 1662, when,- on the death of one of the wives of the
emperor Shun Chih, thirty persons were immolated to her
manes. Possibly some later cases might be discovered, but
the cruel practice has long been obsolete. The articles placed
in the tomb were originally intended for the use of the soul
on its return to the body, but were later placed on instead
of in the grave, and regarded as a sacrifice to the manes
which resided with the corpse. Gradually, moderation was
practised, coarse implements being substi-

. tuted f°r fine' and WeaPOnS °f StraW
and images of men, wives, slaves, horses,

etc., for the real sacrifices formerly made. The slaying of wives,
etc., was supplanted by sutteeism, or voluntary self-sacrifice,

70 China of the Chinese

and later by semi-sutteeism, or dwelling upon the tomb, first
permanently and afterwards temporarily. This was finally
replaced by periodical visits. If youths died before marriage,
it was considered necessary, in order to prevent them from
being condemned to the dreary existence of a lonely widower,
to place deceased females in the same tomb. This sacri
legious removal of women from their graves

Post-mortem b j forbidden in the Later Feudal Period,
Marriages.

the practice grew up of marrying deceased

men and women at the time of their burial and interring
them in the same grave. These post-mortem marriages are
mentioned in Chinese literature of all ages.

Mausolea and grave-mounds (representing the dwellings

of the dead and often copied from them in general outline)

were graduated according to rank, and were

Mausolea and sometimes of enormous size. The tumuli
Grave-mounds.

of monarchs alone had grave-tunnels con
structed in them. Ramparts and battlements were built,
guards established on the site, and grave-trees planted,
both for concealment from enemies and in order that the
yang, or life-giving influences, might prevent decay.

Mourning rites in early times were so severe that they
often entailed the total ruin of the deceased's family. The

strict doctrine of filial obedience prevented
Mourning. any great modifications during the course

of many ages, and, though bodily discomfort
may be less, vast sums are still spent by the filial in fulfilling
their duties towards their deceased relatives. Originally,
on going into mourning, the body was bared and most of the
raiment surrendered to the dead, but the latter was retained
during the Later Feudal Period. The head-gear was aban
doned and the hair tied in a knot. Washing or shaving the
head and cleansing the body were prohibited. The mourners
screamed, wailed, stamped their feet, and beat their breasts,
surrendered the dwelling and its belongings to the deceased,
and removed to mourning sheds formed of clay, eating only

Ceremonial Institutions 71

rice-gruel, sleeping on straw with a clod of earth for a pillow,
and speaking on no subjects save death and burial. , No
ornaments were worn. Mourning garments were of un
bleached and undyed materials. Public duties were resigned,
and music, sexual relations, marriage, and separation from
the clan prohibited. Fasting and the wearing of mourning,
which originated in the practice of abandoning everything
to the dead, became in time somewhat less rigorous, but
persisted in an oppressive form throughout the whole of
Chinese history.

MONARCHICAL PERIOD

The above is an account of the funeral rites as existing
under the Early and Later Feudal Periods, when the customs

., .(. * of the nation became stereotyped. After

Magnificence of ,

Funeral Rites the establishment of absolute monarchy
under the (221 B.C.) the style of funeral observances
7' became more magnificent. Temples and
parks were attached to imperial mausolea, which were of
enormous size. Ballistae were constructed which, when
trespassers ventured too near the sacred spot, mechanically
discharged arrows. Large numbers of articles, including
mirrors, torches, bamboo tablets (books), clothes, boxes of
jade, insignia of rank, etc., were placed in the crypt. Living
people were not infrequently buried with the dead, the record
stating that " those destroyed in this wise were very numer
ous." On the death of Shih Huang Ti, the " First Emperor,"
in 209 B.C., after enormous quantities of valuables had been
deposited in the tomb, it was suggested that, as the knowledge
of the workmen and mechanicians who had made the machines
and concealed the valuables might lead to their being stolen,
the gates leading to the tomb were closed, " so that none
of the workmen, artisans, or men who had been employed
in storing away the treasures ever came out again." Occa
sionally there were reactions towards economy, but they
were only temporary and not permanently effectual. The

72 China of the Chinese

interval between death and burial gradually grew shorter.
The curious devil-dispeller still drove in the van of the funeral
procession. He was known as the " Rescuer of the Country,"
and had four eyes of yellow metal, was covered with a bear
skin, and dressed in a black coat and red shirt. Bearing a
lance and wielding a shield, he stood on a cart drawn by
four horses. The custom of dwelling upon the graves became
more general, indicating a decline in human sacrifices. Clay,

wooden, and straw effigies were now placed
Changes m -n t^e gi-ave as substitutes for the realities.
Later limes. ° ...

After 1368 victualling of graves was no

longer officially prescribed for the common people. The
number of images representing the actual beings and things
formerly placed in and later on the tomb, was regulated by
law. They were generally arranged in parallel rows on either
side, forming an avenue leading to the tumulus. On some
of the pillars in these avenues were placed small couchant
figures of an animal called fien lu, as tokens by which the
spirit would be guided back again to the tomb. A con
spicuous example of these avenues survives in the case of
the Ming Tombs, the beautiful mausolea of the emperors
of the Ming dynasty, which are among the most interesting
places in the neighbourhood of Peking. These, unlike most
of those belonging to earlier times, escaped demolition by
the succeeding dynasty.

During the Manchu Period, the funeral rites remained

substantially the same as before, but the corpse was not

Funeral Rites °^en fed, and its dressing was less elaborate.

under the Priests were cremated; but, in the case of

Manchus. ^g laity, coffins of substantial construction

were indispensable. Nails were used only by the poor.

Portraits of the deceased were preserved in the hall.

The practice of " watching the coffin " was not much observed.

Home burial disappeared, the coffin being only temporarily

stored in the house. The funeral processions of the

wealthy were very elaborate. The coffin was still sometimes

Ceremonial Institutions 73

borne by fellow-villagers and clansmen, but the bearers no
longer wailed ; only the kinsmen howled and lamented in
the funeral procession. A white cock placed on the cata
falque was supposed to ward off evil spirits,

«Jher C*°<ki °n and to secure the presence of the life-pre-
the Catafalque. *,

serving yang element. The soul tablets

were placed in the grave and the soul, being inducted into
them, conveyed back to the home. Dwelling on the tomb
now became extinct. Families and clans had their own ceme
teries, the grave of the ancestor being the largest of all and
placed in the centre, those of younger generations decreasing
in size. These graveyards resembled villages of clay huts,
Cemeteries ^he inexperienced eye being at first sight
follow General unable to distinguish them from ordinary
Plan of Village, hamlets. There were thus complete "villages
of the dead," each surrounded by a clay or brick wall, in
the same way as villages of the living used to be, with the
entrance in front. This wall has now often been reduced
to a single piece of straight wall forming the back boundary
of the burial ground.

Mourners now no longer dwelt in mourning sheds, but the
house of the deceased was generally evacuated. On the
whole, the rules were much simpler than
Mourning. formerly. The period varied between twenty-
seven months for the first and three for the
fifth degree. Fasting disappeared, but contact with mourning
was still regarded as hurtful to man and displeasing to the gods.

REPUBLICAN PERIOD

As with other classes of phenomena, so with funeral cere
monial, there has, since the institution of the Republic, been
Funeral Rites a tendency to abandon the older formalities
under the and adopt more modern or Western customs.
Republic. gutj though there is in many cases a con
spicuous decrease in elaborateness and outward show, it
would be a mistake to conclude that the Chinese have, to

74 China of the Chinese

any very marked extent, abandoned the essentials of the
ceremonial accompanying death and burial. It is more usual
than not to see funeral rites lasting for days, and processions
which to all intents and purposes are those of feudal times,
in the houses and streets of Chinese cities. And this is only
to be expected, for ceremonial connected with the dead is
more tenacious than any other.

On June 28th, 1916, I witnessed, from a distance of a

few feet, the funeral procession of Yuan Shih-k'ai, the then

recently deceased President of the Chinese

M<ProcesFs?onsraI RePublic- It will be interesting to note
briefly the mixture of Eastern and Western
ceremonial adopted on that occasion. The large wooden
coffin had been prepared during the President's lifetime.
His remains were robed in the ceremonial dress, embroidered
with the twelve spheres emblematic of power, worn by him
on the occasion of the Grand Sacrifice to Heaven. On his
head was placed the classical square-topped mien or diadem,
but without the strings of beaded precious stones belonging
to it in early times. The funeral cortege, which was about
a mile long, started from the Huai Jen Hall, in the Palace,
where the body had lain in state, and proceeded to the railway
station just outside the Ch'ien Men, the central gate in the
southern wall of the Tartar City. At its head were twenty
heralds, riding on horses, followed by a battalion of infantry
with reversed weapons. Then came a naval band, another
battalion of infantry, another band, and
SMulfcian£d another battalion of infantry. The bands
played the " Dead March in Saul " and
Chopin's " Funeral March." The soldiers and musicians
were dressed in the costume of Western countries, with
bands of black crape round their left
arms and °n their SWOrd-hilts. At the
head of the next part of the procession,
which was entirely Oriental, walked a long double line of
men bearing flags, fans, soul-streamers, etc., followed by a band

Ceremonial Institutions 75

of yellow-robed lama musicians playing flutes. Then came the
pavilion of the " Spirit that clears the way," and a large
cumbrous sedan-chair, covered in white, borne by numerous
red-clothed bearers, said, but on insufficient authority, to
have contained the encoffined body of Yiian's favourite
concubine, who, it is related, predeceased him by only a
few days. Behind it, preceded by a squadron of lancers,
was the large red-lacquered State carriage

State Carriage, f tj President, built somewhat on the
etc.

lines of the State carriages used in the West.

Following this in order were the President's horse, a band

of Buddhist monks beating drums and cymbals and blowing

weird notes on long trumpets each borne by two men, the

President's band of musicians, numerous incense-burners,

and stands containing various articles used in sacrificing.

Banners in large numbers, embroidered with the deceased's

crests and coats of arms, were carried on either side of the

procession. A small white-covered sedan-chair, containing

the Tablet of the Soul (but not yet inhabited

TTabletUl ^y the latter), was followed by stands on which

were sacrifices of food, etc., the swords,

uniforms, and decorations worn by the President, as well

as a very large number of wreaths which had been brought

or sent from all parts and placed around the coffin during

the lying in state. After these walked the members of the

Cabinet and the principal government officials

Mourners dressed in frock-coats and top hats, a posse

of officers in bright blue uniforms, and

the foreign diplomatic body, also in official dress.

Walking with slow steps in front of the catafalque were

the chief mourners, the late President's sons, etc., all clothed

Mourning m white. Over their heads was borne a

Relatives. large white canopy supported on poles

The Catafalque. upheld by bearers on either side. The

catafalque was of the elaborate, old-fashioned type, of

enormous size, covered with rich embroidery of red and

76 China of the Chinese

gold, of the shape of a Chinese temple-building, the sloping
"roof" of which culminated in a large central knob of gold.
It was carried by eighty bearers dressed in green. At

intervals during its progress, large quantities
Spirit-money, of white paper " money " of circular shape

and about five inches in diameter were
1 thrown aloft into the air, and fluttering about against the
blue background of the clear sky added to the picturesque-
ness of the scene. This " money " is to satisfy the evil spirits
which are always supposed to be lurking around on these
occasions. The relatives of the deceased have in fact to
buy a clear passage for the deceased to his grave. Following
the catafalque and forming the end of the procession were
white-covered sedan-chairs conveying some of the female
relatives of the deceased and other members of his household,
all dressed in the Chinese white or undyed garb of mourning
with the white band round the top of the head.

On arrival at the entrance to the railway station, the
catafalque was placed under a large shed made of matting

and draped with grey cloth. Here sacrifices

d were Performed in front of the coffin> which
was then placed on the train, together with
the Tablet of the Soul, the wreaths, streamers, and decora
tions. The train, which also conveyed the mourners, left
soon after for Chang-te Fu, the native place of the Yuan
family, a salute of 101 guns being fired and all the temples
tolling their bells, as the body of the deceased was thus borne
away from the scene of his successes and failures.

The student of sociology would have preferred to see a

procession entirely Oriental in character, except for the small

body of Occidental diplomatists. As it

Hybrid Rites, was the rite was hybrid. It will have been

noticed that, whilst the mourning colour

of China is white, and this was worn by the deceased's relatives,

the civil and military officials wore on their sleeves and

sword-hilts bands of black crape or gauze. The mandate

Ceremonial Institutions 77

ordering the wearing of these bands for twenty-seven days
commanded also the use of black-edged paper and envelopes
in official correspondence, the adoption of black borders
by the native official newspapers for a like period, the use
of black ink in sealing documents, the half-masting of flags,
the closing of schools on the days of the funeral and of national
condolence, and the suspension of feasts, celebrations, amuse
ments, etc., for periods of twenty-seven or seven days,
according to their kind. The procession and the signs of
mourning were a very clear illustration of the period of
transition through which China is now passing.

LAWS OF INTERCOURSE — FEUDAL PERIOD
The laws governing intercourse between equals and
between superiors and inferiors have been another most
potent factor in Chinese social develop-

ment> Pr°Pitiation of the livinS in societies
incompletely developed is as indispensable
as propitiation of the dead. In order that those to be pro
pitiated may be easily recognized, we find them distinguished
by concrete marks, which, as time went on, grew in number
and variety. In feudal times in China, the king's palace-
buildings and walls, carriages, crowns, robes, food, banners,
weapons, etc., were distinct in size and num-
^er ^rom those of the princes, and distinctive
head-dresses, garments, and badges were
worn by different ranks, whose writing-tablets, attendants,
horses, etc., were graduated in number according to a fixed
scale. About 500 B.C., the right to carry a staff, formerly
belonging to all classes, was restricted to men of rank, because,
so it is recorded, a wheelwright was seen using his as a tool.
Ceremonial observances, characterized under the earliest
kings by comparative simplicity, were in the Later Feudal
Ceremony Period pushed to an extreme limit. Hardly
under the an act, either in official or social life, was
Chous. performed without its assigned ceremonies.
Dress, speech, the postures to be assumed on all occasions,

78 China of the Chinese

were all minutely regulated. Ceremonial observances were
regarded as " the greatest of all things by which men live."
They were most completely embodied in elaborate and
comprehensive works constituting the ancient classical
rituals, the Chou Li, I Li, and Li Chi. They
are a^ °^ very ancient origin, though the
editions we now possess have been revised
by later writers. The last two contain the rules for the
guidance of individual conduct, the Chou Li dealing more
with the various officials and their respective duties. The
Li Chi divides ceremonies into several general classes, namely,
Auspicious, Mourning, Hospitality, Military, and Festive ;
and arranges them also under six headings : Capping ;
Marrying ; Mourning Rites ; Sacrifices ; Feasts ; and
Interviews — comprehending 300 greater and 3,000 smaller
rules. Certain purposes were ascribed to each class. They
commenced with the capping ceremony, which took place
on the attainment of manhood ; were most important in
the rites of mourning and sacrifice ; conferred the greatest
honour at audiences in the royal and feudal courts ; and
tended to promote harmony at country festivals and archery
celebrations.

Whilst kings, courtiers, officers, etc., were bound hand and
foot by these rigid ceremonial rules, the daily life of the people
was also subject to strict ceremonial. Some

<luotations from the Li Chi wiU show the
minute detail with which every action

was regulated —

" A lad should not wear a jacket of fur nor the skirt [so as to leave

him unhampered in executing any service required of him]. He

must stand straight and square, and not incline

Attitude his head in hearing. When an elder is holding him

towards with his hand, he should hold the elder's hand with

Superiors. both his hands. When the elder has shifted his

sword to his back and is speaking to him with the

side of his face bent down, he should cover his mouth with his hand in

answering. When he is following his teacher, he should not quit the

road to speak with another person. When he meets his teacher on

the road, he should hasten forward to him, and stand with his hands

Ceremonial Institutions 79

joined across his breast. If the teacher speak to him, he will answer;
if he do not, he will retire with hasty steps. When, following an
elder, he ascends a level height, he must keep his face towards the
quarter to which the elder is looking. When one has ascended the
wall of a city he should not point, nor call out. When he intends to
go to a lodging-house, let it not be with the feeling that he must get
whatever he asks for. When about to go up to the hall (of a house)
he must raise his voice. When outside the door there are two (pairs
of) shoes [put off from the feet of those who had entered], if voices
be heard, he enters; if voices be not heard, he will not enter. When
about to enter the door he must keep his eyes cast down. As he
enters, he should (keep his hands raised as high as if he were) bearing
the bar of the door. In looking down or up, he should not turn (his
head). If the door were open, he should leave it open; if it were shut,
he should shut it again. If there be others (about) to enter after him,
while he (turns to) shut the door, let him not do so hastily. Let him
not tread on the shoes (left outside the door), nor stride across the
mat (in going to take his seat); but let him hold up his dress, and move
hastily to his corner (of the mat). (When seated), he must be careful
in answering or assenting."

" On the roads, men took the right side and women the left; carriages
kept in the middle. A man kept behind another who had a father's

years; he followed one who might be his elder
Rules of brother more closely, but still keeping behind, as
the Road. geese fly after one another in a row. Friends did

not pass by one another, when going the same way.
(In the case of an old and a young man carrying burdens), both were
borne by the younger; and, if the two were too heavy for one, he took
the heavier. A man with grey hair was not allowed to carry anything,
though he might do it with one hand." " An officer of superior rank,
of the age of sixty or seventy, did not walk on foot. A common man,
at that age, did not go without flesh to eat."

The rules for eating together are laid down with great
punct iliousness —

" When eating with others from the same dishes, one should not
try to eat (hastily) to satiety. When eating with

When Eating them from the same dish of rice, one should not have

with Others, to wash his hands [no implements being used in
eating (at least, their use not being as yet general)
it was necessary to keep the hands as clean as possible]."

" Do not roll the rice into a ball; do not bolt down the various dishes;
do not swill down (the soup). Do not make a noise in eating; do not
crunch the bones with the teeth; do not put back fish you have been
eating; do not throw the bones to the dogs; do not snatch (at what
you want). Do not spread out the rice (to cool); do not use chop
sticks [instead of a spoon] in eating millet. Do not (try to) gulp down
soup with vegetables in it, nor add condiments to it; do not keep

80 China of the Chinese

picking the teeth, nor swill down the sauces. If a guest add condi
ments, the host will apologize for not having had the soup prepared
better. If he swill down the sauces [which should be too strong to be
swallowed largely and hurriedly], the host will apologize for his poverty.
Meat that is wet (and soft) may be divided with the teeth, but dried
flesh cannot be so dealt with. Do not bolt roast meat in large pieces."
" When they have done eating, the guests will kneel in front (of
the mat) [no chairs were in use at this time], and (begin to) remove
the (dishes of) rice and sauces to give them to the attendants. The
host will then rise and decline this service from the guests, who will
resume their seats."

" (When any single visitor is leaving), he will go to his shoes, kneel

down and take them up, and then move to one side. (When the

visitors retire in a body) with their faces towards

On Leaving, the elder, (they stand) by the shoes, which they

then, kneeling, remove (some distance), and,

stooping down, put on [the host would be seeing the visitors off, and,

therefore, they would keep their faces towards him]."

" When two men are sitting or standing together, do not join them

as a third. When two are standing together, another should not

pass between them. Male and female should not

Some Further sit together (in the same apartment), nor have the

Hints. same stand or rack for their clothes, nor use the

same towel or comb, nor let their hands touch in

giving and receiving. A sister-in-law and brother-in-law do not

interchange inquiries (about each other). . . . (Even) the father

and daughter should not sit together on the same mat."

The presentation to another of a bow one would imagine
to be a simple matter enough, yet here is the procedure,
as given in the Li Chi, by which this present
would be made according to the strict rules
of Chinese etiquette —

" In every case of giving a bow to another, if it be bent, the string
of sinew should be kept upwards; but if unbent, the horn. The giver
should with his right hand grasp the end of the bow, and keep his
left under the middle of the back. The parties, without regard to
their rank as high and low, bow to each other till the napkins at their
girdles hang down to the ground. If the host wish to bow still lower,
the other moves to one side to avoid the salutation. The host then
takes the bow, standing on the left of the other. Putting his hand
under that of the visitor, he lays hold of the middle of the back, having
his face in the same direction as the other; and thus he receives the bow. "

Such cases as these reveal to us at least part of one of the

Ceremonial Institutions 81

causes which helped to keep China in a state of rigidity,
and they help us also to understand better

•^_,9a"?f_of why foreigners from the West were long
Rigidity. 5 „ .

regarded as uncultured barbarians.

The slavish attitude towards superiors was shown in many

ways, e.g., the sword was laid aside on approach-
Towards . J '
Superiors, ing the sovereign, too great familiarity on the

Equals, and part of a minister to a duke was punished
Inferiors. ^^ death, etc. Between equals, minute
rules regulated the attitude of friends towards each other.
Hospitality and interchange of friendly gifts were common,
all actions of the host and guest following stereotyped forms.
And towards inferiors it was not considered right to show
any " contemptuous familiarity," for then they would not
" put forth all their strength " on behalf of their superiors.
But age, in this as in other matters, was always respected :
" If the king wished to put questions to an officer of ninety,
he went to his house, and had rich food carried after him."

Visits were also carried out according to minute cere
monial regulations. They were classified into two main
divisions : ordinary visits and ceremonial
Visits. visits, the former comprising business, ad
vising, inquiring, asking after health, and
condoling ; the latter, congratulatory, farewell, and returning
of thanks. It is not known when visiting cards were first
used, but if in use at this time they must have been made
of strips of bamboo or pieces of silk, for paper had not yet
been invented. Women were not present. Friends seldom
embraced. Kissing was unknown or very rare. The host
stood on the east, the guest on the west. Refreshments were
offered, including cakes and spirits (tea being as yet unknown).
The host bowed, and the guest reciprocated. The guest,
on leaving, was escorted out after three bows.

The giving of presents, which originates in mutilations —
i.e., at first, part of the body is presented and, in later times,
a substitute, with the object of propitiating the receiver — was

6— (2383)

82 China of the Chinese

a common practice in early China. The feudal princes brought
presents to the king's court, and received from him

" chariots and robes." The " articles
Presents. of introduction " they presented were

the five instruments of gem-stones, three
kinds of silk, two living animals, and one dead one.
The rules governing giving and receiving were extremely
minute, e.g., a horse or sheep when presented was led with
the right hand, but a dog with the left, a bird was presented
with its head to the left, and a captive when presented was
held by the right sleeve (to frustrate violence), etc. Inferiors
frequently made presents to superiors, and friends to friends,
and there were, of course, special presents on occasions as
births, marriages, etc., the latter case including handmaids.
Coffins, often bestowed by rulers upon deceased statesmen
as a mark of favour, came later to be presented during lifetime.
Obeisances and forms of address, arising out of the attitude
of the conquered towards the conqueror, formed a conspicuous

element in Chinese ceremonial. Obeisances
Obeisances, were of various kinds. If a duke were sending

a report to Court, he would bow with his
head to the ground to the messenger who was to carry it.
There were also obeisances for meetings, feasts, congratu
lations, etc., the number of bows being minutely specified
in each case.

Adulatory forms of address, originating in propitiation
and expressing a fact, namely, that the speaker is a " slave "

or " servant," may be called obeisances
Address expressed in words. " Your slave " is the

usual description of himself used by a Chinese
servant when speaking to his master. The Li Chi details
the forms of address used on almost every possible occasion ;
for example —

" In ordinary conversation with his parents a son does not use the
term ' old ' with reference to them." " The son of a Great Officer
(of the king, himself equal to), a ruler, should not presume to speak of
himself as ' I, the little son ' (for so the young king styled himself

Ceremonial Institutions 83

during mourning). The son of a Great Officer, or other officer of
state, should not presume to speak of himself as ' I, the inheriting
son so-and-so ' (instead of ' I, the sorrowing son '). They should not
so presume to speak of themselves as their heir-sons do. When his
ruler wishes an officer to take a place at an archery meeting and he
is unable to do so, he should decline on the ground of being ill, and
say, ' I, so-and-so, am suffering from carrying firewood ' (the language
of a peasant used by Mencius in mock humility)."

There were various terms for referring to the death of
the Son of Heaven (the king), a feudal prince, a great officer,
an ordinary officer, a common man, a corpse on the couch,
a corpse in the coffin, a winged fowl, a quadruped and a man
slain by an enemy in flight.

" In sacrificing to them, a grandfather is called ' the sovereign grand
father,' a grandmother ' the sovereign grandmother," etc., a husband
'the sovereign pattern.' While they are alive, the names of father
(fu), mother (mu), and wife (ch'i) are used; when they are dead, those
of ' the completed one ' (k'ao), ' the corresponding one ' (pi), and
' the honoured one ' (pin). Death in old age is called ' a finished
course ' (tsu); an early death, ' being unsalaried ' (pit In)."

Various terms were also used in referring to sacrificial
animals, birds, fish, water, grain, vegetables, and other
articles, whilst some names and terms were tabu as being
unpropitious, e.g., those connected with mourning ; thus
it was the custom to change the sound of a character which
had been part of a deceased sovereign's name and also to
make some alteration in its written form.

Between A.D. 25-58 the term ta jen (lit., " great man "),
which means " elder," " you," " Your Excel-

Excellency " lency," first came into use. During subsequent
ages it was one of the most frequently-employed
forms of address in official intercourse.

MONARCHICAL PERIOD

During the post-Feudal periods of Chinese history, con
crete marks of distinction continued to be a prominent
feature in ceremonial. The king's apart-
E»stinctionste ments> carriages, horses, retinue, flags, robes,
headgear, gems, food, weapons, utensils, etc.,
differed as before from those of his ministers and others.

84 China of the Chinese

He had more city-gates and towers than a prince. In the
Han times (206 B.C.-A.D. 221) traders were forbidden to wear
silk or ride in carriages. In 179 B.C., the kuo hao, or dynastic
designation, was first assumed by the emperor on ascending
the throne. During the following period (A.D. 221-589)
the colour of the shoes of scholars, policemen, and work
men was limited to green, black, and white, and that of
man and maid-servants to black only. From the Sui dynasty
(589-618) onwards the use of yellow was reserved for the
emperor and things appertaining to the imperial court.
Attempts to enforce economy by means of imperial decrees
met with but little success. In the time of the Sungs (960-
1280) officers of the seventh and higher
Tea^ddnking. ranks were allowed to drink tea (which in
its universally-known form is supposed to
have come into general use during the fourth century,
A.D., though an infusion of a leaf resembling it was used
during the Later Feudal Period), and complimentary tea
was served at Court, a custom which was reflected in the
serving of tea on official visits in every yamen in the country
down to the present day. Scholars wore shoes when inter
viewing officials — as distinguished from attendants — and
subjects, who up to this time had been allowed to sit in the
presence of the emperor, were, after the end of the Sung
Period, no longer permitted to do so, standing or kneeling
being the only recognized postures. Under the Mongols
(1280-1368), and probably earlier also, long finger-nails,
and small feet in women were signs of gentility, as incapa
citating for labour. Marco Polo vividly describes the
Gorgeous gorgeousness of the ceremonial under these
Ceremonial great potentates. Prayers and extreme

under Mongol forms of reverence were offered to the
Potentates. ,, ,

emperor, and no one was allowed to approach

him unless clad in the most sumptuous raiment. The capital
was the scene of the most lavish splendour. At the gorgeous
festivals the wives of the Kaan and those of the princes

Ceremonial Institutions 85

and nobles sat at tables with their husbands. Strangers
from foreign States dined at a table set apart for travellers
in the presence of the king, who feasted in full gaze of the
people. So great was his prestige that everyone within
half a mile of the palace " preserved a mien of the greatest
meekness and quiet," no shrill voices or loud talk being
heard. " And every one of the chiefs and nobles carries
always with him a handsome little vessel to spit in while
he remains in the hall of audience — for no one dares spit
on the floor of the hall — and when he hath spitten he covers
it up and puts it aside." They also donned buskins of white
leather so as not to foul the carpet.

The persistence of extreme forms of ceremonial is further

seen in the fact that ambassadors who came to the Court

of the Chinese emperors under the Ming

Ming regime (1368-1644) were expected to perform

abject prostrations before the palace, and also

in the reverence done daily before the emperor's portrait by

officials in the provincial capitals and by the people at every

new moon.

Up to this time visiting cards, which consisted of pieces
of paper about nine inches long by four wide, with the charac
ters representing the name written in black

down the middle> had been white» but they
were now coloured red — white or biscuit-
colour with a purple border being used in mourning.

During the Manchu Period (1644-1912) there was not
much relaxation in the strictness of ceremonial observance,
Ceremonial though it is stated by native writers that
under the in ordinary intercourse formalities were not
Manchus. excessive, their number and minuteness
increasing with the importance of the occasion. Anyone,
however, who has seen these things with his own eyes knows
that what may not seem excessive to people accustomed
to rigid ceremonial usages seems superfluous, if not burden
some, to those who, along with greater freedom generally,

86 China of the Chinese

enjoy relative freedom from the tyranny of ceremonial
formalities.

REPUBLICAN PERIOD

Towards this greater freedom the Chinese have recently

been making some progress. Since the institution of the

Progress Republic there has not only been a marked

towards decline in ceremonial observances, but there

Emancipation. has been a distinct tendency to adopt Western
forms in a large number of cases. Chinese, who now mostly
wear foreign headgear, are seen in the streets taking off their
hats and shaking hands with each other. This is not only
a change but an inversion of their former habit, under which
keeping the head covered and abstaining from touching the
clothing or body were marks of respect. Generally they
seem rather to resent the act of a foreigner who greets them
in what they now regard as the old-fashioned way, though
it may be doubted if shaking hands, though sociologically
a more advanced form, is more suitable and artistic than
the bow made by joining the hands together and raising
them towards the chin. However (since decrease in cere
monial is co-extensive with increase in freedom), the Chinese,
by discarding many of the more oppressive forms of cere
monial, have in recent years gone some way towards freeing
themselves from a bondage which must have been a con
tinually-recurring source of discomfort and have wasted
an enormous amount of the nation's time.

HABITS AND CUSTOMS
FEUDAL PERIOD

Under the heading of Ceremonial Observances must be
included those public and private acts which have become
so habitual with the nation as to constitute part of its regu
lative structure. Some of these have a religious or semi-
religious character, but owing to the wide prevalence of

Ceremonial Institutions 87

ancestor-worship and the absence of a separate " Church," are

described here because religious and other forms of ceremonial

in China are often incompletely differentiated. In the Feudal

Periods of early China we find some festivals observed which

have persisted down to modern times. In the earliest ages,

however, these were few, and seem all to have been connected

with the four seasons of the year and especially the ingathering

of the harvest, which with an agricultural people doing

little trade were of course of the highest

Festivals. importance. No regularly-established festival

at the New Year (a period of intense cold

over the whole of China as it then was) is recorded before

the Monarchical Period ; but we find a note of charming

simplicity in the custom observed during the Early Feudal

Period at the spring cultivating. In certain

Cultivating districts the oxen were fed with cakes and
their horns adorned with variegated silk
thread. During the Later Feudal Period we read of a more
formal annual inauguration of agriculture by the king in
person, who with his ministers, feudal princes, and great
officers, " all with their own hands ploughed the field of
God." Five days before this an ox, a ploughman, and agri
cultural implements all made of earth were placed outside
the eastern gates of the cities, and on the day itself the local
magistrates set up an altar and worshipped Shen Nung,
the Founder and God of Agriculture.

Sympathy with unrewarded merit is a characteristic of
the Chinese, both ancient and modern, and has given rise

" Prohibited to more tnan one national custom, though,

Smoke," or in the case of that known as the Cold-Meat

Cold-Meat Festival, doubt has been expressed as to

its connection with the incident to which

its origin is commonly attributed. According to the Chinese

tradition, related in at least two native works, one Chieh

Tzu-t'ui, a Minister of the Ch'u State in the seventh century

B.C., on his services being left unrecognized by his erstwhile

88 China of the Chinese

co-exile the Prince of Chin, modestly retired with his mother
to a thickly- wooded mountain retreat. On his refusal to
obey the prince's summons, which had been prompted by a
petition from his friends, the prince endeavoured to ensure
immediate compliance by ordering the wood to be set on
fire, but rather than be thus coerced Chieh and his mother
agreed to perish together in the flames. Out of respect for
their memories, the people of the district lit no fires and ate
cold food for several days after the winter solstice, a custom
which was repeated annually on the second day of the second
moon. Any violation of this custom was supposed to cause
the offender's crops to be destroyed by hail.

The opening of summer was also an occasion for festivity,
apparently more so in some districts than

The Opening -n otnerSt The custom seems to have con-

of Summer. .,,-.„

sisted largely in tne people presenting each

other with roast geese.

At the beginning of the fourth century B.C. lived Ch'ii
Yiian, who occupied one of the highest official posts under

Prince Huai of the Ch'u State. He was
Festival0** nonest an(^ virtuous, but hi's prince was

profligate and lazy. On account of his zeal
in endeavouring to induce the latter to bestow more attention
upon the affairs of State, he became obnoxious to his rivals,
who caused him to be impeached and eventually dismissed.
Having embodied the sorrow he felt at this injustice in a
poem, since famous, entitled Li Sao, " Falling into Trouble,"
and being as much in disfavour with Prince Hsiang, who
succeeded his father, Prince Huai, on the throne, he even
tually drowned himself in the Mi Lo River. Some fishermen
who witnessed the act rowed rapidly towards the spot where
he disappeared, but Ch'ii Yiian was never seen again. To
propitiate the spirit of the departed, they threw offerings of
boiled rice into the river. The day on which the death of
Ch'ii Yiian took place was the fifth of the fifth moon, and on
the corresponding day of the following year the ceremony

Ceremonial Institutions 89

of searching for his body was repeated, and has been observed
from that time to the present, throughout the length and
breadth of the country, wherever there is a river, cieck, or
other suitable stretch of water.

The offerings thrown into the water are wrapped in leaves
of the bamboo tree. In former times they were enclosed
Legend ^n pieces °f sn"k, tied up with threads of five
Concerning different colours. The quaint legend re-
Offenngs. peated by the people living near the Mi Lo
to explain this is, that at first the offerings were simply thrown
into the water without covering of any sort, but one day the
spirit of Ch'ii Yuan appeared and informed the votaries
that before he could reach them they were devoured by a
huge reptile, and requested that they be disguised in the
manner indicated, when the reptile would not dare to touch
them. This reptile is also responsible for the shape of the
boats which are the chief characteristic of this festival and
give it the name by which it is known to foreign residents
in China. They are constructed in the form of large dragons,
and are supposed to have the effect of intimidating the monster
which had been so greedy as to deprive Ch'ii Yuan of his
boiled rice. They are very narrow and from fifty to one
hundred or more feet in length, and gaily decorated with
flags as well as sprigs of green leaves. The rowers, often as
many as eighty or ninety in one boat, keep

ThB<S.tsg°n time with their Paddles to the sound of a
drum placed in the centre. Fore and aft
stand men loudly beating gongs, in order to dispel the evil
spirits and hungry ghosts which might annoy the manes
of the deceased poet. On the prow of the boat, stands a
man as if on the look-out for Ch'ii Yiian's body, waving his
arms as if casting rice upon the waters. As might be expected,
the excitement leads to rivalry, and to races between the
various dragon boats, not infrequently ending in a fight.
When the festival takes place in a thickly-populated district,
the river is crowded with enormous numbers of boats of

90 China of the Chinese

all kinds, carrying spectators who let off fire-crackers and
generally contribute to the gaiety of the scene. The festival,
often prolonged for two or three days, lasts from ten o'clock
in the morning to four in the afternoon, and is followed
by dinners given by the guilds and by resort to theatres
and gambling houses. In places where there is no river,
as at Peking, the festival is celebrated by horse, cart, and camel
races ; in Mongolia, generally by theatrical 'performances.

The Mid- Autumn Festival, also called the Moon Feast,
belongs to a later period, but one of the traditions as to its
Oriein of origin relates that, about 2150 B.C., lived
Autumn Hao I, a famous archer, who had the addi
Festival or tional accomplishment of being able to make
18 ' cakes which conferred immortality on those
who ate them. Presumably for good reasons of his own,
he kept these cakes hidden from his wife, but during his
absence she discovered them, and on his return was caught
by him in the act of eating one. Unable otherwise to get
beyond the range of his skilful bow, she fled to the moon.
Another version is that Hao I, having shot nine of the ten suns
which then illuminated the heavens, was requested by the
sun-god to spare the tenth, in exchange for which he offered
him a potion which would enable him to go and live in the
sun; but, the magic liquid being drunk by his wife before
he could take it himself, she became light as a fairy and
flew away to the moon, where she has remained ever since,
except when paying her annual visit to the earth. To
the ceremony resulting from this legend we will refer
presently.

Throughout the eighth moon festivals took place in honour
of Huo Shin, the God of Fire. On this occasion the principal
streets of cities and villages were illuminated,
Fire on^ not ^y means of the ubiquitous Chinese

lantern, but by crystal chandeliers sus
pended across the thoroughfares, which in the south (where
the festival was more consistently observed), were very

Ceremonial Institutions 91

narrow. Groups of figures made of wax and clothed in
silk, representing episodes in ancient Chinese history, were
paraded in processions, and worship of the god was carried on
by Taoist priests at temporary altars erected in the main
thoroughfares.

Towards the close of the year began the longest holiday
enjoyed by the Chinese. The other two or three chief festivals
lasted for five days each, but the holiday
Festival at ^6 wm*er festival went on for a whole
month. During this season various cere
monies were observed, and worship of ancestors, never
neglected at any time, was carried on daily before the family
shrine, but, beyond this and the usual feasting and drinking
these festivals did not become established as such until after
the close of the Feudal Period.

According to the Chinese classical writings, the first games
were those of the bow and arrow. Assemblies, which assumed
the character of festivals, took place for
purposes of archery. The target was orna
mented with the heads of animals. The
archers were divided into several parties, and rewards dis
tributed to the most skilful. The games played in these
earliest times partook of a military character, but were also
regarded as useful for " the practice of virtue and judging
of character." In the Li Chi an account is given of the game
of " Pitch-Pot," played at festal enter-
" Pitch-Pot." tainments. It consisted of a contest in
pitching darts into the mouth of a pot or
jar (the neck of which was seven inches long with a mouth
two-and-a-half inches in diameter), placed at a short distance
from the players. It was filled with small beans to prevent
the arrows from springing out. Cithern-players accompanied
the game with a tune called " The Fox's Head." The winners
were determined by counters, a certain number of which
formed a " horse," the player who scored the largest number
of " horses " being declared the victor. The losers were

92 China of the Chinese

given a cup, presumably of spirits, to drink as a penalty.
The game was throughout accompanied by much ceremonial
formality.

A kind of chess, called the " game of war " (wei ch'i) was
played at a very early date, its invention being ascribed

to the emperor Yao, though this ascription
Chess. is discredited by several Chinese writers.

The earliest game seems to have been played
with 300 pieces, divided into two camps, black and white,
and standing on the crossings of the lines, 361 in number.
The object of the opponents was to surround each other's
men and take up the crossings occupied by them. The game
was also known as " meditation in solitude," and the " game
of conversation," for the player who was waiting for his
adversary to play generally had plenty of leisure to talk.
In the Later Feudal Period a simpler game was played —
simpler, that is, as regards the number of pieces, for the rules

were quite complicated. The game was
Chess *" known as " hsiang ch'i," " elephant chess,"

a peculiar feature being a " river " running
across the board. This " river " took up eight out of the
seventy-two squares, leaving thirty-two on each side ; but,
as the pieces were placed on the intersections of the lines,
there were in all ninety positions. The pieces were round
discs of seven kinds, each having its name cut on it in either
red or black. The four squares near each edge formed the
headquarters of the king or general, out of which he and his
two councillors or secretaries could not move. On each side
of the headquarters were two elephants, two horses,
and two chariots, resembling the bishop, knight, and castle
of the Western game. In front of the horses stood two gunners,
which moved like a castle, but captured like a knight. Five
soldiers or pawns guarded the river banks, and could not
return when once they had crossed the stream in pursuit
of the enemy. The king or general could not be taken, but
when he was checkmated the game was lost. The game was

Ceremonial Institutions 93

much played by members of the literary class, both male
and female, preferably in the open air, and usually for small
stakes.

Games of both mental and manual dexterity are also
recorded. In the game of shuttlecock, the shuttlecock was

kicked with the side or sole of the foot, being
Shuttlecock, then passed from one to another of several

players, and often kept in the air with great
skill for a long time without being allowed to touch the ground.
Diavolo, which was the rage in Europe several years ago,
was played by the Chinese long before the beginning of the
Christian era. " Horn-goring " was a game in which people

in sets of twos or threes butted at each other

with ox-norns nxed on their heads. Kites,

originally made of thin wood, were later made
of paper. This pastime was more of a physical exercise than
is generally supposed. The movements involved in it, such
as " coming, going, pulling at the string, winding it up,
and inhaling the fresh air with all their lung-power," were
regarded as developing at the same time both strength and
dexterity in children. Kites were of all sizes and forms —
butterflies, beetles, birds of all sorts, and monstrous dragons
could all be seen floating in the sky. The feeling of emulation
was aroused in kite-flyers, who were by no means confined
to children, by fighting the kites of others with their own,
the player so manoeuvring the strings as to get his kite
behind that of his adversary, and by hooking it on to capture
it and add it to his collection. In these contests the owners
of the rival kites were often quite invisible to each other.

Other diversions were walking on stilts, which were tied
to the feet, and are used at the present day both by children and

youths and by members of travelling theatri-
Other Games, cal troupes, who, being thus raised above the

ground, need no stage. Singing and dancing
marionettes are also mentioned in the days of King Mu of
the Chou dynasty ; football was used as an exercise by

94 China of the Chinese

soldiers ; and cock-fighting, dice-throwing, etc., were resorted
to as a means of recreation.

Boat-races and dog-races also took place, and at certain
seasons imperial hunting and fishing expeditions occupied

the leisure left over from political affairs.

^ne S1-63-* hunts were held in the spring,

summer, and winter, the autumn being re
garded as a close season, so as not to interfere with the labours
of agriculture. Minute regulations governed this as they
did almost everything else. When the end of the imperial
hunts was indicated by the lowering of flags, the people fell
a-hunting for themselves, having first scrambled for the
game secured during the royal drives, it being considered
bad form for the " great kitchen " to claim all the spoil.
But for the people the chase was regarded more as a military
exercise, for they were liable to be called upon to fill the
ranks of the army, and were therefore supposed thus use
fully to occupy their leisure after harvest-time. Bows and
arrows were the weapons used. In summer, deer were
hunted, and in winter, wolves and all other kinds of animals,
while birds formed the prey during autumn. The preservation
of certain kinds of animals was the duty of a special
government department, but there were no game laws.

The general character of the indoor domestic life may
be gathered from observation of the duties assigned in

the Book of Rites to children in families
°Ute. " °* official rank. The " housework " was

to be performed by the children or inferior
wives. " At the first crowing of the cock, they should wash
their hands and rinse their mouths, comb their hair, draw
over it the covering of silk, fix this with the hair-pin, bind
the hair at the roots with a fillet, brush the dust from that
which is left free, and then put on their caps, leaving the
ends of the strings hanging down." Having completed their
toilet, they gather up their pillows and fine mats, sprinkle
and sweep out the apartments, hall, and courtyard, and spread

Ceremonial Institutions 95

the mats, each one doing his proper work. Sons' wives,
as well as sons, dress and wash with care and hang at their
girdle or sash " their articles for use." Both sexes carry the
" duster and handkerchief, the knife, and whetstone, the small
spike and the metal speculum to get fire from the sun, and
the borer to get fire from the wood," to which are added
the implements of writing and archery for men, and for
women a needle-case, silk, and thread. When fully dressed
the children go to inquire after the health of their parents,
bring them water to wash, and wha'tever food they may
desire. They should not move the clothes, coverlets, fine
mats or undermats, pillows, and stools of their parents.
They should reverently regard their staff and shoes, but not
presume to approach them, nor should they meddle with their
food or utensils, unless it were to eat what was left from their
parents' meals.

The king had four meals a day (breakfast, the morning
meal, dinner, and supper — all accompanied by music) ;
the princes, three ; and the people, two.
Meals. Shoes were put off before entering an apart
ment. At this time chairs had not yet come
into use ; hosts and guests squatted on a mat on the ground and
ate either from a low table a few inches high, or from dishes
spread on the mat. All ate from the same dish, without chop
sticks or spoons, but the former were used for soup with vege
tables, etc., and the latter in eating millet. It was considered
necessary to keep the hands clean even when no implements
were used, for " one should not have to wash his hands."
The " washing," when unavoidable, was usually a rubbing
of the hands with sand (probably to save the inconvenience
of having to dry them). Feasts were frequent, as well as
musical entertainments with actors and

Cere*m?nies. singing-girls- Baths of tepid water were

taken every fifth day.

The observances on the birth of a child were numerous
and elaborate. If the child was a boy, a bow was placed

96 China of the Chinese

on the left of the door ; if a girl, a handkerchief on the right
of it . Ceremonies of ' ' receiving " and naming the child, of fore
telling its future and shaving its head followed the detailed
procedure elaborately enunciated in the Book of Rites.
At six years of age he was taught the numbers and the names

of the cardinal points ; at seven, boys and
Education. girls did not occupy the same mat nor eat

together ; at eight, the teaching of yielding
to others was begun ; at nine, they were taught how to
number the days ; at* ten, a boy learnt the different classes
of characters and calculation, asked to be exercised in reading
the tablets, and in the forms of polite conversation ; at
thirteen, he learned music, to repeat the odes, and to dance
the ko, the first of the civil dances (the hsiang, the first of
the military dances, being reserved until he was full-grown) ;
he also learned archery and chariot -driving ; at twenty,
. ,, he was capped, the capping ceremony being

a sort of initiation into manhood : " the
capping showed that he had reached maturity " ; he then
learned the different classes of ceremonies, and might wear
furs and silk. He danced the ta hsia, which was the ko and
hsiang combined, and "attended sedulously to filial and
fraternal duties. He might become very learned, but did not
teach others — his object being still to receive and not give
out." At thirty he had a wife, and began to attend to the
business proper of a man.

The attention bestowed upon a girl's education was prac
tically confined to training in deportment, housework, and

needlework. A girl was held in small
°f estimation> because she was an expense

to the family while she belonged to it, and
no longer belonged to it after she was married. At ten, she
ceased to leave the women's apartments ; at fifteen, she
assumed the hair-pin ; and not later than twenty, though
usually as much as six to ten years earlier, she was married.
She received no literary training ; which, indeed, would from

Ceremonial Institutions 97

the Chinese point of view have been superfluous, because
literary attainments were regarded solely as an aid to attain
ment of office, from which of course women were excluded ;
but she was taught the forms of sacrifice and worship, for she
would be called upon to put these into practice either in her
father's or her husband's family.

The ceremonies accompanying marital and funeral rites
have already been sufficiently described.

MONARCHICAL PERIOD

Though practically all the private habits of the home

remained until within the last few years substantially as

Changes in tney are described in the early classical

Habits and writings, we find that during the following

Customs. 2,000 years new festivals, as well as some

sports and games not previously known, were instituted.

Of the former it will be sufficient to describe, as briefly
as possible, those which, through their persistence during
many ages, have proved that they have
entered into the fibre of the national life,
and subserved some useful purpose, moral,
aesthetic, or other. During the first part of the Monarchical
Period, the New Year Festival assumed greater importance
than before, or rather became a national festival. At dawn
on the first day of the first moon all the functionaries
in the capital repaired to the Imperial Temple to offer their
congratulations before the tablet of the emperor, after which
they did homage in the temples of Heaven, Confucius, the
God of Literature, and the God of War. They then entered
upon a series of congratulatory visits to each other and their
friends and relations which occupied in most cases some
four or five days. For the first fortnight of the year they
indulged in entertaining each other in their homes, ex
changing presents, and playing games, extra . feasting and
dissipation being indulged in on special days, such as the

7— (2383)

98 China of the Chinese

fourth day of the first moon, which was the feast of the god
of Wealth and Happiness, etc.

On the fifteenth day of the first moon, the New Year
festivities, which would otherwise have come to a close on
that day, were prolonged owing to the
Lanterns occurrence of the Feast of Lanterns, which
began on the first full moon of the year.
This was really little more than a general illumination,
but one in which practically every house in the empire was
lighted up. Not only were lanterns suspended in great
numbers both inside and outside the houses, but they were
also carried through the streets, and some idea of the gaiety
of the scene may be gathered from the fact that they were
of every conceivable variety, usually made of transparent
paper or thin silk, but of every colour and representing
almost every imaginable object — elephants, lions, sheep,
horses, flowers, soldiers, historical characters, grotesque
animals, and a hundred others. What must have been the
largest lantern in the world took the shape of a gigantic
dragon, composed of a wicker framework covered with
transparent material, cloth or silk, painted to represent
the monster's scales. The head and tail were enormous
and fierce-looking, the whole creature being often several
hundreds of yards in length. Bearers, walking underneath
so as to be practically invisible, supported it by means of
staves, the rhythm of their walk giving a most life-like
motion to the dragon's long waving body. The procession,
accompanied by music, slowly toured the principal streets
of the town, after which the bearers, who were always mem
bers of the highest classes of society, were feasted with cakes
and wine.

In spring, usually on the day after the Cold-Meat Festival,
and particularly in the third moon, the

Ch'ing Ming, annual worship of ancestors took place.

Male members of Chinese families visited

the tombs of their ancestors, and placed on them offerings

Ceremonial Institutions 99

of food and drink — fowls, ducks, geese, pork, tea, etc. —
and burned suits of clothes made of paper, paper money,
paper men-servants and maid-servants, etc., for their use
and service in the land of shadows. The graves were left
gaily decorated with flags and streamers made of pink and
white paper.

A pretty custom, of which the origin is uncertain, marked
the middle of the sixth moon. Lanterns hung from the
tops of poles were placed at night on th
n highest part of the house, and on the rivers
the boat-people strung coloured lanterns
or placed small coloured glass lamps all round their boats.
From a distance the effect of these moving boats on the
surface of the water was that of a seething hive of brightly
coloured beetles. The custom was probably of religious
or superstitious origin.

On the seventh day of the seventh moon was the " Festival

of the Seven Stars," also known as that of the " Two Stars,"

Festival of fr°m the Niu Lang, Cowherd or Shepherd,

the and Chih Nil, Weaver-Girl, situated respec-

Seven Stars, tively on the east and the west side of the
Milky Way, or River of Heaven, as it is called by the Chinese.
These two were supposed to meet only once a year — on
the night of the day on which the festival (which is first
heard of in the Han dynasty) was subsequently celebrated.

