THE EFFECT OF WESTERN LITERATURE IN CHINA
Among the influences that have awakened China, outside the great lesson
of political events, none has been more influential than literature in
its many branches. The Chinese have always been a literary race. They
invented printing about the same time that the savage Saxons welcomed
the first book written by the Venerable Bede, and the influence of
literature has therefore held sway many hundred years in China. But
for the last six hundred years there have not been many works of
original thought produced in native literature. Most of their writings
have been commentaries on the Classics following along the beaten
paths, or works of poetry full of references to the Shi-King or the
classic poetry of the Chinese. The literature of China is
characteristic of her civilisation. It is confined by an artificiality
which has its origin in an inordinate respect for the past and an
absolute distrust of the future. Every book looks backward to the
period when China's thought was pure and great.
This period continued till the Anglo-Saxon influence made itself felt
through its missions. Very early in the history of Protestant missions
it was {208} perceived that in a country like China some other appeal
must be made than could be made by the white missionary. A nation
reverencing the printed page to such a degree that men will carefully
pick up a piece of paper and put it on one side rather than trample it
heedlessly, for fear lest that piece of paper should contain words of
wisdom, is obviously a nation that can best be reached through printed
matter, and so Dr. Morrison, the pioneer of Protestant missions,
devoted the greater part of his missionary life to translating the Holy
Scriptures. The matter was not so simple as might appear to those who
are only conversant with the civilisation of younger and less
artificial races than the Chinese. It is not enough to translate a
work into Chinese; the spoken language is nowhere used for literature.
The literary language commonly called Wenli probably never was spoken,
and is so full of artificial rules of construction that it is only
after many years that a man can hope to write it efficiently.
Chang-Chih-Tung says that it requires ten years for a Chinaman to
become an efficient translator. That does not mean that it takes ten
years for a Chinaman to learn English, but ten years for a man to be
able to put into good Chinese the thoughts that he has learned from the
West.
The written language of China, it should be remembered, is not a
language in which sounds are portrayed by means of signs as it is with
Western languages. Each character represents an idea, the only analogy
in our language being the numerals and {209} some few signs we have for
simple words such as "cross" or "and." Therefore when new ideas are
developed new signs are required. These can be created out of old
signs. For instance, I understand that a railway engine is called a
fire carriage. This, by the way, caused great confusion of mind in a
certain district to the Christian converts who were conversant with the
story of Elijah, for some of them erroneously concluded that Elijah
left this earth in a railway train.
Another instance of the difficulty of expressing new things was
afforded when a certain mission started work in China. They were in
some perplexity as to the title that they should choose for their
society. They wanted to convey to the Chinese that their denomination
claimed especially to feed the souls of men. They explained all this
to an educated Chinaman, and quoted some well-known texts. He
immediately wrote down two characters, and assured them that they
represented what they had said about the spiritual food that they
provided, and would also be very popular with the Chinese, as indeed it
proved. The moment they opened the door of the chapel they were
besieged by hundreds of Chinese of the poorer class, who, after
listening for a short time, went away discontentedly. The missionaries
found out afterwards that the title they had been given literally
translated was "Health-giving Free Restaurant," a most attractive title
to the hungry Chinaman.
There is indeed another way of representing new {210} words. The word
can be borrowed bodily from another language and pronounced in a
Chinese way, and the word-signs which best represent the sounds can
then be employed. This is often done with proper names. For instance,
a great Chinese statesman told me that he referred to Sir Edward Grey
in his despatches to China by three signs which had the three sounds Ga
La Hay, but this system is obviously open to misconstruction, because
the reader might be tempted to give the words their normal meaning. I
believe that such terms as X-rays and ultimatum have been so adopted
bodily into the Chinese language. Ninety per cent., however, of the
new word-signs which go to make up what the Chinese call modern style
are new combinations of ancient ideographs.
One of the pioneers in this translation work said at the Shanghai
Conference that the first thing a missionary had to do before he could
convert the people was to convert the language. Until he had invented
a new set of word-sounds to convey Christian ideas, the preaching of
Christianity laboured under the very greatest disadvantage. The "term
controversy," that is, the controversy as to what sign should be chosen
to signify the Christian's God, was an example of this. It arose first
in the Roman Communion and afterwards gave great trouble to other
Communions. The choice lay between three terms--one signifying
originally "Supreme Ruler," one "Heaven," and the last "Spirit," none
of which quite {211} expressed our idea of God. What Christians felt
was felt by other translators also, and one of the great causes of
advance in China has been the formation of a language which can now
thoroughly express all the ideas that are characteristic of the West.
