Chapter 62

[241]Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., p. 59.[242]Embassy to China, Vol. III., p. 26.[243]Chinese Repository, Vol. III., p. 241.[244]Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., pp. 61-66.[245]Compare Dr. Bowring inN. C. Br. R. A. Soc. Journal, Part III., Art. VII. (Dec., 1852).[246]Chinese Repository, passim. Oliphant,Lord Elgin’s Mission to China and Japan, Chap. XVII. Minister Reed, inU. S. Dip. Correspondence, 1857-58.[247]The Chinese have a great affection for the place of their nativity, and consider a residence in any other province like being in a foreign settlement. They always wish to return thither in life, or have their remains carried and interred there after death.[248]A district in the province of Kwangsí.[249]Kiuh Kiang was an ancient minister of state during the Tang dynasty. His imperial master would not listen to his advice and he therefore retired. Rebellion and calamities arose. The Emperor thought of his faithful servant and sent for him; but he was already dead.[250]Governor Loo.[251]In permitting Chu to retire from public life.[252]Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., p. 71.[253]Annales de la Foi, No. 6, 1823, pp. 21-24.[254]Chinese Repository, Vol. I., p. 236.[255]Easy Lessons in Chinese, pp. 223-227. The effect of these instructions relating to grasshoppers does not appear to have equalled the zeal of the officers composing them; swarms of locusts, however, are in general neither numerous nor devastating in China.[256]A new History of China, containing a description of the most considerable particulars of that Empire, written byGabriel Magaillans,of the Society of Jesus, Missionary Apostolick. Done out of French.London, 1688, p. 249.[257]Compare theChinese Repository, Vol. XVIII., p. 207.[258]Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., p. 218.[259]Compare Doolittle,Social Life of the Chinese, Vol. I., p. 330.[260]Heeren,Asiatic Nations, Vol. II., p. 259. Raffles,Java, Vol. II. App. Biot,L’Instruction publique, pp. 59, 200.[261]Chinese Repository, Vol. XI., p. 630.[262]Compare Dr. Milne, inTransactions R. A. S. of Gr. Brit. and Irel., Vol. I., p. 240 (1825).Journal of the R. A. S., Vol. I., p. 93, and Vol. VI., p. 120.Chinese Repository, Vol. XVIII., pp. 280-295. A. Wylie, in theShanghai Almanac for 1854.Notes and Queries on C. and J., Vol. III., p. 55. T. T. Meadows,The Chinese and their Rebellions, London, 1856. Gustave Schlegel,Thian Ti Hwui, the Hung-League or Heaven-Earth-League. A Secret Society with the Chinese in China and India, Batavia, 1866.[263]Missionary Chronicle, Vol. XIV., p. 140. Smith’sChina, p. 250.[264]For cases of this sort in Cambodia, Rémusat makes mention of a variety of ordeals which curiously resemble those resorted to on the continent of Europe during the Middle Ages.Nouveaux Mélanges, Tome I., p. 126.[265]Heeren informs us that a similar insignia was used in Persia in early days.[266]W. C. Milne,Life in China, London, 1857, p. 99.[267]Dr. H. M. Field,From Egypt to Japan, Chap. XXIV., passim. New York, 1877.Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., pp. 214, 260.[268]Persons who commit suicide also dress themselves in their best, the common notion being that in the next world they will wear the same garments in which they died.[269]Compare Du Halde,Description de l’Empire de la Chine, Tome II., pp. 365-384; A. Wylie,Notes, p. 68;Chinese Repository, Vols. V., p. 81, and VI., pp. 185, 393, and 562;China Review, Vol. VI., pp. 120, 195, 253, 328, etc.;New Englander, May, 1878.[270]Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., pp. 83-87, 306-316.[271]Morrison’sChinese Dictionary, Vol. I., Part I., pp. 749-758.[272]This custom obtains also in Bokhara.[273]Compare Dr. Morrison in theHoræ Sinicæ, pp. 122-146; B. Jenkins,The Three-Character Classic, romanized according to the Shanghai dialect, Shanghai, 1860. The Classic has also been translated into Latin, French, German, Russian, and Portuguese. For the Trimetrical Classic of the Tai-ping régime see a version in theNorth China Herald, No. 147, May 21, 1853, by Dr. Medhurst; also a translation by Rev. S. C. Malan, of Balliol College, Oxford. London, 1856.[274]E. C. Bridgman in theChinese Repository, Vol. IV., p. 152.Livre de Cent familles, Perny,Dict., App., No. XIV., pp. 156 ff.[275]Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., p. 229.[276]CompareDas Tsiän dsü wen, oder Buch von Tausend Wörtern, aus dem Schinesischen, mit Berücksichtigung der Koraischen und Japanischen Uebersetzung, ins Deutsche übertragen, Ph. Fr. de Siebold,Nippon, Abh. IV., pp. 165-191; B. Jenkins,The Thousand-Character Classic, romanized, etc. Shanghai, 1860;Thsien-Tseu-Wen,Le Livre des Mille Mots, etc., par Stanislas Julien (with Chinese text), Paris, 1864;China Review, Vol. II., pp. 182 ff.[277]Chinese Repository, Vol. X., p. 614.[278]Compare Père Cibot inMémoires concernant les Chinois, Tome IV., pp. 1 ff.; Dr. Legge,The Sacred Books of China, Part I.The Shû-king, Religious Portions of the Shih-king, the Hsiâo-king, Oxford, 1879;Asiatic Journal, Vol. XXIX., pp. 302 ff., 1839.