Peculiarities of Religion-Sects-Sacrifices-Buddhism. 367 rious religious observances and the most tributes, saints, the emperor, &c., are discordant opinions are found everywhere in China, even among those belonging to the same sect. "What is seen in one district," says Mr. Williams, "is sometimes utterly unknown in the next province, and the opinions of one man are laughed at by another." Two things distinguished the religion of China, taken as a whole, from the faith of most other pagan nations that now exist or have existed: 1st, human sacrifices are unknown to them; and 2d, the deification of vice, as among the Greeks and Romans, and Hindus, is equally unknown. They have no Venus and Bacchus; no exposure in the temple of Mylitta, as among the Assyrians; no weeping for Thammuz, "Whose annual wound in Lebanon allured The Chinese, though a licentious people in word and deed, says Mr. Williams, "have not endeavored to sanctify vice, and lead the votaries of pleasure, falsely so called, down the road of ruin, by making its path lie through a temple, and under the protection of a goddess; nor does their mythology teem with the disgusting relations of the amours of their deities, which render the religious stories of the Hindus and Greeks so revolting; on the contrary, they exalt and deify chastity and seclusion as much as the Romanists do, as a means of bringing the soul and body nearer to the highest excellence. Vice is kept out of sight as well as out of religion, in a great degree, and it may be safely said that no such significant sign as has been uncovered at Pompeii, with the inscription Hic habitat felicitas, was ever exhibited in a Chinese city. It is a most remarkable trait of Chinese idolatry, that there is no deification of sensuality, which, in the name of religion, could shield and countenance those licentious rites and orgies that enervated the minds of worshipers, and polluted their hearts in so many other pagan countries." Besides the doctrine of Confucius there are two other sects, Fo, or Buddhism, and Taou, or that of the Rationalists. The first acknowledges a Supreme Being, and believes the emperor his sole vicegerent on earth. Confucius, the elements, heaven, earth, gods of various at * Herodotus, i, 131, 199. ↑ Paradise Lost, i, 445. objects of worship, the rites of which are watched over by the Board of Rites. The doctrine of Confucius fills the world with genii, demons, and the spirits of deceas ed worthies, who are supposed to have each their separate duties and influences assigned to them. No worship is so strictly observed as that of ancestry, and filial piety is carried to excess even beyond the grave. The Chinese are remarkable for their respect for old age, for their parents and superiors; and the promise attached to the fifth commandment they seem to have enjoyed. "The state religion of the Chinese," says Dr. Morrison, "does not consist of doctrines which are to be taught, learned, and believed, but of rites and ceremonies; it is entirely a bodily service, and its ritual is contained in the statistics and code of the empire." Sacrifices are offered to the heavens or sky, the earth, the gods of the land and grain, to the sun, moon, to Confucius, the names of the emperors of former dynasties, to the ancient patrons of agriculture and silk-weaving; to the gods of heaven and earth, and the passing year; to the ancient patron of the healing art, and to the innumerable spirits of deceased philanthropists, eminent statesmen, martyrs to virtue, &c. ; to clouds, rain, wind, and thunder; to the five celebrated mountains, four seas, and four rivers; to famous hills, great water-courses, flags, &c., &c., gods of cannon. gates, queengoddess of earth, the north pole, and many other things too numerous to mention. There is at Peking a temple of the earth; another of heaven, of the sun, and of the moon. The sacrifices consist of calves, bullocks, sheep, pigs, and silks. The animals are not killed before or on the altar, but brought into the temple ready dressed and cooked. The custom of presenting cooked sacrifices is general in Chinese worship. "The state religion of China," says Mr. Williams, "is a mere pageant, and can no more be called the religion of the Chinese than the teachings of Socrates could be termed the faith of the Greeks. It is, however, intimately connected with the sect of the Learned, or Confucianists, because all its members and priests are learned men, who venerate the classical writings." In every city there is a temple, containing the tutelar divinity of the city, called Chinghwang, with other gods, and in these temples are the solstices, equinoxes, new and full moons. The magistrates repair to sacrifice to it and to the gods of the land and grain. Over the door of one of these temples in Canton is this inscription: "Right and wrong, truth and falsehood, are blended on earth, but all are most clearly distinguished in heaven." Of all the saints in the Chinese calendar Confucius is the chief, and there are 1,560 temples dedicated to him. The offerings presented in these temples are all eaten or used by the worshipers. It is said that there are 62,600 pigs, rabbits, sheep and deer, annually offered up to him on his altars, all cooked in the best Chinese style, and eaten by the worshipers. The church-goers in China are very numerous, the good fare served up in the temples being a strong inducement to church-going, which doubtless would prove quite irresistible even in a Christian country. The temples of the Yu sect are very splendid. They generally consist of a large hall approached by a flight of steps, the idol being placed on an altar or table. Pictures adorn the walls, and gilded griffins and dragons the ceilings. Each temple has its apparatus for sacrificing animals. tional worship. man ever invented."