190 



CHINA 



regulate them. ' Thus the sovereign and the sage 

 are hoth the ordinances of heaven ; and it has been 

 the rule in the various stages of the nation's 

 history that officers of the government should pos- 

 sess whatever educational culture its institutions 

 could supply. The same written character (shih) 

 serves to designate both a scholar and an officer, 

 and of the ' four classes of the people, scholars or 

 officers, agriculturists, mechanics, and merchants,' 

 the first nas always been held to be ' the head. ' 

 Even in the feudal times the system of examina- 

 tions for the selection of the officials existed in a 

 rudimentary state, though it was not till our 7th 

 century that it began to assume its present form, 

 open to all, excepting ' monks, play-actors, and 

 menial servants.' 



This competitive system, as now existing with 

 all the necessary machinery, is organised in three 

 principal gradations the provincial, the metropoli- 

 tan, and the palace examinations. The students 

 of each province who have attained at the district 

 examinations to the style of Haiti, Ts'&i, or ' men 

 of talent,' assemble at the provincial capital, 



where as a rule every third year special examiners 

 from Peking conduct the examination for the degree 

 of Chu (Ku) jdn, or 'men for promotion,' which 

 perhaps three in a thousand of them may obtain, 

 and which entitles them to some minor appoint- 

 ments. To take the third degree of Ts'in shih, or 

 'men to be presented to the emperor,' the success- 

 ful Chu-jdn from all the provinces must proceed to 

 the metropolis, perhaps about six thousand in all, 

 and there, also as a rule triennially, pass a test 

 examination, the successful candidates at Avhich 

 then go in for the palace examination, conducted 

 within the precincts of the imperial palace itself; 

 after which the lists are published in three classes, 

 the first being a tripos of the three best men, who- 

 become for the time the heroes of the day. They 

 and a proportion of the others are admitted to the 

 ranks of the members of the Han-lin, the ' Forest. 

 of Pencils,' or ' Grand Academy of Literature.' 

 The remainder receive appointments in the pro- 

 vinces or at the capital, according as vacancies 

 occur. Such is an outline, as large as our space 

 will allow, of the competitive system of examina- 



A Chinese School when the master has gone out (Peking). (From a Chinese Picture.) 



tions by which the government of China seeks to 

 secure the ablest men of the empire for its service. 

 The examinations are testing and fairly conducted. 

 The subjects are taken from the literature of the 

 country itself. There are already indications not 

 a few that the system will undergo the modifica- 

 tions made necessary by the new relations with 

 other countries which have arisen in our own time ; 

 mathematics became a subject of examination in 

 1888. The system has tended to impress the people 

 with the value of education; but it must not be 

 supposed that as a whole they are highly educated. 

 Everywhere indeed there are primary schools, not 

 governmental, but maintained by the people them- 

 selves. A smattering of education is widely 

 diffused ; but apart from the official classes, those 

 who can read freely or write readily are few. 



The three religions of China are Confucianism, 

 Taoism, and Buddhism. Most writers represent 

 the first not so much as a religion, but as a 

 morality ; but there always underlies its teachings 

 a recognition of the religion which prevailed in 

 the country from the most ancient times the 

 belief of a Supreme Power, expressed at first by 

 the name 'Heaven,' which soon came to be desig- 

 nated also by the personal names Ti, ' the Ruler,' 



and Shang-Ti, 'the Supreme Ruler.' The state 

 worship or Heaven or God was, and still is, con- 

 fined to the sovereign as the father and priesfc 

 of the people. The will of God is to be learned 

 from the moral principles of man's nature. Govern. 

 ment is ordained by God for the good of the people, 

 and as soon as a sovereign ceases to seek that 

 good and his rule is antagonistic to it, he has. 

 forfeited his title to the throne ; and thus it is 

 that the changes of dynasty are always referred to 

 as ' the will of Heaven,' and the sovereign professes 

 to be such ' by the grace of God. ' Associated with 

 the worship of Heaven or God, there was the 

 worship of heaven and earth and the powers of 

 nature, but only as subordinate to God and fulfill- 

 ing His will for the good of men ; and also of 

 distinguished men, as having by their discoveries 

 and achievements defended, benefited, and blessed 

 the people of their own and future times. There 

 was also common to their sovereign and all the 

 people the worship of their ancestors. This last 

 was and is considered as an expression of 



piety, the perpetuation of 'the duty which every- 

 one owes to nis parents the first and chief of 

 all virtues.' On this Confucius laid great stress, 

 endeavouring to develop all other virtues from it. 



