hinese characters, representing one of my favorite quotations from
his world-famous ancestor. I give an English translation herewith:

"Szema-New asked about the Superior Man. The Master said, 'The
superior man is without anxiety or fear.'

"'Being without anxiety or fear,' said New, 'does this constitute
what we should call the superior man?'

"The Master replied, 'When a man looks inward and finds no guilt
there, why should he grieve? or what should he fear?'"

On board _S. S. Kutwo_, Yangtze River, China.

{132}

XIV

SIDELIGHTS ON CHINESE CHARACTER AND INDUSTRY

Having mentioned some of the good points of John Chinaman (and he has
many excellent points), it is also necessary to point out some of his
shortcomings. The trouble with John is that he had some tiptop
ancestors, but he fell into the habit of looking backward at them so
continuously that he has failed, in recent centuries, to make any
further progress. He had a civilization and a literature when our
white ancestors were wearing skins; but there he stopped, so that we
have not only caught up with him, but have passed him almost
immeasurably. The result is that now China is waking up to find that a
great number of ancient abuses, both in public and private life, must
be sloughed off if she is to become a genuinely healthy modern nation.

Of what has been accomplished with reference to opium I have already
written at length. But this is only a beginning.

With the opium evil under foot, China will still have other dragons to
slay--if I may use the term dragon in an evil sense in a country whose
national emblem is the dragon. For one thing, slavery still exists in
China. A friend of mine in Peking told me of an acquaintance, an
educated Chinaman, who bought a young girl two years ago for two
hundred taels (about $120 gold), and says now he would not take one
thousand two hundred (about $720 gold). Already, however, a vigorous
sentiment for the complete abolition of slavery has {133} developed
over the empire. About six months ago an imperial edict was issued
prohibiting slave trading, decreeing that child-slaves should become
free on reaching the age of twenty-five, and opening ways for older
slaves to buy their freedom. The peons or slaves of the Manchu princes
were, however, excepted from the terms of this edict.

Foot-binding also continues a grievous and widespread evil. Formerly
every respectable Chinese father bound the fe