Litchfield enquirer., 1869-07-08
OUR CHINESE PROBLEM.
@Hf II.

| Ii, OUR CHINESE PROBLEM. 9lI sE.i 4o !a4s5 s!4tN - lt zga talf&45 | .o J.i4 aa= 4ar IT. eI4ass.F tAHds , l. THE cH1NAAES AT HoMH
 But it is in their own home and in the record of their national growth that 4wt must seek the most important data for es. ltimating the Chinese character. The nee essary brevity of a magazine article ad
 mits of only superficial glance at the out lines of this record, and the principles on
 which the social and political organization rests. For the practical worth end work ing of these principles, We have a. measure in the present social and political condition
 of the Empire. ;. go. The most striking features in the histo- l " of China, are the persistency Of its CIV ilizatlon, and it's national vitality which
 seems still undiminished, notwithstanding the great age of the Empire. This ciyiii- zation is native to the soil. At every step we fad unmistakable proofs that Tn remote times the ancestors of the race lived under patriarchal' government. The earliest records describe them as entering Caina from the northwest, and we know that in that direction, upon tbe high table lands of Central Asia, between Thibet and tine Tienshan, there existed a civilization which was partly pastoral, but acquainted also with many arts. and in which the use oi iron was known at the remote period pre- ceding the separation of the earlier bran ches of the Arian race. Our own ances- tors, and those of tine Chinese, were per haps near neighbors, at that epoch. In en tering China, the later found it occupi-
 ed by an aboriginal race, of which rem nants live to this day unconquered, in the southern and western mountains. The earliest records and traditions carrying us
 back far into the uncertain period of histo- ", show us the founders of the empire
 gradually forming colonies through the
 land, and carrying on defensive wars against the northern hordes, at the same time they conquered both the natives of
 the soil and the natural obstacles in the
 way of their expansion. @ -+4.-..; sa Already in the dawn of their written his-
 tory, we fud them carrying out 8 great en- terprise. building works to control the wa ters of the Yellow River-one of the most ungovernable streams of the earth by con- fining it between dykes several hundred
 miles in length, to prevent it's destructive |inundations; an undertaking, the mainten-
 ance of which even at the present day,
 forms heavy tax on the whole Empire.
 Thus, in the infancy of the nation, there
 existed the germs that were necessary to
 it's wonderful growth. 2g g4s ?
 Every essential feature of their civiliza-
 tion, moral, social, political, industrial, is the offspring of their own minds. More
 than this, from China there have radiated
 many of the fundamental features of Asiat- lc and even of European civilization. The mariners compass, printlng, and gunpow- T nlv in 1f <k.k
 try, and there is little doubt that they were directly or indirectly introduced into the west during the reign of the Mongul dy- nasty, when so many Europeans wandered so freely through all Asia. It has been claimed that the first printed copy of the Bible was made in China. The observing traveller in that country will see at every step the prototypes of familiar objects in common use with us and in Europe
 It has often been made a reproach to the Chinese, that their inventions have re-
 mained unperfected. This is certainly 8
 remarkable fact, when we consider the fer
 tility of mind necessary to have originated,
 throughout, such a civilization; but it
 would seem that the perfecting of the re- suits of thought and labor is, to certain
 extent dependent on their transplantation into other countries, and on the reaction
 upon each other of different kinds of civil ization. China has ever been to isolated to enjoy the benefits of this interchange, al- though there is reason to hope that such an era is now dawning. It must also be remembered that .Chlna has ever been 8 world within itself; sufficient to itself. Hav- ing no competitors, their inventions stop.
 ped at the point where the desired end
 was attined; they were intended to be labor aiding rather than labor saving. It would seem that with this isolation, the very fact that the Chinese cIvllization Is indigenous
 would go far toward explaining the persis- tency of it's tyle Ss. .....-a.. .,..-..9 .s 3. The principles upon which the whole so- cial and political fabric of the Empire is based had already been established. and had taken firm root in the national mind in early historical times; and so firmly were they fixed that every attempt to over throw them has ended in the extinction of the aggressive dynasties. These princi- ples are poternal and -Jflial duty, and indi-
 viduat responsibility .for Ae pubic soelfare.
 As the Emperor is the son of Heaven and
 the father of the people, he is responsible
 to Heaven for the well-being of the nation !; a portion only of his power is delegated to the officers of the government. So also, in
 the family, the parent is supreme, but also responsible for the conduct of the children. The entire population of city is respon- sible for the citizens; each ward, for it's families; each family, for it's members. No crime is greater than the violation of filiai duty in the family relation, and all crimes acting against the public, good, are brought to the doors of the public spon- sors. sxgT
 But the Chinese, always too material and practical people to vest the control of the imperial will in heaven alone, established,
 so far as we know, first among mankind,
 the principle that the will of the people and the will of Heaven are synonymous.
 In the Shu-King, complied by Confucius. 500 B. O., from authorities much more an cient. we find the following axiom: That
 which heaven sees and hears, manlfests it. self in that which the people see and
 hear" That which the people judge worthy ofreward and punishment indicates what heaven desires to reward and to punt ish." Again it is said in the Chung-King
 'sFhe wise Emperors of ancient times used the eyes and ears of the Empire to see and hear, for the wishes of the people that the intentions of heaven are manifested" Be-
 lieving thus firmly that 'sthe voice of the people is the voice of God, 1" council of
 the wisest men of the Empire, themselves raised from the people, has ever surround