iforni 
 
 AN OUTLINE HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 CHINA 
 
 ity 
 
 HERBERT- H GOWEN
 
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 ',' -. ~ -:'-' .- - ' 
 
 
 THE BOY CONFUCIUS
 
 AN OUTLINE HISTORY 
 OF 
 
 CHINA 
 
 PART I 
 
 FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO 
 
 THE MANCHU CONQUEST 
 
 A. D. 1644 
 
 BY 
 
 HERBERT H. GOWEN, D.D., F.R.G.S 
 
 Lecturer on Oriental History at the University 
 of Washington 
 
 BOSTON 
 
 SHERMAN, FRENCH & COMPANY 
 1913
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1913 
 SHERMAN, FRENCH 6* COMPANY
 
 "735 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 The writer claims for this little book nothing 
 more than its title implies. It is, in the strictest 
 sense of the word, an outline sketch of the pre- 
 Manchu period of Chinese history which, it is 
 hoped, the student will fill in from a wider read- 
 ing. Some of this is suggested in an Appendix. 
 The excuse for presenting it to a public already 
 deluged with works on China consists in two facts. 
 The first is the importance of the subject. If in 
 Juvenal's time there were those who were inter- 
 ested in knowing 
 
 "Quid Seres, quid Thraces agant/' 
 
 much more is it the case to-day. "China's New 
 Day" makes it more than ever necessary to know 
 something of her wonderful past, since it is out 
 of that past that the present has, in the main, 
 sprung. 
 
 Secondly, the early history of China has been 
 seriously neglected by English and American 
 writers. Chinese history has almost invariably 
 been treated from the point of view of Foreign 
 Relations, with the result that a few pages have 
 sufficed for the four millenniums prior to the 
 Manchu occupation, while hundreds of pages have
 
 PREFACE 
 
 been used to discuss (from a foreign point of 
 view) the events of the past few decades. The 
 consequence is that, to the best of the writer's 
 knowledge, there is no work in English giving the 
 student such a sketch of pre-Manchu times as 
 will enable him to grasp the singular continuity 
 of Chinese political and social life. It is too 
 much for the writer to suppose that he has com- 
 pletely filled the gap, but it is hoped that he 
 has made some such contribution as will bring 
 home to many in our schools and colleges some 
 part of the interest which lies behind the veil. 
 It is impossible here to mention all the sources 
 to which this book is indebted. Most of them 
 will appear from the notes and from the at- 
 tached bibliography. Special acknowledgment, 
 however, should be made to the writings of 
 Professor Hirth of Columbia, G. Pauthier, Abel 
 Remusat, Chavannes, Legge, Williams, Giles, 
 Mayers, Douglas and D. C. Boulger.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 I INTRODUCTORY 1 
 
 II PRELIMINARIES 8 
 
 III "IN THE BEGINNING" 17 
 
 IV THE FIVE RULERS 24 
 
 V THE HIA DYNASTY 33 
 
 VI THE SHANG DYNASTY 37 
 
 VII THE CHOU DYNASTY 43 
 
 VIII THE CHOU DYNASTY (CONCLUDED) . . 58 
 
 IX THE TSIN DYNASTY 78 
 
 X THE HAN DYNASTY 89 
 
 XI FOUR CENTURIES OF ANARCHY ... 106 
 XII THE TANG DYNASTY 117 
 
 XIII THE FIVE LITTLE DYNASTIES ... 135 
 
 XIV THE SUNG DYNASTY 139 
 
 XV THE YUAN OR MONGOL DYNASTY . . 155 
 
 XVI THE MING DYNASTY 168 
 
 APPENDIX A 184 
 
 APPENDIX B 193 
 
 INDEX . . 203
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 THE BOY CONFUCIUS Frontis. 
 
 Facing Page 
 
 Fu-Hsi 26 
 
 LAO-TSZE 64 
 
 KUBLAI KHAN GOING TO BATTLE . . . 160
 
 CHAPTER I 
 INTRODUCTORY 
 
 A certain soldier, says a tale of the T*ang 
 dynasty, was in the habit of taking his potations 
 beneath the branches of a spreading tree. One 
 day he fell asleep and dreamed that fairies came 
 to him and carried him away to the country of 
 their king. Here he was royally received, taken 
 from one scene of regal splendor to another, and 
 at length appointed by the king governor of a 
 country where he lived for many years. How- 
 ever, when the dreamer roused himself from sleep 
 he found all these experiences had taken but a mo- 
 ment of time. In making the effort to compress 
 within a few pages the complex record of the more 
 than four millenniums of Chinese history, it is im- 
 possible not to envy the above-mentioned soldier 
 his magic potion. How otherwise can we, within 
 our inevitable limitations, grasp the significance 
 of the age-long story? 
 
 Is it not strange, in these days when the lines 
 of demarcation between continents and peoples 
 are being abolished as never since the days when 
 Alexander the Great made Europe and Asia one, 
 that so far as the science of history goes, the 
 average student limits his knowledge of the past
 
 to the classical story of Greece and Rome and 
 to the comparatively recent annals of Europe 
 and America? 
 
 Is it not strange that that long unbroken high- 
 way of human life which stretches right back 
 without a chasm from our own time to the ages of 
 fable and myth, the continuous tale to which the 
 most ancient annals of Greece and Rome seem 
 modern by the contrast, the history which has 
 its surprises such as bear witness to the vitality 
 of youth in the present, should be to so large an 
 extent an untrodden road by the ordinary stu- 
 dent in our schools and universities? 
 
 The excuse of inaccessibility and remoteness 
 will no longer hold for those who have treated a 
 great volume of the deepest human interest as 
 though it were a book sealed with seven seals. 
 
