The Washington weekly post., 1900-10-02
Their Boundless Arrogance a
Bar to All Progress.
THINK THEY KNOW EVERYTHING
That Is, Everythins Worth knewiss. and
ON Their DRY, Antique Theories They Rely
Implicitly, HavIns an Utter Centempt for
All ThIns. Mederu = Edaessed Cainese
Despise the Humbier Werekrs-Univer.
sity Degrees In the Chinese Empire.

found wanting In China in the course o'
the ages. AS the Chinese proudly point
out, competitive examination has been
the means Of recruiting the public service
for a thousand years, but the results are
hardly such as to recommend the system.
as 1t is worked there. for general adop-
ton. IL has been said that the Chinese
mandarin resembles no English type so
much as the university don. and. allow
ing for all the differences of environment.
there is a grain of truth in the pleasan-
try. TIE Chinese graduate has supreme
contempt for the illiterate world, which
he holds to include not only the cooiie
crowd of his own blood. but all the bar
barians who live beyond the four seas.
He believes in no learning that Is not
founded upon the Chinese classics. What
he does not know. tn paraphrase the Ok
ford tag, is not knowledge.
All he values is the literary finish that
is gathered from fecundity of quotation
from tie sacred books and the power and
facility of versification and elegant style
of prose-poetry that are borrowed from
their model. His memory is prodigious,
his imitatix eness Of surprising accuracy.
but Of original ability or love of fact and
science he has none. The old learning is
cast-iron bar 10 all intellectual prog
Iess, and, in proportion to its age and DIFF
Iuslon, II is ten times more stuitifying
than was the pedantry of the sehoolmen
of the Middle Ages In Europe. When
people talk of the young mandarin turn
ing to reform. they must recollect that
he has been bred upon this diet, that IL
is all in all TO MIN, and that the class to
which he belongs depend for their exist
e1ce upon the maintenance of the system
of examination and subsequent selection
as Ii now stands.
Contempt for Every Ose.
Some writer on China has said that no
race ever wore a more contemptuous ex-
preston than that of the young man
DARN as he passes along the street or
looks out from the latticed window of the
teahouse. Seated in his official chair.
and surrounded by a greasy retinue of
noisy attendants, bearing the insignia of
office or making a discordant clang of
sounding brass, the mandarin appears
lie very incarnat ton OF human arrogance
He seems insensible to all that the yul-
gar nero are doing or saying, and he
nardly deigns to notice the sweltering
crowds who block the way that his sery
ants are making for him. No patri-
cian or old Rome could have froynad nm
on the plebs with more insolence than IL
shown In the blank stare OF the Young
th.etasl thet as tney glance from the long seats
IN.
apart Tor them in the teahouse. and
watch the sntlike workers. bearing their
palls and bales, on the farther side of tha
stagnant pools. which. with their broken,
msnt az N, rocker. eitsy are the great orna-
AS win manual labor in the Middle
hlngoOm, SO is il with mental Nothing
IN the world can exceed nor excei tbs
monumental industry OF the budding
sthSlar, of so,, engaged. perchance at the age
~ hA
tion TO obtain the undylng honors of fhe
academic degree-literally undying for
they are continued and held in high
esteem even unto the third and fourth
generations. II is not only a question OF
honoriiic title or, as at home. of letters
of the alphabet. Every graduate has the
lnalienable right of planting a pole or
mast in front OF his family mansion no
matter how humble 1t may be. and the
number OF square, inclined cressets on the
taperlng top proclaim the nature of his
degree-one for the prefectural two for
the provincial, and three for the national
Some towns are dotted over with these
poles. like forest OF burnt trees: In 9TH
ers but one or two have been distinguish
ed. Because a house Is fronted by mole
IT does not follow that its owner or oc-
eupant must be graduate. Ii may well
be that the galley mast has been obtain
ed by the talents of remote ancestor,
but, like coat Of arms, the precious ex-
papers never lose their virtue.
The scholar of to-day may not attain to
the superna tural diligence of the classical
heroes. the King Alfreds of Chinese liter
airy history, who prosecuted their studies
by the light of a glowworm or tied their
books to the horns OF the OK that they
were blowing with, but their admirers and
imitators are TO be reckoned by thou
sands.
Stuesnts Ninety Years Old.
DR.. Smith mentions that in the province
of Anhui there recently competed live
students over eighty years of age and
eighteen over ninety. To those who, in
early life, have faced the schools at Ok
ford or Cambridge, 1t is petrifying TO
think OF logic papers following one to the
brink of the tomb, Of the undergraduate
with one foot in the grave and the other
in the examination hall. The three de-
grees OF merit are those OF, first, the cul-
tiyated talent, !. e., Smalls; second, the
raised man. !. e., Mods; and, third and
last, the promoted scholar, !. e., Finals.
To the supreme honor not one candidate
in a thousand ever attains, for the en-
trance to the Han Lin, or national acade-
my is a pearl of much price that few can
obtain by favor or by worth.
All Chinese education leads up, and Is
Intended TO lead UP, to the examination
hall. One curriculum includes the Four
! BOOKS, WHICH cOnldlii the lrdGnInSs UNI
maxims OF confueius end Mencius. and
the Five Canons of Chanes, OF History
and OF Poetry: the Record OF Rites and
Spring and Autumn. No better ciew 10
the literary tastes ard traditions OF he
people with a perfect illustration Of ma
tionaI life. can be supplied than Is eoil-
tained IN TWO charming volumes Of "Sto--
les from a Chinese Studio" being free
translation OF portions or the works OF
P'u Smuggling a novelist who lived two
ar the nf
the Manchu dynasty, and himself dis
appointed scholar. Mr.. Giles, OF her
majeEty's consular service. 10 whom We
owe them, thus defiEes the classics: The
Book OF Wisdom attributed 10 COnfucius.
Is disquisition upon virtue and the moral
elevation Of the people. The Chung Yung
or gospel OF Confucius' grandson, traces
TO their source the ruling motives Of hu.
man conduct. The Confucian gospels are
diseourses OF the sage with his disciples
The gospels OF Mencius are collection
OF moral maxiIns. The Canon Of Chsnes
contains a fanciful system ot philosophy
4 based upon the combination OF eight dia-
grams said 20 have been copied from the
back Of a tortoise. The Canon Of History
which. by the way Is the practical guide
10 the politics OF the day-embraces pc
rod extending from the middle OF the
tWenty-fourth century Is. G. 20 b. c. III,
~ Is collection arranged by the same
teacher Of lyrics. In vogue among the peo-
Dle I'm the earliest ages Spring and
Autumn IL history written by the
teacher concerning the Kingdom OF Lu
from 7z2 70 lS4 Il. c.
yssrt.hed On Dry Beue..
On these dry bones Chinese youth snd
talent are nourished and sucked. small
wonder il IL that II The memory be forcel
10 an abnormal retentiyeness ana activity
the reasoning powers are soefslly steTll-
lzed Ore OF her mzjeslys eonsuls told
me that ne had looked AZ several OF the
papers set for the provincial examinations
Three bouts Of three days each are given
for this contest OF the intellect Of young
China. and all the candidates are cccu-
pied months beforehand IN tFyiag By hook
OF crook 20 square their examiner The
KIND OF question set In these papers would
be. Write an essay sDon the words. he
successful answer Involves. Erst Of All. a
prodsgious effort OF memory In placing the