314 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. X. 



Nothing can be more erroneous than to picture the Chinese as grossly 

 material or rationalistic people given only to worldly cares and affairs, 

 as has been so often done. The grave and the life hereafter always 

 stood in the centre of their thoughts and actions. The ancestors and 

 the grave, both in mutual connection and causal dependence, are the 

 groundwork and pillars of Chinese society and social development. 

 This is also the only point in which a credit for idealism can be given to 

 the eastern world. The rapid advance made by our civilization and the 

 hopeful guaranty of its future are not due to our progress in technical 

 matters and inventions, but to our idealism of thought, of work and 

 activity, to the spiritual idealization of life. There is the one dominant 

 ideal in the life of the Chinaman, — honorable or magnificent burial, 

 a permanent coffin, and a well furnished grave. He plods and toils 

 along his whole life with this great end in view, he saves his pennies 

 up to enjoy a better existence in a better land, he lives indeed as much 

 for the other as for this life. 





