Chapter 35 chapter 35

Another extraordinary judgment which used to be passed upon Chinese literature was, that it was excessively over-moral. Thus the Chinese people were actually accused of over morality, while at the same time most foreigners are pretty well agreed that the Chinese are a nation of liars! But we can now explain this by the fact that, besides the trashy novels we have already noticed, the work of translation a-mong students of Chinese was formerly confined exclusively to the Confucian Classics. Nevertheless, there are of course a great many other things in these writings besides morality, and, with all deference to Mr. Balfour, we think that "the admirable doctrines" these books contain are decidedly not "utilitarian and worldly" as they have been judged to be. We will just submit two sentences and ask Mr. Balfour if he really thinks them "utilitarian and mundane." "He who sins against Heaven, " said Confucius in answer to a Minister, "he who sins against Heaven has no place where he can tu rn to and pray." Again, Mencius says: "! love life, but I also love righteousness: but if I cannot keep them both, I would give up life and choose righteousness."

We have thought it worthwhile to digress so far in order to protest against Mr. Balfours judgment, because we think that such smart phrases as "a bondslave to antiquity, " "a past-master in casuistry" should scarcely be employed in a work purposely philosophical, much less applied to the most venerated name in China. Mr. Balfour was probably led astray by his admiration of the Prophet of Nan-hua, and, in his eagerness to emphasize the superiority of the Taoist over the orthodox school, he has been betrayed into the use of expressions which, we are sure, his calmer judgment must condemn.

But to return from our distress. We have said that the Chinese literature must be studied as a connected whole. Moreover we have noted that the people of Europe are accustomed to conceive and form their judgment of the literature of China solely from those writings with which the name of Confucius is associated; but, in fact, the literary activity of the Chinese had only just begun with the labors of Confucius, and has since continued through eighteen dynasties, including more than two thousand years. At the time of Confucius, the The literary form of writing was still very imperfectly understood.

Here let us remark that, in the study of a literature, there is one important point to be attended to, but which has hitherto been completely lost sight of by foreign students of Chinese; sure, " said the poet Wordsworth, "it was the matter, but then you know the matter always comes out of the manner." Now it is true that the early writings with which the name of Confucius is associated do not pretend to any degree of perfection, as far as the literary form is concerned: they are considered as classical or standard works not so much for their classical elegance of style or perfection of literary form, as for the value of the matter they contain. The father of Su Tung -po, of the Sung dynasty, marks that something approaching to the formation of a prose style may be traced in the dialogues of Mencius. Nevertheless Chinese literary writings, both in prose and poetry, have since been developed into many forms and styles. The writings of t he Western Hans, for instance, differs from the essays of the Sung period, much in the same way as the prose of Lord Bacon is different from the prose of Addison or Goldsmith. The wild exaggeration and harsh diction of the poetry of the six dynasties are as unlike the purity, vigour, and brilliancy of the T ang poets as the early wreak and immature manner of Keats is unlike the strong, clear, and correct splendid of Tennyson.

Having thus, as we have shown, equipped himself with the primary principles and notions of the people, the student will then be in a position to direct his study to the social relations of the people; to see how these principles are applied and carried out But the social institutions, manners and customs of a people do not grow up, like mushrooms, in a night, but are developed and formed into what they are, through long centuries. It is therefore necessary to study the history of the people. Now the history of the Chinese people is as yet almost unknown to European scholars. The so-called History of China, by Mr. Demetrius Boulger, published recently, is perhaps the worst history that could have been written of a civilized people like the Chinese . Such a history as Mr. Boulger has written might be tolerated if written of some such savage people as the Hottentots. The very fact that such a history of China could have been published, serves only to show how very far from being perfect y. et is the knowledge of Chinese among Europeans. Without a knowledge of their history, therefore, no correct judgment can be formed of the social institutions of a people. Such works as Dr. Williams Middle Kingdom and other works on China from want of such knowledge , are not only useless for the purpose of the scholar, but are even misleading for the mass of general readers. Just to take one instance,_the social ceremony of the people. The Chinese are certainly a ceremonious people, and it is true that they owe this to the influence of the teaching of Confucius. Now Mr. Balfour may speak of the pettifogging observations of a ceremonial life as much as he pleases; nevertheless, even "the bows and scrapes of external decorum, " as Mr. Giles calls them , have their roots deep in the universal nature of man, in that side of human nature, namely, which we have defined as the sense of the beautiful. "In the use of ceremony," says a discipline of Confucius, "what is important , is to be natural; this is what is really beautiful in the ways of the ancient Em-perors. "Again, it is said somewhere in the Classics: "Ceremony is simply the expression of reverence."( the Ehrfurcht of Goethe s Wilk elm Meister) We now see how evident it is that a judgment of the manners and customs of a nation should be founded upon the knowledge of the moral principles of the people- Moreover the study, of the Government and political institutions of a country, _which, we have said should be Reserved by the student to the last stage of his labours, _must also be founded upon an understanding of their philosophical principles and a knowledge of their history.