The Religion of ihe ChiMse 145 



Courage, in the highest sense of controUing their instincts, 

 they rarely possess ; hence, while apathetic in the presence 

 of sickness and death, they are cowards in the presence of 

 dangers which call for energetic resistance. 



Their religion consists in propitiating evil spirits, and 

 abjectly kotowing to such saints as they believe may aid 

 them in worldly enterprises. Such a people, seemingly in- 

 capable of chivalrous feeling or loyalty, can hardly appreciate 

 the Christian ideal which we are making such costly efforts 

 to place before them. Their own system of ethics, based 

 upon filial piety and " custom," works well ; and endeavours 

 to upset it produce at first much harm, whatever the ultimate 

 good. With all their faults — say radical defects — they possess 

 many virtues. They are easy-going, kindly disposed towards 

 one another, clannish in supporting their relations, hospitable, 

 attached to their employers, and public-spirited, where their 

 feelings are aroused, to a degree unknown in Europe. But 

 the whole social system is undermined, from the highest 

 to the lowest, by peculation and deceit; and, from armies 

 which only exist in the commander-in-chiefs wardrobe, 

 and public granaries containing nothing but chaff, down to 

 presents not intended for acceptance, and proclamations 

 never meant to be observed, the whole empire is one vast 

 sham. Yet such is their persistent industry, that, with more 

 highly gifted leaders to guide and lead them, they may yet 

 be a great people. As an instance of what resolute leaders 

 may do with this people, witness the celebrated " P'ing- 

 fen,'' or " grave-levelling law,'' promulgated at the accession 

 of various invading dynasties. This law was enforced, 

 notably at the accession of the Mongols in the tenth century, 

 when, finding so large a proportion of the cultivable area of 

 the empire given over to cemeteries, Kublai Khan ordered 

 tjiem to be ploughed up remorselessly. It is to be regretted 



