8 SHOOTING IN CHINA 



to learn the language it should be 

 remembered that there is a material 

 difference between that spoken and that 

 written, for, as already stated, one may 

 speak the language without being able to 

 write it, or one may write it without being 

 able to comprehend it when spoken. Some 

 of the best authorities do not think it 

 difficult to learn the mandarin dialect if 

 mistakes, reaching the rudiments, are not 

 made at the beginning of the study. It is 

 easy to procure a qualified instructor. 



It is probable that the first impression 

 received by the shooter will be that all tlie 

 Chinese speak the same language and that 

 all are alike, but the characteristics of the 

 inhabitants of the provinces are as unlike 

 as their dialects. If the Chinese have a 

 national language, or if they be of the same 

 race, there has certainly been an upheaval 

 of some kind which has scattered both. 

 They may be as united as the sea although 

 they appear more divided by dialects and 

 racial characteristics than its waves. A 

 native of Tientsin could not pass himself 

 as a native of Shanghai, and the converse 

 would be as true. If the dialect of a 



