established in every province in China. Freedom to embrace the
Christian faith has been guaranteed by the Chinese government since
1860, and as a rule the missionaries have free scope in teaching and
preaching, though local disturbances are not infrequent. The number of
members of the Roman Catholic Church in China was reckoned by the
Jesuit fathers at Shanghai to be, in 1907, "about one million"; in the
same year the Protestant societies reckoned in all 250,000 church
members. By the Chinese, Roman Catholicism is called the "Religion of
the Lord of Heaven"; Protestantism the "Religion of Jesus." For the
progress and effects of Christianity in China see Sec. _History_, and
MISSIONS, Sec. _China_. ED.]

_Education and the Press._

The educational system of China till nearly the close of the 19th
century was confined in its scope to the study of Chinese classics.
Elementary instruction was not provided by the state. The well-to-do
engaged private tutors for their sons; the poorer boys were taught in
small schools on a voluntary basis. No curriculum was compulsory, but
the books used and the programme pursued followed a traditional rule.
The boys (there were no schools for girls) began by memorizing the
classics for four or five years. Then followed letter-writing and easy
composition. This completed the education of the vast majority of the
boys not intended for the public service. The chief merit of the system
was that it developed the memory and the imitative faculty. For
secondary education somewhat better provision was made, practically the
only method of attaining eminence in the state being through the schools
(see Sec. _Civil Service_). At prefectural cities and provincial capitals
colleges were maintained at the public expense, and at these
institutions a more or less thorough knowledge of the classics might be
obtained. At the public examinations held periodically the exercises
proposed were original poems and literary essays. Three degrees were
conferred, _Siu-ts'ai_ (budding talent), _Chu-jen_ (promoted scholar)
and _Chin-shih_ (entered scholar). The last degree was given to those
who passed the final examination at Peking, and the successful
candidates were also called metropolitan graduates.

The first education on western lines was given by the Roman Catholic
missionaries. In 1852 they founded a college for the education of
native priests; they also founded and maintained