[279]Chinese Repository, Vol. VI., p. 131.[280]Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., p. 414. See also Vol. VI., pp. 229-241; Vol. IV., pp. 1-10; Vol. XI., pp. 545-557; and Vol. XIII., pp. 626-641, for further notices of the modes and objects of education; Biot,Essai sur l’Histoire de l’Instruction Publique en Chine, and his translation of theChao-lí, Vol. II., p. 27, Paris, 1851.Chinese Recorder, September, 1871.[281]Chinese Repository, Vol. II., p. 249; Vol. XVI., pp. 67-72. Doolittle,Social Life of the Chinese, Vol. I., pp. 376-443. Dr. Martin,The Chinese.[282]The Chinese, p. 50.[283]Biot,Essai sur l’Instruction en Chine, p. 603.[284]Chinese Repository, Vol. IX., p. 541; Vol. III., p. 118.[285]See Morrison’sChinese Dictionary, Vol. I., Part I., pp. 759-779, for the laws and usages of the several trials. Also Doolittle’sSocial Life, Vol. I., Chaps. XV., XVI., and XVII.; Biot,Essai sur l’Histoire de l’Instruction Publique en Chine; W. A. P. Martin,The Chinese, pp. 39 ff.;Journal Asiatique, Tomes III., pp. 257 and 321, IV., p. 3, and VII. (3d Series, 1839), pp. 32-81;Journal Asiatic Soc. Bengal, Vol. XXVIII., No. 1, 1859;Journal N. C. Br. B. As. Soc., New Series, Vol. VI., pp. 129 ff.;China Review, Vol. II., p. 309.[286]Ellis,Embassy to China, p. 87;Chinese Repository, Vol. XVI., p. 62; Vol. IV., p. 125.[287]Davis,Sketches, Vol. I., pp. 99, 101.[288]Archdeacon Gray,China, Vol. I., p. 167.[289]Chinese Repository, Vol. IX., p. 542.[290]Professor H. A. Sayce, of Oxford, in reference to a suggested possible connection between the Chinese and primitive Accadian population of Chaldea, says in a letter to the LondonTimes: “I would mention one fact which may certainly be considered to favor it. The cuneiform characters of Babylonia and Assyria are, as is well known, degenerated hieroglyphics, like the modern Chinese characters. The original hieroglyphics were invented by the Accadians before they descended into Babylonia from the mountains of Elam, and I have long been convinced that they were originally written in vertical columns. In no other way can I explain the fact that most of the pictures to which the cuneiform characters can be traced back stand upon their sides. There is evidence to show that the inventors of the hieroglyphics used papyrus, or some similar vegetable substance, for writing purposes before the alluvial plain of Babylonia furnished them with clay, and the use of such a writing material will easily account for the vertical direction in which the characters were made to run.”[291]Biot has a brief note upon the methods employed by native scholars for studying pronunciation.Essai sur l’instruction en Chine, p. 597.[292]Easy Lessons in Chinese, pp. 3-29;Chinese Repository, Vol. III., pp. 1-37.[293]One may gain some idea of this difficulty by referring to the geographical names contained in the Russo-Chinese Treaty, quoted on page215.[294]The writer has an edition of theThousand Character Classic, containing each couplet of eight words in a different form of character, making one hundred and twenty-five styles of type—too grotesque to be imitated, and probably never actually in use.[295]See page193. In order that the Manchu portion of this famous poem might not appear inferior to the Chinese, the Emperor ordered thirty-two varieties of Manchu characters to beinventedand published in like manner with the others. Rémusat,Mélanges, Tome II., p. 59. Père Amiot,Éloge de la Ville de Moukden. Trad. en françois.Paris, 1770.[296]Chinese Chrestomathy, Chap. I., Secs. 5 and 6, where the rules for writing Chinese are given in full with numerous examples;Easy Lessons in Chinese, p. 59;Chinese Repository, Vol. III., p. 37.[297]Journal Asiatic Soc. Bengal, Vol. III. (Sept., 1834), p. 477. S. Julien in theRevue de l’Orient et de l’Algerie, XX., p. 74, 1856.[298]Chinese Repository, Vol. III., pp. 246-252, 528; Vol. XIV., p. 124;Missionary Recorder, January, 1875.[299]Chinese as They Are, Chap. XXXIV.[300]Chinese Repository, Vol. VIII., p. 347.[301]Many aids in learning the general language and all the leading dialects have been prepared in English, French, German, and Portuguese, but several of the early ones, as Morrison, Gonçalves, Medhurst, and Bridgman, are already out of print. The names of all of these may be found most easily in the first volume of M. Cordier’s exhaustiveDictionnaire Bibliographique des ouvrages relatifs à l’Empire chinois, pp. 725-804. Paris, 1881.[302]The Sacred Books of China. The Texts of Confucianism.Translated by James Legge. Part II.The Yî King.Oxford, 1882.[303]Some fourteen hundred and fifty treatises on theYih—consisting of memoirs, digests, expositions, etc.