 Indeed, we are disposed to ask whether such 
 an excuse could ever have applied, except during 
 the narrow century or two when the Ottoman 
 conquests interposed an unnatural barrier across 
 the road to Cathay, which proved more difficult 
 to surmount than the desert and the seas. The 
 nations of olden times were nowise disposed to 
 despise knowledge of the people and arts of 
 Serica. Victorious Greek art followed easily 
 along the open road made by the military genius 
 of Alexander right to the very bounds of the East- 
 ern waste. The banners of the Caesars encoun- 
 tered the banners of the great Han generals 
 on the very shores of the Caspian, marking one
 
 INTRODUCTORY S 
 
 frontier between the Atlantic and the Yellow Sea. 
 Traders went with comparative ease, bearing silk 
 and iron, to the Roman markets, along the great 
 routes which have been re-opened with difficulty 
 by some of our modern travelers. Every reli- 
 gion known to Western Asia, Buddhist, Magian, 
 Christian, Manichean, Muhamadan, found in the 
 old Chinese capitals a refuge and frequently a 
 welcome. Not even the great Mongol conquests, 
 which annihilated whole nations and sowed the 
 sites of populous cities with salt, blocked the 
 routes. Franciscans like Carpini and de Rubruk 
 made their way to the camps of the great Khan, 
 and the Polos were not alone as travelers to dare 
 the perils of the way to Cambaluc. One would 
 think that the fascinating record of the great 
 Venetian would by itself have sufficed to drive the 
 enchanted reader from page to page of the won- 
 derful story in which Marco played a part for 
 some twenty-four years. 
 
 Even when the Turks succeeded in blocking for 
 Europe the three land routes along which mis- 
 sionaries, merchants and soldiers had marched 
 from time immemorial, the glamour of Cathay re- 
 mained. The new era of geographical research 
 which was at this time inaugurated had the re-dis- 
 covery of China as its objective point. To this 
 end toiled and meditated that noble ascetic of 
 science, Prince Henry of Portugal, from his 
 lonely Pharos sending out expedition after ex- 
 pedition to find the limits of the African coast.
 
 4, OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 To this end Diaz rounded the Cape of Storms, 
 Vasco da Gama made a theme for the Lusiads, 
 and Magellan sailed round the Horn into the 
 Pacific. To this end Columbus started on the 
 journey which led to the discovery of America, 
 and all the great English seamen strove for the 
 victory, east or west, north-east or north-west, 
 over the obstacles which lay between themselves 
 and the golden lands of the far eastern seas. 
 
 Surely now that the goal has again been 
 reached and the way thither made familiar to the 
 feet of man, after all the labors of seamen and 
 merchants, after all the martyrdoms of mission- 
 aries and explorers, after all the battles of di- 
 plomacy and of arms, we must not be content to 
 know only the China of the treaty ports, or to 
 know it only as a land upon which some stronger 
 nation enforces an occasional claim at the can- 
 non's mouth, or as one from the exploitation of 
 which the commerce of Europe and America mul- 
 tiplies its gain. 
 
 What of China for her own sake? 
 
 What of her Art? that wonderful art un- 
 veiled so recently in the Cave of the Thousand 
 Buddhas, the art that assimilated so much of what 
 was best in Greece, and India, and Persia, and 
 became the teacher of Korea and Japan. 
 
 What of her Literature? the Poetry, the 
 Drama, the Novels, the Philosophy, above all the 
 History, vast beyond human power to compute 
 in quantity, and not without its quality, though
 
 INTRODUCTORY 5 
 
 written down in a language which to the Western 
 world seems clumsy and uncouth. 
 
 What of her Government? the wonderful in- 
 strument, so stable and enduring beyond the 
 power of revolutions to shock or shake, yet chang- 
 ing with the changing times, running the whole 
 gamut of experiment, democratic at heart and 
 most daring in its trust of the people, yet ever 
 imperialistic in foreign policy, a government 
 which, as an authority has said, seems to have as 
 its fundamental principle of administration, "a 
 sort of mutual toleration between nominal rulers 
 and ruled, supported chiefly by that all-pervading 
 factor, vis inertia," a Government finally, which 
 is now manifesting itself in the New Republic 
 which faces the stress and storm of international 
 life. 
 
 Lastly, but by no means least, what of its 
 People? What of that marvelous people which 
 had already fashioned a polity through the ex- 
 perience of generations, if we may trust the an- 
 cient traditions, when Hammurabi was making 
 laws for the infant state of Babylon; which was 
 producing its greatest literature when Romulus 
 and Remus were founding the city of Rome; 
 which was sending forth learned monks to collect 
 the literary treasures of India when Picts and 
 Britons were fighting for mastery and Saxon 
 pirates were harrying the coasts which Rome had 
 left unguarded; which was receiving Christian 
 missionaries from Persia and Syria at the very
 
 6 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 time when Ethelbert and his fellow princes were 
 listening to the news brought by Augustine and 
 Paulinus ; which was making the most advanced 
 experiments in socialism when the Norman Wil- 
 liam was asserting his claim to the throne of 
 Harold ; the people whose latest dynasty was well- 
 nigh a century and a half old when the American 
 Republic was born? 
 
 What of China's individual men and women? 
 the heroes in war, if unwilling warriors, martyrs 
 to unflinching loyalty, examples of filial piety, 
 Confucian moralists, Taoist mystics, and Budd- 
 hist pilgrims, statesmen, philosophers, and politi- 
 cal economists. What of the one hundred vol- 
 umes of the biographies of famous worthies, of 
 the twenty volumes of the illustrious names of the 
 Manchu era, of even those twenty-five hundred 
 enrolled in the pages of Giles* Biographical Dic- 
 tionary? 
 
 Is all this solely for the delectation of Sinolo- 
 gists and antiquaries? Young men and women 
 of America may find here surely material not with- 
 out its use in the cosmopolitan life of to-day. 
 Dr. Stein tells us he found a wooden hammer made 
 for the purpose of pitching tents a century or 
 two before the Christian era, which proved so 
 useful that he could not resist allowing his men 
 to use it for its original purpose for the rest of 
 the journey. Even so the long buried past of 
 China may be turned to good account in these 
 modern days.
 
 INTRODUCTORY 7 
 
 To know China and something of its four 
 thousand years of continuous history is to have 
 some touch with the world movements as old as 
 Babylon and as young as the day's newspaper, 
 to have a background on which the history of our 
 own race and of our own land becomes all the 
 more significant and prophetic. 
 
 With intelligence and with sympathy we can 
 watch the new come forth from the chrysalis of 
 the old and even as the most sincere lover of the 
 modern needs to know the political and social con- 
 ditions out of which the present springs, so must 
 the interested observer of the fortunes of the 
 New China learn that the Old China was by no 
 means comatose or moribund but full of sig- 
 nificance and latent power. 
 
