J > 1^; Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/essaysonchineselOOwattrich ESSAYS ON 'THE CHINESE LANGUAGE; BY T. WATTERS. *^jO'>jO^ Presbyterian Mission Press 1889. 7/^ LF^(^ PREFACE. The first beginning of this book was made in Peking more than a quarter of a century ago. It was at the suggestion of the lamented Sir Frederick Bruce, then H. M/s Minister to China, that the stoiy Qf the word Tao was taken up, and at the same time the survey of the Chinese language in o-eneral was begun. It was originally intended to take in a number of subjects not treated of in the pages which follow. But as the work proceeded it was found impos- sible to carry out the original design. Still the author ventures to hope that what is here given will help or interest students of the Chinese language and form a basis for further researches. Imperfect drafts of part of the book have already appeared in the Chinese Recorder and the China Review. It afi'ords the author much pleasure to acknowledge openly his deep gratitude to his friend, W. R. Carles, Esq., H. M.'s Consul for Chinkiang. The hard and irksome task of correcting the proofs w^as undertaken by Mr. Carles and carried out by him during the whole time the work was going through the press. The Superintendent of the Mission Press also has done all in his power to diminish the number of printer s errors. These, however, are still too many, and the author regrets that the book has to appear marred by these and other errors for which the printers are not responsible. Newchwai^g, September, 1889. /Vniversitt OALi tXNIVERSITY CONTENTS. Chap. I. SOME WESTERN OPINIONS. Number of those who use tlie Chinese language, p. 1 ; sphere of the language, 1 ; Chinese little known to Western scholars, 2 ; different opinions, 3 ; some theories as to origin and family relationship, 4 ; G-olius, Leibniz, Farrar, 4 ; John Webb, 5; early Roman Catholic missionaries, 7; Edkins, Marshman, Chalmers, 8 ; Logan, Gr. von der Gabelenz, 9 ; de Lacouperie, II ; Fried. Miiller, 12 ; some opinions on Chinese from the morphological point of view, F. von Schlegel, 12; Bopp, W. von Humboldt, 13 ; Schleicher, Pott, L. Adam, Max Miiller, 14 ; Grube, 16 ; some opinions on the contents and general character of the language, 15; Semedo, 16; Premare, Arayot, 16; W. von Humboldt, Steinthal, Whitney, Renan, 17; materials for correct general judgment not yet ready, 19. Chap. II. THE CULTIVATION OF THEIR LANGUAGE BY THE CHINESE. This chapter does not pretend to give a full account of the cultivation of their language by native authors, p. 20 ; early use of writing, 21 ; the state interpreters in Chow period, 22 ; cultiva- tion of the language in this period, 23 ; Ch'in Shi Huang Ti's action, 26 ; the scholars of the Han dynasty, 28 ; the Buddhist miseionaries from India, 36 ; the scholars of the Three Kingdoms 11 CONTENTS. period, 38 ; the works on the language in the Chin period, 39 ; the North and South dynasties, 42 ; the Sin dynasty, 46 ; the T'ang dynasty, 48 ; Buddhist monks on the language, 51 ; invention of printing,* 54 ; writers under the Sung dynasty, 55 ; the Mongol er Yuan dynasty, 73 ; works on the language during the Ming period, 78 ; those of the present dynasty, 84 ; treatises to teach natives of Kuangtung and Fuhkeen the Mandarin language, 97. Chap. III. CHINESE OPINIONS ABOUT THE ORIGIN AND EARLY HISTORY OF THE LANGUAGE. Chinese opinions as to first men, they were not mute, p. 103 ; they and barbarians generally chattered like birds, 103; Chinese regard speech as natural, 104; man speaks when moved, 106; speech before or after music, 106; the growth and changes in speech not arbitrary, 107; earliest articulate utterances of baby, 108; sing-sing, parrot and other creatures can utter words, 109; man alone has faculty of speech, 110 ; two fold source of speech material and mental, 113 ; climatic conditions affect speech, 115 ; speech not enough and visible record needed, 116; precursors of writing, the Ho-t'u, and Lo-shu, and Pa-kua, 118; written characters invented by Tsang Chie but made according to reason, 121; history of writing, 123; Chinese appreciation of value of writing, 125 ; comparison of written languages of China and India, 126. Chap. IY. ON THE INTERJECnONAL AND IMITATIVE ELEMENTS IN THE CHINESE LANGUAGE. Man's conscious control does not extend to the use of emotional and imitative expressions, p. 128 ; treatment of these by grammarians and philologists, 128; by native scholars in * See Eri-ata. COlfTBlfTS. Ill China, 129; Farrar's "elements of articulate speech," 130; Chinese use of interjections such as ai-ya, 131 ; uses of a^, 133 ; vocal gestures, 135 ; in some cases such expressions are real words or their ruins, 136 ; blowing of wind, rain, 137 ; imitations of animal cries, 139 ; of involuntary human sounds as coughing and sneezing, 142; defects and peculiarities of utterance, 145; child's language, 147 ; expressions metaphorically imitative, 149. Chap. V. THE WOED TAO. Neither foreign nor native opinions as to the resources of the Chinese language to be trusted, p. 152 ; the word Tao to be investigated, 152 ; cautions with reference to what is stated in this chapter, 153 ; Tao does not give fair specimen of uses of a word, 153 ; writing and pronunciation of the word, 153 ; syno- nyms, 151; combinations with sense of road, 154; special phrases connected with meaning of road, 160; to travel, 161 ; right of way, 161 ; from, district, 162 ; orbit, course, 164 ; ray, band, line, time, 166 ; Tao as a numerative or classifier, 167 ; in the sense of means and manner, 168; expedient, 169; attainments, char- acteristics, 170 ; course of conduct, 172 ; state or condition, 175 ; to lead or guide, 177 ; doctrine, religion, 180 ; truth, wisdom, 181 ; principles, 183; to rule, government, institutions, 186; good government, order, 189; law, standard, &c., 190; to talk, discourse, &c., 192; the Ultimate Principle, 197; nature or law of creatures, 201; I'ien-tao's meanings, 202; man's moral constitu- tion, 206 ; conscience, 208 ; Tao-hsin and Jen-hsin, 209 ; Eeason, 211; duty, 214; relationship, 217; essentials, sum, 219; Tao as title of per son, 221 ; source or cause, reason, 222 ; type, emblem, 223 ; ideal moral perfection, 225 ; ideal state of society, 228 ; Nature, 229 ; Miscellaneous, 232 ; Taoist use of the word, 235 Mahometan, 239; ChrisLian, 240. IV CONTENTS. Chap. VI. TEEMS RELATING TO DEATH AND BURIAL. The Chinese language is rich in some respects and poor in others, p. 245 ; words and phrases connected with Pig, 246 ; names for year, 249 ; for periods of human life, 252 ; terms for death, 257 ; for dying, 259; to die, 262 ; to die prematurely, 274; to die ill, 279; the dead, 282; terms for ceremonies] on behalf of the dead, 292 ; terms for customs to be observed by mourners, 297 ; terms for the coffin and its parts, 299 ; the bier, 303 ; the site for the grave, 305 ; terms for burial, 307 ; for temporary resting of coffin, 309; the grave and tomb, 310; the cemetery, 318; terms for mourning, 321. Chap. VII. FOREIGN WORDS IN CHINESE. Foreign words in Chinese not numerous, 328 ; Barbarians, 329 ; commodities known by names of countries, 329 ; An-hsi, Chiam-pi, Ho-lan, 330 ; Greek and Roman terms, 331 ; Spanish and Portuguese, 333; Dutch and German, 334; French, 334; English, 335; Malay, 341 ; Persian, 347 ; Arabic, 352 ; Turkish, 356 ; Manchu, 362 ; Mongolian, 369 ; Tibetan, 375. Chap. VIII. THE INFLUENCE OF BUDDHISM ON THE CHINESE LANGUAGE. The influence of Buddhism on Chinese only sketched in outline, p. 379; intercourse with India before the Han period asserted but not proven, 379 ; Chang Ch'ien gives report of India, 380; first missionaries from India, 380; effects of Buddhism on Chinese like those of Christianity and Mahometanism on other languages, 380; the Chinese were taught Sanskrit by the mis- CONTENTS. V sionaries, 381 ; books were written, 382 ; the Chinese were also taught how to study their own language, 383 ; astronomy and other sciences taught, 383 ; the foreign missionaries were not all from India, 384 ; different dialects, Indian and Chinese, 385 ; Indian words introduced at different periods, 385 ; words relating to the Buddhist religion : the objects of worship and reverence — • Buddhas, P'usas, Disciples and Patriarchs, 387 ; Indian gods, Brahma and Indra, 394 ; Yama and Mara, 395 ; other superna- tural beings, Eakshas, Yakshas, Gandharvas, Asurs, 396 ; Chandi, 399; Buddhist heavens and hells, 400; names for professed Bud- dhists and lay members, 401 ; Brahmans, 406; terms relating to sacred buildings, 407 ; monks' robes and bowl, 412 ; alms and alms givers, 413; cremation, 415; Nirvana, 416; relics, 417; technical terms such as Prajnil-Paramita, Bodhi, 418; Yii-lan-hui, 421 ; Nan-wu, 422 ; T'o-lo-ni, 423 ; Buddhist sacred books and the material and way of chanting, 424; grammatical geographical terms and names of places, 425 ; names of numbers and measures, 430 ; names of minerals and precious stones, 432 ; names for trees, flowers and vegetable medicines and other products, 435 ; names of animals, 442. Chap. IX. THE INFLUENCE OF BUDDHISM ON THE CHINESE LANGUAGE fGontinued.J New Chinese terras added by translation from the Sanskrit, p. 445 ; mode of proceeding adopted by early translators, 445 ; names of Buddhas and P'usas, Sakyamuni, Jan-teng, Kuan- yin, 446 ; Kei-ku-tu, 449 ; Lun-wang and Fa-lun, 449 ; Buddhist clergy, 450 ; geographical and topographical names, 450 ; objects associated with Buddhist monks, 452 ; San-tsang, 453 ; Chin-kang, 454; Sau-sheng, 454; other technical terms as Tao-pi-an, Mie- tu, 456; new expressions which are not translations, 458; Ch*u- chia and similar terms, 458 ; transmit robe and bowl, 460 ; trans- mit lamp, 450; sitting cross-legged, 461 ; wood-fish, 461 ; Name for VI CONTENTS. monastery, 462 ; terms for saluting, 462 ; terms for begging, 463 ; terms relating to transmigration, 464 ; terms for services on behalf of the dead, 464 ; other terms from Buddhist religious teaching, 466 ; sea of misery and ship of mercy, 466. ; terms for death, 466; Sui-hsi and Fang-hao-kuang, 467; miscellaneous terms wliich include name of Buddha, 468 ; some which have Kuan-yin, 469; Lo-han, 471 ; the Ho-shang, 471 ; Mara, 471 ; Seng-lu, 472 ; new meanings given to old expressions, 472 ; Confucianists com- plain of Buddhist misuse of hsing, hsin, &c., 473 ; new meanings ior/a, 473 ; chiao, 474 ; Buddhist uses of Tao, 475 ; Hao-shi, 478 ; Kung-te, 479 ; pu-shi, 4:79 ; terms about mortal life, new mean- ings to sheng and shi, 480 ; Wu-ch^ang, 482 ; belief in Karma affected some words, 483 ; wandering ghosts, 484 ; names of sacred places, 485 ; various instances, 486 ; la, a year ; tHen, heaven, 487 ; Gh'u, to feel, 488 ; Hsiang, Fang-pien, 489 ; Ju-i, 490 ; effects of Buddhism illustrated by proverbs and common sayings, 491; proverbs in which Buddha's name occurs, 492; some in which that of Kuan-yin occurs, 493 ; P'usa, 494 ; Ho-shang, 494 ; monasteries and the monk's garb, 495 ; Karma, 495 ; the king of the dead, 495 ; heaven and hell, 495 ; the mani, 496 ; universal sovereign, 496. ^ OF THE ^ \ kiversity) ESSAYS ON THE CHINESE LANGUAGE. CHAPTER I. SOME WESTEKN OPINIONS. The number of human beings who ^t present speak the Chinese language in one or other of its many varying forms cannot rightly be set down as much less than 400,000,000. For even if we regard the population of China proper, as given by some Western writers, to be greatly overrated, yet when we add to it those of Chinese origin who, living outside of the Eighteen / Provinces, still speak a dialect of their native language, we have a sum which is perhaps even above the total just given. And the number of those who use the written language of China is much greater, for the latter is to a large extent the literary and official medium of record and communication in several countries beyond China, each of which has at the same time its own colloquial idiom. Now for a very long period the Chinese language, written and spoken, has for the inhabitants of Eastern and South- Eastern Asia, so far as it was known to them and used by them, embodied all that was highest and most desirable in civilisation. The rules for private and public life, the social and political institutions of China, handed down from age to age, surviving dynastic overthrows and popular convulsions, have exercised a great and lasting influence not only on the people which lived in the fostering shade of the Son of Heaven, but also on the tribes and nations not blessed to dwell within the circle of his potent virtue but beyond the limits of the Flowery Land. In its own sphere, which is not a small one, the Chinese nation has done much, though not unmixed good. In the history of the world, 2 Some Western Opinions. however, it has not played a great or very conspicuous part, nor has it wrought for mankind the noble works of other nations. ^ But we must also bear in mind that we know the history of the world only as told by Western authors. Still, the language and literature of China can never among people remote from that country arouse any enthusiastic interest such as that with which some of the Semitic and Indo-European languages have been studied by western scholars, especially within a recent period. It cannot be maintained, however, that the language and literature of China have failed to excite the curiosity and attract the attention of Western students. 'Nor should we expect it to be otherwise, at least as to the language, when we think on its nature and the way in which it is written, so unlike all that we are familiar with in other languages. As Geiger truly observes, no one who aims at obtaining an insight into what mankind actually is can omit to take notice of the Chinese language, partly on account of the enormous territory over which it extends, partly because of its typical peculiarity, and partly because it is a literary language of the first rank, having original intellectual monuments from before the eighth century B.C} Yet it was not until about the end of the sixteenth century that important and authentic information about China and its lan- guage began to be acquired by European scholars, and the works written by these show how the language puzzled and enchanted them. One of its great charms for them at first seems to have been found in its written characters. These we find described as *' Characters Eeal, which express neither letters nor words in gross, but Things or Notions ; insomuch as countries and provinces, which understand not one another's language, can nevertheless read one another's writings, because the characters are accepted more generally than the languages do extend; and therefore they have a vast multitude of characters, as many, I suppose, as radical words.'' ^ Afterwards, the qualities of the language, such as its richness, terseness, and simplicity, became subjects of dis- ^ " Ursprung der Sprache," Vor. S. xi. ^ Bacon, " Advancement of Learning," Book ii. (Ellis and Spedding Ed., Vol. iii. p. 399). \ Some Western Opinions. 3 cussion, and various and conflicting theories arose about its origin, kindred, and history. For a long time, however, little was done to bring it practically within the knowledge of "Western scholars. But within the last fifty or sixty years the relations of China with European nations have undergone great changes, and one result of these changes has been that the study of the language and literature of the country has been taken up and pursued, almost with enthusiasm, in some cases, by European students. Hence we find that within this period the production of Manuals for learning Chinese, Grammars, Dictionaries, Translations of Chinese books, andjDf other works of a miscel- laneous character on the language and literature, by European scholars, has increased very quickly. Of these books, many have been compiled to meet practical wants, and not a few, being merely mechanical reproductions of others, have little value for the student. But the Science of Language has lately taken up Chinese, and men trained in that Science have tried to fix the place and worth of Chinese among the languages of the world. Consequently, new and more liberal ways of studying it have begun to be followed, and already there are good results and hopeful prospects. Hitherto our Western scholars who have discussed this language have held about it varying and often conflicting opinions. These opinions differ according to the point of view from which the subject was contemplated by the investigators, and according to their learning and the influence of their pre- judices. They vary in value, some being the result of careful research skilfully conducted, and others being only theories with little or no attempt at verification. We have now to make a short and summary review of some of these opinions and judg- ments, and in doing so it will be convenient to arrange them in three classes. The first comprises those which concern the origin and kindred of the Chinese language; the second those which have regard to its formal structure and character ; and the third class contains some of the judgments on the language as to its material contents, its capacity to express the thoughts and feel-, 4 Some Western Opinions. ings of the people. This arrangement, it will be seen, corresponds somewhat, but not precisely, to the three systems of classifying languages, the genealogical, the morphological, and that which proceeds according to the general value of languages when compared among themselves as instruments of expression.^ Beginning, then, with Western theories as to the origin and family relationship of Chinese, we find them to contain many and widely-differing opinions. Some great authorities have even harshly ousted this language from the great clan of human tongues, and left it a lonely, kinless stranger on the cold heights of _ "? isolation. Thus it was the opinion of the celebrated Golius, '*a man of divine candour and a thorough Orientalist if ever there was such," that "the Chinese language was not derived from the V old speech of mortals, but was constructed by the skill and genius of some philosopher" — '^invented all at once by some clever man to establish oral intercourse among the many different nations who inhabited that great country which we call China." It /\/ seems strange to us now that a man like Leibniz should have given his assent to so wayward a fancy, 'and perpetuated it in one of his best philosophical works. Within our own time, also, the eloquent and accomplished Farrar has refused Chinese all family relationship, saying that it " differs from other languages as much as if it were spoken by the inhabitants of another planet." He puts it in the miscellaneous gathering of languages ''(perhaps a thousand) which are not Aryan, and not Semitic, and which have not yet been grouped together by mutual affinities." To these languages he applies the '' excellent, easy, and perfectly unobjec- tionable terms" "Sporadic, i.e., scattered, and Allophylian, /.e., spoken by other different tribes of the human family." ^ Very few, however, have clung to the heresy of the special creation of Chinese, though many have held it to be a language by itself without parent and without offspring. In direct oppo- 1 On this subject see Whitney's " Language and the Study of Language," p. 356 et sec. (5th Ed.). 2 Fourmont, "Med. Sin." p. xiii.; Bayer's " Mus. Sin. Praef." p. 103; Leibniz "Op. Phil,," p. 297 et sec. (Ed. Erdmann); Farrar, "Language and Languages," p. 376. Some Western Opinions. 5 sition to such opinions is the theory which makes Chinese to have been the primeval tongue, the first language, — that in which Adam and Eve talked with the Lord God and the Serpent and to each other as they walked among the trees in the Garden of Eden — and so the fore-mother of all other languages. One of the ear- liest and best known supporters of this theory was John Webb, .f an Englishman who lived at the period of the Restoration. His little book on this subject is full of rare and curious learning, persuasive reasoning, and odd fancies, and he shows a thorough knowledge of the best works on China up to his time. Martinius, Kirclier, Semedo, Mendoza, Trigault, are largely quoted by him, and he seems to have gained from them a very fair insight into the nature of the Chinese language. Webb thinks it possible that Noah may have migrated with his family to China and there built his ark, of which modern junks are but " degraded copies." He also says that '' it may be very much presumed that Noah himself, both before and after the flood, lived in China." He thinks the Chinese language as it exists, written and spoken, came directly from Noah's son Shem, or the children of the latter. Whether their ancestor had settled in China or had not, they had at least moved eastwards in time to avoid the confusion of tongues, and so Chinese escaped the mis- fortune of being made a " confounded language." Edkins also, it will be remembered, thinks the first Chinese had gone eastward before there was any Babel. But this learned Sinologist adopts the heresy which makes Ham the ancestor of the Chinese, a heresy which Kircher and others once held, as will be seen, but Webb completely refuted. In the course of his treatise, Webb argues that Chinese has all the requisite characteristics of the primitive tongue, which are these — Antiquity, Simplicity, General- ity, Modesty of Expression, Utility, and Brevity, " to which by some is added Consent of Authors." The'* plain and meek" language of A^am was transmitted to his posterity down to Noah and thence through Shem to the original Chinese. The written characters even may have been taught by one of the ante- diluvian patriarchs, for, not to mention earlier treatises, did not 6 Some Western Opinions. Enoch, the seventh from Adam, leave a work on Astronomy, which the Queen of Sheba possessed, and of which one so late as Tertullian '* had seen and read some whole pages ? " The book was written in letters '^significative and hieroglyphical," and no one will deny that this description may apply to the Chinese charac- ters, and these have an antediluvian antiquity and are, as Kircher has it, " hieroglyphicorum in omnibus asmuli," in all respects rivals of hieroglyphics. As a clinching argument Webb writes, " And as if all things conspired to prove this the Primitive Tongue, we may observe how forceably Nature struggles to demonstrate so much. The very first expression we make of life, at the very instant minute of our births, is, as was touched on before, by uttering the Ghinique word Ya. Which is not only the first, but indeed the sole and only expression that Mankind from Nature can justly lay claim unto." ^ Many others have supposed that the Chinese people and lan- guage had their origin in the neighbourhood of that old country with the soothing name Mesopotamia. That the first speakers of the language also were the offspring of Shem seemed very prob- able. They had apparently a knowledge of arts and sciences beyond other tribes of the time, and was it likely that Noah would be partial to Ham, the son who was '^ a reprobate," ** peu respectueux et maudit dans sa posterite ? " Kircher, indeed, thinks that Ham conducted his colonies out of Egypt into Bactria through Persia. From Bactria they may have passed into China, " the utmost nation of the habitable world, together also with the first elements of Letters, which from their father Chafn, and Mercurius Trismegistus, Counsellor of his son Misraim, and first inventor of hieroglyphicks, they had though rudely learned." ^ But this opinion is regarded as heterodox, and, as has been stated, it has been refuted by Webb. As to the other son of Noah, Japhet, he was doubtless taught by his father all that Shem was taught. But Japhet, or at least his children, evidently 1 "An Historical Essay Endeavoring a Probability that the Language of the Empire of China is the Primitive Language." By John Webb. 1669. Sec. pp. 62, 147, 196. > Webb's «' Historical Essay," p. 29. Some Western Opinions. 7 lost the knowledge thus communicated, as witness their long use of stone and flint tools and their slow return to more skilful appliances. But the children of Shem, including the primaeval Chinese, were shrewd and wise, and never lost what they had learned. Here we see a very early instance of that practical sagacity which has never forsaken the Chinese. For when the first fathers of the race, urged by the resistless promptings of fate, left their home to go Eastward^ whether before or after the "unaccomplishable work'^ which Nimrod's race began was abrubt- ly stopt, they carried away with them their " shovels, pickaxes, and trowels.^' They took also a small collection of Primitive Roots and the books which they had received from their fathers written in characters which their descendants have ever since retained. These are facts which satisfactorily explain the almost total absence of stone and flint tools from the archseological antiquities of the country, and the very primitive character of the language spoken and written.^ Most of the early Jesuit and other Roman Catholic mission- aries in China and their disciples at home seem to have held this doctrine of the Shemitio origin of Chinese, though they could not agree as to which of Shem's descendants was t]^e actual imme- diate progenitor. Thus there was scarcely enough proof, some maintained, to identify Yao T'ang, the first great Chinese Em- peror, with Joktan, the great grand-son of Shem. Some, as has been seen, have held that Ham was the father of all such as speak Chinese, and others have deemed them to be the oifspring of Japhet. Several authors have seen a relationship between the language of China and that of ancient Egypt. The first and greatest advocate of the theory that the original Chinese were a colony from Egypt was De Guignes. He boldly entitled his treatise on the subject, '^ Memoire dans lequel on prouve que les Chinois sent une Colonie Egyptienne;'' but he supported his hypothesis largely with word-resemblances of an artifical char- acter. Scholars and Sinologists have held that Chinese and Hebrew are related, the latter having been regarded by some of 1 See the Lettres Edifiantes, T. 34, p. 217 et al. (Ed. 1832). \ \ 8 8ome Western Opinions. them as the parent language of the world. Many, also, have believed that Chinese is one of the seventy or seventy-two tongues produced by as many angels when these were sent to stop the building of the impious tower in the plain of Shinar.^ Dr. Edkins has tried to prove the ^* connection of Chinese and Hebrew^' and of Chinese and other ancient languages. These, he thinks, had a common origin '*in the Mesopotamian and Armenian region," a region to which distance of time and space lends great enchantment. According to Dr. Edkins^ the first Chinese " were probably Hamites ; '' but the Chinese language, '' like Mongol and Turkish, belongs to the Japhetic stock ; " and yet '' the ancient Hebrew and the ancient Chinese were probably dialects of a still more venerable mother speech which was truly antediluvian and began with Adam." So Chinese has an '^anti- quity of type " beyond other languages, for ^' being itself of the first descent from the primeval mother of human speech, we can trace in it no later elements." ^ Marshman, whose defects of learning are somewhat com- pensated by his cautious and conscientious spirit, could not find proof enough to satisfy him of an original connection between either Hebrew .or Sanskrit and Chinese. He left the question undecided, though he would perhaps have liked to see an affinity established between this language and that of India.^ Dr. Chalmers, in his study on the Origin of the Chinese, includes language in his attempt '' to trace the connection of the Chinese with Western Nations." He takes 300 Chinese words and compares these with words of like meanings in Hebrew, Sanskrit, Greek, Arabic, Tibetan, and other languages. His opinion as to the affinities of the Chinese language is conditional, as the following sentence shows — " If the Chinese came into this land, from the original home of the human race, by the direct route, over the passes about Hindu-Cush, and through Tibet, ^ Semedo's " Eelatione della grande Monarchia della Cinna," C. 6, p, 43. (Ed. 1643). 2 "China's Place in Philology," pp. 86, 67; "Notes and Queries," Vol. ii. p. 6; " Ch. Rec," Vol. iii. p. 203. ^ Chinese Grammar, p. 139. Some Western Opinions, 9 and if, as is highly probable, they kept up communication from the earliest times immediately with a Tibetan nation — and through them with civilised peoples more remote — we ought to seek among the Himalayan languages, including Burmese and Siamese, rather than among the Tungusic or Mongolic classes, for affinities with the Chinese." And the conclusion to which Dr. Chalmers comes on the subject is simply that " The people and the civilisation of China are derived from the West, and only some important inventions belong to the race." ^ Dr. Edkins dreamt of a universal kinship of languages, in which Chinese was the oldest liviitg relative. In his dream, along with other hard tasks he tried to work, he endeavoured to prove an affinity between the roots — or so-called roots — of Chinese and those of the Aryan languages. This task was afterwards undertaken in earnest by a distinguished Dutch Sinologist, Gustavo Schlegel. In the treatise of this latter we have the first scholarly and methodical attempt to compare Chinese words with those of the Aryan languages. Taking, for example. Pott's view that a resemblance between the verbs and pronouns of the two languages proves a *^ unite de race anterieure/' he gives examples which he thinks proves this unity between the Chinese and the Aryan languages.^ As to the monosyllabic languages to the west of China, it seems to be generally admitted that Chinese is related to them as mother, or at least as elder sister. Logan, however, says : " On the evidence of language we may conclude that the present more western, or monosyllabic tribes, or their prototypes, were in existence when Chinese civilisation arose. Insuperable difficulties oppose the hypothesis of their having been derived from any of the languages of China after the dawn of its civili- zation." Yet from other passages in Logan's treatise, one would, perhaps, be justified in inferring that he regarded Chinese as related to some, at least, of the living monosyllabic tongues to which he here refers. Marshman, also, says of the Anam, Laos, 1 " The Origin of the Chinese," pp. 36, 78, et seq. ^ " Sinico-Aryaca ou Reoherches sur les Racines primitives dans lea Langues Chinoises et Aryennes." 10 Sqii^ W^st^vn< Ofpinion^. Siam, and otl^er dialects : '^ They spring from the Chinese, how- ever much they may have been affected by any foreign mixture, and in that language we may expect to find the origin of that simplicity of construction, which excludes every kind of inflection. From that of its descendants^ therefore, the genius of the Chi- nese language may be easily inferred." Schott, Whitney, and others have given utterance to opinions of a similar nature. And in 1878 the learned Sinologist, Professor Gr. von der G-abelenz, read a short but suggestive paper before the Oriental Congress^ in Florence. The aim of the paper was to raise the question of the possibility of proving a genealogical affinity between the dialects of China and the languages of Tibet, Assam, and the Transgangetic Peninsula. The writer's opinion evidently waa that such an affinity existed and could be proved ; and we are led to expect more light on the subject from labours in which he was then engaged. It must be admitted that the informa- tion accessible even now is neither sufficient nor properly verified and arranged to warrant general conclusions as to the kinship between Chinese and the monosyllabic tongues on her frontiers. We cannot, accordingly, accept without reserve the confident assertion made several years ago by our great Indianist, W. W. Hunter. He tells us : " Chinese has hitherto been looked upon as a language standing by itself, devoid of ethnical kindred or linguistic alliances. But in spite of its inexactitudes, this book proves that China has given its speech not merely to the great islands of the Southern Ocean, but to the whole Eastern Penin- s^ula, to Siam, Tenasserim, Burmah, in a less degree to Central . Asia, to many of the Himalayan tribes, and to some of the pre-Aryan peoples of the interior of India.'' It is probable that the above mentioned scholars would regard the old language of China, now dead or lost, as the common parent of all the living Chinese dialects, and of those included under the title , Indo-Chinese, so far, at least, as the framework or substance of the latter ia concerned. But it may be doubted whether the theory, even as thus limited, can ever bs verified.^ 1 '' Journal Ind. Arch. " Vol. IV., p. 296; Marshman Ch. Gr., p. 193 ; Schotfc, Ch. Sprachlehre S. 17 ; Whitney, 0. C. p. 331 j Atti del iv. Cong. Inter. Vol. II., Some Western Opinions. 11 We may not pass unnoticed the opinions on the genealogical affinity of Chinese held by our revolutionary Sinologist, M. Terrien De La Couperie. As the result of long study and re- search, M. De La Couperie has been led to recognise in the Chinese spoken language ^' an ancient member of the great family of agglutinant languages, known as UraUAltaic." He adds : *^ And in doing so, it may be necessary to establish a third division of that family's group which has been provisionally constituted by recent discoveries, and which might appropriately be called Amardian ; a group in which the first division embraces Akkadian and its dialect, and the second division Proto-medic, Susian, and Kossian." ^ We are this brought back to dear old Babylon. Professor Douglas, in the preface to the paper which contains the passage here cited, says of the 'linguistic facts and suggestions " contained in it : '' Put in a few words, these, and an abundance of others which will shortly be adduced in support of them, prove an unmistakeable affinity between the languages and traditions of ancient China and of Babylonia." Then in another book we have the following characteristic state- ment by M. De La Couperie : ^' China has received its language (since altered) and the elements of arts, sciences and institutions from the colonies of the Ugro-Altaic Bak families v^ho came from Western Asia some twenty-three centuries B.C., under the conduct of men of high culture, acquainted, through their neighbours the Susians, with the civilisation which emanated from Babylonia and was modified in its second focus. This general statement is now beyond any possibility of doubt, for the evidence in its favour is overwhelming." It is a pity that the evidence has overwhelmed M. De La Couperie and disabled him from imparting it to expecting students. We look, how- ever, for much light and leading from his promised works, the p. 283 ; " A Comprehensive Diet, of the Languages of Ind. and High Asia," by W. W. Hunter, Disser'n. p. 20. 1 Under the head "Turanian or Ural-Altaic (Ugro-Altaic)" Professor Sayce places two classes : (1) the West Asia and (2) the Uralic Languages. In the former he has the two groups of obsolete languages, (a) Accadian or Sum- erian, and (b) Susiauian, Kosaaean, Protomedic. Introduction to the So. of Lang., Vol. II., p. 43. 12 Some Western Opinions, \ " Origin of Chinese Civilisation/' and ^' China before the Chinese : the Aboriginal and Non-Chinese races of China." ^ Professor Friedrich Miiller gives a genealogical classification of languages based on H^ckeFs ''Hair" classification of mankind. His ninth class is called Mongolian, and it includes the following, (1) the Ural-Altaic languages, (2) the Japanese, (3) Corean, (4) the Monosyllabic languages, i.e., Tibecan and Himalaya languages, Burmese and Lohita languages, Siamese, Annamite, Chinese, and the isolating languages of the Indo- Chinese Peninsula. This classification has been followed, with considerable modifications, by Professor Sayce in his genea- logical arrangement of all known languages. Sayce, however, puts Chinese in a separate group, and he gives under it the following curious list of dialects : " Amoy, Cantonese or Kong, Foochow, Punti, Shanghai, Mandarin." Professor Sayce did not learn in any of the authorities quoted in his note that " Punti " was a Chinese dialect.^ The opinions which have been cited above are, we may say, chiefly on the material constituents of the Chinese language as compared with those of others. They are based on a study, or pretended study, of the roots or original elements, with little reference to the formal structure. We now proceed to notice some of the opinions which have been given on Chinese from this latter point of view. And here we do not find a very great diversity of opinion among Western scholars, although, as will be seen, there is by no means perfect agreement among them. The first to make a morphological classification of languages was perhaps Friedrich von Schlegel in his treatise on the language and wisdom of the Hindus. Using terms taken from natural science he divided languages into Organic and Inorganic. In the latter division he placed (1) language without inflections and composed of roots which suffer no change what ever, 1 " Early History of the Ch. Civilisation," p. 19; Colquhoun's "Amongst the Shans," Int'n. pp. 29 and 40 ; M. De La Couperie, in •' The Academy," September, 1st, 1883. \ ' Grundriss d. Sprachwissenschaft v. Dr F. Miiller. B.I. S. 76; Sayce'a \ " Introduction to the Sc. of Lang." Vol. II., p. 48, Some Western Opinions. 13 and also (2) those called agglutinating or affixing, in which the grammar is formed entirely by suffixes and prefixes which are still easily separated and retain to some extent their own inde- pendent meanings. In the former, or Organic division, he places (3) those languages whose roots are subject to modifications from within, and in which the grammatical distinctions are expressed by inflections. He puts Chinese in the first, or lowest class, as a monosyllabic uninflected language, in which the particles denoting modifications in the meaning of a root are single syllables having always a separate and independent existence. The Chinese roots nqver sprout nor yield a branch o^ leaf of inflection ; they are thus merely lifeless, inorganic products. W. von Schlegel followed, and divided languages into three great classes, those without any grammatical structure, the ag- glutinating, and the inflectional. Then we have Bopp, who approved of this division, but distinguished the classes in a manner somewhat different. In the first he placed languages which had no real roots and did not admit of composition, and hence were without organism and grammar. To this class he assigns Chinese, in which everything seems — and only seems — to be root and nothing more, the categories of grammar and the dependent relations being indicated only by the position of the words in the sentence. In the second class, Bopp placed languages with monosyllabic roots capable of being compounded. His third class comprises those languages which have dissyllabic roots with three indispensable consonants necessary to express the original or primitive meaning. Bopp also denied to Chinese the possession of roots, and what seemed to be such were not so actually. Then we have W. von Humboldt, who had studied Chinese and could compare it with Burmese and other Eastern languages. He placed it along with the Semitic and Indo-European groups, under the head of '' Perfect Languages," as one of those which develope themselves, according to the law of their being, with regularity and freedom. Humboldt did not regard Chinese as related to Burmese either in origin or in structure. An important distinction of Chinese is that in it the speaker or writer trusts entirely to the mental activity of his hearer or reader and to the 14 . Some Western Opinions. arrangement of words in sentences. He writes : " I think I can reduce the difference which exists between the Chinese and other languages to the single fundamental point that, in order to indicate the connection of words in its phrases, it does not base its grammar on the classification of words, but settles other- wise the relations of the elements of language in the concatenation of thought. The grammars of other languages have an etymological part and a syntactical part. Chinese grammar knows only this latter.^ Then we have Schleicher's well-known three-fold division of languages, as Monosyllabic (Isolating), Confixative (Agglutinat- ing), and Inflexive (Inflectional). In the first division are ''Languages which are simply composed of invariable disjointed meaning-sounds. Monosyllabic, e.g., Chinese, Annamese, Siamese, Burmese." Schleicher's distribution has been followed by- Professor Max Miiller and others. It forms the basis of Pott's division of languages, which, however, is a four-fold one. Pott splits up the agglutinating into two classes, the Agglutinating and the Incorporating. In his first class, that of the Isolating Languages, in which matter and form remain perfectly separate, he places the Chinese and Indo-Chinese languages.^ There are also other classifications of languages from the morphological point of view, as e.g., that of M. Lucien Adam. In this there are five classes, the first being that of the Isolating Languages, which are Chinese, Annamite, Siamese, Burmese, and Tibetan. Here, as in other classifications of languages on this principle, Chinese has a low place. Judged by its morphological constitution, Chinese is an inferior language. It and Sanskrit are at the two poles of the speech-world, and all other languages lie between them. In Chinese the words are units, they are not capable of attachment, and they are not related in any recogniz- able way as compounds or derivatives. They are not even roots, according to Bopp and some of his followers. Max MuUer, 1 Bopp's "Vergleich," Gr. B. 1. S. 201 (3rd Ed). W. von Humboldt's "Sprach. Phil. Werke," p. 649 et seq. (Ed. Steinthal) : Lettre a M. Abel Remusat, etc., pp. 2, 44. 2 " Schleicher's Compendium," Part I., p. 2 (Beudall's Translation); Fr aimier, o)>. 0., p. 68. Same Western Opinio^is. IS however, treats them as roots, for his first stage of language is that in which "Roots may be used as words, each root preserving its full independence/' and this stage is ^'best represented by ancient Chinese." The difference in opinion here seems to be partly due to the fact that the writers attach to the word Root meanings which are to a great extent unlike and incompatible.^ The thoroughly monosyllabic character of the Chinese lan- guage has also been called in question by some. Remusat was apparently the first to do this, but his arguments have been long ago refuted, aad he has been followed by only a few. A living sinologist, Dr. W. Grube, is disposed-to take the living language of China out of the category of Isolating and Monosyllabic. He thinks that it, like Tibetan and the Burmese and other Indo- Chinese languages, h^^s a middle place between isolating and agglutinating. The classical and anti-classical language of China, Grube regards as composed of monosyllables, but these, he thinks, are not of a primitive nature.* It is generally admitted, however, that the morphological basis is not a good or sufficient one for a system of classification which will apply to all languages. More particularly the three- fold distribution of languages, as Isolating, Agglutinating, and Inflecting, and the theory of progression founded on it, have led to serious errors concerning the history and character of languages. There remain now to be considered some of the opinions which have been formed by Western critics on the Chinese language written and spoken, when judged by its contents and general character. The questions to be answered here are of a ra,ther vague and general character, and they do not admit of precise treatment and uniform interpretation. We are to enquire whether Chinese has been found and declared to be rich or poor in its store of words and phrases to express the spiritual and material wants of the people. Compared as an instrument of thought with other languages, does it seem to do its work in a rude or inartistic manner, or does it seem to perform its functions ^ M. L. Adam in " Rev. de Linguisfcique," T. xiv., p. 245 ; Max Mtiller, " Lectures Sc. Lan.," Vol. I., p. 330 (9th Ed.) ^ *' Die Sprachgeschich. Stellung d. Ch., " S. 19. 16 Some Western Opinions. well and neatly ? Here, also, we find differences of opinion according to the standard of comparison and the attainmenta of the critic in Chinese. The missionaries and other European writers on China in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, seem to have been for the most part quite enchanted with the great compass of this language, and the simple terse forms with which it did its work unaided by suffixes or inflections. Semedo praises even its conciseness, which makes it indeed equivocal but at the same time compendious. Such is its softness, also, according to him, that when spoken correctly, as at Nanking, it charms the hearer, flatters the sense of hearing. But he admits that while Chinese is very rich in characters it is very poor in words, that is, in its supply of terms differing in sound.^ Semedo found a sweetness in this language and so did Webb. The latter says that '^if ever our Europeans shall become thoroughly studied in the Ghinique tongue," it will be found that the Chinese have very many words '"' whereby they express themselves in such elegancies as neither by Hebrew or Greek, or any other language how elegant so ever can be expressed. Besides, whereas the Hebrew is harsh and rugged, the Ohinique appears the most sweet and smooth language of all others throughout the whole world at this day known." ^ P. Premare, who was missionary and sinologist and had a right to speak with authority, becomes quite enthusiastic on the subject of this language. Chinese Grammar, he says, is for the most part free from the thorns which ours presents, but still it has its rules, and there is not in the world a richer language, nor one which has reigned so long.^ And we find like high praise given to the language by P. Amyot, a very accomplished scholar, who knew both Chinese and Manchoo very well. He defends Chinese from several charges which had been brought against it, and argues for its excellencies as rich and full. He regards it as peculiarly adapted for recording and communicating political science. 1 Semedo's " Relazione d. Cina," Cap. vi., p. 43 (Ed. 1643). " Webb's " Historical Essay," etc., p. 196. 3 *' Lettres Edif.," T. 33 Lettre. Some Western Opinions. 17 Coming down to later years, when the study of language and languages began to be pursued in a thorough and critical manner, we have W. von Humboldt, as has been seen already, giving great praise to Chinese. Judging from the point of view of gram- matical structure, one might, he says, at the first glance regard it as departing the most widely from the natural demand of speech, and as the most imperfect. On a more thorough examination, however, this view disappears, and, on the contrary, Chinese is found to possess a high degree of excellence, and to exercise on the mental faculties an influence which, if one-sided, is yet powerful.^ Steinthal, one of the latest and most philosophical students of language and languages, has a two-fold division into Formless and Form Languages. Lowest in the latter is Chinese, which, has matter-elements, and nothing else. Form being indicated only by juxta-position. He speaks of Chinese, however, as being a language rich in terms for abstract ideas, and in vocabulary generally. It is also highly cultivated, and in the modern literature it shows delicacyi grace, spirit, wit, and humour. " The contrast between the means of the Chinese language and its productions is," Steinthal says, " a phenomenon quite unique in the history of language.'' '-^ A.nd Whitney warms into elo- quence when he comes to treat of the history and character of Chinese. Having owned that *'in certain respects of funda- mental importance" the Chinese '^is the most rudimentary and scanty of all known languages," he goes on : " The power which the human mind has over its instruments, and independent of their imperfections, is strikingly illustrated by the history of this form of speech, which has successfully answered all the purposes of a cultivated, reflecting, studious, and ingenious people, throughout a career of unequalled duration ; which has been put to far higher and more varied uses than most of the multitude of highly organised dialects spoken among men — dialects rich in flexibility, adaptiveness and power of expan- 1 " Ueber d. Verschiedenheit d. Men. Sprachbaues," B. II., S. 331 (Ed. A. F. Pott). « " Charakteristik, " &c., pp. 108, 137 et al. 18 S'Sme Western Opinions. ision, but poor in the mental poverty and weakness of those who should wield them." ^ So, also, a living authority on Chinese, Herr Georg von der Grabelenz, speaks of it as one of the most highly developed languages of our world, and as having given the greatest and best literature of all Asiatic countries. Chinese, he considers to be not only the most important representative, but also par excellence the ripest fruit of the Isolating class of languages.^ On the other hand, however, we find it not seldom stated that the Chinese language is poor in its stock of words, and that as a means of expression it is rude and awkward in management. It has been declared by several of our Western scholars to be specially wanting in terms to express abstract and spiritual ideas, and the requirements of a high civilisation generally. A Jesuit missionary of the last century, who had studied Chinese among the people, writes from Canton that there is not, perhaps, in all the world a language poorer in expressions. He gives this opinion as the result of study, and he proceeds throughout a large part of the letter to dilate on the failings of the language.^ Farrar and others have used similar phrases of depreciation, and Sayce has called Chinese a time-worn and decaying form of speech. No one, however, has decried it; in such bitter, scathing language as M. Renan. Though this savant owns that Chinese attains its ends as well as does the Sanskrit, he says, '^Is not the Chinese language, with its inorganic and imperfect structure, the reflection of the aridity of genius and heart which characterises the Chinese race? Sufficing for the wants of life, for the technicalities of th6 manual arts, for a light literature of low standard, for a philos- ophy which is only the expression, often fine but never elevated,^ of common sense, the Chinese language excluded all philosophy, all science, all religion, in the sense in which we understand these words. God has no name in it, and metaphysical matters are expressed in it only by round-about forms of speech.'* * ^ " Language and the Study," &o., p. 336, and see p. 367. '^ ** Chinesische Grammatik, " S. 5. 3 " Lettres Edifs." T. xxxvii., p. 311. * '* De L'Origine du Langage," p. 195 (4th Ed.) Compare also p. 216. Some Western Opinions. 19 It must be owned that many of the opinions here cited were formed somewhat rashly and without knowledge. Others evidently were the result of careful, intelligent study and com- parison, but without sufficient authorities. The information necessary to enable us to form correct general judgments on the Chinese language as an instrument of expression and com- munication cannot be said even now to be all forthcoming. Nor are we yet in a position to give a final opinion on its rank and value when compared with other languages, or on its descent and kindred. We have among us at present students who are from time to time adding new and interesting facts, which will greatly help the future philosopher to form conclusions wide and general and at the same time accurate. But much still remains to be done before the genius and constitution of the Chinese language are thoroughly understood, and before its rank and value in the world's speech-tribes can be definitely settled. In some of the chapters which follow, an attempt will be made to bring together some of the materials which may be used hereafter in the building up of accurate knowledge and the formation of scientific deductions. XTNIVERSITY CHAPTER II. THE CULTIVATION OF THEIR LANGUAGE BY THE CHINESE. Fkom the judgments of foreigners on the Chinese language we pass to the consideration of the treatment which the language has had at the hands of natives. To tell this with any fullness would be a work needing a great knowledge of Chinese literature, and it would not, perhaps, repay the labour. It will be enough here to attempt a slight sketch of the course which the cultivation of the language by its speakers and writers has taken since the time when its records begin. Even such an outline, however, must needs be meagre and imperfect, and, at best, of little interest except to a very small number. For the early part of the history, moreover, materials are few and doubtful, while for the latter part they are too many to be properly made use of in a slight sketch like the present. In this sketch all works are passed over which are exclusively on the art of writing and the various kinds of characters, as also those treatises which were only designed to be commentaries on the Confucianist canonical scrip- tures. Only those books or parts of books are noticed which are specially devoted to philology, and which show us the progress made by the Chinese in the intelligent use and cultivation of their language, written and spoken. Of such treatises also, it need scarcely be added, the following sketch pretends to describe or mention only a very small number, and in several cases the accounts of the books have to be given at second-hand, the originals being out of reach. Still, it is to be hoped that the imperfect outline here presented will help to give a right idea of the way in which the Chinese have studied and cultivated their language, and will serve to correct some wrong impressions on the subject. Let us begin with the introduction of the art of writing into literature. Ilie Cultivation of their Language by the Chinese. 21 We have, apparently, no means of learning at what time the Chinese first began to use writing for literary purposes. We know, however, that in matters of government it was employed from a very early period. One of the first occurrences in litera- ture of the word shu (^) in the sense of " writing," so far as I know, is in a passage of the historical classic, ^' Shu-ching." The Emperor Shun (B.C. 2255 to 2205) is there represented as giving the following instructions with reference to the reprobates about his court. " Use archery to show what they are, flogging to make them remember their faults, and writing (shu) to serve as a record." ^ In the reign of the same sovereign the Baron I (f|§ J|) seems to have drawn up a code of ceremonies, and also to have set forth the Penal Statutes of the realm for the information of the people.^ Another early mention of writing occurs in the historical record of the king Tai-chia (:J^ Ep), and it also is found in the " Shu-ching." In the passage referred to, we are told that ' in the year B.C. 1753 the high minister I-yin (^ ^) ^' made a writing" (f^ ^ tsoshu) in which he gave excellent counsel to the new king. And about two years afterwards the same minister again makes a writing to congratulate the above king on his tardy return to virtue.^ The next mention, perhaps, is that which occurs in the '' Charge to Yue " of the same treatise. It is there re- corded of the king Wu Ting (|^ -J)— B.C. 1324 to 1265— that on a certain occasion he made a writing to convey his instructions to his ministers.* But it is to be noted that the passages in the " Shu-ching, " just referred to, have been condemned as spurious by some critics, and there is some doubt as to their geniuneness. Y We know, however, that the ceremonial codes of the Hsia and Yin dynasties were committed to writing, and that parts of them survived the fall of the latter. But records concerning the history and institutions of the country before the rise of the Chou dynasty (B.C. 1122 to 250) were even in Confucius* time very * Legge, Chinese Classics, Vol. III., p. 82 ; " Shu-ching," chap. t. (+ ~ S Ed. by Yuan Yuan). 2 LeggQ, C. C. III., pp. 47, 595; " Shu-ching," chaps, iii., xix. 3 Large, C. C. III., pp. 199, 205 ; '' Shu-ching, " chap. viii. * Legge, C. C. III., pp. 250 ; •* Shu-ching, " chap. x. 22 The Cultivation of their Language hy the Chinese, scanty. The tablets of wood and bamboo on which these were written were liable to be lost. They were also occasionally stolen or defaced by officials whose projects they were likely to thwart. Hence, when search was made among them, they were often found deficient. Among the official class, writing seems to have been in com- ^ mon use under the early rulers of the Chou dynasty. They had a, Secretary ( r| ^ ssu-slm), who was in charge of the state archives, and had control of all public receipts and expenditures. Another official was appointed to keep foils, or duplicates, of all registers, census returns, and maps, and he had to examine and verify the public returns and accounts. There was also one whose duty was to record on wooden tablets the name, sex, age and birth- place of each individual in his jurisdiction. Tutors were appointed for the king's sons, and one of the subjects which they had to teach was the '' Liu-shu," or Six Writings, that is, the characters in their six-fold classification. In this the Chou kings seenpi to have followed the custom of the dynasty they subverted.^ Another institution which the Chou rulers seem to have taken from their predecessors was that of State Interpreters. These had not only to translate the messages of the barbarian chiefs into Chinese, and the commands of the king into the dialects of the strange visitors : they had also to teach these last how to perform their parts in the various state ceremonies in which they were required to act while at the royal court. Moreover, in the seventh year, after a royal progress, the State Interpreters were all sum- moned to court in order to have the various dialects compared and the king's orders harmonized. In the second year after this, the blind musicians and the annalists of the state were collected at the capital *'to compare the written characters and hear the pronuncia- tion" (M ^^^M'm)' Of the State Interpreters there were at first four classes. There were the Chi (^) for the barbarians of the East, the Hsiang (^) for those of the South, the Tih-ti (ilt IS) for those of the West, and the /(|f ) for those of the North. 1 Biot's "Le Tcheou-Li," T. I., pp. 129, 132, 296 j ^ H, chaps, vi., vii., xiv. ; ^ ^ ^ , Introduction. Thh GultivaUon of their Language hy the Chinese. 28 But in this period the general designation for all the official interpreters was Ilsiang or Hiiimig-h>iii. It was the policy of the Chow rulers to extend their dominion towards the South, and it was with the tribes of that quarter that they had most intercourse. Hence the designation of the interpreters for the Southern peoples came to be given to all classes of state interpreters. In process of time the term Hsiang was in its turn supplanted by /, which came to mean : to translate generally from one language into another. It will be observed that this last is the only one of the four words which actually supposes the use of speech in the work of inter- preting between the Chinese at the capital and their various neighbours.^ In this period colleges existed at all official centres, and schools of various kinds were to be found generally throughout the country. Books were written and libraries formed, though, it must be presumed, only on a small scale. The written characters were few and insufficient, much time was wasted in the process of writing, and the materials used were rude and clumsy. There is one treatise on the language which has at least a show of claim to be referred to this period. The '' Urh-ya '* — the first so-called Chinese dictionary — has been by vague tradition of no early origin referred to the very beginning of this dynasty, Chow Kung being supposed to have composed it for the use of his nephew Cheng Wang. And though the work as it has come down to us is evidently of a much later period than the twelfth century B.C., yet there is reason for believing in the early exist- ence of a treatise with this name. Confucius is supposed to refer to such a work in a passage which occurs in the Ta Tai's " Li-chi.'^ The Duke Ai asks him about '' small distinctions,'' and Confucius says : " The ' Urh-ya,' in studying antiquity, is enough for the discrimination of language." But the context shows that this passage would at least admit of a different rendering. In an earlier work we find what is apparently a quotation from the beginning of the '* Urh-ya,'' and we may with some reason treat the 1 Biof, "Le Tcheou Li," T. II., pp. 407, 435; " Chow-li," chaps, xxxiv., xxxvii., xxxviii.; It |G, chap. iii. (^ %\\). 24 The Cultivation of their Language hy the Chinese. first part of the book as compiled during this period. We find Confucius and his disciple Tzu-Hsia credited with the composi- tion or enlargement of the treatise. It was plainly not the work of one man or one time, and there may have been in early times a small beginning to which Confucius and others long afterwards made great additions. This treatise is not, properly speaking, a dictionary, but rather a Thesaurus or vocabulary. It gives the terms and phrases used in the old classics and also those of common life, though it does not represent the store of words in existence at the time (or times) of its compilation. The subjects are classified under nineteen categories, to each of which there is a chapter. ( These are explanations of old terms, synonyms, buildings, music, heaven, earth, water, birds, plants, and other indefinite genera. From the study of the work we learn that at the time it was composed the language was rich in some departments, and that it contained many terms which were nearly or quite syn- onymous though dijBPerent in origin. Many of the words in it have long ago fallen out of use, and some were, perhaps, only peculiar to dialects. The phrase Urh-ya means *' approaching the perfect," that is, an attempt to give the correct or standard terms and phrases of the language. But the work is not in any degree critical. Its value lies chiefly in the view it gives of the vocabulary in existence at the time of its compilation, and in its being an early attempt to reduce the language to order. Wylie, however, who dignifies the title by the translation *' Literary Expositor," says it " is a dictionary of terms used in the classical and other writings of the same period, and is of great importance in elucidating the meaning of such words." Its usefulness has been much increased by the labours of a series of learned commentators, some of whom will appear below. It was long ago made a Ching (g) or canonical work, and re- garded as a sort of appendix to the classic on Filial Piety. Though not so highly prized now, it is still treated with respect and quoted as an authority by native scholars. In the reign of king Hsiian (B.C. 827 to 782) the court The Oultivation of their Language hy the Chinese. 25 annalist Chow (g) invented a new system of writing. This became known as the Ta-chuan or Great Seal character. The term chuan (^), however, is also said to mean " record," as if ch^uan (j|f), because this kind of writing was to be capable of recording everything for ever. Chow, who is often called Shih-chow {^ @), is said to have written a treatise in fifteen chapters, sometimes called the "Ta-chuan" and sometimes "Shih- chow's Fifteen Chapters." This work survived the fires of Ch'in, but in the troubled period of Wang Mang's usurpation six chapters were lost. The remaining nine lived on for a few ages and gradually disappeared. A numbe¥-of the characters, however, were preserved in other treatises and were used as specimens of Chow's system of writing. These characters are sometimes said to be merely altered forms of those called "tadpole;" they were in some respects like, and in others unlike, the old systems of writing {Kti-wen). And although Chow's system was an im- provement on these, it did not supersede them. They continued to be used, at least for literary purposes, down to the end of this period. But Chow's invention had the effect of producing a con- siderable number of new characters, and of restricting to a small extent the applications of those already existing. Yet growth in number is said to have been followed by an increase in the misuse of characters. These were written in many very different manners throughout the kingdom, and the sounds given to them varied also. One state wrote and pronounced in one way, another in another way, and so, towards the end of this dynasty, the language, written and spoken, was in a state of great uncer- tainty and confusion.^ When the Prince of Ch*in (^) was settled on the throne of China (B.C. 221) he set himself to make reforms and bring in order and certainty. This proud, ambitious sovereign, Ch4n Shi Huang Ti, wished to make his reign the beginning of a new state * "Han-Shu," chap. xxx. ; ^ ^ chap. xv. Chu Fu-tzii writes to a friend that the " Urh-ya" was a compilation of the explanations and definitions given by the scholars of former and contemporary times made into a book, but that it has inaccuracies and cannot be regarded as old (^ M 7^ d^ ^ H "i' ^ ^ fff chap, lii, 26 The Cultivation of their Language hy the Chinese. of affairs for the whole country. He wanted the Chinese to bury their dead past and begin life again as one nation, to be one people, speaking the same language and using the same kind of writing. But to effect his purposes he used measures which were barbarous and in the end only partially successful. The check which he gave to the progress of learning did not last long, and it was followed by a reaction which more than undid what he had done. But in one thing, at least, he succeeded, for he put an end to the use of the old styles of writing — the Kic-wSn, though the canonical writings were long afterwards reprinted in their original characters for scholars. In Shi Huang Ti's time eight kinds of writing, called the Pa-t'i {/\ H), were current. These were (1) the Ta-chuan i^-)^ ^) or Great Seal ; (2) the Hsiao' chuan (>^ ^) or Small Seal; (3) the K'S-fu (^Ij ^), Carved Tallies; (4) the Ghung-shu (|| ^), Insect Writing, from its re- semblance to the traces of birds and insects ; (5) Mu-yin (^ fp), characters used for seals; (6) Shushu (^ ^), used for official notices, etc. ; (7) Shii-shu ( ^ ^), used for inscriptions on weap- ons; (8) Li-shu (^ ^), the square, clear writing for use in public offices. Of these, the first and second alone were used for the ordinary writing on tablets of wood and bamboo. But Shi Chow's writing had been found to be too complicated for common pur- poses. So a simplified form of it was devised by Li Ssii (^ ^), a Minister of State to Shi Huang Ti. It was this minister who advised the Emperor to burn the books and kill the scholars. Hence he has come down to posterity with a bad name, though acknowledged as a man of learning and abilities. The style of writing which he introduced, called the Small (or ChHn) Chuan, was developed in a book to which he gave the name " Ts'ang-chie " (^ rH)- -^to^t ^^6 same time another scholar wrote a work called the " Yuan-li" (^ g), and a third composed the "Po-hsio" (ff ^). Chao Kao (|g Jg) was the author of the former treatise, and Hu Mu Ching (gg flr g^) of the latter. These three works, which formed a treatise called the "San-ts'ang" (^ ^) or *' Ts'ang-chie-pien, '' were all written in the Small Seal characters, to which they gave a temporary popularity. The Gultivation of their Language by the Chinese. 27 But these, thougli invented expressly to facilitate the trans- action of public business, were still a cumbrous, inconvenient way of recording. A great improvement on them was made by the invention of the Li-shu, or Official Hand, the eighth of the Pa-t'if which is the parent of the modern writing. The invention is usually attributed to Cheng Mao (jg ^), who also was a distinguished official of Shi Huang Ti. Tradition represents him as working out his system while undergoing unjust imprisonment by the command of the Emperor. It is said that the latter, on perusing the^two thousand characters in which the new system was taught, released the author and restored him to office. It is from this period of Ch^n Shi Huang Ti that the use of the term tzl (if) or "character" dates, and the change in name from win (^) or shu (^) is said to have been brought about by the modes of writing invented by Li Ssii and Ch'eng Mao. Hitherto, all inscriptions and engravings had been mainly pictorial or symbolic, expressing, as their chief office, only objects or ideas, but now sounds also began to receive attention. And it may be mentioned in passing that the introduction of hair-pencils, pih (^), for writing purposes, is generally as- cribed to Shi Huang Ti's general, Meng T^ien (^ ^). It seems probable, however, that, as some writers think, such pencils were known in various parts of China before Meng T^ien's time, and that he only made improvements and brought the pencils into use in his own native land, Ch'in, the modern Shen- si. In support of this view the **Li-Chi" and ''Urh-Ya" are quoted as showing an early use of the character jpih. In the former we read that on a certain state occasion "the annalist has charge of the pencil, '^ that is, writing (^ JJ ^). The " Urh-Ya " simply tells us that pu-luh is called pih (;}; f^ || ;^ 3^). The term pu-luh (or lih) is said to be only the sound pih resolved into its elements ; but it is also described as the name which the pencil had in the Wu country, that is, the Soochow region. It is agreed, however, that after Meng T'ien's time the 28 The Cultivation of their Language hy the Chin ese. name for the pencil in his State became the general one, and it has continued to he so down to the present.^ To the reign of Shi Haang Ti is referred the compilaHon of a work called the '' Small Urh-Ya" {t]^ |i 3| or >], J|). This is a treatise in thirteen sections, and is generally ascribed to K'ung Fu ( JL Sfi)) a descendant of Confucius. It is only a small outline vocabulary, perhaps intended to form a supplement to the large *^Urh-ya/' The use of the word Kuang (^), '^expand- ing," at the head of ten of the sections, seems to lend support to this view. It is also strengthened by the fact that the last sections, on weights and measures, supply information on sub- jects left out of the larger treatise.^ But there does not seem to have been any thorough and methodical study of the language, any critical survey of its quantity and quality until the time of the Han dynasty. The period which bears the name of this dynasty, extending from B.C. 205 to A.D. 220, is regarded as the birth-time of China's literary greatness. The first impulse to the study of the language came from the awakened interest in the old books of song, history, social and political institutions, and philosophy. These having been hidden to escape the fires of Ch'in, were brought back into the light of day in the early part of this period. The writing on the tablets which constituted these books was now hard to make out, and there were many various readings. So at first the attention of students was given almost exclusively to the composition and meaning of the written characters. Hence arose the sayings of men in after times to the effect that the Han scholars knew the meaning but not the sounds of the char- acters. With them the great object was to settle a disputed reading, restore a genuine text, or give the original sense of a term or phrase in the old classics. And from their tinje down the study of the language in China has been intimately asso- ciated with that of the early canonical literature. * " Shuo.Wen," Pref. ; ^ ^, Pref. ; X ^ |^ ^, chap. iii. ; Edkins, Int. to Ch. Chars., p. 142 : " Yuan-chieu-lci-lian," chap. cciv. ; ^0 ^. chap. xxi. ; " Li- chi," ft |§ Jl ; " Urh-ya," chap. v. ; " Wen-hsien-t'ung-k'ao," chap, clxxxix. 3 The /> ^ jJI in the " Han-wei-tsung-shu." The Cultivation of their Language hy the Chinese. 29 The '' Urh-ya," of which mention has been made above, is with good reason supposed to have been much enlarged and otherwise improved during this period. But little or nothing seems to be known with certainty about the fortunes of this book until we come to the Chin dynasty. Among the writers on subjects connected with the lan- guage in the early part of this period was Ssu-ma Hsiang-ju (% ^ ft iD)» of the second century B.C. This man, more famed for his success with song and lyre than for his literary accom- plishments, was a native of what is jiow Ch'eng-tu in Ssuchuan. He composed a work called the ".Fan-Chiang" ()\^ }|f), a short treatise which has been praised for not giving the same charac- ter twice for explanation. This work, published about B.C. 130, was based on the *'Ts'ang-chie-pien,'^ and in it Ssu-ma used the style of writing introduced in that work, but he also added new characters. Nearly ninety years afterwards there appeared the " Chi-chiu-chang " (f: gg ^) by Shi Yu (^ Jj$), an official in the reign of Yuan Ti (B.C. 48 to 32). This was followed in the next reign by the " Yuan-shang-pien " ("j^ f^ ^) of Li Chang (^ g). These also were written in the Small Seal cha- racter, and were also apparently based on the " Ts'ang-chie- pien." The " Chi-chiu,'^ or Ready Finder, soon became popular among scholars, and was for a long time used as a text-book. It was often reprinted and edited with annotations by distinguished scholars, such as Ts^ao Shou ("^ ^) and Yen Shi-ku (|| gjg ■^). It appears to have been written in an easy style, and to have abounded in old phrases, sounds, and characters. The above three treatises are of importance, however, mainly on account of the use made of them by the compilers of the *' Fang-yen " and ^'Shuo-wen.^i About this period, the first century B.C., we find that the characters in the " Ts'^ang-chie-pien" had in some places become nearly obsolete, that is, few could read them correctly and under- stand their meaning. It was only among the men of Ch'i, part ^ " Han-shu," chap. xxx. ; " Wen-hsin-t'ung-k'ao," chap, clxxxix. ; " Shno- wen," Pref . ; B ^ ^, chap. xxi. ; Wt fl^ ^ ^> chap. iv. • 80 The Gultiuation of their Language hy the Chinese. of Shantung, that the true pronunciation of the characters and their right interpretation remained. So the Emperor Hsiian Ti (B.C. 73 to 48) issued an order that the system of those scholars should be adopted. It was learned from these men by Chang Ch'aug (58 Si), the famous official who at home penciled his wife's eyebrows, and abroad crushed all rebellion. He was Prefect of Ching-chao, in Shensi, B.C. 60, and ten years after- wards of Chi-chow (^ ji\), in Chihli. Chaog Chiang communi- cated his learning to his children, from whom it passed to his daughter's son. This last taught it to his son, Tu Lin (i^ ^i), who committed it to writing and composed two treatises on the '^ Ts^ang-chie-pien." Tu Lin was a native of Mou-ling (3| ^) in Shensi, and held office under Kuang Wu Ti, A.D. 25 to 58.