The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1900-09-14
There Is no doctrine Of atonement, no
indulgence, in the Chinese creed. And
yet the Chinese persist in living and in
defying the world to point out better
way.

Qerylng the world to point out better
way.
At first blush it seems as though the
Chinese were involuntary slaves. But
if born to shackles they lose no time in
binding more upon their heavily fetter-
ed limbs. Probably the greatest fac
tors in Chinese public life are the
guilds, unions and associations which
the people of both sexes voluntarily
enter and where the rules are as I'M
bending as the laws of the social code.
The Chinese Six Companies of San
Francisco, with its severe penalties for
violation of rules, is good example of
the commercial trade associations Of
the Middle Kingdom. Every trading
and manufacturing interest in China
has its guild, which maintains order
among it's members and acts as court
of arbitration and punishment without
let OF hindrance from the government
So wide is the extent and influence Of
the guilds and societies that govern
ment in China is a nonentity. The
guilds do the work. They legislate and
regulate and, being in close relations
with the people, respond to their wish
es at once. The guilds are the people,
and whenever they collide with the
higher powers it is not the people
whose bones are broken. Even the Of
ficiais of China have associations and
clubs for self protection against the
people, a fact showing that the govern
ment which creates them will not an
tagonize the people by championing Of
fetal quarrels.
The author of primitive Civiliza-
tion," writing of China, says: sThe
most civilized country is that in which,
upon given territory, the largest pos
sible number of persons have succeed
ed in procuring and distributing as
equally and as cheaply as possible the
greatest amount Of well being, liberty,
justice and security This distinction
is given to China over all the nations
of the world. There is no grinding
poverty and no arrogant wealth. In
dustry is universal and fair share of
the fruits also universal.
Kingdom after kingdom has gone
down In the worlds history on the
rocks Of riches and corruption, yet
China has held on, not standing still,
but slowly, slowly moving forward in
the scale. Confucius taught that the
first boon to be given to people is
riches and after that instruction. There
is higher degree Of intelligence and
higher average Of wealth in China
today than at the beginning of the
Christian era. Equality Of wealth and
equality of privilege are the rule. But
if the high have been brought low the
mass has not gone down in the strug-
gle. China has progressed according
to her own standard.
Some of the theories which appeal
to modern sociologists have been tried
out by the Chinese Every one has re-
lations to those in other stations above
or below, and the relationship is not
put on and off at convenience. No
such thing as the Chinese plutocrat
De Smith snubbing the poor Chinese
farmer Smith. Law and custom de-
mand that poor relations be honored,
and not only that, it has been proven
that riches go as we'll as come, and
the poor of one generation may, be the
rich Of the next and vice versa, so that
1t is folly to presume upon the fortune
of the gods The worship of ancestors
brings up now and then the crushing
fact that De Smith had an ancestor
who was peasant and Farmer Smith
one who was a mandarin or minister
Of the empire.
Even the class Of literati from which
the officials are chosen does not con-
stitute permanent caste in China, for
at the end of few generations the
descendants of high officials are among
the common people. There is no good
thing in China which may not come
into any family in the land and with
that in prospect the individual is salts
fed. If the, good is long time in
coming, the Chinaman is a patient be-
ing and reads the future in the past
Fortune which passes over the Wangs
Chengs and Wahs Of the last genera
ton of the nineteenth century will
smile upon the Wangs, Chengs and
Wahs of the first generation of the
twentieth, and those in their graves
will enjoy the feast along with those
on top Of the earth. Great is the pow
er of philosophy, and John Chinaman
is confirmed dreamer in philosophy.
Tradition and superstition WELD
power in China scarcely to be credited
by western people. These crystalline
into third force, which exerts an in
f1uence in both local and national
sense. One author sums up the China
mans everyday creed Of conduct in
the phrase, THE sense of the empires"
Whatever public opinion Endorses goes,
and whatever it frowns upon must be
let alone. Fitful public opinion is a
mischievous tyrant, but public opinion
in China never fuctuates from the eth
les of Confucius, the teachings Of ira
dition and the laws of precedent.
Confucius is the moral lawgiver of
China His nhilosonhy does NOT clash