Population.
China is noted for the density of its population, but no accurate
statistics are forthcoming. The province of Shan-tung is reputed to
have a population of 680 per sq. m. The provinces of central China, in
the basin of the Yangtsze-kiang--namely Sze-ch'uen, Hu-peh, Ngan-hui,
Kiang-su and Cheh-kiang--contain probably a third of thes total
population, the density of the people in these provinces being
represented as from 490 to 310 per sq. m. Ho-nan, which belongs partly
to the basin of the Hwang-ho and partly to that of the Yangtsze-kiang,
as well as the S.E. coast provinces of Fu-kien and Kwang-tung, are also
densely peopled, Ho-nan being credited with 520 persons per sq. m.,
Fu-kien with 490 and Kwang-tung with about 320.
The Chinese government prints from time to time in the _Peking
Gazette_ returns of the population made by the various provincial
authorities. The method of numeration is to count the households, and
from that to make a return of the total inhabitants of each province.
There would be no great difficulty in obtaining fairly accurate
returns if sufficient care were taken. It does not appear, however,
that much care is taken. Mr E.H. Parker published in the _Statistical
Society's Journal_ for March 1899 tables translated from Chinese
records, giving the population from year to year between 1651 and
1860. These tables show a gradual rise, though with many fluctuations,
up till 1851, when the total population is stated to be 432 millions.
From that point it decreases till 1860, when it is put down at only
261 millions. The Chinese Imperial Customs put the total population of
the empire in 1906 at 438,214,000 and that of China proper at
407,253,000. It has been held by several inquirers that these figures
are gross over-estimates. Mr Rockhill, American minister at Peking
(1905-1909), after careful inquiry[9] concluded that the inhabitants
of China proper did not exceed, in 1904, 270,000,000. Other competent
authorities are inclined to accept the round figure of 400,000,000 as
nearer the accurate number. Eleven cities were credited in 1908 with
between 500,000 and 1,000,000 inhabitants each, and smaller cities are
very numerous, but the population is predominantly rural. In addition
to the Chinese the population includes a number of aboriginal races
such as the Lolos (q.v.), the Miaotsze (q.v.), the Ikias of Kwei-chow
and Kwang-si, the Hakka, found in the south-east provinces, and the
Hoklos of Kwang-tung province.[10] The Manchus resident in China are
estimated to number 4,000,000. According to the Imperial Customs
authorities, the number of foreigners resident in China in 1908 was
69,852. Of these 44,143 were Japanese, 9520 Russian, 9043 British,
3637 German, 3545 American, 3353 Portuguese, 2029 French, 554 Italian
and 282 Belgian.
Emigration.
The Chinese are a colonizing race, and in Manchuria, Mongolia and
Turkestan they have brought several districts under cultivation. In
the regions where they settle they become the dominant race--thus
southern Manchuria now differs little from a province of China proper.
In Indo-China, the Malay Peninsula and throughout the Far East Chinese
are numerous as farmers, labourers and traders; in some places, such
as Singapore, Chinese are among the principal merchants. This
colonizing spirit is probably due more to the enterprise of the people
than to the density of the population. There were Chinese settlements
at places on the east coast of Africa before the 10th century A.D.
Following the discovery of gold in California there was from 1850
onwards a large emigration of Chinese to that state and to other parts
of America. But in 1879 Chinese exclusion acts were passed by the
United States, an example followed by Australia, where Chinese
immigration was also held to be a public danger. Canada also adopted
the policy of excluding Chinese, but not before there had been a
considerable immigration into British Columbia. Two factors, a racial
and an economic, are at work to bring about these measures of
exclusion. As indentured labourers Chinese have been employed in the
West Indies, South America and other places (see COOLIE).
In addition to several million Chinese settlers in Manchuria, and
smaller numbers in Mongolia, Turkestan and Tibet, it was estimated in
1908 that there were over 9,000,000 Chinese resident beyond the
empire. Of these 2,250,000 were in Formosa, which for long formed a
part of the empire, and over 6,000,000 in neighbouring regions of Asia
and in Pacific Islands. In the West Indies (chiefly Cuba) the number
of Chinese was estimated at 100,000, in South America (Brazil, Peru
and Chile) at 72,000, in the United States at 150,000, in Canada at
12,000, and in Australia and New Zealand at 35,000. There are
comparatively few Chinese in Japan (if Formosa be excepted) and Korea.
The number is given in 1908 as 17,000 in Japan and 11,000 in Korea.
_Social Life._
The awakening of the East which has followed the Russo-Japanese War of
1904-5 has affected China also. It is too soon to say how far the influx
of European ideas will be able to modify the immemorial customs and
traditions of perhaps the most conservative people in the world; but the
process has begun, and this fact makes it difficult to give a picture of
Chinese habits and customs which shall be more than historical or
provisional. Moreover, the difficulty of presenting a picture which
shall be true of China as a whole is enhanced by the different
characteristics observable in various regions of so vast a country. The
Chinese themselves, until the material superiority of Western
civilization forced them to a certain degree to conform to its
standards, looked down from the height of their superior culture with
contempt on the "Western barbarians." Nor was their attitude wholly
without justification. Their civilization was already old at a time when
Britain and Germany were peopled by half-naked barbarians, and the
philosophical and ethical principles on which it was based remain, to
all appearances, as firmly rooted as ever. That these principles have,
on the whole, helped to create a national type of a very high order few
Europeans who know the Chinese well would deny. The Chinese are
naturally reserved, earnest and good-natured; for the occasional
outbursts of ferocious violence, notably against foreign settlements,
are no index to the national character. There is a national proverb that
"the men of the Four Seas are all brothers," and even strangers can
travel through the country without meeting with rudeness, much less
outrage. If the Chinese character is inferior to the European, this
inferiority lies in the fact that the Chinaman's whole philosophy of
life disinclines him to change or to energetic action. He is
industrious; but his industry is normally along the lines marked out by
authority and tradition. He is brave; but his courage does not naturally
seek an outlet in war. The jealously exclusive empire, into which in the
19th century the nations of the West forced an entrance, was organized
for peace; the arts of war had been all but forgotten, and soldiers were
of all classes the most despised.
