In point of truthfulness savages are in many cases superior to nations more advanced in culture. “A Chinese,” says Mr. Wells Williams, “requires but little motive to falsify, and he is constantly sharpening his wits to cozen his customer—wheedle him by promises and cheat him in goods or work.”[153] His ordinary speech is said to be so full of insincerity that it is very difficult to learn the truth in almost any case.[154] He feels no shame at being detected in a lie, nor does he fear any punishment from his gods for it;[155] if you call him a liar, “you arouse in him no sense of outrage, no sentiment of degradation.”[156] Yet the moral teachings of the Chinese inculcate truthfulness as a stringent duty. One of their injunctions is, “Let children always be taught to speak the simple truth.”[157] Many sayings may be quoted from Confucius in which sincerity is celebrated as highly and demanded as urgently as it ever was by any Christian moralist. Faithfulness and sincerity, he said, should be held as first principles. Sincerity is the way of Heaven, the end and beginning of things, without which there would be nothing. It is as necessary to truly virtuous conduct as a boat is to a man wishing to cross a river, or as oars are to a boat. The superior man ought to feel shame when his conduct is not in accord with his words.[158] But there are instances in which sincerity has to yield to family duties: a father should conceal the misconduct of his son, and a son that of his father.[159] Moreover, the great moralists themselves did not always act up to their lofty principles. Confucius and Mencius sometimes did not hesitate to tell a lie for the sake of convenience.[160] The former could excuse himself from seeing an unwelcome visitor on the ground that he was sick, when there was nothing the matter with him;[161] and he deliberately broke an oath which he had sworn, because it had been forced from him.[162] In Japan, Burma, and Siam, truth is more respected than in China. “In love of truth,” says Professor Rein, “the Japanese, so far as my experience goes, are not inferior to us Europeans.” [163] The Burmese, though partial to much exaggeration, are generally truthful.[164] And “the mendacity so characteristic of Orientals is not a national defect among the Siamese. Lying, no doubt, is often resorted to as a protection against injustice and oppression, but the chances are greatly in favour of truth when evidence is sought.”[165]
[153] Wells Williams, The Middle Kingdom, i. 834.
[154] Smith, Chinese Characteristics, p. 271.
[155] Cooke, China, p. 414. Edkins, Religion in China, p. 122. Bowring, Siam, i. 106. Wells Williams, op. cit. i. 834.
[156] Smith, Chinese Characteristics, p. 271.
[157] Wells Williams, op. cit. i. 522.
[158] Lun Yü, i. 8. 2; vii. 24; ix. 24; xii. 10. 1; xv. 5. 2. Chung Yung, xx. 18. Douglas, Confucianism and Taouism, pp. 103, 114, 146. Legge, Chinese Classics, i. 100.
[159] Lun Yü, xiii. 18. 2.
[160] Legge, Chinese Classics, i. 100. Smith, Chinese Characteristics, p. 267.
[161] Lun Yü, vi. 13.