again as to Astronomy:—
“The astronomical knowledge of the Chinese was almost certainly derived from their kinsmen in Mesopotamia.”
Dr. Edkins was struck by the many ancient customs pointing to a connection between Western Asia and China, he calls attention to:—
“the resemblances between Chinese writing and the pre-cuneiform or linear Akkadian character; ’a deep relationship undoubtedly between the vocabulary of the two languages.’”
Both the Revs. C. J. Ball and M. de Lacouperie agree:—
“in regarding Chinese as a representative of a much earlier stage of Turano-Sythic speech than any other living language and as still including elements going back to some source common to it, with the founders of Elamo-Babylonian civilization.”
Mr. Simcox states that the Akkad religion:—
“was purely naturalistic, it consisted in the recognition of a ‘Spirit of Heaven,’ and a ‘Spirit of Earth,’ but these spirits were not worshipped but ‘conjured’; hence charms were older than litanies.”
and as to ancestor worship Mr. Simcox says:—
“it was the first branch of the Egyptian religion to become associated with proprietary ideas, which also constitutes the leading feature of the Chinese religion, the worship of the spirits or manes of deceased ancestors.”