The legend related to account for the festival is as follows :
the Weaver-Girl (Vega), the youngest of seven star-goddesses,

The Shepherd having been sent on a special message to
and the earth, fell in love with a cowherd, whom

Weaver-Girl. she married) and who> after death> was

transported to the skies and became the star Altair in the
constellation Aquila. For some sin of disobedience, such
as that attributed to Adam and Eve, the King of Heaven
decreed their separation, allowing them to see each other
once a year only. On this day they crossed the river which
separated them, the magpies fetching straws in their beaks

100 China of the Chinese

to build a bridge, or making one for them by joining their
wings. A number of other legends, too long to relate here,
have been grafted on to this simple fairy tale. Owing to the
inexplicable cause which makes some of these tales remain
barren legends and others give birth to national festivals,
the tale of the Shepherd and the Weaver-Girl causes men
to pray during this month for a clear sky (for the pair were
supposed to weep when separated) and women to ask Vega
to bestow upon them greater skill in weaving and embroidery.
Another important festival, recorded as having originated
during the Han dynasty, was the Chung Yuan, literally

" Middle Origin " — the " Upper " and
AliaSou°ls " Lower Origins " being on the fifteenth of

the second and tenth moons respectively.
It was also called Shao I, or " Clothes-burning," and by
foreigners the " Feast of All Souls." The principal day of
this festival was the fifteenth day of the seventh moon.
Its object was the philanthropic care of poor spirits who
had no one to provide them with spirit-world necessaries
or to look after their graves. From the first to the fifteenth
day of the month, garments, money, attendants, sedan-
chairs, etc., made of paper were burned as offerings to the
souls of the poor, lanterns were placed above the doors of
houses or suspended from the boughs of trees, and lighted
tapers in great numbers stuck along the sides of streets
and roads. " A river," says a writer describing the scene
at Canton about fifty years ago, " in the neighbourhood of
a large city presents the most animated appearance. Large
flower-boats, brilliant with rows of lanterns, glide along the
stream, which reflects their numerous lights. They carry
Taoist priests chanting a requiem for the souls of those who
have perished by drowning, supposed to be flitting discon
solately over the surface of the waters. Men stationed in
the bow burn paper clothes and paper money, others throw
rice and vegetables into the stream for the spirits. At in
tervals floating lights are borne quickly past by the rapid

Ceremonial Institutions 101

current. These arc lamps placed in earthenware vessels,
and launched on the river or creek to light up the darkness
for the wandering souls of the drowned." Masses for friendless
souls were also said during several days in the temples,
monasteries, and nunneries by priests, both Taoist and
Buddhist, who with characteristic large-heartedness,
interceded indiscriminately with the deities of either sect.
During my residence in China I have on certain occasions
observed the natives, apparently without any particular
reason, standing on hill-tops or high ground,

some of them flyin& kites- The day on

which this was done was the ninth of the
ninth moon. Reference to the Chinese work Chia Li Ta
Ch'eng showed that it was due to an occurrence during the
period of the Three Kingdoms, which followed the extinction
of the Hans. In order to avert calamity from his village,
one Heng Ching, a pious scholar, was ordered by Chang-Fei,
a martial leader, to wear hellebore, ascend a high mountain,
and drink chrysanthemum wine. In this small local incident
we find the root of the Chung Yang Festival, also called
Teng Kao, " Ascending Heights," and by some " Falling
Hats," which was and still is observed at that season of the
year. The idea of flying the kites, which were cut adrift
when they had reached a good height, was that they carried
away with them all the calamities which might be about to fall
upon their owners.

Space does not allow us to describe some other smaller

festivals, such as that of the Worship of the Sun on the

twenty-fifth day of the eighth moon, or the

MooiTpeast ^s*a Yuan, " Lower Origin," which took
their rise in the early part of this period.
We must also pass over those of the T'ang and Sung
times — the Chung Ho and " Festival of Flowers " on the
fifteenth day of the second moon, the " Festival of Mid-
Heaven " on the same day as the Dragon-Boat Festival,
and that of " Airing Clothes " (T'ien Kuang) on the sixth

102 China of the Chinese

day of the sixth moon — and, in conclusion, note briefly the
Feasts of the Moon and of the Kitchen God, celebrated on the
fifteenth day of the eighth moon and at the end of the twelfth
moon respectively. The former festival, which is first heard
of in the T'ang dynasty, formed with those of the Dragon
and New Year, the chief national fetes. As on other similar
occasions, much eating, drinking, and general amusement
accompanied by illuminations, music, and firing of crackers,
were indulged in for several days. At this time presents
and cakes all took the shape of the moon. At midnight on
the last day, the fifteenth, a great banquet was held, during
which the Goddess of the Moon was supposed to descend
from heaven to give ear to the wishes of mortals. This
festival developed out of the incident of the skilful archer
mentioned in describing the previous period.

As in China everything had its presiding deity, so was
there also a God of the Kitchen (Tsao Sheri). His festival
took its rise in the time of the Chin dynasty.

He had his altar in evefy kitchen> before
which candles and incense were burnt daily.

He fulfilled his duties without intermission from the beginning
of the year until the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth moon,
when it became necessary for him to return to heaven to
present his annual report. On the day of his departure a
sumptuous feast was prepared for him, so as to put him in
a good humour, and those who were sufficiently shrewd
were careful to include in the courses some syrup of special
stickiness, so that when he got to heaven his lips should be
sealed, and he would not be able to say too much about what
he had seen on earth. As, on the first day of the New Year,
his post was filled, not by himself but by another emissary
from the celestial regions, any threats of punishment or
revenge which mortals might otherwise have held over him,
were of no avail.

During the period of the Han dynasties, we read of the
swing being introduced from the north, and " used for

Ceremonial Institutions 103

practising smartness," first by men only and then by women,
who hung it with coloured cords. The magic lantern is said to
Swing owe i*s origm t° the grief of the emperor Wu
Magic at the death of his concubine, Li. Shao Weng,
Lantern. a native of Ch'i, said he could cause her to
reappear, and when night came set up a tent, and lit a
lantern in it. The emperor sat in another tent and looked
on, when lo ! he really saw the form of his concubine. " This/'
says the Chinese author, " is how we have the magic lantern
at the present day." Wooden figures which played at foot
ball and performed sword exercises, beat drums and played
the fife, are ascribed to one Ma Chun (third century A.D.),
who also " trained female musicians and
Planchette, dancing elephants." Planchette, tiddly-winks,
" cash-guessing," or " cash-spreading," the
object of which was to try to put four cash in a row in a
certain order ; " mora," and cock-fighting, are other games
we find referred to in the literature of this period. In the
following period (221-589) we find people in Spring playing
at drag-hook (t'o kou) or tug-of-war, the rope, made of bam
boo splints, being (doubtless not without
Tug-of-war. exaggeration) described as " several li long "
— a li at that time differing but little from
its present length, which is one-third of an English mile.
At each end the rope had several smaller ropes attached,
which were held by the players. The game may possibly
have been introduced by the Turks or Tartars, many of whom
at this time were in imperial employ. Games of rope-walking
and " hens' eggs " were played in open spaces,
Btt afl'ing> > companies of comedians, sometimes numbering
" Wooden 5,000, created diversion at the imperial Courts.
Rabbits." jn the literature of the following period

Poll' (589-960) we read of the game of

" patting butterflies," played by the royal
concubines in the palace, and of rabbits carved out of wood,
and shot at by men divided into " sides " and riding on

104 China of the Chinese

horseback . Jang was a game played by throwing a shoe-shaped
piece of wood on to another lying on the ground at a distance.
The earliest mention of polo occurs in the writings of a poet,
Shen Ch'iian-chi, who died in A.D. 713. It was a favourite
sport of the T'ang emperors, and was played not only by
members of the imperial family and by men before the Court,
but by " ladies on donkey-back, with inlaid saddles and
jewelled bridles," and even at night, " the ground being
illuminated by a huge display of candles."

Up to this time there had been theatrical performances,
but no drama proper. Well-organized plays only came
into use during the T'ang dynasty. They

seem to have origmated through the pro
hibition by the emperor Yuan Tsung,
(A.D. 720) of the licentious dances in place of which these
theatrical representations were instituted. Watching these
plays (a description of which will be given under " Aesthetic
Products ") has always been a popular form of amusement
with the Chinese.

In the Sung Period (960-1280) they played the games of

" putting the weight " and " flying tile," and the introduc-

" Putting the tion of card-Playing and the " night-passing

Weight " and chart " are ascribed to T'ai Tsu, who ordered

" Flying Tile. " the courtiers to practise them in order to

help them to pass the night. There is also

mention of dice and dominoes. The former were used in the

game of " horse-striking," which is thus described in the

Shih wu kan chu : " For the game of ta ma, horse-striking,

counters were used made of copper, ivory, or horn in the

shape of cash. It consisted of fifty-four pieces, on the upper

side of which were carved the names of good horses, which

were put on a square cloth chart. It was played by throwing

dice."

The Manchus do not seem to have introduced many new
games, though their emperors were fond of sport and kept
hunting-boxes. Most of the ancient forms of recreation and

Ceremonial Institutions 105

amusement continued to be in use, but the significant fact to be
observed is that generally they had given up most of the more

manly sports formerly practised. In open
Manchu ..,,.

Recreations spaces could be seen men lifting poles

headed with heavy stones, or playing
the old foot-shuttlecock, or flying kites, or sending tame
birds after seeds thrown into the air, or sitting on high ground
and listening to the singing of their cage-birds, or sauntering
through the fields or along the city walls. The games of
children, contrary to the impression which would be made
on a superficial observer, were numerous and varied, and
tended to develop strength, skill, quickness of action, the
parental instinct, accuracy, and sagacity. Nursery rhymes
showed tender affection, but toys were unscientific. Cricket
and quail fights were regarded as an amusement by young
and old. In the north, in winter, skaters, but usually in no
great numbers, could be seen on the canals and ponds.

During the last score of years or so the Chinese have shown
an inclination to adopt Western games and sports, but not

generally or independently, and chiefly in
Sports" connection with schools, colleges, and clubs,

owned or conducted by, or in association
with foreigners. Here they may be seen acquitting them
selves admirably at tennis, football, baseball, and other
manly outdoor sports, and proving that a race popularly
supposed to be able to " do without exercise " can take
up such comparatively violent forms of it as these without
apparently suffering any injury. And it is to be noted that
those who are doing so are largely recruits from the families
of the literary class, whose " burning of the midnight oil "
for many centuries has rendered them, as a class, anaemic
and wanting in physical stamina.

Of the changes in private home life since the close of the
Feudal ages, it is not necessary to write at length. The
Chinese home changed very little, if at all, during the two
thousand and more years which followed the establishment of

106 China of the Chinese

the first absolute monarchy. Within the last two decades,
however, greater freedom has been granted to women, and
Greater there has been a breaking-down of
Freedom in those barriers which until quite recently
Home Life, rendered Chinese homes and family life
a sealed book to the foreign observer. It is no longer a dis
grace involving " loss of face " for a foreigner to set foot
in the house of a Chinese gentleman, and during a visit his
wives and daughters are often present. Formerly the sight
of a " foreign devil " meant a general skedaddle on the part
of all the female members of the household, the only sign of
their existence thereafter being suppressed giggles from some
side apartment on the part of those whose curiosity had
prompted them to take a sly peep at the unwonted spectacle
through a crevice in the boards forming the wall of the room
or a small hole made by applying the moist tongue to the
surface of a Chinese window, then almost universally made
of thin paper, a substance which is now being rapidly
supplanted by glass.

Dining together has, of course, been a custom of the
Chinese since time immemorial, but until lately Chinese
and foreigners met at these functions only
Banquets. on official occasions or at a native restaurant.
Giving a dinner at a restaurant was con
sidered more complimentary than inviting the guest to
the host's house. It is now not uncommon for them to ask
foreigners to eat with them in their own homes, and to sit
and converse afterwards, instead of following the old rule
by which the guest took his departure immediately on the
conclusion of the meal. Official banquets, though still some
what trying functions, do not necessitate quite the same
physical endurance as they often did in days gone by. When
the late Li Hung-chang was Viceroy of Chih-li, with his
official residence at Tientsin, I often dined at His Excellency's
hospitable board. His guests were welcomed, as their official
chairs passed through the dense crowds surrounding the

Ceremonial Institutions 107

entrance to the yamen, by bands playing the appropriate
national anthem, the players putting their whole soul at
least into the production of the greatest possible volume of
sound. At the long tables Chinese and foreign guests were
seated alternately, and the banquet was of the kind which
was meant to suit both Eastern and Western tastes, Chinese
and foreign courses alternating and being accompanied
each by an appropriate wine. When it is considered that
there were about thirty-two courses in all, and that it was
" the thing " to partake of each, and also that, according
to Chinese etiquette, the system of what is called kan -pci
involved the emptying of the glass of wine each time one
was pressed to drink, and that these informal toasts were
proposed continually, all through the meal, by any Chinese
who happened to catch one's eye, it will be readily understood
that the function, pleasing and interesting though it was,
required a certain amount of physical endurance, and that
tired nerves were scarcely soothed by the over-loud blast
of trumpets which heralded the departure of each guest in
turn. Only the excellent quality of the food and beverages
averted any unpleasant after-effects.

CHAPTER V

POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS

GENERAL GOVERNMENT — FEUDAL PERIOD

HAVING observed the ceremonial which accompanied pro
pitiation of the dead and propitiation of the living, let us
note next the ecclesiastical and political structures arising
therefrom, taking the latter first. Political regulative struc
tures divide themselves into Civil and Military, and the
former into General and Local. Our first consideration,
therefore, is the subject of General Government.

In the earliest times the nation was regarded as a large
family of which the chief or king was the father. The main

divisions were thus the king and the people.
Patriarchalism. The group of leading men around the king

and those chosen to help him formed the
nucleus of the governmental administration. In China,
under the early patriarchal chieftains, the ablest citizen
was elected by the sovereign to succeed to the rulership
of the people, but with Yii the Great (2205-2197 B.C.)

succession in the male line of the king's family
Succession, was established. The sovereign was regarded

as holding his appointment by the will of
heaven. As in all undeveloped societies, he combined in his
kingship the duties of ruler, high priest, and commander-
in-chief. His palace was both a temple and an audience-
chamber. The tenure of his office was, however, dependent
upon the prosperity of the kingdom and the people. This
prosperity indicated the approval of heaven, or rather of
his ancestors in heaven, and when it failed it was the duty of
the most virtuous and powerful of the provincial princes
to depose him and reign in his stead. At a very early time,

108

Political Institutions 109

the country inhabited by the Chinese (which, we have seen,
was a comparatively small region to the north of the Yellow
River) was parcelled out by the chief among his lords, who
thus became rulers of small estates subject

to and modelled uP°n thc Plan of the " middle

kingdom." These lords had to present them
selves at the king's court four times in every five years, the
king making a tour of inspection to their States in the fifth.
From them he received revenue and military service, and
the neglect of any of these obligations was a sure sign that the
power of the central authority was on the wane. Another
indication of the same tendency was the lengthening, under
the Later Feudal Period, of the intervals between the king's
visits to twelve years. But after the beginning of the Chou
dynasty in 1122 B.C., with the consolidation of the feudal
system, the power of the king grew and remained supreme
for about three-and-a-half centuries, when it became more
and more nominal, the political condition finally degenerating
into one of anarchy for the remainder of the period.

The sovereign's great " family," the people, have always
been divided in China into four classes : — (1) Shih, Officers,

later called Scholars ; (2) Nung, Agricul-
The People, turists ; (3) Rung, Artisans ; and (4) Shang,

Merchants. The Shih included the Ch'en,
officials who carried on the governmental administration,
and the Shen Shih, a class of unofficial scholars, gentry, etc.,
including ex-officials and aspirants to office. It will be
noticed that there was thus no distinct class comprising
the nobility. As the Li Chi says : " There was nowhere
such a thing as being born noble." Nobility in China was
accessory to official rank ; thus a ch'en might belong to one
cr other of five (later three) orders of nobility. The orders
were : Duke (kung), Marquis (hou), Earl (po), Viscount (tzu),
and Baron (nan). They had territory assigned to them,
had gem-tokens, or symbols of nobility, of five grades, and
took rank in various degrees with the feudal princes.

110 China of the Chinese

Of the remaining divisions of the people, forming the

working classes, the agriculturists were placed first as being

Agriculturists the producers of the nation's food, and the

Artisans, artisans had precedence of the merchants,

and Merchants, because a merchant was a mere distributor

for profit of the goods made by others : a premium being

thus set upon productive industry. Below the four recognized

classes were the unclassed — servants, slaves, including

eunuchs, etc. Of the working classes only three nung and

one kung ever reached a higher rank.

For administrative purposes the country was at first
divided into nine chou, or provinces, containing a number

Administrative °f States> which at one time was as lar£e
Institutions, as 10,000. The Chou rulers also divided
Territorial the kingdom into nine provinces, each of
ns> which was about 1,000 li square and con
tained 210 States of three different sizes. The famous hills
and great meres, being regarded as belonging to the people,
were not included in the investitures. The Royal Demesne
contained ninety-three States. The rest of the ground
formed attached territories and unoccupied lands. Examina
tion of the system of land tenure reveals that the whole
kingdom was regarded as the property of the sovereign.

The seat of central government was, as we saw, not yet
permanently fixed in one place, but was not infrequently
transferred, sometimes for political reasons,
°f sometimes on account of danger from floods.
Naturally, the people at times found this some
what inconvenient, and an interesting chapter in the Classic
of History is devoted to the speech made by King P'an Keng
(1399-1373 B.C.) in order to persuade the people to follow him
when he wished to remove the capital to Yin,
Tribunals. but they " would not go to dwell there " — until
suasion was followed by threats of dire punish
ment. The king, as head of the executive, was aided by ministers
and an organized series of tribunals. His acts were subject to the

Political Institutions 111

control of the former, whose concurrence was requisite even in
appointments to office. It was their duty " freely and openly
to correct the sovereign's faults," and also to provide a supply
of good men for the service of the State.

The general plan of the administrative machinery was
to appoint two or three chief ministers, who exercised the
Scheme of functions of a Prime Minister as direct
Central advisers of the sovereign, and to entrust
Administration. tjie generai affairs of the nation to a small
number of special tribunals, the provincial administration
being in the hands of Feudal Lords. Each central and pro
vincial administrator had of course a body of officials under
him, both together constituting the complete administrative
hierarchy of the nation. The total number of officials was
at first not great, being in the times of Yao and Shun only
sixty and in that of Yii only 120. Of course, with the expan
sion of the empire and the multiplication of " posts," this
number increased enormously. To this subject we will
revert presently.

Under Yao the Great, the chief ministers were two func
tionaries known as Ssu Yiieh, Chief of the Four Mountains,
who was Adviser to the King and Controller of the Princes
of the various feudal States, and Po K'uei, General Regulator,
" employed to regulate all affairs of government." Then
came what were practically tribunals or government depart
ments : the Minister of Works, Forester, Minister of Religion,
Director of Music, Minister of Communications, and some
brothers named Hsi and Ho — either two or three of each —
forming a Board of Astronomy, to regulate the calendar
and so facilitate agriculture. (The meaning of the Chinese
words Hsi and Ho is, however, obscure, and may possibly
indicate a tribunal of celestial affairs — a college of priests,
who had to make offerings and address prayers to the gods.)
Over the affairs of the different provinces were twelve Mu,
Pastors or Lord-Lieutenants, who were under the control
of the Chief of the Four Mountains. Each Mu superintended

112 China of the Chinese

an unstated number of the Chu Hou, Feudal Lords or Nobles.
There was not as yet any distinction between civil and
administrative offices, the same individual
Administration. fulfilling functions subsequently separ
ated, nor was there any settled precedence
amongst the central administrative officers.

By Yao's successors certain changes were made. Shun
appointed Four Supporters and Three Officers to advise and
Changes under assist him in governing the nation. The
Yao's General Regulator was now the head of
Successors. ali the Ministers, preceding the Chief of the
Four Mountains, the Board of Astronomy had been abolished,
and Ministers of Agriculture, Instruction, and Crime had
been added, as well as a Regulator of Land and Water (classed
in some Chinese works next to the General Regulator), whose
main duty was to assign unoccupied lands to cultivators.
The provincial administration remained as before. Under
Yii, the founder of the Hsia dynasty, six great Ministers
were also appointed. These Liu Ch'ing, Six Leaders of Hosts,
also acted in a military capacity as leaders of the Liu Chun,
Six Armies, which composed the fighting force of the king.
The office of Official Recorder or Annalist, who filled an
important part in subsequent ages, is said by some to have
been in active operation at this time. There were now nine
Pastors over the affairs of the provinces. By the system
of the Shang dynasty, after the Left and Right Prime Ministers
and the three Chief Secretaries of State, who formed a sort
of Privy Council, came the six T'ai : the Secretary of State,
Minister of Ceremonies, Historian, High Priest or Minister
of Religion, Minister of Justice, and Diviner, (these six having
charge of the Liu Tien, six codes of governmental regulations) ;
and the five Kuan : the Ministers of Instruction, of War,
of Works, the Controller of Official Appointments, and
the Minister of Crime. Then followed the Six Treasurers
and the Six Overseers of Industries. The Princes of States
often resided at the imperial court, officers of the court

Political Institutions 113

being also sent forth as Princes of States. The whole kingdom
was divided into right and left parts, each under a Secondary
Earl. Subordinate to these were Governors of Regions
(Fang Po), who were the rulers of districts more than a
thousand li (333 miles) from the capital, i.e., outside the
Royal Demesne, Governors of Chou (210 States), Chiefs of
Tsu (thirty States), Commanders of Lien (ten States), and
Elders of Chang (five States).

Under the Chous, the San Ku (lit., " Three Conspicuous
Ones,") were added to the San Kung, the three statesmen
of the first rank who had hitherto assisted
the monarch> " discoursing of the principles
of reason, and adjusting the States ; harmo
nizing also and regulating the operations of Heaven and
Earth." The Ku were assistants to the Kung, but were not
subordinate officers of their departments, and, though both
had more or less authority in the administration of affairs,
this was almost entirely in the hands of the Six Chief Ministers
(Liu Ch'ing], namely, the Prime Minister, the Ministers of
Instruction, Religion, War, Crime, and Works.

These Six Chief Ministers, also known as the Officers of

Heaven, Earth, Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter,

The Six were the model on which the great adminis-

Great trative Boards of modern times were formed,

Ministries. ancj jt wjn ^e usefu] to give briefly from

the Classic of History and the Chou Li, or Institutes of the
Chou dynasty, the information there given concerning their
several functions.

The Prime Minister, or Officer of Heaven, presided over
the ruling of the various regions, and had authority over
all the other officers, though he was more
particularly concerned with the imperial
household, revenues, and records. He had
joint responsibility for the other five Ministries. His depart
ment was represented in the modern Manchu Period
(A.D. 1644-1912) by the Beard of Civil Office.

8-(238j)

114 China of the Chinese

The Minister of Education, or Officer of Earth, presided

over education in the States, diffusing a knowledge of

and inculcating the duties belonging to

Minister of the fjve relations of society (sovereign and

Education. ^-^ father and SOI1) elder brother and

younger, husband and wife, friend and friend), and "training
the millions of the people to obedience." His duties included
the study of the celestial signs and the preparation of the cal
endar as an aid to agriculture. " Since the broad masses of
the people were not supposed to know how to behave in the
various conditions of life, the second among the administra
tive divisions, that of Instruction, headed by the Mandarin
of Earth, had to take precautions for their welfare,
mandarin's jurisdiction extended to all the relations of
life • the occupations of the people, their trade, civil services,
religious duties, family matters, etc. The ordinary subject
was, even in his private life, under government control.
Thus a special mandarin was in charge of marriages. He had
to see that no man remained unmarried after the age of
thirty, girls being subject to marriage at twenty. The chief
duty of this department was the levying of taxes in accor
dance with a budget drawn up by the Prime Minister.
Mandarin of Earth acted also as a kind of justice of the peace.
Thousands of little rules had been made to prevent disorders
of any kind ; and in order to see that they were duly observed
both by the government agents charged with their execution
and the people who had to obey them, there were officers
who had to watch public life and denounce any irregularity. . .
All these measures were calculated to maintain the nation
in a state of general goodness ; and, lest the government
itself should fail in its sacred duties, there were the pao-shih,
officers endowed with power to reprimand the emperor
[king] himself if he was at fault ; the ssu shih, who had to in
struct the emperor and the sons of the empire (kuo tzu),
i.e., the elder sons of high officials, in all that is good and
virtuous ; and the ssu chien, or public remonstrators, who

Political Institutions 115

were expected to mix with the people in order to study their
lives, correct their faults, and report on any evils they might
discover. These officials, dependent upon the Mandarin
of Earth, may be said to have performed the functions of
preachers, though their duties had nothing to do with re
ligion, but merely with morality, virtue, and goodness,
pure and simple. Their subordination to a higher board
seems to indicate that they had not the political influence
exercised later on by the institute of Public Censors (yu
shih), which was not developed before the Ch'in and Han
dynasties." The fact that no fewer than eight out of the
forty-four books of the great code of the Chou dynasty are
devoted to the functions of the Mandarin of Earth and his
subordinate officers in itself sufficiently indicates the govern
ment's solicitude for the life of the people. The department
of the Minister of Education was represented under the
Manchus by the Board of Revenue.

The Minister of Religion, or Officer of Spring, presided
over the sacred ceremonies of the country, regulated the
Ministe services rendered to the spirits and manes,

Religion.0 and " ma-de harmony between high and
low." The extent of these duties will be
understood when it is stated that the manner in which
sacrifices were to be made to these spirits and manes was
regulated by thousands of petty rules, which reveal to us
how saturated with superstition was the life of the people.
" The art of obtaining omens from the unseen spirits,"
either by means of the pa kua, or Eight Diagrams, a system
of combinations of broken and unbroken lines, or of the
marks on the carapace of a tortoise scorched by fire, or
of the interpretation of dreams, observation of the stars, etc.,
formed part of the duties of this department, and so we read
of such official posts as the " Grand Diviner," " Master of
Divination," " Keeper of the Tortoises," " Preparer of the
Wood," and " Observer and Interpreter of the Prognostics."
They were all required to be " men far removed from the

116 China of the Chinese

disturbing influence of passion and prejudice." The Ministry

of Religion was represented by the modern Board of Ceremonies.

The Minister of War, or Officer of Summer, presided

over the military administration of the country, commanded

the Six Hosts, and " secured the tran-

Mi W?/ °f <luillity of the States." There was at this

time no standing army, but when soldiers

were required, the necessary levies were made by the Minister

of Education, or Officer of Earth, who was in charge of

the affairs of the people, and placed by him at the disposal

of the Officer of Summer, who was Commander-in-Chief

under the King. This Ministry was the prototype of the

modern Board of War.

The Minister of Crime, or Officer of Autumn, presided

over the prohibitions of the country, " searched out the

villainous and secretly wicked, and punished

MlCrime °f oppressors and disturbers of the peace."

He and his subordinates meted out justice

in criminal cases, legalized state and private contracts, and,

through his " Great Traveller " and " Small Traveller,"

kept the king informed concerning the condition of the

feudatory States and their population, and indeed of all

that was going on throughout the kingdom, and discharged

also the duties relating to the reception of ambassadors

or visitors from abroad and from the feudatory States.

These Travellers, who were also a kind of police inspectors,

in order effectually to discharge their duties, convened

periodical meetings of the court interpreters, musicians,

and official historians. The Ministry of Crime was represented

in modern times by the Board of Punishments.

The Minister of Works, or Officer of Winter, presided

over the land of the kingdom, settled the

M Works °f ^our c^asses °f tne people, and " secured at

the proper seasons the produce of the ground."

The portion of the Classical Work describing this department

having been lost at an early period, for information concerning

Political Institutions 117

this Ministry we have to fall back on the K'ao kung chi,
or " Record of Public Works," a work written in the Han
dynasty to fill the gap. Unfortunately, however, instead
of describing the administrative functions of this important
public department, it deals instead, in great detail, with the
arts and industries of the period. But we gather from the
Shu Ching that this Minister acted as " overseer of the
unoccupied " allotting lands for cultivation and townships.
The modern representative of this office was the Board of Works.

Each of these Chief Ministers had under him a corps of

sixty principal officers, making a total executive of 360,

Number which coincided with the number of heavenly

of Executive bodies known to the Chinese at that time.
Officers. Both then and since, their systems have
revealed a close adherence to nature.

The Recorders or Annalists, previously referred to, were
advisers to the Prime Minister and to the heads of the chief
State departments. They were subordinate
to the Minister of Religion, and divided into
several classes, such as Recorder of the
Interior, Recorder of the Exterior, etc. They wrote on tablets
the charges of the king, read to him memorials on business
from different parts of the country, and had charge of the
documents containing the material for the histories of the
various States as well as of foreign nations.

The feudal States had Ministers of Instruction, War,

and Works, with numerous subordinates. The first had

Provincial a^so *ne duties of Prime Minister, the second

Administrative those of Minister of Religion, and the third

Departments. those of Minister of Crime.

The Shu Ching, or Classic of History, summarizes the
system of administration adopted by the founders of this

Su mar of illustrious line of kings as follows — •

Administration " ^o establish their government, they had the

men of office, the officers of law, and the pastors,

and these appointments were their three concerns. They had also

their guards; their officers of the robes; their equerries; their heads of

118 China of the Chinese

petty officers; their personal attendants; their various overseers; and
their treasurers. They had their governors of larger assigned cities
and of the smaller; their men of arts; the overseers whose offices were
beyond the court; their grand historiographers; and their chiefs of
direction: all good men of constant virtue."

The ages of the early kings — Yao, Shun, Yii, and the
founders of the Chou dynasty — are regarded by the Chinese

as the " good old days," when justice was
Government* ^one an<^ ^ey could carry on their occupations

in peace. This happy result is attributed
to the absence of the use of force as a means of governing
the nation. " In those times of wise antiquity," says Dr.
Legge, the translator of the Chinese Classics, " forceful control
was not the way of sovereigns and ministers, but a cautious
accordance with nature and circumstances." " The idea
of what has been denominated ceremonial government,"
says another writer, " meets us in the opening pages of the
Shutting. . . . The Emperor Shun ... is represented
as bringing his refractory subjects to submission by the
celebration of a religious pageant in the temple of his
ancestors. Later writers say that the monarchs of that
period knew how to employ moral forces in place of physical ;
or, as they express it, they secured the peace of the empire
by merely displaying their embroidered robes ; which means
that they maintained in their palaces an imposing ceremonial,
and caused their example to be followed, as far as possible,
by officers and people." And again : " As in Egypt the
position of the scribe was open to the ambition of every class,
so in China the lower offices of State were open to all, and
promotion by merit was, in theory at least, an essential
part of the constitution." We get an idea of the will to

do justice on the part of these early rulers
The Will to from many references occurring in native

works. In the Kang chien hui tsuan, for
example, we read that Shun, who followed in Yao's footsteps —

" enacted the ' Five Criminal Laws ' and ' Five Punishments,' and
instituted the ' Five Rites ' and ' Five Garments ' for the better
regulation of his subjects. Also, in order that he might avail himself

Political Institutions 119

of public opinion, he had a tablet placed outside his official residence
whereon anyone could criticize his administration. He put questions
to the people in the Ming T'ang [or ' Hall of Distinction/ a kind of
joint national Council Chamber and temple], asking for the names of
bad characters. He established the Upper and Lower Academies for
the accommodation of the Elders of the Gentry whose examples were
good enough to be followed by others. He also built educational
institutions."

Every three years there was an examination of merits,
and after three examinations the undeserving officials were

degraded, and the deserving promoted. The
Yiis Nine Great Yii was equally zealous for the welfare

of his people, his solicitude going to the length
of having nine vases manufactured bearing delineations of
the objects of nature, that the people might distinguish be
tween good and evil spirits and no longer be assailed by
terrors in the forests and by the waters, learning thus what
regions were habitable and what not. Also —

" every year in the first month of spring, the herald with his wooden-
tongued bell goes along the roads, proclaiming, ' Ye officers able to
direct, be prepared with your admonitions. Ye workmen engaged
in mechanical affairs, remonstrate on the subject of your business !
If any of you disrespectfully neglect this requirement, the country
has regular punishments for you.' "

Owing to the undifferentiated state of the political struc
ture, the king combined with his other duties that of law
maker, or was at least the source of legisla-
Legislation. tion as well as administrator of justice,
both as Judge and Judge of Appeal. Under
Shun, however, there was, as we have seen, a Minister of
Crime. And here the Chinese historian found himself con
fronted by a paradox. If, in this " golden age," when " all
was virtue, happiness, and prosperity," the character of the
people was so high that, as is alleged, even articles lost on
the road were left to be found by their rightful owners,
and it was unnecessary to close house-doors at night, why
were there laws and punishments and a Minister of Crime ?

120 China of the Chinese

The commentators extricated themselves from the predica
ment by saying that, though the laws had been established,
it was unnecessary to enforce them. Ma Yung says : " None
made themselves obnoxious to them. There were the represen
tations but not the criminals " ; and the representations
were supposed to have exercised a sufficiently deterrent
effect. A modification of this position is found in the Yuan
chien lei han, where it is stated that " in the time of Yao
and Shun there were laws, but no means for their enforce
ment " — until Shun's Minister of Crime instituted the
Five Punishments. This inversion of the usual order of
evolution, however, is evidently due to an over-estimate
of the virtues of the primitive Chinese. The cruelty of the
recorded punishments, which we will note when dealing with
Laws, can hardly have come about except as a reaction
against serious crimes. The prevalence of vices of various
kinds is shown by the exhortations against them. The
people of Hsia, Shang, and Chou are said to have " exceeded
in lewdness." Wanton cruelty in warfare, cannibalism,
luxury, and drunkenness prevailed. These and many other
transgressions, which " jump to the eye " as one reads the
Chinese Classical Books, seem to an unbiased student, apart
from the modern question as to the greater efficacy of lenient
punishments, sufficient explanation of the existence both
of the laws and the means for their enforcement in ancient
as in modern China.

The office of the Minister of Crime combined both judicial
and executive functions. He " adapted the punishments
to the offences for which they were inflicted,

and made the law clear in order to deal
with criminal charges and litigations." Be
fore capital punishment could be pronounced on a criminal,
" the most minute and rigid rules had to be observed ;
appeals were made first to a board of high officers, then to
a commission composed of officers of lower rank, and lastly
to the people themselves ; and it appears that the people's

Political Institutions 121

verdict was final, somewhat like that of the juries of modern
civilized nations, the sovereign alone having the right to
pardon." Princes had the power of life and death in their
own States. Extreme care against injustice was inculcated.
Says the Li Chi —

" If a party had the intention, but there was not evidence of the
deed, the charge was not listened to. Where a case appeared as
doubtful, it was lightly dealt with; where it might be pardoned, it
was (still) gravely considered."

The evidence in a criminal case having been all taken
and judgment given —

" the clerk reported the case to the director of the district, who heard
it and reported it to the Grand Minister of Crime. He also heard it
in the outer court [lit., ' under the Zizyphus trees,' which were planted
in the o\iter court of audience, and under which the different Ministers
of the court had their places], and then reported it to the king, who
ordered the three ducal ministers, with the minister and director,
again to hear it. When they had once more reported it to the king,
he considered it with the three mitigating conditions [ignorance,
mistake, or forgetfulness], and then only determined the punishment."

In the Classic of History we find laid down a maxim which
does credit to the insight of the rulers of those early times :
" Remember," it says, " that the end of punishment is to
make an end of punishing."

In a country in which the value set upon agriculture
was shown by the agriculturist being given precedence
of all the other working classes, it might be
Revenue. expected that the taxation of land would
form the chief source of the revenue necessary
to defray the expense of carrying on the government. Con
sequently we find that land and personal service formed
Land the mainstay of taxation. The main objects

and Personal of Chinese financial methods, as one authority
Service. jias expressed it, were " feeding the people,
and feeding on the people." Taxation, however, was generally
light, and seldom exceeded a tithe. A low rate of taxation
was, indeed, regarded as an essential part of good adminis
tration ; Mencius looked upon it as indispensable to the
attainment of the objects of a sage's government, " which

122 China of the Chinese

was only done when grain and pulse were made to be as
abundant as water and fire." Other sources of revenue
in these early times were taxes on forests,
marshes, cocoons, markets, the salt and
iron monopoly, cloth paid as poll-tax or as
fines, leather, horns, bones, sinews, delicacies, etc. (to be
stored in the various Treasuries), and a proportion of the
incomes of artisans, merchants, fishermen, and foresters.
The princes' offerings and tribute of different
Tribute. kinds helped further to fill the government
coffers. The Classical Book of Poetry says
that the barbarous tribes of Central China sent in as tribute
" metals extracted from the mines in the south. They also
sent elephants' teeth." Some of the tribes in the present
district of Canton " brought crabs and frogs, others brought
snakes and crickets." The Classic of History tells us that
" the wild people of the islands brought dresses of skins " ;
" the people of the western tribe of Liu sent in as tribute
some of their hounds " ; " the nearer and more remote
wild tribes have all made offerings of the productions of their
countries — clothes, food, and vessels for use " ; and " men
and women bring their baskets full of azure and yellow silks,
to show forth the virtue of us the kings of Chou." A curious
Extra device for raising funds, which would have
Inducement to been regarded at that time in the East in
quite a different light from that in which
it would now be regarded in the West, was the establishment
of 300 depots of courtesans for traders from neighbouring
States, they by this extra inducement being persuaded
to bring to the country " all kinds of merchandise " which
might perchance have found a market elsewhere.

For the control of the revenue, nine different boards of
administration were instituted. The Chief
Minister determined the expenditure of the
States on a thirty years' average, " regulating
the outgoing by the income."

Political Institutions 123

MONARCHICAL PERIOD

Having observed the general scheme of the administrative

system, it will be unnecessary to detail any but the most

important changes during succeeding periods,

ihe°Em eror because> though names were changed, the
principal features of the structure remained
the same. In place of a number of separate States owning
a more or less loose allegiance to the sovereign of the " middle
kingdom," or of States owning no allegiance to anybody,
but fighting amongst themselves for supremacy, we have
now an empire united under one sovereign whose power
was absolute and universal. The " Son of Heaven " was
regarded as the owner of everything under the heavens,
not excepting the bodies of his subjects, who were his slaves
and whose lives were at his mercy. This was shown very
decisively shortly after the establishment of the monarchy,
in the drastic measures which, as we have seen, were resorted
to by the " First Emperor " of burning the Classical Books,
and burying alive 460 men of letters for " making mention
of the past so as to blame the present." The literati were,
however, found to be indispensable, and were soon restored
to their former status, becoming once more advisers and
spiritual auxiliaries of the temporal power. As a class they
were skilful teachers, and had a lasting influence on the
national life.

Next to the change in the character of the kingship, we
have to note a natural sequence of the warlike measures

The Military ^y which the monarchy had been established

Held in in the precedence now given to military

Esteem. over civil officials. Thus at the head of

the executive, next to the sovereign, we find the T'ai Wei,

Great Pacifier, uniting in one office both civil and military

duties. Under him were a Left and Right Prime Minister,

Grand and Palace Secretaries, and then the important

Chiu Ch'ing, Nine Ministers, or rather Ministries, the

124 China of the Chinese

remaining palace, metropolitan, and provincial officials
completing the hierarchy.

The division of the country was not now into States,
but into Provinces, known as ckiin, and thirty-six in number.
The chiin, originally a feudal fief, corn-
Division into pj-jsed several hsien districts, which, we
Provinces. . .....

shall see, survived as the administrative

unit into modern times.

The House of Han, following the Ch'in, adopted the same
system, but, as the empire settled down, the post of Great
Pacifier was abolished. The office of Prime
Minister was now single, now double, and
even treble, as under the Later Han dynasty.
In place of the Great Pacifier was instituted a Minister of
War, who, like the Ministers of Education and Works, held
an executive office of the highest importance. In 32 B.C.,
five Secretaries of State were appointed, one of whom was
made a P'u Yeh, a high functionary who was originally
a Director of Archery, and the others the Ssu Ts'ao, Four
Boards. The latter, to which two more were afterwards
added, corresponded to the six Pu, or Boards of modern times.
Their duties related to matters of Civil Office, Provincial
Administration, Revenue, Foreigners and Barbarians, and
Justice. The Lu Shang Shii, Directors of Affairs, became
important functionaries, exercising great executive and
judicial power, and being the first Ministers of State in
attendance on the Sovereign. As Shang Shu, Secretaries
or Presidents of the great administrative Boards, we find
them playing an important part in national affairs up to the
end of the Manchu Period.

In place of the Mu, or Pastors, of earlier times, we find

the provincial administration now in the hands of Inspecting

Origin of Historiographers, who were scattered over

the the empire to collect information for the

Censorship. Sovereign. After undergoing many changes

of form, this office developed about 400 years later, when

Political Institutions 125

the empire was again re-united under the Sui dynasty, into
the Censorship. The " eyes and ears of the emperor " com
posing this important department will be more fully noticed
presently when glancing at the administration under the
rule of the Manchus.

Under the Hans was instituted, in 29 B.C., the system of
literary examinations for appointments in the government

service. These examinations consisted in
Examination
System for tests of proficiency in the writing of themes

Government On passages selected from the native Classics
1 s> and in caligraphy, a single character wrongly
written disqualifying the candidate. The tests took place
in what have been called by foreigners " Examination Halls,"
but it would be more correct to describe them as one or
more " Examiner's Halls " — raised on stone platforms and
built, of course, in the native style of architecture with
high curved roofs — surrounded by thousands of small cells,
arranged in rows of ten or more, each row open only in front
and facing the blank wall that formed the back of the row
in front of it. Each row had an index character of great
size painted on the outer surface of the side wall of the end
cell, so that candidates could easily find their allotted com
partments. In these cells they stayed, with their necessary
food and bedding, for three periods of three days each, the
test being thus by no means a slight one. Within the last
few years these large compounds full of thousands of cells,
being since the abolition of the system which called them
into existence no longer required, have been obliterated in
most cities, though some are still to be seen where the large space
of ground they occupy has not been wanted for other purposes.

Incidentally it may be mentioned that nat only has
want of success at these examinations been the causa causans
of some Chinese literary masterpieces, but in one case it had
very important and far-reaching results. To the failure of
Hung Hsiu-ch'iian to satisfy the examiners was due the
T'aip'ing Rebellion, which cost 20,000,000 lives.

126 China of the Chinese

The size to which, from its small beginnings, the adminis
trative hierarchy had already grown may be judged from
the fact that, at about the time when the.

Hierarchy013 examination system was introduced, the

number of government employees is stated

to have been no less than 130,285, and this notwithstanding

the action of the emperor Kuang Wu (A.D. 25-58) in uniting

various offices and reducing the number of officials.

The character of the imperialism which dominated the
nation is further shown by the emperor's being still Legis-

Government lator-in-Chief and in the fact that the judicial

Functions Un- and revenue were not differentiated from

differentiated, ^he executive functions. At times we even
find judicial officers in control also of fiscal and postal matters.
Curiously enough, we read that taxation was not burden
some, and that justice was properly administered. The
latter, however, varied greatly at different periods, and seems
to have depended in large measure upon the character of
the sovereign; and, as the fortunes of the House of Han
declined, it too seems to have shared in the general deterioration.

Keeping in mind the essential elements of the governmental

structure — the Ruler, the Prime Minister, the Secretaries

System at End or Presidents of the great Departments of

of Monarchical State, and the Provincial Governors — we

Period. mav now pass ^o ^g en(j of ^e Monarchical

Period and briefly observe the system then in existence,
before noting the great change which resulted from its
abolition on the overthrow of the Manchu supremacy. We
find the emperor still supreme, the vicegerent of heaven,
the religious, administrative, legislative, judicial, and military

head of the nation. Theoretically unlimited,
The Emperor, his power was, however, much curtailed

by public opinion, which took as its test
the character of the monarch and the prosperity of the
kingdom, as well as by the absence of an efficient standing
army and by the unscrupulousness of those employed by

Political Institutions 127

him as the agents of his power. As an indication of the
importance attaching to the kingship, it is interesting to
note that in Peking the Imperial City occupies about one-
sixth of the area covered by the Tartar City and about
one-tenth of the Tartar and Chinese Cities combined. And
this was the place of residence of the emperor : the adminis
trative boards, etc., were outside the wall by which it was
enclosed. The difference between Western and Eastern ideas of
the attributes of monarchy in this respect becomes apparent if we
try to imagine the grounds of Buckingham Palace as occupying
one-sixth or even one-tenth of the total area of London.
The right of succession continued to be hereditary in the
male line, though the heir might be chosen at will by the
Sovereign. If anyone not of the natural

Succession jssue was chosen it was necessary for him
to Throne. J

to be adopted as a son, so that the

requirements of ancestor-worship might be fulfilled.

Of the four classes — the Scholars (divided into Officials
and Gentry), Agriculturists, Artisans, and Merchants — the

official section was still appointed after
Officials. public competitive examination based on

the old classical curriculum, though office
was purchasable and its sale a recognized proceeding. Officials
were arranged in nine ranks, known as the Chiu P'in (dating,
according to different authorities, either from A.D. 220 or 554),
distinguished by coloured knobs or " buttons " (introduced
in A.D. 1730) worn on the cap, a square embroidered badge
on the breast and back of the official dress, and a clasp on
the girdle. There were nine military p'in corresponding to
the nine civil p'in, the badges of the former representing
wild animals and those of the latter birds of gay plumage.
What in European countries would constitute a nobility

was represented in China by hereditary
"Nobility" rewards for merit bestowed upon an official

by the Sovereign. These rewards did not
confer any aristocratic position on the recipients and lasted

128 China of the Chinese

only for a fixed number of lives, though there were a few
(only two amongst the Chinese and a very small number
amongst the Manchus) which were " hereditary for ever."
The usual ranks of the " nobility " were as before, the Duke,
Marquis, Earl, Viscount, and Baron, these being conferred
for military merit.

The power of the class called by foreigners the " Gentry "
had by this time considerably increased. It was composed, as

heretofore, chiefly of the unemployed literati,
„ £ te >. who in many ways assisted the rulers on the

one hand and the people on the other, formed
the public opinion of the country, and controlled most of the
property. To it was largely due the absence of a privileged
oligarchy and a landed aristocracy. By its democratic
influence and continued instruction in the political rights
and duties propounded in the classical writings, it saved the
people from reverting to feudal disintegration. It served
as a buffer between extortionate rulers and the working
classes and was swayed by sound common sense and
reasonableness. The agricultural, artisan, and merchant
classes held the same relative positions as before. Women
took no part in public affairs, but Manchu women enjoyed
greater freedom than the Chinese, were until recently not
secluded in the " women's apartment," as the Chinese women
were, and possessed social and legal rights, unknown to the
latter. The theory of the emperor's being the owner of every
body and everything under heaven precluded people from
possessing any right or property per se, and there was no

liberty of the kind so-called in Western
of*he People countries- Emigration was contrary to the

law, and only took place to any extent
under treaty provisions made with foreign nations after war
had opened various ports to foreign trade. The Chinese
showed no inclination to leave their native land, the emi
grants being drawn almost exclusively from the coolie or
labouring class, who proceeded under contract to the Straits

Political Institutions 129

Settlements and other tropical countries, and m most cases
returned to China after having accumulated sufficient means
to live comfortably at home. The most marked class-dis
tinction was that between officials and non-officials, which was
practically a distinction between rulers and ruled ; other
inequalities had their root in property, merit, or occupation.
The unclassed were comparatively few. Besides slaves,
criminals, executioners, police-runners, beggars, actors, bar
bers, jugglers, certain boat-people and others at Canton,
Ningpo, etc., and all " vile or vagrant persons," including
aliens, were debarred from entering for the public examina
tions until they had for three generations pursued some
" honourable and useful employment." Slaves were either
prisoners of war, slaves by purchase, or those who had become
slaves voluntarily or by birth. Of whatever origin, all slaves
were alike in their position and treatment. Once slaves
they were always slaves, and their children inherited all
their disabilities. The emperor Yung Cheng (1723-36)
abolished some of the worst forms of slavery, making certain
classes free citizens, including those persons who were not
allowed to live on land and whose wives and daughters
could be kidnapped with impunity. Only in the reign of
Ch'ien Lung (1736-96) were descendants of slaves allowed
by law to redeem themselves, either by conspicuous bravery
in warfare or by money payment. One of the severest laws
in the code was the fugitive slave law, by which anyone
harbouring a runaway slave was liable to decapitation and
his neighbours to banishment.

Under the Manchus, Peking (which had been the Ming
capital from 1411 onwards) remained the seat of central
government. The fifteen provinces of the
Mm§s were increased to eighteen (Shih-pa
Sheng, the Eighteen Provinces), sub-divided
into Departments and Districts. The Three Eastern Provinces
(the native land of the Manchus) were organized on a military
basis.

9— (3383)

130 China of the Chinese

The Manchus introduced but few modifications into the
government system, the Grand Council and the Board of
Foreign Affairs being those specially
Institutions, calling for notice. The former was estab
lished in 1644, the latter in 1861. From the
first consolidation of the Manchu rule the administration
had been carried on by the Grand Council and the Six Boards
(Civil Appointments, Rites, Revenue, War, Justice, and
Works), to which we have already referred. In 1906 the
central administration was remodelled. We then find it
as follows : At the head of the administrative institutions
was the Grand Council of State or Privy Council, presided
over by the emperor, and having no special functions, but
comprising a Cabinet composed of Ministers
The Grand indeterminate in number, but usually about
Council. five or six, holding other substantial offices,
who dealt with all matters of general adminis
tration, their meetings being held at dawn so as not to
interfere with the duties of other departments, performed
during the day. From 1732 this Council was designated
the Place of Military Plans, a name derived from the practice
of the Manchu emperors of treating public affairs as on a
military footing. In the new reorganization it was main
tained, with the altered title given above, but otherwise
not changed in character.

Next to the Cabinet came the Grand Secretariat or Imperial

Chancery composed of two Manchus and two Chinese, chosen

from the most distinguished officers of the

Secretaria? State- This department, representing the

San Kung and San Ku of ancient times,

became relatively unimportant after the organization of

the Grand Council.

After the capture of Peking by the allied British and
French forces in 1861, a Bureau, known as the Tsungli
Yamen, was established to deal with foreign affairs, which up
to that time had been under the control of the Board for the

Political Institutions 131

Administration of Vassal Countries (Mongolia, Turkestan,
and Tibet), which used to come next in order to the Imperial

The Ministry Chancery but was now placed under the
of Foreign department of Foreign Affairs. In 1901,
Affairs. the year after the " Boxer " outbreak,
the Tsungli Yamen, the ranking of which next to
the Grand Council indicated the importance which foreign
affairs had acquired, was transformed into the Wai Wu Pu,
or Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and later into the Wai Chiao
Pu, or Ministry of Foreign Relations. The Tsungli Yamen
had the supervision of modern education, telegraph lines,
construction of arsenals and coast defences, customs
revenue, etc., its staff being formed of members of the other
departments of the administration. The Wai Wu Pu had
similar functions and was composed of ten members, all
Presidents or Vice-Presidents of other Boards, including
most of the members of the Grand Council. Four special
departments had charge of the affairs of Great Britain,
France, Russia, and the United States.

In 1906, the Six Boards, the great departments which
dealt with the principal affairs of State, were remodelled,
and their number increased to ten, dealing
with Civil Appointments, Home Affairs,
Finance, Education, Justice, War, Agri
culture, Works, and Commerce (corresponding to matters
relating to the three classes of agriculturists, artisans, and
merchants), Posts and Communications, Rites, and Public
Safely or Constabulary. To these a Board of Admiralty
was subsequently added. It will be noticed that such matters
as modern education were no longer to be dealt with under
the heading of " foreign affairs."

Besides the Boards, the following bodies remained in exis-
other tence during the Manchu Period up to the

Administrative time of this reorganization ; the Imperial

Departments. Academy or Supreme College of Literature
(Han Lin Yuan), destroyed in the hostilities of 1900 (composed

132 China of the Chinese

of all the literati who had passed the " Palace Examination ") ;
the Censorate or Court of Censors, the Grand Court of Revision
(of Criminal Law), the Imperial Board of Astronomy, the
Court of Sacrificial Worship, and the Court of State Ceremonial.
The Censorate was composed of Manchus and Chinese
recruited in equal proportions from the various adminis
trative departments. The censors were a
The Censorate. privileged body who animadverted on the
conduct of the emperor himself in cases
of alleged injustice, illegality or extravagance. Occasionally
they went too far and were degraded for their unpalatable
advice. They also, when they saw fit, censored the per
formance or neglect of duties by any other officials. They
received appeals made to the emperor, either by the people
against the officials, or by subordinate officials against their
superiors. In conjunction with the Ministry of Justice,
they exercised an oversight in all criminal cases, and
superintended the workings of the different Boards.