—are enumerated in the Catalogue. The foreign literature upon it has heretofore been scant. The only other translations of the classicin extenso, besides Dr. Legge’s, already quoted, are theY-King;Antiquissimus Sinarum liber quem ex latina interpretatione; P. Regis,aliorumque ex Soc. Jesu P. P.,ediditJulius Mohl, 2 vols., Stuttgart, 1834-39; andA Translation of the Confucian Yih King, or the Classic of Change, by the Rev. Canon McClatchie, Shanghai, 1876 (with Chinese text). Compare furtherNotice du livre chinois nommé Y-king, avec des notes,parM. Claude Visdelou, contained in Père Gaubil’sChou king, Paris, 1843;Die verbogenen Alterthümer der Chineser aus dem uralten Buche Yeking untersuchet,vonM. Joh. Heinrich Schuhmacher, Wolfenbüttel, 1763; Joseph Haas, inNotes and Queries on China and Japan, Vol. III., 1869;China Review, Vols. I., p. 151; IV., p. 257; and V., p. 132.[304]Several translations have been made by missionaries. One by P. Gaubil was edited by De Guignes in 1770; a second by Rev. W. H. Medhurst, in 1846; but the most complete by J. Legge, D.D., in 1865, with its notes and text, has brought thisRecordbetter than ever before to the knowledge of western scholars.[305]Legge,The Chinese Classics, Vol. III.Shoo King, p. 59.[306]Chinese Repository, Vol. VIII., p. 385; Vol. IX., p. 573.Le Chou-king, un des Livres Sacrés des Chinois, qui renferme les Fondements de leur ancienne Histoire, etc. Traduit par Feu le P. Gaubil. Paris, 1770, in-4.La Morale du Chou-king ou le Livre Sacré de la Chine.(The same), Paris, 1851.Ancient China. The Shoo King, or the Historical Classic: being the most ancient authentic Record of the Annals of the Chinese Empire, translated by W. H. Medhurst, Sen., Shanghae, 1846.Nouveau Journal Asiatique, Tomes V. (1830), p. 401; VI., p. 401, and XIV. (1842), p. 152.China Review, Vol. IV., p. 13. Dr. Legge’s translation has recently (1879) appeared, without the Chinese text, in Max Müller’s series ofSacred Books of the East, Vol. III. Richthofen,China, Bd. I., pp. 277-365, an exhaustive treatise on the early geography of China, with valuable historical maps.[307]Dr. Legge,The She King, translated into English verse, p. 70. London, 1876.[308]Ib., p. 83.[309]Id.,The She King, p. 222.[310]Id.,The She King, p. 347.[311]A recent German translation of these odes has combined, with much accuracy and a smooth versification, the peculiar adaptability of that tongue to the reproduction (in some degree) of sounds so foreign to the language as Chinese.Shí King. Das kanonische Liederbuch der Chinesen.Uebersetzt vonVictor von Strauss. Heidelberg, 1880.[312]The Chinese Classics, Vol. IV., pp. 172-180. Hongkong, 1871.[313]CompareConfucii Chi-king sive Liber Carminum, ex latinaP. Lacharmeinterpretatione ediditJ. Mohl, Stuttgart, 1830;Essai sur le Chi-king, et sur l’ancienne poésie chinoise,parM. Brosset jeune, Paris, 1828;Bibliothèque orientale, Vol. II., p. 247 (1872).Chi-king, ou Livre des Vers, Traduction de M. G. Pauthier;China Review, Vol. VI., pp. 1 ff. and 166 ff.Journal N. C. Br. R. As. Soc., Vol. XII., pp. 97 ff.[314]Li-ki ou Mémorial des Rites,traduit pour la première fois du chinois, et accompagné de notes, de commentaires et du texte original, parJ. M. Callery. Turin et Paris, 1853.[315]Le Tcheou-Li ou Rites des Tcheou,traduit pour la première fois du chinois, parFeu Édouard Biot. 2 Tomes. Paris, 1851.[316]Chinese Repository, Vol. V., pp. 306-312.[317]This somewhat fanciful explanation of the title is from the Han commentators. Dr. Legge (Classics, Vol. V., Prolegomena, p. 7) observes that “not even in the work do we find such ‘censures’ and ‘commendations;’ and much less are they trumpeted in the title of it.” His interpretation that Spring and Autumn are put by synechdoche for all four seasons,i.e., the entire record of the year, appears to be a more natural account. The same writer declares that “the whole book is a collection of riddles, to which there are as many answers as there are guessers.” The interesting chapters of hisprolegomenato this translation, and his judicious criticisms on these early records, should tempt all sinologues to read them throughout.[318]The same writer adds, in summing up the merits of theTso Chuen: “It is, in my opinion, the most precious literary treasure which has come down to posterity from the Chow dynasty.”—Classics, Vol. V., Proleg., p. 35.[319]To this the Kung Yang commentator adds: “This he said in joke.”[320]CompareTchun Tsieou, Le Printemps & l’Automne, ou Annales de la Principauté de Lou, depuis 722 jusqu’ en 481, etc.Traduites en françois, parLe Roux Deshauterayes. 1750. Dr. E. Bretschneider, in theChinese Recorder, Vol. IV., pp. 51-52, 1871.[321]Collie’sFour Books, pp. 6-10.[322]Ib., p. 28.[323]The Works of Confucius; containing the original text, with a Translation, by J. Marshman. Vol. I. Serampore, 1807.[324]Chinese Repository, Vol. XI., p. 421. Pauthier,La Chine, Paris, 1839, pp. 121-184.[325]Compare Dr. Legge’sReligions of China; Prof. R. K. Douglas,Confucianism and Taouism, London, 1879; S. Johnson,Oriental Religions: China, Boston, 1877;A Systematical Digest of the Doctrines of Confucius, according to the Analects, Great Learning, and Doctrine of the Mean, etc., by Ernst Faber. Translated from the German by Möllendorff, Hongkong, 1875;Histoire de Confucius, par J. Sénamaud, Bordeaux et Paris, 1878.