^ Nearly all the works just mentioned have ceased to exist, and some of them lived only a short time. But it has fared otherwise with a famous treatise supposed to have been com- posed about this time, the '' Fang-yen, " to wit. This work is ascribed to Yang Hsiung (j:g (or ^) J|), known also as Yang Tzu-yun (-^ ^), a native of Ch'eng-tu, in Ssiichuan, who lived from B.C. 52 to A.D. 18. In childhood, Yang, who was a quiet, ^^(^ thoughtful boy, was troubled with an impediment in his speech. He had a strong love for learning and was specially fond of the writings of Ch'ii Yuan (^ jg) and Ssii-ma Hsiang-ju. In addition to his better known works on philosophy he compiled a treatise usually cited by its short title " Hsiin-tsuan ; " in full, "Ts'ang-chie-hsuan-tsuan" (^ ^ ||| ^). In this Yang made Li Ssu's work the basis, but he made many additions and corrections, the result of wide reading and of a comparison of terms culled from all parts of the empire. In A.D. 5, above a hundred scholars, under the presidency of Yuan Li (^ ||), were assembled in the Imperial palace at Ch'^ang-an to " explain the symbolic and phonetic writings" (^ ^ *^). The results of their discussions were used by Yang, as were also the works of ^ " Han-shu," chap, xxx.; " Wen-hsien-t'ung-k'ao," chap, clxxxix. ; " Shuo- wen," Pref. Some take the "Ch'i-jen" (^ A) as referring to an unknown individual — see Tuan Yii-tsai's Commentary in S. W., chap. xv. ; 1^ :fe ^, chap. X7. The Cultivation of their Language hy the Chinese. 31 Tu Ye {ij^ ^), father of Ta Lin, of Yuan Li — the chief among the students of the language, and of Ch'in Chin (^ j£). But the book which has given Yang Hsiung his chief fame in later times is the " Fang-yen." Native scholars have tried in vain to find out how and why the authorship of this treatise came to be ascribed to him. It is not mentioned in the list of books in the " Han-shu/' nor in the life of Yang Hsiung in that work, nor, so far as is known, dees Hsii Shen or any other of Yang's contemporaries refer to the book by name. As an ap- pendix to the "Fang-yen" two letters are found, one from Liu Hsin (gij ^) to Yang, and the other the reply to this. From these two letters, and the facts above mentioned, we may safely adopt the opinion that the " Fang Yen " was not published in the life-time of Yang. The first writer to ascribe the authorship to him was apparently Ying Shao (j^ gjj) who lived in the second century of our era. In the preface to his famous treatise, " Feng-su-t'ung-i, " Ying makes mention of Yang as the author of a treatise which is evidently the " Fang-yen." But though he even quotes from Yang's letter to Liu Hsin, he does not give the name of the treatise. From his time down to the end of the twelfth century there seems to have been no difference of opin- ion as to the authorship. The first to challenge the truth of the tradition was Hung Mai (gt jg), who lived A.D. 1123 to 1203. His arguments against the genuineness of the book are founded chiefly on the supposed irregular use of certain characters, and on the fact that no mention of Yang's authorship is made by himself or by others of the same period. But theoe arguments have been answered by later students, and they have not shaken the learned belief in the general tradition. As we have it, the " Fang-yen" is in thirteen chapters and is said to contain 12,000 characters, but it is supposed to have been originally in fifteen chapters and to have had only 9,000 characters. The full title,^ here given in the foot-note, points to its sources. During the two dynasties which immediately preceded the Han, certain officials — the *' light carriage envoys" %' 32 The Cultivation of their Language hy the Chinese, — were sent periodically to visit the various states subject or tributary to China. Their duty was to observe and note the different ways of speech, and manners, and popular sayings, and ballads of the towns and districts through which they passed. When they returned to court they made reports which were put on record. At the time of the Han dynasty the practice had ceased, and in the first century B. C. most of the tablets containing the reports were lost : even the nature of the duties of the "light carriage envoys" was almost forgotten. But attention was recalled to them by the labours of a recluse of Ssuchuan, by name Chuang {al. Yen ig) Chun-p^ng (^ ;g* Hp). He compiled from the old records a vocabulary of more than 1,000 words, and Lin Lii (;^ ffi) al. Weng (or Kung ^) J^^ (^ *? in); ^^s^ ^ native of Ssiichuan, made a summary. While Yang was in Ssttchuan he came into very close relations with Liij Lii, and, liking his mode of procedure, he adopted it for his work. Thus he not only used the extracts available from the reports of former "light carriage envoys," but he also instituted similar investigations himself. For twenty-seven years he went on collecting and arranging his materials, and died, as the book seems to show, with his work still unfinished. The " Fang-yen " is mainly a comparative vocabulary of a large number of the terms and phrases used in different states and districts. It tells the areas within which certain names and forms of expression prevailed. To some extent also it is simply a dictionary, explaining the meaning of certain terms, and giving synonyms. It does not give the sounds of the characters or any attempt at an analysis of them. From it, however, we learn many of the dialectical varieties which existed in the first century B. C, and how certain words and phrases of that time have to be understood. Many of the words in it have long since become obsolete, or have continued to live only in the small circuit of a dialect. The text, as we have it now, is supposed to differ considerably from that left by Yang, and the work is said to have suffered otherwise in the course of transmission. I'he Cultivation of their Language hy the Chinese. 33 But the zealous labours of Kuo P'o aud other editors have made the " Fang-yen " a standard authority on the language in the time of the Former Han dynasty.^ The next work to be noticed is the " Shuo-wen-chie-tsii" {^^ M ^)> best known by its short title '' Shuo-wen/' The author of this was Hsii Shen (ff '|^), with the second name Shu- chung (^ ;g), who was a native of Shao-ling (Q |^) in the south of Honan. He lived about the end of the first aud the begin- ning of the second century of our era, but the precise dates of his birth and death do not seem to be recorded. He held office for some time, but he had retired from public life and was living at home when his death took place, which was apparently about A.D. 121. The ^'Shuo-w^n'' was finished in A.D. 99, and in the next year Hsii composed the preface. But the work was not published until A.D. 121, when the author's son Ch'ung (\^) P^^ i^ i^ order and presented it with a memorial to the Emperor An. Hsu Shen was a devoted student of the orthodox literature of his country, and was famous among his contemporaries for his great learning. The old texts of the canonical books which had been brought from their graves in the early period of this dynasty had, as has been stated, given rise to m^ch controversy. It was to help in settling doubts and difficulties about these that HsQ composed his first treatise, the ^' Discussions of Variations in the Five Ching'' (5 g ^ fg), on which Cheng Hsuan animadverted. It was with a like end in view that Hsii prepared his '^ Shuo-wen,'' the long labour of his last years. For the making of this he studied, with the help of Chia K'uei (^ ^), one of the greatest of the Han scholars, all the accessible literature in the old characters and in those invented in later times. He compared the texts of the recovered tablets, collected inscriptions on ancient vases, and examined the writings of his predecessors, such as Shi Chow, Li Ssu, and Yang Hsiung. 'mm^^ mf^mmmm:^mr wn.jmg.uen - edition); m f& ^ ^, Preface; "Han-shu," chaps, xxx., Ixxxvii. ; " Wen-hsien-t'ung.k'ao," chap, clxxxix.; Edkins, Int. Ch. Characters, Appendix; " Shuo-w^n," Preface. 34 The GuUivation of their Language hy the Chinese. For the characters to be explained, the author of the '* Shuo- "wen " used the Small Seal kind of writing, and for the explana- tions he used the Li (^) writing. The work is divided into fourteen chapters (or books), and there are 10,600 characters explained. These are arranged under 540 classifiers, called also Primitives and Radicals, beginning with one, the origin of all things. The subjects which the Dictionary embraces are, accord- ing to Hsii Cheung, the literature of the country, heaven and earth, demons and spirits, hills and streams, vegetable and animated nature, and all the affairs of men. The author seems to have meant his work to be mainly an authority for the true texts and right meanings of cerain treatises regarded as canonical. For these it was to shuo-wen, state or explain the symbolic writing, and chie-tsii, analyse the phonetic characters. Some of the explanations which it gives to characters seem to be mere trifling, and the work can scarcely be considered as one of great etymo- logical value. Nor is it to be regarded as an index to all the characters in use at the time of its compiling. It leaves out through feelings of reverence those which entered into the names of Han emperors, and even in the author's own preface are characters which are not given in the dictionary. Nor does the work profess to solve all the difficulties which occur, for, as the author states, in some places he found doubts which he had to leave as he found. The '^Shuo-wen" is of interest chiefly as the earliest Chinese dic- tionary extant which attempts to give an analysis of characters and a clue to their sounds. It is consequently a record of at least a part of the language as used for literary and other purposes before the end of the first century of our era. The analyses of characters which it gives are doubtless those which had most authority at the time of the compiler, and the indications of the sounds given to them are of value to the student of the language and literature. But it was with the writing of the characters and with their original or supposed original meaning that Hsii was chiefly concerned. It is for what he achieved in these matters that his work has been highly prized by native scholars. The preface also, which forms chuan 15 of the treatise as it was The Cultivation of their Language hy the Chinese. 35 published, is of great value for the information it gives about the book and about the cultivation of the language up to the author's time. The *' Shuo-wen " has always been in high esteem among native scholars, who regard it as necessary to the understanding of the books which were written before it, and as the standard for those which have been written sinse. While many of its successors have long ago died, the "Shuo-wen'' still lives and has its old authority. It has served also as a text on which many later scholars, some of whose works will appear below, have discoursed with various learning.^ Another treatise which illustrates the language of the Latter Han period is the *' Shi-ming " (^2) or Name Explainer. This was compiled by a man whose surname was Liu (gij). He gives his name as Hsi (EB), but others call him Chen (^) apparently, or Hsi (^), and his second name was Cheng-kuo (j^ ^). He was, according to one account, a native of what is now Ch*ing- chow (^ *m), in Shantung, and he lived in the latter part of the second century of our era. He wrote a commentary on Mencius, and was apparently a good scholar. The "Shi-ming" is a vocabulary and dictionary of words distributed under twenty-seven headings, and divided into four chuan. The first category is Heaven, and then we have Earth, Mountains, Water, Food, Clothing, and others, the last being Death and Mourning. The " names " given under these headings are mainly terms in common use, and the explanations were evi- dently intended, as the author tells us, for the unlearned. The analyses and meanings are not convincing, and sometimes they appear to be almost comical. But many of them are curious and give help to the student. The author explains /aw^ (g), a house, hy pang (^), the side, because dwelling-houses are on each side of the court. A well is ching (^), that is, chHug (}||), pure. An island is tao (^), because it is a place to which men go, tao ( Ji|), for shelter. A fatheVj/u (^), is fa ("J), the beginning, because he starts the baby in life ; and a mother, mu (flr), is 7nao (gf ) to cover, ^ ^ X if ^. ed. by Kuei Fu-hsio and Tuan Yu-tsai ; Mayers' Ch. R. M., No. 202; Chalmers in Ch. Rev., V., p. 296, IX., p. 297; Edkins' Int. Ch. Chars., p. 151 ; '* Hou-han-shu," chap. Ixxix. 36 The Cultivation of their Language by the Chinese. because she covers the baby in her womb. Sii (f§), common, is yi'i (g)^), to want, what the common people wan to Such popular etymologies as these gave those for whom they were designed a clue to the sounds of the characters, and at the same time supplied a reason for the use or meaning of the words of daily life. The mean- ing is generally right, though the reason is wrong. Unscientific derivations of words are not of teu correct, and some of those in the " Shi-ming " remind us of like ones at home. The origin of the word anchoress, for example, as given by an old writer, would quite suit the author of this book. The anchoress is told — " for thi an ere is icleoped ancre and under chirche i-ancred, ase ancre under schipes borde." The '' Shi-ming " does not seem to be indebted to any of its predecessors except perhaps the ^* Urh-ya," which is mentioned in it by name. It is often quoted by later writers, but apparently in the enlarged edition to be noticed presently.^ In addition to those here noticed there were several other scholars of the Han period who made a study of the language. Such were Ma Yung (,g JJ) and his great disciple Ch^ng Hsiian (g(5 ^) al. Cheng Kang-ch*eng (j^ J5^). These, however, devoted themselves mainly to the old canonical literature, and it was only with a view to the elucidation of the orthodox texts that they studied the language. From the writings of these and the many other scholars who gave its literary glory to this dynasty, the language acquired a considerable degree of exact- ness and polish. It became a medium of expressing with clearness and precision not only social and political facts and doctrines, but also the nice refinements of literary criticism. The characters already in existence had their meanings defined according to the uses of classical authorities, and many new characters were added. Long before the time at which we have now arrived, how- ever, Buddhist missionaries had comb from India and settled down in China. In order to have their sacred books translated and their religion propagated in the country, they had to learn ^ ^ J^ (in " Han-Wei-tsung-shu" ) ; " Hou-han-shu," chap. Ixxx., ±j ^gW, chap, xviii. The Cultivation of their Language by the Chinese. 37 its language. This must have appeared to them, when com- pared with their own, barbarous and ungainly, and incapable of reproducing accurately either the sounds or the teachings of their books. They accordingly tried to introduce their own alphabet and have it brought into use in China, but in this they completely failed. They succeeded, however, in teaching the Chinese, or at least in giving popularity among them to an art of spelling, which, though rude and inaccurate, is better than none. This is the procedure known as Fan-ch'ie (R -QIX horn fan J to turn back, and chHsj to rub, an appropriately hazy designation. By this method the sound of a character is given by two other characters, of which one forms the initial and the other the final ; these two are manipulated in such a way as to yield the sound required, the tone being given by the final. The process was at first called fan (R), and when this character was taboo and unlucky, ch^ie was substituted : but this was in time replaced by the phrase now in use. It appears, also, that before any of the foreign missionaries came into China its scholars had to some extent a system of spelling like the /a?i- chHe. Many instances of this are given, and it is probable that many more might be added. One or two examples may be here presented. The word p^o (|p), cannot, was spelled pu-k'o (^ tj), as the character p'o in the old writing indicates, the cha- racter being self-spelling, and self-explaining. So also ho (^) was spelled by ho-pu (jp( /[i) ; and chu (g) by cM-hu (^ ^). The first marking and describing of the four tones at a later date, and the classification of human sounds according to the physical organs employed in their production, are also generally attributed to Buddhist missionaries. The times at which the above steps were taken cannot be exactly determined, nor, apparently, is any one of the innovations uniformly associated with any particular individual. All that we learn is that they originated with Buddhist monks from India, or at least obtained currency through their teaching.^ ' |i^ f^ H ^, chap, iii.j m S ^, " Yin-lun" TC; " Kanghsi's Dictaonary," Preface. 38 The Cultivation of their Language hy the Chinese. We have now arrived at the period of Chinese history known as that of the Three Kingdoms, or San-Kuo (^ @), when the country was divided into the Han, Wei, and Wu kingdoms. During this short but troubled period, extending from A.D. 220 to 265, the cultivation of the language steadily advanced. Up to this time, we are told, there had been little care given to the spoken words or the pronunciation of char- acters. But now these matters also began to be thought of importance. The first, apparently, to write on the sounds of characters, was Ts^ao Chih (Tg" fg) al. Ts'ao Tzii-chien (^ ^), who lived from 192 to 232. He was a son of the famous Ts^ao Ts'ao, Prince of Wei, in the North of China. But Ts'ao Chih was a poet and a student, choosing the quite pleasures of learning rather than the bustling turmoil of public life, nor heeding the contempt with which he was treated by his warlike relatives. He was the author of a work called The Forty-two Documents (or Tallies), (0 -f- ^ ^), in which he treated of more than 3,000 Sheng (5|), or sounds for characters. About the same time Li Teng (^ g), a public officer of the Wei king- dom> compiled the "Sheng-lei'^ (g |^) in ten chapters; and this is said to have been the first book to give a classification of characters according to their sounds. But it is to be noted that with these two writers the term Sheng is used generally, and not in the restricted sense of " tone.'' ^ In this period we have also the well-known treatise called "Kuang-ya'' (|f 3|) or "Po(t|)-ya." This was compiled by Chang I (§g Jg), of the Wei kingdom, about the year 265. It is a supplement to the "Urh-ya," the authorship of which work Chang, in his Memorial to the Throne, ascribes to Chow Kung. The "Po-ya'' is little more than a large classified vocabulary with occasional short comments or descriptions. As we have it now, the pronunciation of most of the characters is given, but this was the work of an editor in the Sui period, whose name was Ts^ao Hsien (ig ,^). The pronunciation is sometimes given in the/aw- 1 "Li-shi^yin-chien" (^ 1^ ^ ffi), chaps, i. and ii.; "Yun-hsio" {^ ^); " Ku.shi," etc. " Yin-lun " ±, The Cultivation of their Language by the Chinese. 39 chHe way, and often by one word. The pairs of characters thus represented as like in sound are occasionally interesting to observe. Thus, for example, the character now called tvmg (^) is given as like kung (^) in sound, and this helps us to understand why these two characters are found to be interchanged. It was this same editor who in the name of the book changed Kuang to Po in order to avoid using the name of the Emperor Yang of the Sui dynasty. In addition to the " Po-ya," Chang I wrote also the '^P'i Ts'ang" (J^ ^), in three c^wrtn; the '' San-ts^ang-hsiin- ku" (H ^ fll IS)> i^ three chuan ; jxndi two other treatises, all on subjects connected with the language. He is said to have been a good scholar in this branch of knowledge, and he is often quoted, but most of his writings seem to have been lost long ago.^ The period of the Three Kingdoms was succeeded by that of the Chin (§) dynasty, which lasted from 265 to 419. In this period the first name to be mentioned is that of Wei Chao (:$ B3), who was famous as a scholar and commentator. He edited the ^'Shi-ming,'' and greatly enlarged the original work, specially adding to it terms relating to government and state affairs generally.^ Another distinguished student of the language about the same time was Sun Yen (^, *^\ This scholar is better known by his other name, Shu-jan (^ ^), which he had to use on the accession of Chin Wu-ti, who also had the name Yen. Sun was a native of Le-an {^ $), in the present province of Shantung, and was born in the latter part of the Han period. Hence he is variously described as of the Han, "Wei (San-Kiio) and Chin dynasties. He was a follower of the teachings of Cheng Kang- ch'eng, who spent the last years of his life at his native place, also in Shantung. Sun, who was celebrated among his con- temporaries for his great learning, was the author of several treatises on the old classics. Among them was one on the " Urh- ya," in six chuan, and called '^ Urh-ya-yin-i '' (^ Jf ^ ^). In this he seems to have used the fan-chHe spelling, and some i ^ ^ (in " Han-Wei-tsung-shu " ) ; '« WSn.hsien-t'ung-k'ao," chap, clxxxix. '^ Appendix to " Sbi-ming." 40 The Cultivation of their Language hy the Chinese. writers assert that he was the first native author to adopt that method. This treatise was much used by subsequent editors of the '' Urh-ya," but it cannot be said to have held a high place in native esteem.^ The first addition to the *'Shuo-wen^^ was made in this period by Lii Sh^n (g f^), a native of Jen (f£), a town in what is now the Prefecture of Yenchow, in Shantung. Lii Shen, who was a contemporary of Sun Yen, was an official and a scholar, but he is chiefly remembered as the compiler of the ^' Tzu-lin " (^ ^) or Grove of Characters. This is variously spoken of as in one, three, five, six, or seven chuan ; or as in five chapters (pienj. It was intended to be a supplement to the '^Shuo- wen," and many characters were given in it which had been left out from the "Shuo-w§n,'' either designedly or otherwise. These characters were derived from various sources, but mainly from the old tablets and those in the Great Seal writing, and they were new and unknown to the scholars of this time. The " Tzii-lin" soon came to take its place as an appendix to the " Shuo-wen," and to be regarded as a good authority. Some scholars have even maintained that the text of the modern editions of the '' Shuo-wen," is indebted to this work. The first to enrich the "Tzu-lin" with notes and comments was a Buddhist monk, Yun Sheng (^ ^), but little is known of him or his work. The "Tzii- lin," however, has been often reprinted, and great additions have been made to the text, but it has long been hard to find.^ A younger brother of Lii Shen, by name Ching (^), was also a scholar and a writer on the language. He compiled the *'Yun.chi'^ (|| ^), called also "Chi-yun," or Collection of Finals, in five chuan. This book, which was founded on the "Sheng- lei " of Li T^ng, had the characters arranged according to the five yin, or musical notes. It is in this work, according to some writers, that the expression Yun-shu (^ ^), Book of Finals, first occurs; and the first use of yun in its restricted sense oi final is 1 " Li-ahi-yin-chien," chap. "• ; ^ |1^ ^ |fll, chap. 1^, where ^ is used for ^ in Sun's name ; " Shang-yu-lu," chap. iv. 2 *' W^u-hsien-t'ung-k'ao," chap, clxxxix. ; ;g ^ J^'s " Shuo-w^n," chap. 1. j H ^, chap. i. The Cultivation of their Language hy the Chinese. 41 also ascribed to its author. But others refer the first use of yun in this technical sense to Luh Chi or Luh Fa-yen. On this point the general statement is perhaps the correct one, to wit, that this use of the character yun began in the Chin Sung (or Chin Wei) period, or after the middle of the third century of our era.^ Contemporary with the above was Luh Chi (^ ij^) aL Luh Shi-heng ( j^ ^), the ill-fated poet, soldier, and scholar. His life, which lasted only from 261 to 303, was one of worry and distress, yet he found time to write above 200 chnan, which were thought worthy to live. In one of his writings the word yun is found contrasted with wen, the spoken word with the written character. Some writers, as has been stated, regard Luh Chi as the first to use ytm in its technical sense. ^ But the greatest among the students of the language at this period was Kuoh P'oh (|[S JH) al. Kuo Ching-shun (;f; |jg). This man, who lived from 276 to 324, was a native of Wen-hsi iWi S) ^" ^^® present province of Shansi. He was the son of an official and scholar and followed his father's example. But it was more as an astrologer, and necromancer, and alchemist that he was celebrated during his lifetime than as an official or a scholar. He was from youth a lover of all curious learning, and a devoted student of early literature. He wrote several works on the ancient classics, but his fame now among native scholars rests mainly on his labours in connection with the " Urh-ya '* and the '^ Fang-yen." He edited the text of the former and added an illustrative commentary giving the sounds and explanations of many of the characters. This commentary was afterwards incorporated in the edition of the " Urh-ya " produced by Hsing Ping of the Sung dynasty, and it is still an authority. The manuscript of the " Fang-yen " was put in order and published by Kuo, with notes which give the sounds and meanings of rare or difficult characters. Native students still regard this work as ^ " Yun-hsio," chap. i. ; " Li-ahi-yin-chien," chap. ii. ; " Ku-shi," etc., ^ |^ 2 "Ku-shi, etc., Tm.lun;" Mayers' Ch, R, M., No. 436; "Chin-shu," chap, liv. 42 The Cultivation of their Language hy the Ohinese. a text-book and as the only authoritative edition of the " Fan- yen^" The old treatise known as the " San-ts'ang/' noticed above, was also edited by Kuo and furnished with a commentary: and he composed other bgoks on subjects connected with the language.^ The extinction of the Chin dynasty in 420 was followed by that division of the empire known as the South and North Dynasties, which lasted to the year 588. 0£ this period, however, only the portion embraced by •the Southern Dynasties Cli^i (^) and Liang (^), extending from 479 to 557, is of much importance in connection with our subject. It marks an epoch in the cul- tivation of the language, and is regarded as the period in which the study of etymology began to flourish. The first name to mention is that of Chow Yii ( ^ Jg) al. Chow Yen-lun (^ j^) who lived in the second half of the fifth century. He was a native of Ju-nan, in the province of Honan, and held office, but he is remembered only as an author on the language. The treatise ascribed to him was the "Ssii-sheng-ch'ie- yun" (0 S -^J bI); Words Pronounced According to the Four Tones. This is said to have been the first native work in which the four tones — PHng, Shang, Ch*u, Ju — were distinguished, and also one of the earliest treatises in which the fan-chHe mode of giving the sounds was systematically adopted. The work was long since lost, and its contents are known only by the statements of subsequent writers. Of Chow Yen-lun the well-known story in told that when Liang Wu Ti refused to recognise the four tones, the courtly scholar convinced him of their existence by the expression Tien-fzu-sheng-choh (^'c ? B ®)> Your Majesty ifi saintly wise. This story is told also of Shen Yo, and of his disciple Chow Shi (^ j^).2 Next to Chow Yen-lun comes Shen Yo (gfc l|5), al. Shen Hsiu-wen (fTJc 3iC). The native place of Shen was Wu-hsing (J^ ^) in the present prefecture of Hu-chow, near the T'ai-hu 1 ** Chin.shn," chap. Ixxii.; Mayers' Ch. R. M., No. 304; ^ S ^ Sfe (i^i + H M)^ Infc-; :)^ If ii' Pref. ; ^ i^ ^. chap. vi. 2"Ku.shi, etc., Yiu-lun," tjl chap.; " Li-shi-yin-chien," chap. ii. ; "Yun- hsio " ; Ma T. L., chap, clxxxix. The Cultivation of their Language by the Chinese . 48 in Chekiang. He lived from 441 to 513 and held various offices, but all his love through life was for learning and the society of scholars. Several historical and other works were composed by him, but his fame rests chiefly on his contributions to the study of the language. These were made in a treatise called " Ssu-sheng-yun-pu '^ (0 ^ |f §1) or Record of Finals (or words) according to the Four Tones. This treatise did not survive very long, apparently, but it did not perish until it had been greatly used and had gained a High reputation. It was based on the treatise above mentioned by^Chow Yen-lun, and as the two men were contemporary, Shen may have derived from Chow his learning on the *' four tones." But some think that Sh^n was the first to discover these and make them known. He is represented as saying that though men had written poetry for thousands of years they had not noticed the distinction which he alone discoivered by silent thought. Others tell us that Shea was the first to present in a tabulated form a system of initials and finals according to the four tones. He is said to have adopted Chow's system of giving the pronunciation, and to have illustrated it by the rhymes in the " Shi-ching," adding the results of his own thought and reading. The following description of the four tones is sometimes ascribed to Shen Yo, but it is perhaps due to a later writer. The p'wg sheng is said to be sad and even, the sharig fierce and raised, the c7/m clear and receding, and the/w direct and shortened. It is interesting to compare this descrip- ti(m with those given in other places, for example with the one given in the Introduction to Kang-hsi's Dictionary. One critical objection that has been made to Shen Yo's etymological teachings is that he wished to made the sounds of his native place the standard for the empire, to regard the dialect of Wu as the language of China.^ That Shen Yo was not the first to discover the existence of the "four tones" and mark their differences scarcely admits of doubt, notwithstanding the assertion to the contrary made by 1 " Ka-shi, etc., Yin-lun," ^ chap.; " Li-shi-yin-chien," chap, ii.; " ghang. yu-lu," chap, xvii.; 1f^ ^ % p §1 ; Edkius' Shanghai Gr., p. 10., and Chinese Baddbism, p. 112. 44 The Cultivation of their Language hy the Chinese. him or bis biographer. The distinction was most probably first observed by the Indian missionaries, and it was known to native scholars at least in the reign of Ch'i Wu Ti, A.D. 483 to 494. But the discovery was not fully recognized and adopted until the time of Liang "Wu Ti, A.D. 502 to 550. About this time several other scholars also wrote on the subject of the " four tones/' and it soon became a popular one, though not without protests. It does uot seem to have been well known, however, to another contemporary of Shen Yo who' also became famous in literature. This was Liu Hsie (gi] gg) al. Liu Yen-ho (g ^), a native of Tung-kuan (^ ^) in Shantung, in the time of Liang Wu Ti.- He was a great reader and a good writer, and some of his works have been preserved. Among these is one called by its author ^^Wen-hsiu-tiao-lung," (35[ i£> H| H), The Carved Dragon of the Heart of Literature, that is, the finest ornaments of the best writing. This treatise is divided into ten chuan containing fifty chapters, the last of which gives some account of the work and the origin of the title, and from it the explanation here given has been derived. The work is a series of essays on various literary and other sub- jects, and is written in a loose, easy style. It touches on nearly every subject known at the time connected with the origin and development of language and literature. Its notices of the first rise and meaning of new expressions are specially interesting, though not always correct, and it abounds in references to old authors.^ The next writer on the language to come under notice is Chiang Shi (Ji ^) al. Chiang Fa-an {f^ ^), a native of Chi- yang [^ ^) in Honan. He was the author of the *'Ku-chin- w^n-tzii " ("S" "^ ^ ¥)> i'l forty chitan, published in the year 614. Chiang was a man of inherited literary tastes and of great learning. In the above treatise he made the " ShuO-wen '* his standard of authority (^), and he seems to have read with care all the good literature bearing on the characters. It was to these rather than to the spoken sounds that he devoted his thoughts and reading.^ ^ ^ 'D 81 ft (in "Han- Wei" Collection) ; Wylie, Notes on Ch. Lit., p. 197. * Kuei Fu-haiD'i " Shuo-w^n," ohap. 1. The CuUivation of their Language hy the Chinese. 45 A much more famous author, however, was Ku Ye-wang (IB ff D ^^- Ku Hsi-feng (H ^||). This man was a native of K^uu-shau (g, jl]), in the Soochow Prefecture of Kiangsu, and lived from 519 to 581. He rose to high office under the Ch'ea dynasty, but his reputation as an official was eclipsed by his fame as a great scholar and an author. The work with which his name is most associated is the dictionary called " Yii-pien " (3g ^), in thirty chuan. This was finished and published in 54^, but no copy of that edition has been in existence for a long time, the earliest known edition being that published in 675 by Sun Ch'iang {^, 5S). The ''Yii-pien" was based on the "Shuo-wen" and followed the arrangement of that dictionary, adding and omitting characters. The current style of writing — the chiai {^) — was sub- stituted in it for the now obsolete characters used by Hsii Sh^n. It makes use of 542 classifiers (radicals), and gives throughout the fan-cJiHe way of spelling. Whether, however, this latter was the work of the original compiler may at least be doubted. As left by him the '^ Yii-pien '' is said to have been very imperfect, omitting many characters, faulty in arrangement, and abounding in errors. Native scholars who may bo disposed to regret the loss of the first edition may console themselves with the reflection that it was not so good as the one to which they now have access.^ To the latter part of this period belongs another distin- guished man, Yen Chih-t^ui (|g ^ ^) al Yen Tzu-fen (:? ^). He was born in 531 and lived to the end of the period. As he held office for a considerable time under the North Ch'i rulers he is generally spoken of as belonging to that dynasty. But he has come down to posterity only as an author, and specially as the author of the " Chia-hsiin '' (gj f I|), or Family Teaching. This treatise, as we have it now, is in two chuan, divided into twenty chapters; and it treats of many subjects connected with the good conduct and education of a family in a style easy and pleasant. Several chapters are devoted to subjects connected with the lan- guage, and these are among the most interesting. The whole of 1 "Yii-pien" with Chu I-tsnn's Preface (Ed. 1704) JJH&^HS"^ B% ohap. iii. ; Edkins' Mand. Gr., p 73. 46 The Cultivation of their Language hy the Chinese. the eighteenth chapter, for example, is devoted to language and philology, and it will repay a reading. From this book we learn that the *^^Shuo-wen" was at this period regarded as the ultimate standard of appeal ; its readings of the canonical works were taken against those of the current texts. Yen Chih-t*ui was also author of two works specially devoted to matters relating to etymology. These were the "Cheng-su-yiurtsu" (g ^ ^ ¥), and the ^^Tzu- shi" (^ 5§). Yen was a native of Laug-ye (J||5 JjjJ), the modern Yi-chow in Shantung.^ About this time the son of one of the North Ch4 Emperors introduced to native scholars an expedient which, though it did not meet with much popularity, deserves some notice. It is known as TzH-chHe {^ U) or Tzri^fan (g g) and among Bud- dhist writers as ChHe-shen (-^J ^)i all expressions having the meaning of self-spelling. By this expedient the sound of a character is given in the composition of the character. Thus the sound te is expressed by "J* ^, that is, ting "J* and ye JJl', to make tsiy the initial tsu J£ is placed at the side of i 5)?. Properly, the character which gives the initial is placed at the left side of that which yields the final, but the rule was not generally observed. This mode of representing sounds is expressly stated to have boen derived from the Buddhists, but it was apparently used before the Indians came into the country. The translators of the Buddhist sacred books, however, used this method to some extent in trans- cribing Sanskrit sounds, and so made it popularly known. It is not improbable that a closer study of Chinese would show that the apparently meaningless composition of many characters is the result of an attempt to make them self-pronouncing.^ During the short-lived Sui dynasty, from 589 to 618, the study of the language continued to flourish. Much attention was now paid to the tones and the sounds of characters generally, rather to the neglect of other matters relating to the history of the language. We find mention of a book written about this time ^ J& S i^ IW (iQ Han -Wei Collection). 3 "Kn-shi, &c., Yin-lun" f ; "I^i-shi," &c., chap, ii.; %1^ H, Vol. I., p. 36. The Cultivation of their Language hy the Chinese. 47 on the finals, called " Yen-tsuan " (gj H), by Tsun, Prince of Ch^in (^ I 1^)- This work, we are told, made the sounds of characters the chief thing, and so differed from the "Shuo-wen" and *'Tzu- lin.'^ But little notice is found of the book, and it was apparently not of much importance. It was added to the '^Ch*ie-yun" of Luh Fa-yen, as a sort of appendix, by Kuo Chih-hsiian.^ This Luh Fa-yen (g f^ "g), called also Luh Tzu-pei (f^ J|), has an important place in the history of the cultivation of the language. With the co-operation of Liu Chin (g|] ^) and seven others, including Yen Chih-t'ui, son^e from the south and some from the north, Luh made the phonetic dictionary with which his name is associated. This treatise was begun in 581 and first pub- lished in 601, but no copy of that edition seems to have survived very long. The earliest edition which became generally known was that of 677. In this year the work was edited by Kuo Chih- hsiian (|R ^ ^) and published with the title "Ssii-sheng-ch'ie- yun " (pg g iO fS) ill ftve chuan. It cannot be known what the original text of Luh contained, for we are told that Kuoh and others made many additions and corrections. The " Ch*ie-yun," to use the short title of the work, as Kuo left it, had the charac- ters arranged under 206 finals according to the four tones. It was the first dictionary apparently to do so, and from it latter works derived the system. Luh and his associates, who were all scholars well learned in the language, took the works of Chow Yen- lun and Shen Yo as their basis, and the "Ch'ie-yun" is described by some as the lineal successor or continuation of Shen Yo's treatise. The aim of Luh and his fellow-workers was to correct the mistakes which had been made by their predecessors, and to reform abuses in the employment of characters generally, adding the correct pronunciation of these according to classical authorities. They wished to make and transmit a uniform language, to establish a criterion for ancient times and a standard for the modern. It is not known how much of the ** Ch*ie-yun " was due to Luh himself. Some think that he only arranged and edited the materials which Liu Chin and the seven others had collected. ^ Kuei's " Shuo-w6n," chap. 1.; " Yun-hsiao." 48 The GuUivation of their Language by the Chinese. These men seem to have taken a very extensive course of reading, ^and to have otherwise gone to work very earnestly. The employ- ment of the 206 finals is by some attributed to the T'ang editor Kuo Cliih-hsiian, and no one seems to know who first invented the system or when it arose. The " Ch'ie-yun,'^ however, is gen- erally spoken of as Luh*s work, and is described as having been a treatise of great research and careful execution. It came to be largely used by later writers in the compilation of dictionaries and other works on the language.^ To the Sui succeeded the T'ang dynasty, which is counted as lasting from 618 to 906. In this period learning of various kinds was favoured and encouraged, and several of the Emperors were patrons and cultivators of learning and literature. Not only were the old native classics, especially the " Shi-ching," now studied with renewed enthusiasm, but the sacred and other books of the Indian Buddhists also became well known through translations. The native language also was now studied with great learning and ability, and increased attention was now paid to the tones and the sounds of characters generally. Both Chinese and foreigners now wrote on these subjects, and acquaintance with them was required from the competitors for the state degrees or literary titles by which official employment was obtained.^ At the beginning of this period we find Luh Yan-lang (|^ "7C %R)> better known by his other name Luh Te-ming ({* B^)? one of the greatest scholars of the T^ang dynasty. He was a native of Soochow and lived at the end of the sixth and the be- ginning of the seventh century. Among native scholars he is well known for his writings on the "Yi-ching,'' and for his treatise on the old language. This is called '* Ching-tien-shi-wen" (@ :R M %)> ^^ Explanation of the Terms and Phrases in the Classics. Dr. Legge says of it, " This is more a dissection of the classics, excluding Mencius, and including "Laou-tsze" and '' Chwang-tsze," giving the sounds of characters, and the meaning 1 « Ku-shi, etc., Yin-lun," ± ; "i* ^ ^ «&, Int.; " Yun-hsio." ' "T'ang-shu," chap, cxcviii.; '* Wen-hsien," etc., chap, clxxxix.; Legge, Ch. CI., Vol. IV. Prolog, p. 205 ; ^ ^ i^ X, ed. by g ^ ^g and others (1791). The Cultivation of their Language by the Chinese. 49 of them single and in conibination, than a dictioTiary. It is valu- able as a repertory of ancient views/' A separate chuan on the old vocabulary, the " Urh-ya," is also given as having been com- piled by Luh Te-ming. It is the 30th and last in the edition I possess, which is a good modern reprint. Another scholar who was already famous when the T'ang dynasty succeeded was Ts'ao Hsien (g' -J). The native place of Ts'ao was Chiang-tu (Zn S5)» Yangchow, in Kiangsu, and he lived in the sixth century and the early part of the seventh. During the Sui period he had composed several treatises which had made his name famous. One of these was a new edition, with revised text and a commentary, of the "Kuei-yuan-chu-tsung" (ft ^ $S ^), which was made by command of Sui Yang Ti. For the " Urh-ya" and " Kuang- ya," also, Ts'ao wrote commentaries, giving the sounds and meanings of characters, and these he added to texts which, he carefully edited. Another treatise by him was the " Wen-tzu- chih-kuei" (5C ^ Ja If) o^* Gfuide to the Restoration of Char- acters, on the correct forms of the old writing. By these works Ts'ao had made himself an authority on all matters relating to the antiquities of the language, and his fame for learning in these matters was over the empire. The T'ang rulers offered him high office of a congenial nature, but as he had served the Sui dynasty, etiquette forbade him to accept preferment from the new rulers. T'ai Tsung, however, esteemed him none the less, and was wont to refer to him when in difficulty about a word or phrase. It is for his services in reviving a knowledge of the language as it was before the Han period that Ts'ao is best remembered. The new learning of tones, and finals, and fan-chHe, had put out of fashion the old learning taught by Tu Lin and his fellows. But by the books which he published, and the great popularity of his teach- ing, Ts'ao Hsien brought the attention of students back to the structure and derivation of characters.^ Another scholar of great learning and genius who adorned the reign of T'ai Tsung was Yen Chou-ch'i (g |§ ^), known only by his other name Yen Shi-ku (SS !&)• He was a native of i " T'aug.shu," chaps. Ivii., cxcviii. 50 The Oultwdtion of their Language hy the Chinese. Lin-yi (E| ?ff) in Shantung, and his life extended from 681 to 645. The notes which he added to his edition of the "Han-shu" are very useful to the student of the early language apart from their value otherwise. To him also native scholars are indebted for a good edition of the old " Chih-chiu-chang " (^ ^ ^), to which he contributed a valuable commentary.^ In 675, as has been stated, Sun Ch'iang, another great student of the language, produced his edition of the " Yii-pien." This is the earliest one known at present, and the only edition which has authority. The full title of the work as we have it now is ** Ta-kuang-i-hui-yii-pien " {^ S| S 'Q' 3E M)' ^^^ ^^i^ is seldom used.^ A commentary on the "Ch'ie-yun" of Luh Fa-yen was composed in 677 by Chiang-sun Noh-yen (g ^, ff§ "g"); and in the same year Kuo Chih-hsiian, as stated above, brought out his edition of the *' Oh'ie-yun." This was republished in 751 by Sun Mien (Jg ff) and others, with the title " T'ang-yun." The new editors added to the original work and corrected its errors, but they do not seem to have made any great changes. The pronunciations of the characters were retained, and all the arrangements of the " Ch'ie-yun." This last, however, had i-eceived many additions and undergone many modifications since the date of its first publication, and the *' T'ang-yun " apparently reduced these to order. Sun Mien and his associates used a large number of books — classics, histories, and travels — beside the writ- ings of their predecessors on sounds and characters, in the prepara- tion of their work, which occupied them several years. It has been said that this dictionary was the first treatise in which attention was directed to the differences between modern and ancient sounds, that is, perhaps, the first in which this was done systematically. The book itsalf, however, became extinct long ago, and it is known only by notices of it in other treatises. It has been added that not only the "T'ang-yun" but also all other treatises on rhymes or finals produced before the end of this dynasty have long ago perished.^ ^ " T'ang-shu," chap, cxcviii. ^ Preface to reprint of " Yii-pien." ' Preface to reprint of *' Kuang-yun" j Ku-shi, etc., Yin-lun" J:- The Cultivation of tfveir Language by the Chinese. 51 The old learning, also, about this time received attention from a faithful adherent, Li Yang-ping (^ ^ ^) al. Shao-wen (ij^ S)' ^^^ lived in the second half of the eighth century. Li was a relative of the celebrated poet of the same surname, and held office under the Emperors Su Tsung and Tai Tsung (756 to 780). In philology he claimed to be a reviver of the study of the old language before the time of the " Shuo-wen." To this book he devoted himself with great zeal, and he published an edition of it in thirty chuan. At this time the text of the *' Shuo- wen '' was full of errors, and much had been left or had fallen out, and Li wished to restore it to the state in which he supposed Hsii Shen had left it. So he introduced many characters from the old " Seal '* and earlier writings, and altered the forms of others, and thus made what he considered improvements to the *'Shuo-wen.'' But the critics who came after him thought differently and regarded his innovations as a cause of confusion. They were wroth with him for finding fault with the venerated classic. It was owned, however, that few could equal Li Yang- ping in a knowledge of the "SeaP' characters, a knowledge in which he was said to be not inferior to Li Ssii. Li Yang-ping compiled a treatise on these characters and another one on unau- thorized or forbidden characters. His learned work on the '' Shuo-wen," however, was his chief contribution to the cultiva- tion of the language, and yet it was destined to have only a short-lived popularity.^ Among those who about the time of the T^ang dynasty contributed to the study and improvement of the Chinese lan- guage we must not omit the Buddhist monks. It is not possible to do more here than simply mention a few individuals. Of these and their philological works few particulars are given in books now accessible, and it is in some cases hard to find when and where they lived. Some of the missionaries from India, and a few of the Chinese monks who had studied in that country, wrote books on the Sanskrit grammar and alphabet. The knowledge ^ S ft M 1|) etc., chap. Hi.; Kuei's "Shuo-wen," chap. 1. ; Ma T. L., chap, cxc. 52 The Cultivation of their Language hy the Chinese. thus communicated was afterwards turned to account by native authors in the study of Chinese. We now read for the first time of tzu-mu (*^ fl:), letters, alphabet, or, in the narrowest use of the term, characters employed as initials. We are told that the first occurrence of the term is in the translation of a sutra, the " Wen- chu-wen-ching" (^ ^ f^ g) that is, the Manjusri Pariprichchha Sfitra, by Pu-k'ung (/fl ^), Amoghavajra. This celebrated monk, originally a Brahman of North India, lived in the eighth century and spent many years at Ch*ang-an in China. But the use of certain Chinese characters to serve for the transcription of the Sanskrit alphabet seems to have been known some centuries before his time. In this period, also, Shen-kung (jji^ J^), an Indian monk of great learning, taught the use of the tones and the art of analysing and compounding the sounds of human speech. His diagrams illustrating his teachings are to be found as an appendix to the *' Yii pien.'' Shen-kung is also said to have selected thirty characters, kien (^), etc., to represent the Sanskrit conso- nants and serve as initials. This achievement, however, is also ascribed to She-li (-^ TflJ) another Indian missionary, if these two names do not indicate only one individual. To the thirty characters thus selected six more were added by Shou-wen (^ }g), a learned monk of China or Corea and the author of a small treatise on the finals. The system of thirty-six initials which this Buddhist introduced is known in literature as the Chung- yin-tzHrmu (4» ^ ^ #) or Standard Alphabet, Initials for the Sounds of Correct Chinese. These characters, sometimes with slight changes, are in use at present as initials, and they are to be found so employed in Kanghsi's Dictionary and in many other treatises.^ We must needs also reckon the *^I-ch'ie-ching-yin-i" (— ^ M "S ^)> ^^ Sounds and Meanings of all the Buddhist Sacred Books, as a contribution to the cultivation of the language. This great work was founded on others of the same kind which have * " Li.shi-yin-chien," chap. ii. ; |rJ ^ Si i^. c^ap. vi. ; Catalogue of Bud. Trip, by Bunyiu Nanjio, Col. 444, j " Yu-pieo," vol. iii. Appx. The Cultivation of their Language by the Chinese. 53 long been lost. It was originally in twenty-five chuan and was compiled about the middle of the sixth century by Yuan-ying {% J^), called also Hsiian-ying (^ Ig), a monk who lived at Chang-an. The work is a glossary to the foreign, technical, and difficult words and phrases in the Buddhist canon. It gives the sounds and meanings of the Sanskrit proper names and terms of religion, and the different transcriptions which had been used. Important Chinese phrases are also explained and the pronuncia- tion of characters given and illustrated. The compiler generally bases his statement or interpretation of Chinese expressions on standard native authorities. Thus he often quotes such works as the '' Ts'ang-chie-pien," the "Shuo-wen," the '^Yii-pien," the *^Kuang-ya," and the commentaries on the Confucian classics. Though native scholars quote this treatise freely it is not easy to consult, owing to the absence of an index and the want of a good arrangement. It is also pronounced to be faulty in the use which it makes of the Han writers and in the sounds which it assigns to characters. Two chapters were added some time afterwards by a subsequent editor. These were the work of Hui-yuan (g |g), another Buddhist monk who lived some time after Yuan-ying, and they may be regarded as a sort of supplement to the first part of the latter's^work. But they do not show the great learning and industry of the author of the ''I-ch*ie-ching-yin-yi."^ To these may be added the names of a few other works com- posed by Buddhist monks of this period. The " Hsiang-wen " (^ ^) a treatise on the ** Yii-pien," was compiled by Hui-li (^ -jj) ; the " Wen-tzu-shi-hsiin" (3!t ^ p fl|) was by Pao-chih (g |g); the -Yun-ying" (|| ^) by Ching-hung (^ gt) ; and a useful supplement to the '^ Ch'ie-yun '' was contributed by Yu- chih m ^y In several respects the period of the T'ang dynasty forms an era of great importance in the history of the cultivation of the language. It was the time in which China first began to have a popular literature, and the classical works of antiquity were now published in a form which made them accessible to all. In the '-mm^^ m> ea. i869. ^4 The Cultivation of their Language by the Chinese. year 744 an Imperial order was given to the Chi-hsien {^ g) College to have the '' Shu-ching " transcribed in the characters in common use at the time. The Emperor, Ming Huang, disliked the li characters in which the *^Shu" and other classics continued to be written. Moreover, these characters had become obsolete, hard to learn, and liable to confusion, and only professional scholars could read the canonical books. The Emperor's order was carried out by Wei Pao (^ 'gj) and his fellow-collegians, and the editions of the classics in the vulgar writing soon super- seded the others. Plays also now began to be written and performed and romances to be composed in a style often but little removed from that of everyday conversation. These, however, tended to make the dialect in which they were composed fashion- able and permanent. Hence we find it stated that with them arose the Kuan-hua or standard language of the coaintry ; that which thus became the language of the empire having been previously only the dialect of Kiangnan.^ The invention of printing in China dates from the T^ang dynasty, though it is generally ascribed to Feng Tao (?§ ^) who lived in the succeeding period, that of the Wu Tai or five short dynasties. It was apparently F§ng, however, who intro- duced the art of printing by cutting characters in wooden blocks, and the first books to be thus printed were the authoritative texts of the canonical works of antiquity. It was not, however, until the next dynasty that the invention led to great results. The next dynasty was the Sung, which gives its name to the period from 960 to 1280. This was, according to general native opinion, the time of China's best literary and philosophical activity, the time of her greatest thinkers, her most thorough scholars, and her most accomplished statesmen. It was also th« time in which the language is supposed to have reached its acme, to have become complete in all its formal and material equipment, having everything needful to make it an effective instrument for expres- sing the national mind. The invention of printing now led to a ^ "T*ang-shu," chap. Ivii.; :^ H i^ Int.; Ma, T. L., chap, clxxvii.; Legge, Ch. CI., III., Prolog., p. 31. The Oultivation of their Language by the Chinese. 55 great activity in the production of books, and a general diffusion of learning. In the department of philology we find mention of many new treatises, some of which were of great and permanent value. Old works half-forgotten or rendered obscure by corrupt readings — the growth of centuries — were restored to something like their original state. New works of a critical or historical nature, and some of a speculative character on subjects connected with the language, were also published. The first writers in this department to fall under our notice are the two brothers Hsii. These jnen, who flourished in the middle and latter half of the tenth century, were natives of Kuang- ling in the modern Prefecture of Yang-chow, Kiangsu. The younger brother was Ch*ie (/^ |^) al Ch*u-chin (g ^), and he came to be known also as the Hsiao, or young Hsii, to distin- guish him from his brother. He was a great lover of learning, but specially devoted to an enthusiastic study of the ''Shuo-wen." In order to facilitate the use of that dictionary he produced the "Shuo-wen-yun-pu" (^ 5C SI If) ^^ ^^is treatise, which soon fell into unmerited neglect, a phonetic arrangement of the " Shuo- wen *^ was attempted, the head words being disposed according to the finals and the four tones.'' The editor curtailed, however, and otherwise tampered with the text of his author, and the treatise by which Hsii Ch'ie is best known is the " Shuo-wen Hsi-chuan " (^ fl|), or Appendix to the '' Shuo-wen." In this we have what its author regarded as a restored text of the " Shuo-wen," with notes critical and illustrative, and the sounds of the head characters given according to the spelling of Hsii's time by a scholar named Chu Ao {^ ^). This part of the work extends over thirty chapters, and they are followed by two other chapters to show that the classifiers of the "Shuo-wen'' proceed in a natural order. To these succeed three chapters explanatory of certain categories ; one of criticisms specially on the innovations of Li Yang-ping, one in which the classifiers are arranged in groups or ' It is possible, however, that they are right who say this work is errone- ously ascribed to Hsii, and that " Shuo-w^n-yun-pu " stands for "Wu-yin-yun. pu," a work of Li Tao to be mentioned presently- 56 The Cultivation of their Language hy the Chinese. classes; one in which the raveled uses of characters are brought into order ; one in which the doubts about certain words are discussed; and a last one in which the contents of the thirty-nine preceding chapters are summarized. The work is one of great learning and genius, but its theories and criticisms are too subtle and fanciful. Hsii Ch^ie, it has been said, reverenced the '^Shuo- wen " as a canonical book, and no one up to his time equalled him in the zeal and learning devoted to that work. His great treatise, as it has come down to us, has many errors and mistakes, partly due to copyists or printers and partly to the want of revision. A learned and critical examination of it has been made by a late scholar, who has pointed out and corrected the mistakes of Hsii Ch'ie and his brother. This reviewer is Ch'i Shun-fu (f|3 f$, '^ uL "5^), and his work in three chuan is now published as an appendix to the reprint of Hsii's " Shuo-wen Hsi-chuan." This last had, soon after it was originally published, been put out of fashion by the edition of the " Shuo-wen " which bears the name of the elder brother. This brother Hsiian (g) al. Ting- ch'^n, (^ g), is known also as Ta (or Elder) Hsii, and he is quoted in literature as I-t^ung (^ |g) from the name of a public office which he held. He was born in the year 916, four years before Ch'ie, and he lived until 991, surviving his younger brother seventeen years. These two brothers had like tastes and pursuits, and it was at the request of the elder that the younger compiled his phonetic edition of the " Shuo-wen," to which, when ready for publication, the elder brother contributed an introduc- tion. They both entered the state service, but the elder, more fortunate than the younger, lived to enjoy public life at the capital, though the end of his career was clouded by official disgrace. His fame also rests entirely on his labours in connec- tion with the " Shuo-wen." These were undertaken in obedience to the commands of the celebrated Emperor Tai Tsung, who appointed a commission to make a new and correct edition of the text of that work. At the head of this was Hsii Hsiian, and he had the co-operation of several distinguished scholars. The result of their labours was the treatise known as thu '' Hsii The Cultivation of their Language by the Chinese. 57 Hsiian Shuo-wen-chu," which was finished in the year 986. In the preparation of this treatise Li Yang-ping's edition was taken as a basis, but the fanciful corrections and innovations of that editor were rejected. The new editors, however, also introduced many corrections and made many additions. The latter are marked by the words hsm-fu (j|f |J^), '* newly added," prefixed to them. The pronunciation of the head characters is given according to the teaching of Sun Mien in his dictionary of the language published in the T'ang period. Criticisms and illustra- tions by the editors are distinguished as theirs, and they often quote from the work of the younger Hsii. Neither of these brothers gave much study to the phonetics of the language, and later scholars object to them that they overlooked the changes which had passed over the sounds of characters between the Han and T'ang dynasties. Some also have found fault with Hsii Hsiian for the addi- tions which he made to the "Shuo-wen," and specially for the introduction of non-classical characters. Yet his edition remains to this day popular with students, and it may be regarded as giving the authoritative text. Thus in the Kanghi Dictionary Hsii's '^ additions" are treated as part of the genuine text, and so in other works of authority. One of the many reprints of the work is that published in 1809, carefully revised and edited by Sun Hsing-yen (^, g fff).^ About the same time that the "Shuo-wen" was receiving new life from the brothers Hsii, another old classic, the " Urh-ya," also was revived. In the year 999 a revised and corrected edition of this thesaurus was prepared by a commission of learned men appointed by the Emperor. At the head of this commission was Hsing Ping (JflJ ^) al. Hsing Shu-ming (^ Bfl), who lived from 932 to 1010. Hsing was a good official, a learned scholar, and the author of several treatises. At present he is perhaps best known by his labours on the Canon of Filial Piety and the " Urh- 'u-xm^'^^mm,ed. 1839, hj^^^y^ (Rept.); ^^m^^,^? Sun Hsing-yen (1864 Bept.); "M. T. L.," chap, clxxxix. ; " Sung.shi," chap. ccocxU.; |||*^,Pref. 68 The Cultivation of their Language hy the Chinese. yaJ* For his edition of the latter treatise he studied the various texts and commentaries in existence. These, and specially the works of Liu Hsin, Sun Yen, and Kao Lien he used as his foundation ; but he adopted as his text that of Kuo Po's edition and retained all Kuo Po's comments. Classic and commentary, however, were subjected to a careful examination before being incorporated in the new work. The short title of this is " Urh-ya- chu-su," that is, the "Urh-ya'* with Kuo Po's explanations and the commentary of Hsing Ping and his colleagues. This edition was for a time popular among students, but it fell into disrepute even during the Sung period. It has been condemned by later critics as superficial and unclassical, and as careless and dishonest. Still it has been often reprinted, and it is one of the Thirteen Canonical Treatises in Yuan-yuan's edition of these. But in the last century it has been superseded apparently by the better work of Shao Chin-han, to be noticed shortly.^ Of other writers on the language during the tenth century only two or three need be here mentioned. One of Hsii Hsiian's fellow-workers was Kou Chung-cheng (^ + IE ^^" Tan-jen iB ^), a native of Ch'eng-tu in Ssiichuan, who lived from 929 to 1002. Kou was celebrated in life for his great learning and specially for his thorough acquaintance with the antiquities of the language. In addition to his contributions to Hsii's '* Shuo-wen " he assisted in the compilation of the '' Yung-hsi Kuang-yun," that is, the edition of the ''Kuang-yun'^ which was published in the Yung-hsi period (984 to 988) of T'ai Tsung's reign. A Buddhist monk of the Khitan country, by name Hsing-chiin (fj 1^) published in 997 a treatise to which he gave the title '' Lung-k'an-shou-ching'' (II ft ^ ffl)- '-^'^^is w^s a sort of dictionary explaining about 26,400 characters. It soon obtained popularity in the country of the author, but it was not admitted openly into China for several years after its publication. Another of the Buddhist monks who contributed to a knowledge of the language at this period was Meng-ying (^ 5^). He was far seen in the old writings and ^M S ^ Ife (13th ed.) J "Ma T. L.," chap, clxxxix.; " Sung-shi," chap, ccccxxxi. The Cultivation of their Language hy the Chinese 59' composed the ''Tzu-yuan'' (^ ^) in one chuan. The meaning of the title is "Source of Characters/' that is, of those in the "Shuo-wen," the book being an attempt to explain the classifiers, of that dictionary. The mention of Meng^ying suggests his critic Kuo Chung-shu (|R ^ f^. al. Shu-hsien 3& 5fc). This learned and eccentric genius wrote several treatises, to one of which he gave ' the name " P^ei-hsi " {% Sf). This means " Portable Piercer " and the book was intended to be an " unraveler " of the knots of confusion into which the written language had been forced.^ About the end of the tenth cQjitury was compiled the first edition of the celebrated dictionary " Kuang-yun/' the Yung-hsi edition mentioned above. We read indeed of a " Kuang-yun" published during the T'ang period, but nothing seems to be known of that work ; nor, indeed, is much known of the " Yung-hsi Kuang-yun." The edition which has come down to us is the revised and enlarged edition of 1008. The full title of this is " Ta Sung Ch^ung-hsiu-kuang-yun '' (ffe ^ fi ff R ||), that is The second revised " Kuang-yun '^ of the Great Sung Dynasty. This title was given to the treatise by the Emperor Chen Tsung, who had ordered it to be compiled. For this purpose he had appointed a commission, the chief members of which were Ch'en Peng-nien (^ ^ ^), a native of Nan-ch'eng in Kiangsi, and Ch^iu Yung (£ ^), men of learning and repute. The names of these men, however, were not given in the published work. It is acknowledged that the " Kuang-yun " is based on the " T^ang- yun " and *' Yii-pien," and some have not hesitated to assert that it is a combination of these two books, or merely a reprint of the " T'ang-yun '' or the " Ch'ie-yun." One writer states that in his time the " T'ang-yun," " Ch'ie-yun,^^ and " Kuang-yun " were simply one book under different names. This is perhaps over- stated and incorrect, but as the last is the only one of the three which has survived, it is not possible to decide from a comparison. The *' Kuang-yun " is a phonetic dictionary arranged according to the 206 finals beginning with tung {^). In this arrangement the characters to be described are distributed under the four ^ *' Ma T. L.," chap, oxc.j " Sung-shi," chaps, occoxli. and ccocxlii. 60 The Cultivation of their Language hy the Chinese, tones — P'ing, 8hang, Ch^itj and Ju. The pronunciation of the first of a group of characters is given by ih^fan-chHe or syllabic spelling. But the sounds thus given are not those of the eleventh century, but of a period at least two or three centuries before. The meanings which it gives are few and unsatisfactory, often putting one off with such stuff as *^name of a place, '* or "name of a person." The number of characters of which the " Kuang- yun'* gives explanations is 26,194, but many of these were, even in the eleventh century, obsolete or archaic. This dictionary has a value as the earliest one extant in which the sounds of charac- ters are given systematically. But it has never stood high with native scholars, some of whom do not hesitate to speak of it as a Dodder-garden Book, a treatise dealing with the petty affairs of low occupations. It has, however, been often re-edited and republished, and it is still occasionally reprinted.^ About the same time that Ch'en Peng-nien was engaged in the compilation of the "Kuang-yun'^ he was also busy with a new edition of the " Yii-pien.'' In this work he was assisted by Ch*iu Yung and "Wu Jui (^ ^). The additions and alterations which had been made by previous editors were carefully examined, and those which were approved were retained. But substantially the new edition was only a corrected reprint of that by Sun Chiang in 674, with a few additions. It bears the title " Ta-kuang-i-hui Yii-pien," and is still the received text of the " Yii-pien." ^ The "Kuang-yun" was quickly followed by the "Chi-yun" (^ ]||), another treatise of the same kind. This work was begun apparently in 1034 and finished in 1039. It also was undertaken by Imperial orders and on the petition of certain scholars who found the "Kuang-yun" faulty and untrustworthy, and the object with which it was compiled was to correct the faults and supply the defects of its predecessor. Like it, the " Chi-yun " also was to a large extent a reproduction of the " Ch'ie-yun," and for the meanings of words it was chiefly indebted to the " Shuo-wen." 1 "Kuang.yun," (Reprint of Chu I-tsun's ed.); *'Ku.shi," etc., ^ f^ Ji; " Li-shi," etc., chaps, i. ii. ; " Ku-chin-yun-liao," Int. ; Phon. S, W. Int. " " Yii-pien," (Reprint Chu I-tsan's ed.) ; •' Ma T. L».," chap, clxxxix. The Cultivation qf their Language hy the Chinese. 61 The number of characters of which the meanings and sounds are given is 53,525, or above 27,000 more than the " Kuang-yun '' had. Several distinguished scholars were engaged in its compila- tion and revision, chief among them being Sung Ch*i (^ |[5), Ch^ng Ch^en {% g^), Chia Chang-ch^ao (^ ^ fj), Ting Tu (T &)> ^^^ ^^ S^^ (^ iiX), all men of famous learning. Their work, the *^ Chi-yun/' was taken at the time of its publication as an authority for the sounds of characters, and it was several times republished with additions and corrections. By some it was ranked above and by others below the " Kuang-yun.'' The original edition, however, seems to have soon gone out of print, and the earliest which has survived is perhaps that brought out under the revision of Ssii-ma-kuang in 1067.^ While the " Kuang-yun " was being prepared another new work of the same kind was being compiled. This also was produc- ed under orders from the Throne, and was published at the same time with the ** Kuang-yun." The name which it bore at first was simply " Yun-liao" (f| \9^), and it was compiled by Ch'i Lun (M W) ^^^ others. The authors took the ^' Ch'ie-yun " as basis, and by liberal pruning and careful selection produced a treatise which at once found favour. Their work was adopted as the au- thority on the subject of rhyming words by the Li Pu (Board of Ceremonies) for the State Literary Examinations. In 1038 there appeared a new edition revised by Ting Tu, mentioned above, and issued by the Imperial Academy. This edition received the title '* Li Pu Yun-liao," and the work through all its changes has ever since borne that title. The careful and scholarly way in which this dictionary was compiled made it popular with students generally, and even during the Sung period it was several times republished, usually with additions and alterations. Originally it gave the sounds and meanings of only 9,590 characters, being thso of most frequent occurrence, but this number was not adhered to in the various editions. At first also the book was merely a compendium fliaoj, containing only those head-characters the 1 " Yun-hsio." ; Phon. S. W. ; ^ ^ ; " Ku-chin-yun-liao," Int. ; " Ku-ehi, etc., Yin-lun," J; ; "Ma T. L.," chap, ckxxix. 62 The Cultivation of their Language hy the Chinese. sounds and meanings of which were essential for one competing at the state examinations to know. In a comparatively short time, however, it supplanted all the previous pronouncing dictionaries, being much preferred to the '^ Kuang - yun '' and *^Chi-yun/' About 1090 a new edition of the ^^Li Pu Yun-liao'' was brought out by Sun (5^ ^) and the poet Su Shi. In this, as in other editions, not a few additions and corrections were made, but it had not any great success. A much more important edition is that which bears the name of the two Mao, father and son. This work, which is commonly quoted by the short title " Tseng-yun" (ig fj), was finished before 1160 but not published until about thirty years later. It was begun by Mao Huang (^ ^) and finished by his son Chii-cheng (^ J£), natives of Chii- chow (^ jj{) in Chekiang. In the " Tseng-yun " above 2,650 characters were added to those given by Ting Tu, but the original number of finals, 206, was retained. This edition of the " Li Pu Yun-liao ^' had for a time great popularity, especially among the literary men who were candidates for state appointments. Yet it has been severely censured by Liu Yuan and later critics. These have found fault with it for substituting vulgar and incorrect ways of writing characters for those taught by the " Shuo-wen " and other standards. Instances of this reprehensi- ble proceeding are given in the use of |g (properly i) for the old and correct |^, and of ^ for ^ kun. In these two cases it will be seen that by the changes in the way of writing, sense and sound are alike liable to be confounded. The misuse here in- dicated still continues, though educated men prefer to use the forms of the characters taught by the old authorities.^ Turning back to the eleventh century we have to note an interesting work, the '' Yun-tsung" (f| H), by Chien-yii (g ^), a Buddhist monk of Lo-yang. The aim of this treatise, which was in five chuan, with a preface by Ou-yang-hsiu, was to guide to the proper use of the Sanskrit initials, and to give the true and correct sounds of characters. The compiler was well read in the i"Wylie's Notes," p. 9; Phon. S. W. Ting-sheng; " Ku-chin-t'ung-yun," chap, i ; " Ku-shi, etc., Yin-lun," J: j " Tsu-chieo " (^ j^), Pref . ; '♦ Ma T. L.," chap. czc. The Cultivation of their Language hy the Chinese. 