CHINESE LAWS.

as to China is imperfect, and reaches only to recent periods; so far back as it does extend, it presents a picture very little varied from its present condition. According to its own traditions, its existence as a nation was many thousand years before the Mosaic creation.

The Chinese derive their religion from Foe, who is supposed to have been upon the earth about a thousand years before the Christian era. Their legend concerning him is this: that the mother of Foe was impregnated by a ray of light; that the moment he entered the world he stood upright on his feet, stepped forward seven steps, and pointing one hand to heaven and the other to the earth, spoke these words: "none in heaven or on earth deserves adoration besides me." In his seventeenth year he married three wives, and became the father of a son. In his nineteenth he left his family and went with four wise men into the wilderness. At the age of thirty he became a Foe, or divinity. He confirmed his doctrines, they say, by a series of miracles, gathered a great number of disciples, and spread his religion through the earth.

Lamaism, Brahmaism, and indeed all the superstitions of the east are supposed to be derived from this source, and are little else than different sects of the same religion. In his 79th year Foe perceiving his end approaching, declared to his disciples that hitherto he had spoken only in enigmatical or figurative language, but that now he would unveil to them the mysteries of his doctrine: these, as modified, enlarged and corrected by the most intelligent of his priests, and now received as the religion of China, are, that he who has done good in this life will be rewarded, and he who has done evil will be punished, after death; that there are two distinct places for these two sorts of souls, and to each soul a station is assigned according to his deserts; that the good Foe was born to save mankind, and bring back those who had strayed from the path of righteousness; that he suffered for their sins and obtained for them a happy resurrection; that he gave his followers five commandments; 1st, not to kill any living creature ; 2d, to avoid impurity and unchastity; 3d, never to take the property of another; 4th, never to speak falsely; 5th, to refrain from strong drink.

The priests of Foe inculcate certain works of charity as necessary to salvation, particularly liberality to their order; the building of convents and temples, in which they may, by their prayers and pious exercises, deliver others from the punishment they deserve. They teach that whoever disobeys their commands, will suffer the most dreadful torments after death, and that his soul will enter the body of the vilest and most loathsome of animals.

They have a curious system of metaphysics, into the mysteries of which but few are initiated, and which are understood by none. The leading ones are, the origin and end of all things is

CHINESE RELIGION.

nothing; the first human beings sprang from nothing, and have returned to nothing; this void or nothing constitutes being; all that exists sprang from nothing and a mixture of elements, and all must return whence it came; all things animate and inanimate constitute one whole, differing from each other not in essence, but in form and qualities; the original essence of all things is pure, unchangeable, and highly subtle and simple, and because it is simple, it is the perfection of all other beings; it is perfect and therefore exists in an uninterrupted quiet, without possessing virtue, power, or intelligence; its very essence consists in the absence of intelligence, activity and desire; whoever desires to be happy, must constantly endeavor to conquer himself, and become like the original essence; to accomplish this, he must accustom himself not to act, think, feel or desire. Their directions on this head, were summed up in this precept: "endeavor to annihilate thyself, for as soon as thou ceasest to be thyself, thou becomest one with God, and returnest into his being."

They believe in the transmigration of souls, and that when a soul first appears on earth, and animates a human body, it is that of a Brahmin. After his death it passes into the body of some other man, or of a beast, according to the preponderance of its good or evil deeds, until it finally enters the class of Samaneans, where it has no more crimes to expiate, all having been wiped off by former emigrations. He then needs no longer to worship the gods of the earth, they being only the servants of the supreme God of the universe. Free from passion, and incapable of crime, the Samanean dies only to return to the deity from which his soul emanated.

The Supreme Deity, the essence of all things, is eternal, invisible, incomprehensible, almighty, merciful, just and beneficent. He originated from himself. He cannot be represented by any image, neither can he be worshipped, because he is elevated above all worship; but his attributes may be represented by images and worshipped. This principle is the foundation of the worship of images, or idolatry, and of the multitude of tutelar deities in China.

All elements, the changes of weather, the various phenomena of the atmosphere, every rank, profession, and employment, have their gods. These deities are the principal officers of the Supreme God, song, wang, MAN, who looks down from his seat in the highest heaven, in undisturbed quiet, upon the transactions of men. Every person makes an image of his guardian god, in wood or stone, and pays homage to it three times a day. The Samanean, or perfect man, is lost in the contemplation of the Supreme God, and makes it his chief concern to destroy himself, in order that he may return and be absorbed in the bosom of that being which created all things out of nothing.

CONFUCIUS.

