Ten Great Religions by James Freeman Clarke

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Father Hue, in his "Christianity in China," says that "the Europeans who
penetrated into China were no less struck with the libraries of the
Chinese than with their artillery. They were astonished at the sight of
the elegant books printed rapidly upon a pliant, silky paper by means of
wooden blocks. The first edition of the classical works printed in China
appeared in 958, five hundred years before the invention of Gutenberg. The
missionaries had, doubtless, often been busied in their convents with the
laborious work of copying manuscript books, and the simple Chinese method
of printing must have particularly attracted their attention. Many other
marvellous productions were noticed, such as silk, porcelain,
playing-cards, spectacles, and other products of art and industry unknown
in Europe. They brought back these new ideas to Europe; 'and from that
time,' says Abel Remusat, 'the West began to hold in due esteem the most
beautiful, the most populous, and the most anciently civilized of all the
four quarters of the world. The arts, the religious faith, and the
languages of its people were studied, and it was even proposed to
establish a professorship for the Tartar language in the University of
Paris. The world seemed to open towards the East; geography made immense
strides, and ardor for discovery opened a new vent for the adventurous
spirit of the Europeans. As our own hemisphere became better known, the
idea of another ceased to appear a wholly improbable paradox; and in
seeking the Zipangon of Marco Polo, Christopher Columbus discovered the
New World.'"

The first aspect of China produces that impression on the mind which we
call the grotesque. This is merely because the customs of this singular
nation are so opposite to our own. They seem morally, no less than
physically, our antipodes. Their habits are as opposite to ours as the
direction of their bodies. We stand feet to feet in everything. In boxing
the compass they say "westnorth" instead of northwest, "eastsouth" instead
of southeast, and their compass-needle points south instead of north.
Their soldiers wear quilted petticoats, satin boots, and bead necklaces,
carry umbrellas and fans, and go to a night attack with lanterns in their
hands, being more afraid of the dark than of exposing themselves to the
enemy. The people are very fond of fireworks, but prefer to have them in
the daytime. Ladies' ride in wheelbarrows, and cows are driven in
carriages. While in Europe the feet are put in the stocks, in China the
stocks are hung round the neck. In China the family name comes first, and
the personal name afterward. Instead of saying Benjamin Franklin or Walter
Scott they would say Franklin Benjamin, Scott Walter. Thus the Chinese
name of Confucius, Kung-fu-tsee, means the Holy Master Kung;--Kung is the
family name. In the recent wars with the English the mandarins or soldiers
would sometimes run away, and then commit suicide to avoid punishment. In
getting on a horse, the Chinese mount on the right side. Their old men fly
kites, while the little boys look on. The left hand is the seat of honor,
and to keep on your hat is a sign of respect. Visiting cards are painted
red, and are four feet long. In the opinion of the Chinese, the seat of
the understanding is the stomach. They have villages which contain a
million of inhabitants. Their boats are drawn by men, but their carriages
are moved by sails. A married woman while young and pretty is a slave, but
when she becomes old and withered is the most powerful, respected, and
beloved person in the family. The emperor is regarded with the most
profound reverence, but the empress mother is a greater person than he.
When a man furnishes his house, instead of laying stress, as we do, on
rosewood pianos and carved mahogany, his first ambition is for a handsome
camphor-wood coffin, which he keeps in the best place in his room. The
interest of money is thirty-six per cent, which, to be sure, we also give
in hard times to stave off a stoppage, while with them it is the legal
rate. We once heard a bad dinner described thus: "The meat was cold, the
wine was hot, and everything was sour but the vinegar." This would not so
much displease the Chinese, who carefully warm their wine, while we ice
ours. They understand good living, however, very well, are great epicures,
and somewhat gourmands, for, after dining on thirty dishes, they will
sometimes eat a duck by way of a finish. They toss their meat into their
mouths to a tune, every man keeping time with his chop-sticks, while we,
on the contrary, make anything but harmony with the clatter of our knives
and forks. A Chinaman will not drink a drop of milk, but he will devour
birds'-nests, snails, and the fins of sharks with a great relish. Our
mourning color is black and theirs is white; they mourn for their parents
three years, we a much shorter time. The principal room in their houses is
called "the hall of ancestors," the pictures or tablets of whom, set up
against the wall, are worshipped by them; we, on the other hand, are only
too apt to send our grandfather's portrait to the garret.[10]

Sec. 2. Chinese Government based on Education. Civil-Service Examinations.

