Handbook of Universal Literature | Page 9

a marked national life. It
belongs to the monosyllabic family; its radical words number 450, but
as many of these, by being pronounced with a different accent convey a
different meaning, in reality they amount to 1,203. Its pronunciation
varies in different provinces, but that of Nanking, the ancient capital of
the Empire, is the most pure. Many dialects are spoken in the different
provinces, but the Chinese proper is the literary tongue of the nation,
the language of the court and of polite society, and it is vernacular in
that portion of China called the Middle Kingdom.
3. THE WRITING.--There is an essential difference between the
Chinese language as spoken and written, and the poverty of the former
presents a striking contrast with the exuberance of the latter. Chinese
writing, generally speaking, does not express the sounds of the words,
but it represents the ideas or the objects indicated by them. Its
alphabetical characters are therefore ideographic, and not phonetic.
They were originally rude representations of the thing signified; but
they have undergone various changes from picture-writing to the
present more symbolical and more complete system.
As the alphabetic signs represent objects or ideas, it would follow that
there must be in writing as many characters as words in the spoken
language. Yet many words, which have the same sound, represent
different ideas; and these must be represented also in the written
language. Thus the number of the written words far surpasses that of
the spoken language. As far as they are used in the common writing,
they amount to 2,425. The number of characters in the Chinese
dictionary is 40,000, of which, however, only 10,000 are required for
the general purposes of literature. They are disposed under 214 signs,
which serve as keys, and which correspond to our alphabetic order.
The Chinese language is written, from right to left, in vertical columns
or in horizontal lines.
4. THE CLASSICS.--The first five canonical books are "The Book of
Transformations," "The Book of History," "The Book of Rites," "The
Spring and Autumn Annals," and "The Book of Odes"
"The Book of Transformations" consists of sixty-four short essays on

important themes, symbolically and enigmatically expressed, based on
linear figures and diagrams. These cabala are held in high esteem by
the learned, and the hundreds of fortune-tellers in the streets of Chinese
towns practice their art on the basis of these mysteries.
"The Book of History" was compiled by Confucius, 551-470 B. C.,
from the earliest records of the Empire, and in the estimation of the
Chinese it contains the seeds of all that is valuable in their political
system, their history, and their religious rites, and is the basis of their
tactics, music, and astronomy. It consists mainly of conversations
between kings and their ministers, in which are traced the same
patriarchal principles of government that guide the rulers of the present
day.
"The Book of Rites" is still the rule by which the Chinese regulate all
the relations of life. No every-day ceremony is too insignificant to
escape notice, and no social or domestic duty is beyond its scope. No
work of the classics has left such an impression on the manners and
customs of the people. Its rules are still minutely observed, and the
office of the Board of Rites, one of the six governing boards of Peking,
is to see that its precepts are carried out throughout the Empire.
According to this system, all the relations of man to the family, society,
the state, to morals, and to religion, are reduced to ceremonial, but this
includes not only the external conduct, but it involves those right
principles from which all true politeness and etiquette spring.
The "Book of Odes" consists of national airs, chants, and sacrificial
odes of great antiquity, some of them remarkable for their sublimity. It
is difficult to estimate the power they have exerted over all subsequent
generations of Chinese scholars. They are valuable for their religious
character and for their illustration of early Chinese customs and
feelings; but they are crude in measure, and wanting in that harmony
which comes from study and cultivation.
The "Spring and Autumn Annals" consist of bald statements of
historical facts. Of the Four Books, the first three--the "Great
Learning," the "Just Medium," and the "Confucian Analects"--are by
the pupils and followers of Confucius. The last of the four books
consists entirely of the writings of Mencius (371-288 B. C.). In
originality and breadth of view he is superior to Confucius, and must be
regarded as one of the greatest men Asiatic nations have produced.

The Five Classics and Four Books would scarcely be considered more
than curiosities in literature were it not for the incomparable influence,
free from any debasing character, which they have exerted over so
many millions of