The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1900-07-29
THE PRESENT OUTBREAK IN CHINA
DUE. TO INFLUENCE OF MANDAR]NS.
They Are Unalterably Opposed to Any Innovations
for Fear of the. Upsettine of Their Office
Holding Regime-The Native Him
self Is Prone TO Peace.

. mnkng room for Mohamme1antsn5 s;r+y
millions or more of them giving IN the
fourth corner Of the heart. SO to sneak to
isiaih. queer medley, certainly Con-
iuclus, Lao-tze. Gaudema and Moham-
med one would think that the introduce
ton OF the latter in such COMPANY could
not other than prove n disturbing element
OF the most pronounced character No
religion ever carried 20 China has in it
clements more calculated, upon the face
OF lhlnSS, TO create widespread prejudice
and friction. Violently assai!ing the idol
airy 50 dear to the Chinese nature Bit
terlT antasonizing the most cherished SUI
persnions. the way of the Moslem icon
oc!ast would seem to have been certain to
be bloodshed feuds and strifes. But it was
not. The Chinaman, true to his sponge
Ike Teceptlvity, absorbed the Koran with
out grimace.
Mohammedanisrn. 1t is true is very
different thing in China to what it is in
Turkey. OF Buddhism as well, it may in
truth be said. that decided differences sig
Maize Its observance as compared with
Ceylon, which in turn is itself not, as
whole. the Buddhism of Burma.
CHINESE sYNAGoGUEs.
Judaism would seem a long stretch OF
the imagination to ascribe TO China, yet it
is the fact, notwithstanding, that it, as
ABOUT every other faith, has found abiding
place within the Middle Kingdom. There
are Chinese Jews and Chinese Synagogues,
the latter with some accessories which
would puzzle orthodox sons Of Abraham 10
comprehend. Judaism with trimmings
blending with the environment that is so
strongly impreSnated by sms which else
where would be indicative of heteTodoXy,
| but there appear entirely homogeneous.
| The Chinaman is a composite believer,
! a little of everything and not murh of
anything. His is a most pliant-mind and,
relig!ously, he is ready TO accept all things
! spiritual Spirits are to him as naturally
taken for granted as the air he breathes.
| Finds them in everything. No thought of
his life in which they are not concomi-
! tants, no deed in which they are not in
volved He fairly exists in a spirit land:
| continually fastens his little slip OF pa
perm communication with the spirits
upon stones and trees; erects long, slen-
der, bamboo rods from which he flies rags
scrawled with prayers to the spirits and,
in short, is ever cosnizant or the atmos-
phere being surcharged with them.
Considering they are all negative, each
;; and every one to be propitiated, he would,
if he could. get on without them. but
knowing he cannot. he, quite reasonably.
aSpires to finding those the least liable TO
remain al outs with him. So, when the
missionaries come along with their varied
assortment of spirits, and offer him those
which viii lessen his earthly purgatory by
decreasing the supernatural exactions
upon him, he gladly profits by the oppor-
tunity.
Allah, as represented by the Moslem, is
stern and unyielding God; one OF exac-
ton and punishment to a most awe-in
spring degree. But belief i'll Him means
Precipitation to one who has power over
all spirits and can foil their full designs.
Buddhism as well comes under the ntlu-
ence of the universal belief in spirits. al
though adapting Itself much more gently
to it. The Buddha. portrayed in his life
of sacrifice, his principles of renunciation,
and teachings of oblivion TO the world
and its cares, fits in we'll with Confucius
in the lattcr's Difference in everything 10
parents; and with Lao-tZe, to whom the
cardinal virtues were humility, compass
sion and fruGality. Buddhism came as
easy to the Chinaman as the rolling off
Of q log.
It. too. opened a way for Christianity,
IN that the life of the Buddha, as repre-