Page:Gems of Chinese literature (1922).djvu/14

 perhaps because of the ease with which they were allowed to obtain the coveted degrees. I have not been able to insert any specimen of Manchu style or imagination in the following collection; it should always be remembered, however, that the two Emperors, and, by their production of most important works of reference,―the standard lexicon of the Chinese language, more than one huge encyclopaedia, an enormous dictionary of literary phraseology of all ages, new editions of classical and historical works, etc., etc.―have placed Chinese scholars, native and foreign, under a deeper obligation than all the other Emperors of China put together.