464 CHI 
dialed, fpoken by the lower clafles in China. Every pro¬ 
vince has its hwn. The fenle of the words varies in a 
great number of places, and they are fo altered by dffver- 
fity of pronunciation, as to be almoft unintelligible.” 
Of this fadt lord Macartney experienced a ftngular proof, 
at a meeting of two Chinefe interpreters, who, on enter¬ 
ing into converfation, could not underhand each other. 
The Chir.ele annex great merit to the talent of tracing 
or writing their characters with tafte; they often prefer 
them even to the molt elegant painting, and there are 
i'ome of them who will purchafe, at an exorbitant rate, 
a page of old writing, when the characters appear to be 
elegantly formed. We fhall not in this place enter into 
an investigation of the principles ot the Chinefe charact¬ 
ers, or language; lince it more properly belongs to that 
department or head in this work, under which we fhall 
treat of all the known languages in the world. 
A tafte for poetry is pretty general in China, and there 
are few Chinefe writers who have not devoted foine part 
of their leifure hours to the mufes. The common people 
have their ballads and longs, and fome of the literati 
have thought it of importance to turn into verfe for their 
ufe the molt celebrated maxims of morality, the duties 
of the different conditions in life, and the rules of civi¬ 
lity. “ If good grain,” fay they, “ produce only ftraw, 
it will benefit the ground by preventing the growth of 
weeds.” Though China abounds with works of erudi¬ 
tion, they are feldom the production of private indivi¬ 
duals, who have neither the leifure nor .conveniencies 
requifite for literary purfuits. The firft years of the 
young literati are fpent in ftudying the language, cha¬ 
racters, and doCtrine, of the King; the examinations keep 
them continually employed. When admitted to the firft 
literary degree, it is (till neceflary to continue their flu- 
dies, in order to obtain the fecond and third. They then 
obtain employment in the tribunals, or become gover¬ 
nors of cities in their own provinces. In this fituation 
their occupations are fo various and conftant, that it is 
impcflible for them to follow a courfe of uninterrupted 
ftudy. The fword of the fovereign is continually over 
their heads, and they have need of all their application, 
to avoid even flight omiflions, which are fufficient to oc- 
cafion their ruin. The difficulty of procuring accefs to 
libraries, is alfo an inconvenience which the man of ge¬ 
nius, unconnected with any literary focieties, muff: expe¬ 
rience in China; and the condition of individuals is lb 
liable to change, that it is impoflible for any of them to 
have fuch a collection of books as are found in the houfes 
of men of letters in Europe. The great bonzeries are 
the only refources of the litegati; it is there that govern¬ 
ment, in order to guard againft Ioffes, by conflagrations, 
wars, and revolutions, has ordered the molt curious and 
rare manufcripts to be collected ; and there alfo are de- 
pofited copies of every collection and new edition of any 
work publiflaed at the expence of the ftate. Thefe im- 
menfe libraries are open to all the literati; but the greater 
part of the bonzeries which contain them are fituated on 
mountains, at a diftance from large cities, and therefore 
in a great meafure cut off from the infpeCtion of perfons 
in private life. 
All the great works nearly, which have appeared in 
China, have proceeded from the college of the Han-lin. 
This body, compofed of the molt celebrated literati, and 
of the greateft geniufes of the empire, freed from every 
care, and furrounded with alt the literary treafures of the 
empire, find every convenience and alliftance that can 
facilitate their labour. Emoloyment is affigned to each 
of them, fuited to his tafte and talents. They are never 
fubjeCted to the fettering reltraint of time, nor hurried to 
finifh any work which they have undertaken. Intereft 
and felt-love unite them clofely together, for the glory 
attending their fuccefs is never divided. A reciprocal 
communication of knowledge, in the fulleft and moft 
tmreferved manner, is, therefore, a neceflary confe¬ 
rence, becaule every imputation afteCts the whole body. 
N A. 
Hence it happens, that all the works which come from 
the pencil of the Han-lin, bear a character of perfedtion 
rarely to be found in thofe of a private man of letters. 