CONFUCIUS. The Chinese system of morals and religion, was much improved by the celebrated philosopher, Confucius, who lived about 500 years before the Christian era. He was of royal descent, and held the rank of mandarin at court, but as the king would not follow his advice, in measures to promote the good of his subjects, he resigned his dignity and offices, and became a private teacher of morals and philosophy. He taught the immortality of the soul. He favored the existing belief of his countrymen in fate, in soothsaying, and in the worship of certain genii, or good spirits, who preside over the elements, as well as the concerns of men. He enjoined universal benevolence, justice, virtue, and honesty. He taught his followers to

observe all usages and customs which had become established; it being proper, in his estimation, that those who live together in society, should live in the same manner, enjoying each others's pleasures, and mutually sympathizing in their pains. Accompanying their creed are a great variety of ceremonies, among the most peculiar of which is the feast of lanterns, the principal feature of which is a numerous procession to the temple of their chief idol, bearing a great number of lanterns, in honor of their god.

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The Chinese empire and its tributaries, embraces one third of the human race, and its religion extends considerably beyond its political boundary; the foregoing may be considered in substance, the religious creed of nearly one half of the human family, commencing a thousand years before the Christian era. The creed and the customs of China have remained nearly stationary to the present time. Being much the largest empire in the world as to population, they hold in contempt other nations, and disdain to receive improvements from them. Of late, however, this principle has been ameliorating, and missionaries have been allowed to teach the Christian religion.

LANGUAGE. One great cause which has kept China in a stationary condition as to literature, religion, morals, and the arts, for so long a period, is the peculiarities of its language. To readers familiar with copious modern European languages, it is difficult to convey a correct idea of the Chinese. The inhabitants of China disdain to learn any language but their own, and a European finds himself ill requited for the great labor necessary to gain even an imperfect knowledge of theirs. Hence the little scientific intercourse between Europe and China.

The Chinese language belongs to that class of idioms denominated monosyllabic, that is, every word consists of one syllable only. Words may be combined together, but every syllable by itself is significant, and therefore is of itself considered a word. The number of significant syllables or words are said not to exceed 460, having, however, five or six different meanings, according to the different tones or accents with which they are uttered. By a kind of cantilena, the same monosyllable conveys several distinct ideas, according to the key on which it is pronounced. The language is destitute of grammatical forms; the nouns and verbs cannot be inflected, and have no auxiliaries to show their connection. The different modes, tenses, numbers, and cases, are left to be conjectured from the context, or from the manner in which they are used in relation to each other.

WRITTEN LANGUAGE. The Chinese written language has no alphabet, or any thing which corresponds to European letters. The use of certain artificial and arbitrary marks, a combination of which forms a word expressive of some idea, is at the same time one of the most wonderful and useful of human inventions; though like air or water, the use is so common, that it is little thought of or prized. The value of letters may be well understood by a view of the imperfections of the Chinese language without them. Like many other important improvements, they have been excluded from China by a contempt for foreigners and their arts.

Their writing is expressed by characters, of which there are

CHINESE PRINTING. AGRICULTURE.

said to be about 80,000, but about 10,000 of which are in common use, and a knowledge of the latter only is necessary to enable a person to read a Chinese book. The characters are again reduceable to 214 keys or radicals, each of them representing one word, and each word an idea. These radicals are combined together so as to express two or more words or ideas by the same compound character. Thus all the words expressive of manual labor are combined of the character which represents the hand, with some other word expressive of the occupation intended to be designated. The characters are written in a perpendicular form from top to bottom, beginning at the right, or what we should call the end of the book.

CHINESE PRINTING. According to the most authentic accounts, the Chinese understood the art of printing centuries before it was known in Europe; not, however, with moveable types, but more in the nature of stereotype, by carving their characters on blocks of wood; and at this point the art has, with them, been stationary for a thousand years. The advantage which civilized Europe and America have over China, in the free interchange of thought, is scarcely conceivable.

The present is, emphatically, the age of discovery and improvement. None. however, takes place in Europe or America, but what in a short time becomes common to both. The original invention is brought into immediate use, and improvements made upon it until it arrives to the highest degree of perfection of which it is capable. Not so in China. A false national pride prevents them from learning and bringing home to their own country the arts and improvements of other nations, while the imperfect means which they possess of communicating their thoughts to each other, prevents improvements at home.

A late American missionary gives the following as some of the Chinese peculiarities. They suppose the abdomen to be the seat of the mind; they make the left hand the place of honor; they change their outer garments most frequently; their color for mourning is white; they give the ladies the lowest place; a widow must obey the oldest son. When they meet and salute a friend, they shake their own hands; and wear their caps at table and in company. They drink their wine hot, and at the beginning of a feast. Among them the traveller furnishes his own bed, and the buyer his own scales. They wear the beard long, but shave the head. They say that men are by nature good. They despise priests and lawyers, and worship the serpent.

AGRICULTURE. The principal occupation of the inhabitants of China is agriculture. In a nation whose population exceeds 115 to each square mile of territory, allotting something less than three acres to each individual, land must be highly cultivated