The whole social and political organization of the Chinese is based,
in a far more real sense than in the West, on the family. The supreme
duty is that of the child to its parent; on this the whole Chinese
moral system is built up. Filial piety, according to the teaching of
Confucius, is the very foundation of society; the nation itself is but
one great family, and the authority of the government itself is but an
extension of the paternal authority, to which all its children are
bound to yield implicit obedience. The western idea of the liberty and
dignity of the individual, as distinct from the community to which he
belongs, is wholly alien to the Chinese mind. The political unit in
China is not the individual but the family, and the father of the
family is supposed to be responsible for the qualities and views of
all his kin. He is rewarded for their virtues, punished for their
faults; the deserts of a son ennoble the father and all his ancestors,
and conversely his crimes disgrace them.
An outcome of this principle is the extraordinary importance in China
of funeral rites, especially in the case of the father. The eldest
son, now head of the family, or, failing him, his first-born or
adopted son, fixes one of the three souls of the dead in the tablet
commemorating his virtues, burns incense to his shade, and supplies
him with paper money and paper representations of everything (clothes,
servants, horses) that he may require in his journey to the other
world. Mourning lasts for three years, during which the mourners wear
white garments and abstain from meat, wine and public gatherings.
Custom, too, dictates that wherever the Chinaman may die he must be
brought back for burial to the place of his birth; one of the objects
of the friendly societies is to provide funds to charter ships to
transport home the bodies of those who have died abroad. Annually, in
May, the white-clad people stream to the graves and mortuary temples
with flowers, fruit and other offerings for the dead. Christian
missionaries have found in this ancestor worship the most serious
obstacle to the spread of a religion which teaches that the convert
must, if need be, despise his father and his mother and follow Christ.
The same elaborate ceremonialism that characterizes the Chinese
funeral customs is found also in their marriage rites and the rules of
their social intercourse generally. Confucius is reported to have said
that "all virtues have their source in etiquette," and the due
observance of the "ceremonial" (_li_) in the fulfilling of social
duties is that which, in Chinese opinion, distinguishes civilized from
barbarous peoples. The Board of Rites, one of the departments of the
central government, exists for the purpose of giving decisions in
matters of etiquette and ceremony. As to marriage, the rule that the
individual counts for nothing obtains here in its fullest
significance. The breeding of sons to carry on the ancestral cult is a
matter of prime importance, and the marriage of a young man is
arranged at the earliest possible age. The bride and bridegroom have
little voice in the matter, the match being arranged by the parents
of the parties; the lifting of the bride's veil, so that the
bridegroom may see her face, is the very last act of the long and
complicated ceremony.
In the traditional Chinese social system four classes are
distinguished: the literary, the agricultural, the artisan and the
trading class. Hereditary nobility, in the European sense, scarcely
exists, and the possession of an hereditary title gives in itself no
special privileges. Official position is more highly esteemed than
birth and the bureaucracy takes the place of the aristocracy in the
west. There are, nevertheless, besides personal decorations for merit,
such as the yellow jacket, five hereditary rewards for merit; these
last only for a fixed number of lives. A few Chinese families,
however, enjoy hereditary titles in the full sense, the chief among
them being the Holy Duke of Yen (the descendant of Confucius). The
Imperial Clansmen consist of those who trace their descent direct from
the founder of the Manchu dynasty, and are distinguished by the
privilege of wearing a yellow girdle; collateral relatives of the
imperial house wear a red girdle. Twelve degrees of nobility (in a
descending scale as one generation succeeds another) are conferred on
the descendants of every emperor; in the thirteenth generation the
descendants of emperors are merged in the general population, save
that they retain the yellow girdle. The heads of eight houses, the
"Iron-capped" (or helmeted) princes, maintain their titles in
perpetuity by rule of primogeniture in virtue of having helped the
Manchu in the conquest of China. Imperial princes apart, the highest
class is that forming the civil service. (See also Sec. _Government and
Administration_.) The peasant class forms the bulk of the population.
The majority of Chinese are small landowners; their standard of living
is very low in comparison with European standards. This is in part due
to the system of land tenure. A parent cannot, even if he wished to do
so, leave all his land to one son. There must be substantially an
equal division, the will of the father notwithstanding. As early
marriages and large families are the rule, this process of continual
division and subdivision has brought things down to the irreducible
minimum in many places. Small patches of one-tenth or even
one-twentieth of an acre are to be found as the estate of an
individual landowner, and the vast majority of holdings run between
one and three acres. With three acres a family is deemed very
comfortable, and the possession of ten acres means luxury.
The only class which at all resembles the territorial magnates of
other countries is the class of retired officials. The wealth of an
official is not infrequently invested in land, and consequently there
are in most provinces several families with a country seat and the
usual insignia of local rank and influence. On the decease of the
heads or founders of such families it is considered dignified for the
sons to live together, sharing the rents and profits in common. This
is sometimes continued for several generations, until the country seat
becomes an agglomeration of households and the family a sort of clan.
A family of this kind, with literary traditions, and with the means to
educate the young men, is constantly sending its scions into the
public service. These in turn bring their earnings to swell the common
funds, while the rank and dignity which they may earn add to the
importance and standing of the group as a whole. The members of this
class are usually termed the _literati_ or gentry.
The complex character of the Chinese is shown in various ways. Side by
side with the reverence of ancestors the law recognizes the right of
the parent to sell his offspring into slavery and among the poor this
is not an uncommon practice, though in comparison with the total
population the number of slaves is few. The kidnapping of children for
sale as slaves is carried on, but there is no slave raiding. There are
more female than male slaves; the descendants of male slaves acquire
freedom in the fifth generation. While every Chinese man is anxious to
have male children, girls are often considered superfluous.
