about six years of age. Their first employment is to learn by name a
certain number of easy characters, without any regard to the
signification, or without understanding the meaning of one of them,
consequently, without adding to the mind one single idea, for five or
six years, except that of labour and difficulty. For the _name_ of a
character, it may be recollected, has no reference whatsoever to its
_meaning_. Thus fifty-one different characters, of as many distinct
significations, have the same name of _ching_; and if ten or a dozen
characters, bearing the sound of _ching_, should occur in the same page,
the learner, in this stage of his education, is not instructed in the
several meanings; his object is to acquire the sound, but to neglect the
sense. I have been told, that a regular-bred scholar is required to get
by heart a very large volume of the works of Confucius so perfectly,
that he may be able to turn to any passage or sentence from hearing the
sound of the characters only, without his having one single idea of
their signification. The next step is to form the characters, commencing
by tracing, or going over, a certain number that are faintly drawn in
red ink. As soon as they are able to cover these with tolerable
accuracy, without deviating from the lines of the original, they then
endeavour to imitate them on fresh paper. These operations employ at
least four years more of their life. Thus, a young man of fourteen or
sixteen years of age, although he may be able to write a great number of
characters, for each of which he can also give a name, yet, at the same
time, he can affix no distinct idea to any one of them. The contrary
method would appear advisable of teaching them first the signification
of the simple roots, and the analysis of the compound characters, and
afterwards the sounds, or, perhaps, to let the one accompany the other.
Objections of a similar nature to those now mentioned against the mode
of Chinese education, have, it is true, been frequently stated with
regard to the plan of educating youths in the public grammar schools of
our own country; that some of the most precious years of their lives,
when the faculties were in growing vigour, and the plastic mind most
susceptible of receiving and retaining impressions, are wasted in poring
over the metaphysics of a Latin Grammar, which they cannot possibly
comprehend; and in learning by heart a number of declinations,
conjugations, and syntax rules, which serve only to puzzle and disgust,
instead of affording instruction or amusement: that the grammar, or
philosophical part of a language, is useful only for the niceties and
perfection of that language, and not a subject for boys. In all
instances, perhaps, where the language to be learned is made the common
colloquial language of the pupil, the objections stated against the use
of the grammar may have some weight. But as this is not the case with
regard to the Greek and Latin languages in Europe, nor to the written
character in China, which differs widely from the colloquial, long
experience may, perhaps, in both cases, have led to the adoption of the
most eligible method[17].
[17] That the Chinese method, however, is defective, may be inferred
from the circumstance of the present Sir George Staunton having not only
acquired, in little more than twelve months, and at the age of twelve
years, such a number of words and phraseology as to make himself
understood, and to understand others on common topics of conversation,
but he also learned to write the characters with such facility and
accuracy, that all the diplomatic papers of the Embassy addressed to the
Chinese government were copied by him (the Chinese themselves being
afraid to let papers of so unusual a style appear in their own
hand-writing) in so neat and expeditious a manner as to occasion great
astonishment. It may be observed, however, that few youths of his age
possess the talents, the attention, and the general information with
which he was endowed.
But a youth of Europe has a very material advantage over one of China,
during the time in which he is said to be poring over his Latin Grammar.
He is in the daily habit of acquiring new ideas, from his knowledge of
other languages. His mother-tongue supplies him with books, which he is
able to comprehend, and from which he derives both entertainment and
instruction. Without enumerating the great variety of these that daily
engage his attention, I deem it sufficient to observe, that his
Robinson Crusoe (the best book, with few exceptions, that can be put
into a boy's hand) shews the numberless difficulties to which he is
liable in the world, when the anxious cares of his parents have ceased
to watch over him; it is there pointed out to him that, arduous as many
undertakings may appear to be, few are insurmountable; that the body and
the mind of man are furnished with resources which, by patience,
diligence, prudence, and reflexion, will enable him to overcome the
greatest difficulties, and escape the most imminent dangers. His Tom
Jones, however exceptionable in those parts where human failings are
represented under an amiable and alluring dress, leaves, upon the whole,
a lively impression in favour of generosity and virtue, and seldom fails
to excite an indignant glow against perfidy, selfishness, and brutality.
