Page:The Spirit of the Chinese People.djvu/185

 degree of scholarship, unless he had in some way made himself familiar with the principles above indicated. The German poet Goethe says: "In the works of of [sic] man, as in those of nature, what is really deserving of attention, above everything, is—the intention." Now in the study of national character, it is also of the first importance to pay attention, not only to the actions and practice of the people, but also to their notions and theories; to get a knowledge of what they consider as good and what as bad, what they regard as just and what as unjust, what they look upon as beautiful and what as not beautiful, and how they distinguish wisdom from foolishness. This is what we mean when we say that the student of Chinese should study the principles of individual conduct. In other words, we mean to say that you must get at the national ideals. If it is asked how this is to be attained: we answer, by the study of the national literature, in which revelations of the best and highest as well as the worst side of the character of a people can be read. The one object, therefore, which should engage the attention of the foreign student of Chinese, is the standard national literature of the people: whatever preparatory studies it may by necessary for him to go through should serve only as means towards the attainment of that one object. Let us now see how the student is to study the Chinese literature.

"The civilisations of Europe," says a German writer, "rest upon those of Greece, Rome and