The position of women is one of distinct inferiority; a woman is
always subject to the men of her family--before marriage to her
father, during marriage to her husband, in widowhood to her son; these
states being known as "the three obediences." Sons who do not,
however, honour their mothers outrage public opinion. Polygamy is
tolerated, secondary wives being sometimes provided by the first wife
when she is growing old. Secondary wives are subordinate to first
wives. A wife may be divorced for any one of seven reasons. The sale
of wives is practised, but is not recognized by law. Women of the
upper classes are treated with much respect. The home of a Chinese man
is often in reality ruled by his mother, or by his wife as she
approaches old age, a state held in veneration. Chinese women
frequently prove of excellent business capacity, and those of high
rank--as the recent history of China has conspicuously
proved--exercise considerable influence on public affairs.
Deforming the feet of girls by binding and stopping their growth has
been common for centuries. The tottering walk of the Chinese lady
resulting from this deformation of the feet is the admiration of her
husband and friends. Foot-binding is practised by rich and poor in all
parts of the country, but is not universal. In southern and western
China Hakka women and certain others never have their feet bound. It
has been noted that officials (who all serve on the itinerary system)
take for secondary wives natural-footed women, who are frequently
slaves.[11] Every child is one at birth, and two on what Europeans
call its first birthday, the period of gestation counting as one year.
In their social intercourse the Chinese are polite and ceremonious;
they do not shake hands or kiss, but prostrations (kotowing),
salutations with joined hands and congratulations are common. They
have no weekly day of rest, but keep many festivals, the most
important being that of New Year's Day. Debts are supposed to be paid
before New Year's Day begins and for the occasion new clothes are
bought. Other notable holidays are the Festival of the First Full
Moon, the Feast of Lanterns and the Festival of the Dragon Boat. A
feature of the festivals is the employment of thousands of lanterns
made of paper, covered with landscapes and other scenes in gorgeous
colours. Of outdoor sports kite-flying is the most popular and is
engaged in by adults; shuttle-cock is also a favourite game, while
cards and dominoes are indoor amusements. The theatre and marionette
shows are largely patronized. The habit of opium smoking is referred
to elsewhere; tobacco smoking is general among both sexes.
Except in their head-dress and their shoes little distinction is made
between the costumes of men and women.[12] Both sexes wear a long
loose jacket or robe which fits closely round the neck and has wide
sleeves, and wide short trousers. Over the robe shorter jackets--often
sleeveless--are worn, according to the weather. For winter wear the
jackets are wadded, and a Chinaman will speak of "a three, four or six
coat cold day." A man's robe is generally longer than that of a woman.
Petticoats are worn by ladies on ceremonial occasions and the long
robe is removed when in the house. "It is considered very unwomanly
not to wear trousers, and very indelicate for a man not to have skirts
to his coat." No Chinese woman ever bares any part of her body in
public--even the hands are concealed in the large sleeves--and the
evening dress of European ladies is considered indelicate; but Hakka
women move about freely without shoes or stockings. A Chinese man
will, however, in warm weather often strip naked to the waist. Coolies
frequently go bare-legged; they use sandals made of rope and possess
rain-coats made of palm leaves. The garments of the poorer classes are
made of cotton, generally dyed blue. Wealthy people have their clothes
made of silk. Skirts and jackets are elaborately embroidered. Costly
furs and fur-lined clothes are much prized, and many wealthy Chinese
have fine collections of furs. Certain colours may only be used with
official permission as denoting a definite rank or distinction, e.g.
the yellow jacket. The colours used harmonize--the contrasts in colour
seen in the clothes of Europeans is avoided. Dark purple over blue are
usual colour combinations. The mourning colour is white. Common shoes
are made of cotton or silk and have thick felt soles; all officials
wear boots of satin into which is thrust the pipe or the fan--the
latter carried equally by men and women. The fan is otherwise stuck at
the back of the neck, or attached to the girdle, which may also hold
the purse, watch, snuff-box and a pair of chop-sticks.
Formerly Chinese men let their hair grow sufficiently long to gather
it in a knot at the top; on the conquest of the country by the Manchu
they were compelled to adopt the queue or pigtail, which is often
artificially lengthened by the employment of silk thread, usually
black in colour. The front part of the head is shaved. As no Chinese
dress their own hair, barbers are numerous and do a thriving trade.
Women do not shave the head nor adopt the queue. Men wear in general a
close-fitting cap, and the peasants large straw hats. Circular caps,
larger at the crown than round the head and with an outward slope are
worn in winter by mandarins, conical straw hats in summer. Women have
elaborate head ornaments, decking their hair with artificial flowers,
butterflies made of jade, gold pins and pearls. The faces of Chinese
ladies are habitually rouged, their eyebrows painted. Pearl or bead
necklaces are worn both by men and women. Officials and men of leisure
let one or two finger nails grow long and protect them with a metal
case.
The staple food of the majority of the Chinese in the south and
central provinces is rice; in the northern provinces millet as well as
rice is much eaten. In separate bowls are placed morsels of pork,
fish, chicken, vegetables and other relishes. Rice-flour, bean-meal,
macaroni, and shell fish are all largely used. Flour balls cooked in
sugar are esteemed. Beef is never eaten, but Mahommedans eat mutton,
and there is hardly any limit to the things the Chinese use as food.
In Canton dogs which have been specially fed are an article of diet.
Eggs are preserved for years in a solution of salt, lime and wood-ash,
or in spirits made from rice. Condiments are highly prized, as are
also preserved fruits. Special Chinese dishes are soups made from
sea-slugs and a glutinous substance found in certain birds' nests,
ducks' tongues, sharks' fins, the brains of chickens and of fish, the
sinews of deer and of whales, fish with pickled fir-tree cones, and
roots of the lotus lily. A kind of beer brewed from rice is a usual
drink; _samshu_ is a spirit distilled from the same grain and at
dinners is served hot in small bowls. Excellent native wines are
made. The Chinese are, however, abstemious with regard to alcoholic
liquors. Water is drunk hot by the very poor, as a substitute for tea.
