CONTENT OF CHINESE EDUCATION 41 



enforcing the Li Chi. Its other principal duty is to manage the work- 

 ings of the examination system. 2 



The fifth classic, Chun Chiu, or ' Spring and Autumn Annals/ is 

 generally ascribed to Confucius himself, though not surely. It is a 

 very brief record of the chief events between 722 and 484 B.C. in Lu, 

 the native state of the sage. It seems to have been intended as a con- 

 tinuation of the ' Book of History/ but critics have shown that it is 

 not only biased and unjust to the facts, but wilfully misleads. With 

 it as it now exists there is associated the amplifying and vivifying 

 commentary of Tso, a follower of Confucius, and without this, these 

 annals, in spite of the fame of their reputed author, would not have 

 merited and might not have received the attention that Chinese scholars 

 have accorded them. 



With these nine books the Chinese student saturates his mind in 

 preparation for the examinations, and from them derives his training 

 in sociology, ethics, political and other maxims, cosmogony, history, 

 and historical romancing, poetry, and, by no means least, in manners. 

 As Mr. R. E. Lewis has expressed it : " Though the curriculum is 

 largely religious in its control, yet it provides practically no teaching 

 of Theism. Though it is the permanent support of absolutism, yet it 

 guarantees large liberties to the populace." 



The classics which have been noted are by no means the whole of 

 Chinese literature with which the aspirant for literary honors must be 

 familiar. In order that his interpretation may be accurate as well 

 as orthodox, he must consult some 1,120 commentaries on the i Five 

 Classics ' and 170 on the ' Four Books.' For the scholar who has 

 secured his first and second degrees there is the vast literature, over 

 3,000 volumes, of poetry, drama, romance and encyclopedic works cov- 

 ering with fluctuations in volume the stretch from 200 B.C. to the 

 present time, though of course the later works are at a discount as 

 compared with the more ancient. Professor Giles, of Cambridge Uni- 

 versity, has given an excellent review in his recent ' Chinese Literature/ 

 as has also Dr. Martin in his ' Lore of Cathay.' 



- Both the examination system and the Board of Rites were abolished by 

 imperial edicts of September and October, 1905. 



