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 LECTURE I THE CHINESE LANGUAGE CHINA AND THE CHINESE THE CHINESE LANGUAGE If the Chinese people were to file one by one past a given point, the interesting procession would never come to an end. Before the last man of those living to-day had gone by, another and a new generation would have grown up, and so on for ever and ever. The importance, as a factor in the sum of human affairs, of this vast nation,—of its language, of its literature, of its religions, of its history, of its manners and customs,—goes therefore without saying. Yet a serious attention to China and her affairs is of very recent growth. Twenty-five years ago there was but one professor of Chinese in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; and even that one spent his time more in adorning his profession than in imparting his knowledge to classes of eager students. Now there are all together five chairs of Chinese, the occupants of which are all more or less actively employed. But we are still sadly lacking in what Columbia University appears to have obtained by the stroke of a generous pen,—adequate funds for endowment. Meanwhile, I venture to offer my respectful congratulations to Columbia University on having surmounted this initial difficulty, and also to prophesy that the foresight of the liberal donor will be amply justified before many years are over. I have often been asked if Chinese is, or is not, a difficult language to learn. To this question it is quite impossible to give a categorical answer, for the simple reason that Chinese consists of at least two languages, one colloquial and the other written, which for all practical purposes are about as distinct as they well could be.