THE GREAT UNPROGRESSIVE PEOPLE 353 



there is the abominable and senseless practice of foot-binding, 

 to say nothing of infanticide which in some parts is common. 



However offensive some of the ways of the Chinese may be to Reality of 

 us, we must recognise the reality of their civilisation. That close sat i on 

 upon four hundred million people should live in peace under one 

 government, masses of them congregated in large towns, is a 

 proof of civilisation of no mean order. But when we come to 

 recognise the greatness of the Chinese, the question at once 

 presents itself; if they have been capable of so much, why have 

 they been capable of no more ? Why have they stagnated for 

 two thousand years ? And then comes what is, I think, the 

 more difficult question ; why has not stagnation led to de- 

 cadence ? Why is there still much of the vigour of youth 

 where we should expect senility ? And lastly, why has there 

 been no physical degradation ? 



Thus the great Chinese problem divides itself into three Three 

 problems which we must deal with separately. 



(1) Why for centuries past have the Chinese made no pro- 

 gress in civilisation ? 



(2) How, without advancing, have they been able to maintain 

 their civilisation at the highest level reached ? 



(3) Why has the physical degeneration that, aided by other 

 causes, ruined other ancient civilisations, not made its appearance 

 in China ? 



To enable me to answer these questions, I am bound in fair- 

 ness to state that I have no special knowledge of the Chinese. 

 My only qualification is that I have read a number of books about 

 them, with a view to studying the working of the principles, that 

 I have found govern human evolution and progress elsewhere, 

 under the conditions that obtain in China. The only assumption 

 I have made is that Chinese nature is only a variety of ordinary 

 human nature, its distinctive characteristics being the result of 

 the peculiar environment in which it has been evolved. The 

 ordinary Englishman is apt to say, " Oh ! they are Chinamen ! " as 

 the only solution of any problem that China and its people may 

 present. That the Chinese are what they are because they are 

 Chinese, is to an evolutionist no explanation at all. Sir Henry 