The young Chinese has no such relief from his dry study of acquiring the
names and representations of things that to him have as yet no meaning.
He knows not a word of any language but his own.
The last step in the education of a Chinese is to analyse the
characters, by the help of the dictionary, in the manner already
mentioned, so that he now first begins to comprehend the use of the
written character. Extracts from the works of their famous philosopher
_Cong-foo-tse_ (the Confucius of the missionaries) are generally put
into his hands; beginning with those that treat on moral subjects, in
which are set forth, in short sentences, the praises of virtue, and the
odiousness of vice, with rules of conduct to be observed in the world.
The _eternal mean_, in the style and manner of the maxims of Seneca,
next follows; and the art of government, with an abridgment of the
laws, completes him for taking his first degree, which generally happens
when he has attained his twentieth year; but in order to be qualified
for any high employment, he must study at least ten years longer.
From this view of the written character, and the mode of education, it
will readily occur, that little progress is likely to be made in any of
the speculative sciences; and more especially as their assistance is not
necessary to obtain the most elevated situations in the government. The
examinations to be passed for the attainment of office are principally
confined to the knowledge of the language; and as far as this goes, they
are rigid to the utmost degree. The candidates are put into separate
apartments, having previously been searched, in order to ascertain that
they have no writing of any kind about them. They are allowed nothing
but pencils, ink, and paper, and within a given time they are each to
produce a theme on the subject that shall be proposed to them. The
excellence of the composition, which is submitted to the examining
officers, or men of letters, depends chiefly on the following points.
That every character be neatly and accurately made.
That each character be well chosen, and not in vulgar use.
That the same character do not occur twice in the same composition.
The subject and the manner of treating it are of the least
consideration, but those on morality, or history, are generally
preferred. If the following story, as communicated by one of the
missionaries, and related, I believe, by the Abbé Grozier, be true,
there requires no further illustration of the state of literature in
China. "A candidate for preferment having inadvertently made use of an
abbreviation in writing the character _ma_ (which signifies a _horse_)
had not only the mortification of seeing his composition, very good in
every other respect, rejected solely on that account; but, at the same
time, was severely rallied by the censor, who, among other things, asked
him how he could possibly expect his horse to walk without having all
his legs!"
The construction of the colloquial, or spoken language, is extremely
simple. It admits of no inflexion of termination, either in the verb, or
in the noun, each word being the same invariable monosyllable in number,
in gender, in case, mood, and tense; and, as most of these monosyllables
begin with a consonant and end with a vowel, except a few that terminate
in _l_, _n_, or _ng_, the number of such sounds, or simple syllables, is
very limited. To an European they do not exceed three hundred and fifty.
But a Chinese, by early habit, has acquired greater power over the
organs of speech, and can so modulate his voice as to give to the same
monosyllable five or six distinct tones of sound; so that he can utter
at least twelve or thirteen hundred radical words, which, with the
compounds, are found to be fully sufficient for expressing all his
wants.
On this curious subject I am enabled to speak with great accuracy,
through the kindness of Sir George Staunton, to whom, indeed, I am
indebted for more information in this work than I am allowed to
acknowledge. From the best manuscript Chinese dictionary in his
possession, he has obligingly taken the trouble to draw out the
following abstract of all the simple sounds, or words, in the Chinese
language, together with their inflexions or accentuations, by which they
are extended as far as any tongue can possibly articulate, or the nicest
ear discriminate. The first column shews all the initial letters, or
their powers in the language; the second, the number of terminations, or
the remaining part of the monosyllable beside the initial; and the
third, expresses the number of monosyllabic sounds that may be given to
each by inflexion, or modulation of voice, and by making use of
aspirates.
| Initials. | Number of terminations| Number of inflexions
| Power. | to each. | or accentuations.
| | |
--|--------------------|-----------------------|--------------------------
1 | Ch. as in Child. | 20 | 131 including aspirates.
2 | F. | 10 | 30 no aspirates.
3 | G. | 11 | 32 no aspirates.
4 | between H. & S. | 36 | 114 all strong aspirates.
5 | Y. | 16 | 61 no aspirates.
