mentioned the Emperor Khian-lung, who died at the close of the last
century.

After the time of Confucius the change in Chinese poetry became very
marked, and, instead of the peaceful tone of his day, it reflected the
unsettled condition of social and political affairs. The simple,
monotheistic faith was exchanged for a superstitious belief in a host of
gods and goddesses, a contempt for life, and an uncertainty of all beyond
it. The period between 620 and 907 A.D., was one of great prosperity, and
is looked upon as the golden age.

11. DRAMATIC LITERATURE AND FICTION.--Chinese literature affords no
instance of real dramatic poetry or sustained effort of the imagination.
The "Hundred Plays of the Yuen Dynasty" is the most celebrated collection,
and many have been translated into European languages. One of them, "The
Orphan of China," served as the groundwork of Voltaire's tragedy of that
name. The drama, however, constitutes a large department in Chinese
literature, though there are, properly speaking, no theatres in China. A
platform in the open air is the ordinary stage, the decorations are
hangings of cotton supported by a few poles of bamboo, and the action is
frequently of the coarsest kind. When an actor comes on the stage, he
says, "I am the mandarin so-and-so." If the drama requires the actor to
enter a house, he takes some steps and says, "I have entered;" and if he
is supposed to travel, he does so by rapid running on the stage, cracking
his whip, and saying afterwards, "I have arrived." The dialogue is written
partly in verse and partly in prose, and the poetry is sometimes sung and
sometimes recited. Many of their dramas are full of bustle and abound in
incident. They often contain the life and adventures of an individual,
some great sovereign or general, a history, in fact, thrown into action.
Two thousand volumes of dramatic compositions are known, and the best of