months.  Chinese records go so far as to mention letters received from God.  There is a legend of the sixth century A.D., which claims that God revealed Himself to a hermit in a retired valley, and bestowed on him a tablet of jade with a mysterious inscription.  But there is a much more circumstantial account of a written communication which in A.D. 1008 descended from heaven upon mount T’ai, the famous mountain in Shantung, where a temple has been built to mark the very spot.  The emperor and his courtiers regarded this letter with profound reverence and awe, which roused the ire of a learned statesman of the day.  The latter pointed out that Confucius, when asked to speak, so that his disciples might have something to record, had bluntly replied:  “Does God speak?  The four seasons pursue their courses and all things are produced; but does God say anything?” Therefore, he argued, if God does not speak to us, still less will He write a letter.

The fact that the receipt of such a letter is mentioned in the dynastic history of the period must not be allowed to discredit in any way the general truth and accuracy of Chinese annals, which, as research progresses, are daily found to be far more trustworthy than was ever expected to be the case.  We ourselves do not wholly reject the old contemporary chronicles of Hoveden and Roger of Wendover because they mention a letter from Christ on the neglect of the Sabbath.

In Chinese life, social and political alike, filial piety may be regarded as the keystone of the arch.  Take that away, and the superstructure of centuries crumbles to the ground.  When Confucius was asked by one of his disciples to explain what constituted filial piety, he replied that it was a difficult obligation to define; while to another disciple he was able to say without hesitation that the mere support of parents would be insufficient, inasmuch as food is what is supplied even to horses and dogs.  According to the story-books for children, the obligation has been interpreted by the people at large in many different ways.  The twenty-four standard examples of filial children include a son who allowed mosquitoes to feed upon him, and did not drive them away lest they should go and annoy his parents; another son who wept so passionately because he could procure no bamboo shoots for his mother that the gods were touched, and up out of the ground came some shoots which he gathered and carried home; another who when carrying buckets of water would slip and fall on purpose, in order to make his parents laugh; and so on.  No wonder that Confucius found filial piety beyond his powers of definition.