Historic China, and other sketches - University of Macau Library

236 EDUCATION IN CHINA.
up many a prayer and sacrifice for the future career of
her son. Until about seven years of age, the life of a
Chinese boy is an intellectual blank j then comes a
mighty change. He must either be sent to school, or
a tutor must be engaged for him at home. In any
case, he must forthwith enter upon that course of study
by which alone the worldly successes most prized by the
Chinese are to be obtained. Up to this moment he
has learned absolutely nothing ; save, perhaps, to be
respectful to his seniors, and not to step on written
paper, or even to let it fall to the ground. But now
he has a tedious task before him, to accomplish which
we will suppose that he goes to the village school, and
thither we will follow his steps, lighter at first starting
than a few months later on.
Here he is formally presented to the master, to whom
he usually conveys some trifling present over and above
the wretched monthly fee with which the latter is remu-
nerated for his services. He prostrates himself before
the image of Confucius, the recognised fountain of all
knowledge; and then the schoolmaster proceeds to
choose for him an appropriate personal name to be
retained in after life, after which he settles down to his
allotted task. For the past six centuries this initiatory
task has always been the same—the committal to memory
of a tiny primer, called the Three Character Classic, con-
taining miscellaneous information on a variety of subjects
compressed into the narrowest possible compass. Each
character, as it occurs, is associated in the mind of the
learner rather with its sound than with its meaning in