6 | J as in French | |
|_Jour_ | 14 | 34 no aspirates.
7 | K. | 37 | 206 including aspirates.
8 | L. | 25 | 66 no aspirates.
9 | M. | 22 | 58 no aspirates.
10| N. | 23 | 56 no aspirates.
11| O. | 1 | 2 no aspirates.
12| P. | 21 | 104 including aspirates.
13| S. | 29 | 86 no aspirates.
14| T. | 17 | 105 including aspirates.
15| Ts. | 28 | 147 including aspirates.
16| between V. and W. | 13 | 39 no aspirates.
17| Sh. | 19 | 60 no aspirates.
--|--------------------|-----------------------|--------------------------
| | |
17| | 342 |1331
So that in the whole colloquial language of China, an European may make
out 342 simple monosyllabic sounds, which by the help of aspirates,
inflexions of voice, or accentuations, are capable of being increased by
a Chinese to 1331 words. And as the written language is said to contain
80,000 characters, and each character has a name, it will follow, that,
on an average, 60 characters, of so many different significations, must
necessarily be called by the same monosyllabic name. Hence, a
composition if read would be totally unintelligible to the ear, and must
be seen to be understood. The monosyllabic sound assigned to each
charter is applied to so many different meanings, that in its
unconnected state it may be said to have no meaning at all.
In the business of common life, the nice inflexions or modulations, that
are required to make out these thirteen hundred words, may amply be
expressed in about fifteen thousand characters, so that each
monosyllabic sound will, in this case, on an average, admit of about
twelve distinct significations. This recurrence of the same words must
necessarily cause great ambiguity in conversation, and it frequently
indeed leads to ridiculous mistakes, especially by foreigners. Thus, a
sober missionary, intending to pass the night at a peasant's house,
asked as he thought for a _mat_, but was very much surprised on seeing
his host presenting him with a _young girl_; these two objects, so very
different from one another, being signified by two words whose
pronunciations are not distinguishable, and consequently one or the
other requires to be used with an adjunct.
It was a source of daily amusement to our conductors, to hear the
_equivoques_ we made in attempting to speak their language. A Chinese,
when the sense is doubtful, will draw the character, or the root of it,
in the air with his finger or fan, by which he makes himself at once
understood.
But as some of these monosyllabic words, as I have observed of _ching_,
have not less than fifty distinct significations, which the nicest tones
and inflexions, even of a Chinese voice, are not able to discriminate,
such words are generally converted into compounds, by adding a second
syllable, bearing some relative sense to the first, by which the meaning
is at once determined. Among the significations, for instance, of the
monosyllable _foo_ is that of _father_, to which, for the sake of
distinction, as _foo_ has many significations beside that of father,
they add the syllable _chin_, implying _kindred_; thus, a Chinese in
speaking of his parents invariably says _foo-chin_ for father, and
_moo-chin_ for mother; but, in writing, the character of _chin_ would be
considered as an unnecessary expletive, that of _foo_ being very
differently made from any other called by the same name.
The grammar of this language may briefly be explained. The noun, as
observed, is indeclinable; the particles _te_ or _tié_, mark the
genitive, and always follow the noun; _eu_ the dative, which it
precedes, and _tung_ or _tsung_ the ablative, before which they are also
placed. As for example,
Nom. _gai_ love.
Gen. _gai-te_ of love.
Dat. _eu-gai_ to love.
Acc. _gai_ love.
Abl. _tung_ or _tsung gai_, from or by love. And the same in the plural.
Give me _your_ book,
_Keu go_ NE-TE _shoo_.
Dear _to_ men,
_Quei_ EU _jin_.
Come you _with_ him,
_Ne-lai_ TUNG _ta_.
The adjective is also formed from the genitive of the noun as _pai_,
whiteness; _pai-tié_ white; _je_ heat; _je-tié_ hot; _lee_, reason;
_lee-tié_, rational; _hau_ goodness; _hau tié_, good. But when the
adjective precedes the noun, as it generally does, the particle _tié_ is
omitted as,
_hau jin_, a good man.
_pai-ma_, a white horse.
_je-swee_, hot water.
