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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

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THE PA-LI CHWANG PAGODA NEAR PEKING

THE NORTH ALTAR OF THE TEMPLE OF HEAVEN To face

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SOCIETY IN CHINA.

CHAPTER I.

THE EMPEROR AND THE COURT.

THE title of this work may at first sight seem somewhat misleading; it may be taken to imply that there is a distinct difference between society of the present day in China, and that of an earlier period. This, however, is not the case; for, speaking generally, everything that is modern is ancient, and all that is ancient is modern. With the exception of fashions in trivial matters, nothing has changed in China for many centuries. Every institution, every custom, and every idea has its foundation in the distant ages and draws its inspiration from the sages of antiquity. Immutability in all that is essential, is written on the face of the empire. No fear of organic change perplexes monarchs, or any one else, in that changeless land, and the people love to have it so. Sovereigns reign and pass away, dynasties come and go, and even foreign powers take possession of the throne, as at the present time, when a line of Manchu emperors reigns at Peking; but the national life in all its

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characteristics goes on unmoved by political change and revolutionary violence. One of the most remarkable spectacles in the world's history is that of this strange empire which, having been time after time thrown into the crucible of political unrest, has always reappeared identical in its main features and institutions, and absorbing rather than being absorbed by the foreign elements which have occasionally thrust themselves into the body politic.

The political constitution, the social relations and customary ceremonies were crystallized in their present forms by those ancients on whom, according to the opinion of the people, rested the mantle of perfect wisdom. If the death of the emperor is announced, it is proclaimed in words used by Yao, who lived before the time of Abraham. If a mandarin writes a controversial despatch, he bases his arguments on the sayings of Confucius; if a youth presents himself at the public examinations, he is expected to compose essays exclusively on themes from the four books and five classics of antiquity; and if a man writes to congratulate a friend on the birth of a daughter, he does so in phraseology drawn from the national primitive odes, which were sung and chanted before the days of Homer.

This immutability gives certain advantages in writing on Chinese society, since the author is not called upon

"To shoot folly as it flies

And catch the manners living as they rise."

It is enough for him to keep in view the rock from which the people have hewn their lives, and to

draw from the current literature, which reflects that foundation, the picture which he may propose to sketch.

What, then, are the constituent elements of Chinese society? They are very simple, and are free from the complications and enlacements of European life. At the head is the emperor and his court, next comes the bureaucracy, and after them the people. With the exception of some few families, such as those of Confucius, of Tsêng, the late minister at our court, and five or six others, there is no hereditary aristocracy of high rank and importance. All are equal until the examiners have elected into an aristocracy of talent those whose essays and poems are the best. The remaining divisions of "farmers, mechanics, and traders," represent one level.

Above these classes the emperor reigns supreme. The possessor of a power which is limited only by the endurance of the people, the object of profound reverence and worship by his subjects, the holder of the lives of "all under heaven," the fountain of honour as well as the dispenser of mercy, he occupies a position which is unique of its kind, and unmatched in the extent of its influence. There is much magic in a name, and the titles by which the potentate is known help us to realize what he is in the eyes of the people. He is the "Son of Heaven," he is the "Supreme Ruler," the "August Lofty One," the "Celestial Ruler," the "Solitary Man," the "Buddha of the present day," the "Lord;" and, in adulatory addresses, he is often entitled, the Lord of Ten Thousand Years." As the Son of Heaven, he rules by the express command of the

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