An interesting passage in the Pre- | European influences, the author face, refers most happily to the moral condition of Asia. "Herthree widespread creeds-Buddhism, Brahmanism, Mohammedanism, by their effects as now prevailing-obscure the reason, damp the aspirations, and deaden the energies of the people." Referring to her being incapable of self elevation, and of the fact that one-third of her population is subject to European and that much of the remainder is dominated by says, "It is only by means of such a The China Review: for July and August, 1882. Vol. XI. No. 1. Hongkong: China Mail. We are pleased to see the first number of a new volume of this Review. This number is fully up to the mark. The place of precedence is given to a review of Mr. Balfour's Chuang Tsze by Mr. Herbert H. Giles. The writer, with but very few remarks, occupies the whole fourteen pages with passages which he says are wrong translated, giving Mr. Balfour's translation and his own rendering in paralel columns. In some passages the renderings are so different that a very obvious supposition is that there must be a variation in the several Chinese texts which the writers had before them when translating. But Mr. Balfour will no doubt let his readers see his statement of the matter. the capital would investigate what is the character of the music which is used during the worship of Heaven by the Emperor at the winter solstice with a description of all the instruments that are used at the time. The necessary research would enable one interested in the subject to get acquainted with some one of the Imperial musicians, from whom much interesting information might be obtained and perhaps the notation of the various pieces of music that are used at the time of Imperial sacrifice. A special effort by some one, when visiting the grounds of the Altar to Heaven, might be successful in getting access to the Repository in which all the instruments are deposited for safe keeping. As during the early part of Mr. Parker continues his account of his journey in Szechuen. The December these instruments must article in this number which will be put in order for use at the winter attract much interest from general solstice that time would appear to readers is Mr. Eastlake's on "The Chinese Reed-organ with woodcuts." It is evident that the Chinese have more knowledge of music than is generally supposed. It is very desirable that some one resident in be a suitable time to try and get access to the Repository to see the instruments. And as the performers must have some practicing in preparation for the performance at the sacrifice, that would also be the time to make inquiries about the ing their practicing. The results music and perhaps the inquirer of such inquiries, we would be very might succeed in hearing them dur- glad to publish. Review of the Customs Opium Smoking Returns. By J. Dudgeon, M.D. Shanghai, 1882. THIS is a pamphlet of some 31 pages | estimated quantity of opium did not in which Dr. Dudgeon has re- supply a sufficient quantity of the opium-smoking cannot be very in- while there are hundreds of heavy jurious to those who indulge in it. smokers, there are hundreds of thouHis language reads "Were Indian sands of light smokers;" hence the Opium the fatal poison and scourge conditions to produce "a debased in the east of China, it is some- and debilitated people" to an obtimes asserted to be, one ought to servable degree do not exist. 4th. find in the west, where ten-fold This wide prevalence of the habit more opium is smoked, a debased, is only very recent, for the great debilitated, and impoverished peo- increase of production has occurred ple. On the contrary, it is notorious within the last ten or fifteen years; that the reverse is the case, and that hence there has not been time enough the people, both in body and estate to effect the results which have oсare among the most prosperous in curred elsewhere from the use of the China." But the facts which he drug. If the growth and use of it presents do not warrant us to ex- should continue unchecked for thirty pect these results just now. For or forty years the usual results may 1st. This well-to-do condition of the be fully expected. All the testimony people is the result of long con- which this renewed discussion of tinued peace and careful industry the use of opium has brought foron a fruitful soil and in a healthful ward, shows that the growth of the climate. 2nd. As yet the people drug in China and its use in all consume only native-grown drug classes of the people are very rapidly which is very cheap; and as they increasing. It therefore behoves all export more than double the amount the friends of China who desire to they consume there is no grounds arrest the progress of so great an evil of impoverishment. 3rd. While the to bestir themselves and increase number who smoke some is very their efforts to arrest its progress. great, the inveterate smokers are We wish Dr. Dudgeon's pamphlet comparatively few; for Mr. Spence a wide circulation that the facts he says, "it must be borne in mind that | presents may be widely made known. published the papers which first appeared in the N.-C. Herald with some modifications. In this able discussion Dr. Dudgeon points out many causes of the errors which he supposes exist in the Customs returns. In the last pages of his Review he virtually accepts the opinion that was presented at p. 145 of this volume of the Chinese Recorder that one mace per day is a probable average quantity consumed by opium-smokers. This was the estimate made by Drs. Hobson and Lockhart thirty years ago. Dr. Dudgeon says on page 30, "We may fairly consider then the adulteration as equalizing the increased average consumption, in other words taking them thus, as neutralizing each other, and therefore we may reckon the daily average consumption at one mace." Mr. Donald Spence of H.B.M. Consular Service, in his elaborate Report on the Production of Native Opium in Szechuen Province, fixes upon one mace as an approximate estimate of the average amount of opium-smoked daily by each consumer, see N.