The provinces were under a hierarchy composed of a

Governor-General or Viceroy, who ruled, usually, over two

provinces and had special powers over the

Provincial military forces, a Governor (one over each
Administration. v

province, except three), a Provincial Treasurer,

Provincial Judge, Salt Comptroller, Grain Intendant, In-
tendant of Circuit (Taot'ai), administering two or more
Prefectures (fu), Prefect, Department Magistrate, and Dis
trict Magistrate. This body of provincial civil servants
was usually spoken of as fu mu kuan, " parental officials,"
or " fathers and mothers of the people," they being regarded
as standing in loco parentis to all under their jurisdiction.
The District Magistrate was the administrative unit. There
were in all about 1,300 of this rank. His duties were of a
multifarious nature, and are thus well described by Professor
Parker in his China (pp. 171-2) —

" The hicn magistrate is the very heart and soul of all official life
and emolument, his dignity and attributes, in large centres such as
Canton or Chungking, not falling far short in many respects of those of

Political Institutions 133

the Lord Mayor of London. His comparatively low ' button '-rank
places him in easy touch with the people, whilst his position as the
lowest of the yu-sz, or ' executive,' clothes him with an imperial status
which even a viceroy must respect. He is the lowest officer on whom
the Emperor himself (at times) directly confers an appointment.
He is so much identified with the soul of ' empire,' that the Emperor
or Government itself is elegantly styled hien-kwan, or the ' district
magistrate.' He is judge in the first instance in all matters whatso
ever, civil or criminal, and also governor of the gaol, coroner, sheriff,
mayor, head-surveyor, civil service examiner, tax-collector, registrar,
lord-lieutenant, aedile, chief bailiff, interceder with the gods; and, in
short, what the people always call him — ' father and mother officer.'
He cuts a very different figure in a remote country district from that
accepted by him in a metropolis like Canton, where he is apt to be
overshadowed by innumerable civil and military superiors; just as
in London the Lord Mayor is outshone by the Court and the Cabinet
Ministers. In his own remote city he is autocratic and everybody.
He has no technical training whatever, except in the Chinese equivalent
for ' Latin verse '; he has a permanent staff of trained specialists who
run each department for him, share the plunder with him, and keep
themselves well in the background. If a weak man, he is at the mercy
of these tools, and also of his ' belly-band,' i.e., the man who advances
the money for him first to secure and then to reach his post. But,
if a strong man, he soon transforms all these into contributory
' suckers ' of the sponge he personally clutches."

There was thus no special deliberative or advisory body.

The emperor, when necessary, took council with the heads

No of the various tribunals. The two imperial

Deliberative councils were organs of communication be-
Body. twcen him and the body politic, partaking
of a deliberative nature, but there was no such thing as
an electorate or popular representation of any sort, the
people being still regarded as the slaves of their imperial
master, the emperor. We find also a remainder of an earlier
state of things in the comparative independence of the
provinces, each of which was " sufficient unto itself," and
was not unduly interfered with by the central government.
To quote Professor Parker (China, pp. 169-70) —

" So long as the provincial government sends its Peking supplies,
administers a reasonable sop to its clamorous provincial duns, quells
incipient insurrections, gives employment to its army of ' expectants,'
staves off foreign demands, avoids ' rows ' of all kinds, and, in a word,
keeps up a decent external surface of respectability, no questions are
asked; all reports and promotions are passed; the Viceroy and his

134 China of the Chinese

colleagues 'enjoy happiness,' and everyone makes his 'pile.' The
Peking Government makes no new laws, does nothing of any kind
for any class of persons, leaves each province to its own devices, and,
like the general staff of an army organization, both absorbs successful
men, and gives out needy or able men to go forth and do likewise.
Hence every man, be he squeezer, middle-man, or squeezed, has, or
hopes to have, a finger in the pie. There is no snobbery in China,
though there is plenty of priggishness. Any peasant or greengrocer
can study or bribe his way up, and no Chinaman is ashamed of his
poor relations. Thus there is a sort of live and let live feeling all
round. The fat is there, and the fire is there: it is for each man to
burn his fingers or feast withal, as luck and wriggling may have
it. There are no passports, no restraints on liberty, no frontiers, no
caste prejudices, no food scruples, no sanitary measures, no laws
except popular customs and criminal statutes. China is in many
senses one vast republic, in which personal restraints have no existence.
The Manchus, as the ruling race, have certainly a few privileges, but,
on the other hand, they suffer just as many disabilities. Barbers,
play-actors, and policemen are under a mild tabu — more theoretical
than real; but aboriginal ' barbarians ' can easily become Chinese by
reading books and putting on breeches. Indeed, there is an official
expression for this transmogrification, called ' changing the autoch
thonous into the current.' All men are equal before the Emperor,
and all have fairly equal chances of his smiles and frowns. The only
thing is to adhere to custom, and not to overdo things: above all, to
respect the person of the Emperor as represented by the official uniform
(always worn in public) of a mandarin, be he great or small. This
being the happy-go-lucky condition of high office in China, there is
(apart from special causes) no jealousy or class feeling in the country:
it is simply a question of big fish feeding on little fish, unless and
until the little fish can keep out of the way, eat their way up, and
become big fish themselves."

Though the emperor was, as before, the source of legisla
tion, he was not considered as " above the law," but as bound
to rule according to the established code.
Procedure ^ persons having complaints to make
had to address themselves in the first instance
to the lowest tribunal of justice in the district, the matter
being transferred to higher tribunals if necessary. Courts
were supposed to be always open for the transaction of
business. The ideal magistrate was one who hardly ever
left his yamen, unless it were on business, ceremonial or
other, such as disguising himself and acting the part of a
private detective in order to acquire knowledge of some
particular case or general information as to the condition

Political Institutions 135

of his district or the disposition of the people. The state
ment of a case was always made in writing in the form of
a ping, or " petition," and the official concerned was re
quired to act upon it immediately. The final appeal was
to the Emperor, but only through the Board of Punishments.
Executive and judicial functions were not distinct. Parties
managed their own cases, there being no " counsel " as
known in Western countries. The nearest approach to the
latter were the " law experts," but these assisted the judge
and not the parties to the suit. The magistrate acted as
cross-examiner, and put on record his statement of the case
and the decision arrived at. Offenders could not be punished
before confession. Bail was personal, prisoners were ill-
treated, the verdict almost invariably went to the longer
purse. Prisons were badly managed and usually filthy. The
duel was unknown, and the ultima ratio of a suitor was a
public appeal for redress.

Each province being required to support itself and to furnish
a surplus for the needs of the central government, taxes of
various kinds were imposed to meet both

theSe ends' There Were land taX6S' S1^11
taxes, customs dues, mining royalties, the

salt monopoly, tea tax, likin (a tax imposed from 1852 on
traders to meet the expenses of the T'aip'ing rebellion), sales
of titles and office, tribute, etc. In the earliest times it is
said that expenditure was adjusted to revenue, but, whether
that was so or not, the principle followed in later ages seems
to have been to collect as much revenue and to devote to
the national welfare as little as possible. Generally, how
ever, taxation is said to have been light, and in times of
famine, or on special occasions, the land tax was reduced
or remitted. During the last fifty years of the period, mari
time customs dues were collected on behalf of the Central
Administration by foreign employees, and more recently
the salt gabelle has been similarly dealt with, these two
forming reliable security for foreign loans.

136 China of the Chinese

Admission to the Government Service was obtained by the
same means as at the beginning of the Monarchical Period,

namely, competitive examination in know-
Officials °f ledSe of the ancient classical writings; but

towards the end of the Manchu regime
several more modern subjects were included in the curri
culum. The total number of officials in proportion to the
population must be regarded as large. Including all officials
above the rank of Assistant District Magistrate, the number
would be about one official to every 16,000 inhabitants ;
but, if all the employees in each yamen be included, their
number would have to be multiplied by ten at least. When
the fact is taken into consideration that a large number of
these officials worked undertime or not at all, it is apparent
that, both through direct " squeezing " and by indirect
creation of superfluous sinecures, the working classes were
maintaining a large number of individuals in luxury and
idleness.

REPUBLICAN PERIOD

In our summary of the political history we saw how the
long monarchical regime came to a comparatively sudden
Republican end> We nave now "to observe the main
Administrative features of the administrative system which
System. js being substituted for it — for this has not
yet had time to assume a definite or final form. The great
change which has taken place is, of course, not in the people
themselves, for human nature cannot be quickly trans
formed, but in the method by which they are governed.
In place of an emperor, divinely descended, all-powerful,
supreme head of the State, Church, and Army, absolute
owner of all the lands within the " four seas " and all the
people who dwell thereon, we now see a President of a Re
public in which all men are accounted equal, who elect as
their ruler anyone they please (provided the requisite con
ditions be observed) and, if he prove unfit, may within a

Political Institutions 137

reasonable period elect someone else in his place, by con
stitutional means instead of the old uncertain method of
the stronger arm and heavier fist — rebellion, bloodshed,
and the sacrifice of many innocent lives. Thus, in theory
at least, the old class-divisions of Scholars, Agriculturists,
Artisans, and Merchants have been abolished, and there is
now only one class in China, that of Citizens of the Chinese
Republic.

The seat of the central government remained at Peking

(though the Provisional Government first met at Nanking),

and the provincial arrangement was left

Capital and linchanged, except for the re-naming of
Divisions. o ' u ,. . . , rr-

some of the sub-divisions and offices and

the raising of the number of Provinces from eighteen to
twenty-two by including Sinkiang or the New Territory
and the tliree Manchurian Provinces of Hei Lung Chiang,
Kirin, and Feng T'ien.

The Provisional Constitution, which was re-adopted in

1916, after having been arbitrarily set aside for three years

The as a result of Yuan Shih-k'ai's attempt

Provisional (after supplanting it by what is known as

Constitution. tne " Bogus " or " Goodnow " Constitution
of 1914), to re-introduce the monarchical form of government,
was drawn up by the Provisional Government at Nanking
in 1912. It provided that the sovereignty, vested in the
people, should be exercised by the National Council, the
Provisional President, the Cabinet, and the Judiciary, and
that there should be for all citizens freedom, justice, and
security for person and property. The legislative power
was to be exercised by the National Council composed of
members elected by the twenty-two Provinces, Inner and
Outer Mongolia, Tibet, and Ch'ing Hai

The President. (Kokonor), the land of the Kalmuck
Mongols. This Council was also to elect the
Provisional President and Vice-President on not less than two-
thirds of the total votes of three-fourths of the total number

138 China of the Chinese

of members. The President was to be a citizen of the Re
public of not less than forty years of age who had resided
in China for ten years ; he was also to be Commander-in-
Chief of the army and navy. He was to be elected for a term
of five years, and if re-elected to serve for one more similar
term. If for any reason he was unable to discharge the duties
of his office, the Vice-President was to take his place.

The Premier and chiefs of the government departments

were to be called members of the Cabinet. The Judiciary

The Cabinet was *° ^e composed of Judges appointed

and by the Provisional President and the Minister

Judiciary. o| Justice. The National Council was to

be dissolved on the day of the convocation of the National

Assembly or Parliament, and its powers exercised by the

latter.

The Provisional Government of Nanking having dis
solved itself on the election of Yuan Shih-k'ai by the National
Election of Council in place of Sun Yat-sen, the Pro-
Parliamentary visional President, elections were held in
Representatives, pursuance of the same law under which
these proceedings had been taken (namely, the Presidential
Election Law passed by the National Council on October 4th,
1913, as a first step towards the drawing-up of a permanent
Constitution) and a Senate and House of Representatives
were formed which met at Peking in the spring of 1913,
under the general name of National Assembly or Parliament.
As a result of the electoral system introduced in 1912,
delegates elected to form the Senate (Ts'an I Yuan] and
House of Representatives (Tsung I Ytiari)
numbered in all 870; 274 forming the
Senate and 596 the House of Representatives.
The former (one-third of whom were to retire every two
years) were elected by the provincial assemblies and the
latter chosen on a system of proportional representation,
one member at first theoretically representing about
800,000 citizens, but later by stricter definition of the right

Political Institutions 139

to vote representing about 800 only. The cost of the Parlia
ment, the members of which were salaried at the rate of
about £50 and more a month, would be about 50 per cent,
of the total administrative expenditure of the Central Govern
ment, exclusive of the military appropriations. Owing to
the widespread illiteracy, the number of citizens qualified to
vote was relatively small. Men who had been deprived of
civil rights, bankrupts, opium-smokers, the insane or illiterate,
as well as priests, naval and military officers, and adminis
trative officials generally, could neither vote nor be
elected.

It was under this Constitution, re-affirmed by President

Li Yuan-hung, successor to Yuan Shih-k'ai, that the Chinese

Parliament re-assembled on August 1st, 1916.

Re-assembling Bcfore its dissolution three years earlier
of Parliament. J

it had passed but one measure of what was

to form a permanent Constitution, viz., the Presidential
Election Law of October 4th, 1913, already referred to.
Since its re-assembly to the date of writing, there has not
been time for it either to arrange its own method of pro
cedure or to get to work at the making of laws, and it is
therefore too soon to comment or make prophecies as to its
future* form, functions, and achievements. One point,
however, requires notice, and that is that by its own Con
stitution the Chinese Parliament is illegally convened, for
the legal three years' term of office having expired, it auto
matically stands dissolved, and a new Parliament should
be elected. But in view of the fact that the suspension
of the assembly by Yuan Shih-k'ai is regarded as an illegal
act, and also in order to maintain peace in the provinces,
and, as a native writer has put it, because " the nation
does not wish to see any more shopkeeper's bargaining,"
and " the country needs peace, and immediate peace,"
the Government and the people have purposely overlooked
this point of law. This youngest and most unique of Par
liaments, arising quite suddenly out of a mediaeval system

140 China of the Chinese

of great age, whose spirit is not yet extinct, has great
difficulties to contend with. Bureaucracies can be as un
just, corrupt, and tyrannical as despotisms, and substituting
a many- for a one-headed hydra may be a dangerous pro
ceeding unless it is kept well under control. The Chinese
Parliament will at least have justified its existence if it
succeeds in giving to China permanent peace, security, and
prosperity, and finally puts an end to the barbarous dis
regard of rights and lives in the mad race for place and money
which has hitherto constituted one of the main obstacles
in its advance along the road to civilization.

LAWS — FEUDAL PERIOD

The object of laws in primitive societies differs from that

which they have in more advanced ones. The civilized

Primitive ^ea °^ ^aws is that they shall ensure justice

Ideas between man and man ; the undeveloped

of Law. idea., that they shall ensure subordination

of the ruled to the ruler or rulers. Consequently the most

heinous crimes of civilized codes are not put first by the

archaic law-maker. The first idea of the uncivilized chief

is to exact obedience to the injunctions of himself and his

ancestors, and any offence, however trivial, against these,

is far more important than the rights, even if they may be

said to exist, of any of his subjects.

The Chinese rulers, at the beginning of their known his
tory, had partially — but only partially — emerged from this
primitive condition of things. Law was
AncienT China declaratory and castigatory : the ruler or
his agent decreed the punishment to be
meted out for each offence as it occurred. The maintenance
of private rights in civil and industrial matters was no con
cern of the State, family matters were arranged by the
paterfamilias, mercantile matters by prominent merchants
or village elders. Offences against the " Son of Heaven "

Political Institutions 141

being the most serious of all, rebellion was the first of the
capital crimes of which the punishment could not be re
laxed. Though it might be rebellion against oppression,
it was classed with murder, wounding, burglary, and
adultery. Moreover, in early as in later times in China,
mere retribution was not considered sufficient : punishment
was vindictive. Excluding the general regulations about
gi ivrrnment and the special rules about sacrifices, etc., the
only law was criminal law, and a consideration of it there
fore resolves itself into a survey of what were regarded as
crimes, and what were the appropriate punishments for them.
The first punishments of which we read were five in
number : branding (on the forehead) (mo) ; cutting off
the nose (pi) ; cutting off the legs (yiich) ;

The Five castration (kung) ; and death (ta p'i). Mo,
Punishments. v " '

which was a tattooing of the face to mark a

criminal off from the rest of the community, was inflicted
on those who " did not act according to right or did what
they ought not to do " ; pi, on those who " altered or dis
obeyed the sovereign's laws, changed the style of clothes,
carts, sedans, etc., or who wounded, stole, committed adultery,
or created disturbances harmful to the government " ;
yiieh, amputating the legs at the knees, and pin, amputating
the knee-cap, for climbing over walls to steal, undermining
or damaging city gates, destroying bridges, etc. (after the
latter punishment the offender could still walk, though slowly,
and could be employed as a watchman, or in a similar
capacity) ; kung, for rape, illicit intercourse, etc. ; and
ta p'i, for assisting rebels against the government, robbery
.with violence, etc. Except in the cases named, these five
punishments might be commuted for banishment (liu)
to a greater or less distance. This was regarded as a some
what lighter punishment than those inflicted for the grave
crimes. The grounds for commutation were compassion,
doubt as to the law, royal consanguinity, and exceptional
merit. Crimes less severely punished were those of which

142 China of the Chinese

the penalty was whipping (pieri) and flogging (p'u), modified
on occasion to money fines (chin shu).

Considering that the growing disloyalty of the people

indicated decline of virtue on his part, Yii the Great, when

Mutilation and ^e succeeded Yao and Shun, instituted the

Inclusion of punishment of mutilation (jou). The founders
Children in of the two following dynasties (Shang and
a ^' Chou) retained this cruel punishment for, says
the Chinese historian, " the customs of the time were inferior
to those of the days of Yao and Shun." Hai, mincing, and
slaying his children as well as the criminal, were also
occasionally resorted to, but, if tradition may be trusted,
the criminal's relatives and descendants were not yet included
in his punishment under Yao, Shun, and Yii, at least as an
established institution, though on occasion disobedient
troops were threatened with the death of their children.

But the cruel punishments of the tyrants Chieh Kuei and
Chou Hsin, who, through their oppression, caused the
downfall respectively of the Hsia and Shang dynasties,
have become a byword among the Chinese people. The
former not only inflicted " cruel dismemberments," but
extended punishments to the extirpation of the offender's
children. The latter carried this principle into all the penal
administration of his government, and punished insub
ordination by compelling those guilty of it to climb a red-hot
copper pillar (called the " Heater ") and " along with criminals
punished all their relatives." Both of these monsters acted
at the instigation of their immoral concubines. Ta Chi,
Chou Hsin's mistress, delighted in making offenders walk
along a greasy pole so as to fall into a burning pit under
neath. But the Chinese have a habit of checking oppression
when it passes the limit, by putting a stop to its cause, and
these cruel punishments disappeared on the assassination
of both Chou Hsin and Ta Chi three years later.

At the beginning of the Later Feudal Period we still find
the idea of punishment predominating, rather than that of

Political Institutions 143

law properly so called. Drunkenness, when connected with
treason, was punishable with death. Anyone who delayed
military operations by coming later than the appointed
Punishments in ^me was executed. Other methods of
the Later punishment were strangling, the fetters and
Feudal Period, manacles, the stocks, the cangue, chaining
to the market stone, etc. Anyone in the Wei State using
a royal chariot was to have his feet cut off. And in the
State of Ch'in there prevailed the " three stock " law, under
which three generations of a criminal's relatives were
executed with him. It was not abolished until 529 B.C.,
i.e., after about 200 years. There was, however, some modi
fication in the direction of leniency. For instance, though
the five principal punishments remained in force, amputating
the legs was mitigated to amputating the feet.

In the Book of Rites, to which reference has already
been made, we find advocated another primitive method of

obtaining satisfaction for the crime of
TaHonts* murder : " With the slayer of his father, a

man may not live under the same heaven ;
against the slayer of his brother, a man must never have to
go home to fetch a weapon ; with the slayer of his friend,
a man may not live in the same State." An attempt to avoid
the evil consequences of this rule was made by the appoint
ment of a minister called " The Reconciler." But any
chance of its abolition which may have existed must have
been destroyed by the strong approval it received from
Confucius. The great sage affirmed the duty of blood-
revenge in a most uncompromising manner. His disciple,
TzCi Hsia asked him, " What course is to be pursued in the
case of a murder of a father or mother ? " He replied,
" The son must sleep upon a matting of grass, with his
shield for his pillow ; he must decline to take office ; he
must not live under the same heaven with the slayer. When
he meets him in the market-place or the court, he must have
his weapon ready to strike him." " And what is the course

144 China of the Chinese

on the murder of a brother ? " " The surviving brother
must not take office in the same State with the slayer ; yet
if he go on his prince's service to the State where the slayer
is, though he meet him, he must not fight with him." " And
what is the course on the murder of an uncle or cousin ? "
" In this case the nephew or cousin is not the principal.
If the principal on whom the revenge devolves can take it,
he has only to stand behind with his weapon in his hand,
and support him." Here we have a primitive picture indeed,
without the slightest suggestion or suspicion that revenge is
one of the inferior sentiments !

The crimes punishable with death were robbery, murder,
unfilial, unbrotherly, unworthy, and factious conduct on the

part of officers, as well as those described
Classified m *ke f°llowmg passage from the Book of

Rites—

" Splitting words so as to break (the force of) the laws; confounding
names so as to change what had been definitely settled; practising
corrupt ways so as to throw government into confusion: all guilty of
these things were put to death. Using licentious music; strange gar
ments; wonderful contrivances and extraordinary implements, thus
raising doubts among the multitudes: all who used or formed such
things were put to death. Those who were persistent in hypocritical
conduct and disputatious in hypocritical speeches; who studied what
was wrong, and went on to do so more and more, and whoever increas
ingly followed what was wrong so as to bewilder the multitudes: these
were put to death. Those who gave false reports about (appearances
of) spirits, about seasons and days, about consultings of the tortoise-
shell and stalks, so as to perplex the multitudes: these were put to
death . . . and no defence was listened to."

A people who thus discouraged their Edisons by summarily
shortening their stature naturally did not produce many
useful inventions !

Confucius's arrangement of crimes brings out once more
the " insubordination " idea of law mentioned at the be
ginning of this section. It was (1) offences
C°ncdme Snd aSainst heaven and earth ; (2) professing
spiritual matters to deceive people and cause
them to rebel ; (3) opposing human relationships ; (4) con
fusing civilization ; and (5) manslaughter. " The latter,"

Political Institutions 145

he added, strangely enough, " affects only the criminal
himself." A minister slaying a ruler, or a son slaying his
father, was to be lynched. Says the Li Chi —

" In the time of duke Ting of Ku-lii, there occurred the case of a
man killing his father." The officers reported it, and the duke said:
" ' I have learned how to decide on such a charge. When a minister
kills his ruler, all who are in office with him should kill him without
mercy. When a son kills his father, all who are in the house with
him should kill him without mercy. The man should be killed; his
house should be destroyed; the whole place should be laid under water
and reduced to a swamp. And his ruler should let a month elapse
before he raises a cup to his lips.' "

Altogether there were 500 offences punishable with death,
and 500 with branding or feet amputation, the total number
of punishable crimes being 3,000.

Children under seven and men over ninety were exempted
from punishment, and women from the punishments of

Exemptions, tattooing the face and cutting off the feet.

Mitigations. A member of the king's clan was not
castrated, but had his head shaved instead. (Shaving the
head, as imposed by the Manchus centuries later, was, of
course, not yet in force.) This was considered a punishment
because the body inherited from the parents was regarded
as sacred, and also because it publicly stigmatized the
offender. Anyone who killed a robber or a rebel attacking
a town or village was not punished. Fines in lieu of the
severer punishments, which followed a regular scale, have
already been referred to. Some regard was also had for the
sufferings of prisoners in the small and unsavoury dungeons
during the more trying seasons of the year. " In the first
moon of spring," says the Li Chi, " the Judge was ordered
to spare imprisonment and disuse fetters and manacles."

The idea of punishment-law persisted, and about 950 B.C.,

when the aged King Mu decided on a reform of the criminal

LaWS law, and appointed the Marquis Lii, Minister

Codification, of Crime to carry it out, it was the Lii Hsing,
etc- Lii on Punishments, or Lii's Code of Punish

ments, that was promulgated throughout the kingdom. This
occupies a chapter in the classical Canon of History. In

2383)

146 China of the Chinese

reading it, we feel admiration for the many virtuous senti
ments expressed, and when we find the king saying : " Ho !
come, ye rulers of States and territories, I will tell you how
to make punishments a blessing," our hopes are raised high.
And they are not altogether disappointed, for though King
Mu has been severely criticized for introducing the system
of accepting money fines (at least on an extensive scale)
as compensation for the most heinous offences — a method
which has been inserted in the penal code of every subse
quent dynasty — yet the " Punishments " of Lii err, if they
err at all, on the side of leniency, and contain, moreover,
signs of progress towards the institution of laws which should
not be altogether castigatory. A method of procedure
and many judicial forms and precepts are prescribed which
would be no discredit to modern Western systems. " Lii
on Punishments " was directed against the type of people
who used the punishments as " engines of oppression, calling
them the laws." It contains high principles and admonitions
to virtue in profusion. Personally I cannot regard it as an
elaborate piece of hypocrisy designed to cover a gigantic
" squeeze " system. Redemption by means of fines existed
before the days of King Mu, and it is possible that " Lii
on Punishments " was designed to regularize these fines
and fix the amounts which might be legally charged, and thus
put a check on extortion. Generally, this piece of legisla
tion made stricter the regulations respecting the punishments
of branding and cutting off the nose, and more lenient those
respecting the punishment of castration and capital punish
ment, in order to avoid as much as possible the infliction
of the death penalty. Two hundred instead of 500 offences
were now punishable with death. Abuses, both with regard
to " fining " and making light of human life, doubtless
existed. If the " fining " was restricted, or even if it was
only legalized, and the taking of human life in cases where
doubt existed rendered more difficult (" when there are
doubts as to the infliction of the five punishments, that

Political Institutions 147

infliction should be forborne "), there was a distinct step in
the direction of justice. No conclusive evidence for either
view exists ; and in its absence we must take " Lii on
Punishments " — these decrees of the centenarian King Mu,
breathing morality and the will to benefit his people — as
we find it, and regard it as a genuine effort towards justice
and an attempt to mitigate, if not to frustrate, the
prevailing corruption.

" Lii on Punishments " was, as we saw, not a code of laws

properly so called. Codification did not commend itself

to the early Chinese rulers. " When the

Codification pcopie themselves become cognizant of a
Disapproved.

written law, they will cease to fear their

superiors, and moreover, they will acquire a contentious
spirit. Having a book to refer to, they will employ every
device to elude the letter of the law. It was only in anar
chical times " that it was necessary to issue collections of
laws. The advent of written law was supposed to connote
a decay of government.

Signs of this decay became apparent during the next few

centuries, for, about 650 B.C., Tsang Wen-chung, a distinguished

statesman of Lu, drew up a special code,

The First about whjch ijttic js known except that it

Codes.

was regarded as being very severe ; and, about

581-521 B.C., some laws were cast on an iron tripod. But
in 536 B.C., a penal code for the regulation of punishments,
which was the foundation of Chinese criminal law, was
published in the feudal State of Cheng (part of modern
Honan). Its author was Tzu Ch'an (Kung-sun Ch'iao),
chief minister of that State, and its characteristic was mild
ness compared with preceding enactments. But when,
instead of being merely " declared," the code was cast on
metal for the information of the people, it met with great
opposition in the official world, and from none more than
from Confucius, who regarded it as a danger to the
maintenance of authority.

148 China of the Chinese

There were further castings of laws on tripods, but no

code of permanent influence appeared until Li K'uei, a

statesman in the service of the first ruler

" LawKCtessic " of the Wei State in the fourth century B.C.,
introduced both a new system of land laws
and a code of new penal laws. The latter is described as
" simple in arrangement and construction." It was later
on called the " Law Classic," and formed, as it were, the back
bone of all subsequent codification, for each succeeding
dynasty has adopted the laws of its predecessor and adapted
them to its own time and circumstances. It was divided into
six portions, the first three relating to practice, the fourth
to general administration, and the last two to an exposition
of offences ; or, as Staunton says in the preface to his Penal
Code, two were introductory, the third related to prisons,
the fourth to the administration of the police, the fifth to
the lesser or miscellaneous offences, and the sixth to all
the great and capital crimes against public justice. It is
said to have " represented all that was best in the laws of
the different feudal states, mostly in reference to robbery :
the minor offences were roguery, getting over city walls,
gambling, borrowing, dishonesty, lewdness, extravagance,
and transgressing the ruler's commands." One remarkable
feature of Li K'uei's code was that it made polygamy a
crime punishable with death, and this in face of the sanction
given to it by Confucius, who placed the procuring of an
heir above all considerations of morality (as defined in Western
countries). The Chinese people seem to have been so much
of Confucius's way of thinking that the penalty (subsequently
reduced to corporal punishment) of the law has been entirely
ignored, and polygamy in the modified form of concubinage
obtains to the present day. Li K'uei's vehemence may,
however, have been aimed more at the then prevailing
practice of " making wives of concubines " than at any actual
reduction in the number of the inmates of the harem.

We read further in the " Record of Criminal Law " of

Political Institutions 149

the Han dynasty that in 351 B.C., that state engaged Shen
Pu-hai (Shen Tzu), and the Ch'in State Shang Yang (properly

Severe Laws KunSsun Yan& or Wei Yang) to consult

of Shen Tzft together and fix the law of mutual respon-
and sibility, as a result of which a crime

Wei Yang. jnvoiveci ten families and five neighbours.
" They also arranged the punishments of being involved
in the death penalty, the punishments of mutilation, of
death (by various means), of piercing the skull, wrenching
out the ribs, and boiling in a cauldron." Anyone who failed
to denounce an offender was to be cut in two at the waist.
As an administrator of the criminal laws Wei Yang was
notorious for his uncompromising severity, so much so that
it is related that, when he stood by the banks of the Wei
River and spoke of criminals, its waters immediately turned
to a blood-red colour. During his t\venty-four years' rule,
his unrelenting cruelty caused crime practically to disappear ;
but his policy was one of " frightfulness," and in 338 B.C.
the pent-up anger of the people of Ch'in broke forth, and put
him to an ignominious death.

We learn from the Chou Li, the " Institutes of the
Chou Dynasty," that written deeds and agreements were in
general use. The most common kind was
Deeds, etc. an indenture consisting of a bamboo tablet,
upon which the terms of the contract were
written in duplicate, each party retaining one-half. These
were used for all loans and lesser transactions regarding
things which pass from hand to hand ; nothing could
be sold without either an indenture or a deed of warranty,
which was used for the greater sales, that is, of slaves,
horses, and cattle. The procedure in case of breach pro
vides another illustration of the penal propensity of all
Chinese legislation, for the judge punished the party whom
he decided to have infringed the contract in much the same
way as if he had been a common thief.

As an indication of the procedure in use at this early time, it

150 China of the Chinese

will be sufficient to add to the remarks made in the section on Gen
eral Government the following passage from the Book of History
with some explanations from the Chou Li —

Procedure. " When both parties are present, with their

documents and witnesses all complete, let

all the judges listen to the five- fold statements

which may be made. When they have examined and fully made

up their minds on these, let them adjust the case to one of the five

punishments. If the five punishments do not meet it, let them adjust

it to one of the five redemption-fines; and, if these again are not sufficient

for it, let them reckon it among the five cases of error."

The " five pleadings " were the statements, with the
evidence, on both sides, whether incriminating or exculpating.
They were called " five," as the penalty might be one or other
of the " five punishments." The " five cases of error "
meant the various cases of inadvertence. " In settling the
five cases of error," adds the Book of History, " there are
evils to be guarded against : being warped by the influence
of power, or by private grudge, or by female solicitation,
or by bribes, or by applications. Where such things are,
the offence becomes equal to the crime before the judges.
Do you carefully examine, and prove yourselves equal to
every difficulty."

MONARCHICAL PERIOD

" When the ' First Emperor ' had eaten up all the warring
states," says the History of the Han dynasty, " he abolished

Laws of the *ne ^aws °^ tne ancient kings," and established
" First other laws which he gave to his ministers

Emperor." to put m force_ Judging from the character
of this monarch, we should not expect his laws to be of a
humane nature, and we read : " When the Ch'in dynasty
flourished the laws were severe and the punishments strict,
and the empire was able to prosper (owing to these strict
measures) ; but when it declined (the laws were still more
severe and) the people murmured and rose in rebellion."
Crimes involved the criminal's family as well as his five

Political Institutions 151

neighbours. Ministers guilty of treason were cut in two
at the waist and their three clans exterminated. Slandering
the government was punished by execution of the criminal
and his whole family. Anyone who discussed a book or
poem was executed and his body exposed.

On the overthrow of the Ch'in dynasty, the Hans repealed
these cruel laws, and instituted in their place the less bar
barous " Three Laws," by which three
C Penafties were imposed — for murder, death,
and for wounding and robbery in proportion
to the act committed. This was a political measure, designed
to attach the people to the new regime, but when it was
found that the " three laws " were insufficient to restrain
offenders, an elaborate code known as the " nine laws "
was published, which, though embodying those Ch'in laws
which suited the altered conditions, avoided most of those
of a grossly vindictive character. Further codes or revisions
were issued by the Han sovereigns, and in the period
A.D. 89-105 we find that the number of punishable crimes
had very greatly increased, there being 610 punishable
with death, 1,698 with shaving of the head, and 2,681 re
deemable crimes and lesser offences — the ancient orthodox
total being 3,000. To this latter number it was now
attempted to reduce the crimes to be included in the revized
statute-book.

The crimes now punishable with death were rebellion,
illegal acts towards parents, etc., selling people as slaves,
wearing embroidered silk by merchants, etc. ;
Crimes. with shaving the head or compressing the
feet, housebreaking, wounding, adultery, re
ceiving bribes, etc. ; with tattooing, adulteration of coining-
metal ; with fetters, casting implements or boiling salt
illegally, etc. Five hundred crimes were still punishable
by amputation of the feet. The murder of a stepmother
by a stepson for killing his father was a less grave crime
than killing a mother.

152 China of the Chinese

Of the old " five punishments " which remained in force
under the " First Emperor," only three were maintained
by the Hans, namely, branding the face,
Punishments, cutting off the nose, and amputating the
feet (or toes). The cruelty of the punish
ment is further illustrated by prisoners being allowed to die
of cold or hunger, or having their legs fastened with a clamp
and severed by being pierced with a gimlet. A punishment
called ya, or beating with a cudgel, sometimes took the form
of " bruising the legs by driving a cart over them." This
was the prototype of the modern punishment of pressing
the legs with a stick held down by two lictors.

Of the changes which took place in the laws governing

crimes and punishments during the remainder of the Han

period, we may note the following : In

Changes in jg7 c the punishment of executing the

Han Laws. H , « , » i •

three clans — the three-stock law which,

as we saw, was for two centuries in force in the Ch'in State,
and which had been adopted by other states — was abolished
by the Empress Lii, and eight years later the Emperor Wen
repealed the law by which sons were involved in their fathers'
crimes. This emperor, being much affected by the cruelty
of the punishments in vogue, substituted shaving the head
for branding the face, flogging with 300 strokes for cutting
off the nose, and with 500 for amputating the feet (or toes).
He also abolished the punishment of mutilation. But it was
shortly found necessary to reduce the amount of strokes
inflicted from 500 to 300 and from 300 to 200, and subse
quently still further, because a man subjected to 500 strokes
frequently died, so that " though the emperor got the credit
for having decreased the severity of punishments, in reality
he caused the death of the criminals." The punishment of
castration was, however, still inflicted, as in the case of
Ssu-ma Ch'ien, the historian, in 98 B.C. for extenuating the
conduct of Li Ling (a commander in the service of the Han
emperor, Wu), whose family was exterminated as a

Political Institutions 153

punishment for his defeat by the Hsiung Nu. In 148 B.C., the
punishment of tse, being cut open in the market-place, was
changed to being " cast out in the market," i.e., public
execution. In 43 B.C., the death penalty applied to only
thirty-four crimes, but in 6 B.C., to eighty-one, in forty-two
of which mitigation was permitted. Leniency was supposed
to have led to increase in crime, and the usual course was
adopted of memorializing the throne to revert to the former
standard. " Using enticing words," a crime which pre
viously involved the three related families of the offender
in the punishment of imprisonment, was abolished in A.D. 85.
Besides the usual exemptions on account of age, etc.,
and rank in some cases, the Hans adopted, by decrees pro-
Exemptions rnulgated in 194, 150, and 96 B.C., a system
and of commuting the death penalty for large

Commutation. fines or purchase of thirty grades of official
rank, and by a decree of 179 B.C. for contributions of grain.
There was also a means of atonement, as, for example,
in the case of sons concealing the crimes of their parents;
or if one robber killed another his own crime was pardoned.
During the thousand years following the end of the Han
dynasties, old laws were modified and new ones made, and
Little Chan e Punisnments were now heavier, now lighter,
in a but the general character of the legislation

Thousand remained practically unchanged. Enough
has been said to show what that character was,
and it will be unnecessary to dwell upon the somewhat
monotonous record in detail. Our purpose will be served
by noting, in conclusion, the laws in force during the last
monarchical dynasty, which was brought to a close by the
establishment of the Republic in 1912.

At the end of the Monarchical Period, as at its beginning,
laws were king-made, castigatory, vindictive, with the
primary object of ensuring subordination of the people to
their rulers. The Manchus issued deer eta which were numerous,
minute, and circumstantial. But, taken en masse, they but serve

154 China of the Chinese

to emphasize the main characteristic of the law as above

stated, and, their object being different, omit to deal with

numerous matters which, in Western

theltfanchus lan^s» are regarded as proper subjects for

legislation. It may help to make clearer

our brief survey of what subjects were included in Chinese

law (on which the Manchu code was founded) if we note

first what subjects were excluded from it. The case has been

well put by a writer in the Journal of the North-China Branch

of the Royal Asiatic Society (Vol. XL, p. 14) —

" The Chinese idea of law . . . being castigatory, it is not to be
wondered at that there is no science of civil jurisprudence in the
European sense. . . . All matters of what we should call Family
Law are left entirely to the family or clan; the government in no way
concerns itsell — at least so far as taking the initiative goes — with
births, marriages, deaths, burials, adoption, legitimacy, divorce,
mourning, testamentary dispositions, division and transfer of property,
joint ownership, mortgages, sanitation, medicine, midwifery, sobriety
or morals; so long as these matters proceed in a normal way, and do
not infringe the interests of the Board of Revenue, the licence laws,
the principle of ancestral continuity, the currency laws, the revenue
laws, and, above all, the Five Cardinal Relations. These are all
questions for the family council, and it is only on the comparatively
rare occasions when the council actively and spontaneously seeks the
assistance of a court that the officials take cognizance: even a murder
may be quietly ignored if the clan concerned decides not to complain. J
In the same way, commercial jurisprudence lies within the private
ken of the different trading guilds; banking questions are decided by
the marvellous close and effective organization of bankers; junkmen,
fishermen, pawnbrokers, post-offices, squatters, money-lenders,
doctors — in short, all industries — manage their own affairs and pay
the fees with the minimum of government interference, if any; and
even then the official action is taken in the interests of public order
rather than to assert a legal principle: and although a few laws con
cerning marriages, inheritance, land transfer, usury, brokerage, etc.,
are laid down in the codes, these rather express what is the universal
custom than impose any fresh ' command.' There is, strictly speaking,
no contract law at all, except such as touches the supreme contract
of marriage."

1 Though revengeful, the Chinese are utilitarian enough to be
quite ready on most occasions to accept money compensation in cases
of homicide, and even murder, arguing that the death of the murderer
brings them no material gain and does not restore the victim to life.

Political Institutions 155

On ascending the throne in 1644, Shun Chih decreed

that the laws of the Ming dynasty (embodied in the code

of the great Emperor Yung Lo, 1403-25),

The Penal should be modified so as to include the
Code, etc.

Manchu customary law, and be re-issued

as the laws of the Manchu dynasty. This was done in
June, 1647, under the title of Ta Ch'ing Lii Li, a collection
of the fundamental laws and supplementary statutes of the
Great Pure Dynasty. These were composed of the lii, the old
general statute laws, which were never altered, and li,
modifications and extensions rendered necessary by changes
of time and circumstances.

The Penal Code (lii) that part of the law which the govern
ment was concerned to enforce, was divided into seven
main sections, dealing respectively with

The "Lii." (1) General Laws (Punishments and Mitiga
tions, etc.) ; (2) Civil La\vs (System of Govern
ment ; Conduct of the Magistrates) ; (3) Fiscal Laws
(Enrolment of the People ; Lands and Tenements ; Marriage ;
Public Property, including Revenue and Coinage : Duties
and Customs ; Private Property ; Sales and Markets) ;

(4) Ritual Laws (Sacred Rites ; Miscellaneous Observances) ;

(5) Military Laws (Protection of the Palace ; Government
of the Army ; Protection of the Frontier ; Military Horses
and Cattle ; Expresses and Public Posts) ; (6) Criminal
Laws ; (7) Laws relating to Public Works (Public Buildings ;
Public Ways).

The lii being the general laws handed on unchanged from

dynasty to dynasty, the li were the means by which those

general principles were accommodated to

The "Li." human nature. Except for the unchange-

ablcness of the lii, and the secondary or

subsidiary character of the li, the two might be compared

with the old Common and the Statute Law of England. Thus,

for example, the lii would define the crime and punishment

in case of assembling for illegal purposes ; the li would

156 China of the Chinese

distinguish between assemblies of different numbers of persons
and prescribe a particular punishment in each case.

The punishments provided by the Code were (1) ch'ih,

beating with the light bamboo ; (2) chang, beating with the

heavy bamboo ; (3) t'u, transportation ;

Punishments. (4) liu, banishment ; and (5) ssu, death by
strangling or decapitation. Transportation
was to a short distance for a few years, and banishment
to a long distance for life. Besides these punishments,
there was also the ling ch'ih, " lingering death " or " slicing
to pieces," the penalty for high treason, and the " stomach-
cutter," for refusing to adopt the Manchu coiffure, both of
which were introduced in the period 1023-64 by the Emperor
Jen Tsung, who patronized letters and education, and
belonged to a dynasty famous for cultivation of literature
and the arts. It may be noticed incidentally here that the
cruel forms of torture practised by the Chinese were not
the invention of the Manchus, whose earliest code sanctioned
only two kinds of punishment — death and flogging. The
gravity attached to the crime of high treason is shown not
only by the decreeing of the ling ch'ih as its punishment,
but by all principals and accessories being put to death by
the same cruel method, all the male relatives above the age
of sixteen being indiscriminately beheaded, the female
relations and children sold into slavery, and all the property
of the family confiscated. A parricide and a slave who
killed his master were similarly punished. Barbarous as this
punishment was, it could be, and in most cases probably
was, mitigated as far as the victim was concerned by bribing
the executioner to omit most of the preliminary slices and
make the final thrust at an early stage of the proceedings.
In 1522, under the native Ming dynasty, false accusation
of treason was punished by the torture of " lighting the
human lamp," which consisted in wrapping a man in cotton
soaked in oil, hanging him up by the heels, and setting him
on fire from the top. This was the punishment inflicted for

Political Institutions 157

the above crime by the Emperor Chia Ch'ing, who is described
as having been " rather a poet than a competent adminis
trator," and as having wasted much valuable time in
searching after the elixir of life. Before leaving this dis
agreeable subject, a word of reproach and disgust may be
entered against those foreigners who have gone to witness
executions and those who have tried to see the ling ch'ih.

Besides laying down the punishments which might be
legally inflicted, the Penal Code denned the various instru-

Instruments ments by which they were to be administered.
of They were as follows : — (1) a flat, polished

Punishment. piece of bamboo, " the branches cut away,"
of specified dimensions and weight ; when used, to be held
by the smaller end ; (2) the cangue (properly chia), a square
frame of dry wood, about three feet square and thirty
pounds in weight, worn as a collar ; (3) an iron chain about
seven feet long and seven pounds in weight ; (4) handcuffs
of dry wood, used to confine capital prisoners of the male
sex ; (5) iron fetters weighing one pound, used to confine
offenders sentenced to banishment or capital punishment.
In addition to these, a supplementary clause of the Code
sanctioned the use of two instruments of
Torture. torture, which might be used in investigating
cases of robbery or homicide : (1) for
compressing the ankle-bones ; and (2) for squeezing the
fingers. Torture, thus legally sanctioned, was not only used
but abused, and, as long as no complaints were made against
the officials employing it, the abuse was disregarded, if not
approved, by the responsible authorities. To say that
torture, under the recent monarchy, existed in name alone, is
either a mistaken or a too lenient view of the matter. During
the judicial trials following the Nanch'ang massacre in 1905,
which I was sent officially to investigate, some of the mur
derers were hung up by their thumbs and appeared at the
trial with blisters on them the size of a hen's egg, and others
were made to kneel on chains in court. In spite of my protests,

158 China of the Chinese

the Chinese judge maintained that in default of torture there
would be no confession, and without confession no criminal
could be punished. These were, of course, not isolated
instances : the pages of the old and now defunct government
record known as the " Metropolitan Report " or " Peking
Gazette " (though it was established six centuries before
Peking was the capital) and Chinese literature passim abound
with frank confessions (or rather statements, for no sense of
shame is indicated) of the use of torture, legal or illegal.
Says one writer —

" Pulling or twisting the ears with roughened fingers, and keeping
them in a bent position while making the prisoner kneel on chains, or
making him kneel for a long time, are among the illegal modes. Striking
the lips with sticks until they are nearly jellied, putting the hands in
stocks before or behind the back, wrapping the fingers in oiled cloth
to burn them, suspending the body by the thumbs and fingers, tying
the hands to a bar under the knees, so as to bend the body double,
and chaining by the neck close to a stone, are resorted to when the
prisoner is contumacious. Compelling them to kneel upon pounded
glass, sand, and salt mixed together, until the knees become excoriated,
or simply kneeling upon chains is a lighter mode of punishment."

The chief check upon the use of these outrageous methods of
eliciting confession and of punishment was the fear that, if
reported to superiors, they would be used to get the officer
removed in order to fill his post with one of the superior's
favourites. In this as in other branches of Chinese adminis
tration, it has been said, " the dread of one evil prevents the
commission of another." In the absence of this dread, the
result might have been far worse.

Though the principle of " life for life " was an axiom
with the Chinese, it was not always necessary to take life

in order to incur the death penalty. Besides
Crimes. high treason and parricide, capital crimes

included serving a foreign state, practising
magic, stealing sacrificial implements, imperial or official
seals or 120 ounces of silver, counterfeiting coin, robbery
and kidnapping by violence, opening a coffin, homicide, etc.
Crimes punishable with banishment were kidnapping by

PUNISHMENT OF THE CANGUE

To face p. 158

Political Institutions 159

stratagem, attempt to murder, charging with killing, striking
an officer, beating a disobedient son or grandson to death,
adultery, abduction, etc. Transportation was the sentence
for indecent assault, criminal intercourse with a relative,
procuring abortion, etc. ; and bambooing for theft, entering
a house at night, quarrelling and fighting, a wife striking a
husband, abusive language, fornication, accidentally setting
fire to one's own house, making false weights and measures,
gambling, etc. There were also the same exemptions as
before on account of age, etc., and redemptions by means
of fines.

With all its shortcomings, the Manchu Penal Code seems
to have fulfilled the purpose for which it was compiled fairly

well, and according to the native view to
Appreciation have been u adapted to deai with the nat are
of the Code. J . .

of the people for whom it was intended.

" The people have," said Staunton, writing in 1810, " a
high regard for the code, and all they seem to desire is its
just and impartial execution, independent of caprice and
uninfluenced by corruption. . . . There are substantial
grounds for believing that neither flagrant nor repeated
acts of injustice do, in point of fact, in any rank or station,
ultimately escape with impunity." And again —

" By far the most remarkable thing in this code is its great reason
ableness, clearness, and consistency, the business-like brevity and
directness of the various provisions, and the plainness and moderation
in which they are expressed. There is nothing here of the monstrous
verbiage of most other Asiatic productions, none of the superstitious
deliberation, the miserable incoherence, the tremendous iwn-seqniturs
and eternal repetitions of those oracular performances — nothing even
of the turgid adulation, accumulated epithets, and fatiguing self-praise
of other Eastern despotisms — but a calm, concise, and distinct series
of enactments, savouring throughout of practical judgment and
European good sense, and if not always conformable to our improved
notions of expediency, in general approaching to them more nearly
than the codes of most other nations. ... In everything relating
to political freedom or individual independence it is indeed woefully
defective; but for the repression of disorder, and the gentle coercion
of a vast population, it appears to be equally mild and efficacious."

160 China of the Chinese

To which it need only be added that, reasonable and
admirable though the code may have been as an achieve
ment of an Eastern despotism, its primary object was the
enforcement of authority, individual interests being given
a secondary place. We have in it, added to almost all previous
Chinese legislation, another partial cause of Chinese rigidity.
It was probably largely due to the self-management of their
affairs already indicated, and not to the mere existence of
a body of laws which left them largely untouched but served
principally to bind the people together in a rigid mass, that
the vast social aggregate forming the Chinese nation carried
on a relatively peaceful and happy existence, while, owing
to this rigidity, it was at the same time unprogressive. As
a result of what is known as the Reform Movement towards
the end of this period, a code of laws, known as the Pro
visional Code and largely founded on Western systems,
was drawn up and put in force. This was adopted sub
stantially by the Republican regime. Its chief characteristic
was the substitution of hanging or strangling for decapitation,
and of imprisonment for bambooing.

REPUBLICAN PERIOD

During its brief existence from April to November, 1913,
the parliament instituted by the Chinese Republic passed,

Law-making as we saw» ^ut one important measure,
under the the Presidential Election Law. It was
Republic. then dissolved by the President. Those
who regard the majority of laws as so much grandmotherly
State meddling, and as measures destined to be repealed
only after they have had time to do an immense amount of
mischief, must look upon an elective body which passes but
one law in six months with a certain amount of admiration.
But, however much the habit of reckless law-making should
be restricted in well-ordered communities, some laws are
necessary. Though the Provisional Code remained nominally

Political Institutions 161

in force the parliament had not accomplished anything
great in the way of useful and beneficial legislation, and
its sessions had not invariably set an example of peaceful
deliberation and friendly discussion. On more than one
occasion, ink-pots (or the Chinese equivalent, the ink-slab)
had been hurled through the air, and there had been great
uproar. It is an interesting question whether, in their un-
Icgislated-for condition after the dissolution of parliament
— when they were without laws, human or divine — the
people were not as happy and prosperous as if masses of
laws had been passed every month. The mandates, mani
festoes, instructions, and rescripts, of the President, which
were intended to fill the void, seemed to tend towards the
re-establishment of status as opposed to contract, of authority
as opposed to justice, and did not commend themselves to
those who remembered that millenniums of that sort of thing
had not resulted in any adequate advance on the part of the
nation.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

In a social structure where, as in China, the regulative
apparatus is extensive, we may expect to find its roots very

Little Room deep down in the social structure. The
for Local outermost tentacles of the Chinese official

Government. octopus are the branch offices attached
to the post of the administrative unit, the Chih Hsien, or
District Magistrate (now called Chih Shih). These feelers
are remote offshoots of the General Government. All that
is beyond them comes under the designation of Local
Government.