* The tenets of racter. As a The form of Buddhism prevalent among the Mongols and Thibetians of the Chinese Empire furnishes in its ritual the following decalogue: 1. Do not kill sentient beings. 2. Do not steal. 3. Do not marry. 4. Do not speak falsely. 5. Drink not wine. 6. Perfume not the hair on the crown, nor paint the body. form none thyself. 8. Sit not nor lie 7. Do not behold songs or plays, and peron a high large couch. 9. Do not eat after the time. 10. Do not grasp hold of gold or silver, or any valuable thing.† The doctrines of the Buddhists seem mainly to rest on the principle that the world and all it contains are manifesta There is no congregations of the Deity, but of a transient and delusive character; that the human soul is an emanation from Deity; that after death it will again be bound to matter, and subjected to the miseries and accidents of this life, unless the individual to whom it belongs, by the attainment of wisdom through prayer and contemplation, succeeds in liberating it from that necessity, and secures its absorption into that divine essence from which it sprang.‡ Buddhism is a despised creed in China, but still it prevails everywhere, and is followed more or less by all the Chinese. Dr. Morrison says: "Buddhism in China is decried by the learned, laughed at by the profligate, yet followed by all." Buddhism is doubtless as good a religion as any other in China. All creeds there are characterised by the grossest superstitions and ridiculous ceremonies. Mr. Malcolm, the missionary, gives a very favorable account of Buddhism in China. "It has no mythology," says he, "of obscene and ferocious deities; no sanguinary or impure observances; no self-inflicted tortures; no tyrannizing priesthood; no confounding of right and wrong, by making certain iniquities laudable in worship. In its moral code, its descriptions of the purity and peace of the first ages, of the shortness of man's life because of his sins, &c., it seems to have followed genuine traditions. In almost every respect it seems to be the best religion Our limits forbid speaking extensively of the religion of the Chinese. Taouism, to which we have alluded, is a religion maintained in China by a sect called Rationalists. Its teachings are somewhat like those of Zeno. The founder of the sect was Lankiun, born B. C. 604, 54 years before Confucius. His doctrines are embodied in his great work, the Tan Teh King, or Memoir on Reason and Virtue. It is a sort of transcendentalism, making reason the es * Malcolm's Travels, vol. i., p. 322. Rationalists-Religious Toleration-Remarkable Language. 369 sence and source of everything. Retire- LANGUAGE, EDUCATION AND LITERAment, contemplation and acts of benevolence, are enjoined. Like the system of Confucius, it contains much that is very good and much that is very ridiculous. It is just, however, to say, that, taken as a whole, the Memoir on Reason and Virtue abounds in genuine wisdom. M. Panthier praises it extravagantly. He says: "La sagesse humaine n'a peutêtre jamais exprimé des paroles plus saintes et plus profondes." This is undoubtedly too high praise. TURE.-We close this paper on China with a brief glance at its language, education and literature. The Chinese language is totally unlike that of any other. It is a most singular invention for communicating ideas, something intermediate between the hieroglyphic and alphabetic systems. Chinese writers ascribe the invention of the characters of their language to Hwangti, one of their first monarchs, who lived about 2,700 years before Christ. While all other lanThe Rationalists worship a great guages have undergone remarkable many idols, and their pantheon also in- changes, that of the Chinese, both writcludes genii, devils, inferior spirits, and ten and spoken, has remained almost the numberless other objects of worship. same for many long periods of time; We must refer our readers for a full des- nor has there ever existed a language cription of this religion to Mr. Williams's spoken by so many people as that of Middle Kingdom, where they will find China. The primitive characters of the the religions of China fully discussed. language are derived from natural or arAll religions are tolerated in China. tificial objects. The total number of Mahometanism is found in all the pro- really different characters in the lanvinces; also Judaism; and besides the guage, according to Mr. Williams, is two leading idolatrous sects which we about 25,000, though authors have stated have mentioned there are many socie- them to amount to 54,409, as does Maties and combinations, partly religious gaillons; and Montucci fixes the numand partly political. That called the ber at 260,899. The Chinese editor of Triad Society is described by Mr. Wil- the largest Chinese dictionary, upon liams as an order similar to that of Free- which Dr. Morrison bases his, gives it as masonry; but from his description it is his opinion that there are 50,000 charquite certain that it resembles Freema- acters, including synonyms and different sonry in nothing but its being a secret forms; and, taking in every variety of order. The Triad Society is unpopular tones given to the words and sounds for in China and denounced in the Chinese which no characters exist, that there are Code. The operations of the order are 5,000 different words. The burden of carried on with such great secrecy that remembering so many is so great that very little is known, even in China, of the literati have abridged them and intheir numbers, internal organization, or creased their meanings, by which they character. The Chinese government save much toil. Mr. Williams states that fears them. The order extends throughout China, Siam, Singapore, Malacca, and the Eastern Archipelago. In some places out of China the order is very powerful, and practises great cruelties on those who refuse to join it.