794 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



mng the rivers, being in many important 

 passes double - built 2,000 years ago. 

 What nation can match it? 



Her canals surpass those of any nation 

 in history in their extent, and here is 

 found the longest canal in the world. It 

 was built at the dawn of the Christian 

 era, and is 800 miles in length. 



Think of her hundreds of cities which 

 are circled by mighty walls, some of them 

 from 40 to 50 feet in both height and 

 thickness, and the human labor expended 

 in their erection. 



Ethics, conduct, personal and official, 

 the principles of government and religion 

 have all been discussed, ably and even 

 exhaustively, by the scholars of China in 

 public and in books ; first by Confucius 

 and Mentius, 600 years before the time 

 of Christ, and since through succeeding 

 ages by many thousands of less cele- 

 brated but able writers. 



THK LITERATURE OF CHINA 



One of the most remarkable literarv 

 sights in the world can be seen at Hsi-Si, 

 the seat of an ancient university, where 

 are 320 massive stone columns on which, 

 through the ages, have been inscribed the 

 names of more than 60,000 of China's 

 highest graduates. The writings of this 

 literary host constitute a splendid body 

 of literature of millions of printed vol- 

 umes, for China had books ages before 

 the West knew printing. 



The time of Confucius and Mentius 

 was China's golden age. The influence of 

 their writings surpasses anything in any 

 language. Every Chinese student, every 

 official for 2,500 years, has studied them 

 as classics. They have memorized the 

 sayings, thought the thoughts, and, more 

 or less closely, followed the example of 

 these great sages. 



Think for a moment of a great people 

 through 25 centuries forever harking 

 back to these remote ages and these truly 

 great men. Who can measure the influ- 

 ence, even of this attitude itself, under 

 such conditions, and who the influence of 

 writings whose power has been acknowl- 

 edged by millions through 2,000 3^ears? 

 No wonder it has made them a peculiar 



people, intensely conservative and ex- 

 hibiting a civilization which is a complete 

 reversal of our own, which is the de- 

 velopment of an opposite experience and 

 purpose, namely, looking toward the 

 future. 



Many a Chinese emperor has sought 

 to break the power and force of this 

 literature, feeling it to be a millstone 

 about the neck of despotism. One of the 

 greatest of the emperors, the one under 

 whom in 230 B. C. the Great Wall was 

 built, ordered all the great writings to be 

 consumed to ashes, and this was done. 

 But the great scholars who had them 

 stored in their memories rewrote them, 

 and, to secure them against any second 

 destruction, in 170 B. C, had them en- 

 graved upon 170 slabs of granite, which 

 remain to this day. Erom these tablets, 

 by a happy accident, the art of printing 

 was discovered. A damp paper having 

 been one day laid upon their face, the 

 impression was noted and the discovery 

 made about 650 A. D. 



The scholars today rule China. Where 

 dress is of more moment than in any 

 country, yet the scholar, though poor and 

 meanly dressed, is received with honor 

 by the highest in the land. 



"The superior man" of the classics is 

 the equivalent of the "good man'' with 

 us. This man, his character and his 

 conduct, is their constant theme. His 

 virtue, his honor, his social relations, his 

 manners in public and private are care- 

 fully defined. His dignity is among his 

 highest qualities and must be maintained 

 at any cost. Ceremony, with a capital 

 "C," is his life. So deeply has ceremony 

 burrowed into his character that it not 

 only reaches the absurd but approaches 

 the tragic, since it must be maintained, 

 even at the expense of truth. 



The very character in which the clas- 

 sics are written is worshiped. Literary 

 societies all over the empire send out men 

 who collect every piece of paper, every 

 bit of wood or crockery on which is writ- 

 ten or printed a character. These are all 

 consumed to ashes in bronze urns at the 

 Confucian Temple, and are then care- 

 fully boxed and carried in procession, 