 With intelligence and sympathy such as this, 
 there will be no hesitation in using for the new 
 China the words which Longfellow wrote for the 
 encouragement of the new America. 
 
 "In spite of rock and tempest's roar, 
 In spite of false lights on the shore, 
 Sail on nor fear to breast the sea ! 
 Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears, 
 Our faith triumphant o'er our fears, 
 Are all with thee, are all with thee."
 
 CHAPTER II 
 PRELIMINARIES 
 
 The Name geographical features the Eight- 
 een Provinces people language. 
 
 NAME. The name, China, is of somewhat un- 
 certain origin. It is generally derived from that 
 of the Kingdom of Tsin, the state which produced 
 the famous Tsin dynasty (B. C. 255-202) under 
 which the confederation of Chinese states was 
 transformed into the Empire. The name, 
 Tchina, was carried, it is said, by Malay traders, 
 to India and other Western lands. It is quite in 
 accord with Chinese custom to speak of the coun- 
 try after the dynastic name, as during the Han 
 dynasty the Chinese described themselves 
 "Han tsz" "sons of Han," and during the 
 T'ang period as "Tang jin" "Men of T'ang." 
 But the word, "Tchina" also occurs in the Hindu 
 "Code of Manu," and the phrase, "those from the 
 land of Sinim" in Isaiah xlix, 12, has been gen- 
 erally thought to refer to China. Both these 
 passages are, of course, much older than the 
 Tsin dynasty. In neither case, however, is the 
 reference certain and in the former the probabil- 
 ities are all the other way. Moreover, the state 
 of Tsin, which is much older than the dynasty of
 
 PRELIMINARIES 9 
 
 the name, may have easily transmitted its name 
 through contiguous countries to the western na- 
 tions. 
 
 In the classical writings of Europe (e.g. the 
 works of Ptolemy and Ammianus Marcellinus) 
 China is called Serica, its capital Sera, and its 
 people Seres. This is an allusion to the produc- 
 tion, famous from very early times, of silk (Mon- 
 golian, sirik; Manchu, sirghe). The Mediaeval 
 name of Cathay (e.g. in Marco Polo) was applied 
 by the peoples of Eastern Europe from their 
 knowledge of the Khitans, a branch of the Tatar 
 family which was only too well known in the llth 
 and 12th centuries. The name Cathay is still 
 preserved in Russia. 
 
 In China itself the country, as we have seen, 
 was frequently named after the reigning dynasty, 
 as, for instance, during Han times "the land of 
 Han." A very common name is that of "the 
 Middle Kingdom," in which the adjective refers 
 to the fact that in the olden times the Empire 
 consisted of a series of concentric squares, the 
 royal domain (i.e. the present province of Ho- 
 nan) in the center, and the realms of nobles, peo- 
 ple, feudatory states, barbarians forming outer 
 territories. This name, "Chung-Kwoh," since 
 the proclamation of the Republic is being super- 
 seded by Chung Hwa, "central flower." 
 
 Other names in common use include Tien-ha 
 "under heaven," i.e. "everything beneath the sky," 
 and Sze-hai "the four seas (copied by the Jap-
 
 anese in the name given to their own land Shi- 
 kai). 
 
 THE COUNTRY. The Chinese Realm includes 
 the five great divisions, as follows : 1st, China 
 proper (i.e. the Eighteen Provinces) ; 2nd, Man- 
 churia ; 3rd, Mongolia ; 4th, Chinese Turkestan ; 
 5th, Tibet. Until recently there were also in- 
 cluded the island of Tai-wan or Formosa, ceded 
 to Japan in 1895, and the peninsula of Cho-sen, 
 or Korea, formally annexed to Japan in 1910. 
 Over much of the territories of Mongolia l and 
 Manchuria the authority of China is at present 
 extremely nominal, but in Tibet her suzerainty 
 has in recent years been asserted with success. 
 The student who would make himself at all fa- 
 miliar with the history of China is urged at the 
 outset to spend a few hours over the best ob- 
 tainable map. 2 It will assist the memory to un- 
 derstand the meaning of a few geographical 
 terms which occur frequently in the names of 
 places. The following will be found especially 
 useful : 
 
 Peh, north, as in P^-king (north capital). 
 
 Nan, south, as in Nan-king (south capital). 
 
 Tung, east, as in Sh&n-tung (east of the moun- 
 tains). 
 
 Si, west, as in Shan-si (west of the mountains). 
 
 Shan, mountain, as in Shan-iung and Shan-si. 
 
 Hu, lake, as in ffw-peh and Hu-nan. 
 
 Ho, Kiang and Ch'uen, as in Hwang-ho, Yang- 
 tsze-ldang and Sze-cTiuen, are all names for
 
 PRELIMINARIES 11 
 
 rivers of different degrees of navigability. 
 
 China proper lies mainly in the basins of three 
 great river systems flowing from west to east. 
 These are the Hwang-ho, or Yellow River, known 
 as "China's Sorrow" on account of the terrible 
 annual loss of life and property from the floods ; 
 the Yang-tsze-kiang, or Willow River, known in 
 its upper reaches as the Kin-sha-kiang (River 
 of the Golden Sands), the Tai kiang (Great 
 River), and the Chang kiang (Long River) ; and 
 the Chu-kiang (Pearl River), with its three 
 branches of which the Si-kiang (West River) 
 which enters the sea at Canton is the most impor- 
 tant. A fourth river system in the south-west 
 flows in a southerly direction and includes the im- 
 portant streams, the Salween, the Meikong, and 
 the Sonka. 
 
 The names and situations of the Eighteen 
 Provinces into which China is at present divided 
 should be carefully learned before proceeding fur- 
 ther. They may be taken in the following order: 
 
 1. In the North, Chih-li ("Direct Rule") or 
 Peh-Chih-li ; 
 
 Shan-si (West of the Moun- 
 tains) ; 
 
 Shen-si (Western frontier) ; 
 
 Kan-suh ("Voluntary Rever- 
 ence") a name made from 
 combining the first syllables 
 of two chief towns.
 
 12 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 2. In the East, Shan-tun g (East of the Moun- 
 
 tains) ; 
 
 Kiang-su (from the first syl- 
 lables of Kiang-ning and 
 Su-chau) ; 
 
 Cheh-kiang ("C rooked 
 River"); 
 
 Fuh-kien ("Happily Estab- 
 lished"). 
 