[326]It may here be remarked that the termstsz’orfu-tsz’do not properly form a part of the name, but are titles, meaningrabbioreminent teacher, and are added to the surnames of some of the most distinguished writers, by way of peculiar distinction; and in the words Mencius and Confucius have been Latinized with Măng and Kung, names of the persons themselves, into one word. The names of other distinguished scholars, as Chu fu-tsz’, Ching fu-tsz’, etc., have not undergone this change into Chufucius, Chingfucius; but usage has now brought the compellation for these two men into universal use as a distinctive title, somewhat like the termvenerableapplied to Bede.[327]Rémusat,Nouveaux Mélanges, Tome II., pp. 115-129.[328]Chinese Classics, Vol II. Hongkong, 1862.[329]Compare Rémusat,Nouveaux Mélanges, Tome II., pp. 130 ff., where there are excellent biographical notices of Sz’ma Tsien and other native historians.[330]Chinese Repository, Vol. IX., pp. 210, 274.[331]Legge’sChinese Classics, Vol. III.;Prolegomena, Chap. IV. E. Biot in theJournal Asiatique, 2e Series, Tomes XII., p. 537, and XIII., pp. 203, 381.[332]Compare Rémusat,Mélanges Asiatiques, Tome II., p. 166;Chinese Repository, Vol. IX., p. 143; Wylie’sNotes, p. 55; Mayer’sChinese Reader’s Manual, p. 149.[333]Translated by Rev. W. H. Medhurst, in theChinese Repository, Vol. XIII., pp. 552, 609 et seq.[334]The Sacred Edict, London, 1817; a second edition of this translation appeared in Shanghai in 1870, and another in 1878. Compare Wylie’sNotes, p. 71; Sir G. T. Staunton’sMiscellaneous Notices, etc., pp. 1-56 (1812);Le Saint Edit, Étude de Littérature chinoise, préparée par A. Théophile Piry, Shanghai, 1879.[335]Sacred Edict, pp. 254-259.[336]Sacred Edict, p. 146.[337]The second of these, Tu Fu, is a poet of some distinction noticed by Rémusat (Nouveaux Mélanges, Tome II., p. 174). He lived in the eighth centuryA.D., dying of hunger in the year 768. His writings are usually edited with those of Lí Tai-peh.[338]Davis,Poetry of the Chinese, London, 1870; G. C. Stent,The Jade Chaplet, London, 1874;Entombed Alive, and other Verses, 1878; Le Marquis D’Hervey-Saint-Denys,Poésies de l’Epoque des Thang, Paris, 1862. A number of extracts of classical and modern literature will be found inConfucius and the Chinese Classics, compiled by Rev. A. W. Loomis, San Francisco, 1867.China Review, Vols. I., p. 248, IV., p. 46, and passim.[339]Chinese Courtship. In Verse. To which is added an Appendix treating of the Revenue of China, etc., etc., by Peter Perring Thoms, London, 1824. Compare theQuarterly Reviewfor 1827, pp. 496 ff.Le Li-Sao, Poème du IIIeSiècle avant notre ère. Traduit du Chinois, par le Marquis d’Hervey de Saint-Denys, Paris, 1870.[340]Stent’sJade Chaplet.[341]A translation is given in theChinese Repository(Vol. IX., p. 508) of a supposed complaint made by a cow of her sad lot in being obliged to work hard and fare poorly during life, and then be cut up and eaten when dead; the ballad is arranged in the form of the animal herself, and a herdboy leading her, who in his own form praises the happiness of a rural life. This ballad is a Buddhist tractate, and that fraternity print many such on broad-sheets; one common collection of prayers is arranged like a pagoda, with images of Buddha sitting in the windows of each story.[342]Thekí, or ‘flag,’ is the term by which the leaflets are called when they just begin to unroll; thetsiang, or ‘awl,’ designates those leaves which are still wrapped up and which are somewhat sharp.[343]Thetingis not exactly a stile, being a kind of shed, or four posts supporting a roof, which is often erected by villagers for the convenience of wayfarers, who can stop there and rest. It sometimes contains a bench or seat, and is usually over or near a spring of water.[344]Tchao-chi-cou-eulh, ou l’Orphelin de la Maison de Tchao, tragédie chinoise,traduitepar le R. P. de Prémare, Miss. de la Chine, 1755. Julien published a translation of the same, Paris, 1834.[345]Since the appearance of M. Bazin’sThéâtre Chinois(Paris, 1838) and Davis’Sorrows of Han(London, 1829), there has been astonishingly little done in the study of Chinese plays. Compare, for the rest, an article on this subject by J. J. Ampère, in theRevue des Deux Mondes, September, 1838;The Far East, Vol. I. (1876), pp. 57 and 90;Chinese Repository, Vol. VI., p. 575;China Review, Vol. I., p. 26; also Lay’sChinese as They Are, and Dr. Gray’sChina, passim. Lieut. Kreitner gives an interesting picture of the Chinese theatre in a country town, together with a few pages upon the drama, of which his party were spectators.Im fernen Osten, pp. 595-599.[346]The commendation by Lord Brougham of this “admirable precept,” as he called it, is cited by Sir J. Davis.[347]Voyage à Péking, Vol. II., p. 173.[348]It is said that when Ghengis in his invasion of China took a city, his soldiers immediately set about pulling down the four walls of the houses, leaving the overhanging roofs supported by the wooden columns—by which process they converted them into excellent tents for themselves and their horses.—Encyclopædia Britannica: Art.China.[349]James Fergusson,History of Indian and Eastern Architecture, p. 687; compare alsoMémoires Concernant les Chinois, where Chinese architecture is treated of in almost every volume.