In the earliest times in China not even this small amount
of autonomy existed ; the patriarchal wing covered every-

At first no thing. There were, we read, " no local
Local officials," and the case may be truthfully
Officials. stated by adding that throughout sub
sequent ages there were very few. By " local officials,"
I do not mean the agents of the central administration

162 China of the Chinese

officiating in the provinces and districts, to whom that term
is often applied, but all outside that body, i.e., those who
came below the lowest sub-branch of the official hierarchy
and above the father exercising his paternal authority over
his family. In other words, we have to consider not those
who were appointed by the central government or its agents,
but those who were elected by the people to safeguard their
local interests. And the first of these were the village elder
or country squire and the bailiff or rural constable.

The village elder, called hsiang lao or hsiang chang, was
elected by the clans who were in a majority in the village.
His duties consisted in exercising super-
v^i°n over tne police and a general oversight
over what took place in the village. He
also acted in a judicial capacity in petty disputes, inflicting
punishment if necessary, and enforcing the regulations
concerning markets, streets, taxes, festivals, etc. He acted
as spokesman between the villagers and higher authorities,
and arranged matters with other villages. He received a
salary from his fellow villagers, proportionate to the size
of the village and the number of duties attached to the
post.

The rural constable, called ti pao, or pao chia, was under the

control of the village elder as well as under that of the local

government officials. His office had its

Constable1 origin m an ancient tithing system under

which every hundred families constituted

a chia, and each chia was divided into ten pai. Over each

pai was a head man elected by the ten families, and over

the chia was a head man called pao chia, or protector of

the chia, usually spoken of as the ti pao. The ti pao reported

to the District Magistrate at fixed intervals during each

month all important occurrences within the chia. His

functions were of an exceedingly miscellaneous description,

from the care of the village gates, the catching of robbers,

and the supervision of markets to the engagement of theatrical

Political Institutions 163

companies and the sinking of wells for the use of the village.
He kept a register containing particulars of every family
in his chia, and affixed a schedule giving these particulars
on the street door of each house. The post of ti pao was
filled by men from the lower classes, but the incumbent
was not necessarily a man of unscrupulous character, the
bad reputation so often- given him by foreigners being pro
bably due to the custom of " squeezing," to which he was
supposed to be especially prone, but perhaps not more so than
most Chinese officials in the lower ranks under the late regime.
It will be necessary to refer briefly to two other local
institutions which entered into the government of the re
lations between man and man, and between
The Ancestral varjous bodies of men, namely, the ancestral
hall and the village temple. In the former
were preserved the memorial tablets of the clan, which in
most cases would represent the entire village. It was the
scene of elaborate rituals and ceremonies at the various
festivals. All members of the clan had equal rights and
duties with regard to the ancestral hall. They had duly to
observe the clan customs and code of morality, attend the
various ceremonies, assist other members in cases of infringe
ment of their rights, or in cases of deserving poverty, and
generally to do what they could to keep up the honour and
prosperity of the clan in the sight of their ancestors as well
as of the material world.

The ancestral hall was a memorial hall and meeting-place
for the clan. The village temple represented a sort of local
self-governing council for the village in general
irrespective of clanship. Besides filling the
place of an ecclesiastical retreat for those
who wished to address themselves to the particular god
which the villagers may have seen fit to install there, such
as the God of War, the God of Literature, the Rain God, etc.,
it was also a sort of town hall, the vicarious representative
of a council of officers elected in rotation from the heads

164 China of the Chinese

of the various families in the village. It was the centre of
the social life and guardian of the relations with other villages
and with the central government. Inter-village treaties
are made by the village templers. A stranger suffering at
the hands of the villagers would address his complaint to
the temple. And the temple was supposed to keep up the
" face " of the village vis-a-vis other villages. It provided
for the annual festival of its patron, a sort of yearly carnival
latterly more social than religious. It had also other adminis
trative and judicial functions, taking charge of police matters,
repair of roads, etc., lighting dangerous places, furnishing
defence works, supplying free education, medical attendance,
burial, etc., in case of need, and deciding petty criminal
cases. It has been described as being for the Chinese village
what the County Council and Quarter Sessions are for an
English county.

It must of course not be inferred from the above that
Chinese villages constituted thousands of minute imperia
All Subject in imPeri° independent of the general superior
to the governmental authority. Every individual
Higher Power. jn China, as we saw, was owned by the
emperor, and the village elder and rural constable were
his as much as the viceroy and the governor. The functions
of these posts tended to become hereditary, but, though
elected, the appointees were subject to the approval of the
district officials. The village eldership, etc., simply amounted
to this, that through long custom and on account of the
distance from the village or inaccessibility in most cases
of the nearest agent of the provincial authorities, certain
matters had been left to be dealt with in this unofficial or
semi-official way instead of being regarded as part of the
duties of the emissaries of the central government. The
village and the clan, being in many cases identical,
partook of a domestic as much as of a public character.
But these local self-governing agents themselves were yet
subject to the higher power. To it they were ultimately

Military Institutions 165

responsible. The post of ti pao, in fact, gradually partook
of the nature of a governmental office, and the superior
officers in a district appointed grain agents and other sub
ordinates to exercise a general surveillance over the village
headmen, who were liable to corporate punishment in case
of serious trouble in the village. The " temple " itself was
nominally responsible to the central government for the
good administration of the village. The importance of this
local self-government lies in the fact that three-fourths of
the population of China live in the villages.

MILITARY INSTITUTIONS

FEUDAL PERIOD

If, as extremes, we take a wholly military community
on the one hand and a wholly industrial community on the
other, we may imagine progress from the

first state towards the last as takinS Place
through some members of the former

relinquishing their duties, till then completely and
perennially of a military nature, for industrial pursuits ;
through the gradually decreasing ratio which the fighting
part bears to the rest of the community ; through the
differentiation of civil and military rule by the establishment
of a separate military head and the replacing of the primitive
heads of loosely-organized fighting groups by a graduated
system of officers, each having separate functions, but all
co-operating under the centralized control ; and lastly,
through the establishment of a permanent fighting force
distinct from the rest of the community, in place of sporadic
gathering together and subsequent dispersal of the fighting
men as occasion demanded, thus ensuring efficient organiza
tion. It will be necessary for our present purpose to trace
the process beyond this point.

166 China of the Chinese

Examination of the first Chinese military systems of which
we have any record reveals all the characteristics of a

Early Chinese PrnT1itive condition. The whole nation was

Military the fighting force. The terms " host "

System. ancj " population " being interchangeable,

the heads of the two were one and the same person : the king

was not only chief of the executive, but also commander-

n-chief of the army. However, though the whole nation

• was the fighting force, that force was not permanently

engaged in fighting. Normally the population was occupied

in the labours of husbandry, and was only called upon by

the king or prince to engage in military operations when

occasion demanded. And, in order that they might make

effective warriors, reviews and manoeuvres were held at

those seasons when the fields were clear of crops. At the

great hunts, also, opportunity was taken to practise the

methods of warfare.

As to the preliminaries of warfare and the forces engaged,
we find ample material in Chinese classical and other standard
literature to furnish us with clear ideas
on the subJect- Councils of war were held,
and prayers and sacrifices offered to the
manes of deceased rulers. In order that these might be
present to aid them, the tablets from the temple shrines
were carried with the army on warlike expeditions, a prac
tice which seems to have increased till, instead of one,
the tablets of all the " seven temple-shrines" were taken.
This met with the disapproval of Confucius, who held that
none of the seven shrines of a king or five of a prince ought
to be left empty. Further preliminaries to going out to war
are graphically put in the following passage from the
Lieh Kuo Chih —

" Now, when the army of Ch'u was drawn up in order of battle,
quite close to the camp in which the troops of Chin were entrenched
. . . the king of Ch'u mounted a war-chariot with a look-out on it,
from which he was able to survey the enemy's camp. He then ordered
Po Chou-li, his Secretary of State, to stand by his side. ... ' There

Military Institutions 167

are men running to the left and to the right within the enemy's camp.
What does that mean ? ' asked the king. ' They are calling the
officers,' replied Chou-li. Again the king said: ' Now they are collected
in great numbers in the midst of the camp.' ' They are met to take
counsel,' answered Chou-li. The king looked again and said: ' All of
a sudden they are pitching a tent. What is the reason of this ? '
' They are offering prayers to the manes of the deceased rulers of
Chin.' And the king looked again and said: ' Now they are again
removing the tent.' ' That means that the orders to the army are
about to be issued.' ' Why,' continued the king, ' is there such a
clamour in the hostile army ? And why do I all at once see clouds of
dust rising thick and fast in their camp ? ' ' They are shutting up
the wells and levelling the cooking-places in order to gain room for
their movements.' ' Now they are putting the horses to their chariots,
and their officers are mounting the carriages,' resumed the king.
' They are going to form their ranks.' ' But why/ asked the king,
' do those who had mounted the chariots descend once more ? ' 'It
is to prostrate themselves on the ground and pray to the gods, before
they face us in battle.' "

The infantry, as we saw, was composed of the labourers
recalled from the fields. The armies were formed of the
Composition strong men, the weak and old kept watch,
of Fighting able-bodied women assisting the fighting
Forces. men jn various ways. Generally speaking,
all who had reached the age for fitting on mail (i.e., manhood)
went out to war, but in some cases we find that all above the
age of fifteen were enlisted. An army was made up of foot-
soldiers and charioteers. War-chariots were made of wood
and also of leather, the former being less able to withstand
the rough wear of cross-country work. The ordinary fighting
chariot, which was regarded as the principal
The Chariot, element of a Chinese army, was drawn by
four horses. The charioteer was in the
middle ; one warrior, wielding a spear, was on his right,
and another, fighting with bow and arrow, on his left. Only
in the chariot of the general, who " thundered on a drum
to urge the troops forward," was the driver on the left.
The spearman on the right " was not his esquire to hand him
his arms, but a noted warrior of great strength to protect
him, and take part in the battle as he was needed." A

168 China of the Chinese

troop of soldiers was attached to each chariot. Thus the
term " chariot " was a collective name (such as, for example,
" lance " in the middle ages in England). A chariot re
presented a strength of seventy-five men and four horses :
three cuirassiers in the chariot and seventy-two foot -soldiers.
These numbers varied in different ages, and about 580 B.C.
we read of 100 and 125 men attached to each. But each
chariot had also about twenty-five other men attached to
it to look after the baggage, cooking, etc., so that an average
chariot would represent 100 men. The chariot of the
sovereign, or of the commander-in-chief, had six or eight
horses yoked abreast.

The ordinary chariot drawn by four horses had two yoked
to the pole and two to the transverse bar of the chariot.
The horses were protected by mail, and the chariot by bucklers
in front. The horses' bits were of metal and fitted with bells.
The sides of the chariot were covered with boards as a de
fence against the arrows of the enemy. In the chief's chariot
the projecting ends of the axle-trees were covered with
lacquered leather guards, and the curved end of the pole
was also protected with leather, painted in five colours.
Both civil and military officers had iron " ears " or points
to their chariots, which curved up like cows' horns, possibly
resembling the scythes used by the ancient Persians.

Though nominally the king was supposed to possess a
force of 10,000, and a vassal one of 1,000 war chariots, and
mention is made of forces of 3,000 chariots
(300,000 men), the actual numbers were
usually much less. The whole force of the
kings of Chou only amounted to six armies of 12,500 men
each. The king at first took the field in person, but in later
times it is said to have been the custom to engage one of the
professional " masters of war " who wandered from state
to state to impart the secrets of victory to the highest bidder.
The king had a bodyguard, a grand army of 300 chariots,
and an advanced guard of ten chariots. Though cavalry is

Military Institutions 169

stated to have been used by Wu Wang (1169-1116 B.C.)
and to have greatly contributed to his victory over Chou
Hsin, and riding on horseback is mentioned under the year
517 B.C., it was not an ordinary weapon of warfare ; but
about 300 B.C., the regular use of war chariots suddenly
ceased (though we come across them again in the history
of subsequent periods), and this is said to have been due to
the use of cavalry from the semi-Tartar states and also
to the introduction of boats and gigantic canal works by the
" coast powers," causing boat expeditions to become the
rule, even in the north of China.

Ox-waggons containing baggage and provisions, as well
as droves of cattle, followed the army. When unloaded

the chariots were arranged round the place
ACwlSr°fareeS °f of encampment. " The feeble watched the

baggage, while the strong advanced against
the enemy." The warriors wore buskins on their legs. Be
sides the chariots and horses, there were used in warfare
armour and helmets, bows and arrows, spears, shields, pikes,
fighting towers, waggons and oxen ramparts, stages, battering-
rams, siege-engines, posts and planks for making entrench
ments, beacon-fires, hides and leather ornamented with red
lacquer and figures of panthers and elephants, halberds
twenty-four feet long, pikes twelve feet long, catapults,
banners, flags, streamers, standards, cymbals, horns, drums,
bells, etc. Instances are related of elephants, used in attacking
the enemy, being excited to make furious charges by com
bustibles put under their tails and kindled. Before battle,
warriors stimulated one another by mock combats. The

drum gave the signal for attack, the gong

1Flghting°f for retreat- A tongued bell, called to,
conveyed the injunction to stand still and
be quiet in the ranks. The latter object was also obtained
by means of gags, made of wood, and worn by the soldiers
in their mouths, secured by cords passing to the back of the
head. On going into action a line was formed, with the

170 China of the Chinese

bowmen on the left and the spearmen on the right flank,
the centre being occupied by the chariots. Spy-kites
were in use, and directions were conveyed by means of
signalling-flags.

During the battle, .the troops were urged forward by the
beating of drums. The ranks were readjusted after every
few paces. Few prisoners were made, and the left ears of the
slain were cut off and presented to the king or prince. The
vanquished chief was put to death, and those of the common
soldiers who were not made slaves were released after having
their left ears cut off. Strategy was often resorted to. The
portcullis is mentioned as in use in 562 B.C. at the siege of
Pi Yang, at which K'ung Shu-liang Ho, the father of Con
fucius, and a soldier of great stature, prowess, and daring,
held up the massive structure with both hands whilst his
men passed underneath. The walls of fortified cities were
scaled by means of hooked ladders. Parleys were held and
terms of peace arranged under a banner of truce, and paeans
played on the return from battle.

In the sixth century B.C., warfare in China became a
science through the work of Sun Wu (usually known as Sun
Tzu), his ideas being supplemented in the

f°Urth century B-c- bY Wu Ch>i (usually
known as Wu Tzu). These works greatly
influenced military operations throughout subsequent ages.
The principles therein advocated will be sufficiently
illustrated by stringing together a series of quotations —

" Do not eat the bait of the enemy; returning troops should not
stop; troops besieging others should leave one side open (so as not to
render the enemy too desperate). Do not pursue a desperate
enemy."

" War meaning ravage, it was essential that the operations should
be conducted in the enemy's territory. Once there, however, a
vigorous offensive is no longer advised. ' At first behave with the
discretion of a maiden,' is the counsel of Sun. The enemy must be
induced to take the initiative, and when he is worn out by marching,
or makes a false move, ' then dart in like a rabbit.' "

" The frontal attack was considered unworthy of the skilful general.

Military Institutions 171

The army should be divided into two forces. The enemy is ' attracted
and engaged by one force, and defeated with the other.' "

" The passage of a river should not be disputed, as the enemy will
probably give up the attempt, and make the passage untouched at
some other point, but he should be attacked when half his force is
across the stream. An army should not encamp on a river below the
enemy, as it is thereby liable to be inundated, or to have its water
poisoned; or the enemy may come down stream and make a sudden
attack."

" Even successful war brings evil in its train. Few are those who
have gained power on earth by many victories. War should not be
undertaken until a careful comparison of the two sides shows that
victory is certain. Hence the importance of knowledge of the
intelligence of the enemy and of the spy."

" War is a thing of pretence: therefore, when capable of action, we
pretend disability; when near to the enemy, we pretend to be far;
when far away, we pretend to be near. Allure the enemy by giving
him a small advantage. Confuse and capture him. If there be defects,
give an appearance of perfection, and awe the enemy. Pretend to be
strong, and so cause the enemy to avoid you. Make him angry, and
confuse his plans. Pretend to be inferior, and cause him to despise
you. If you have superabundance of strength, tire him out; if united,
make divisions in his camp. Attack weak points, and appear in
unexpected places. These are the secrets of the successful
strategist."

But " better than defeating a country by fire and the sword, is to
take it without strife. The supreme art is to subdue the enemy
without fighting. Wherefore the most skilful warrior outwits the
enemy by superior stratagem. A siege should not be undertaken if
it can possibly be avoided. The ancient masters of war first made
their armies invincible, then waited until the adversary could with
certainty be defeated."

There are a very large number of other valuable precepts,
but we may conclude with the faults to be avoided by
generals —

" Generals must be on their guard against these five dangerous
faults: Blind impetuosity, which leads to death. Over-cautiousness,
which leads to capture. Quick temper, which brings insult. A too
rigid propriety, which invites disgrace. Over-regard for the troops,
which causes inconvenience. These five faults in the leader are
disastrous in war."

After peace had been concluded, hostages were exchanged
as a guarantee of mutual good faith.

172 China of the Chinese

MONARCHICAL PERIOD

As a first step towards forming a standing army, the

" First Emperor," Ch'in Shih Huang Ti, decreed a general

Formation of disarmament throughout the provinces, and

a Standing ordered all weapons to be sent to his capital

Army. a{ Hsien Yang. He then caused them to be

melted up, his idea being, that since all the warriors had been

disarmed and dispersed throughout the empire and the only

remaining weapons were in the capital, calamity could never

befall him. But he did not suspect that weapons would be

made out of wood or of bamboo poles, and that, every person

being a soldier, his kingdom could thus be overthrown.

His standing army was formed from those classes of the

community which had no fixed profession and of men of

exceptional physical strength ; but, plausible though his

plan may have been, it availed him nothing in the end.

The Hans, however, adopted the same principle, having

North and South armies in the capital and imperial guards

in ah1 the provinces. There was also a body-

S Item guard of skilled archers and horsemen.

In extreme cases the guards in the capital

were sent to the seat of war. But during the latter part

of the Later Han dynasty, if not earlier, all the people were

disciplined — soldiers, scholars, and great ministers alike

practising the military art, thus obviating the necessity

of keeping the soldiers constantly mobilized. The nation

was again the army, caUed out or dismissed as occasion

required, with its nucleus in the special permanent forces

in the capital.

The appliances for warfare had not greatly changed.

Prayers were offered before going to war by the Director

of the Imperial Board of Astronomy whilst

Appliances, he held the military flags pointing towards

the enemy's country. Sacrificial animals

were slain, and an " awe-inspiring peck measure," in the

shape of Ursa Major, was carried before the troops when

Military Institutions 173

they advanced, and at their side when they retired. Chariots
were no longer martialled in battle array, but in the native
Han histories mention is made of war chariots with a turret
(or spy-tower) for spying out the enemy, some of which
required several oxen to pull them. The same histories
refer to the weapons in use : " With their strong mail and
sharp swords, long and short mixed together, cross-bows
travelling to and fro, the shih and wu, files of ten and five
men, advanced, and the Hsiung Nu (Huns) were not able
to resist them." Those in front were armed with three-
pronged lances and shields, whilst those in the rear had bows
and cross-bows. Trumpets, bells, drums, cymbals, etc.,
were used to convey commands and signals, and many orna
mented banners and flags accompanied the troops. It is
also recorded that generals had their orders cut on seals
for rapid circulation among the soldiers under their command.
Columns were formed with the lancers in front and the
bowmen behind ; skilful cavalry tactics adopted to surround

the enemy's forces, and bodies of soldiers
Tactics. detailed to cut off his grain supply ; raised

paths thrown up to transport provisions
for the army, and moats and fortifications used as a means
of defence. In 200 B.C., the ruse of concealing the brave
soldiers and fat oxen, showing only old and weak soldiers
and lean cattle, was successfully tried by the Hsiung Nu
against the Chinese Emperor Kao Tsu. About fifty years
later the system of military settlements known as t'un t'ien,
which has lasted down to modern times, was originated.
This was a sort of feudal system in miniature. In return
for their allotments, the cultivation of which furnished
their means of livelihood, the settlers contributed service
or taxes in money or kind to assist in defraying the expenses
of the administration.

During the following fourteen centuries the principal
changes in the military system were as follows : After
the extinction of the Later Han dynasty, Chu-ko Liang (A.D.

174 China of the Chinese

181-234), the famous general and popular hero under Liu Pel,

the founder of the Kingdom of Shu or Minor Han dynasty,

improved and perfected a series of military

MHiSy *Si£ tactics ^OVfn as the " Eight Dispositions,"
and also made use for transport purposes,
of the device of " wooden oxen and running horses " — the
nature of which has, unfortunately, not been recorded for
the benefit of succeeding generations — and invented a bow
for shooting several arrows simultaneously. He " used
gongs and drums to mislead his enemies," possibly in connec
tion with the " wooden oxen and running horses." The
importance of previous strict military training, which was
to extend over a period of seven years, was recognized.
Generals were to instruct their subordinate officers in the
" evolution of drill, movements, and the meaning of flags."

It must be understood, however, that the soldiers, as a
rule, advanced in irregular hordes, and not in symmetrical
regiments, from which the Chinese had a strong aversion until
they adopted Western military systems. Military exercises
were practised, single-file columns being first formed and
others built up out of them. About this time we read of chariots
being used, not for purposes of assault, but for protection
and transport. If attacked on both sides, the troops pro
tected themselves with the chariots and awaited the onslaught
of the enemy. At other times the chariots conveyed food and
weapons on the march and formed a ring round the camp.
Later on we read that in open country chariot regiments of
the fish formation were used, whereas chariots used in denies
were constructed with turrets from which the soldiers fought
as they advanced.

The period 265-420 was an age of strategy rather than

of hard fighting. Instruction in military

AStrate£rv°f science was given in the national college.

Of the tactics in Wu, we gain some idea

from the following passage in the native History oi

the Chin Dynasty —

Military Institutions 175

" The men of Wu laid iron chains across the river wherever there
were dangerous places; also they made sharp-pointed spikes of iron
more than one chang long to scatter in the river to prevent the enemy's
fleet from entering. Now Yang Yu had arrested a spy of Wu, from
whom he learnt all about the enemy's movements. So Wang Chun
made 10 large rafts, 100 paces in area, and placed on them men made
of straw, wearing armour and holding clubs; then he ordered good
swimmers to pull them rapidly up the river. When the spikes struck
the rafts they were carried away by them. Also he made large torches,
more than 10 chang long and several tens of cubits in circumference;
these he soaked in oil and placed on the bows of ships, in order to
burn the chains, which were soon melted or broken. By these means
his ships were able to pass without hindrance."

Troops were trained for forest warfare, and rivers dammed
with bags of earth to flood out besieged cities. Towards
the end of the third century A.D., Ma Lung, a military marquis
of the Chin dynasty, is said to have defeated the Tartars
by covering the sides of a pass with lodestone, so that the
mail-clad warriors with their weapons were unable to move
either forwards or backwards and were easily vanquished.
As a result of this, mail made of rhinoceros hide or horns
seems to have been adopted as the safest when warring in
narrow defiles. Gunpowder was as yet unknown, but to
wards the end of this period " crackling or exploding staves "
and machines for discharging stone projectiles are mentioned,
which will be referred to again in the section on
Weapons.

The Chinese made quite sure that their vanquished and
slain enemies should trouble them no more. The dead, as

Remains of we saw» were looked upon as liable to return,

Enemy but mutilation prevented this; hence the

Mangled. preference for strangling to decapitation ;

and hence also the mangling or destroying of the remains

of an enemy, as the most severe punishment. Even after

burial the corpse of an enemy would be exhumed and

decapitated or burned as a last savage act of revenge.

During the Sui, T'ang, and Sung dynasties (589-1280),
the principal features of military progress were the raising
of huge armies and the creation of a navy, which at the end of

176 China of the Chinese

this period numbered 5,000 ships manned by 70,000 trained
fighters. The Tartar hordes were pressing more and more on the
northern frontiers, and the reaction was shown in the fact
that, during the short-lived Sui dynasty,
the massed tro°Ps numbered 1,133,800.
The use of the hollow square (of mixed
infantry and dragoons surrounded by chariots forming
an abattis) was understood, but, being regarded as a slow
or ineffectual manoeuvre of defence, was discarded for the
more mobile cavalry column.

But the step which really secured long peace and security
to the empire was that taken by T'ai Tsung, the second
T'ang T'ai emperor of the great T'ang dynasty. Though
Tsung 's Military the army had recently increased in size,
System. ^g military forces up to that time had
been little better than a rude militia, the officers without
military knowledge, the soldiers, for the most part peasants,
undisciplined, unwilling fighters, easily panic-stricken, " whose
celerity and dash only became perceptible when their backs
were turned to the foe." T'ai Tsung saw the necessity of
a large and efficient standing army, but he had no mind
to recruit his forces from the braver and more active Tartar
tribes, as some of his predecessors had endeavoured to do.
Overcoming many obstacles, he raised a standing army of
900,000 men, divided into three classes of regiments,
numbering 895 in all, 634 being for home and 261 for foreign
service. The term of service was from twenty to sixty.
There were regiments of cuirassiers, archers, halberdiers,
shield-bearers, and mounted spearmen. Cavalry co-operated
with infantry. Every two families supplied one soldier.
A Tribunal of War, entrusted with the supreme direction
of military matters, was instituted, and special attention
given to the training of a large body of officers. Weapons
were improved, and more than ever before the army was
formidable for its efficiency, equipment, and numerical
strength.

Military Institutions 177

In the period of the Five Dynasties which followed that
of the T'ang, we read of tunnels being dug to attack cities,

, some of which had double walls and moats.
Method of ... r

Warfare At this time, the fighting forces were pro-

during the vided by a so-called " voluntary " enlistment
ive ynasties. from one out of every seVen families, the

men having to provide their armour and weapons them
selves, all those between fifteen and seventy who were eligible
for service being branded on the face. In 907 alone the
number thus marked was 200,000. The uselessness of mere
numbers was illustrated when all fowlers and hunters were
ordered to learn the military art. " At this time every
battle ended in defeat : this was caused not by there being
too few soldiers, but by there being too many. The strong
and weak being alike employed, they were defeated by the
enemy. For the weak ran away first, and the strong could
not fight alone." In 909 two-deck vessels were used in
naval engagements. Sand was used to give purchase for
the soldiers' feet on the decks of their own ships, lime was
thrown into the air to blind the enemy, and quantities of
beans on to the enemy's decks, so that as the beans got
soaked with blood they caused the fighters to slip and fall.
Divers were also employed to fasten the enemy's ships with
iron chains whilst they were being attacked, and in rivers
similar chains were sunk in the stream, and as the ships
passed over them they were hauled up by means of wind
lasses by soldiers concealed behind ramparts on the banks,
the enemy's warriors being shot by the cross-bow archers
before they could escape. Sacrifices were still made before
starting out on warlike expeditions and announcements
of the same given out in the ancestral temple.

The example of T'ang T'ai Tsung was followed by T'ai
Tsu, the first emperor of the great Sung dynasty. He paid
close attention to the improvement of the troops and par
ticularly to the training of officers, who were called upon to
pass examinations in professional subjects as well as in physical

12— {2383)

178 China of the Chinese

exercises, the theory and practice of archery, and other
warlike arts. The army was of enormous size, numbering
The Sung no^ ^ess *han ^000,000, but the evils of
Military a large number of non-productive mem-
System. kers of t^ community, creating a serious
financial burden, began to be felt, and Shen Tsung (1068-86)
took steps to reduce it to more manageable dimensions.
The successful employment of cavalry by the Kins, who
charged at full speed shooting arrows, using swords and
pikes when at close quarters, stimulated its use by the
Chinese, who however did not make good horsemen. We
read also of four-wheeled chariots, carrying twenty-four
combatants, which were apparently used for offensive as
well as for defensive purposes. Along with much that was
progressive there went a good deal that was primitive, though
apparently effectual. In the History of the Southern Sung
Dynasty, we find this passage —

" Yao (Yang Yao), trusting in his strength, would not submit, and
launched vessels in the lake (T'aihu) which struck the water with
wheels and went along as if they were flying; they carried poles on the
sides to break up the government vessels they met. Fei (Yao Fei)
felled trees on the Chun mountain and made enormous rafts to bar the
confluence of the streams and scattered rotten wood and straw which
the current floated down. Then choosing shallow places, he sent
good swearers to provoke the enemy by abusing them as they went
along. The rebels, getting angry, came in pursuit, but the straw and
wood obstructed the wheels of the vessels and prevented their moving.
Fei at once sent soldiers to attack them, and when the rebels fled up
stream they were stopped by the rafts on which the government
troops, safely sheltered against arrows and stones by extended hides,
battered their vessels with big beams and destroyed them completely.
Yao jumped into the water, but Niu Kao seized and beheaded him."

The Mongol success in 1280 was due to the military genius

of Genghis Khan and to discipline and study of the art of

Mongol, Ming, war on tne P31*- °f ^is subjects. But neither

and Manchu' his nor the native Ming dynasty which

Militarism. followed it produced any important military

change which we need stop to consider in detail. It must

be noted, however, that the propulsive effect of gunpowder,

Military Institutions 179

though riot a native invention, was now understood, and
weapons in which it was used began to be adopted. In 1449,
the shen chi division, which took its name from the tubes
of inflammable material which were fastened to the bodies
of horses and oxen, used the rifle, but as it was feared that
it would be useless in rainy weather, a division of youths,
known as the yu chiin, was formed and trained in the use
of long shields and swords. When we examine the military
institutions under the Manchu regime towards the end of
twenty centuries of monarchical rule, we find them practically
in the same state as they were at the beginning.

The chief distinction to be noted in the military organiza
tion after the Manchu conquest in 1644 is that between
the Bannertnen, the force of the usurping
familY> and the troops of the Green Stan
dard, who were with very few exceptions
rntirely Chinese. Originally the Manchu forces were
arranged under four banners only — yellow, red, blue, and
white. Shortly after the conquest of China, the number
of troops being considered insufficient, four more Banners
were organized. The standards borne by the latter had a
border of a different colour round the original yellow, red,
blue, or white, and they were accordingly called Hsiang
Ch'i, or Bordered Banners, to distinguish them from the
Cheng Ch'i, or Plain Banners. There were thus altogether
Pa Ch'i, or Eight Banners, composed of Manchus, Mongol
Tartars, and Han Chiin, Chinese or their descendants who
forsook the cause of the Mings when their country was
invaded. The first three, comprising the bordered and
plain yellow and the plain white, were styled the superior,
and the remaining five the inferior Banners. The organiza
tion was conceived in the same spirit and form as that of
their Niichen ancestors. The total number of troops in
the Eight Banners towards the end of the eighteenth century
has been estimated at 100,000. These troops were stationed
in all the important cities of the empire, where they were

180 China of the Chinese

garrisoned in a special quarter known as the Tartar city.
They were independent of the civil authorities, their principal
duty being to prevent any uprising of the people. At their
head in each province was a Tartar General, who was
Commander-in-Chief of all the troops in that province,
under him being Generals (Chiang Chun), Major-Generals
(Tu T'ung), etc. The Bannermen entered the army at about
the age of twenty and served until old age compelled them
to retire. They received pay at the rate of from two to
four taels (the tael being then equal to about six shillings)
a month, or in some districts the equivalent in rice. The
post of a battalion commander, including salary and
allowances, etc., was worth about 500 taels a month. The
officers were divided into nine • grades, and before pro
motion were examined as to their physical strength,
skill in horsemanship, and proficiency in the use of the
bow.

The principal divisions of the Banner forces were the
Vanguard Division, the Artillery and Musket Division,
the Peking Field Force, and the Yuan

Min% Yiian Division for the protection of
the Summer Palace. The third is the only
one which requires explanation. After the disastrous cam
paign of 1860 against the British and French armies, the
Chinese authorities, with a view to provide for the future
security of the seat of central government, organized a force
named the Shen Chi Ying, composed of 18,000 to 20,000
men, including cavalry, artillery, and rifle regiments, drilled
and manoeuvred after the European fashion. The instruc
tion of these troops was " based upon lessons in European
drill which were given to detachments sent to Tientsin for
the purpose of studying under British instructors in
1862-1865." We saw that a shen chi division had been created
in the Ming dynasty, which was the first to use the prototypes
of modern fire-arms, and the name of that division was
now given to this new branch of the army. Herein we find

Military Institutions 181

the germ from which grew the reform of the Chinese army
on modern lines.

The native army, or Army of the Green Standard (Lii
Ying), was composed of two kinds of soldiers — those who

The Armv of were permanently with the colours, and
the Green those who, like the agriculturists of feudal
Standard. times, followed their own trades in their
native districts, and were called in to fight when war was
imminent. The latter wrere named yimg, or " braves,"
and received four taels per month, the permanent soldier
receiving two. The native army was divided into lu lu,
or land forces, and shiti shih, or marine, the ranks and designa
tions being identical in both. The former, numbering about
500,000, are described as having been an absolutely effete
organization, discharging the duties of sedentary garrisons
and local constabulary, but superseded by the " braves "
on all occasions when active service was required. There
were sixteen Commanders-in-Chief, twelve of whom were
confined to the military branch, but with control of inland
navigation ; two military, with command of the naval
forces ; and two exclusively naval. Military and civil duties
were still largely undiffcrentiated ; and civil officers of the
same rank as the military officers continued to be placed
above the latter, to guard against insurrection of the forces.
Military officers were held in contempt, and the command
of an army in war-time was frequently given to a civilian,
on the argument that the military officials, not having
passed the literary examinations, would not have the necessary
knowledge, whereas the literati, who had undergone seven
tests, and who, at any rate, must have read about war in
the classical if not also in other writings, would be more
competent to carry on war than uneducated military officials.
The different ranks of the native army were : Commander-
in-Chief ; Brigade General ; Colonel ; Lieutenant-Colonel ;
Major ; Captain ; Lieutenant ; Sergeant ; Corporal ; each
in command of greater or smaller bodies of men stationed

182 China of the Chinese

in the cities and towns, and co-operating with the various
military officials. Each province was by imperial decree
compelled to enrol a fixed number of its inhabitants to serve
under the Green Standard. These formed a militia or
" train-bands " (t'uan lien), and it was of these that the
notorious " Boxers " of 1900 were chiefly formed.

Besides the Banner and Green Standard forces, special
troops were formed, soon after the awakening of China by
the sound of Western guns, by two of China's
Special Troops, most famous Viceroys, Li Hung-chang and
Tso Tsung-t'ang. Li took three battalions
formed at Tientsin in 1865, had them drilled and disciplined
by European officers and instructed in infantry manoeuvres.
Others were instructed in field artillery and heavy gun-
drill, and all these units were distributed as instructors
throughout the military centres, such as Nanking, Canton, etc.
The whole force, including a similar corps organized by
Tso Tsung-t'ang, scattered over North, North-West, and
Mid-China, numbered about 100,000 men, drilled on the
European model, and armed with modern breech-loading
and muzzle-loading rifles. This was another step towards
Westernizing the Chinese military system.

A further step was taken in 1901, after Western arms
had taught China another lesson, when, by an imperial decree,
the military forces were ordered to be re-
organized. The scheme comprised three
divisions — campaign, reserve, and police corps.
In 1905, at the suggestion of the Army Reorganization
Board, the emperor instituted (in place of the obsolete
military examination system) training schools for officers
of the land forces and a high Military Academy, and pre
paratory and middle-grade schools in the provinces. The
course of instruction lasted five years, and in the Academy
included the higher branches of military science. The army
itself was to be reorganized so as to comprise an Army
Council and General Staff, the active army distributed

Military Institutions 183

into twenty territorial sections, each having two full divisions
together forming one army corps, each division numbering
12,000 or 12,500 men, the forty divisions thus making a
total of 480,000 or 500,000 fighting units ; a reserve force ;
and army instructors and equipment. This scheme was
put into full force by 1910.

The divisions above mentioned each included twelve

infantry battalions, one cavalry regiment, three batteries

of artillery, and one company of engineers.

Engineers, Under the previous military organizations,
Sappers, etc.

there was no body of engineers, sappers

and miners were unknown, artillery were taken from the
infantry garrisons, mariners drawn from the line, and
admirals and captains for the navy from the infantry. The
most efficient branch of the cavalry was that which provided
postmen and carriers. The peasants of China, however,
proved to be ideal sappers, skilled in the use of the spade,
cool and apathetic under fire, and constructing neat earth
works in places of the greatest danger. To them were due
most of the modern forts, as well as the military roads and
canals of the Chih-li province. Says Fisher —

" Their coolness under fire was admirable. At the assault of the
Peiho Forts in 1860 they carried the French ladders to the ditch,
and, standing in the water up to their necks, supported them with
their hands to enable the storming party to cross. It was not usual
to take them into action; they, however, bore the dangers of a distant
fire with the greatest composure, evincing a strong desire to close
with their compatriots, and engage them in mortal combat with
their bamboos."

Each province was supposed to have its own navy as

well as its own army, but the full complement of ships did

not exist, even on paper, for a war vessel

The Navy. could not be created on the spur of the

moment in the same way as a regiment of

soldiers, by calling in a posse of coolies and clothing them

for the nonce with military uniforms. What ships existed

were mostly sent to the bottom by the French fleet at

184 China of the Chinese

Foochow in the war of 1885. This disaster led to the creation
of a Board of Admiralty and the formation of a powerful
flotilla, partly organized by Captain Lang, of the British
navy. Later on this was formed into two divisions, the
Northern and Southern Squadrons, but in 1895 the greater
part of the former was sunk or captured by the Japanese,
the Southern division remaining in the Yangtzu and taking
no part in the conflict. Five years later the European allied
forces which came to relieve the foreigners besieged in Peking
captured and appropriated four destroyers built in 1898-9.
Since that time to about 1908, the attempts to restore the
navy had resulted in the possession of about sixty-four vessels,
consisting of two second-class cruisers of about 4,300 tons,
eleven third-class cruisers of from 875 to 2,500 tons, three
destroyers of from 350 to 1,000 tons, four river gunboats
of from 215 to 412 tons, and thirty-two first-class and twelve
second-class torpedo boats, only half of the latter being fit
for action.

There were military arsenals at Tientsin, Shanghai, Nanking,
Wuch'ang, Ch'engtu, and Canton, besides smaller establish
ments in various centres, and an important
naval arsenal and shipbuilding yard at
Pagoda Anchorage, nine miles below Foochow,
which was for many years under French administration.

REPUBLICAN PERIOD

Writing in 1901, Professor Parker said — •

" The old Chinese ' army ' of fifty years ago was simply a rabble,
provided with bags of rice, gay flags, umbrellas,
Sixty-five fans, and (quite a secondary matter) rusty guns,
Years Ago. gingalls, spears, heavy swords, and (very occa
sionally) fairly good rifles and cartridges, of a date
always behind the times. If there were time and money, hired coolies
carried the provision-bags and the arms, while the soldiers carried the
umbrellas, opium-pipes, and fans. If matters were urgent, the soldiers
carried all. There was never any medical staff, not even bandages,
and (if the warrior did not slink away before shooting began) the man
hopped off when wounded, to die or recover in the nearest ditch.
His pay was always a doubtful quantity, but he did not mind that

Military Institutions 185

much, so long as he was allowed to plunder the people he was marching
to defend. When not on the march, entrenching himself, or trying
to ' start ' the enemy on a run, he spent his time in smoking, gambling,
or prowling after women. Discipline of any kind there was none;
but if officers were insulted heads went off in no time: in all other
matters officers were disposed to be easy, so long as the men were not
too curious about accounts, and were ready to cover the commander's
flight when the enemy really ' came on.' "

This inefficient state of things has been ascribed to the

deterioration of the Tartar troops and their arrogance in

opposing all progress ; to their jealousy

Causes of f tn Chinese and fear of their acquiring
Inefficiency. .

power ; and to the Chinese natural apathy

and contempt for all things military. A Chinese proverb
says that " good iron is not wrought into nails and good
men do not become soldiers." Their peaceful disposition,
pre-occupation with agricultural and literary pursuits, and
disapproval of non-producers like priests and soldiers, have
created a type ill-fitted for aggressive and even defensive
warfare; and, where they have recognized the vital importance
of the latter, corruption in the shape of the " squeeze "
system has been an effectual bar to efficiency, whilst the
feudal mind which causes them to regard each province
almost as a separate nation has prevented the growth of a
truly national patriotic spirit.

Compared with the picture above given, we might be
inclined to say that China now has changed all that. In
Size and China to-day one sees khaki-clad, well-
Numbers equipped regiments drilling everywhere, effi-
not Everything. cient cavalry, gunnery, aviation, manoeuvres,
etc. China has now 800,000 regular troops, and intends to
have an immense and efficient army, possibly of 10,000,000
men. She will probably introduce conscription, if an agri
cultural nation will stand it, which would give her perhaps
50,000,000 reserves to fall back upon. But in the primitive
mind size and number are everything, and importance is
attached to quantity apart from quality. A mind content

186 China of the Chinese

to rest satisfied with military institutions on the ground
that "they that be with us are more than they that be
with them," is capable of supposing an elephant to be better
than a man because it is bigger. China may get together
huge armies, but it will be a long time before she is in
a fit state to take part in a war such as that now being carried
on in Europe. Armies cost money, and war costs more,
and underneath the new uniforms is the same nature as that
which was under the rhinoceros-hides of old. Yuan Shih-
k'ai, the recently-deceased President, sacrificed two con
demned criminals to his regimental drum before starting
out on a warlike expedition, which is exactly what the Kin
emperors did in the twelfth century. In a war like that now
being waged in Europe, the Chinese troops would have been
unable to " stick it," and would have " had enough " of it
long ago, and would have deserted without being shot,
because their leaders would have deserted as quickly or
quicker than they. China is threatened with aggression,
and resistance to aggression is a duty, both in individual
and national life. A well-wisher to China can only hope
that the serious effort she is now making to set her house
in order will not be frustrated by any lust of gain or cry of
peace when there is no peace, and that there will be time
to acquire the necessary unselfishness, means, efficiency,
and zeal to keep the enemy from her shores and enable her
to cultivate the arts of peace and civilization in safety within
her own borders.

CHAPTER VI

ECCLESIASTICAL INSTITUTIONS

FEUDAL PERIOD

WE saw in the last chapter that the sovereign was not only

king or emperor but also head of the executive, commander -

in-chief, and high-priest. And we also saw

Compound that whjist he remained head of the executive
Sovereignty.

and head of the army, multiplication of duties

obliged him to relinquish most of these to subordinate indi
viduals and groups of individuals forming the civil and
military administrations. Similarly, we have to observe the
differentiation, or partial differentiation, of the ecclesiastical
administration.

At first often acting as an intermediary with his father
on earth, the ruler's eldest son or other relative, naturally be
comes in course of time the intermediary with

Priesthood ^s ^a^lcr w^10 *s m heaven. It is only in later
stages that priestly functions are performed
by functionaries who are not members of the royal family.
But where these exist they compete in influence with the
priests-royal or usurp their functions altogether. Powerful
medicine-men or rainmakers may, and do, commend them
selves by one means or another to the people as the more
competent or desirable intermediaries between the natural
and the supernatural.

To get clear ideas as to the rise of ecclesiastical institutions

in China, it is necessary to note that the religion of the Chinese

was, and is, ancestor-worship, long the only

Tof ChinSa°n form of reliSion known to them. In the Later
Feudal Period there were Taoism and Con
fucianism, and, not long after, Buddhism was transplanted
from the West. Taoism may have been a form of Buddhism,

187

188 China of the Chinese

and so, like Buddhism, a foreign religion, and Confucianism,
though it approved of ancestor-worship and professed agnos
ticism, was, strictly speaking, not a religion at all. We
shall deal with this point more particularly in a later chapter.
A survey of ecclesiastical institutions in China, therefore,
should include the priesthoods respectively of ancestor-
worship, of Taoism as we find it, and of that branch of Indian
religion known as Chinese Buddhism.

In ancestor-worship pure and simple, each individual,

having his own ancestor or ancestors, has also his own deity

or deities, whom he worships. Each indi-

Ancestor- vjdual, or at least each father of a family,

Worship. . . J '

is his own priest, rrom the sovereign to

the slave there was thus a corresponding hierarchy in the
other world receiving homage from their descendants in this
world. In these circumstances there would seem to be no
room for a separate priesthood.

Yet supposing that something went wrong ; what then ?
If an evil spirit kept troubling the family, or if the crops'
Where the were destroyed, or no rain fell, and there was
Priest no response in spite of repeated prayer
Came in. an(j sacrifice, how were the offended ancestors
to be appeased and good relations re-established ? In a
primitive community there were always one or more individuals
with a reputation for greater skill or influence with the spirit
world. If not at hand to offer his services, one could easily
be called in to intercede or exorcise for remuneration which
would be regarded as trifling compared with the calamities
which might be impending. In days when superstition is
all-pervading, these men might be so frequently required,
especially in cases of death and burial, to keep off evil spirits
and select a propitious site for the grave, that they would
be able to give up their ordinary occupation and adopt the
priesthood as a permanent profession. We find this stage
had already been reached in early China. In the oldest
literature frequent mention is made of a class of priests and

Ecclesiastical Institutions 189

priestesses named wu, who were regarded as being possessed
of special power to induce the spirits of the dead to descend
and partake of the offerings made to them ; to foretell future
events from information communicated to them by the
spirits ; and to expel disease and evil in general. They are
found as exorcists in the employ of the ancient rulers when
the latter were obliged to expose themselves to the attacks
of invisible agents, such as when entering a house where death
had recently taken place or attending a funeral. They held
in their hands pieces of peach-wood (especially dreaded by
ghosts) and bundles of reeds, which were used for sweeping
away things of an inauspicious nature. They were employed
in an official capacity at funerals, and in these living exor
cists we see the origin and prototype of the (to Western
minds) inanimate image of the " Spirit that clears the Way,"
already referred to when considering Funeral Rites, though
living exorcists also continued to be employed in modern
times.

In the Rites of Chou we find a description of the duties
performed by the wu —

" The male wu offered sacrifices to the invited
The Duties spirits and induced them to approach, waving long
of the Wu. pieces of grass and calling them by their hon
orific names. In winter (when evil spirits pre
dominated) they expelled bad influences from the halls, without
taking into account the number of spirits or the distance at which they
might be. In spring they appealed to the loving-kindness of the
superior spirits to ward off diseases. And when the sovereign went
to pay a visit of condolence they walked in front of him in company
with the Invokers. The female wu performed exorcism at the different
seasons of the year, sprinkling purifying perfumed water. In times
of drought or great heat, they performed dances in order 'to induce
rain (or during the sacrifices for rain). When the sovereign's consort
went to pay a visit of condolence they walked in front of her in com
pany with the female Invokers. And at every great calamity in the
kingdom they entreated the gods, chanting and wailing."

There were, moreover, heads or chiefs of the wu, who
acted as directors, taking the lead, for example, and guiding
them in the dances for rain. On occasions of sacrifice they

190 China of the Chinese

provided the boxes with the soul-tablets, the druggets for
the roads, and the boxes with the straw mats. At sacrifices
generally they saw to the safe burial of the offerings, and at
funeral ceremonies had charge of the exorcist rites by which
the soul was made to descend.

The wu were thus a class of dancing and chanting exor
cists, sorcerers and medicine-men, fulfilling the functions
Two of a primitive priesthood. We shall see

Priesthoods that they gradually acquired a powerful
of one influence. Though they existed as a separate
class, they were also at times employed as
temporary or permanent officials, but of the lowest category,
and were held in but slight estimation. Ecclesiastical func
tions were, however, not completely differentiated. Whilst
employing these specialists as occasion required, the members
of the social aggregate, from the sovereign to the slave,
continued to be their own priests. The ruler was still high-
priest, and his officers also combined executive and eccle
siastical functions. We have the pontifex maximus and a
hierarchy of priests composed of nobles, statesmen, and
civil and military officers. There was thus in addition to,
and separate from, the wu priesthood, a regular, though
undifferentiated, State priesthood. In treating later on
of Ideas, we shall see that the religions to which these two
priesthoods belonged were in reality one, namely, ancestor-
worship. The king alone had the right to sacrifice to the
Supreme Lord of Heaven, to Earth, and to his imperial
ancestors. Whilst some of the priest-officials assisted the
king in these duties, they also had their specially-assigned
deities to whom to make their prayers and sacrifices. We
read in the Tso Chuan, the commentary on the Confucian
Annals, that the heir-apparent had charge of the chief sacri
fice and the rice vessels for sacrificing to the gods of the land
and grain. The Minister of Religion was the Arranger or
Superintendent of the Ancestral Temple, and his duties
included the erection and preservation of the temples and

Ecclesiastical Institutions 191

altars of the state, and the mausolea of the reigning family,
the celebration of sacrifices with dancing and music, super
vision of the royal funeral rites, as well as divination, etc.,
and the numerous duties already noticed when referring
to him as a member of the civil administration.

Taoism, mentioned above as one of the religions of China,
existed before it was systematized and developed by Lao
Taoism not ^z^' *ts rePuted founder ; but during the
yet a whole of the Feudal Periods it did not grow

Religion. mto a religion. Nor can Buddhism rightly
be said to have been established as a religion in China before
its official introduction soon after the Christian era. Con
fucianism, we saw, was not a separate religion at all. It is
true that we read of a temple to Confucius and of sacrifices
being offered to him as early as 478 B.C., the year after the
great sage's death ; and eventually a temple was ordered
to be erected to him in every prefecture, sub-prefecture,
district, and market-town, but this does not mean that there
was then a religion, much less a priesthood, of Confucianism
(which was a code of politico-ethical principles). It was
merely a part of the prevailing ancestor-worship — an offering
to the spirit of him who was the " Greatest Teacher " and the
" Most Perfect Sage," and later on also to the spirits of the
pantheon made up of his disciples and followers. Conse
quently, the absence of priesthoods coinciding with the
absence of religions (for though there may be a religion
without a priesthood, there cannot be a priesthood without
a religion), and there being in the Feudal Periods only one
religion, that of ancestor-worship, we see that the two priest -
~ hoods named were priesthoods of this one

Priesthoods of religion, or were one priesthood which took
Ancestor- the two forms, principal and accessory,
Worship. already noted. In this state (which, as it
did not, of course, constitute a differentiated and organized
profession, may best be called the family priesthood), every
man was his own priest, the king, as high-priest, being

192 China of the Chinese

assisted by a hierarchy comprising in its farthest ramifi
cations all the principal administrative officials of the
country (the undifferentiated state or political priesthood,
which may best be distinguished as the politico-ecclesiastical
priesthood or agency), and wu-ism. Otherwise put, we may
say that we thus have the principal priesthood of ancestor-
worship, composed of two parts — political or public and family
or private — and the accessory priesthood of the wu. It
should, however, be pointed out that, though the former,
not being a separately organized institution, would not be
regarded as a priesthood in the Western sense of the term,
they may rightly be so described in so far as they were agents
for the carrying on of worship.