Tea is drunk before and after meals in cups without handle or saucer;
the cups are always provided with a cover. Two substantial meals are
taken during the day--luncheon and dinner; the last named at varying
hours from four till seven o'clock. At dinner a rich man will offer
his guest twenty-four or more dishes (always a multiple of 4), four to
six dishes being served at a time. Food is eaten from bowls and with
chop-sticks (q.v.) and little porcelain spoons. Men dine by themselves
when any guests are present; dinner parties are sometimes given by
ladies to ladies. Chinese cookery is excellent; in the culinary art
the Chinese are reputed to be second only to the French.
Ethnologically the Chinese are classed among the Mongolian races (in
which division the Manchus are also included), although they present
many marked contrasts to the Mongols. The Tatars, Tibetans, Burmese,
Shans, Manchu and other races--including the Arab and Japanese--have
mingled with the indigenous population to form the Chinese type, while
aboriginal tribes still resist the pressure of absorption by the
dominant race (see ante, _Population_). The Chinese are in fact
ethnically a very mixed people, and the pure Mongol type is uncommon
among them. Moreover, natives of different provinces still present
striking contrasts one to another, and their common culture is
probably the strongest national link. By some authorities it is held
that the parent stock of the Chinese came from the north-west, beyond
the alluvial plain; others hold that it was indigenous in eastern
China. Notwithstanding the marked differences between the inhabitants
of different provinces and even between those living in the same
province, certain features are common to the race. "The stature is
below the average and seldom exceeds 5 ft. 4 in., except in the North.
The head is normally brachycephalic or round horizontally, and the
forehead low and narrow. The face is round, the mouth large, and the
chin small and receding. The cheek-bones are prominent, the eyes
almond-shaped, oblique upwards and outwards, and the hair coarse, lank
and invariably black. The beard appears late in life, and remains
generally scanty. The eyebrows are straight and the iris of the eye is
black. The nose is generally short, broad and flat. The hands and feet
are disproportionately small, and the body early inclines to obesity.
The complexion varies from an almost pale-yellow to a dark-brown,
without any red or ruddy tinge. Yellow, however, predominates."[13]
A few words may be added concerning the Manchus, who are the ruling
race in China. Their ethnic affinities are not precisely known, but
they may be classed among the Ural-Altaic tribes, although the term
Ural-Altaic (q.v.) denotes a linguistic rather than a racial group. By
some authorities they are called Tung-tatze, i.e. Eastern Tatars---the
Tatars of to-day being of true Mongol descent. Manchu is the name
adopted in the 13th century by one of several tribes which led a
nomadic life in Manchuria and were known collectively in the 11th
century as Nuechihs. Some authorities regard the Khitans (whence the
European form Cathay), who in the 9th and 10th centuries dwelt in the
upper Liao region, as the ancestors of this race. It was not until the
16th century that the people became known generally as Manchus and
obtained possession of the whole of the country now bearing their name
(see MANCHURIA). They had then a considerable mixture of Chinese and
Korean blood, but had developed a distinct nationality and kept their
ancient Ural-Altaic language. In China the Manchus retained their
separate nationality and semi-military organization. It was not until
the early years of the 20th century that steps were officially taken
to obliterate the distinction between the two races. The Manchus are a
more robust race than the inhabitants of central and southern China,
but resemble those of northern China save that their eyes are
horizontally set. They are a lively and enterprising people, but have
not in general the intellectual or business ability of the Chinese.
They are courteous in their relations with strangers. The common
people are frugal and industrious. The Manchu family is generally
large. The women's feet are unbound; they twist their hair round a
silver bangle placed cross-wise on the top of the head. The Manchus
have no literature of their own, but as the language of the court
Manchu has been extensively studied in China.
AUTHORITIES.--Sir John F. Davies, _China_ (2 vols., London, 1857); E.
Reclus, _The Universal Geography_, vol. vii. (Eng. trans. ed. by E.G.
Ravenstein and A.H. Keane); E. and O. Reclus, _L'Empire du milieu_
(Paris, 1902); Sir R.K. Douglas, _Society in China_ (London, 1895); J.
Doolittle, _Social Life of the Chinese_ (2 vols., New York, 1867);
H.A. Giles, _China and the Chinese_ (1902); E. Bard, _Les Chinois chez
eux_ (Paris, 1900); A.G. Jones, _Desultory Notes on Chinese Etiquette_
(Shanghai, 1906); Mrs Archibald Little, _Intimate China_ (London,
1899) and _The Land of the Blue Gown_ (London, 1902); E.H. Parker,
_John Chinaman and a Few Others_ (London, 1901); J. Dyer-Ball, _Things
Chinese_ (Shanghai, 1903); Cheng Kitung, _The Chinese Painted by
Themselves_ (Eng. trans. by J. Millington, London, 1885); L. Richard,
_Comprehensive Geography of the Chinese Empire_ (Shanghai, 1908). (X.)
_Religion._
The ancient faith.
The earliest traces of religious thought and practice in China point to
a simple monotheism. There was a Divine Ruler of the universe, abiding
on high, beyond the ken of man. This Power was not regarded as the
Creator of the human race, but as a Supreme Being to whom wickedness was
abhorrent and virtuous conduct a source of joy, and who dealt out
rewards and punishments with unerring justice, claiming neither love nor
reverence from mankind. If a man did his duty towards his neighbour, he
might pass his whole time on earth oblivious of the fact that such a
Power was in existence; unless perchance he wished to obtain some good
or attain some end, in which case he might seek to propitiate Him by
sacrifice and prayer. There was no Devil to tempt man astray, and to
rejoice in his fall; neither was there any belief that righteous
behaviour in this world would lead at death to absorption in the Deity.
