There are, so far, no distinct parties in the National Assembly, that is, as regards the places occupied in the House. Men of various shades of opinion, Radicals, Liberals and Conservatives, are all mixed up together. The first two benches are set aside for representatives of the nobility, with precedence from the left of the president round to his right. Then come officials, scholars and leading merchants on the next two benches. Behind them, again, on four rows of benches, are the delegates from the provincial assemblies. There is thus a kind of House of Lords in front, with a House of Commons, the representatives of the nation, at the back. The leanings of the former class, as might be supposed, are mostly of a conservative tendency, while the sympathies of the latter are rather with progressive ideas; at the same time, there will be found among the Lords a certain sprinkling of Radicals, and among the Commons not a few whose views are of an antiquated, not to say reactionary, type.

With the above scheme the Chinese people are given to understand quite clearly that while their advice in matters concerning the administration of government will be warmly welcomed, all legislative power will remain, as heretofore, confined to the emperor alone. At the first blush, this seems like giving with one hand and taking away with the other; and so perhaps it would work out in more than one nation of the West. But those who know the Chinese at home know that when they offer political advice they mean it to be taken. The great democracy of China, living in the greatest republic the world has ever seen, would never tolerate any paltering with national liberties in the present or in the future, any more than has been the case in the past. Those who sit in the seats of authority at the capital are far too well acquainted with the temper of their countrymen to believe for a moment that, where such vital interests are concerned, there can be anything contemplated save steady and satisfactory progress towards the goal proposed. If the ruling Manchus seize the opportunity now offered them, then, in spite of simmering sedition here and there over the empire, they may succeed in continuing a line which in its early days had a glorious record of achievement, to the great advantage of the Chinese nation. If, on the other hand, they neglect this chance, there may result one of those frightful upheavals from which the empire has so often suffered. China will pass again through the melting-pot, to emerge once more, as on all previous occasions, purified and strengthened by the process.



BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. The Chinese Classics, by James Legge, D.D., late Professor of Chinese at Oxford.

A translation of the whole of the Confucian Canon, comprising the Four Books in which are given the discourses of Confucius and Mencius, the Book of History, the Odes, the Annals of Confucius' native State, the Book of Rites, and the Book of Changes.

2. The Ancient History of China, by F. Hirth, Ph.D., Professor of Chinese at Columbia University, New York.

A sketch of Chinese history from fabulous ages down to 221 B.C., containing a good deal of information of an antiquarian character, and altogether placing in its most attractive light what must necessarily be rather a dull period for the general reader.

3. China, by E. H. Parker, Professor of Chinese at Victoria University, Manchester.

A general account of China, chiefly valuable for commercial and statistical information, sketch-maps of ancient trade-routes, etc.

4. A Chinese Biographical Dictionary, by H. A. Giles, LL.D., Professor of Chinese at the University of Cambridge.

This work contains 2579 short lives of Chinese Emperors, statesmen, generals, scholars, priests, and other classes, including some women, from the earliest times down to the present day, arranged alphabetically.

5. A Comprehensive Geography of the Chinese Empire, by L. Richard.

This work is rightly named "comprehensive," for it contains a great deal of information which cannot be strictly classed as geographical, all of which, however, is of considerable value to the student.

6. Descriptive Sociology (Chinese), by E. T. C. Werner, H.B.M. Consul at Foochow.

A volume of the series initiated by Herbert Spenger. It consists of a large number of sociological facts grouped and arranged in chronological order, and is of course purely a work of reference.

7. A History of Chinese Literature, by H. A. Giles.

Notes on two or three hundred writers of history, philosophy, biography, travel, poetry, plays, fiction, etc., with a large number of translated extracts grouped under the above headings and arranged in chronological order.

8. Chinese Poetry in English Verse, by H. A. Giles.

Rhymed translations of nearly two hundred short poems from the earliest ages down to the present times.

9. An Introduction to the History of Chinese Pictorial Art, by H. A. Giles.

Notes on the lives and works of over three hundred painters of all ages, chiefly translated from the writings of Chinese art-critics, with sixteen reproductions of famous Chinese pictures.

10. Scraps from a Collector's Note-book, by F. Hirth.

Chiefly devoted to notes on painters of the present dynasty, 1644- 1905, with twenty-one reproductions of famous pictures, forming a complementary supplement to No. 9.

11. Religions of Ancient China, by H. A. Giles.

A short account of the early worship of one God, followed by brief notices of Taoism, Buddhism, Nestorian Christianity, Mahommedanism, and other less well-known faiths which have been introduced at various dates into China.

12. Chinese Characteristics, by the Rev. Arthur Smith, D.D.

A humorous but at the same time serious examination into the modes of thought and springs of action which peculiarly distinguish the Chinese people.

13. Village Life in China, by the Rev. Arthur Smith.

The scope of this work is sufficiently indicated by its title.

14. China under the Empress Dowager, by J. O. Bland, and E. Backhouse.

An interesting account of Chinese Court Life between 1860 and 1908, with important sidelights on the Boxer troubles and the Siege of the Legations in 1900.

15. The Imperial History of China, by Rev. J. Macgowan.

A short and compact work on a subject which has not been successfully handled.

16. Indiscreet Letters from Peking, by B. Putnam Weale.

Though too outspoken to meet with general approbation, this work is considered by many to give the most faithful account of the Siege of the Legations, as seen by an independent witness.

17. Buddhism as a Religion, by H. Hackmann, Lic. Theol.

A very useful volume, translated from the German, showing the various developments of Buddhism in different parts of the world.

18. Chuang Tzu, by H. A. Giles.

A complete translation of the writings of the leading Taoist philosopher, who flourished in the fourth and third centuries B.C.

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