We shall deal in the next section with the priesthoods
of the other religions which grew up or gained a foothold

Why Priest- m China » ^ut ^ mav ^e as we^ to indicate
hoods Never here briefly the reasons why the Chinese
Dominated have never been dominated by any of these
bodies. We shall see that, during part of
the Monarchical Period, the wu came near to acquiring a
predominant position, and that at various times other priest
hoods had immense influence at court ; but in the Feudal
Periods the wu priesthood, the only separate one existing
to compete with the political government, though its power
fluctuated, did not acquire sufficient influence to make it
paramount. This was due first to the existence of a strong
personal government, and secondly to the absence of com
peting apotheosized chiefs. Further, with the growth of
Confucianism, which, though insisting on ancestor-worship,
would have nothing to do with unorthodox cults, the cen
tralization and strength of the politico-ecclesiastical hierarchy,
on the one hand, was greatly promoted, whilst, on the
other, the official priestly hierarchy was identified with the
political governmental hierarchy and prevented from setting
itself up as a rival authority. We thus see that to establish
a priesthood of its own would have been a self-contradictory

Ecclesiastical Institutions 193

act on the part of Confucianism. The primary duty of
priesthoods, that of the carrying on of worship, was already
provided for ; and the derived duty in which they take
refuge as civilization advances and superstition declines,
that of inculcating ethical principles, had been forestalled
by the classical teaching of Confucius and other sages. The
cultivated class as it existed was also all the more powerful
because it included the influential shen shih, or gentry.
Furthermore, beyond the general truth that as societies de
velop industrialism the spiritual power is subordinated to
the temporal power, we may note that the estimation in wThich
the producer was held caused non-producers to be corre
spondingly disparaged, and the priest, like the soldier,
belonged to the latter category. When we come to the
Post-Feudal Periods, we find the same antagonistic factors
at work, and they operated also against the new religions
then instituted. The wu, after attaining to great power
by the fourth and fifth centuries, were restricted, excluded
from the state religion, and ultimately exterminated in South
China, wu-ism being made legally punishable with death,
though the sect survives to the present day as soothsayers
and magicians. Taoism, becoming a religion through the
aid of Buddhism, shared in the opposition to that foreign
doctrine, and weakened as it degenerated into alchemy,
dreamy mysticism, and superstition of the grosser sort.
Buddhism, though both it and Taoism were alternately
patronized and denounced by the temporal power, laboured
under the heavy burden of being an exotic religion, and,
contrary to popular belief as to the tolerance of the Chinese
for alien doctrines, was periodically persecuted (as was every
doctrine which threatened to interfere with state ancestor-
worship or to acquire too great political power, which was the
same thing) with a rigour and savagery scarcely exceeded
by Nero or Domitian. In face of all these obstacles
priesthoods in China had little chance of becoming
transcendent.

13— (2383)

194 China of the Chinese

It remains to notice briefly what the priesthoods did
and the places in which they did it. The kings had their

Sacred Places ancestral temples in which were the spirit-
and tablets of seven of their ancestors. Altars

Observances. were raise(j, usually upon hills, to the
spirits of the land, etc. The Chou kings worshipped in the
Ming T'ang, or Hall of Ancestors (usually known as the
Grand Fane, Hall of Distinction, Hall of Light, or Bright
Hall, from covenants made therein being announced to the
" bright spirits "), a building which in itself was witness
to the compound nature of the sovereignty. Here sages
and kings sacrificed to their deceased ancestors, worship
was offered to the sun and moon, and on the altar victims
were laid on a pyre and burnt. And the wu had temples
containing gods, worshipped and sacrificed to. Sacrifices
took place on many occasions. The chief were those to
Heaven, Earth, and Ancestors. Those known as the Border
Sacrifices were the greatest religious services of the ancient
Chinese. They were offered on the border or in the suburbs
of the capital to Heaven, or Heaven and Earth, by the
king, and were peculiar to him. Only a single victim was
sacrificed, and the offerings of grain and the robes were the
products of the king's ploughing and the queen's work in
silk. They were the " deepest expression of reverence "
and " greatest act of thanksgiving." Sacrifices became
more numerous during the Later Feudal Period, when they
were distinguished as " great," " medium," and " inferior,"
offered to Heaven and Earth, the gods of the land, grain,
sun, moon, etc., and the spirits of deceased statesmen,
scholars, etc., respectively. Human beings were not offered
on these occasions. The offerings consisted of animals,
silk, grain, jade, etc. Any attempts by the people to join
the king in this worship were punished with death. The right
to sacrifice to different spirits was graduated according to
rank. The lower people of the country districts could sacri
fice only to the ground and the secondary spirits. Ceremonies

Ecclesiastical Institutions 195

were performed in each family similar to those performed
in the royal family in honour of ancestors.

The seasonal sacrifices took place in spring, summer,
autumn, and winter, those to the Supreme Spirit at the

summer and winter solstices, and the empress
Sacrifice* anc* severa^ grades of female rank took part

in those to the patroness of silk and weaving,
which were held in the spring. By means of the sacrifices,
" the ancestors of the kings were raised to the position of
the Tutelary Spirits of the dynasty ; and the ancestors of
each family became its Tutelary Spirits." The accompanying
ceremonial is thus described by Dr. Legge in the Preface
to his translation of the Book of Odes —

" Of the ceremonies at the sacrifices in the royal temple of ancestors,
in the first months of the four seasons of the year, we have much
information in several odes. They were preceded by fasting and
various purifications on the part of the king and the parties who were
to assist in the performance of them. There was a great concourse
of the feudal princes, and much importance was attached to the
presence among them of the representatives of the former dynasties;
but the duties of the occasion devolved mainly on the princes of the
same surname as the royal House. Libations of fragrant spirits were
made, to attract the Spirits, and their presence was invoked by a
functionary [the Invoker] who took his place inside the principal
gate. The principal victim, a red bull, was killed by the king himself,
using for the purpose a knife to the handle of which were attached
small bells. With this he laid bare the hair, to show that the animal
was of the required colour, inflicted the wound of death, and cut
away the fat, which was burned along with southernwood, to increase
the incense and fragrance. Other victims were numerous, and
II vi V describes all engaged in the service as greatly exhausted
with what they had to do, flaying the carcases, boiling the flesh, roasting
it, broiling it, arranging it on trays and stands, and setting it forth.
Ladies from the harem are present, presiding and assisting; music
peals; the cup goes round. The description is as much that of a
feast as of a sacrifice; and, in fact, those great seasonal occasions were
what we might call grand family re-unions, where the dead and the
living met, eating and drinking together, where the living worshipped
the dead, and the dead blessed the living."

Importance was attached in these ceremonies to the

196 China of the Chinese

representation of departed ancestors by living individuals
Personators of °^ *^e same surname, who were chosen
the Dead. according to certain rules —

" They took for the time the place of the dead,

received the honours which were due to them, and were supposed to
be possessed by their Spirits. They ate and drank as those whom
they personated would have done; accepted for them the homage
rendered by their descendants; communicated their will to the prin
cipal in the sacrifice or feast, and pronounced on him and his line
their benediction, being assisted in this point by a mediating priest."

MONARCHICAL PERIOD

Whether it be or be not a sustainable argument that
the people of Southern are more superstitious than those

Wu-ism the °^ Northern China, it would seem that it
Priesthood was in the southern regions that wu-ism
Proper. flourished more particularly, though it existed
in all parts of the empire. The sixth emperor of the Western
Han dynasty, Wu Ti, engaged a large number from what is
now the region of Kuangtung and Kuangsi, then named
Yiieh, to exercise their rites on his behalf. The history of
the time says that Yung Chih, a man from those parts, said :
" The people of Yiieh are believers in the kuei, and in their
sacrificial services they see them ; they often employ them
with beneficial results. Formerly the king of Eastern Ou
respected the kuei, and he lived to be 160 years old ; his
descendants neglected their worship, and came to ruin
and decay." Thereupon the emperor ordered the wu from
Yiieh to institute invocations and sacrifices as they were
practised in that region, and had a terrace prepared for that
purpose, but without an altar, instructing them also to offer
sacrifice to the celestial deities and the emperor on high,
as well as to all the kuei, and to practise divination by means of
cocks (i.e., by interpretation of the marks on the bones of
the cooked bird). The emperor had faith in these wu, and
thus the Yiieh sacrificial rites with the cock-divination were
introduced. Thus imperially sanctioned, and aided in various
other ways, a/M-ism attained to great influence, and seems,

Ecclesiastical Institutions 197

for some time at least, to have practically supplanted the
state hierarchy as the priesthood proper of the empire. It
is to be noticed that this waxing influence largely coin
cided with the waning in the popularity of Confucianism
during those periods when the latter was partially or tem
porarily eclipsed in imperial favour by the new religion of
Buddhism. But, however great their influence, the wu
were from first to last debarred from actually presenting
the offerings at the state sacrifices. The state hierarchy,
weak though it may have been at the beginning compared
with its subsequent omnipotence, and weakening though it
did periodically under one influence or another, seems always
to have retained sufficient power to prevent both the govern
ment and the people from being priest-ridden by the wu;
and occasionally this heterodoxy with its false priests was
cruelly persecuted, receiving in the Sung dynasty, the period
of Confucian and other philosophy, literature, and art, the
staggering blow of being exterminated in its home south of
the Yang Tzu River, until, in the Ming dynasty, which "excelled
in the purity of its Confucianism," those who practised
wu-ism were liable to be strangled. But superstition dies
hard, and wu-ism is not even now extinct. The wu survive
in the shih kung, or " masters," scilicet of magic, who form
a priesthood, practically hereditary, unofficial, entered by
initiation preceded by fast or vigil, and including the climbing
of a ladder of swords. They are skilled in sacrificing, the
celebration of rites, and exorcism, using altars, and, when
performing their rites, dressed in the full sacerdotal vestments
of their craft. They are obliged by the government to register
themselves, are kept under strict control, and forbidden to
adopt more than one pupil to succeed them in their profession.
They preferred to call themselves " Taoist doctors," and, in
fact, the spirits exploited by wu-ism being Taoist gods and
ghosts, the two became assimilated, and (when Taoism
was forced, through the competition of Buddhist monasticism
and the Confucianist opposition to asceticism to discard

198 China of the Chinese

its doctrine of cenobitic discipline, physical and mental,
as a pre-essential to oneness with the Tao) ended in being
identical.

Taoism, before the Christian era, being a code of ethico-

metaphysical speculations intended as a guide, through

The quiescence, contemplation, and union with

Priesthood of Tao, to the achievement of virtue, and not
Taoism. being a religion had no priesthood. Whether
through sympathy or rivalry, it was owing to the advent
of Buddhism in China that Taoism put on the garment of
ecclesiasticism. It was only from the first century of the
Christian era that Taoism began to possess images, temples,
monasteries, and nunneries. Taoist recluses there were in
great numbers, and also concourses of disciples, and it was
through the dwelling together of these votaries in religious fra
ternities, which coincided with the introduction of Buddhism,
that the Taoist priesthood was born. But, unlike Taoism,
Buddhism as a religion was not young and inexperienced.
It came to China full-grown and fully-equipped. Its creative
stage had long been passed and it was conscious of its eccle
siastical maturity and strength. It was by Buddhism rather
than by Taoism that the void felt to exist, both in the state
system and the chanting and dancing of the wu, was to be
filled. Taoist monasticism was thus rendered largely super
fluous, and its subsequent history shows that its convents
and nunneries have always been far less numerous than those
of the Buddhists. By deifying its saints, Taoism enriched
the pantheon of China with numbers of new divinities, and
its communities of votaries became a disciplined church,
whose priests — physicians and exorcists — performed magical
religious ceremonies, though they might not even preach
or teach their doctrines, which were supposed to manifest
themselves spontaneously in the true follower of the right
Path. But it was never strong enough, in spite of the adoption
of its terrifying purgatory, to supplant Buddhism in the
Chinese mind as the road to salvation, and never permanently

Ecclesiastical Institutions 199

rose above the fumes of its alchemy, spiritualism, concoctions
cf the elixir vitae and pills of immortality into the purer
atmosphere of an elevating religion.

As Taoism could not supplant Buddhism, so also Buddhism
could not supplant Confucianism. We saw in a former
Buddhism chapter that the failure of a candidate to pass
Welcomed and a literary examination led to the loss of
Persecuted. millions of lives ; here we have to note that
a dream resulted in innumerable sanguinary persecutions.
It was owing to a dream of the Emperor Ming Ti of the
Han dynasty that Mahayana Buddhism was officially intro
duced into China in A.D. 67. It being then already mature,
we have not to consider its ecclesiastical birth and growth,
but only its grafting on to the Chinese religious system,
and the results which sprang therefrom. The first Buddhist
priests who had arrived 300 years before had been imprisoned,
but those who arrived in response to Ming Ti's invitation
were received with every mark of favour, and urged to begin
the propagation of their religion without delay. The con
sequence was that the new doctrine soon took firm root,
and Buddhist temples and monasteries were built in all
parts of the empire.

At first the Chinese were not allowed to become priests,

yet this rule was subsequently abrogated and even some

How to emperors became Buddhists, but it was

Become a periodically re-enforced, according as the

doctrine was in favour or otherwise. To

become a monk, a solemn vow was taken to live a life

of sanctity in obedience to the commandments, which were :

Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not commit adultery, Do not

lie, and Do not drink spirits. On being admitted as acolytes,

they undertook to renounce the world and to keep, in addition

to these five commandments, five others, namely : Abstain

from perfumes and flowers, from chanting and dancing,

from using large beds, from having meals at regular hours,

and from precious things. They then received the tonsure

200 China of the Chinese

and the " garment of poverty," being a few days later ordained
as ascetic monks. At this ordination they took a vow to
keep the 250 monastic rules, and each received an alms-
dish. Further ordinations raised them to higher degrees,
and were accompanied by ceremonial purifications from
sin, as singeing of the head by means of pieces of charcoal
placed on the shaven scalp. They finally passed through a
state of repentance and solemn determination to live
according to the commandments, and this final ordination
constituted them bodhisattwas, on the way to buddhaship.
The beauty and purity of the doctrines which these priests
vowed, and in so many cases miserably failed to fulfil, need not
be enlarged upon here ; but it must be pointed out that, in
persecuting Buddhism, Confucianism has, in so far, counter
acted in China the effects of the humanizing tendencies of a
doctrine which has been described as the " mightiest instru
ment for the amelioration of customs and the mitigation of
cruelty in Asia," and must consequently, in part at least, be
held responsible for the callous cruelty which has always
formed, and still foims, one of the most regrettable,
uncivilized, and sympathy-alienating traits in the Chinese
character.

The Buddhist priesthood was recruited by men from all
classes of society. The great majority, however, were from

the lower ranks of the people, uneducated,
d anc* wantmg m earnestness in the discharge

of their religious duties. Their morality,
at least in later times, was of a low order, and in some cases
the temples were regarded as sanctuaries for transgressors
of the law, or used as haunts by gamblers. The temples
themselves, consisting of a series of halls and courts, were
usually of picturesque architecture, some of the monasteries
being amongst the finest buildings in China. There were
no cave-temples, though many caves had been turned into
temples. On entering a Buddhist temple, after passing two
large figures, one on each side, called Guardians of the Gate,

Ecclesiastical Institutions 201

there were seen four colossal statues of the Four Great Kings
who were supposed to govern the continents north, east,
south, and west of Mount Sumeru, the centre of the world,
and bestow happiness upon those who honour Buddha,
the Law, and the Priesthood. They had black, blue, red,
and white faces, and held respectively a sword, a guitar,
an umbrella, and a snake in their hands. Opposite the door was
a shrine containing an image of Maitreya Buddha— the
Mi-li Fo, or Buddha-to-Come — the Merciful One, portly
and of merry countenance ; and images of Kuan Ti, the God
of War, and of Wei To, a general of the Four Kings and a
" Deva who protected the religion of Buddha," arrayed
in armour and holding a sceptre-shaped weapon of assault.
In the next great hall was the lofty gilded image of Shaky-
amuni sitting on a lotus-leaf throne in an attitude of con
templation, with smaller figures of Ananda and Kashiapa
on his right and left, and on the east and west sides of the
hall statues of the Eighteen Lohans or Arhans, deified
propagandists of the faith in China. Behind these was the
image of Kuan Yin, the popular Goddess of Mercy, in one
or other of the many forms corresponding to the various
metamorphoses which she or he assumed. In large temples
was a hall containing images of the Five Hundred Arhans.
There were also images of Buddha's disciples, and numerous
local deities or sages, with representations of the horrible
torments of hell. The temples had guest-chambers, refectories,
libraries and rooms for study, and cloisters, arranged to suit
the size or needs of the fraternity.

Buddhism, as we saw, made rapid advancement in China.
By the middle of the fifth century its progress had been so

marked that neighbouring kingdoms sent
o^Buddhism sYmPathetic, congratulatory, and adulatory

messages by the hands of ambassadors
to the Chinese emperor. One of these, the King of Jebabada,
in a letter to Wen Ti of the Liu Sung dynasty, heaps eulogies
upon that emperor —

202 China of the Chinese

" He had given rest to the inhabitants of heaven and earth, subjected
the four demons, attained the state of perfect perception, caused the
wheel of the honoured law to revolve, saved multitudes of living
beings, and by the renovating power of the Buddhist religion brought
them into the happiness of the Nirvana. Relics of Buddha were
widely spread — numberless pagodas erected. All the treasures of the
religion (Buddha, the Law, and the Priesthood) were as beautiful in
appearance, and firm in their foundations as the Sumeru mountain.
The diffusion of the sacred books and the law of Buddha was like the
bright shining of the sun, and the assembly of priests, pure in their
lives, was like the marshalled constellations of heaven. The royal
palaces and walls were like those of the Tauli heaven."

But this happy state of things was not to last long. In
the annals of the same dynasty, after allusions to the flourishing
state of Buddhism in the countries from which the embassies
continued to be sent and in China itself, the compiler intro
duces a memorial from a magistrate representing the disorders
which had sprung from the widespread influence of that re
ligion, and recommending imperial interference. This
document, according to Edkins (Chinese Buddhism, p. 94),
set forth that—

" Buddhism had during four dynasties been multiplying its images
and sacred edifices. Pagodas and temples were upwards of a thousand
in number. On entering them the visitor's heart was affected, and
when he departed he felt desirous to invite others to the practice
of piety. Lately, however, these sentiments of reverence had given
place to frivolity. Instead of aiming at sincerity and purity of life,
gaudy finery and mutual jealousies prevailed. While many new
temples were erected for the sake of display, in the most splendid
manner, no one thought of rebuilding the old ones. Official inquiries
should be instituted to prevent further evils, and whoever wished to
cast brazen statues should first obtain permission from the authorities."

" A few years afterwards (A.D. 458)," adds Edkins, " a conspiracy
was detected in which a chief party was a Buddhist priest. An edict
issued on the occasion by the emperor says that among the priests
many were men who had fled from justice and taken the monastic vows
for safety. They took advantage of their assumed character to con
trive new modes of doing mischief. The fresh troubles thus constantly
occurring excite the indignation of gods and men. The constituted
authorities, it is added, must examine narrowly into the conduct of
the monks. Those who are guilty must be put to death. It was
afterwards enacted that such monks as would not keep their vows of
abstinence and self-denial should return to their families and previous
occupations. Nuns were also forbidden to enter the palace and
converse with the emperor's wives."

Ecclesiastical Institutions 203

The opposition of the literati was soon aroused, and we
read of religious controversies, in which much was said
on both sides, but the foreign faith could

not hold its Sround against the wave of

orthodox classical opposition which had
arisen. Interspersed with periods of relaxation (in one
of which Buddhism and Taoism were actually made state
religions) we find Buddhism and all unorthodox sects
rigorously persecuted, its temples destroyed, and its followers
massacred. It was the T'ang dynasty that dealt it a blow
from which it never really recovered. Hsiian Tsung (713-56)
struck at its root by attacking its conventual life. From
that time, moreover, no priest might be consecrated, nor
monastery erected, without a certificate from the secular
authority. In 845 it was decreed that 4,600 convents and
40,000 religious buildings should be demolished, and that
260,000 monks and nuns should return to secular life. From
this time on, Buddhism remained at its lowest ebb. But
though despised and rejected it did not die. Its priesthood
degenerated, but its promise of salvation, and its humanity —
its love and compassion towards all that lives — saved it
from extinction.

The existence of mosques in Peking, Si-an Fu, Hangchow,
Canton, K'ai-feng Fu, and numerous other cities, indicated

the presence of Islamism and its prophets,
Isldmism. though the religion had no differentiated

and organized priesthood, and its followers
abstained from aggressive propagandism. It is probably
due to this latter policy that there have been in China practi
cally no persecutions of Mussulmans on account of their
religion or method of living, beyond the religious war of
1781, which led to the issue of stringent decrees against
the Moslems and the banishment of the Islamic religious
leaders three years later. They had arrived some time during
the ninth century A.D., as traders, built their mosques,
opened schools, taught Western science, made pilgrimages,

204 China of the Chinese

printed books, and made converts, who were allowed by the
government to exercise their rites without let or hindrance.
As they generally refrained from forcing upon the Chinese
the principal tenets of their faith that there is no God but
[the Mohammedan] God and that idolatry is one of the
unforgivable or most heinous of sins, they were left alone
spiritually, especially since some portions of their creed
were in perfect agreement with Chinese principles. The great
Mohammedan rebellions of 1856-72 and 1861-78 were
entirely political, arising out of the occupation of Kashgar
by China in 1760. The total number of the followers of
the Prophet in China was between fifteen and twenty millions,
they being most numerous in Yunnan and Kansu. The
tolerance of the Chinese government was shown in their
being allowed to pass examinations and enter office on the
same footing as the Chinese, and generally the religion had
undoubtedly taken firm root, going about its propagandism
in a quiet, unobtrusive way and exerting a steady influence
for good on the Chinese moral character. Indeed, the prac
tising of the precept of Resignation (Islstm) seemed to have
a more progressive and lasting effect than the activity of
more aggressive proselytism.

As the mosques indicated the presence in China of the

followers of the Prophet, so did cathedrals, churches, chapels,

preaching-halls, hospitals, and schools indi-

Christianity. cate the presence of the followers of Christ.
" Every variety of Christianity," it has
been said, " has tried its hand at the conversion of China ;
first the heretical, then the Papal, and finally the sectarian
Protestant." As with most other alien religions, Christianity
was now favoured, now persecuted. The earliest monumental
evidence of its introduction is the stone tablet erected in
the eighth century A.D. by the Nestorians near Hsi-an Fu,
in Shensi. It bears the date A.D. 781, sixty-four years before
the Nestorians were banished from China by the Emperor
Wu Tsung of the T'ang dynasty. In the thirteenth and

Ecclesiastical Institutions 205

fourteenth centuries Catholic missionaries began to arrive,
the records of Protestant missionaries dating from the be
ginning of the nineteenth century. Space docs not admit
of my giving here a history of Qiristianity in China. The
Catholic Church now claims about a million believers,
Protestantism about a quarter of that number. Whether
Christianity will ever be adopted as the national religion
of China is, of course, an open question. The difficulties
it has had to contend with hitherto have been that it was an
alien religion, that its tao-li (logic) was incomprehensible,
and that it discountenanced ancestor-worship. Moreover,
the Chinese had noted that Buddhism and Taoism had both
failed to arrest the degeneration and decay of their time,
and they had observed that not only had Christian nations
not always acted in a Christian manner towards China, but
that professing Christians in China and elsewhere did
not always lead Christian lives. If ancestor-worship, which
is to the Chinese what Christianity is to the Christian and
more, since it is more woven into the warp and woof of his
present and future existence, remains the religion of China,
as it seems likely to do for a long while to come, Christianity
will certainly not become that religion. In the absence of
any large conversions en masse, the rate of successful pro-
sclytism does not keep pace with the increase in population,
and shows no signs of being able to do so in the near future.
The probability is that ancestor-worship will remain the
religion of China until, by gradual evolution, it merges, as
it has largely done in Japan, into Agnosticism, and perhaps
all the more rapidly owing to the absence, here as there,
of a dominating priesthood. The ecclesiastical system,
now partially, will then be completely differentiated. The
official priests will occupy themselves solely with official
matters. Of the priesthoods of the various religions, some
will return to the laity, some, as the propitiatory character
of their duties is supplanted by the ethical character, will
devote themselves to the exposition and inculcation of

206 China of the Chinese

ethical principles, and some will retain their original function
of preventing the minds of those who need such assistance
from becoming over-engrossed in material things, by keeping
alive the consciousness of the " Infinite and Eternal Energy
from which all things proceed."

REPUBLICAN PERIOD

Since the institution of the Republic, national affairs
have not settled down sufficiently to permit of much time
being devoted to matters spiritual. Of
^ate years» however, there has been a ten
dency to destroy temples altogether, convert
them into schools, or use them for purposes other than those
for which they were originally constructed. On this point
I may perhaps be allowed to quote from an address on
"• China and the Perfect State " recently delivered by me
in Peking —

" As religious ideas change, so must the ecclesiastical system be
modified; and as religious dogmas lose their hold on the human mind
so does the ecclesiastical system become more and more superfluous.
Will this process go on until it becomes entirely superfluous ? It
might be supposed that when men do not feel called upon any longer
to gather together and worship or praise a god or gods they believe
in no more, the buildings, etc., devoted to these objects should be
levelled to the ground and the whole system swept away. I do not
think this. I am averse on principle to sweeping things away unless
they are positively dangerous or harmful, such as aggressive warfare.
I think, as the consciousness of the Absolute must be kept alive in
order to prevent life becoming too earthly and material, there will,
even in the perfect State, be room for exponents or dilators on these
matters, who may appropriately continue to expound or discuss
them in the beautiful architectural edifices which religious systems
have gradually developed from the original ' church ' — the cave in
which the dead was buried. Consequently, sweeping these away, or
diverting them to other purposes than those indicated, would, in my
view, be a wrong step to take. There was a tendency on your part
to do this after the overthrow of the Manchu dynasty. Many temples
were destroyed, others were converted into schools. I myself saw
some abominable English school desks and forms in the very holy of
holies of the Temple of Heaven. I believe they are still there, at
least I know they were about a fortnight ago. I call that sacrilege.
. . . Yet the existing temples had each its purpose. They have not
all been destroyed or converted into schools. Why not let lectures

Ecclesiastical Institutions 207

and discourses be held in each temple on the objects and rites peculiar
to that temple ? Then, as the beliefs change, the discourses will
automatically change with them. It will be a gradual evolution
rather than a radical change. In the Confucian temples the Confucian
.doctrines might be expounded, with information relating to the build
ings and accessories; in the Taoist temples the history of Lao-tzuism,
its phases and development, and so on. Thus an accessory system
of education would be carried on which could not but have an elevating
influence in broadening men's minds and letting them understand
better what it is they are looking at and how and why it came to be
where it is. We should thus have a very valuable contribution to the
history of religions. Eventually, when, as I believe, all beliefs and
religions will coalesce into one, they could still trace the history of
how this came to be; each temple would show its particular line of
thought converging to the one and only conclusion, the belief in the
Absolute."

This process of thoughtless disintegration has fortunately
not as yet gone very far. It was arrested during the abortive
monarchical reaction, and has not since been renewed.
Ecclesiastical institutions may therefore be said to remain
practically as they were during the later part of the period
recently terminated. But there is one all-important exception.
Confucius, hitherto worshipped, has not been deified, though
it is now proposed to make him a god, and, if China decides
to adopt a specific national religion, he will probably be
the god of China. Worship of an extreme kind has long
been paid to the spirit of the great sage, and these ceremonies
were performed without any lack of elaboration by the
late President, and at the same time by all the representative
officials in the provinces. " This," said the President in a
mandate, " is to show our people the importance the govern
ment attaches to truth and morality." Since the President's
death the prospects of Confucius's permanent apotheosis
have been hanging in the balance. Whereas some advocate
Confucianism as the national religion, others allege the recent
worship, etc., of the sage were designed to aid the re-estab
lishment of imperialism, and maintain that a Republic
grants all its citizens freedom of religious belief. Whilst
on the one hand, in August, 1916, a Bill is proposed in the
House of Representatives to abolish the worship of Heaven

208 China of the Chinese

and Confucius, instructions are issued only a short while
after to make the necessary preparations for the public
sacrifice to Confucius, to take place on 7th September in
the Temple of Confucius. Sacrificial robes and full uniform
with medals and decorations were ordered to be worn by
civil and military officials respectively, " the Chief Sacri
ficial Official and the Assistant Sacrificial Official shall wear
dress coats," besides which all officials in attendance at the
worship " shall wear their ordinary dress suits." One can
imagine Confucius " changing countenance " at the sight
of the tight-fitting garments copied from those of the " men
who come from afar " !

PROFESSIONAL INSTITUTIONS

The professions being the foster-children of the church,
where there is little independent development of the eccle-
The siastical institutions, we should expect to

Professions find the professional institutions in a very
and rudimentary condition. When the eccle-

0 ' siastical agency acquires a separate standing,
and has more leisure to devote to these matters, it takes
the professions more particularly under its charge, and
ministers to them until they are able to look after them
selves. Conversely, where there is little or no differentiation
the professions are found still adhering to the organism
which gave them birth.

Though he belonged to the mythical period, it is instruc
tive to note that the emperor Shen Nung, whose reign is
assigned to the years 2838 to 2698 B.C.,
Physicians. besides teaching the people the art of agri
culture, taught them also the use of herbs
as medicine. Later, when we read that I Yin was the " first
to decoct medicine," we note that I Yin was Chief Minister
to Ch'eng T'ang, the first sovereign of the Shang dynasty.
And in the Chou dynasty, " the official physician had the
control and care of the sicknesses and diseases of the people."

Ecclesiastical Institutions 209

We find, in fact, a regularly-organized official system of
medical attendance — not a Socialistic scheme, but one
indicating " the benevolent feeling of the former kings
for their people." There were the superintendents of the
medical officers, who made annual inspections of the staff
in order to fix their salaries, and were apparently guided
by the percentage of cases successfully treated ; and under
them the " practitioners in external complaints," who had
charge of medicines applied externally, such as plasters ;
the diet doctors, who dealt with sickness arising from un
guarded indulgence in meats and drinks ; the directors of
the cutting, storing, and distributing of ice, as well as those
who saw to the cleaning-out of the ice-houses and to the
preparation of the large platters of ice used in cases of death
to arrest putrefaction, thus " preserving the people from
visitations of untimely death " ; those whose duty was to
observe the rising and setting of the planet Mars, in order
to determine what woods should be used for cooking food
at the different seasons ; and finally the exorcist, who " wore
the bear -skin dress with the four golden eyes." " With dark-
coloured garments and red-coloured petticoats in his hand,"
brandishing a spear and waving a shield, with his 100 atten
dants, he exorcised the evil diseases of the four seasons,
visiting houses from which disease was to be expelled. We
have seen that the wit were priests, and we here find them
functioning as physicians, thus showing the connection
above referred to with the politico-ecclesiastical structure.
The scheme provided free treatment and

_ fee medicines for " any of the people," and

Treatment.

included veterinary doctors : practitioners

who observed the diseases incidental to animals."

But, though the medical profession generally was thus
dependent, there was some differentiation.

Private yj read of private specialists in children's
Specialists. . .

ailments and ulcers, a joint oculist and

aurist, a male midwife, and apothecaries. The practice

14— (2383)

210 China of the Chinese

of medicine was one of the hereditary professions, and amongst
the rules of propriety we find the sound advice that the
physic of a doctor, in whose family medicine has not been
practised for three generations, should not be taken.

For the regulation of music and dancing we find a similar

official hierarchy in existence. The Chou Li states that

the official directors of music conducted the

andUDancers posture-making which was practised by
young boys, and the observances of music,
and there were other officials who kept lists of the students
with their addresses, and summoned and directed them in
their posture-making and practice of musical sounds, the
disrespectful being made to drink out of a cup made of horn,
and the negligent or lazy being beaten. " Of a truth," says
the Chou Li, " music instructed the man. How deeply it
entered into his heart ; and how quickly it transformed
him ! " There were also special officials in charge of the
various kinds of posturing and the different kinds of musical
instruments, such as regulators of the barrels, officials in
charge of brass instruments, etc. That dancing and singing
went together is shown by numerous passages, as, for example,
by two lines in the Book of Poetry —

"They sing the Ya and the Nan,
Dancing to their flutes without error, — "

the Ya and the Nan being portions of the Book of Poetry.
The connection of music and dancing with religious ceremonial
is everywhere apparent. In the section dealing with the
duties of the chief superintendent of music, in which, with
characteristic minuteness, directions are given as to the occa
sions when the different notes were to be struck, we read
that the wang chung note was struck, and the t'ai lit music
played in chanting odes, and the yiin men gambols danced
when making sacrifices to the celestial gods, and so on,
other notes and other gambols being set apart for the
terrestrial gods, the spirits of the four quarters, of the hills
and rivers, of male and female ancestors, etc. And the

Ecclesiastical Institutions 211

gods were still further particularized : if the music had six
changes in the measure, then did the celestial divinities
all descend, and suitable offerings could be made ; if eight
changes, then did the terrestrial divinities all spring forth,
and proper rites could be offered to them ; and so on to the
end of the category. There was a Board of Music, and national
music-teachers existed before 500 B.C. Beyond the official
musicians, the chief practitioners of the art seem to have been
blind men who, on account of their loss of sight, were supposed
to possess a sharpened sense of hearing. Some of these were
officially employed, or at least introduced on official occasions,
such as the sacrifices in the ancestral temple.

Poetry and music are closely related, and in early times
the musician and the poet were often identical. In the
Book of History we read of the patriarch
Poets, etc. Shun making a song and singing it, where
upon his minister, Kao Yao, did obeisance
with his head to the ground and immediately followed his
example. A whole chapter in the same classic is devoted
to the " Songs of the Five Sons," in which the five brothers
(sons of the same mother) of T'ai K'ang, bewail that
monarch's evil ways and evil fate. And when, through the
slanders of his brothers, the Duke of Chou is suspected of
designs upon the young king's throne, he writes a poem
called " The Owl," and sends it to the king, but is only
eventually exonerated owing to a prayer, which he had
deposited in a metal-bound coffer, offering his own life for that
of the king's sick father. That the office of poet was closely
connected with the politico-ecclesiastical structure is shown
by education being practically confined to the first (of the
four classes) of the people, namely, the officers or scholars,
and the classical Book of Poetry furnishes repeated proof
that the poet was mostly a king-praiser or a priest intoning
a liturgy to him, or to his ancestors after their deaths; the
orator being the official who recited in prose, the poet the one
whose praise or intercessions took the more elaborate and

212 China of the Chinese

emotional form of rhythm. The special characteristic of
this collection of odes is that they, or most of them, were
presented by the nobles periodically to the sovereign through
national music-masters, so that, even if written by private
individuals they would be revised or edited by the officials
before being forwarded. But not only do we know that the
authors, in many of the limited number of cases in which the
authorship has been ascertained, were the dukes and nobles
themselves, but, where the subject of the poem or ballad
was not directly laudatory or of an intercessionary nature,
the poem itself might be expected to give pleasure to the
sovereign, or directly or indirectly to benefit him by suggesting
advisable reforms, and many undoubtedly fulfilled the
avowed purpose of informing the king of the quality of the
administration of his vassal rulers. They were thus used
to further national unity. The traces of editing are apparent
in many of the titles, which introduce royal or princely
connections or traditions not to be found in the poems them
selves. The politico-ecclesiastical element overshadows the
simple and popular meaning. Thus the first short marriage
song, praising a modest, retiring, virtuous young lady as
fit to be the mate of a prince, is, without sufficient warrant,
appropriated to the marriage of King Wen, the virtuous
father of the first sovereign of the Chou dynasty. Beyond
this class of odes we have the " Lesser Eulogiums," sung
at ordinary entertainments presided over by the sovereign ;
the " Greater Eulogiums," sung on solemn occasions at the
gatherings of the feudal lords in the royal court, and the
" Sacrificial Odes," chanted at the ancestral sacrifices.
These are speaking witnesses to the status of the early poet
in China. The professions of orator and poet are thus seen
to have reached a very small degree of independence in feudal
times, and what independent poets and orators existed
would not have formed an organized coherent body. It is
unnecessary in a small work to show in detail that the same
statement holds true with regard to the actor and the dramatist.

Ecclesiastical Institutions 213

Having seen how completely China was governed, both
in public and private life, by rigid ceremonial regulations,

we shall not be surprised to find that there
Ceremonialist. existed professors of ceremony. First there

were the official directors of ceremony,
otherwise described as the " priests of the Confucian religion,"
who drew salaries from the royal treasury ; but in addition
to these there were also professors occasionally employed
by the people to assist them on occasions of mourning and
sacrifice. They were recompensed by fees or wages, varying
according to circumstances, and expected, besides their
food, liberal emoluments from rich patrons. They were said
to be numerous, influential, and of good standing. Though
not legally obligatory, custom made their employment
reputable and fashionable in wealthy and literary families.
Their occupation as ceremonialists was, however, as a rule,
accessory to their usual vocations.

The poet and the musician having lived chiefly to testify
to the glory of the joint king and high-priest, the historian

was mainly occupied in recording his won-
Historians, etc. derful achievements, and in literary or clerical

work connected with his family, palace, or
government. One of the most remarkable points in the
history of Chinese civilization is the fact that native his
torical documents deal almost entirely with the rulers and
give little information regarding the ruled ; for the reason
above given. So identified were the historians with the
head rather than the body of the nation, that the independent
historian would not have had the necessary materials to
carry out the work, even if he had not been regarded as
attempting an impertinent and ridiculous task, and science
had not made sufficient advance for it to occur to anyone
to write a scientific history of the Chinese people. In the
early dynasties, the Recorder of the Interior was required to
take notes of the edicts and speeches of the sovereign, the
Recorder of the Exterior putting into writing the histories

214 China of the Chinese

of the various states composing the kingdom. The importance
of the Board of Historiographers may be judged from the
significance attached to the control of the calendar, the
regulation of which was a royal prerogative. " Mencius
complained that in his day the feudal princes destroyed
ancient records to favour their own usurpations ; and in
China it seems always to have been peculiarly impossible
for any prince to make history who was not also in a position
to write it or have it written." One of the earliest signs of
the rebellious pretensions of the State of Ch'in, which super
seded the House of Chou, was the establishment of a Bureau
of Historians to keep the state records. The historiographers
were high officials who " were at once statesmen and scholars,
wrote books and led armies." They did not form an inde
pendent profession. An independent spirit occasionally
manifested itself in the interests of the truth, as when in
547 B.C. one historiographer after another in the Ch'i State
was put to death by a general who had married the widow
of a prince of the ruling house, and was jealous of the atten
tions paid to her by the reigning marquis, whom he accordingly
assassinated. For refusing to make a false entry or to omit
the truth concerning this incident, several successive his
toriographers suffered death, the incident itself and the
subsequent murders being nevertheless faithfully recorded.
But, though the desire for accuracy and the " sober truth "
characterizes Chinese history above that of other Oriental
nations, and in so far it consists of something more than
eulogies of living or dead rulers, the historians were yet,
with few exceptions, part of the governmental structure,
and their works were probably quite inaccessible to ordinary
mortals, and certainly not published for sale as histories
are in the West. The one conspicuous exception was
Confucius, who, as a private person, published a brief
history of his native State of Lu, usually referred to by
the literal translation of its title, i.e., " Spring and
Autumn."

Ecclesiastical Institutions 215

Though little independent development was discernible
in the professions hitherto named, the Classical Period
produced a brilliant galaxy of philosophers
anc* teachers» who were mostly free from
political or ecclesiastical subservience or
control. The point to notice is that these (Lao Tzu, Mo Ti,
Yang Chu, Mencius, Chuang Tzu, Hui Tzu, Hsiin Tzii, etc.,
and their disciples) were not so many independent roots
representing a sudden outbreak of professional independence,
but that in point of time they all, with the exception of Lao
Tzu, followed Confucius ; and it is a moot question whether,
in his absence, they would have philosophized at all. More
over, they all belonged to the cultured class which was the
politico-ecclesiastical class in esse, the shih, or officers, and
the unofficial literati who formed the lower division of this
class and partook of its nature and duties ; some of them,
including Lao Tzu and Confucius, actually being, for a longer
or shorter time, members of the official hierarchy. Never
theless, we have here some cases of partial or complete
independence of professors, though they had not integrated
into a profession, and, what is more important, of
independence of thought and freedom of speech.

In what little science there was at this time, we do not
find so much advance. During the reign of Yao we find
the significant " Board of Astronomy or
Scientists. College of Priests," whose special duty
was to " observe the wide heavens, calcu
late and delineate the movements and appearances of the
sun, the moon, the stars, and the zodiacal spaces," in order
to regulate the calendar for the people, and so promote
agriculture ; and in the Chou Li it is stated that " for pre
senting sacrifices there were fixed ceremonies, and the science
of astronomy had still more its special officers," each with
particular observations assigned to him, from observing the
movements of the stars to noting the ten kinds of haloes
or vapours gathering round the sun. And amongst the duties

216 China of the Chinese

of the Pao Shih, the official instructors in the six polite
arts, was the teaching of the nine kinds of arithmetic, one
of which was a case of Alligation, as in the following example :
There were seventy-eight loaves, and 100 men and boys ; each
man eats a loaf, and three boys eat one loaf among them; how
many men and boys ? But there was little real science', and
the most of what there was subserved supernatural purposes.

It is unnecessary to show that the remaining professions,
such as those of judge, lawyer, architect, sculptor, painter!

Other et°" Where they existed> were still in an
Professions, ^differentiated state. Enough has been
said to show that generally the professions
in China originated with the politico-ecclesiastical govern
mental agency, which was the cultured class as distinguished
from the yu min, or " stupid people," forming the other three
classes of the community, and that they had attained to very
little independence of that agency, and to very little, if any,
organization and integration amongst themselves. As
regards their state in the Post-Feudal Periods, whilst there
continued to be official professors of various kinds, the pro
fessions of poet, painter, musician, architect, physician,
actor, dramatist, historian, teacher, philosopher, etc., had
severed their connection with the politico-ecclesiastical
structure, but had not reached that stage of advance found
m Western countries, where the professions, differentiated
from the state and from each other, show integration in
examinations, licences, corporations, academies, societies,
colleges, festivals, benevolent funds, and periodical literature
—advance which has only of recent years been faintly
marked among the more progressive sections of the nation.

CHAPTER VII

SENTIMENTS
AESTHETIC SENTIMENTS

OCCUPIED though most of them were with directly life-
serving duties, the Chinese nevertheless found time and
Love of enerSy to dev°te to activities only indirectly
Flowers. concerned with the processes conducive to
life. The escape from utilitarianism mani-
itself, for example, in a love of flowers amounting to
a " mystic affection, a real worship." The azalea, honey
suckle, clematis, and brilliant shrubs covered the rude hills.
Good wish.es and wise counsels were inscribed on the doors'
and engraved on the rocks. Romances often dealt with the
sentimental meanings of flowers. " Flowery scrolls " were
hung on the walls of rooms. Women— even boat-women—
wore flowers in their hair, and the latter would have pots
of flowers on their boats, merely for ornament, amid scenes
entirely commercial. The rich would not even allow the
mulberry tree to be planted in their gardens, because it was
industrially profitable.

The influence of music was regarded as reaching to heaven
and pervading the earth, and even the invisible world of
souls and spirits. In it men of the highest
Music. virtue and endowments found pleasure,
for it had the power of making people good :
when it prevailed, all reproaches ceased. Music accom
panied not only weddings, but funerals. The Chinese, it has
been said, "are born, worship, marry, and die in music."
The blind, as already noted, were the professional musicians.
Children, hawkers, passers-by sang in the street ; bands
of troubadours delighted village audiences ; and in the
evening, after the day's work was done, the sounds of the
guitar issued from numerous dwellings.

217

218 China of the Chinese

With the love of music there went, of course, appreciation
of the beauties of poetry. " Of all nations," says Ampere,
" the Chinese seem to be fondest of poetry."
So great was this appreciation that, ac
cording to the historian, Pan Ku, the sages themselves
did not compare with the poets in estimation. The
graceful refrains of the classical odes show both a love of
nature and an appreciation of the delicate effects of sky and
foliage ; a feudal prince admired, as did Keats, the beauty
of a waving cornfield. The aesthetic sense was apparent
in the inscribing of poetry on articles of daily use, as well
as in the hanging of rhyming couplets in pairs on the walls
of dwellings, and in providing the young with rhymed geo
graphies, histories, and mythologies. The heart of the heroine
was won by the hero's poetic skill. The statesman was
almost invariably also a poet. A man was hardly considered
to be educated unless he could write verses. And improvisation
in rhyme was a national amusement.

In horticulture, as in the house, the same keen sense of

the beautiful was everywhere displayed. The aesthetic

gift was conspicuous in the location

AGe«eraliiSm of temPles' in the beauty of the temples
themselves, and in the approaches to them.
The paths leading to them were often disposed with much
art, winding through groves of pine and bamboo, over
beautifully-arched bridges, under decorated p'ailous, amid
natural scenery of extreme beauty. And inside the house
the carved furniture of ebony and rosewood, satin curtains
decorated with paintings of scenery or animals, porcelain
vases, ornamental carving in the apartments, and trellis-
work along the verandahs, tiled walks, marble figures,
delicate pencil-work, pictorial scrolls, and artistic writing
materials all exhibited an aesthetic sense very far removed
from anything primitive or offensive. Pens, paper, ink,
and ink-slabs were called the " four precious things."
Respect was shown to paper bearing the written character

Sentiments 219

by carefully collecting and burning it to save it from being
trodden under foot. Roof-cornices and exterior ornaments,
even of the poorer cottages, showed beautiful curves. The
smallest shops would have on the counter a vase with a
spray of blossom. Trees were planted in great numbers in
villages, towns and cities, and in the case of the nobler
buildings, such as the Temple of 'Heaven at Peking, roof
rose upon roof in an ecstasy of aesthetic delight.

The qualities appreciated in female beauty were not,

as in some countries, excess of adipose tissue or the wearing

Ideas °^ nose-rings or lip-disks, or the extraction

of Female of the front teeth, but, according to the

Beauty. classical index, slender eyebrows, " like the

antennae of the silkworm moth," eyes " with the black and

white well defined," tapering fingers, slender neck, teeth

" like melon seeds," white, rounded temples, black hair, in

masses like clouds, tallness, and a countenance " like the

flower of the ephemeral hedge-tree." Large feet being

unaesthetic, the cramping of the feet of Chinese women

for many centuries may even be taken as a sign of an

excessive yearning for the beautiful, on the part of the men

at least, if not in some degree also on the part of the suffering

women.

But there is another side to the picture. Pronounced
though the love of beauty was, it was not strong enough

to ensure cleanliness. Suleyman, the Arab
CleanHness traveller, testified that the Chinese were

not particular in this respect, that they
rubbed themselves with paper instead of washing (!) did not
use toothpicks (!) and ate dead bodies (? of animals), and
" other things of the same sort, as do the Magi." Marco
Polo described the Chinese as " very cleanly in their persons,"
basing his opinion on their " love of hot baths," but the
evidence of modern times does not now, even if it did then,
warrant the inference drawn by the Venetian traveller.
It has been said that the Japanese wash their bodies, the

220 China of the Chinese

Chinese their clothes. Generally, the Chinese washed their
face and hands with hot water once a day, but were not
much addicted to bathing, and preferred to wipe the body
with a damp cloth. The extent of the washing depended
very largely on the climate. In the north, clothes were added
during the winter and perhaps not changed until the spring,
with consequences which may easily be imagined. The
will to cleanliness may, it is true, have been there, but,
as a rule, it was imperfectly carried out in practice, which,
moreover, varied with the season and locality. Still less
did the will succeed in regard to the environment. " In
the metropolis, as in all Chinese cities, the air is constantly
polluted by the stench arising from private vessels and
public reservoirs . . . and every kind of offal, which is
all carefully collected by scavengers. By this means,
although the streets are kept clean, they are never sweet."
This state of things has only of recent years begun to be
effectively remedied.

Arising naturally out of the relaxation of the mind in
play after pre-occupation in life-sustaining activities, the
aesthetic sentiments, largely fostered by
Buddhism» were stimulated by literary ability
being made the road to office, wealth, and
power. They remain at the present day very much as they
have been for centuries past, but the change of view-point
lately adopted by China with regard to the rest of the world
makes their future development uncertain. Commercialism,
becoming more and more rampant in China, is apt to let
business trespass on leisure hours, which should properly
be occupied by aesthetic pursuits, and to regard the culti
vation of beauty as unnecessary. No clearer instance of
this tendency could be found than the decline of the custom
of posting in conspicuous places classical quotations or
historical representations, and the growth of the gaudy
foreign advertisement, usually a picture of repulsive women
or some other atrocious daub. Cheap commercialism run

Sentiments 221

wild is apt to kill art, but to perfect happiness art is indis
pensable, and China will do well to see that she preserves
all that is beautiful, cheerful, and elevating, and casts out
all that is repulsive.

MORAL SENTIMENTS

The classical writings, as we saw, contain a pleasing picture
of the virtue, happiness, and prosperity of the good old

days, when morality was so carefully safe-
Precept and guarded that men and women were not
Practice. even allowed to touch each other's hands.

Rulers gave their leisure to framing moral
maxims and schemes of government based on the purest
ethics. All questions were decided by moral right and
justice. The king was presumed to set an example of in
dustry and right living, discountenancing and punishing
indolence and dissoluteness. But the evidence forces us,
unfortunately, to conclude that this is but another instance
of the gulf which so often exists between precept and practice.
In spite of high precepts and some noble examples, the
people of the first three dynasties are said to have " exceeded
in lewdness." Shameless lust and cruelty brought the first
two lines of sovereigns to an untimely end. Under the
Shang, a sovereign seeking an honest man as minister could
only find one in the person of a common labourer. The
warnings and exhortations against " constant dancing in
your palaces, and drunken singing in your chambers,"
" setting your hearts on wealth and women, and abandoning
yourselves to wandering about or to hunting," " daring
to contemn the words of sages, to resist the royal and up
right, putting far from you the aged and virtuous, and
being familiar with precocious youths," as well as Wen
Wang's lifelong remonstrances against the cruelty and
corruption of the age, indicate the existence of vices which
must have been regarded as a serious danger to the State.
Drunkenness and lust were stigmatized as the worst of a long

222 China of the Chinese

list, which included wanton cruelty in warfare, cannibalism,
and excess in hunting, music, and luxurious dwellings.

With the issue of the great classical scriptures we might

expect to see a change. Their tone was throughout moral.

The high principles contained in them formed

Moral ftie basis of the law. They posited and
Character of , v , . • v j. • 11

the Classics, believed in moral sense inherent in all men.

They enjoined family affection, reverence
for age, kindness to strangers, forbearance, pity for the des
titute, consideration for the sick. They denounced oppressive
government, unnecessary killing, cruelty, growth of pride,
indulgence of desires, gratification of the will, excess of
pleasure, and deceit, while preaching righteousness, self-conse
cration, good faith, sincerity and guilelessness as necessary
to unite the people to the ruler. They advocated honesty
in official administration and friendly relations with neigh
bouring states. And they contained no hint of indecency.
" In the Book of Poetry," said Confucius, " there are three
hundred pieces, but the design of them all may be embraced
in one sentence — Have no depraved thoughts." This, for
these early times, was very good morality, and though it
fell short of the ideal in several respects, such as the inculca
tion of revenge, and though, as is the case in more advanced
societies (and perhaps must be to ensure progress), precept
ran ahead of practice, the early Chinese sages must be given
due credit for the creation of a very fine body of maxims,
and for having done what they could to guide the nation
to a higher moral state.

I said that these high ethical principles would lead us

to expect a change, and the change came, though not

Their markedly perceptible at that time. The

Effect not Classics required a longer period to do their

Immediate. Work. Perhaps for a long while they checked

further backsliding on the part of the nation rather than

effected any positive advance in morality. This view is

supported by the condition of things towards the end of the

Sentiments 223

Later Feudal Period. In fact, it is probable that the exalted
precepts of the time were directed against the growing
immorality. Prostitution and unnatural crime were common.
There are frequent allusions to the continued prevalence
of drunkenness, the killing of sons by their fathers, the
debauchery of men, and the immodesty of women.