[241]Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., p. 59.

[242]Embassy to China, Vol. III., p. 26.

[243]Chinese Repository, Vol. III., p. 241.

[244]Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., pp. 61-66.

[245]Compare Dr. Bowring inN. C. Br. R. A. Soc. Journal, Part III., Art. VII. (Dec., 1852).

[246]Chinese Repository, passim. Oliphant,Lord Elgin’s Mission to China and Japan, Chap. XVII. Minister Reed, inU. S. Dip. Correspondence, 1857-58.

[247]The Chinese have a great affection for the place of their nativity, and consider a residence in any other province like being in a foreign settlement. They always wish to return thither in life, or have their remains carried and interred there after death.

[248]A district in the province of Kwangsí.

[249]Kiuh Kiang was an ancient minister of state during the Tang dynasty. His imperial master would not listen to his advice and he therefore retired. Rebellion and calamities arose. The Emperor thought of his faithful servant and sent for him; but he was already dead.

[250]Governor Loo.

[251]In permitting Chu to retire from public life.

[252]Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., p. 71.

[253]Annales de la Foi, No. 6, 1823, pp. 21-24.

[254]Chinese Repository, Vol. I., p. 236.

[255]Easy Lessons in Chinese, pp. 223-227. The effect of these instructions relating to grasshoppers does not appear to have equalled the zeal of the officers composing them; swarms of locusts, however, are in general neither numerous nor devastating in China.

[256]A new History of China, containing a description of the most considerable particulars of that Empire, written byGabriel Magaillans,of the Society of Jesus, Missionary Apostolick. Done out of French.London, 1688, p. 249.

[257]Compare theChinese Repository, Vol. XVIII., p. 207.

[258]Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., p. 218.

[259]Compare Doolittle,Social Life of the Chinese, Vol. I., p. 330.

[260]Heeren,Asiatic Nations, Vol. II., p. 259. Raffles,Java, Vol. II. App. Biot,L’Instruction publique, pp. 59, 200.

[261]Chinese Repository, Vol. XI., p. 630.

[262]Compare Dr. Milne, inTransactions R. A. S. of Gr. Brit. and Irel., Vol. I., p. 240 (1825).Journal of the R. A. S., Vol. I., p. 93, and Vol. VI., p. 120.Chinese Repository, Vol. XVIII., pp. 280-295. A. Wylie, in theShanghai Almanac for 1854.Notes and Queries on C. and J., Vol. III., p. 55. T. T. Meadows,The Chinese and their Rebellions, London, 1856. Gustave Schlegel,Thian Ti Hwui, the Hung-League or Heaven-Earth-League. A Secret Society with the Chinese in China and India, Batavia, 1866.

[263]Missionary Chronicle, Vol. XIV., p. 140. Smith’sChina, p. 250.

[264]For cases of this sort in Cambodia, Rémusat makes mention of a variety of ordeals which curiously resemble those resorted to on the continent of Europe during the Middle Ages.Nouveaux Mélanges, Tome I., p. 126.

[265]Heeren informs us that a similar insignia was used in Persia in early days.

[266]W. C. Milne,Life in China, London, 1857, p. 99.

[267]Dr. H. M. Field,From Egypt to Japan, Chap. XXIV., passim. New York, 1877.Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., pp. 214, 260.

[268]Persons who commit suicide also dress themselves in their best, the common notion being that in the next world they will wear the same garments in which they died.

[269]Compare Du Halde,Description de l’Empire de la Chine, Tome II., pp. 365-384; A. Wylie,Notes, p. 68;Chinese Repository, Vols. V., p. 81, and VI., pp. 185, 393, and 562;China Review, Vol. VI., pp. 120, 195, 253, 328, etc.;New Englander, May, 1878.

[270]Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., pp. 83-87, 306-316.

[271]Morrison’sChinese Dictionary, Vol. I., Part I., pp. 749-758.

[272]This custom obtains also in Bokhara.

[273]Compare Dr. Morrison in theHoræ Sinicæ, pp. 122-146; B. Jenkins,The Three-Character Classic, romanized according to the Shanghai dialect, Shanghai, 1860. The Classic has also been translated into Latin, French, German, Russian, and Portuguese. For the Trimetrical Classic of the Tai-ping régime see a version in theNorth China Herald, No. 147, May 21, 1853, by Dr. Medhurst; also a translation by Rev. S. C. Malan, of Balliol College, Oxford. London, 1856.

[274]E. C. Bridgman in theChinese Repository, Vol. IV., p. 152.Livre de Cent familles, Perny,Dict., App., No. XIV., pp. 156 ff.

[275]Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., p. 229.

[276]CompareDas Tsiän dsü wen, oder Buch von Tausend Wörtern, aus dem Schinesischen, mit Berücksichtigung der Koraischen und Japanischen Uebersetzung, ins Deutsche übertragen, Ph. Fr. de Siebold,Nippon, Abh. IV., pp. 165-191; B. Jenkins,The Thousand-Character Classic, romanized, etc. Shanghai, 1860;Thsien-Tseu-Wen,Le Livre des Mille Mots, etc., par Stanislas Julien (with Chinese text), Paris, 1864;China Review, Vol. II., pp. 182 ff.

[277]Chinese Repository, Vol. X., p. 614.

[278]Compare Père Cibot inMémoires concernant les Chinois, Tome IV., pp. 1 ff.; Dr. Legge,The Sacred Books of China, Part I.The Shû-king, Religious Portions of the Shih-king, the Hsiâo-king, Oxford, 1879;Asiatic Journal, Vol. XXIX., pp. 302 ff., 1839.

[279]Chinese Repository, Vol. VI., p. 131.

