316 CHINA AND HER PEOPLE 



outsider cannot know much of the details of tliese organizations, but 

 the foreigner's experience will soon tell him the uselessness of contest- 

 ing the action of any guild or workman's union whose members refuse 

 to work for him. Without excitement or any evidence of dissatisfac- 

 tion, the coolies working for the foreigner will strike, and no trouljle 

 will ensue because of attemj^ts of others to till the vacant places, as 

 there are no applicants, and the work under way will sinii)ly remain 

 unfinished until Ijy mutual agreement the point in dis})ute has lK*en 

 settled. Strikes in China are seldom disorderly, and the l)oyc()tt 

 feature is never in evidence. 



The question is often asked, How does the education of the better 

 class compare with the educational attainments of a similar class in 

 the United States? This is a ver}' difficult question to answer, and 

 to give a clear exphmation would take much time and si)ace. The 

 education of the Chinese boy begins as soon as he can think, and is 

 pursued relentlessly through l)03'hood and until, by marriage or the 

 demands of business, he seeks a new i)ath for himself. The system 

 of education is based primarily upon thoroughness, and as time is 

 not regarded as possessing any value, it can be understood that each 

 brancii of stud}' is carried to its ultimate. Tiie study of the Chinese 

 classics is of the first importance; music, natural philosophy, astron- 

 om}', geograph}', botany, and engineering, all in turn receive careful 

 attention, and because the end proposed to their minds is different 

 from the western code, it does not follow that the range of stud}' or 

 the intricacies of the subjects are in any degree less than with our 

 students. In fact, I am sure that in subtlet}' of analysis, in tlie pur- 

 suit of the formulated idea to the ultimate and logical conclusion, the 

 Chinese student is far superior to his brother of any nation. 



Add to all this the gift b}^ nature of a marvelous memor}-, accus- 

 tomed from its first efforts to minute and accurate observation, and 

 it can be understood that the knowledge of an educated Chinnman is 

 of the most superior order from his 'point of view, and even from our 

 point of view it calls for the highest mental efforts of which the human 

 brain is capable; but as their plane of thought and code of ethics is 

 so oi)posed to what is called " modern progress," their knowledge does 

 not appeal to the western mind as being a real education. In mental 

 capacity the eilucated Chinaman is undoubtedly equal to the highest 

 efforts of the best races. 



The business capacity of the race is recognized the world over. It 

 is in this direction that the Chinaman's princi[>al modern triumphs 



