Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 3.djvu/747

 CHINA

667

CHINA

Character Classic), the '' Pe-kia-sing" (Hundred Family Names), and the " Ts'ien-tze-wen " (One Thousand-Character Classic); later they studied the

Shu", or "Four Classical Books". Memory [i veloped a( the expense of the critical facility, science being almost entirely neglected. A good calligraphy and a thorough knowledge of the Con- fucian classics were the main requisites for passing an examination, in which an essay on texts selected from these classics, and called wen-chang, played a considerable part. The wen-chang, suppressed in is: is .luring the short period of reform, has been definitely abolished. The civil officers were re- cruited from those who passed the three examinations: Iliang-she (provincial), held triennially in the autumn; Hwai-she (metropolitan), held at Peking, in the spring; Tien-she, the palace examination. The student (T'ung-sheng) took in succession the three degrees: Siu-ts'ai, Ku-jen, and Tsin-she; at the last examination the first four competitors received the titles of Chwang Yuan, Pang Yen, T'an Hwa, and Ch'wan Lu.

After the war with Russia China felt the necessity of .1 thorough change; Confucianism was no longer a sufficient weapon against v7estem enterprise. Ele- mentary, higher primary, middle, higher, and special schools wire established on foreign principles. A university and a technical school were opened at Peking, while young students wire sent abroad, espe- eially to Japan. It must he admitted that the latter brought hack from the Empire of the Rising Sun an entirely 1 1»-\\ spirit. They have been responsible, to great extent, for the reorganization of the secret Societies, which aim not only at reform, hut also at tin- overthrow of the present dynasty. By an im- perial decree which was dated 2 Sept., 1905, ami went inm effect at the beginning of 1906, the former pro- gramme and methods of examination were abolished, ami a new system of education inaugurated. This includes the study of the Chinese language, litera-

nid composition, the various sciences studied in the West, history, geography, foreign languages, especially Japanese, gymnastic exercises and drills, and in the higher grades the study of political econ- omy, and civil and international law. As a natural consequence new degrees corresponding to P. A., M.A., LL.D., etc. were created. It is evident thai the Chinese attitude of mind is undergoing a great change through contact with Western ideas and learning; what is less evident is that the deeper layers i.i the nation have not been reached.

Philosophy. — Chinese philosophy, at least in what is fundamental, is embodied in the religious bonks, or rather in the classical works called " King''. ( ton fucius was more of a collector than a creator; he i moral teacher, imbued with traditions which he had studied and mastered, and of which he was the il.al representative, but he was no inventor. The man who stamped Chinese philosophy with his Strong personality, or rather his genius, was the philosopher Chu Hi (a. d. 1130-1200), bom in Fu-kien during the Sung dynasty. He had a retreat for intervals of meditation at the White Deer Grotto in the hills near P'o-yang Lake. The "Book of Changes" (Y-king) Levins with the T'ai-ki, the Great Ubso lute; according to Chu Hi there was in the beginning the primordial principle, the abstract monad called the "absolute nothing", Wu-ki. When moving, the Great Absolute produced by the congealing of its

. the Vang, the great male principle; when it finally rested it produced the Yin, or the great female

principle; after this great division what was above was heaven, beneath was earth, and during the sub-

and movement were created in

turn, the sun and the moon, the stars and tie planets, water and fire, men and animals, vegetables and minerals, etc. Four laws regulate the present move-

ment of the two principles: (1) Hi, the breath of nature, governed not by arbitrary, but by fixed in- scrutable, laws; (2) Li, the laws of nature; (3) So, the numbers or numerical proportions of the uni- verse; (4) Ying, the appearance of forms of nature. This philosophical system is represented by dia- grams. Sometimes the three powers of nature (San-tsai), i. e. T'ien (Heaven), 77 A (Earth), Jen (Man), are indicated by a triangle Z-A The two primitive principles are shown, the first by a straight

line which corresponds to Yang, the male

principle, heaven, light, etc.; the second by a broken

line — which corresponds to Yin, the female

principle, earth, darkness, etc. Combinations of these lines give the following four figures: —

(1) (2) (3) (4)

(1) T'ai Yang, corresponding to sun. heat, eyes, etc.; (2) The T'ai Yin corresponding to the moon, I'. Id, ears, etc.; (3) The Slum Yang corresponding to the stars, daylight, the nose, etc.; il) The Slum Yin corresponding to the planets, night, the mouth, etc. A new combination of these figures was revealed to Fu-hi |2N.">2 '_'7.'iS b. c), by a dragon- horse which rose from the Yellow River and pre- sented to the gaze ..f the emperor a scroll upon its

back inscribed with mystic diagrams which, being arranged, consisted of eight trigrams or symbols called Pa-kwa: — (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8)

(1) Corresponds to Heaven and the pure male prin- ciple, being entirely composed of whole lines; (2) vapours, watery exhalations, lakes; (3) lire, heat, light; (4) thunder; (5) wind; (6) water; (7) moun- tains; is) earth and the pure female principle, being entirely composed of broken lines. An octagonal arrangement devised by the philosophers of the Sung dynasty gives the figures called Sun-tien: —

SlEN-TIEN

III II!

Shen-nung, the second of the Five Emperors, is held to have multiplied by eight the original Kwa "i Fu-hi, forming sixty-four hexagrams. This number multiplied by li gives 384, the maximum to which the calculations can be carried practically, though H is staled that a scries of 16,777,216 different form can be obtained. The two principles forming the Tai fct were sometimes represented by two opposite semi- circles in a circle, the two portions of the circle in dark and clear respectively; later on a dark disk was inserted in the clear portions and a clear disk in the dark portions.

Diagrams Representing the I'm m

©

The male and female principles may also be repre- sented by a circle and a square; for instance at Peking the Temple of Heaven is circular while the Temple of Earth is square; the common coin called being round with a square hole in the centre is

i i eel symbol of Heaven and Earth.

Classics. — The doctrine of Confucius and his school is contained in the classical books called " King ". Five of the classics of the highest grade