THE T'ANG DYNASTY, 618-907 A. D.
(20 Emperors)
_An Augustan Age--A Pair of Poets--The Coming of Christianity--The
Empress Wu--System of Examinations_
I have seen a river plunge into a chasm and disappear. After a
subterranean course of many miles it rose to the surface fuller,
stronger than before. No man saw from whence it drew its increment
of force, but the fact was undeniable. This is just what took place
in China at this epoch.
It is comforting to know that during those centuries of turmoil the
Chinese were not wholly engrossed with war and rapine. The T'ang
dynasty is conspicuously the Augustan Age. Literature reappears
in a more perfect form than under the preceding reigns. The prose
writers of that period are to the present day studied as models
of composition, which cannot be affirmed of the writers of any
earlier epoch. Poetry, too, shone forth with dazzling splendour.
A galaxy of poets made their appearance, among whom two particular
stars were Tufu and Lipai, the Dryden and Pope of Chinese literature.
The following specimen from Lipai who is deemed the highest poetical
genius in the annals of China, may
[Page 120]
show, even in its Western dress, something of his peculiar talent:
ON DRINKING ALONE BY MOONLIGHT[*]
Here are flowers and here is wine,
But where's a friend with me to join
Hand in hand and heart to heart
In one full cup before we part?
Rather than to drink alone,
I'll make bold to ask the moon
To condescend to lend her face
The hour and the scene to grace.
Lo, she answers, and she brings
My shadow on her silver wings;
That makes three, and we shall be.
I ween, a merry company
The modest moon declines the cup,
But shadow promptly takes it up,
And when I dance my shadow fleet
Keeps measure with my flying feet.
But though the moon declines to tipple
She dances in yon shining ripple,
And when I sing, my festive song,
The echoes of the moon prolong.
Say, when shall we next meet together?
Surely not in cloudy weather,
For you my boon companions dear
Come only when the sky is clear.
[Footnote *: From "Chinese Legends and Other Poems," by W. A. P.
MARTIN.]
The second emperor, Tai-tsung, made good his claims by killing
two of his brothers who were plotting against him. Notwithstanding
this inauspicious beginning
[Page 121]
he became an able and illustrious sovereign. The twenty-three years
during which he occupied the throne were the most brilliant of
that famous dynasty.
At Si-ngan in Shensi, the capital of the T'angs, is a stone monument
which records the introduction of Christianity by Nestorians from
Syria. Favoured by the Emperor the new faith made considerable
headway. For five hundred years the Nestorian churches held up
the banner of the Cross; but eventually, through ignorance and
impurity, they sank to the level of heathenism and disappeared.
It is sad to think that this early effort to evangelise China has
left nothing but a monumental stone.
At the funeral of Tai-tsung his successor, Kao-tsung, saw Wu, one
of his father's concubines, who pleased him so much that, contrary
to law, he took her into his own harem. Raised to the rank of empress
and left mother of an infant son, she swayed the sceptre after
Kao-tsung's death for twenty-one years. Beginning as regent she
made herself absolute.
A system of civil service examinations which had sprung up with
the revival of learning under the Hans was now brought to maturity.
For good or for evil it has dominated the mind of the Empire for
twelve centuries. Now, however, the leaders of thought have begun
to suspect that it is out of date. The new education requires new
tests; but what is to hinder their incorporation in the old system?
To abolish it would be fraught with danger, and to modify it is
a delicate task for the government of the present day.
That the scholar should hold himself in readiness
[Page 122]
to serve the state no less than the soldier was an acknowledged
principle. It was reserved for the statesmen of T'ang to make it
the mainspring of the government. To them belongs the honour of
constructing a system which would stimulate literary culture and
skim the cream of the national talent for the use of the state.
It had the further merit of occupying the minds of ambitious youth
with studies of absorbing interest, thus diverting them from the
dangerous path of political conspiracy.
Never was a more effective patronage given to letters. Without
founding or endowing schools the state said: "If you acquire the
necessary qualifications, we shall see that your exertions are
duly rewarded. Look up to those shining heights--see the gates
that are open to welcome you, the garlands that wait to crown your
triumphant course!"
Annual examinations were held in every country; and the degree
of S. T. (_Siu-tsai_), equivalent to A. B., was conferred on
3 per cent. of the candidates. To fail was no disgrace; to have
entered the lists was a title to respect. Once in three years the
budding talent of the province convened in its chief city to compete
for the second degree. This was H. L. (_Hiao Lien_, "Filial
and Honest"), showing how ethical ideas continued to dominate the
literary tribunals. It is now _Chu-jin_, and denotes nothing
but promotion or prize man. The prize, a degree answering to A.
M., poetically described as a sprig of the _Olea fragrans_,
was the more coveted as the competitors were all honour men of the
first grade, and it was limited to one in a hundred. Its immediate
effect is such social
[Page 123]
distinction that it is said poor bachelors are common, but poor
masters are rare.
If the competition stopped here it would be an Olympic game on a
grander scale. But there are loftier heights to be climbed. The
new-made masters from all the provinces proceed to the imperial
capital to try their strength against the assembled scholars of
the Empire. Here the prizes are three in a hundred. The successful
student comes forth a Literary Doctor--a _Tsin-shi_, "fit for
office." To all such is assured a footing, high or low, on the
official ladder.
But another trial remains by which those who are good at the high
leap may at a single bound place themselves very near the top.
This final contest takes place in the palace--nominally in the
presence of the Emperor, and the questions are actually issued
by him. Its object is to select the brightest of the doctors for
chairs in the Hanlin Academy--an institution in which the humblest
seat is one of exalted dignity. How dazzling the first name on
that list! The _Chuang Yuen_ or senior wrangler takes rank
with governors and viceroys. An unfading halo rests on the place
of his birth. Sometimes in travelling I have seen a triumphal arch
proclaiming that "Here was born the laureate of the Empire." Such
an advertisement raises the value of real estate; and good families
congregate in a place on which the sun shines so auspiciously.
A laureate who lived near me married his daughter to a viceroy,
and her daughter became consort to the Emperor Tungchi.
What then are the objections to a regulation which is so democratic
that it makes a nobleman of every
[Page 124]
successful scholar and gives to all the inspiration of equal
opportunity? They are, in a word, that it has failed to expand
with the growing wants of the people. The old curriculum laid down
by Confucius, "Begin with poetry; make etiquette your strong point;
and finish off with music," was not bad for his day, but is utterly
inadequate for ours, unless it be for a young ladies seminary. The
Sage's chapter on experiment as the source of knowledge--a chapter
which might have anticipated the _Novum Organum_--having been
lost, the statesmen of the T'ang period fell into the error of
leaving in their scheme no place for original research. This it
was that made the mind of China barren of discoveries for twelve
centuries. It was like putting a hood on the keen-eyed hawk and
permitting him to fly at only such game as pleased his master.
The chief requirement was superficial polish in prose and verse.
The themes were taken exclusively from books, the newest of which
was at that time over a thousand years old. To broach a theory
not found there was fatal; and to raise a question in physical
science was preposterous. Had anyone come forward with a new machine
he might have been rewarded; but no such inventor ever came because
the best minds in the Empire were trained to trot blindfold on
a tread-mill in which there was no possibility of progress. Had
the mind of the nation been left free and encouraged to exert its
force, who can doubt that the country that produced the mariner's
compass might have given birth to a Newton or an Edison?
After Wu none of the monarchs of this dynasty
[Page 125]
calls for notice. The last emperor was compelled to abdicate; and
thus, after a career of nearly three centuries bright with the
light of genius and prolific of usages good and bad that set the
fashion for after ages, this great house was extinguished.
[Page 126]