Such are a few of the external differences between the Chinese customs and
ours. But the most essential peculiarity of this nation is the high value
which they attribute to knowledge, and the distinctions and rewards which
they bestow on scholarship. All the civil offices in the Empire are given
as rewards of literary merit. The government, indeed, is called a complete
despotism, and the emperor is said to have absolute authority. He is not
bound by any written constitution, indeed; but the public opinion of the
land holds him, nevertheless, to a strict responsibility. He, no less than
his people, is bound by a law higher than that of any private will,--the
authority of custom. For, in China, more than anywhere else, "what is gray
with age becomes religion." The authority of the emperor is simply
authority to govern according to the ancient usages of the country, and
whenever these are persistently violated, a revolution takes place and the
dynasty is changed. But a revolution in China changes nothing but the
person of the monarch; the unwritten constitution of old usages remains in
full force. "A principle as old as the monarchy," says Du Halde, "is this,
that the state is a large family, and the emperor is in the place of both
father and mother. He must govern his people with affection and goodness;
he must attend to the smallest matters which concern their happiness. When
he is not supposed to have this sentiment, he soon loses his hold on the
reverence of the people, and his throne becomes insecure." The emperor,
therefore, is always studying how to preserve this reputation. When a
province is afflicted by famine, inundation, or any other calamity, he
shuts himself in his palace, fasts, and publishes decrees to relieve it of
taxes and afford it aid.

The true power of the government is in the literary class. The government,
though nominally a monarchy, is really an aristocracy. But it is not an
aristocracy of birth, like that of England, for the humblest man's son can
obtain a place in it; neither is it an aristocracy of wealth, like ours
in the United States, nor a military aristocracy, like that of Russia, nor
an aristocracy of priests, like that of ancient Egypt, and of some modern
countries,--as, for instance, that of Paraguay under the Jesuits, or that
of the Sandwich Islands under the Protestant missionaries; but it is a
literary aristocracy.

The civil officers in China are called mandarins. They are chosen from the
three degrees of learned men, who may be called the bachelors,
licentiates, and doctors. All persons may be candidates for the first
degree, except three excluded classes,--boatmen, barbers, and actors. The
candidates are examined by the governors of their own towns. Of those
approved, a few are selected after another examination. These again are
examined by an officer who makes a circuit once in three years for that
purpose. They are placed alone in little rooms or closets, with pencils,
ink, and paper, and a subject is given them to write upon. Out of some
four hundred candidates fifteen may be selected, who receive the lowest
degree. There is another triennial examination for the second degree, at
which a small number of the bachelors are promoted. The examination for
the highest degree, that of doctor, is held at Pekin only, when some three
hundred are taken out of five thousand. These are capable of receiving the
highest offices. Whenever a vacancy occurs, one of those who have received
a degree is taken by lot from the few senior names. But a few years since,
there were five thousand of the highest rank, and twenty-seven thousand of
the second rank, who had not received employment.

The subjects upon which the candidates are examined, and the methods of
these examinations, are thus described in the Shanghae Almanac (1852).[11]

The examinations for the degree of Keujin (or licentiate) takes place at
the principal city of each province once in three years. The average
number of bachelors in the large province of Keang-Nan (which contains
seventy millions of inhabitants) is twenty thousand, out of whom only
about two hundred succeed. Sixty-five mandarins are deputed for this
examination, besides subordinate officials. The two chief examiners are
sent from Pekin. When the candidates enter the examination hall they are
searched for books or manuscripts, which might assist them in writing
their essays. This precaution is not superfluous, for many plans have been
invented to enable mediocre people to pass. Sometimes a thin book, printed
on very small type from copperplates, is slipped into a hole in the sole
of the shoe. But persons detected in such practices are ruined for life.
In a list of one hundred and forty-four successful candidates, in 1851,
thirteen were over forty years of age, and one under fourteen years; seven
were under twenty; and all, to succeed, must have known by heart the whole
of the Sacred Books, besides being well read in history.