 3. In the South, Kwang-tung ("Broad East") ; 
 
 Kwang-si ("Broad West"); 
 
 4. In the West, Yun-nan ("Cloudy South"). 
 
 Sze-ch'uen ("Four Streams"). 
 
 5. In the Center, Ho-nan (South of the River) ; 
 
 Ngan-hwui (or An-hwui) 
 from combination of the 
 first syllables of Ngan-king 
 and Hwui-chau) ; 
 
 Kiang-si (West of the 
 River) ; 
 
 Hu-peh (North of the Lake, 
 i.e. Tung-ting) ; 
 
 Hu-nan (south of the Lake) ; 
 
 Kwei-chau ("Noble Re- 
 gion"). 
 
 For administrative purposes the Eighteen 
 Provinces are arranged as Eight Viceroy allies
 
 PRELIMINARIES 13 
 
 and Three Governorships. The Viceroyalties 
 are: 
 
 1. Chih-li, with seat of Govern- 
 
 ment at Tientsin ; 
 
 2. Min-che, including the prov- 
 
 inces of Che-kiang and Fuh- 
 kien; 
 
 8. Hu-kwang, the provinces of 
 Hu-peh and Hu-nan; 
 
 4. Yun-kwei, the provinces of 
 Yun-nan and Kwei-chau; 
 
 6. Sze-ch'uen; 
 
 6. The Two Kiang, Kiang-si and 
 
 Kiang-ngan (i.e. Kiang-su 
 and Ngan-hwui) ; 
 
 7. Shen-kan, the provinces of 
 
 Shen-si and Kan-suh; 
 
 8. The Two Kwang, the prov- 
 
 inces of Kwang-tung and 
 Kwang-si. 
 
 The Governorships are those of Shan-tung, 
 Shan-si and Ho-nan. A province is ordinarily 
 divided into a number of hien, or counties.
 
 14 OUTLINE HISTORY OP CHINA 
 
 Strictly speaking a hien consists of a walled city 
 with its contiguous rural districts. Two or 
 more hien are grouped as a fu, or first class city. 
 Several fu make a tao, of which the chief official 
 is the familiar tao-tai. 
 
 THE PEOPLE. The people of China are of 
 Mongolian stock, but in the course of ages have 
 undergone considerable racial change. Tibetans, 
 Manchus, Tatars, 3 Japanese, Shans, etc., have 
 all, according to the most recent authorities, 4 con- 
 tributed to the prevailing Chinese type. 
 
 From very early times the Chinese have been 
 in contact (and very often also in conflict) with 
 a large number of tribes whom we may describe 
 as aboriginal. In the earliest annals of China 
 we read of wars against the Man in the south, 
 the Yi in the east, the Tih in the north, and the 
 Jung in the west. To-day, especially in the 
 south-west, many of the aboriginal tribes remain, 
 known as Lolos, Miaotsz, etc. 
 
 The population of China is unknown with any 
 approach to exactitude. Estimates run all the 
 way from 270 millions to 420 millions. 5 In any 
 case it is the most populous of modern states. 
 Professor Giles says that "if the Chinese people 
 were to file one by one past a given point, the 
 interesting procession would never come to an 
 end. Before the last man of those living to-day 
 had gone by, another and a new generation would 
 have grown up, and so on for ever and ever." 
 
 The language 6 of the people, while capable of
 
 PRELIMINARIES 15 
 
 being expressed in one common written form, the 
 Wen-li, has in speech great dialectical variety. 
 The dialects, of which there are said to be as 
 many as three hundred and sixty, are in some 
 cases so unlike as to constitute practically sep- 
 arate languages. Of these the Cantonese, in all 
 probability, comes nearest to the primitive Chi- 
 nese, while Pekingese (frequently miscalled 
 Mandarin) has suffered the most from phonetic 
 decay. The latter, however, has most present- 
 day importance as the language of diplomacy and 
 official life. 
 
 The social life of the Chinese may be studied 
 in detail in a large number of reliable and inter- 
 esting works. 7
 
 NOTES 
 
 1. Immediately after the Revolution (1911) Mon- 
 golia asserted its independence and elected an ec- 
 clesiastical ruler. 
 
 2. In addition to studying the map the student 
 may read with profit Dr. S. Wells Williams' "The 
 Middle Kingdom/' I 1-257; Capt. Brinkley's 
 "China," I 1-36. For special portions there are 
 numerous travel books, e.g. Mr. A. Little's "Through 
 the Yang-tsze Gorges." The Travels of the Abbe 
 Hue are in all respects delightful. 
 
 3. "Tatar," not "Tartar." The latter spelling is 
 due to the historic pun of S. Louis of France, who 
 wished to consign the disturbers of the world's peace 
 to Tartarus. His reply to his mother, Blanche of 
 Castile, was as follows: "Mere, si les Tatars ar- 
 rivent nous les f'erons retourner au Tartare d'ou ils 
 viennent." (Pauthier.) 
 
 4. See Prof. Hirth in Ency. Brit, (llth Ed.) 
 Art. China. 
 
 5. The most recent review of census operations 
 in China is contained in a paper by W. W. Rockhill. 
 See Royal Geographical Society's Journal, July, 
 1912, p. 69. Mr. Rockhill's estimate is 329,617,750, 
 which includes 2,000,000 for Tibet and 1,800,000 
 for Mongolia. 
 
 6. A good popular account of the language is 
 given by Sir R. K. Douglas, "The Language and 
 Literature of China" (1875). An interesting analy- 
 sis of the ideographs is contained in Frank H. Chal- 
 f ant's "Early Chinese Writing" (1906). 
 
 7. Perhaps the best of these is the Rev. A. H. 
 Smith's "Village Life in China." 
 
 16
 
 CHAPTER III 
 "IN THE BEGINNING" 
 
 Origins P'an-ku the Three August Periods 
 the ten periods of Ascent. 
 
