Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
- DRY STATEMENTS
- PRELUDE: FIRST IMPRESSIONS
- CHAPTER I ON THE UPPER YANGTSE
- CHAPTER II A LAND JOURNEY
- CHAPTER III LIFE IN A CHINESE CITY
- CHAPTER IV HINDRANCES AND ANNOYANCES
- CHAPTER V CURRENT COIN IN CHINA
- CHAPTER VI FOOTBINDING
- CHAPTER VII ANTI-FOOTBINDING
- CHAPTER VIII THE POSITION OF WOMEN
- CHAPTER IX BIRTHS, DEATHS, AND MARRIAGES
- CHAPTER X CHINESE MORALS
- CHAPTER XI SUPERSTITIONS
- CHAPTER XII OUR MISSIONARIES
- CHAPTER XIII UP-COUNTRY SHOPPING AND UP-COUNTRY WAYS
- CHAPTER XIV SOLDIERS
- CHAPTER XV CHINESE STUDENTS
- CHAPTER XVI A FATHER'S ADVICE TO HIS SON
- CHAPTER XVII BUDDHIST MONASTERIES
- CHAPTER XVIII A CHINESE ORDINATION
- CHAPTER XIX THE SACRED MOUNTAIN OF OMI
- CHAPTER XX CHINESE SENTIMENT
- CHAPTER XXI A SUMMER TRIP TO CHINESE TIBET
- CHAPTER XXII ARTS AND INDUSTRIES
- CHAPTER XXIII A LITTLE PEKING PUG
- PRELUDE: PART I.—GETTING TO PEKING and PART II.—THE SIGHTS OF PEKING
- CHAPTER I THE CHINESE EMPEROR'S MAGNIFICENCE
- CHAPTER II THE EMPRESS, THE EMPEROR, AND THE AUDIENCE
- CHAPTER III SOLIDARITY, CO-OPERATION, AND IMPERIAL FEDERATION
- CHAPTER IV BEGINNINGS OF REFORM
- CHAPTER V THE COUP D'ÉTAT
CHAPTER XV - CHINESE STUDENTS
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 March 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
- DRY STATEMENTS
- PRELUDE: FIRST IMPRESSIONS
- CHAPTER I ON THE UPPER YANGTSE
- CHAPTER II A LAND JOURNEY
- CHAPTER III LIFE IN A CHINESE CITY
- CHAPTER IV HINDRANCES AND ANNOYANCES
- CHAPTER V CURRENT COIN IN CHINA
- CHAPTER VI FOOTBINDING
- CHAPTER VII ANTI-FOOTBINDING
- CHAPTER VIII THE POSITION OF WOMEN
- CHAPTER IX BIRTHS, DEATHS, AND MARRIAGES
- CHAPTER X CHINESE MORALS
- CHAPTER XI SUPERSTITIONS
- CHAPTER XII OUR MISSIONARIES
- CHAPTER XIII UP-COUNTRY SHOPPING AND UP-COUNTRY WAYS
- CHAPTER XIV SOLDIERS
- CHAPTER XV CHINESE STUDENTS
- CHAPTER XVI A FATHER'S ADVICE TO HIS SON
- CHAPTER XVII BUDDHIST MONASTERIES
- CHAPTER XVIII A CHINESE ORDINATION
- CHAPTER XIX THE SACRED MOUNTAIN OF OMI
- CHAPTER XX CHINESE SENTIMENT
- CHAPTER XXI A SUMMER TRIP TO CHINESE TIBET
- CHAPTER XXII ARTS AND INDUSTRIES
- CHAPTER XXIII A LITTLE PEKING PUG
- PRELUDE: PART I.—GETTING TO PEKING and PART II.—THE SIGHTS OF PEKING
- CHAPTER I THE CHINESE EMPEROR'S MAGNIFICENCE
- CHAPTER II THE EMPRESS, THE EMPEROR, AND THE AUDIENCE
- CHAPTER III SOLIDARITY, CO-OPERATION, AND IMPERIAL FEDERATION
- CHAPTER IV BEGINNINGS OF REFORM
- CHAPTER V THE COUP D'ÉTAT
Summary
Far more formidable than the soldiery are the literati of China. Soldiering is despised in China; learning is esteemed. The literati also are far more numerous; they arrive in great armies, nominally ten thousand strong or more, and each young man of any standing has his pipe-bearer and three or more servants, possibly in the case of military students a horse or two and attendant grooms as well. In the summer of 1897 at Chengtu there were fourteen thousand candidates, who had already passed the first of the five examinations necessary before entering the highest body in China, the Hanlin College. They were all what is commonly Englished into B.A.'s; that is, Shiu Tsai, or Budding Talent. And there were ninety-six degrees to be conferred! Picture the disappointment in a land where for twelve centuries no official post of any kind has been conferred without preliminary examination. Men go up year after year, year after year, in many cases collecting contributions from friends and patrons towards travelling expenses. Sometimes these contributions are given under promise that, if the needy student do not pass this year, he will not try again. But this is a promise made to be broken. And I believe it is really true, if a man go on competing for his B.A. and failing, at the age of eighty he is considered to have passed.
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- Intimate ChinaThe Chinese as I Have Seen Them, pp. 292 - 316Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010First published in: 1899