aroundworldortra00peebiala-1

168 ABOUND THE WOELD.
and spoken by the very learned of universities in all lands,
so the written language of China may be understood by the
literati of North-eastern Asia.
As a nation, China is eminently literary.
The first degree
conferred upon the scholar is A. B., " beautiful ability
;
the second
is A. M., literally "the advanced man;" while
it is only after the most critical and rigid examination that
students receive the crowning degree at the capital. Free
" day-schools " for boys are common. Girls are neglected
and yet in some of the provinces there are free schools established
for them also, with female teachers. Nearly all of
even the poorer classes in this vast empire are versed, to
some degree, in writing, reading, arithmetic, and memorized
passages from the classics. Japan has a compulsory S3'stem
of education, equally binding upon the children of both
sexes. Religion in these lands is free. Church and State
are unmeaning terms.
Their great teachers, such as Lau-tsze,
Confucius, and others, were moralists rather than religionists.
Thousands of the truly learned are pantheists. Many
of their statements are as transcendental as Emerson's. They
believe in Tau^ — the absolute Unity, manifest as duality in
the positive and negative forces of the universe. There are
three great systems of morals and religions in the country.
Tauism savors of metaphysical pantheism ; Confucianism, of
practical morals ; and Buddhism, of the old religions of India
and yet these different religionists frequently worship in the
same temples. And why not ? Is not this a lesson of tolerance
to Christendom ? " Heathen " may well say of Christians,
" "
Behold how they love one another !
GOD-WORSHIP AND GENERAL WARD.
Nearly every office and shop in China-lands has its image,
its sacred altar, and its smoking incense as a " sweet-smelling
savor." Rightly understood, however, worship in all Mongolian
countries implies little more than respect paid to
superiors. Besides ancestors, whose spirit-presences China-