The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-12-14
ARTICLE VII.

The Civilization of China-Its An
tiquity, Strong nnd Weak Points
Strange Inconsistencies Con-
trasts With Our Own Civilization.
To the student CT history China is
tableau viyant of prehistoric society. AS
the inhabitants live now so lived they
before Rome was. Long before Troy
burned, or the Israelites crossed the Red
Sea, China was kingdom The cotem-
poraries of the youth of China We're
Egypt, Babylon and Nineveh; she alone
survives and changeth not. Every other
human Institution has sooner or later
gone the way of all flesh ascending to
a climax and then descending to oblivion:
this strange people alone OF all seems
to have discovered the secret of perpetual
youth.
The traveller into interior China in the
twentieth century is able to see almost
exactly the same customs. agriculture
and architecture as might have been be-
held by Alexander if he had chosen to
rush on several thousand miles beyond
the Indus in search of new worlds to
CONQUER. There il is Still possible to see
crude, primitive civilization having
many characteristics III common with
that of ancient Greece and Egypt-the
division of society into military, ar
istocracy and manual toilers, with no
middle class, but only great gulf be-
tween; ignorance, superstition and violent
passions, side by side with simplicity and
hospitality; strong, but hazy, beliefs in
spirit world and a future life; the wor-
ship of ancestors and demigods; the coin
placed in the mouth of the dead and the
food and drink offerings at the tomb;
the cheapness of human life and the prev
alence and justification of infanticide-
all these and many more combine to form
monStrous anachronlsm, as if a section
of the twentieth century B. c. had been
transplanted bodily into the twentieth
century A. d.
are lost in the mists of antiquity and
the vagaries of tradition: Like all an
Gent peoples, the Chinese pride them
selves on a long record of glorious events
which to the foreign skeptic SAVIOR strong
ly of the mythical they have their own
version of the creation, of a great supse
quent flood, and of long and mighty
dynasties which fill up enormous
stretches of time. Most of these, if not
ALL are probably fictitious.
The first records which can be con-
sidered at all authentic begin before the
Deluge. They contain long lists of dynas-
and are altogether destitute of history IN
our sense of the term. If that people is
happy which has no chronicles, then
surely the Chinese should have been the
blessed of the earth. While Europe was
convulsed with wars and the conflicts Of
rival kings, China pursued through CEN
turtles the noiseless tenor of her way,
sufficient unto herself and proudly indif
ferent to the rest of the world. The one
thought which is most strongly impressed
upon the student of this department of
history is the tremendous immutability
of the Chinese character.
Some have endeavored to account for
the isolation of China by pointing to It's
geographical environment. 1t is true that
this has not been favorable to sociability
with the neighbors On the east is the
ocean, and on the other three sides are
lofty mountains or deserts difficult to
cross. But that is quite as true OF other
nations. The real explanation is the ulti-
mate fact that the Chinese character is
conservative and self-sufficient,
beyond any other in the world.
Many inventions and discoveries which
are at the foundation of our modern sci
ence and civilization were familiar to this
strange people thousands of years ago;
governmental and social reforms to which
we are just beginning to aspire as the
highest ideals were in full flower there
before the flood. The first Chinese book
still existent dates back to 1850 B. c., or
a little later than the Trojan war; she
art of printing dates from sos A. D., or
eight and a half centuries ahead Of
movable types were invented
about 1000 A. d. And so of many other
inventions, which will be described later
in this series.
Just now we are making a desperate
to introduce civil service reform
and the educational test in the hope of
saving the state from disaster, yet that
has been the requirement in China for
over 5000 years. At time when the sole
test of fitness to rule in Europe was
ability to give and take the hardest
blows, the Chinese were instituting civil
service examinations as a requisite for
holding public office. OF course, the re-
quirements were suited to the early
period. They included writing and arith-
metic, music, archery, horsemanship and
familiarity with rites and ceremonies both
public and private.
These requirements have been in
creased from time to time, and today
this heather country, which we despise,
is the only one in the world where the
one door to office is through education,
a door which stands open to the hum
DleSL WHO mas Iue DFdlliS anu lHuuStLy
to enter it. AS a consequence there is
no other country where popular educa-
ton among men is SO widespread. AS
another consequence, no hereditary,
feudal or priestly class has ever predom-
mated in the native Chinese government.
The present government is not native but
Manchu, the latter having succeeded the
former by force of conquest three and
half centuries ago.
Now turn the other side of the pic
ture. AS has been already remarked,
China is a country of contradictions. In
sad contrast with these excellent things
stand infanticide and the opium habit.
The destruction of infants varies in diff
ferent parts of the empire. being great
est in the province of Foklen, especially
in Annoy. These places are in the south
eastern part.
OF course. it is impossible to obtain any
exact statistics in regard to this crime.
Some persons give evasive answers, 9TH
ers frankly state how many of their chill
dren they have killed, and there seems
to be no public disapproyal. This also