76 SURGEON-GENEEAL C. A. GORDON^ M.D.^ C.B., Q.H.P., ETC., 



by limits of space. Eight years in a purely Chinese city have 

 given me some little knowledge of the matters brought forward. 

 On one or two points it may be wise to utter a caution : the 

 writer has ventured on the statement that almost every man can 

 read and write sufficiently for the ordinary purposes of life ; my 

 experience is that the fact is far short of the statement. The 

 ideographic nature of the written language must be remembered ; 

 half a dozen years of a boy's life are spent in mere unreasoning 

 rote-work, in learning the particular sound attached to a pai'ticular 

 character. Thus the great mass of the working class leave school 

 at thirteen or foui'teen, just before the "meaning" stage of 

 education is reached, with the result that there are huge numbers 

 who "know characters," but who can scarcely be said to read in 

 our sense of an associated intelligence in reading. Even below 

 this meagre standard of scholarship in the cities there are many 

 who cannot read a character, and in most country districts of 

 which I have knowledge, certainly at a generous estimate not 

 more than half the working classes can read at all. Kough and 

 ready proof of this is found in the fact that Christian converts, 

 who are mostly drawn from {he lower classes, constantly bear 

 witness to the entrance of new ideas by " learning to read.'" 



The subject of Ancestral Worship is so 'large and so difficult 

 that it may be questioned whether it is worth while to write one 

 paragraph in comment on one paragraph dealing with so vast a 

 matter. Undoubtedly here is the Arcannm of the Chinese 

 religious sentiment. Undoubtedly thei'C is much to admire in 

 this prime religious observance which tallies so well with the 

 basal principle in Chinese ethics — filial piety. It is only fair 

 to recognise the kinship to western care for the memorials of the 

 dead ; but it should not be forgotten that in practical life the 

 outcome is the slavery of the living to the dead, and a childish 

 perpetual haunting fear of ghosts. Dr. Gordon speaks of the 

 offering of prayers at the graves ; it should be clearly stated that 

 while Buddhist and Taoist priests are often paid to chant masses 

 for the repose of the departed, prayers to the dead are frequent. 

 The belief is that the comfort of the dead depends on the amount 

 spent by the living on paper money, houses, etc., which when 

 burnt tuTQ to the real article in Hades, and consequently that the 

 spirits in Hades will return to plague and spoil the luck of those 

 unable and unwilling to comply with these mercantile necessities. 



