The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1913-01-29

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a little time for sleep. Only light
confectionery was allowed in the hall
but tea was, passed frequently The
candidates sat on long benches and
were required not to drop their hands
below the desk as they wrote. This
was to prevent cheating, but it wa
not always successful and bribing of
the chancellor or his assistants was
not altogether rare. At various times,
in fact, h government was wont to
sell degrees. AS many as 10000 stu
dents in patches of 1000 each we're
thu examined all over the empire
every year., and the former capital city
Of Marking had accommodations for
10000. The literary chancellor who
conducted these examinations held his
post for three years and always re-
tired rich. Some were known to make
100000 a year. although by ancient
mandate they were supposed to live
very frugally. III "a
The goal of all this striving, alb
sorbing of maxims, verses essays,
commentaries. ETC., was, of course,
high rank n official position The
royal road to fame and fortune in
China for centuries, n even today,
perhaps. has been along the paths of
scholastic endeavor. The merchant
prince, the soldier, the candlestick
maker, never could hope to rise If he
did not have the dearly bought de-
grees. With rare exceptions, perhaps
on in a century, such as President
Yuan Shin K'ai, those without the
pale never did rise. The result was
an intellectual aristocracy. All power
was in the hands of the few who by
pluck and luck were able to climb the
classic ladder and finally stand in
the presence of the emperor. AS the
aspirant saturated himself with more
and more of the precious lore, his Of
fetal positions became more lucra-
tive. From the Hanlin academy the
doctor of letters went to be taoti, pro-
vincial governor and finally viceroy,
with power of life and death over
millions of subjects. Is it any won
der Confucius drew all the promising
young men of the country, or that,
having reached the goal after severe
tests, they were able to impose their
rule on the great mass of the people
who stood so far beneath them? Nor
is it hard to understand how they
We're able to cling to their power,
gained through knowledge of a system
which embraced religion, education,
governmental rule and wealth. Long
after the majority of the people real
lied that this course was leading them
nowhere the scholars who ruled them
were able to defy reform and hold
their places. .
With all their studies what did the
Chinese literati know, as judged by
the standards of all the rest Of the
world, with the exception Of the Bud
hist races? Almost nothing. To n
of them the only country in the world
was china. OF all the countless mill
of people, including all barbar-
ians who lived outside of China, as
we'll as his own people, he, being the
great scholar, was naturally the center
of humanity. Geography, the worlds
literature, science, the tremendous un-
seen forces that rule the world were
closed books to him. AS to military
arts. engineering. sanitation. respect
for women, charity, he would have
none of them. A frank heart and an
open mind he had not. He breathed
the ancient axiom: What Confucius
teaches is true; what is contrary to
teaching is false; what he does
teach is unnecessary The ethics
he learned were very fine, but as DR..
Faber remarks in his book, "The Mind
of iMencius." Ethics were to him
(Confucius) so closely bound up with
external forms or rites, that his dis
for the most part lost them
selves in the rites and neglected the
Tomorrow: The Republic of China.
XIV. Education in the Future.