LITERATURE IN CHINA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 109, 5 June 1909, Page 4

LITERATURE IN CHINA.

IXF'LUISXCE OF COXFI'CIAXJSM. i U'XTIUiE BY CHINESE COXSUT.. 1 "Tlie Religion and Literature of i China" formed the subject of nu address ! by Mr. Hwang, Chinese Consul, in Wesley Church Schoolroom, Wellington. 1 1 : An American professor had stated 1 that religion was the product of the i East. "I lind," said Mr. Hiwang, "from my study of the races, that humanity is everywhere religious." Before the days of Confucianism, Buddhism, or ' Taoism, tlie old Chinese classics spoke lof a divine being existing iu licaven above human beings. But the idea was too vast for the ancient people, who were led to imagine spirits of the mountain and river, moon and stars—mere J nature-worship. Buddhism, which came I from India, tauglit the difference between right and wrong, 'and introduced I the ideas of their reward and punish-1 ment—of Jieaven and hell. But the Su- j j pTeme God was not yet made suiliciently .

! clear, and erroneous and superstitious 1 1 notions wero -handed down to later | generations. Confucianism, to Mr. j liwang's mind, was not a religion at all, I but a school -of moral philosophy, pollI tical philosophy, and the highest and best literature in China, Yet the inllu* I ence of Confucianism ihad been t'he principal influence in China from its first | propagation till the present .thuoj in- ; deed, Mr. Hwang'* knowledge; >of 'the ! Western States told him that iU inlluj ence had been more felt by the Chinese ; than the influence of Christiauity had been felt in the Western .world. In tht | Western world not everybody was r Cliristian or believed in Christ. It ap j peared as' if many Occidentals had lie t belief iu anything beyond Uie material But every Chinese, be lie scholar 01 -i laborer, was inlluencod by Confucianism.

,10/mviwi, >»«* tnuuvnu-u uy 1 and <knew some of itlie great points ot ! its teaching. The reason was that its » teaching appealed equally to the educate 4 anil uneducated; there was nothing mysterious or very deep uiboutf'tt and nothing beyond one's power to iprac- ; tise. The lecturer exemplified thefif | characteristics by quotations from the ' | utterances' of the ancient -sage. But Confucius, die explained, did not claim to be more -than nmn, and something higher than his fethics was required some knowledge of God and of His lovt for man. Tradition taught, added Mr. Hwang that .the inventor of Chinese -letter* , lived about 3000 Ji.C. There Aveve uov I nine classics which were read bv a! i,„i ~s ...um. ii. r

Chinese scholars, of which the first -was, written about 1150 B.C. The form and spelling -of Chinese words' had scarcely ' changed from the most ancient times' I until to-day, and this first book—the I j Book of Changes—could be read now ; . without difficulty. The Book of Cere- i j monies, written over a thousand years i before the Christian era, set forth the I , rites and ceremonies .to be used on al-j most all occasions, and with few excep-1 tions thfts'c were not departed from at' the present day. Tile movement and I spirit of hnglish verse were lacking in J the Chinese poetry; this was verv no-j ticeable to the speaker in translations of English hymns. The Chinese should ha.ve tiheir own hymns if they were; L'oimr to 'becnm,. *i' /n ...p t t '1..-L i';.,.. .... i

going to become a great Christian 11:1- i ! lion. Mr. Hwang referred to others of ; the Chinese classics, anil stated that j ' these ancient works were very beauli- ' fill, and thong.'.i the Chinese exainiiiu-' tions had been modified lately tb allow ; of an increased Western clement in edu- I I cation, it would be a great loss if Chin- j' ] ese scholars should ever neglect their j qld literature. Tile Emperor who built i the great wall had destroyed a vast' number of the old book* extaut in his I time, but after hi* death there was a' great recrudnVcence of literary activity, j Many of the oh! books were rewritten i from memory, an encyclopaedia in ten I thousand volumes wa s compiled, and other remarkable works were produced.' It would be seen that the Chinese mind | was not like that of the African or ! Xort'h American Indian. j The Chinese almost worshipped learning, lie said in conclusion, and despite I their former lur-tility to foreign ideas, they were eager now to assimilate the I knowledge ami the wisdom of Western' civilisation. The modem influence in (Jhina w;a.s greater than the influence of ' Xmpoleon 01- of Bismarck, because it | would affect four hundred million souls i a 'fourth part of the human race.