To them are the Chinefe indebted for all their great hif- 
torical coiledtions, didtionaries, commentaries, new edi¬ 
tions of ancient authors, &c. The emperor generally 
furnLilies for thefe large works a preface, by his own 
hand. They are printed at the expence of government, 
and the whole edition belongs to the emperor, who dif- 
tributes the copies as prefents to the princes of the 
blood, his ministers, the great mandarins, the chiefs of 
the different tribunals, governors of provinces, and the 
mod celebrated literati of the empire. In 1770 the Han- 
lin were employed in the compilation of a Chinefe En¬ 
cyclopaedia, in which are difcufled the moft interefting 
points of fuch fciences and arts as are known to them; 
alfo. hiftory, chronology, geography, jurifprudence, po¬ 
litics, and natural hiftory. This edition was to form "a 
coliedtion of an hundred and fifty volumes. 
Much has been faid by different writers for and againft 
the knowledge which the Chinefe have of aftronomy. F. 
Gaubi!, who wrote a particular treatife on Chinefe aftro- 
noniy, which he long itudied, thus fpeaks of the Chinefe 
aftronomers : “ The Chinefe have been long acquainted 
with the motion of the fun, moon, and planets, and even 
of the fixed ftars, from weft to eaft; though they did not 
determine the motion of the latter till about four hun¬ 
dred years after the Chriftian era. To Saturn, Jupiter, 
Mars, Venus, and Mercury, they have affigned revolu¬ 
tions which approach very nearly to ours. They have' 
no notion of their different fituations, when ftationary 
and retrograde; and, as in Europe, fome imagine that 
the heavens and planets revolve round the earth, and 
others around the fun. By reading their books, we may 
eafily perceive that the Chinefe have had a perfect know¬ 
ledge of the quantity of the folar year; that they have 
alfo known the diurnal motion of the fun and moon; 
that they have been able to take the meridian altitude of 
the former by the fliadow of a gnomon ; and that they 
have thence made pretty exadl calculations to determine 
the elevation of the pole, and the fun’s declination : it 
appears that they have had a tolerable knowledge of the 
right afcenfion of the ftars, and of the time when they 
pals the meridian; of the reafon why the fame ltars, in 
the fame year, rife and fet with the lun ; and why they 
pafs the meridian fometimes when the fun rifes, and 
fometimes when he fets. In fhort, it evidently appears, 
from perufing their hiftory, that the Chinefe have always 
been acquainted with a g.eat many parts of aftronomy.” 
The Jefuit miflionaries contributed much to the en¬ 
largement of aftrouomical knowledge in China; Ricci, 
Adam Schal, Verbieft, Couplet, Gerbillon, Regis, d’En- 
trecolles, Jartoux, Parrenin, and a great many others, 
were men whofe talents would have rendered them cele¬ 
brated, even in Europe. F. Verbieft found, in the ob- 
fervatory at Pekin, a number of inftruments made of 
brafs ; but, as he judged them improper for aftronomical 
purpofes, he fubftituted new ones in their room, which 
Hill remain. F. le Comte has given an accurate defcrip- 
tion of all thefe machines. At prefent aftronomy is cul¬ 
tivated at Pekin as it is in the greater part of the capital 
cities of Europe. A particular tribunal is eftablilhed 
there, the juiifdidtion of which extends to every thing 
that relates to the celeftial phenomena, The obfervation 
of eclipfes is one of the moft important fundtions of this 
tribunal. Information mult be given to the emperor of 
the day and hour of the eclipfe, in what part of the hea¬ 
vens it will happen, its duration, and the number of di¬ 
gits eclipfed. It is neceflary that this intelligence precede 
the eclipfe by fome months, and it mult be calculated for 
the longitude and latitude of the capital city of every 
province. Thefe obfervations, as well as the diagram 
which reprefents the eclipfe, are preferved by the tribu¬ 
nal of ceremonies; and the great calao, or prime mi- 
nifter, takes care to tranfmit them into all the cities of 
the 
