organised government, an army, a written language, historians and other literati,
in a period so remote as to he coeval with the immediate successors of the inspired
historian of Creation, and the lawgiver of the ancient people of God.”* They
have a copious literature, both ancient and modern; they have possessed the art
of printing for eight hundred years; and their written language, with the same
characters that they use at the present day, is of extreme antiquity, not less,
according to Remusat and others, than four thousand years. A solitary fact will
prove this position. Vessels of porcelain, of Chinese manufacture, have of late
been repeatedly found in the catacombs of Thebes, in Egypt. Some of these are
as old as the Pharaonic period; or, in other words, they must have been made at
least fifteen hundred years before the Christian era. The inscriptions on these
vessels have been read with ease by Chinese scholars, and in three instances
record the following legend :—The flower opens, and lo ! another year.f
The civilisation of China is nearly as old as that of Egypt, and has probably
remained stationary for thirty centuries; and, although it is based on a heartless
religion, no doubt embraces as many both of the comforts and luxuries of life as
the social institutions of Europe; at the same time that similar wants and indulgences,
in these widely separated communities, are often gratified by very different
yet equally adequate means. European civilisation has borrowed largely from
China, the Chinese nothing from Europe. When the king of France introduced
the luxury of silk stockings, says Mr. Barrow, the peasantry of the middle
provinces of China were clothed in silks from head to foot; and when the
nobility of England were sleeping on straw, a peasant of China had his mat and
his pillow, and the man in office enjoyed his silken mattress.
These were equally the luxuries of their ancestors, and they have not chosen
to improve upon them. To prevent innovations, the laws prescribe for every
thing, and a man must dress, and build, and regulate all his actions according to
a certain form. Hence it has been observed that unmovableness is the characteristic
of the nation; every implement retains its original shape; every invention
has stopped at the first step. The plough is still drawn by men; the written
characters of their monosyllabic language stand for ideas, not for simple sounds;
and the laborious task of merely learning to read, occupies the time that might
be employed in the acquisition of many branches of useful knowledge.:!:
The religions of China are three—that of Confucius, Laou-tse and Budha.
* Ellis, Introd. to GutzlafPs Voy. p. 13. t Wilkinson, Anc. Egypt, III, p. 108.
X Outlines of Univ. Hist. p. 17.
It appears that the great philosopher of China is actually worshipped by his
countrymen, that no less than fifteen hundred and sixty temples are dedicated to
him, and that upwards of sixty thousand animals of different kinds are sacrificed
to his manes every year.* The Laou-tse doctrine appears to be a mere tissue of
jtnoral subtleties; while the Budhism of the Chinese is essentially the same with
that of the neighboring nations—a gross and enervating idolatry.
The Japanese bear a striking resemblance to the people of China, whose
features the former possess in an exaggerated degree. According to Thunberg
“ the eyelids form in the great angle of the eye a deep furrow, which makes the
Japanese look as if they were sharpsighted, and discriminates them from the other
nations.”! In general they are of short stature, with heavy limbs, large heads, and
sunken eyes. Like the Chinese they are laborious artificers, but less ingenious
than that nation, nor have they equalled them in the art of navigation. They
have two religious sects, but the dominant creed is that of Budha, mixed up with
some peculiar superstitions. Their vernacular tongue is said to have no resemblance
to that of the Chinese, but they derive their classical or learned language
from that people. Their alphabet, instead of whole words, designs single letters
only.!T
he peninsula of Corea is inhabited by a branch of this family, rougher,
however, in their exterior, and less advanced in the arts than the Chinese proper,
whose vassals they are. Their vernacular language and alphabet are altogether
peculiar, but they are required to use the Chinese characters.
11. THE INDO-CHINESE FAMILY.
The Indo-Chinese nations have been so called more on account of their
geographical position between Hindostan and China than for their resemblance to
the Hindoos, from whom they differ widely. The Indo-Chinese are real Mongolians,
yet their proximity to India has undoubtedly given rise to some intermixture
with the Hindoos, and in some instances the partial adoption of the letters
and religion of that people.
The nations embraced in this family are those of Ava, Pegu, Aracan, Siam,
Cochin-China, Cambodia, Tsiompa, Laos, and Tonquin.
The states of Ava, Pegu and Aracan, constitute the Burmese empire. The
* Medhurst, China, p. 193.
X Tuckey, Mar. Geog. I ll, p. 300.
t Malte-Brun, II, p. 537