THE written Chinese is not an alphabetic, but a sign language; that is, the words are not expressed by letters, but by signs or characters, each word having its own special and distinct sign, each differing from all the others. There are as many as ten thousand in common use, and twenty-five thousand—some say more, and one author says two hundred and fifty thousand—different characters in their written language. To learn these twenty-five thousand, or even the ten thousand, is almost an impossibility; so it is not probable that there lives any one person who can read all Chinese books.
The men of that country respect and value education, and most of them are proud of any ability to read they may possess. They even pretend to be able to read when their knowledge of the characters is very small. When they come into the Christian chapels, each one is ready to accept a hymn-book, and most of them know enough of numbers to find the place; but it is not an unusual thing to find a man singing from a book which he holds upside down.
If the men had time and money to spare, all would no doubt get an education, but poverty forbids. Only few women can read. It is hardly thought worth while to send a girl to school.
Schools are not free in China, nor are they usually open to all. Occasionally benevolent men hire a teacher or open a school to teach those who have time to learn and yet have no money to pay; but most of the schools are supported by the relatives of the pupils. A number of families usually unite and hire a teacher for their children; though in the homes of the rich a special teacher, or it may be several teachers, are employed to educate the children. While there are schools supported by the Government, the pupils are expected to pay in presents to the teachers. It is said that an allowance is also made by the Government to the successful pupils in these schools.
There are no school-houses, as we think of them, in China. Schools are taught in any room that may afford shelter from cold and heat, sun and storm. These are sometimes only sheds; at other times small, dark rooms connected with a dwelling; and not rarely are they parts of some idol temple. The furniture consists of a seat and a table for the teacher, and benches and desks for the scholars. Those for the pupils have usually very little ornament or beauty. Occasionally some sentences from noted writers, or the names of wise men, adorn the walls.
When the boys meet at the beginning of a term, though a scholar may enter at any time, they are examined by the teacher as to their knowledge. If it be a child's first day at school, he is soon and with little ceremony started on the road to learning. In former days the father who brought his son, led, after an introduction to the teacher, to the name of Confucius, or of some other great name of the past, and taught his boy to bow to that name as though reverencing his greatness and worshiping his memory. This custom is more and more neglected now, and may soon be forgotten.
When the school is opened, the teacher calls around the boys who are equally far advanced, and reads a line or two of their lesson. As soon as his voice is still, all at once shout out the words he read. The teacher listens and corrects any mistakes; then he has them repeat the line and continue the repetitions until all can read it correctly. They are then sent to their seats to fix both sound and sign of the words in their minds. Others are called up to go through the same course, until all have received their lessons. The boy who has never read a word is taught to study in the same way, the only difference being in the book from which the lesson is given. The book for beginners is called the "Three Character Classic," because composed of short sentences of three words each.
The Chinese scholars all study aloud, and often each tries to outdo his neighbor in shouting. That they think is hard study. When all are diligently studying, the teacher may be able to hear a good-sized clap of thunder, but ordinary sounds outside do not disturb his meditation. When there is a lull in the sound, the teacher speaks or raps on his desk, and the harmonious inharmony redoubles its volume. The Chinese think that noise and study go together.
When a boy is ready to recite, he takes his book to the teacher, and, as is said in China, "backs the book," that is, he turns his back on book and teacher, and recites the lesson. If well recited a commendation and new lesson are given, and the pupil returns to his desk to add to the volume of sound already filling the room.
The boys are also, at the beginning of their education, taught to write the characters; and in these two studies they may spend a year and even several years. After the pupil has learned to read many characters, the teacher begins to explain the meaning of the words and phrases read. After a while the scholar is taught to write sentences and compositions of his own; he may also be taught a little history, but not much besides. Grammar, arithmetic, geography, and other studies are seldom taught,—in many schools never. Probably, except as compelled by business, not one Chinaman in a hundred thousand knows anything about other languages; and their knowledge of other nations is very slight. To the ordinary Chinaman the world is very little more than a square plot of ground a hundred miles or more across, with his own home in the center.
A boy designed for business must gain his business education, especially a knowledge of accounts and letter writing, in places of business, not in the school. Business is for business, schools for reading.
The length of time spent at school varies from one day to a life-time. The Chinese system of education, such as it is, gives opportunity for a man to study till he dies of old age, and it is not an unheard of fact for a grandfather, father, and son to be students at the same time and place, each studying with the hope of graduating with the highest degree at Peking. It may be that the grandson will graduate first, and the grandfather receive his degree, too, before death closes the school to him.—Christian Weekly.