Three sets of themes are given, each occupying two days and a night, and
until that time is expired no one is allowed to leave his apartment, which
is scarcely large enough to sleep in. The essays must not contain more
than seven hundred characters, and no erasure or correction is allowed. On
the first days the themes are taken from the Four Books; on the next, from
the older classics; on the last, miscellaneous questions are given. The
themes are such as these: "Choo-tsze, in commenting on the Shoo-King, made
use of four authors, who sometimes say too much, at other times too
little; sometimes their explanations are forced, at other times too
ornamental. What have you to observe on them?" "Chinshow had great
abilities for historic writing. In his Three Kingdoms he has depreciated
Choo-ko-leang, and made very light of E and E, two other celebrated
characters. What is it that he says of them?"

These public-service examinations are conducted with the greatest
impartiality. They were established about a thousand years ago, and have
been gradually improved during the intervening time. They form the basis
of the whole system of Chinese government. They make a good education
universally desirable, as the poorest man may see his son thus advanced to
the highest position. All of the hundreds of thousands who prepare to
compete are obliged to know the whole system of Confucius, to commit to
memory all his moral doctrines, and to become familiar with all the
traditional wisdom of the land. Thus a public opinion in favor of existing
institutions and the fundamental ideas of Chinese government is
continually created anew.

What an immense advantage it would be to our own country if we should
adopt this institution of China! Instead of making offices the prize of
impudence, political management, and party services, let them be competed
for by all who consider themselves qualified. Let all offices now given by
appointment be hereafter bestowed on those who show themselves best
qualified to perform the duties. Each class of offices would of course
require a different kind of examination. For some, physical culture as
well as mental might be required. Persons who wished diplomatic situations
should be prepared in a knowledge of foreign languages as well as of
international law. All should be examined on the Constitution and history
of the United States. Candidates for the Post-Office Department should be
good copyists, quick at arithmetic, and acquainted with book-keeping. It
is true that we cannot by an examination obtain a certain knowledge of
moral qualities; but industry, accuracy, fidelity in work would certainly
show themselves. A change from the present corrupt and corrupting system
of appointments to that of competitive examinations would do more just now
for our country than any other measure of reconstruction which can be
proposed. The permanence of Chinese institutions is believed, by those who
know best, to result from the influence of the literary class. Literature
is naturally conservative; the tone of the literature studied is eminently
conservative; and the most intelligent men in the empire are personally
interested in the continuance of the institutions under which they hope to
attain position and fortune.

The highest civil offices are seats at the great tribunals or boards, and
the positions of viceroys, or governors, of the eighteen provinces.

The boards are:--

Ly Pou, Board of Appointment of Mandarins.
Hou Pou, Board of Finance.
Lee Pou, Board of Ceremonies.
Ping Pou, Board of War.
Hing Pou, Board of Criminal Justice.
Kong Pou, Board of Works,--canals, bridges, &c.

The members of these boards, with their councillors and subordinates,
amount to twelve hundred officers. Then there is the Board of Doctors of
the Han Lin College, who have charge of the archives, history of the
empire, &c.; and the Board of Censors, who are the highest mandarins, and
have a peculiar office. Their duty is to stand between the people and the
mandarins, and between the people and the emperor, and even rebuke the
latter if they find him doing wrong. This is rather a perilous duty, but
it is often faithfully performed. A censor, who went to tell the emperor
of some faults, took his coffin with him, and left it at the door of the
palace. Two censors remonstrated with a late emperor on the expenses of
his palace, specifying the sums uselessly lavished for perfumes and
flowers for his concubines, and stating that a million of taels of silver
might be saved for the poor by reducing these expenses. Sung, the
commissioner who attended Lord Macartney, remonstrated with the Emperor
Kiaking on his attachment to play-actors and strong drink, which degraded
him in the eyes of the people. The emperor, highly irritated, asked him
what punishment he deserved for his insolence. "Quartering," said Sung.
"Choose another," said the emperor. "Let me be beheaded." "Choose again,"
said the emperor; and Sung asked to be strangled. The next day the emperor
appointed him governor of a distant province,--afraid to punish him for
the faithful discharge of his duty, but glad to have him at a distance.
Many such anecdotes are related, showing that there is some moral courage
in China.

