Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/748

* CHINESE EMFIBE. 650 CHINESE EMPIRE. kas (immigrants from northern China into the extreme south), a dolichocephalic Mongolian type, which he considers related to the long- headed element found among the Tunguses and in the tumuli of the Trans-Baikal country, are the real representatives o£ the ancient Chinese ])ro|>er. Of the more or less 'aborigiiuil' and non-Chinese people of China the following may be mentioned: the iliao-tse in the eastern parts of Kwei-chow, the south of Hunan, northern Kwangsi, and northwestern Kwangtimg; the Lolos (or Xesus) of western Sze-chuen and north- eastern Yun-nan ; the Tu-jen. Meo. Yao. etc., of Kwangsi; the Shans and other Thai tribes of the Burmese-Chinese frontier, wlio belong more or less remotely to the same stock as the Bur- mese, Siamese, etc. Of these aboriginal peoples the most important are the iliao-tse, looked upon by many authorities as representing the earlier population of a great part of China and as hav- ing a 'sub-Caucasian' strain of blood, but con- sidered by others as allied to the Tibetan type. The Lolos appear, by speech at least, to be closer to the Tliai peoples of Farther India. All through the south and west of China the intermingling of peoples has taken ])lace, sometimes on a large scale. The 'savages' have not been so nearly ex- terniinati'd or driven out as .some believe. In temperament the Chine-se are usually taci- turn, often morose, lethargic, or fitfully vehe- ment. The most marked mental peculiarity in the Chinaman is the wonderful development of the faculty of memory, without a corresponding exercise of the faculty of jvidgment. Books are frequently learned by heart and repeated from beginning to end without mistake. The Chine.se are jiersevering and industrious, patient, peace- able, and polite. Their dread of giving offence makes them seem to the foreigner deceitful, often when they are least so. Credulity and sympathy are marked characteristics. As to their morals and religion, the judgments of for- eigners are worth very little, for these dilVer greatly and are so tinged with the personality of the observer that fair conclusions are impos- sible. Vith little fear of death, thovigh they politely avoid the subject in conversation or make use of euphemisms, the Chinese resort readily to suicide when in ditfieulties. In the stolidity with which they undergo torture they resemble the North American Indians. As a rule they look with contempt upon arms and war, and have always cultivated the arts which maintain peace and harmonious himian inter- eovirse, so that for ages China has been prac- tically without an army and without a police force. In one respect China is the freest country in Asia ; local self-government has been carried to a very high degree, insuring both personal freedom and excellence in civil organization. The Chinese are lacking, however, in military or naval discipline, and are apt to lose self-control and yield to jianie in times of sudden danger. In the main they are feniperatc. practical to the last degree, unimaginative, imbued with a mer- cantile spirit, yet literary. Though there are manifold varieties of character and disposition, the inhabitants of China proper are practically one ])eople, notwithstanding that differences in dialect are so great as to make it nearly impos- sible for the uneducated of distant provinces to understand one another. The essence of the Chinese social system, which has survived all political changes, assimilating all new elements, and absorbing China's con- querors, is the worship of ancestors, the word worship being taken in the old Knglish sense of honor. Filial piety is the first of all virtues. All Chinese worship at the tombs of their parents. In the houses of the well-to-do, one room, the domestic sanctuarj'. is set ajjart for the tablets inscribed with the names of deceased relatives and ancestors, before which ceremonies, regulated by tne classic Book of Rites, are performed. Indeed, China is ruled more from the cemetery than from the Kmjieror's palace, the care of the dead being often api>arcntly a more im|)oi'tant duty than the sustenance of tlie living. It is always the past that is the Golden Age, and reverence for a man or thing is in proportion to age. iluch thought is given to the location of graves and cemeteries, this matter, like a myriad of otiicrs, being regulated by the feng-shui (liter- ally, wind and water), a most elaborate system of superstition which contains the germs of a ru<le natural science. To be buried pro])erly is the ambitidn of every Chinaman; the possession of a handsome eodin is often the most desirable of assets, and frequently this article is a most acceptable present to elders or relatives. The deiui are honored by banquets, and in the crises of life ancestors are appealed t<) for help and direction. In ancient times human sacrifices were made at the graves of the dead. The fire- crackers, which are set off in such great numbers at the burial of the dead or in visits to ceme- teries, are but substitiites for the figures of men; in the course of time the powder-charged paper has taken the place of the human sacrifice. At the present time these pyrotechnics are supposed to drive away the foul spirits which love to lurk about the haunts of men. and with which the Chinese imagination overpopulates heaven, earth, and air. Next to death, marriage is the most important event, and is universal, bachelors and old maids in health and mature life being quite unknown. Y'et in social life there is a strict se])aration of the sexes, and the preliminaries of marriage are taken in charge by parents or professional match- makers called the go-betweens. Often the future bride and groom do not see each otlier until the woman raises her cap from her covered eyes on the wedding day. Jlinute regulations direct every step in this and in all otlu>r social ceremo- nies, so that at all times and circumstances the Chinaman knows jnst what to do. and even in a house knows just where and when to sit down or to stand up. Polygamy is nut legal or general, but if the wife proves barri'U the husband is very apt to take a concubine, for the order of Chinese society requires heirs, and esi>ecially sons, to keep up tlie ancestral sacrifices. The j)arents have full power over their children, but the duty of administering chnstisement is usually left to the wife. Though in times of generous food-sup- ply ehild-iimrder is but little practiced, yet mil- lions of young children die every year: for a sick child wjien unresponsive to remedies is sus- pected to be non-human and must pass through an ordeal of neglect, cold, or sUirvati<m. If it dies the inference is that it was not human, but either of demoniac origin or else possessed. If it lives, it is himan. The Chinese are thus contin- ually under the inlluence of superstition, which not infrequently bursts out into great disorders, fl