The plural of nouns is expressed by prefixing some word signifying
plurality, as _to-jin_, many men; _to-to jin_, a multitude of men;
_chung jin_, all men; and sometimes by a repetition of the word as
_jin-jin_, men.
Adjectives are compared by placing the particle _keng_ before the
comparative, as
_yeou_, soft; _keng yeou_, softer.
_hau_, good; _keng hau_, better.
My book is _newer_ than yours,
_Go-te shoo_ KENG _sin ne-te_.
The superlative is marked by various particles, sometimes preceding, and
sometimes following, the adjective, and it is also formed by repeating
the positive, as
_hau, hau tié_, very good.
_whang-whang-tié_, very yellow.
The personal pronouns are,
_ngo_ (nasal) or _go, ne, ta, go-men, ne-men, ta-men._
I, thou, he, we, ye, they.
And they become possessives, in the same manner as nouns are changed
into adjectives, by the addition of _te_ or _tié_, as
_go-te, ne-te, ta-te, go-men-te, ne-men-te, ta-men-te_.
mine, thine, his, ours, yours, theirs.
The verb has likewise neither conjugation nor inflection; and the
tenses, or times of action or passion, are limited to three; the
present, the past, and the future. The present is signified simply by
the verb, as _go lai_, I come; the past, is expressed by the particle
_leo_, as _go lai leo_, I did come, or I have come; and the future is
formed by placing the particle _yau_ before the verb, as _go yau lai_, I
will come; or, when something very determined is meant to be expressed,
the compound _yuen-y_ precedes the verb, as _go yuen-y-lai_, I am
determined to come. It may be observed, however, that although these,
and other particles signifying the time and mode of action, are
necessary in common speech, yet, in fine writing, they are entirely
omitted, which is another cause of the obscurity and difficulty that
occur to strangers in the study of the Chinese character.
The two negatives _mo_ and _poo_, are of great use in the spoken
language. The first is generally used with the verb _yeu_ to have, and
always implies a want or deficiency, as, _mo yeu nai_, there is no milk;
_mo yeu tcha_, you can have no tea, I have no tea, there is no tea, &c.
_Poo_ is generally used to express qualities of an opposite nature, as,
_hau_, good, _poo hau_, bad; _je_, hot; _poo je_, cold; _ta_, great;
_poo ta_, little. The usual salutation between friends is _hau-poo-hau_,
well, or not well?
The limits I have prescribed for the present work will not allow me to
enter into a more detailed account of this singular language. What has
been said may serve to convey a general idea of the written character,
and the simple construction of the spoken language. I shall now
endeavour, in a few words, to explain the nature and construction of the
Mantchoo Tartar character, which, if the present family continue on the
throne for a century longer, will, in all probability, supplant the
Chinese, or will at least become the court language. In the enunciation
it is full, sonorous, and far from being disagreeable, more like the
Greek than any of the oriental languages; and it abounds with all those
letters which the Chinese have rejected, particularly with the letters B
and R. It is alphabetic, or, more properly speaking, syllabic, and the
different parts of speech are susceptible of expressing number, case,
gender, time, modes of action, passion, and other accidents, similar to
those of European languages. This is effected either by change of
termination, preposition, or interposition. The character is extremely
beautiful, and it is written, like the Chinese, in perpendicular
columns, but beginning on the left side of the paper instead of the
right, as is the case in writing the former language.
The elements of the language are comprized in twelve classes of simple
sounds or monosyllables, from the different combinations of which all
the words of the Mantchoo language are formed.
These classes are distinguished by the terminations.
The first class ends in a, e, i, o, u, pronounced exactly as the
Italian.
The second, in ai, ei, iei, oi, ui.
The third, in ar, er, ir, or, ur, air, &c.
The fourth, in an, en, in, &c.
The fifth, in ang, eng, ing, &c.
The sixth, in ak, ek, ik, &c.
The seventh, in as, es, is, &c.
The eighth, in at, et, it, &c.
The ninth, in ap, ep, ip, &c.
The tenth, in au, eu, iu, ou.
The eleventh, in al, el, il, &c.
The twelfth, in am, em, im, &c.
The initials are, A. E. F. H. I. K. L. M. N. O. P. R. S. T. U. Y.