* There is among all the religious sects of China a mutual forbearance and respect which is highly praiseworthy. The government seems to care nothing about religion, only as a tool of political power. It tolerates everything that does not interfere with the state. It separates religion and politics completely, and as no sect has any state patronage, no one of them has the power to persecute. Buddhism seems to have the widest sway in China.† * Middle Kingdom, vol. ii, p. 284. Williams's Middle Kingdom, passim. Davis's China, vol. i., p. 301, Gutzlaff's Voyages. a good knowledge of 10,000 characters will enable one to read any work in Chinese, and write intelligibly on any subject. Prémare says, that a good knowledge of 4,000 or 5,000 characters, or even two-thirds of that number, is sufficient for all common purposes. The variations were exceedingly numerous formerly; for example: there were 42 ways of writing the word pau, "precious" and 41 for writing tsum, "honorable." In addition to the variations in the forms of characters, the Chinese have six different styles of writing them, which correspond to black-letter, script, italic, roman, &c., in English, but much more unlike than those. It requires much study to distinguish them, and more to write them. The Chinese have labored more in the mere matter of writ ing the forms of their language, than in discovering new ideas to record. This other nation had any system for general is the cause of the complexity, to a great degree, and variety of the forms of their characters. All the strokes in their characters are reduced to eight elementary ones. education. The great stimulus to literary pursuits among the people of China generally is the hope thereby of obtaining office and honor, and the only course of education followed is the classical Every character in Chinese has a and historical one prescribed by law. sound, as much as in alphabetic lan- Every department of letters, except juguages, and some have more than one risprudence, history, and official statisto express their different meanings; so tics, is considered secondary, and the that, although the character was not Chinese literary graduate of four score originally intended to delineate the is ignorant of hundreds of the most sound of the thing it denoted, still the common things pertaining to many sound is the expression of the character.* branches of science. It was about A.Ď. Most of the compound characters are 600 that Taitsung, of the Tang dynasty, syllabic combinations. Nearly seven- instituted the present plan of preparing eighths of all the characters of the lan- and selecting civilians by means of study guage have been formed from less than and degrees; but education has always 2,000 symbols. been highly esteemed by the Chinese, and always exerted a dominant influence on the manners and tastes of the people. Ample provisions have always been made for diffusing learning; and the example set by the Chinese government of rewarding with substantial and elevated and lucrative offices and honors all those who excel most in literary pursuits, might well be imitated by our own more enlightened government. Such, however, is not the disposition of the government of this great republic. The general government of the United States is not, it must be confessed, as much disposed to encourage literature and science as even the despotic governments. Here one is seldom rewarded by offices and honors for his extensive literary and scientific attainments; while, be it said to the shame of our government, nearly all offices and honors are bestowed on either professed office-seekers-and their name is legion-or on men who can command the influence of those in power by their wealth. Men in this country are not selected for office because they are profound scholars and imbued with all the wisdom and sound philosophy of the age. Their learning avails them nothing; but some rich, ignorant aspirant, without even a respectable knowledge of the first principles of a liberal education, can rise to lucrative offices by the power and influence that his wealth alone gives him. The system that our general government has thus far pursued in dispensing offices is one that is any thing but encouraging to literature and literary men. Education is the foundation of our liberties, and literary men ought to be encouraged in an especial manner by the government; but The grammar of the Chinese language is unique. The use of particles supplies the place of inflexions. Neither the characters nor their names undergo any change; whether used as verbs, nouns, adjectives, or particles, they remain the same; number, gender, case, mood, tense and voice, are all indicated by adjuncts. The order of words in a sentence are, the subject, the verb, the complement direct, and the complement indirect; modifying expressions precede; the adjective stands before the substantive, and the substantive before the verb which governs it. The Chinese have many grammatical and philological works, exhibiting how ever an ignorance of the general laws of language. No distinction is made in Chinese in the writing of proper and common names. In most books there is no punctuation or division into sentences and paragraphs. The Chinese ridicule punctuation. The Chinese language has been pronounced to be the most complete and beautiful in the world. It may be beautiful in some respects, but it is certainly a most unwieldy vehicle of thought.