Evening star., 1927-09-18

the HdtiOllS, biOdd buIh VA
giant Asia, larger than all
Il Europe and as populous. Look
at the map and see how puny Europe
is. how precarious and unstable geo.
graphically; consider Russia as Asiatic
(which it was till Peter and may be
again). and Europe becomes but a
jagged promontory. the tentative
fingers or pseudopodia Of the greatest
continent.
Those plains at Asia's center may
have been the birthplace of civiliza-
ton. In 1903 Prof. Raphael Pun.
pelly found at Anau. near Askabad.
buried remains of a human culture
dating from 5000 BIC, 20 centuries
earlier than the oldest relics Of Egypt
or the land of Ur. These ancient
Asiatics raised barley and wheat, built
houses Of brick and domesticated the
OK, the pig, the camel, the sheep and
the dog. This center was q volcano
Of men in periodical eruption; hu.
midity poured from it like torrents
of ineXhaustble lava. Before and
after these lands were dried up by
diminishing rain they sent out vast
migrations that populated Europe,
Africa, Oceania, even Through the
Indians) America: and when the great
flood was over there were still 900,.
100000 left in Asia-More than half
the population of the world
In China the human stream fol-
lowed the great rivers that run for
almost 5000 miles from west to east.
In the north a stern and Industrious
people spread along the Hoangho Tor
Yellow River): in the south, along
the Yangtse-kiang, more leisurely
and artistic race developed; and the
history of China to this day has been
an irrepressible conflict between the
sensual south and the Puritanic
north. AS in Europe and America, the
north tends to win, but the south
never yields.
In these fertile valleys the Chinese
multiplied with almost protozoan fer.
tility. BY 800 BIC. they numbered
13,O00,000; by 1856 AID, $4,000, 900;
by 1743, 150,o00,oOo; by 1919, 330.O0O,-
600. What kept them together was
only their language-a unique mixture
Of music and speech. Nowhere do we
find another tongue so laconic, so
monosyllabic, so concise, so subtle
to vary the meaning Of Identical
sounds by the rise or fall of the voice.
AS In every people, the language
broke up into dialects; but the written
form Of it remained everywhere the
same, as II the French, the Spanish
and the Italians should now have one
written and living tongue common to
them all. What made this possible
was the Geographic character of
Chinese script. e., it wrote not let.
ters or syllables. but pictorial symbols
of the things. Hence the spoken word
for any object or idea might vary
from age to age or from place to
place, but the written sign remained
unchanged. Here, perhaps, some part
of the stability and unity Of Chinese
culture had its source.
y n kk
This script, read from top to bot.
tom and from left to right, is strange
and anomalous to us and we are in.
clined to accept the Chinese legend
that writing was invented by four
eyed gentleman who took the idea
from observing bird tracks on the
earth. Actually it is the most beauti.
full of all forms Of writing and the
Chinese properly consider it an art.
Every educated Chinaman ornaments
his home with specimens of fine hand
writing. 1t is for him kind Of paint
ing, full of beauty and significance.
His country's culture has been pre-
served with unequaled continuity and
by this handsome script.