Myths and Legends of China | Page 9

the bowmen the left, the spearmen the
right flank. Elephants were sometimes used in attack. Spy-kites,
signal-flags, hook-ladders, horns, cymbals, drums, and beacon-fires
were in use. The ears of the vanquished were taken to the king, quarter
being rarely if ever given.
After the establishment of absolute monarchical government standing
armies became the rule. Military science was taught, and soldiers
sometimes trained for seven years. Chariots with upper storeys or
spy-towers were used for fighting in narrow defiles, and hollow squares
were formed of mixed chariots, infantry, and dragoons. The weakness
of disunion of forces was well understood. In the sixth century A.D. the
massed troops numbered about a million and a quarter. In A.D. 627
there was an efficient standing army of 900,000 men, the term of
service being from the ages of twenty to sixty. During the Mongol
dynasty (1280-1368) there was a navy of 5000 ships manned by 70,000
trained fighters. The Mongols completely revolutionized tactics and
improved on all the military knowledge of the time. In 1614 the
Manchu 'Eight Banners,' composed of Manchus, Mongolians, and
Chinese, were instituted. The provincial forces, designated the Army of
the Green Standard, were divided into land forces and marine forces,
superseded on active service by 'braves' (_yung_), or irregulars,
enlisted and discharged according to circumstances. After the war with
Japan in 1894 reforms were seriously undertaken, with the result that
the army has now been modernized in dress, weapons, tactics, etc., and
is by no means a negligible quantity in the world's fighting forces. A
modern navy is also being acquired by building and purchase. For
many centuries the soldier, being, like the priest, unproductive, was
regarded with disdain, and now that his indispensableness for defensive
purposes is recognized he has to fight not only any actual enemy who
may attack him, but those far subtler forces from over the sea which
seem likely to obtain supremacy in his military councils, if not actual
control of his whole military system. It is, in my view, the duty of
Western nations to take steps before it is too late to avert this great
disaster.

Ecclesiastical Institutions
The dancing and chanting exorcists called wu were the first Chinese
priests, with temples containing gods worshipped and sacrificed to, but
there was no special sacerdotal class. Worship of Heaven could only be
performed by the king or emperor. Ecclesiastical and political functions
were not completely separated. The king was _pontifex maximus_, the
nobles, statesmen, and civil and military officers acted as priests, the
ranks being similar to those of the political hierarchy. Worship took
place in the 'Hall of Light,' which was also a palace and audience and
council chamber. Sacrifices were offered to Heaven, the hills and rivers,
ancestors, and all the spirits. Dancing held a conspicuous place in
worship. Idols are spoken of in the earliest times.
Of course, each religion, as it formed itself out of the original
ancestor-worship, had its own sacred places, functionaries, observances,
ceremonial. Thus, at the State worship of Heaven, Nature, etc., there
were the 'Great,' 'Medium,' and 'Inferior' sacrifices, consisting of
animals, silk, grain, jade, etc. Panegyrics were sung, and robes of
appropriate colour worn. In spring, summer, autumn, and winter there
were the seasonal sacrifices at the appropriate altars. Taoism and
Buddhism had their temples, monasteries, priests, sacrifices, and ritual;
and there were village and wayside temples and shrines to ancestors,
the gods of thunder, rain, wind, grain, agriculture, and many others.
Now encouraged, now tolerated, now persecuted, the ecclesiastical
personnel and structure of Taoism and Buddhism survived into modern
times, when we find complete schemes of ecclesiastical gradations of
rank and authority grafted upon these two priestly hierarchies, and their
temples, priests, etc., fulfilling generally, with worship of ancestors,
State or official (Confucianism) and private or unofficial, and the
observance of various annual festivals, such as 'All Souls' Day' for
wandering and hungry ghosts, the spiritual needs of the people as the
'Three Religions' (_San Chiao_). The emperor, as high priest, took the
responsibility for calamities, etc., making confession to Heaven and
praying that as a punishment the evil be diverted from the people to his
own person. Statesmen, nobles, and officials discharged, as already
noted, priestly functions in connexion with the State religion in
addition to their ordinary duties. As a rule, priests proper, frowned
upon as non-producers, were recruited from the lower classes, were

celibate, unintellectual, idle, and immoral. There was nothing, even in
the elaborate ceremonies on special occasions in the Buddhist temples,
which could be likened to what is known as 'public worship' and
'common prayer' in the West. Worship had for its sole object either the
attainment of some good or the prevention of some evil.
Generally this represents the state of things under the Republican
_régime_; the chief differences