The last of the "Five Classics" is the _Book of Changes_, the most mysterious and the most unfathomable of all the books in the Chinese language. It consists of sixty-four short essays, and is founded upon the same number of lineal figures, each made up of six lines, some of which are whole and some are divided. From these figures are evolved all kinds of theories on moral, social, and spiritualistic questions. It is the happy hunting-ground of fortune-tellers, who can predict from the peculiar way in which the lines happen to be placed in relation to each other whether prosperity is to come into a man's life, or whether misery and sorrow are to close it in disaster. In the above I have given a very rough and general summary of the school-books that the youth of China have had to study from the earliest days down to the present. The common subjects that are taught in the schools at home, such as arithmetic, geography, grammar, and such like, have no place in the schools of this country. The result is that the whole nation is grossly ignorant of every other country outside of their own, and this has engendered conceit and contempt and an arrogant spirit for countries that stand in the van of civilization in the West. But a mighty change is even now working in this old Empire, and men are beginning to realize that the system of education that has so far been in existence is a radically defective one, and must be displaced by those that are more in a line with the ones that have raised the West to such a high pitch of learning in so many departments of study. There is just now a tremendous thirst for Western education, and the nation seems prepared to abandon the old conservative systems that have been such a hindrance to the advance of thought in the past. CHAPTER XIII THE MANDARIN Mandarins' great power--Ambition of every father that son should be a mandarin--A famous Prime Minister--Description of a mandarin of a county--His three titles--Clever method of squeezing complainant and defendant--A typical case--Crime not noticed until officially brought before the notice of the mandarin--Violations of law by mandarins for the purpose of squeezing--Methods of judicial procedure--Torture used to cause confession--Mandarins allowed large discretionary powers in their decisions--Two typical instances. Any man who is in office under the Government is called a mandarin. It must be understood, however, that he is actually in its service to get this honourable title for whilst many, through courtesy, are addressed as mandarins, it is only those who are in the _bona fide_ employment of the country that really can be considered as such.