ay be seen in
connection with Buddhism. As soon as Buddhism in China ceased to be a
power the priests became a despised class and being despised they have
often given occasion to others to despise them.

I am aware that quite a different view is held of the stage in America
and Europe, and that actors and actresses are placed on an equal
footing with other members of society. This does not, of course, mean
that either America or Europe lays less stress on sincerity than China,
but simply that we have developed in different ways. I have heard of
the old "morality plays", I know that English drama, like the Egyptian,
Greek, and Indian, had its origin in religion, but this alone will not
explain the different attitude assumed toward actors in the West from
that taken up in China.[1] I am inclined to think that the reason why
actors are not despised in the West as they are in China is because the
West considers first the utility of pleasure, and the East the
supremacy of sincerity. Here, as is so frequently the case, apparent
differences are largely differences of emphasis. The West would seem
to emphasize the beauty of the desire to please where Chinese consider
the effect on character or business. The expensive dinners which no
one eats and which I discussed in a previous chapter are an
illustration. No one in China would spend money in this fashion
excepting for some definite purpose.

We Chinese like to flatter, and to openly praise to their faces those
whom we admire. Most Westerners, would, I think, please rather than
admire; most men and women in America and Europe enjoy applause more
than instruction. This recognition of the delicate pleasure of being
able to please some one else naturally attracts quite a different type
to the Western stage from the material usually found in Chinese
dramatic companies, and in a society where everyone acknowledges the
beauty of pleasing another, the position of the actor naturally becomes
both envied and desirable. When therefore a man or woman succeeds on
the European or American stage he or she is looked up to and welcomed
in fashionable society, e.g., Henry Irving had the entree to the
highest society, and his portrait was always found among the notables.
Newspapers published long notices of his stage performances, and when
he died he received as great honors as England could give. During his
lifetime he enjoyed the royal favor of Queen Victoria, who conferred a
kni