Page:A history of Chinese literature - Giles.djvu/398

 386 CHINESE LITERATURE

four large closely-printed volumes ; (3) the P'ien Tzti Lei P'ien, a similar work, with a different arrangement, bound up in thirty-six large volumes ; (4) the Yuan Chien Lei Han, an encyclopaedia, bound up in forty-four volumes ; and (5) the Tu Shu Chi Ch l eng, a profusely illustrated encyclopaedia, in 1628 volumes of about 200 pages to each. To the above must be added a considerable collection of literary remains, in prose and verse, which, of course, were actually the Emperor's own work. It cannot be said that any of these remains are of a high order, or are familiar to the public at large, with a single and trifling exception. The so-called Sacred Edict is known from one end of China to the other. It originally consisted of sixteen moral maxims delivered in 1670 under the form of an edict by the Emperor K'ang Hsi. His Majesty himself had just reached the mature age of sixteen. He had then probably discovered that men's morals were no longer what they had been in the days of "ancient kings," and with boyish earnestness he made a kindly effort to do something for the people whose welfare was destined to be for so many years to come his chief and most absorbing care. The maxims are commonplace enough, but for the sake of the great Emperor who loved his "children" more than himself they have been exalted into utterances almost divine. Here are the first, seventh, and eleventh maxims, as specimens :

" Pay great attention to filial piety and to brotherly obedience, in order to give due weight to human relationships."

" Discard strange doctrines, in order to glorify the orthodox teaching."

" Educate your sons and younger brothers, in order to hinder them from doing what is wrong."

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