Essays on the history, philosophy, and religion of the Chinese

Front matter

HANLIN PAPERS. — e-K2;*tS!»2— SECOND SERIES. ESSAYS ON THE HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, AND RELIGION OF THE CHINESE. BY W. A. P. MARTIN, D.D., LL.D. President of the Imperial Tung-Wen College, Peking, Membre de V Institut de Droit International, Mem. Cor. de la Societe de la Legislation Comparee, _*V., &c. SHANGHAI : Kelly & Walsh. The Tientsin Press. 1894. TO SIR ROBERT HART, BARONET, G.C.M.G., INSPECTOR- GENERAL OF IMPERIAL MARITIME CUSTOMS, TRUSTEE AND PATRON OF THE IMPERIAL TUNG -WEN COLLEGE, ETC, ETC, THIS BOOK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED IN COMMEMORATION OF A FRIENDSHIP OF FORTY YEARS.

Introduction

. .-----1*1^. A Book like this, consisting of a series of Papers, — the slow growth of years, — possesses one conspicuous advantage over a work more hastily written. It is not made to order; but each Essay springs from the spontaneous inclination of the author, and gives the results of his special studies. The Papers in this volume fall under the general heads of History, Philosophy, and Religion. Some of the topics, such as International Law and Diplomacy in ancient China, are so new that they have never before been treated by any writer, native or foreign. One or two, however, resemble more or less subjects treated in the First Series ; * but they will in all cases be found to be characterized by new views or ampler treatment. * Hanlin Papers, Kelly and Walsh, Shanghai, 1880, reprinted by Harper Brothers, New York, as The Chinese, their Education, 6r. VI As many of these Papers originated in the work of the Peking Oriental Society, an extract from a Presidential Address* may be here introduced, to show something of the activity of that young Institution, and especially to point out the scope of Oriental Studies, from a Chinese stand-point.

"The last Paper of our Occidental Series was read by an American Minister (Mr. Young). He also, as well as Dr. Edkins and Mr. Rockhill, took a leading part in bringing our Society into its present shape ; but it was pre-eminently the hand of the late lamented British Minister (Sir Harry Parkes) that impressed upon it its Oriental character. It was he who gave expression to the wish that its sessions should be something more than an intellectual diversion; and, like a ship drawn from its element to be re-modelled and re-christened, it was he who gave it a new name and launched it on a new career. We opened our sessions {i.e., — those of the Oriental Series) with two subjects well adapted to connect China with the classical antiquity of the West. The first was on the knowledge of China possessed by the Romans, in the time of the * Review of 1885-6.

Elder Pliny ; the second brought into juxtaposition many choice passages of Chinese and Grecian literature. These were luckily followed by the production of material evidence of the intercourse between Rome and China, in the shape of a treasure trove of Roman coins, which weie laid on our table accompanied by an exhaustive report. Then came a survey of the immense domain of Chinese history, followed by a study of some of the most characteristic products of Chinese skill in the department of keramic art. This was succeeded by a Paper which afforded a specimen of those profitable explorations, which it is possible to combine with holiday excursions in the vicinity of Peking. We had, in the meantime, an excursion to the capital of the Grand Lama ; and, by* a coincidence not less fortunate than the find of Roman coins, we had the presence of a man who had travelled among the snow-capped mountains of Thibet.

Finally, we had two Papers which brought us back to the subject of parallels, viz., — the Folk-lore of Celtic Ireland compared with that of the Chinese, and the Drama of Turkey compared with the histrionic art of China. The last two Papers, I have said, bring us back to the subject of parallels. Would I be far out of the way if I should say that the chief object of our Society is the drawing of parallels ? Let no one imagine that such an employment affords but meagre scope for our faculties. For is not comparison, as Aristotle has pointed out in his Art of Poetry, the source of our knowledge and the fountain of our aesthetic pleasures ? Indeed, in no other way can we estimate the culture of the various nations that fall within the sphere of our research. As we began and closed the year with parallels, we shall accordingly go on until vve shall have brought every phase of Oriental thought into comparison with our European standards.

What grander conception can we form of the scope of our Society ? What better demonstration ofthe boundless extent of its field of investigation ? At the risk of betraying a secret, let me say that one of our members said to me some time ago : — " Do you not think we are holding too many meetings ? Is there not danger that our repertory of subjects will be exhausted ? " Exhausted ! As well talk of exhausting the oil wells of Baku, or the coal treasures of the British Isles. When of late the cry was raised — "Economise your coal ; the supply is giving out," — what was the answer ? "There is plenty of coal to be found by digging deeper ! " For us, the same remedy may be resorted to against an apprehended dearth of topics. When the superficial deposits are consumed, then dig deeper ; and sooner will the last ton of coal in British mines be raised to the surface, than the last available subject be reached in the domain of Oriental inquiry.

