Chapter 27 chapter 27

But before I conclude, let me here give another specimen of written Chinese to illustrate what I mean by simplicity and depth of feeling which is to be found even in the Classica Minora, literature written in official uniform Chinese. It is a poem of four lines by a modem poem written on New? Years Eve. The words in Chinese are: which, translated word for word, mean: _ Don (say home poor pass year hard, North wind has blown many times cold, Next year peach willow hall front trees Pay-back you spring light full eyes see. A free translation would be something like this: TO MY WIFE Fret not, _though poor we yet can pass the year ;

Let the north wind blow ne er so chill and drear, Next year when peach and willow are in bloom, You II yet see Spring and sunlight in our home. Here is another specimen longer and more sustained. It is a poem by Tu Fu, the Wordsworth of China, of the Tang Dynasty. I will here first give my English translation. The subject is MEETING WITH AN OLD FRIEND In life, friends seldom are brought near; Like stars, each one shines in its sphere. To-night,_oh what a happy night [ We sit beneath the same lamplight. Our youth and strength last but a day. You and I_ah! Our hairs are gray . Friends! Half are in a better land, With tears we grasp each other s hand. Twenty more years, _short, after all, I once again ascend your hall. When we met, you had not a wife ;

Now you have children, _such is life Beaming, they greet their father ^ chum ; They ask me from where I have come. Before our say, we each have said, The table is already laid. Fresh salads from the garden near, Rice mixed with millet, _frugal cheer . When shall we meet ? tis hard to know . And so let the wine freely flow. This wine, I know, will do no harm. My old friend s welcome is so warm . To-morrow I go, _to be whirled. Again into the wide, wide world. The above, my version I admit, is almost doggerel, which is meant merely to give the meaning of the Chinese text. But here is the Chinese text which is not doggerel, but poetry _poetry simple to the verge of colloquialism, yet with a grace , dignity pathos and nobleness which I cannot reproduce and which perhaps it is impossible to reproduce, in English in such simple language.

JOHN SMITH IN CHINA " The Philistine not only ignores all conditions of life which are not his own but he also demands that the rest of humanity should fashion its mode of existence after his own ."*.... GOETHE. Mr. W. Stead once asked: "What is the secret of Marie Corellis popularity?" His answer was: "Like author, like reader; because the John Smiths who read her novels live in Marie Corellis world and regard her as the most authoritative exponent of the Universe in which they live, move and have their being." What Marie Corelli is to the John Smiths in Great Britain, the Rev. Arthur Smith is to the John Smiths in China.

Now the difference between the really educated person and the half educated one is this. The really educated person wants to read books which will tell him the real truth about a thing, whereas the half educated person prefers to read books which will tell him what he wants the thing to be, what his vanity prompts him to wish that the thing should be. John Smith in China wants very much to be a superior person to the Chinaman and the Rev. Arthur Smith writes a book to prove conclusively that he, John Smith, is a very much superior person to the Chinaman. There-fore, the Rev. Arthur Smith is a person very dear to John Smith, and the "Chinese Characteristics" become a Bible to John Smith.

But Mr. W. Stead says, "It is John Smith and his neighbors who now rule the British Empire." Consequently I have lately taken the trouble to read the books which furnish John Smith with his ideas * "Der Philister negiert nicht nur andere Zustande als der seininge ist, er will auch dass alle ubrigen Menschen auf seine Weise existieren sollen, "_goethe. on China and the Chinese.