a quite exceptional
popularity in China; it was repeatedly republished with laudatory
prefaces, and so late as the 18th century was regarded as a monument of
morality, and as the master-piece of the Chinese theatre. It would seem
to have remained without any worthy competitors; for, although it had
been originally designed to produce a reaction against the immorality of
the drama then in fashion, especially of Wang-Chi-Fou's celebrated
_Si-Siang-Ki_ (_The Story of the Western Pavilion_), yet the fourth
period of the Chinese drama, under the Ming dynasty, from 1368 to 1644,
exhibited no improvement. "What" (says the preface to the 1704 edition
of _Pi-Pa-Ki_) "do you find there? Farcical dialogue, a mass of scenes
in which one fancies one hears the hubbub of the streets or the ignoble
language of the highways, the extravagances of demons and spirits, in
addition to love-intrigues repugnant to delicacy of manners." Nor would
it appear that the Chinese theatre has ever recovered from its decay.

Theoretical aims.

In theory, no drama could be more consistently elevated in purpose and
in tone than the Chinese. Every play, we learn, should have both a moral
and a meaning. A virtuous aim is imposed upon Chinese dramatists by an
article of the penal code of the empire; and those who write immoral
plays are to expect after death a purgatory which will last so long as
these plays continue to be performed. In practice, however, the Chinese
drama falls far short of its ideal; indeed, according to the native
critic already cited, among ten thousand playwrights not one is to be
found intent upon perfecting the education of mankind by means of
precepts and examples.

Religious drama.

Historical.

Domestic.

The Chinese are, like the Hindus, unacquainted with the distinction
between tragedy and comedy; they classify their plays according to
subjects in twelve categories. It may be doubted whether what seems the
highest of these is actually such; for the religious element in the
Chinese drama is often sheer buffoonery. Moreover, Chinese religious
life, as reflected in the drama, seems one in which creed elbows creed,
and superstitions are welcome whatever their origin. Of all religious
traditions and doctrines, however, those of Buddhism (which had reached
China long before the known beginnings of its drama) are the most
prominent; thus, the theme of absolute self-sacrifice is treated in one
play,[23] that of entire