. Desultory notes on the government and people of China, and on the Chinese language: illustrated with a sketch of the province of Kwang-Tûng, shewing its division into departments and districts. as it will,to show the beginner to what he ought to confinehis attention. Morrison, in his Grammar, gives five sheng forthe colloquial, as spoken by the mandarins; viz.,the shang ping, hsia ping, shang, chii, and ju;which he calls the upper even, the lower even,the high, the going, and the entering; and marksthem respectively by — A \ / U • ^^ adds,however, that in the Pekin dialect the shorttones (me
. Desultory notes on the government and people of China, and on the Chinese language: illustrated with a sketch of the province of Kwang-Tûng, shewing its division into departments and districts. as it will,to show the beginner to what he ought to confinehis attention. Morrison, in his Grammar, gives five sheng forthe colloquial, as spoken by the mandarins; viz.,the shang ping, hsia ping, shang, chii, and ju;which he calls the upper even, the lower even,the high, the going, and the entering; and marksthem respectively by — A \ / U • ^^ adds,however, that in the Pekin dialect the shorttones (meaning thereby the entering ones, marked\j) are lengthened, or rather, do not to Morrison, then, the sheng of thePekin, or court, pronunciation are four, the uppereven, the lower even, the high, and the going; * The late Mr. Dyer, missionary in the Straits, has, Ibelieve, done this in one of his works. 62 NOTE VI. which is precisely what I have found to be thecase. In some few words the natives of Pekinshorten the sound abruptly, or make use of theentering sheng; but these words are exceptionsto the general rule, and should be individuallyremembered as such. NOTE VI, 63. 64 NOTE VI. 2. As to tlie use, importance, or absolute ne-cessity, of acquiring a knowledge of the this subject many conflicting opinions havebeen given; and I well remember how much Iwas, in consequence, puzzled, at the commence-ment of my studies, to decide whether I shouldor should not devote any time,—a valuable thingto the student of Chinese,—in order to make my-self master of them. I consulted both books andliving scholars, in Europe and in China. Someseemed to say, that the sheng are of no use what-soever ; others, that they are useful only to theman who wishes to write Chinese poetry; others,again, that they are generally useful, but that itis impossible for foreigners to learn them; andsome go even so far as to say, that a man cannotspeak Chinese unless he be able to t
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