CHINA 



189 



thieving; iiml lei.rosy. These grounds, however, 

 mas In- null* lied by 'the three considerations : ' If 

 her parents !>< dead ; if she have panned with her 

 husband through the years of mourning for his 

 paivntH ; and if lit; have become rich from being 

 j"M.r. In many ea.-es tin- betrothment of children 

 u made at an early age, leading often to injurious 

 .and melancholy i. m->. 



The charge of i nf ntiride has been brought 

 against i '" j'umily life in China, the victims in 

 tin 1 vast majoiiu of instances being the female 

 children. lhat it is stained by this crime, 

 though not to the extent that has often been 

 alleged, cannot be denied. It is among the very 

 poor that the barbarity is chiefly perpetrated, and 

 their poverty is the reason of it. From the ances- 

 tral worship which prevails among the people, the 

 desire for mule t-liihln-ii is greater in China than 

 perhaps in any other country. In one case the wife 

 of a professing Christian asked the writer whether 

 her husband might not be allowed, like any other 

 person, to bring a concubine to the house, as chil- 

 -aren were denied to herself, and she would bring up 

 Any boy that might be born on her knees as her 

 own child. Public opinion is certainly against the 

 crime of infanticide ; the government is to blame 

 in that it does not address itself to punish the deed 

 and put it down. Even the public opinion against 

 it is not so emphatic as it ought to be. Foundling 

 hospitals and asylums for the aged are to be found 

 in most of the large towns, but their cleanliness 

 And management are not satisfactory. 



The complexion of the Chinese inclines to yellow 

 is, as they say themselves, of ' the colour 'of the 

 olive.' The same coarse black hair and apparently 

 oblique eyes, with high cheekbones and roundish 

 face, belong to them all from the Great Wall to the 

 island of Hili-nan. They are stout and muscular 

 as compared with other eastern peoples, temperate, 

 industrious, cheerful, and easily contented. They 

 are addicted to gambling, and are generally held to 

 be given also to mendacity and larceny. Many of 

 them are so ; and where is the country where there 

 are not many such ? The longer one lives among 

 them, however, the better he likes them, and 

 the better he thinks of them. 



They bury their dead in graves which are built 

 round in the form of a horseshoe, and often with 

 much display and at great expense. The mourning 

 rites are tedious, and embrace a variety of sacrifices 

 and other observances. No subject occupies so 

 large a portion of the Classic of Ritual Observances. 



There is no weekly day of worship and rest like 

 our Sunday. At the New Year the government 

 offices are shut for about a month. New-year's 

 Day is the one universal holiday, and at this time 

 shops are closed for several days. The whole 

 nation seems to be dissolved in festivity and joy. 

 The people dress in their best ; the temples are 

 visited ; gambling tables are surrounded by crowds ; 

 the noise of fireworks or ' crackers ' is incessant. 

 Throughout the year every month has its festivals, 

 of which the most general are that of 'Lanterns,' 

 on the full moon of the first month ; of the 'Tombs,' 

 later on in the spring ; of ' Dragon Boats,' in the 

 fifth month ; and or ' All Souls,' in the seventh 

 month, for the benefit of departed relatives and 

 hungry ghosts in the world of spirits. Theatrical 

 representations are immensely popular. ' Strolling 

 companies ' can easily be hired ; with the baml>oo 

 and matting, sheds, often very large, can be readily 

 erected for the exhibition. Individual actors be- 

 come celebrated as with us, and their services are 

 well remunerated. Females do not appear on the 

 stage. Their parts are performed by boys got up 

 for the purpose. 



History. The chronology of China is measured 

 not by centuries, but by sexagenaries, the first 



cycle being made to commence with the xixtieth 

 year of Hwang Tt in 2637 B.C. But thU u merely 

 a conventional arrangement. There were Chinese 

 in ( 'hina Iwjfore Hwang Tt, and the <-\e|e name- for 

 the years prior to 827 B.C. cannot be fully relied on. 

 The documents of the Shu King liegin with the 

 reigns of Yao and Shun (2356-2206 B.C.); and 

 from various intimation- in that work we are 

 brought to conclude that the nation then consisted 

 of a collection of tribes or clans of the name race, 

 ruled by a sovereign, nominated by hi predecessor, 

 and approved by the people as the worthiest man 

 to reign over them. 



With Yii, the successor of Shun, and the hero of 

 Yao's deluge to which we have already made refer- 

 ence, there came a change in the principle of suc- 

 cession to the throne. As it is expressed, 'He 

 familied the kingdom.' Then commenced the 

 Feudal State, which lasted under three dynasties 

 (Hsia, 2205-1767 B.C.; Shang or Yin, 1766-1123 

 B.C. ; and Chau, 1122-255 B.C.) for a period of 

 nearly two thousand years. The feudal system of 

 China was very similar to that which prevailed in 

 Europe during what we call the middle ages. At 

 a grand durbar held by Yii after his accession 

 there were, it is said, ten thousand princes present 

 with their jade symbols of rank. But the feudal 

 states were constantly being absorl>ed by one 

 another. On the rise of the Shang dynasty they 

 were only somewhat over three thousand, which 

 had decreased to thirteen hundred when King Wu 

 established the sovereignty of the Chau. In 403 

 B.C. we find only seven great states, all sooner or 

 later claiming to be 'the kingdom,' and contending 

 for the supremacy, till Ts'in ( Ch'in ) put down all the 

 others, and in 221 B.C. its king assumed the title of 

 Hwang Ti, or Emperor, and determined that there 

 should be no more feudal principalities, and that, 

 as there is but one sun in the sky, there should be 

 but one ruler in the nation. 



From that year dates the imperial form of the 

 Chinese government, which has thus existed for more 

 than 2100 years. The changes of dynasty have been 

 many, two or more sometimes ruling together, each 

 having but a nominal supremacy over the whole 

 nation. The greater dynasties have been those of 

 Han (206 B.C.-220 A.D.), T'ang (618-906), Sung 

 (960-1279), Yuan (the Mongol, 1280-1367), the 

 Ming (1368-1643), and the Ch'ing (Manchu-Tar- 

 tar, 1643 to the present date). 



The long and persistent existence of the Chinese 

 nation has been owing partly to its geographical 

 position keeping it apart from other great nations, 

 and partly to its educational culture and training. 

 Where the race came from at first takes us beyond 

 the footsteps of history. The Chinese were not the 

 earliest inhabitants of the country. They made 

 their way from the north and Vest of China 

 proper, pushing before them the older inhabitants, 

 exterminating them or absorbing them, or leaving 

 portions of them within their own ever-enlarging 

 borders, as wrecks of tribes still subsisting here 

 and there, and apparently mouldering to extinction. 

 From the first appearance of the Chinese we find 

 among them written characters (see the next 

 article), and certain elements of intellectual and 

 moral culture and religious beliefs. (The connec- 

 tion of Chinese culture with that of ancient Baby- 

 lonia has been suggested but not proved.) 



The Ituler and the Sage confront us in the 

 earliest records of the nation ; the Ruler to govern 

 the people, and the Sage or Man of Intelligence to 

 assist and advise him, and spread abroaa among 

 them the lessons of truth and duty. It is said in a 

 document of the 18th century B.C., 'Heaven gives 

 birth to the people with such desires that without 

 a Ruler they will fall into all disorders, and heaven 

 again gives birth to the Man of Intelligence to 