With the suppression of the leaven " making for righteous
ness " practice had still less chance than before of catching
Morality UP precepts whose influence must have

in Post-Feudal been extinguished, temporarily at least,
Times. through the outbreak of fierce hostility
on the part of the " First Emperor." At the beginning of
the Monarchical Period, officials were corrupt, luxury spread,
there were, as before and afterwards, instances of canni
balism (" to eat the flesh and sleep in the skin " of an enemy
is a colloquial phrase referring to an achievement which
would be regarded as admirable), and the severe laws against
scandal indicated its prevalence. In the Period of Dis
ruption following the close of the Han regime, morality seems
to have been in an even worse plight. Men were generally
given to adultery, but the women " even more so. Before
the night of her marriage a woman bade farewell to her
adulterers. The husband esteemed her more if they had
been numerous " ; but adultery after marriage was legally
punishable. Revenge continued to be regarded as a duty ;
it was taken even on the dead.

The description of vices is apt to give an incorrect im
pression of the real state of morality, unless attention is
also called to counterbalancing virtues. One

"° Virtues mg °f the most serious vices of the Chinese
in early times, that of drunkenness, apparently
became rarer after the introduction of the tea-plant in the
third or fourth century A.D. And numerous instances occur
of the condemnation of unchastity, the discountenancing
of extravagance, philanthropy towards the poor, leniency
towards prisoners, bravery, the exercise of fraternity, suffering

224 China of the Chinese

hunger for the sake of parents, sacrificing a son to save the
life of a brother's son, etc. In the Mongol Period the position
of women, which some philosophers regard as a test of moral
progress, is said to have been higher than before, but until
within recent years the degree of civilization according to
this criterion was not marked. Women were treated with
respect, but were secluded, and occupied a social position
far inferior to that of men.

Chinese literature has always enjoined moral conduct,
and public opinion has been on the side of morality. Both
literature and art were free from immoral
suggestions. This fact, and the making
of the literature, and consequently of the
moral sentiments contained in it, the key to those positions
which all coveted, must have helped to maintain a high
moral tone in the nation during the long course of its develop
ment. Consequently in the period which has come under
the direct observation of Western students, we find, on the
whole, a moral character which, though in many respects
leaving much to be desired, compared with that prevalent
among other Asiatic peoples on the one hand, and Western
nations on the other, cannot rightly be described as of a
low kind, especially when we consider how little precept
is put into practice, even by the most advanced races. The
Chinese are addicted to and tolerant towards vice, and vice
is everywhere prevalent, but there is no vulgarity. No
women of loose character offer themselves for hire on the
streets. Nor is there any coquetry in public. And at social
gatherings women are always adequately clothed. There
are no dances and consequently no behaviour of a question
able character at them, which has caused dancing as carried
on in the West to be regarded by the Chinese as indicating
absence of self-control or merely as a cover for flirtation.
As I recently wrote —

" The nature of dancing was understood by very few. ' Jumping
to [the tune of] a piano ' was attributed to other than aesthetic
motives. The Chinese observed the foreigners eat a huge meal and

Sentiments 225

drink large quantities of wine. After that they began to ' jump to
the piano.' Why should the uncouth foreigner, with his half-dressed
women, do this extraordinary thing ? The obvious interpretation
was that the foreigner was intoxicated. How else could it be possible
for any man in his senses to put his arm round the waist of a lady
he had known for only a few minutes and jump round the room
with her ? "

The customs of marrying young and of concubinage have
doubtless helped to give the Chinese character a reputation

for morality it might otherwise not possess.
Cruelty6 Immorality may not be conspicuous, but

it exists, and, what is more important, the
general attitude towards it is one of indifference or even
indulgence, certainly not of indignation. The moral sense
is weak. It may be partly or wholly due to this fact that
the Chinese remain cruel. Want of sympathy is undoubtedly
a national characteristic. The callousness shown to the
isolated or unprotected, to anyone in difficulties, to the in
jured or dying, must have frequently forced itself upon the
attention of most foreign residents in that country. If
anyone fell down in the street, the impulse of the native
was not to hurry towards him to see if he could help him,
but to hurry away from him lest he be implicated in his
death. I have seen a poor woman selling firewood from a
sampan in the broad river at Canton, and, when her sampan
was overturned by the wash of a passing steamer, the native
boats in the vicinity rapidly paddled to the spot, not to save
the woman, but to steal the firewood. To save the woman's
life, they said, would have put them in the bad books of the
water-god, who would then have punished them for de
priving him of his victim by seizing them in her stead. Not
so very long ago, it was brought to the notice of a Viceroy
that proof of a condemned criminal's innocence had been
discovered. " Decapitate him, nevertheless," said the Vice
roy, " it is his fate." This Viceroy must have been able to
recite the Classics by heart, but that did not prevent him
from acting on a precept not to be found therein. It has

226 China of the Chinese

been written that nowhere is life held more sacred than in
China, but this statement would only be true if by life is
meant the life of oneself or one's relatives, and even then
it could hardly be regarded as completely true unless the
proneness to suicide is overlooked. Evidence of this could
easily be multiplied did space permit, but one quotation
must suffice : " The waste of human life in China is terrible,"
wrote a resident in Wusiieh, only a few years ago. " In
this part people seem to commit suicide without the least
compunction." A people who regard the next life as but a
continuation of this one do not attach a high value to it
when " things are bad." During thirty years' residence in
China I have seen so many cases of ghastly cruelty that it
seems hopeless to expect any great amelioration within a
reasonable time, and, when one realizes that this must have
gone on for many hundreds or even thousands of years,
the sum total of cruelty makes the mind reel. It would be
superfluous to adduce instances in view of the testimony of
the great body of reliable authorities, no one of whom, as
far as I know, contests the proposition that the Chinese
are cruel. As the mere lip-repetition of the exhortation
to " love your neighbour as yourself " does not prevent
Christians from fighting with and slaying each other, so
also the learning by heart of the Confucian Classics has not
obviated the disclosure of the true mind of the Chinese
when circumstances have been such as to prove what its
nature really was. In 1900, the " Boxer " year, Christian
converts were bound and left in their burning houses because
they differed from their fellow-countrymen in opinion or
belief, and others, foreign and native, were nailed to doors
and disembowelled in front of their wives and children,
who were afterwards treated in the same manner. That is
not civilization. In a civilized state, people will be able to
disagree on important matters, even religion and politics,
without shooting away each other's faces. The sentiment
of revenge in the Chinese character shows no signs of becoming

Sentiments 227

modified, and being deeply ingrained is likely to take long
to eradicate.

Untruthfulness is not considered by the Chinese as a
sin, but as a matter of the play of wits. Being detected in
a lie does not produce in the Chinese a blush
of shame> bllt merely silence, a stolid adhe
sion to the original statement, or an attempt
at explanation which usually adds a second lie to the first.
Perversions of the truth are resorted to in order to avoid
the consequences of laziness or neglect, or for pecuniary
gain, however small. Allied to Untruthfulness is thieving,
which is also partly viewed as a kind of mental gymnastics.
The most common example is the " squeezing " on house
hold accounts. A servant almost invariably will, over and
above his wages, take a commission on all food and other
articles purchased for his master. If the latter takes the
trouble to check or stop this, the servant will certainly find
some other way of making this extra " squeeze," and if
ultimately so far cornered that it is no longer worth his while
to carry on the game, he quietly retires and begins the same
thing over again at some other establishment. Most
foreigners therefore submit to a certain amount of " squeeze "
in order to save themselves the inconvenience of constant
change of domestics. But never on any account does it
occur to the Chinese servant that he has been doing a wrong
thing. The " wrongness " is only apparent in his want of
dexterity in not winning the game.

Several other unpleasant matters might be dwelt upon,
but the harsher traits must be touched with some softer

- . . . hues in order to make the picture a true

Sobriety, .

Industry, and representation of the Chinese moral senti-

Mercantile ments. The first of these is the temperance

Honour. of thc Chinese_ We saw above that they

were not always temperate, and that the change was probably
largely due to the introduction of tea in place of spirits
as the ordinary stimulant, frugality operating as a

228 China of the Chinese

contributory cause ; for tea could always be procured at less
cost. Drunkenness is now so rare that it certainly cannot
be classed as a Chinese vice. Nor can it be charged to the
Chinese that they are given to over-indulgence in eating.
Opium-smoking did a great deal of harm whilst it lasted,
but perhaps not nearly so much as alcohol would have done.
Its evils were rather of a passive kind, that is, drunkenness
makes people aggressive, opium makes them lackadaisical
and poetical. But its subtle poison, if taken in excess,
undermines the constitution. Since its use has been
prohibited, there has been a marked increase in the de
mand for wines and spirits, foreign tobacco, and morphia.
Possibly the too rapid suppression of one evil will be found
to have given birth to several others. Besides general tem
perance, the moral traits of the Chinese include a very high
sense of mercantile honour and great industry. These are
so well known and universally recognized that they need
not be enlarged upon. The sad part of the matter is that
the former is said to have been declining of late years.

To form a satisfactory general judgment of a character

containing so many contradictory traits is not easy. The

outcome of the environment, of agricultural

P bT S t Pursuits, of national isolation, of the govern
mental system, of the relative absence of a
large amount of ecclesiasticism and militarism, it may
rightly be judged in relation to these, its foster-parents ;
and so judged, we find it rigid and not of the plastic type
easily adaptable to changing circumstances, and content
to remain so, whilst yet the circumstances are such that
they render some change desirable. As a family living
only in its own house and not associating with its neighbours
would have to adapt its code to a different environment
on mixing with the world in general, so China, forced into
the whirl of modern " progress," will have to re-adapt her
ethical code in many respects if she is to hold her own in the
struggle for existence and supremacy with her rivals, and

Sentiments 229

make further progress. This she is to some extent endeavouring
to do, but change of conduct in nations implies some change
of nature, and rigid natures cannot be changed rapidly.
We saw in the first chapter that this nature includes weak
ness of the feelings prompting to effort and leading to improve
ment, as well as deficiency in conceptions of distant results.
The problem is, can the change be sufficiently rapid to make
it effective ? The rigid nations of history, not being able
to mould themselves to their environment, were broken up
and absorbed or partitioned. China may yet prove the
exception to the rule. But to make sure that she can escape
the action of so inexorable a law, it will be necessary for the
nation to become united and for rulers to be willing to sacri
fice personal interests for the public welfare. The signs of
any such rapid regeneration are at present wanting, or too
few and weak to be considered as the will of the nation
being put into action. Practice may commonly lag behind
precept, but it may lag so far behind as to constitute a situa
tion cf danger. Besides abstract principles and general
considerations, a concrete fact such as that the arrival of the
members of the newly-summoned Chinese Parliament,
and the decision to pay them at the rate of about £50 a
month, coincided with an enormous increase in the number
of prostitutes in the capital, makes one almost despair of
any sufficiently rapid change.

CHAPTER VIII

IDEAS

RELIGIOUS IDEAS — FEUDAL PERIOD

THE subject of Chinese religion may, I think, be presented

in a much simpler manner than has hitherto been done.

Writers on China usually state that the

^Reli ioninisSC religions of China are Confucianism, Taoism,
and Buddhism, and, after dissertations on
these, add chapters or sections on ancestor-worship, the soul,
the official cult, private religion, superstitions, nature- wor
ship, cosmology, demonolatry, Shamanism, Mohamme
danism, etc. The simple truth, however, is that the religion
of China is ancestor-worship with its derivatives, native
or foreign, primitive or evolved. These derivatives, besides
nature-worship, animal-worship, etc., are the native Taoism
(after it became a religion), the imported Buddhism, and the
other exotic religions. " What then, of Confucianism ? "
it will be asked. The answer is that the term Confucianism
designates two different things. To represent the case
correctly a distinction must be made between Confucianism
as revealed in the writings of Confucius, contained in the
Chinese classics, and the worship of Confucius himself and
his disciples. The former, which was the foundation of
the state religion, is a code of ethics largely agnostic in
character, though sanctioning ancestor-worship ; the latter
is ancestor-worship itself. My task in this chapter is to
substantiate the above statements and to state briefly the
main features of the several religions and the various phases
they have undergone.

To avoid misconception, it is necessary, before going
further, to point out that, though the term ancestor-worship

230

Ideas 231

means the worship by living persons of their own ancestors, in
the philosophy of religions it is also used as including all worship
of the dead, whether of the same blood
Some Caveats, as the worshipper or not. It is neces
sary, moreover, to note that animism is
a later belief than the primordial belief in the double, second-
self, or ghost, from which it is derived. And, in order to avoid
a further misunderstanding, it must be added that one of the
characteristics of religions is that, whilst they deal with the
supernatural, they almost invariably attempt to explain
the origin of the natural universe. Hence cosmology is in
cluded in the treatment of each religion which makes that
attempt, non-religious cosmologies belonging to the domain
of science or philosophy.

In the earliest times none of the " three religions of China "
existed. Taoism had not arisen, Confucius was unborn,
Buddhism had not been introduced. Re-
The Kuei. ligion consisted in the belief in and worship
of the souls or spirits of the dead, this belief
having its origin in dreams and shadows, and this worship
in the fear that, if not propitiated, the dead would in one way
or another bring evil upon the living. The soul was at first
regarded as single, and as abiding with the body after death.
The real nature of death was not, however, recognized,
since it was believed then, as now, that the spirit could re-
enter the body and cause it to revive. This soul was termed
kuci, ghost, or demon spirit, and was the material soul,
having its origin in the earth and returning to the earth
on becoming separated from the body. Whilst it resided
in and animated the body it was called p'o, umbra. The
kuei abode with the buried body in the grave. It was the
seed from which grew the whole system of ancestor-worship
in China.

As the reasoning power of the Chinese grew, more developed
ideas arose with regard to the nature of the soul. It became
double. Dwelling in the human habitation there was now no

232 China of the Chinese

longer, according to this later theory, only the solitary p'o, but
also the immaterial soul or shin, coming from on high, and when

active in the living human body known
The Shen. as ch'i, " breath," or hun, anima. When

separated from the body at death, the
hun lived on as a " bright " spirit, and was called ming.
In that state it was supposed to return to heaven, or, more
generally, to dwell somewhere about the grave, and par
ticularly in the inscribed tombstone. (P'o, ch'i, hun, and
ming were terms of later origin than kuei and shen.} These
two indwelling souls, the hun and the p'o, which might be
distinguished as " angel-spirits " and " devil-spirits " respec
tively, were later regarded as scintillae, offshoots or permeations
of the yang and the yin, the " male " and " female," the
" light " and " dark," principles respectively, by the inter
action of which the Universe and all that therein is was
produced. The yang represented the heavens, light, warmth,
productivity, and life, the yin the earth, darkness, cold,
and death. In man they stood respectively for his intellect
and virtues on the one hand, and his passions and vices
on the other. The infusion of these souls was birth, their
departure, death ; the hun or shen returning to the yang
or heaven, the kuei to the yin or earth. But, though these
principles are mentioned in the earliest writings, there is
nothing to show that this advanced application of them
had an origin earlier than the beginning of the Chou dynasty.
The belief in the second-self, arising as already stated, was
thus prior to the belief in the general permeation by the
yang and yin principles.

These souls, these doubles of the dead, were conscious,

and were separately sacrincially worshipped. Worship of

Worship of ^e ^ue^ Preceded that of the shen. In this

Disembodied worship of the kuei we have, as we saw,

Spirits. t^ root oj ancestor -worship in China. We

have now to observe what sprang from that root. Death

being universal, everyone, from sovereign to servitor, had

Ideas 233

a kuci, and later also a ming or shen, whom he felt bound
to propitiate by worship or sacrifice, since neglect would be
liable to bring calamity upon him. Not only was there thus,
as it were, a double line representing respectively the living
and the parents of the living, who had " passed over " or
" gone west " (as the Chinese expressions are), and were
propitiated or worshipped by them, but behind the second
line there were also further lines of grandparents, great-
grandparents, etc., who were also worshipped, until, becoming
dim through distance in time and space, the remoter ones
were no longer taken into account.

We see here the Chinese directly worshipping their ancestors
in human form, but they could not do so indiscriminately.
The class distinction strictly observed in
Ancestor material matters was as strictly observed
in spiritual matters. The sovereign wor
shipped the spirits of his ancestors who were in heaven,
and who ranked first in the spiritual, as he did in the material
world. The ruler, as " father " of the nation, could and did
worship other spirits as well; in fact, after sacrificing to his
own spirits, he further sacrificed to " the host of " or all
the spirits. The other ranks worshipped their own spirits —
the officials theirs, the people theirs. Owing to this grada
tion, the lower the rank, the lower was the kind of spirit
worshipped, and to worship any but one's own class of spirits
would be to worship the ancestors of another family or clan,
and so possibly to neglect or even offend one's own ancestors.
" For a man," said Confucius, " to sacrifice to a spirit which
does not belong to him (i.e., to his own family or clan) is
flattery." But, if the rank thus worshipped was much higher
than one's own, the act might become one of presumption.
The people, for instance, would not have dared to worship
the sovereign's ancestors, and had they attempted to do so
would have been restrained or even punished. For an artisan
or merchant to worship the Supreme Ruler of Heaven would
have seemed to the Chinese very much the same as a grocer

234 China of the Chinese

attempting to fulfil the intercessional duties of the Primate
in Canterbury Cathedral would to an Englishman.

The point is important, because it has been stated by

practically all writers on early Chinese religion that the

first stage of that religion was a " mono-

Monotheistic theistic worship of God," and it is frequently
stated to be so still. Now this statement
is both incorrect and misleading. To say that the religion
of China was a monotheism is to say that the people of China
had one God whom they worshipped, whereas the people
of China had as many gods as there were people, and more.
The fact that the sovereign worshipped the spirit of his
ancestor in heaven, the Supreme Ruler of the spirit world,
whom the people were not allowed to worship, did not con
stitute the religion of China a monotheism, for polytheism
existed everywhere, and the spiritual Supreme Ruler, though
chief of the spirits or gods, was not the sole spirit or god.
The simplest way to look at the matter is to recall that the
unit in China was not the individual but the family, and each
family, including the ruling family, had its near and re
moter ancestors whom it worshipped. If it be said, as by
some writers, that the people might " in a sense also worship
heaven " (though those who make this statement limit the
term, not very lucidly, to the " material," " impersonal,"
or " less personal," heaven) the reply is that the people could
not worship the Supreme Ruler in heaven who was the
ancestor of the Supreme Ruler on earth, and that, when they
worshipped heaven, what they worshipped was the hun
or shen of their respective ancestors which, on their death,
had returned to heaven. As " children " of the sovereign
it was the duty of all the people to reverence and honour
their " father's " ancestor ; but it was for the latter that the
carrying on of the worship was reserved. How the sovereign
and the people came to worship heaven as distinguished
from the Supreme Lord of heaven will be shown later. But
there is nothing in all this to show that the Chinese religion

Ideas 235

was a monotheism, but very much the reverse — it was a
pantheism.

It is also an error to say that the Chinese worshipped or

worship " God " without stating at the same time what

connotation is to be attached to that term.

Nor a( ^°"ship To say merely that there is or was in China

of God. i i • •

a monotheistic worship of God is to

leave the impression that the Chinese worship the Christian
God, in which case all the propaganda of Christian missionaries
would be superfluous. Neither Shang Ti, " Supreme Ruler,"
nor T'ien, " Heaven," is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, much less the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost of the
Xew Testament, except that in the history of religions they
may all ultimately be traced to the same origin. To argue
that they are identical, as several writers, even modern writers,
have done, would be much the same as arguing that the
Jews and the Chinese were of the same family, or that the
Chinese worshipped the ancestors of the Jews ; for, apart
from the common origin just stated, the mere possession of
some similar qualities or attributes does not make them
identical. In that case, T'ien and Shang Ti might be identified
with the chief god of many other religions as well. To say
simply that the Chinese worship God is misleading. The
Chinese, as we have seen, worship each his own god, the
ruler his, the official his, the scholar his, the servant his,
besides which they all worship certain other gods. But they
do not as a nation worship any thing, body, or spirit which
can rightly be described as the Christian God, much less
do they worship that God to the exclusion of other gods.
To use the term God in this connection as it is used by
prominent sinologists without definition is merely to create
confusion.

A theory, held by at least one eminent sinologist, is that

the symbol for t'ien ( Y ), heaven, was an early anthro
pomorphic picture of the Deity ( Jt) ; that in course

236 China of the Chinese

of time the head got flattened to a straight line, so producing

the character in its modern form. Also, that native

scholars, who had " failed to pick up the real

Theories due," regarded the character as a combination

Regarding of (_)> one> anc} ( £ ), great—" the one

great thing," instead of " the one great one,"
or the Deity. I regard this theory as open to several fatal
objections. Firstly, I do not think it can be sustained that
the anthropomorphic picture of the Deity was the first
form of the character for t'ien ; though it may (and even
this is open to question) have been the original symbol for
man ; it, however, resembles more the original form of the

character for " son " (X ) than the one usually supposed
to be the original for " man " ( JC ) ; secondly, if the picture,

given as the original form for t'ien by the Rev. F. S. Chalfant
and several other writers, being anthropomorphic, is that of
a man, there is nothing in it to show that this man was not
only in heaven, but the one and only Deity in heaven.
Thirdly, if this picture, only afterwards (according to the
hypothesis) used for the material heaven, represented the
Deity, what character in the meantime represented the
heaven in which he dwelt ? To suppose that the sky or
heaven which daily and nightly forced itself upon the atten
tion of the primitive Chinese as upon that of all other peoples
of the earth, should for so many ages have been expressed
by no symbol, when more abstract ideas, such as that of Deity,
were already being expressed, is altogether incredible. And
if this picture of a man meant the Deity, how was the Deity
so represented to be distinguished from an ordinary non-
deified man, and vice versa ? It is true that the gods were
man-derived, because derived from the ghosts of men, but
it is not true that the Chinese represent God and man by
the same character, nor, as will be seen presently, could they
ever have done so. Had they wished to represent the Deity
they would have chosen a symbol from the category of spirits

Ideas 237

rather than from that of material man, for the latter has
nothing whatever in it to indicate spirit or deity, and those
for whose information the symbol was invented would have
been as much in the dark as before as to the characteristics
of the Deity which distinguished it from man. Though the
Deity or deities had their origin in the idea of the ghost
leaving the body at death, they were not regarded, nor re
presented, as identical with the living man before the breath
had left his body, nor yet with the dead body after the breath
had left it. The symbol chosen to represent the Deity would
be not the mere reproduction of the figure of a man, but
something like " great spirit " or " sole spirit " or " spirit
above other spirits," probably shen, hun, or ming, with
some accessory symbol specializing it as great or mysterious,
or the one. That we find no such symbol is an additional
proof of the argument here advanced — which contends that
the Chinese did not depict the Deity in the sense above
implied, because they had no idea of a Deity to depict. If,
having such an idea, they had been unable to invent a
suitable symbol (which is extremely improbable), rather
than merely draw the picture of a man without any addition
to show that he was the chief man on high, they would cer
tainly have preferred the original form of some such symbol
as that for shen to represent the supposed picture of the
Deity, or say tien, " lightning," a character of aetherial
mystery, which is supposed by some to have been the original
character for shen, " deity."

Chinese scholars have given no explanation involving
any anthropomorphic picture of the Deity, though it could
not have failed to suggest itself to them ;
an<^ ^hcir failure to do so must be regarded
as further evidence against the " anthro
pomorphic picture " hypothesis. But, on the other hand,
I do not admit the correctness of the less teleological theory
advanced by them, that the character means " the one great
thing." The Chinese scholars did not allege this character

238 China of the Chinese

to be derived from that for " man," though, so far as I know,
they proposed no alternative original symbol. Bat, in inter
preting the character t'ien as meaning " great " and " one,"
they overlooked the fact that originally the symbol for
" one " was not written horizontally ( — ) but vertically
( | ). Also, why should they want to insist upon " the
one great thing," when there was before their eyes (and to
them quite as great) a thing, namely, the earth, which they
regarded as equal to heaven ? and why should they depict
this " one great thing " by merely saying " great one "
or " one great " without giving any clue as to what it was
that was " one " and " great " ?

The theory I wish to substitute for the above, is that the
alleged " anthropomorphic picture of the
Deity" was not the primordial form of

and its the character ( ^F ), but that the primitive
Worship. **•

Chinese depicted what he saw, namely,

the great dome or arch, thus ( fo ). Probably, as ( ^ )
"great," had earlier forms, e.g. ( & ) and ( fa ) and ( -^ ), etc.,
the ideogram would at first have been something like ( (3^ )
or ( (5\l) or ((3^ )• ^n accordance with the usual tendency
towards economy in making written strokes, the " dome "
became gradually contracted into the straight line forming
the top of the character : ( O ) became contracted into
( — ), and (^> ) into (jfc ), making ( "t )• Another old form
for ( 5E) somewhat resembling, but not identical with, the
alleged " anthropomorphic picture," namely, ( Js), re
presents the " sun "((])) above, or in conjunction with
" great," (£) or the " sun and greatness," or " the sun in

the greatness " — which is also what the Chinese saw — and not
the picture of a man at all, which, as shown above, was
otherwise represented. Whichever of these was the original
form of the character does not affect the argument. The

Ideas 239

primitive Chinese did not intend either the one or the other
to be a picture of the Deity or even of a man. He meant
it to be a picture of the material heaven or sky. As such
he did not worship it. Only later, when it became personified,
did it become an object of worship. Now, as every student
of philology knows, primitive language is indefinite, and through
the imperfections of primitive language some things get
mistaken for others. This fact meets us everywhere in the
descriptions of primitive races. The Chinese language of
to-day is indefinite, and it would be illogical to suppose
that it was not more so in the very early times when these
notions were forming themselves in the Chinese mind. Con
sequently it would be inevitable that this material heaven
should be mistaken in speech for the spirits which were
supposed to reside there. " Heaven " would, as it were,
get mixed up in the speech of the primitive Chinese with
the disembodied him, shen, or ming, which had returned
to the sky whence they originally came, and heaven itself
would thus come to be worshipped. When, even at the
present day, a poor widow cries out over her husband's
corpse Wo ti t'ien, wo ti t'ien, " My Heaven, my Heaven,"
she is using a term which originally was a cry to the spirit
or shen of her husband, who, she presumed, had gone to
heaven. It is incorrect, therefore, to translate the expression
as " My God, my God," without some qualification. It is
a cry to Heaven, originating in this presumption. The
original meaning would be more " My husband, my hus
band," or " My lord," or " My master," as in " My lord
and master." 1 The widow could no more use to the spirit the
form of address used to her husband when alive, than she
could call a coffin a knan ts'ai when it contained a corpse.
And she could not say " My shen, my shen," for that would
be to confuse her own shen with that of her deceased husband.
This theory explains why Shang Ti, the chief of the

1 " Any superior," says the Erh-Ya,the ancient dictionary of terms,
"is the t'ien of his inferior."

240 China of the Chinese

spirits, is subordinate to T'ien, and also why the people may,

unofficially, sacrifice to T'ien though they may not, strictly

speaking, sacrifice to Shang Ti.1 Shang

Shan aT? Ti> the Chief °f the sPirits> dwelt in the
material T'ien, or heaven ; but T'ien itself

was also personified and worshipped. The former is a sove
reign ruling the world from on high ; the latter has a more
intimate relation with humanity arising out of the idea
that it was associated with the place where the spirits of the
departed had taken up their abode. Later on, further
attributes are ascribed to Shang Ti, his position and power
increase, he is identified with T'ien (either, as in the case
of the people's shen, through confusion of terms, or through
the extreme homage and flattery paid to the emperor and
his ancestors), and he is even regarded as the creator of the
Universe and all that is therein. Thus, the emperor, really
the son or descendant of Shang Ti, becomes T'ien Tzu, the
" Son of Heaven " (not " Son of God "), and worships and
sacrifices to T'ien and his ancestors at the Temple of Heaven
(not Temple of God) -in Peking. Nevertheless, the two terms
have remained distinct to the present day, and, though much
confusion has reigned in the minds of the Chinese regarding
the matter from at least the Sung dynasty onwards, they
do not regard them as identical. To suppose that the people

1 Whilst always insisting that they worship their ancestors, the
people occasionally allege that they also " worship " (i.e., venerate)
Shang Ti and T'ien, but this is done, as the Chinese say, ssti, privately,
and consists in paying reverence or extreme respect (pai or ching) and
not in offering sacrifice (ssii). At most, any sacrifice offered would be
of the simplest kind, such as the waving of a few sticks of lighted
incense, annually on New Year's Day. They in many cases assert,
on being questioned, that this worship is a worship of spirits, but
beyond this the worship of Shang Ti or T'ien (often confounded in
modern times) seems to be more akin to the act of kowtowing to a
sovereign than to the worship of God, as the term is understood in
the West. Residents in China, though they see ancestor-worship
being performed everywhere, do not see the people generally sacrificing
to or even worshipping either Shang Ti or T'ien, and this worship
must be regarded as infinitesimal compared with the earlier stage,
namely, the worship of ancestors.

Ideas 241

could join in this worship of T'ien would be to make a great
error : any attempt to do so would be punished with death.
They worship their own ancestors at their domestic altars,
and sundry other gods in their respective temples, and at
New Year they may worship Heaven in the courtyards of
their own houses (this worship, as stated above, originating
in ancestor-worship), but neither T'ien nor Shang Ti is the
monotheistic God of China, nor has either even been mentioned
or nominated in the recent discussions as to the advisability
of making Confucius the national god and Confucianism
the national religion.

Those sinologists who, like Dr. De Groot, argue for the
theory of universal animism as earlier than the theory of
the ghost or other self, do so in the face of
the existing evidence, and in contradiction
of their own statement that the Chinese
mind in early times was unable to form abstract conceptions.
The Christian missionary, wishing to assimilate the beliefs
of the Chinese to his own, in arguing for the priority of
monotheism to the dualism of later times, unconsciously
supports the ghost theory as primordial, for the alleged
" monotheism " is proved to arise out of it, i.e., out of
propitiation of the ghosts of the dead.

But the Chinese worshipped other beings and things
besides the spirits of their ancestors. They worshipped
the sun, moon, and stars, hills and rivers,
Worshf animals, reptiles, birds, fishes, insects, plants,
and stones. Why did they do this ? The
hun and the p'o forming the soul, of which the former was
good and ascended to heaven, and the latter evil and de
scended to earth, could, after separating from the body,
re-enter and make it live again, or enter some other body —
some object, animate or inanimate. Chinese literature
is thickly sown with references to this habit of transmi
gration on the part of souls. The patriarch Shun, in the
Book of History, is seen sacrificing not only to his Great

16— (2383)

242 China of the Chinese

Ancestor, but to the " hills and rivers." The worship of hills
and rivers, though it has in many cases lost the external
character of its original, may arise in several ways, all ulti
mately traceable to propitiation of the spirits of the dead.
If the spirit of a dead person were supposed to have taken
up its abode in a hill, confusion of name might lead to the
personalization of the hill, to belief in descent from it, and
to worship of it. Belief in descent from natural objects
is met with among primitive races all over the world. The
spirits of the drowned might be supposed to have their
dwelling in the waters of rivers and streams, as we saw in
the case of the drowned poet whose death gave rise to the
Dragon-Boat Festival ; while Wu Tzu-hsiu, who was drowned
in the River Hsiu is worshipped by merchants going on a long
journey. Only in later times did the waters acquire a further
spirituality through the idea that the yang principle, de
scending from the sky in the form of rain, flowed down
from the hills and circulated in the rivers. Did space permit,
the same idea of personalization and worship might be shown
to hold good with regard to the worship in China of the
Earth, Sun, Moon, Stars, and other prominent objects of
nature. I will close this section by a word or two on animal-
worship, which has prevailed in all parts of the country
from the earliest times to the present day.

If one told a modern Chinese that a fox had changed

into a bat, he would be neither amused nor surprised —

but would take the statement as a fact.

Worship" ^ot havm§ studied in a scientific manner

the metamorphoses so often brought to his

notice, he would suppose such a transformation to be as

natural as the oft-observed change of a caterpillar into a

butterfly or an egg into a chicken. And the ancient, as

well as the modern Chinese, was equally credulous as to the

possibility of a man being changed into an animal. But what,

in the latter case, took the place of the analogies he had

observed in cases of the kind just referred to ? Animals,

Ideas 243

such as foxes, snakes, lizards, insects, etc., which haunt
graves and are seen to come out of them, or even out of the
coffin itself, are looked upon as spirits of the dead man
which have assumed this shape, in order to revisit their old
home. Here we have the man, or at least his spirit or other-
self, in the shape of an animal ; but what reason is there,
merely on that account, to regard it as an ancestor and to
worship it ? The son or surviving relative, though he may
reverence the animal as being the embodiment of his father's
spirit, does not believe the animal is his ancestor, because he
knows that he is descended from his father who lies in the
grave. Again, the explanation is to be sought in the domain
of language. In primitive times, in China as elsewhere,
surnames being non-existent, individuals are distinguished
by some peculiar characteristic, a cunning man, for instance,
being called a fox. Primitive language being too inefficient
to make or preserve the distinction, descendants come to
believe that their ancestor called Fox, for instance, was
an actual fox. This ancestral fox is considered as having
like passions with men, and to be propitiated in the same
manner. Hence various ecclesiastical developments which
need not be enlarged upon here. This theory of the origin
of animal-worship, holding good as it does with regard to
that worship in other parts of the world, finds abundant
illustration and proof in all ages of Chinese history.

Instances occur everywhere in Chinese literature and
folk-lore of alleged changes of men into animals, reptiles,
Men birds, fishes, insects, etc., and vice versa.

Changing into Yao's minister, K'un, is changed into a yellow
Animals, etc. beai-( prince p'eng Sheng of Ch'i into a
large boar, and so on, through case after case ; there are
man-tigers, man-wolves, man-dogs, man-foxes, man-bears,
man-stags, man-monkeys, man-rats, man-horses, man-donkeys
man-cows, man-swine, man-serpents, man-lizards, man-frogs,
man-fowls, man-ducks, man-pheasants, man-ravens, man-
rooks, man-crows, man-cranes, man-parrots, man-kingfishers,

244 China of the Chinese

man-swallows, man-sparrows, and so on through the
fish and insect tribes, down to man-locusts, man-ants, and
man-bugs. The habit of nicknaming is exceedingly common
in China — so much so, that there is a proverb that " a man
without a nickname will never become wealthy " and
in this list, which might be enlarged almost indefinitely,
we see ample material for attributing to human beings
qualities borrowed from the natures of animals. The evidence
that the Chinese often regard themselves as descended from
animals is overwhelming. There are numerous accounts
of descent from snakes, wolves, bears, horses, and dogs.
This comes out very clearly in the names given to the bar
barous tribes which periodically caused trouble on the Chinese
frontier, and which would therefore be regarded as having
a ferocious nature, such as the " Dog Jung " or the Ti tribes,
both of which were regarded as, and are explicitly stated
in the Chinese records to be, the offspring of dogs. Possibly
the descendants of the notorious " White Wolf," who in
recent years ravaged several provinces, will in generations
to come regard themselves as the progeny of a real wolf,
as the Turks and Uigurs do now. Sometimes the presumed
ancestorship is established in a more direct way, by actual
sexual connection, such as that of a woman with a dog or snake,
the offspring having the shape of human beings. Numerous
instances might be given, but I must content myself with
one which I have been able to verify personally. In the
mountains about forty miles inland from Foochow, live
some remnants of the aboriginal Chinese who stayed or
were left behind when the great wave of the conquering
invaders swept southward. They are regarded as inferior
by the natives of the Fukien province, and their women
are distinguished by wearing a large red head-covering
of a style unusual in those parts. The legend1 related to
me: regarding them was as follows : In the earliest periods

1 A slightly different version is given in the History of the Later
Han Dynasty.

Ideas 245

of Chinese history the country was much troubled by inroads
of the Dog Jung tribes, who came from the west. As they
could not be finally driven off, the king promised the hand
of his beautiful daughter in marriage to anyone who would
bring him the head of the chief of this barbarous tribe. All
his warriors were afraid to attempt the deed, but the king's
dog l, who had overheard the conversation, went over quietly
at night time, stole into the chief's tent, bit through his
neck, and brought his head to the king. The latter was
delighted at the death of his enemy, but when reminded of
his promise, grew sad, and endeavoured to avoid its fulfil
ment by saying that, though the gallant deed should be
rewarded in other ways, he could not be expected to marry
his daughter to a dog. But the dog would not be satisfied
with anything less than the king's daughter, and finally
only relented so far as to obtain a promise from the king
to allow him to be put under a large copper bell and not be
looked at nor moved for eight days. This was done, but on
the seventh day the king could restrain his curiosity no
longer, and lifting the bell, saw that the dog had changed
into a human being, all except his head. (Probably the dog-
like person secluded himself and attempted to change his
personal appearance, with only partial success.) The spell
being broken, the transformation could not be completed ;
but the dog, now so nearly a man, insisted that, as this was
the king's fault and not his own, he had a right to claim his
daughter's hand. Accordingly the wedding took place,
but the children being all born with such ugly, dog-like
faces, were obliged always to cover them with a red
cloth, supported by two light bamboo sticks, which
their descendants may be seen wearing at the present
day.

Once ancestrified, the worship of these animals is prac
tically inevitable. Not only are they worshipped, but for

1 Probably not an ordinary dog, but a menial of dog-like nature
or appearance, for his mother is stated to have been an old woman.

246 China of the Chinese

many temples are provided in which the worship is carried
on. There are snake-gods and snake-
gods' temples, horse-gods, cow-gods, sheep-
gods, monkey-gods, lion-gods, tiger-gods,
cat-gods, lice-gods, and innumerable others.

In the Later Feudal Period, during which ancestor-worship
expanded so as to dominate and influence the whole national

Religion in ^e» practically everything in heaven and
the Later earth being regarded as the abode of spirits,
Feudal Period. no other religion, properly so-called, arose.
Taoism was as yet nothing more than a compendium of
practices based upon the prevailing ideas concerning the
human soul. Confucianism was a set of politico-ethical doc
trines, professedly agnostic, but nevertheless containing views
as to some things supernatural. It regarded heaven, earth,
and the sages (sheng jen, men who through their good lives
had become saints) as a triad of equal powers, but it pro
fessed no knowledge respecting the gods or a future state.
Virtue and vice received their reward in this life, either in
self or posterity. Man was composed of a visible body and
a spirit, the separation of which was what we call death,
but was not death in so far as the body might rise
again if the spirit returned, and the spirit lived and might
work good or evil according to whether it was properly
attended to or neglected. Hence the necessity of ancestor-
worship. And here we lose sight of Confucianism for a while,
for it was temporarily annihilated in the fierce fires of the
" First Emperor." It descended into the grave prior to
its glorious resurrection.

Though no curiosity was shown concerning the future

life, divination was practised, first by means of markings

Divination on ^ie sne^ °^ a tortoise and by drawing

and the stalks of reeds from a packet ; later

Superstitions, by tjie use of ^ planchette, oneiromancy,
palmistry, kidney-shaped pieces of wood, and bamboo
slips. Superstition was rampant everywhere. Strange

Ideas 247

prodigies preceded the births of remarkable men. Lucky
portents were required before building. Eclipses were
dreaded, it being supposed that the sun or moon was being
swallowed by a dragon. Animals influenced events. What
is called in Celtic countries Ciurp Creadh, i.e., the making
of an image and maltreating it, was practised. Nevertheless,
numerous though they were, superstitions were fewer than
in Buddhist and later Taoist times.

MONARCHICAL PERIOD

As a result of the reaction at the beginning of the Han
dynasty against the drastic suppression of culture by the

Confucianism " First Emperor," the ancient literature
the State was not only restored to its former place,
Religion. j-,^ aimost became a religion in itself. At
any rate, the religious elements it contained, and had trans
mitted from still more ancient times, were adopted as the
state religion, and remained so for at least 2,000 years.
The state religion was therefore the religion found in the
Confucian classics, though it must be remembered that the
classics were mostly not the work of Confucius, but princi
pally collections made by him of earlier records. We saw
that this religion was ancestor -worship. We need only
add that the form which this ancestor-worship assumed
was nature-worship together with some of the early direct
worship of the spirits of the dead. The natural objects wor
shipped were heaven and earth. In modern times the former
was worshipped by the "Son of Heaven," i.e., the emperor,
in person, on the night of the winter solstice, on the magnifi
cent circular marble Altar of Heaven at Peking, and
solemnity and grandeur were added to the ceremony owing
to this altar being open to the sky, with nothing between
the worshipper and the sublime object of his adoration.
At the summer solstice, on a square marble altar to the north
of Peking, the emperor annually offered sacrifice to the earth.

248 China of the Chinese

Sacrifices were offered at the same time to the chief moun
tains, rivers, and seas. At both the worship of heaven and
earth, adoration was also paid to the tablets of the emperor's
ancestors erected on the right and left of the main altar
in the temples of Heaven and Earth. Besides these " great "
sacrifices, included in the state worship, other sacrifices
were offered on various altars or in various temples in, or
near, the capital, or by deputation in the provinces as well,
at appropriate seasons. These were the " medium " and
" lesser " sacrifices, presented in honour of the Sun, the
Moon, the God of Agriculture, the Goddess of Silkworms
or Weaving, the Five Great Sovereigns of Antiquity, Con
fucius and his disciples, and holy men and women distinguished
for Confucian learning and virtuous living, gods of the sky
(i.e., clouds, rain, wind, thunder), the gods of the earth,
seas, rivers, and streams, and the planet Jupiter. The
third section embraced sacrifices offered by the officials
to the patriarchal physicians of antiquity, namely, Fu Hsi,
Shen Nung, and Huang Ti, the gods of war, literature, the
North Pole, fire, cannons, walled cities, T'ai Shan or the
Eastern Mountain in Shantung, water and rain, the ocean,
the ground, architecture, porcelain-kilns, certain palace
doors, gates, and storehouses in Peking, and lastly, to the
souls of the departed in general. (Not much monotheism
here.) The mention of Peking will, of course, have shown
that this worship was not devised ready-made at the be
ginning of the Monarchical Period, but attained to its full
development only in course of time. Generally, objects of
worship which had been human beings were represented
by images having that form, others by tablets inscribed with
their spiritual titles. Contemplated as a whole, Confucianism
must be regarded as characterized by utilitarianism and
selfishness, founded, like most religions in their ultimate
origins, on fear of the spirits of the dead.

Taoism as a philosophy concerns us not in this chapter.
Taoism as a religion may be said to represent partly the

Ideas 249

crude attempts of the followers of Lao Tzu to supply the
omission of Confucianism to satisfy the desire of the

native mind for further information regarding
Taoism. the unknown, and partly an attempt to

adapt Buddhism to Chinese civilization.
The history of Taoism has been divided into the speculative,
dreamy, and adventurous stages. The doctrines known as
the religion of Taoism were not the Taoism of Lao Tzu but
the inventions of his later disciples. Lao Tzu taught only
the religion of purity, humility, and rest, the doctrine of
silent cultivation of spirituality and attainment of immor
tality by means of self-discipline. But the after-growth
was of a different kind. Attempts to find the elixir of life
degenerated into a species of alchemy. Lao Tzu was
apotheosized as the " original ancestor " honoured of heaven,
supposed to be an incarnation of some superior being such
as Huang Ti, the great mythical sovereign of old (and alleged
real founder of the magical side of Taoism), or an imper
sonation of the ultimate principle (Tad) by which all things
were produced, and to show himself on earth periodically
in human shape. His followers, like the Buddhists, and prob
ably in imitation of them, had their Triad, the " Three Pure
Ones," consisting of Lao Tzu, the " Ancient Original," and
the " Spiritual Precious One," presiding in heaven among
the assembled gods, the sun, moon, stars, etc., and promul
gating benevolence and mercy to the lower world, where
all who recited the sacred name attained to infinite happiness
and deliverance from evil. The priesthood of the sect had
dealings with the spirits, and impressed the people with their
miracles. And there were gods many and idols many, with
temples, rituals, and sacrifices, none of which existed before
the advent of Buddhism. There were the Pearly Emperor,
himself once a mortal, entrusted with the superintendence
of the world ; the city gods, one in every city, town, and
almost every village, the god of the " Eastern Peak " (T'ai
Shan), the goddess of the sea, the god of fire, the god of

250 China of the Chinese

pestilence, the gods of heaven, earth, and the waters, the
three brothers ruling the peaks of Mount Mao, the five holy
ones who rescued people from sickness, the god of witches,
who acted as mediator with them, the horse duke, in charge
of their stables, the Western Royal Mother, wife of the Lord
of the East, one of the first beings evolved out of chaos,
the three corpse gods, who if not watched would betake
themselves aloft to tell tales of mortal sin, the day and night
recorders, the road gods, the white tiger god, the conscience
god, who made men conscious of their sins, and the military
official god, who made journeys to heaven and brought back
all sorts of good things. All of these either were copies or
adaptations of Buddhist deities or had their originals in
men or women of earlier or later times. (Not much mono
theism here.) Now waxing, now waning in favour, now less
now more grossly superstitious, Taoism continued its practice
of alchemy, its use of charms and amulets to obtain a hold
on the people, its chanting and idol-worship, its alleged
ability to remain outside the reach of those laws which affect
the ordinary mortal, e.g., to walk through the fire without
being burned, pass through solid rocks, travel through the
air enormous distances in a short space of time, walk up
ladders of swords, and innumerable other feats, until in modern
times it was always at least assured of a bare living, with a
people to whom superstition was almost as the very breath
of their life.

Originally unconnected with either Taoism, Confucianism,
or Buddhism, the chief cosmological theory of the Chinese

may br referred to here, because, though
Cosmology, purely philosophic in conception, its later

form, which has taken firm possession of the
Chinese mind, was the more definite one evolved by Taoist
speculation. A set of figures composed of broken and un
broken lines, supposed to have been copied by King Wen,
in the twelfth century B.C., from the markings on the back
of a tortoise, is alleged to have formed the basis of the classical

Ideas 251

work known as the Book of Changes, the real meaning of the
numerous combinations and re-combinations of these Eight
Diagrams, or Pa Kua, contained in it being still undiscovered.
From this the dualistic theory of the origin of the universe
is said to have arisen. The universe at first did not exist.
There was Nothing. Nothing in some unexplained way
became Unity or the Great Monad (T'ai Yi) which for some
reason or other divided into two principles, the yang and
the yin, the one active, the other passive, the one positive,
the other negative, light and darkness, male and female.
Interaction of these two produced all things that were, are,
or ever will be. The Taoists, or Rationalists as they were
also called, put this theory in a less metaphysical shape
in order to satisfy the craving of the people for the personal
and concrete. Out of Chaos, or the Ovum Mundi, they say,
came the first being, P'an Ku, either produced by it or chisel
ling himself out of it, and then proceeding to fashion the sun,
moon, and stars, the tortoise to support the world when
finished, the dragon, the phoenix, etc., a task which took
him 18,000 years, after which he died, and his head became
mountains ; his breath, the wind and clouds ; his voice, the
thunder ; his veins, rivers ; his skin and hair, herbs and trees ;
his teeth, bones and marrow, metals, rocks, and precious
stones ; his sweat, the rain, and the vermin, which are supposed
by the Chinese to be the result of perspiration, and which
had during this time accumulated on his body, became the
people who inhabit the earth !

Confucianism adopted an attitude of agnosticism as regards
the origin of the universe, so there is no Confucian cosmology,

and Buddhist cosmology belongs more to
Buddhism India than to China That Buddha was
in china. ...

a man, and that his worship is that of a god

once a man, needs no showing. On its introduction into China,
Buddhism took the side of popular superstition and Taoism
against Confucianism. It at first accepted, on philosophic
grounds, a belief in extinction, but. giving way to popular

252 China of the Chinese

sympathy, preached the doctrine of a future blissful state.
Its apparent ability to supply the lack of certainty in the
mind of the people respecting this future state and the nature
of the gods, gave it an influence which an alien religion
would otherwise have lacked. It enjoined obedience to its
ten commandments, celibacy, contemplation, prayer, fasting,
and almsgiving, the reward being the attainment of purity
and serene Nirvana. In spite of its defects, its salutary
influence on the Chinese nation cannot be denied.

At the end of the Monarchical Period we find the same

religions in China as at the beginning, i.e., ancestor -worship,

including that of animals, reptiles, plants,

Religion m stones, etc., and the more specialized san chiao,

" three religions," Confucianism, Taoism,

and Buddhism, besides numberless superstitions of various

kinds, and some exotic religions, Mohammedanism,

Shamanism, and Christianity.

REPUBLICAN PERIOD

Little remains to be said concerning the religion of China,

since the ideas of the people regarding the supernatural

Future anc^ their attitude towards it have not

Religion of been in any appreciable degree modified
China by the change in the form of the political
government. But the present political struc
ture not having yet proved its stability, the future of the
state or national religion depending upon it is uncertain.
Should the monarchical form of government be re-intro
duced, Confucianism will, in all probability, be adopted
as the national religion ; should the republican form of
government continue, liberty of conscience will enable
anyone to adopt the religion which promises the best satis
faction to his spiritual nature and the desire inherent in
the human mind to know something of the Unknowable.

Ideas 253

KNOWLEDGE

FEUDAL PERIOD

If superstition and science arc mutually antithetical,
then, having seen how superstitious the Chinese are, we
should not expect to find amongst them

any great advance in tne morc definite and
reasoned product of thought known as
scientific knowledge. This supposition is found, on examina
tion of the facts, to be justified. Not only is the scientific
knowledge scanty for a life of 4,000 or more years, but it
is wanting in heterogeneity, both generally in its divisions
and specially in each division, it is not widely diffused,
is indefinite, unorganized, and thrown altogether out of
proportion by the huge growth of politico-ethical philosophy,
which, becoming the recognized means to position and power
and the acquisition of wealth by easy, if unethical, methods,
left little inducement to anyone to cultivate the other branches
of science. But in order that wealth might be acquired in
this way, the people must be enabled to produce as much as
possible from the soil, which was and is the chief source of
wealth in China, and hence it was regarded as necessary to en
courage the cultivation of astronomy in order to regulate the
calendar, upon the correctness of which agriculture so largely
depended. Sciences directly tending to prolong life or add
to its safety and comfort, such as medicine, or to exalt and
facilitate the life of the governing class, such as history,
were patronized by the sovereign, but at no time was a know
ledge of astronomy or medicine or history an aid to official
advancement. There was thus little direct stimulus, but
there was also, with increase in population, continually
heavier pressure on the means of subsistence, obliging the
people to devote themselves almost entirely to labours
directly conducive to acquiring those means, whilst channels
which might have brought knowledge to lighten those
labours and open up new means of gaining a livelihood

254 China of the Chinese

were closed by the practical isolation of the nation for the
greater part of its existence. Some scientific knowledge was
brought from the West, but though perhaps relatively great
in comparison with the scientific knowledge self-acquired,
it was absolutely of no great quantity in comparison with
the body of knowledge from which it was drawn. The West
has always outrun the East in science.

Amongst knowledge of this kind was some astronomical
learning, which is recorded as existing in the earliest periods

of Chinese history. The stars had been
Astronomy, named, the length of the year and the order

of the eclipses were known ; observations
of stars passing the meridian were made in order to fix the
seasons ; the zodiac was divided into twenty-eight con
stellations ; the places of the sun and moon had been deter
mined by their positions amongst the stars, and an armillary
sphere and " observing tube " were in use. But there was a
remarkable deficiency in the power of generalization, and
astronomy was not free from astrological commixture, the
sun, moon, stars, etc., being observed in order to foretell
events, and the constellations supposed to control from
on high the corresponding feudal states on the earth. The
heavens were thought to be round like a canopy, the earth
flat and square, measuring each way about 1,500 English miles,
bounded on the four sides by the " four seas," and motion
less, the sun, moon, and stars revolving round it with great
rapidity. The sun was about 4,000 miles from the earth,
the city of Lo being the centre of the universe. The earth
was supposed to be supported on the four feet of a huge
monster. The breaking of the " pillars of heaven " caused
the earth to list to the south-east, the rivers to flow into
the sea, etc. There was very slight knowledge of foreign
countries, and that the earth was round and suspended in
space was foreign knowledge not widely accepted. By
their astronomical observations they regulated the calendar,
making a year of 366 days, divided into lunar months, with

Ideas 255

intercalary months, regulated by the natural recurrence
of the seasons, and rude observations from year to
year.