63 curious learning of China and in the literature of his own religion. Another Buddhist monk, Hsiang Ching (^g J^), with the help of other men of learning, in the year 1034 compiled the " T'ien-chu-tzu-yuan '' (5c ^ ^ M)- The meaning of this title is Origin of the Indiail Letters (or characters), and in the book, which was in seven chtmn, the author gave the 12 vowels and 30 consonants of the Sanskrit alphabet in Chinese characters, and instituted a comparison between the languages of India and China. To this century belongs also Wang An-shi (born 1021, died 1086), poet, scholar, and statesman, but doomed to a bad fame for doing what was new. He was the author of a philological treatise of considerable merit and celebrity. This work, which was in twenty chuan, bore the modest title *' Tzu-shuo " (^ ^) or Des- criptions of Characters. It was composed when Wang was old and broken, living in obscurity at Nanking. The characters given in it are explained mainly from the point of view of the hui-i, combination-meanings, and the author, according to his critics, makes too much of this class of characters. But the great offence of the " Tzu-shuo" is that it dares to censure the *^Shuo- wen." It has also been blamed for refinements and hyper- criticism, and it was indexed as unsound. Still its intrinsic merits kept it from utter extinction, and up to the present it is often quoted. By its bold criticism it roused orthodox scholars to take up the " Shuo-wen " and study it with renewed earnestness. Thus a fresh impetus was given to philoligical investigations, and several treatises were called forth in reply to Wang's teachings. These works were generally inferior in knowledge of the language which they displayed to the " Tzu-shuo*," which was vanquished by an author to be noticed below. Wang's son, P'ang (51 al. Yuan-tse -jf^ §|), also studied and wrote on the language. With the help of his father he compiled an edition of the *' Urh-ya " which has been praised for the thorough and method- ical manner in which the work was done. He was the author also of the '' Tzu-shu-wu-tu " {^ ^ ^ |I), Faulty Reading of Written Characters. 64 The Cultivation of their Language by the Chinese. Contemporary with Wang An-shi and his disciple in philos- ophy but not in politics was Luh T'ien (^ fg) al. Nung-shi (ji 65) of Shao-hsing Foo in Chekiang (born 1042, died 1102). Luh T'ien devoted his studies largely to the "Urh-ya/' and produced a treatise to which he gave the name " Urh-ya Hsin-i " (M H if K). New Meanings of the " Urh-ya.'^ This book has received great praise for the careful and thorough manner in which the author treats his subject. He compiled also the "P^i-ya" (J^ 51), a work which he designed to be a sort of supplement to the " Urh - ya," giving the names for common objects. Dr. Legge says that in the " P*i-ya," Luh is '*less careful in describing the appearance of his subjects than in discussing the meaning of their names.'' The ''Shuo-wen " also attracted Luh's attention, and he assisted in the preparation of a new and revised edition of that dictionary.* Another contemporary of Wang An-shi and one of his greatest opponents was the historian Ssii-ma-kuang (born 1019, died 1086). This latter also devoted much of his leisure to the study and cultivation of the language. His contribution to the *' Chi-yun " has been already mentioned. As companion and supplement to that work Ting Tu suggested and began a treatise, to which when finished the name "Lei-pien" (|g ^) was given. This work had to pass through several hands before it was finished and published by Ssu-ma-kuang, whose name alone it bears. The '' Lei-pien " is a dictionary in which, as in the ^* Shuo-wen," on which it is founded, the characters are arranged according to classifiers. Of these there are 544 and the number of distinct characters analysed and explained is 31,319. The treatise is in 49 chapters, and thirty years (1038 to 1068) passed while it was being elaborated. To Ssii-ma-kuang we owe also the "Ming -yuan" (^ ^). In this Garden of Names the author, taking the " Chi-yun " as basis, arranged a large number of characters according to their tones, giving also their composi- tion according to the " Shuo-wen," and adding definitions and illustrations from the classical authors. Another help which 1 " Sung-shi," chap, cccxliii.; L. C. C. iv., Prolog., p. 179. The Cultivation of their Language hy the Chinese. 65 Ssu-ma contributed to an accurate knowledge and proper use of the language is the " Ch'^ie-yun-chih-chang-t'u," Pronunciation made easy in Tables. In this we have twenty tables representing as many groups of sounds which serve as finals. Each table gives the 36 Sanskrit initials at the head, and under these above 3,000 characters in all are arranged according to the four tones and other technicalities of utterance.* Other writers of distinction on the language in this century were Sung Hsiang (^ J$) and Chang Yu (5i ^). To the latter the Chinese owe a book for which the orthodox student retains great admiration and almost affection. This is the "Fu-ku-pien" (fS "6" li)j ^ Book which Restores the Ancient, that is, the old writing of characters and their meanings. Chang Yu, whose other names were Ch'ien-chung (^ ^) and Chen-ching (^ ^) was a native of what is now Hu-chow in Kiangsu, and lived in the latter half of the eleventh century. His *^ Fu-ku-pien," which occupied him many years, was not published until the beginning of the next century. The chief part of this treatise is a collection of characters in the "small seal'' mode of writing. These are given according to the four tones and the ordinary finals ; then the modern form of each is given ; the meaning, wrong ways of writing, and the spelling are added. The book contains also collections of compounds and of pairs of characters similar in sound or form or both, but these refer rather to the mere writing. Chang Yu was a strong opponent of "Wang An-shi's theories about the " combination meaning," and it was chiefly to combat these that he composed the " Fu-ku-pien " which takes those characters which are made up of two elements, one significant and one phonetic. The " Fu-ku-pien " has been many times edited and republished, and it is still consulted. Its author wrote another treatise on the language, but it does not seem to have survived.^ The next author to be mentioned is Cheng Ch'iao (gj 1(^) styled Yii-chung (g| (iji) " one of the most erudite and renowned 1 •' Ma T. L.," chap, clxxxix. ; Supfc. " Ma T. L.," chap. xxv. ; -tH ® l§ # ® (Reprint of 1203 ed.) ^ ^ "i Jg (Reprint of 1781) ; " Ma T. L.," chap. cxc. 66 The GuUivation of their Language hy the Chinese. men of letters of the Sung dynasty ; distinguislied by almost universal knowledge." He was born at P'u-t'ien in the Hsing- hua Prefecture of Fuhkeen, and his life extended from 1104 to 1162. The sobriquet by which he is known in literature is Mr. Chia-chi (^ Jg ^ ^), from the name of the mountain in which he had a lonely retreat. In the monumental work of this scholar — the " T*ung-chih" — we find two sections devoted to our sub- ject. One in five chuan is the " Liu-shu-liao '* (7^ ^ BJ) ^^^ ^^® other is headed " Ch'i-yin-liao " ( which was originally compiled by Ching P'o (fj J^) al. Yen-pao (g g) of Chao-chow (^ ij\) in Chih-li. Soon after publication it was taken in hand by several members of the Han family of Chang-li in the Chen-ting district of Chih-li. Hence the actual compiling of the work is sometimes ascribed to one of these Hans, by name Hsiao-yen (^ ^), who has in consequence received much praise for the merits of the treatise. Then about 1212 a son of Hsiao- yen, by name Tao-chao (^ J^ Hg) al. Po-hui (fg 0^) published a new and improved edition, and the " Wu-yin-yun-chi " is often quoted as his work. He prefixed the words " Kai-ping " (gfc §f ) to the title in order to show that he had altered and condensed the original treatise. It is this edition by Han Tao-chao which is best known, and it is a peculiar and interesting work. The basis of the " Wu-yin-chi-yun" was the ^' Chi-yun,'' but other treatises, and specially the " Lei-pien " of Ssu-ma-kuang were also used in its compilation. In its present form it combines the tonic and syllabic analyses of words with their arrangement under like 1 " Ma T. L,," chap. cxc. ; " Snngf-shi," chap, ccccx. ; *' Liu-shu-ka," Pref . 'L. C. C, iv., Prolog., p. 181. The Cultivation of their Language hy the Chinese, 69 finals, the ^^Yii-pien" being woven into a phonetic dictionary. The characters are distributed according to the five musical notes, the four tones, the Sanskrit initials and a peculiar system of finals. The number of these last is reduced from 206 to 160, by omission of duplicates chiefly. There are 53,525 characters given, being about 27,000 more than were given in the " T'ang-yun." ^ Another book on the sounds of characters which attained some popularity and is still often quoted is the " Wu-yin-pien-hai " a^'m M W)' This treatise, which is generally quoted by its short title " Pien-hai,'* was compiled- by "Wang Yii-pi (J || |g)> a native of Hou-yang, then subject to the Kin Tartars. It was first published in the year i ] 84 but it has been often reprinted. The '' Yii-pien " formed the basis of the ^' Pien-hai/' but Wang rejected some of the classifiers of that work and made a new arrangement of the characters, introducing the combined phonetic and structural system.^ A much more famous book of this century was the *^ Yun- pu" (g| ^), Rhyme Restorer (lit. Repairer). This was the work of Wu Yii (J^ |^) al. Wu Ts'ai-lao {:jr ^), a native of the Bohea district in the Province of Fuhkeen. Wu Yii held office for a time under the Kao Tsung Emperor, and he was a distinguished scholar and a careful, methodical writer. In addi- tion to the '' Yuu-pu '^ he composed a commentary on one of the classics and the " Mao-shi-pu-yin " (^ H ^ §), a treatise in which he gives what he thought were the correct sounds and characters for the " Shi-ching." In compiling the " Yun-pu," also, Wu's chief aim was to restore to the characters in the old classic poetry their original sounds, and to the texts those readings which the rhymes required. The work was at first apparently only an appendix to the " Chi-ku '' ('^ ^) oi a writer named Hsia (J), but it attained fame as a separate publication. Wu argued that the political ballads and other poems of early times were at first sung, or chanted, or recited, and that they were not committed to writing but preserved in memory. He held that the minstrels ^ ?JC # 5 e" H tl (Reprint of 1589) ; Wylie's Notes, p. 9. 'M^M (Repriut) Pref . ; i # 3|g |g (Ming Rep.) Pref. 70 The Oultivation of their Language hy the Chinese. and poets used the sounds current in their several districts at the time, and that words of different tones in the " Shi '^ were inter- changed and rhymed together. In order to restore the original rhymes of the ancient odes and ballads, and the correct pronuncia- tions of words generally, he thought a provincial dialect such as that of the Soochow region at his time should be taken as guide and standard. The characters given in the "Yun-pu^' are arranged under the finals in the order of the Sanskrit initials, and some say Wu Yii was the first to adopt this order. He has been severely censured for his teachings about the use of forced rhymes, for needless changes in texts, and for wrong bracketing of finals. But there is considerable difference of opinion on these subjects among later writers, some approving and some condemn- ing Wu's facts and theories. He is recognized, however, as having been the first to distinguish in a methodical manner between the old and the modern pronunciations of characters. The former he called the " Ku-yin '^ (•§ ^) and the latter the "Chin-yin " {^ §). To support and establish his doctrines Wu marshalled a great array of illustrations and examples. He had the distinction of being adopted by Chu Foo-tzu as guide to the sounds of rhyming characters in the latter's editions of the " Shi- ching'' and *^Li-sao,'' though Chu did not always accept "Wu's violent changes of text, as, for example, that which he proposed for the well-known passage in the last poem of the "Shi-ching."^ To Wu Yii succeeded Ch^ng Hsiang ( J|5 J^) of less fame but more desert, according to late critics. He was the author of the " Ku-yin-pien " {-^ § ^) in which he reduced the "Ku-yun" or old rhyming finals to six classes. Ch^ng Hsiang's teachings on the differences between the old and the modern sounds of charac- ters are said to be free from most of the errors which are found in the writings of Wu Yii. They have, however, mistakes of their own, and they have never had much success, being, indeed, little known. ^ ^ -^ m m m> Int.; ■& 4- il M. Int.; tl ^.Pref.; » Ku-shi-yin-lan," ; L. Ch. C, iv., Froleg., p. 103. 2 « Ku-chin-fung-yuu," the |^ 0)J ; :^ § ^ i^ ^, chap. i. The Cultivation of their Language by the Chinese, 71 In the first half of the thirteenth century Wang Poh d fg), a celebrated scholar and philosopher who lived from 1197 to 1274, compiled the '^ Cheng-shi-chi-yin " (IE 4& i W)- This little treatise, published in 1236, was made up of materials taken from the works of Hsii Hsiian, Chia Ch'ang-chao, and Cheng Ch'iao. It has no claim to literary merit, but it is valu- able for the information it gives about changes in the forms, sounds, and meanings of characters.^ Contemporary with Wang Poh (or Pai) was Wang Tsung-tao d ^ JE) ^^- Yii-wen (]^ ^). The latter was a native of Feng-hu in the Prefecture of Ningpo, and he held office under the Emperor Li Tsung (1225 to 1265). His claim to mention here rests on two works which he composed to teach the proper use of the Sanskrit initials with the rhyming finals. These were the ''Ch'ie-yun-chi-hsiian-lun" (U H jf S o^)> quoted usually by the short title ^'Chi-hsiian" (or yuan %), and the "Ssii-sheng- teng-ti-t'u" (0 S ^ H H); in ^^^ chuanp- One of the most noteworthy books on the language in the 13th century is that known as the " Wu-yin-lei-chii" (5 § ^ |g), which also was the work of the Han family of Chang-li. This book in its late editions has a long title, given at the foot of the page, which gives some clue to its history and composition. It was first published in or about 1208, and it has been several times republished in the North. The basis of this dictionary was the '*Yii-pien" as enlarged and re-arranged by Wang Yii-pi, mentioned above. The work of compilation seems to have been begun by Ching P'o, already noticed, and it was continued by Han Hsiao-yen and finished by Han Tao-chao with the help of other members of the Han family and of certain disciples. The arrangement of the book is peculiar. The characters are grouped under classifiers, of which there are 444, being 421 selected from those of the ^'Yii-pien" with 23 added. These classifiers are taken according to their position under the thirty-six initials ^m^mmm^^^Bm, chap. m. ' ^ ^ ii ii. cliap. iii. ; " Ma T. L.," chap. cxc. 72 The Cultivation of their Language hy the Chinese. derived from the Sanskrit alphabet, arranged under the four tones and the physical organs employed in utterance. Thus the first classifier is Kin (chin ^) which comes under the K initial {kien ^), the pHng tone, and is a Ya-yin^ or sound due to the molar teeth. Under each classifier the characters are arranged according to the number of strokes as in the Kanghsi dictionary, and the pronunciation and usually a few meanings are added.^ In the year 1252 there appeared a work which soon became famous and exercised a great influence on the study of the language. This was the celebrated treatise of Liu Yuan (g|] |^), a native of P4ng-shui (^ 7J1C) in Ssuchuan. The name which he gave to his treatise was in full ^' Jen-tzii Hsin-k'an Li Pu Yun- liao '' (i ^ if n m. % ll m that is, The " Li Pu Yun-liao " reprinted in 1252, the Jen-tzu year in the cycle. It seems that this book, to which Liu Yuan is indebted for the perpetuation of his name, was actually composed and published by a scholar named Wang Wen-yii (3£ 35^ ^R). This man also was a native of P^ing-shui, and his book bore the cyclic characters for 1229, the year in which it was published. Liu Yuan seems to have merely altered these characters to those for 1252 and then to have published the work as his own. The treatise itself is largely indebted to the labours of the two Mao noticed above, though the compiler criticises these severely. He is famous for reducing the 206 yun or rhyme-classifiers to 107, by omitting or putting together duplicates. By doing this he began, according to some, the confusion of the true sounds of characters. Liu also added 436 characters to the number given in the " Li Pu Yun-liao." His treatise cast its predecessors, and specially the ^^ Kuang-yun,'^ into the shade for a considerable period. Up to the present, indeed, the P4ng-shui system may be said to prevail, and it is in force and fashion now with some slight modifications. Old-fashioned schol- ars mourn over this and complain that Liu Yuan's system passes in the world as that of Shen Yo or as that of the " T'ang-yun.'^ ' ^^#5.t-^mra^M, (Ming Reprint). ' " Li - shi - yin - chien," chap. ii. ; '* Yun -hsio " ; " Ku-chin-yun-liao," Int. ; " Ku-chin-t'ung-yun," Int. ; Phon. S. W., Int. The Cultivation of their Language by the Chinese. 73 In the year 1276 appeared a work generally cited by its short title " Ch'ie-yun-chi-nan " (-U f| f§ ^), a Gruide to the correct spelling and pronunciation of characters in classical litera- ture. This was composed by Liu Chien (gij |g) al. Shi-ming (i ?B)' ^ native of An-hsi, in Kansuh. It was founded on the " Wu-yin-chi-yun " of Han Tao-chao, and was regarded by its author as in a manner a supplement to that work. The book is first a series of tables showing the position of certain characters under the Sanskrit initials, the finals of the *' Wu-yin-chi-yun," the four tones, and the physical organs concerned in pronuncia- tion. To the tables is appended a small work of later date in thirteen sections. This shows the practical application of the tables, and the author gave it the modest name Jade-key Expedients, " Yii-yao-shi-men-fa" (^ H 15 PI &)j always quoted simply as the " Jade-key." To this part succeed various notes on distinctions in the sounds of characters. The most useful of these is the one on the characters which in classical literature are used in two tones with a separate meaning for each tone. Thus wang in the even tone is a king, and in the third (ch'i'l) tone is *^to be king of a kingdom. " Such characters the author denominates " moving and quiescent " (JJj ^), marking the former use of the word by a red circle. He also distinguishes between aspirated and non-aspirated sounds, calling the former hu (Pf), as sending out breath, and the latter chi (gj), as not sending it out.^ To the latter half of this (the thirteenth) century belongs by composition a treatise of no little merit, the " Liu-shu-ku " (7^ ^ ■^), Accounts of written characters in their six classes. The author was Tai T'ung (^ j|g) al. Chung-ta (f^ ^), of Yung-chia in the Wen-chow Prefecture of Chekiang. After obtaining the Metropolitan Degree he was appointed to an office in the Imperial Academy, and thence transferred as Archivist to T'ai-chow in his native province. Then the Mongols prevailed and Tai T'ung, unwilling to serve them, pleaded ill health and went home into seclusion. Here he occupied himself with the composition of the ^MfejE^^ia^l^ (Reprint of 1577). 74 The Cultivation of their Language hy the Chinese, "Liu-shu-ku, the beginning of which was due to his father's teaching. This work, which was not published until 1320, is in thirty-three chapters fchuanj with an introductory one called " Liu-shu-t'ung-shi " ( aC S 5E ^) or General explanations of the six classes of characters. To the western student this is the best and most interesting part of the treatise. In it we have the author's theories as to the origin and development of writing, the connection between it and speech, and various matters of detail relating to the language. Some of its statements have been found to be erroneous and some of its theories have been declared faulty or absurd. But the essay is written in a liberal, philosophical manner, and Mr. Hopkins liar, done us a kindness by rendering it into English. In the book itself the characters are arranged under 479 classifiers, of which some are primitives yielding derivatives, and others derivatives which again yield further derivatives. These proceed according to the order of the six classes. Pictorial or Symbolic, Indicative, and so on, and they are marshalled under eight titles designating as many categories of mental or material objects. Following the " Shuo-wen," as he says (H £1 7{t 3!C)j ^® places pi (— <) as the first of numbers at the beginning and makes his first group that of objects related to Number. To this succeed the words which belong to the categories of Heaven, Earth, Man, the Animal and Vegetable kingdoms, manual industries, and miscellaneous. The author gives the spelling of the character, the varieties of writing where such exist, the meanings apparently in what he considered the order of their development, and the derivatives formed from exist- ing or conjectured primitives, generally supporting or illustrating his teaching by reference to classical authorities.^ To the early part of the Mongol dynasty belongs the rhyme-dictionary commonly known as the " Yun-hui." This was published near the end of the 13th century, with the title "Ku- chin-yun-hui " ("j^T -7* t% ^)> ^^^ ^^s, according to some, the work of Hsiung Chung (J| tp or ,g,), a friend of Liu Chien. In * The y^ ^ ^, ed. 1784; " China Keview," Vol. II., p. 175 ; Ditto, IX., p. 297; Ditto, X., p. 143; The "Six Scripts," by L. C. Hopkins, Esq. The Cultivation of their Language by the Chinese. 76 the year 1292 appeared the " Ku-chin-yuu-hui-chii-yao " (Jp ^), which was apparently a new edition of the above. The " Yuq- hui-chii-yao" has been ascribed to Huang Kung-shao (^ S* IB)> of Shao-wu in Fuhkeen. This man, however^ is more frequently quoted as the author of the "Yun-hui" simply, the " Yun-hui-chii- yao " being assigned to Hsiung Chung. In the " Yun-hui" the 107 rhyme-classes of Liu Yuan are adopted, and the characters are arranged under them according to the Sanskrit initials. But in thus giving the orthography of characters the book is said to abound in errors, and the confusion in this respect which has since existed is traced by some to the ''Yun-hui." This dictionary was based on Liu Yuan's edition of the ''Li-pu*yun-liao," but it gives 12,652 characters, being many more than any previous edition of the *' Li-pu-yun-liao " had given. For some time the "Yun-hui" had a show of popularity among the professional students, but it afterwards fell into utter disuse. It has been condemned as a faulty, slovenly work, much inferior to its pre- decessors.^ In the early part of the 14th century appeared a notable treatise, the " Yun-fu-ch'un-yii " (t| fl^^ § 2), Jewels from the Treasury of Words. This was the joint work of two brothers surnamed Yin (|§), natives of Hsin-wu in Kiangsi. Their names were Shi-fu (flf ^) ah Ching-hsien (gj ^) «Z. Shi.yti(gf Jg), and Chung.fu (+ ^) al. Fu-ch'un (S[ M) «^. Yu-ta (^j^ g)- They belonged to a family distinguished for devotion to literary pursuits, and they inherited a considerable amount of etymological learning. The first edition of the "Yun-fu," finished in 1307, appeared aboutl314, but as there was a great gap in the work, and as it was in other respects very defective, it had not much success. It was not until 1590 that a new and complete edition was brought out by another great scholar, Wang Yuan-chen (J % J[) ^^• Meng-ch'i (3£ j^). He added words omitted in the original edition, and gave the spelling according to the " Li-pu-yun-liao.^' As thus published, the " Yun-f u '' is a copious dictionary of terms 1 "Yan-hsio"; " Ku-chin-yun-liao," Int.; " Ku.Bhi-j^in.lun," chap. J^; Phon, S. W. Ting.shdng. 76 The Cultivation of their Language hy the Chinese. and phrases in use among literary men or derived from early- classical writings. The compilers adopted the "P'ing-shui" rhyme-finals, with the exception of one which they regarded as a duplicate. In addition to the phrases from the orthodox litera- ture, the " Yun-fu" gives also huo-fao (^fg ^), that is, quotations in common use but of unknown origin ; it has also proper names and phrases derived from Buddhist writings. The work was intended to be of practical utility to students, and its continued popularity with them testifies to the success of the intention. This popularity it has maintained notwithstanding the severe criticisms which have been passed on it by succeeding authors. According to one of these the compilers of the *^Yun-fu" so ill- treated the ^'Shuo-wen" and the " Yun-liao" of Liu Yuan, that the latter and Hsii Shen must be crying for vengeance in Hades. The criticisms of these writers are apparently directed chiefly against the treatise in its early form when published in 1314. The Ming editor supplied many of the defects and corrected the errors which detracted from the value of that edition.'^ Another etymological treatise of the 14th century is the % /Chung-yuan-yin-yun (pf* ]g ^ |g), a Vocabulary of the Mandarin or standard language. The authorship of this book is ascribed to Chou T^-ch4ng (jg -fg ^), a native of Kao-an ("^ '$) ^^^ Kiangsi. There seems, however, to have been an early form of the work, with the title "Chung-yuan-ya-yin'' (+ i^ f| §), the Elegant words of China, that is, the Court language. In order to distinguish Chou's edition from this, the term " Kao-an " was prefixed to the former. As the work is now found in shops and libraries it is a small treatise in two chuaUj and edited by two scholars of the Ming period. It gives a number of characters arranged under nineteen pairs of finals and four tones. The latter are Yin-p'ing, yang-pHng, shang, and ch'il. This distinction of a yin and a yang p'ing was not in the first form of the book. It was due to a scholar named Hsiao (^), and was not published until 1324, after Hsiao's death. This distinction is often said to ^ ^^EX^M B S (ed. 1590); " Ku-chin-yun-liao," Pref . ; «' Yun. hsio; Phon. S. W. Ting-sh^ng. The Cultivation of their Language hy the Chinese. 77 corrrespond to that of the p'ing tone into upper ani lower ( J^ and f*), but one can easily see for himself that such is not the case, at least not always. The " Chung-yuan-yin-yun ^' further distributes the ju or short-tone words, of which there are seventeen groups, among the four other tones, adding them at the end of the section to which they belong. It also distinguishes what it calls pi^k'ou-ynn (Pg p ||)or "shut-mouth finals," of which there are three groups. The words of these classes in Mandarin at present all end in w, and cannot be distinguished as to ending from others which in this work are in different^ classes. But at the time of the compiler the '^ shut-mouth finals" were probably for him, as Dr. Edkins says, words ending in m. It must be remembered, however, that the '^ Chung-yuan-yin-yun " is not to be taken as a perfect authority for the spoken Mandarin of any part of China in the 14th century. It was compiled as a help to the makers and singers of plays and ballads in North China ; and it was for these and similar persons that the proper distribution of the short tone words was taught. In the common speech of the people the short tone words were used as such.^ To this period belongs also the "Lei-yun" (^ ^), a work in thirty chiian, which was published in 1321. It is generally ascribed to Li Poh-ying (^ ffi 51^' ^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^"^y ^^ ^ certain extent the compiler. His father, Mei-hsien (-^ |f ), began and a brother continued the compilation. Poh-ying himself spent ten years in preparing the book but died before it was printed. The aim of the " Lei-yun " was to correct errors in the popular use of words by supplying the true forms, sounds, and meanings from old authorities. But the book itself contained many serious errors, and it does not seem to be much known. A nephew of Poh-ying, by name W^n-chung (^ jiji), in order to soothe the mind of his uncle "under the nine hills," published a book which he called the " Tzii-chien " (^ f|) or Mirror of Characters. In this small treatise we have a large ^^Ma^ (Rept. of Minged.); "Yun-hsio;" »{» 'M ^ tft chap. vi. ; Ed. Man. Gr., pp. 40 and 79; " Ku-chin-t'ung-yun," chap, i.; " Li-shi-yin-chien," chap. i. \/ 78 The Cultivation of their Language hy the Chinese, number of characters grouped under the usual four tones and 201 finals. It gives the spelling of each, the original meaning, and a short analysis. For the two last it generally follows the *' Shuo-wen," but other works, such as those of Hsii Hsiian, Kuo Chung-shu, and Ssu-ma-kuang, are also quoted as authorities. Native students have a liking for the " Tzu-chien,*' which is a useful little book and is often reprinted.^ One of the great scholars who adorned the reign of the Mongols was Chou Poh-ch'i (^ fg ^) al. Poh-wen (fg ffi), of P*o-yang in Kiangsi. He was author of the " Liu-shu-cheug-o " (/^ • IE W)> The Six Classes of Characters Right and Wrong. This book gives a selection of above 2,000 characters, under the tones and according to initials and finals. Of each character an old form is given, and the modern way of writing is added below. Then we have the spelling and an explanation of the character, its meaning and right and wrong variants. Chou Poh-ch4 was also the author of the *' Shuo-wen-tzu-yuan," Sources of the Characters in the *' Shuo-wen." This was an earlier and more ambitious work than the " Liu-shu-cheng-o," which owed its existence to the earlier treatises. The later work is still occa- sionally reprinted and consulted by students and others as a good authority.'^ The founder of the Ming dynasty was a patron of all kinds of learning and promoted efforts to recover and preserve the valu- able treatises which had been lost or become very rare. He also in various ways encouraged the study of the written language. In his reign (1368 to 1399) and by his orders a new and revised edition of the " Yun - hui " was prepared and published, but that treatise still remained unacceptable. In the meantime the Emperor appointed a commission of learned men to make a new pronouncing dictionary. The principal members of this commis- sion were Sung Lien (J^ ^^l!) al. Ching-lien (;^ •J'll), of Chin-hua (^ M) ^^ Chekiang, and Yo Shao-feng (|j| |g ||,), officials and scholars of great learning and abilities. They produced a die- ^ ^ ffii (Reprint of 1685, ed. by ^ ^ :^), '^ ^ H IE S ed* by i| IE IT of Ming d/nasty. The Cultivation of their Language hy the Chinese. 79 tionary which, from the style of the Emperor's reign, was called *'Hung-wu-cheng-yun^' (gt JJ J£ g|), Sung Lien's preface being dated 1375. In this work the meanings and pronunciations of more than 12,000 characters are given, and these characters are arranged according to a new set of finals, only seventy-six in number. In fixing on these the compilers seem to have mainly followed the " Chung-yuan-ya-yin," which was a standard of reference for them. The explanations and illustrations are chiefly derived from the work of Mao Huang and his son. A few courtly writers who lived about the. time of its appearance have praised the '' Cheng-yun," but it has never had favour with the literati. It contains much learning and criticism, but still, as the Emperor Kanghsi says, it never could get into vogue. Sung Lien seems to have blindly followed the doctrines of Wu Yii. He also criticizes as teaching of Shen Yo what was actually that of Liu Yuan, and he made the dialect of his native district in Chekiang the basis of criticism. In the reign of the last Emperor of the Ming dynasty there appeared the " Cheng-yun-chien " (jg SR )}^), that is, the '^Hung-wu-cheng-yun " with supplementary notes. These notes were contributed by Yang Shi-wei (Jj^ 9$ ^) a distinguished Confucianist of the seventeenth century. They are of three kinds : the Chien ()}5) give sounds, meanings, and illustrations for the characters in the original " Cheng-yun " but supplementary to those already there; the " Ku-yin " ( "jSf §) notes give at the end of each yun (section) a number of characters with their archaic sounds; and the "I-tzii" (^ ^) are omitted characters which Yang Shi-wei ventured to introduce.^ Among the learned men who helped Sung Lien in compiling the "Cheng-yun," was Chao Ch'ien (^ ^) better known as Chao Hui-ch*ien (Jg ^). This man, a native of Yii-yao in Chekiang, lived in the second half of the fourteenth century. He was noted during his short lifetime of forty-four years, for his great learning and philological attainments. In addition to his labours on the "Cheng-yun" he compiled also the "Liu-shu- ^ H. tS m ed. 1632; " Kii-yun.piao-chun," ; Ed. Man. Gr., p. 82; " Ku-chin. t'ung-yun," preface, et al. ; " Ku-chin-yun-liao," Int, 80 The Cultivation of their Language hy the Chinese. pen-i " (yf^ ^ ;$ ^). This is a sort of dictionary in which the characters are given under 360 classifiers, an arrangement which, was not adopted by others. The work, however, has been highly praised by subsequent writers, specially for its treatment of the "Chuan-chu'' or "deflected" words. Ghao, who has the further designation "Ku-tse'' ("j^f |!j), was the author of two other treatises on the language, one of them being an extensive work in one hundred chuan} The modern etymology of the language is discussed by Chang Fu {% ||) al. Tao-ch*ang (Jf %), a native of Chia-ting (Kadingl in Kiangsu. He compiled the " Yun-hsio-chi-ch'eng " (11 ^ ^ JBS)» i" which he made a careful revision of the dis- tribution of characters in the four-tone classes. In this book we have twenty-one chief yun or finals, being the nineteen of Chou T^-ch*ing with changes and additions. For example, Chang adds shan (llj) and hui (Jc)^ separates mu ij^) from yii (^^J, and omits Chiang ({X)- Under the above twenty- one finals are subordinate classes which are said to be according to the finals in the " Cheng-yun." The short-tone words are distributed in these classes in a methodical manner, and in what is supposed to be a natural order. The '' Yun-hsio-chi-ch'eno " has been much praised for the correct account it gives of the relations of charac- ters under their phonetic categories. Its compiler was also the author of another etymological treatise, the " Chi-yin-pien " (iS. ^ S)> ^ut this latter work does not seem to be much used or known. The fan-chHe method of denoting the pronunciation of characters had now been made practically as nearly perfect as possible, but it was still found inadequate to represent sounds precisely. An attempt to introduce an improved method was made during this period by a scholar named Shen Ch*ung-sui {'(% % W^)' -S^s P^^^ required the use of three characters instead of two. Thus he represented the spelling of Tciai {chie §") by ki (^)) ^^ (^)' ^^^ * (IS)- Shen was evidently in advance of his time, for his method was not adopted in any dictionary, and it 1 " Ku-chin.yun.liao," lut. ; " Yun-hsio." The Cultivation of their Language hy the Chinese. 81 was even said to be nearly like giving legs to a serpent. But in recent times the attempt has been made to represent foreign sounds by a tri-syllabic spelling.^ We may here notice some of the labours in philology of certain Buddhist monks in the Ming period. In the fifteenth century one of these monks, by name Chie-hsuan (f^ ^), with the help of several brethren compiled the " Wu-yin-chi-yun," the second treatise with that name. This is said to be a work of great research, the result of much study and investigation. Another monk, Chen-k'ung (^ §), of a monastery in the capital, compiled the " Pien-yuu-kuan-chu-chi " (^ ffl K ^ ^)> better known by its short title '^ Kuan-chu-chi.'' This is a collection of eight short treatises on subjects connected with the language. It was published in 1498 with a preface from the pen of a metropolitan graduate named Liu. In the preface the work is praised for its great and varied learning and for its usefulness not only to the Buddhists but also to the orthodox student. The praise seems to be rather excessive and the whole work cannot be said to rank high. In the short treatises, however, of which it is composed, the curious reader will find information which he will scarcely find in other treatises. The "Ta-t'zii-jen'' (;^ ^ \2) monastery, in which Chen-k*ung lived, produced another monk who was noted for his great and varied learning. This was No- an (ff^ '^) who published a new and enlarged edition of Liu Chien's " Yii-yao-shi.'' The original edition had only thirteen '' keys," and No-an added seven. The new work was edited by Chen-k'ung and published with a laudatory preface in 1513.^ In the first half of the sixteenth century lived Yang Sh6n (ji %) al. Sheng-an {J\ 1^) al Yuug-hsiu (^ ^), born in 1488 and surviving to 1559. He was a native of Hsin-tu in Ssuchuan, and one of the most remarkable men of the Ming dynasty. In addition to the poetry, political writings, books on philosophy and natural history which he produced during his unhappy life, ^ " Li-shi-yin-chien," chap. ii. ' K ¥* ^ (Ming reprint). V 82 The Cultivatton of their Language hy the Chinese, he composed also several treatises on subjects connected with the oral and written language. Yang was a great explorer of antiquity, and studied specially the relation of the language of his own time to that of the early periods. One of the best known of his philological treatises is the " Chuan-chu-ku-yin-liao " (Wt S "6" © ^)> ^ compendium on the old words of the class " deflected." Yang uses the term chuan-chu or " deflected " to denote the characters which came to acquire new pronunciation and new meanings. To some extent he was a follower of Wu Yii, and this treatise is by some regarded as an enlarged and improved " Yun-pu." Like Wu, he gave the name " Old rhyme-sounds" ("j^f fj) to sounds found in the miscellaneous literature of comparatively late times. The treatise here men- tioned is said to show great learning but little criticism, and to be marred by a love of display. Yet students of the language and literature continue to regard Wu Yii and Yang Shen as sources of authentic information about the phonetics of the old language.^ About the year 1570 appeared the " Shi-yun-chi-liao " (^ b1 ti ^)> ^ methodical compendium of the rhymes in the '^Shi." The author of this treatise was P'an En (j^ [§) a native of the Shanghai district and a distinguished scholar in the reigns of Shi Tsung and Mu Tsung (1522 to 1573). P^an adopted the "P*ing-shui" 107 finals, and his book, which is in five c/iuan, gives 3,800 characters. His etymology of these is largely based -Cjii the work of the brothers Yin and on the '* Yun-hui " of Huang Kung-chao. The " Shi-yun-chi-liao " was popular for a time and it is still used, but it has not a high place as an authority on the old language. It is condemned as learned but inaccurate and unmarked by critical discrimination. Yet it had the fortune to be appropriated by a man named Liang, who had it printed word for word as his own production about sixty years after it was first published. Liang's son continued the fraud, and Plan's work wa? Ipng soldr— is perhaps still sold — as that of Liai^g. ^ " Ku-chin-yun-liao," Int.; " Ku-yun-piao-chun," Int.; " ]^ing.B,hi,'' chaps, xcvi. J cxcii. ; Wylie's Notes, p. 130. The Cultivation of their Language hy the Chinese, 83 The treatise had a better fortune in being largely used by Shao Chang-heng in the preparation of his work, wbich will soon fall to be noticed. Contemporary with P^an En was another scholar also distinguished for his learning in the antiquities of the lan- guage. This was Ch'en Ti (^ %) al Chi-li ($ :ft), a native /^^/^ of Foochow. He was the author of several etymological treatises, of which two are still well known. One of these is the " Ch'ii- / sung-ku-yin-i " (^ J^ iSf ^ ^) which treats of the words ^ found in the poetry of Ch*ii Yuan- (J|5 ^^) and Sung Yii ($|c 2), that is, with the language of the latter part of the fourth / century B.C. The second work is the " Mao-shi-ku-yin-k'ao '^ \/ (^ Hf iSf § ^)) generally quoted by its short title *'Ku-yin- k'ao," an examination of old sounds in the " Shi-ching," in four chuanf with an appendix. This was published about 1606 with one preface by the author's friend Chiao Hung (^^ j^) al. Jo Hou (II ^), and a second by the author himself. In it Ch'en takes 500 characters in succession, and of each he gives what he finds to have been its old sound, supporting his view first by proofs taken from the " Shi-ching," and next by collateral evidence drawn from subsequent writings. Ch'en Ti was the first to teach in a thorough methodical way that the rhymes of the " Shi " represent the sounds which the characters had at the time the poems were composed, and that characters have from age to age undergone changes of sound. These doctrines he learned from Chiao Hung, mentioned above, who also was a good scholar in the language and a writer on it seeking to preserve its purity and historical correctness. The merit of the " Ku-yin-k^ao " is lessened by the neglect its author shows for local variations and the modern sounds of characters. He went too far also with his theory that Eu-^v^hsie-yin (i^ fs^' Pf ^), the ancients did not alter the sound of a character for a special occasion. He held, for example, that when yii (^) at the end of one line has the character ^ at the end of the next as a rhyme, we are to infer that the actual sound of this latter character at the time was something like yiiy say hu. In after 84 The Oultivation of their Language by the Chinese. times men ignorant of the true sound of the character represent- ed it as pa and pe} y/ In the year 1633 was published the first edition of a small but important treatise, the ^' Tzti-hui " (»^ ^). This was compiled by Mei Ying-tsu (|g /f ^) al. Tan-sheng (|8 ^), a native of Ning-kuo Foo in the Southern part of the present Anhui. It is a dictionary in which the characters explained are given according to the number of strokes, under 214 classifiers. These classifiers are the " Radicals " which were afterwards adopted by the compilers of the Kanghsi dictionary and other similar treatises. The " Tzu-hui " in its original form did not give any syllabic spelling, but merely stated under a character that its pronunciation fyinj was so and so. In later editions, however, the syllabic spelling is added and the variations of sounds care- fully noted. For many years it was very popular among students and it has been often reprinted, revised and improved. But it is considered inferior to later dictionaries as it has wrong ways of writing characters and makes mistakes as to the classifiers. Moreover, the meanings and illustrations which are given even in the enlarged editions are very few, and, as the Emperor Kanghsi says, the work errs by being too brief and concise. It was reprinted in an abbreviated form in 1676, in the complete form in 1681 and again in 1688, and there are still to be found different editions of it in use, varying in the quantity of the original work which they retain. In its fullest form the book is very useful and gives much valuable information about the changes of sound and form which the characters have undergone. It is to be noted that the pronunciation which it gives for a character often differs from that found in the ordinary diction- aries. Thus it gives ch'i as the sound of — fi), kU'i as that of P (k^ou)j and ngil as that of -^ (nii).^ ' ^ l# ■& "a #> ed. 1606; Ed. Man. Gr., p. 267 ; Plion. S. W., Pref. ; " Ku- yun-piao-chun," Int.; " Liu-shu-yin-yun-piao," Pref. Some late native authors quote Cli'en Ti simply by his name Chi-li (^ i) in citing his teachings, as though these and their author were familiar to everybody. '-^ ^ S, ed. 1676 and 1688 ; Kanghsi Diet., Preface ; Ed. Man. Gr., p. 82 ; " Wu-fang.yin-yun," Pref. by Nien Hsi-yao. The Cultivation of their Language hy the Chinese. 85 We now come to one of the great writers on the language, a teacher who has exercised great influence on nearly all who have followed him. This author, often quoted simply as Mr. Ku (H J£), belongs to the period in which the Ming dynasty fell and was succeeded by that now reigning. He was born in 1613 at K^un- shan (g^ ^J), in the Prefecture of Soochow, and died in 1682. His given name was Yen-wu {% Jf), and he had the additional names Ning-jen (@ A), and T'ing-lin (^ i^). In the depart- ment of philology Ku composed five books, which were published together in 1643 with a short preface by a friend. This is followed by a very interesting essay or letter addressed to one Li Tzu-te (^ -^ f*) which is entirely devoted to the archaBology of the language. The first of the five books is entitled ^* Yin-lun " (©!&)> Discussions on vocal sounds, and it may be regarded as ^ introductory to the others. In this we have extracts from many authors and much interesting information on the origin and development of the Chinese language. It describes the technical terms used in etymological treatises, criticises previous authors, and gives Ku's own views on the use of characters in early y poetry. The second book is called '' Shi-pen-yin ^' (If ;$! §) and is an attempt to reproduce the sounds of the characters as used in the *' Shi-ching." The third is the " Yi-pen " (^ TfC) which does ^ the same for the rhymes in the " Yi-ching.'' The fourth is the / "T'ang-yun-cheng'^ (H f| ]£) in which the finals of the T''ang writers have their ancient sounds given, these being substantiated by a collection of evidence from old authorities. The fifth book, which is devoted to the old sounds of words, is called " Ku-yin- / piao " ("i^ § ^). The author of these works was a man of w vast learning, but he was also a thoughtful reader who reasoned and criticised. He was at the same time an enthusiast, specially in matters connected with the antiquities of the language, and carried his opinions to excess. Ch'en Ti and Lu Te-ming were the masters whose views as to the proper treatment of the characters in the early classical poetry he in the main adopted. He held that words rhymed in the old ballads merely because of similarity of sound and without distinction of toue. This and 86 Tlie Cultivation of their Language hy the Chinese. other doctrines of Ku have been disputed by later authors, and hfe has been rather severely criticised for some of his statements by men who were under great obligations to his labours.-^ Another great writer on the language in the seventeenth century was Shao Chang-heng (g|J g ^) al. Tzu-hsiang (-f ;fg), a native of Wu-chin (^ Jg) in Kiangsu. His principal work on this subject is the *'Ku-chin-yun-liao'' ("[^T ^ ai ^\ a phonetic thesaurus of ancient and modern words. This treatise was completed about 1660 but not published until thirty years afterwards. In the introduction the author gives a good histori- cal and critical account of the chief among his predecessors. Then follows the work proper, in which the characters selected are arranged under four tone's ac3ording to the 106 finals, beginning with tung. At the end of each class are added (1st) the old words which were commonly regarded as of like ending, and (2nd) those characters which, according to Wu Yii and Yang Shen, in old times took the same ending for rhyme purposes though their proper sounds were different. So the book is, as the title indicates, a compendium of old and modern rhyming words. As has been stated above, the " Ku-chin-yun-liao " is based on P'an En's treatise, but Shao made changes and important additions. The latter are generally taken from the "Kuang-yun" or one of the editions of " Li-pu-yun-liao.'' Those which he made himself are given at the end of each section, and they have not received universal approbation.^ Contemporary with Shao Tzu-hsiang was Mao Ch'i-ling (^ ^ W) ^^- Ta-k'o (;^ pj) al. Hsi-ho (W W)- This latter lived from 1623 to 1713 and was one of the most illustrious scholars of the seventeenth century. He was a man of great learning, of original views and independent research, and he had a clear and direct way of expressing himself in writing. Of his many contributibns to learning and philology the only one we notice here is that known generally by its short title " Ku-chin- , VIS K if ^ 3l § ; "Ku-yan.piao-chun," Int. ; 1 IS ^ ^ gig :^ IE, chap. viii. ^ ^ -^ H »ft, ed. 1696. The Cultivation of their Language by the Chinese. 87 t'uDg-yun " (iSf -^ JJ bJ), which was published at the Imperial Press in 1684. The full title (given in a note below) is explained by the author thus : The words '^ Kang-hsi-chia-tzii " indicate the reign and the year of the reign in which the book is publish- ed; " Shi-kuan-hsin-k'an " means newly corrected by Imperial Archivists ; and *' Ku-chin-t'ung-yun " shows that the work is concerned with a comparison of the words sanctioned as rhymes now, with those so used in old literature. In the introduction there is a critical review of the current theories on the origin and history of the modes of representing the sounds of characters. The treatise of Liu Yuan was the basis of the '' Ku-chin-t'ung- yun," which adopts the 106 finals of the period. Mao teaches that in the old classical poetry there was no separation of the pHng, shang, and ch^ii tones, but that words in the ju tone formed a class by themselves. His criticisms on Wu Yii and others are often severe, and he writes generally in a dogmatic, dictatorial manner. His book is read by students, but it is not sanctioned as an authority on the subject of " interchangeable finals." ^ In 1705 appeared the first edition of the *' Cheng-tzu-t'ung " (IE ? 3ii) compiled in the last years of the seventeenth century. This dictionary is merely an enlarged and improved edition of the original " Tzu-wei.*' It was compiled from the latter by Liao Wen-ying (0 Tj^ 3^) al. Pai-tzu ("g -J), but the current editions bear the names of Mei Ying-tsu, the compiler of the " Tzu-wei," and Han T'an (@ ^) the editor of that work. The last named is also sometimes referred to as the author of the " Cheng-tzu-t'ung." This work has been blamed for carelessness and ina c curacy, and the compilers of the Kanghsi Lexicon are severe on its demerits. Fault has been found with it specially for its mistakes as to the assignment of characters to their classifiers or radicals. In its latest editions, however, it is a valuable work and gives useful information on the sounds a,nd structure of characters, not only in the body of the treatise but also in the parts which are supplementary. A comparison of the " Cheng- tzu-t'ung"iwith| the Kanghsi Dictionary wiU shew 88 The Cultivation of their Language hy the Chinese. that the latter followed the lines of its predecessor and took from it freely.^ The ''Tzii-wei" and the " Cheng-tzu-t'ung" are still occa- sionally reprinted, but they may be said to have been quite superseded by the " Kang-hsi Tzu-tien." This dictionary was first published in 1717 and soon became the standard authority. Other works of a like character have appeared since, but it has not been displaced by any of them. The Emperor by whose orders it was made also caused a book on the phonetics of the language to be compiled. This was the '' Yin-yun-ch^an-wei '* (■@ ii M ^)i which became the standard authority on the use of the thirty-six Sanskrit initials. The same Emperor also en- gaged a college of scholars to make under his supervision the treatise to which the name '•'Pei-wen-yun-fu'^ was given. This is one of the largest dictionaries and cyclopedias of reference ever published, but its usefulness is impaired by slovenly, inaccurate quotations. It should always be used with caution and its state- ments verified where possible. Ten years after it appeared a supplement was found necessary. This was compiled by the Emperor's orders and published with the title " Yun-f u-shi-i " iM M i^ SS)' Yun-fu gleanings. As an index to the *' Pei-wen- yun-f u " a very compendious little dictionary was compiled and published in 1821 by Cheng Chang-keng (gj5 ^ ^) <^il. Hsiie-t'ing (8 ¥)• This is the '* Ssii-yin-shi-i " (0 § p W> ^ work which gives the characters of the ^^ Pei-wen-yun-fu " according to the 214 classifiers with their spelling and the chief meanings. The *^Ssu-yin" are the ''four tones," and for each character explained a reference is added to the tone and final under which it is to be found in the '* P'ei-wen-yun-fu." This little dictionary is very popular with native students and it seems to be much needed. Another index to the great thesaurus is the tonic vocabulary named '' Yun-hsio-chi-nan," A guide to the learning of the pronunciation of words. This work has a syste- matic arrangement of the characters under the four tones, and according to the Sanskrit initials and the finals of the *' P'ei- ^ IE ^ j5, reprint of Liao's edition. The Cultivation of their Language hy the Chinese. 89 wen." The compiler was Wang Ch^n (3E ?^)) a native of Ch'ang-lo in Fuhkien, and the work was published in 1848. It has been reprinted several times and is very popular with the numerous students of that province.^ In the year 1700 a small but important work was published, the '' Wu-fang-yuan-yin," the genuine words of the Empire. This thesaurus was compiled by Fan T'eng-f^ng (^ H ^) al. Ling-hsd (^ ^) of T'ang-shan in the south of Chihli. In 1710 there appeared a revised and improved edition with a preface by Nien Hsi-yao (r^ H g) al, Yun-kung {% 3|), its editor. The work was further enlarged and published in a new form in 1780, and there have been several reprints of the 1710 edition. In this dictionary the characters are arranged according to a new system. There are twelve finals and twenty initials, the former being in two classes, each of six finals. The first six are called " light and clear " and they do not admit any ju-sheng words. These last are all lodged in the second class, the words of which are *' heavy and indistinct." There are five tones, the pHng being divided into upper and lower, corresponding to the yin-pHng and yang^ pHng of Chou Te-ch*ing. It is acknowledged by native students that the system of the " Wu-fang-yuan-yin " is not a good one, and the work is not regarded as an authority. The 1710 edition, however, forms a convenient book of reference and is largely consulted by provincial students learning Mandarin. It has also been used by Dr. Williams in compiling his Dictionary, and an account of it will be found in the introduction to that work. Dr. Williams has there given what he calls a translation of Yao's preface, and it is about as bad a specimen of translation as could be produced.^ We next notice the contributions to the study of the language made by Chiang Yung (Jl ^) al. Shen-hsiu {^ ^). Chiang (Kiang) was a native of Wu-yuan in Anhui and lived from 1681 to 1762. He was a man of great learning and ability, ^ B9 I' P? .il (ed. 1843) i m ^liWM' My copy of the " Pei-w^n-yun-fu" is a recent reprint, and is perhaps an unusually bad one. ' ^ iS 3l "^ 7C Q^ (reprint) ; Williams' Dictionary, Int., p. xiv. ; Ed. Man. Gr., p. 38. 90 The Cultivation of their Language hy the Chinese, archaeologist, astronomer, musician, and philologist. In this last capacity he was the author of the '^ Yin-hsio-pien-wei " (§ J^ p ^), the " Ssu-sheng-ch'ie-yun-piao " (pg /J -gO f| S) and the " Ku-yun-piao-chun " ("^ f| ^ ^). The last is the most important and the only one of the three which is well known at present. It was composed in order to correct and supplement the teachings of Ku Yen-wu, though the latter was evidently Chiang's master. The date of its first publication is 1771, and it was carefully edited by Lo Yu-kao (jg /g' Jg). The work is devoted entirely to the discussion of the ancient sounds of certain characters. It gives only thirteen classes of finals, under the three tones p'ing, shang, chU'l, and eight under the Ju tone, and the author regarded this as the proper system for the sounds of words in the old poetry. He held that in the "Shi-ching" the distinction of tones was not observed in the rhymes, a shang word rhyming with a p'ing word if the two approximated in sound. The old rhymes, he thought, represented the speech of the people at the time and in the places of their original composition, and an important matter was to keep old and new pronunciations quite distinct. The forms of characters have changed in the course of time, and so also have the sounds attached to them. The " Ssu-sheng-ch'ie-yun-piao," which was published at the same time as the above and by the same editor, is a very short treatise. Chiang left it uurevised and so it has not the full authority of a finished work. It presents a series of tables in which a large number of characters are arranged under the 36 Sanskrit initials and the orthodox finals according to the four tones ; the fmuchHe spelling is given, and the physical characters of the sounds, as dental, lingual, etc., are indicated.^ To the eighteenth century belongs also the " Chung-chou- ch'uan-yun," the complete rhyme-words of China. This work was compiled by Chou Ang (J^ ^) al. Shao-hsia {hj^ ^), of Soochow, who lived in the second half of the century. It was based on the treatise by Chou T^-ch*ing noticed above. But the nineteen finals of that work are rearranged and their number JTie Cultivation of their Language hy the Chinese. 91 increased by three. The introduction gives a considerable amount of information about the sounds of words classified by the organs concerned in their formation, and about previous writers. The author specially criticises some of the teachings of P'an Lei (}f ^), who lived from 1646 to 1708 and wrote the "Lei-yin" (5|| §). Chou divides the pHng tone into yin and yang p'ing, and in his treatment of these he follows Chou Te- ch ^ing. After these come the shang and ch'U, the ju tone words being appended to the other classes according to their natural affinities. A characteristic of this work is the attention paid to the physical processes by which words are uttered, and a minute description of these is attempted. The work has been revised and reprinted, but it cannot be said to be popular.-^ A peculiar feature of the course of modern learning on our subject falls to be noticed here. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries we find a revived interest in the philological works of antiquity. This is shewn in various ways, but chiefly by the desire to obtain old copies and to reproduce these accu- rately with needful additions and suitable commentaries. There was a ^' return to antiquity " which some took up moderately and discreetly while others carried it out to excess. It may be of use to notice a few of the more important revivals which occurred during the above period. The old-fashioned little treatise the "Shi-ming" was taken in hand by the illustrious scholar Chiang Sheng (JI ^\ famed for his labours on the " Shi-ching," who lived in the second half of the eighteenth century. Chiang composed three treatises on the *' Shi-ming," supplementing the deficiencies and verifying the statements of that work. A few years after his death the *^Kuang- shi-ming," edited by Chang Chin-wu (gg ^ §) was published (18)4). In this work we find several additions made to the old book and references given for the original explanations.^ The learned Tai Chen (^ %) took up the old " Fang-yen '* and produced a new edition with proofs and illustrations. He ' ^tr ^m^mi^A. Man. Gr, p. 39. ' ^ I® ^ (reprint). 92 The Cultivation of their Language hy the Chinese. was also one of the three scholars who prepared the Imperial reprint of the *' Fang-yen " with the commentary of Kuo Po which appeared in 1779. Then the "tJrh-ya" was edited carefully by Lu Wen-chao (S 3!C ^B); who devoted to it two treatises. This old thesaurus was studied also by P'u T'ang (f^ $g), who published an edition with many changes in the text. His treatise did not find much favour and his corrections of the current readings are not generally accepted. A better edition is that by Shao Chin-han (:g|I § J|g), a very learned official who lived in the second half of the eight- eenth century. Shao gave to his treatise, which was published in 1775, the title *^Urh-ya-cheng-i." In preparing it he adopted the text which he thought the best, and Kuo Po's commentary. To the latter he added illustrations and references drawn from other commentaries and from classical literature generally. It is stated that this edition of the *^Urh-ya^' has superseded all others with students. Further, in 1815 appeared the edition brought out by Yuan Yuan in his thirteen Ching, which gives the commentaries of Kuo Po and Hsing Chi with comparisons of texts and other useful information. As a sort of supplement to the "TJrh-ya," Hung Liang-chi (gfc ^ "g), who lived from 1746 to 1809, compiled the "Pi-ya'' (jt JS), a work which follows the divisions of the "Urh-ya.'* But most of the terms and phrases which it gives and for which it supplies references are not in the ''Urh-ya.^'^ The " Yii-pien *' and the '^ Kuang-yun " were reprinted and published together in 1704. Great care was taken in the editing of these works, and the veteran philologist Chu I-tsun {-^ ^ ^) contributed prefaces. It is this edition of the *' Yii-pien" and *' Kuang-yen" which seems to be the popular one among students of the present time. The " Chi-yun " also found an editor and was reprinted in 1814.^ But none of the other ancient treatises on the language has received so much attention as the " Shuo-wen." This book had ' mmMmMikl Yuan Yuan'8 " Urh.ya " (13 ed.) ; Jt il (reprint 1857). 2 " Yii-pien" and " Kuang-yun," ed. 1701 The Cultivation of their Language hy the Chinese. 93 almost gone out of fashion and fallen into neglect during the period of the Ming dynasty. But in the seventeenth century scholars turned to it again, and the interest then awakened in it produced several reprints and commentaries. One of the first of these was an edition with notes by Chiang Yung, mentioned above. Another edition with a learned introduction was published about 1772, the author of which was Chu Yun (-^ ^). He reproduced the text of Pao Hsi-lu (Q ^ §) which had been published in 1420, and followed the arrangement introduced by Li Tao. A few years later Kuei Fu (;g ^) al. ^ei-ku (^ §) finished his labours on the " Shuo-wen," though his treatise was not publish- ed until long afterwards. Kuei, who was a native of Chii-fu (^ J^) in Shantung, and lived from 1736 to 1806, was a scholar of wide reading and a true lover of learning. He put out all his talents in the production of a new edition of the *'Shuo-wen,'' a labour on which he was employed for thirty years. The name which he gave to his work, " Shuo-wen-chie-tzu-i-cheng," or ve- rification of the meanings of the '^ Shuo-wen," indicates its scope. The text of the original treatise is given in separate columns and in large characters. The commentary is full and gives the student nearly everything that could be desired to substantiate and illustrate the short paragraphs of Hsii's text. With this last as commonly received he did not interfere, for he had a genuine reverence for the words of the *' Shuo-wen." The doubts he had on the subject and his views as to the purity of the texts in use were put in writing, but he did not live to publish them. It is probable, however, that many of them are embodied in his commentary as his views of readings found in various previous editions. His ** Shuo-wen '^ was not published for more than fifty years after it was finished, and it was not until 1870 that it became generally accessible. In that year it was edited by Ting Ken-shan ('J' S ^) and published under the auspices of the distinguished living scholar and official Chang Chi-t'ung.^ In the meantime two other editions of the "Shuo-wen" had 94 The Cultivation of their Language by the Chinese, appeared. One of these was by Tuan Yii-tsai (|5 S iS) ^^• Jo-ying (^ ^) who lived from 1735 to 1815 and was an enthusiast in the study of the old language and literature. He produced an edition of the ^' Shuo-wen " which is regarded as supplementary to that by Kuei Fu. Tuan devotes himself to the sounds rather than to the meanings of the characters, and his notes are few but generally good and useful. He gives the syllabic spelling of the characters, and refers these to their places under his seventeen classes of finals for old poetry. In some parts of China students prefer Tuan's edition of the '' Shuo-wen " to all others, though there are who say that he published it rather to glorify himself than to instruct others.^ The other edition, which is in many respects better than Tuan's, is that by Chu Tsun-sheng (-^ ^ g) al. Yun-ch'ien (:fc f|). This was finished in 1833 and published in 1852. Its title, ^' Shuo-wen-t'^ung-hsdn-ting-sheng,'' explains the aim of the compiler, which was to give a historical account of the meanings and sounds of the characters in the " Shuo-wen." But instead of the old arrangement of the characters, these are given accord- ing to their sounds, which are grouped under eighteen phonetics. The final according to the current system is also given for each character, the old form is appended, and to the original explana- tions of the "Shuo-wen'* the editor adds instances from various authors of early times. The introductory chapters by Chu are also valuable, and he has done good service by collecting numerous examples of characters omitted by Hsu Shen whether by chance or design.^ In addition to the above, Hsii Hsiian's edition of the " Shuo- wen*' has been several times reprinted within these two centuries; and in 1839 all the extant writings of his brother on the old dictionary were collected and published in one treatise. Turning back to the eighteenth century we find, in addition to those already mentioned, several treatises worthy of mention on ' mX^^iS.ed. 1808. ^ ^ S M i»l ^ ^; Chalmers in «'Ch. Rev.," vol. ix. p. 297, and Lockhart in " Ch. Rev.," xii. p. 63. Chu Tsun-sheng's worlc is known as the " Phonetic Shuo-wen " and it is referred to by that name in the present work. The Cultivation of their Language by the Chinese. 95 subjects connected with the language. Of these one of the most important is the " Liu-shu-yin-chiin-piao.'' The author of this was Tuan Yii-tsai, noticed above, a native of Chinkiang Foo in Kiangsu. The work, which is now often published as an appendix to the author's " Shuo^wen/' is a series of five essays on the relations of the ancient to the modern language. It gives the author's seventeen classes of finals, under which he groups all the rhymes of the *'Shi-ching" and the old poetry generally. Tuan maintains that the rhymes in the " Shi" are generally correct, that at the time of its composition there were three tones, the p'ing, shang, and/w. These three he finds to be kept quite distinct. The ck'U-sheng he considers to have arisen about the fourth or fifth century of our era. But words, he thinks, have been all along changing their sounds and passing from one tone to another. The '' Liu-shu-yin-chiin-piao " is prefaced by contribu- tions from the author's literary friends Tai Tung-yuan, Ch'ien Ta-hsin, Ch'in Cheung (fc ftfi) al. Chi-fu (^ f ), all scholars of repute in this department of study. ^ Tai Chen (^ g) al. Tung-yuan C^ ]g) al. Sh^n-hsiu ('^ ^) has been already noticed for his labours on the Fang-yen. He was a native of the Hui-chow Prefecture of Anhui and lived from 1723 to 1777. In addition to many other works on various subjects he composed the '' Sheng-yun-k'ao " (g f| ^) in four chuan, the " Sheng-lei-piao " (g ^ ^) in ten chitan, and the "Hsii-yen" (1^ ■=). Tai's studies in the language embraced the forms and sounds of characters and also their uses and history. He had great natural abilities, which he improved by a wide range of reading. Of a sceptical disposition he always wanted to know the how and the why of the statements he was taught to accept. This spirit gives a value to his writings and makes them of more than common interest. Thus the '' Hsii-yen " examines the different uses made of such words as tao (J§), li (g|), hsing (^) by various writers and various schools of religion and philosophy.^ ' :^m^mm (reprint). ' m'^m^my'l^m, chap, v.-, mm (reprint). 96 The Cultivation of their Language hy the Chinese, Ch'ien Ta-hsin (^ ± H|f) ^^- Chu-ting (ft tf), who lived from 1728 to 1804, was the author of the '^Sheng-lei." This use- ful little manual was edited by Ch'ien's friend "Wang En {^ ^@,) and first published in 1825. It deals with the written language* and gives the peculiar meanings of words and phrases in the old literature. It also corrects mistakes in early treatises in the use of characters, and shows how words are used for other words because of a likeness to them in sound or way of writing. The philological information which this little book gives is of much interest to the student of the language. Ch'ien was a giant in learning, well read not only in all the literature of his own country but also in Western learning as taught by Ricci, Schall, and Verbiest. The " Sheng-lei " was composed very gradually, the materials for it being collected while the author was engaged in preparing his historical and other treatises. It was intended for the use of students and accordingly it was made easy to consult and of a practical character.^ One of the best and most comprehensive works on the language is that by Li Ju-chen (^ ifr ^) al. Sung-shi {^ ^). This treatise, named " Li-shi-yin-chien " or Li's mirror of words, was first published about 1806 and it has passed through several editions. Li Sung-shi was a scholar who loved learning for its own sake, not using it as a means for worldly preferment. He had the command of a large library and enjoyed the society of pleasant friends who had similar tastes. The Mirror of Words is mainly in the form of question and answer, contained in thirty- three sections. In these the origin and history of the written characters, of the tones, finals, initials, modes of spelling, and other subjects, are treated in a pleasant but learned and scholarly manner. Dr. Edkins in his Grammars has quoted from and given some account of this book, and it is not necessary to dwell on it further in this place.^ Another recent work on the language quoted from and 111. ^ ^ ^> ed. 1852 ; " Kuo-ch'ao-han-hsio," etc., chap. ^ ' ^ 15 a" ii ed. 1808 ; Ed. Shanghai Gr. (2nd ed.) p. 51, etc. ; Ed. Mam. Gr. (2nd ed.) p. 38, etc. v/ The Cultivation of their Language by the Chinese. 97 described by Dr. Edkins is the " Yen-hsu-ts'ao-t^ang-pi-chi " (fff H :^ S ^ IB) by Pi Hua-cben (H $ jg). This author is oue of the very few native writers who have treated of " the •parts of speech and construction of sentences." The book seems to be rare, and tlie present writer knows of it only through Dr. Edkins' Grammars.^ A recent treatise which deserves to be better known than it is at present is the " Ku-chin-wen-tzii t*ung-shi." The meaning of this title, to be gathered from the book itself, is Historical explanations of written characters fi'om ancient to modern times. It was compiled by Lii Shi-i (g ^tf; ^) of Hsi-tsun in the same v Prefecture as Amoy. The work was finished in 18-^3 but it was not published apparently until 1879, long after the author's death. It was then printed at a private press with an introduc- tion by Lin Wei-yuan, the great landlord of North Formosa, who had been a pupil of Lii. This latter was noted, at least in his native province, for his great learning, and specially for his knowledge of the language. He was a follower of Tuan Yii-tsai, and took the " Shuo-wen " as edited by Tuan for the basis of his work. The characters given in the "Shuo-wen" are printed at the head of the page in large type. The spelling of each is given after Tuan ; next comes a short account of the meanings and uses of the character, and then the old forms of writing. The author intended his treatise, which is in fourteen chuan, to be as it were a supplement to Tuan's "Shuo-wen," correcting the mistakes and supplying the deficiencies of that great work. It does not display much originality, but it gives in a terse, method- ical manner important information about the characters treated of in the " Shuo-wen." ^ The natives of parts of Kuangtung and Fuhkien speak dialects which are very different from Mandarin. These dialects are from certain points of view distinct languages, and they have their own phonetic dictionaries, which are often re-edited and republished. Two at least of these dictionaries have been 1 Ed. Sh. Gr., p. 58. 98 The Cultivation oj their Language hy the Chinese. compiled with care and are much used. But since the time of Kanghsi, efforts have been made to substitute the standard language for the local dialects. That Emperor issued an edict commanding the institution of schools in Fuhkien and Kuang- tung for the teaching of Mandarin, and he repeated his com- mands afterwards. These instructions led to the establishment of certain schools, and in course of time books were published to aid scholars in acquiring the national language. Thus, for the natives of Fuhkien a work named " Kuan-yin-hui-chie-shi-i" was V published in 1748. Its compiler was Ts'ai Shi (g ^), a native of Chang-p^u in the Chang-chow Prefecture of that province. Ts'ai had travelled to Peking and other cities, and he had made it his business to observe the peculiarities of speech at the capital and the other places he visited, having first learned Mandarin. When old, he retired and compiled this book, which he published in the eighty-fifth year of his life. It is a classified vocabulary of simple terms and phrases such as are in common use. The sounds of characters are sometimes given, and occa- sionally a short note of comment or explanation is added. The book was intended chiefly for the use of those natives of Fuhkien who had to travel as mandarins or merchants. It has evidently been found by these to be of some use, for it has been often reprinted, and it is cheap and portable.-^ Several treatises have been published at Canton also with the view of teaching the people of that city and the surrounding districts the standard language. In 1785 was published a book V the short title of which is " Cheng-yin-hui-pien." This was composed by Chang Yii-ch'eng (5| ^ j^) al. Ch'ang-ch^i (^ ^) of Pao-an in the Prefecture of Canton. The aim of the author was to provide a guide to the use of Mandarin — the cheng-yin — for the people of his own province specially. The book is a classified collection of Mandarin terms in common use, with the vulgar or provincial equivalent often added. In a short introduc- tion the autlior gives the general characters of the four Tones. He next explains the five yin, which correspond to the five ' W ^ ^ I* ^ iS|(a poor reprint) . The Cultivation of their Language hy the Chinese. 99 Elements. Then he gives a five-fold classification of characters according to the five Regions and five physical organs. Thus under the categories of South and Tongue he gives the characters for ting, ti, ning. There is also another classification of words according to the physical acts required in uttering them. This yields sixteen classes, which are distinguished by names such as ^' opening the lips/' ^' closing the mouth." ^ A more popular work of this kind is the '^ Cheng-yin-tso- ./ yao " by Kao Ching-t'ing (^ ^ f). This book was originally published in 1810, and it has been often reprinted. It is much used by the Cantonese and by the Hoklos and Hakkas of the Canton province in acquiring a knowledge of Mandarin. Western students know the work through Bazin, who made use of it in the preparation of his Chinese Grammar, and Thom, who used it in making his Chinese Speaker. The compiler was a native of Canton, but he left that city in early life and lived first at Peking and afterwards at other places where Mandarin was the language of the people. His little work is very useful but it is not considered so good as the books composed by So I-tsun.