religion]
CHINA
The state of religion in China may thus be summed up :—Confucianism in the wider meaning, as including ancestor-worship, is accepted universally. Ancestor-worship is practised by practically all classes. Confucianism, in the narrow sense of the worship of Confucius, is compulsory on all officials, and is voluntarily practised by all scholars and aspirants to literary honours. Buddhism is more or less practised, so far as occasional visits to the temples and to sacred shrines are concerned, by about half the population. Taoism is practised to a considerably smaller extent. The services of the priests of one or other sect aro generally invoked for funeral ceremonies. The priests of both these sects live solely in temples and monasteries, and do not enter private houses except when invited, in which case their services are paid for. Neither class attempts to exercise any influence over the people, and both are held in low esteem. Mahommedanism in a modified form is professed by some thirty or forty millions scattered over the north and west of China. They usually perform ancestorworship as well, and if officials, they take part in the Confucian ceremonies. Christian missions, both Roman Catholic and Protestant, are now established in every province in China. Freedom to embrace the Christian faith is guaranteed by the Chinese Government, and as a rule the missionaries have free scope in teaching and preaching, though local disturbances are not infrequent. The number of Catholic converts is about one million, and that of all Protestant sects is reported to be slightly over 100,000. An imperial decree which was made public in 1897, conferring a sort of official status on the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church in China, deserves a short notice. Since the conclusion of the treaties in 1860, permitting the practice and teaching of the Christian religion, the missionary question has been one of the most important which the Chinese Government has had to deal with. Though the average Chinaman is naturally tolerant and indeed indifferent in matters of religion, the preaching of Christianity has in many parts aroused fierce opposition, leading to attacks on mission stations with loss of life and property. These attacks have in turn given rise to serious diplomatic controversy, and questions connected with missions have formed no inconsiderable part of the work thrown upon the foreign legations in Peking. In general, a missionary is under the protection of his own Government, no matter what his creed may be ; but France has from the first constituted herself the protector of Roman Catholic missions, irrespective of the nationality of the priest concerned, and she has thereby been able to bring pressure to bear on the Chinese Government out of all proportion to her commercial interests. An effort was made by the Chinese in 1886 to get rid of French domination by inducing the Pope to send a special legate to Peking as controller of Roman Catholic missions. The Vatican was disposed to consent; but the French Government made such strenuous opposition, threatening to withdraw the concordat in France, that the papal authorities were obliged to decline. France was unwilling to forgo the political influence which the position of protector of one or two thousand priests and about a million of converts gave her, and she has used that influence to obtain redress of grievances and to improve the position of the Roman Catholic missionaries. In 1896 formal permission was given for the missions to acquire and hold real estate in any part of China ; but a still more important privilege is the one we have mentioned, namely, the giving a recognized official status to the several grades of the priesthood, and so placing them on terms of equality wdth the local officials. Bishops are to rank with governors of a province, pro-vicars with judges, taotais, and so on. International matters are to be discussed and settled locally, and in grave cases appeal is to be made to the minister of the nation “specially entrusted by the Pope with the protection of Roman Catholic missions.” This last clause has been repudiated by the British Government as far as its own nationals are concerned. It is apprehended that the privilege, while enhancing the status of the priests, will tend to widen the breach already existing between converts and their fellow-countrymen. The interference of priests in matters of litigation where one of their converts is concerned has often been made matter of complaint, and the fact that they are in effect authorized to interfere is not likely to diminish the friction. Instruction.—Very little was done by the Chinese Government during the period 1875-1900 for the better education of the people. Elementary education is still left to take care of itself. The most noteworthy fact to be noticed is the great number of mission schools that are now maintained in various parts of the Empire. Though insignificant as compared with the vast population, these schools are doing valuable service in imparting a knowledge of English to a small proportion of the youth, who in turn, not infrequently, become instructors to a wider class. But among the great mass of the people the densest ignorance prevails, even as regards their own language and history, and much more as to any knowledge of other countries. In respect of advanced education the Chinese Government has done a little better. There are
23 in most provincial capitals institutions termed colleges, where tutors or professors are maintained at the public expense, and where a limited number of students are admitted. There are also in every district two or three paid officials who are termed directors of studies. Their function, however, is not to teach, but to examine, and they act as registrars of the students entering for the public examinations. The object aimed at is not the general education of the people, but to aid poor and deserving students to pass the examinations, and so enter the public service. The idea of educating the people so as to make them more capable citizens is nowhere to be found, and apparently has never been conceived as one of the duties of Government. At Peking, a college, termed the Tung Wen Kwan, was instituted about 1870. and is still maintained rvith a staff of foreign professors and teachers. It is mainly a school of languages to enable young Chinese to qualify as interpreters in English, French, etc. Similar schools have been established at Canton, Foochow, and one or two other places, with but indifferent results, and as a factor in the education of the nation they can hardly be said to count. A more promising plan was conceived in 1880, or thereabouts, by the then governor-general of Nanking, who sent a batch of thirty or forty young 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, however. A report went about that these students were becoming too Americanized. They were hastily recalled, and when they returned they were left in obscurity. Native Press.—In connexion with the subject of education we may notice the growth of a native press, which promises to have an important influence on the development of the nation. The Peking Gazette, which is sometimes called the oldest paper in the world, is not a newspaper at all 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 wTas published at Shanghai about 1870. It was termed the Shen Pao, or Shanghai News, and was issued under foreign auspices, 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 Hongkong. In 1895 there were eleven native newspapers in circulation, and since then the number has largely increased. There are now some thirty-five in circulation, almost all dailies, of which half are issued from Shanghai. Besides the dailies there are at least as many magazines or other periodicals, most of which are issued from the various mission presses, and several of which are exceedingly well written. The effect of this mass of literature on the public mind of China cannot but be of first-rate importance. It must tend, more than anything else, to dispel the darkness and to promote ideas of reform and progress. The attitude of the central Government towards the native press is somewhat undefined. 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 preceded and provoked the coiip 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 after the deposition of the Emperor, and declared that the public discussion of affairs of state in the newspapers was an impertinence, and ought to be suppressed. The existence of the press, however, is tolerated, and by some officials at least would seem to be encouraged. In any case no interference could be offered to those native papers which are published by foreigners, inasmuch as the latter are, by the extra-territorial clauses of the treaty, exempted from Chinese jurisdiction. The regulation of the press is one of those problems which the Chinese Government has yet to solve. Social Condition.—The social condition of the people relative to European standards must be put as very low. Agriculture is the one great industry. Four-fifths of the population may be put down as peasant cultivators of the soil. Of these fully one-half are small peasant proprietors owning the land they till, subject to the payment of the state taxes. Nearly all the other half hold land on lease, paying rent; and only a comparatively small proportion are agricultural labourers. But whether as proprietors or farmers the holdings are always very small—so small that the condition of the holders is hardly above that of ordinary field labourers. The minute subdivision of the holdings is due to two causes—firstly, over-population ; and, secondly, the land laws. As to the latter, the invariable rule of succession is equal division among all male children. Not only is there no primogeniture, but 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. In the Journal of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society for
