upon Confucianism and Taoism, says that the written language of
China takes us back at least five thousand years. Like most
things in China, the language has suffered very little change
since its adoption and completion. It does not consist of words,
built up of letters, as with us; it has no alphabet, no letters,
but its curious symbols represent objects, qualities, ideas, or
sounds, which by combination express every shade of Chinese
thought. The number of these written characters is variously
estimated by European philologists at from 25,000 to 50,000,
although it is believed that one may become a fair reader of
Chinese literature, by acquiring a knowledge of say 10,000 of the
pictorial symbols, with their allowable variations of form in
use. Punctuation is not ordinarily used in Chinese literature and
of course sentences or paragraphs are not divided from each other
by capitals, for they have none.

In the spoken language, rising or falling inflections, and
indescribable variations of tone must be learned, as well as
pronunciation, and when it is said that there are many different
dialects, each unintelligible to those accustomed to some other
one, there seems to be little encouragement for the introduction
of Chinese into our public school system. For all this, Dr.
Morrison, the compiler of a Chinese and English dictionary,
declares that "Chinese fine writing darts upon the mind with a
vivid flash, a force and beauty, of which alphabetic language is
not capable."

Graphic representation of an idea in a picture illustrates Dr.
Morrison's meaning.