and civilization have in this European
world of ours depended for ages upon two principles--the spirit of a
gentleman, and the spirit of religion." We often hear people,
especially Westerners, calling themselves "highly civilized", and to
some extent they have good grounds for their claim, but do they really
manifest the qualifications mentioned by Burke? Are they indeed so
"highly civilized" as to be in all respects worthy paragons to the
so-called semi-civilized nations? Have not some of their policies been
such as can be characterized only as crooked and selfish actions which
less civilized peoples would not have thought of? I believe that every
disinterested reader will be able to supply confirmatory illustrations
for himself, but I will enforce the point by giving a few Chinese
ideals of a truly civilized man:

"He guards his body as if holding jade"; i.e., he will not contaminate
himself with mental or moral filth.

"He does not gratify his appetite, nor in his dwelling place does he
seek ease"; i.e., he uses the physical without being submerged by it.

"Without weapons he will not attack a tiger, nor will he dare to cross
a river without a boat"; in other words he will never ruin himself and
his family by purely speculative practices.

He will "send charcoal in a snowstorm, but he will not add flowers to
embroidery", meaning that he renders timely assistance when necessary,
but does not curry favor by presents to those who do not need them.

Our most honored heroes are said to have made their virtue "brilliant"
and one of them engraved on his bath-tub the axiom--"If you can
renovate yourself one day, do so from day to day. Let there be daily
renovation." Our ideal for the ruler is that the regulation of the
state must commence with his regulation of himself.

It is too often forgotten that civilization, like religion, originally
came from the East. Long before Europe and America were civilized, yea
while they were still in a state of barbarism, there were nations in
the East, including China, superior to them in manners, in education,
and in government; possessed of a literature equal to any, and of arts
and sciences totally unknown in the West. Self-preservation and
self-interest make all men restless, and so Eastern peoples gradually
moved to the West taking their knowledge with them; Western people who
came into close contact with them learned their civilization. This
fusion of East and West was