Chinese Sketches by Herbert A. Giles — Read

One of the most curious and harmless customs of the Chinese is that of / carefully burning every scrap of paper inscribed with the cherished / characters which, as far as calligraphy goes, justly take precedence / of those of any other language on the globe. Not content with mere / reduction by fire, a conscientious Chinaman will collect the ashes / thus produced, and sealing them up in some earthen vessel, will bury / them deep in the earth or sink them to the bottom of a river. Then / only does he consider that he has fully discharged his duty towards / paper which has by mere accident become as sacred in the eyes of all / good men as the most precious relic of any martyred saint in the / estimation of a Catholic priest. Rich men are constantly in the habit / of paying _chiffoniers_ to collect such remnants of written paper as / they may find lying about the streets, and in all Chinese towns there / are receptacles at the most frequented points where the results of / their labours may be burned. The above facts are pretty generally / known to foreigners in China and elsewhere, but we do not think that / native ideas on the subject have ever been brought forward otherwise / than indirectly. We therefore give the translation of a short essay / published in 1870 by an enthusiastic scholar, and distributed gratis / among his erring countrymen: --

"From of old down to the present time our sages have devoted / themselves to the written character -- that fairest jewel in heaven / above or earth beneath. Those, therefore, who are stimulated by a / thirst for _fame_, strive to attain their end by the excellency of / their compositions; others, attracted by desire for wealth, pursue / their object with the help of day-book and ledgers. In both cases / men would be helpless without a knowledge of the art of writing. / How, indeed, could despatches be composed, agreements drawn up, / letters exchanged, and genealogies recorded, but for the / assistance of the written character? By what means would a man / chronicle the glory of his ancestors, indite the marriage deed, or / comfort anxious parents when exiled to a distant land? In what way / could he secure property to his sons and grandchildren, borrow or / lend money, enter into partnership, or divide a patrimony, but / with the testimony of written documents? The very labourer in the / fields, tenant of a few acres, must have his rights guaranteed in / black and white; and household servants require more than verbal / assurance that their wages will not fail to be paid. The / prescription of the physician, about to call back some suffering / patient from the gates of death, is taken down with pen and ink; / and the prognostication of the soothsayer, warning men of evil or / predicting good fortune, exemplifies in another direction the use / of the written character. In a word, the art of writing enriches / and ennobles man, hands him over to life or death, confers upon / him honours and distinctions, or covers him with abuse and shame.