BOOK TALK by YK Kwan (February 2010) The Civilization of China by Herbert Allen Giles, Professor of Chinese in the University of Cambridge & sometime Consul at Ningpo First published at Cambridge in May, 1911 The book gives an outline on the civilization of China from the feudal ages, viewing from various aspects such as law and government, religion and superstition, literature and philosophy, recreation and customs etc. Giles was able to depict such things as he observed, particularly with an eye of a foreigner, pointing out misconceptions that China or Chinese had been wronged. He described historic events or figures without going into unnecessary details and yet in instances where details were given, they were such that the scene is enlivened. The following description is a good example: The same innocent form of deception, which deceives nobody, is carried out when two officials, seated in sedan-chairs, have to pass one another. If they are of about equal rank, etiquette demands that they should alight from their chairs, and perform mutual salutations. To obviate the extreme inconvenience of this rule, large wooden fans are carried in all processions of the kind, and these are hastily thrust between the passing officials, so that neither becomes aware of the other's existence on the scene. The case is different when one of the two is of higher rank. The official of inferior grade is bound to stop and get out of his chair while his superior passes by, though even now he has a chance of escape; he hears the gong beaten to clear the way for the great man, whose rank he can tell from the number of consecutive blows given; and hurriedly turns off down a side street.] From a few centuries ago until the modern time the Chinese considered themselves civilized while the westerners were barbarians. Giles noted this and mentioned that the common Chinese had surnames since about 500BC while their counterparts in Europe had not until the 12th century. China had moving types for the printing of books since 1000AD (while the printing machine was banned by Vatican decree for reason of printing heresy a good 5 centuries later.) The sport of football was there in 5 AD, with the ball made of leather (as nowadays) containing an inflated bladder inside. Polo was mentioned in 710 AD and it was not an invention then but vogue for a long time. Even women played it but on donkey backs. Hunting with hawks and hounds were known in 100 BC. One factor, Giles pointed out, that contributed to the stability of regimes in China was that government officials were recruited by public examinations over 1300 years ago, making such posts available to the rich as well as the poor. Chinese were reproached for lack of patriotism but it was pointed out that there were numerous examples where patriots chose to die rather to suffer dishonour to themselves or their country. One notable example was Wen Tien-hsian文天祥 towards the end of Song Dynasty (960- 1279). He was captured and escaped and recaptured by the Mongols in battle. He was ordered, but refused, to write and advise capitulation, and every effort was subsequently made to induce him to own allegiance to the conquerors. He was kept in prison for three years. The author made a point by translating his famous essay正氣歌 (Song of Righteousness) written before his death. ["My dungeon," he wrote, "is lighted by the will-o'-the-wisp alone; no breath of spring cheers the murky solitude in which I dwell. Exposed to mist and dew, I had many times thought to die; and yet, through the seasons of two revolving years, disease hovered around me in vain. The dank, unhealthy soil to me became Paradise itself. For there was that within me which misfortune could not steal away; and so I remained firm, gazing at the white clouds floating over my head, and bearing in my heart a sorrow boundless as the sky." At length he was summoned into the presence of Kublai Khan, who said to him, "What is it you want?" "By the grace of the Sung Emperor," he replied, "I became His Majesty's Minister. I cannot serve two masters. I only ask to die." Accordingly, he was executed, meeting his death with composure.] At the time, Giles told us (near the end of Qing Dynasty) there was no Sunday as a holiday. New Year festival however, was universally observed by everyone. 10 days before and 20 days after, the public offices were closed and no official business was to be conducted. The official seal was handed to the official’s wife for safe-keeping, which as a fact disposes of the libel that women in China were a down-trodden group as generally represented. On new year eve, all debts are to be paid and accounts squared. In the New Year, people would say as a convention, “New Joy, new joy. Get rich, get rich.” This was done by all except to the undertakers. One important question Giles asked : [The question has often been asked, but has never found a satisfactory answer, why and how it is that Chinese civilization has persisted through so many centuries, while other civilizations, with equal if not superior claims to permanency, have been broken up and have disappeared from the sites on which they formerly flourished. Egypt may be able to boast of a high level of culture at a remoter date than we can reach through the medium of Chinese records, for all we can honestly claim is that the Chinese were a remarkably civilized nation a thousand years before Christ. That was some time before Greek civilization can be said to have begun; yet the Chinese nation is with us still, and but for contact with the Western barbarian, would be leading very much the same life that it led so many centuries ago.] Giles suggested the answer lies in the common written language, the teachings of Confucius, the public examination system, and most of all the spirit of personal freedom. It was a freedom which united the people in the resistance of every form of oppression. The Chinese believed in the divine right of kings but on the other hand, kings must bear themselves as kings and live up to their responsibilities, otherwise the peoples’ obligation would be at an end. To illustrate, he cited a quote on Mencius in the following paragraph. [One of the feudal rulers was speaking to Mencius about a wicked emperor of eight hundred years back, who had been attacked by a patriot hero, and who had perished in the flames of his palace. "May then a subject," he asked, "put his sovereign to death?" To which Mencius replied that any one who did violence to man's natural charity of heart, or failed altogether in his duty towards his neighbour, was nothing more than an unprincipled ruffian; and he insinuated that it had been such a ruffian, in fact, not an emperor in the true sense of the term, who had perished in the case they were discussing.] Then Giles talked about the proposition of a new Constitution for China and a National Assembly in the future. These events took place in the years 1906-1909, which were current affairs in those days. In 1911 when the book was published in May, Giles had no idea that the Wuhan uprising would erupt in October that year and the Manchurian Empire crumbled in less than four months. However, with his insight into the nature of the Chinese people, he predicted two alternative courses for the ruling Manchus and later events proved that he hit the bull-eye right in the centre. In the last paragraph of his book, he wrote thus: [If the ruling Manchus seize the opportunity now offered them, then, in spite of simmering sedition here and there over the empire, they may succeed in continuing a line which in its early days had a glorious record of achievement, to the great advantage of the Chinese nation. If, on the other hand, they neglect this chance, there may result one of those frightful upheavals from which the empire has so often suffered. China will pass again through the melting-pot, to emerge once more, as on all previous occasions, purified and strengthened by the process.] The book is available free for reading on the net. Please go to: http://www.gutenberg. org or Google. Herbert Allen Giles (1845 – 1935) was a British diplomat and sinologist. He modified a Mandarin Chinese Romanization system earlier established by Thomas Wade, resulting in the widely known Wade-Giles Chinese transliteration system. Among his prolific works were translations of Confucius, Chuang Tzu, Lao Tzu, and the first widely published Chinese-English dictionary.(Wikipedia)