Twenty-five years in Honan . ned intoschools for educating the men and women ofthe coming generation. Unless appearancesmislead that day is coming on of According to Chinese ritual, Heaven is wor-shipped at the summer and autumn solsticesby the Emperor, who is the Son of Heaven, inthe Temple of Heaven, in the southern city ofPeking. There successive rulers have pros-trated themselves before high Heaven, recog-nizing that they ruled by the authority ofHeaven, were responsible to Heaven, confessed(some of them) their having sinned againstHeaven, and besought Heavens blessings on th
Twenty-five years in Honan . ned intoschools for educating the men and women ofthe coming generation. Unless appearancesmislead that day is coming on of According to Chinese ritual, Heaven is wor-shipped at the summer and autumn solsticesby the Emperor, who is the Son of Heaven, inthe Temple of Heaven, in the southern city ofPeking. There successive rulers have pros-trated themselves before high Heaven, recog-nizing that they ruled by the authority ofHeaven, were responsible to Heaven, confessed(some of them) their having sinned againstHeaven, and besought Heavens blessings on theirsubjects. Prayers have been offered there whichsome missionaries think might have been utteredin houses dedicated to the worship of the Godof Heaven and Earth, so lofty were they intone, and so appropriate for the offerer, andfor the acceptance of the supreme deity. TheEmperor was acting as intercessor for his nationbefore Heaven, and it has been given to fewmen to plead for so many millions of subjects. Pagoda at Weihwei. Irinted by Courtesy of IZoyJ andTemple of Heaven, PekHng Religion in Honan 47 All the magistrates, the majority of the gentry confucian-and merchants, as well as the larger number of Reiieton ofgraduates and scholars in North Honan, are Menconfirmed Confucianists. It is the religion ofthe learned, as well as the State religion. Whatis best in their lives they owe to this great sys-tem. To them it is the religion of China, andbeside it there is neither room nor need for anyother. Prior to the abdication of the Manchudynasty a movement was set on foot aiming atpopularizing and extending the influence ofConfucianism. It remains to be seen how theestablishment of the republic will affect theConfucian system in China. If it is elasticenough to expand as it comes in contact withWestern civilization, and thus to assimilate theknowledge of the twentieth century, it mayhave much to do in the China of the nearfuture. If Chinas reformers find it incapableof rendering
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