Situated in the capital of the greatest of Eastern empires, we sweep within our broad horizon the whole of Asia. Here, in the midst of a vast accumulation of undeveloped treasures, we have little reason to envy those Oriental students whose lot is cast on the banks of the Ganges. To enumerate only a few of the subjects that challenge investigation: — Here is Philology approaching us with a bundle of questions, barbed and bristling like a sheaf of arrows. Of these, the noblest is that of the relation of the Chinese language to the other great families of human speech, — a question towards the solution of which one of our number has led the way.* It is scarcely a hundred years since the affinity between Sanscrit and the other members of the Aryan group was ascertained. That discovery, * Rev. Dr. Edkins.

X the honor of which is due to Colebrooke more than to any one else, has been described by Professor Max Muller as the birth ot Comparative Philology. It not only gave the world a new science, it had the political effect of softening in some degree the prejudice of race by showing the Indians that they and their conquerors ate connected by the bonds of a common origin. Now, in the whole range of linguistic science, there is only room for one more achievement of equal grandeur, viz., — the establishment of an earlier and more fundamental relation between the language of China and those of the Indo-European group. Here too is a Philosophy, original and indigenous, whose speculations are as subtle and daring, and whose literature is as extensive, as those of Greece or Germany. Cicero, when he retired from the fatigues of office to the shades of Tusculum, was accustomed to refresh his mind by discussing questions of philosophy with a chosen circle of friends.

May not we obtain an equally efficacious mental tonic, by holding friendly converse with the highest thinkers of the Chinese race ? In this department, there is no danger of tiring for want of variety, as there are many hundreds of authors who deal with all conceivable subjects, in the spirit of free speculation. As to the study of History, I had tlie honour to address you on that subject not long ago. Of what I said on that occasion I shall repeat nothing, beyond reminding you how vast and how rich are the stores of historic lore that solicit our attention. Finally, to pass over Ethnology, Geology, and half a dozen other " ologies," all of wliich find a grand arena in this empire, we come to Poetry, — a fairy land of freshest beauty, in which European hands have only here and there plucked a bud from its "hill of a hundred flowers."

As to the extent of China's poetical literature, you may infer something, from the fact that every one of the 5,000 graduates, who were last month immured in the great Examination Hall, was obliged to compose a poem before regaining his liberty. After this, you will not be surprised to hear that a popular collection of poems is called The Songs of a Thousand Bards. If some of our members, who possess the gift of versification, would from time to time give us an account of these Sons of Song, accompanied by a poetical rendering of their choicest effusions,* what a delightful entertainment might they not prepare for us! * Of these the Author has given some specimens in a small Volume entitled Chinese Legends and other Poems. So rich and extensive are these four grand divisions of our Oriental domain that I should seriously propose, if our membership would admit of it, to subdivide ourselves into four sections ; one of which should devote itself to Philology, another to Philosophy, a third to History, and the last to Poetry.

The Asiatic Society of Bengal, instituted more than a hundred years ago, is still in active operation. May we not hope that the Oriental Society of Peking, sustained by the best culture of this small but select community, and reinforced by* the culture of renovated China, will enjoy an equally* long and prosperous career ! " I have to thank Mr. R. H. Maclay for having saved me much trouble in carrying this volume through the press. W. A. P. M. Peking, April if.th, 189s.. — ■' : I ate : ■ CO^TE^TS. Page I- — The Study of Chinese History i If- — History of China viewed from the Great Wall 26 III. — Tartar Tribes in Ancient China 59 IV. — A Hero of ihe Three Kingdoms 84 V. — International Law in Ancient China ... in VI.— Diplomacy in Ancient China 142 VII. — Notes on the Confucian Apocrypha ... 173 VIII. — Plato and Confucius; — A Coincidence ... 199 IX. — The Cartesian Philosophy before Descaries 207 X. — Chinese Ideas on the Inspiration of their Sacred Books ... ... ... ... 235 XI. — Stages of Religious Thought in China ... 257 XII. — Buddhism a Preparation for Christianity... 278 XIII. — Native Tract Literature in China 304 XIV. — The Worship of Ancestors... ... ... 327 XV. — The Emperor at the Altar of Heaven ... 356 XVI. — A Pilgrimage to the Tomb of Confucius... 361 XVII. — The Lusiad, or The Opening of the East... 379