To God, understood in this sense, the people gave the name _Tien_, which
in the colloquial language was used of the sky; and when, in the first
stages of the written character, it became necessary to express the idea
of _Tien_, they did not attempt any vague picture of the heavens, but
set down the rude outline of a man. Perhaps about this period the title
_Shang Ti_, or Supreme Ruler, came into vogue as synonymous with _Tien_.
But although the two terms were synonyms, and both may be equally
rendered by "God," there is nevertheless an important distinction to be
observed, much as though _Tien_ and _Shang Ti_ were two Persons in one
substance. _Tien_ is far more an abstract Being, while _Shang Ti_
partakes rather of the nature of a personal God, whose anthropomorphic
nature is much more strongly accentuated. _Shang Ti_ is described as
walking and talking, as enjoying the flavour of sacrifices, as pleased
with music and dancing in his honour, and even as taking sides in
warfare; whereas _Tien_ holds aloof, wrapped in an impenetrable majesty,
an _ignotum pro mirifico_. So much for religion in primeval days,
gathered scrap by scrap from many sources; for nothing like a history of
religion is to be found in Chinese literature.
Gradually to this monotheistic conception was added a worship of the
sun, moon and constellations, of the five planets, and of such
noticeable individual stars as (e.g.) Canopus, which is now looked upon
as the home of the God of Longevity. Earth, too--Mother Earth--came in
for her share of worship, indicated especially by the God of the Soil,
and further distributed among rivers and hills. Wind, rain, heat, cold,
thunder and lightning, as each became objects of desire or aversion,
were invested with the attributes of deities. The various parts of the
house--door, kitchen-stove, courtyard, &c.--were also conceived of as
sheltering some spirit whose influence might be benign or the reverse.
The spirits of the land and of grain came to mean one's country, the
commonwealth, the state; and the sacrifices of these spirits by the
emperor formed a public announcement of his accession, or of his
continued right to the throne. Side by side with such sacrificial rites
was the worship of ancestors, stretching so far back that its origin is
not discernible in such historical documents as we possess. In early
times only the emperor, or the feudal nobles, or certain high officials,
could sacrifice to the spirits of nature; the common people sacrificed
to their own ancestors and to the spirits of their own homes. For three
days before performing such sacrifices, a strict vigil with purification
was maintained; and by the expiration of that time, from sheer
concentration of thought, the mourner was able to see the spirits of the
departed, and at the sacrifice next day seemed to hear their movements
and even the murmur of their sighs. Ancestral worship in China has
always been, and still is, worship in the strict sense of the term. It
is not a memorial service in simple honour of the dead; but sacrifices
are offered, and the whole ceremonial is performed that the spirits of
former ancestors may be induced to extend their protection to the living
and secure to them as many as possible of the good things of this world.
For Confucianism, which cannot, strictly speaking, be classed as a
religion, see CONFUCIUS.
Taoism.
Around the scanty utterances of Lao Tz[)u] or Lao-tsze (q.v.; see also
Sec. _Chinese Literature, Sec.Sec. Philosophy_) an attempt was made by later
writers to weave a scheme of thought which should serve to satisfy the
cravings of mortals for some definite solution of the puzzle of life.
Lao Tz[)u] himself had enunciated a criterion which he called _Tao_,
or the Way, from which is derived the word Taoism; and in his usual
paradoxical style he had asserted that the secret of this Way, which
was at the beginning apparently nothing more than a line of right
conduct, could not possibly be imparted, even by those who understood
it. His disciples, however, of later days proceeded to interpret the
term in the sense of the Absolute, the First Cause, and finally as
One, in whose obliterating unity all seemingly opposed conditions of
time and space were indistinguishably blended. This One, the source of
human life, was placed beyond the limits of the visible universe; and
for human life to return thither at death and to enjoy immortality, it
was only necessary to refine away all corporeal grossness by following
the doctrines of Lao Tz[)u]. By and by, this One came to be regarded
as a fixed point of dazzling luminosity in remote ether, around which
circled for ever and ever, in the supremest glory of motion, the souls
of those who had left the slough of humanity behind them. These
transcendental notions were entirely corrupted at a very early date by
the introduction of belief in an elixir of life, and later still by
the practice of alchemistic experiments. Opposed by Buddhism, which
next laid a claim for a share in the profits of popular patronage,
Taoism rapidly underwent a radical transformation. It became a
religion, borrowing certain ceremonial, vestments, liturgies, the idea
of a hell, arrangement of temples, &c., from its rival; which rival
was not slow in returning the compliment. As Chu Hsi said, "Buddhism
stole the best features of Taoism; Taoism stole the worst features of
Buddhism. It is as though one took a jewel from the other, and the
loser recouped the loss with a stone." At the present day there is not
much to choose between the two religions, which flourish peaceably
together. As to their temples, priests and ceremonial, it takes an
expert to distinguish one from the other.
Buddhism.