The properties of the right-angled triangle are said to
have been known to the Chinese eleven centuries before

the Christian era, and to have been taught
Mathematics, in the government schools. The references

to arithmetical knowledge are scanty ; it is
variously stated to have been based on the " nine sections "
of the mythical emperor Huang Ti, and to have been " ex
plained " by the famous Duke of Chou, who designed a
" multiplication table of nine," " the abacus being thus
invented."

In medicine, a knowledge of the various properties of
herbs is stated to have been derived from their tastes.

Diseases were classified under the four
Medicine. seasons of the year, and treated accordingly

as they were internal or external, or arose
from " unguarded indulgence in eating and drinking."
The action of the pulse, which indicated the proportion of the
yang and yin principles in the body, and the effect of various
articles on the different organs were recognized : acid things
were supposed to rule the spleen, salt things the lungs,
pungent ones the kidneys, bitter ones the liver, and sweet
ones the heart. The crude ideas of physiological evolution
are shown in the following passage from the writings entitled
Kuan Tzu, attributed to Kuan Chung, a minister of the
Ch'i State in the seventeenth century B.C. — •

" When the five superior viscera were completed, then flesh was
produced. The spleen could produce the diaphragm; the lungs, bone;
the kidneys,, brain; the liver, skin; and the heart, flesh. When the
five [forms of] flesh were completed, then the nine passages of the
body were formed."

Sedatives were used in 230 B.C., and acupuncture, with a
stone needle, and cauterizing by burning the down of the
artemisia resorted to 580 years before the Christian era.

256 China of the Chinese

Jade and sulphate of soda were supposed to be capable
of reinforcing the vital spirits, promoting long life, preventing
the decay of the body, and even raising men to the ranks
of the immortals. A form of mesmerism combined with
massage and suggestion was much in vogue, but apparently
abused, as it was afterwards prohibited.

Whilst still a philosophy, Taoism was simply a doctrine
of transcendentalism with its ethical lesson for humanity.
Ethical Tao, the Path or Way, was a metaphor
Philosophy, used to explain the unexplainable, the
Taoism. way jn Wi1icjlj an things that are having
evolved out of primaeval nothingness, the phenomena of
the universe continue in this evolution, in peace and still
ness, without striving or crying. Individuals and governments
should follow the Tao and so reach their aims without effort,
without fighting, without interfering with each other or
trying to govern each other, by abstraction from worldly
cares, freedom from mental perturbation, even without
learning, for " the wisdom of men defeats its own ends."
Tao operates by contraries, and its weakness is the secret
of its strength. By following the path of rectitude in all
humility, gentleness, and economy, and returning good for
evil, there is reached the final re-absorption in Tao. Only
by his followers, not by Lao Tzti himself, was it taught that
life and death follow each other in endless succession, like
the sequence of the four seasons.

Confucius's ethical doctrines dwelt chiefly on social duties
having a political bearing ; he preached a modified des
potism, dependence, and subordination, main-
CEthicsan taimng tnat there is sufficient foundation
in nature for government in the several
relations of society, and that the art of government lay in an
economical use of the revenues, a doctrine persistently
ignored by the Chinese government throughout the greater
part of its history. The " five cardinal relations " of
sovereign and minister, father and son, elder brother and

Ideas 257

younger, husband and wife, friend and friend, gave rise to
certain duties. Universal peace and happiness would result
if the sacredness of those relations were maintained and the
duties appertaining to them faithfully discharged.

In the century after Confucius, lived Mo Ti or Mo Tzu,
who advocated " universal love " — to love all equally, — •
pleading in favour of universality and re-
hSd ciProcity in this affection based on utili
tarianism. It was the duty of the sages
by following this principle to effect the good government
of the kingdom, and peace and happiness were to be achieved
by the ruling class accepting this doctrine, acting up to it
themselves, and insisting upon its fulfilment by the people.
In opposition to this altruistic philosophy was the school
of extreme egoism founded by Yang Chu in the fifth century
B.C., whose tenets were summed up by Mencius as " Each
one for himself." He was a despondent hedonist, representing
that the pains of life outweigh its pleasures, that the supposed
compensations of posthumous renown are a delusion, that
we should " eat and drink, for to-morrow we die," and that
there is no distinction between rotten bones. The sound
common sense of the Chinese prevented them from giving
allegiance to so crude an epicureanism, and Yang Chu found
few champions of his philosophy.

Merely noting that there existed about this time a further

ethical doctrine (though the existence of the philosopher

himself is disputed) associated with the name

Mencius. of Lieh Tzu, transcendental in character

and arguing for contentment in life and

rejoicing in death, we come to Mencius (372-289 B.C.), the

great Confucianist, who taught the inherent goodness of

man's nature, commending the practice of benevolence

and integrity. As elements in the national constitution

he placed the people first, then the spirits of the land and

grain, and then the sovereign. The regulation of agriculture

and commerce would- bring prosperity and education. He

258 China of the Chinese

proved the necessity for division of labour, and for the
conduct of the government by the cultured class.

After him came Chuang Tzu, an advanced Taoist mystic
and anti-Confucianist, who also reasoned sophistically on
ethics and social reformation. His main
Chuang Tzu. theme is the vanity of human effort, and
the followers of Confucius and Mo Tzu
the principal objects of his denunciations. That kingdom
is best governed which is left alone. Reputation is but
the " guest of reality." Though there is unreality in exis
tence, life is a thing to be cared for, and this care is compatible
with indifference to death.

The remaining principal philosophical doctrines of the

time are those of Hui Tzu, a paradoxical writer, who argued

that heat existed only in the experienced sen-

Hsun.ZTzu sation, discussed the qualities of matter in

relation to mind, etc., and of Hsiin Tzu,

who maintained the congenitally vicious nature of man, and

the necessity of governing by physical force.

MONARCHICAL PERIOD

The deep impression made by the classical epoch upon
the Chinese mind precluded much play of the constructive
imagination in subsequent ages. The Mon-
archical Period is characterized by little
progress and no epoch-making discoveries
in science, except perhaps the compass and printing. The
comparatively few changes of a progressive nature may be
briefly recapitulated under their respective headings.

In mathematics, the Hindu processes in algebra were

known in the Han dynasty. From this time onwards, works

on arithmetic were exceedingly numerous.

Mathematics. In A.D. 442, latitude was determined by

measuring the shadow on the south side of

a gnomon at the summer solstice. In the Sung dynasty,

mathematics flourished, a native algebra was elaborated,

Ideas 259

and study continued to be facilitated by the ancient principle
of local value in arithmetical notation. In the Ming Period
the use of the abacus spread over the whole empire, and has
been general ever since, but up to the most recent times,
though treatises on arithmetic were common, only
practical mediocrity was reached in mensuration and
trigonometry.

The primitive method of determining the duration of
the national history by the lengths of the sovereigns'

reigns, was replaced by a chronological
Chronology, scheme in which the old cycle of sixty was

employed. The calendar was reformed and
an annual almanac published (104 B.C.). The cycle was now
used to chronicle years as well as days, and a duodecimal
division of the day was adopted. In 445 a new calendar
was constructed, and the sidereal distinguished from the
tropical year. Observations of the movements of the sun
and planets caused corrections in the previous estimates.
In the T'ang dynasty, besides the adoption of a new calendar,
artificial horizons and various contrivances for measuring
time were in use. In the Sung, the solstice again began the
year, and we read of clepsydras and other automatic instru
ments. It is interesting to note that at this time the calendar
consisted of months of thirty and thirty-one days, and that
after it fell into disuse through the adoption of the month
of twenty-eight days, a prophecy was made that it would
be re-introduced in a thousand years' time — which prophecy
has now been fulfilled. Under the Mongols, beyond the usual
corrections in the calendar, an elaborate water-clock and a
bell and drum for striking the hour were used in Peking.
The Mongols borrowed their cycle from the Chinese, and
sunrise, etc., were now calculated from Peking. The Jesuits,
under the Ming regime, continued to render great assistance
in all branches of science, among other things reforming
the national calendar which had got into a hopeless state
of inaccuracy. The Mings had relied upon the incomplete

260 China of the Chinese

Mongol system, but in 1643 the European method was
adopted by imperial decree.

In chemistry, the state of knowledge may be put in a very
few words. The elements were supposed to be water, fire,
wood, metal, and earth. They held a crude
Chemistry. theory of the interaction of these five ele
ments, but there was neither a minute analysis
of them nor a wide generalization of results.

Knowledge of the epoch of Callipus and that the moon
shines by borrowed light were brought from the West in
the second century of the Christian era. Bronze astrolabes
were used to observe the stars, and sunspots and " sun-
shadows " recorded in 28 and 20 B.C. and A.D. 188. In
300-350 the precession of the equinoxes was discovered.
Many observations of sunspots were accurately made. In
438 a steel orrery was constructed. Under the T'ang, the
astronomical instruments were improved ; eclipses were
approximately calculated, and it was understood that comets
were not self-luminous ; but the heavens were supposed to
pass through the sea, and the difference in the seasons was
stated to be due to the distance of the earth from the sun.
In 1580, European astronomy revolutionized the native
theories, and the imperial observatory was placed under the
charge of the Jesuits. The European system was officially
adopted by the Manchus, but the native ideas remained
vague and inaccurate. The sun and planets were still believed
to revolve round the earth.

Not being wide travellers, the Chinese did not acquire

much knowledge of geography at first-hand. There was an

office for map-making, but judged by later

productions the results must have been crude.

There was but slight knowledge of foreign countries, and only

indistinct views existed regarding the antipodes. Officers were

sent in the Han dynasty to trace the Yellow River to its source

(but these attempts proved unsuccessful until the Mongol

dynasty was established in China), and mention is made of

Ideas 261

Khotcn. In the following period, some knowledge of the
Roman Empire was acquired through the Hindus. In
the T'ang time, cartography reached a high level and geo
graphical treatises were numerous. An extensive triangulation
was attempted, but with poor results. Under the Mings
some geographical knowledge was gained from foreign
sources, but even under the Manchus it was still crude, and
maps were primitive.

In anatomy, medicine, surgery, etc., some indistinct
ideas had been acquired as to the effect of the environment.

The nature of the various organs was little
Anatomy, etc. understood. Medicines of different kinds

were in use and the effects of various fruits
recognized. Anaesthetics were apparently invented during
the Han dynasty ; trepanning was suggested; and puncture
with the needle and surgery continued to be practised ;
but though these, together with drugs and counter-irritants,
were employed with professedly good results, medical know
ledge was still rudimentary. The Caesarian operation,
however, is recorded as having been performed in A.D. 285.
Under the Sungs, much attention was paid to medical study,
innumerable works on medicine and therapeutics being
produced. The first work on acupuncture appeared, and in
1249 the first treatise on medical jurisprudence. The latter
displayed considerable research, but partook of the super
stitions of the time. A theory was formed as to the circulation
of the vital fluid (ch'i) ; and we read of inoculation for
smallpox and operations for cataract. The works mention
113 formulae and 365 kinds of drugs. Later, operations
were performed whilst the patient was under the influence
of hashish. All portions of animals and of the human frame
were supposed to possess healing properties. The human
body was not dissected, osteology was as crude as pathology
and physiology, and even down to the most recent times
disease continued to be ascribed to evil spirits, etc. The
surface of the body continued to receive close attention,

262 China of the Chinese

plasters, caustics, lotions, etc., being much in vogue. Sur
gical operations were tentative, the pulse was supposed to
be an unfailing indicator of all symptoms, and medicines
were mostly vegetal.

In ethics, under the Hans, man's nature was regarded
as neither good nor evil. His development depended wholly
upon his environment. Philosophical thought
Ethics. remained practically stationary for a long
period (317-1034), but the Sung philosophers
restored the Confucian ascendency. A materialistic school
arose from the discussions raised by socialistic attacks on
the prevailing Confucian dogmas. A Taoist cosmogony
was introduced into the Confucian orthodoxy, and an attempt
made to replace the physical aspects of the Han philosophy
by ethical and metaphysical substitutes. The d priori
method was employed without verification by appeal to fact
or observation. In spite of a revolt against this philosophy
in the early part of the sixteenth century, the Sung and
earlier ethical systems were those prevailing to the end of
the Manchu Period.

In the Han dynasty history took a mature form. It was
sober, conscientious, and free from supernaturalism. This
character it sustained throughout, and has
History. accordingly been eulogized by many Western
scholars, though it lacked the more scientific
methods of later times as seen in Western countries. Always
voluminous, it began, under the T'angs, to be epitomized,
but in the following period many large works were
produced, and though they are not considered models
of style, some showed independence in form and method
of treatment. The Ming was the age of collectors and
commentators, and of detailed study. The collection of
details and chronicling of events remained the chief
aim under the Manchus, recognition of the scientific
nature of history being hampered by ingrained ideas of
pre-ordination.

Ideas 263

REPUBLICAN PERIOD

Whilst the bulk of the nation retains the scientific or quasi-
scientific ideas of the preceding periods, many modern ideas
Adoption have of late years been adopted from Western
of Western countries, either directly or via Japan.
Science. jj^ « returne(} students " and their pupils
and those natives who are being trained in various branches
of scientific knowledge in foreign institutions, or institutions
run on foreign lines, form the new scientific class of the nation,
which has little or no sympathy with the old classical learning,
and, if given proper scope, is destined to exert a great in
fluence upon the future of the teeming myriads of this vast
country. It is as yet too soon to speak of results. If this
influence is exerted for the good of the people, the nation
cannot fail to be enormously strengthened, and made happier
and more prosperous ; if the new knowledge is to be used
only as the old classical knowledge was used, as a means to
place and self-aggrandizement, all history, science, and
philosophy warrant the conclusion that the last state of
this people will be worse than the first.

CHAPTER IX

LANGUAGE

MANY years ago, that eminent sinologist, the late Dr. Legge,
in referring to a theory (which, however, is open to criticism
Earliest on °ther grounds) maintained by Dr. De
Phases of Lacouperie concerning the Western origin
the Language. of Chinese civilization, stated that he refused
to examine the argument further when he found that it
implied the originally polysyllabic character of the Chinese
language. It did not strike the learned doctor that when
he said good-bye to the theory he was using a word which
had gradually been formed by the coalescence into two of
the four words, " God be with you," and that the reduction
of polysyllables to dissyllables and then to monosyllables
was a process of integration forming part of the evolution
of language in general. This illustration may serve to make
less startling my statement that the Chinese language was
originally polysyllabic. It is the most ancient language now
spoken, and one of the oldest written languages used by
mankind. During successive ages both the written and
spoken languages have undergone changes, but owing to
the ideographic character of the written language and the
absence of sound as an integral factor of the symbols, these
changes have been few compared with what they would
probably have been had circumstances kept it in a more
plastic state and stimulated its further evolution. Never
theless, in its earliest known stages, the language had already
passed through its first phases and is seen, not in its poly
syllabic stage, to a great extent forming its words by the
addition of agglutinative elements, some of which may
have had the function of cases, etc., and expressing gram
matical relation otherwise than by word-order, but in a

264

Language 265

monosyllabic, isolating, uninflcctecl form, with its gramma
tical relations indicated by the position of the words or
characters in the sentence. It is only from this stage onwards
that materials exist for the study of its form and
development.

When the comparatively small patriarchal group of Chinese
immigrants first arrived in China, they must, of course, have

been able to communicate with each other
Spoken ^y means o{ an intelligible spoken language.

The exact character of that language and the
earliest changes undergone by it we have now no means
of knowing. Various theories, of which that of the Turanian
origin seems to be the least open to objection, have been
formulated, but the solution of the problem must depend
largely upon the as yet undecided question as to the origin
of the Chinese themselves. As the Chinese spread over China
they took their language with them. They settled in colonies,
and became " provincial " : it was only after the lapse of
ages that the whole country was populated by them. These
colonies had but little intercommunication with each other :
some were cut off by mountain-chains, others by regions
of jungle or marsh ; others by broad rivers or aboriginal
country inhabited by hostile tribes. As one result of this,
the common language they had brought with them gradually
underwent changes, until several broad distinctions could
be observed which represented vernacular languages, and
from these again sprang local dialects, differing very con
siderably from the common ancestor. If new words and
differences of expression, many of which are quite unintelligible
in England, can spring up in America and the British colonies,
where communication with the Mother Country is constant,
in less than a century, it is easy to believe that still more
marked differences of language must have arisen amongst
these early Chinese colonists where there was little or no
intercommunication at all. Thus it came about that, though
all the Chinese in China spoke Chinese, they could not all

266 China of the Chinese

understand each other's spoken words, and cannot do so
to this day.

Nevertheless, they had one means of communicating
their ideas to each other. Before they left the northern
region which had been their first camping-
Written ground after their arrival in China, they had
Language. not only a written language but, in all
probability, a certain amount of literature.
By " written " and " literature " I do not mean words written
on paper by means of pen and ink, but characters painted
or scratched on the smoothed surfaces of pieces of bamboo
or bark. These painted or scratched characters did not
change, that is to say, they were the same for all the various
colonists, and being the " written word," did not tend to
alter in the same way that the spoken one did ; moreover,
the existing written literature, like the weights and measures
kept in a treasury, or the dictionary near at hand for consulta
tion, constituted a standard for perpetual reference. Thus
we have the Chinese able to communicate with each other
all over the country by means of inscribed symbols, but not
by means of spoken sounds beyond the range of their own
particular dialect.

As already stated, the spoken language, as we first know
it, was monosyllabic. To express an idea or to name a thing
s . the Chinese uttered a sound in one breath.
Limitations But they had more ideas than sounds to repre-
(Lead to^ sent them. It is improbable that there was
at any time a special sound for every idea
or thing. At any rate, when we first meet with the spoken
language, one of the characteristics which strikes us is the
relative paucity of sounds compared with the ideas to be
conveyed. The natural difficulty arising out of the com
paratively limited play of the organs of speech in the Chinese
race is one cause of this, and we shall note another later on.
The result is that the same sounds have to do duty not only
twice, but thrice or oftener, and each to represent more than

Language 267

one idea. If there are a dozen men and only three names,
Tom, Dick, and Harry, the least confusing arrangement is
to call four men by each name. But how are we to convey
to anyone which of the four Toms, for example, is meant ?
Not being able to invent any more names or sounds, the
Chinese particularized the idea or thing from others having
the same name or sound by adding to that sound a dis
tinguishing intonation. This intonation is known by
ft.nigners as a "tone," but the Chinese did not at first,
nor for a very long time, recognize that he was making these
distinctions in this way. Every intoned sound was to him
though not in reality, a new monosyllable. Carpenters
often use a tool composed of a handle into which differently-
shaped points are fitted for different kinds of work. The
handle was the monosyllable, the points the tones. But
where did he get these tones ? The answer to this question
has proved a stumbling-block to an enormous number of
scholars, and for the reason that, as is often the case, the
obvious explanation is not the right one. The obvious
explanation is that, when two words, through phonetic
decay, had become so alike as to be homonyms, a tone was
invented to keep the meanings distinct, and that, as the
decay went on, more and more tones were required to prevent
confusion becoming worse confounded. But that is not
what took place. It was the natural development of the
tone distinctions through the inability to invent new sounds
that led to the carelessness of articulation and the
multiplication of what without the tones would be homonyms.
Besides communicating thoughts by means of spoken
sounds, the Chinese communicated them also by means of
written symbols. As with most primitive

MfewySmmds°.IS races' these symbols were at first rude

pictures of the objects referred to. Every

student of Chinese has seen his native teacher, when the

student has failed to catch the meaning of a spoken word,

hold out the palm of his left hand and, with the forefinger of

268 China of the Chinese

his right, draw on it an imaginary picture of the written
symbol for the sound he wished to convey. The act is similar
to what the primitive Chinese did. Though they could not
always convey their meaning by sounds, they could do so
by means of the written symbol, and, though they could not
always invent new sounds, they could easily devise new
symbols. And, curiously enough, it was just these symbols
which helped to check the evolution of the spoken language.
The spoken vocabulary could only have been enlarged by
the combination and fusion of the sounds represented by
the symbols, but this process was checked at an early period
by the rigid nature of the symbols themselves. And, as it
was always easy to draw a new picture, these written signs
continued to multiply, until at length they were numbered
by tens of thousands. The names or sounds they gave
to these pictures were, of course, the sounds of the spoken
language, and, the latter being comparatively few, many
pictures had to be called by the same name or sound ; but
as, even with the intonations, the sounds and intonations
were not sufficient to give a separate one to each picture,
the final touchstone was always the picture or written symbol
itself. Thus, though we have a written symbol, we have not
a separate sound for each idea or thing. Over 200 of those
symbols are all called chi, over 100 eking, and so on ; and
though all the chi may be sub-divided into chi pronounced
in the first tone, chi in the second tone, etc., that gives
an average of about fifty to each tone, there being now in
the north only four tones, though there were more in early
times and are now in some of the other dialects. They
increased from two to three in the time of Confucius, and
from three to four by the middle of the fifth century A.D.,
the number now varying from four to " three tiers of
three each," making nine, some Chinese even adding as
many as three more.

The rude pictures or ideographs from which the written
characters developed, arc said to have been preceded by a

PASSAGE FROM THE CONFUCIAN ANALECTS
(Caligraphy of P'eng-Lai Mu, Junior)

" Yuan Jang was squatting on his heels, and so waited the
approach ot the Master, who said to him: ' In youth, not humble as
befits a junior; in manhood, doing nothing worthy of being handed
down; and living on to old age- — this is to be a pest.' With this, he
hit him on the shank with his staff.

" A youth of the village of Ch'iieh was employed by Confucius to
carry the messages between him and his visitors [to teach him polite
ness]. Someone asked about him, saying, ' I suppose he has made
great progress ? '

" The Master said, ' I observe that he is fond of occupying the seat
of a full-grown man; I observe that he walks shoulder to shoulder
with his elders. He is not one who is seeking to make progress in
learning. He wishes quickly to become a man.' "

To face p. 268

Language 269

system of knotted cords, and another of notches on wood, for
the purpose of transmitting ideas, but no traces of these
Development of remam- The rude outlines of natural objects
the Written which form the first known Chinese script
Character. underwent changes in course of time.
Thus the sun, represented by a circle with a dot in the centre,
was afterwards written as a square with a central horizontal
line ; a mountain represented by a drawing of three peaks,
became three upright strokes joined across their lower ends
by a horizontal one ; and so on. But this simple process
of expressing ideas each by its own ideograph became inade
quate, and further symbols to express further ideas were
formed by the duplication or combination of the first simpler
symbols. To express the idea " bright," for example, the
symbols for sun and moon were placed side by side. Thus
we might in English write sun and moon together, thus :
and agree to call the new combination " bright," as
a § the Chinese put the picture of the sun, which he called
3> § jih, with that of the moon, which he called yiieh, and
called the compound ming, " bright." The relative
position of the component parts might vary, e.g., we might

put " hill " above " stone," thus : , , and call this " cliff."

stone

In this way, by the combination of two, three, or more
simpler components, complicated characters were produced.
Nevertheless, this system was not of itself sufficient, as it
was impossible by it alone to frame enough characters to
serve the purpose of a written medium. So the Chinese
devised a method, called the phonetic system, by which the
characters in the language were divided into two classes —
one comparatively small and definite and called " mothers
of meaning," the other large and indefinite and called
" mothers of sound." The number in the first class has varied
from 554 to 214 ; that in the second is between 800 and 900.
To take the simplest case, a character was formed by com
bining a " mother of meaning," or " radical," with a " mother

270 China of the Chinese

of sound," or " phonetic," the result being such that the
meaning of the character could be judged from the former
and its sound from the latter. In this way any number of
characters could be manufactured to meet any demand
for the expression of new ideas. A character, for example,
would be made of the radical for " rice," pronounced mi
(in English, me), and the phonetic for " divide," pronounced
fen, the combination meaning rice broken to pieces, that is,
flour, meal, or powder of any kind, the clue to its pronuncia
tion being found in the phonetic fen. These characters were
symbols, non-agglutinative and non-inflectional, and were
written in vertical columns, possibly from having originally
been cut on strips of bark.

In arranging these characters into sentences, it was of

course not possible to inflect them as is done with the words

of a modern language. There were only

JSmgement a few grammatical form-words, and the
expression of connected ideas rested mainly
upon the order in which the words were placed. Neither the
characters nor their sounds underwent any change when in
use, and they could be employed to represent any part of
speech, the meaning being gathered from the context. Apart
from the grammatical context, the only distinction was
between shih tzu, essential words, and hsti tzu, " empty "
words or particles, the former being sub-divided into ssu
tzu, " dead words " or nouns, and huo tzu, " living words "
or verbs. The order of arrangement was subject, verb,
direct object, indirect object ; and modifying expressions
preceded those to which they belonged, the adjective being
placed before the substantive, subject or object, the sub
stantive governed before the verb that governs it, the adverb
before the verb; the incidental, circumstantial, or hypo
thetical proposition before the principal proposition, to which
it attaches itself by a conjunction expressed or understood.
Gender was formed by distinctive particles ; number by
prefixing a numeral ; cases by position or appropriate

Language 271

prepositions. Position determined comparison ; time was
indistinctly expressed ; and various devices were adopted
to indicate names, important words, etc. The grammatical
structure is illustrated by such phrases as " Men men " for
" All men," " Laugh talk " for " Joke," " Go, not go ? "
for " Will you go ? " " The light shines passage trees " for
" The light shines through the trees," " The monster received
my sword's cutting " for " The monster was wounded by
my sword," " That which he said there were believers of "
for " There were some who believed what he said," " There
is no other way only must look at upper and lower text
then know " for " The only way to tell is to look at the
context," " This way see rise come " for " Thus you may
begin to see," " The door-mouth has some women " for
" There are some women at the door," " Wang, my use-man,
very old true " for " My servant Wang is very honest,"
" Connect rice he also not eat " for " He does not eat even
rice." Ambiguity of meaning was caused by absence of
punctuation, and the various methods of economizing atten
tion used in the West, both in the printed and written literature.
To the foreign student of Chinese who has not given long and
patient labour to mastering the spirit as well as the letter
of Chinese phraseology, the various meanings to be got out
of a single passage are often as puzzling as the sentence,
" The submarine said the captain was 350 feet long " would
be to an English schoolboy.

The above sketch indicates in outline, devoid of elabora
tion and detail, the main features of the Chinese written

The Future of anc-'- sP°ken languages. It is unnecessary

the Chinese here to go into technicalities, or to trace

Language. ^he variations in the number of the tones,

modifications of sounds, styles of the written character,

etc., which have taken place in the course of ages.

During the last two centuries efforts have been made to

substitute the kuan hua, or Court language, for the endless

variety of local dialects existing all over the country. The

272 China of the Chinese

" language proper " in common use throughout the north
west, though perhaps not the purest Chinese, is characterized
by soft tones, absence of harsh consonantal endings, and
prevalence of liquids and labials. With the increasing
facilities of intercommunication, such as the extension of
railway lines to all, even the remotest, parts of the country,
some common tongue will become indispensable. Probably,
if left alone, the people will solve the problem themselves
as they have done in other countries, such as England, where
mutually unintelligible dialects once existed and have not
yet died out ; but, rather than see the " abolition " of the
Chinese language and the adoption of the somewhat bizarre
suggestion to substitute for it the language of any other
people, those who know and love the kuan hua and can
appreciate the beauty and art of the written literature,
would prefer to see these preserved and the former as uni
versally established in China as the latter, until at least a
satisfactory solution of the problem presents itself. The
Chinese language, it is true, is stereotyped, uninflectional,
aptotic, rigid ; it is characterized by what are known in
philology as " incoherence " and want of " agglutination "
and " amalgamation," but it has its place and use in the
process of China's evolution. It came into being primarily
in order that Chinese might communicate their ideas to
Chinese, and, having served that purpose for fifty centuries,
has presumably done its work fairly well ; but there can be
no doubt that a hieroglyphic language is cumbersome and
takes up, perhaps wastes, much time as a means of written
communication. To bring about the evolution of the lan
guage into a more definite, coherent, heterogeneous, plastic
thing would be a very difficult task. The evolution of both
the spoken and written languages involves some very in
tricate psychological problems ; or rather, not so much the
evolution, for that is going on all the time, but the hastening
of the evolution, if that is possible and advisable having
regard to the nature of the language, in order to keep pace

Language 273

with the requirements of the age — to save the time of the
nation and to facilitate the definiteness of the communicated
ideas. It may be said that the Chinese can speak with or
write to Chinese in Chinese, and Chinese can speak with
or write to, say, English people in either Chinese or English,
but the point is, how is this to be done in the quickest and
most efficient way ? It is the brain or mind which needs
modifying, and that may in time be brought about by the
better ways of thinking inculcated by the best systems of
education.

CHAPTER X

PRODUCTS
LANDWORKS

LIKE many other races during the early stages of their exis
tence, the Chinese had to wage war with nature. The country

they had settled in, the region in the neigh-
Grel^Flood? bourhood of the Yellow River, was subject

to inundation, and consequently one of the
first duties of the rulers was to guard against the ravages
of floods. The patriarch Shun, we read, deepened the rivers,
and his successor, the great Yii, earned his right to sit on the
throne by draining off a flood which has been compared by
some to the one which caused Noah to build the Ark. If
the description in the Book of History may be relied upon,
and I see no reason to share the doubt which some writers
have cast upon it, the state of things must have been pretty
serious, for " the inundating waters seemed to assail the
heavens, and in their vast extent embraced the mountains
and overtopped the hills, so that the people were bewildered
and overwhelmed." The method employed by Yii was to
hew down the woods, deepen the streams and canals, conduct
their waters into the rivers, and thus drain them into the sea.
In subsequent ages, the landworks of the Chinese have
consisted of works of excavation, such as wells, ditches,

moats, and aqueducts ; of levelling, such
Grand^anal as roads » and °* raising, such as wooden

and stone bridges, suspension bridges, ram
parts, walls, terraces, archways, etc. The most remarkable
of many remarkable works are the Grand Canal and the
Great Wall. The former was constructed by Kubla Khan
in the thirteenth century to connect Cambaluc (Peking)

274

Products 275

with Hangchow, the former capital of the Sung emperors,
thus ensuring safe transit for the products of the " natural
granary " of the empire. It was opened for traffic in 1289,
and one-and-a-half million measures of rice were transported
to Peking by it during the following year. It was 650 miles
long, varying in depth from thirty to seventy feet, the level
being maintained by means of sluices and locks of rude
construction. Owing to neglect, the increased employment
of steamships, and the construction of railways, the canal
is now comparatively inefficient.

Great as was this achievement in excavation, and aided as
it was by the existence of some previous canals of compara
tively short length and by utilizing rivers
Great Wall anc* streams where possible, the achievement
of raising a structure like the Great Wall
of China was greater still. Parts of this also existed pre
viously in the shape of several shorter walls before Ch'in
Shih Huang Ti, the " First Emperor," conceived the idea
of joining them into one and thus forming a bulwark against
the inroads of the " northern barbarians." It extends from
Chia-yii Kuan in longitude 98° to the sea at Shan-hai
Kuan in longitude 120°, and is 2,550 miles in length, counting
all the spurs and loops, about 1,400 without them, and 1,142
in a direct line from end to end. In height it varies from
fifteen to thirty feet, and its thickness is on the average
twenty-five feet at the base and fifteen at the top. It is
composed of earth and pebbles faced with large bricks, weighing
about 50 Ibs. each, supported on a coping of stone. The top
is paved with bricks and defended by a slight parapet. At
intervals throughout its entire length are towers, made of
brick, usually about forty feet high, and forty feet square
at the base and ten less at the top. The portion to the north
of Peking, which runs down to the sea-shore at Shan-hai
Kuan, is of comparatively recent date, having been built
during the Ming d)^nasty in 1547, and is about 250 miles
in length.

276 China of the Chinese

No mention was made of the Great Wall of China by
Marco Polo, the famous Venetian traveller, but, as pointed

Marco Polo ou^ bY me in a paper in the Royal Archaeo-
and the logical Society's Journal in 1888, this may

Great Wall, ^g accounted for by the decayed state of
the old wall, and the newer portion not yet having been built
when Polo arrived in China. I have seen the older portion
of the Great Wall in several places, and its condition fully
warrants the belief that it might be crossed by a traveller
without any suspicion that he was traversing the site of a
famous landmark. This view receives support from the
statement of Gerbillon that beyond the Yellow River the
wall is " mostly a mound of earth or gravel."

HABITATIONS

The earliest Chinese settlers in China lived in summer
in huts made of branches, and in winter in artificial caves.
The latter were probably excavated in

the loess banks bv the river-beds. The
huts later on had walls, were thatched,
with a ridge-pole and projecting roof, and were divided
into more than one compartment, sometimes also having
an upper storey. The palace of the king was more elaborate,
but varied, and in Yao's time the low walls of the palaces
and houses were not whitewashed, the pillars and rafters
not carved, and the straw of the thatched roof not trimmed.
Through various stages of growth and complexity, the
dwellings of the Chinese have passed to their present forms.
The " Tent Before noting these, it will be as well to
Theory " say a word or two about what is known
criticized. as ^Q « tent theory " of the origin of Chinese
architecture, about which long controversies have raged
without leading to any definite result. According to this
theory, the form of the Chinese roof was copied from that of
the Mongol tent, and it was further argued that the Chinese
house, as a whole, was also a copy of the tent. But it has

Products 277

not been proved that the Chinese ever lived in tents, nor
that elaborate tents of the kind indicated were in use at the
time when the Chinese arrived in China. Had they copied
their houses from these tents, they would hardly have taken
to living in caves and huts even till the houses were ready,
for they might as well have built houses as huts. My own
theory is that the shape of the Chinese house and roof are
both traceable to the original cave-dwelling. The charac
teristics of a cave-dwelling are that it is open in front and
not behind, and that as it extends it does so laterally, rather
than behind the main apartment, in order that the new
rooms may easily get light. Now, if we observe the simplest
form of Chinese house, we notice that it has these same
characteristics ; it consists of a back wall and two side walls,
the open side in front being filled by a low brick wall supporting
a framework (reaching to the roof) in which are set the paper
windows ; and if it has other apartments, these are built
out at the sides of the main apartment, and not at the back
of it. But what about the roof ? In the loess cave-dwellings
we notice a set of small boards stuck in the earth just above
the door to divert the' rain or drainage-water from the
doorway. These are, according to my view, the prototype
of the eaves. A cave-dwelling has no roof except the hill
above it, and what could be more natural than that the
Chinese, on leaving the cave-dwelling and building his own
house, should imitate in the roof the sloping sides and
rounded top of the hill ? This may also help to explain why,
in building a house, the Chinese construct the roof and its
supporting pillars first and put in the walls afterwards.
Those who have opportunities of observing a large number
of Chinese roofs cannot but be struck by the rounded top
and the sloping sides of the roof, which closely resemble the
shape of hills in Chinese pictures.

Though it is possible that, according to another theory,
the curve of the roof may not have existed before the intro
duction of the pagoda, and may have been copied from the

278 China of the Chinese

short curved roofs of those structures, I do not think there
is sufficient evidence to show that, as is alleged, the roof
was straight until the time usually stated by
the advocates of this theory. The introduction
of the pagoda has generally been referred
to the sixth century A.D., but it is now known that the first
pagoda was built in A.D. 249-50. If the early pagodas had
straight roofs, and the house-roofs only became curved
when the roofs of the pagodas did, that would be strong
evidence that the curve in the roof of the house was copied
from that of the pagoda. If the early pagodas had curved
roofs, the Chinese, according to the theory, must have waited
three centuries before imitating them. In any case, the
" pagoda theory " does not explain the rounded ridge of the
house-roof, and neither affects my main argument regarding
the origin of the house and its roof, nor lends any assistance
to the " tent theory." x

Four of these dwellings arranged facing each other round

a square, form a " compound," this formation being

doubtless adopted for purposes of protection.

" Compound ' ' ^e typical ordinary Chinese dwellings have

this shape, and when they are arranged along

a street, the wall pierced for an entrance is, in the case of

shops (and usually also in the case of private residences),

the one contiguous to the street, the house on that side being

used as the shop, and the other three as dwelling-houses

and store-houses. In the central courtyard trees are often

planted, and when viewing a city in summer from an

adjoining mountain one is struck by the enormous number

of trees, which make the city look as if it had been built

in a wood or forest.

Dwelling-houses were generally of one storey, except
in those parts where, owing to varying causes, it was found
more advantageous to extend them upwards rather than hori
zontally. There was no cellar or basement. Light was admitted
through lattices. The better houses had stone foundations
1 Sec note at end of chapter.

Products 279

and brick walls, the poorer ones walls of mud. Roofs were
tiled. A slight ceiling usually concealed the tiling on the

inside. Fronts of houses were mostly
DHSablPatk>ns0f Plain' but gateways were often elaborate.

Chimneys, originally absent or rare, have
become general. Corridors or verandahs were formed
by the overhanging eaves supported by pillars, and often
extended all round the inside of the compound. In the north,
a brick platform (called k'ang), underneath which a charcoal
fire was lit, was used as a bed at night and settee by day.
Temples and public buildings were large and much orna
mented, the pillars being often of great size, but without
capital or base. The palace at Peking, as already noted,
covered about one-sixth of the area of the city.

Streets in the business quarters of towns were paved

and, until within recent years, narrow and filthy ; in the

Streets north, they were usually wider, unpaved,

Country-Houses, and less picturesque. Country-houses with

and other their courts and gardens covered large

areas, being often ornamented with fish
ponds, rockeries, flowering plants, etc. The houses of the
poor were small, dark, and dirty, many mud and thatched
dwellings being seen in villages and the suburbs of towns.
Boats were used as permanent dwellings in many parts
of the country, the floating population being enormous,
especially in the south. Cave-dwellings continued to be used
by millions of the poorer people. Of late years considerable
improvement has been made in sanitary arrangements
and the cleansing of streets ; but unfortunately with modern
ideas the red-brick house has also arrived, and threatens
sooner or later to banish for ever the beautiful Oriental
architecture which has hitherto lent so fascinating a charm
to Chinese buildings, from the simplest dwellings to the
most gorgeous palaces.

FOOD

The earliest inhabitants of China seem to have subsisted

280 China of the Chinese

on wild fruits and the uncooked flesh of birds and animals,
of which they drank the blood. Then the patriarchs
Primitive taught the people the art of using grain as
Food food in addition to flesh. From this time on

and Drmk. the ^mb^ an(j variety of foods, both animal
and vegetal, increased, until the menu included almost
everything edible to be found in the country, except milk
foods, to which the Chinese constitution did not adapt itself.
In the feudal days an ardent spirit was distilled from black
millet, «and a ferment extracted from rice and mixed with
pepper became the habitual drink. But the latter was re
placed as the national drink, during the period 264--SO,
some works say A.D. 317-419, by tea, which has held its
own ever since, despite the importation of grape-wine from
the West in the early centuries of the Christian era and the
making of a large variety of wines by the Chinese them
selves. In modern times, the proportion of animal food was
small ; the chief cereal foods were rice, maize, Italian millet,
and wheat, with many culinary vegetables and fresh fruits,
preserved fruits, and roots. Onions and a few spices were
generally taken. Pork, fowls, and fish were largely con
sumed ; mutton more eaten than beef ; game, cakes, seeds,
and shoots greatly relished. Tobacco-smoking was universal,
and opium-smoking common until recently prohibited.

For China, as for other nations, the study of food is im
portant as affecting largely the activity of the body, the
Importance acquisition of wealth and power, and the
of the Food ability to resist external aggression. It
Question. js ajso important as a means of equalizing
the sexes numerically. The matter goes to some extent in
a circle, for, though the Chinese are largely vegetarian owing
to the fertile nature of the country, they are so also very
largely because seven-tenths of the population are too poor
to buy meat foods in place of rice, a cereal which contains
least protein and fat. It is a matter for experiment whether
it would be to the advantage of the Chinese to eat more

Products 281

meat foods, and if so in what proportion. The right amount
for a full-grown average European is said to be one-sixth
of the total quantity of food. But with the increase of meat
foods there might come a desire for stronger drinks. Having
abolished, or practically abolished, the use of wine, the Chinese
have long been a sober race ; but, injurious as stimulants
are if taken habitually or even often, an occasional indulgence
is demanded, in an imperfect world, by the labourer's mono
tonous life. This accounts for the use in every country of
some such article as hashish, chica, kava, bang, pulque,
soma, wine, beer, tea, coffee, etc. If the restoration of the
balance after the day's work cannot be obtained through
athletics, music, or similar means, it is a question whether
the use of occasional stimulants is not to some extent justi
fiable, and whether their abolition would be wise until a more
perfect condition of humanity has been reached, when the
expenditure of energy will be more evenly distributed. If
so, the re-assertion of the old Adam since the prohibition of
opium in China by the use of morphia, cheap cigarettes,
and alcohol bears a lesson which it would be unwise to ignore.

CLOTHING

On our first acquaintance with them, we find the Chinese

fully clothed. There was, apparently, a time when they

wore skins and garments made of feathers, and left the

Earl feet uncovered, but there is no record of them

Costume not as " naked savages," as in the case of many
Primitive. primitive races. Their clothing seems to
have reached an advanced stage at an early date. Silk
was not in use for clothing before the Chou dynasty, the
material chiefly used till then being hempen cloth. The
articles of clothing were caps, shirts, trousers, lined gowns,
ornamented girdles, stockings or gaiters, and shoes of various
kinds. In the Chou time, the dress of the ruling classes
was a long cloak of deep blue-brown silk, fixed on the shoulder

282 China of the Chinese

and under the arms by means of strings. The sleeves were
very wide and long, and were folded over the wrists like
cuffs. The trousers were of cloth, and later of pongee, and had
as yet no ornamental border. A shirt was worn next to the
skin. The dresses and caps of various ranks were of different
materials, colours, etc. Fur garments were worn in winter.
The costume was completed by hairpins, girdles, stockings,
and shoes, which were sometimes embroidered. The women
wore trousers tied in at the ankles, covered by a long coat,
shoes, and a veil or coiffure of a greyish colour. Broad rain-
hats and rain-coats are also mentioned. Princes and other
court dignitaries wore ear-plugs or stoppers suspended
from a comb stuck in the hair, the idea being that they should
listen to no improper sounds.

Though varying in some respects, the general style of
clothing remained very much the same up to quite recent
times. The full costume of both sexes
was comm°dious and graceful. The fabrics
mostly used were silk, cotton, and grass-
cloth in summer, and furs and skins in winter, the principal
articles of dress being inner and outer cotton or silk tunics
of various lengths, with long and wide sleeves, and a pair of
loose trousers tied in at the ankles, with socks and shoes. The
latter were of silk or cotton, usually embroidered, for women's
wear, in red or other colours. The soles were of felt, sometimes
of paper with a rim of felt, with an under-surface of hide
In order to admit of ease in walking, the thick soles were
rounded up at the fore ends, which caused the toes to be
somewhat constricted. Hats of appropriate kinds were worn
in winter and summer, the ordinary one being somewhat
like a black skull-cap with a red knob on the top. The winter
cap was turned up with a brim of black velvet or fur ; the
summer one being a cone of finely-woven filaments of bam
boo. The pigtail or queue came from under the hat and
hung down the back outside the tunic. Flannel underwear
came into use with the richer classes, but in most cases

Products 283

numerous cotton undergarments were worn to obtain a
sufficient amount of warmth. Gentlemen and officers always
wore a long robe with the skirt slit at the sides, yet con
cealing the under-apparel. Women's clothing was similar,
but more ornamented, and the coat was longer. They wore
no hats and always made their own shoes. The outlines of
the figure were not discernible in either sex. The Chinese
regarded short and tight clothes as a sign of poverty, and as
appertaining to the coolie class or to the " outer barbarians."
Had the British, when they first landed in China, arrived
in long garments, diplomatic intercourse would probably
have been greatly facilitated, the attitude of the people
more respectful, and the whole history of foreign intercourse
different from what it has been.

The costume of Western countries has, within the last

few years, been largely adopted by the men, and to a less

Mist ken extent also by the women, in place of their

Adoption of own artistic dress. The queue has disappeared
Western wjth the Manchu rule which had imposed
ne' it, the hair being now worn short all over
the head as in the West. But though there can be no objec
tion to this abolition of a badge of servitude, both utilitari
anism and art are offended by the substitution for the graceful
Chinese dress of the inappropriate Western style of clothing.
Several years ago I wrote a paper entitled " An Unmentionable
Reform," in which I urged that the Chinese costume had
grown up as a product of its environment, and had not
been made different from that of other nations out of sheer
obstinacy — had in fact existed long before those costumes
were thought of. I showed that in most respects it was the
healthiest form of clothing for the climate of China, covering
most of the parts which should be covered, though in the
cold weather advantage would be gained by substituting
fewer woollen garments for the numerous cotton ones piled
on in order to secure warmth. The general adoption of the
foreign style of clothing is as much a mistake as the growing

284 China of the Chinese

adoption of the red-brick house. It is another instance of
the evils of blind imitation.

IMPLEMENTS

I have no intention of enumerating, much less describing,

in this and the following sections, all the implements and

weapons used by the Chinese from the earliest

Furriture? timeS to the Present daY- I have done that
elsewhere. But some classes must be briefly

referred to because they are complementary to subjects
dealt with in previous chapters. The articles of furniture in
a Chinese house differed in some respects in the Classical
Period from those used later on. The early Chinese had
neither tables nor chairs in ordinary use. The place of the
former was taken by mats spread on the ground, and around
these they sat or squatted, sometimes on smaller mats.
Low tables, four to six inches high, were provided as a mark
of respect. They slept on couches or stands raised from the
ground. Chairs were first used in the Han dynasty, and have
been connected with the introduction of Buddhism. Tables,
benches, and stools of various kinds are also mentioned in
the literature of that time. The sofa was admittedly imitated
from the " northern foreigner." Soon after this, the chi,
stool, was distinct from the an, low table or bench. Bed-mats,
mattresses, quilts, and pillows are also seen in use at an early
period, but the pillow was totally different from that of the
West, being a small, rigid, hollow case, of bamboo or rattan,
often painted red and artistically decorated. In the Manchu
Period we find that the principal articles of furniture were
square wooden tables about three feet high, straight -backed
wooden chairs affording little comfort, either bare or with
thin cushions on the seat, couches (often large) or the k'ang,
cuspidors, and often floor-matting. The best furniture was
made of heavy wood, stained the colour of ebony. Mattresses
and feather-beds were not used ; and the pillow remained the

Products 285

same as before. The houses of the poor were but sparsely
furnished, and even in those of the rich the furniture did not
produce an air of comfort.

Food, in the Later Feudal Period, was taken out of bowls

by means of chopsticks — the equivalent of the knife and

fork of Western countries, though the Chinese

Implements na<^ tnese a^so» as we^ as spoons. Though
mentioned in earlier times, it is uncertain
if chopsticks were then in general use. They served to convey
the rice, cabbage, etc., to the mouth, meat, if any, having
been cut with a knife into small pieces before being put into
the bowl. A passage in a native work seems to indicate
that the fingers were at first used in eating. Chopsticks are,
after all, merely elongated fingers !

In the days of Confucius, and for several centuries after
wards, palm-leaves, reeds, and pieces of smoothed bamboo
were the materials on which writing was
Implements done, tne characters being either painted
on with some kind of reed or small brush,
or scratched in with a sharp stick or style, called a " writing
knife," later on made of metal. These slips of bamboo
were gradually superseded by a silk texture, silk and cloth
being employed, and hair pencils made for writing, about the
third century B.C. Ink and the inkstone are also mentioned,
the former being made of soot or brick-dust. Under the
" First Emperor," the important invention of the camel's-
hair brush for writing on silk was made by a general named
Meng T'ien. Cotton paper may have been brought from
India, but soon after the beginning of the Monarchical Period,
according to the native histories, it occurred to Ts'ai Lun,
otherwise Ts'ai Ching-chung, then magistrate of Shang Fang,
afterwards a marquis, to manufacture paper from the " inner
bark of trees, hemp-root, old rags, and fishing nets." From
that time on, paper, the writing-brush, ink (now resembling
sticks of India ink), and the ink-slab on which the ink was
rubbed with admixture of a little water, have been regarded

286 China of the Chinese

by the Chinese (as already noted in a previous chapter) as
their " Four Treasures," or " Four Precious Things," of the
writing table.

WEAPONS

The chief offensive and defensive weapons in the Feudal
Periods were the bow and arrow, sword, battle-axe, spears

of varying lengths and number of points,
Weapons shields, and leather cuirasses. In the Chou

period there were also fire-archery, the
" flame-elephants," and " fire-oxen," referred to in describing
the military system, and engines for hurling stones by means
of machinery. The latter propelled a weight of twelve
catties 400 yards. The Roman battering-ram had its counter
part in a huge beam slung from a massive framework moving
on low wooden wheels, but the ballistae (of which fifteen
varieties are depicted in the native literature), worked by
a large number of men and discharging heavy projectiles
to considerable distances, seem to have been more in favour
as an offensive weapon. Besieging-towers and scaling-ladders
were also brought into use. War-chariots gave great advan
tage against an enemy fighting on foot. War-junks are referred
to, some with fighting-turrets and bridges. In defence,
shields, painted with representations of ferocious animals,
and helmets worn by the princes and regular troops, afforded
protection. Mouth-gags prevented the warriors from letting
slip any sounds which might be a clue to the enemy. Armour
was mostly of rhinoceros-hide or wild-ox skin, and the
cuirass now wholly or partly of metal. We read also of
bucklers and horse-armour, mantlets of wood or leather
hung over city walls as a protection against the battering-
rams, and grappling-irons and " wolf-tooth strikers " for
harassing the stormers.

One of the errors most frequently passed from mouth to
mouth regarding the - Chinese is that they " invented

Products 287

gunpowder." The truth is, the Chinese records state that
" gunpowder came from the outer barbarians," and that the
explosives previously used in Chinese warfare were not gun
powder but "thunderbolt projectiles" made of paper filled with

lime and sulphur. When these fell into
Gunpowder, the water, fire burst from them, diffusing

a dense vapour, which blinded both
men and horses, " thus causing defeat to the enemy." " Fiery
oil " and similar compositions were also used ; but the existing
evidence regarding gunpowder in China points to a partial
knowledge of it derived from foreign sources in the sixth
century A.D. ; the throwing of inflammable projectiles,
of which the name was the same as that given to modern
cannon, having led to the misconception regarding its early
use. There is no evidence to show that gunpowder was used
in warfare before the middle of the twelfth century, nor
even then with any propulsive effects ; a knowledge of these
effects coming to China only in the reign of the Emperor
Yung Lo (1403-25).

During the greater part of the Manchu Period, the weapons
remained for the most part of a comparatively primitive
Weapons type : bows and arrows, matchlocks, swords,
in Modern and cannon of antique pattern. The match-
Times. jocj, was Q£ wrought iron, with plain bore
and a long barrel, sometimes rested on a stock. The match
was a cord of hemp or coir. The gingal was a kind of swivel,
six to fourteen feet long, resting on a tripod. For purposes
of defence, they had cuirasses of quilted and doubled cotton
cloth, covered with iron plates or brass knobs connected by
copper bands, helmets of iron or polished steel, sometimes
inlaid, with neck and ear lappets, and shields of archaic
pattern. During the last fifty years the more efficient weapons
of Western countries have been gradually introduced, and
have supplanted all the older kinds. The weapons, uniforms,
drill, manoeuvres, fortifications, warships, aeroplanes, etc.,
of the Chinese are now those of the West, not of the East.

