THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVII, Issue 108, 8 May 1909, Page 9

THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.

CHINESE RELIGION AND LETTERS.The 1909 session of the Wesleyaa Literary and Debating Society was opened at Taranaki-street Church Hall last evening. Rev. S. J. Serpell presided. Mr. Yung-Liang Hwang, Chinese Consul, gave an address on the religion and literature of China. The subject, lie said, had been suggested to him, and it was a very broad one, taking hours to deal with it if one were so disposed. Ho quoted the observation of an eminent American professor, who had travelled much, that religion originated in lh« East : but his own idea was that humanity itself, any and everywhere, was religious. The religion of some peoples might be crude, but it was irrefutable that all peoples were religious in varying degrees. The ancient . religion of China was nature worship. They had an idea of some great supreme being whom they called Shang-Li. They had a. saying that " no man can lift his head and look three feet beyond without seeing sonic spiritual being." They imagined that the spirits inhabited the rocks and moun,l tains ; but this was pure imagination. Buddhism, with its teaching of tho reward of good deeds and the punishment of evd ones, was added to this idea of a Supreme Being, and was found acceptable to the people. Confucianism was a system of moral philosophy, excellent of its kind, containing much that was very beautiful. It was not a religion, but a school of ethics. It had been said by an American divine of eminence that religion might be defined as tire thought of God toward man and the thought of man toward God. If thai definition were correct, then Confucianism was not a religion, but a school such; as that of Plato or Socrates. And yet the influence of Confucius had been felt more by the Chinese peopla than the influenca of Christ had been felt by the people of the West. Every, Chinese, scholar or labourer, knew Confucius and some great points of his teaching. The reason for tfcis was that the teaching touched common grounds There was about it nothing mysterious, nothing so deep or beyond the strength! of any man to practise. It could be understood by the cultured and ignorant alike. To illustrate his point Mr- Hwang, read from the Analects of Confucius. He referred also to the teaching of ths Sage on practical filial piety — a most pionounced Chinese characteristic. Tiix^ cellent as the teaching of Confucius was, however, it was human in origin, and over and beyond it the people needed to know more about the Supreme God, th« Heavenly Father and His love to all mankind. LITERATURE. Dealing with the literature of China, Mr. Hwang described the development of the ancient ideograph. The letters or characters had changed but little, unlike the literature of the West! There was an advantage in this, in that men of today could read tlie literature of very remote times, which was not the case in say, tlie works of early English writers, which could not be read, except by students or savants. The Classics — such as the Books o5 Charges, or Ceremonies of History and Poetry — were described in detail. They revealed the character of the people oS their day to the people of the present. The Book of Poetry lacked the . fire of Greek poeiry and the inspiration of Hebrew poetry. Incidentally, he said the feeling in hymns of the Christian Church was wanting when translated into Chinese. When the Chinese Church became strong and extensive, as he believed it would, it would be native, and it would have its own native hymns. The Spring and Autumn Annals of Alencins were next referred to. Chinese scholars obtained their taste from the aiicient and very beautiful ancient literature of China. Personally, he desired that no Chinese would ever neglect tho study of these standard works. Innumerable as the books of China, on poetry, history, and philosophy, were, lt.any grand books were destroyed. The Emperor who built the Great Wall of China was the greatest enemy to literature, and he not only destroyed the books, but also persecuted the literati of his time. But works had been preserved, some by memory and some having escaped destruction in Japan. Tho greatest thing prized by the Chinese was learning. It was recognised how that Western learning must be obtained ; but if this were accomplished at the cost of the ancient learning, then it would be at too great a price. The Chinese mind was the mmd of learning. It uas the pride of every mother and father to get learning for their sons. Tlie people almost worshipped it. Ultimately they vould certainly obtain the best of Western civilisation. Mr. Hwang was accorded a vote of thanks for his address, which was listened to with great attention*