ON ITEMS OF CHINESE ETHICS AND PHILOSOPHY. 53 



those awarded in Europe for crimes of corresponding 

 magnitude. In addition also to the punishment directly 

 inflicted on the immediate culprit, his dependents and family 

 suiFer disgrace and ruin, and in all cases the evil repute of the 

 father descends to the sons. 



Confession by the guilty party is indispensable before the 

 penalty of death is pronounced, and a criminal is often 

 returned to, and kept in prison until he confesses, although 

 such a course is not actually legal. 



A third conviction for certain crimes, including theft of a 

 Slim equal to £S sterling, rape, adultery, and murder, are 

 punished with death. An accessory is punished with the 

 same rigor as the principal. Political crimes are considered as 

 t'le greatest of all ; the more serious of these are punished 

 with death, often of a cruel kind, those of minor degree by 

 trans]3ortation to Hi, the Chinese '' Siberia." 



All death sentences must receive the sanction of the 

 emperor who, it is said, observes a fast ol three days before 

 examining them. 



A peculiarity of Chinese pimishments is that under parti- 

 cular circumstances they may be vicariously inflicted ; 

 another, that legal suicide is a recognised institution. 



In spite of the professed rigor of the law, death sentences 

 are believed to be relatively rare. Provinces of corres- 

 ponding size to P^ngland and Wales have not more than 

 from twelve to fourteen a year, and in some others equally 

 large, none have been pronounced for several consecutive 

 years. 



Education. 

 A system of national education has existed in China from 

 very ancient times, the system at present in force having 

 been substituted in the fourteenth century of our era* for 

 that previously followed. According to the ideal of 

 education which has come down from such distant date in that 

 great empire — the true end of study is virtue. To this ideal a 

 scholar shordd apply all his forces in the same manner as 

 he who draws a bow aims at a mark. Eut " above all things 

 young people must be prohibited from reading romances, 

 comedies, verses, or obscene songs ; these books corrupt the 

 heart insensibly, and contribute to the loss of good 

 manners. It is a shameful thing ever to have read them 



* Namely, bv Houiig woo, foiuider of the Miug Dynasty, a.d. 136S- 

 1398. 