-C. Herald for 1882, p. 296. "Observer" in the paper above referred to in the Recorder, estimated, from the statements made by travellers of the prevalence of opium-smoking, that the number of smokers must be 10 or 12 millions, even though the drug for that number of smokers. Mr. Spence has supplied the requisite quantity of drug for such a number, as he estimates the production of Szechuen, Yunnan and Kweichow for the last year to be 224,000 chests. This is 24 times the amount of native opium as estimated by the Inspector General. This Report of Mr. Spence furnishes most sad proof of the rapid increase of the native growth. He states that government interference ceased some fifteen years ago." The great increase in its production has been since 1872, as he quotes Baron Richthoven, writing in 1872, "that the poppy was cultivated only on hill slopes of an inferior soil," while Mr. Spence adds, "but one sees it now on land of all kinds, both hill and valley." While Mr. Spence's Report gives evidences of great painstaking in collecting his facts in regard to the mode of cultivation and the amount of production he is not equally careful in forming or expressing opinions. He quotes the opinions of Mr. Baber and Baron Richthoven as to the well-to-do appearance of the inhabitants of Szechuen; and referring to the evidence of the great number of the people that smoke opium in the province, some placing the estimate as high as 60 out of every hundred adult males, he draws the inference that Annual Report of the Lao-ling Medical Mission, for the years 1881-1882. THIS is the Report of a Medical of medicines. The life of Dr. S. Dispensary in the country away was also very seriously endangered from any treaty port. Dr. Stenhouse at the time. We express our sincere in the commencement of the report sympathy with the mission in its refers with feelings of gratification loss, and hope that its friends will and satisfaction to the completion soon enable Dr. S. to rebuild with of the new buildings for his work. better facilities for his work than But before the most of our readers before, and that this institution thus had received a copy of the Report located in the interior may be emihis satisfaction was changed into nently useful through a wide extent sadness by the destruction by fire of country and conduce largely to of the building that had been com- the rapid extension of the Gospel pleted, with the loss of his supply of peace and blessing. IV. PROVERBS CONTAINING ALLUSIONS TO HISTORICAL, SEMI-HISTORICAL, LEGENDARY, OR MYTHICAL PERSONS OR EVENTS. EVERY language abounds in references of this kind, and in Chinese, they are, to say the least, not less numerous than in other tongues. This redundancy of allusions in Chinese, may be illustrated by a moment's consideration of the great variety which are perpetually recurring in the English of every day use, where they have become so numerous and diverse as to render classification extremely difficult. Thus we have, for example, simple historical references, often embodied in a phrase, like Noah's Ark, Magna Charta, &c.; semi-legendary allusions as Prester John, St. George and the Dragon; mythical, as The Wandering Jew, The Man in the Moon, &c.; Mythological, as Jason and the Golden Fleece, Pluto and Proserpine, &c.; these are frequently crystallized into a single adjective, as Medusa-locks, Arguseyed, Briarean-handed. Allusions to Fables of Æsop, and others, as the Mouse and the Lion, the Monkey and the Chestnuts, &c.; these likewise may be epitomized in a word or two, as Jackdaw feathers, 'Cats-paw,' &c. Allusions to popular Nursery Tales, as Jack and the bean-stalk, Old Mother Hubbard, Little Red Riding-hood, &c. References to tales or characters, in fictitious literature, as the Arabian Nights, Gullivers' Travels, Robinson Crusoe and Don Quixote. A mere mention of the novels of Dickens alone, is sufficient to suggest the formidable rate at which this class of allusions multiply. Direct quotation of the words of well known characters. "Fear not! You carry Caesar;" "I am the state;" "England expects every man to do his duty." Besides all these, and many others, there are popular nicknames like John Bull, Brother Jonathan, &c., poetical names such as Emerald Isle, City of Palms, &c., &c. Not to weary the Reader with further illustrations, consider, for instance, what a cultivated Frenchman could be expected to understand upon his arrival in Boston, when he heard the remark that he had probably never before visited "the Hub." It is no wonder that these various allusions when collected and explained, form compendious volumes, like Wheeler's Noted Names of Fiction, or Brewer's portly "Dictionary of Phrase and Fable," not half the available materials for which as the author informs uscould be utilized, for lack of space. Scarcely a year passes in which the issue of one or more such works of reference-now extending to every imaginable department is not announced. The mere bibliography of dictionaries of this sort, is becoming formidable. Now when we reflect that the greatest works in Chinese literature had become ancient some fifteen centuries before the English language was heard of, and that Chinese literature has gone on increasing in volume ever since, it will not seem strange that the raw material for all kinds of allusion, has accumulated like the deposits at the delta of the Nile.* The historical novel known as the Three Kingdoms (三國志), is alone the fountain head of a multitude of references-Lin Pei, Chang Fei, and Kuan Yü(劉備,張飛,關羽), are probably better known to the Chinese people as a whole, than any three statesmen or generals of the past five hundred years. Even the place where they made their famous compact of brotherhood, is denoted by the simple expression 'Peach Orchyard' (桃園), the Peach Orchyard, that is to say, in Chinese history; and famous as they have become, it is by no means certain whether they have even yet reached the summit of their glory. Kuan Yü has been steadily advancing for more than six hundred and fifty years, since he was first canonized by a Sung Dynasty Emperor, until in our own time he has been promoted from * An examination of Mr. Wylie's "Notes on Chinese Literature" conveys a vivid impression of the enormous volume to which that literature must have grown. These "Notes" -a monument of learned industry-contain a list of about 1770 works-besides hundreds of others included in the "Collection of Reprints"many of which comprise within themselves whole Libraries. The second Emperor of the Sung Dynasty caused the preparation of an Encyclopedia of literature, completed in 1000 books, and his example was immediately followed by the third Sung Emperor, who ordered the compilation of an historical Encyclopedia "comprehending the details of all state matters from the earliest times, chronologically arranged." This likewise overflowed into 1000 books. These, little brochures, however, pale their ineffectual fires in the presence of the work of Yung Lo (永樂) the second Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, who appointed a commission of scholars "to collect in one body the substance of all the classical, historical, philosophical, and literary works hitherto published, embracing Astronomy, Geography, the Occult Sciences, Medicine, Buddhism, Taoism, and the Arts." This work executed by five chief and twenty sub-directors, with 2169 subordinates-contained in all 22,877 books, besides the table of contents, which occupied 60 books more! ! |