The Chinese: their education, philosophy and letters

Front matter

■ ■ THE CHINESE THEIR EDUCATION, PHILOSOPHY, AND LETTERS BT W. A. P. MARTIN, D.D., LL.D. PRESIDENT OF THE TCNGWEN COLLEGE, PEKING NEW YORK HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1881, by HARPER & BROTHERS, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. AU rights reserved. TO PROFESSOR W. D. WHITNEY, LL.D. the mainstay OF THE AMERICAN ORIENTAL SOCIETY, AND A distinguished leader in oriental studies, this little volume, which, in some sense owes its existence to him Is -Uespectfullrj Jnscribefc BY HIS FRIEND THE AUTHOR

Preface

. My dear Professor Whitney, — The earliest of the following essays was written at your instance twenty years ago ; and you will recognize several of the others as having passed through your hands on their way to the A. O. S., or to the magazines in wliich they made their first appearance. You will, I trust, welcome them as old friends, and for their sake give a favorable reception to those which are now, for the first time, introduced to your attention. The contents of this volume, though somewhat miscellaneous, are yet connected by a certain unity ; falling naturally into three divisions, treating respectively of the education, philosophy, and letters of the Chinese — in a word, of their intellectual life. I call them Hanlin* Papers, not merely because the first three discuss educational processes which culminate in the Hanlin Academy, but more especially because the Hanlin is confessedly the highest embodiment of Chinese intellectual life.

No one of these papers throws any light on your favorite field of research,-)* and none of them pretends to be exhaustive of its special subject ; they are offered to you and the public only as a bundle of Beitrage — a small contribution towards the better understanding of China and the Chinese. Yours truly, W. A. P. Martin. Peking, March 24, 1880. * The title of the first edition, printed in China. t Philology. CONTENTS. PAGE The Hanlin Yuan, or Imperial Academy 1 Competitive Examinations in China 39 Education in China 57 An Old University in China 85 The San Kiao, or Three Religions of China 97 Remarks on the Ethical Philosophy op the Chinese 125 Isis and Osiris, or Oriental Dualism 154 Alchemy in China 167 Remarks on the Style of Chinese Prose 194 On the Style of Chinese Epistolary Composition 212 Chinese Pables 224 The Renaissance in China 228