absorption in the religious life in
another.[24] The historical drama is not unknown to the Chinese; and
although a law prohibits the bringing on the stage of "emperors,
empresses, and the famous princes, ministers, and generals of former
ages," no such restriction is observed in practice. In _Han-Kong-Tseu_
(_The Sorrows of Han_), for instance, which treats a national historic
legend strangely recalling in parts the story of Esther and the myth of
the daughter of Erechtheus, the emperor Yuen-Ti (the representative, to
be sure, of a fallen dynasty) plays a part, and a sufficiently sorry
one. By far the greater number, however, of the Chinese plays accessible
in translations belong to the domestic species, and to that subspecies
which may be called the criminal drama. Their favourite virtue is piety,
of a formal[25] or a practical[26] kind to parents or parents-in-law;
their favourite interest lies in the discovery of long-hidden guilt, and
in the vindication of persecuted innocence.[27] In the choice and
elaboration of such subjects they leave little to be desired by the most
ardent devotees of the literature of agony. Besides this description of
plays, we have at least one love-comedy pure and simple--a piece of a
nature not "tolerably mild," but ineffably harmless.[28]

Range of Characters.

Free in its choice of themes, the Chinese drama is likewise remarkably
unrestricted in its range of characters. Chinese society, it is well
known, is not based, like Indian, upon the principle of caste; rank is
in China determined by office, and this again depends on the results of
examination. These familiar facts are constantly brought home to the
reader of Chinese plays. The _Tchoang-Yuen_, or senior classman on the
list of licentiates, is the flower of Chinese society, and the hero of
many a drama;[29] and it is a proud boast that for years "one's
ancestors have held high posts, which they owed to their literary
successes."[30] On the other hand, a person who has failed in his
military examination, becomes, as if by a natural transition, a
man-eating monster.[31] But of mere class the Chinese drama is no
respecter, painting with noteworthy freedom the virtues and the vices of
nearly every phase of society. The same liberty is taken with regard to
the female sex; it is clear that in earlier times there were few
vexatious restrictions in Chinese life upon the social intercourse
between men and women. The variety of female