ife and animation are more apparent in sects
than in conventional religion. Since the recent revolution it is no
longer necessary to confute the idea that the Chinese are a stationary
and unemotional race, but its inaccuracy was demonstrated by many
previous movements especially the T'ai-p'ing rebellion, which had at
first a religious tinge. Yet in China such movements, though they may
kindle enthusiasm and provoke persecution, rarely have the religious
value attaching to a sect in Christian, Hindu and Mohammedan
countries. Viewed as an ecclesiastical or spiritual movement, the
T'ai-p'ing is insignificant: it was a secret society permitted by
circumstances to become a formidable rising and in its important
phases the political element was paramount. The same is true of many
sects which have not achieved such notoriety. They are secret
societies which adopt a creed, but it is not in the creed that their
real vitality lies.

If it is difficult to say how far the Buddhism of China is a religion,
it is equally difficult to define its relation to the State. Students
well acquainted with the literature as well as with the actual
condition of China have expressed diametrically opposite views as to
the religious attitude of the Imperial Government,[571] one stating
roundly that it was "the most intolerant, the most persecuting of all
earthly Governments," and another that it "at no period refused
hospitality and consideration to any religion recommended as
such."[572]

In considering such questions I would again emphasize the fact that
Chinese terms have often not the same extension as their apparent
synonyms in European languages, which, of course, means that the
provinces of human life and thought have also different boundaries.
For most countries the word clergy has a definite meaning and, in
spite of great diversities, may be applied to Christian clerics,
Mollahs and Brahmans without serious error. It means a class of men
who are the superintendents of religion, but also more. On the one
side, though they may have serious political differences with the
Government, they are usually in touch with it: on the other, though
they may dislike reformers and movements from below, they patronize
and minister to popular sentiment. They are closely connected with
education and learning and sometimes with the law. But in China there
is no class which unites all these features. Learning, law and
education are represented by the Confuc