Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1880-01-01
Education in China.

Chinaman of to-day is in all its greater
bearings precisely that of, say 1000
years ago. There are the twenty short
chapters, containing almost all that is
authentically known of the life and
teachings of Confucius; there are the
works of Mencius in seven sections,
compiled in much the same manner as
the preceding, with a view to set be-
fore the world the sententious utter
ances of these great ethical teachers of
antiquity; and, further, there are two
abstruse philosophical treatises which,
with the aforementioned longer works,
go to make up that portion of Chinese
literature known as the Four Books.
When these have been learned by heart
the student proceeds to commit to
memory, in like manner, as much as
possible of what we vulgarly call the
Five Classics, consisting of the Book of
History, which deals with period ex-
tending from something like B. G. 23OO
to B. G. 600; of the Book of Changes,
in which a system of philosophy is
based upon the permutatiOns of given
number of unmeaning symbols; of the
Book of Poetry, which may be said to
correspond in many ways with our
Psalms ofDaVid; of the Book of Rites, in
which official etiquette and court cere-
monial are treated with an impractical
able minuteness; and, lastly, of Spring
and Autumn, an historical work from
the pen of Confucius himself, recording
the chief events of the sage's native
States or about three centuries previous
to his own time. These are the works
which candidates at public examina-
tions are supposed to have at their
fingers ends, though sometimes they
only have them up their sleeves in the
more tangible form of diamond edi-
tion. At any rate the success or fail
ure of q candidate is made to depend
upon the ability he displays in elucidat-
ing themes taken from these volumes,
and the skill with which he can throw off
copy of verses, correctly rhymed and
accented and teeming with elegant ap-
propriate illusions to the past. And it
will readily be conceived that in view
of the nature Of the testbefore him, the
candidate does not confne himself to a
mere parrot knowledge of the classical
texts upon which he will be examined.
He pores over tome after tome of COM
mentary and other exegetical aid, COM
pairing the conclusions of the scholars
who tiourished at various literary
epochs, and interpreted the difficult
passages each more or less in accord
ance with the spirit of the age in which
he lived. He reads volume after vol
ume of the ponderous histories of Sze-
and Sze-Ma-Tsien, and lin
gers over favorite poets and essay
writer's in the hope of attracting to
himself something of the inspiration
which secured them success and car
ried them on to fame. The curriculum
of the Chinese student is, in fact, pre-
cisely that of the Oxford undergraduate
of old who should propose to himself |
the envied distinctions of the class list.
The latter would know possibly, Horace
and Virgil very nearly by heart, be-
sides being able to repeat Greek play |
Or two and a few books of the " Iliad."
He would be able, it is unnecessary to
say, to construe anything that could be |
set before him, either Latin or Greek,
taken from the regulation authors. He
would know infinitely more of Grecian
and Roman history, philology, and an
EQUITIES of his native land he would
be quite competent to produce at mo-
ment's notice, and after a short inter-
7al, copy of verse in either language,
always technically correct, and some
5imes'of really graceful order His
9ducation, so far, would further bear
comparison with that of a Chinese liter
ate in one important characteristic.
Both forms, if indeed they are sufi-
,iently divergent to be separately
,lassed, are eminently stationary. Be-
7ond certain point there is no prog
ress. There is culture of the human
mind, it is true, to its EXTREMIST limit;
)ut there is no result, no fruit borne,
nothing which tends to bring about a
advance in the affairs of this
ublunary life. The old elements are
combined and recombined over and
,ver again; the process is one product
We of immense pleasure to those who
lave successfully pushed their way to
he front; but that is all that can be
aid Celestial Empire.
I