In point of size and importance, however, this encyclopædia yields place to one other, entitled Koo kin too shoo tseih ching, or A Complete Collection of Ancient and Modern Books. During the reign of the Emperor Kang-he (1661–1721) it occurred to that monarch that, in view of the gradual alterations which were being introduced into the texts of works of interest and value, it would be advisable to reprint such from the old editions. He therefore appointed a commission, and directed them to reprint in one huge collection all such works as they might deem worthy of preservation. A complete set of copper type was cast for the undertaking, and when the commisioners brought their labours to a close, they were able to lay before the emperor a very palpable proof of their diligence in the shape of a compilation consisting of 6109 volumes. The contents they divided under thirty-two heads, embracing works on every subject contained in the national literature. Only a small edition was printed off in the first instance, and before long the Government, yielding to the necessities of a severe monetary crisis, ordered the copper type employed to print it to be melted down for cash. Thus only a few copies of the first edition are in existence, and it is but rarely that one finds its way into the market. It so happens, however, that one is now (1876) for sale at Peking, and it is much to be hoped that this copy of a work which is the largest in the world, unique of its kind, and incapable of reproduction, may, though at present fate is adverse, find its way to the shelves of some one of the great libraries of the West.
Space would fail were we even to refer to the immense number of biographies and of works on the sciences, on education, and on jurisprudence, which have from time to time issued, and are still issuing, from the presses in China. Nor need the literature of the religious sects of China—the Confucianists, the Buddhists, and the Taouists—detain us long, since the works of Confucius have already been noticed, and since the great bulk of Chinese Buddhist literature is of Indian origin. It remains, therefore, for us to refer only to the Taouist literature, which has its foundation in The Sutra of Reason and of Virtue by Laou-tsze, the founder of the sect. Like Confucius, of whom he was a contemporary, he held office at the court of Chow; but being less ambitious than the sage, he retired early from his post, and we are told that as he passed the frontier on his way westward, whither we know not, he placed in the hands of the officer in charge of the frontier guard a small volume, which embodied the results of his meditations. According to the interpretation put upon his system thus expounded by the famous commentator Choo He, it would appear to bear a strong analogy to those of the Quietists and Manicheists. “Laou-tsze's scheme of philosophy,” he tells us, “consists in modesty, self-emptiness, in being void of desires, quiet and free from exertion, in being self-empty, retiring, and self-controlling in actual life.” But beyond this his great object seems to have been to elucidate and develop his idea of the relations between something which he calls Taou and the universe. To this Taou, Laou-tsze refers all things as the ultimate ideal unity of the universe. All things originate from Taou, conform to Taou, and to Taou they at last return Formless, it is the cause of form. It is an eternal road along it all beings and all things walk; but no being made it, for it is being itself, and yet nothing. It is the path, and also the path-goers, and everything and nothing, and the cause and effect of all.
This is a sufficiently mystical foundation to allow of any superstructures, however wildly superstitious, to be based upon it. And just as the religion of ancient Rome becama incrusted and overlaid by superstitious vanities gathered from Egypt, and from wherever the Roman arms penetrated, so the teachings of Laou-tsze have been debased and disfigured in the hands of later writers, who, casting aside his profound speculations, busy themselves with the pursuit of immortality, the search after the philosopher's stone, the use of amulets, with the observance of fasts and sacrifices, rituals and charms, and the indefinite multiplication of objects of worship
In China, as elsewhere, the first development of literary talent is found in poetry. The songs and ballads which form the Book of Odes, already spoken of, date back to a time long antecedent to the production of any works of which we have knowledge. In those early days, before China was China, the then empire was divided into a number of feudal states, all of which, however, acknowledged fealty to the ruling sovereign, at whose court were a number of music-masters and historiographers, whose duty it was to collect and set to music the songs of the people, and to preserve the historical records of the empire. In strict imitation of the surroundings of their liege lord the feudatory princes numbered among their retinues officers of like position and professing similar functions. At stated intervals these princes, accompanied by their followings, were in the habit of meeting the king at certain recognized places to take orders for the future and to receive credit or blame as the case might be for their past conduct. On such occasions the music masters would carry with them the ballads and songs collected in their principalities, and present them to their superior at the royal court. These he would collect and classify, reminding one of Queen Elizabeth's minister, who, according to the Spectator, “had all manner of books and ballads brought to him, of what kind soever, and took great notice how much they took with the people; upon which he would, and certainly might very well judge of their present dispositions, and of the most proper way of applying them according to his own purposes.” Thus it happened, that at the time of Confucius there existed an official collection of some 3000 songs. On these the sage set to work, and, in the words of the historian Sze-ma Tseen, “he rejected those which were only repetitions of others, and selected those which would be serviceable for the inculcation of propriety and righteousness.” Such he arranged to the number of 311 under four heads, namely, “National Airs,” the “Lesser” and the “Greater Eulogies,” and the “Song of Homage,” and gave the title of She king, or Book of Odes, to the collection.
