China 



465 



their country, their nationality, and their 

 language, while all of these remain to 

 the Chinese. We- search in vain today 

 in Egypt for a specimen of the great race 

 which built the pyramids, carved the 

 monuments of Karnak, and created its 

 wondrous civilization. The races which 

 made Assyria, Phoenicia, and Greece so 

 famous and powerful have long since 

 disappeared. The Roman of the repub- 

 lic became transformed during the em- 

 pire and was completely extinguished in 

 the Vandal invasion. The Anglo-Saxon 

 of today is far from the Briton as found 

 by Caesar, and even quite different from 

 the islander in the time of William the 

 Conqueror. While in all other parts 

 of the globe these transformations in 

 human society have taken place, the 

 imperturbable Chinese has continued 

 unchanged from generation to genera- 

 tion, from dynast}'- to dynasty, so far as 

 we can judge from his history and lit- 

 erature. 



When we turn to the intellectual and 

 material accomplishments of this people 

 we find an equal cause for marvel and 

 admiration. Centuries before Homer 

 and long before the golden age of Peri- 

 cles there existed a learning and litera- 

 ture which attest a high stage of intel- 

 lectual attainment. From the earliest 

 antiquity the taste for learning was de- 

 veloped, and, in contrast with other 

 lands, it has continued a distinguishing 

 characteristic uninterruptedly through 

 all its history to the present day. 



In the realm of philosophy and ethics 

 it challenges a comparison with the best 

 models of ancient or modern times. The 

 teachings of Lautsz, Confucius, and 

 Mencius are worthy to rank with those 

 of their Western contemporaries, Soc- 

 rates and Plato. The code of Confucius 

 is without a parallel in its influence on 

 the human race. Produced five centu- 

 ries before the birth of Christ, it was 

 the condensed teaching and wisdom of 

 the Chinese writers anterior to that era, 

 and for more than 2,000 years it has 



controlled the conduct of one-third of 

 the inhabitants of the earth. Compe- 

 tent critics state that in its moral as- 

 pects it compares favorably with the 

 precepts of the Greek and Roman sages, 

 and in the influence which it has ex- 

 erted over so many millions of minds it 

 is incomparably superior ; and in this 

 view it is invested with an interest which 

 no book besides the Bible can claim. 



The Chinese are often said to be an 

 imitative people, but it is a remark- 

 able fact that some of the most useful, 

 if not the most useful, inventions of the 

 human race have had their origin in 

 China. The art of printing was first 

 practiced there, and a thousand years be- 

 fore Gutenberg was born books in large 

 numbers were being produced by that 

 process, and long before paper was 

 known in Europe it was used in book- 

 making in China. The mariner's com- 

 pass, the forerunner of steam and elec- 

 tricity, which made possible the dis- 

 covery of the new world and the inter- 

 communication of all lands, the founda- 

 tion of modern commerce, was used in 

 China many centuries before it became 

 known to the West, and the properties 

 of the magnetic needle were mentioned 

 by Chinese writers 2,000 years anterior. 

 Gunpowder, which revolutionized all 

 military science and is such a potent 

 factor in the world's affairs, was first 

 compounded by that people. Porcelain 

 and silk manufacture reached a high 

 grade of perfection early in Chinese 

 history, and these, with its language, 

 literature, and philosophy, were im- 

 parted to Korea, Japan, and other 

 neighboring countries. 



The Great Wall, traversing high 

 mountains and large rivers, built two 

 hundred years before the Christian era, 

 still stands as the most extensive monu- 

 ment of antiquity to attest the high en- 

 gineering skill and kingly energy of 

 that day. 



Of similar herculean proportions, but 

 of a later origin and for a more useful 