 OEIGINS. The subject of Chinese origins is, 
 to say the least, a thorny one, and the discussion 
 of it in any detail would take us out of the un- 
 certain mists of legend into the yet more uncer- 
 tain mists of theory and conjecture. Some main- 
 tain that the Chinese entered their present abode 
 from the north-west; others that, so far as any- 
 thing shows to the contrary, they have occupied 
 their present abodes from time immemorial. The 
 latest authority on the subject writes: "Whether 
 the Chinese were seated in their later homes from 
 time immemorial, as their own historians assume, 
 or whether they arrived there from abroad, as 
 some foreign scholars have pretended, cannot be 
 proved to the satisfaction of historical critics. 
 Indeed, anthropological arguments seem to con- 
 tradict the idea of any connection with Baby- 
 lonians, Egyptians, Assyrians or Indians." * 
 Nevertheless, it is not unreasonable to suppose 
 that in the great shifting of peoples caused by 
 the influx of Semitic tribes into the Euphrates 
 
 Valley about B. C. 4000, the Turanian civiliza- 
 
 17
 
 tion, known as Sumerian, may have so far pushed 
 eastwards as to have influenced the peopling of 
 the present north-west provinces of China. It 
 is quite possible to conceive of the arrival there 
 of whole populations who had acquired the old 
 civilization, or of the transmission of the ele- 
 ments of Sumerian culture through individual 
 fugitives. At any rate, the distinguishing traits 
 of the Chinese, their industry, their agricultural 
 skill, their arts, methods of divination, primitive 
 ideographs, and general peace-loving disposition 
 are not unlike traits which reveal themselves 
 among the pre-Semitic dwellers in the Euphrates 
 Valley. A careful analysis of the oldest ideo- 
 grams reveals that the matriarchate prevailed, 2 
 that divination by means of the tortoise shell was 
 in common use, that the male child was valued for 
 his capacity for field work, that the north was 
 regarded as the land upon which they had turned 
 their backs, the south the jungle inhabited by 
 wild beasts, while the east appeared to them as 
 a forest through which the rising sun cast its 
 rays. Many signs suggest a pastoral stage. 
 The radical for "sheep" (yong) appears in the 
 word "beautiful" which is literally "big sheep" ; 
 "righteousness" is "sheep" and the first per- 
 sonal pronoun; "to judge rightly" is literally 
 "to talk sheep." The symbol for "house," pre- 
 served in so many of the modern characters, per- 
 petuates the sloping roof of the old Central 
 Asian tent with the turned up edges still to be
 
 "IN THE BEGINNING" 19 
 
 seen in pagodas and temples. The pastoral 
 stage must have passed quickly, so far as the 
 Chinese proper are concerned, for the occupa- 
 tion is one for which the Chinese of many genera- 
 tions have had a distinct aversion. 
 
 In any attempt that we make to reproduce in 
 imagination the China of old time it must be re- 
 membered that it included but a small portion of 
 the present eighteen provinces. The earliest 
 China probably extended little beyond the pres- 
 ent provinces of Shan-si, Shen-si and Kan-suh. 
 It was not until the time of the Tsin Dynasty 
 (B. C. 250) 'that the whole of the present China 
 came under one government. 
 
 P'AN-KU. The legendary history of China ex- 
 tends over many millions of years. In the chron- 
 icles of the Han Dynasty it is said that "from 
 the creation to the capture of the lin in the days 
 of Confucius (B. C. 481) a period elapsed of 
 2,267,000 and odd years." Of course, as Mayers 
 remarks, "no actual weight is attached even by 
 Chinese writers to the statements handed down 
 by the fabulists of antiquity regarding prehis- 
 toric epochs and dynastic lines." From the time 
 of the first man, P'an-ku, who corresponds more 
 or less with the Indian Manu and the Persian 
 Yima, some have reckoned as many as ninety-six 
 millions of years. P'an ku separated heaven and 
 earth, as was done in the Egyptian story of Nut 
 and Keb. A philosopher of the llth Century 
 describes him thus: "P'an ku came into being
 
 in the great Waste; his beginning is unknown. 
 He understood the ways of Heaven and Earth 
 and comprehended the permutations of the two 
 principles of Nature. He became the Chief and 
 Prince of the Three Powers. Hereupon develop- 
 ment began from Chaos." Dr. Williams says : 
 "They (the Chinese artists) picture him holding 
 a chisel and mallet in his hands, splitting and 
 fashioning vast masses of granite floating con- 
 fusedly in space. Behind the openings his power- 
 ful hand has made are seen the sun, moon and 
 stars, monuments of his stupendous labors ; at 
 his right hand, inseparable companions of his 
 toils, but whose generation is left in obscurity, 
 stand the dragon, the phoenix and the tortoise, 
 and sometimes the unicorn, divine types and pro- 
 genitors with himself of the animal creation. 
 His efforts were continued eighteen thousand 
 years, and by small degrees he and his work in- 
 creased; the heavens rose, the earth spread out 
 and thickened, and Pwan ku grew in stature, six 
 feet away every day, till, his labors done, he died 
 for the benefit of his handiwork. His head be- 
 came mountains, his breath wind and clouds, and 
 his voice thunder; his limbs were changed into 
 four poles, his veins into rivers, his sinews into 
 the undulations of the earth's surface, and his 
 flesh into fields ; his beard, like Berenice's hair, 
 was turned into stars, his skin and hair into herbs 
 and trees, and his teeth, bones and marrow into 
 metals, rocks and precious stones ; his dropping
 
 "IN THE BEGINNING" 21 
 
 sweat increased to rain, and, lastly, the insects 
 which stuck to his body were transformed into 
 people." 3 
 
 The Three August Periods. After P'an ku 
 follow three periods which may be described as 
 follows : 
 
 1. The Reign of Heaven, during which the 
 'heavens were actually formed. 
 
 2. The Reign of Earth, during which the 
 earth received its shape. 
 
 8. The Reign of Man, during which men and 
 other terrestrial beings took their proper place 
 in the universe. 
 
 In the first of these periods twelve brothers 
 reigned as the Tien Wang or Heaven Kings, each 
 for a period of 18,000 years, a monstrous brood 
 with the body of serpents. 
 
 In the second period reigned the eleven 
 brothers, known as the Ti Wang, or Earth Kings, 
 who discovered the division of day and night, and 
 the division of the year into months of thirty 
 days. These too were a monstrous progeny made 
 up of the membra disjecta of dragons, serpents, 
 horses and human beings. 
 
 In the third period reigned the nine Jin Wang, 
 or Man Kings, with faces of men and bodies of 
 dragons or serpents. They divided the world 
 into nine empires, one for each of the monstrous 
 brothers. 
 