[280]Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., p. 414. See also Vol. VI., pp. 229-241; Vol. IV., pp. 1-10; Vol. XI., pp. 545-557; and Vol. XIII., pp. 626-641, for further notices of the modes and objects of education; Biot,Essai sur l’Histoire de l’Instruction Publique en Chine, and his translation of theChao-lí, Vol. II., p. 27, Paris, 1851.Chinese Recorder, September, 1871.

[281]Chinese Repository, Vol. II., p. 249; Vol. XVI., pp. 67-72. Doolittle,Social Life of the Chinese, Vol. I., pp. 376-443. Dr. Martin,The Chinese.

[282]The Chinese, p. 50.

[283]Biot,Essai sur l’Instruction en Chine, p. 603.

[284]Chinese Repository, Vol. IX., p. 541; Vol. III., p. 118.

[285]See Morrison’sChinese Dictionary, Vol. I., Part I., pp. 759-779, for the laws and usages of the several trials. Also Doolittle’sSocial Life, Vol. I., Chaps. XV., XVI., and XVII.; Biot,Essai sur l’Histoire de l’Instruction Publique en Chine; W. A. P. Martin,The Chinese, pp. 39 ff.;Journal Asiatique, Tomes III., pp. 257 and 321, IV., p. 3, and VII. (3d Series, 1839), pp. 32-81;Journal Asiatic Soc. Bengal, Vol. XXVIII., No. 1, 1859;Journal N. C. Br. B. As. Soc., New Series, Vol. VI., pp. 129 ff.;China Review, Vol. II., p. 309.

[286]Ellis,Embassy to China, p. 87;Chinese Repository, Vol. XVI., p. 62; Vol. IV., p. 125.

[287]Davis,Sketches, Vol. I., pp. 99, 101.

[288]Archdeacon Gray,China, Vol. I., p. 167.

[289]Chinese Repository, Vol. IX., p. 542.

[290]Professor H. A. Sayce, of Oxford, in reference to a suggested possible connection between the Chinese and primitive Accadian population of Chaldea, says in a letter to the LondonTimes: “I would mention one fact which may certainly be considered to favor it. The cuneiform characters of Babylonia and Assyria are, as is well known, degenerated hieroglyphics, like the modern Chinese characters. The original hieroglyphics were invented by the Accadians before they descended into Babylonia from the mountains of Elam, and I have long been convinced that they were originally written in vertical columns. In no other way can I explain the fact that most of the pictures to which the cuneiform characters can be traced back stand upon their sides. There is evidence to show that the inventors of the hieroglyphics used papyrus, or some similar vegetable substance, for writing purposes before the alluvial plain of Babylonia furnished them with clay, and the use of such a writing material will easily account for the vertical direction in which the characters were made to run.”

[291]Biot has a brief note upon the methods employed by native scholars for studying pronunciation.Essai sur l’instruction en Chine, p. 597.

[292]Easy Lessons in Chinese, pp. 3-29;Chinese Repository, Vol. III., pp. 1-37.

[293]One may gain some idea of this difficulty by referring to the geographical names contained in the Russo-Chinese Treaty, quoted on page215.

[294]The writer has an edition of theThousand Character Classic, containing each couplet of eight words in a different form of character, making one hundred and twenty-five styles of type—too grotesque to be imitated, and probably never actually in use.

[295]See page193. In order that the Manchu portion of this famous poem might not appear inferior to the Chinese, the Emperor ordered thirty-two varieties of Manchu characters to beinventedand published in like manner with the others. Rémusat,Mélanges, Tome II., p. 59. Père Amiot,Éloge de la Ville de Moukden. Trad. en françois.Paris, 1770.

[296]Chinese Chrestomathy, Chap. I., Secs. 5 and 6, where the rules for writing Chinese are given in full with numerous examples;Easy Lessons in Chinese, p. 59;Chinese Repository, Vol. III., p. 37.

[297]Journal Asiatic Soc. Bengal, Vol. III. (Sept., 1834), p. 477. S. Julien in theRevue de l’Orient et de l’Algerie, XX., p. 74, 1856.

[298]Chinese Repository, Vol. III., pp. 246-252, 528; Vol. XIV., p. 124;Missionary Recorder, January, 1875.

[299]Chinese as They Are, Chap. XXXIV.

[300]Chinese Repository, Vol. VIII., p. 347.

[301]Many aids in learning the general language and all the leading dialects have been prepared in English, French, German, and Portuguese, but several of the early ones, as Morrison, Gonçalves, Medhurst, and Bridgman, are already out of print. The names of all of these may be found most easily in the first volume of M. Cordier’s exhaustiveDictionnaire Bibliographique des ouvrages relatifs à l’Empire chinois, pp. 725-804. Paris, 1881.

[302]The Sacred Books of China. The Texts of Confucianism.Translated by James Legge. Part II.The Yî King.Oxford, 1882.

[303]Some fourteen hundred and fifty treatises on theYih—consisting of memoirs, digests, expositions, etc.—are enumerated in the Catalogue. The foreign literature upon it has heretofore been scant. The only other translations of the classicin extenso, besides Dr. Legge’s, already quoted, are theY-King;Antiquissimus Sinarum liber quem ex latina interpretatione; P. Regis,aliorumque ex Soc. Jesu P. P.,ediditJulius Mohl, 2 vols., Stuttgart, 1834-39; andA Translation of the Confucian Yih King, or the Classic of Change, by the Rev. Canon McClatchie, Shanghai, 1876 (with Chinese text). Compare furtherNotice du livre chinois nommé Y-king, avec des notes,parM. Claude Visdelou, contained in Père Gaubil’sChou king, Paris, 1843;Die verbogenen Alterthümer der Chineser aus dem uralten Buche Yeking untersuchet,vonM. Joh. Heinrich Schuhmacher, Wolfenbüttel, 1763; Joseph Haas, inNotes and Queries on China and Japan, Vol. III., 1869;China Review, Vols. I., p. 151; IV., p. 257; and V., p. 132.

