ltaneously with the appearance of the novel, stage-plays
seem to have come into existence in China. In the earliest ages there
were set dances by trained performers, to the accompaniment of music and
singing; and something of the kind, more or less ornate as regards the
setting, has always been associated with solemn and festive occasions.
But not until the days of the Mongol rule, A.D. 1260-1368, can the drama
proper be said to have taken root and flourished in Chinese soil. The
probability is that both the drama and the novel were introduced from
Central Asia in the wake of the Mongol conquerors; the former is now
specially essential to the everyday happiness of the Chinese people, who
are perhaps the most confirmed playgoers in the world. There is an
excellent collection of one hundred plays of the Mongol dynasty, with an
illustration to each, first published in 1615; there is also a further
large collection, issued in 1845, which contains a great number of plays
arranged under sixty headings, according to the style and purport of
each, besides many others. There is one famous play of the Mongol period
which deals largely in plot and passion, and is a great favourite with
the educated classes. It is entitled _Hsi Hsiang Chi_, or the Story of
the Western Pavilion; and as if there was a doubt as to the reception
which would be accorded to the work, a minatory sentence was inserted in
the prolegomena: "If any one ventures to call this book indecent, he
will certainly have his tongue torn out in hell." So far as the written
play is concerned, its language is altogether unobjectionable; on the
stage, by means of gag and gesture, its presentation is often unseemly
and coarse. What the Chinese playgoer delights in, as an evening's
amusement, is a succession of plays which are more of the nature of
sketches, slight in construction and generally weak in plot, some of
them based upon striking historical episodes, and others dealing with a
single humorous incident.

_Dictionaries._--The _Erh Ya_, or Nearing the Standard, is commonly
classed as a dictionary, and is referred by native scholars generally
to the 12th century B.C. The entries are arranged under nineteen
heads, to facilitate reference, and explain a large number of words
and phrases, including names of beasts, birds, plants and fishes. The
work is well illustrated in the large modern edition; but the actual
date of composition is an entirely open questio