Many of these word-signs come from Japan. Japan, using the same
written script as China, and having accepted Western thought, is more
easily able to compose the word-sign necessary for its expression, and
it is in this way among many others that the influence of Japan will be
very important if not paramount in far Eastern countries.
Every missionary body has tried to produce Christian literature; the
great difficulty has been to get the translator. The method usually
employed is to get a Chinese graduate, too often not a Christian, and
to make him, under careful supervision, write down the phrases rendered
by the missionary into Chinese. Even so the difficulties are very
great. The object of literature is differently understood in the West
and in the East. A Chinese scholar who was very conversant with both
languages explained the difficulties by the following anecdote.
Engrossed in the study of Western knowledge he had neglected his
Chinese literature, and was in imminent danger of failing in his
examination. Happily for him the night before his examination he read
a classical author much admired by connoisseurs but not much read owing
to his great obscurity of expression. A particularly recondite {212}
phrase dwelt in his memory because it had cost him so much trouble to
discover its meaning. Next day he used the phrase in his paper, and
when his paper was returned to him with the marks of the examiner upon
it, it was obvious that it was this phrase, surrounded on all sides by
the marks of his examiner's approbation, which had been the means of
his passing that examination. Subsequently he went to Chicago
University. "There," he said, with the quiet humour of a Chinaman, "I
learnt that the object of an essay was to convey an idea in as simple a
manner as possible. This is not the Chinese plan."
One of the pioneers in this work was the body which is now called the
Christian Literature Society for China. Assisted by a brilliant staff,
Dr. Timothy Richard has produced a great mass of excellent work which
has profound influence on thought in China. No better test can be
found of the wonderful work that they have done than the fact that the
greatest statesman that China possessed, and also her greatest
Confucianist scholar, should refer to one of their publications, _The
Review of the Times_, as one of the causes of China's enlightenment.
The Christian Literature Society has not, however, been the only
labourer in the field. Good work has been done by the Religious Tract
Society, which has depôts in various parts of China for the sale of
good literature; and there have been other societies which have also
published books, including the Mission Press, belonging {213} to the
Roman Catholics, which is situated at Hong-Kong.
But in speaking of Christian literature we must not forget the various
Bible Societies which have done such varied and excellent work in
China, chief among which has been the British and Foreign Bible
Society. Far beyond where the white missionary could reach, the
productions of this Society have penetrated; even right across the
deserts of Mongolia have their colporteurs carried their wares. Of the
conversations which I had with various Chinese gentlemen one was
especially remarkable as a testimony to their activity. My
interlocutor was one of those fat lazy men who enjoy the good things of
life and care but little for serious matters, and yet I was surprised
to find that he was obviously acquainted with, at any rate, some of the
tenets of the Christian faith, and I wondered how this indolent man had
obtained such knowledge. I felt certain that his dignity would never
have permitted him to have talked to a Christian missionary, much less
to have listened to a Christian sermon. At last he incidentally
mentioned that though a Confucianist he was well acquainted with the
Gospel of St. Mark. I could not well ask him how he had obtained it,
but no doubt it had come to him through the means of the British and
Foreign Bible Society.
We happened upon another example of the influence of the Bible Society.
We were coming down on the boat from Canton, and, walking on the
Chinese {214} deck, I saw a man smoking opium and reading an English
book. As I saw he knew English, I addressed him; under the influence
of opium, he was wonderfully communicative. The book turned out to be
St. John's Gospel, and he was reading about our Lord's Crucifixion. He
had only picked it up because he wanted to improve his English, but he
was deeply impressed by it, and his comments were most interesting. He
asked me whether it was true that when our Lord was crucified He had
stood alone against all the power of the Jews and the Romans, and when
he received an answer in the affirmative, he added, "Then He must have
been Divine, for no man who was not Divine could have stood alone." To
the Chinese mind, which is incapable of any separate action, which is
powerless unless it has the moral support of the Government, of a
Guild, or even of a secret society, the story of the Crucifixion
appeals most strongly as an example of Divine strength of purpose.
This strange contrast between the opium-smoker and the Bible was
typical of China. The forces of good and evil were wrestling together
for the possession of that man's life; the forces of good having been
put into his hands no doubt by the instrumentality of some Bible
Society.
But the good work that has been directly done by all these societies
has been greatly augmented by the good work that they have done
indirectly through the medium of some of their converts. A body of
Christian young men determined to start {215} a publishing house on
their own account, the object of which should be that the published
books, both translations and original works, should best convey to the
Chinese mind lofty and noble ideas in Western thought. If these books
were not intended to be definitely propagandist they were at least
calculated to teach the ethical system of Christianity. The work of
the Shanghai Commercial Press has had a great influence on the thought
of China; from thence has issued forth a mass of literature both for
schools and for the general public which has introduced Western thought
to the Chinese. Many of our standard authors have been translated, and
the Chinaman, moved by his love of literature, is now becoming
intimately acquainted with every literary activity of our civilisation.
