If the morals of Chinese actors
will not bear investigation it is probably due to the social ostracism
to which they have always been subjected. The same phenomenon may 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.* 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.
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