There is no trustworthy information as to the exact date at which
Buddhism first reached China. It is related that the emperor Ming Ti
(A.D. 58-76) had a dream in which a golden man appeared to him, and
this mysterious visitant was interpreted by the emperor's brother to
be none other than Sh[=a]kyamuni Buddha, the far-famed divinity of the
West. This shows that Buddhism must then have been known to the
Chinese, at any rate by hearsay. The earliest alleged appearance of
Buddhism in China dates from 217 B.C., when certain Shamans who came
to proselytize were seized and thrown into prison. They escaped
through the miraculous intervention of a golden man, who came to them
in the middle of the night and opened their prison doors. Hsue Kuan, a
writer of the Sung dynasty, quotes in his _Tung Chai Chi_ passages to
support the view that Buddhism was known in China some centuries
before the reign of Ming Ti; among others, the following from the _Sui
Shu Ching Chi Chih_: "These Buddhist writings had long been circulated
far and wide, but disappeared with the advent of the Ch'in dynasty,"
under which (see Sec. _Chinese Literature, Sec.Sec. History_) occurred the
Burning of the Books. It is, however, convenient to begin with the
alleged dream of Ming Ti, as it was only subsequent to that date that
Buddhism became a recognized religion of the people. It is certain
that in A.D. 65 a mission of eighteen members was despatched to Khotan
to make inquiries on the subject, and that in 67 the mission returned,
bringing Buddhist writings and images, and accompanied by an Indian
priest, Kashiapmadanga, who was followed shortly afterwards by another
priest, Gobharana. A temple was built for these two at Lo-yang, then
the capital of China, and they settled down to the work of translating
portions of the Buddhist scriptures into Chinese; but all that now
remains of their work is the S[=u]tra of Forty-two Sections,
translated by Kashiapmadanga. During the next two hundred and fifty
years an unbroken line of foreign priests came to China to continue
the task of translation, and to assist in spreading the faith. Such
work was indeed entirely in their hands, for until the 4th century the
Chinese people were prohibited from taking orders as priests; but by
that date Buddhism had taken a firm hold upon the masses, and many
Chinese priests were attracted towards India, despite the long and
dangerous journey, partly to visit the birthplace of the creed and to
see with their own eyes the scenes which had so fired their
imaginations, and partly in the hope of adding to the store of books
and images already available in China (see Sec. _Chinese Literature, Sec.Sec.
Geography and Travel_). Still, the train of Indian missionaries,
moving in the opposite direction, did not cease. In 401, Kumarajiva,
the nineteenth of the Western Patriarchs and translator of the Diamond
S[=u]tra, finally took up his residence at the court of the soi-disant
emperor, Yao Hsing. In 405 he became State Preceptor and dictated his
commentaries on the sacred books of Buddhism to some eight hundred
priests, besides composing a _sh[=a]stra_ on Reality and Semblance.
Dying in 417, his body was cremated, as is still usual with priests,
but his tongue, which had done such eminent service during life,
remained unharmed in the midst of the flames. In the year 520
B[=o]dhidharma, or Ta-mo, as he is affectionately known to the
Chinese, being also called the White Buddha, reached Canton, bringing
with him the sacred bowl of the Buddhist Patriarchate, of which he was
the last representative in the west and the first to hold office in
the east. Summoned to Nanking, he offended the emperor by asserting
that real merit lay, not in works, but solely in purity and wisdom
combined. He therefore retired to Lo-yang, crossing the swollen waters
of the Yangtsze on a reed, a feat which has ever since had a great
fascination for Chinese painters and poets. There he spent the rest of
his life, teaching that religion was not to be learnt from books, but
that man should seek and find the Buddha in his own heart. Thus
Buddhism gradually made its way. It had to meet first of all the
bitter hostility of the Taoists; and secondly, the fitful patronage
and opposition of the court. Several emperors and empresses were
infatuated supporters of the faith; one even went so far as to take
vows and lead the life of an ascetic, further insisting that to render
full obedience to the Buddhist commandment, "Thou shalt not kill," the
sacrificial animals were to be made of dough. Other emperors,
instigated by Confucian advisers, went to the opposite extreme of
persecution, closed all religious houses, confiscated their property,
and forced the priests and nuns to return to the world. From about the
11th century onwards Buddhism has enjoyed comparative immunity from
attack or restriction, and it now covers the Chinese empire from end
to end. The form under which it appears in China is to some extent of
local growth; that is to say, the Chinese have added and subtracted
not a little to and from the parent stock. The cleavage which took
place under Kanishka, ruler of the Indo-Scythian empire, about the 1st
century A.D., divided Buddhism into the Mah[=a]y[=a]na, or Greater
Vehicle, and the Hin[=a]y[=a]na, as it is somewhat contemptuously
styled, or Lesser Vehicle. The latter was the nearer of the two to the
Buddhism of Sh[=a]kyamuni, and exhibits rather the mystic and esoteric
sides of the faith. The former, which spread northwards and on to
Nepaul, Tibet, China, Mongolia and Japan, leaving southern India,
Burma and Siam to its rival, began early to lean towards the
deification of Buddha as a personal Saviour. New Buddhas and
B[=o]dhisatvas were added, and new worlds were provided for them to
live in; in China, especially, there was an enormous extension of the
mythological element. In fact, the Mah[=a]y[=a]na system of Buddhism,
inspired, as has been observed, by a progressive spirit, but without
contradicting the inner significance of the teachings of Buddha,
broadened its scope and assimilated other religio-philosophical
beliefs, whenever this could be done to the advantage of those who
came within its influence. Such is the form of this religion which
prevails in China, of which, however, the Chinese layman understands
nothing. He goes to a temple, worships the gods with prostrations,
lighted candles, incense, &c., to secure his particular ends at the
moment; he may even listen to a service chanted in a foreign tongue
and just as incomprehensible to the priests as to himself. He pays his
fees and departs, absolutely ignorant of the history or dogmas of the
religion to which he looks for salvation in a future state. All such
knowledge, and there is now not much of it, is confined to a few of
the more cultured priests.
Mardaism.
The 7th century seems to have been notable in the religious history of
China. Early in that century, Mazdaism, or the religion of Zoroaster,
based upon the worship of fire, was introduced into China, and in 621
the first temple under that denomination was built at Ch'ang-an in
Shensi, then the capital. But the harvest of converts was
insignificant; the religion failed to hold its ground, and in the 9th
century disappeared altogether.
Mahommedanism.
Mahommedans first settled in China in the Year of the Mission, A.D.