 THE TEN PERIODS OF ASCENT. Ten periods 
 follow, or nine, if we regard the whole of the pre-
 
 22 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 ceding epoch as making up the first, during which 
 human civilization is seen on the ascent. We see 
 men gradually ceasing to live in caves of the 
 rocks, or nests of the trees. We see them learn- 
 ing to clothe themselves in the skins of beasts. 
 We have culture myths, moreover, like that of the 
 Chinese Prometheus, Sui-jin, who discovered the 
 means of producing fire, by watching a bird peck- 
 ing at the dry branch of a tree. The invention 
 of cooking followed, possibly in a way not unlike 
 that described by Charles Lamb in his famous 
 essay on roast pig. Then came other arts of 
 life, including that of dancing which, we are told, 
 came into vogue not as an amusement but as an 
 hygienic exercise. It is perhaps permissible to 
 regard this statement as an afterthought on the 
 part of some austere philosopher or moralist. 
 There was learned withal the principle which has 
 had such continuous illustration throughout all 
 Chinese history, namely, "the virtue of handing 
 over the throne to a successor, which stands in 
 relation with the principles of heaven.'*
 
 NOTES 
 
 1. Encyclopedia Brit, (llth Ed.) Art. China. 
 
 2. Cf. also description of Fu-hsi: "Before his 
 time the people were like unto beasts, clothing them- 
 selves in skins, and feeding themselves on raw flesh, 
 knowing their mothers but not their fathers." 
 (Mayers, "Chinese Readers' Manual," p. 48.) 
 
 3. S. Wells Williams, "The Middle Kingdom," II 
 139. 
 
 23
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 THE FIVE RULERS 
 
 The Five Rulers Fu-hsi Shen-nung 
 Hwang-ti Yao and Shun, the Model Emperors. 
 
 THE FIVE RULERS. The so-called period of 
 the Five Rulers may be regarded as marking the 
 transition from the legendary to the historical 
 period. There are, however, several dissimilar 
 systems of chronology for it. Some Chinese au- 
 thorities reckon from the age of the Nest Build- 
 ers, others from various others of those legendary 
 divisions of time which have just been mentioned. 
 The best method of reckoning, in all probability, 
 is to start from the culture hero, Fu-hsi, and to 
 make up the five by the inclusion of Fu-hsi's 
 two semi-mythical successors, Shen-nung and 
 Hwang-ti, and the two Emperors par excellence 
 of the Shu-King, Yao and Shun. 
 
 FU-HSI. The greatest of all the traditional 
 benefactors of the legendary era of Chinese his- 
 tory is Fu-hsi, who by many is reckoned as a 
 genuine historical character. Definite statements 
 are made about him, although definiteness of 
 statement is by no means invariably a proof of 
 historicity. He is said to have been born, mirac- 
 ulously, near Si-ngan-fu, the ancient capital of 
 24
 
 THE FIVE RULERS 35 
 
 China, and in the same neighborhood, in the prov- 
 ince of Shensi, his grave is still pointed out and 
 reverenced. His date is also given definitely 
 enough as B. C. 2852. Yet the Chinese accounts 
 describe him as possessing a body which termi- 
 nated in the scaly folds of a serpent, and as hav- 
 ing six dragons (the predecessors of the Six 
 Governing Boards) as his counsellors. He is rep- 
 resented in art with the horny protuberances 
 which in the case of Oriental law-givers generally 
 (even in the case of Moses, according to Michel- 
 angelo) are regarded as the symbols of intellec- 
 tual power. Among the many useful inventions 
 ascribed to Fu-hsi by a grateful posterity, are 
 the following : 
 
 1. Marriage, together with the ceremonies 
 with which marriage was contracted. 
 
 2. Musical Instruments, especially the thirty- 
 five stringed lute. 
 
 3. The Eight Trigrams, 1 and arrangement of 
 the whole and the broken line in a series of eight 
 permutations, each the symbol of some element 
 in nature, on which was based in later times the 
 whole complex system of Chinese divination as 
 contained in the Yi-King. 
 
 4. Writing, the use of ideograms instead of 
 the more primitive system of knot notation, 
 known in ancient Peru as quipu. This invention 
 is, however, ascribed also to Sui-jin and to sev- 
 eral others. 
 
 5. The use of the Six Domestic Animals,
 
 26 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 namely, the horse, the dog, the ox, the sheep, the 
 pig and the fowl. 
 
 6. The use of the Mulberry Leaf for the feed- 
 ing of silk worms. 
 
 To Fu-hsi are also ascribed the weaving of 
 nets and snares for the catching of fish, the wor- 
 ship of the Supreme Being, whom they called 
 Shong-ii, 2 and whatever of other fruits or indica- 
 tions of civilization there were for which the Chi- 
 nese desired to claim a very remote past. 
 
 SHEN-NUNG. B. C. 2737-2705. The successor 
 of Fu-hsi, who selected him when dying, was Shen- 
 nung, generally known as the "Divine Husband- 
 man." He is depicted with the body of a man 
 and the head of an ox, doubtless in allusion to 
 his interest in agriculture. It is related that he 
 was the son of a princess, and was miraculously 
 born near the river Kiang. "He first fashioned 
 timber into ploughs, and taught the people the 
 art of husbandry. He discovered the curative 
 virtues of plants, and instituted the practice of 
 holding markets for the exchange of commodi- 
 ties." Moreover he contests with Fu-hsi inter- 
 est in the development of music, as the traditional 
 inventor of the K'in, or five stringed lute. 
 
