ntroduction of
the European civilization, but here it had lacked much of its
intensity, through its non-originality. The Japanese had no inventive
pride, and it was with little reluctance that they abandoned their old
theories which they borrowed from China, and adopted new civilization
of the West. The Chinese cannot forget that whatever civilization they
possess is their own, and that, at one time, theirs was the "Celestial
Empire," which gave law, literature, and art to the neighboring
nations. Every one knows that all the people still believe their
civilization far superior to that of Europe. And since they do not
care to compete with the civilization which they regard as inferior,
they are striving to model themselves after the features of their own
ancient civilization, which, for aught we know, might have been purer
because younger, but which, existing in the less developed stage of
society, must have been necessarily cruder. They are not aware that a
society developed to any extent is a composite organism; that an
originally simple cluster of people had grown into a complex
community, through double methods, the multiplication of its own
offsprings, and its union with another cluster or clusters of
people.[13] This gradual growth of a society is followed by a
corresponding diversity in the division of labor, thus making the
social structure also complex.[14] Whatever else they can do, the
Chinese will never realize their ideal of ancient simplicity, with
their present complex social structure and system. A human society can
either fall backward or progress forward, but it cannot _progress
backward_. In China the active movement for social and political
amelioration is restrained by the erroneous idea that they will
aggravate evils and increase the distance between the present and the
past. The unemployed energy of the nation, like an unemployed human
muscle, is losing its vitality. Unable to go backward, unwilling to go
forward, the nation is at standstill, and its civilization is stagnant
with vices of the worst sort, the growth of which is checked by no
iron hands of heroic reformers.

[13] Spencer's "Principle of Sociology," Vol. II., pp. 436-458.

[14] Ibid, pp. 459-472.

Another cause acting against the susceptibility of China to the
European civilization is the vastness of her territory. The power of
resistance being equal, a force requires longer time to travel larger
distance, but when the