^ This man So I-tsun [^ ^ ^) was a Manchoo resident at Canton. For the people of that city he composed the "Ch^ng- yin-pien-wei " and the " Cheng-yin-tsii-hua.'^ ^ The former was published in 1837 and the latter a few years afterwards, and both have been several times reprinted. They also are largely used by the inhabitants of Canton who desire to learn the standard language. These books give excellent vocabularies of Mandarin terms in common use, rules for the standard pronunciation of characters, the Thousand Character Classic with the correct sound of each character, and minute instructions as to the physical acts to be performed in making the various utterances. The " Cheng-yin-tsii (or chi'l) hua " is perhaps the best of all these works and of the most practical utility. It not only ^ H. a" H ^ (ed. 1863). There seem to be several editions of this book with slight variations of detail or arrangement. * jE ^ ^ M (Cheng-yin-tso-yao) , a reprint. ' IE ^ ^ St; lE # Bi ^; *^tl. Man. Gr., p. 277. V \J J 100 The, Cultivation of their Language by the Chinese. distinguishes between Cantonese and Mandarin but also between the latter and the Court dialect. A later treatise than the above is a small one named " Cheug-yin-t'ung-su-piao," published first in 1872. The author was P'an Feng-hsi {'[^ j^ H), of Anhui extraction but born at Foochow. He also aimed at ascertaining and diffusing the cheng-yin or Mandarin language, so that it might displace the local dialects and become the one language of all the Empire.^ A review of the sketch here given of the cultivation of their language by Chinese scholars shows that generally they confined themselves to the sounds, meanings, composition, and history of their written characters. The sketch, however, is necessarily very imperfect, and a more thorough examination of the native literature would perhaps reveal many works bearing on other departments of Chinese philology. But it must be admitted that the investigation of the language is seldom pursued by native scholars as an independent study. It is always an ''inferior science,** and gains importance only as a help to the understand- ing of the orthodox canonical literature. From the '* Shuo-wen " down to the latest dictionary, all etymological treatises have been composed with the expressed design of aiding in the settling of texts, clearing up the meaning, or ascertaining the sounds of characters in the old Confucian writings or in the works composed to teach, illustrate or continue those writings. One of the best of the late treatises on etymoL)gy is that by Wang Yin-chi (J 51 i,) published in 1798. This is devoted to the particles found in the ancient orthodox classics, and in some degree it performs the part of a grammar.^ But there probably is not any native treatise, at least of authority, which can properly be called a grammar. The language, indeed, wants what we understand by that term. Or perhaps we should say of it what Sir Philip Sidney says of our own language in reply to those who object that it "wanteth grammar" — *'Nay, truly, it hath that prayse, 1 " Cheng.yin-t'ung-su.piao " (lE ^ il f# ^). 2 The title of the book is "Ching-chuan-shi-ssu" (Jji^ ^ ^ |sl). see L. C C, vol. iv., Prolog, p. 178 ; Julien Synr. Nouvelle, etc., T. i. p. 153. The Cultivation of their Language hy the Chinese. 101 that it wanteth not (rrammar : for Grammar it mighf^have, but it needes it not : beeiug so easie of itself, and so voyd of those cumbersome differences of Cases, Genders, Moodes, and Tenses, which I think was a peece of the Tower of Babiloris curse, that a man should be put to schoole to learne his mother- tongue." ^ The primaeval Chinese, as we know from several excellent authorities, left their original seat in Mesopotamia before the " second general curse " passed on the human race, and so their descendants have not to "reintegrate" themselves in the divine benediction. •.- ^ Au Apologie for Poetrie, p. 70 (Arbeir's reprint). CHAPTER III. CHINESE OPINIONS ABOUT THE ORIGIN AND EARLY HISTORY OF THE LANGUAGE. Let us now go on to consider some of the views held by the Chinese about the first beginnings of their language. And the question of the origin and development of their own V language is for most native writers that of the origin and development of human speech generally. Now it must be owned that, so far at least as their literature is known to us, Chinese philosophers have not treated this subject with any degree of full or accurate thought. Yet it were rash to say, as some have said, that the problem of the origin of speech never occurred to them, for we have reasons neither few nor slight for thinking that it did occur to them, and that they have had on it, at times at least, decided opinions. On the one hand we know that the Chinese hold their own language in very high esteem, and on the other that they have composed, as we have seen, many works treating of the history, structure, sound, and meaning of its written characters. Thus there is at least a certain amount of probability in favour of the assump- tion that the question of the origin of speech had also occurred to them. And not only this, but moreover we do actually find scattered here and there in Chinese literature various and independent statements of opinion on the subject, though there is not, so far as the present writer knows, any treatise devoted to it specially. It is the aim of the present chapter to bring together a few of these native statements of opinion about the birth and early growth of language spoken and written, and specially such as may be compared with the theories of western authors on the same subject. Origin and Early History of the Language. 103 To begin at the beginning, the theory that the first human beings who lived on this earth were speechless does not seem to have ever prevailed in China. The books and common traditions of the country generally represent those unknown creatures as a turps, but seldom or never as a mutum peciis. They are supposed to have herded together in dens or caves, living on the natural fruits of the earth, knowing nothing and caring little about anything beyond their daily round of wants as they arose and were satisfied. They were not, however, like the beasts among which they Hved and which they hunted for food and clothing, mere dumb animals. On the contrary, most native authors who have written on the subject expressly maintain that man spoke from the beginning, that speech arose when human life began in the world.^ Han Wen-kung, however, says that people, that is the Chinese, were at first like birds, and beasts, and barbarians. They did not know how to grow grain, and build houses, to love their parents and honour their superiors, to nourish their living and bury their dead, until sages arose to teach them.^ Here we find barbarians classed with birds and beasts which have not the faculty of speech. But from all time the Chinese seem to have regarded foreigners as little above the brute creatures, and some authors expressly state that barbarians — the I and Ti (H j^) — are as birds and beasts. Hence we find the character for Dog often used as the classifier of characters which represent the names of foreign tribes. The speech of these also is compared to the shrill scream of the shrike and the calls of other birds. The people of Yang-shan in Kuangtung were said by Han Wen-kung to have the speech of birds and the faces of barbarians, and they were to him barbarians. In like manner to other nations, for example the ancient Greeks, the speech of foreigners sounded like the utterances of birds and beasts. Herodotus explains the legend of the doves at Dodona by the supposition that Egyptian 1 See e.g. the Preface to the fgt j^ -^ ;^ ^ M'> ^f- also Sung Lien's Pre- face to the " Hung-wucheng-yim." 2 Collected Works, chap. xx. This opinion is found also in the works of other authors and is based on semi^historical legends. 104 Origin and Early History of the Language. women had at one time been brought over. The speech of these was unknown to the Greeks, to whom the strangers appeared to be chattering like birds — talking like doves. When the women learned to talk Greek they were said to utter human speech. The same author says of the swift-footed, reptile-eating Troglo- dytes, that they did not use a language like any other but cheaped like bats. So also ^schylus makes the Greek Clytem- nestra say of her words to the Trojan Cassandra, "But if she has not, like a swallow, an unknown barbarous voice, I, speaking within her comprehension, persuade her by speech." We are told, moreover, that the Greeks, to whom also all foreigners were " barbarians," did not speak of the '' dialects" of barbarians but only of their *^ tongues." ^ The chief reason, perhaps, why Chinese philosophers have not discussed the origin of speech in special treatises and of set purpose, is that they regard the faculty of speech as the natural result of man's existence, as inherent in his constitution. What may be considered as the orthodox and national opinion on the subject is that mafi speaks, just as he eats, and drinks, and sleeps, and loves, and fears, from an instinct which forms part of his nature. " That man speaks is nature's work," the Chinese would repeat. There is nothing divine or superhuman in the fact, nor anything which shews that the faculty was one attained by slow degrees and after many vague attempts. One native philosopher describes man as speaking by breathing forth the air contained in the mouth and throat by movements of the lips and tongue. The act of speaking is like playing a flute. Man's mouth and throat are the musical instrument, and the movements of the tongue are the play of the fingers on the holes. The power of speaking grows and fails with the growth and decay of man's vital powers, and these need food and drink for their main- tenance. Hence it cannot be that the dead speak or that ghosts wail and cry by night.''^ Another philosopher explains sound as J Herod., B. ii. 55, 57; B. iv. 183; ^sch. Agam. 1. 1017-9; Clem. Alex. Str., L. i., chap, xxi., sec. 142. 2 Wang Chung in the |^ f^, chap, xx. Origin and Early History of the Language. 105 the result of the violent friction of air and solids. Two kinds of air in violent collision make sounds such as echo and thunder ; two solids make noises like the beating of a drum and the clap- ping of hands ; a solid acting on the air yields a sound such as that made by a fan or an arrow ; and the air working on a solid gives the human voice and the sounds of wind instruments.-^ Hence we find the vocal utterances of man classed with those of other animals, with the song of the bird and the cry of the wild beast ; and sometimes even with the sounds yielded by lifeless matter, with the roar of thQ, thunder, the prattle of the brook, and the ring of the struck rock. These all are the results of natural capacities moved by outward influences. They are merely the audible results of the impact of the formless essence of matter on body of definite shape; they are the call or cry of the elemental air, for the " air itself whistles and roars.*' * Hence we find such a term as ming (P,^), for example, used for all kinds of noises. It is properly and originally, as the character indicates, the call or song of birds. But it is used for the roar of thunder, the wind's whistling, the noise of rushing water, the sough among the pines, the ring of a bell, the tones of a lyre, the cricket's chirr, the crow of the cock, the dove's coo, the ass's bray, the neigh of the horse, and the manifold voice of man. There is only, says the Confucianist philosopher, a minute difference between man and the lower animals, and even that is lost by common people. The wise man keeps that which makes the difference and so gains moral and intellectual perfection. But at birth there is only this difference between all human beings and the lower animals, that the former have a perfect and the latter an imperfect material organisation.^ The first vocal utterances of man are those made from instinctive feeling, and are the natural universal sounds of humanity and living beings generally. The means which man has for expressing his feelings ' nM-:k^, chap. V. ^ ;^ ^ j^. introduction; ^ t]!,* g| f|, chap. i. ; cf. Geiger Ursprung u. Entwickelung d. Men. Sprache. Ein., p. 9. '^ See ^ ^ ^ ^ TtC H §i ^, chap. viii. and chap, xi.j Legge, C. L., ii., 201. 106 Origin and Early History of the Language. are briefly described by an early author. Poetry, he says, is emotional thought expressed in language. The feelings are moved within man and find vent in words. The deficiencies of the latter are supplied by ejaculations and sighs, the defects of which call for utterance long drawn out in song, and, this not sufficing, the hands wave and the feet move to and fro.^ As we know, the cries and gesticulations of children and animals are the spontaneous expression of their emotions when stirred. From such cries arose rhythmical vocal utterances which afterwards developed into poetry. In general, writes Han Wen-kung, ^ objects produce sound ouly when disturbed. Plants and trees are mute until they are agitated by the wind, when they yield sound, and so is it with water. Metal and stone are mute, but they give sound when struck, and it is the same as to man with speech. When he cannot get his own way he speaks ; he sings tis anxiety and weeps his sorrow. All the utterances which proceed from his mouth are the result of his being disturbed. Speech is the quintessence of human sounds, and literary composi- tion is the quintessence of speech.^ It was perhaps from the perception of the emotional nature of early speech that some Chinese writers were led to the theory that their spoken language had its origin in music. By this, however, nothing more may be meant than that man's emotions expressed themselves first in inarticulate musical cadences, and that from these he gradually proceeded to articulate significant utterances.^ One author, at least, states the above theory without bringing forward any argument in its support, but others base it on arguments derived from tradition and probability. With it we may compare that of Darwin on the origin of spoken language, stated in his wonted clear and suggestive manner. In the "Descent of Man" he writes, "I cannot doubt that language owes its origin to the imitation and modification, aided by signs and gestures, of various natural sounds, the voice of other animals, and man's own instinctive cries. ^ " Shi-ching," preface ; Legge, C. L., iv., p. 34 of Prolegomena. ' Collected Works, chap. xix. 3 See, e.g., the IE # ^ git, Int. ; cf. also the 1^ ^j^ f^, Int. Origin and Early History of the Language. 107 When we treat of sexual selection we shall see that primeval man, or rather some early progenitor of man, probably used his voice largely, as does one of the gibbon-apes at the present day, in producing true musical cadences, that is, in singing ; we may conclude from a widely spread analogy that this power would have been especially exerted during the courtship of the sexes, serving to express various emotions, as love, jealousy, triumph, and serving as a challenge to their rivals. The imitation by articulate sounds of musical cries might have given use to words expressive of various complex emotions.'' ^ But on the other hand there are also Chinese writers who suppose that music had its origin in speech, the latter having passed from untoned to toned utterances, and thence to tunes made after laws sought out from nature. This recalls the similar theory which Mr. Spencer expounds and developes with his usual power in one of the most interesting of his Essays.^ Whatever be the immediate origin of speech, however, it is in its earliest stage natural and spontaneous, the embodiment of the original tones of Heaven and Earth. The first men spoke just as the wind blows, without any conscious effort. The feelings find vent in sounds which spring from man's mind, having their source in his constitution. Articulate utterances come from man's mind, others tell us, and are natural; their form cannot be altered by any conscious exercise of an individual's power. Not even a king can change a word, and of course no one of less influence can avail to do anything whatever in this respect. The fashions in words as in other things change from age to age, but no one can by taking thought alter the fashions. For ex- ample, the people of a place may have once called a river kong whereas their descendants may now call it kiang, but the one is as good as the other, and each is right as the working of a natural law. With these statements we many compare the emphatic declaration of the great expounder of language as a natural product. Professor Max Miiller tells us " that although ^ Vol. i., p. 56; see also his " Expression of the Emotions," p. 86. ' ^ ^ ^, the ^ igt, chap. i. ; Spencer's " Essays," vol. i., pp. 210 to 238. 108 Origin and Early History of the Language. \^ there is a continuous change in language it is not in the power of any man either to produce or prevent it. We might think as well of changing the laws which control the circulation of our blood, or of adding an inch to our height, as of altering the laws of speech, or inventing new words according to our own pleasure. As man is the lord of nature only if he known her laws and submits to them, the poet and philosopher become the lords of language only if they know its laws and obey them.^ Chinese opinions differ as to what is the first articulate sound made by the human baby. Some tell us that it is huang- huangy but this is only an a priori theory. To each of the five elements a certain sound is assigned. Thus water has a ssH sound, and that of metal is huang (|f ). Now in man's constitu- tion the element metal is represented by his voice, and hence an infant, as soon as it can, cries huang-huang,^ But other native >y writers tell us that the first sound uttered by a human being is a or ya. Hence the letter called a is said to be rightly placed at the head of Western alphabets, and some even go so far as to declare that in every sound uttered by man's opened mouth there is an a element. It is considered, however, that a sounds are \ natural to male, and ei or i sounds to female infants, and that the distinction continues in after years. This, according to the Chinese, is the spontaneous result of the human constitution. Our forefathers seem to have had similar notions about the distinctions made by male and female babies in their first utter- ances, though they accounted for the fact of the distinction in a different manner. In an old poem — Hampole's "Pricke of Con- science " — we read that a child as soon as born begins to^^ goule and cry." The author says that by the cry may be known " Whether it be man or weman, For when it es born it cryes swa ; If it be man, it says ^a, a,' That the first letter es of the nam Of our forme-fader Adam. 1 ^ 1^ "g- i^, chap. i. ; ^ IW ^ ^, p. 50; "Lectures on the Science of Language," vol. i., p. 40 C9th ed.) With Professor Miiller's teaching compare the criticism on it by Professor Whitney in his " Language and the Study of Language," Lecture ii. _ '^ See, e.g.y the P§ ^ i^ M, chap. ii. The character is also writen ^ with the same sounds as ii. Origin and Early History of the Language. 109 And if the child a woman be, When it es born, it says *e, e,' E es the first letter and the hede Of the name of Eve that began om* dede." It is a pity that the Chinese do not know the historical explanation of this interesting fact. But a different explanation is given by Webbe, who did not take notice of the sexual distinc- tions. He, it will be remembered, thought that Noah settled in China after the flood, and he says : — *' Wherefore it is not unobservable that the very first utterance that an Infant at his birth yeeldeth is yay ya, ya ; as if th^ Lord had ordained, either that we should be born with his name Jah in our mouths, which name is generally ascribed to him, when some notable deliverance or benefit, according to his former promise comes to pass, because he is the beginning and Being of beings, and giveth to all, life, and breath, and all things — Acts 17. v. 25 — or else, that in our swathling clothes we should have something of the Primitive Language, till afterwards confounded, as we are taught to speak. But, by ya the Chinois intend ExcellensJ' * This may not give the true explanation of the first utterances of all babies over all the world. The Chinese own that these utter- ances are only cries, and of a class with those of birds and beasts. The infant has no language but a cry, and in this respect it is not better than other animals, perhaps not so well supplied as other creatures. Nor is the capacity for uttering articulate sounds the possession of man alone among mortal beings. The ape-like Sing-sing and several other animals, according to Chinese opinion, are able to talk and understand human speech. As regards the Sing-sing, the statement that it can speak is doubted by some and denied by others, while of those who agree to it not a few think that the animal has the power of speaking only when it is drunk. That it can laugh and cry, however, seems to be the opinion of all authorities. It is a creature of uncertain appearance, and is described as having a body like that of a pig, or as like a dog, a badger, or an ape. The last is the form in which it is usually represented in pictures, but the face is always ^ Essay, etc., p. 62. 110 Origin and Early History of the Language. supposed to resemble that of a human being. Another ape-like creature supposed to be able to talk and laugh is the Fei-fei {^^ ^^ — and other ways). It also assumes various forms, appearing sometimes as a bear or an ape, and often as a man or woman. ^ It has a wicked laugh and by this it lures unwise wayfarers into the wood, where it eats them. The wise, however, can distin- guish between the Fei-fei's voice and that of a human being by the shrill squeaking character of the former. The Tortoise, ancient and mystical, which inhabits the fifth stage of the fabled Sumeru Mountain, is also credited with the possession of human speech. Among birds, the mainah, parrot, and others, are known to the Chinese as able to talk. In the country of the Tiao-chi (j^ ■J), near the Caspian sea, is a monstrous bird called the Chi-chio (tfi Sl)> ttat is, perhaps, the Tiao-chi Magpie. This bird is said to understand human speech but, we are not told that it can talk. There is no doubt, however, that the mainah can talk, but its tongue must first be cut or pared down, and it is of great ^ importance that this should be done on the 5th day of the 5th moon. So also the parrot should have its tongue cut in order that it may make the mimicry which our pious poet calls, "That odious libel on a human voice." The parrot can speak, it is true, without having this operation performed, but his power of speak- ing is not persistent, and he can be made dumb by rubbing him gently down the back.^ Now though the above creatures can use man's words they cannot be said to have the faculty of speech. The parrot, as one V author says, can speak but he cannot carry on a conversation, because he has only the capacity to speak, not the faculty of speech ; he follows the lead of others and cannot take the lead himself. As another author puts it, the parrot learns man's speech but cannot originate new expressions, because it has not any high intelligence. It learns the words which man utters, but not the 1 "Pen-ts'ao," chap, li., f; IS" il SE. chaps, vi. and x. In the "Poh-wu- chih " we are told that the Sing-sing is Uke a yellow dog with a man's face, and that it can speak (® ?H ^ ^ ^^j A tlQ f^ W). chap. iii. Another way of writing Sing-sing is 54 1&- Origin and Early History of the Language. Ill thoughts of his mind.^ That is, the parrot has the physical organs and imitative faculty but not the intellectual capacity for speak- ing. Nor does the mere fact that they talk raise the Sing-sing and parrot, for example, from the rank of brute creatures. Birds and beasts having an inferior organisation cannot develope their nature at all points. They may in some respects shew good moral qualities, the germs of which are in them at birth by heavenly appointment, but they do not advance in moral and intellectual culture. The crow has filial piety and the wild duck is true to its mate ; the fox does not forget th^ place of his birth, and the ant helps all of its kin. But does a crow bury his mother or a fox give way to his elders ? Do the wild ducks wait for the go-be- tween before they pair, and have the ants any form of worship ? The parrot and the starling may talk but they have no sense of the fitness of time and place, and so are no better than other birds. A featherless biped, as a native writer says, may speak, but without li (jg) he is not man. It is this sense of order and of doing what is right and becoming in the family and in society, and the code of obligations thence resulting, this li which lifts man above the other creatures.^ Some of these can indeed pro- duce articulate utterances, after having learned them, by imitation, as an infant learns its first words by imitating its mother. But it is human sounds, not human speech, to borrow an expression from Dante,^ which these creatures imitate, and they are not " capable 1 Huai Nan-tzu's Works, chap, xvi.; $|" M A ^ M P5 g^, chap. ii. On the other hand we read of men in former times who understood the langfuage of the lower animals. See, e.g., the Supplement to the " Poh-wu-chih" (j^ |^ ^ jg), chap. iii. There are also instances on record in which the parrot is not merely an imitator but also initiates a conversation and shows tender feeling. So also a mainah when sold to a barbarian committed suicide, saying that he was a Chinese bird and would not go among barbarinns (^ Si ^ ^Wi^^> chap, xvii.) Some tell us that the mainah (^ "^ T or "^ T or X ^) in its wild state cannot speak, and it is only when domesticated it learns to talk, ' i^ 1^ ^ @^i' chaps, ccccxxi. and ccccxxxii.; "Li-chi," chap, i., and Confu- cian writers generally. Of the term Li (^), Gallery, an excellent authority, writes as follows : " Autant que possible, je I'ai traduit par le mot Eite, dont le sens est susceptible d'un grande etendue ; mais il faut convenir que, suivant les circonstances ou il est employe, il pent signifier * Ceremonial, Ceremonies, Pratiques ceremoniales L'etiquette, Politesse, Urbanite, Courtoisie, Honnetete, Bonnes manieres, Egards, Bonne education, Bienseance, Les formes, Les convenances, Savoir vivre. Decorum, Decence, Dignite personelle, Moralite de conduite, Ordre social, Devoirs de societe, Lois sociales, Devoirs, Droit, Morale, Lois hierarchiques, Ofifrande, Usages, Coutumes.," " Li-ki," introduction, p. 16. =* See his " Delia Volg. Eloq.," L. i., chap. ii. 112 Origin and Early History of the Language. of language." As Lyell says, "It was a profound saying of William Humboldt, tliat ' Man is Man only by means of speech, but in order to invent speech he must be already Man.' Other animals may be able to utter sounds more articulate and as varied as the click of the Bushman, but voice alone can never enable brute intelligence to acquire language." ^ Yet perhaps because the power of speaking is supposed to belong to the Sing-sing and parrot, these animals are also credited with the possession of other extaordinary endowments, for the Sing-sing knows the past and the parrot the future. This bird can even understand and interpret dreams, and it has some notion of piety, for it has been heard to recite Buddhist prayers, and it has been seen sitting in ecstatic meditation seeking to attain that supreme supernatural intelligence which all true Buddhists seek finally to acquire. But the faculty of speech in its full meaning is the property of man only. It is his characteristic possession, that which makes him man.^ The first men spoke as they were moved, without aim and without effort, but their speech was only the air made vocal. It was, indeed, the music of an " oeolian flute," the free whistling of heaven. Still it was only whistling, and, as an old philosopher says, human speech is not whistling. He who speaks says something, and though in what he says there is nothing absolute, yet there is a difference between his speech and the chirp of a chick.^ In man, writes a practical statesman,* speech is the handle of the moral nature, the lord of action, the motive power of the mind, and the visible expression of -the body, and with man alone words are capable of communicating ideas. The object of speech is to give expression to the feelings and thoughts. But that it is not a perfect instrument was long ago seen and ac- knowledged by the Chinese. Thus we are told that as writing does 1 "Antiquity of Man," p. 518; M. Miiller, Lectures on the Sc. of Lang., vol. i., p. 394. ' Ku-liang's Commentary on the " Ch'un-ch'iu " (^ fjk M ^ S)B)j chap. ix. '^ Chuang-tzu in the " Nan-hua-chiiig," chap. i. * See " Hsin T'ang-shu," chap, cxiv. Origin and Early History of the Language. 113 not fully represent the spoken language so this latter does not fully express the mind.^ Speech is, indeed, classed with seeing and hearing, but as it is not the material organ which sees or hears, so also it is not the mouth which speaks. It is the spiritual principle by some called h^ing {'^) and by some li O), which goes through all the body, seeing in the eye, hearing in the ear, and speaking in the mouth. ^ In the Great Plan which Heaven gave to Yii, the second division was on the " Heverent use of the five faculties " (§^ fB 5 V)> or, as Legg translates, *' The Eeverent Practice of the Five Businesses." XJiese were demeanour, speech, seeing, hearing, and thinking. These five, another philosopher tells us, are all natural to man, but they need education to keep them right. Without this, by which man acquires U (j^), he is little better than the beasts which want discourse of reason, and he may even be found to lack the faculty of speech.^ Thus we read of tribes who did not know language (^ ^ g), and the " black slaves, *' once much used by rich Cantonese, are said to have understood human speech, but to have been unable to talk. This, however, probably only meant that they could not speak Chinese.^ Now, though the faculty of speech developed itself in primeval man without conscious action or reflection on his part, the first language must have been poor and rude. But even in its earliest stage this language began to receive enlargement and cultivation from the higher intellects of the time. Hence human speech as we now know it has a twofold origin, in the muddy source whence man emerges into existence with all the myriad creatures of the world, and in the mind — the spiritual principle which he alone knows to cultivate and develope. From the former spring cries of fear and calls for food, shouts of joy and notes of alarm, and much of that stock of speech which is common property. From the mind proceeded such terms as those for Filial Piety, Justice, Law, Humanity. Man must have always had some idea ^ " Yi-cWng," the Ji ^, chap. xii. ^ S ^ ^ i^, etc., chap. viii. p. 25, Commentary ; H ^ ^ ^. chap. i. 3 Chinese Classics, vol. iii. p. 323; " Fa-yen" (^ a), chap. i. * " Huai-nan-tBu," chap. iv. ; " Kuang-tung-sin-yii " (^ 114 Origin and Early History of the Language. of these virtues, for their germs existed in him from the beginning. But it was not until the germs were developed in thinking men that terms like the above were invented. These and the correct names of objects generally, say the Chinese, were fabricated by the first teachers of mankind, by those kings and sages who taught in the first uncertain twilight of human life. The Chinese theory on this subject is well expressed by Eenan when he says, "It is certain that we do not understand the organisation of language without une action d'hommes d' elite, exercising a certain X authority around them and capable of imposing on others what they believed best. The aristocracy of sages was the law of nascent humanity; the leaven which produced civilisation could ferment at first only in a number almost imperceptible of predes- tined heads." In some native treatises we find the work of " correct naming " ascribed to the semi-mythical Huang Ti, who is supposed to have lived about B.C. 2600. He is said to have observed and studied the heavens and earth and all the then- existing objects and institutions, and so elaborated the real names of things, the modes of expression which corresponded with the actualities of nature and the mind. But more usually the glory is given to old sages generally, the " enlighteners of the people." In either case the correct language thus made was produced by degrees and as the result of observation and study. It had been preceded by a language awkward and uncertain, for the first savages must have had, though only to 3. limited extent, names by which they were wont to denote the articles they used and the events of their lives. But this language of theirs was neither correct nor fixed, and it was very meagre, for the rude fore- fathers of humanity had few wants and little thought. Hence the founders of social order had to seek out and communicate a fuller and more perfect phraseology; they invented, or rather discovered, set forms of language by which they could give a symbolical character to the sounds of their voice, their thoughts and feelings — " verba quibus voces sensusque notarent nominaque invenere." Chinese authors will have us believe that all this was done with a view to the introduction of good and settled government, and the Origin and Early History of the Language. 115 improvement of society. They are not content unless they see a moral or political motive prompting all the actions of their early 1 But if speech is nature's gift to man how comes it to vary from place to place ? That it changes from place to place has been declared to be the working of natural law. It is nature's, not man's doing that the accent and pronunciation of words alter, that one term rises and another falls out of use as generation follows generation. But how is it that not only has the language of China been always unlike the dialects of the barbarian tribes in her midst and on her frontiers, but also that this language itself varies from district to district ? The answer is that here too we have the work of nature. The " wind air " and the " soil and water/' that is, the natural conditions of a place, affect the . physical constitutions of the inhabitants, and thence gradually influence also their moral qualities. Then in course of time the character and conduct of the people react on the climatic condi- tions of a place, over which they exercise a mysterious but undoubted influence. Thus "wind air'' (fi ^) means not only the physical qualities of a district, but also its moral character. It is the differences in climate, physical constituents, and moral character which make the variations of dialects. " People differ in the quality of their natural dispositions and in the language they speak ; this is the spontaneous result of climate, and the product of continued practice." So writes one native author who knew by experience something about the varieties of human speech. That the inhabitants of one place, a popular writer tells us, are firm and manly while those of another place are the opposite, that people here are smart and there slow, that the language of this district is not understood by the inhabitants of that, all result from the assimilation of the local climatic influences by the people. The children of barbarous tribes (5^ H), writes another, all make the same noises when they are infants, but speak differently when they grow up, and the ■^ 1 See ;?; ^ i^, chap. xi. and introduction ; "^ 3^ ::^ |^, chap. vi. ; Benan, !!L;i"De L'Origine du Lang.," preface, p. 25 (4th ed.) 116 Origin Early History of the Language. difference is the result of education, that is, of the circumstances ill which they develope. As it is by having li (jg) that man is higher than the bird and beast, so also it is this li which distin- guishes between the Chinese and the foreigner (barbarian), and between the gentleman (g ^) and the cad ()J> A) among Chinese. This li, however, depends for its existence and develop- ment mainly on external circumstances (J55 ^ J5S ?b); ^^ *^® kind and degree of education or training which children receive.^ Without this li, or sense of what is right and becoming in his social relations, man could never have produced what is called a language. To invent this, to find out and fit on the due names of the objects and phenomena of nature and of the feelings and thoughts of the mind, was a great achievement. As Hobbes writes, viewing the subject from a different stand-point, but expressing in clear direct words what Chinese writers have stated though not so well : — " But the most noble and profitable invention of all other was that of Speech, consisting of names or appellations, and their connexion; whereby men register their thoughts; recall them when they are past; and also declare them one to another for mutual utility and conversation ; without which there had been amongst men, neither commonwealth, nor society, nor contract, nor peace, no more than amongst lions, bears and wolves." ^ But spoken words are air, and live a vague, uncertain life. They fade too and die from memory like an echo in the hills or a roaring of wind in the forest. So even in very early timds mfen must Have sought for a visible lasting record and evidence of their events and transactions, a way of perpetuating spoken words and saving them from the fate of dark forgetful- ncss. And how do Chinese think men arrived at this ? Let us take for answer t^^ \irords of one of their students of this branch' of learning. In the introduction to the "Liu-shu-ku" the author says : Visible representation (35^) proceeds from spoken 1 Yuan-tsang in "Hsi-yu-chi " chap, i.; " Sacred Edict," Art. ix. Ampin.; Kang-hsi's Diet., preface; the ^^, chap, i.; " Huai-nan-tzii," chap. xi. ; :^ llj ^ ^ ^ ^, chap, xxxiii. ; " Li-shi," etc., as above, chap. i. ; *' Li-chi," (H gg), chap.'xii. (+ - ^ ed. Yuan-yuan). ' " Leviathan," chap. iv. Origin and Early History of the Language. 117 sounds, that is, these precede and their delineation follows. The combination of meaning and sound is not the product of this visible representation. There is no means of investigating the origin of mankind, but we may reasonably infer that men at first were naked and unkempt. They killed wild animals, skinned them and tore up their carcases for food and clothing. Their emotional natures were fierce like those of birds and beasts, and their intellects were undeveloped like those of infants. They could only by howling and shouting then make known to each other their likings and dislikings, -their joys and angers. Then as their intellects developed they gradually acquired the ability to give names to things, and so they had a supply of sounds for shouting and calling. Writing had not yet arisen, and as classes of objects increased and their arrangement became more compli- cated, men could not do without some evidential record. So in time there arose the institution (or arrangement) of knotted cords. Then as cunning increased and regulations became more complicated, engravings were made on bamboo and wood to form records. At the present time, barbarians (g 5|) and rustics ignorant of characters apparently use such engravings, which are called chH (^), that is, tallies or indentures. When these proved insufficient for all the vicissitudes of affairs the forms of material objects were pictured and the essential features of im- material objects were indicated. Thus engravings were made for the names of all objects material and immaterial, and thence arose the knife-inscribed tablets called Writings (^). The author goes on to shew how the first writing, which was only pictorial and indicative (or suggestive), came to be followed by other developments until the wealth of characters equalled human demands. The whole of this introduction, in spite of not a few faults, is interesting and worthy of perusal.^ It was necessity, the Chinese own, which first struck out the art of recording, the necessity of aiding memory and keeping an excellent translation of the whole of this introduction. His rendering of the text from which the above passage is taken will be found at p. 5. Mr. Hopkins will see that his remarks on the rendering given in the '*' China Review " have led to some alterations for the translation given iji the text here. 118 Origin and Early History of the Language. evidence. It seems to be generally agreed that tke expedient first adopted was that of "knotted cords." The inventor of this expedient is of course unknown, but the prevailing tradition points to Sui-jen-shi (^ A J6)j ^ fabulous ruler in the mythical past. Some writers ascribe the invention to Shen-nung (jjif jg) and some to Fu-hsi. In the commentary on the " Yi-ching," attributed to Confucius, it is simply stated that in the earliest times cords were knotted for purposes of regulation (or government). And in other old books, such as the " Tao-te-ching," we find reference to the use of knotted cords for official and private pur- poses. This use prevailed also among the ancestors of the present \ Manchoos, and it is said to exist still among some tribes of the Miao-tzu. In China it was instituted, some tell us, for purposes of Government. Hence we have such proverbial expressions as Chiesheng-cM'Cheng (^ |5| ^ l|5;), the government of knotted cords, to denote that purely mythical time the golden age of the world's life. Others, however, suggest that the knotted cords were instituted and used for purposes of counting, and for pre- serving records of transactions where number was concerned, and records of dealings generally. A matter of importance is said to have been signified by a large knot (or knotted cord) and a small affair by a small one. But whatever may have been the purpose for which this expedient was invented, and whoever may have been its inventor, it is certain that the expedient did not succeed. It served only so long as people were simple and free from guile, and the requirements of society were neither numerous nor important.^ It seems to have been for purposes of counting and recording matters which involved numbers that those very primitive and simple combinations called Ho-t^u (JrT ^) and Lo-shu (^ §) were invented. There are certain diagrams of these accepted as the orthodox arrangements and, according to some, giving the original figures. These are to be found in certain editions of the " Yi-ching," and in various other treatises. The Ho-tu, or plan ^ E m m 1^, chap. i. J " Yi.ching," M fi BMi^m^V' 54; the ^ ^; the " Lun-heng," chap, xviii.; Tao-tS-ching, chap. Ixxx. j Preface to " Shuo- wpn " (chap. xlix. in the iJ ^ SP ^ H Uh Origin and Early History of the Language. 119 from the Yellow Eiver, as shewn in these diagrams, is an arrangement of 55 circles, of which 30 are dark and 25 hlank, in numbers from one to ten, both inclusive. The Lo-shu, or writing from the river Lo, is an arrangement of 45 dark and light circles in numbers from one to nine, such that the number fifteen is \ made up by the circles counted in a perpendicular, a horizontal, or a diagonal manner. According to certain old testimony, the Eiver plan and Lo writing appeared as a supernatural pheno- menon to Fu-hsi, who used them as models or hints. Setting out from these he produced the mysterious wonderful Pa-hua and its combinations. By these he shadowed forth the dark influences of all heavenly and earthly powers in a manner abstruse beyond all understanding. The figure known as the Pa-kua is greatly s^ venerated by the Chinese, who regard it as the lineal ancestor of their writing, and also as a potent Drudenfuss. What purpose it first served or was meant to serve cannot perhaps be now ascertained, for all record of its primitive use seems to have been lost long ago. It represents, according to one statement, the primitive division of creation into male and female, and gives x^ illustrations of odd and even. In its trigrams also is the hidden spring from which writing had its origin. Some native authors think that the combination of the two kinds of lines were meant to represent a system of counting. So also the Jesuit Missionaries Bouvet and Leibnitz were convinced that the broken line repre- sented and the unbroken line I. Leibnitz says that instead of philosophic mysteries having been hidden by Fu-hsi in the combinations of these lines, "it was the Binary Arithmetic which, as it seems, the great legislator possessed, and which I have rediscovered some thousands of years afterwards." The " Yi-ching," which interprets the mystical meanings of the Va- kua and its permutations and combinations, is regarded by the Chinese as a sort of divine inspiration and as containing the secret possibilities of all wisdom.^ 1 Mayers, Ch. R. M., No. 177; "Yi-ching," ^ y, chap, x.; ^ jg ^ ^; Wuttke Geschichte d. Schrift, etc., p. 247 ; Leibnitz op. vol. iv. p. 208 (ed. Dutens). With Mayers' account of the Hb-i'w and Lo-s/iw compare the state- ment of Tsai Yuan-ting in the introduction of the ^ ^ TJsi i|. \ 120 Origin and Early History of the Language. But, according to some Chinese, the next step towards writing, after knotted cords, was the use of carved sticks to serve as tallies. These do not seem to have been merely sticks notched or indented. They are described as having also some kind of inscription or engraving, even from the earliest time of their use. The expedient was, however, a rude and simple one common to the Chinese with other tribes. Thus the chiefs of the ancient Tungus gave warrant to their commands by means of such sticks, and the Man (^) tribes in Chinese are said to have used them in making agreements. Carving in wood seems to have been practised in China from a remote period, and to have been employed for various purposes. In the seventh century B.C. the \ projecting beams of the roofs of temples and palaces were some- times elaborately carved and coloured. The use of carved tallies also arose at some early period, but there is no record of its beginning. It too was apparently first confined to matters of numbers, and afterwards extended to business dealings and acts of government. From these ch^i (^), or carved tallies, some derive the immediate origin of writing, while others regard the chH and shu (^) as coseval. One of the eight kinds of characters — the Fa-t^ (7V H) — appointed for use by Ch'in Shi Huang Ti, was that called the K'e-fu (^I| ^) or carved tally, noticed already.^ But such rude appliances as knotted cords and carved sticks could not long suffice to meet the requirements of a growing society. The Chinese, accordingly, represent themselves as hav- ing at an early period of their history learned to cut and afterwards paint, in wood and stone and metal, figures or outlines of objects. These were practically the first beginning of writing for them. All the earliest characters seem to have been either pictorial representations or rough symbols of natural objects and phenomena. That is, they were either drawings which presented an outline of an object, or drawings which by their composition pointed to the meaning intended. In Chinese language they were Ssiang-hsing (Jg ^), Likeness-form, or Ghi-shi (^ i^), 1 " Hon Han. shu," chap, xc; "Sui-shu," the Nan-man-chuan ; ^^.r; '?i' M _ (also called ^ v., p. 106 ; " Kuh (also called '^ ^, etc.), chap. xv. ; |t ji M R l3c ^> chap. iv. ; Legge, 0. C, ah-liang-chuan," chap. vi. (-f* i:; ^) ; " Me-tzii " (^ ^), chap. i. Origin and Early History of the Language. 121 Indicating-quality. But it is scarcely correct to call them pictorial writing, for no far as surviving records of or about them shew, they did not so much reproduce as merely symbolise. They were " marks " by which the names of things could be known and remembered, and hence they were first called "names." This term, however, was applied properly only to the words or phrases denoting the objects represented. The symbols or figures were called Wen (^), a term of very wide signification. The origin of this symbol-writing cannot perhaps be dis- covered. Its invention is by some ascribed to Fu-hsi, and by some to Shi Huang-shi ( ^ ft R), a mythical ruler who preceded Fu-hsi. Of this latter it is expressly recorded that he " drew the Pa-kua and invented writing '' — literally, " writing tallies " (M 9)' Here, as in previous steps, the useful point of view is taken and Fu-hsi is said to have instituted writing to replace the administration by knotted cords. But it is to Tsaug-chie (^ g) that the invention is most usually ascribed. This man has an uncertain personality. He has been identified with Shi Huang- shi, with Huang Ti, and with others. He is also said to have been one of Huang Ti's Ministers of State, and to have had four eyes. Not only did he make the first characters, but he also, according to some accounts, greatly developed the art of writing. Thus he is said to have arranged the characters under the six classes called the Liu-shu, or six writings, though this is also said to have been done by Fu-hsi, the "nose-ancestor," or first begin- ner of the art of writing. But there is a glamour on all Chinese writers when they attempt to describe the origin and early history of their written characters. The first artificer of these can never be known, but he must have been far above everyday men. To him> whether Tsang-chie or another, moved by the secret force of fate, appeared the mystical eternal tortoise. Its back was marked by lines which formed quaint devices to the eye of the sage, and stirred his mind to think and wonder. He took the hints, as it were, and devised a system of writing. This invention was fraught with great consequences, and put the universe in commotion. The heavens rained millet, ghosts wailed y / \ 122 Origin and Early History of the Language. by night, and dragons went into hiding. There are also Chinese writers who regard pictorial or symbolical representation as coaeval with speech. They think it was quite as natural for man to depict as to talk. This unfortunately reminds one of Dogber- ry's assertion that " to write and read comes by nature.'^ The representation of objects passed gradually, such writers think, to the use of characters. Then the pictorial gave birth to the phonetic characters, as a mother gives birth to a child. These characters, strictly so called, are tzH (^) as if ^, bearers of children, or as if -y, sons, begotten and begetting. Hence it may be concluded that the origin and growth of writing followed a natural course.^ For the Chinese will not have it that Tsang-chie, or who- ever first devised their characters, invented symbols which were purely arbitrary or artificial. On the contrary, he proceeded with aim and rule throughout. He studied in the heavens above their starry clusters and all their charactery, the changing moon, the unvarying sun, and the endless succession of all the elemental phenomena. Beneath the sky he noted the bird's flight and its footprints in the sand, the tortoise's carapace, and the varied forms of nature in general. These he tried to figure forth with knife and brush ; but how was he to carve or paint an outline or symbol for such words as mind, and law, and love and righteous- ness? There was nothing in the material world to which the ideas represented by these words could be likened. Not even in such cases, however, did the Father of Writing make arbitrary signs, for those which he instituted were the natural product of the pre-existing spiritual facts and principles. He cannot properly be said to have invented such characters, but rather to have in their discovery only given direction to the spontaneous tendency of man's genius. It does not seem, however, that in the early period of writing many spiritual or abstract terms were represent- ^ jI ^ « B . chap. i. ; iijg ^I» *E, chap. i. ; ^ t§, chap. i. ; ^ Ji ^, etc., Preface ; Mayers, Ch. R. M., :No. 756 ; |^ ^j, chap. iii. ; ^ |^ ^ j^, chap, i.; gt ^ ii ^ chap. iii. ; the t^ ^ ^ (in the ir ~ i^ ed.) ; Preface to " Shuo- wen;" Supplement to " Poh-wu-chih," chap, v.; " Ho-kuan-tzu " (§| ^ ^), chap. Ji, last pages. Origin and Early History of the Language. 123 ed. At first only material objects and their relations, dealings of business, and affairs of government, were depicted in outline or symbol. The chief aim which the inventors and first improvers of the graphic art had in view was to make a record which could be appealed to as evidence. It was in matters of government, according to some native writers, that the use of writing began, the design of the inventors being to facilitate intercourse between the ruler and his servants, and between these and the people, and to register transactions of importance. Thus, when in old times the prince of one state invaded the. territory of another, slew the inhabitants, and carried off booty, he caused the event to be recorded. It was written (^) on bamboo or silk, and engraved in metal and stone to be inscribed on sacrificial vessels for the information of posterity. Tsang-chie, says another author, made the first writing in order that distinct instructions might be given to officials, and for the efficient regulation of general affairs, that the stupid might be able to remember and the wise extend their thoughts.^ The primitive writing, whatever it was, seems, as has been stated, to have gradually passed into a somewhat artificial system, from which the present ways of writing are descended. In the process of development it had to pass through several interme- diate phases, of which that called the Tadpole was one of the first. But some doubt whether there ever were any bond fide characters so called. Before the time of the Han dynasty (B.C. 200), we are told the old styles of writing had become practical- ly unknown. When in that dynasty the tablets of several of the Canonical and other old works were discovered, the writing was unknown to the people. So they called the strange characters of the tablets Tadpoles, and this became the name of a certain whimsical style of written characters. The specimens given in some books are not unlike imitations of tadpoles and not very like significant characters. It is also stated that the kind of 1 ^ ^ ^ §1, chap. xvi. ; " Lun-heng," chap, xviii. ; *' Huai-nan.tzii," chap. XX.; ♦' Li-shi-yin-chien," chap, i.j " Ho-han.san-ts'ai," &o., chap, xv.j "M6.tzu," ohap. ziii* 124 Origin and Early History of the Language, writing known as the " Tadpole characters " was that invented by Fu-hsi, and again that it was the kind communicated by Tsang-chie. Of the other old styles those known as the Great and Small Seal are perhaps the most important.^ The written characters long since ceased to be in any degree pictorial, and they have become chiefly a means of denoting sounds as names of objects, sensations, or ideas. And it has been the opinion of feome that this was their original and proper intention. Writing, we are told, was born of sound, that is, it was instituted to continue and perpetuate spoken language. Again, writing is said to be the woof and speaking the warp into which the former is Woven. Elsewhere the written characters are described as the pi'dduct of the reciprocal action of sound and visible representa* ti'bh; and another author regards *^dots and strokes" as the lodging place of human speech when bodied forth in visible form. Dr. Edkins also has stated that " the phonetic characters appear to belong to the same era as those that are hieroglyphic. They are found together among the earliest remains of Chinese litera- ture. According to the uniform national tradition, they must, therefore, be dated about B.C. 2700." But this can scarcely be set down as the prevailing opinion among native students of the language. It may be true, however, of written characters, strictly so called. The earlier transcript of language, which was called wen (3!^), is defined as the visible representation of objects attslnged according to categories (or classes). It is also stated that wen is the source of object-picturing or delineation. But whatever may have been their primitive function, all characters now merely give visible representation to man's speech. And though the spoken words may be said to have called into being the written characters, yet these latter have exercised a great and lasting influence on the former. The origin and history of Chinese writing are described at great length in the learned treatise of Wuttke on the History of Writing. The sources from which Wuttke derived his information are, of course, all Western, but he has compiled conscientiously and judiciously, 1 "Li-shd," &0'j chap, i.; "Ho (or Wo)-hon.sau.ts'ai," chap. xv. / Origin and Early History of the Language. 125 iitid his chapter on the present subject, notwithstanding mistakes, will repay a careful reading.^ The Chinese do not yield to any in their appreciation of writing and its developments. They long ago deified the inventor, and his supposed tomb is still a place of pilgrimage for enthusiastic scholars. From the practical, beneficial point of view the invention has been the subject of much praise. Let us hear one man, a Manchoo by origin, but a Chinese scholar of rare attainments, and a man of culture and wide sympathies. Writing, says Kanghsi, is the most precious thing in the world. As to great matters, it has transmitted the philosophy which the ancient sages wished to transmit; and as to small matters, it keeps on record the miscellaneous items which man's memory cannot retain. It can bring to- gether people separated by a long interval of time, and allow them to hold intercourse ; and by it scholars of all the world, though living far apart, may take hands and talk their minds together. It makes a man's good repute, and aids him in his profession, expands his intelligence and supplies him with evidence. By it man learns without study and teaches without speaking.^ With the Chinese scholar generally it is his own language only which is in his mental view when he speaks of language, and the native writing only when he speaks of writing. The Chinese, as every one knows, are very proud of their language sj)6ken and written, but specially of the latter. Yet they are by no means insensible to the defects of the written language, especially when considered as the intended transcript of verbal utterances. It is square and insufficient, says an author already quoted, while speech is round and complete. There are also very many terms and expressions in common use for which no characters are known to exist, and this is true not only of the uncultivated dialects but also of the general language. For the 1 Kanghsi's Diet., Int. j " Liu-sha-ku," etc., as above j Wuttke, " Gesoh. d. Sehrift," etc., S. ocxli. to cccoxxi. 126 Origin and Early History of the Language. most part, however, Chinese speak of their characters as sufficient for a\l the needs of human life and thought, as full and complete, wanting nothing. In their six-fold classification, writes one author, the written characters embrace all the topics with which man can be concerned, the visible phenomena of heaven, the unseen laws of earth, human affairs, and the rules appointed for lower nature.^ For many ages the Chinese knew little of other peoples and other tongues, and thought and spoke of all that was not Chinese with undisguised contempt. But intercourse with foreign nations introduced at least a partial knowledge of other languages, and the Chinese had to compare their own perfectly harmonised speech with the shrike-ton gued cries of barbarians, and their own matchless characters with the mere imitations of bird and beast footprints used by the undeveloped savages who had never been blessed with divine philosophers. One of the marks whereby a barbarian is known is that he writes from left to right, another being that he takes his food without using chop-sticks. When Buddhism came into the country its missionaries taught the Chinese a new language with sages and writings which they could not despise. They could not put this new language in the same class with the rude dialects of their unlettered neighbours ; and they went so far as to learn from the strangers how to cultivate and improve their own language. Thus the Buddhist scholars, whether native or foreign, taught moderation and even modesty in the comparison between Chinese and Sankrit. One author tells his readers that there are three original or primitive systems of writing. The earliest is that invented by Brahma, which proceeds from left to right ; the second in antiquity is that invented by Kharoshta, which is written from right to left ; and the third and latest is that invented by Tsang-chie, which goes from above downward. But one of the most interesting native opinions on this subject is that given by Morrison, taken from a treatise well written and scholarly, but defaced by blunders and marred by a spirit sometimes illiberal. **It appears to me," 1 " Liu-shu-ku," etc., as above. Origin and Early History of the Language. 127 says the author, as translated by Morrison, " that the people of Fan {i.e., India) distinguished sounds ; and with them the stress is laid on the sounds, not on the letters. Chinese distinguish the characters, and lay the stress on the characters, not on the sounds. Hence in the language of Fan there is an endless variety of sound ; with the Chinese there is an endless variety of the character. In Fan, the principles of sound excite an admiration, but the letters are destitute of beauty ; in Chinese, the characters are capable of ever-varying intelligible modifica- tions, but the sounds are not possessed of nice and minute distinctions. The people of Fan prefer the sounds, and what they obtain enters by the ear ; the Chinese prefer the beautiful character, what they obtain enters by the eye." ^ Within the last few years Western writing has received consideration from at least one native scholar. This author has given a short comparison of it with Chinese, and written of it in a liberal spirit in his little essay, A Plea for the Preservation of Foreign Writing.^ * ^ ^ iic IfC, chap. ix. ; Morrison's Diet., Part i., vol. i., Int., p. vi. ; fl^ ^ ^ ^, chap. iii. This comparison of Sanskrit and Chinese is curtailed from the 5th chap, of the " Liu-shu-liao," by Cheng Ch*iao. The passage occurs near the end of the chapter. 2 The ft # ^ la. by E^ f: ^. CHAPTER IV. ON THE INTEEJECTIONAL AND IMITATIVE ELEMENTS IN THE CHINESE LANGUAGE. The faculty of speech, as we have seen, is regarded by Chinese philosophers as a part of man*s natural endowment. But this faculty needs the guidance and control of the most highly endowed men for its proper application and right development. These men give fit names and correct forms of expression for the various objects of sense, the processes of thought and feeling, and all the outward acts of life. There are, however, expressive sounds made by the human voice with which the king and the philosopher do not interfere. Such sounds are prompted by nature and own no law save that of use and wont. The curious scholar may note them down as he hears them from the lips of the people. He may tell also with explanatory theory how the common speech of one district has a set of natural sounds which differs from that in the speech of another district. But more than this neither ruler nor philosopher will attempt, or, attempt- ing, will achieve. The naturally expressive sounds here referred to are the cries, calls, mimicking noises, and all the picturesque expressions which we are wont to have classified as Interjectional or Emo- tional and Imitative Language. It will be seen as we proceed that in Chinese as in other languages some of the involuntary and inarticulate ejaculations are adopted into the family of words, and that mere mimicking sounds may come to be used as names or epithets. Until lately such utterances as these were treated by grammarians and philologists with contempt and neglect, and it is only since the impartial and methodical study of language arose that they have come to acquire dignity and importance. On the Inter jectional and Imitative Elements, 129 The old writers on grammar could not away with these ejacula- tions and imitations, which had no accidence whatever and could not properly be counted among the " parts of speech." Even their place in a sentence could not be defined. Nay more, they could not properly be called articulate human speech, but were rather of a kind with the calls and cries of the brute creation, — as though that were aught to their shame. Now, on the other hand, they are in danger of being raised to an importance beyond their merits, and of having to bear too heavy a burden. For some will have it that in these rude cries and mimicking sounds all human speech had its root and beginning, maintaining that man passed from a mute condition to this stage of ejaculations and imitations, and thence by a gradual improvement to artistic speech of various degrees. But whether we take this view, or hold rather with those who teach that the origin of language is to be found in a few abstract roots created by reflection, or adopt a theory intermediate between these, we cannot deny that Emotional and Imitative utterances are important elements in the formation and development of language. It must at least be conceded that they are the immediate source from which a large part of the vocabulary of most dialects flows, and that they yield these some of their most noteworthy and forcible expressions. The Chinese language is very rich in these nature-sounds and "vocal-gestures'* which abound not only in the common talk of the people but also in the popular literature and in the writings of poets and philosophers. They are, however, regarded by the native scholar generally as worthy of nothing more than a passing notice or a terse definition. When he meets one in a book on which he is commenting, he is content to give merely a short explanation of what he conceives to be or what he has been taught is its use or meaning in the passage. He has certain loose classifications for these natural vocal expressions, and distinguishes them somewhat fitfully as " empty characters," as aids to expression, as popular terms, or as sounds indicative of, or imitating or otherwise recalling natural phenomena. The 130 On the Inter jectional and Imitative Elements, nature-sounds and vocal gestures vary greatly from time to time and from place to place, and, moreover, they are often unnoticed in dictionaries and other works bearing on the language. Conse- quently we cannot easily gain a just conception of their number, the extent to which they are used, and the precise mode of their application. Many of them, however, are apparently of little or no importance, and can scarcely be said to enter into the composi- tion of the language, using this word with a liberal interpretation. Others are interesting to the Western student from their use, their form, the relation they bear to other elements of Chinese speech, or on account of the analogy they have to the resources of other tongues for performing like functions. A brief and necessarily very imperfect review of some of the most common and some of the most important or interesting of these Chinese nature-sounds is attempted in this chapter. The examples given have been culled from the speech of the people at various places and from a few books by native authors. Some of the Vocabu- laries and Dictionaries compiled by foreigners have also been laid under contribution. Describing the material or " elements of articulate speech," Canon Farrar writes — "Now, the natural sensuous life expresses itself in three kinds of natural sound, viz.. Interjections, Imita- tions, and those sounds, expressive of some desire, which in imitation of the German Lautgeberden we may roughly designate as vocal gestures. Aspirates and vowels are generally sufficient to express the mere passing emotions of the natural life ; con- sonants are more the expression of the free intelligence. Interjections are the arbitrary expression of subjective impres- sions ; Imitations advance a step further, spontaneously repro- ducing something which has influenced the senses from without ; Lautgeherden, though, like interjections, they have their source in the subject, are not a mere utterance of passive sensation, but an energetic expression of will, though as yet only in the form of desire." Long before Farrar wrote the above, Endlicher in his Chinese Grammar had devoted a section to the Interjections. Under this head he includes Sensation-sounds and Exclamations On the Interjectional and Imitative Elements. 131 or Interjections proper, Imitations of natural sounds, and cries of calling and driving away.^ Beginning then with Interjections, which are words or " parts of speech used to express some passion or emotion of the mind," we find the Chinese using these on all kinds of occasions. Some of them are to be heard now in nearly every part of the empire, while others do not travel beyond certain limited districts. Few of these exclamations can be written out in letters so as to give a fair idea of the way in which they are uttered, for they are made up not only of vowels and ctftisonants but also of tone, emphasis, and other elements. The characters used to represent them in writing, moreover, are not constant, and in most cases little importance should be attached to the characters employed. As these ejaculations are in many cases well known, we need not do more here than merely notice a few. One that may be heard every day is the ai-ya of Mandarin, with its variations oi^a and hai-ya. This is an exclamation of surprise, or pain, or admiration, according to the circumstances in which it is used, and sometimes, when uttered slowly, it is ex- pressive of great suffering. It may also be used as a noun or verb, as when it is said of a man that he ai-ya-liao, that is, shouted ai-ya, literally ai^ya-ed. We sometimes find this exclamation heading the burden of pathetic and other songs. Thus we have Ai-ya-i-hu-hai (printed t^ ^ ft]j^ Pf P^) which makes the sad re- frain of a song in which a disconsolate wife mourns the departure of her husband on a fighting expedition. So also wa or wa-wa is a very common exclamation of surprise or delight or great distress. It also forms part of the refrain of some melancholy songs, as in the Wa-hu-i-tva-hu (printed g Pf — 1^ Pf ) of the pitiful "Ten Flowers." The character used to represent the sound wa has several other uses which seem to be mainly imitative in origin. It also stands for other sounds, such as wo, ho, and it is of very old * Farrar'8 "Language and Languages," p. 74; Endlicher'a Ch. Gr., S. 350. For much information and guidance in connection with the subject of this chapter the author is much indebted to the two works here quoted, to Lect. xiii. of Prof. Marsh's Lect. on the Eng. Lang,, and to Tylor's " Primitive Culture, Tol. i., chaps. V. and vi. \ \. 132 On the Interjectional and Imitative Elements. date in the language. While being beaten or otherwise tortured or punished before a mandarin, or while suffering severe bodily pain of any kind, a Chinaman will sometimes groan, uttering a low prolonged sound like heng-heng. And so heng became a word which is generally represented in writing by Pf and denotes a moan, or sigh, or groan, and to utter a moan or groan. An instance of this last use of the word will occur to those who have learned the Hundred Lessons. In one of these a friend relates to another how he went to see a certain man about an affair of a common friend, and describes the bad treatment which he received. At the interview, however, the horrid creature (k'o-wu-ti'tung' hsij was allowed to " pay out " all his stock of abuse, while the visitor listened patiently without uttering a single groan — "did npt heng a single sound." In books, however, and in official documents we often find the double form heng-ho (or ha) used in this way, as in expressions like SsiX^jpai-pan-tzu-mei-ko-heng- ha, that is, he received four hundred blows without uttering a moan of pain. This heng-ha, or a similar sound, is made, morever, by workmen while pounding earth or engaged in any labour of a like nature. They also moan or sigh out a sound which is expressed as han or na^han while doing work which requires vigorous exertion. This sound resembles somewhat the French workman's cry of han or ahan, and this last is used also as a legitimate part of speech. The Chinese hum, or moan, or groan, or chant at nearly every kind of work which calls for continued or united exertion. They sometimes even shout and howl, as their soldiers, for example, when tilting in their mock military combats. To yell in this way is generally denoted by the han or no'han (0^ J^) already mentioned. This term is also used to denote the loud shout or war-cry with which Chinese soldiers attack an enemy or make an assault. It is possible that the cries and groans of the Chinese soldier and workman are to be explained as Cicero explains those made by the Roman athletes. The latter, he tells us, groan not from pain or lack of courage, but because in making the ejaculations all the body is kept on the stretch, and the stroke comes with more force. A On^the Interjectional and Imitative Elements. 133 common interjection is the exclamation hu, with the variations hsu X and yu (written pj and occasionally ^). This expresses alarm, terror, or mental anguish, and comes to mean to sigh or grieve. It also often indicates merely displeasure or dissatisfaction, but the sound which it gives is an uncertain one. Hence it frequently needs the help of another interjection to render its use distinct \ and precise. With it, for example, we find the sound now tsie or chie (g|) but formerly tso or ts^o or cho. Thus Eu'tso-ming- 'P'w-shu (PJ @| ft /P ife) is, " alas for the premature death ! " This tso or tsie is also originally only an exclamation, and in the mouth of an emperor it is a mere Lo ! or Ah ! to call attention or head an utterance. Then it becomes an exclamation of pity or distress, sometimes used singly, and sometimes repeated , and sometimes with hUf tzuf or some other interjection preceding. So we find such expressions as Tsie-wo-fu-tzU (g| f^ Jf ■^), "Ah ! our wives and childen." Then it is verb meaning to pity, as in tsie yuan-' shi-nii (il jS ± 25c) " I pify t^® ^^^^ of the far-off warrior." In the line tsie-tsieshi-yu-shen (^ H ^) it means to sigh or grieve for. ** I sigh sadly for the world and myself." As an example of the heaping up of interjections for the sake of force, let us take the first line of a celebrated poem on the Hardships of travelling in Ssuchua.n. The poet says of the road, I'hiiM'Wei'hu-haO'tsai (?