When one looks at those strange word-signs it seems hard to believe
that any one could read them with ease and rapidity; yet Chinamen say,
though writing is a matter of great difficulty and requires much time,
reading the characters is quicker than reading our system of printing,
each idea being conveyed by one sign, instead of, as in our language,
by many letters.
These signs are apparently things to which sentiment attaches. We
heard a most interesting debate at the Conference of the Anglican
Church at Shanghai as to the title by which the Anglican body should be
generally known, and it was instructive to watch the differences
between the views of the English and the Chinese minds on the question,
as the debate {216} was translated by a most able interpreter, Mr.
Tsen. We began with what threatened to be a rather dreary Anglo-Saxon
debate between the High and the Low Church. One felt the old
atmosphere of the sixteenth and seventeenth century of English history
very present in the room. The debate was on the question as to whether
the word "Catholic" should form part of the title. I need not detail
the arguments that were advanced on both sides; they are too well
known. Then we turned to the Chinese translation, and at once the
fires of Smithfield and the thunders of the Reformation disappeared as
by magic, and the blue-robed men from all parts of China woke up to an
interest that was as extraordinary as it was instructive. We gathered,
by means of our interpreter, two or three most interesting facts.
First, there was unanimity in the room that the title should not in any
way, indirectly or by allusion, convey the idea that the Anglican
Church had anything to do with England. The view of China for the
Chinese obviously commanded the assent of all in the room; even those
who had been influenced the other way by their teachers, had to allow
that the word Anglican would be fatal to the popularity of the Church.
When "The Holy Catholic Church of China" was proposed as a title, it
was suggested by the white men that it savoured of insolence, as
implying that the other communions did not belong to it. This met with
no favour from the Chinese. Their argument was simple; we are {217}
all going to be one body in a short time, so the others can share in
our title if it is a good one, and if it is not, we can share theirs.
Then there was this feeling, which it was impossible for a stranger to
appreciate, that each ideograph had a sentiment attached to it, and
that therefore the title must be composed of ideographs which had not
merely a suitable meaning but also a beautiful association. In the end
they adopted for their title the ideographs that are used in the Creed
for the Holy Catholic Church, not meaning thereby that they were the
only branch of the Catholic Church in China, but that they were a true
branch of the Catholic Church. There was another point made obvious to
the onlooker, a point which will be dealt with further on in this book,
namely, that owing to the different policies of the missions, the
American body dominated in debate because they were represented by an
extremely able body of Chinamen, while the English missions had as
Chinese representatives only men of ordinary education.
But to return to the question of literature. Though literature has
been instrumental in disseminating both the truths of Christianity and
the noble ethical teaching of the West, it has also been instrumental
in disseminating much that is evil and corrupt in Western literature.
Perhaps it is not extraordinary that the Japanese bookseller finds that
the erotic novel from Paris sells more freely when translated than the
English story whose whole {218} motive depends on a proper
comprehension of the Christian ethical position. _The Dame aux
Camélias_, by Dumas, is the most popular of the Western works, and one
cannot but tremble to think what incalculable injury such stories will
do to a nation which does not understand the relative positions in
which those works are held by men of high character in the West.
Chang-Chih-Tung refers in one of his works to the apparent immorality
of Western thought; and if we grant that books like these are typical
of Western thought, we shall not be able to wonder at his conclusion.
Through the distorted medium of such translations Western civilisation
must seem wholly detestable. The Chinaman will naturally say, "Your
boasted morality is merely a hypocritical covering for a profligacy
which we should never permit in our land."
Not only are French novels translated, but all the works which Western
thought has produced against the Christian faith. Haeckel's "Riddle of
the Universe" is a typical example. In literature, as in every other
department of life in China, two elements of Western civilisation
strive for mastery. On one side there are arrayed the powers of
Christianity and the interpretation of Western civilisation as a
product of Christian thought; on the other side lies materialism, and
the explanation of Western civilisation as a natural result of
evolution which is developing an irreligious but most comfortable
world. If China listens to the first, she will become like other {219}
nations, a great power, not only rich, but honourable, true, and
merciful, the result of the teaching of Christian faith and ethics. If
she listens to the second, the efficiency of China will be rendered
terrible by a low morality, which will not only desolate and depress
many millions, but even have a deleterious effect on the West which so
mistaught her.
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