CONTENTS
[LECTURE I]
THE CHINESE LANGUAGE
Its Importance—Its Difficulty—The Colloquial—Dialects—"Mandarin"—Absence of Grammar—Illustrations—Pidgin-English—Scarcity of Vocables—The Tones—Coupled Words—The Written Language—The Indicators—Picture Characters—Pictures of Ideas—The Phonetics—Some Faulty Analyses ... [3]
[LECTURE II]
A CHINESE LIBRARY
The Cambridge (Eng.) Library—(A) The Confucian Canon—(B) Dynastic History—The "Historical Record"—The "Mirror of History"—Biography—Encyclopædias—How arranged—Collections of Reprints—The Imperial Statutes—The Penal Code—(C) Geography—Topography—An Old Volume—Account of Strange Nations—(D) Poetry—Novels—Romance of the Three Kingdoms—Plays—(E) Dictionaries—The Concordance—Its Arrangement—Imperial Catalogue—Senior Classics ... [37]
[LECTURE III]
DEMOCRATIC CHINA
The Emperor—Provincial Government—Circuits—Prefectures—Magistracies—Headboroughs—The People—The Magistrate—Other Provincial Officials—The Prefect—The Intendant of Circuit (Tao-t'ai)—Viceroy and Governor—Taxation—Mencius on "the People"—Personal Liberty—New Imposts—Combination—Illustrations ... [73]
[LECTURE IV]
CHINA AND ANCIENT GREECE
Relative Values of Chinese and Greek in Mental and Moral Training—Lord Granville—Wên T'ien-hsiang—Han Yü—An Emperor—A Land of Opposites—Coincidences between Chinese and Greek Civilisations—The Question of Greek Influence—Greek Words in Chinese—Coincidences in Chinese and Western Literature—Students of Chinese wanted ... [107]
[LECTURE V]
TAOISM
Religions in China—What is Tao?—Lao Tzŭ—The Tao Tê Ching—Its Claims—The Philosophy of Lao Tzŭ—-Developed by Chuang Tzŭ—His View of Tao—A Taoist Poet—Symptoms of Decay—The Elixir of Life—Alchemy—The Black Art—Struggle between Buddhism and Taoism—They borrow from One Another—The Corruption of Tao—Its Last State ... [141]
[LECTURE VI]
SOME CHINESE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS
Origin of the Queue—Social Life—An Eyeglass—Street Etiquette—Guest and Host—The Position of Women—Infanticide—Training and Education of Women—The Wife's Status—Ancestral Worship—Widows—Foot-binding—Henpecked Husbands—The Chinaman a Mystery—Customs vary with Places—Dog's Flesh—Substitutes at Executions—Doctors—Conclusion ... [175]