HOME UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
OF MODERN KNOWLEDGE
THE CIVILIZATION OF CHINA
By HERBERT A.GILES, M.A., LL.D.
LONDON
WLLIAMS & NORGATE
HENRY HOLT & Co., New York
Canada: WM. <...> PREFACE
The aim of this work is to suggest a rough outline of Chinese civilization from the earliest times
down to the present period of rapid and startling transition. <...> It has been written, primarily, for readers who know little or nothing of China, in the hope that
it may succeed in alluring them to a wider and more methodical survey. <...> But for a study of the
manners and customs and modes of thought of the Chinese people, we must confine ourselves to that
portion of the whole which is known to the Chinese as the "Eighteen Provinces," and to us as China
Proper. <...> Its chief landmarks may be roughly stated as
Peking, the capital, in the north; Canton, the great commercial centre, in the south; Shanghai, on the
east; and the Tibetan frontier on the west. <...> Any one who will take the trouble to look up these four points on a map, representing as they do
central points on the four sides of a rough square, will soon realize the absurdity of asking a returning
traveller the very much asked question, How do you like China? <...> Fancy asking a Chinaman, who had
spent a year or two in England, how he liked Europe! <...> Peking, for instance, stands on the same parallel
of latitude as Madrid; whereas Canton coincides similarly with Calcutta. <...> Within the square indicated by
the four points enumerated above will be found variations of climate, flowers, fruit, vegetables and
animals — not to mention human beings — distributed in very much the same way as in Europe. <...> The
climate of Peking is exceedingly dry and bracing; no rain, and hardly any snow, falling between
October and April. <...> The really hot weather lasts only for six or eight weeks, about July and August —
and even then the nights are always cool; while for six or eight weeks between December and February
there may be a couple of feet of ice on the river. <...> The old story runs that snow has only once
been seen in Canton, and then it was thought by the people to be falling cotton-wool. <...> Monasteries are built high up on the hills, often
on almost inaccessible crags <...>
The_civilization_of_China.pdf
HOME UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
OF MODERN KNOWLEDGE
THE CIVILIZATION OF CHINA
By HERBERT A.GILES, M.A., LL.D.
LONDON
WLLIAMS & NORGATE
HENRY HOLT & Co., New York
Canada: WM. BRIGGS, Toronto
India: R. & T.Washbourne, Ltd.
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Richard Clay & Sons, Limited,
Brunswick street, stamford street ,S.R.
And Bungai, Suffolk.
PREFACE
The aim of this work is to suggest a rough outline of Chinese civilization from the earliest times
down to the present period of rapid and startling transition.
It has been written, primarily, for readers who know little or nothing of China, in the hope that
it may succeed in alluring them to a wider and more methodical survey.
H. A. G.
CAMBRIGE,
May 12, 1911.
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CONTENTS
CONTENTS.......................................................................................................................................................................... 5
CHAPTER I THE FEUDAL AGE....................................................................................................................................... 6
CHAPTER II LAW AND GOVERNMENT ..................................................................................................................... 14
CHAPTER III RELIGION AND SUPERSTITION.......................................................................................................... 19
CHAPTER IV A.D. 220-1200 ............................................................................................................................................ 26
CHAPTER V WOMEN AND CHILDREN....................................................................................................................... 31
CHAPTER VI LITERATURE AND EDUCATION......................................................................................................... 36
CHAPTER VII PHILOSOPHY AND SPORT .................................................................................................................. 42
CHAPTER VIII RECREATION ....................................................................................................................................... 49
CHAPTER IX THE MONGOLS, 1260-1368.................................................................................................................... 55
CHAPTER X MINGS AND CH'INGS, 1368-1911 .......................................................................................................... 60
CHAPTER XI CHINESE AND FOREIGNERS ............................................................................................................... 65
CHAPTER XII THE OUTLOOK...................................................................................................................................... 71
BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................................................................................................... 75
INDEX................................................................................................................................................................................ 77
PELMANISM AS AN INTELLECTUAL AND SOCIAL FACTOR.................................................................................................... 79
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