§ PJ PSI ^ $ i^ ^), He hie-hu ! how perilous, how high ! But let us take the old sigh expressed in sound by eij ai, wa, and represented in writing by the character now read ai (g). In the fortunes of this word we seem to be able to trace the ideal progress of language from the brute cry to the speech of civilised man. We find it as a mere exclamation, an in- terjection of pity or pain or sorrow on the part of the speaker, like the ouai, guai, wo of other languages. Thus ai-ai-fu-mu is " alas ! alas ! my parents ! " Here the repetition of the sound serves to express the subjective feeling of deep distress, as the commentator says, it "emphasizes the sad affliction of the person" (g 3 SE ^ ifc). Then ai is used in the sense of a sighing, a sadness, as in the phrase, Wu-hu-yu-ai (ti ^ ^ ^ said to be i here), " Oh ! alas," in Dr. Legge's translation. Here yu-ai means, " It is sad, it is de- 134 On the Inter jectional and Imitative Elements. plorable." As a noun, ai denotes sorrow, distress, affliction, and so used it is of very common occurrence. One name for the staff or rod borne by a son at a parent's funeral, as will be seen presently, is ai-chang, the staff of sorrow. And in the " Shi-ching " we find the statement " Our hearts are sorely distressed and mo-chihrwo-- ai, no one knows our sadness." As an adjective, ai means sad, mournful, to be pitied, compassionate. In this use it sometimes has the adjectival particle cho added, as in ai-chOf the compas- sionate. The particle is not needed, however, and we find ai-t'ai (S^)» ^ *' sorry jade." So also ai-ko (5J), are woeful ditties, sad songs which sung-Uu-yen ('^ ^ *g*), " go with words of misery." It will be remembered also that Confucius characterised the first poem in the "Shi-ching" as "joyful but not licentious, sad but not painful " (^ lf5 /p ^). To those who die young this word is given as a posthumous epithet by way of reverence. So used it means '^ the regretted," desideratissimi. The phrase ai-tsai is sometimes simply equivalent to wo ! alas ! or some such exclamation. But it has also the force of " to be pitied," " it is hard with" or "ill for." In the " Shi-ching " we find it contrasted with ho (^), which means " to be well with." Thus the rich are said to be well off while the desolate are ai^tsai, in a pitiable plight. Then ai becomes a verb, and it is now explained as a synonym for shang (^), to be afflicted, or min (I3X to mourn for or with. So the expression jen-chie-ai-chih (A W "& £) means "everybody mourned for him." It is laid down also that in the religious services to one's parents the mourner must ai, and in this connection the word is interpreted as meaning "to weep aloud." Hence comes the expression ai-hsiang (^), the noise of wailing, that is, in a house of mourn- ing. It was perhaps from being used in this way the word came to have the meaning of death, or to die. For reporting to Peking the decease of a tributary ruler, the prescribed term is kao- ai (^ ^), to announce mourning. The word is further used in the sense of to pity, as when it is said of an emperor that he ai- wu'hu (}| ^), pities the innocent. It is also applied to a horse, and we read in a popular poem of a good horse pei (^) ai, neigh- On the Interjectional and Imitative Elements, 135 ing woefully. Then ai is used as an adverb in such common expressions as ai-k^u (5g), to weep sadly, ai-chHu (jjj), to beseech mournfully, pray for earnestly, and ai-ai-kao-kao, very piteously to call and call for mercy. It also becomes an abstract noun mean- ing the emotion of sorrow. Thus ai and lo are often mentioned together as sorrow and joy ; and the Emotions are classified as joy, anger, sorrow (aij and delight.^ From the Interjections, properly so called, we pass on to the vocal-gestures. These may serve at times as calls or requests like our hush ! hallo ! or they may denote assent or dissent, but they always have reference to other objects. They are often accompanied by facial expressions and bodily gestures, which may be used as substitutes for them if occasion so requires. There is, for example, the Foochow exclamation hai or hai-hai ! An angry woman scolding another woman too far off to hear, scrapes her own face with her fore-fingers. This action means faciem perfricuistiy you are a shameless quean, you have scraped off the modest powder. "When she can be heard by her victim, the virago cries out hai-hai, usually accompanying the exclamation by the scraping of the face. The hai-hai intensifies the meaning of shame ! or shameless creature ! which the gesture is intended to convey. So also the cry of tsii or ch^u often accompanies the scornful, insulting gesture of pointing the middle finger at one.^ The cry hsil or hii has been already noticed. It is often a call to attention, and often a whew ! of dissent, distrust, or dis- belief. An exclamation which is in common use over at least a great part of China is that which sounds like t^ssU. When this is uttered in a gentle, smiling manner it signifies admiration or pleasure, but when it is uttered in a loud tone and repeated with emphasis it expresses dislike or disgust. In this latter use it resembles our hiss, and it is sometimes heard as such in theatres and other places of public resort. It can be employed as a noun 1 L. C. C, iv., pp. 350, 520, 328, 261 : " Shi-ching," chap, v., pp. 46, 31 : L. C. C, i., p. 25, and " Lun-yii," chap, iii., p. 29 ; *' Ku-shi-yuan" ("^ ^ jg) chape, iv. and xi. ; "Li-pu-tse-li," chap, clxviii. See also Stent's Vocab. s. v. ai (X). ■ See " Manual of the Foochow Dialect," by Rev. C. C. Baldwin, p. 40. \ 136 On the Interjectionat and Imitative Elements. or verb, and we may occasionally hear the expression ni't^ssH" shen-^mo, meaning, at what are you hissing? This phrase is common about Tientsin, where the use of it may constitute the second step towards a fight. Then we have pH (sometimes re- presented in books by p§, which means get out, avaunt thee ! It is used, as Premare says, contemptuously and in abusing a man as it were to his face. The p'ei or p^ui of Foochow and other places is perhaps only another form of this p 'i. Foochow people generally utter the p^ui with great emphasis, and some- times it is used like^e, in " Fie, fie, for shame." " Of all swiche cursed stories I say fy." Sometimes p^ui, like p% is used in the sense of begone! out of my sight! Another remarkable and well-known vocal-gesture is the Cantonese ch^oi or ts'oi, which may mean, according to the circumstances in which it is uttered, hush! shame ! nonsense ! or, donH, though I wish you would ! Some of these seeming inarticulate sounds are in reality actual words or the ruins or changed forms of words. Thus we hear ei in the sense of yes, quite so, but this ei is perhaps only a corruption of wei (Pf|) with a similar meaning. This wei (or yei) as an exclamation of assent or attention is to be found in early Chinese literature. It is to be used in acknowledging the sail of a parent or teacher, and corresponds to yes. Sir, It also implies prompt and respectful attention to the call, while no (^) is anon, anon, and conveys no hint of immediate answer. Another old particle of assent is a or aw (f^), the use of which was formerly regarded as very discourteous. But it is not always employed to denote Yes ! or Here ! and often it merely serves to indicate that the person addressed has heard the speaker. The shout of applause heard in a theatre or at a public meeting is only the word hao, good, uttered loud and emphatically by the audience. But the hist sound, which is employed as among ourselves to order silence, is a true vocal-gesture. It is like the wheest ! of provincial English. Let us now go on to notice some of the Sound-imitations in Chinese, beginning with a few of those which are attempts to reproduce or recall the sounds made by inanimate nature. On the Inter jectional aud Imitative Elements, 137 Though with us these utterances cannot properly be called words, yet in Chinese they often do the duty of a verb, noun, or other '* part of speech," and in such cases they may claim to be regard- ed as words. These expressions have been little attended to by Western students of this language, and Edkins, who gives ten examples in his Shanghai Grammar, apologizes in the following terms : *' Words of this sort occur so frequently in conversation, that at the risk of their being thought too amusing for a serious book, they are here noticed." ^ In the present treatise mention is made of only a few of the more striking of these imitations, or of those which are met with frequently. The common word for wind in Mandarin is feng, but older forms of this word are preserved in hung, hong, pong, varieties of it which occur in several dialects. These seem to point to a primi- tive attempt to imitate one of the many noises made by the wind. There are also several names for particular varieties of storm and wind, and these, too, seem to be imitative in origin. So also apparently is kua (^) the common term used with feng to denote there is a storm, it blows. And chhii (Jf^), which means " to blow into sound," and then " to play on any wind instrument," is perhaps similar in its origin. Then for the ways in which the wind blows, and the various noises it makes, there are specific imitative terms. Thus hsi-hsi-kic-feng (^ ^ § JS) is hsi-hsi, that is, gently breathes, the east wind. So also liu-liu expresses the blowing of a moderate wind, and ch^en-ch'en (^) that of a gentle breeze. Then hu-la-la (g| |g Jg) is the noise of a fierce sudden gale, and sa-sa is a name for a sudden storm. Again, tse-tse imitates the noise made by the breeze among the dry leaves of a forest in autumn, when '^ Es Saiiselt der Wind in den Blattern." The whistling of a gale is expressed by sak-sah, and kuah-lah' kuah'lahy given by Edkins, in " the wind blowing on reeds," while mu-mu is the moaning of a breeze in the shrouds of a vessel. There are also several picturesque expressions for rain, descriptive of the ways it comes down. Thus we find 'pa-ta-pa- ta for the pattering of the rain-drops ; shua-shua for the sound 1 Shanghai Gr. p. 137. 136 On the Tnterjectional and Imitative Meirients. of a shower; p'ang-t'e'p'ang-t^e expressing a heavy downfall; and ping-pang or pin^pak for the rattling of rain on the tiles, but according to Edkins ping-pang is also the noise made by- hail. The term ch'en-ch'enj which, as we have seen, is used of wind, is applied also to rain. In each case it is not so much the sound that is indicated as the fact that there is a series, as it were, of little breezes and soft showers. The drizzle is mSng- mSng j the drip drip of the hesitating shower is tien-tien ; and siao-siao expresses heavy driving rain. This same sound siao-siao is used also to express the neighing of horses heard afar, and the susurrus of wind among trees. The thunder makes hung-hung, and sometimes it is said to make a great hung. This sound hung is also used for any rumbling, rolling noise, such as that made by a number of carriages or waggons, and hence the character now used to represent it (J|) is made up of that for carriage with two repetitions. This term hung is a;lso used to denote the thunder 6f a company of horsemen galloping. Another term for the rattling, rumbling noise made by a carriage on a road is lu-lu. Thus " the noise of his carriage continued to be heard when he had gone far past the palace," is expressed by kung-ch'S-kuo-ye lu'lu-yuan-t'ing (g ¥ i§ 4 ffi ffi jt ®)- Other sounds made by inert matter when acted on from witliout are also fruitful subjects for imitation. Thus the sound made by the falling of a large stone or other heavy object on the ground is expressed in the Foochow dialect by pong-pong. Hence any dull, heavy sound is often spoken of by the Foochow people simply as 2i pong-pong. In like manner p*(^?2^-p^on^, in the same dialect, imitates the noise made by timber and other materials cracking and splitting. So we find that a Foochow man will often speak of a p'eng-p^ong instead of saying crack or split. The sound peng, like our hang, is used generally to represent the noise made by a gun or cannon. Hence a peng-peng-ping (or soldier) is ^ni' artillery-man, and a. peng-pSng mandarin is pidgin English fbi^'a'n artillery officer. Teng-teng and other expressions are also used to imitate the noise made by the firing of cannon. A drum On the Interjectional and Imitative Elements. 189 is ku, and the name was perhaps given to represent the sound made by the primitive drum when beaten with a stick. The Chinese do not commonly say that the drum ''sounds*' or "rolls/' but they say it t^ong-'t'ong, or kiai-kiai, or peng-peng. " Bang- whang-whang goes the drum, tootle-te-tootle the Mo" In Chinese the fife is called ti (|§"), and this name also is perhaps derived from its sound. Let us now pass on to notice some of those words and expres- sions made to imitate or suggest the calls, cries, and other sounds produced by birds, beasts, and insects. These, it will be seen, are often the rude matter out of which true speech is formed, and not seldom they are themselves actual grammatical terms. In Chinese, as in other languages, such expressions often give their names to animals, especially to birds and insects. The old popular poetry found in the " Shi-ching " and the " Ku-shi-yuan " affords many examples of these attempts to imi- tate or recall in language the inarticulate utterances made by the brute creatures, and these in many cases are still well known and used in common literature. The firsi poem of the *' Shi-ching" begins, Kuan-kuan the chii-chiu. Dr. Legge renders the line rather funnily by " kuan-kuan go the ospreys," where the word '' go " is not needed. The chii-chiu are rather wild duck or wild geese than ospreys, and the poet says, " The wild duck quack- quack." By this he means to express that in the flock every drake has his duck, that they pair for life, and that drake and duck quack and dilly in loving harmony. In the same treatise we find yao-yao (or yu and this is expressly said to imitate the noise made. Of the two syllables which make this term, hu is said to denote the noise made by inhaling air ; while hi is the sound made by exhaling it. Then hu-hi came to be used for the process of breathing generally, and hence the expression ssu-fang (0 "^yhu-hi which means all that breathe, all living creatures. So also nature (Heaven and Earth) has a hu-hij a respiration which sinks and rises in unison with man's acts and thoughts. The syllable hvL we l^ave already seen Ofi the Int&rjeetional mid IrrCitative Elements, 143 in the exclamation wu-hu, alas ! It is also used as a verb in the sense of call, as to call a servant. Hence it came to be employed generally with the meaning of to call or address, and also as a noun denoting style of address. So also hi came to be used as a verb meaning to inhale generally, as in the expression hi-shi-ya- pien-yen (@{ ^ J| >r 'M)y <^o smoke opium, to take opium by inhalation. The noise made by breathing in air is also expressed by hsii (a§), and that made by breathing out air by ch^ui (gj^). The former also means to breathe hard, and the latter, as has been seen, is used of the wind blowing, and of playing on wind instruments. The term for to cough, h^o-seh (|^ BDj), is generally acknow- ledged to be only an attempt to reproduce the sound made in the act. The general term for to laugh is hsiao (or sio ^), a word which was at the first apparently imitative or suggestive. There are, however, in addition to this word various sounds for repre- senting different kinds of laughter. Some of these are merely exclamations or interjections. A hearty, jolly laugh is ka-ka, or ha-ha, or ho-ho, or h^o-h^o, and such expressions are often used with hsiao as a kind of gloss, hsiao being taken to denote the facial expression chiefly. Occasionally we find full statements like the hsiao-yen-ya-ya (^ '§ ^ ^S)- These words seem to mean "laugh, saying ya-ya," and the " Shuo-wen," with refer- ence to this passage, gives hsiao as the meaning of ya. From it perhaps were derived statements like ya-jen-hsiao-yue, " he said, laugh ing.'^ Then there is hi or hi-hij used to express a quiet laugh, sometimes with the implied meaning of derision. In the " Shi-ching " we find a deserted mistress singing of herself, " My brothers, not knowing, laugh at me," — hi^chH-hsiao-i (g ^ ^ ^). Here the word hi is explained by some as meaning hi-hi, that is, in derision. The character read hi is also pronounced ti, and it is used to imitate a loud laugh. So also we have p^u-chih' ti'hsiao, laughing with a p'u'chih, that is, exploding in laughter. But in this sense p^u-p^U'chih-chih may be used without the addition of any word for " to laugh." The word hai (^) denotes a child, but written ^ it means to smile as a child, and then to 144 On the Interjectional and Imitative Elements, smile and laugh generally. These two characters are often interchanged, and the former is apparently only an older form of the latter. ThenViaiy with t'i added, is used to denote a bahy, from the expression tzii-sheng-hai-fi (-J f^ 58 P£)j " when the bahy*was born and could laugh and cry." For " to weep " the common term is k'u (5g), a word appar- ently of imitative origin. But there are many other terms to express or denote the various kinds and degrees of weeping ; and it is interesting to observe that the same sounds may serve at one time to denote grief and at another time laughter. Thus the hsi-hsi fhi-hi) noticed as a term for laughter, is used also to express a grief too great for tears. Then there are several terms for the blubbering, crying, screaming, howling of babies. Such are huang-huang, i-i, wa^wa, hu-hu. Some of these, perhaps all, are more than mere imitative noises. Thus i-ij or i (Jg or ^) simply, is not only the puling of an infant, but also a puling infant, properly a female baby. So also wa^wa is the crying of an infant, and hsiao'wa-wa is a small child. With us it is only the wise children who know their parents, but among the Chinese all children are supposed to possess this remarkable faculty. And hence comes the common saying, Ku-Jcu-chih-tzu' kO'Chih-chH'ChHn (gKBKjJl ?§lilft M)> — every puling child knows it parents. The term ku-hu-chih here expresses what we can only represent by youngest ; it denotes a child in the first or crying stage of life. " To sob " is expressed by yin or gpin (Pf ) ; and ti-ti or t'i't'i, already mentioned, is to shed tears drop by drop, lacrimas stillare. The fi-tH of the falling tears is compared to the falling of pearls from a broken necklace, reminding us of the words, " Ah, but those tears are pearl which thy love sheds." Then we have t^i^k^u, used of the wailing of an infant ; and k^u- k^U'tH'Vi or k^u-tHj used to express any sad and bitter weeping. Further, p^v^su-su is the noise made by a gushini^ flood of tears ; and ya-tH and ma^ma are to cry as babies, and then to cry and howl generally. A Chinaman of my acquaintance, who is more than forty years old, when suffering from rheumatism cries ma-ma, ma-ma with much weeping and groaning. As the man'a On the Interjectional and Imitative Elements, 145 mother is dead he can scarcely be calling for her, like the negro and the Indian of Upper California mentioned by Mr. Tylor. " To sneeze " is in Mandarin Vi (written pj and otherwise), a word which seems to represent a lisping sneeze. It is an old and classical word, and is given in the " Shuo-wen.*' But there are several vulgar terms the nature and meaning of which cannot be doubted. Such are ha-yiy and ha-chHj a sneeze, and ta-ha-ch^ itt ?& ft) to sneeze. So also chH-chih (written ^ ^) and ta- ch^i^chih are respectively a sneeze and to sneeze. There are also several other expressions of a like character and of local range. In books and in the speech of the educated, the act of snoring is denoted by han (ff ), the noise of breath emitted during sleep. In the rude dialects, however, and in the talk of the people generally, this word han is not very much used. It is replaced by such purely imitative expressions as the no-no of the Foochow people, the hu-hu, ka-ka, and k'a-ka of other provincial districts. Other terms are hou (|§) and ta-'hu (fj Pf ), which, like some of the other terms here given, are used of a loud continuous snoring, like that which the poet describes when he says of the drunken sleeper, *' And thurgh thy dronken nose semeth the soun, As though thou saidest ay, Sampsoun, Sampsoun." We read of a man hou-Ju-lei-'hou (^ Jn ® IJL)* " snoring like thunder roaring," and Han Wen-kung, in one of his poems, makes a friend snore loud enough to make an iron Buddha frown and a stone man tremble with fear. For defects and peculiarities of utterance of all kinds and degrees, the Chinese in their familiar speech have appropriate terms. Such peculiarities are generally regarded as fit subjects for good-natured banter and even for nicknames. Thus the deaf mute is called a ya'tzu (g or g ^) or ya-pa, because he seems to be always trying to utter something like ya-ya. But many a man is called a ya-tztt who is not dumb but only much embarrassed in utterance — a Balbus. And ya or ya-ya may be used to express a hesitation in speech or a difficulty in expressing oneself. In the Mandarin and book language, the expression for stammering and stuttering is noh-noh, and another term for a trouble in speech is 146 On the Interjeciionat and Imitative Bleftients. ki'hi. But each dialect seems to have at l^ast one or two peculiar expressions for a difficulty of utterance. Such are the Foochow tih (or tah or chih)-ma-ch*ok, and the tih^tih of Amoy. There are also expressions which are purely descriptive or explanatory, as " to speak biting the tongue," " to speak with a stiff tongue." But terms like those mentioned above are the names commonly employed both in speech and writing. The work ki (chi |^) is explained by "hesitation in speech" and " trouble from the limping of speech," or stuttering. By the term nak-^ah or noh-noh (written P^ p^ and fp^ f^) various kinds of impediments in speech are indicated. An early use of it is found in the "Li-chi," where it is recorded of Wen-tzii (3C ?) that his speech was noh-noh, like as if it could not get out of his mouth " (K "s Pft Pft ^ in ^ tfi ^ ft D)- Sere noh-noh is explained ^s meaning low and slow, but it is generally understood as denot- ing tb hesitating in speech, or stammering. The words here quoted have become almost pi'Overbial, and one may see them used in the native newspapers. Then the word ^in or gyin (Pg), already noticed in another use, sometimes denotes an inability to speak, or at least to talk distinctly. So also wa ((^) pronounced huo, which has several other meanings, is used in the sense of a choking impediment in speech. These terms, it will be noticed, are still, or were in their early forms, purely imitative. So also are the common k'o-k^O'pa-pa and the Me-kie {chie-chieyiia-'pa. These terms may be used as verbs, as in the expression tsui-li- k'o-k'o-pa'pa (j^ S Jl 51 E £)» ''he stammers," lit., in his mouth he k^o-k^o-pa-pa's. They may also be used as adjectives, the particles chih (;^) and ti (ffj) being sometimes added, and they may be nouns or adverbs also according to the context. The individual and the local peculiarities of utterance among the Chinese are worthy of more attention than they have received. These must have had, and must still have, some effect in the formation and maintenance, not only of dialects but also of variations in the written language. There are some Chinese who cannot pronounce sh, and say sa and san for sha and shan. One man of my acquaintance could not pronounce words like pu On the Interjectional and Imitative Elements. 147 and aw and tu, but turned these into piiy and sii, and tii, and his children are reported to have inherited the peculiarity. Many Chinese cannot distinguish between h and /, calling a feng a hungj and a huan a /aw/. To the people of Foochow their neighbours of Fu-ch*ing seem to make excessive use of the gutturals and the Fu'tsing-keh-h^eh fFu-ch^ng-ko H jg i|[ ? ) bewrays the man from that district. So also the Pekingese make fun of the Tientsin talk, and speak derisively of the Wei-tsui-tzu (^ Rg ^) or Tientsin mouthers. The next group of imitative expressions to be briefly noticed is that which is composed of child's language, comprising under this designation not only the infracta loquella made by the baby, but also that used to the baby by nurse and mother. The utterances in this class also may be said to flutter about the line which divides speech from inarticulate language, as sometimes they seem to be the link connecting mere cries with words, and sometimes they have all the appearance of actual speech. As the Chinese baby-language has not received much attention hitherto, a few remarks on some specimens of it may be useful ; but it must be premised that the acquaintance with it is very limited. Voltaire says : — '^ Experience teaches us that children are only imitators, that if nothing was said to them they would not speak, they would content themselves with crying." This is perhaps a little overstated, but it is a recognised truth that little children are great imitators. But their mimicking tendencies may have a value and an interest to students of language. Thus the Chinese baby says his whistle makes pi-^i, and so he calls it his pi-pi or pipe. Hence in Foochow, for example, pi-^i and in Amoy pi-a, become names for the child's whistle. This sound pi-pi is also applied to other peeping, squeaking instruments and the noises which these make. This child does not say that the dog barks but that it ou-ou, and so ou (or ngao) becomes a word for the bark of a dog, and the dog is called the ou-ou, or simply the ou. So also the cat makes mi-mi or hi-hi, and hence these are baby-names for the cat and kitten. Then as mothers in China often give animal-names to their 148 On the Interjectional and Imitative Elements. children to save them from boy-hunting demons, we find mi-mi or kitten used as a personal name. Further, the child says the hen t^e-lo, that is, clucks or cackles, and this in some places is a child-term, not only for the cackle but also for the hen. At Foochow the horse is known to children as the animal which makes kah-hak in trotting. Now the man who personates another at one of the State Examinations has long been called the ma, or horse, of the man for whom he appears. But at Foochow the term came to be well known, and so it is there often replaced by kah'kak, to the utter mystification of all strangers. Another Foochow child- word is nu-nu, or a sound like that. When a fat baby is rounding '* to a separate mind '' he distinguishes himself as nu-nu, and his seniors allow him the designation. It must be owned that often an infant " see-saws his voice in inarticulate noises." He finds much difl&culty in imitating certain sounds, and hence he, like his elders, often makes utterances which convey no meaning. To these, as not being articulate speech, disparaging epithets are often applied. Among the Amoy-speak- ing people one name for them is li-li-la-la, and this is also used to denote the infantile prattling of grown-up people. In Man- darin the terms ya (®) and ou (Pg) are used separately or together to denote the sounds made by a child beginning to talk. Then ya-ya comes to mean, not only the a-a of a baby, but also '^ to prattle nonsense," to babble like a baby. One of the first accomplishments of a baby is expressed in English by suck, "a word imitative of the sound.'' So a Foochow mother calls her baby to sauk-sauk (variously given also as soh'Sah, siah, etc.), and thence we have the verb sauk in such an expression as suak-neing, to suck milk. In Tientsin the thirsty infant cries for tsa-tsa. In Shanghai the baby calls for ma-ma, and this is the name for a woman's breasts there, and the name, for the same reason, is used in other parts of China. Again, at Tientsin a baby cries for food by whimpering pei-pei, and so the mother uses this expression to call the little creature to his food. The actual feeding of the baby is called pu or pu-pu, from the noise made by it during the process, and hence arose On the Interjectional and Imitative Elements. 149 the word pu (Pg also read p'u and fu), which came to mean to feed or support. It is said of a mother and her child that the former i-nai-pu-chih (^ M M ^)> feeds her child with her breast. The child is also said to pu-JcuOy munch fruit. Then pu came to be used in other senses, such as " a morsel in the mouth.'* A well-known instance of this use is found in the celebrated saying about Chou Kung, that i-fan-san't^u^pu (— ^ H tt ffi) — ^^ ^^® meal he thrice put out the food in his mouth. In the sense of feed, or give nourishment^ the word occurs often in the saying ao-ao-tai-pui^ ^ #Jfi)^ "with sad whining wait- ing to be fed.'* The terms tie-tie and ko-ho are perhaps originally child-names for father — dada — and elder brother respectively, but tie is a recognised term for father, and ko for elder brother. It remains to notice a few specimens of terms which are imitative only by metaphor. Even of those already mentioned there are several which are not strictly imitative, but only suggestive. These, and the forms of expression now under con- sideration, mimick to the mind, as it were, or give an idea or picture of the effect produced by certain sights or sounds or feelings. Expressions of this kind are to be found in all lan- guages perhaps, and they are usually of a striking and picturesque character. They are generally formed of a word or syllable once repeated, or of a double word the second part of which is a modification of the first. Thus we speak of "the deep, deep sea" and the "red, red wine," and we have terms like pell-mell, pit- pat, zig-zag. The Chinese language luxuriates in suggestive or descriptive terms of this kind. The ancient classical poetry is especially rich in them, but the daily talk of the people is also largely made up of such material. A few examples of the more noteworthy among the expressions of this kind will suffice for our present purpose. Sometimes one word or sound is repeated, and the doubling is made to intensify or emphasize the meaning of the single word. But often the double form of the word is the only one, and does not necessarily bear the meaning of plurality or intensity. The second part of the term also is frequently not a repetition of the first, but a variation of the sound made for euphony, or ease of 150 On the Inter jectional and Imitative Elements. pronunciation, or for some other reason. One name for these compound and quasi-double words is tie-tzu-yii (g ^ |g), repeated-character locutions; and they are also known by the somewhat poetic name tzil-yen (^ BB)^ character eyes. As our first example of these expressions, let us take the one pronounced like ^-^ (^ ^). This term is used in old literature, for example in the ^^Shi-ching," to denote a luxuriant appearance, as of young millet crops. It is thence transferred to the glossy green foliage of trees in spring. But the syllable i of this com- pound is seldom, if ever, found alone, at least in the sense of luxuriant, which the "Shuo-wen" gives as its meaning. Another term like i-d is ch*i-chH (^ ^), which means "luxuriant looking," dense or abundant. In the "Shi" it is said of the ko plant, wei-ye (fi S) ch'i-ch'i, which Dr. Legge translates : "Its leaves" were luxuriant." He adds in a note: " Ch'i-chH expresses *the appear- ance of luxuriant growth.' " This repetition of the character is constantly found giving intensity and vividness to the idea. Often the characters are different, but of cognate meaning. The compound seems to picture the subject of the sentence to the eye in the colours of its own signification. This term ch'i-ch^i came to be applied to various kinds of objects collected in great quantities, as to clouds when massed together. In a poem of a celebrated author we find a passage to be read as follows : chHio-feng-yi-p^ei-' pu'shu'shu-ming-pu'i (^ S — tt ^ H ^ ?! /j^ £), ''Once the autumn breezes blow over the trees the rustling of the falling leaves does not cease." This poem, to which reference has already been made, contains several other illustrations of this kind of expression. Then we take the expression kaUhai or kiai-kiai (^ ^) with which we have met before. This term is applied to the call of the oriole, but it is not meant to reproduce the note of that bird. It only denotes the harmonious sounds of the orioles calling to each other as heard at a distance. And kiai-kiai is used Jn a •similar way of the songs of the Feng Huang, cock and hen phoenixes. It is applied also to the whistling and howling of the wind, and the single word is used in this way, as in the On the Inter jectional and Imitative Elements, 151 line "The north wind whistles "(Jt ® ^ Pg). A tadpole is called by the Hakkas of Chia-ying-chou, kuei'^yem^^yemy in which the *'yem-''yem is meant to indicate the wiggle-waggle of the tadpole's tail. A dumpling is called po-po (|^ '^) or pa-pa in some places, from its rolly-polly appearance, perhaps. Then pa- pa, an apparently meaningless sound, gives the force of earnestly, eagerly y to the word with which it is used. Thus yen-pa-pa (gg ^ El) and wang (g)-pa-pa mean to watch or look for "with all your eyes," with great interest and attention. The Swatow people denote great fear by saying that tKeir heart leapt po-po — po-po- tVu — and this, like the corresponding expression with us, is used for any violent mental agitation. Hard and constant working of all kinds is expressed by the term k^u-k'u ({g Jg) : and hence, not only in common speech but also in literature, k^u-k'u is used to mean toiling and labouring. Thus k'u-k'wehHung-nien ({g i^ M ^) ^^i ^^ ijoork hard all the year. We have now to take one or two of the picture-expressions in which the second part is not a repetition of the first. Such is san sa (0 ^) used in the sense of long and shaggy, as applied to fur and hair. The term Vi-t'a {i^ l^) is used to denote slipshod, as in the direction to wear shoes properly and not have them draggle slip-shod (/p pj ^ @ 4& SS). The Amoy people speak of a very bad road, or a broken bridge, or a roofless ruined house as being tap-tap-lap-lap, that is, having quite fallen down or subsided in ruin. Douglas says the expression is used also of an old hat — a dilapidated tile. The term ch'i-ch^u fki-kuj is used in the sense of rough and zig-zig. Thus the expression shan'lu-cM-ch'u ( jlj ^ |Ig Id) means " the ascent of the mountain was a rugged zig-zig/' Here we have to end our notice of the Emotional and Imitative Language of the Chinese. One department of this has been of necessity altogether omitted, viz., that which contains the calls and cries to domestic and other animals. These also are interesting in themselves and for the relations they bear to the standard language and the varieties of dialects. The treat- ment of them is left for some one more fit for the work and with better opportunities. CHAPTER V. THE WORD TAO (Ji) It has been seen that different opinions have been held by- Western scholars as to the material resources of the Chinese language. Some regard this as poor, and others consider it to be rich in its vocabulary. But a liberal study of the language will shew that it is, as to terms, well supplied in some respects and poorly furnished in others. So also are all other languages known to us, and, as has been said, their vocabulary is considered to be a sort of index to the character of a people. But in the case of the Chinese, the judgments of foreign writers on this subject should be received with great caution. The words of the language are spread over a vast field of space and time, and the means of research are even now very imperfect. Nor can the opinions of native students be taken as authoritative, for they are based either exclusively on a knowledge of their own language, or on that and a slight acquaintance with some others, and they have seldom, if ever, given special study to the subject. The right course is to make a careful examination for oneself of the contents of the language as used in the literature of the country and the conversation of the people, to collect facts respecting its means for denoting material objects and spiritual conceptions, and the manner of employing particular terms and phrases. In the present investigation, a single word, tao, is taken, and an attempt is made to shew the chief of the many ways in which that word has been used. No pretense is made to trace the historical development of these uses, or to shew how they are connected or related. To do these things thoroughly would re- quire a knowledge of all the early literature of China and of the modes of the people. Even with this it is doubtful whether the task could be accomplished in a satisfactory manner. In what is The Word Tao. " 153 done here the reader will often find renderings given to which he may feel disposed to object, or which he may regard as quite wrong. Even native scholars take at times different and irre- concilable meanings out of a passage, and one can often only guess at what was in the mind of the author. But the student who cares to investigate the subject will be able to correct errors as to matters of fact and mistakes as to interpretation. The authorities quoted to substantiate or illustrate the uses and meanings assigned to the word are not always the highest that could be given; often they are at^best only doubtful. They were not examined with a special view to this investigation, nor were they read in any methodical manner. It will be seen also that, though few, they are mixed up in a manner which is perhaps not warranted. The word selected, tao, is perhaps one of the best that could be found in the language to illustrate the variety of meaning with which a single term can be burdened. But no other word apparently has so many and so diifferent uses, and thus it does not give a fair specimen of the way in which the Chinese employ their vocabulary. The vagueness and uncertainty attach- ed to phrases in which this word occurs are not to be attributed to the language generally. With these prefatory words of caution we may now proceed to the investigation of our term. The character for tao is at present written ^, which is composed of cho ^, to go, a classifier of characters relating to motion, and shou *^, meaning head or leader, but here, according to Chalmers and others, phonetic. In the old styles we have the word written ^^ and §}, the former composed of hsing ^, to go, and an archaic form of the above shou ; and the latter, of the same character and ts'un, an inch. The pronunciation of the written symbol has varied from time to time and from place to place. It was originally perhaps something like su or tu, and afterwards t'ao, tao. In the time of the T'ang and Sung dynasties it was read in the shang tone ; the " Wu-f ang-yuan-yin " puts it in the ch'u; and Kanghsi's Dictionary assigns it to the shang with one set of meanings, and to the ch^ii with another. 154 The Word Tao. In the Ningpo and Shanghai dialects the character is read dao, and in the various dialects of Fuhkeen and Kuangtung it is read tUf while in Japan it is read du generally.-^ One of the earliest meanings of the character, and that from which many of the others are derived, is that ofJKay .or .Roadr — Thus used, the word is nearly or quite synonymous with certain others, such as ti (jj), t'u (^ also written ^), and lu (J^). Of these, the first and second are often met with in the classical literature, hut are not much used at present. Lu, however, is still a very common word, and it is often added to tao as a defining suffix. Thus tao-lu is a road, as distinguished from tao'li, a principle. But lu is also very commonly used alone and is interchanged with tao. It is properly any road or path in common use, while tao is a recognized highway, hut the distinc- tion is not by any means strictly observed, and the ^^ Shuo-wen " explains lu by tao. The difference between the uses of the two words is shown in the ninety-second of the Hundred Lessons in the "Tzii Erh Chi." There the speaker says that his party went astray having left the proper highway (taoj, but that by making inquiries as they followed the path fluj they were in, they at last reached the lock. A tao is said to be a way for one to take, — it is to be tao (|©), or walked on ; while a lu is so called because it is made apparent, (lu g), by having been trodden; the former is made to be used and the latter is made by use. When combined, the two words, tao-lu, sometimes mean simply a road, and some- times they denote highways and byways, as in the '' Chou-li," where Biot translates " routes et chemins.'' ^ In this sense of way or road, tao is often found preceded by certain words which particularise its application. A few of the combinations of this kind are here given, and specially of those which are used in more ways than one. The term chou-tao (^ 5E) denotes the main road to the Chou State, as lu {^ytao 1 '* Yu-pien" (3g, j^), Jh, chap. x. ; "Kuang-yiin," chap.iii. p. 35; "Wu-fang- yuan-yin," J: ; " Ku-chin-yun-liao " (^ •<% j^ P%), >*, chap. iii. ; Tuan yii-tsai's " Shuo-wen," s. v. ^. * « Shih-ming " (!@ ig), chap. i. J "Chou-li," chap, xxxvi. j Biot, ** Tcheou* Li," T. i. p. 413i The Word Tao. 155 is a highway to Lu. In this sense tao is sometimes replaced by hsing (^fy), and we find chou-hsing also used to denote a highway to Chou. Then cliou-tao comes to mean any long, wide road, and a poem in the " Shi-ching '* begins, " Eiding on and on in my four-horse chariot, the highway (chou'tao) winding a weary distance.*' The term chou-hang (^ fj) is sometimes used, notably in the ^'Shi-ching/' as equivalent to chou-tao in the sense of highway, and is so interpreted. There are also other terms for a highway fviaj, such as ta {J^)'tao and k'ung (JD-^ao, each mean- ing simply great road. Thus we hear of nan-'pei^wang-lai-ta'tao (S 4b ffi 3$ ::^ JE)> a highway for travellers northwards and southwards. A ta-tao is not of necessity a great, wide road. It may be only a narrow path, but it is the chief one, and the right road to a place — the path by which everybody goes. With it are contrasted the Irnao {)\\yfaOy and the ching (g), the by-way or semita. In the popular language at present, a common term for a highroad is huan C^ytaOf official road, the recognized one by which officials travel.-^ The term ftmg (^^)'tao denotes a thoroughfare, an open passage between two plnfMBs or objects, and thence it comes to mean also to make such a passage, to open a tunnel. It is often used to signify a trade-route, as between. China and barbarian peoples, and also to express the opening of such a route, or clear- ing it of obstructions caused by brigands or otherwise. A long, narrow, winding road over mountains is called a yang-ch^ang-niao (^ )^ or Jg t%)-tao, "Sheep's entrails bird way," that is, a mountain so bad and intricate that it is to be flown over rather than walked along. Such a path is also often called shortly a niao'tao or bird-way. A term with a somewhat similar mean- ing is chii {^ytaoj which is used to denote any narrow, winding road. The sloping passages by which city walls and like structures are ascended are called ma4ao or "horse-way." This term, which will appear again, is also applied to the channel along which horse-archers gallop when practising or exhibit- ^L. C. C, iv., pp. 218, 247, 336, et al,; " Shi-ching," chaps, iii., iy, and v. j "Li-chi," chap. i. p. 40, 156 The Word Tao, ing, though chien {^ytaOy arrow way, is perhaps used more commonly. This latter, however, is also used for an archery course generally, and another name for the same is hou {^ytaOy a shooting course. A jetty or landing-place is also often called a ma-taOj and the name is extended to a mart or trading centre ; for these latter, however, ma-t'ou (J§ |g) is a more correct expression. There are generally three parallel walks or passages in Chinese imperial and official premises. Of these, the middle one is always the chief, and is called the chung (r^ytao, or middle way. This in imperial premises is reserved for the use of the emperor, and hence chung-tao comes to mean Imperial road, the Emperor's passage. Another term which also means middle or imperial way is yung (^)-to, but this is extended also to the raised walk which in a mandarin's yamen leads from the great outer gate to the middle of the principal hall. The paths reserved for the emperor are also called yil {j^)'tao, yii being a term applied to all things imperial. In old times a course was reserved for the emperor to ride or drive in at or near the capital, and it was kept clean and clear except in bad years. This course was called ch*ih {^ytao, or " riding road ; " and the chHh-tao of Ch^in Shi Huang Ti was famous for its length. The term, however, is now used simply as equivalent to chung-tao j and signifies the tHen4zu4a0j or Emperor's way; and it is also sometimes used in a sense still less restricted to denote a post-road. Again, the term lien {^)4ao denotes certain walks or passages within the palace inclosures, which are supposed to be carriage roads. When the emperor goes to his harem or other place of amuse- ment, he is, according to some accounts, conveyed along these in a sort of perambulator drawn by his eunuchs. This name was, however, early transferred to the heavenly regions, and accord-!- ingly lieU'tao became the designation of a cluster of stars at the " east foot " of the constellation Lyra, one function of which is to preside over the festivities of the Chinese emperor. A ch'ing (Jjl)-^flo is a clear route, that is, one free from people, as when the emperor and certain high officials are passing. The routes prescribed for tribute bearers going to the capital and returning The Word Tao. 157 thence are called cheng (jE)- daily rations while on a march or journey. The phrase tang {^)-tao is also used in the sense of " to be on a journey." It also means to obstruct a road, as a man may do, or stop a journey, as a serpent may do; and it has several other applications. In this use of tao to denote a journey we sometimes find it distinguished from kindred words such as lu and t'u ; just as we find words like iter and ma^ journey and path, distinguished, the differences not being very great. Cicero tells Atticus of writing a letter to him " in ipso itinere et via," while on his journey and on the road, that is, not in an inn. So we have such expressions as yii-chu'tao-pi-yii-lu (j§ ^ 5E JB? JK BS)> meeting him on the journey he avoided him on the road. To go or be on a journey is hsing {fx)'^^^) ^^^ this phrase comes to denote travelling continued from day to day. The hsmg-tao-chih" jen, or men who are [always] making journeys, are the common wayfaring people of the world who may be fools ; they are the ordinary men and women of everyday life, who mostly follow the promptings of their emotional natures. Used alone, also, tao often has the meaning of " being on a journey." Thus tHen-tzu 160 Ths Word Tao, (5c ^ytao means " the emperor while travelling ; " and ssH {'fl^ytao sometimes denotes "to die while on a journey." The expression tao-tHng (^) means " to hear by the way/' to learn while travelling, and Vu-shuo (^ |8) " to talk on the road " of what one has so learned is to throw it away. To begin a journey is tsu (j^-taoy and this is also a literary designation for a farewell entertainment, the common name for which is chieri^ hsing (g fj). The word tsu in this use is often written tsu (Jg), and these two characters convey an allusion to the religious services performed at the commencement of a journey. This again suggests the mention of a peculiar and perhaps now rare use of our word. "We find it employed in the sense of " to offer worship," that is, to the dii vialeSy or gods of the road. In the regulations for the feudal chiefs under the Chou dynasty, we find that before setting out on certain journeys these chiefs were required to perform various ceremonies. One of these was to tao, to worship the gods of the road when leaving (^M [ij).^ We may next notice a few of the many phrases to be found which are connected with some of the meanings of our word which have been already given. Among these are the common expres- sions pi {^)'tao and chuang (^)-^ao. The former means to avoid or escape meeting an official, especially a superior, while on a street or road, and the latter means to encounter an official or one's superior authority in an unwished-for manner. Fi is to avoid and withdraw, and chuang is to bump against, to have a sudden and undesired meeting. A very common expression also worthy of notice is chia ('jf^ytao, to double flank a passage, to make two parallel lines with an open space between them. To build walls on each side of a lane or street is to chia-tao ; so also is to plant rows of trees on each side of a walk or passage. We find in literature statements like chia'tao-chiao'tzH'pien (^ 5S ^ ^ f^)> ^i^ passage was flanked by mingled waggons 1 L. C. C, iv., p. 52 ; " Hsing-chmg" (M M), chap. Ji ; " Li-chi," chap ii. ; " Lie-tzu," chaps, ii., viii.; " Faber Licius," pp. 45, 208; L. C. C, iv., p. 261, 331 : ii., p. 288 ; "Meng-tzu," chap xi.; **Li chi," chaps i., ii., ix. and chap. iv. (for "to worship"); "Hou Han-shu," chap Ixiv. (jjl ^) and " Ku-shi-yuan " (-^ ^ jg) chap. V. p. 15, where we have the line 11 ai f^ ^ P5' The Word Tao. 161 and carriages. But the phrase chia-tao is perhaps best known as used of men. Thus we often find such expressions as wan-Jen (M Aychia-tao, that is, a myriad people lined his way ; and lao-yu-chia-tao (^ ^ 2K jS)> ^^^ ^^^ young stood on each side of the road, that is, to testify their respect for a good prince or a just official at his departure or at his funeral. Then the phrase chia-tao, or chia-taO'tzuy is also used sometimes to denote a lane, alley, or other passage between two rows of houses or trees, or between two banks. When thus used, it is explained by shen- hsiang (g? ^), a deep alley. The name chia-tao is also given to the top of a city wall which is flanked by the perpendicular walls projecting upwards. Another idiomatic expression is chii {"^ytao, which means " to take by the way," as to take Pao-ting-foo on the way to the capital. This phrase is found often in memorials from the provincial authorities, and in other state documents. We may also take note here of the phrase fen (^)-taOj which means, literally, to part or divide a road. It is commonly used in the sense of taking different courses or directions, each going his own gate, literally and figuratively. One occurrence of the phrase in early literature may be said to be classical, viz., the expression chih-shou-fen-taO'Ch'il {^^ ^ M i)> ^' ^^^7 clasped hands and went their ways," one in this and the other in that direction.-^ The Chinese language does not make much distinction between nouns and verbs,, and so ^ao is used to denote not only a journey but also "to journey or travel." Thus kuei {^ytao is to advance on one's knees, as in the presence of the emperor; and hsien {%)-tao is to go before. So also tao-Vu is to walk along a road, as Browning says, "If it should please me pad the path this eve." In old English a poet could also say "On a time as they together way'd." We next notice tao used like via in the sense of right of way, liberty of passage. Thus for one prince to obtain from another the right of passing with troops through the territory of the latter, was called chia (iS)-^«o. Chia means to borrow, and chia-tao- 1 "Han-shu," chap. viii. ; «♦ Yun.fa-oh'un-yu," chap. iii. ; "Ku-shi-yuan," chap. iv. p. vii. 162 The Word Tao. yii'Yu (SJ ^) is to borrow, that is, obtain, from Yii the right of crossing the state. It also means to lend or grant such right, but the correct term for this is yu (||)-i(ao, to give a passage. In popular language, however, chia-tao has come to mean simply to get out or escape, as in the expression chia'tap-ywhou-men (^ Jg A ^ f^)i to escape by the back-door.^ The notion of a journey suggests that of the point of departure, and the next use of our' word to be noticed is that in the sense of "from." The expression feng-tao-pei-lai (g, jg ^t Tjj^) means "the wind is from the north." So also we find persons spoken of as tao-Ch^ang-an-lai {^ g ^ ^X that is, having come from Ch*ang-an. J[njOqlloguial Mandarin the word ta iff ) is very common in the sense of "from," and it is not improbable that the word so used is a phonetic corruption of tao.^ This word has the further meaning of '' district " or^ "region." The Sanskrit word patha in like manner means a road, and also a country, as in udakpatha, the north country. So also the Greek otfjiog, a path, is also used for a tract of country, as in iKvSrjveQ ocfiov, to " the Scythian region." We are expressly told that tao is a synonym of kuo, which means kingdom or countryf and ^ao (^)-tao is an important district — one to be well defended. The phrase yuan4ao, which has been mentioned as having the meaning "long journey," is also used in the sense of a distant region, or far away places, and chin-tao, its opposite, is now a near district. The term tao was formerly used to denote a large extent of country generally subdivided into smaller districts. Thus a commentator on the " Chow-li " says of the nine political divisions of the kingdom there described, that they were all to be referred to three tao, and Biot translates this word by "zones." In the Han period all those political divisions which marched with savage territory or included barbarians (^ g|) in their jurisdic- tion were called tao. Thus the Ci^rt;^^ (^-(ao was a district. __ attached to Lung-hsi, and had a mixed population of Chinese ,„ and ChHang. The word appears also in many other names of 1 " Huai.nan-tzu," chap, xviii. ; ^ ^ ^, chap. i. 2 " Shan.hai-ohiug," chap. xvi. ; " Han-shu," chap. xliv. The Word Tao. 163 political districts, an d it w as^ also the name of a fipuntry. The terms nan (^'^)-taG and pei (Ji]^)-tao denote respectively the south and north countries, that is, outside of China. A word for " Har^rian " is generally understood before tao thus used, but sometimes we have it expressed as in the phrase chih-nari'-i-'tao (Jin ® H 5S)> ^^ reduce to order the south /country. The C hin (^) dynasty divided the empire into fifteen provinces, which were called tao; the T^ang dynasty divided it into ten ^ao; and the Yuen divided it into eleven sheng and twenty-three tao. The use of the word in this l ast manner, asu designation of a^cjrcuit or subdivision of a province, still continues. A tao is now a district or department of a province composed of two or more prefectures, and under the administration of on§ mandarin, a Tao-t*ai. Traces of the older use of the word are still to be found in official documents and in the titles of the censors. These officials are distributed according to certain tao, and, so used, a tao is in some cases a province and in some cases more than one province. The ching-chi (jg ^)'tao is a special circuit, the censors for which watch over the administration of the capital and of Manchuria and Mongolia. The chi was originally the sovereign's private domain, and something of that idea appears to survive in the present use of the term. The whole province of Chihli is called in literary style Ghing-chi'tao, and this name is applied also to the province of Corea in which the capital is situated. Then we have the expression tao4i (^ £), that is, the miles (li) of the road, used to denote the geography of a region, the directions and distances of places with reference to the capital and to each other. But tao-li also often means simply distance, especially measured distance. Thus tao-shih-'li is " ten li away," and tao-li^yu-yiian (Jl fi fS ^) is " the distance is very great." It even comes to be used as a verb, as when Huai Nan-tzu tells us that the world's area cannot be told in miles (71 J^ ^ pf 3S M)-"^ ^ Po-ya (® 3PI)> chap, iv.; "Han-shu," chaps iii., v., xxviii. "|C, Ivh'., Ixxix. (There were in all twenty tao in the empire under the Han dynasty, that is, twenty frontier district magistracies. We read also of thirty-two tao as existing under this dynasty) ; %^Wi^i chap, vii.; "X^^ % chap. Ixxxi.; ^ MM^, chap. i. ; ^ |g ^ ^, chap. ii. p. 1 ; "fi ^ ?ig, chap, i., the Q g M Poem ; ** Huai-nan-tzii," chap. xx. 164 The Word Tao. By a natural process the idea of way or road is transferred ' to the course which inanimate objects are seen or are supposed to follow. And so tao becomes the equivalent of such terms as orbit, course, channel, and other words of like meaning. A river has its course, " proprio cammino," and lio [^^-tao denotes the way of a river, — its course. This may become changed, the river taking a new direction, and the deserted course is then called hu ('iJf or '^ytcto, the old way, as in the expression tvan^kuei-hi' tao (Jg If -^ Jg), lead the river back into its old channel. When not preceded by any qualifying term, ho-tao denotes specially the course of the Yellow Eiver, the observation and control of which form the anxious care of many officials. Further, the current of a river or other body of water is called shui {•^) tao, the water's way. This is the course which the water takes in obedience to natural laws, for we can see how " sciat indociles currere lympha vias." So hsia Cyyshui-tao is to follow the current, to go with the stream. But this term, shui-tao, denotes also a sea-route, or a journey by water as opposed to one by land; and it will come before us again in other uses. The term yun (jg)-iao, transmission road, denotes the course, by land and water, assigned for the transport of the grain contributions from the provinces to the capital. Then we have the term kuei {^)'taOj already noticed in the sense of a well-travelled road, applied also to the heavenly bodies. The sun, moon, and stars revolve of necessity in their proper orbits, their grooves — kuei-tao — the paths which they have followed from the beginning of their existence. Again, jih {B)-ta0j sun's way, is the "Solar road," the course of the sun from east to west ; and yue (^ ytao is the path of the moon, that is, the succession of her phases. The ecliptic is usually called the Yellow Wa)^, hiiang {^)'tao, and as this is a symbol of the predominance of the yang influence, the term huaiig4ao,}xs^s come to mean good luck, and a lucky day; but there is another explanation which will be given below. Other names for the ecliptic are chung (tpytao, the middle way, and kuang (^ytao, "the bright ecliptic road." The equator is the chih {^ytaOj or vermilion way; and there are white, black, and, The Word Tao, 165 azure tao in "the Heaven's wide pathless way/' The term t'ienr- taoyoT Heaven's way, is sometimes used in the sense of the way pursued by celestial bodies seen in the processes of sun and moon, in the succession of day and night, and the revolutions of the seasons. Even used by itself, the word tao seems to have occasionally this meaning. Thus Dr. Legge translates tao-ping^ hsing (^ "jf^ fj) by, " The courses of the seasons, and of the sun and moon, are pursued without any collision among them." These words, however, have received also another interpretation, and one more natural perhaps than, that adopted by Dr. Legge. Then in the human body, and in the bodies of other creatures, we have hsie (jSl)-^ao, or "blood courses." But this term does not releF~W' much to the flowing of the blood as to its action in certain definite parts of the body. The name hsUe {^ytao, or " cavity-way " literally, is one of frequent occur- rence, specially in the writings of doctors and necromancers. Chinese doctors distinguish in man's body, and in the bodies of other creatures, real and imaginary, a large number of points or parts which they regard as of importance. These are technically called hsiieh (^), that is, cavity or lurking place; and the spaces between two of these are called hsiieh-tao. This term is then used to denote the places where the vital principle is supposed to lurk — fatal spots. To be wounded in a hsiieh-tao is to be mortally, or at least dangerously wounded. In the " Tzu-erh-chi " the term is thus defined : " In anatomy the space between the joints ; the points at which in acupuncture the needle is introduced; applied in geomancy to the features of ground." The liver, which is the source of the blood, is somtimes called tao, and, so used, the term corresponds to the hsilan (2), dark colour of heaven. The term shui (7jC)-^«o, noticed above, in the body denotes the ureter. Under the term ye or i (jjj) are included the various secretions of the body, and these are connected with the organs of sense each by a separate channel, called i-tao. Thir, term reminds us of the statement of Cicero, "viae quasi quaedam sunt ad oculos, ad aures, ad nares a sede animi perforatae," and of a curious passage in the " De Natura Deorum." The courses of a meal are also called 166 The Word Tao. tao, and sarh'tao-ch^a (^) does not mean "three cups of tea," but "a three-course" tea. It is the name given to a slight refreshment consisting of a decoction of lotus-root, one of almonds (or apricot seeds), and a cup of tea, and is served as a token of respect to a guest. So also the succession of crops in a year is in some places spoken of as^ tao, the first crop being called t'ou (f^ytao, and the second one erh C^ytao} The notion of resemblance or analogy to a road is extended to many objects. The lie of the fur of a skin is called the mao {%)'tao, or hair- way, and comes to stand for our \^^rd quality. A ray or stream of light is i-tao-kuang (— Jii 3£)> one way- brightness; and a golden sunbeam, or any ray of brilliancy, is i'tao'chiri'kuang, a way of golden brightness. So a modern poet says, " From the rock where I stand, to the sun, is a pathway of sapphire and gold." The term tao-huang is used of the long bright streams of glory which proceed at times from a Buddha or one of the Genii, and the phrase hsiang-hwang-wan-tao (M ^ ^ JIX a myriad rays of auspicious brightness, is of frequent occurrence when such beings are mentioned. A stream or current of air is called i-tao-ch'i (^) ; a wreath of incense is irtao'hsiang (^); and a bank of cloud is i-tao-yun (J). The bands or bars seen athwart the sun near the time of setting are called tao ; and we read of jih-chung-yu-chmg-se-ssu-tao ( H 4* W W fe 'M)y the sun having four bands of dark colour. A wreath of smoke rising from a chimney or a pipe is i'tao-yen (j^) ; and hence the expression i-tao^en-tsou-liao (— JE ffl ^ f ), he went off like smoke, that is, he quickly disap- peared. The term huo {lJf^)-tao denotes the course of a fire, the line of direction which it takes. Even flavour is spoken of as having a way or course, and is spoken of as wei (^ytao, that is, the good and proper flavour. It is praise to say of an article of food or a literary composition that it has wei-tao, there is some taste in it ; and tao-wei has quite an opposite meaning. Then this word is applied to all kinds of things which have much length and little breadth. A road is represented on a map 1 L. C. C. i. ,p. 2U1 J Chung.yung, chap. vi. p. 26 j the ^ M flS> etc., chap. i. The Word Tao. 167 by a line, and tao comeaJ; a. have the mea/iina oi a line. Thus to draw a line on paper or other substance is ta (fj)'tao, literally to strike a line. The lines of the Pa-hua and their combinations in the " I-chiug " are often called tao, but there is generally also a deeper meaning attached to the word when so used. Coolies who supply water to houses in the north keep a score by draw- ing lines on a wall. These scores are called tao, and the use of the name and expedient extends to other affairs. A split or chink in wood is called a tao. A row of trees or shrubs is a tao, and a gardener speaks of mei-huaox mei-kuei-hua ( J^ ^ 't^)'tcio, that is, a row^ of red, roses, as Yirgil uses via for a row or avenue of trees. A stripe or band on clothes is also in some places a tao. Thus the corporals among our soldiers were in the north called erh (Zl)'tao, or Two stripes, and the sergeants were san-tao, or Three stripes. This latter came to be the designation of the Consular co nstable, who was actually in some cases a sergeant emeritus, ' The word tao is sometimes used in a peculiar way like our word time, in such expressions as three times, four times. This meaning may have been derived from the use of the word in the sense of a score to keep tally. Our word " way " is used in a manner somewhat similar in " always," which in old English was *'alne way" and "alles weies." In Chinese, i/ twice" and " thrice " are in certain cases expressed by ^ Jg and H JE respectively, and so with the other numbers. There is a kind of torture or punishment which consists in tightening a cord round the neck or other part of the body. The act is repeated a certain number of times, and the technical phrase is that it is done so many tao. So also we read of barbarians like the Hsiung-nu shu-tao'Ju-sai (^ Jg /\ ^), coming several times within the frontiers — boundaries ; but the term also means *' by several ways." Then we find this word discharging the humble functions of what Sinologues call a Numerative or Classifier. Thus used it cannot properly be said to have any meaning, but only to point to some quality of the object indicated by the word with which it is associated. So it is often prefixed to, or combined 168 The Word Tao. , with, the terms for wall, bridge, river, wound, eyebrow, wales on the back, and splits in stone or timber. A river is i-tao-ho (J5), and the milky way is i-tao-tHen-ho (^- ^ ^C^S^y ^° ^^^^ tao is used in this manner with the words for Imperial Edict, Proclamation, Despatch, and various other written or printed documents. Thus i-tao-chao (U) is an Imperial order in writing, and lu {^)-i-tao is to make a copy, to transcribe one copy of a document. A charm drawn up in writing is i-tao-fu-lu (jjj ^), and sarh'taO'pei (J!^) is three stone tablets with inscriptions. "When associated with such words as wall and river, tao, for which tHao (^) may in such cases be substituted, may point to the line-like appearance of the objects indicated. With the words for Edict or Proclamation it may have been suggested by the rows or columns of characters which form the document. Edkins calls it a '* significant numerative,'' and regards it as such in the phrase i-tao-kuang (3ij), noticed above, which he translates, '^ a stream of light." There is certainly only a vague narrow line of separation between the use of the word with such meanings as line, ray, stratum, and its employment as a numerative, or classifier. The expression liang-tao-chou-mei (H JE S 1S)> literally, two lines broom eyebrows, denotes a pair of long bushy eyebrows. Here tao, though perhaps only a numerative, must be regarded as having a meaning, and there are many instances of a similar nature.^ Like the corresponding words in other languages, tao comes to be used in the sense of means or manner. Thus employed, it denotes the way in which an object acts, and the mode or process of attaining or accomplishing anything. The phrase wang (I ) tao, which has several other meanings, is often used in the sense of " the way to the attainment of kingly power," the right and peaceful way to become sovereign of a country. In like manner Confucius says that chun-tzu-yu-ta (;g ^ ^ :^)-^«o, that is, there is a grand way to become sovereign ; and he also says, sheng-ts'ai-i/a-ta (^ ^ ^ :fi)'^^^> there is a grand way to the attainment of national wealth. This last sentence has passed into ^ Mand. Gr., p. 136 j Cf. "Tzu-erh-chi," part viii. sec. iii. The Word Tao. 169 common use, and it may be seen written up over doors of small shops all over the empire. But they who so appropriate it mean no more by it than that they desire to make money honestly if they can. In the present application of the word tao, it is said to be the equivalent of such words as fa (f^), or fang {"^yfa, which denote a means or method. Thus in the question put to Mencius, pu tung hsin yu tao hu (;p B >& ^ JE ^)> "^^ there a way to a resolved state of mind?" tao is explained by fang^fa, means or method. The term sheng {^)4ao has, in addition to several other meaning»j that of " way of life/' that is, means of preserving life ; and ssu (J^ytao denotes " a way of death/' or a means of killing, a course which ends in death. So we read in Proverbs of the "path of life" and the "ways of death." In the Introduction to his "Liu-shu-ku" Tai T'ung tells us that "for the prosecution of research, writing is the most important means '' {^ Hj^ ± M MU M #)> that is, the means which affords the most material. The phrase chin (^) tao is the way of gold, the golden means, as in ff ;5^ ^ Jg i^ M i, li^) set free for him the golden way of becoming a god.^ * With the above is closely connected the use of our word in the sense of art, device, expedient. It is now said to be a synonym of shu {%\ originally also a path or road, and the common term for art or artifice. The two words are sometimes combined, and tao-shu denotes plans or expedients, good or bad, specially political. In the administration of government there are. seven an {$)'Shu, "peace arts," devices which tend to make and preserve a settled state of affairs ; and there are six wei {^)'tao, arts which tend to produce disorder in the state. The term tao- j en (A) is used in several ways, some of which fall to be noticed below. Here it comes before us in the sense of yu tao shu chih jen ( W JE fiR i A)^ that is, a man who has arts and devices, specially those which pretend to give long life and supernatural knowledge. In " Lie-fczu " we find the terms tao and tao'shu interchanged, and Faber translates the latter 1 L. C. C.,'i., p. 242 J "Ta Hsio," chap, iii.; L. CO., ii., p. 02; " Mcng," chap, iii.; ;^ ^ ^ Int. p. 20 j Hopkius' "Six Scripts," p. lb; "Hsin-shu" (^ ^j chap. iv. J 70 The Word Tao, by " Geheimes Verfahren," or secret procedure, and tlie former by '' Mittel," means, or " Geheimniss," secret. There is often a suspicion of wickedness or impropriety about the term tao-shu, and even tao by itself in this use is not always above suspicion. One of the meanings of yu {^ytao is to have an art, a method, whether for catching crickets, committing robbery, or ruling a country. A clever device is a chH {^ytao, but this rather hints at trickery. Then tao comes to mean one's occupation or means of living; and the phrase t^ung {^ytao denotes, along with other things, to be of the same occupation, the same way of living. Some professions are considered low or base, and these are called small arts — hsiao (>J>) tao — such as those of doctors and fortune- tellers. Music, on the other hand, is ranked high, as we learn from the old saying, "Among the arts of the people music is greatest'' {^ S: i, M M 1^ :k)- I^ the expression shih ching tao ye (jf; ^ ^^ ^), teach him the art of reverence, tao is explained as tao i (®), art or means, i denoting also ability, cleverness.-^ Loosely connected with the above is the use of our word in the sense of " abilities " or " attainments." In the common list (jE f* fc Wi)i ^^^ ^s sometimes said to denote natural abilities. It is then said lo~tie the equivalent of ts'ai i (^ ^), genius, natural endowments. So also the expression fan-yu-tao'cho {fL ^ JE §)> "^^^ ^^^ h^LYQ tao," is interpreted to mean *^ those who have great natural abilities" (^ zj' ^ ^), and Biot translates *' des hommes instruits." Again, we learn that ''great genius is not a utensil" {:kMX> ^)> or, as Gallery explains the phrase, " une grande capacite ne doit pas etre (bornee a un seul usage) comme un ustensile." Again, the term tao-ta is used of one having broad views, and means " a large or liberal way of thinking," but it also denotes the possession of great abilities or ^ Kanghsi's Diet. s. v. $K; " Han-fei-tzii," chap. viii. ; *' Han-shu," chap. Ixxv. The term tao-shu, however, is often used in a good sense. Thus pu chih tao shu (/fs ^n M. V0> ^s "not to know the right way," the proper means; and yu- tao shu cho denotes also *' men of expedients," that is, men of practical abilities. •' Shuo-yuan" (|^ ^), chap. xvi. ; " Hsin-shu," chap, v.; "Lie-tzii," chap, viii.; T'aber's Lie, p. 197; chap, ii.; Faber, pp. 8, 18, 55; L. C. C, i., p. 204; " Lun-yii," chap. xix. ; " Li-chi," chap. vii. p. 22 ; chap. vi. p. 74. The Word Tao. 171 attainments. The word tao is used in this sense of attainments specially moral or spiritual very frequently, but one or two examples may suffice. In the "Lun-yii" Confucius says to Tzii-lu, with reference to the self-respect and the unoffending but independent spirit of the latter, " These attainments fall short of high virtue " (:g JE ^ JpI JE £1 M)- I^ another place Confucius is represented as saying, *^ There are three attainments of the Model man (g ^ >E ^ H) which are beyond me, — to be virtuous without anxiety, wise without scepticism, brave without fear." ^ We next notice the use of •^our word in the sense of "characteristics." It must be admitted, however, that in some of the passages in which it has been so rendered, some term like " attributes " or *' qualities " would perhaps suit better. Thus of the statesman Tzu-chan, Confucius says, ^ ;© •? J^l J^ 0, he has four of the characteristics (or attributes) of a Model man. Of Yen Hui and others the Master spoke in similar terms, in each case stating the characteristics or attributes of the Model man which the individual possessed. Used in this sense, the tao of the Model man are said to be inexhaustible, but it is something to have even three or four of them. Again, of a simple, good man (^ A) it is said to be a characteristic (tao) that he does not merely keep in the footprints of others, and that at the same time he does not become a disciple. Here the word tao is used somewhat in the sense of description, and introduces the meaning of the term shan-Jen. Then Mencius tells us that it is a characteristic of the people (JJ ^^ j^ <&) that having a certain livelihood they have certain . convictions, and without the former they are also without the latter. So also we learn that affection and respect for his parents are proper in a filial son ; and " an awe-inspiring dignity and severity of manner are not used in serving one's parents, — they are the characteristics of a man," 1 "Li-chi" (13), chap, i.; "Chou-li," chap. xiv. ; Biofc, "Tcheou Li," T. ii. p. 28; "Li-chi," chap, vi.; Gallery's "Le-ki," p. 81 ; ** Shuo-yuan," chap. xvi. j L. C. C, i., pp. 89 and 150; " Lun," chap. ix. p. 35, and chap. xiv. p. 42. 