The governor of a province, or viceroy, has great power. He also is chosen
from among the mandarins in the way described. The only limitations of his
power are these: he is bound to make a full report every three years of
the affairs of the province, _and give in it an account of his own
faults,_ and if he omits any, and they are discovered in other ways, he is
punished by degradation, bambooing, or death. It is the right of any
subject, however humble, to complain to the emperor himself against any
officer, however high; and for this purpose a large drum is placed at one
of the palace gates. Whoever strikes it has his case examined under the
emperor's eye, and if he has been wronged, his wrongs are redressed, but
if he has complained unnecessarily, he is severely punished. Imperial
visitors, sent by the Board of Censors, may suddenly arrive at any time to
examine the concerns of a province; and a governor or other public officer
who is caught tripping is immediately reported and punished.

Thus the political institutions of China are built on literature.
Knowledge is the road to power and wealth. All the talent and knowledge of
the nation are interested in the support of institutions which give to
them either power or the hope of it. And these institutions work well. The
machinery is simple, but it produces a vast amount of happiness and
domestic virtue. While in most parts of Asia the people are oppressed by
petty tyrants, and ground down by taxes,--while they have no motive to
improve their condition, since every advance will only expose them to
greater extortion,--the people of China are industrious and happy. In no
part of the world has agriculture been carried to such perfection. Every
piece of ground in the cultivated parts of the empire, except those
portions devoted to ancestral monuments, is made to yield two or three
crops annually, by the careful tillage bestowed on it. The ceremony of
opening the soil at the beginning of the year, at which the emperor
officiates, originated two thousand years ago. Farms are small,--of one or
two acres,--and each family raises on its farm all that it consumes. Silk
and cotton are cultivated and manufactured in families, each man spinning,
weaving, and dyeing his own web. In the manufacture of porcelain, on the
contrary, the division of labor is carried very far. The best is made at
the village of Kiangsee, which contains a million of inhabitants. Seventy
hands are sometimes employed on a single cup. The Chinese are very
skilful in working horn and ivory. Large lanterns are made of horn,
transparent and without a flaw. At Birmingham men have tried with machines
to cut ivory in the same manner as the Chinese, and have failed.

Sec. 3. Life and Character of Confucius.

Of this nation the great teacher for twenty-three centuries has been
Confucius. He was born 551 B.C., and was contemporary with the Tarquins,
Pythagoras, and Cyrus. About his time occurred the return of the Jews from
Babylon and the invasion of Greece by Xerxes. His descendants have always
enjoyed high privileges, and there are now some forty thousand of them in
China, seventy generations and more removed from their great ancestor. His
is the oldest family in the world, unless we consider the Jews as a single
family descended from Abraham. His influence, through his writings, on the
minds of so many millions of human beings is greater than that of any man
who ever lived, excepting the writers of the Bible; and in saying this we
do not forget the names of Mohammed, Aristotle, St. Augustine, and Luther.
So far as we can see, it is the influence of Confucius which has
maintained, though probably not originated, in China, that profound
reverence for parents, that strong family affection, that love of order,
that regard for knowledge and deference for literary men, which are
fundamental principles underlying all the Chinese institutions. His minute
and practical system of morals, studied as it is by all the learned, and
constituting the sum of knowledge and the principle of government in
China, has exerted and exerts an influence on that innumerable people
which it is impossible to estimate, but which makes us admire the power
which can emanate from a single soul.