[304]Several translations have been made by missionaries. One by P. Gaubil was edited by De Guignes in 1770; a second by Rev. W. H. Medhurst, in 1846; but the most complete by J. Legge, D.D., in 1865, with its notes and text, has brought thisRecordbetter than ever before to the knowledge of western scholars.

[305]Legge,The Chinese Classics, Vol. III.Shoo King, p. 59.

[306]Chinese Repository, Vol. VIII., p. 385; Vol. IX., p. 573.Le Chou-king, un des Livres Sacrés des Chinois, qui renferme les Fondements de leur ancienne Histoire, etc. Traduit par Feu le P. Gaubil. Paris, 1770, in-4.La Morale du Chou-king ou le Livre Sacré de la Chine.(The same), Paris, 1851.Ancient China. The Shoo King, or the Historical Classic: being the most ancient authentic Record of the Annals of the Chinese Empire, translated by W. H. Medhurst, Sen., Shanghae, 1846.Nouveau Journal Asiatique, Tomes V. (1830), p. 401; VI., p. 401, and XIV. (1842), p. 152.China Review, Vol. IV., p. 13. Dr. Legge’s translation has recently (1879) appeared, without the Chinese text, in Max Müller’s series ofSacred Books of the East, Vol. III. Richthofen,China, Bd. I., pp. 277-365, an exhaustive treatise on the early geography of China, with valuable historical maps.

[307]Dr. Legge,The She King, translated into English verse, p. 70. London, 1876.

[308]Ib., p. 83.

[309]Id.,The She King, p. 222.

[310]Id.,The She King, p. 347.

[311]A recent German translation of these odes has combined, with much accuracy and a smooth versification, the peculiar adaptability of that tongue to the reproduction (in some degree) of sounds so foreign to the language as Chinese.Shí King. Das kanonische Liederbuch der Chinesen.Uebersetzt vonVictor von Strauss. Heidelberg, 1880.

[312]The Chinese Classics, Vol. IV., pp. 172-180. Hongkong, 1871.

[313]CompareConfucii Chi-king sive Liber Carminum, ex latinaP. Lacharmeinterpretatione ediditJ. Mohl, Stuttgart, 1830;Essai sur le Chi-king, et sur l’ancienne poésie chinoise,parM. Brosset jeune, Paris, 1828;Bibliothèque orientale, Vol. II., p. 247 (1872).Chi-king, ou Livre des Vers, Traduction de M. G. Pauthier;China Review, Vol. VI., pp. 1 ff. and 166 ff.Journal N. C. Br. R. As. Soc., Vol. XII., pp. 97 ff.

[314]Li-ki ou Mémorial des Rites,traduit pour la première fois du chinois, et accompagné de notes, de commentaires et du texte original, parJ. M. Callery. Turin et Paris, 1853.

[315]Le Tcheou-Li ou Rites des Tcheou,traduit pour la première fois du chinois, parFeu Édouard Biot. 2 Tomes. Paris, 1851.

[316]Chinese Repository, Vol. V., pp. 306-312.

[317]This somewhat fanciful explanation of the title is from the Han commentators. Dr. Legge (Classics, Vol. V., Prolegomena, p. 7) observes that “not even in the work do we find such ‘censures’ and ‘commendations;’ and much less are they trumpeted in the title of it.” His interpretation that Spring and Autumn are put by synechdoche for all four seasons,i.e., the entire record of the year, appears to be a more natural account. The same writer declares that “the whole book is a collection of riddles, to which there are as many answers as there are guessers.” The interesting chapters of hisprolegomenato this translation, and his judicious criticisms on these early records, should tempt all sinologues to read them throughout.

[318]The same writer adds, in summing up the merits of theTso Chuen: “It is, in my opinion, the most precious literary treasure which has come down to posterity from the Chow dynasty.”—Classics, Vol. V., Proleg., p. 35.

[319]To this the Kung Yang commentator adds: “This he said in joke.”

[320]CompareTchun Tsieou, Le Printemps & l’Automne, ou Annales de la Principauté de Lou, depuis 722 jusqu’ en 481, etc.Traduites en françois, parLe Roux Deshauterayes. 1750. Dr. E. Bretschneider, in theChinese Recorder, Vol. IV., pp. 51-52, 1871.

[321]Collie’sFour Books, pp. 6-10.

[322]Ib., p. 28.

[323]The Works of Confucius; containing the original text, with a Translation, by J. Marshman. Vol. I. Serampore, 1807.

[324]Chinese Repository, Vol. XI., p. 421. Pauthier,La Chine, Paris, 1839, pp. 121-184.

[325]Compare Dr. Legge’sReligions of China; Prof. R. K. Douglas,Confucianism and Taouism, London, 1879; S. Johnson,Oriental Religions: China, Boston, 1877;A Systematical Digest of the Doctrines of Confucius, according to the Analects, Great Learning, and Doctrine of the Mean, etc., by Ernst Faber. Translated from the German by Möllendorff, Hongkong, 1875;Histoire de Confucius, par J. Sénamaud, Bordeaux et Paris, 1878.