 HWANG-TI. B. C. 2704-2595. Hwang-ti, the 
 "Yellow Emperor," succeeded Shen-nung, accord- 
 ing to one story, by usurpation. He is said to 
 have introduced the use of wheeled vehicles and 
 to have invented ships, armor and pottery. In 
 his reign a manifestation was vouchsafed of the
 
 THE FIVE RULERS 27 
 
 two fabulous beasts, the Griffin and the Ki Lin, a 
 highly valued indication of Heaven's pleasure in 
 a wise and benevolent rule. The limits of China 
 are said to have been extended during this reign 
 eastwards to Shan-tung and southward to the 
 Yang-tsze-kiang valley. Hwang-ti died at the age 
 of 111 years. The Chinese historian, Sze Ma 
 Tsien, 3 known as the "Herodotus of China," com- 
 mences his history at this point. Some modern 
 writers, without very tangible evidence, have seen 
 an introduction of foreign elements of civilization 
 into China about this time. The mention of the 
 hostile Hun-yu, generally identified with the 
 Hiung-nu, the ancestors of the Huns, suggests 
 danger and pressure from the tribes to the north. 
 Internally, some further advances are described, 
 including the use of milfoil (Achillea mille- 
 folium) for purposes of divination. 4 The legend- 
 ary minister, Tsang Kie, who is spoken of as the 
 first state historian, is one of the many to whom 
 has been assigned the invention of writing. 
 From watching the impressions made by the foot- 
 prints of birds he is said to have developed a 
 system of ideographs which combined the use of 
 the trigrams of Fu-hsi. His fellow minister, 
 Tsu-sung, is reported to have achieved much the 
 same result from studying the constellations in 
 the heavens. An important place also in the tra- 
 ditions of this reign is occupied by the Emperor's 
 wife, Liu Tsu, better known as "the Lady of Si- 
 ling," whose skill in the management of silk-
 
 28 
 
 worms endeared her to posterity. She was after- 
 wards deified as Yuan-fi and is worshiped on a 
 certain day in the 9th month. In the Wei-ki she 
 is referred to in the following verse: 
 
 "Si-ling-shi, the Empress of Hwang-ti, began to rear 
 
 silkworms : 
 
 At this period Hwang-ti invented the art of making 
 clothing." 
 
 The immediate successors of Hwang-ti need not 
 be mentioned. Chinese history, but for names, is 
 a blank till we come to the two "Model Emper- 
 ors" of the Confucian Classics, Yao and Shun. 
 With the description of these reigns, doubtless 
 idealized by the literati, begins the record of the 
 Shu-King or "Book of History." 
 
 YAO. B. C. 2357-2258. Yao, who is said to 
 have been born in the province of Ho-nan and to 
 have been the son of the Emperor Ti K'u, is de- 
 scribed as being "gifted without being proud, 
 and exalted without being insolent. He wore a 
 yellow cap and a plain silk dress. He drove in a 
 red car drawn by a white horse." Says the Shu- 
 King, "he united and transformed the myriad 
 states ; and so the black haired people 5 were 
 transformed. The result was concord." His de- 
 sire, during the long reign of ninety-eight (some 
 make it only seventy) years, for the welfare of 
 the people was shown by the placing of a tablet 
 outside the palace on which anyone might write
 
 THE FIVE RULERS 29 
 
 advice with regard to the government. A drum 
 near by enabled the man with a grievance to make 
 known his desires to the king. 6 The most strik- 
 ing proof, however, of Yao's laudable desire to 
 serve the people is afforded through the account 
 given of the choice of Shun as his successor on 
 the throne. For some years the ravages of a 
 great flood, caused probably, as to-day, by the 
 overflowing of the Hwang-ho, had defied the ut- 
 most efforts of the Minister of Works, whose 
 name was Kun. At length the monarch, grieved 
 by the growing desolation of the realm, requested 
 the people to name someone who would make him- 
 self master of the situation. They recommended 
 "an unmarried man of the common people named 
 Shun." Shun was found to be the son of a blind 
 man ; "his father was unprincipled, his mother in- 
 sincere, and his younger brother arrogant." Yet, 
 notwithstanding all these handicaps, he had been 
 able to live with them in peace and had even 
 brought about some improvement. Yao con- 
 cluded to try him and the experiment was in every 
 way successful. Everything that Shun attempted 
 prospered. "At the end of the year the place 
 where he lived became a village, in two years it 
 became a town, and in three years a capital." 
 Shun's association in the Empire was ratified; he 
 was received by marriage into the royal family, 
 and named by Yao as his heir. But though men 
 looked forward with confident expectation to the 
 reign of Shun, there was universal sorrow when
 
 the good King Yao was gathered to his fathers. 
 "For three years," we are told, "no music was 
 played anywhere." 
 
 SHUN. B. C. 2258-2206. Shun who, as we 
 have seen, was chosen by Yao for his good quali- 
 ties, became sovereign in B. C. 2258 instead of 
 Yao's worthless son, Tan-chu. He speedily justi- 
 fied the old Emperor's choice and the reputation 
 he had already gained during the years of re- 
 gency. His career, which is described in that sec- 
 tion of the "Shu-King" known as the "Canon of 
 Shun," largely follows the outlines of the preced- 
 ing reign. To the details already given of his 
 earlier life we may add that he was born in Ho-nan 
 and that his own mother had died whilst he was 
 still young. His father remarried and the boy 
 had with his stepmother a "sad, sour time." At- 
 tempts were even made on his life, but he behaved 
 with such exemplary patience that he attracted, 
 as we have seen, the attention of Yao. For his 
 conduct as a young man Shun has been enrolled 
 among the twenty-four illustrious examples of 
 filial piety. He labored incessantly to support 
 those who abused him, fishing, making pottery and 
 working in the fields. When he was plowing, the 
 birds and beasts are said to have come of their 
 own accord to weed his fields and help to draw the 
 plow. On ascending the throne his virtues were 
 equally evident, and loyal subjects helped to bear 
 the burdens of the state. He regulated the Calen- 
 dar, standardized weights and measures, and
 
 THE FIVE RULERS 81 
 
 made mitigations of the punishments hitherto in 
 vogue, altering the size of the whip which was 
 used in the courts and the thickness of the birch 
 rod which was employed for the chastisement of 
 school boys. His choice of Yii to be his successor 
 followed the precedent of Yao's selection of him- 
 self. The story of this early period may seem 
 thus far to lack excitement, yet surely it is bet- 
 ter to read these records of patriarchal regard 
 for the welfare of a nation, and of the gradually 
 accumulated fruits of culture, than the stories of 
 rapine and bloodshed which fill so many pages of 
 the early history of Greece and Rome. Shun put 
 his own ideal of rulership in a poem which is in- 
 cluded in the "Shu-King." It runs as follows: 
 
 "When the members work joyfully 
 The head rises grandly; 
 
 And the duties of all the offices are fully dis- 
 charged ; 
 
 When the head is intelligent 
 The members are good, 
 And all affairs will be happily performed."
 