2 L. C. C, i.. p. 42 ; " Lun," chap, v.; "Shuo-yuan," chap. xvii. ; L. C. C, i., p. 107; "Lun," chap. xi. ; L. C C, ii., p. 116; ** MSng," chap. v. j "Li.ohi," chap! 172 The Word Tao. Following our word in its metaphorical applications, we find it used to denote the path or course of human conduct. It is even said to be an equivalent of hsing (fj), action or conduct, but this statement is justly condemned as inaccurate. We are told that conduct is either virtuous, or not virtuous (jg H fc ]^ /J> t)* This, however, is a statement attributed to Confucius by Mencius, and its precise meaning cannot be ascertained. The pursuit of virtue and the following of vice are in China, as in western lands, represented under the figure of a journey. But there is a difference in the conception of the nature of the journey. In the ethics and religion of the west the path of vice is generally represented as a wide, large road, level and free from obstacles, and for the most part straight — an easy and smooth road and very attractive. Virtue, on the other hand, has a narrow, pinched path, steep and thorny, and before it the immortal gods have put sweat-producing toil. It is scarcely necessary to add that there are many exceptions to this way of teaching, as in the Book of Proverbs. But with Chinese moralists the way of virtue is always the grand highway of humanity, the broad road which man is by his nature disposed to follow. Vice, on the other hand, is with them the narrow, devious paths into which man is constrained by evil influences from without. Thus the phrases chou {^ytao and ta-tao, already noticed in the sense of high- way, come to denote the path of virtue, and in this usage Callery renders the former by " les grandes vertus.'^ Opposed to these are the hsiao (>J'»)-^ao, or small ways, that is, the narrow paths which branch off from the highway and lead into the wild spaces of vice, ''Ways that run not parallel to nature's course." Again, shan{^)'fao, or good way, which has several other meanings, denotes also virtue ; as its opposite, o {^ytao, bad way, denotes vice or wickedness. So also ktmg (^)-tao, or public way, which has various significations, is used to denote a disinterested course, fair and unselfish conduct. Another term for virtue is viii. p. 37. The term jen-tao denotes the characteristics of a man also in a material sense, and a man genitalihus orhatus is spoken of as ^ A ^ ^, " Chou-li," chap. xxiv. See also the " Liao-chai," &c., chap, vi., the words H + irUdPtS^^^A^. The Word Tao. 173 cheng {j£)-taOj which has heen seen to denote originally the correct road or highway. It is now the one perfect way of life as contrasted with the many wrong paths into which men wander. "The highway of the upright is to depart from evil; he that keepeth his way preserveth his soul." Contrasted with cheng-tao are the hsieh {^ytao, or hy-paths, which lead astray and end in confusion. This term hsieh-tao is always used in a had sense, and often denotes unchastity. The proper (cheng) course, for a Chinese filial son is to marry and raise up children to his father. If he cannot marry he should lead a life oi continence, acting according to the teaching of an old poet, " Wholly abstain or wed. The bounteous Lord Allows thee choice of paths; take no byeways." Another name for lewdness is hua {'^-taoj or flower way, *'the primrose way to the everlasting honfire." This phrase, when used of woman, points to the fact that inthe gay life of lawless love, beauty's flower never ripens to any fruit, the fair wanton dies like the primrose — forsaken and unmarried. Moral integrity, or honesty of speech and action, is often expressed by chih C^ytao, straight or direct way. In one place Legge tran- slates this phrase by " the path of straightforwardness," and it is said to mean there wu-ssH-chu (^ jfJi ^), to be without private bias, neither slandering nor flattering, but speaking the straight- forward truth. As uprightness, it is opposed to wang (Q)~tao, the crooked ways of dishonesty ; and as impartiality, it is opposed to chii {^ytao, the winding ways of partiality. As blunt frank- ness of speech it is contrasted with and set above ch'iao-yen (t^ •=), or artful words. Tao is often used alone in this manner to denote the way, the right course, or virtue. Thus one of the meanings of i {£X)'tao is rightly, or in accordance with virtue, and Confucius says that the Model man cannot be pleased with anything "not accordant with right*' {7J^ J^ ^). Opposed to i-tao is yu-taot wrongl y o r wickedly. But this latter has come to have a very definite signification of a peculiar kind. It is the legal term for one of the shi-o (-p ^), or Ten C rimes o^f the Penal Code. In the Han period this crime was the murder of three 174 The Word Tao. individuals of one family. The present definition of the term is a little different, but it still denotes a heinous crime with a terrible punishment. Some explain the use of the term by saying that the man who commits the crime, in the act turns his back ou virtue, man's cheng-tao or right and natural course. And the phrase pu-tao is often used for what we call unnatural in the sense of violating the natural relations, as of ruler and minister, father and son. Thus the Emperor Yung-cheng describes a certain proposal as ta-ni-pu'tao-wu-li {:kW,^M^ 8)> very impious, unnatural, and unreasonable. The phrase ta-ni-pTutao is an old one, being found in the " Han-shu," and perhaps earlier, but the emperor gave it a new force. Again, Confucius told Tzii-lu that he would go away from the kingdom of Lu leisurely, and Mencius says that this was c^hu'fu-inu-lcuo^chih-tao)y (^ "SS # ^ ^ M)) the right way to leave the country of one's parents. So we find such expressions as yen ("^ytaoj speech correct, where tao is explained as ho-yu, (^ "^ytao, that is, in accordance with what is right. In like manner the phrase i-yil (^ M)'^^o, is to follow what is right, '^ suivre la bonne voie," as Gallery translates. To err or go astray is shi {^ytao, to miss the way, to wander from virtue ; and to return to virtue is fan {J^ytao, as in the expres- sion fari'tao-tzU'hsin (^ jg g §f), to return to virtue and reform. But these two phrases have other meanings also, and the latter, fan-tao, is used in the sense of rebelling against what is right. The contrast between taoj what is right, and o, what is wrong, is well brought out in the aphorism, "The good man makes friends from agreement in goodness; the bad man makes a partisanship from agreement in wickedness " (S "? £1 |pJ JS Then as tao is used in the sense of to walk or travel, so it comes to have that meaning figuratively. Thus tao-chung is to 1 L.O.C., ii., p. 169; " Meng," chap, vii.; "Li-chi," chap. vii. p. 34; Gallery, "Le-ki,"p. 108; L. C. C, i., pp. 165 and 195; "Lun," chap. xv. and xviii. ; L.C. C., i., p. 137 ; *' Lun," chap. xiii. ; " Han-shu," chap. viii. ; " Yung-cheng Edicts," 4th y. 10m 25 ; L. C. C, ii., p. 247 ; " Meng," chap. x. ; " Li-chi," chap. i. ; '« Han- shu," chap. vii. ; " Kan-ying-pien," chap. vii. p. 28, Note. The phrase ta-ni-pu- tao may be sometimes found used of a crime such as that which we understand by the name *' high treason." The Word Tao. 175 walk in the mean, and, used alone, tao has sometimes the sense of walking in the right way. In the " Li-chi " we are told that the law of social rites *' may not be followed ftao) vainly," that is, it must be observed sincerely and thoroughly. In this place tao is explained by hsing (fj), to go or travel, as on a road, and this word is often used as the equivalent of tao. Thus, for example, in the " Lun-yii," Confucius is represented as saying that as he could not "get men pursuing the due medium {tp fj) ^® ^^^ to take the eager and the cautious." Mencius quotes this statement but substitutes chung'tao Jor chung-hsing. Again, to pursue learning is tao-wen-hsiao (38 3C §i ^^^ to w^^k in the Constant Mean is tao-chung^yung. In these places tao is said to mean yu[^), to go along, or hsing, to walk in, that is, to practise. The statement that " the model man is reverently attentive to his moral nature (^ (g '^) and pursues learning," formed the great battle-field for Chu Hsi and Luh Chiu-yuan, and their followers.-^ The next use of our word to be noticed is that in the sense of state or condition. We now find that the iQvmjen {X)'ta0j in addition to its other meanings, denotes the state of a human being, and man's estate, or manhood. The expression yen-^ao-?i (A JE A)y man's way arises, means " a human being is formed." To cap a youth and give him a name in the presence of witnesses effects his manhood, ch'Sng-jen-chih-tao (jS A ;^ JS), makes him a man. Then huei {^)'tao is the state of being a ghost or demon ; chHn-shou (^ ^)-chih'tao is the condition of birds and beasts — "Texistence des betes brutes," as Callery translates. So ^hofu ('^ytao is fatherhood, which has its origin in heaven ; and fit-fu (^ i%)-tao the state of husband and wife, that is, the state of matrimony. T^ung {"^ytao is boyhood or childhood, both first and second. In a family or village it is of great importance to keep up feelings of harmony and friendship. To lose these is shih-hou (^ ^ytao, to lose the genial state, the cordial relations among neighbours. So also ho (ft)-^ao is a 1 L. C. C, i., p. 286; " Chung-yung," chap. vi. ; "Li-chi," chap. v. j L. C. C, i., p. 136, and ii., p. 374. >^^^eS Libr,^,^^ ^ ^ Cf THE ■ '' , '\ 176 The Word Tao. condition of harmony such as should prevail in a household or community. Again, the term chia {^ytao denotes the state of a household^ or family. Thus chia-tao-shen-pHn (:g J) simply means the family is very poor. A common euphemistic expres- sion with the same meaning is chia-tao'p'ing'an (^ ^), the family has peace, that is, there is no trouble with property, because there is none. Opposed to these are such expressions as chia-tao-chin-tsung-yung (^ ^ ^), the family are in very comfortable circumstances, and chia-tao-hsing-lung (^ ^), the household, is prosperous and flourishing. This phrase, chia-tao, often points to the reputation of a family for wealth, learning or virtue, and Morrison translates it by '^the ways or circumstances of a family." It reminds us of the statement that the virtuous woman "looketh well to the ways of her household." The expression chia-tao-hao {ff) means that the family stands well, is in good circumstances and has a fair reputation. To establish a household, all that is needed is that husband and wife live together in harmony (^ if il W ^ ^ 51 J^)> ov, as Morrison has it, " let husband and wife agree and then the welfare of the family will be secured." So also we are told that that household is per- fect (well ordered) in which husband and wife observe their duties of mutual obligation (^ if ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ Jt IE)- Again, the phrase shi {-^ytao sometimes denotes the moral state prevailing at any time in a country, and sometimes the condition of affairs generally, the fashion of the age. Lie-tzu relates that Tzu-Chan's elder brother, through excess in wine, pu'chih'shi'tao'chih'an-wei (/?> ^ ift tS J^ ^ )S)> ^i^ ^ot know whether the state of the world was peaceful or troubled, that is, did not know whether the country was in a state of order or of anarchy. Faber translates, " Er kannte nicht den Frieden oder die Gefahr des Weltganges," but this does not seem to express the author's meaning fully. The phrase shi-tao has been explained hy Jen-chHng ( A If ); man's feelings, or human affairs, but the explanation is not satisfactory. It is often associated with jen-hsin (A »&)> man's mind or heart. Thus there is the common saying, A *& 7 ■& iS Ji H fj; literally, man's heart is not ancient, the way of the age is hard to The Word Tao. 177 follow, that is, people are not like what they used to be, and plain honest men cannot succeed. We read that the shi-tao- shuai-wei (iS JE ^ Wi)' ^^® morality of the world is fading away, a process through which it has been going ever since history began. Again, ku (i^ytao denotes the "old ways,'* the manners of our fathers which seem stupid to their children Let us now turn to a group of meanings very different from those already noticed, but originally derived from some of them. We are wont to speak of a road as leading — " qua te diicit via, dirige gressum," — and the mode of speech is extend- ed to figurative applications. Thus the way of friendship may be a path which leads by tracts that please us well, while ''The paths of glory lead but to the grave," and Adam says to Raphael, " Well hast thou taught the way that might direct Our knowledge." All education is a training in the way we should go, and counsel and instruction are guidance. In Chinese the character tao itself has the meanings of to lead, guide, teach, advise. From its composition we might infer that its original meaning was to lead, and one of the commentators on the definition given in the " Shuo-wen" says that there it is read tao (^), which means to guide or rule. When thus used as a verb, our word here, as in other cases, is said to be in the ch'ii-sheng. A few examples will suffice to shew the nature of its meanings when so employed. To lead the van of an army is tao-chHen ("gj), which is contrasted with yung-hou (J^ ^), to press on in the rear. Again, wei (;g) tao is to take the lead, go in front, as in the saying of the people of Chu to the ruler of Cheng, translated by Dr. Legge, "If you will now vent your indignation on Sung, our poor town will lead the way for you " {% S ^ Jg). When used in the sense of telling the way, or guiding on a journey, tao is explained by ahih'chih'i- ^ " Hsing-li," chap.viii. ; " Li-ohi," chap. x. ; " Le-ki," p. 67; "Hsing-li," chap xxi.; \^ jg §^ chap. Ji; Sacred Edict, Art. 3., Amp.; " San-yu-faug-chi" (H ^ S: Ml Int. ^ -£ ^ H, chap. X.; " Kan.ying.pien," chap. viii. p. 41, note"; Morrison's Alphabetic Diet., s. v. ^ ; " Hsing-li," chap, xxv.; "Lie-tzu," chap, vii., aud Faber, p. 165; " Kan-ying-pien," chap. viii. p. 36, note. 178 The Word Tao. tao-Vu (^ ;i £1 Jl S)> to *e^l \P^ shew) one the right road. To lead or guide an army, in the sense of conducting it, is tao-chiin (5) ; as Chang Ch'ien was said to lead his array (tao'chiln) to places where he knew there were good grass and water. To in- troduce, as at court, is also expressed by taoj and it was the office of the Yu-ssa^ in the Han period, to present and escort chiefs of foreign states while at the capital, as when we read of causing a Yu-ssu to introduce a Shan-yii ('^ >^ "^ jft H •?.). It is also used in the sense of welcoming and escorting, acting th^-host-to^ne generally,. Thus inihe "Shu-ching" we read that Yao ordered a Hsi to receive as a guest the sun at his rising, and a Ho to "convoy the setting sun;" and in the '*Shi-chi" we have ching {^-tao, reverently attend, used both for the welcoming and convoying. Then in the journey of life man is always tempted to leave the right track and go in the narrow ways of error. So Heaven has ordained that there should always be wise and good men to teach and guide aright the ignorant and erring multitude. And thus we find such expressions as tao- chih-i-li (J8 jj^ jg, jjU), to keep the people right by social customs and ceremonies; and li-i-chih-tao ^jjil^ jJl 3S)is, according to Dr. Legge, "the guidance of propriety and righteousness." Again, we read that chun-tzii-tao-jenH-yen (^ 'f M A HI m)* ^^^^ is, in Gallery's rendering, " Le sage se sert de la parole pour diriger les hommes (dans la voie du bien)." A native commentator explains tao here by hua-hui (fl^ |§), to impart culture, to teach mild ways and gentle manners. The intelligent ruler, also, leads his people in the right way ( tao-chih-i-taoj , that is, he takes measures to have them trained only in the learning which is orthodox. In one passage the guiding (taoj of the people by the ordinances of government is contrasted with the guiding of them by good personal influence. In this passage a native commentator explains tao by yin-tao (5| ^), to pilot, lead in the right course; and another explains it by hua-yu {^ ^), like hua-hui above. The sage is said to-be in his active life a guide ftao) to all the world, and he tao-i-te (£{ (g), leads men by the example of his own moral character. The work of learning truth, of acquiring wisdom, is a journey entered on in childhood and ended only at death ; The Word Tao. 179 and the sage's mode of instruction may be thus described. He shews the way but does not drag anyone into it, he confirms resolve but does not insist doggedly, he opens a passage but does not carry through. Used in the sense of " teaching," tao is explained by hsiin ( J||) or chiao (15;), words which mean to teach or instruct. We sometimes find it joined to the latter word, as in the expression i-chiao-tao-min, "pour Tapprendre au peuple." In the sense of "advise'' or "counsel," also, tao is of frequent occurrence. Thus Confucius is represented as telling Tzu Kung that a friend should be faithful in rebuking and good in counsel- ing {& •& IB # M)> or> as Dr. Legge translates, "Faithfully admonish your friend, and speak to him kindly." Again, t'an hsiao'crh'tao (M ^ M JE) is to advise (or dissuade) with gentle, pleasant words. So also we have the statement tao-chih-fa [^ fjg), counselled him ( " tried to persuade him " in Dr. Legge's version) to attack. The sense of leading, or directing, sometimes implies and is associated with that of ruling, of ordering another's footsteps. The use of our word in this way may be illustrated by a quotation from the " Han-shu." In that treatise we find the Emperor Hsiao Wen saying, " The way of leading the people (JE J5 j^ S&) lies in attending to what is essential." And afterwards he says he will " order each to follow his own mind in order to lead (or govern) the people (^ # ¥ S 5it £1 5E 15)- Our word is applied in this way also to the lower animals, such as horses and camels. Thus we read that liang-ma-i-tao (^ ^ ^ jg), a good horse is easily managed, or easily trained, that is, as the context shows, a horse which has a good natural disposition can be easily trained to bear a rider.^ Now in accordance with the genius of the language, the word which means to teach may also mean that which is taught. And so our word comes to have siich significations as doctrine, ^ "Shuo-wen," by Hsii Ch'ieh (^ ^), s. v. tao (^) ; L. C. C, v., p. 19; "Han-shu," chap. viii. ; "Li-chi," chap. viii. p. 54; L. C. C, ii., Proleg., p. 82; "Li-chi," chap. ix. p. 54; "Le-ki," p. 166; "Hsiin-tzu" (-^ =f), chap, xvi.; L. 0. C, i., p. 10; "Lun-yii,'* chap, ii.; "Lun-yii," (13), chap, ii.; "Li-chi," chap, vi.; "Le-ki," p. 24; L. C. C, i., p. 125; "Lun-yii," chap, xii.; L. C C, ii., p. 303; ** Meng-tzii," chap, xii.; L. C. C., v., p. 199; " Tso-chuan," chap, xii.; "Han-shu," chap, iv.j " Shuo-liu-hsiin " (|^ ;^ ||i|), quoted in the ® fft jE, chap. ii. 180 The Word Tao. teaching, system of philosophy or reh'gion. In this usage it is said to be an equivalent of chiao {^), or of shuo (^), which literally means to speak. Thus the expression hsie-shuo (5(5 ^) in Mencius is explained as heretical teaching ftaoj, and the context is apparently in favour of this interpretation, though Legge translates the expression by '^ perverse speakings." The moral and political doctrines which Confucius taught are called his tao, or philosophy, or teaching, and he and others often lament the failure of these doctrines to make their way in the world. Mencius speaks of I-yin delighting in the learning ftao) of Yao and Shun. Legge here translates "principles," but the commentators explain the expression to mean that he delighted in reading the odes and records of Yao and Shun. So also in certain cases Wen Wu chih-tao denotes the doctrines of Wen- wang and Wu-wang. The Chinese reverence for antiquity is seen in the oft-repeated recommendations of the teachings of these and the other sages of antiquity. Mencius took it to be his duty to defend these — the hsien-sheng-chih-iao — and to repel the invading heresies of Yang and Mo. "We even find the word by itself used in the sense of old teaching, as when Hsu Hsing says of the ruler of T'eng that he wei-wen (^ ^ytao, which Legge' translates, " has not heard the real doctrines of antiquity/' the taoj or doctrines, being those specially of Shen-hung. Again, what we call Confucianism is Ju-tao, the system of the learned, or Confucianists ; Fo-tao is Buddhism, and Tao-tao is Taoism, the way of Tao. In our own language we find there was once a similar mode of speech, as in the stanza which says of St George, " Against the Sarazens so rude Fought he full long and many a day j Where many gyants he subdu'd In honour of the Christian way." Further, Confucianism, the orthodox system, is often spoken of simply as the way ftao). Thus a Mandarin addressing the emperor says, " Our dynasty esteems Confucianism and respects Confucianists " (fIJ D) fi JE # ft), and the word is often so used. This reminds us that the Christian religion was at one- time called simply the Way. It is so spoken of several times in the Acts The Word Tao. 181 of the Apostles, and St. Paul says to Felix, " But this I confess unto thee, that after the Way which they call a sect (or heresy) so serve I the God of our fathers." In this usage of the word tao it may sometimes be rendered by religion^ and Dr. Edkins so translates it, though a vaguer word like system would perhaps be better. Faber in his translation of "Lie-tzu'* sometimes uses religion, and at other times teaching or system. One of the meanings of the term tao-jen is a man in religion, that is, one who has renounced the pomps and vanities of the world and embraced some system of religious- teaching and discipline. So also men of eminence in learning or philosophy have a tao-hao (S ®u)j designation in philosophy, or "name in religion." Thus the famous Shao Yao-fu (% ^ ^), of the Sung period, had a name Kang-chie (^ fg), which is called his tao-hao, but the term is applied liberally. Now the system of religion or philosophy to which a man adheres is for him orthodoxy. It is thelvaj (tao), or the correct (JE) way, or the right-hand (:g) way. What is not his system is heterodoxy — outside ways (^fi Jg), or left-hand (2£) ways, or wrong by-ways (f|S Jg). The term tso4ao, or, more fully, tso-tao-pang-men {^ Jg ^ f^), left-hand ways and side doors, is used by modern Confucianists to include all re- ligions except their own. But tso-tao are not only the tenets of Buddhists, and Christians, and White Lilies, but also witchery, sorcery, and superstition generally if not Confucianist.-^ Now the doctrines which a good man teaches are the truth as he sees it, or the knowledge which he has gained. So we find our word used to express what we denote by such terms as truth and wisdom. But, thus used, it is supposed by modern Confu- cianists to have always a human or practical limitation. This supposition is not quite correct, and specially does not hold good for the early literature. Confucius says that a scholar who is en- gaged in the quest of truth (jg J55 Jl^), and yet is ashamed of bad food and clothing, is not fit to be talked with on the subject. In i L. C. C, ii., pp. 160, 238; i., p. 210; ii., pp. 159, 123 ; J' Meng," chaps, vi. and ix. ; "Lun," chap, xix.; "Meng," chaps, vi. and v.; Faber's Licius, pp. 4:2j 161., et al. ; Sacred Edict, Art. 7, Amp.; " Kan-ying-pien," chap. viii. p. 21. 182 The Word Tao. another place he says that the Model man (g •?) aims at truth (gg jE)> ^^^ is distressed (g) about it, and does not take thought for his material comfort. In " Lie-tzu," one Yen Hui ridicules the notion that the learning of truth (fJJ J^) brings wealth; and Lie-tzu says that with the very handsome and the very strong one cannot talk of truth (^ pf £Jl m S •&) — '' ^^^^ ^^^ °o<^^ nicht iiber Wahrheit reden." Further, all wisdom necessary for the conduct of life is contained in the canonical writings of Confucianism. It was first in Heaven — ** The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old." From Heaven it came at the dawn of human life to the first holy sages who in Heaven's stead taught wisdom (§ ^) to men unenlight- ened. " Truth," says one philosopher, " originated in Heaven (JS M JSS 5c)> is completed in man's mind, manifested in the affairs of life, and contained in books." From sage to sage and from scholar to scholar, true wisdom (tao) has been handed down through all time. It has never ceased from the habitable part of the earth nor gone quite away from the sons of men. " Truth," says one, *' does not go away and not return " ( jg ^ ft iffi /R :^). It is a clue or thread, one end of which is with the first sage and the other with the latest expounder or defender of orthodoxy. Hence we have the common term tao-t'ung (j^), the line of truth, the thread of orthodoxy. There is a short treatise called " Tao-t'ung-lu" (Jg |gg f|^) which gives a summary of the transmission of the truth from Fu Hsi to Chu Foo-tzu. Used in this way, tao is said to be chuan (^), transmitted; also chi (ig) continued, unbroken ; and chileh (j^), broken off or discontinued. Chu Hsi says, '* Truth (tao) never disappears from (O the world, but as entrusted to man it is broken off (|g), or it is continued (If), and so its course (fj) in an age is clear (Bfl) or obscure (^)." Again, the truth, when made known, is believed by some and doubted or rejected by others. Hence we find such expres- sions as hsin (fl^)-^ac>, to believe the truth, and hsin-tao-pu-tu (7 M)> ^0 have only a weak faith in it, that is, not to be established in the truth. To have a firm trust or strong faith in it is expressed by yu-fu^tsai (^ ^ ^)-t<^Oj to have confidence The Word Tao, 183 placed in truth. Further, the lover of learning reads books in order to get wisdom — to search for truth (^ JIO ; while the worlding (ij> A) reads only for material advantage (tH), to gain *' useful information/' and so obtain employment. So tao-hsiao 1,^), the study of moral and political wisdom, is contrasted with su-hsiao (fg jj), or vulgar learning. But the question chun- shi-tao'hsiao'fou (S fi JE i^ S) is used with the meaning simply, '^ Are you, Sir, a disciple of Confucius ? *' Again, books convey true wisdom (^ Jg), as a waggon carries ((J) cargo or passengers ; and a well-written bo©k which does not teach truth is no better than a sham waggon tricked out in gaudy colours. Yet wisdom may be borne in rude and homely words, according to the saying wei-sheng-tsai'tao (^ ^ J| Jg), that is, clownish accents convey wisdom ; a phrase which, however, has also other meanings.^ Now one of the results of education is that a man comes to adopt principles and order his conduct according to them. The knowledge which he gains from the teachings of others leads to the formation of personal convictions as to what is right and wrong. These convictions, acting as motives of conduct, are a man's principles. And we find our word very often used in this sense, denoting the motives of action which give conduct its character. It is man's settled convictions as to how he should act in all the varying circumstances of private and social life. The Model man, we are told, settles his own principles with regard to himself (g "f ^ JE S E)> ^^^ institutes laws with regard to the people, or, as Gallery translates, " le sage expose la doctrine de la vertu d'apres ses propres sentiments, mais il n'institue des regies que d'apres (les forces) de tout le monde." 1 L. C. C, i., p. 32 ; " Lun," chap. iv. ; L. C. C, i., p. 167 ; " Lun," chap. xv. ; "Lie-tzu," chap, viii., and Faber's Lie, pp. 188-9 ; " San-yu-t'ang-wai-chi," chap, iv. ; "Hsmg-li," chap, xi.; " Yang-yuan-chi " (^ S ^), chap. xxix. ; "Chu-tzii. ch'uan.shu" (^ ^ ^ §), chap, lii.; L. C. C, i., 203; "Lun," chap, xix.; "Fa-yen" (;^ ■^), chap. i. ; " Hsing-li," chap. xvi. ; " San-yu-t'ang-chi," chap, iv. ; " Hsing-li," chap. ii. ; Memorials to Yung-cheng Emperor, chap. i. p. IQ. The phrase ju (A) -too is used to denote the beginning of wisdom — the entrance into truth — and i^ /?> A ^ is to get knowledge without wisdom ; A ^ ^, chap. Ji. The tao here is of course the truth of Confucianism; ef. also ju-tao in *' Hsiao Hsio-chi-chie," chap. v. 184 The Word Tao. We now find tao opposed to yil (^), desire or appetite, and to shih (If,) acts of conduct. The phrase t^ung ((p|)— ^«o now means to hold the same principles, while Vung-shih is to do the same thing. Mencius says that Yii and Chi remaining in active service abroad for eight years in a time of good government, and Yen-hui enjoying in his house obscure poverty in time of mis- government, all t^ung-taoy agreed in principle. The motives from which they acted were the same, and placed in the same circumstances they would have acted alike. Here t^ung-tao is explained to mean they had all the same mind (^ kX> ^^ 95 B)- The term hsin in this explanation is used in its higlier sense, denoting the mind which judges and decides on what is right or wrong, and, as will be seen presently, it is in this use a synonym for tao. They serve to express the heart fixed, and the will determining what is in every action which arises the right course to pursue. We also find principle (tao) contrasted with laws and statutes (S ■$!!)> ^^^^ ohq^^ ruler (g), with the virtue of sympathy or kindness (t)^ ^^^^ 'Vfiih. man (A)> or what is human and erring. One of the requirements of the high morality {^ f}) is that a man should obey principle rather than his sovereign (^ M ^ ^ S)- The sage represses the human and follows principle (||1} A Bff |J§ Jg), while the worldling represses principle that he may follow the human. We are told that he is called a great minister who serves his ruler according to principle (]^ J^), and the word in such cases is said to denote that which has its root in a perfect mind and pure motive. But the phrase i-tao or i-ch'i-tao (£t S JE) is of frequent occurrence in the sense of simply acting as one thinks right, having one's own way. The phrases j/u (:§) tao and tvu (^)-tao, now mean respectively to have and not to have good principles ; and the unprincipled (ivu-tao) are described as those among the bad who are perverse (or rebellious). The man of solid worth in office or out of it will not iDa7ig (^^E)"^*^^* bend his principles, make them yield to ignoble motives. It is well for him who can hsing {ffyiao, carry out his principles in official or private life. Nor is he less to be praised who can only The Word Too, 185 shou i^ytaOy keep or hold his principles in times of trial and trouble. But it is ill for him who shih {^)-tao, misses the way, lets go his principles, falls away from the high aims and good rules with which he set out. Mencius describes the bad conse- quences to the state whose ruler "has not good principles by which to determine his conduct" (^ ^ g|). The phrase shan {^ytao, noticed already, is now found to denote good principles, and to " shew the goodness of one's principles." But tao i g also nsp d fnr pituapLaa-^iid^ieiifits, whether good o^bad^ Jhus I-tzu [^ -J) speaks of«^*^ cM chih tao (fl| ^ ^ JJ), the principles of the learned, that is, of Confucianists ; and Mencius speaks of these simply as tao, " the true principles " in Dr. Legge's translation. So we have also Yang-Mo- chih-tao, the principles of the philosophers Yang Chu and Mo Ti (the " Yang and Mih" of Dr. Legge). These were to be hsi (^g,), put an end to, extinguished, while those of Confucius were to be set forth or illustrated (^). There are also hsiao (i]\)-taOj mean principles or inferior motives, which are contrasted with tao, or correct principles. So there are shih (Tfi)-^ao, the ways of the market, the principles of Philistines. In this world of continuous deterioration there is no stability for good principles. They wax and wane, and come and go, at times even seeming to be quite lost. So we read of them as now in the ascendant (^), and again as in abeyance ; at one time as " fading away " {^), or falling into disuse (^), wearing away like old clothes, or quite cast aside as useless ( j§). At other times they are said to be in vogue (fif)> or flourishing (^), or in esteem (^). Every good man desires that the principles he has adopted should not suffer by him, but rather gain lustre from his life. He wishes to be able to say, "In active life I do not dare to shame my principles" (f} g ;p St t te iss mv ^ " Li-chi," chap. ix. p. 35, and " Le-ki," p. 156 ; L. C C, ii., ; p. 211 ; "Meng," chap. viii. p. 51 ; " Hsing-li," chaps, xxi. and xxii.; "Li-chi," chap, ix.; L. C. C, i., p. 109; "Lun," chap, xi.; /h ^ M ^) chap, ii; "Lun-heng," (|^ ^) chap, xi.; L. C C, ii., p. 166 ; " Meng," chap. vii. (here tao is explained by ^ g, principle of rectitude); "Ch'ang-H-ch'uau-chi," chap, xv.; L. C. C, ii., p. 14u ; "Meng," chap, vi.; L. C C, i., p. 76, and ii. p. 370; "Lun," chap, viii., and "Meng," chap. xiv. ; L. C. C. , ii., pp. 134 and 159 ; "Meng," chaps, v. and vi.; "Ku-liang (13), chap, i.; " Ch'aug-li-ch'uan-chi," chap, i. 1«6 The Word Tao, Let us now turn back in thought to the use of our word in the sense of to lead or guide. Derived from this, or at least closely connected with it, is that now to be noticed, the use of the word with significations such as rule, government, principles of state administration. The transition from the thought of guiding to that of ruling is obvious and natural, and in Chinese writings it is often hard to decide in which sense the word tao is used. Eulers are appointed by Providence to teach the people their duty and lead them in the right way ; and to do this is at once their interest and their glory. So the poet says, ** But to guide nations in the way of truth By saving doctrine, and from error lead To know and worship God aright, Is yet more Kingly " than to gain great wealth and power. The first sovereigns were all holy sages who tamed their savage subjects and taught them the mild ways of human life, and all who bear rule should be guides and models to the people. A king is called wang (3E), as if wang (^), because to him all the world should resort (-^) ; and the emperor is called ti Q^) because he is supposed to ti (Iff), examine into the principles of truth. One philosopher also says that huang (^), emperor, is he who understands the primal unity; U, emperor, is he who investigates nature (taojy and tvangj king, is he who is thorough in virtue. In the old classical literature we often find tao used in the sense of to rule or regulate, and other kindred meanings. The well-known phrase tao ch'ien ch'eng chih kuo (J^ [read as ^] ^ ^ i, B) is translated by Dr. Legge, " to rule a country of a thousand chariots ; " and chih (^), to rule well, is given as the meaning of tao here. This latter, however, is rather the li (g|)> or underlying principle, while chih denotes the active measures resulting from the principles. Nor, indeed, does tao here so much mean to rule well as to aim at ruling well, to lead to a good government. The passage perhaps means, ^' he who aims at ruling well a large state attends reverently to the affairs of government, and keeps faith, is economical, and kind to men, using the people at the proper times.'' We have also such expressions as The Word Tao. 187 tao'jen, to rule men, and tao wu ch'ang chih hsing (£ '^ ;J^ fj), to regulate the action (that is, the active influence) of the five cardinal virtues. Then ^ao is used to denote government, as when we speak of^good anT'bad, civil and military, government. Thus we have the phrase wang C^ytaOy having, as one of its meanings, " royal government,'* explained hy commentators as chih {f§), a good and constitutional administration. As a preliminary to the attain- ment of this the ruler must gain the affections of the people (f§ ^ K^), so that they can maintain their living and bury their dead without having any angry feelings towards him. This "kingly way " is spoken of in an old song as free from prejudice and partiality, and perfectly straightforward. It is contrasted with pa i^)'tao, a government obtained by force or fraud and dependent on force for its maintenance, — a tyranny. It is also contrasted with ssu-ch^uan (^^ ;g|), private authority ; and in the bad character given to Ch'in Shih Huang-ti it is said that he abolished the government of the [old] kings and set up an authority of his own (Ig I JE iffi jt fil ^)- "W'e read also of wang-tao'shuai (3E JE ^)» royal government falling into disuse, that is, good institutions becoming neglected and ceasing to have effect. Here wang-tao is explained as meaning the government of the ancient kings (5fe I ;5l JE), and this was simply the adjustment of the natural and social relations, the improvement of education, and the amelioration of manners and customs. The " government of the ancient kings " is elsewhere explained as jen-cheng {^ jgj;), benevolent administration, that is, a govern- ment which imposes only easy burdens on the people, and gently leads by precept and example. We now find the phrase chou-tao with another new meaning as denoting "the system of government in use during the Chou period,*' as hsia-tao means that used by the Hsia dynasty. But phrases like these are also used in the sense of " the political influence " or prestige of the person, or family, or dynasty. Thus tao-shuai (g) may be found in passages where we must render it by something like " the decay of the political influence." We read, for example, 188 The Word Tao. of the Shang dynasty in its later years, shang tao shuai chu hu huo pu chih (^ MM M ^^ J> ^l *' as the prestige of the Shangs had fallen away, the feudal chiefs perhaps did not go to court to pay homage.'* The laws and rules, the statutes and precepts in force in a country are also called its tao. In this use the word is some- times explained by cheng-ling (gj[ ^), official commands, state regulations. Thus we are told that robbers and murderers do not enjoy long life or peace, and it is added that if people comply with the laws of the land they will have their desires (6 S S ii A # S *F), and if they disobey these they are certain to encounter what they dislike. Again, the phrase chun-tzU'chih (g -J i,)'i(^o, in addition to several other meanings, denotes " the institutions of the ruler : " and these are said to be his decisions as to rites and ceremonies, weights and measures, and forms of writing. In the Chou period it was the duty of certain " princes and dukes " to sit and talk government with the king (^ jlfl I& JS)- ^^ the passage where this occurs Biot translates lun-tao by '^pour deliberer sur les regies du gouvernment,'* and a native commentator explains the phrase by "deliberate on positive laws for the government of the country" (SK M S S i K ^)- 1'^® same phrase lun-tao is explained in another passage in a similar manner by several commentators. "We read there of three high officers instituted in the Chou period, that they were to lun tao ching pang (^ ^), discuss institutions and regulate the states. Dr. Legge here translates lun-tao by " they discourse of the principles of reason,*' and some native scholars seem to find in it a similar meaning, while others, perhaps with better reason, prefer the interpretation given above. In the passage last referred to, tao may be taken to denote the means or principles of government, J.hemler's policy^ and it is often used in this manner. Thus the expression tao tsai puh ho chien (jE ffi i)^ rT S) i^eans "the way of governing lies in being invisible," that is, the ruler must keep his policy secret. In the "Shu-ching," King Wu-ting speaks of himself as "in reverent The Word Tao. 189 silence thinking on the way to rule properly (^ ^ @ 3g). Here tao is explained by chih {f^)-tao, which Dr. Legge translates "the principles and course of good government," and Gallery renders by ** le secret de gouverner en paix." These principles of good government, we are told, are fair, and do not grow old (^ i JE ^ fln 7 ^)- I* is an old maxim among Chinese political writers that government should be carried on without any show of governing, a maxim common to the various creeds of ethical and political philosophy. The doctrine is expressed by one old writer in the words, fit tao^mo ta yil wu wei (^ ^ ^ :ht^ ^ M)y there is nothing greater in government than to be without show of action. The phrase hsiao {^)-tao means, along with other things, to learn the way of ruling, and chih (^^)-tao is to know this way. As principles or policy of government, tao is now contrasted with cheng, the active administration, the mode of carrying out the policy. It has been said, for example, of Ch'in Shih Huang-ti that he neither changed the policy nor altered the administration of certain other rulers (^ ^ /f ^ But one of the commonest meanings of tao in this connection is a state of peace and order in a country — good government realTz'ed and pro3ucing its naturaFeffects. TKus we often read of a kingdom (kuo) or a state fpangj or the empire ftHen-hsiaJ yu tao (^ tS) — ^^ expression already noticed — having good government, being in a peaceful condition of law and order. Opposed to this is wu (^ytcw, without good government, in disorder and anarchy, or yin (^), lawlessness and confusion, a state in which the teachers of virtue cease and law becomes disorder, a state like that described by the prophet : *' Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law." Confucius is represented as saying on one occasion, " The Chi kingdom by one change for the better would attain to the state of Lu, and this latter kingdom by one change for the better would attain to perfect government ftaoj ." Here the word tao is interpreted as meaning hsien wang chih tao, the administra- tion of the ancient kings, a government perfectly good and 190 The Word Tao. thoroughly fair. The word in this use is otherwise explained in a passage of the ^*Tso-chuan.^' There an official, Chi-liang, says to the chief of Sui, *'I have heard that a small state can put itself in opposition to (match) a large one if the small state has good government (tao)y and the large one has anarchy (yinJJ' What is called '' good government " is explained as '* true sympathy with the people, and sincere faith in the gods." Again, in the *^ Shu-ching," of three great ministers who had in succession helped in the establishment of order in the kingdom, it is said that they t'ung ti yil tao {^ ^ ^ J^), that is, arrived together [as it were] at good government. Here tao is explained as chih-chih- chill (15; Jg ^ytao, the way of perfect government. The effects of this are then described : " The influence of your government permeating by good administration will benefit the people of the Kingdom " CMI^^ia WM^ R)' persuade the barbarians, make the king happy, strengthen the dynasty, and leave a fair fame and bright example for posterity. Further, Mencius says in praise of Wen Wang that he continued to regard his people as though they were suffering, and looked for a state of order ftaoj, as though it was not visibly existing. Chinese rule is supposed by all Chinese to civilise barbarians, and the introduction of their mode of administration is regarded as the establishment of good government. Thus we find the results of two years' work in attempting to establish Chinese rule among certain barbarians, stated thus : " Though the officials carried on good government (fp tE) for two years, a state of civilisation (or good political order — tao), was not effected'' (fe 38 I^ 1^ 5E ^ J^)-^ We next find this word tao used to express all that we denote by such terms as rule, law, standard, example. In the » Ti.'U. CTTTp. 4; ♦'Lun," chap, i.; " Chu-tzu-i-shu " (^ ^ M W* chap, i.; "Li-chi," chap, vii.; L. C. C, ii., p. 7 ; "Meng," chap, i.; L. C. C, iii., p. 331 ; iv., Proleg, p. 35 ; "Shih-ching" (13), chap, i.; L. C. C, ii., p. 165 ; ''Meng," chap, vii.; "Li-chi" (13), chap, liv.; "Hsiin-tzu," chap, xvii.; L. C C, i., p. 28 9; " Chung.yung," chap, vi.; '' Chou-h," chap, xx vii.; Biot's " Tcheou-Li," T. ii., p. 457; L. C. C, iii., p. 527; "Shu," chap, v.; " Shu-ching" (13), chap, xviii.; "Han Fei-tzu," chap, i.; L. C C, iii., p. 250; "Shu," chap, iii.; Gallery's "Le- ki," p. 83; " Hsiin-tzii," chap, xviii.; L. C. C., i., p. 56; "Lun," chap, vi.; L. C. C, v., p. 47; "Tso-chuan," chap, vi.; L. C. C, iii., p. 576; " Shu," chap, vi.; L. C. C, ii., p. 202; " Meug," chap, viii.; " Chu-taii-i-shu," chap. viii. ; *' Han-shu," chap. Ivii. The Word Tao. 191 *^ Great Learning" we read that the sovereign has a rule by which he is to proceed in the active administration of aflfairs. This rule is described as a hsie chfi chih tao (^ ^g jj^ Jg), a testing (or adjusting) square rule. It is the law of reciprocity, of shewing filial piety, brotherly kindness, and parental affection. As the carpenter uses the material instrument to make and to test his material squares, so the ruler frames his conduct and tests his govern- ment by this rule of treating others as he would have others treat him. Contrasting prayer for moral advancement with that for riches and honour, Mencius says ^f the latter, '^ Though the seeking (praying) is according to rule (5^ i,^ M)i while the getting depends on fate, in this case the seeking does not assist in the getting, and is concerned with what is external." Here Legge translates yu-tao by "according to the proper course," and Faber by " hat feste Eegeln." Some native scholars explain tao here as " the law of right drawing the line for me as to what is not to be sought" (3 i: fljg iU ;?; g ^ If ) ; and others explain it as that which controls (fij) the seeking, not that which makes this right (^). In another place Mencius says that the philosopher Mo (Mih) in funeral arrangements made an econom- ical plainness the rule {^^^SX^I^^ Jl). By reference to the works of Mo Tzu and Chuang Tzu we find that tao is here used as the equivalent of fa (^) or fa'Shih (f^ ^), a rule or law. Then we have such expressions as yen yii chih tao (b* |g j^l ?S)» the law of conversation, that is, the general principles which should guide and control one in addressing others ; and wei i shang (^ ^ ^)'chih-tao, the rules for wearing clothes. The term je7i {\)-tao or jen-chih-tao is occasionally rendered by Gallery " la loi chez Fhomme," and he translates shun yil (Jig J5&) tao by " ob^issance complete a tout ce qui fait loi." He is a dutiful son who for three years after the death of his father does not make any change in the appointments (or arrangements) made by the latter (^ ^ ^ Bit iSS $C i ^)- ^^^SS^ translates, *' If for three years he does not alter from the way of his father," and there are diverse interpretations of the passage. One of the meanings of ku (]5f) or ku-chih ("j^f ^ytao, is '* the old rule," the 1^2 The Word Tao. opinions or judgments of the ancients, which should always he a standard for the moderns. So the prophet Jeremiah, as quoted with a gloss hy the Person, says, " Stondeth upon the weyes, and seeth and axeth of olde pathes, that is to sayn, of old sentence, which is the good way, and walketh in that way." As a law or standard, tao is sometimes said to he " the conduct of saintly kings " (M'^ ^ ff ^)> ^^^ regulations of princes are the sound, and the learning of these by the subjects is the echo. It is also used to denote "the proper thing," that which is prescribed, as in the statement that the official black hat called ivei-mao was the rule under the Chou dynasty (^ |^ ^ JE •&)• This word is also in this use of it, as in other circumstances, treated as a verb. Thus Confucius, according to Tseng Tzii, on hearing of something good to do, proceeded to do it, " and then made r rule of it" (gc ^ Jt ^V We pass on to another use of our word which also is perhaps derived from, or at least connected with, its use in the sense of to guide or teach. This is the employment of it with the meanings of tell, talk, discourse, and other terms of allied signification. How these meanings arose, or how they are connected with that of Way, has not apparently been satisfactorily explained by native scholars, who seem to have passed over the difficulty in silence. The character tao (JJ), sometimes said to be in the ch'u-sheng in this case, has the meaning " to speak," as chia- chiehy or borrowed one, a meaning not in it originally or naturally. Wuttke refers this use of the word to the ordinary transition from sense perceptions to mental concepts. The road became the word, because by means of a road one man can come into intercourse with another. Meadows says, " The step from the expression and inculcation of truth in language, to the use of language generally — from the meaning of teach to the meaning of speah — is not a wide one. At all events, however, tao came 1 L. C. C, i., p. 237 ; " Ta-hsio," chap. iii. p. 34; L. C C, ii., p. 326; "Meng," chap, xiii.; Faber's "Mencius," p. 71; L. C. C, ii., p. 133; " Mdng," chap. v. p. 57; "Mo-tzii," chap vi.; " Chuang-tzii,'' chap. x. ; ^ g |g fg, chap, i.; Gallery's « Le-ki," pp. 61 and 110; L. C. C, i., p. 24; " Lun," chap, iii.; L. C. C, i., p. 6; "Lan," chap, i.; " Li-chi," chap, v.; "Hsin-shu," chap, ix.; " Shuo-yuan," chap. xvii. The Word Tao. 19S to be used in that sense ; it is the fact that 'to speak/ is one of its ^^^-— I— __^_^^^_^^_^__„ ■_^__Bj>aM^ r i«iii i i I i n M^i r » » ii y ii w- i r laii m gai o i i n - i rr- i--iyrrr-niiii i i i T' l ' i lJl ii nll ii f --^- , ~j-- r-"--'- ^ ' ■" •»v'>»*m^ ' commonest signitications/' Advice or instruction often takes the form of a lecture, and a sermon, as Dean Swift's parishioners objected to preaching in general, " is a perfect road of talk.** In the " Shu-ching ** we find tao used in the sense of to declare or confess. The king warns the Prince of K'ang that he is to punish with death offences which, though small, are inten- tional. Then he adds that in the case of persons who commit great crimes, but by mischance and without design, death is not to be inflicted on them ** once they confess their guilt unreservedly" (©E M &tM ^)- These words are explained by a commentator thus, taking Legge's translation, " When they have themselves confessed, presenting fully all the circumstances, not daring to conceal anything.** In the same treatise we find it recorded of a king that he tao yang mo ming (jg ^ 5^ -ft*), declared openly his last commands, proclaimed his dying charge. Then_ ^ao means to lecture on or discuss a subject. Thus we rekd o f Men cius tao hsing shan (jg »{J g), discoursing on man*s nature being good at birth. The commentators here explain tao by yen ("g), to speak of or describe, and one gives as the meaning of the above words, *' stated that men at birth all have a good moral nature** ("g A ^ 'S* ^ ^ ^). Legge translates the clause, *' Mencius discoursed to him how the nature of man is good.** So tao ku chin (•j^f ^) is to discourse of old and modern times — to compare and contrast them. It is also used with the meaning of to relate or report, as when it is said that Ch'en Hsiang reported — or, as Legge translates, "related with approbation" — to Mencius the words used by Hsii Hsing (Jg ^, fr i, u)- ^^ old times there was an official called Hsun-fang-shih ( J|| "fi J^)j one of whose duties was " to report to the sovereign the measures of government of the feudal chiefs of the kingdom '* (H J5 i iS :$•). The reports thus made were put in the state archives, and tao came to be used in the sense of a record, a written statement. Thus the Hsiin-fang-shih had also to read to the sovereign the reports which were on record, as Biot translates — **Ils lui lisent les 194 Th^ Word Tao. documents traditionnels des quatre parties de Fempire ** (|j * i: » 51)- Then tao also means to describe or explain. Thus the T^an-jen (^ Ai or Investigator, an official in the Chow period, explained the measures of government, the state regulations as to imposts and such matters, to the feudal chiefs. This is stated in the words tao law chih cheng shih {^ S 2l !& ^^)> ^^^ ^iot translates by " expliquer le service r^glementaire du go uverne- ment.*' When Confucius on one occasion had spoken modestly of himself, Tzii Kung said to him, Fu'tzU tzH tao ye {^ "? § J8 )l^)f " Sir, you are describing yourself." The meaning is, ' You are using the language of modest self-depresiation,' and tzu-tao is still in use as a classical quotation with this sense. Our word is also used in the sense of to denote, mean, signify. Thus of an expression in the *^ Shi-ching,'* ''as if pared and filed'' (jp ^ in i^), Confucius says that it tao hsiao ye (JE ^ •&)> means — or "indicates" — the learning, signifies the labour of education of Wu Kung. The phrase wu4'a (|ffi ^)-tao sometimes means " there is no other explanation," but it has also several other meanings.. Of another statement in the " Shi-ching," Confucius says that it means (tao) "that by gaining the people the kingdom is gained." So also of an expression in the " Shu-ching," he says it signifies ftaoj that virtue obtains and vice loses the decree to rule. It is probable, however, that in some passages like those just quoted, and in others like tao hsing shan, we should render tao by some term like " proves " or " demonstrates." Though yen is often given as the equivalent- of tao, yet there is properly a difference. Tao has a deeper, more serious meaning than yen, which is simply to speak or talk. It is said that one " can (tao) discourse to a wise man, but it is hard to talk (yen) with a clown." But this distinction is not much observed, and the two words are often found in the same clause to add force or emphasis to a statement. The phrase chih tao cheng yen (iS iE JE b") Dieans frank and correct in speech; and chHao (3^) y^^i hsu (^) tao, denotes artful words and empty talking — specious sophistry. The Word Tao. 195 But tao also means to speak of, talk about. Thus Mencius says that there were none of Confucius* disciples who talked of fiaoj the affairs of Huan and Wen. To talk of the good points of others is tao Jen shan (A ^)j tell their virtues, but this phrase also means to give others good advice. It is a virtue in a man "not to talk about old affairs" (^ jE B tk)> ^^^^ ^o rake up old stories against others. So pu-tsu (^ &)-t^o, means not worth talking about, not worth mentioning, and mien {^)'pu-tsti'tao is " we need not talk about his drunkenness." The word is also used in the sense of "to mention^" and Gallery in one place translates it by " fait I'eloge de." In novels, plays, and modern light literature generally, we find this word constantly used in the isense of to say, tell, or relate, sometimes alone, but often joined to shiio (^), meaning "to say" or "speak." One or two peculiar idiomatic uses of it in this sense may be mentioned. The phrase nan {^)-tao, like its equivalent nanshuo, means, literally, " hard to tell," and in old literature we find nan-yen {"§) with the sense of to avoid mentioning. Premare regards the phrase nan-tao as merely making a question, and the expression nan tao shih ivo yen chHng hua Uao (8Ji SfJ8SBt?2T)^e translates thus, "an affusa est meis oculis caligo ? " But the expression is evidently meant to be an emphatic denial that the speaker's vision was obfuscated, and niim would apparently be better than an in an accurate rendering. Morrison says that nan-tao means " it must not, cannot, will not be;" and in one of the Hundred Lessons of the " Tzii-erh-chi " the phrase is rendered by "you don't mean to maintain, do you?" This last shews the real force of the idiom as part of a question, the answer to which must be a negation. Again, the phrase lean i^^-tao is, literally, " venture to state," and pu kan tao is I do not dare (or presume) to say. - But kan^tao is often used in the sense of "I venture to argue" — I maintain the truth of a certain assertion. Another peculiar expression of everyday language is chie-h'ou (^ \\yt^Oj literally, "borrow mouth speak." This means to put words in the mouth of another, to attribute to u person the utterance of sentiments 196 The Word Tao. or statements which he may not have made, — which, in fact, lie is supposed not to have made. Further, tao often means to talk, to express in language, or to utter in speech simply. Thus, to talk like a stranger, is wai {^) tao, to speak from the outside, sc, of the family. In the " Tzii-erh- chi " it is translated, " you talk as if you were such a stranger,'^ and the phrase is explained in a note by ^'reasoning on the basis of one's being an outsider." To congratulate another is tao-hsi (:g), tell one's joy to him ; and to condole with another is tao-nao (fg), a phrase which is interpreted in the " Tzu-erh-chi " as meaning "to tell, sc, my sympathy with your nao, trouble, sorrow." The iphrasepu-k^o [^ "vjytao sometimes means "cannot be put in language ; " hut pu ¥o sheng {^ytao is ''beyond power of expression in language, more or greater than can be told or described. "To think" is sometimes expressed by yu-hsin (jj ij^ytaOj to say in the heart, but the more usual phrase is hsiang (jgy^fifo, — hsiang meaning to think. Here tao adds little or nothing to the word preceding, but is in a manner picturesque or metaphorical, like the Scripture expression that such an one "saith in his heart." In other cases tao seems to be merely added as an euphemistic affix to the principal word. Thus ma {"^ytao is simply to scold; wen {^^ytao is to ask; and ho (|lg)-^«o is to shout. This last term also means to clear the way of all passengers, as a mandarin's attendants do, by going ahead and shouting. In all these cases, however, the meaning of *' say " or " speak " may be involved in the particular phrases.* * Wuttke's " Geschiohte d, Schriffc," S. 261 ; Meadows' "The Chinese and their Kebellions," p. 355; L. C C, iii., pp. 388 and 558 ; "Shu," chaps, iv. and vi. ; L. C. C, ii., p. 110; " Meng," chap, v.; ^ ^ (13), chap. v. Jt; " Ch'ang-li. ch'uan.ohi," chap, xix.; L. C. C, i., p. 177; '" Lun," chap, xvi.; " Kan-ying-pien," chap. X., p. 29, note; " Li-chi," chap, vi., p. 63; L. C C, ii., p. 123; "Meng," chap, v.; "Chou-li," chap, xxi.; Biot's "Tcheou-li," T. ii., p. 284; L. 0. C, i., p. 150; "Lun," chap, xiv.; L. C. C, i., pp. 227, 239, 240; iv., p. 91 ; "Ta-hsio," chap, ii.; L. C. C, ii., p. 14; "Meng," chap, i.; "Ku-liang" (13), chap, ix.; Premare " Notitia," &c., pp. 62 and 135 ; " Tzii-erh-chi," Hundred Lessons, Nos. 63, 71, 76. There is an interesting passage in Tso's Commentary on the "Ch'iin-ch'iu," where tao seems to be used in a pecuhar manner. The speaker says that at court, and at meetings, the chief oflBcer of the sovereign is to speak so as to be heard over a definite distance, and to fix his look on a point midway hetwen the girdle and collar of the person addressed. Tlie object of the latter, he says, ig The Word Tao. 197 We now come to notice certain uses of our word which at first sight seem to have little or no connection with those already mentioned. To the native scholar, however, these new uses are quite as natural and proper to the word as the others. They belong indeed chiefly to philosophy, and are found mainly in books intended for students. But at the same time they are the root from which many of the other meanings have arisen, and they underlie the most common applications of the word. The word tao is now said to be another name for the T'ai-chi (ik, &)} wKfcli'Hr.^ Meadows has^ well translated "tJItimate Principle." The term c/d denotes the ridge-pole of a house, the setting of which in its proper place is the first step in the erection of a Chinese building. It is the highest and most central part of the framework, and the basis of union for all the rest of the materials. So in one sense the T'ai-chi or Grand Bidge-pole is the ultimate form of existence, the primal monad from which all being has developed. It is the farthest point to which reason can go in its attempts to account for the origin of the world, and so it is the starting point for the mind in framing a system of the universe. In philosophy it is often symbolised by a simple circle, "Epical of its unmixed perfection; but some writers replace the circle by a parallelogram. Matter and spirit in their first and purest natures coexist originally as one substance forming the T^ai-chi. Viewed as material, this is the primal essence of matter which assumes the two forms pang and yin; the former male, bright, positive, active ; and the latter female, dark, negative, inert. Regarded as immaterial, it is the spiritual principle which coexists with the eternal simple essence of matter, and which continues immanent in this throughout its processes of evolution tao yung mao (M^ !%)» *o give expression to the deportment of his face, that is, to shew his respectful bearing. He adds that the Shan-tzu in giving his sovereign's orders did not raise his looks above the girdle, and so mao pu tao yung, his countenance did not express becoming deportment, did not show gravity and respect. He adds farther that pu tao pu hung, where there is no expression of it there is no respectful demeanour. Dr. Legge in this passage translates tao by "fitly regulate" and "regulations," but>these renderings do not seem to give the meaninof of the text. The commentators tell us to road the character for tao as if ^, but some term like " express " or " indicate " is apparently required. — L. C. C, v., p. 632; "Tso-chuan," chap, xxxvii. ; "Tflo- chuan " (13), obap. xlv. 198 The Word Tao. and developmen . Indeed this ch'i (^), air or essential matter, is itself fine and subtle, and no clear line marks the boundary between it and spirit. It is like our fore-fathers' " Spirits animall Whose matter, almost immateriall, Resembles heaven's matter quiatessentiall." Now tao is used as the equivalent of the Tai-chi or "Ulti- mate Principle," whether viewed as material or as immaterial. But it is chiefly of it when regarded as the immaterial principle which reason requires as the antecedent and concomitant of all material action that tao is spoken of as its equivalent. So the T'ai-chi of Confucius' Appendix to the " Yi-ching" is declared to be tao; and in another work it is said that the T'ai-chi is taO'chih-chi, the first and highest spiritual principle. Properly, tao is only the law or mode of operation of the Ultimate Principle. Thus the latter is always passing from one form of the primal essence to the other, and this law of alternation is called tao. In the Appendix to the " Yi-ching " we read : i yin i yang chih wei ^ao (— 1^ — ^ ;i II JE), which Meadows renders — "Once a Negative, once a Positive, is called taou, the Way (or method of operation of the Ultimate Principle)." Native commentators, however, differ considerably in their interpretations of this passage, and it is not quite certain that the text is correct. We also find it stated that tao is the Tai-hsii ( jj; ^) or Grand (ultimate) Void, that is, the perfectly matterless state which in thought precedes the existence of matter, or did actually exist before it, as some teach. Then tao is contrasted with ch^i (^), matter of definite form ; the former preceding, at least theoreti- cally, visible substance, and the latter coming into existence after this. Hence tao is used as the equivalent of wu (^), the imma- terial, as opposed to yu (:§), the material ; and it is defined as " the name of the incorporeal" (5|[ 55 H ^ 2)- ^^ is also stated in various places that ch% (^), essential matter, is that which has visible form, while that which has not visible form is tao or spiritual principle. But though in thought tao may be contem- plated as distinct from the matter it pervades, yet in fact it has uo The Word Tao. 199 separate existence. Apart from essential matter, in its two aspects there is no tao : it is only in the operations of this that it (tao) can be discerned. And so our word may now be rendered by expressions like " spiritual principle," or "law of being,'* or " principle of action." "We are told that the T'ai-ohi is called tao, because it is by it that all existing creatures proceed. In the passage quoted above from the " Yi-ching " — " Once a Negative, once a Positive, is called tao " — Chu Hsi explains tao by li (jg). Herr Grube finds fault with him, and says that on account of this identification of tao, " die Normj" with li, " die Vernunft/' "ermangelt seine Begriffsentwickelung des logischen Fortschritts." But Chu Hsi is right, and Herr Grube did not quite understand the course of thought in text or commentary. T«o is of ten used as a synonym for li, meaning law of order, principle of reason ; but sometimes the one is represented as including the other, and this Interchangeably. Further, as order or law, though ^ao was always existent, yet there was a time when it had its beginning so far as man is concerned. For far back in the unbeginning past of the universe all once was tohu-hohu, without form and void. This state passed, melted gradually into one of order, and all things quietly became ship-shape. It was in the passing that tao ,the spiritual principle of the universe, took its rise — order came forth from chaos {M ih ^ & !$)• It may help us to appreciate the part which this word tao plays in the common works of orthodox philosophy, when it is viewed as the ultimate principle or universal law, if we learn what terms are in this use regarded as its equivalents in a greater or less degree. In doing so let us begin with a remarkable statement by Mr. Meadows. He says, " The key to the right understanding of the Chinese Sacred Books, with their established annotations, as comprehending a theory of all mental and material existence, lies in the perception of the fact that the above fourteen words or terms — tae^heih (^ ;g), sing ('^), sin (^{J»), taou, taou'le (Ji a), le (31), tih (fg), shang-te (or Te) {± ^), teen i^yt^^n-li X^ ^), teen-taou (5c jB), rning (^), teen-ming (Jf ^), and ching (gj), mean one and the m7ne\thing : the Ultimate k 200 The Word Tao. Principle of my exposition." This statement appears rather curt and dogmatic, and it needs to be amplified by native writers. One of these says, " That which spoken of as pursued is called tao, spoken of as inscrutable is called spiritual (jjif ), and spoken of as always producing is called ^change' (^).'* Another philosopher says the mind (^jji) is the Ultimate Principle, and so also is tao, the natural law of the universe. A modern scholar, one who lived after the most straitest sect of orthodoxy, writes, " T'ai-chi (^ ^) is the general name for all spiritual qualities (g). In Heaven it is fate {^)y and in man his moral constitution (»fj). In the heavens it is the order of their succession (;7C pf 5pJ ^); and in man it is humanity, rectitude, observance of social requirements, and wisdom. Since it has method and no confusion we call it law O) ; as it is that by which all mankind proceeds it is called the Way (tao) ; as it is without any deflection, neither too much nor not enough, it is called the mean (4'); as it is altogether true and honest it is called perfect truth {^ ; because it is absolutely pure and sincere it is called moral perfection (^ ^) ; and as it is the ultimate pole of existence we call it the Grand Ridge-pole (rfc S)-*' Another philosophical writer says that tao and unity are forced names for spirit {^ H — 1$ j21 SS ^ •&) ; and spirit is the immaterial principle which is everywhere present, by which mind acts on mind, and which is life in all that lives. After all, it is only as an absolutely spiritual principle that the T'ai-chi can be said to be tao. We must dismiss from our minds the consideration of the material Ridge-pole, get rid of the influence of metaphor, and think only of the central principle, chung (t|»), immaterial and eternal, which gives the source and the law of being and action to all the universe. The T'ai-chi is the "pervad- ing spiritual law " of the universe, not to be defined or described, the source and disposer, the distributor and maintainor of all that exists. It is when viewed in this light that it is properly said to be another name for tao. Some Taoists identify the t^ai-chi with their tan (j^), which in its highest sense is tao, the ultimate spiritual principle. This tao is self-existent, alone, and unpro- ductive, but it is to be learned or acquired or amalgamated with . The Word Tao. , 201 himself by the man who is pure and wise, who knows to empty himself of all that is selfish and mortal and to follow Nature in a -gradual process of refinement to perfection. The doctrine in ^his form and the use of tao in this manner are both to some extent common to some Confucianists and certain followers of Lao-tzu. Both regard the Vai-chi as tao when these terms are employed to denote the ultimate spiritual fact of the universe and of existence.-^ As all the objects which exist in the universe derive their existence or at least their law of being from taoj this word comes to denote the nature or Law of all objects animate and inanimate, organic and inorganic. In this sense it is used very much as Hooker uses the word Law, of which he says, "That which doth assign unto each thing the kind, that which doth moderate the force and power, that which doth appoint the form and measure of working, the same we term a Law." Thus shui {if^-tao is the nature of water, or, as Legge and Faber translate, the laws of water. Ma-tao is a horse's nature, that is, its instincts and habits. So also for birds to fly in the air and fish to leap in the water is their nature, just as it is for bears and lions to growl and fight. It is ti {^ytao, the nature of earth, the law of her being, to have hills and rivers, downs and marshes, and that these yield products according to their several qualities and capacities. Used with reference to all that is below man tao denotes the fixed inevitable law which created things follow from blind irresistible impulse. The reign of law knows no bounds of time or space. It bears sway inexorabk and dispassionate through all the universe of existence. Changeless itself and subject to no influence from without law exists and rules impalp- able to human senses in all the changing elements of " all this 1 " Chu.tzu-ch'uan-shu," chap. lii. ; Yi, Pref., p. 1; " Chou-yi-hSng-ohie " (^ ^ 'II 8?) 1°*-' P- 1^5 '-Chinese and their Kebellions," p. 374; Legge's " Yi," p. 355 ; " Yi," chap. iii. ; '^ Yi ching," (13) chap. vii. ; " Chou-yi-h^ng-chie," chap. v.; " Chou-yi-tsim-shu " (M^^^).vol. v, p. 12; " Huai-nan.tzu," chap, iii.; "Hsing-li," chaps, iv., v., vi., viii.; "Yi ching" (13), Int., chap vii., p. 32; "T'ung shu," by W. Grube, T. I., p. 9; "Chinese and their Rebellions," p. 351; "San-yii- t'ang-chi," chap, i.; Esiao.sau.shv, (/> ^ §) chap, ii.; Ch'ang-tao.chen-yen (Pg M E m)' i^ee also Chao.tzii-yen-hsing.lu (M J- m ff W> chap. f. p. 27. 202 The Word Tao. changing world." It brought the heavens into being, say some, but at least it is only by following its requirements that they continue to exist. As coiitrolliug their operations visible and invisible tao is sometimes called ^ ti or God. The expression tHen-taOj heaven's law or way, has a variety of meanings. We have already noticed it as the designation of the course pursued by the heavenly bodies. It will help us to understand the man- ifold applications of our word if we now look at a few of the other ways in which the phrase t'ien-tao is used.^ The character t'ien {JQ, it will be remembered, has several meanings. It is used to denote the sky, the heavens, and Heaven, and it has several other significations with which we are not now concerned. So the phrase Vien-tao expresses the law of the heavens or heaven, the Pai-chi as pervading them. It is the law of heaven {t'ien-tao) to be round, as it is that of earth to be square; and it is heaven's law or nature (t'ien-tao) to be alternately yin and yang, dark and bright, passive and active. What we call the climate of a place is its heaven's law {tHen-tao). This phrase is also used to denote the order of the seasons, ^s when we read that the natural law of yuan^ heng, li, chen {%'^ M M, S ^ ^ 8) is called Heaven's law. The terms yuaUy heng, 1% cheuy taken from the '* Yi-ching," are used to denote respectively Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter. The expression yung (|B) tHen^chih-tao means to take advantage of heaven's law, that is, to make the due use of the seasons of the year as they recur in regular undeviating order. And this law of the succession of the seasons is sometimes described as heaven's spiritual (or mysterious) law {Ji i, %^ jS)- In general the course which celestial phenomena through all time follow spont- aneously and without error is Heaven's law, and the words ho-chu ('& S) tHen-tao are rendered by Gallery '' se met en accord avec les phenomenes du ciel." But the phrase tHen-tao denotes also the law from heaven, the way or course which it ordains. In this usage it is said to be ^ L. C C, ii. p. 319; " Faber Licius," p. 38; " Chuaug-tzu," chap. vii. ; " Chia-yii " (^ ^), chap. i. ; "Hsing-li," chap. x. and chap, vi.; "Hsiao-ssu- ghu" (^ M) to man's deeds. We must not say that it — fien tao — does not take notice of an evil procedure because the guilty one seems to escape punishment. Do we not see that the sons and grandsons of bad mandarins grow up to dishonour, some falling into poverty, some becoming dumb, and some losing their memory ? Further, Providence is described as ch'eng (|^), Perfect truth, or, as the word is usually rendered, sincerity ; and it is also described as "V^isdom, Virtue, Benevolence, Rectitude (jg (* ^ ^). The . teaching of Confucius about man's nature ('{J) and t'ieii tao was not for every body. In this place t'leii tao perhaps means Providence or Destiny, but it is not possible to settle the precise signification of the term in the passage. What is Providence from one point of view is Destiny from another, the former referring 206 The Word Tao. to the unseen agent, and the latter to the visible effects. Thus "Wen Chung-tzii" says that Confucius ended his. Ch^un-ch^iu on account of Providence (J^Jl 5c M)f while his own Yuan-ching (TC S) ^^^ ended on account of human action ( JgJ A V). Here tHen-tao is shewn to be the equivalent of yin t'ien ming chih ch'iung (0 ^ ^ i, M)^ because the destiny decreed by Heaven was exhausted. The ch'i lin was sent by Providence out of season, and Confucius knew that its appearance meant that the destiny of the dynasty was near its end. As Providence, T'ien- tao superintends and disposes all the affairs and events of the world. Hence the President of the Li Pu (|g ^) has the title T'ien Kuan (5c 1§) because he has general control over all other officials as Providence has supreme management of all affairs From this we pass on to notice the use of tao in the sense of man's moral nature, the spiritual element in his constitution which, makes him a responsible creature. This is the t'ai-chi as lodged in man and working in him. Lie-tzu gives a quotation, found also in Chuang-tzu, in which the question is asked, ' Can the moral principle (or moral nature) ftaoj be acquired ? ' that is, can a man say that he owns the "Urprincip" as Faber here trans- lates tao. The answer is that he cannot, just as he cannot call his body and nature and children his own since all belong to the stores of the universe (3^ J-jfc ;^ g), and are not in man's power. The Chung-yung says, "What Heaven decrees to man is called his natural constitution, that which follows this is called his moral nature (tao), and that which cultivates the latter is 1 " Strng-pen-shih" (5J$ 7|C ^) chap, i ; " Huai-nan-tzu," chap, iii ; " Yi," chap, iv; " Li-chi," chap, v., p. 17, note ;^MMb^ Vol. 2 et ah; /> ^ ^ /5? Int., " Hsiao-ching " (13) ^ ^., chap, iii; Ma, T. 1., chap. 129; Call. Le Ki, p. 116 j L. C.C. IV., p. 570; Shih, chap, viii; " Shih-ching" (13), chap, xix; " Chung-yung," chap, i; '* Hsing-li," chap, ix; L. C. C. iii., p. 254; Shu, chap, iii; " Lun-heng," chap, xxii; L. C C iii., pp. 183, 294, 575; "Shu," chaps, iii, iv; "Chia-yii," chap, vi; "Lun-heng," chap, iv; " Meng," chap, xiv, p. 61, note; " Lie-tsii," chap, vi and Faber p. 143, " Hsin-shu," chap, ix; " Hsing-li," chap, iii, p. 40; " Meng," chap, ii ; " Hsing-li," chap, iv ; Chang Heng ch'ii chi (5g ^ |^ ^), chap, x; "Fa-yen," chap, i; "Li-chi," chap, iv, p. 65; " Yi," chap, i p,. 