ancient, national, and official, the best of which every well-educated Chinaman
commits to memory. They range from the eighteenth to the third century before
our era, and are divided into four parts: first, the Ku-fung, or songs of “the
manners of different states;” second and third, songs for state occasions; and
fourth, Soong, a collection of eulogies on the various emperors of the Chow
dynasty. This book is described as replete with very interesting and probably
authentic information on the ancient manners of China, and is frequently quoted
by both Confucius and Mencius, and by them recommended to the study of their
disciples.
Fourth comes the Li-King, or “Book of Rites and Ceremonies,” in which we find
a mass of fragments dating from the time of Confucius downwards, and
throwing a vivid light on the permanent characteristics of the Chinese
civilisation, and on the causes which made it what it is in all its iron
immutability. The ceremonial usages of China, as prescribed in this ritual,
number about 3000; and one of the six tribunals, the Ly-pou, is specially charged
with their custody and interpretation.
Fifth and last is the Chun-tsien, or Tchuntsiou, or “Book of Spring and Autumn,”
so called from the seasons in which it was respectively begun and ended by
Confucius. Here the Great Teacher has simply written down the earlier history of
his native land of Loo; with the view of recalling the princes of his age to a
conservative spirit of reverence for the customs of the past by indicating the
misfortunes that took place after they fell into neglect.
Strictly speaking, Confucianism has no priests, no distinct sacerdotal order; the
emperor himself is the patriarch or head, and every magistrate, within the sphere
of his jurisdiction is a religious official or hierophant. “Generally, all literary
persons, and those who propose to become such, in attaching themselves to it do
not necessarily renounce practices borrowed from other religions. But, in fact,
faith does not seem to have anything to do with the matter; and habit alone
induces them to conform to ceremonies which they themselves turn into ridicule
—such as divinations, horoscopes, and calculating lucky and unlucky days, all of
which superstitions are in great vogue throughout the empire.”
China possesses an enormous number of pagodas, or idol-temples; Peking boasts
of 10,000; every village has several, and they are distributed all along the roads