† Education in China is extensively encouraged. Among the conservative influences in the Chinese system the general diffusion of education, and respect paid to literary pursuits growing out of the mode of obtaining office by literary pursuits, hold an important place. The importance of educating the people was acknowledged and practised upon in China even before the time of Confucius, B. C., 549, and at an age when no * Williams's China, vol i., p. 481. + Middle Kingdom, vol. i., chapter x. China Open ed, vol. i., p. 391. State Offices based upon Literary Merit-Examinations. 371 such, unfortunately, is not the case. It and thus obtain the approbation of the bestows no honors or rewards for high officers of their native district, they are literary attainments. The poor learned eligible for the lowest literary honors of man stands no chance for office along- the state. For this, the first degree, the side of the ignorant rich one; and this ac- examinations take place twice every counts for the well-known fact, that we three years in every province. The seldom find any office filled by one who scholars, having each a theme given owes his elevation to his literary or them from the "Five Classics," in a scientific attainments. Look over our large hall, are confined in separate boxes, widely extended republic, from Maine to prevent their receiving assistance to California, and say whether those in from others, and every avenue is strictly office are the most intelligent, most guarded by soldiers. The first degree, highly educated, and the best in all res- called Tew-tsae, having been attained, pects that our population could afford. the aspirant has to acquire two other As a general rule the most learned live honors, in the metropolis of his province, and die in comparative obscurity; while and he is then placed on the books as the médiocre are the ones elevated to eligible for employment, corresponding power and honor. to his advancement. To procure the This grave fault is not peculiar to the highest state offices, an examination general government, which has so many before the National College is necessary; offices to dispose of, but it is a character- but the very pinnacle is only arrived at,. istic fault of the masses, who are for the by being examined by the emperor himmost part swayed by demagogism, and self. Every literary honor confers the the money-making influences of the day. title of mandarin,* and each degree is Look into our city offices, our legislatures, distinguished by a difference of the dress, our national congress, and see if you can which is, in some instances, very splenfind there our most learned, our wisest, did. The examinations are very rigid, and our best citizens. They are not and only a small number out of a vast there; and yet they should be. Where crowd gain honors. The examination. are they? Left at home, because dema- for the third degree takes place at gogism and wealth have more influence Peking, and the traveling expenses of over the voting masses than profound the candidates are sometimes paid by learning, the highest literary and scien- government. The successful candidates tific attainments, and the many shining are all presented to the emperor, who but modest virtues consequent on high education. bestows rewards upon the three highest. The fourth and highest degree is rather an office than a degree; for, those who attain it are enrolled as members of the Imperial Academy, and receive salaries.. The examination is held in the emperor's palace, in the presence of the highest personages of the empire. In China all state employments are given by competition, as school and college prizes, to the best scholars. Mr. McCulloch very truly observes, that "it is honorable to the Chinese, that for viceroys, magistrates, and other stateofficers, merit alone is the qualification; The system of education in China is the son of the poorest peasant may, by like almost everything else there, extalent and application to learning, rise ceedingly defective; but great good is to the highest employments." Schools nevertheless the result; and the regard for youth are abundant in every part of and material encouragement held out. the empire; and education is so general, by the government to all scholars, is and its cost so reasonable, that reading truly praiseworthy and deserving of and writing, in China, may be almost imitation. said to be universal. The schools established all over the empire are superintended by various officers, appointed by government. In every district there is a literary chancellor; but early aspirants are examined by superintendents, who make the circuit of their district twice a year for that purpose. The pupils they approve of repair to the chief, and should they pass that ordeal, Female education in China is less encouraged, but it is nevertheless favorably regarded, and not altogether neglected. Literary attainments are considered creditable to a woman, and the names of female authors, mentioned in Chinese annals, would make a long list. Yuen Yuen, the governor-general of From the Portuguese and Spanish mandar, to command. 1 |