628, under Wahb-Abi-Kabha, a maternal uncle of Mahomet, who was sent
with presents to the emperor. Wahb-Abi-Kabha travelled by sea to
Canton, and thence overland to Ch'ang-an, the capital, where he was
well received. The first mosque was built at Canton, where after
several restorations, it still exists. Another mosque was erected in
742; but many of the Mahommedans went to China merely as traders, and
afterwards returned to their own country. The true stock of the
present Chinese Mahommedans was a small army of 4000 Arab soldiers
sent by the caliph Abu Giafar[14] in 755 to aid in putting down a
rebellion. These soldiers had permission to settle in China, where
they married native wives; and four centuries later, with the
conquests of Jenghiz Khan, large numbers of Arabs penetrated into the
empire and swelled the Mahommedan community. Its members are now
indistinguishable from the general population; they are under no civic
disabilities, and are free to open mosques wherever they please, so
long as, in common with Buddhists and Taoists, they exhibit the tablet
of the emperor's sovereignty in some conspicuous position.
Nestorianism.
In A.D. 631 the Nestorians sent a mission to China and introduced
Christianity under the name of the Luminous Doctrine. In 636 they were
allowed to settle at Ch'ang-an; and in 638 an Imperial Decree was
issued, stating that Olopun, a Nestorian priest who is casually
mentioned as a Persian, had presented a form of religion which his
Majesty had carefully examined and had found to be in every way
satisfactory, and that it would henceforth be permissible to preach
this new doctrine within the boundaries of the empire. Further, the
establishment of a monastery was authorized, to be served by
twenty-one priests. For more than a century after this, Nestorian
Christianity seems to have flourished in China. In 781 the famous
Nestorian Tablet, giving a rough outline of the object and scope of
the faith, was set up at Ch'ang-an (the modern Si-gan Fu),
disappearing soon afterwards in the political troubles which laid the
city in ruins, to be brought to light again in 1625 by Father Semedo,
S.J. The genuineness of this tablet was for many years in dispute,
Voltaire, Renan, and others of lesser fame regarding it as a pious
Jesuit fraud; but all doubts on the subject have now been dispelled by
the exhaustive monograph of Pere Havret, S.J., entitled _La Stele de
Si-ngan_. The date of the tablet seems to mark the zenith of Nestorian
Christianity in China; after this date it began to decay. Marco Polo
refers to it as existing in the 13th century; but then it fades out of
sight, leaving scant traces in Chinese literature of ever having
existed.
Manichaeism.
The Manichaeans, worshippers of the Chaldaean Mani or Man[=e]s, who
died about A.D. 274, appear to have found their way to China in the
year 694. In 719 an envoy from Tokharestan reached Ch'ang-an, bringing
a letter to the emperor, in which a request was made that an
astronomer who accompanied the mission might be permitted to establish
places of worship for persons of the Manichaean faith. Subsequently, a
number of such chapels were opened at various centres; but little is
known of the history of this religion, which is often confounded by
Chinese writers with Mazdeism, the fate of which it seems to have
shared, also disappearing about the middle of the 9th century.
Judaism.
By "the sect of those who take out the sinew," the Chinese refer to
the Jews and their peculiar method of preparing meat in order to make
it _kosher_. Wild stories have been told of their arrival in China
seven centuries before the Christian era, after one of the numerous
upheavals mentioned in the Old Testament; and again, of their having
carried the Pentateuch to China shortly after the Babylonish
captivity, and having founded a colony in Ho-nan in A.D. 72. The Jews
really reached China for the first time in the year A.D. 1163, and
were permitted to open a synagogue at the modern K'ai-feng Fu in 1164.
There they seem to have lived peaceably, enjoying the protection of
the authorities and making some slight efforts to spread their tenets.
There their descendants were found, a dwindling community, by the
Jesuit Fathers of the 17th century; and there again they were visited
in 1850 by a Protestant mission, which succeeded in obtaining from
them Hebrew rolls of parts of the Pentateuch in the square character,
with vowel points. After this, it was generally believed that the few
remaining stragglers, who seemed to be entirely ignorant of everything
connected with their faith, had become merged in the ordinary
population. A recent traveller, however, asserts that in 1909 he found
at K'ai-feng Fu a Jewish community, the members of which keep as much
as possible to themselves, worshipping in secret, and preserving their
ancient ritual and formulary.
See H. Hackmann, _Buddhism as a Religion_ (1910); H.A. Giles,
_Religions of Ancient China_ (1905); G. Smith, _The Jews at
K'ae-fung-foo_ (1851); Dabry de Thiersant, _Le Mahometisme en Chine_
(1878); P. Havret. S.J., _La Stele chretienne de Si-ngan-fou_ (1895).
(H. A. GI.)
Christian missions.
[Christian missions, both Roman Catholic and Protestant, are
established in every province in China. Freedom to embrace the
Christian faith has been guaranteed by the Chinese government since
1860, and as a rule the missionaries have free scope in teaching and
preaching, though local disturbances are not infrequent. The number of
members of the Roman Catholic Church in China was reckoned by the
Jesuit fathers at Shanghai to be, in 1907, "about one million"; in the
same year the Protestant societies reckoned in all 250,000 church
members. By the Chinese, Roman Catholicism is called the "Religion of
the Lord of Heaven"; Protestantism the "Religion of Jesus." For the
progress and effects of Christianity in China see Sec. _History_, and
MISSIONS, Sec. _China_. ED.]
_Education and the Press._
The educational system of China till nearly the close of the 19th
century was confined in its scope to the study of Chinese classics.
Elementary instruction was not provided by the state. The well-to-do
engaged private tutors for their sons; the poorer boys were taught in
small schools on a voluntary basis. No curriculum was compulsory, but
the books used and the programme pursued followed a traditional rule.
The boys (there were no schools for girls) began by memorizing the
classics for four or five years. Then followed letter-writing and easy
composition. This completed the education of the vast majority of the
boys not intended for the public service. The chief merit of the system
was that it developed the memory and the imitative faculty. For
secondary education somewhat better provision was made, practically the
only method of attaining eminence in the state being through the schools
(see Sec. _Civil Service_). At prefectural cities and provincial capitals
colleges were maintained at the public expense, and at these
institutions a more or less thorough knowledge of the classics might be
obtained. At the public examinations held periodically the exercises
proposed were original poems and literary essays. Three degrees were
conferred, _Siu-ts'ai_ (budding talent), _Chu-jen_ (promoted scholar)
and _Chin-shih_ (entered scholar). The last degree was given to those
who passed the final examination at Peking, and the successful
candidates were also called metropolitan graduates.
