68 EVOLUTION AND RELIGION 



" 1. How shall I best fulfil my obligations to my 

 family ? 



2. How shall I do my duty to my neighbor ? 



3. How shall I best discharge the duties of a good 

 citizen ? " 



CONTRADICTIONS 



True, the Chinese national character appears to be 

 full of contradictions. The mere fact that three differ- 

 ent religions, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, 

 exist among them, would account for differing standards 

 of morals. In so varied and thickly populated a coun- 

 try, too, one must expect contradictory evidence from 

 different writers on the subject of morality. Thus 

 M. Hue says : l " They are destitute of religious feelings 

 and beliefs, skeptical and indifferent to everything that 

 concerns the moral side of man, their whole lives but 

 materialism put in action." To which Meadows 

 replies : 2 " All this is baseless calumny of the higher 

 life of a great portion of the human race. These 

 charges may be true of the mass of the Chinese, just as 

 they are true of the English, French, and Americans; 

 but as amongst these there is a large amount of gener- 

 osity and right feeling, and also a minority higher in 

 nature, actuated by higher motives, aiming at higher 

 aims, so also is there amongst the Chinese a similar 

 right feeling, and a like minority who live a higher life 

 than the people generally." 



1 Int. Cyc. vol. III. p. 787. Hue, Christianity in China. 



2 Ibid. Meadows, The Chinese and their Rebellions. 



