The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1879-12-05
Learning in China.

The honor of learning Is a religion by
itself in this country. Learning is the
glory of the throne. There are splendid
libraries in the palace, vast collections OF
hooks carefully catalogued and selections
for the Emperors reference. One Of his
houses is a study where the young
Princes are educated; scholars annually
explain the sacred books before him; he
Is the chief examiner for the doctors de-
gree, and confers his rank upon the senior
wrangler. There is a printing Office in
his palaae, and hisrpoetfy issumptuously
bound; and there is hall in the "purple
city" where sacrifice is offered to tie tab
let's of learned men and to the Emperors
tutors. Learning is the key to the high
est offices of state.
In these temple grounds there is a
sumptuous hall where the Emperor is
said to explain the classics and expound
the Sacred Ediet, series of ethical
apothegms which the greatest Of theirmod-
ern monarchs wrote for the people. Itmust
be striking scene-the throne, the bril-
liant yellow and green arches opposite,
the maze of white marble balustrades,
and all the dignitaries of the Empire
kneeling upon circular stone slabs that
mark their position, and filling up the
grassy court with their gorgeous dresses.
On either side Of this hlll the Nine
Classics, carved on tall slabs of black
slate, are found under woo.len roofs.
The lettering is only on one side, and
for the sake of easy reading is divided
into pages, of which there are six rows on
slab and seven pages in row, and as
there are fifty characters on page the
number of letters ON one stone must be
2,l00; and though nearly $50 years old
the cutting is fresh and as legible as the
print of book. Books are more abund-
ant and the printing press is buster than
in any other heathen country. 1t is a
work of merit for man to write and pub
lish and circulate book at his own ex-
perse, and the frequent receptacles for
printed matter, so that none may be
trampled in the mud, show almost rev.
erence for type.
Yet there is little inspiration in their
literature; it has produced no great work
of Imagination, no epic, no poet. There
are novels, but it is said that they are
written at the rate of one In a dynasty;
there are broad sheets and advertise
ments, for men will often place their
wrongs before their fellow citizens in
placards on the wallis as they paint their
satire upon fans; but there are no living
books of the present, unless such as are
now induced by contact with the West.
The newsman takes round the yellow
Ecovered Peking Gazette, the Oldest,
smallest, most official, and yet one
Of the most amusing papers in the
world; but there are only one or two and
very recent newspapers in tine proper
sense of the word, and with an immense
population capable Of reading, there is
little read. 1t may be partly from the
difficulty of language which has over
forty thousand characters, and keeps fif-
teen thousand in steady use, 70 that an
artisan does not profess to know the tech
nical words of any other calling than his
own; it must be mainly from the want OF
power to create, and that want Of stimu-
ius to progress hat mark the heathen re-
ligions of the East, that have imposed on
the people long centuries of ssagnation.
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