[326]It may here be remarked that the termstsz’orfu-tsz’do not properly form a part of the name, but are titles, meaningrabbioreminent teacher, and are added to the surnames of some of the most distinguished writers, by way of peculiar distinction; and in the words Mencius and Confucius have been Latinized with Măng and Kung, names of the persons themselves, into one word. The names of other distinguished scholars, as Chu fu-tsz’, Ching fu-tsz’, etc., have not undergone this change into Chufucius, Chingfucius; but usage has now brought the compellation for these two men into universal use as a distinctive title, somewhat like the termvenerableapplied to Bede.

[327]Rémusat,Nouveaux Mélanges, Tome II., pp. 115-129.

[328]Chinese Classics, Vol II. Hongkong, 1862.

[329]Compare Rémusat,Nouveaux Mélanges, Tome II., pp. 130 ff., where there are excellent biographical notices of Sz’ma Tsien and other native historians.

[330]Chinese Repository, Vol. IX., pp. 210, 274.

[331]Legge’sChinese Classics, Vol. III.;Prolegomena, Chap. IV. E. Biot in theJournal Asiatique, 2e Series, Tomes XII., p. 537, and XIII., pp. 203, 381.

[332]Compare Rémusat,Mélanges Asiatiques, Tome II., p. 166;Chinese Repository, Vol. IX., p. 143; Wylie’sNotes, p. 55; Mayer’sChinese Reader’s Manual, p. 149.

[333]Translated by Rev. W. H. Medhurst, in theChinese Repository, Vol. XIII., pp. 552, 609 et seq.

[334]The Sacred Edict, London, 1817; a second edition of this translation appeared in Shanghai in 1870, and another in 1878. Compare Wylie’sNotes, p. 71; Sir G. T. Staunton’sMiscellaneous Notices, etc., pp. 1-56 (1812);Le Saint Edit, Étude de Littérature chinoise, préparée par A. Théophile Piry, Shanghai, 1879.

[335]Sacred Edict, pp. 254-259.

[336]Sacred Edict, p. 146.

[337]The second of these, Tu Fu, is a poet of some distinction noticed by Rémusat (Nouveaux Mélanges, Tome II., p. 174). He lived in the eighth centuryA.D., dying of hunger in the year 768. His writings are usually edited with those of Lí Tai-peh.

[338]Davis,Poetry of the Chinese, London, 1870; G. C. Stent,The Jade Chaplet, London, 1874;Entombed Alive, and other Verses, 1878; Le Marquis D’Hervey-Saint-Denys,Poésies de l’Epoque des Thang, Paris, 1862. A number of extracts of classical and modern literature will be found inConfucius and the Chinese Classics, compiled by Rev. A. W. Loomis, San Francisco, 1867.China Review, Vols. I., p. 248, IV., p. 46, and passim.

[339]Chinese Courtship. In Verse. To which is added an Appendix treating of the Revenue of China, etc., etc., by Peter Perring Thoms, London, 1824. Compare theQuarterly Reviewfor 1827, pp. 496 ff.Le Li-Sao, Poème du IIIeSiècle avant notre ère. Traduit du Chinois, par le Marquis d’Hervey de Saint-Denys, Paris, 1870.

[340]Stent’sJade Chaplet.

[341]A translation is given in theChinese Repository(Vol. IX., p. 508) of a supposed complaint made by a cow of her sad lot in being obliged to work hard and fare poorly during life, and then be cut up and eaten when dead; the ballad is arranged in the form of the animal herself, and a herdboy leading her, who in his own form praises the happiness of a rural life. This ballad is a Buddhist tractate, and that fraternity print many such on broad-sheets; one common collection of prayers is arranged like a pagoda, with images of Buddha sitting in the windows of each story.

[342]Thekí, or ‘flag,’ is the term by which the leaflets are called when they just begin to unroll; thetsiang, or ‘awl,’ designates those leaves which are still wrapped up and which are somewhat sharp.

[343]Thetingis not exactly a stile, being a kind of shed, or four posts supporting a roof, which is often erected by villagers for the convenience of wayfarers, who can stop there and rest. It sometimes contains a bench or seat, and is usually over or near a spring of water.

[344]Tchao-chi-cou-eulh, ou l’Orphelin de la Maison de Tchao, tragédie chinoise,traduitepar le R. P. de Prémare, Miss. de la Chine, 1755. Julien published a translation of the same, Paris, 1834.

[345]Since the appearance of M. Bazin’sThéâtre Chinois(Paris, 1838) and Davis’Sorrows of Han(London, 1829), there has been astonishingly little done in the study of Chinese plays. Compare, for the rest, an article on this subject by J. J. Ampère, in theRevue des Deux Mondes, September, 1838;The Far East, Vol. I. (1876), pp. 57 and 90;Chinese Repository, Vol. VI., p. 575;China Review, Vol. I., p. 26; also Lay’sChinese as They Are, and Dr. Gray’sChina, passim. Lieut. Kreitner gives an interesting picture of the Chinese theatre in a country town, together with a few pages upon the drama, of which his party were spectators.Im fernen Osten, pp. 595-599.

[346]The commendation by Lord Brougham of this “admirable precept,” as he called it, is cited by Sir J. Davis.

[347]Voyage à Péking, Vol. II., p. 173.

[348]It is said that when Ghengis in his invasion of China took a city, his soldiers immediately set about pulling down the four walls of the houses, leaving the overhanging roofs supported by the wooden columns—by which process they converted them into excellent tents for themselves and their horses.—Encyclopædia Britannica: Art.China.

[349]James Fergusson,History of Indian and Eastern Architecture, p. 687; compare alsoMémoires Concernant les Chinois, where Chinese architecture is treated of in almost every volume.

Back to Index Next