To give some idea of the character, I subjoin the written elements.
1st Class. a e i o u
[Manchu letters]
2d Class. ai ei iei oi ui
[Manchu letters]
3d Class. ar er ir or ur
[Manchu letters]
4th Class. an en in on un
[Manchu letters]
5th Class. ang eng ing ong ung
[Manchu letters]
6th Class. ak ek ik ok uk
[Manchu letters]
7th Class. as es is os us
[Manchu letters]
8th Class. at et it ot ut
[Manchu letters]
9th Class. ap ep ip op up
[Manchu letters]
10th Class. au eu iu ou uu
[Manchu letters]
11th Class. al el il ol ul
[Manchu letters]
12th Class. am em im om um
[Manchu letters]
The initial characters are represented by respective marks, which being
joined to these elementary terminations, generally at the upper
extremity, give all the monosyllabic sounds, and the junction of these
according to their various combinations all the words in the Mantchoo
language. One example will be sufficient to shew the nature of such
composition; thus the initials P. T. L. S. F. set before the 12th class
of radicals, will stand as follows:
Pam Tem Lim Som Fum
[Manchu letters]
And if each of these syllables be respectively added to the 5th class,
they will stand thus:
Pamang Temeng Liming Somong Fumung
[Manchu letters]
Of the state of their literature, and progress in science, I have little
to observe. The nature of the language will almost itself determine
these points. With respect to any branch of polite literature, or
speculative science, little improvement seems to have been made in the
last two thousand years. Indeed, there are no works in the whole empire,
modern or ancient, that are so much esteemed, so much studied, and I may
perhaps add, so little comprehended, as the five classical books
collected and commented upon by their great philosopher _Cong-foo-tse_,
who lived about 450 years before the Christian æra; and these certainly
are very extraordinary productions for the time in which they were
written. These works and a few writings of their favourite master,
according to the annals of the country, escaped the general destruction
of books, when the barbarous _She-whang-te_ ordered all the monuments of
learning to be burnt, except such as treated of medicine and
agriculture, about 200 years before Christ, for the absurd purpose, as
they state, that he might be considered by posterity as the first
civilized Emperor which had governed China, and that the records of its
history might, by this mean artifice, appear to commence with his
reign.
Admitting such an event to have happened which, however, may be
considered as doubtful, the supposition involves in it this necessary
consequence, that the stock of learning at that time must have been very
confined. It is scarcely possible, otherwise, how one person, near the
end of his reign, could have contrived to assemble together all the
works of art and literature, dispersed through so large a tract of
country and so enlightened as it was then supposed to be. There were,
besides, other independent sovereigns in the country, over whom he had
little or no controul, so that it is very probable the commonwealth of
letters suffered no great loss by the burning of the Chinese books. When
the Caliph Omar commanded the Alexandrian library to be destroyed, which
the pride and the learning of the Ptolemy family had collected from
every part of the world, literature sustained an irreparable loss; but,
although the tyrant had the power to consign to eternal oblivion the
works of science, yet he had no power over the principles upon which
these works were constructed. These principles had spread themselves
wide over the world. The expedition of Alexander carried the learning of
the Egyptians and the Greeks into various countries of Asia, where they
continued to flourish. And when the tyranny and oppression of the
seventh Ptolemy (Physcon) forced the Alexandrians to abandon a city that
was perpetually streaming with the blood of its citizens, they found an
asylum in the Grecian states and in different parts of Asia. And as this
sanguinary tyrant, in the midst of his cruelties, pretended and indeed
shewed a fondness for literature, the arts and the sciences flourished
even in his reign: the migrations, therefore, at this time, from the
capital of Egypt, were of the greatest importance and use to those
nations among whom the refugees settled. Unluckily for China, the wild
mountainous forests towards the south, and the wide sandy deserts to the
north, that render any communication extremely difficult between this
empire and the rest of Asia, together with their dislike for foreigners,
seem, at this time, to have checked the progress of those arts and
sciences which had long flourished in Europe and in Africa. Their
history, at least, is silent as to any communication with India, till a
century nearly after the commencement of the Christian æra, when the
religion of Budha found its way from Thibet into China.