To exert such an influence requires greatness. If the tree is to be known
by its fruits, Confucius must have been one of the master minds of our
race. The supposition that a man of low morals or small intellect, an
impostor or an enthusiast, could influence the world, is a theory which
is an insult to human nature. The time for such theories has happily gone
by. We now know that nothing can come of nothing,--that a fire of straw
may make a bright blaze, but must necessarily soon go out. A light which
illuminates centuries must be more than an ignis fatuus. Accordingly we
should approach Confucius with respect, and expect to find something good
and wise in his writings. It is only a loving spirit which will enable us
to penetrate the difficulties which surround the study, and to apprehend
something of the true genius of the man and his teachings. As there is no
immediate danger of becoming his followers, we can see no objections to
such a course, which also appears to be a species of mental hospitality,
eminently in accordance with the spirit of our own Master.

Confucius belongs to that small company of select ones whose lives have
been devoted to the moral elevation of their fellow-men. Among them he
stands high, for he sought to implant the purest principles of religion
and morals in the character of the whole people, and succeeded in doing
it. To show that this was his purpose it will be necessary to give a brief
sketch of his life.

His ancestors were eminent statesmen and soldiers in the small country of
Loo, then an independent kingdom, now a Chinese province. The year of his
birth was that in which Cyrus became king of Persia. His father, one of
the highest officers of the kingdom, and a brave soldier, died when
Confucius was three years old. He was a studious boy, and when fifteen
years old had studied the five sacred books called Kings. He was married
at the age of nineteen, and had only one son by his only wife. This son
died before Confucius, leaving as his posterity a single grandchild, from
whom the great multitudes of his descendants now in China were derived.
This grandson was second only to Confucius in wisdom, and was the teacher
of the illustrious Mencius.

The first part of the life of Confucius was spent in attempting to reform
the abuses of society by means of the official stations which he held, by
his influence with princes, and by travelling and intercourse with men.
The second period was that in which he was recalled from his travels to
become a minister in his native country, the kingdom of Loo. Here he
applied his theories of government, and tested their practicability. He
was then fifty years old. His success was soon apparent in the growing
prosperity of the whole people. Instead of the tyranny which before
prevailed, they were now ruled according to his idea of good
government,--that of the father of a family. Confidence was restored to
the public mind, and all good influences followed. But the tree was not
yet deeply enough rooted to resist accidents, and all his wise
arrangements were suddenly overthrown by the caprice of the monarch, who,
tired of the austere virtue of Confucius, suddenly plunged into a career
of dissipation. Confucius resigned his office, and again became a
wanderer, but now with a new motive. He had before travelled to learn, now
he travelled to teach. He collected disciples around him, and, no longer
seeking to gain the ear of princes, he diffused his ideas among the common
people by means of his disciples, whom he sent out everywhere to
communicate his doctrines. So, amid many vicissitudes of outward fortune,
he lived till he was seventy-three years old. In the last years of his
life he occupied himself in publishing his works, and in editing the
Sacred Books. His disciples had become very numerous, historians
estimating them at three thousand, of whom five hundred had attained to
official station, seventy-two had penetrated deeply into his system, and
ten, of the highest class of mind and character, were continually near his
person. Of these Hwuy was especially valued by him, as having early
attained superior virtue. He frequently referred to him in his
conversations. "I saw him continually advance," said he, "but I never saw
him stop in the path of knowledge." Again he says: "The wisest of my
disciples, having one idea, understands two. Hwuy, having one understands
ten." One of the select ten disciples, Tszee-loo, was rash and impetuous
like the Apostle Peter. Another, Tszee-Kung, was loving and tender like
the Apostle John; he built a house near the grave of Confucius, wherein to
mourn for him after his death.

The last years of the life of Confucius were devoted to editing the
Sacred Books, or Kings. As we now have them they come from him. Authentic
records of Chinese history extend back to 2357 B.C., while the Chinese
philosophy originated with Fuh-he, who lived about 3327 B.C. He it was who
substituted writing for the knotted strings which before formed the only
means of record. He was also the author of the Eight Diagrams,--each
consisting of three lines, half of which are whole and half broken in
two,--which by their various combinations are supposed to represent the
active and passive principles of the universe in all their essential
forms. Confucius edited the Yih-King, the Shoo-King, the She-King, and the
Le-Ke, which constitute the whole of the ancient literature of China which
has come down to posterity.[1] The Four Books, which contain the doctrines
of Confucius, and of his school, were not written by himself, but composed
by others after his death.