34; "Hsing-li," chap, iii; " Han-shu," chap, xxvii, _t:; "Sung pen shih," chap, i; "Chia-yii," chap, iii; "Lun heng," chap, xxiv; Sac. Ed. Art. 3. Amp.; L. C. C. III., p. 186; "Hsing-li," chap, v; Edicts of Kanghsi and Yung Cheng; L. C. C. I„ p. 277; II., p. 179; "Meng," chap, vii.; L. C. 0. i., p 41; "Lun," chap, v; "Wen Chung-tzii," chap. vii. XTKI The Word Tao. 207 education." As the constitution whicli Heaven gives is originally pure and perfect, it naturally came to be identified with the moral nature, and so we find it taught that the hsing (»(5j) and tao are identical. As denoting man's moral nature this word is said to mean jen {{^, the love of kind. But it is more usually explained as composed of this with rectitude (^), observance of due rules (||), and knowledge (^). For the last two chung (4») the mean, and cheng (J£) perfect, are sometimes substituted, but the commentators explain them as having the same meaning. Man's moral nature is, according taMencius' teaching, good at birth and alike in all, the same in Yao and Shun that it is in any Chang or Li of to-day. But the influence of his body and his sur- roundings tends to pervert his nature and destroy its authority. Mencius also says that "Man has a good moral nature" (tao), but without education he becomes like a beast. Here some explain tao as meaning ^'"an order-observing natural constitution," that is, an inborn disposition to observe the moral law decreed by Heaven. Every one has this moral nature, as has been seen, but it is not throughout life the same in all, It is a hsu-wei (^ ffi), an empty place, an unoccupied stand, where there can be the perfect and the imperfect man. It can be cultivated and developed, and it may be neglected and allowed to become atrophied. Confucius says that it is in man's power to develope his moral nature which does not develope (or enlarge) man (A lb ?i JE |^ jg §i A). This saying, which has received several very different interpreta- tions, is often quoted in books and state documents. The emperor Yung- cheng, for example, uses it to enforce a lecture to the literati on the liberal cultivation of ceremonial strictness, rectitude, self-restraint, and self-respect, (jjli ^ S 5S)- It is only man who can develope the tao with which he is born, and he can do so only by a good moral training. The common man loses the purity and power of his natal gift and falls into moral ruin. But the wise man keeps the heart of his childhood and gives to its moral nature its full development. He guards (ijjp) it, follows it {f}\ and developes {J3) it, or gives it expansion. This last he effects by doing righteousness (fj ^), by acting in all things in a fair ^ 208 The Word Tao. and unselfish manner toward others. The chief element in man's moral constitution is the feeling of kind, the instinct of humanity (£:), and to act contrary to this is ni-jen-tao (^ A M)> to thwart or oppose man's moral nature. Hence the phrase is used to express cruel inhuman conduct, such as that too often displayed by oppressive mandarins. The habitual exercise of charity, of mercy and kiiidhess to others reacts on oneself, and so we read also of hsiu-tao-i'jen (fif Jg SI tl)y cultivating the moral nature by human kindness. In the saint this moral nature is of far- reaching greatness, while it embraces every detail of life; it flourishes when the right man comes ; and only he who has in him perfect virtue can develope his moral nature to perfection.^ The moral nature of man forms, at least in theory, the law of his life. By it he regulates his conduct, and to it he refers instinctively all questions of right and wrong. Man alone of all earthly creatures has a faculty to discern good and evil and to make choice between them. So we find tao often used in a way« like that in which we employ such terms as '^conscience" and ** the moral sense," as when God says of Adam and his posterity— " And I will place within them as a guide My umpire conscience." Thus tao is said to be the clue to (or discriminator of) right and wrong (^ |^ ^^ jffi), and as a mirror shews the defects of the body, so conscience (taoj shews us the imperfections of the mind. But the conscience must be educated, instructed by orthodox books and teachers. It is expressly stated by one • writer that conscience without learning is not intelligent, and learning without conscience is erroneous (JS # Jp i^fi 03 Jp ^f jE /F W)- T^^ phrase i-tao (£1 jig), noticed above, may in many places be appropriately rendered by some such word as conscientiously. And kung {^)-taOj which has many other ' 1 Lie-tzii, chap. i. ; and Fab. Lie, p. 19 ; " Chuang tzii," chap, vii.; L. C. C, i., p. 247 and note ; Chung, chap, i., p. 10, 14; "Wang-yuan-ming-chi," chap, ii., p. 48 ; Yi, chap, iv.; " Hsing li," chap, i.j In the Yii-pien the phrase fl ^ is given as a meaning of the character for tao; " Li chi," chap, x., p. 66 ; L. C. C, ii., p. 110, 127; Meng, chap, v.; " Hiao-hsio-chi-chie," chap, i.; L. CO., i., p. 166; Lun, chap. XV.; Yung Cheng's Ed. ts 5y. 6m. 17; " Hsing-h/^chap. ii.; Hanshu, chap, viii.; Chia yii, chap, iv.j Chao.tzii-yen.hsing-lu (M^m^ ^), chap. ~f. The Word Tao. 209 meanings, is often " the sense of what is right," and especially that common conscience of the majority to which Chinese attach so much importance. Thus the popular saying Jcung-taO'tzu'tsai- jen.hsin (^ JE 9 ffi A )&) means that a sense of what is socially right is naturally in man's heart, that is, public spirit is a natural human instinct. Again to say to a community with respect to an individual in it ni-men'hung'tao''pU'jung4a, means, your common sense of what is right will not endure him.^ When it is said that taOy as the Ultimate Principle, the spiritual basis of life, is also man's hdn or mind, this latter word is used in a definitely restricted sense. It does not denote that which having its seat in the heart feels heat and cold, pain and hunger. The hsin which is said to be tao is only the mind considered as that in man which knows pity and shame, and aversion and self-denial, and moral judgment. Hence there is the distinction between the jen^hsin or " man-mind," and the taO' hsin or " law (or spiritual) mind." The former is sometimes said to be the mind of man as he makes it, and the latter the same mind as made by Heaven. But many regard jen-hsin as a general name for the appetites and passions, and tao^hsin as a designation for the heaven law in man. In the Shu-ching it is written jen-hsin^wei-wei tao-hsin-wei-wei (A i& 111 ^ JE >& 'Hi WOf " ^^^ man-mind is dangerously fickle, the Law-mind is dimly minute." This famous pas;sage, with the change of ^ to ;^, is quoted by Hsiln-tzu as from a *^ Tao-ching.'* Some native scholars regard it as an interpolation from the work of this philosopher, while others, like Huang Tsung,-hsi, think that from this passage the philosopher just mentioned derived his doctrine that man's nature is bad originally. The passage has received several interpretations, and its meaning perhaps cannot be yet said to be settled authoritatively. Some take the jen hsin to be the mind as the lord of all thought, and the tao hsin as the source of all natural laws; or the former is regarded as the popular mind ( Jg ^JJ), unstable and unquiet, and the latter as the moral sense which, when enlightened, brings ^ Han Fei-tzii, chap, i.j Sitored Edict, Paraphrase, Art. 12. 210 The Word Tao. stability and quietness to the former. Others say that the man- mind denotes the feelings ('['f ), and the Law-mind denotes the human nature (i^) ; the latter being the infant mind pure and perfect as fresh from heaven, and the former being the same mind after it has been acted on by surrounding objects. No one, say the puzzled critics, can have two hearts or a double mind, not reflecting how many there are thus superfluously endowed. According to some the hsin as the intelligent principle in man, is one, but it is not homogeneous ; it partly belongs to the human mind and partly to the spiritual mind (5^ :§ — )ii» *— ^ JB A i& — jS J@ jE >&)• Neither part can be neglected, and to keep the due medium with respect to them is best. Some say that intelligence having the source of its development in man's native constitution is the Law-mind, and intelligence having its genesis in external objects is the man-mind ; the former being exercised in spiritual principles, and the latter in material affairs. Others think the man-mind is jen-yii (A Wi) ^^ appetite, human desires ; and the Law-mind is Pien-li (5J 3), Heaven's law embosomed in man as his nature. The former is to be servant to obey, and the latter lord to command. But as the two are not radically and essentially distinct the unquiet heart, the wayward human mind may by enlightenment and by control from the Law-mind attain to unity and identity with this latter, as appetitus inhiantis fit amor fruentis. Again the man-mind is likened to a sailing vessel of which the Law-mind is the helm ; and the latter is also said to be " the lord of all the body." Premare translates the two terms jen-hsin and tao-hsin by *^ heart of man " and " heart of virtue" respectively. Dr. Legge thus renders the passage in the Shu-ching, *'The mind of man is restless, prone to err; its affinity for the right way is small." This is not a translation of the text but of a commentator's gloss, and it cannot be accepted. Dr. Legge, who has a learned note on the passage, elsewhere translates tao-hsin by "mind of reason," and this is much better than the rendering quoted above. A native scholar, moreover, says, heart (or mind) is a general term including theitto hsin and the jen-hsin. When man follows conscience (or reason) TJie Word Tao, 211 taoj he becomes a saintly sage, but when reason follows man he becomes a mad enthusiast (^). Another account is that the tao- hsin is the heart in which charity and respect for others {^ jg) aca_maia4fmied; these raise conscience in man's mind to the lordship, make reason the ruler. In popular language tao^hsin often means a "good heart," a heart with noble impulses, guided by reason. Alaeighbour is praised for having chmg-li (3^ g) a fine sense of what is right, and iao-hsin, a generous heart.^ In some of the above passages reason jseeoi^ Jo be a better rendering than conscience, and we "find western scholars often using this word or its Latin equivalent to translate tao. But reason and ratio also have a great variety of uses and meanings. For the present we have to do with them only as denoting that within man which discovers and judges of good and evil and truth and falsehood, the faculty made up of "sagacity and illation" or invention and inferring. The philosopher Hsiin-tzu, for example, says of tao, used apparently in this sense, that it weighs past and present fairly in the scales, judges impartially between ancients and moderns. Reason ftaoj, again, is said to be the mind's craftsman and statesman, doing its work and transmit- ting its orders. Though of heavenly origin reason has its root I "Han Fei-tzu," chaps, i. and viii.; L. 0. C, iii., p. 61'; i., p. 114, note; ii., p. 201, note; "Shu-ching" (13), chap, iv.; Shu, chap, i.; " Shu-ching-heng-chie," chap, i.; Premare's Not. Ling. Sin., p. 196; " Sun-tzii," chap, xv.; " Wang-yang- ming-chi," chap, ii.; ** Sau-yii-t'ang-chi," chap, iv.; Cheng. hsiao-pien (g^ S^ Jg), chap, iii.; "Chung-ynng," Pref. by ChuHsi; Chu-tzii-ch'uan-shu, chaps, xxxiii, Iii. " Hsiao-ssu-shu," chap, ii.; "Meng-tzu," chap, viii., p. 47, note. The difference; between tao-hsin and jen-hsin, as expounded by some Confucianists, is like that between will and appetite. Let us hear the Judicious Hooker on this subject. •*We must have special care," he tells us, "how the will properly and strictly taken, as it is of things which are referred unto the end that man desireth, diflEereth greatly from that inferior natural desire which we call appetite. The object of appetite is whatsoever sensible good may be wished for ; the object of will is that good which reason doth lead us to seek. Affections, as joy and grief, and fear, and anger, with such like, being as it were the sundry fashions and forms of appetite, can neither rise at the conceit of a thing indifferent, nor yet choose but rise at the sight of some things. Wherefore it is not altogether in our power, whether we will be stirred with affections or no : whereas actions which issue from the disposition of the will are in the power thereof to be per- formed or stayed. Finally, appetite is the will's solicitor, and the will is appetite's controller. What we covet according to the one, by the other we often reject ; neither is any other desire termed properly will, but that where reason and understanding, or the shew of reason, prescribeth the thing desired." Eccl. Pol. B. I. sec. vii. 212 The Word Tao, and growth in man. But it will not stay where the passions make din and tumult and all within is anarchy. Man must " put away strong liking and disliking and empty his mind that it may become the lodging-place of reason (J|; ^y This term, taO'She, is translated by Premare "palace of reason/' but shS is only the lodging or dwelling place, the place in which reason comes to stop (^ Jj^). Premare translates also the tao which accords with man's nature in the Chung yung by "light of nature," lumen naturaUf the lumiere naturelle. This term also is used in two different ways, but in each of these it corresponds to tao employed in the sense of reason or conscience. Bacon says that the maxims of the moral law truly interpreted are " a voice beyond the light of nature." He afterwards adds : " How then is it that man is said to have by the light and law of nature some notions and conceits of virtue and vice, justice and wrong, good and evil? Thus; because the light of nature is used in two several senses; the one that which springeth from reason, sense, induction, argument, according to the laws of heaven and earth ; the other, that which is imprinted upon the spirit of man by an inward instinct, according to the law of conscience, which is a sparkle of the purity of his first estate ; in which later sense only he is participant of some light and discerning touching the perfection of the moral law.'' It is of the phrase when used in the latter sense that tao is properly the equivalent, though it is also used in the other sense. Canon McClatchie often translates tao by reason,, .but generally witli a different meaning from that given above, and his translations are not to be trusted. Dr. Legge also sometimes renders the word by reason, but the propriety of the rendering is in some places open to question, and he also uses reason in different senses. In his translation of a passage in Hsiin-tzii we find the following : " So that they might all go forth in the way of moral government and in agreement with reason " (ffi'i'ffiJSSip'S^KJI^'lfc): JBut if we examine the context and compare the two sentences antithetical to that in which the above occurs we find that this rendering violates the construc- tion and does not bring out the author's meaning. Some term The Word Tao. 213 like civil order or state of settled peace seems to be required here for tao. Hsiin-tzu says that " the ancient Saint-kings because man's nature was bad, dangerously depraved, licentious and anarchical instituted for it social and moral rules, and enacted laws and regulations to curb and embellish man's emotions and nature while making them correct, to tame and refine man's emotions and nature while giving them guidance, causing all to issue in good government and join in moral order." Then there is a celebrated passage in Mencius, which Dr. Legge thus translates — "This is the passion- nature: — It is the mate and assistant of righteousness and reason. "Without it, man is in a state of starvation." Julien renders the passage : " This too is what the vital spirit is like. It unites righteousness with reason. If the body lacks it, it starves." If reason is here used as the light of nature^in the second of the senses described by Bacon it may perhaps be admitted. But the renderings do not agree with the interpretations of native scholars, according to whom tao here is Law — the natural Law of Heaven as embosomed in man. The passage may perhaps be rendered somewhat thus: *' The natural spirits as such go with man's sense of duty and his moral nature, without which they would starve." But the phrase ho-t/U'tao, or shortly hO'tao, seems to be often used with the meaning " in accordance with reason." The single word tao is also frequently so used, and the phrase yen-tao (g* jg) denotes " language in agreement with reason." Sometimes man's mind is said to be reason, and sometimes the latter is said to be born from the former which is thence called tao-mu or mother of reason. (>& ig ^ — ® JE #), the mind (or heart) with which man is born is really the mother of reason.^ That which law commands becomes one's duty, whether the law be that of Nature, of Heaven, or of society. So we are in a ^ "Sun-tzu," chap, xvi.; "Han Fei-tzii," chap, ii.; Premare Not Ling. Sin., p. 243, and compare, p. 214, " ^ flfj ^ j(^ corde sic fixo, ratio et doctrina para est ;" Bacon's Works, vol. iii., p. 479 (Ellis and Spedding Ed.); L. C. C, ii., Proleg., p. 82.; "San-tzu," chap, xvii.; L. 0. C, ii., p. QQ; "Meng," chap, iii.; "Meng-tzu" (13), chap. iii. _t. Julien's Meng Tseu, T. 1, p. 104. ''Ipse ad /iwc talis est vitalis-spiritus. Conjuugit asquitatem cum ratione. Si corpus caroat illo, tunc esurit;" ^hi-hsiu-kuau-wei-hsiin (g ^ M ii; |M) Ch'ien-chi, chap. i. 1214 The Word Tao. manner prepared to find our word used in the sense of duty, alike the "stern daughter of the voice of God" who whispers her inexorable will in conscience, and the sense of obligation which circumstances impose, the conduct which is required of a person in his relations with others. The phrase chih-y/'i (jg '^-tao has been seen to be used in the sense of application to truth. It is now found meaning " Be earnest in duty ;" or, in Dr. Legge's translation, '^Let the will be set on the path of duty." In this use, as in others, tao corresponds to the Sanskrit dharma, as when it is said that it is the dharma of a king to administer justice. Thus it is chiin {j^ytaOy the duty of a sovereign to be kind or humane (t) to his ministers; and it is their duty, ch^en {^ytao^ to be faithful {^) to their sovereign. In another place it is said to be the ruler's duty to be firm and decided, and that of the ministers to be very yielding. Again, it is the sovereign's business (i 51^) to know men, and that of his officers to know affairs. One of the meanings of the expression shih-chiin-chih (9k S i,ytao is, to fail in the duties of a ruler, as shih-ch^eu' chih'tao is, to fail in duty as a public servant. To do all that is expected of a sovereign, to perform thoroughly all the functions of his office is for him chin (^) chiin-chih-taOj to exhaust (accomplish perfectly) the duties of a sovereign. The phrase jen {A)-i^o has, along with other meanings, the technical one of "man's duty in his capacity as a member of a family." Thus for a man to raise himself to the position of king and then confer a posthu- mous regal title on his father or to leave a kingdom to his son is jen-tao-chih-chi (A JE ^ ®) *^® extreme point which man's duty to father or son can reach, the highest service that can be rendered. This phrase jewfao is also often used elliptically for the duty of man as a son. Thus we have the well known dictum jeU'tao-mO'ta-yii'shoU'shen ( A ?E ^ ^ JK ^ jfr); ^^^ as a son has no greater duty than to preserve his body. It is, moreover, the dharma, the natural obligation of a son as such to practise filial piety (^ ^ ^), and that of a father to be tender- hearted (^ JE iS)* Further, our word office is used to denote a post or appointment and also the duty or conduct associated with The Word Tao. 215 a position. Thus a man does well to desire the office of a bishop, and when he has got it to rear and teach are his wife's office. So the phrase shih {^)-taoj for example, is used for the duty of a teacher and the office of an instructor. The phrase tung {^)rtaOj 'literally '^east way/' denotes the office of a hostj because in China the host sits to the east of his guest. But it is commonly used in the sense of a bribe, the full expression being tung-tao-yin (®)> or bribe money. This phrase — " host's office money " — is used chiefly of the [bribes given by litigants in a mandarin's yamen, and the fiction is that the money so given is in place of an invitation to a feast. Then there are yu (S)-^ao, or p^eng-yu (48 M)'^^^i t^6 duties which friends owe to each other in their intercourse. One of these is that a man should reprove for his good those faults he perceives in his friend, a duty which cannot exist in those having the relations of son and father. The duties^f friendship, form, ojxa of the five sets of duties which are of universal obligation (5c T ^ ^ tI)^ ^^^ these are the mutual obligations of sovereign and minister, father and son, husband and wife, brothers and friends. They are not all equally binding, and so they may be classed under two heads, as they are of perfect or of imperfect obligation. The former are called cheng {J£), perfect, and the latter ch^uan (ig), expedient, matters of expediency. Thus to maintain one's parents is a perfect duty, cheng-taoj one from which no departure can be made. But to get their permission before taking a wife is a duty which may be dispensed with in certain peculiar circumstances. On the death of his father a filial son goes through three courses of duty, called san-tao, in regular succession. The same term is applied to the threefold stage of woman's subjection to man, her duty as a child to honour and obey her father, as a wife to serve her husband, and on his death to be subject to her son. The phrase yu {^ytao, already burdened with meanings, is found specially in writings of a political character with the sense of doing one's duty. In the "Tien-lei" the expression Huang'? shang-yu-tao is translated ''when there is an Emperor who does his duty," but this is perhaps scarcely an adequate rendering. 216 The Word Tao., The phrase chin ^)'tao, referred to above, means to fulfill all one's obligations, to accomplish thoroughly the work which fate has prescribed, and to finish one's course. Thus we have the admonition ko'chin-ch'i^tao (# ^ ^ *M)} ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^S" charge his duty thoroughly. To satisfy the obligations of filial piety is chin hsiao tao, which in the Hsin ching lu is translated ^*the exact fulfilment of his duty to his parents." So also chin-shih-ch'iri'chih'tao (^ MM i> ?E) i^eans he performed thoroughly all that belongs to the service of parents, " erfiillte die Pfiicht des Elterndienstes," as Faber translates the expression. The die when life's work is all finished, when the appointed journey is ended is chiri'chH'taO'erhrssu (^ S tE W ?£)• ^^ do this is the long hope and patient desire of all good Chinese for whom indeed " Death's consummation crowns completed life Or comes too early." Nor in order to perform the duties of life need man " wind himself too high" and waste his energies among magnificent impossibilities or vain phantasms of illusory obligations. His path of duty is clear and bright, and lies among the daily affairs of life, " the trivial round, the common task." The observance of filial piety at home and of the respect due to seniors and superiors abroad, the practice of self-denial and charity can be accomplished by all, and these are parts of man's duty (^ ^Wj &c). In all the affairs of life at all times and in all places there is duty ftaoj and it is the business of the student to investigate the principles involved (tao li). When calamities afflict others, to succour the afflicted and to have compassion on one's neighbours are matters of duty (tao), and they who thus do their duty (fj 3^) will be blessed. One who might have been almost persuaded to be a Conf ucianist says : — *' The primal duties shine aloft like stars ; The charities that soothe, and heal, and bless, Are scattered at the feet of Man, like flowers." With reference to the phrase tung tao, noticed above, we may observe that in modern literature tung tao cAw (;^ jg i) is a The Word Tao. 217 host or hostess. -In old literature^ however, this phrase is found m the very different sense of ^' Chief of the East Territory."^ Connected with the ideas of law and order are those of human relationship. The degrees and duties of Jnndred among mankind, and specially in China, are matters of social or state adjustment. And the various domestic, social, and political relations in which men come to stand to each other have in China their rights and obligations laid down with considerable precision. In some passages of the classical literature in which we find the character for tao rendered by, "duty ^' it would pei^haps be better to substitute ''relation" or some other term with a like meaning. Thus there are cases where the expression tHen-hsia-ta-tao, noticed above, does not refer so much to the duties which are always and everywhere obligatory as to the relations which prevail among mankind everywhere. The phrase ye?i {/i)-tao, which has already occurred frequently, is used in the sense of man's domestic relations, explained as those of father and son, husband and wife, and brothers, and in this use of it Callery translates the phrase by " I'ordre naturel entre parents.'' One meaning of the phrase /w- tzu'chih (;3J ^ ^)4ao is "parental and filial relations," which are said to be natural, to be of man's heavenly constitution (JJ '[jJ). So one meaning of fu-fu (^ ^)-chih'tao is "the relation of husband and wife." In an appendix to the " Yi ching" we find it stated that "the relation of husband and wife must be lastino" (* ^ i ?i ^ RT £t ^ :^ -&) ; or, in Dr. Legge's translation : " The rule for the relation of husband and wife is that it should be long-enduring." In a modern treatise we learn that while others disparage the married state (^ ^ ^ J^), the relations of husband and wife, the wise man finds repose in it. We find also "the expression chileh (j^ytao in the sense of " severing relation- 1 L. C. C, i., p. 60; "Lun," chap, vii.j "Chu-tzii.ch'aan-shu," chap, xlvi.; L. C. C, ii., p. 168; "Meng," chap, vii.; " Chow-li," chap, xxi.; "Han-shu," chap, i.; '• Hsun-tzu," chap, xix.; Sac. Ed., Art. 16, Ampn.; "Han-shu," chap, viii.; L. C. C, i., p. 270; "Chung yung," chap, iv.; "Meug," chap, vii., p. 55; " Li-chi," chap, viii.; '• Hsiao-hsio," &c., chap, ii.; L. C. C, i., pp. 209; ii., pp. 326, 302; " Hsin-chin^.lu," pp. 26, 49 (vol. 1); Faber's Mencius, p. 131; L. C C, ii., pp. 191, 178; "Meng," chap, vii.; L. C. C, i., p. 257; "Chung yung," chap, iii.; <' Hu- ching.chai.chi" (^9 if ^ %), chap, i.; L. C. C, v., pp. 160, 217 j " Tso Chuan," ohapa. z, xiv.; " Liao- chai," &c., chap. ii. 218 The Word Tao. ship," cutting off intercourse say with the kindi:§ijaL^.diYprced wife-Zriulhis use of tao it is interchanged with tsu (;^), kindred. With reference to the orderly arrangement of the relatives at the annual family dinner the "Li chi*' uses the expression jen-tao-chieh (A ?E ®)» which Gallery translates, "se trouve accompli Tordre naturel qui existe entre les parents.'' Here tao is explained by native commentators as jen-lun-chih (A fft i,)'^<^o, that is, the orderly disposition of man's relations, the arranging and treating the individuals assembled according to their degrees of near and distant relationship. This word lun is the term commonly used to denote the relations among mankind, and it is found in this way interchanged with tao. Strictly lun is simply the relation, and tao the duty resulting therefrom, but each word is used occasionally to denote both relation and duty attached. The sage kings of primeval times instituted marriage iWt ^ i9 ^ f&)^ which is the source of all relations of kindred ; and then they prescribed the duties of husband and wife (-^J :^ Jf ;^ jI^). The relations between ruler and minister are those of duty — a "Pflichtverhaltniss" — and these cease when people lack food and clothing. In Ku-liang's Commentary on the '' Chun-ch^iu " there occurs a curious statement which illustrates the use of tao now under consideration. With reference to the first year of Chuang Kung, Confucius records that ^'in the third moon the wife with- drew to Ch'i." The wife here was the widow of Huan Kung, father of Chuang, and she had been guilty of incest and of com- plicity in the murder of her husband. The mention of her in this peculiar manner here by Confucius was, according to Ku-liang, to stigmatize her conduct, and he adds, " man with respect to Heaven receives commands through the duties of the human relations, and with respect to men he receives commands through speech; if one does not accord with these duties Heaven cuts him off, and he who disobeys commands is cut off by men" {A ^ '^ 3c4£tms«r«SA&iUgS^;j;ei5m^5cM ±4;TiSiS's^Al&-t4)- This passage seems to have a particular application, otherwise it might be better perhaps to render the word tao in it by reason or conscience, the sense of The Word Tao. 219 what is right in man. But there are several sayings among the Chinese which seam to favor the interpretation first given; Thus one of the expressions to signify that marriages are made in Heaven is fii'/wchih'tao-mmg'pe {^ M i M ^ •&)> the relation of husband and wife, the state of matrimony, is decreed by Providence.^ The next use of our word to which we advert is that in the sense of essentials, or important or necessary elements. The -•Sreat Learning begins in Dr. Lenjge's translation thus : ^'What the Great Learning teaches is to illustrate illustrious virtue ; to renovate the people; and to rest in the highest excellence." Here the text rendered, "What the Great Learning teaches" is t^ai^ hsio-chih'tao (^ ^ ^ J^). Native commentators differ as to the use and meaning of the word tao here. Some explain it by hi'fou (I^S- BK), that is, the course ; others think it is to be taken in the sense of fang-fa ["ff f^), means or method; but neither of these interpretations seems to suit the rest of the book. The best explanation apparently is that which regards tao as denot- ing something like kang-ling (US $^) ; the kang being the rope without which a net cannot be used, and ling the collar without which a coat will not sit properly on the wearer. So kang4ing comes to mean the chief points or essentials, and t'ai-hsio-chih- tao may be rendered, " The sum of the Great Learning.'! , We read elsewhere that the ruler who would reform his people and give them good customs must use learning. The term for learning, hsio (j$), is here explained as the Vai-hsio-chih-taot the essentials of the great learning, the teaching for princes and kings. In another passage Gallery gives for the words ]lfc :^ ^H ^ ^ ^ the rather peculiar but not inappropriate rendering, " Tels sont les effets des etudes completes." The author here says that an official scholar who has gone through the whole course of state education " can refine the people and reform their customs, so that those who are near are pleased to obey, and those 1 Gallery "Le-ki," pp. 72, 73; "Li-chi," chap, vi.; " Haing-H," chap, vi.; *«Yi," chap, iv.; Legge's "Yi-king," p. 436; "Hu-tzu-chih-yen" (]§§ =^ ^p ^), chao. i.; "1-li," (13), chap, xxx.; p. 7. note; " Lie-tzii," chap, vii.; " i'aber's Lie," pp. 167, 181 ; " Ku.liang " (13), chap, v,; L. C. C, v., p. 72. 220 Ths Word Tao. who are at a distance long for his influence ; this is the sum of the • great learning." The text of the last clause is amplified thus, " This is what is called the sum of what the great learning teaches men "(^0?li :k ^W^ A^MiL)- Some expositors, however, prefer to understand tao here in the sense of course or method. •^-~ In another work it is written that filial impiety, including rehellion against the sovereign and disowning of sages, is the essence of great anarchy (:^ fl -^ JE)- Then Mencius says, in Dr. Legge's version : " The great end of learning is nothing else but to seek for the lost mind" (#1 P^g ^ Jt ^ ffe * * ^ iK *E^ W E. ^)- ^^^ ^^® native scholars take tao here in the sense of ch'ieh yao {^ ^), most important, and the meaning of the passage is perhaps the important business (or main element) of learning is nothing else but only the search for the strayed mind. Again the phrase i-shi-chih-tao {"fi '^ ^ JE) denotes the main constituents of clothing and food, the raw mater- ials out of which these are made, which are produced in the soil, grow up in season, and are gathered by the use of energy. One of the maxims of Chinese political science is expressed in a formula like chih'tHcn-hsia-chih'tao'tsai'yu-yung-jen ({§ 5c T <^ JS 'iS J^ ^ A)) that is, a necessary condition to the good government of the empire lies in the use of proper men. Again officials are told by the Emperor that it is an essential requirement of a good administration to lay stress on the zeal and not regard an idle name (^ {& ^ JE ^ffi J!fe iSf K T> IS ® «)• And in another place we have the maxim and the mode of expression altered thus : *^ Of the important essentials of a good administration of the empire none is greater than giving peace to the people " (}& 5c T 1 m ^ ii « 15)-' We proceed next to consider this word tao in the class of cases in which it stands for persons. In some instances its use in this 1 L. C. C, i., p. 220; "Ta.hsio," chap, i.; "Li-chi" (13), chap. Ix.; :^ ^ ^ g, chap, i.; " Li-chi," chap, vi., pp. 72, 7i; Gallery "Le-Ki," p. 76; "Hsiao-ching" (13), chap, vi.; L. C. C, ii., p. 200 and note; "M^ng-tzu," chap xi.; Sac. Ed., Art. 4, Paraphrase and Amplification, Compare the statement ^ # ;2l at il^» :^^ i^ ff ^. " tlu^i nau.fzu." chap, ix.; " Yung-ch^ug Edicts," 1st y .illth m., 4tU day; 5th y., 4tb m., 23id day. The Word Tao. 221 way may have been derived from the sense of ruling. Thus the Hang (||)-^ao, or *' Grain Intendant," is the " Chief Comptroller of the Provincial Revenue from the grain tax, whether collected in money or in kind." So there are yen O)-^rt0, Intendant of Salt Revenue, and certain other officials of like character and designation. In other cases the jurisdiction seems to have occasioned the peculiar use of the term. Thus a Tao t'ai has *' administrative control over two or more Prefectures," which constitute a tao or circuit. So he is spoken of and addressed officially as Tao, and he uses that Word in speaking of himself. Further in the tu-ch'a-yuan (^ ^ ^), or Court of Censors, there are two classes of officials which are commonly mentioned together as k'o-tao {^ Jg). The former are so called because they serve in the six k^o or offices of supervision over the Six Boards in Peking. The latter are the Censors who are charged with the scrutiny of affairs throughout the empire, which for the purposes of this supervision is divided into sixteen tao, and hence their title. Then tao is used to denote professed adherents of the Taoist system of belief and philosophy, as in the phrase seng-tao, Buddhist and Taoist ordained clergy. Here the word is evidently used as a short term for tao-shi ( jt)» a professed follower of Tao. Sometimes the word seems to be in a manner personified for an occasion. Thus Han Wen Kung says that his instructor is neither his senior nor his junior, "My teacher is the Truth" (§ 6SB M *&)' *^^* ^s, the Truth as taught in Confucianism. So we know that the Law was our tutor, our school-attendant unto Christ. Then we read of pang (^)-to, vilifying the saints, and tsun'hsien (§ g), reverencing the eminent. There is also the well-known expression chHn-ling'tao-te (S §| Jg ^), to insult and harass the wise and virtuous, or as Julien enlarges it, "Insulter et traitor avec cruaute ceux qui se livrent a Tetude de la raison et de la vertu." These two last expressions illustrate the use of our word in the sense of one who seeks after or possesses wisdom. This is an old use of the word, and it will occur to us again when we come to consider the influence of Buddhism. 222 The Word Tao. It is often found in the scrolls which tell us to live and to die, and in the Tracts for the People, printed and circulated by phil- anthropists.^ It is perhaps _^from_thjB^.jiSa.j3f^^..in.^ of '' hy." or "from'' that its use with meanings like source, origin, cause, reason, is derived. The occurrence of the word with significations of this kind are chiefly in literature, but they are not uncommon. In answer to a question with ho (fpl), how was it that ? this word is often introduced. The phrase wu-t'a {M fjl^)'tao, in reply to such a question, means, ^'jhere is no other reason," that is, than the one about to be mentioned. One meaning of the phrase i-ho (£1 ^ytao also is "from what cause," "for what reason?" In the **Li-chi" we are told, "weeping has two sources," and the phrase used is h^u-yu^erh (5g ^ Zl)'tao, that is, there are two affections of the mind from which it is produced. One of these is love when there is an internal feeling of helplessnss, and the other is fear when there is the feeling of being thwarted. Again it is said that though every one loves, has regard for himself and his near relatives, yet no one can explain the origin of this affection, and the expression used is similar (^ j£ ?3 SI -^ -^ jfi)- It is added th^t what makes a family esteemed is the permanence of harmonious relations, and " the origin of these lies in (^ J^ ;j3t JK)/* filial piety, brotherly love, modest compliance, th© esteem of kindness and rectitude and the disregard of name and gain. In the Ch'un-ch'iu the bald statement occurs : sha-lu-peng (;^ ^ ^), the sha-lu was riven (or fell down). Why was this recorded ? Because, says Ku-liang, " it was riven without any reason (or cause) for being riven (% M M W MV There was nothing in the nature of the place whether it was a hill, or a city, or a plain (lu) at the foot of the Sha hill to cause it to burst open. So Heaven probably caused it in order to teach the king that he had about him servants who were traitors and ready to burst in rebellion. On the other hand when Confucius records the fact that the roof of the family temple fell in ruins, Ku-liang says 1 Mayers' Ch. Govt., Nos. 278, 280: *'Ch*aiig.li-ch'uan.chi," chap, xii.; •' Shuo-yuan," chap, xvi.; " Kan-ying-pien," chap, iv., p. 34. The Word Tao. 223 there was a reason for the ruin (W S jE *&)• The temple had been shamefully neglected^ and Cunfuciu.s intended to give a severe reproof to those who were in fault. In the same Commentary we have the expression huai-fov kuai-) miao-chih (jg ^ i,)'taOy used to denote " the reasons for dismantling the temple.*' Again when Confucius records that mount Liang fell with a burst (^ llj ^),Ku-liang adds that "high objects have a cause for so falling (Jg # ^ 4^ JE '(fc); " there is a natural reason why they should fall, and Confucius records the fact of the Liang falling only because it caused a blocking up of the Yellow Kiver's course. So also we read of the source or origin of a book, as when it is said that yi-tag-shen (^ JE S«)> ^^^ source of the " Yi chiug^'^is deep, that is, its history goes far back; three sages in three different ages having been employed in its composition.^ '^ P?£lili?L*Si-^^^^^ ^^^'^ ^s tb^tin Jihe sense of type, emblem^ Qr symbol. This meaning of the word does not seem to be given in any dictionary, native or foreign, and it is apparently little noticed. Yet there are not a few passages in various treatises in which no other interpretation seems to be equally suitable. In the Yi-ching especially, some such rendering of the character for tao seems to be often required. Thus, for example, the figures chen (J), k'an (j^), hen (^), that is, 5z> zzj zE. are called yang-hiia ; and hsiian (^), li (^*|), tui {^), that is, ~, ~> zzi are called yin-kua. The former three are said to be emblematical of one sovereign and two subjects, and the latter three to represent the idea of two sovereigns with one subject. So the yang-kua are called chdn-tzl. (^ ^)-tao, the type (or symbol) of a great and good man, while the yin-kua are hsiao-jen (i]^ A)- tao, the symbols of a lov^ creature. Again we read, taking Dr. Legge's version, " The movements which take place in the six places (of the hexagram) show the course of the three extremes (i.e., of the three Powers in their perfect operation) " {-/^ ^ ^ S H ® i ?E •&)• ^^ consideration of this sentence in con- ^ "Wen Chung-tzu" (^ ^ ^) chap, i.; " Li-chi," chap, ii.; " Hsiang-shan- ch'uan-ohi" (^ iJj :^ ||), chap, i.; " Ku-liang," chaps, viii, xi, x, xiii.; "Han-Bhu," chap. xxx. 224 The Word Tao, nection with the context suggests a different rendering from that just given, and it appears to have a meaning something like this, "The movements of the six lines of the kua are symbols of heaven, earth, and man in their ideal perfection." The san^chi of the text are explained in a commentary as the li (i||), of heaven, earth and man, that is, the spiritual principle or law which is inherent in them. In the manipulation of the hexagram for divining purposes the lowest and second lines stand for ideal earth, the third and fourth for ideal man, and the fifth and last for ideal heaven. In another place we find the statement Vung-jen- yU'tsung-lin-tao-ye (|^ A -^^ ^ ^ JE ^), which Dr. Legge expands into " (The representative of) the union of men appears in relation with his kindred, that is, the path to regret." It would be simpler and better perhaps to translate the words thus : ''The Union with men is in the clan, the symbol of sorrow." Again, the phrase ching {^)-tao denotes "that which ching symbolises," to wit, the necessity of change. Turning to other treatises we find instances of a similar use of the word.. Thus, in_ the ** Shuo wen," under the character san (^), it is stated that this character is t^ien-ti-jen-chih-tao, that is, the symbol of the trinity Keaven, earth, and man. Further we read that in old times, on the decease of the head of a family, a wooden or other image was made, and before it were performed the religious services due preparatory to interment. This figure was called ch'ung (J;), duplicate, and it was regarded as chu (^)-^ao, the symbol of the master, just deceased. In another place we read that for a person of one family, that is, a chief of a family, to take charge of the ancestral worship of another is mie-wang-chih-tao (JjJJ (^ ^ J^), a sign that the latter family is extinguished (utterly collapsed). So also Heaven as the originator of all things, and Earth as their preserver, are respectively types or symbols of father and mother (5c ^ 'S -fc Si # 1; 4). This phrase is found repeated with slight variations by numerous authors orthodox and otherwise.^ i«'Yi," chap, iii., p. 20; Legge's "Yi-king," pp. 388, 351; ' Yi," chap, iif.; "Chou Yi" (13), chap, vii.; " Yi," chap, i.; s. v. [^ A; Legge's " Yi-king," p.' 284; "Yi," chap, iv.; " Li-chi," chap, ii.; " Ku-liang," chap, xv.j " Ho-Kuau^tzii " (14 ^ -J")f chap, i., sec. 6 (commentary). The Word Tao. 225 We now pass on to consider certain uses of this word closely related to others already described. These uses may by com- prehended under the term "ideal/' though this is a vague and inaccurate designation. It is to be understood as including such terms as ideal Wisdom, Truth, and Goodness. We have seen —t h at tao denotes the truth or wisdom gained by study, and the goodness which is opposed to wickedness of conduct. It also denotes, a state of virtue, absolute and perfect, whether in the world or only in the mind. The commom expression Yao Shun- chih'tao is rendered in one place by Eaber, " the ethical ideal of Yao and Shun ; '* and in another passage of Mencius, already cited, where Dr. Legge translates, " When the prince has no principles by which he examines his administration,'^ Faber renders tao by " Ideal.'' The perfect virtue, however, is not a mere abstraction or empty name. It may be acquired by a life of well-doing, and it may be lost by continuance in wickedness. " They who do good," says an old author, " obtain Virtue, and ■ they who do evil lose it m ^ ^ % 'M ^ ^ ^ Sk M)'' A later philosopher says that the attainment of li (jg[) includes that of perfect virtue (jg ^ ^)- ^^t this word li is here used in a peculiar way to denote good principles of life systematically carried into practice, perfect conduct regulated always by reason. And so we find it not seldoni stated that tao is Zt, the latter term being used in this wide sense. As ideal goodness, moreover, tao is the collective designation of the five cardinal virtues — kindness, rectitude, observance of rites and ceremonies, wisdom, and good faith — though in another use of the word it may be applied to each of these singly. It is often found with te ((*), which is usually rendered virtue ; and tao is said to be Virtue, as it exists at large in the world, while te is that portion of it acquired by an individual. The more of it one gains the nearer he comes to perfection. We read that there were five principles of conduct by which the ancient rulers kept their kingdoms in good government. One of these was, "to esteem those who had virtue (fi|), because they came near to spiritual perfection" (jj -j^ J^). Gallery trauslattts these three characters, "ils sout proche de la verite," 226 The Word Tao. that is, as he explains in a note, the Truth which is God. Again it is recorded that in old times there were tutors appointed to teach princes what was right. In this was included instruction in three virtues, of which the first was, *' the virtue of practical perfection to be the root for ideal perfection '^ (^ ^ £t ® tS ^)' These words, which are very often quoted accurately and inaccur- ately, are rendered by Biot simply, 'Ma vertu de la perfection; c'est la base de la bonne voie." But by tao is here meant that state of absolute moral excellence which is man's pure original spiritual nature. Some regard the '' virtue of perfection " as denoting the attainment of the " perfect mean," and this was to be the basis of the ideal standard (taoj by which all conduct was to be regulated. It is also said that tao is a general designation for all active and passive virtues, but these are summed up under i (^) and jen (t) respectively (i[#t|ffi;tii«t» •t SI « my Then tao is also ideal or absolute wisdom, the possession of perfect knowledge, and ideal Truth. This perfect wisdom which should be obtained and employed for the benefit of the world is, properly speaking, superhuman, or at least beyond the reach of all except sages. But often the word used in this manner has only the sense of extraordinary mental powers, the possession of unusual sagacity, or a rare insight into men and things. The phrase Tao-jen {^ A) denotes originally a man of wisdom and piety, perhaps credited also with the possession of extraordinary powers. But it is applied in compliment to the professed followers of Buddha and Lao-tzii, and to those recluses who talk with their own souls and own no master save Nature. Sometimes * L. C. C ii., pp. 166, 377 ; Fab.'s Mencius, pp. 77, 272; " Shuo-yuan," chap. xvi. ; "Wen Chnng-tzu," chap. viii. ; " Li-chi" (13), chap, vi.; "Li-chi," chaps, ii,, ix.; ••Hsing-li," chaps, ii., ix.; Gallery "Le-ki," p. 118. Ina note Gallery adds — ** D'apres les philosophes chinois on entend par le mot Toe (^tej Ge que I'homme a obtenu par ses propres efforts, ou la vertu acquise : et par le mot Tao Ge h quoi tous les hommes doivent tendre, Ge qui est Convenable, Ce qui est dans I'ordre, ou la vertu dans le seus abstrait. Or, il n'y a, selon moi, que le Vrai qui I'eunisse ces conditions, car, selon la philosophic chretienne, Dieu lui meme est la Verite !; Je prefere done traduire Tao par Verite, que d'adopter la traduc- tion de Voie, dont le moindre defaut est de ne rien dire." " Chou-li," chap, ix.; Do. (13), chap, xiv.; Biot's '« Tcheou-li," i., p. 292. '• Hu-tzu-chih yen," ohap. i. The Word Tao. 227 it is said that this high wisdom — ta-tao — cannot be acquired, that it is a heavenly gift, but the common doctrine is that it can be attained. As the jade does not make an utensil unless it is chiseled, so man does not know truth (pu-chih-taoj unless he learns. It must be in his mind originally, but its excellence cannot be known without study. Sometimes it is apparently identified with the truth or wisdom contained in the orthodox canonical books, to which reference has been made above. But it is rather the spirit of that wisdom, its principles which are of universal application. As such Truth ftaoj is pure and perfect, without antagonism in itself and without rivals outside, not bound by time nor limited by place. The wise man has a mind which yearns for this truth (M M i, *&)» and he keeps it to death when obtained. Perfect truth, or wisdom, we are told, is one with the sage, he being wisdom embodied and it being a sage without a ^odyiMm^mmwi&mAm ^m^^m^ mm)- To those who possess this great wisdom ftao) unusual and even miraculous powers are often ascribed. Thus Confucius is represented as saying of a certain worthy that in youth he had been quick and studious, in manhood brave and inflexible, and that in old age yu-tao^neng-hsia-jen (/^ ?E 16 T A) he had the transcendent wisdom by which to keep man in subjection. He who has this tao can, it is supposed, see many of the secrets of nature ; can tell where springs of sweet water lie hidden, and where the barren soil conceals rich store of precious metals. He can read and understand the mystic meaning of those signs which in any district or region point to the kind protection of good spirits or the blighting influences of wicked demons. It is only, we are told, the man who has this wisdom (Pg ^ Jg) who, judging from the past, can predict the future. By obtaining it — te-tao — Nii Kua, who mended the heaven and the earth, raised himself to be a god ( g jpif). The phrase t'mi (^ytao means to be profound in wisdom, that is, the "high wisdom" which slowly grows by patient study, quiet meditation; and long communing with Nature. It is often used of certain celebrated hermits who are supposed to have gained au insight uuto the secrets of Nature, and to have 228 The Word Tao. acquired the art and power of controlling their operations. But the attainment of this high or supreme wisdom is always of advantage in some way to its possessor; and so there is the saying, " obtain truth (or wisdom tao) in yourself and you obtain praise with men." When we come to consider the action of Buddhism on Chinese it will be seen that tao, in the sense now under consid- eration, has affinity to the Bodhi of the Buddhists. In this ideal wisdom, we learn, there are sympathy and faithfulness, but it has no show of acting and no visible manifestation (^ ?E W *|# ^ io IK >S IR ?^) f i^ ™^y ^6 transmitted but not kept in pos- session ; it is self-existent and eternal, making heaven and earth what they are and giving to supernatural beings that which makes them such ; and it knows no conditions of space or time. It is like the Wisdom of Proverbs which declares that by her '^ princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth," and tells us that she *' was set up from everlasting, from the begin- ning, or ever the earth was." To the Conf ucianists it is only their master who of all men possessed this ideal wisdom in perfection. Hence it is said of him that his wisdom caps ancients and moderns, and his moral qualities mate Heaven and Earth (JL ? JE ^ ]& ^ (* ^ 55 ifi)- T^^s ideal wisdom, when turned to account, becomes, as we know, that mock-wisdom which professes to teach the art of prolonging life indefinitely and wrests to bad uses the words of pure doctrine.^ Then tao is also used to denote an ideal state of society and of the whole world, a state of complete order, and wisdom, and virtue. Such, according to some writers, was that of the empire under Yao and Shun, but this opinion cannot be regarded as correct, and it is refuted by several authors. Tlie idea of tao has never been perfectly realized in actual life, and the condition so designated never existed except in the minds of pessimist philosophers. Yet moralists were ceaselessly teaching men that they should aim at recalling the ways of the old times, the virtue 1 *• Chu-tzu-ch'uan-shu," cliap. lix.; " Li-chi," chap, vi., p. 72; Gallery's " Le-ki," p. 75. Callei-y here translates the words pn-chih-tao {^^ ^Q ^) simply by " ne poasede auciin savoir." " Chia-yii," chap. iii. ; " Han Shu," chap. Ixxv. ; " Sii-wen.chung-kung-shi-chi" (jj^ X .'i'. -S" ^ ^), chap. xlvi. : " Shno-yuan," ohap. xvi. ; " Chuang-tzu," chap. vi. The Word Tao. 229 of the early world. The term tao^hi (g), or foundation of order, the title of a chapter in a well-known treatise, denotes the establishment of perfect order in nature and among mankind. We read also of means for "causing the world to reform and turn to perfect virtue " (fg 5c T 1^1 *& M M M)^ that is, the virtue of antiquity. The common expression tao-shu (|jg), which has been seen to have other meanings, is sometimes used to denote the arts or way of primitive innocence, long since lost beyond recovery. Still it is possible to read or hear of "people and crea- tures living in peaceful ease as in- the natural state of ideal perfection'- (K !i 5f ^ g 51 S ^)- An ideal state of perfection, whether in man or in the universe, is supposed to be the spontaneous work of Nature, and we now proceed to consider our word as used in the sense of Nature. But this term is not to be taken in any of the common meanings in which it is usually understood among Western peoples. It is not the nature which is the omney the " sum of all pheno- mena," "the universality of all that is and ever will be ; " nor the nature which is antagonistic to reason and culture. It is the inner force, the moving and regulating power, the law of order which is a necessary ingredient in all the constituents of the universe. It is the unvarying uniformity which underlies the endless varieties of these, and at the same time the binding authority which makes them keep their appointed distinctions, for " Res quaeque suo rifcu procedifc et omnes Poedere naturae certo discrimina servant." It is nature as the universe of law in the universe of mind and matter. In many respects taoy as thus used by Confucian writers, resembles very closely the Nature of the Stoics and of Bishop Butler. The phrase T'ien Ti, Heaven and Earth, seems often to mean what we call Nature, the visible phenomena of the world together with their causes, but it is also used as the spirit or law of these. In the " Chung Yung" we find it stated that the [ideal] Ruler establishes his government according to Heaven and Earth, and it is not in opposition to these (^ ^ 3c iife ffi /J* i^ )." k 230 The Word Tao. Here T'ien Ti are explained by Chu Hsi to be tao, and Dr. Legge translates this by *' right reason," a rendering which does not seem to suit the passage. T'ien Ti are, it is said, spoken of here i (JHytao^ from the point of view of their laws or principle of opera- tion. The government instituted by the ruler does not violate Nature, is not opposed to natural law. Less open to doubt, how- ever, is a passage in which Lie tzii tells of a craftsman who made an imitation of a leaf of a paper-mulberry tree in jade. The imitation leaf was perfect in every respect and could not be dis- tinguished from a natural one, but the making of it was a three years' labour. So Lie tzii says if Heaven and Earth — Nature — in the production of creatures were to be three years about the making of a leaf there would be few leaves in the world ; conse- quently the wise man trusts to Nature's creative power and not to the cleverness of human wisdom {fj^ M A i^ *M HlM "^ ^ ^ 3^5). Faber translates these words, "Der Heilige vertrant daher auf die Wandlungskraft der Natur {tao) und nicht auf Weisheit und Geschicklichkeit." But the contrast is apparently between *' great creating nature " and human arts cunning only to imitate. Further we are told that heaven and earth, that is, visible nature are the makers of the world, but that they are themselves the product of tao or invisible nature. So also it is said that nature's activity consists in quickening. In bringing things into life (Jl^ jjJJt ^ ^ S ffl) ; ^^^ ^^ another place we are told that nature ftaoj is the root of heaven and earth, which in their turn are the root of all the world. But the use of this word in some of our senses of nature is also found, as when it is said that to eat when hungry and drink when thirsty is nature {tao). So also we read that tzU-jan-chih- wei'tao ( S ^ ;S fi 5E)> ^^^^ which is natural is called tao. It is also natural to put into song the joys and sorrows of the heart. So it was said of the philosopher Mo who wanted to abolish music that he was "as to nature" (jJJ Jg) like a blind man Hs to colours, or a deaf man to musical tones. But even in such modes of speech as these the, idea of good and fixed law is present to the mind of the Chinese. The Word Tao. 231 If nature {tao) is thought of as to its own essence it is one, it is pure without any alloy and perfect without any flaw. But it does not exist apart, and it is never simple and single (tao-wu- wu-tui 5£ ^ ^ M); it always has the alternations of opposites like good and bad, bright and dark, right and wrong. It fills matter (^ body) and occupies all the interspace between heaven and earth. It is ever active, "like the running stream (^ g ]]\ ^ i, 7K) it flows forth for others and flows on without stopping." By gentle noiseless action, without show, and unnoticed by most, nature goes on its way in making, and unmaking. The river which has many a bend and winding flows far, the mountain rises high which has a gradual ascent, nature because debonair in procedure can make (or transform) (JE £J[ ffi jg S5: ft ^), and individual endowments (fg) by pure acts can bring eminence. To all creatures, animate and inanimate, nature is the law of their being and action. Hence, as has been seen, the T'ai-chi or *' Ultimate Principle" is another name for tao. So one .philosopher says, When nature (tao) is said to be the Ultimate Principle, this is said of it as the natural perfect law of all that exists (S m ^ * S *B 5C m m ^ S «? it a). But it is in the guiding and perfecting of man that nature has its perfect consummation. The heavens had their origin from nature (tao)f and the earth was made by it; the world of creatures by it obtained form and figure, and by it man has practical morality. It is only he, or rather it is only the wise and good among men who can follow the piloting of natura gubernans, reading and understanding and practising the lessons it teaches. For though the sun, and moon, and stars all shine for man and for his benefit rule the times and seasons, yet they have in respect to him higher functions. They, like all the other works of nature, are in the solemn silence of their eternal processes lessons and patterns for man in all his phases and conditions of life. Hence it was well said, " The physical order of nature, the sun and moon hung out, the stars sown, the sexes divided, the four seasons established, and the five elements set in order, all were visible lessons to the first sages who culled all by one name Nature (tao).'' An old 232 The Word Tao. metaphysician tells us that the laws which underlie phenomena are various, and there is nothing selfish in Nature ; hence Nature is nameless and because nameless not appearing to act and therefore universally active (^^^gJI^P^iiS^^^ ^ S: M ^ ^ ^' iS ^ ^ ®)- This is from a Taoist philosopher, but the conception of Tao in this sense is old and is common to Taoists and Confucianists.^ We must now draw the investigation of this word to a close, mentioning only a few more classes of meanings with which it is employed. We have already seen it used to denote the special nature of an object or class of objects, and Nature generally. We have now to observe that as in j^^rtain Greek and Latin writers the corresponding words for nature are peripHrastically employed as when Lucretius, for example, says animi natura instead of animus^ so we find the word tao used in a similar manner. Thus the phrase 8hen {%^)'tao, nature of spirits, is sometimes used instead of Shen to denote " spirits " or " spiritual beings ;" so also min {^)-tao is often merely " the people," and Jen {J^ytao is used to express simply *^man" or "mankind." The expression sheng min chih tao (^ S: ^ JE) ^^ ^^® Li-chi is translated by Gallery "parmi le peuple," though this is A « chap. iii. ; " Yang-yuan- chi," chap. xxix. ; "Chu-tzu-ch'uan-shu," chap. xlvi. ; " Sun-tzii," chap, xiv.; "Meng-tzii," chap, vii., p. 15, note; "Shuo-yuau," chap, xvi.; " Hsin-shu," chap, ix. ; "Hsing-li," chaps, iv., v. ; " Han-shu," chap. Ixxv.; " Chuang-tzu," chap. viii. The followiug passage from Hooker is pure Conf acianisin, illustrating tao as na- ture. " Now if nature should intermit her course, and leave altogether, though it were but for a while, the observation of her own laws ; if those principal and mother elements of the world, whereof all things in this lower world are made, should lose the qualities which now they have; if the frame of that heavenly arch erected over our heads should loosen and dissolve itself; if celestial spheres should forget their wonted motions, and by irregular volubility turn themselves any way as it might happen ; if the prince of the lights of heaven, which now as a giant doth run his unwearied course, should as it were through a languishing f aintness begin to stand and to rest himself ; if the moon should wander from her beaten way, the times and seasons of the year blend themselves by disordered and confused mixture, the winds breathe out their last gasp, the clouds yield no rain, the earth be defeated of heavenly influence, the fruits of the earth pine away as children at the withered breasts of their mother no longer able to yield them relief ; what would become of man himself whom these things now do all serve ? See we not plainly that obedience of creatures unto the law of nature is the stay of the whole world?" Keel. I'ol, B. i.,yeo. lil. The Word Tao. 233 perhaps not a quite satisfactory rendering for the passage. In these, as in other cases of a like nature already mentioned, tao is said to be an ^' empty" (or "idle") character, adding nothing to the meaning of the word to which it is attached, and being itself without any signification. In some cases, however, where it seems to be an idle character it converts the concrete or part- icular term it follows into one of an abstract or general nature. The phrase tao-lij often convertible with tao, is used instead of it in this manner in popular speech and writing, serving often merely to round off an expression or gentence. Further this word ^ao is often used in a vague lazy manner like that in which we use such words as thing, affair, business. It i&^vt)n expressly said in some places to be an equivalent of shih (^), meaning " affairs " or business. In a passage of the "Li chi" the writer enumerates the three ceremonies in a service of worship which are of special importance. He then adds, all three actions (j^^ H M ^) use what is external to intensify the Sage's thoughts, or as Gallery translates, " Ces trois choses empruntent au dehors les moyens de rendre sensible les sentiments du Sage." We find also the expression ssii-tao^e-chin-wang (^ JE «tfc "^ O* meaning "this practice does not now exist," or this custom is now lost. In an appendix to the " Yi ching" we find it stated that the Sage, according to Dr. Legge's version, "penetrates to a knowledge of the course of day and night (and all other connected phenomena)" (51 ^ 8 S ;^ JE M ^)- Here the word tao is explained by shih (^) or ku (gj;) in the sense of affairs, and the Sage is said to see through the affairs of day and night and know them. Under day and night are included light and darkness, life and death, ghosts and spirits, and the Sage is supposed to have pierced to the hidden means by which these opposites are related or connected. It is interesting to notice that the Greek word Aoyoc, which, as will be seen presently, often corresponds to tao, is also sometimes used in this loose manner. Thus in the Acts of the Apostles (Chap. XV., v. 6), we have in our version " of this matter " for -nepl rov Xoyov rovrov, and in the Chinese Jg ^ with the same meaning. In this use also of tao 234 The Word Tao. , it is often in common speech and popular writing replaced by tao-li which has the same indefinite application.-^ In addition to the uses and meanings of this word here mentioned certain others are assigned to it in some of the native dictionaries and other native treatises. Thus it is said to denote ** straight " or " straightness " (]![), and " great " or ^' greatness " (Jt)- Examples of the word in these uses are, however, rare, if they are actually to be found in speech or literature. It is also vaguely said to be " all fine (or subtle) things '' (^ Jj? -g* :^ ^), and to be a general name for all passive and active states (5S ^ H fS i, M ^)) ^^^^ ^^' moral states. These are sufiiciently wide to cover nearly everything. There are probably, however, many varieties of meaning, special, technical, or otherwise restricted in use which are included in the account given in these pages, and there are perhaps others of ordinary occurrence which have escaped observation.^ The account of the word tao up to this has been mainly confined to its use by the people generally and in the writings of the orthodox. But in order to understand it properly we should also take notice of the special ways in which the term is employed by the various sects. M. Julien says of it, '^Les lettres, les bouddhistes et les Tao-sse font un grand usage de ce mot, et I'emploient chacun dans un sens different," and he proceeds to illustrate the statement. But this does not give a correct and adequate view of the matter. In early times there was not much difference as to the uses made of tao in the teachings of philosophers. Certain notions attached to the word were common property, but in after times these received from Taoists and Confucianists different applications and developments. Then new meanings and new uses came to be introduced, though these were 1 "Le-ki," pp. 97, 128; "Li-chi," chap, viii., p. 58; '< Wen Chung-tzu," chap, iii.; Legge's "Yi-king," p. 354 j " Yi," chap, iii.; p. 5; '« Chou-yi-tsun-shu," vol. v., p. 11; "Yi" (13), chap. vii. We may translate tao by event or occurrence in such statements as this : — Death as an event is single and cannot be repeated m±J^m--'^X-'^3nm^)>'' Sun.tzii," chap. xiii. 2 "Kuang.yun," s.v. ^; " Hu-tzu-chih-yen," chap. i. In this particular case, however, the t'i and yung are said to be respectively humanity (jen) and right conduct towards others (i). The Word Tao. 235 perhaps not very numerous; but the orthodox uses of tao are alfio found in the teachings of Taoists and Buddhists. Some of the^special^jises made, of it by tke latter are found in another chapter, and here a word or two. may be said about applications of this word regarded as peculiar to Taoists. These derive their name frdm the Mo tt^hich forms so import- ant an element in all the teachings of their founder and early apostles. As to what this tao is there is not^and perhaps there cannot be an agreement of opinion. Some see in it the way of the universe, and some a mere metaphysieal abstraction; some regard it as Reason, the God-reason which made and which rules the world, and others take it to represent the living personal Deity. Of Western expositions of the tao of Lao-tzu only one need be here mentioned and that the least known. The Library of the India Office possesses a curious and interesting Latin translation in MS. of the " Tao-t6-ching '' with an elaborate commontary to a portion. The translator, a Roman Catholic Missionary, after giving the composition of the character for tao says, " What, therefore, is tao in its primary idea but the Head and First Principle of all things in self-motion?" In some places he renders the word by " movement of the divine principle," and in some places he treats it as denoting the First Principle itself, that is, God. The pious and learned translator took eleven chapters of the " Tao-te-ching " for special illustration, as by these it is proven " that the mysteries of the Most Sacred Trinity and God incarnate were once known to the Chinese nation.^^ The beginning of the book (Jf ^ Pf JE # i^ JE) is thus rendered • by him, " The Reason which can be comprehended by reasoning is not the eternal Reason." As we read this and ,the " Para- phrasis which follows we are reminded of the lines translated : — " Insane is he who hopeth that our reason Can traverse the illimitable way Which the one Substance in three Persons follows !" The tao of the '^Tao-te-ching" cannot be taught or explained in labgii^gei" It is something spiritual, eternal, overacting, and ever , present everywhere. We may render it by Nature, or Law of ▼^ OF THE \ "UNIVEKSITT/ 236 The Word Tao. Nature, or Oversoul, or Reason, or God, or Providence, but none of these gives the full import of the term as used by Lao-tzu.^ In the teachings of his early followers the word has still its high mystic meaning. So also in the writings of men who lived before the end of the Han dynasty and who were not disciples of Lao-tzil ^ A note by Gallery on this subject is here transcribed, " Si on compare les attributs que Confucius donne au Tao aveo ceux que Lao-tze reconuatfc egalement au Tao dans les chapitres 4, 14, 32, et 51 du Tao-toe-kin, on acquiert la conviction que ces deux peres de la philosophie chinoise avaient, sur cet etre mysterieux, des idees a peu pres semblables. Mais, plus on medite leurs definitions, et plus on se demande si par le mot Tao il ne faut vraiment pas entendre la Verite, 6ternelle, la Raison divine, I'essence de Dieu lui-meme ; car, nous y trouvons I'eternite, I'imaiensite, la toute -puissance, I'invisibilite, I'im- materialite, I'incomprehensibilite, le principe de la vie, du mouvement et de la lumiere, en un mot, la plupart des attributs propres a I'Etre supreme, sauf ceux qui ne sont conaus que par la revelation, tels que la Bonte, la Misericorde, la Justice, &c. Pour les philosophes de la Chine qui n'avaient pas des ideas bien arretees sur la nature de Dieu, on congioit qu'il y euc irapossibilito k denommer, d'une mani^re adequate, un etre auquel leur langue n'avait pas encore donne de nom, et que, pour se tirer d'embarras, ils aient adopte le mot vague et obscur de Tao. Mais pour nous qui avoas, sur la cause premiere de toutes choses, des notions assez precises se r6sumant dans le mot Dieu, je ne vois pas pourquoi nous traduirions litteralement Tao par " Voie," expression qui, dans I'espece, ne signifie absolument rien, par la raison qu'elle signifie tout ce qu'on veut. Je sais bien qu'on m'opposera certains passages du Tao-tce-kin (chap, liii.) oil le Tao est decrit comme ayant les qualites d'une grande voie, d'un chemin oil Ton pent marcher. Mais comme dans vingt autres passages les attributs surnaturels du Tao excluent toute idee, meme eloignee de chemin, on doit tout simplement conclure qu'en pr6sence du Grand Principe universel qu'ils voulaient denommer, les philosophes chinois ont eu recours k des images et a des comparaisons differentes, tantot en harmonie avec le sens litteral du nom par eux adopte, tantot en desaccord, mais tendant toutes k rendre la meme idee. L'Ecriture sainte, elle meme, offre une foule d'exemples de ce genre dans les denominations diverses qu'elle applique k Dieu, et parmi lesquelles on trouve aussi celle de Voie ; car, quoique la Divinite se resume dans une idee simple, dans I'attribut de I'asseite, d'oii tous les autres attributs decoulent necessairO' ment, I'intelligence bornee de I'homme n'est pas moins obligee de I'envisager sous des aspects et avec des attributs differents, si elle veut se faire une idee relative des divers niodes d'action ou de manifestation de la divinite dans I'ordre de I'esprit ou dans I'ordre de la matiere. Ainsi, on a vu page 118, que j'ai traduit le mot Tao par "V6rit6." Cette expression pent logiquement etre admise par tout ou elle se rapporte a I'Etre "eternel et sans nom, anterieur a toutes choses," dont parle Lao-tze: neanmois, dans la definition donnee ici par Confucius, et oil j'ai conserve I'expression de Verite celeste, on pourrait dire tout aussi bien L'Immensite eternelle, et Le Pouvoir createur qui donne a tous les etres I'existence et la forme. En resume, je crois que le mot Tao des anciens philosophes chinois ne pent, au fond, s'appliquer qu'^ Dieu, mais qu'on pent le traduire de plusieurs manieres pref6rablement k Voie, suivant I'attribut ou le mode d'action sous lequel on envisage la divinite, sans que, pour cela, nous entendions accorder aux theologues de la Chine une connaissance du vrai Dieu plus etendue que leurs expressions ne le comportent." "Li-ki," p. 142. The Word Tao, 237 Tao represents a p ;rand th ough vague mental couceptioDL^^ Asjn the " rao-te-ching " it denotes the idea of a power or cause which throughout all the universality of existence moves at rest, works without action, teaches without speech, and governs without administration. In "Lie tzii,'^ for example, is a remarkable passage beginning, "The underived and ever-living is Nature" (^ ^ 6 flu S ^ ^ ?i 4) ; ill Faber's rendering, " Was Keinen Urquell hat und bestandig producirt, ist die Natur"). Here also Nature is to be understood as the law or principle of order which pervades the universe. With the ear^y Taoist writers, however, the word has also acquired a peculiar technical use, and denotes the Supreme Art or wisdom, that is, the art of prolonging one's life indefinitely, of becoming a hsien (fjlj) or Immortal. As an instance of the use of the word in this its peculiarly Taoist sense we may take a passage in " Chuang tzii.'' One worthy says to another, " You are old, sir, and yet you have the complexion of a child. How is that ?" The old man replies, " I have learned the art" (^ M JE ^), that is, as the context shows, the art of prolonging life. This art was at first a spiritual process consisting of self-conquest and self-purification, but it degenerated into the compounding of elixirs and the manipulation of the body. The use of tao in the sense of magic art and specially the art of prolonging life or acquiring immortality is not confined to the professed Taoists : but it is regarded as theirs, peculiarly and originally. The term shan (^)-^ao, used in this way, denotes a clever means, and shan-tao-shen-yao (^ Jft W ^) is a clever means and efficacious drugs for producing longevity. Confucianists object to the tao of Taoists whether denoting the art of becoming immortal or the attainment of moral perfection that it is always selfish, beginning and ending with self. As denoting a spiritual State also tao is more human and practical with the Confucianists than with the Taoists. The former say that with the latter tao is an "empty negation," a nameless unreality, while with them it is something real, human and intelligible. Again, with the Confucianists tao is always spiritual, the law or principle which pervades and rules or directs matter • but 238 The Word Tao. with the Taoists the word came to be another name for the thin vapoury matter (^) which makes the air we breathe. Moreover, though many of the Confucianist phrases which contain the word tao are also found in the writings of Taoists, yet in these latter a new meaning is frequently imported. This is the case, for ex- ample, with the terms above noticed tao-hsin and jen-hsin. With some Taoists the tao-hsin is the yang air, that of metal and water; the jerv-hsin is the yin air, that of wood and fire. A well-known Taoist expression is tao^in (5|), meaning literally to rule or direct and guide, but used in the sense of suppressing or controlling the breathing as a means to prolonging life. In " Chuang tzu" we find mention of tao-yin-chih-shi (ig ^1 j^ ^) or Professors of Breath-suppressing. The course which the famous Chang Liang (Mayer's Ch. R. M., No. 26) took in order to render himself immortal was to abstain from cereals, control his breathing ftao-yinj and make his body light. The Taoists have another common expression tao-chin-ku (Jg ^ '^), to lead sinews and bones, that is, to knead the body gently, a practice also conducive to long life. We have already seen the term huang ("^ytao used to desig- nate the ecliptic. It is also applied to the conjunction of the sun and moon, and forms the ninth of the moon's ways or place^. From this perhaps comes its use in common expressions like huang-tao- chi'jih (§ 0) or huang-tao-jih-tzu, to denote a lucky day. A day so styled is fortunate by divine arrangement and in consequence of harmonies established between heaven and earth. The mode of speech is often said to be Taoist, but it is common to all Chinese. The Taoists, however, use huang-tao in a way which is perhaps peculiar to [themselves. They employ it to denote the state of unconscious innocence which precedes the knowledge of good and evil; and it is sometimes restricted to the moral character of a babe unborn. In some places the Chinese generally apply the term also to men, and a huang -tao-jen is a man whose honesty and goodness are inborn and thorough.