Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1870-05-24
THE ORIENT.
Beggars, Praying Machines, Aristoorscy and
Education, Drunkenness, Density Of
Population, etc.

Beggars, Praying Machines, Arist0Orscy and
Education, Drunk enness, Density Of
Population, etc.
| The following information is col
lected from Professor II. Pumpelly' &
book, "Across America and Asia, "
and cannot but interest our readers
BEGGARs.
The city Of Pekin is traversed by
broad avenues. Our author describes
q street scene as follows "Private
carriages, or common hacks, CHATTER
over the granite flags hundreds OF
itineranJ peddlers, cooks and thinkers
trot in and out through the gate,
their burdens hanging upon their
shoulders at either end of an elastic
pole; well dressed aud thrifty-shop-
keepers saunter along the sidewalk
tanning their contented faces scores
of beggars, the worst out growth of
Chinese city life, horrible wretches,
clothed with the dirtiest of dirt, or
at best with fragments of cast-ofi
mats. besiege relentlessly every pass
er-by."
PRAYING MACHIEs.
OF what he saw in town of Mon
golia, the Professor writes as follows !:
Entering one large temple We saw
an immense image of Buddha, appar-
emily of wood, covered with sheets of
gilded copper. The proportions are
well preserved throughout the statue
and some idea of its size, may be
formed from that Of the great toe,
which is more than eighteen inches
in length. This image, though well
finished, does not compare as work
OF art with the statue of Buddha in
repose at Kamskura, near Yeddo.-
In front of this, as well as of the 9TH
or temple, there were many cylin-
ders, or praying machines, which
were easily set in motion by turning
a crank, each revolution accomplish
ing in the way of prayer an amount
OF work which if done verbally,
would require many hours. 1t has
often been asserted, perhaps oftener
now than formerly, that the ritual
ism of the European Church is o d.
rect offshot of the Thibetan Lamaism.
The resemblance is so strong in ma
jority of the details Of both that Able
Hue, Roman missionary, we'll
versed in the history and religion of
Thibet, could find no better way of
accounting for the similarity than by
supposing it to be an artifice of Sa-
tan, invented to bring disgrace upon
the Holy Church. But these pray
ing machines are refinement which
not even the extremists of the West
have adopted. Even the simple
crank motion has been improved up
on by the ingenious Lamas, who at
tach the cylinders to wind-mills and
Watersheds. The worshiper, set
ting one of these in motion, goes on
his way with the assurance that ev-
cry revolution of the cylinder COM
pletes a large number of prayers for
his benefit"
CHINESE ARIsToCRACY.
In China whenever citizen has
rendered some signal service to the
State, advancing the public good, be
is ennobled, receiving certain titles
and privileges, but these cease AT his
death, his descendants having no fur
ther share in them than the honor
of being bis offspring As no man
can be greater than his father, the
whole line Of ancestors is ennobled =
Thus an aristocracy is form ed indeed,
bat lis wisely perpetuated backward
into the other world"
EDUCATION IN CHINA.
"All being equal, competition for
office is open to all. Education is
universal, and proficiency in scholar
ship forms the basis of this COMPETE
ton. The Government, it is true,
appoints most of the officials, but
they are chosen from those who, in
the successive competitive examina-
ton, take the highest donors. The
universal esteem in which scholar
ship has ever been held has made ed
ucation one of he chief aims of life
to greater degree in China than in
most other nations. Aristocracy of
intellect assumes here the position
which in other countries is assigned
to birth or wealth. Schools are uni
versal, and the proportion of the in
habitants who are unable to read
and write is very small.
TTmrp ~,
"The extent of Chinese literature
is very great, and the numbers of
works which are really monumental
is large. Among these we may men
ton the dictionary of the Chinese
language, in one hundred and thirty
thick volumes, which was compiled
during eight years labor, by seventy
six scholars, with the assistance of
literati in all parts Of the Empire
the statutes of the reigning dynasty
fill more than one thousand volumes
and many other works, both histori
cal and scientific, contain each sever
al hundred volumes. The General
Geography Of the Chinese Empire,
under the present dynasty, contains
26O volumes, descriptive and stats
teal, with a valuable collection of
maps covering the whole Empire
In compiling tables of the universal
production of China, l had occasion
to consult, through native scholar,
large number of authorities, and,
in doing this, l found the range of
native literature, on the geography
ofChina, overwhelming. Under diff
ferent dynasties during the past two
thousand years, several immense
general treatise on the subject have
been produced. Not only this, but
almost every province, department,
and district has its special and vol |
luminous geography"
DRUNKENNESS.
1t is no slight tribute to the Chinese
to say that during 3 1000 miles of trav-