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454 CHINA to be dignified by the name. It however con- tains the elements of usefulness, and will not be neglected by the representatives of western states at the capital. The Roman Catholic missionaries have established no fewer than 25 considerable schools, one of which, at Shanghai, numbers over 300 pupils. The Protestant mis- sionaries are doing much work of this sort. In 1872 the government sent 30 students to the United States, and 30 more are to come j each year for the succeeding four years, in all 150. They are to be thoroughly educated in special branches, and are promised official em- ployment on their return to China. A sum of about $2,000,000 has been appropriated for the purposes of the mission. In the fine arts, the jesthetical feeling of the Chinese has been de- veloped in a manner so peculiar as to defy all direct comparison with Christian art. While the skilful workmanship in sculpture, paintings, and architecture may justly be admired, the designs are mostly grotesque and incongruous. No higher standard seems to exist than mere mechanical skill; there is scarcely any vestige of an effort to realize the idea of the truly beautiful and sublime. Chinese artists are able to copy European works with admirable ac- curacy, but they do not appreciate them, or consider them as models worthy of imitation. In landscape gardening they excel, but their singular predilection for dwarfish and stunted forms mars the effect of their designs. Their music is painfully discordant to cultivated ears. They have a great many stringed and wind instruments, besides drums, bells, &c. ; but of accord, rhythm, harmony, and melody they have no adequate conception. " The gong is the type of Chinese music : a crashing harangue of rapid blows upon it, with a rat- tling accompaniment of small drums, and a crackling symphony of shrill notes from the clarinet and cymbal, constitute the chief fea- tures of their musical performances. Their vocal music is generally on a high falset- to key, somewhere between a squeal and a scream." Dancing they set down as a branch of the dramatic art. How Europeans or Americans can enjoy dancing themselves instead of having it done by professionals is utterly incomprehensible to the Chinese mind. The drama is very popular among all classes of Chinese society, but officials are not permitted to witness theatrical per- formances because of the vulgarity and ob- scenity by which the plays are sometimes, though not generally, characterized. The ac- tors are not respected. Women are not al- lowed to appear on the stage ; their parts are played by beardless youths or eunuchs. Only in the northern and eastern provinces are permanent theatres to be found. The lower classes are very fond of theatrical entertain- ments, and, as in ancient Rome, there is no shorter road to popularity than the furnish- ing of gratuitous performances to the people. Indifference to religious matters is a prominent national trait of character. They have not even a general term corresponding to the word religion ; kiao, the word that comes nearest to it, meaning only doctrine or creed. The lower classes are mostly professors of an adulterated kind of Buddhism, which in the lapse of time has sunk to coarse paganism and idolatry. The priests of this profession, over 1,000,000 in number, are for the greatest part ignorant and have no great reputation for virtue. They beg around the country and live in monasteries. The higher classes are either believers in the doctrines of Confucius, or in those of the phi- losopher Lao-tse. These are scarcely more than systems of moral philosophy clothed in a fantastical symbolism. Thus Confucius teaches that from the original substance (Tai-ki) two principles emanate: Yang, the principle of perfection, of the heavenly, of light and warmth, the masculine, symbolized by ; and Yin, the feminine principle, or that of im- perfection, of the terrestrial, of darkness and cold, symbolized by . By the combina- tion of these symbols four images (sz'-siang) are presented, viz. : = = = =, corresponding to the four cardinal virtues, piety, morality, justice, and wisdom. From a double combination result eight signs (&?/), viz. : 1_ . heaven, = - = moistness, EE E fire, r. winds, EE-i = water, E mountains, = thunder, E==Ei earth. By the aid of these symbols, arranged in the form of a circle, Con- fucius describes the universe, and, making them to correspond with moral and mental proper- ties, constructs an ethical system, scarcely to be styled a religion. Lao-tse (born 604 B. C., 54 years before Confucius) founded the religion of the Tao (supreme reason), which, according to him, is anterior to and the source of the di- vinities (Ki, Hi, Kuei) and all material forms. Like Zeno, he recommends retirement and contemplation as the most effectual means of purifying our spiritual nature. The professors of this religion (Tao-sze, usually rendered ra- tionalists) believe in the existence of a spirit- ual world, in spiritual manifestations, and a migration of souls. There are 1,500 temples devoted to Confucius attached to the examina- tion halls. The priests of the Tao religion live in temples and small communities with their families, or lead a wandering life, deriving a precarious livelihood from the sale of charms. They have degenerated very much, and are commonly looked upon as ignorant cheats or jugglers. The Buddhists, or the followers of Fo, have the largest number of temples, but the great mass of the people offer their prayers in any temple indiscriminately, and are per- fectly indifferent to the diversities of religious denominations. " Buddhism in China/' says Dr. Morrison, "is decried by the learned, laughed at by the profligate, yet followed by all." No religion is taught in the common schools. The one creed upon which all agree is the worship of deceased ancestors. The Tai- ping insurgents attempted to found a new re-