The first education on western lines was given by the Roman Catholic
missionaries. In 1852 they founded a college for the education of
native priests; they also founded and maintained many primary and some
higher schools--mainly if not exclusively for the benefit of their
converts. The Protestant missions followed the example of the Roman
Catholics, but a new departure, which has had a wide success, was
initiated by the American Protestant missionary societies in founding
schools--primary and higher--and colleges in which western education
was given equally to all comers, Christian or non-Christian.
Universities and medical schools have also been established by the
missionary societies. They also initiated a movement for the education
of girls and opened special schools for their instruction.
Missionary effort apart, the first step towards western education was
the establishment of two colleges in 1861, one at Peking, the other at
Canton in connexion with the imperial maritime customs. These
institutions were known as T'ung Wen Kwan, and were provided with a
staff of foreign professors and teachers. These colleges were mainly
schools of languages to enable young Chinese to qualify as
interpreters in English, French, &c. Similar schools were established
at Canton, Fuchow and one or two other places, with but indifferent
results. A more promising plan was conceived in 1880, or thereabouts,
by the then viceroy of Nanking, who sent a batch of thirty or forty
students to America to receive a regular training on the understanding
that on their return they would receive official appointments. The
promise was not kept. A report was spread that these students were
becoming too much Americanized. They were hastily recalled, and when
they returned they were left in obscurity. The next step was taken by
the viceroy Chang Chih-tung after the Chino-Japanese War of 1894-95.
The viceroy wrote a book, _China's Only Hope_, which he circulated
throughout the empire, and in which he strongly advocated a reform of
the traditional educational system. His scheme was to make Chinese
learning the foundation on which a western education should be
imparted.[15] The book was one of the factors in the 1898 reform
movement, and Chang Chih-tung's proposals were condemned when that
movement was suppressed. But after the Boxer rising the Peking
government adopted his views, and in 1902 regulations were issued for
the reform of the old system of public instruction. A university on
western lines was established in that year at Peking, the T'ung Wen
Kwan at the capital being incorporated in it. The new educational
movement gained enormously in strength as the result of the
Russo-Japanese War, and in 1906 a new system, theoretically almost
perfect, was established. The new system comprises the study of the
Chinese language, literature and composition, modern sciences, history
and geography, foreign languages,[16] gymnastics, drill and, in the
higher grades, political economy, and civil and international law.
By 1910 primary and secondary government schools and schools for
special subjects (such as agriculture and engineering) had been
established in considerable numbers. In every province an Imperial
University was also established. The Imperial University at Peking now
teaches not only languages and Chinese subjects but also law,
chemistry, mathematics, &c. A medical school was founded at Peking in
1906 through the energy of British Protestant missionaries, and is
called the Union Medical College. When in 1908, the United States,
finding that the indemnity for the Boxer outrages awarded her was
excessive, agreed to forgo the payment of L2,500,000, China undertook
to spend an equal amount in sending students to America.
The general verdict of foreign observers on the working of the new
system up to 1910 was that in many instances the teaching was
ineffective, but there were notable exceptions. The best teachers,
next to Europeans, were foreign or mission-trained Chinese. The
Japanese employed as teachers were often ignorant of Chinese and were
not as a rule very successful. (See further Sec. _History_.) A remarkable
indication of the thirst for western learning and culture was the
translation into Chinese and their diffusion throughout the country of
numerous foreign standard and other works, including modern fiction.
Native press.
The _Peking Gazette_, which is sometimes called the oldest paper in
the world, is not a newspaper in the ordinary sense, but merely a
court gazette for publishing imperial decrees and such public
documents as the government may wish to give out. It never contains
original articles nor any discussion of public affairs. The first
genuine native newspaper was published at Shanghai about 1870. It was
termed the _Shen Pao_ or _Shanghai News_, and was a Chinese
speculation under foreign protection, the first editor being an
Englishman. It was some years before it made much headway, but success
came, and it was followed by various imitators, some published at
Shanghai, some at other treaty ports and at Hong-Kong. In 1910 there
were over 200 daily, weekly or monthly journals in China. The effect
of this mass of literature on the public mind of China is of
first-rate importance.
The attitude of the central government towards the native press is
somewhat undefined. Official registration of a newspaper is required
before postal facilities are given. There are no press laws, but as
every official is a law unto himself in these matters, there is
nothing to prevent him from summarily suppressing an obnoxious
newspaper and putting the editor in prison. The emperor, among other
reform edicts which provoked the _coup d'etat_ of 1898, declared that
newspapers were a boon to the public and appointed one of them a
government organ. The empress-dowager revoked this decree, and
declared that the public discussion of affairs of state in the
newspapers was an impertinence, and ought to be suppressed.
Nevertheless the newspapers continued to flourish, and their outspoken
criticism had a salutary effect on the public and on the government.
The official classes seem to have become alarmed at the independent
attitude of the newspapers, but instead of a campaign of suppression
the method was adopted, about 1908, of bringing the vernacular press
under official control. This was accomplished chiefly by the purchase
of the newspapers by the mandarins, with the result that at the
beginning of 1910 there was said to be hardly an independent native
daily newspaper left in China. The use of government funds to
subsidize or to purchase newspapers and thus to stifle or mislead
public opinion provoked strong protests from members of the Nanking
provincial council at its first sitting in the autumn of 1909. The
appropriation by the Shanghai Taot'ai of moneys belonging to the
Huangpu conservancy fund for subsidizing papers led to his impeachment
by a censor and to the return of the moneys.[17] (X.)