Racial Factors in Democracy Author:Philip Ainsworth Means Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: qualities of the educational system itself, nor has it at all injured the character-building power of the education, for it has had such an effecl upon the peopl... more »e as to make them in many respects the most moral and the most honorable in the world. The family is the social unit. As regards matters which concern the family's relations with the world at large the father's will is supreme, even over those of the married sons. Within the home, however, the mother is the absolute mistress. This, combined with the filial devotion which all the children are bound to render to both parents and with the fraternal bonds which there have a strength and sweetness of which we are ignorant, makes for a family life of great beauty and purity.35 /. The Civilization of Khotan (Tarim Basin) The region whose extraordinary civilization we are now to study lies in the very heart of Asia. To the North are Siberia and Mongolia; to the East and South is Tibet; to the Southwest is the region of Kashmir; to the West are the Pamirs; and on the Northwest lies Russian Turkestan. The ancient Kingdom of Khotan lies on the southern side of the great Takla-makan Desert which occupies by far the greater part of the Tarim Basin. Though anciently well enough watered to maintain a high level of civilization and many prosperous cities, the Tarim Desert is now utterly arid, a sand- covered waste with only occasional oases, of which Khotan is one of the chief. 36 Leong, Y. K.: and Tao, L. K.: Village and Town Life in China. London, 1915. A TABLE OF THE CULTURE-PERIODS OF KHOTAN Periods Remarks Approximate Dates Protohistoric. . . Legendary period of the founding of Khotan 250-150 B.c. Indo-Chinese Graeco-Buddhist High and complex culture in Khotan 150 B.c. -300 A.d. Chinese I Compar...« less