288 China of the Chinese

AESTHETIC PRODUCTS

The simple dwellings of the early Chinese settlers, even

those of the Great Yao and the other patriarchal chieftains,

hardly warrant the application of the term

Architecture, architecture to their construction, but, when
we meet with buildings to the construction
of which that term may conscientiously be applied, we notice
at once that there is no essential distinction between sacred
and secular buildings. The temple or palace showed richness
and dignity. The principal building imitated the form of
heaven and earth in the circular roof and square base. The
position of buildings indicated astrological influence. Generally
the architecture was plain, geometrical, and practically
useful, a large number of gates and pillars adding dignity.
After the establishment of the monarchy, political rivalry
led to rivalry in building, and many beautiful palaces arose,
surrounded by pleasure gardens, the romantic element
showing conspicuously in the architecture. In the palaces,
galleries of roofs were supported by caryatides, the roofs
of the audience-chambers rested on round pillars with straight
simple mouldings at the top. Round wooden pillars stood
on round stone bases. The roof is described as straight and
tiled, the angularity of the ends of the upper roof-line being
removed by large bricks deflected upwards and outwards
to a point. On this roof-line were sculptured peacocks,
monkeys, winged men, and birds. The first pagoda, as
already noted, was erected in A.D. 249-50. They were often
built without wood, and from this time onwards are found
in increasing numbers. The pagoda evidently represents
a series of circular or octagonal houses piled one on the top
of the other. In the Sung dynasty, the idealism of Buddhist
architecture commended itself to the native mind, and it
was more extensively imitated at this than at other times.
Political toleration favoured the mixing of styles, Hindu,
Moslem, and new European architecture being seen in the
sacred buildings of each religion. Under the Mings, Chinese

Products 289

art rose to its greatest height, and many fine specimens,
of which one of the chief characteristics is substantiality,
were produced. This is seen conspicuously in the tombs
of the Ming emperors and the Temples of Heaven and Earth
at Peking. The Manchus failed to maintain the same high
level of excellence; the general type was undeveloped and
strongly influenced by superstition. In large buildings, the
effect was one of dignity, richness, and grandeur, but with
small excellence in the parts, and colour seemed to be regarded
as more essential than form ; which principle, however
pleasing in the lower grades of art, was in the higher not
completely satisfactory, since the highest power of expression
belongs to form and not to colour. Nevertheless, the
architecture was pleasing, because truthful.

Sculpture has never reached a high stage of evolution
in China. It retained in large measure the primitive form
of elaborated representations of the original
Sculpture. effigy placed on the graves of the dead.
Temples contained statues of great size
and coloured, showing the image in many cases still attached
to a background, a characteristic of earlier stages. Avenues
of colossal monoliths placed as guardians in front of imperial
and other tombs further indicated the relation of sculpture
to the dead. Under Western influence in early monarchical
times, mythological and historical scenes were represented
on engraved marble slabs, but down to the most modern times
statuary was chiefly confined to moulding clay idols, or carving
animals for balustrades, temples, tombs, gate-sentinels, etc.
Purely human statues were even now seldom separated
from the background.

Painting, at first practically confined to the portraiture
of the ancient sovereigns and the colouring of sacrificial
robes, thus betraying its sacred origin, after passing through a
phase when it occupied itself mainly with grotesque scenes and
monstrous shapes, reached its highest excellence in the
T'ang dynasty. It then showed greater freedom of conception

19— (2383)

290 China of the Chinese

and less minute mechanical formalism. Of the two schools
into which painting was divided, the northern and southern,

the latter was less trammelled by the
Painting. canons of art to which the northern school

rigidly adhered. Painters now, as before
and after, were poets and musicians as well. Attempts were
made to direct the artists to Nature as their mistress and
model. The following period, the Sung, found the religious
school of art sinking in sympathy with the disfavour shown
towards Buddhism, and its 800 prominent painters did
not leave so great an impress on Chinese art as the 300 of
the T'ang epoch. There was a partial revival under the
Mongols and Ming, but in the subsequent period a decadence,
originating some centuries earlier, became marked, and
Chinese art has never recovered from its effects. This de
cadence was due to a servile imitation of some celebrated
master painters instead of a " faithful communion with Nature
herself." At the present day we find few great names, and
painting is still in a crude state, lacking blending and per
spective. Linear and landscape drawing are primitive,
and portraits expressionless.

Poetry, like other aesthetic products, had a sacred origin,
The oldest Chinese literature is in verse, and verse, by analysis

of the ideogram representing it, was "the
Poetry. speech of the temple." And it was in verse

that traditions were handed down before
the age of writing. This primitive poetry was not devoid
of measure and rhyme, but both lacked regularity, the lines
being occasionally of all lengths and the rhyme subject to
little rule, though these defects may be partly the result
of a change in pronunciation. Generally it was simple in
style, and the burden often melancholy. The classical
poetry, artless and childish, was the poetry of nature, re
flecting a peaceful life in folk-songs, simple in diction and
showing much sentiment. These reflected the spirit of the
pre-Confucian period ; the age of Confucius produced no

Products 291

poetry brilliant enough to be preserved, and so enthroned
prosaic literature that poetry hardly dared to show its head
for nearly three centuries. The usual measure was the line
of four words. Though the Confucian and following ages
of prosaic thought were almost barren in this respect, much
poetry, dealing with human feelings, duties and aspirations,
was written after 312 B.C. This was the period of Art in
poetry and it takes its rise with Ch'ii Yuan and his school.
Ch'ii Yuan was the ill-used Minister already referred to,
who wrote the famous Li Sao, " Falling into Trouble,"
describing the hopelessness of the search for the ideal, before
drowning himself in the Mi Lo River. These poets devoted
more time and effort to the composition of their poems :
"there is a sustained attempt to complete an elaborate
picture." The mythology and supernaturalism of the post-
Confucian age were a powerful factor in the creation of this
class, out of which grew the later schools characterized
respectively by emotional and moral traits, chivaky and
epicureanism, lamenting the shortness and suffering of life,
and exhorting men to drown all thoughts of them in the
" flowing bowl." But poetry, like painting, reached its
apogee in the T'ang dynasty. This was for poetry also the
age of genius. Its poets combined Taoism and Confucianism,
with a mixture of Buddhism, in a newly created poetry,
lyrical in kind and remarkable for its scepticism, which it
is said raised literary art in China to a higher level than it
had ever attained. Sentiment occupied in it a larger place
than description, its salient characteristics being rapidity
of transition, depth of feeling, exactness of metre and rhyme,
and boldness of thought, combined with much artistic beauty
in a small space. Since that time the poetic genius has
been stagnant and the muse mute. The poetry of after ages,
like the painting, has been largely imitation. Perhaps in
the domain of human thought, as sometimes in nature,
large mountains imply deep valleys.

Literature may be said to begin with the Classics. It

292 China of the Chinese

consisted of collections of poetry, early history, treatises
on philosophy, constitutional matters, rites and ceremonies,
principles of government, the psychological
Literature. sources of human conduct, and the prin
ciples of filial piety. Their style was terse.
The principal other works of the Feudal Period dealt with
the art of war, the correct use of terms, Taoism, the nature
of man, etc. After the fires lit by the " First Emperor "
had died down, literature sprang out of the ashes with re
newed vigour. The classical works were recovered or re
written from memory. The new writings of the period were
of a varied character : masterly memorials on military
operations and the value of agriculture, treatises on govern
ment, ethics, philology, acupuncture, music, restorations of
classical texts and commentaries on the Confucian classics,
esoteric and exoteric speculations, biographies, etc., but the
common lodestar was Confucianism. The art of writing history
may be said to have begun with Ssu-ma Ch'ien's Historical
Record — the first history on a general and comprehensive
plan — forming the model for subsequent works. This is a
history of China from the earliest times to about 100 B.C.,
in 130 chapters, containing 526,500 words. Much attention
was also given to lexicography, and writings of the kind called
" Individual Collections," containing the original productions
of single authors, made their appearance. Besides this
native literature, many Buddhist books were brought from
India and translated.

In the period which witnessed the highest flights of painting

and poetry, literary activity was stimulated by the invention

Effect of °^ Prmting. The classical and general litera-

Invention of ture continued the tradition of the Hans.
Printing. Marvels, histories, satire, classical and Taoist
texts, and divination, formed the subjects of numerous
treatises, but the greatest advance of the period, which
also witnessed the birth of popular literature, was made
in lexicography. In the Sung time, the first encyclopaedia

Products 293

was issued, and since then numerous gigantic works of that
class have made their appearance, one of the Ming Emperor
Yung Lo's reign being probably the most voluminous book
ever compiled. Its title was Yung Lo Ta Tien. It was in
22,877 books, the table of contents occupying sixty books
more, the whole containing about 500,000 pages. The edition,
however, was limited to three copies, for, owing to its size,
it never got beyond the manuscript stage. None of these
copies is now in existence. Another, the T'u Shu Chi Ch'eng,
a work of the more recent reign of K'ang Hsi, is in 1,628
volumes of 200 pages each, and profusely illustrated. In
the Mongol Period, besides the usual voluminous contri
butions to classical literature, there appeared a minute work
known as the San tzu ching, or " Three-Character Classic,"
a school primer containing a summary of the principal events
in Chinese history in 560 words arranged in rhyming lines
of three words each, which continued to be the educational
text-book for more than 600 years. Novels and historical
romances, as distinct from fables and short stories, now
began to be written. These were produced also in large num
bers under the Ming dynasty, when works of a comprehensive
nature, including histories and cyclopaedias, continued
to be compiled. The Ming literature, copious and correct,
was less original and varied than that of the Sung period.
Scientific works were issued under Jesuit guidance. During
the Manchu regime, the books produced treated chiefly of
history, topography, poetry, classics, philosophy, and the
literature, as before, was pure, though popular fiction was
wanting in tone and crude in execution.

In the Feudal times, there was no drama proper, but there
were theatrical representations connected with religious

observances designed to drive away evil
Drama. spirits. They consisted of processions of

masquers, fierce in appearance, accompanied
by strains of weird music. The drama is first seen as poetry
set to music, its basis being sketches of songs, between which

294 China of the Chinese

the story of a play is introduced. The poets vied in pro
ducing pieces which would stir the feelings of the audience.
With the rise of the great T'ang dynasty we note the origin
of the drama proper as distinguished from the pantomime
of previous ages. There is some reason to believe that it may
have been borrowed from India or Persia. Its history in
China is divisible into epochs coinciding with the T'ang,
Sung, and Yiian dynasties. In the plays the actors described
themselves, the unities were disregarded, and the licence
as to time and space was greatly exceeded. The plays were
interspersed with poetic stanzas. Increasing in productive
power during the Sung dynasty, the drama, though it never
reached a high standard, attained its highest level under the
Mongol regime, when it was cultivated by literary people
of both sexes to the exclusion of other departments of
literature. Its tone was sound ; its tendency on the side of
justice and morality. The subjects treated were chiefly
of a historical or domestic character, with a fair proportion
drawn from mythology and fable. The manners of the age
were vividly depicted. Scenery was absent, the prologue
in dialogue, often intermingled with verse. Dramas were
usually divided into four or five acts irrespective of the
incidents of the play. With the return of the Chinese to
power after the close of the Mongol epoch, the drama lacked
intelligence and became obscene, and never recovered its
former high tone, though it still retained a faint trace of its
primitive sacred character, theatrical performances being
generally given as an expression of thanksgiving, e.g., for a good
harvest, or seasonable rain. At the present day, though degener
ated, the plays, simple, direct, realistic, and wanting in incident,
individuality, and imagination, have still an ethical purpose.
A good description of a Chinese play is given by Mr. William
Stanton in his book on The Chinese Drama. The contents
of the green-room give an idea of the costumes worn —

" In this room, on tables, are various coloured pigments and pencils
which the actors, while standing in front of small mirrors, use to make

Products 295

up such beautiful or horrid faces as their parts require. Around the
walls or suspended from hooks are masks, false beards of various
colours, false wigs, and false ladies' coiffures [worn by men, there
being no women actors]; strange caps and helmets, such as have been
worn at various periods during the last three thousand years; high
thick-soled boots and shoes, to increase the stature of their wearers;
swords, spears, tridents, maces, bows and arrows, and other old-
fashioned implements of war; fly-nap-like magic wands for the use of
fairies and other supernatural beings; patched and ragged clothes for
the poor and mean, and, in large boxes, sumptuous and beautifully
embroidered robes of state for the rich and honoured, such as real
princes might be proud to wear. . . . Since the acting of historical
dramas relating to events that have occurred during the Manchu rule
is forbidden in China, the magnificent court dresses are in the style
of previous dynasties.

" The opening performance of a company begins with the Pa Hsien
Ho Shon, the congratulations of the Eight Immortals. In this, actors
representing the Eight Immortals, or Genii as they are sometimes
called, chant their congratulations and invoke blessings on the audience.
After their exit a man representing Kuo Tzii-i enters and performs
what is called Tiao Chia Kuan, or the dance for official promotion.
In this the actor goes through a saltatory performance with a mask
on, to express his wish that the officials may have such good fortune
as to enjoy such wealth, long life, and honours, as did the great minister
he is supposed to personify. This Kuo Tzu-i was one of the most
renowned generals China has ever known, and he served with distinction
four successive emperors of the T'ang dynasty. ... If a high official
enters in the midst of a performance, the play is suspended while the
Tiao Chia Kuan is danced.

" On the exit of the last-named, an actor representing Tung Yung
enters, and to him another representing the Immortal Lady, or, as
she is styled, Celestial Lady, who presents him with their son. This
is founded on the legend that a fairy lady inhabiting one of the stars
in the Pleiades, in order to show her appreciation of Tung Yung's
filial conduct, at the time of his father's death, visited him nightly
under a large tree, and, her visits resulting in the birth of a son, she
brought him down and left him with her mortal lover. Tung Yung
subsequently attained a high rank in the empire. This scene is to
stimulate youths to filial conduct, and, although they may not hope
for sons to be brought to them from the sky, they may aspire after
the high official rank that every Chinaman so greatly desires.

" When the stage is again clear, eight Tiao Tien Chiang, or Dancing
Celestial Generals, enter, and caper around setting fire to crackers
and burning an incense that causes a dense yellow smoke. The idea
is that the smoke forms clouds to obscure the stage from the eyes of
the gods, so that they may not see and be offended at the presumption
of mortals in personating them and imitating their acts, and even
performing deeds they themselves might not think of.

" After the Dancing Generals have formed their cloudy screen and
left the stage, the more serious business commences with the Lin Kno

296 China of the Chinese

F&ng Hsiang, the Six States appointing a Prime Minister. The play
represents occurrences of three centuries before Christ. ... In those
days, although the supreme rule was nominally in the hands of the
Chou King, it was really usurped by princes of feudal states, who
contended amongst themselves for supremacy. Amongst the various
states, the Ch'in was most active in grasping after that universal
dominion which a century later it acquired, under the powerful but
execrated Prince Cheng, the First Emperor.

" At the period the drama treats of, the renowned statesman Su
Ch'in displayed great activity in going from one principality to another,
with the object of forming an alliance against Ch'in, the state to which
he had first offered his services. He finally succeeded in his aims,
and the princes and great ministers of the six confederated states met
and appointed him their Prime Minister. The alliance did not prove
a lasting one, however, and the great minister eventually fell by the
hands of assassins. After his death each of the six states claimed his
body, and, as they could not all obtain possession of it in its entirety,
it was divided amongst them.

" Most of this piece is chanted by several voices in unison, like a
glee or chorus. It affords scope for a splendid display of dresses, and,
therefore, from a spectacular point, ranks first among their plays.

" At its conclusion the proper order of procedure is to sing three
selected short Pekingese operatic pieces, which are followed by tumbling.
Then the less routine business proceeds with a selected historical
drama, followed by a farce, which ends the day performance [which
has lasted from lla.m. perhaps to llp.m.]. The night commences
with a domestic drama, or a continuation of the day piece, and is
concluded with a farce. This carries them on to six or seven o'clock
the next morning."

Dancing in the early times, as later, was represented
by a kind of solemn posturing or step-dancing, forming part

of the religious worship. Divided into " civil "
Dancing. and " military," the dances were executed

to the sound of music, the dancers holding a
feather in the right hand, and a flute in the left. This remained
the only kind of dancing up to modern times, with the excep
tion of some private dances associated with convivial occasions,
though some pantomimic dances and acrobatic performances,
in which the dancers dressed in the skins of wild animals
transformed themselves rapidly from one animal shape to
another, danced upon upturned naked swords, and walked
on tight-ropes, were introduced by Indian gymnasts in the
sixth century A.D.

Products 297

Music was cultivated as a special study based on the
system of twelve notes separated by hemitones, i.e., the
twelve lu or pitch-pipes. It was intimately
Music. connected with the religion and constitution
of the State, though probably, like that of
later times, wanting in variety and completeness. The chief
instruments were the reed-organ, flute, lyre, pipes, drums,
wooden tapper, sonorous lion, earthen egg-pipe or ocarina,
bell, sonorous stone, twenty-five-stringed lyre, etc. Their
compass did not extend beyond one octave, and they were
tuned by ear. After going through several phases and acquiring
some new instruments, music, in the T'ang dynasty, divided
into sacred and secular, was stimulated by the drama, and
ballad music came into use. Modern Chinese music dates
from this time. The imperfection of notation for instrumental
purposes necessitated the invention of a new notation for
every kind of instrument. The time-marks probably came
in with the kung-ch'ih or sol-fa system introduced in the Sung
dynasty. Harmony continued to be rudimentary, consisting
merely in the simultaneous use of the eight kinds of instru
ments which sounded well together. The melody only was
written. To the present day, music has made little, if any,
progress, and remains in a comparatively primitive condition.
The aesthetic product which, at least in its ordinary English
form, takes its name from China, whereof the various types
have been noticed under the heading of Arts,
Porcelain. is a pleasing example of sustained indepen
dent talent, and one in which China preceded
the West by 2,000 years. If aesthetic products are for the
exaltation of life, China, through the marvellous beauty
of her porcelain must have contributed very largely to the
happiness of humanity. In form and painted decoration,
these products exhibit an endless variety. The favourite
subjects are the mythical dragon, the mythical unicorn,
or ch'i tin (kylin), the spotted deer, and domestic fowls and
other birds. The earliest existing form of porcelain, as

298 China of the Chinese

distinguished from pottery, is the soft sea-green glazed ware
of the Sung period known as celadon, now extremely rare.
A peculiarly oriental type is the crackle ware, in which the
glaze appears to be separating from the body. In the period
when porcelain reached its highest excellence under the
Emperors K'ang Hsi and Ch'ien Lung, the ruby-glazed ware
(sang-de-bceuf] and famille rose decorations appeared, and
have not their equal out of China, and in China only in the
exquisite blue and white, most prized of all, and rivalling
in beauty her own most beautiful skies.

NOTE TO PAGE 278

The origin of the curve in the roof is easily explicable, apart from
any foreign influence. When the primitive Chinese left their caves
and began to live in huts they used branches of trees to make the
roofs. These branches, running from the ridge pole to the eaves,
even with the clay or other material employed to make them steady
and less likely to be carried away by strong winds, would sooner or
later sag in the middle, thus producing the curve, which some
authorities say has always existed in Chinese architecture. This
curve would be reproduced later on in the tiled roof, partly for artistic
effect and partly because of the superstition that water is another
form of money, and that if it flows away quickly the owner's money
will be spent quickly. The ribbed roofs, which also have the curve,
seem to be best explained as being an imitation of the split hollow
bamboos turned alternately upward and downward so as to prevent
the rain from getting through the crevices.

INDEX

ABACUS, 255

Abdication edict of the Manchu
dynasty, 26

Aborigines, 6, 10

Absolute monarchy, establish
ment of, 15

Accessories of warfare, 169, 172-3,
174-5

Address, forms of, 82

Administrative institutions, 110;
under Yao and his successors,
111 et seq ; under the Chous,
113; under the Hans, 124; at
end of Monarchical Period, 126;
under the Manchus, 130; under
the Republic, 136

Adoption, 52; effects of, 53;
object of, 53

Aesthetic products, 288-98; archi
tecture, 288-9; drama, 293-6;
literature, 292-3; music, 297;
painting, 289-90; poetry, 290-1 ;
porcelain, 297-8; sculpture, 289

sentiments, 217-21, cleanli
ness, want of, 219; female
beauty, ideas of, 219; flowers,
love of, 217, 218; fostered by
Buddhism, 220; music, 217;
poetry, 218; stimulated by
literary ability as road to office,
220

Aestheticism in jeopardy, 220

Aggression, resistance to duty, 186

Agreements, written, in Feudal
Period, 149

Agriculturists, class of, 109

Alcohol, use of, 227-8, 291

" All Souls," festival of, 100

Arooy opened to trade, 24

Ancestor-worship, 91, 188, 233 et
seq. ; annual, 98; in Confucian
ism, 247; double, 52; in mar
riage ceremony, 49; meaning of,
231

Ancestral hall, the, 163

Animal, environment, 4; gods
246; worship, 242-6

Animals: men changing into, 243

Animism: later than ghost wor
ship, 231; not primordial, 241

Annalists or recorders, 117

Annam becomes vassal state, 17

" Anthropomorphic picture of
Deity," alleged, 235 et seq.

" Arch, The Great," 238

Archer, Hao I, a famous, 90

Architecture, 288

Army, cause of inefficiency of,
185; of Green Standard, 181;
new scheme of 1901, 182;
ranks of native, 181; size of,
in Feudal Period, 168; stand
ing, in Monarchical Period,
172; state of, in 1850, 184

Armies, huge, in Sui, T'ang, and

Sung dynasties, 176
| Arrogation, 53

Arsenals and dockyards, 184
, Artisans, class of, 109 [101

" Ascending Heights," festival of,
! Assemblies, provincial, 138

Astronomy, Board of, 111; in
Feudal Period, 254; in Mon
archical Period, 260

Automata, 103

Autumn festival, 90

BALLISTAE, to protect tombs, 71

Banishment, 141

Banners, the Eight, 179; the

Four, ibid.
Banquets, 106

Battle, preliminaries of, 166
Betrothal, 35; contract, 40;

effects, 40
Bigamy, 38

Birth, ceremonies at, 95
Boards: of Astronomy, 111; the

Four, 124; re-organization of

the, 131; the Six, 130

299

300

Index

Boat expeditions, 169

Boats: dragon, 88; as dwellings,
279

Bodily mutilations, 62-66; castra
tion, 63; flattening heads and
bending backs of infants, 62;
foot-binding, 63-5; " golden
lilies," 64; shaving the head, 65

Books, burning of the, 15

Boundaiies of China Proper, 1

Bow, formalities on presenting a,
80

" Boxers ": cruelties of, 226; out
break of, 25

Branding of soldiers, 177

" Breath," or ch'i, 232

Bride: arrival at bridegroom's
house, 49; fetching of the, 35;
preparations for marriage, 46;
"receiving the," 41; revisits
parents, 36, 51

Bridal: banquet, 50; chamber, 50

" Bright " spirits, or ming, 232

British embassy, 23

Buddhism: Chinese, 251-2; com
mandments, 199; Confucianism
prevails over, 203; entrance to
priesthood, 199-200; priests and
temples, 200; welcomed and
persecuted, 199

Building of the Great Wall, 16

Bureaucracies, injustice and cor
ruption of, 140

Burial, preparations for, 68

Burma, tributary to China, 23

Bussiere, Dr., 27

CABINET under the Republic, 138

Canal, Grand, 274

Cannibalism, instances of, 223

Canton opened to trade, 23

Capital: under the Manchus, 129;
movements of, 14, 17, 18, 22,
110; under the Republic, 137

" Capping," 96

Capture, marriage by, 33

Cards: in marriage ceremonies, 48;
playing, 104

" Cash-guessing," 103

Castration, 63

Catafalque, cock on, 73

Catafalques, 69, 75-6

Cavalry: in Feudal Period, 169;
in Sung Period, 178

Cemeteries, follow plan of village,
73

Censorate: under the Manchus,
132; origin of, 124

Central administration, scheme of,
111

Ceremonial: at birth, 95; under
the Chous, 77; in daily life, 78;
institutions, 62; under the Man
chus, 85; mixture of Chinese
and foreign at marriages, 43;
under the Mings, 85; under the
Mongols, 84; progress towards
emancipation, 86

Ceremonialist, 213

Chairs, 284

Changes, book of, 250-1

Character of the Chinese, 8, 221-9;
emotional, 7; intellectual, 8;
physical, 7

Chariots: four-wheeled, 178; in
warfare, 167-9, 173, 174, 176

Chemistry, 260

Chess, 92; elephant, ibid.

Ch'i, or " breath," 232

Chief of the Four Mountains, 111

Chieh Kuei, tyrant, 13, 142

Tzii-t'ui, minister of Ch'u

State, 87

Ch'in dynasty, 15, 16

Children and parents, relation of,

54

Children's games, 93, 105
China: area of, 1; arrival of the

Chinese in, 10; Japanese war

with, 25; limited extent of early,

10-11

Chinese Empire, expansion of, 1 1
Ch'ing dynasty, 23
Ch'ing Ming festival, 98
Chiu Ch'ing, the Nine Ministries,

123

Chopsticks, 285
Chou dynasty, 14

Hsin, 14, 142

Christianity in China, 204-5
Chronology, 259

Chu-ko Liang, 173-4

Index

301

Ch'u Yuan, 88, 89

Chuang Tzu, ethics of, 258

Ch'un Ch'iu period, 14

Chun, provinces, 124

Chung Yuan festival, 100

Ch'ungking opened to foreign
trade, 25

Church and the professions, 208

Class-distinctions, 129

Classes, the Four, 127

Classics: effect on people not
immediate, 222; moral cha
racter of, ibid.

Cleanliness, want of, 219

Climate, 3

" Climbing the red-hot pillar," 142

Cochin China becomes a vassal
state, 12, 17

Cock on catafalque, 73

Cock-fighting, 94, 103

Codes of law: the first, 147; Li
Kuei's, 148; Yung Lo's, 155

Codification disapproved in Feudal
Period, 147

Coffins, 68

" Cold-meat " festival, 87

College of Literature (Han-lin
Yuan], 131

Competitive examination, 125

Composition of Parliament, 138

" Compound," the, 278

Compound sovereignty, 187

Concubinage, 36, 39; advantages
of abolishing, 44

Confucianism, 187-8, 191, 246;
prevails over Buddhism, 203;
State religion, 247-8; what is,
230; and wu-ism, 197

Confucius: his arrangement of
crimes, 144; disapproves of
codification of laws, 147; and
lex talionis, 143; worship of,
207, 248

Continuator in devolution of pro
perty, 52

Corpse : not regarded as dead,
67 ; preserving the, ibid.

Corruption, administrative, 28

Cosmology, 250-1

Cost of Parliament, 139

Court language, 271

Couvade, 38

Cowherd and weaver-girl, legend

of, 99

Creation, Chinese ideas as to, 250
Cremation, 72
Crime, Minister of, 116
Crimes: classification of in later

Feudal Period, 223 ibid.. 144;

in Manchu Penal Code, 158
Cruelty of the Chinese, 225-6

DANCERS and musicians, 210

Dancing, 296

Dead, propitiation of the, 69

" Dead words," 270

Death: crimes punishable with,
144, 148, 151, 156, 158-9; pre
paration for, 66

Death-howl, the, 66, 69

Deeds and agreements, 149

Defeat of Russia by Japan, 26

Deity: alleged anthropomorphic
picture of, 235; incorrect
theories regarding, 235-9

Deliberative body, none under
the Manchus, 133

Development of written character,
267-70

Devolution of property, 51
! Dialects, 265

; Dice, 94, 104 [111

i Director: of Affairs, 124; of Music,

Disembodied spirits, worship of,
232-3

Dissolution of marriage, 37, 42;

effects of, 42
j Divination, 196, 246

Divisions: of the Eight Banners,
180; territorial under the Re
public, 137

Dockyards and arsenals, 184

Dog Jung tribes, 244

, story of descent from a,

244-5

" Dome, The Great," 238

Drag-hook, 103

Dragon Boat festival, 88-90

Drama, the, 293-6

Drink in primitive times, 280

after fourth century A.D.,

223, 227

302

Index

Dualistic theory of the universe,
232, 251

EATING: implements for, 285;
with others, formalities con
nected with, 71, 95

Effects of long garments, 283

Eight: Banners, 179; Diagrams,
251; Dispositions, 174

Election of Members of Parlia
ment, 138

Elephant chess, 92

Emigration, 128

Emperor: the First, 15; position
of, at end of Monarchical Period,
126; power of, in Monarchical
Period, 123

Empty words, 270

Encyclopaedias, 292-3

Engineers, sappers, etc., 183

Environment: animal, 4; inor
ganic, 1; organic, 4; socio
logical, 5; vegetable, 4

Equals, attitude towards, 81

Ethical philosophy, 256-8; Chuang
Tzu, 258; Confucius, 256-7;
Hsiin Tzii, 258; Hui Tzu 258;
Lien Tzu, 257; Mencius, 257;
Mo Tzu,257; Monarchical Period,
262; Yang Chu, 257

Etiquette, 78-80, 81-83; relaxed
under Republic, 86

Examination system for Govern
ment appointments, 125

Executive, size of, under the
Chous, 117

Exemptions, etc., in legal penal
ties, 145, 153

Exorcists, 189-90
Expansion of Chinese Empire, 11,
14, 16-18

" FALLING into Trouble," poem,

88

Family and society, 33
Fasting, 71

Female beauty, ideas of, 219
Festivals, 87-91, 97-162
Feudal States, increase of power

of, 14
Feudalism, 13, 109

Fighting: composition of forces in
Feudal Period, 167; method of,
in Feudal Period, 169; method
of, in Monarchical Period, 172-
84

Filial: laws, 51; piety, 101-4
Fines as punishments, 142, 146
First Emperor, 15; laws of,

150

Fishing, 94

Five dynasties, 20; military insti
tutions under the, 177; naval
engagements during the, ibid.
punishments, the, 141, 143,

152
Flogging, a punishment, 142, 152,

156

Flood, draining the great, 274
Flowers, love of, 217
" Flying tile," game, 104
Food, 280-2
Football, 93, 105
Foot-binding, 63-5, 219
Foreign: advertisements, inartistic

220; affairs, ministry of, 131
Forester, 111

Foochow opened to trade, 24
Formosa annexed to China, 23;

ceded to Japan, 25
Forms of address, 82-3
Four: Banners, 179; Boards, 124;

Precious Things, 218, 286
France annexes Tongking, 25;

seizes Kuangchou Wan, ibid. ;

war with, ibid.
Free medical treatment, 209
Funeral rites, 66-77
Furniture, household, 284

GAMES, 91-3, 103-5

General Regulator, 111, 112

Genghis Khan, 21

Gentry, the, 109, 128

Geography, 260-1

Geological features, 2-3

Germany seizes Kiaochou, 25

Ghost worship, 231

God: ambiguous use of term for,

235. See also Festivals, Gods,

Religious Ideas.
Goddess of the Moon, 102

Index

303

Gods: animal, 246; Confucian, 248;
Taoist, 249. See also Festivals,
Religious Ideas

" Golden lilies," 64

Government, general, 108-40

, local, 161-5

Government: appointments.exam-
ination system for, 125; func
tions, nature of, 126; principles
of, 118; provincial, 117, 132-4;
provisional, 137

Grammatical arrangement in
Chinese language, 270-1

Grand Canal, 274-5

Grave-mounds, 70

Great Britain: first war with, 24;
second war with, ibid. ; seizes
Weihaiwei, 25

" Great Thing, The One," 237-S

Great Wall, 275-6; building of the,
16

Greater China, 11

Greatest China, 12

Green Standard, Army of the, 181

Girls, education of, 96

Guardianship, 54

Gunpowder, 175, 178-9; not in
vented by the Chinese, 286-7

HABITATIONS, 276-9
Han-lin College, 131
Hangchow opened to foreign

trade, 25

Hao I, a famous archer, 90
Head, shaving the, 63, 65
" Heater," the, 142
Heaven: Temple of, 206, 240;

Tien and Shang Ti, 235-41;

worship of, 247-8
Hereditary governorships, 19
Historians, 213-14
History: in Monarchical Period,

262, 292; summary of political,

9-32

Home life, greater freedom in, 106
House : origin of Chinese, 276-8;

of Representatives, 138
Hsia dynasty, 13
Hsien, District Magistrate, 132-3
Hsun Tzu, ethical system of, 258
Hui Tzu, ethical system of, 258

Human sacrifices, 69, 71
Hun, or anima, 232
Hunting, 94

Husband and wife, relation be
tween, 36

Huts and caves, 276
Hybrid rites, 43, 76

ICHANG opened to foreign trade, 25

Ideas: of female beauty, 219;

knowledge, 253-63; religious,

230-52

Impediments to marriage, 39;

effects of, 40

Industry of the Chinese, 227
Inefficiency of army, causes of, 185
Infanticide, 54-60; extent of, 56-7;
more prevalent in some pro
vinces, 55, 56; probable solution
of the problem, 59
Inferiors, attitude towards, 81
Inheritance and succession, 51
Initiation into manhood, 96
Institution of Republic, 26
Instruments of punishment, 157
Intellectual characters, 8
Intercourse, laws of, 77—86; a

cause of rigidity, 81
Invention of printing, 292
Invokers, 189
Islamism, 203-4

JAPAN : and Formosa, 25; and

the Pescadores, ibid. ; war
with China, 26

Justice, administration of: under

the Chous, 120; under the

Manchus, 134; under the Re
public, 138

KIAOCHOU, seized by Germany, 25

Kingship, character of, 108

Kitchen God, Festival of, 102

Kite-flying, 93

Knowledge, 253-63

Kowtow, the, 24

Kuan hua. or Court language, 271-

2
Kuangchou Wan seized by

France, 25
Kuei, the, 231, 232

304

Index

LAKES, 2

Land forces, lu In, 181
Land works, 274-6; draining the
Great Flood, 274; Grand Canal,
274-5; Great Wall, 275-6
Language, 264-73; dialects, 265;
earliest phases, 264-5; future,
271-3; grammatical arrange
ment, 270; kuan hua, 271; mono
syllabic stage, 264; originally
polysyllabic, ibid. ; phonetic
system, 269; " radicals," 269-
70; sounds, 266-7; spoken, 265;
supposed origin of, 265; sym
bols, 267; tones, 266-8; want of
punctuation, 271; written, 266,
267-8; written character, devel
opment of, 269
Lanterns, feast of, 98
Lao Tzu, 249

Law: in ancient China, 140; Li
Kuei's code, 148; Presidential
Election, 160
Law-making and the Chinese

Parliament, 160-1
Laws 140-61; codification, 145-8,
155-60; crimes, 141, 144, 151,
158; exemptions, etc., 145, 153;
in later Feudal Period, 143-50;
filial, 51-54; of First Emperor,
150; under the Hans, 151, 152;
lu and h, 155; under the Man-
chus, 155, 159-60; martial, 34-
45; in Monarchical Period, 150;
the Nine, 151; primitive ideas of,
140 154: in Republican Period,
160; of Shea Tzu and Wei Yang,
149; the Three, 151
Leading States, 15
Legislation, 119, 151, 153
Levirate marriage, 39
Lex talionis, 143
Li, statutes, 155
Li Kuei's " Law Classic," 148
Li Sao, poem by Ch'u Yuan, 88
Li Yuan-hung, President of

Chinese Republic, 27
Lieh Tzu, 257

Life, " sanctity " of, in China, 22€
" Lighting the human lamp," 156
Likin, 135

Ling Ch'ih, 156

Literati, massacre of, 15; in

Monarchical Period, 123
Literature, 292-3; College of, 131
Living, propitiation of the, 77
" Living words," 270
Local government, 161-5
Loess formation, 2-3
Lu lu, or land forces, 181
Lu, the laws, 155
on punishments, 145-7

MA LUNG, military tactics of, 175

Magic lantern, 103

Magistrate, the hsien, 132

Manchuria, 11

Manchus: abdication, 26; adminis
trative institutions, 130; capital,
129; Censorate, 132; ceremonial,
85- Grand Council, 130; judicial
procedure. 134; laws, 153; Minis
try of Foreign Affairs, 131;
morality, 224; no deliberative
body, 133; number of officials,
136; penal code, 155-160; pro
vincial administration, 132; Six
Boards, 130, 131; slavery, 129;
subversion, 26; taxation and
revenue, 135; territorial divi
sions, 129

Manhood, initiation into, 9
Marco Polo and the Great Wall,

276; on Mongol court, 84-5
Marriage, 33-51, 114
Marionettes, 93
Massacre: of literati, 15; Tientsin,

25

Mathematics: in Feudal Period,
216, 255; in Monarchical Period,
258'

Mausolea, 70

Meals, 79, 95

" Meaning, Mothers of, 270

Medicine, 255

Mencius, ethics of, 257

Mercantile honour, 228

Merchants, class of, 109

Militancy and industrialism, Ib5-
86

Military institutions, 165 ; appli
ance!, 167, 169, 172-3, 174, 179

Index

305

Mincing, a punishment, 142

Ming, or " bright " spirits, 232

Ming dynasty, 22; ceremonial, 85

Minister of: Communications, 111;
Crime, 112-116, 119-21; Educa
tion, 114; Foreign Affairs, 131;
Religion, 111, 115; War, 116;
Works, 111, 116-17

Ministries, the Nine, 123

Minor dynasties, 17-18

Mo Tzu, ethics of, 257

Mohammedan rebellion, 24

Mohammedanism, 203-4. See
Islamism

Monad, Great (T'ai Yt), 251

Monarchy, attempt tore-institute,
27

Mongol: ceremonial, 84; militar
ism, 178; supremacy, 21

Mongolia: becomes part of Chinese
Empire, 11

Monosyllabic: Chinese language
not originally, 264; stage of
Chinese language, 265

Monotheism, Chinese religion not
a, 234 et seq.

Moon: feast, 90, 101; goddess of,
102

Moral sentiments, 221-9

Morphia, increased demand for,
228, 281

Morra, 103

Mourning, 70, 73

Music, 210-11, 217, 297

Musicians: and dancers, 210; at
funeral processions, 69, 74

Mutilations, 62 et seq., 141, 142,
149, 152

NATAL ceremonies, 95-6
Nature worship, 175, 241-2
Navies in Sui, 1 "ang, and Sung

dynasties, huge size of, 176
Navy, the Chinese, 183-4
New Year: festival, 87, 97; visits,

97
Nine: Laws, 151; Ministries, 123;

Pastors. 112, 124; Vases of Yii,

119

Ningpo, 24
Nobility in China, 109, 127-8

20— (2383)

Numbers of officials under the
Manchus, 136

OFFICERS or scholars, 109
Official hierarchy, 126, 127, 136
Opium smoking, 228, 280
Organic environment, 4-5
Overthrow of Mongol supremacy,

21
Ovum mundi, the, 251

Pa Kita, or Eight Diagrams, 115,
251

Pacifier, The Great, 123

" Pagoda theory," the, 278

Painting, 289-90

Pakhoi opened to foreign trade,
25

P'an Ku, the first man, 251

Pao chia, or ti pao, 162

Parents: and children, 54; consent
of, necessary to marriage. 34, 38

Parliament: the Chinese, and law-
making, 160; composition of,
138; cost of, 139; dissolved by
Yuan Shih-k'ai, 139; of 1916
not legally convened, 139; open
ing of first, 26, 138; re-assembly
of, 27. 139

" Passing of the big parade." 45

Pastors: the Nine, 112; the Twelve,
111

Patria potestas, 54

Patriarchalism, 108

" Patting butterflies," game of, 103

Penal code of the Manchus, 155

People, four classes of the, 109

Pescadores ceded to Japan, 25

Philosophers, 215, 256-8

Phonetic system, 269

Physical: characters, 7; features, 1

Physicians, 208-10

Picture of the Deity, alleged
anthropomorphic, 235 et seq.

" Pigtail," the, 63, 65

" Pitch Pot," game, 91

Planchette, 103

Play, description of a Chinese,
294—6

P'o. or umbra, 231-2

Poetry, 88, 211-2, 218, 290-1

306

Index

Political history, summary of, 9-

32
.summary of results,

28-9

institutions, 108-86

Polo, 104

Polyandry, 34, 39

Polygamy, originally punishable

with death, 148
Polysyllabic, Chinese language

originally, 264

Port Arthur leased to Russia, 25
Ports opened to foreign trade, 23,

24, 25

Post-mortem marriages, 35, 70
Precept and practice, 221
" Precious Things.The Four," 218,

286

Preliminaries of battle, 166
Pre-natal betrothals, 37-8
Preparation: for burial, 68; for

death, 66

Presents, 82; marriage, 34, 35, 41
Preserving the corpse, 67
President of Republic, 26, 136,

138; Li Yuan-hung, 27, 139;

provisional, 137; Sun Wen, 26,

138; Yuan Shih-k'ai, 26-7, 138
Presidential Election Law, 139,

160

Presidents or secretaries, 124
Priesthoods, 190; of ancestor-
worship, 191; origin of, 187;

why they have never dominated

China, 192; the wu, 189-91,

196-7
Priests, 188

.Buddhist, 199-200

, cremation of, 72

, Taoist, 198

Priest, every man his own, 188, 191
Prime Minister under the Chous,

113

Private specialists, 209
Procedure, legal, 150
Procession: funeral, 68, 73, 74;

marriage, 41, 47-8
Products, 274 el seq.
Professional institutions, 208-16;

ceremonialist, 213; historian,

213-14; musician and dancer,

210; philosopher, 215; physi
cian, 208-9; poet, 211-12

Professions and the Church, 208

" Prohibited smoke," festival, 87-
8

Promiscuity, 33

Property, devolution of, 51-2

Propitiation: of the dead, 69; of
the living, 77

Proportional representation, 138

Provinces: chiin, 124; comparative
independence of the, 133; eigh
teen, 129; fifteen, 129; twenty-
two, 137

Provincial administration: under
the Chous, 117; under the
Manchus, 132; under Yao, 112;
assemblies, 138

Provisional: constitution, 137;
government, 137-8; President
138

Public: affairs, women have no
part in, 128; spirit, want of, 228

Punishable offences, 141, 144, 145,
148, 151, 153, 158

Punishments: banishment, 141;
climbing red-hot pillar, 142;
cruel, of Chieh Kuei and Chou
Hsin, ibid. ; fines, 142, 146;
five, 141; flogging, 142, 152, 156;
greater leniency in, 146; under
the Hans, 152; instruments, 157;
in later Feudal Period, 143; ling
ch'ih, 156; in Manchu code, 156;
Marquis Lii on, 145-7; mincing,
142; mutilation, 142, 152; stom
ach-cutter, 156; vindictive
nature of, 141; whipping, 142

Putting the weight, 104

| QUAIL-FIGHTING, 105

] Queue, 63, 65

RACING: boat, 94; dog-, 94
Rebellions: "Boxer," 23, 226;

Mohammedan, 24, 204; T'aip-

'ing, 24, 125

Recalling the soul, 66-7
Recorders or annalists, 117

Index

307

Relations with Western nations

22-25
Relatives included in offender's

punishment, 142
Religious ideas, 230-52
Representatives, House of, 138
Republic, institution of, 26, 137;

reversion to, 27, 137; capital

and divisions, of, 137
Respect for written character,

218-19

Restoration of unity, 18
Revenge, sentiment of, 144, 223,

226

Revenue and taxation, 121-2, 135
Revolution of 1911, 26
Rigidity, ceremonial a cause of, 81
Rituals, the Three, 78
Rivers, 2
Roof of Chinese house: origin of,

276-8

Rules of the road, 79
Rural constable, or ti-pao, 162
Russia: Port Arthur leased to, 25;

treaty with, 23

SACRED places and observances,

194
Sacrifices: in Feudal Period, 195;

during funeral procession, 68,

76; greater, medium, and lesser

248; human, 69, 71
Salutes during funeral procession,

76
San Tzu Ching, Three Character

Classic, 293
Scholars, class of, 109
Science: adoption of Western, 260,

263; and superstition, 253; of

warfare, 170
Sculpture, 289
Seasonal sacrifices, 195
Seat of central government, move
ments of, 14, 16, 17, 18, 20, 22,

110

Secretaries or Presidents, 124
Senate, 138
Sentiments: aesthetic, 217-21;

moral. 221-9

Seven Stars, festival of the, 99
Shang dynasty, 13-14

Shang Shu, Secretaries or Presi
dents, 124

Shang Ti, Supreme Ruler, 235, 240
Shanghai, 24
Shashi, 25

Shaving the head, 63, 65
Shin, the, 232-3, 237

Chi Division, the, 179, 180

Shen Nung, founder and god of

agriculture, 87

Tzii and Wei Yang, severe

laws of, 149

Shepherd and weaver-girl, legend

of, 99

Shimonoseki, Treaty of, 25
Shui Shih, or Marines, 181
Shun, the patriarch, 13, 118
Shuttlecock, 93
Six: Boards, 124, 130, 131; Great

Ministries, 113
Skating, 105
Sobriety, 228, 281
Society and the family, 33
Sociological environment, 5-6
Soldiers, 167, 169, 172, 174, 176,

179-86; branding of, 62, 177;

in funeral procession, 74-5
" Son of Heaven," 240
Soochow opened to foreign trade,

25

Soul, the, 231-2; recalling, 66-7
" Sound, Mothers of," 270
Sounds in the Chinese language,

267-8

Southern Sung dynasty, 20
Sovereignty: hereditary, 13; com
pound, 187
Special troops, 182
" Spirit that clears the way," 69,

189

" Spirit-money," 76
Spirits, ardent, use of, 228, 280,

281

Spoken language, 265
Spring cultivating, 87
Ssu Ts'ao, Four Boards, 124
Ssuch'uan, subjection of, 20
Standing army, formation of a,

172
State: priesthood, 190; religion,

207, 247-8, 252

308

Index

Status of wife after marriage, 41-

2, 44
Stilts, 93

Stimulants, use of, 281
" Stomach-cutter," the, 156
Streets, 279
Succession: and inheritance, 51;

to throne, 108, 127
Sui dynasty, 18
Summer, opening of, 88
Sun \V^n (Sun Yat-sen), provi
sional President, 26, 138
Sung dynasty, 20; military system,

178
Superiors, attitude towards, 78,

81

Superstition and science, 253
Sappers, engineers, etc., 183
Sutteeism and semi-sutteeism, 69-

70

Swing, the, 102-3
Symbols in the Chinese language,

268

TA CHI, 14, 142

Ta Ch'ing Lit Li, 155

Ta Chun dynasty, 23

Tables, none in early times, 284

Tactics, military, in sixth century

B.C., 170; in Han dynasty, 173;

in Chin dynasty, 175; under

Five Dynasties, 177
T'aip'ing rebellion, 24, 125
T'ai Wei, Great Pacifier, 123

Yi, Great Monad, 251

T'ang dynasty, 19

T'ai Tsung, military system

of, 176

Taoism, 198; in Feudal Period,
246, 256; gods of, 249-50; and
Lao Tzii, ibid. ; as a religion,

, 46j-r5: and o>w-isni, 197

'Taxation, 121-2, 135

Tea; first use of, 280; privilege of
drinking, 84

Temperance, 223, 227, 281

Temple of Heaven, 206, 240, 248

Teng Kao, " Ascending Heights,"
festival 101

" Tent Theory " the, criticized,
276-7

Territorial divisions, 110; under

the Manchus, 129; under the

Republic, 137
Theatrical performances, 104,

293-6

Thieving, propensity for, 227
Three: Laws, 151; Rituals, 78;

Stock Law, 143, 152
Throne, succession to, 108, 127
Ti-pao, the, 162
Tibet; conquered by China, 11;

declares independence of China,

12; war with, 19
Tien : heaven, 235-41; incorrect

theories regarding, 236-8; real

origin of worship of, 238-40;

and Shang Ti, 240-1

• Tx&, " Son of Heaven," 240

Tientsin massacre, 25

Tobacco: increase in use of

foreign, 228, 281; smoking, 280
Tombs: articles placed in, 69, 71;

figures at, 72
Tones in the Chinese language,

266-7

Torture, 156, 157-8
Tongking annexed by France, 25
Trade, foreign, ports opened to,

24, 25

Training scheme, military, 182
Treaty: ports, 24. 25; with Russia.

25; of Shimonoseki, 25
Tribunals, early, 110
Tsao Shin, Kitchen God, 102
Tsungli Yamen, the, 130-1
Tun t'ien, military settlements, 173
Turreted chariots in warfare, 173,

174

Twelve Pastors, the, 111
Tyrants, Chieh Kuei and Chou

Hsin, 13-14, 142
Tzu Ch'an, codifier, 147

Umbra, or p'o, 231-2
" Unclassed," the, 129
Uncleanliness, 219-20
Unity, restoration of, 18 -
Unmanageable women, 34, 39

VAULTS, 68

Veil, in marriage ceremony, 49

Index

309

Vice, 224

Village: elder, 162; plan of, fol
lowed in laying out cemeteries,
73; temple, 163

Virtues, compensating, 223

Visits, 81; cards, 85; New Year, 97

WAI Chiao Pu, Ministry of

Foreign Affairs, 131
Wu Pu, Ministry of Foreign

Affairs, 131

Wall, the Great, 16, 275-6
Wang Mang, usurper, 17
War chariot, the, 167-9, 173

, Minister of, under the Chous,

116

Warring States, the, 15
Wars: with Corea, 18, 19; France,

24; Great Britain, 24; Japan
19, 22, 25; Tibet, 19
" Water-bed," the, 66, 67
Weapons, 169, 174, 178-9, 286-7
Weaver-girl and shepherd, legend

of, 99

Wedding, 35, 43. 45-51
Wei Yang and Shen Tzu, laws of,

149

Weihaiwei, 25
Wenchow, 25

" \Vhite Lily " Society, 23
"White Wolf," 244
Widows: honours to chaste, 43;

re-marriage of, 37, 42, 44
Wife: relation to husband, 36-7;

status of, 36-7, 40-41
Wills, 53
Wines and spirits, increase in

demand for foreign, 228, 281
Winter festival, 91
Women: cramped feet, 63-5, 219;

of loose character, 224; no part

in public affairs, 97, 128; posi
tion of, 36, 106, 224; unmar-
riageable, 34, 39

" Wooden rabbits," 103

Words: " dead," 270; " empty,"
ibid. ; " living," ibid.

Worship: of ancestors, 49, 91, 98,
163, 187-8, 194, 195, 205, 232-3,
247; animals, 245-6; Confucius,
191, 207; disembodied spirits,
232; Heaven, 247; Nature, 241-2

Works, Minister of, under the
Chous, 116

Writing implements, 285

Written: character, respect for,
218; development of character,
269; language, 266

Wuhu, 25

Wu, the, exorcists and sorcerers,
189-91, 196-7; their duties, 189;
an accessory priesthood, 192;
exterminated in S. China, 193;
assimilated to Taoism, 197

YANG Chu, ethics of, 257
Yao, the Great, 10, 12, 111
Yin and yang principles, 232,

251
Yu, the Great, 13, 108; drains the

Great Flood, 274; nine vases of,

119
Yuan dynasty, 21

Shih-k'ai, President of the

Chinese Republic, 26, 138; at
tempts to re-introduce mon
archy, 27; cancels edict re-intro
ducing monarchy, 27; death of,
27

Yung, or " braves," 181

Yung Lo, encyclopaedia of, 293;
legal code of, 155

Prfss of Isaac Pitman &• Sons, Bath, England
(2383)

DATE DUE

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