^ 1 Julien's " Le Livre de la Voie," &c., Inh, p. 10 ; " Liber Sinicus Tao Te Kim inscriptus, iu I^atinuin idioina versus," by Jos. de Gra-mmont apparently. The The Word Tao. 239 There are several other forms of expression in which Tao is used in peculiar senses hy the Taoists, but as these are known to few except Taoist adepts and curious students we need not refer to them farther. The Mahometans make much use of the word tao, some- times employing it in its common senses, but often in ways peculiar to themselves. Thus we find it used by them in the sense of duty, but T'ien-tao is heavenly duty, that is, man's duty to God. The wu-kung (jB. Jft) or "Five Foundations of Practical Eeligion," viz., Repetition ^f the Creed, Prayer, Fast- ing, Alms, and a Pilgrimage to Mecca constitute man's Vien-tao or Religious duties, those appointed by Heaven. So jen-tao, or man's duties, are those which man has to observe towards his fellows, duties of human appointment. Then tao is the Law of God as revealed to Moses and recorded by him in the Law, to David and written by him in the Psalms, to Jesus and taught in the Gospel, to Mahomet and set forth in the Koran. So cheng QjQ'tao is the right or perfect doctrine, that is, the religion of Mussulmans. But wai {^\*ytao does not always denote heretics or different religions ; the term is also applied to orthodox believers who transgress the law. Thus it is used of Mussulmans who drink wine, or in other ways break the commandments. Again, tao is the law of God in the universe, the code of Nature or Providence (5c 8 ^ ^ ^ H'J)- The world of pheno- mena gives but an imperfect view of this law, and only the saint among men can attain to its perfect understanding. " Paraplirasis " for the fuller understanding of the translation says of the first sentence, — "Ratio quaBCunque quam humane ratiocinio possumus assequi, et totaliter comprehendere, non est aeterna ilia Eatio, quam prime, et per se refert, et describit caracter Tao." The phrase Tien-tao (_^ ^) is translated by "Coelestis sapientia"; and in one place tao is rendered by "doctrina de divine Tao." The old Father was a learned man and a good Chinese scholar, but he had theories and expanded the dark sentences of the Tao-U-ching in accordance with his theories. " Lie-tzu," chap, iv.; Faber's " Licius," p. 91; " Chuang-tzu," chaps, iii., vi.; " Lun-heng," chap, ii.; '-'Hui-hsin-chi" {^ *[!> ^) IT, p. 19 ; " Shih-chi," chap, vii.; " Kan-ying-pien," chap, i.; p. I7i note. See Ho Kuan-tzii's works for various uses of the word Tao, some of which seem to be peculiar, while others are common. So also the '* Ch'ang-tao-chen-yen" ("i ^ R a^) > ill which Tao is the secret of long life, employs the word also in several other senses. 240 The Word Tao. Then tao is used for Iman or Faith, that is, the internal state of piety or holiness. As the flint must be struck by man in order to bring out its latent heat, so the heart of the Mussulman must be struck by divine truth before the faith (tao) which is latent in it will shine forth in practical religion. This tao can- not be defined or described, but it may be illustrated by figures and parables. Some, writing in the spirit of Sufiism, explain tao as the yearning to abandon the world and return to the True, that is, to Grod (i|J ^ ^ fl^ ;i ^ IpJ ^). It is also described as intuitive knowledge and intuitive ability, and it is also sometimes used apparently in the sense of conscience. It is also an ideal state of perfection for which the true believer is to seek, but which can be attained only by saints. They cannot teach it to others nor even reduce it to action in their own lives. The uses which the Mahometan writers make of this word and their treatment of it generally help us occasionally to under- stand the Confucian views about it. Thus the Mahometans evidently did not consider that tao was regarded as a deity, for ifc is not enumerated along with Li (g). Heaven, Lao-tzu, and Buddha as objects wrongly regarded as divine or God. Again they employ expressions like yuan-tao (]g Jg) in the original Confucian sense, but with a new application. Thus yuan-tao is the original rule of belief or true account of Jhinsjs from the point of view of orthodox Mussulmans.^ - . As a further appendix to the account here given of the word tao we may add a few observations on the use made of it in Chinese Christian writings and specially in the JS'ew Testament. In the sense of way or road, literal and figurative, this word occurs often in the Old Testament. In that work it is used, promiscuously apparently, to render five Hebrew words which do not quite agree in meaning but have all the sense of path or road. It may be noticed that the Hebrew dahar emd its derivatives are 1 See the ^ ^ ^ |§, chap, i.; cf. "Notes on Miihammadanism," by the Rev. T. P. Hughes (2ad ed.), p. 101 ; IE Ife R ^, chap. J: ; The Mahomn. ^ ^ ^g; ^ :;^ ^ 31, chap, iv.; ?g U ia % chap. ix. The Word Tao. 241 used in ways many of which, are very like those in which tao is used, but those terms are seldom, if ever, rendered by this word in the Chinese version of the Old Testament. In the New Testament the use of tao in the sense of way is not very common; the colloquial term tao-lu being often substituted. This does not seem to be always done with good effect. Thus in the 6th verse of the 14th chap, of John's Gospel, Jesus says to Thomas, '^ I am the way, and the truth, and the life.'^ For the first clause of this the Chinese has ^Wt-^M^> I am just a road, or I am road. Here and in the context tao would surely have been better. So also where Paul, writing to the Corinthians, says, "And a still more excellent way shew I unto you," the use of tao-lu to render " way " does not seem right. In other passages^ as, e.g., in the Acts of the Apostles, chap, xviii, vers. 25" and 26 the word "way" in the expression "the way of the Lord" is correctly rendered by tao. ^' This word serves also to translate the Greek logos, singular and plural, in its various meanings. Thus the statement, "In the beginning was the word " (or Reason, Logos) is in the Chinese version, " In the grand beginning was tao {-j^ ^ :§ jg), with a comment adding that yen (g*) is a various reading for tao. This appears a little strange, for to say that " Speech is God " is rather Aryan than Semitic. Then the First Epistle of John begins, " That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we beheld, and our hands handled, concerning the Word or word) of life " {Trspl rev Xoyov rrfg ^oorjg^ perhaps, " concern- ing the account of the Life "). The Chinese has, "the doctrine of life (^ 'fi^ j^ jg) which we heard, which our eyes saw, our hands handled, which was from the beginning." Here also, according to one edition, we may substitute yen (=*) for tao, but the whole translation is faulty. The word logos is often rendered by tao-li apparently as an equivalent of tao. In the Epistle to the Hebrews (chap, vi., v. 1), the writer says, "leaving the word (or discussion, logon) of the beginning of Christ," " inchoationis Christi sermonem," for which the Chinese gives. 242 The Word Tao. "We ought now to leave the first principles of Christ's doctrine '' (tao-li). This also does not seem to be a very good rendering of the Apostle's words. In the 13th verse of the previous chapter we are told that every one taking milk is unversed in the reason of righteousness, "without experience of the word of righteous- ness" {d'^eipoQ Xoyov SiH'aLoavv'qQ). Here the Chinese brings out the meaning better than the English, " All who can only take milk are unable to understand the doctrine ftao-li) of righteousness." In the 31st verse of the 8th chap, of the Gospel of John " my word" (logos) is tao-li, and in v. 43 of the same chapter it is tao; and in the 23rd and 24th verses of the 14th chapter of the same Gospel we have this word used to express logon and logons. Further, tao is also used to translate the Greek p^/ua, in the singular and plural, meaning word or saying. It is so taken, for example, in the 10th chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, in which is a passage which also illustrates well some of the other uses of this word. In the 8th verse we read that " the righteousness which is of faith " says, "The word is nigh thee," the statement being a quotation from the 30th chapter of Deuteronomy. Here " the word " is ro prjfj>a, and the Chinese has, "this doctrine" (or discourse) tao, though in the rendering of the original term in Deuteronomy a different expression is used. The Chinese rendering of the Hebrew term given in the Epistle is apparently better than those of the Greek and English versions. The writer of the Epistle proceeds to explain that " the word " is " the word of faith which we preach," and now TO p^fta becomes tao-li. Then in the loth verse we have the term for "to preach" translated by chuan {^ytao, a phrase borrowed from Confucianism, but with its meaning restricted to the transmission chiefly oral of Christian doctrines. In the next verse, however, chuan-tao represents the Greek word translated "report." Here the writer of the Epistle quotes from the Septuagint, while the missionaries translate from the Hebrew and give a better rendering. Then the writer adds, " So belief is from hearing and hearing by word [dLa prffiarog) of Christ." In the Chinese we have, " Thus believing truth ftaoj comes from The Word Tao. 243 hearing it, and hearing truth comes from the speech {yen "§) of God," a rendering which can scarcely be regarded as faithful. Do " some ancient authorities " read God here instead of Christ ? The word tao is also used to translate mang, faith, as in the 13th verse of the secondljEapter of Revelations, where we find it in the expression " didst not deny my faith " (/? fg |g f? 65 M)- It is also used in the vague sense of things or matters. Thus Paul writes to Timothy (1st Tim., 1 chap., 5th, 6th verses), ''The end of the charge is love out of a pure heart and a good conscience and faith unfeigned ; from which things some having swerved have turned aside unto vain talking." The Chinese version for " which things" (wv) has che-tao (^ J^). This word is also often introduced by the translators to fill up the sense or to define the use of some general term. Thus Paul writes to Timothy, *' Let a woman learn in quietness with all subjection," and the Chinese version has, ''learn tao.^' Paul also does not allow a woman to teach, but the Chinese has to teach tao. So a woman is to get her religion from her husband and keep it to herself ; a comfortable doctrine for married men. As a religion or system of belief Christianity is of course now called cheng (j£}'tao, and chen {^)-tao, and simply tao, or the Truth. The claim for it to be the only true system of faith is put forward with unscrupulous arrogance by some missionaries. Thus in the THen-chu-shih-i (5c i M ^^^ ^7 ^^® famous Ricci, the relation of this religion to others and its superiority over them are misrepresented in a reckless manner. Not only was the tao of Confucius and his predecessors the tao of Christianity, and the Shang Ti of them the T^ien chu of the Jesuits, but also some of the characteristic doctrines of these last were taught not explicitly but implicitly in the sacred books of the Confucianists. ' These, it was true, had not the term " shoulder-knots " totidem verbis, nor even totidem ftyllahis, but it was there totidem Uteris, in a crude disjointed manner. The missionaries generally have a tenderness for Confucianism, and with them the "left-hand ways" in China are chiefly Taoists and Buddhists, They also have given a new use to the phrase 244 The Word Tao. THen tao, employing it to denote Christianity, the '' Celestial, way." " Christina Theology " is translated by Shen-tao a name also applied to Theology generally. This would not be a bad term if it were not already cumbered with many meanings. We also find tao used to represent the Second Person of the Trinity in the formula Fu-tao-sheng-shen (^ jg g J^), Father, ''the Word," and Holy Spirit.^ Here we finish the quest of this word tao at least for the present. Some may think that in several cases the distinctions in meaning given to it are not differences, and that consequently the number of the meanings has been needlessly multiplied. But it is possible that in such cases a careful study of the context in which the doubtful expressions occur will modify this opinion. The student, moreover, will be able to add from his own reading several renderings and interpretations of the word which have not been mentioned in this examination; We must remember that the character tao is a very comprehensive one (JJ J^ ^ ^^ that it is a name for all fine things, and that it is always everywhere in all things. In their use of this word Chinese moral and political teachers do not always attach to it an accurately defined meaning. They have rather in their minds a group of associations bound up with the word and memories of its earlier occurrences. Hence in many cases, as we have seen, the word is susceptible of several interpretations, all to some extent correct as reflecting, the mind of the speaker or writer.^ ^ The^ Chinese version of the New Testament quoted from or referred to in the text is the ''Hsin-yao-ch'uan-shu" (^jr t^ ^ ^)) ^^ Mandarin, printed at Peking in 1872. Among other books used are the " T''ie?i-c/iM-s/ii-i" and the ^' ShSng.ching-tse-yao-hsiang-lun" (|^ M W ^ W' tra)* These two are by Koman Cathohc missionaries ; but several of the illustrations'in the text are from works by Protestant missionaries. See Dr. Edkins in Chi. Rec, vol. xviii., p. 352. 2 Of modern native books the ^ M- ^J ^ Mj is one which may be consulted with profit for information about the meanings of Tao. CHAPTER n. TERMS RELATING TO DEATH AND BURIAL. In the last Chapter we saw an instance of one word in Chinese having to serve many uses, and it could easily be shewn that several other words also have wide ranges of meaning. Now in so far as a language has not separate names for particular mental and material objects it may be regarded as a defective instrument. The deficiency may be taken to indicate careless observation, lazy thinking, and a comparatively low state of culture on the part of those who use the language. But a careful examination of the vocabulary of one people and its comparison with those of others will shew that among nations which have reached some degree of civilization the lack of terms is usually partial and relative. A language may have in many cases several names for one object, and terms to represent not only the great but also the minute differences among resembling or related varieties, and it may also have a rich store of words for certain departments of knowledge. Yet it may be sadly wanting in terms to denote certain other objects and distinctions which are seen to exist in other languages. Now with respect to its store of available materials some Western critics, as has been stated above, have pronounced the Chinese language to be poor, while others have declared it to be rich. As to its formal destitution, its utter want of inflections, there is no doubt or dispute. But whether its stock of words is small and inadequate, and inferior to the stores of other languages should be decided only after careful investigation and comparison. That Chinese is in certain respects poor in terminology when its vocabulary is contrasted with others better known to us may be at once granted. It has not, for example, so many terms for God as one, nor so many names for a lion or gold as others ; and there are many expressions in Western science and philosophy for which it would perhaps be impossible to find Chinese equiva- lents. But they judge ill who say that it is in phrases for moral 246 Terms Relating to Death and Burial and spiritual concepts that Chinese is specially wanting while it is rich only in terms relating to the business of daily life and in the sensuous phrases which suit a materialistic philosophy and an unimaginative poetry. The air of poverty which this language bears at first sight is partly due to the want of inflections and the sparing use of modifying particles. In some degree also it is due to the small vocabulary at the command of many natives who have intercourse with the Western strangers, and partly to the slight acquaintance which the latter have with the resources of the language. In matters which concern the material condition of man a thorough comparison of vocabularies would perhaps shew that the Chinese is poorer than our Earopean languages. Thus the latter are much richer than the former in terms relating to the uses which are made of the domestic animals. Any one can test this statement by comparing, say, the vocabularies compiled by M. Eolland in his learned work on the popular fauna of France with the supply of terms on the like subjects in Chinese. Take, for example, the pig, as a native author says, though in a wider sense than he meant, a beast of all the world. It has been known in China from the earliest times of which we have record, and it was apparently one of the first animals to submit to the will of a human master.^ In China the oldest and most general name for the hog, the Siis scrofa, tame and wild, is shih (^). This character, as origi- nally written, was intended to suggest the legs, bristles, and tail of the animal, while the word shik itself had reference to the way in which its tail is held up and curled back. Some, however, regard the word as meaning dirty, and find in it an allusion to the unclean habits of the pig as to food when domesticated. Another old and classical name for swine is chih (^), which seems to have been also a popular term in what is now Honan. It was, according to some, a pig shaky on its hind legs, and, according to others, a sow. In Mencius' time it seems to have * Cf, Faune Populaire de France, T. v., p. 213. The Sus Scropha Domesticus. Terms Relating to Death and Burial. 247 been used in the latter sense, though he uses chihy and mu-chih, brood-sows, as well.^ Neither shih nor chih, however, is at present in general use among the people, and the one common word for pig everywhere is that written ^. This, in the Mandarin language, is pronounced dm, and in the various dialects it stands for chiij tzu, tii, tUj ti. One of the explanations of this name is that it means numerous, and alludes to the prolific character of the pig, as the corres- ponding Aryan word sus is traced to a root meaning to procreate. From chu as primitive are formed mgwiy compounds and deriva- tives, some of which will now be given. A boar is in book and technical language a hsiung (|:J), or chia (f§), or ya (^), the last meaning simply " tusks.'' But among the people we find only the terms chu-kung (^ ^), or chu ku (!j4), each meaning "pig male," stis mas. For a sow the correct term is mu (J§), or 'pa (|E.), the latter being also an old name for the wild boar. In common speech, however, a sow is always called chu mu, pig mother, female pig. She is an unclean animal, and arnica luto sus will go back to it to the end. For her when " desirous of offspring " there is a special term lou (written U and ^), which is also used as an adjective meaning " lascivious." It is best known from its application to a famous lady of very immoral character who was a con- temporary of Confucius. This lady committed incest with her brother and afterwards became wife to the Chief of Wei. The latter, on her account, summoned her brother from Sung to his court and kept him there. When the heir of Wei was travelling through Sung the people sang to him, " Since you have settled your wanton sow [Wi ^ {'^^ %) M % W) ^^^7 ^ot send back our old boar (^ ® ^ 3J |Pi) ? " In books a shote or porket is called tun or t'un 0|g or ^), the latter being also in some places used for pigs generally : * '' Shuo-wen," s.v, ^^ "Hsiao-shuo" (/> |^) ; L.C C. \y., p. 422; Shih, chap, v., p. 81. where we find mention of shih (^ ^ ^) with white feet. Other book names for the pig are chien (|pf ), a full grown pig, one three years' old ; tsung {^), a small pig, a yearling, L. C. C, iv., pp. 230, 36. Kanghsi gives several other terms, but they are scarcely known even iu literature. " Hsiao urh-ya," p. 6; " Fang-yen," chap, viii. ; *' Pen-tsao," chap. 1.: L. C. C, ii.. nn 7 and 337' 248 Terms Relating to Death and Burial. but in common language the only term for a porket is one like chu'tzu {^)j pig child, young pig. A barrow is in classical language called /^ri (U), but the peasant knows no other name for it than yen {^)-chu, castrated boar. There are also in books special names for the pig when three months, six months, a year, two years, three years old, and also epithets descriptive of some of its peculiarities. These, however, are little if at all in request or known among the people who generally use chu with the addition of a specializing term. But though Chinese has many names for pigs it has no distinct term for pork or bacon. The former is called chu-j'oUy pig flesh, and the latter is the same with the word for salted prefixed. Among the people the word^ow, in Foochow nuk, and in Amoy hah, stands most frequently for pork, as our coresponding word " flesh ^' in old England meant to the poor people the flesh of pigs. The collops of pork sold in the market are called joiO'ting (^ $J), literally "flesh nails." To sell pork, at least for the common people, is mai-joUf sell meat. Hence comes a saying among the Foochow people, " Though on terms of closest intimacy, you sell me your pork dear (^ ^ M S. M ^)/^ ^^^^ i^» Y^^ cheat me though we are old friends. A ham, when cured, is a huo-Vui or " fired leg," but otherwise it is only a chu-t^ui, or pig's leg. " Dans le cochon tout est bon," and pettitoes are a dainty. The technical name for them is hai (|^), but this word is not known to the people. They speak of chu-t% (JjJ), pig's feet, when these are sold in the market, and they call them, when cooked, ch'ien-li-hsiang (^ ^ §), a thousand li aroma. The word /litan (^) means originally to "feed pigs with grain." Thence it came to have the signification of feeding or fattening any animal for killing. It is even used, as in the " Tso-chuan," of feasting a man with a view of bringing him to destruction, and of the rearing of female domestic slaves.-^ ^ Alphabetic Diet., Foo. Dial., p. 821, s.v., ^; Douglas' Diet., Amoy Dial., p. 490; Cf. Marsh's Leetures on the English Language, First Series, p. 248 (4th Ed.) For "roast pork" an old classical name is mao-pao (^ j^), a contraction for mao'pao-chih-tun, a young pig scraped and roasted. L, C. C, iv., p. 625 j Shih, chap, viii.j p. 25.; L. C. C, v., p. 825 ; " Tso chuan," chap, xlviii. Terms Relating to Death and Burial. 249 Passing on to another subject we may notice how well sup- plied this language is with words to denote divisions of time. Thus not only has the year its four seasons and twelve months, but it has also its twenty-four solar periods (H + ^). Then each month is known not only as first, second, and so on, but it has moreover natural and cyclical names, and an appellation to mark its place in a season. Thus the month of February in 1886 is in the Chinese year the cheng {]£) or first month, and it is called san-yang (H ^)> and heng-yen (^ H), and meng-ch'un (S S) or first month of Spring. The division of time called a year has several names, some of which may be noted. A very old one is chi (^), which occurs in the first section of the "Shu-ching.'* It is said to be a full solar year of about 366 days, a complete revolution (^) of the sun, or "circuit of the heavens," and it is translated by Dr. Legge, *'a round year." It is contrasted with sui, to be presently noticed, which is only a period of twelve moons, except when a month is intercalated. The word chi is by some identified with ch'i (^) in the sense of a year, while many regard the two as quite distinct. The latter word has several meanings, such as to meet with, expect, a fixed time, in addition to that of a year. In this last sense it is of very common occurrence in the language of mourning. The term chH-fu (^ flg) denotes, as will be seen below, a twelve months' mourning. Here chH is often pronounced chi and the character ^ used apparently as the exact equivalent of ch'i as above. This last word has also a peculiar technical use in the sense of " one hundred years of age," an instance of which occurs in the " Shu-ching." A very early name for a year is tsai (^), which was the recognized term during the period of Yao and Shun (B.C., 2350 to 2205). It is explained as meaning *' the beginning," that is, the recommencement of life in Spring (^ ^ M ia)- ^o die in Winter and revive in Spring represents the whole annual course of nature, and hence tsai, as year, is also explained to mean complete (j^). Another name is sui {-§^), which was in fashion during the Hsia period (B.C., 2204-1766). There are several 250 Terms Relating to Death and Burial. explanations of the use of this term, one of which is that it indicates the time in which Jupiter, sui-hsing, moves a stage in his twelve years' orbit. The character is said to be pu ^, a planet, and ^ phonetic, that is, the planet called sui, or Jupiter. Another interpretation is that a year is so called as if sui (5^) to follow, because it is one orderly succession of the seasons. During the Shang dynasty (B.C., .1765-1122) the word ssu ^^' ^ iWt) came into use as the designation of a year. This word, as the character shows, points to the sacrifice which was offered at the end of the year. In the time of the Chou dynasty the word which was chiefly used as name for a year was nien {^). This character is said to be properly ^ that is, ho meaning grain, and chHen (or Jen) serving a phonetic purpose, and thus nien was at first merely a harvest (^ »— ^). It became, however, the common term for the period of twelve months or a revolution of the seasons, and it has continued such down to the present. The words tsai and sui are also still current, though the latter has become to some extent in popular usage restricted to the sense of a year of one's life. In ''Mo tzu" we find it and nien used apparently in their old senses. Thus h-e speaks of shi-nien-sui-shan and hsiung {^ ^ ^ ^ and |)5J), that is, the seasons' harvests making a good (or a bad) year. Faber translates the two expressions simply by "sind die Zeiten gut" and " sind die Zeiten schlecht." In Mencius we find the two words treated as synonymous and interchangeable as in the expressions lo-sui (151 ^) and hsiung^nien, good and bad years ; and he also uses sui as a contraction for sui-hsiung, badness of the year. We are told that one term for year in the Hsia period in addition to sui was nien (Jff,). This is also an old word for harvest, and it is used occasionally to denote a year, especially of one's life. In this sense it is now found chiefly in poetry and elegant compositions such as celebrate the praises of deceased friends. The word la (J^) originally, " the sacrifice after the winter solstice," and hence tcinter, is also employed in literature to denote a year of one's life, especially tbe "growing winters" which lay us low. Tbis use of the word is said to date from Ch'iu Shili Huang Termfi Relating to Death and Burial. 251 Ti, the one great successful innovator in China. The Buddhists, it will be seen presently, make a peculiar use of this word. In common life it may be said of a person la-ta-hao (J^ -J^ J^), his winters are very many, but it is not usual to apply the word la to any one unless he looks old. In speaking of a young person's age the word ch'un, Spring, is used as a substitute for year. Instead of c¥un we sometimes find ch'ing (^) employed in this manner, and so used chHng points to the fresh verdure of Spring, the salad days of life when one is green in affections and judgment. An old synonym for sui in the ^ense of a year of life is ling (g^) from the word for teeth with ling as phonetic. This word does not seem to be very common at present, and it is perhaps a little antiquated. It is used, however, occasionally of children in such expressions as shih-i'ling-ticng-tzu (+ — f^ ;ft -p), a boy of eleven years, and pa-ling, eight years of age. The primitive of this word chih (i^), teeth, is also employed in the sense of a year of life. Thus ch'ih-shii (^), the number of teeth, is the number of one's years, and shu-jen-chih-chHh, to count the years of one's life. So also the phrase i {]^)-ch^ih is used in the sense of "as to age," or "in years." The word hiio (>^), al. hui, meaning fire, is said to be an ancient local name for a year, and to be the origin of the present term in Hainanese. In that dialect a period of twelve months is called Hi, and a year of one's life is Hui (like hui in Swatow, and hei in Amoy). The years of an Emperor's reigu are sometimes referred to under the term i (|g), but the use of the word thus written is not supported by good authority. This is supposed to be only an erratic way of writing the word ssii (jjjj), mentioned above, which is ako read i and written jl. Another name of a year is chi ($£), which also means the space of twelve years. Thus the phrase i-chi (— |Q) is used in the sense of " it is now a dozen years since."^ * "Urh-ya," chap, vi.; " Poh-wa-t'ung," chap. iv. ; Wade in Transactions, Ethnl. Soc, vol. vii. (new ser.), p. 210; '' Ta-tuan" (>© if), p. 7; " Mo-tzu," chaps, i and xii.; Faber's Micius, p. 43; L. C. C, ii., p. 21; "Meug," chap. i. ; L. C. C, ii., p. 8; " Meng," chap. i. ; "Yu-hsio," &c., chap, i.; " Ch'ang.li-ahi- Chi-chu " (^ |g if m l£). chap, X.; p. 3, 252 Terms Relating to Death and Burial. The ricliness of this language in certain departments may be further illustrated by a reference to some of the terms which it has to denote ^the successive phases of human life. Not only has it names corresponding to our infant, child, boy, youth, man, old man. It has also terms to signify shades of difference in these, for which we have no corresponding expressions. Let us begin with a new-born babe. For it the common term is ying or ying-er (U g,), the child of the breast, the little one borne in the mother's bosom and nourished from her breast. Speaking precisely er is a male, and ying a female infant, but the distinction is not observed, nor is the term strictly confined to babes and sucklings. When an infant can recognise its mother with a laugh, it is called hai (Jg), from the sound which it makes in attempting to laugh. Some think that an infant does not smile until it is about two years of age. It then becomes interesting and may be spoken of as a hai-t'i-chih-t'ung (^ Ji ;2l ft)> ^ ^^^Y that is a child to be carried in the arms. Others think that the name is derived from the father's smile, hai (|^), when his baby is formally presented to him and he is pleased to give it a name. It is applied to both sexes, but a girl is distinguished as nii-hai-tz-i, while a boy is simply hai-tzu. This term also is used of children generally and even of grown up children. Another name for an infant is ju (]||), a word which means in this use "milk-fed." It indicates that the baby is soft and tender, with joints and bones not yet in proper working order, but it also is loosely applied. The child of seven years of age is called tao ('l!^), a word which also means to pity. The name is derived by some from the tender compassion and love which a parent shows to a child. Others derive the use of this special name from the fact that one of such tender years when he does what is wrong is to be treated with pity ftaoj, not punished. Some also say that a child is called tao as if t^ao (3^), because his impulse is to run away and hide when he has been naughty. For a boy of nine or ten years of age the proper term is yu {Q}), which means "few," that is, yu is one of few years, and so young and tender. Another term for a boy of about this age is meng (^). This is originally Terms Relating to Death and Burial. 253 the name of a climbing plant, the dodder, which grows over and covers the shrub to which it attaches itself. So a boy is a child in the dark, shrouded in ignorance (^ H Ifff ^ U), 'ind accordingly to be put under a schoolmaster. The use of the term meng or meng-Vung to denote a pupil or scholar, which is still common, is very old and is found in the *' Yi-ching." This word Vung (^) is properly the special designation of a boy at the age of fifteen : but it is used of both sexes and is applied also to lambs and bullocks. To look for horns on a lamb (g^ ;^ flq ^) is an old saying sanctioned by canonical u«age, and indicates action as vain as to reap where there had been no sowing. When applied to a male youth t'ung expresses the fact that he is uncapped and under twenty years of age; and when used of a maiden it denotes, that she is not invested with the hair-pin of full age. The character, as once written, according to the "Shuo-wen," was made up of chHen (^) and chung (J;) for a phonetic purpose. The word chHen means a crime or offence, and the t^ung was a male condemned to servitude as a judicial punishment. It is still used in the sense of slave, concubine, and other terms of humiliation. At the age of twenty years a youth is capped and from this time he is caled a jen (A) or man. This is the general term for him as a full-grown human being for the rest of his life. But for this particular period when he is twenty years old there is a special designation, jo (H). The word means weak, yielding, and the person so called is regarded as a feeble young man to be still under a teacher or master. He is nien-chHng (^ M), light in years, or nien-chi-gu-hsiao {^ ^^ >J>), with a brief record of them. When he attains the age of thirty he is called chuang (Jii), able-bodied. This denotes that he is fit to serve as a soldier and to have a separate establishment. When forty years old a man is called ch'iang (Jg), that is, strong and resolute ; but the word is often used simply in the sense of a householder or head of a family. For a man at fifty years of age the proper term is ai (3^), the name of the Artemisia Moxa. At this age the mixture of white and black hairs gives the head a greyish appearance like that 254 Terms Relating to Death and Burial. of the leaves of the above plant, and hence the name. But some think it is taken from ai in the sense of to maintain or nourish, or in the sense to bear sway, exercise rule. It is, however, not confined in practice to the above technical use but serves to denote a middle-aged or old man generally if healthy and vigor- ous. In the hsia shou (Tp ^) or lowest degree of long life, that is, at sixty years of age a man is called chi (^), old and wise. He is now of such an age that he cannot only act for himself but also counsel and lead others. For our word old the ordinary Chinese equivalent is lao (^), a term indicative of a failing or breaking up of the constitution. A son may not use this word of himself in the presence of his parents, but otherwise it is of unlimited application. In popular language we have the terra lao^t'ou or lao-Vou-tZ'i (^ |^ -y), old head, used of any man well up in years. An incident which occurred in the palace during the reign of Chien-lung led to the use of this term in familiar language when referring to the reigning Emperor. It is also applied to the head of a house specially if he is advanced in years. A classical phrase for one in old age, but a cruda viridisque senectus is pan-pai'cho {^ ^ ^). This indicates a man whose hair is turning grey, who is ts'ang-t'ou (^ gf )> lioary headed, according to another epithet. Dr. Legge translates pati-pai-cho in Mencius by ''gray-haired men,^' but this is perhaps making them a little too old. The word pan in the passage is explained by pan (^), which means striped or streaked, and the reference is to the streaky silver hairs among the black ones. But perhaps Dr. Legge took another inter- pretation of the word which makes it equivalent to pin, the hair on the temples. According to this view the pan^pai'cho are the pai-shou {^ '^) or white heads of popular language. Some say that the word old, lao, is properly applied to a man of seventy years, but the special designation for one of that age is mac (^), old hair, gray and venerable. This word is also said to denote a man of eighty or ninety years, and it is perhaps only a general term for a very old man. It is so used in a passage of the "Shi-chiug" where it is applied to a man of ninety-five years, who, Terms Relating to Death and Burial. 255 however, also calls himself ''little boy" ()J> ^). For a man who has reached the age of eighty and who is consequently in the " middle degree of long life " there is the name tie (^). He is so called, according to one authority, because he is stiff and dark like iron — Vie. This word is technical, however, and not much known at present. It occurs in the '' Shi-ching '* in a passage which Dr. Legge translates, '^ If now we do not take our joy the time will pass till we are octogenarians." The man of ninety years is called t'ai-pei (|]^ ^), globe- fish back. This name is said to be- given on account of the rough winkled skin all discoloured which is on the back of an old man. Like many other Chinese explanations this does not seem very natural. As the simple Vai (•§), raised up, is used to replace the word for globe-fish, it is perhaps better to take the term t'ai-pei as meaning gibbous. We speak of old men being bent with age, as veterans show curvata senio rnemhra, but the Chinese seem to take a convex view of an old man, and they name him "raised back^' because he has his back up per- manently. The centenarian, as has been seen, is called ch'i or chi (^), and he is in the '' highest degree of long life." He is also called cJiH-i (^ ^), waiting for attendance, as unable to serve himself. Some think that chH in the sense of centenarian has reference to that age as the term of human life. When one has seen a hundred years he is supposed to have lived to the end of the time which could have been allowed him by destiny. For the old generally and for old age there are various other terms and phrases. A very old term is hiiang-fa (^ ^), yellow hair, or huang-fa-i-cliHli (|g ]^), yellow hair and baby teeth, to denote men in their second childhood. The Chinese think that the white hairs of extremely old men fall out and are replaced by others of a yellow colour, and that their teeth drop out and are replaced by tiny soft teeth like those of infants. Hence came the above names, which are of good classical authority. The word Imang by itself is also used in the sense of doting old man, being elliptical for huajig-fa. But this last does not 256 Terms Relating to Death and Burial. necessarily denote the state of second childhood, and it often denotes simply the very old, as in the statement " the prince bows to the aged" (S "? jC S S)^ ^^^^ is, he reverences the aged and venerable. Then we have kou {^)yiao, dirty and old, begrimed, as it were, with a very long life. The word kou is also used alone in this sense, and there is also hu {^ykou, with a similar meaning, though some take hu to refer to the loose wrinkled skin of the old man's throat. But hu-kou is also used to denote simply the very old who have passed the ordinary limit of long life and on whose eyelids is the shadow of death. Comforts and luxuries are to be provided for such, and they should enjoy, we are told, the fragrance of aromatic herbs (^ tK S^ S Si ^ ;J^ !^), the terms here used being hu-k^au. An old man may also be spoken of as a tung-li (J^ ^) or "frost pear," because his face like that fruit is speckled with dark spots. Another literary term for an old man and one derived from the ancient classics is sou (|§), best known from its occurrence in the first page of Mencius. There King Hui of Liang says to the philosopher, '^Venerable Sir (|^), since you have not counted it far to come here, a distance of a thousand li, may I presume that you are likewise provided with counsels to profit my kingdom ? " We may also have the expression Huang-fa-sou, yellow-haired Patriarch, old man of the withered hair. In addition to the words and phrases here given there are several other designations for the various periods of life. Some are learned expressions and in favour with the professional scholar. Such is erh-shun (Jp )g), ear obedient, from the statement of Confucius that at sixty his " ear was an obedient organ." ^ But in order to appreicate the copiousness of the Chinese vocabulary we should study it in a subject of general interest. We ought to learn, for example, what is its supply of terms to 1 Children under seven years for girls, and eight for boys, are for legal purposes sometimes called by the old name wei-ch'Sn-cho (^ §L ^), that is, individuals who have not lost their milk teeth. See Han Shu, chap, xxiii. " Shih-ming," chap, ii.; *' Li-chi," chaps, i, v. ; L. C. C, ii., pp. 1, 332; Meng, chap, xiii.; L. CO., iv., pp. 516,627; " Shih," chaps, vii., viii. ; *' Yi-ohing," chap, i., p. 16; " Yu-hsio," chap. ii. ; L. C. C, i., p. 11. Terms Relating to Death and Burial. 257 express the thoughts, feelings, and actions of the people in regard to such matters as birth, death, marriage, and the State Examina- tions. The death of a parent is to all Chinese an event of the greatest importance, often causing a complete upsetting of the family circumstances and prospects. In every case the change which occurs at death is one of serious consequence not only to the individual who dies, but also to those about him who remain. A review of some of the ways of speaking and writing about the occurrence of this event will help to give us some notion of the richness, at least in one important direction, of this language. It will also show us some of the modes of thought and feeling of the Chinese people. Let us now, accordingly, proceed to notice some of these forms of expression, and first those which tell us what the Chinese think of death in itself. If we ask a Chinese philosopher what is death ? he may put us off with Confucius' reply that as we do not know life we cannot know death. Or he may tell us what occurs at death, and say it is this — the soul and the vital faculties go apart, the former ascending into the air, and the latter descending, that is, into the earth (^ Jj* ^ |^). Others will say that to every living creature is given a definite amount of air or vital spirits fch'i ^), the thin etherial matter which waxes and wanes within the body as this grows and decays. When the supply is exhausted there results death, which is the cutting off, coming to an end, of the vital spirits (^ |g). Or it is said that when a man dies the vital spirits which had come to him from the common stock of air return thither, and that death is consequently a dispersion of air or vital spirits (^ ^). We also find that it is defined as the exhaustion of vital processes and the end of one's allotment oflife( the bourn which parts irrevocably the quick and the dead. It is also called in common language the " white business" (^ ^), because in all that relates to it white is the prevailing colour. This term is said to date from the Yin period or from about B.C. 1400, when white was adopted instead of black as the mourning colour. Another name is ta-ch'i {^ l^ff), the "great casting off," the quitting hold of life. The Shuo-wen calls this a com- mon expression for death, but it is apparently not so at present.-^ 1 L.C.C, i., p. 105 ; " Chu.tzu.yu-lei " (^ ^ If |g), chap. i. ; " Chuang-tzu," chap. vii. ; " Pi-ya," chap, viii.; " Lie-tzu," chap. i. ; Faber's Lies., p. 13; Hsiao Urh Ya, p. 4; L. C. C, ii., p. Ill ; " Meng," chap, v., p. 8; "Chou-li," chap, vii., p. 26; " Li-chi," chap, ii., p. 6; " Shuo-wen," chap, xi., p. 21. Terms Relating to Death and Burial. 259 We go on now to notice some of the phrases which denote the state immediately preceding death. These of course refer only to those who breathe their last among friends and relatives, or at least pass away slowly whether by a natural process or otherwise. When friends and bystanders see that a man's days are numbered, neither they nor he, if he has been a good man, retain the former dread to speak about the approaching event. They may even talk of the coffin, and grave, and the ceremonies to accompany burial. Still few of the terms which we find in use to indicate the approach of death contain the ill-t)mened word. Let us take note of a few. A fatal malady, a sickness which is seen to be unto death is called yen i^^)^ a word which has the primitive meaning of a wall threatening to fall. We also find ping (^), a disease, occasionally used in the same sense as a fatal malady. When the disease has completely overcome the patient, and he is seen to be dying, he is said to be mi-liu-chih-chi {M ^ & IS)- ^^® origin of the expression is to be found in a passage of the " Shu-ching," which Dr. Legge thus translates : — " The king said. Oh ! my illness has greatly increased, and it will soon be over with me. The malady comes on daily with more violence and without interruption." In this the second sentence corresponds to the Chinese J|g B ^ &i M ^ ping-jih-chin-chi-mi'liu. The meaning of it is perhaps " the fatal malady has come to a crisis, it is present everywhere and continuously," that is, it has taken complete and permanent hold of me and I may die at any moment. Hence mi-liu has come to be a term for in articulo mortisj in the last agony of dying. A milder expression of the same kind is lin-chung (E§ ^), approaching death, near the end : and lin- chung-chih-Jih (;i H) is nearly our "dying day." A literary expression with a like meaning is ming-yu-chung-shih (-^ ^ ^ flf )> ^^® ^i°^® when life (one's fate) is about to end. There is also the sad expression heng^lou-i-chin (H JS B ^)> ^^® sand of the watch glass is already run out, there is no more duty and no more life. This phrase is also occasionally applied to one already departed. Then, as tuan-hun is to cut ojff the soul, to give up 260 Terms Relating to Death and Burial. the ghost, so yu-tuan-hun (g|( ^ j^^) is to be about to do so, to be approaching dissolution. Another expression with a similar meaning is po-lao (94 ^), the mortal spirit is fading, the vital forces are falling away. There is also among people of culture an interesting phrase to denote that one is being waited for, viz., chiang-shu'k'uang (^ Jg f,g). When used of a dying person this means " ready for the application of the floss," and it recalls a very old practice not quite disused. It was in ancient times the custom to hold a thread or a little floss to the nostrils and mouth of a person at the point of death to observe when breathing ceased. Hence to speak of "being about to use the floss" indicates that the last breath is being waited for (J^ ||| £i ^ ^ ^). The dying of Tseng tzu, one of the famous disciples of Confucius, has given another refined expression for being on the verge of life. It is recorded of this disciple that as he lay on his death-bed and when life was ebbing away, he found that his sleeping mat was out of order. He caused it to be set right and forthwith passed quietly away. Hence yi-tso (^ ^) to change (that is, set right) the mat became a scholars's phrase, and it is still in use among the educated. It means that the person of whom it is said has been given up, and that he is prepared for his end which is near at hand. In the "unfenced regions of society " people talk of a man as yao-ssu, being about to die, and one may use the phrase of himself either in truth or in hyperbole. Some expressions indicate a state of distress or misery and an unhappy dying. Such a one is fu-ti-hun (|g jg ^), his spirit is at the bottom of the pot, that is, which is empty. This means that the man of whom it is said is dying of starvation. The good when dying speak words of virtue and wisdom, but those who have led bad lives are seen to quake and shudder when their end is near, and they often talk wildly as if demon- possessed. Hence the phrase /a-/iwti (|g '^), to lose one's wits, become confused, is used specifically to denote the mental wandering noticed in some persons when on a death-bed, and thus to signify the state of dying. The very bad sometimes before death see the grim demon — the Satelles Orci — who is waiting to hail their spirit Terms Relating to Death and Burial. 261 to fierce tortures in the court below. Hence to say of a man that he " has already seen the demon who is to drag him off " (B S ^ 51 jS jl) is to say that he is dying in terror and agony. There is a special word, ku (J^) to denote such fear and distress, but it is not very much used. Many Chinese think that as a man's end draws near he has a kind of presentment or indica- tion such as that noticed above of what is to befal him after the change. This is called the hsien-ch'ien (3g "flj) or fore-showing, when it is spoken of the virtuous. They, specially when dying on a sick bed, " through the chinks df the sickness, broken body " see glimpses of the glory of Paradise, and the mild messenger sent to take charge of their spirit when set free. This opinion, however, is of Buddhistic origin, and the Confucian phrases which refer to the dying even of the righteous do not point to a life hereafter. We may take one more example of these. When an official at the end of a long career feels that his mental and bodily powers are failing and that his end is near he pleads old age and retires into the country. It is counted a great blessing for a man to be able to end his days in peace in " the places of his youth," among the mulberry and tzu trees planted by his forefathers. " There is a spirit of retraction of one to his native country " which is very strong in the Chinese. One of their sages declares, " the bird flies back to his village, the hare goes back to her burrow, the fox dies with his head turned to the hillock of his birth, the water-fowl soars [home] over the water, every one loves his native place.'* The period of life thus passed at home in feeble old age and hovering uncertainly between life and death is called the twilight, or gloaming. It is the wan- ching (^ ^) or mu {^)'ching, the late or the sunset light by which the day passes gently into night. A synonym for these terms is sang-yu (^ |^), mulberries and elms, because for some time after the home-going of the sun his light lingers among the mulberry and elm trees which grow by the cottage. The sang-yii is the short and uncertain but soft and peaceful wavering between day and night and between life and death, the twilight of day and of life. But it is also a gloaming which passes into a long 262 Terms Relating to Death and Burial. night of deep darkness to whicli there never comes a day-break — " the twilight of such day As after sunset fadetli in the west, Which by and by black night doth take away, Death's second self, that seals up all in rest." * For the act or process of dying the Chinese language has a large number of expressions, and we now proceed to notice some of these and their applications. Beginning with the sovereign we find it laid down that the correct term to use when mentioning his decease is peng (^). The character is partly phonetic and the word seems to have denoted originally a natural convulsion attended with noise. Thus we find it applied to the fall of a landslip, and the cleaving of the earth ; and the dissolution of the world is called tHen-ti-peng (5c Jfe M)> *^^ ^^^^ ^^i^ ^^ heaven and earth. The word is also used of political commotion such as a rebellion, and it is applied to a murrain among sheep. In this last use it is explained as chun-chi-ye (^ ^ ^), a disease of the flock : and it is in other places interpreted to mean a ruin or destruction and a fading or falling away. The loss or decay of music among a people is also spoken of in this way, as when Tsai Wo says that if the superiors in a state do not for three years practise music this must fall into decay {M d^ M)} oiusic must go to ruin. In the " Shu ching " we find Wen Wang saying of Show's subjects, according to Dr. Loggers rendering, ''His people stand in trembling awe of him, as if their horns were falling from their heads." But the words jo-peng-chile-chio (g ^ ]^ ^) in this passage have received other interpretations than that followed by Dr. Legge. Thus they are by some regarded as meaning *'as if vailing their horns," that is, bowing their heads in submission to the insurgent chief. The occurrence of the word in the technical sense of the dying of a sovereign is not frequent in the canonical literature. The Shu has it once in 1 Hsiao Urh ya, p. 4; L. C. C, iii., p. 546; " Shu," chap. vi. ; " Shu," chap, xviii. (13): Like King'lou-i'Chen is the following used of a Buddhist monk wasted by disease and at death's door — ju-san-Tceng-yU'Chin-ti-teng (^ H |£ yft M 6^ ^). *' ^i^6 ^ lamp at the third watch with the oil exhausted." " Chin- ku-ch'i" (<^ -^ ^), chap, x.j "I-li," chap. xl. (13); "Li-chi," chap, ii.j " Huai-nan-tzu," chap. xvii. Terms Relating to Death and Burial. 263 • recording the death of King Cheng, and in Mencius it is only used of the death of Wen Wang. It is not easy to determine what was the particular idea involved in this application of the word. Some tell us that it points to the confusion and distress caused to a country by the loss of its sovereign ; others say that the word is in this sense an expression for great ruin ; and others explain it as denoting the falling down of the ruler, that is, from his high eminence above his subjects.^ Another way of saying that the Emperor dies is to say that he chH't*ien'hsia (^ 5c T)» thriTws away or renounces the empire, the world. The Emperor is godded while he is alive, and it is only fit he should go to the gods when he dies. So we find that his departure is officially recorded also by the expression lung-yil-shang-pin (H ,|X Jt ^)> the dragon-rider has gone aloft to be a guest. This form of speech, sometimes varied a little, is often found in Imperial Edicts and other state documents. A reigning Emperor also referring to events after the decease of his father speaks of them as occurring pin-t'ien-hou (^ 55 ^) after his father went as guest to heaven. Similar modes of speech are found in other countries as for example India and ancient Italy. Thus we learn that " among all the ancient ruling families of Rajputana the court euphemism for announcing a chiefs death is that he has become one of the gods.^' At Rome it was even known that it was by the Appian Road " divum Augustum et Tiberium Caesarem ad deos isse.'' ^ The dying of an Emperor is also expressed by the euphemism i(^'^9 (S) or sheng {^)-hsia (jg or flg), His Majesty has gone far on high. This form of expression is prescribed for use in an- nouncing to a tributary or any foreign state the decease of the sovereign. It is old date, and Lie-tzu employs teng-hsia to express the death of the legendary Emperor Huang Ti. In this 1 *' Li-chi," chap, i., p. 52 ; " Lie-tzii," chap. i. ; L. C. C, i., p. 173 ; iv., p. 309 ; i., p. 191; ii., p. 356; iii., pp. 293 and 549; ii., p. 58; "Lun," chap. xvi. ; "Shi," chap, v.; "Shu," chap. iv. ; " Pai-hu-t'ung," chap. iv. ; "Kuug-yang" (13), chap, ii. ; "Ku-liang" (13), chap. i. * *' Han-shu," chap. Ixviii. ; " Chia-ching's " Edicts, chap. Ixii.; A. C. Lyall in Conty. Review for Sept., 1875. 264 Terms Relating to Death and Burial. author also and in " Mo-tzii" we find a possible explanation of the phrase. They tell us that to the West of ch'in (^), that is, the modern Shensi, was a nation called I-chu (^ ^), that is, perhaps, Aktsii. With this people it was the custom to burn their dead parents on pyres, and from the going up of the smoke the ceremony was called teng-hsia, ascending on high.^ Another but perhaps rather antiquated term for the demise of a sovereign is chih (|J$). In this use ilf is explained by peng, noticed already, and more correctly by sheng (^), to ascend, that is, to heaven. In a well-known passage of the " Shu-ching " this word is used of the death of the Emperor Shun, and there are differences of opinion as to its precise meaning. The words are wurshi'tsai-chih-fang-nai'Ssu (jS + ® P# JSf ^ ?E) > ^"^ ^^* Legge translates, *' Fifty years after, he went on high and died,'* a sort of hysteron-proteron statement, as the Doctor saw. The meaning of the words would perhaps be better expressed by "fifty years after he went on high, that is, he died," and they are so understood by some of the native commentators. In another chapter of the same book, King Ch'eng, who had just died, is spoken of as the hfiin-chihrivang (5|f p$ J), newly ascended king, or in Dr. Legge's version, *'His recently ascended Majesty." This word chih is also used in the senses of advancing or proceeding and of ascending the throne.^ The phrase yen-chia (^ ||), to mount in peace, is also used to express the death of a sovereign. But it is also said that pro- perly this phrase applies only to the beginning, the first scene in the act of dying (U Kg). Another classical and literary term to denote the decease of the ruler is tsu-lao (55 ^)> a compound of which tsu means to pass away, and lao to fall as a faded leaf. The expression occurs in the " Shu ching " with reference to the Emperor Yao, and in the quotation of the passage by Mencius the character for tsu is written ;{|, the primary meaning of which is to go or travel. We are told [that, in this expression, tsu 1 " Lie-tzii" chaps, ii., v. ; " Mo-tzii," chap. vi. (at close of chap.); Yung- cheng. Edicts. 2 L. C. C, iii., p. 51 and note; " Shu," chap. i. j " T'ung-chien-wai-chi," chap. i. Terms Relating to Death and Burial. 265 points to the going up of the spirit fhun), and lao to the falling down of the vital principle fpoj. Some understand by tsu4ao, the loss of good fortune caused (or evidenced) by deaths taking tsu as the equivalent of tsu (J|[), happiness, prosperity. Others see in the expression only the idea of dropping out of life, as the dead leaf falls from the tree in autumn. Instead of tsu we often find yun {^), which means to fall or drop down. Thus of the Emperors Fu Hsi and Shen Nung, who lived beyond the span of mortal life : the fact that they died is recorded by the phrase yun-laoj they dropt off in a ripe old- age. The term tsu-lao is not restricted to sovereigns at present ; it may now be used of any one, but it is appropriate only to the death of those who "come to the grave in full age like as a shock of corn cometh in his season." ^ In announcing or making official mention of the death ol a queen or empress the word peng is sometimes used, but we also find the word hung (|g). This latter is defined as "the death of a Duke or Marquis," that is, of the chief of a subject or de- pendent State. The character, according to the " Shuo-wen," is made up of ssit, to die, and a contraction of meng for a phonetic purpose. The word is explained as indicating the sound of a falling and smashing, or as an expression for a degree of ruin less than that denoted by peng, or as a going into obscurity. In early times hung was used even of the sovereign, and Confucius speaks of chiin-hung (;§* ^), " when the sovereign died." In Mencius it is used, according to rule, of the death of Duke Ting, the chief of T^eng. We find it either alone or with other words, as in the compound hung^shih {^), employed when reference is made to the departure of an Imperial concubine. In the " Ch'iin ch'iu" we find it used to record the decease of a chief's wife (^ A -p K ^)- III this latter passage, as Fan Ning points out, the propriety of the expression is derived from the dignity of the lady's husband, who was chief of Lu. This word hung, * L. C. C, iii., p. 565; and Shu, chap, vi.; L. C. C, iii., p. 40; and Shu, chap, i.; L. C. C, ii., p. 228; and "M6ng,"chap. ix. ; " Hsi-yii-chi," chap. ii. ; "Feng, su-t'ung, " chap. ii. 266 Terms Relating to Death and Burial, which is always a term of honour, is extended to distinguished subjects, specially to such as have deserved well of the State by a long career of useful public service.^ But the proper term for the death of a high official is tsu. This word is written 2{£ and pf., the latter being perhaps the correct form. In this use tsu is explained by chung {^^) or ching {%) or ^^^^ (^)> ^^1 meaning to end or finish. It is properly death alone which quenches the fire of manly vigour in a public servant and brings to an end his official career. The word tsu is also that which a filial son uses in order to avoid the ominous word die when referring to the departure of a parent. It is also a term of respect generally to express the decease of an official, and historians apply it for the most part only to men who, while in office, had been loyal to the de jure government. It is used of so high a dignitary as Chou Kung, who had been regent and practically sovereign for a time. In the " Tso chuan " we find the decease of a consort of Duke Hui recorded in the words Meng-tzu-tsu (3£ •? $) • ^^d ^^6 commentators explain that tsu and not hung was used because the lady dying before her lord had no claim to the privileges of his rank.^ Another common term used in recording or mentioning the decease of an official is shi (j|f). This word means to go away, to depart; and hence to die, ahire, is shi or ch'ang (^)-s/l^, to go the long journey, or hai (5M)-5/?i, to go away in death. This word hai (or k'o) itself also means to die, but it is not much used except with shi as above, in speaking of the death of a statesman. We often find it recorded of a zealous official that he tso (^)-shij passed away sitting, a circumstance which showed that he had full confidence in the merits of a good life. When a child de- stroys his own life in carrying out to their extreme the duties of 1 "Shuo-wen," chap, xi.; p. 22; " Feng-su-tu'ng," chap, ii.; L. C. C, i., p. 165 ; and " Lun,*' chap, xiv.; " Shih-ming," chap, iv.; " Kang-yang " (13), chap. ii.} •• Pai-hu-t*ung," chap. iv. ; L. C. C, ii., p. Ill; " Li-pu-tee-li," chap. clix. j «' Chun.ch'iu," chap, i.; L. C. C., v., p. 8; "Han-shu," chap. Ix. 2 "Shuo-w^n," chap. xi. J p. 14; "Kung-yang," chap, ii.; " Shih-ming," chap, iv.; "Kuang Shih-ming," chap, ii.; " Pai-hu-t'ung," chap. iv. j •' Tso. chuan," ohap. i.; and L. C. C, v., p. 1; "Han-shu," chap. Ixii, ^ spiritum lahi, or it is merely to end, as to be born was to begin life. There are five kinds of death from starvation — from exposure to cold, in battle, from old age, and from incurable disease. The three former may be avoided, but none can over- come the two latter. When used for these we find ssU treated as the equivalent of chung (U) or tcang {^), which mean to die a natural death, whether from old age or sickness. But the word * This word shi is also used on special occasions of the death of a friend. At a funeral, for example, the deceased is addressed in set forms of expression, one of which is Vsung-tzu-shi (iJJ^ jtt ^), "here you leave us." 268 TeYms Relating to Death and Burial. is not one which the Chinese like to use, and in their ordinary- conversation they generally substitute for it a term less unpleas- ant in associations, for ssii is always jen-so-U (A J5? il)> ^^^^ from which all keep aloof. Yet it too has a good and honourable use as in the expressions ssu-chun, to die for one's ruler, and ssu'chHn, to die for one's parent.^ A common and acceptable word for to die is chung (^<§), to end or finish, mentioned above. This word denotes a dying at one's appointed time, when the numbered years of one's life are ended (^ Sfc i^)> or the years decreed by Heaven are finished (55 ^ ^)' When a good and wise ruler is on the throne one result of his administration is that the old live all their time, finish their destiny (^ ^^ Bc 'w!')- -^^^ ^^ ^"^^ i^ urged as a reason against keeping men long in the misery of imprisonment that those who are thus kept in jail pu'te-chung-ch'i-nien-ming {^ ^ ^^ ^ ^ ^), cannot reach their appointed term of years, cannot annos fatales explere. But it is only to the death of the "superior man" that chung can be properly applied, for this word denotes the completion of something undertaken (|§ ^ j^ ^ ia i, ^)f chung is an expression for the accomplishment of what one began. That which the superior man undertakes is the cultivation of his moral nature, the establishment of himself in truth and good- ness, and the giving example and instruction to others. Who aims at doing these does not all die, while the mere worldling, the nebulo, passes away from the world like the prone and belly-serv- ing beast which perishes. Hence it is said of the former that he chung, ends his work and stops, and of the latter that he ssi^i, all runs out leaving nothing behind (^ ^ |S #,)• The good and fortunate man dies well (if^ ^), has a good end, an euthanasia, on his bed surrounded by relatives. He is also said to shoii, (g)- chung, die of long life, " live long, and in the end, meet the old course of death." The full expression to denote that a man had a quiet happy issue out of this life and according to rules is shou- ehung-cheng-chin {% ^ JE MX ^is long life ended in the proper 1 "Shuo-wen," chap, xi., p. 21; " Feng-su-fc'ung," chap. ix. ; " Pi-ya," chap. Tiii.j "Sun-tzu,'' chap, xiii.j '* Pai-hu-fang," chap, iv.j '* Shuo-yuan," chap. xvi. Terms Relating to Death and Burial. 269 chamber. When a man is found to be near his last moments he is carried to the middle room or to his own chamber and placed with his head to the east. He who dies thus has lived well, and we must call him happy as one " who life has brought to end in loved well-being." A woman should die in her own chamber, which is called nei-chin, the inner bed-room, and shou- chung-nei-chin {% |§ p^ jg), to end her life in the inner cham- ber, is the best and happiest death an old woman can enjoy.^ To die is expressed also by moiil^), to be not, to disappear. The character is written in two othep- ways, ^ and J^, and it is also pronounced mu and mei. Of the word as written ^ the '* Shuo-wen " says that it denotes a drowning or submerging in water (shen gt) ; hence it came to mean ruin and to be ruined. In the " Tso chuan" there is an official letter from Tzii ch^an, in which there occurs this expression, ^'ho-mo-mo-ye (fpf ^ Jg *{fc)/' into what ruin you are sinking ! Here mo-mo is explained by shen-mie (gt g^), to sink and be annihilated, to be drowned in perdition, and Dr. Legge translates, ''In what a fatal course are you proceeding." But the common meaning of mo is to die a natural death, and in the " Shuo wen " it (J^) is explained by chung, to finish life. In some passages of the old literature we find the word used in the sense of ending or finishing generally. It is thus, for example, applied to the ending of a long march in the "Shi ching," and explained by chin (^), to finish or accomplish. From this use of the word may have come that now under notice, the finishing of life's journey, which also is found in the early literature. This is the term by which the decease of Confucius' disciple Tseng tzii is recorded, and, as will be remembered, he died in circumstances of punctilious orthodoxy and in a way per- fectly satisfactory. In the " Tso chuan " also we find Shu-chan saying of the king of Chu that he will not have a natural death, using this word (^ 3E S ^ 5^ ^)- -^ commentator here ex- lilains pu'^muhy pu-i'shou'chung {7{s ]^ % ^), he will not die of old age, will not reach the term of his natural life. In one of 1 " Shuo-yuan," chap, xvi.; "Han-shu," chaps, ix. andxxiii. ; "Lun.yu," chap, viii., p. 7, notej *' Li-chi," chap, ii.; '* Shih-ming," chap. iv. 270 Terms Relating to Death and Burial. Han Wen Kung's letters he uses mo of the death of a young relative, and in modern literature it seems to be occasionally employed to denote a death which is regarded as untimely. This idea is perhaps implied also in the phrase ping-mu, to die of disease. But the expression mo-shiy to disappear from the world, is used in a good sense, and one may say with reference to his ancestors chih-ch^i'mo-shi-chih-hou (^ ^ ^ji j& i, ^); when they departed this life.-^ Another common and literary word for " to die" is sang (^), pronounced in the ch'ii sheng. This character will appear again with a different pronunciation and another meaning. In the sense of to die it is explained by wang, to be lost, to disappear and never be seen again (C /p pj* ^ ^)- In a passage of the *'Shu ching'' this word is applied to the setting (or, according to some, the extinction) of the sun, and in this passage it is explained by wang as above. The phrase tsao {^ysang means to die in early life, but it may also signify, according to the context, " dead long ago." ^ It has just been seen that a synonym for sang in the sense of to die is the word wang (C). From the composition of this character as given in the "Shuo-wen" the original mean- ing of the word would seem" to have been to perish or go into oblivion. Its other uses and specially the one in which we are now interested, appear to follow naturally. In the sense of die wang is also an equivalent of sstt, as in the phrase hsien'SsU'hou wang (^ ?£ ^ O, those who died before and those who died after, remote and near ancestors. A faithful widow is a wei- wang-jen (^ C AX ^^^ ^^^ ^^^ not yet died, that is, one who is waiting for death to reunite her to her husband. This is an elegant expression said to have been first used by a famous paragon of enduring beauty and virtue in the Lie Kuo period. Another classical and literary term for to di\Q \q hua {^) , which means to melt, transform. This word, which has several 1 " Shuo-wen," chaps, xi. and xxxiv.; L. C. C, v., p. 505 ; and " Tso-chuan," chap. XXX.; iv., p. 422; and v., p. 182; " Yang-Yuan-chi," chap. ix. 2 " Pai-hu-t'ung," chap, iv.; L. C. C, iii , p. 175; and ii., p. 4; «' Shu-ching," chap. iii. ; " Liao-chai," &o., chap, viii., p. 65. Terms Relating to Death and Burial. 271 other significations, will meet us again a little further on, and it has Buddhistic uses which have also to be noticed. For the present it is enough to mention the phrase ta (or ts\) hua (Ifi Hi)} ^0 distress a dying person, distract one falling asleep in death. It is used chiefly of wife and children making loud la- mentation when the head of the family is passing away.^ A word for to die, which has been before us in a different use, is ku (JK). We may say that a man died fkiij simply, or that he died of disease fping-huj . Of soldiers who fall in the course of a compaign, whether in battle or otherwise, it is often recorded that they wu-ku {% ^), deceased, became objects out of date. Native scholars are at a loss to account for this phrase, which they say is merely equivalent to ssUy die. It is said to have arisen in the Han period, and it occur several times in the history of that dynasty, generally in accounts of battles or cam- paigns, as in the statement shi-tsii-to-wu-ku ( j^ $ ^ ^ ftX of officers and soldiers many died. The phrase perhaps means to " become useless for service,'' hors de combat. It is sometimes varied to yu {>^)-wU'kii, to be objects antiquated, that is, to fall or perish. The word ku in the sense of die is indifferent ; it gives no hint of praise or blame, and it involves no theory or opinion as to what it is to die.^ But there are also certain phrases which seem to give an explanation of what occurs at death. Thus one of the common expressions for to die is tuen-ch'i (Hf ^), which means " to cut off the breath of life.*' Like it is another phrase chiieh (Ig)-cA'i, with the same meaning, to cut off the breath, to intercept the supply and action of the material constituents of life. The word chiieh is also found by itself in the sense of to die, being evidently for chiieh-chH. Thus the relatives are told that in the case of a parent's death they should chi-chueh-nai-k^u (@E 18 75 55)^ on the instant life ceases weep aloud.^ Then there is the phrase tuan'hun (^ 2^1), used in the sense of to die, and meaning literally to cut off the spirit, to part it from the body. 1 *' Chuang-tzu/* chap. iii. ; "Liao-ohai," chap. xvi. » "Shih-ming," chap, iv.; "Han-ahu," chaps. 54, 57, 68. ^ '< Hsmg*li.ta