 NOTES 
 
 1. The Eight Trigrams, with their signification, 
 are as follows: 
 
 z=Heaven; = Earth ;rr Thunder ;= ^Mountains; 
 Firp; Water;" ~3tefl.m; = = Wind. 
 
 2. The most ancient of the names for the Su- 
 preme Being. Shin, the term sometimes used, espe- 
 cially by some of the early missionaries, denotes 
 merely a spirit (cf. jinn). Tien Tshu (Heaven 
 Lord) was the term favored by the Roman Catholic 
 missionaries, but is objected to by many on the 
 ground that it was originally the name of one of 
 eight Taoist deities introduced about B. C. 250. 
 
 3. Sze Ma Tsien's "Historical Records" were 
 written about B. C. 90 from materials collected by 
 his father. A translation into French has recently 
 been published by M. Chavannes. 
 
 4. The "Shu-King" says: "Consult the tortoise 
 shell and the divining stalks." 
 
 5. Li-min, a common name for the Chinese. Cf. 
 the similar appellation given to the ancient Babylo- 
 nians, e.g. "Laws of Hammurabi," "Go forth like 
 the sun over the Black Head Race." 
 
 6. Hirth attributes this to Shun, but Pauthier to 
 Yao. Probably the plan was common to both reigns, 
 answering to the modern so-called "Cymbals of Op- 
 pression." 
 
 32
 
 CHAPTER V 
 THE HIA DYNASTY 
 
 B. C. 2205-1766. 
 
 Yii his successors T'ai K'ang Chung K'ang 
 the infamy of Kie the princess Mei-hi fall 
 of the dynasty. 
 
 Yii. The principality of Hia had been be- 
 stowed upon Yii before the death of Shun, and 
 the new King, immediately upon ascending the 
 throne, made it the name of the new dynasty. 
 Like his two predecessors, Yii was a "Model Em- 
 peror." "His voice was the standard of sounds, 
 his body the standard of measures of length." 
 He is said to have been a native of the province 
 of Sze-ch'uen. His exploits, which are chronicled 
 in that section of the "Shu-King" known as the 
 "Tribute of Yii," redounded to the advantage of 
 the whole country. He placed five sorts of in- 
 struments at his palace gates so that the people 
 who sought his presence might acquaint him with 
 the nature of their business. He divided the 
 country into nine provinces and so arranged the 
 Imperial domain that it formed the central square 
 of a series of concentric territories. These were 
 
 named respectively: 1, the royal domain; 2, 
 
 33
 
 34 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 the domain of the nobles ; 3, the domain of peace ; 
 4, the domain of restraint (for barbarians and 
 exiles) ; 5, the wild domain. He was a great en- 
 gineer and labored for nine years at the work of 
 leading the waters of the Hwang-ho back to their 
 proper channel. During this time he was so ab- 
 sorbed that he took little note of food and cloth- 
 ing and even thrice passed the door of his own 
 house without looking in, although he heard from 
 within the wailing of his infant son. He "made 
 cuttings through the nine mountains, formed the 
 nine lakes, regulated the course of the nine riv- 
 ers, fixed the limits of the nine provinces." 
 "Among the most marvelous of the achievements 
 ascribed to the handiwork of Yii," says Mayers, 
 "is the opening of a passage for the western 
 waters through the present defile of Wu Shan." 
 His ideal is expressed in the saying which has 
 been attributed to him, "I just think of working 
 incessantly every day." Evidently his industry 
 was appreciated, for the Chinese saying runs, 
 "How grand was the achievement of Yii ! How 
 far reaching his glorious energy ! But for Yii 
 we should all have been fishes." Under this ener- 
 getic and earnest monarch China prospered 
 greatly and the dominion was extended westward 
 to the "moving sand" (the desert of Gobi), 
 whilst the Miao tribes of aborigines were subdued 
 towards the south. In connection with the divi- 
 sion of the land into the nine provinces the story 
 may be mentioned that Yii made nine brazen vases
 
 THE HIA DYNASTY 35 
 
 or tripods upon the preservation of which de- 
 pended the preservation of the dynasty. Another 
 interesting legend associates Yii with the first dis- 
 covery of wine. The first manufacture was due 
 to a man named I Ti who took some to the daugh- 
 ter of the Emperor. She in turn brought it to 
 Yii who tasted it and poured the rest upon the 
 ground. He then ordered the discoverer to be 
 banished from the country and forbade any fur- 
 ther knowledge of the dangerous art. 
 
 THE SUCCESSORS OF Yii. Eighteen monarchs 
 reigned during the period assigned to this dy- 
 nasty. The era was, however, not without its 
 vicissitudes. T'ai K'ang, who as the assistant 
 of Yii, is said to have paced the whole land from 
 east to west, offended the people by his gay mode 
 of living and ruined their harvests by his hunt- 
 ing expeditions. He was dethroned in B. C. 2160. 
 His successor, Chung K'ang, is best known 
 through an eclipse which was chronicled in his 
 reign and which the court astronomers had failed 
 to predict. Modern astronomers have spent 
 much labor, with no very satisfactory results, in 
 endeavoring to fix the date of this event. An 
 interregnum is reckoned from B. C. 2218 to 2079 
 and the dynasty gradually declined until the end 
 came under the infamous Kie. This tyrant, with 
 the aid of his no less infamous consort, Mei-hi, 
 a slave who had been presented to him in B. C. 
 1786 by one of the conquered chiefs as a propi- 
 tiatory offering, filled full the cup of abomina-
 
 tions. Among other choice amusements of this 
 Chinese Nero was the creation of a vast lake of 
 wine in which he would compel his subjects, three 
 thousand at a time, to plunge at the sound of a 
 drum, whilst he and his queen and courtiers 
 laughed with delight at their brutal intoxication. 
 The downfall and death of the last of the Hia 
 Kings were brought about through a revolution 
 headed by Ch'eng T'ang, the founder of the dy- 
 nasty of Shang. The tyrant, Kie Kwei, was cap- 
 tured and sent into banishment.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE SHANG DYNASTY 
 
 B. C. 1766-1122. 
 
 T'ang, the Completer Wu T'ing Lin-sin 
 Wu-yin Chou-sin the "Heater" and the "Cop- 
 per Pillar" the revolt of Wan-wang Ki tsze 
 and the conquest of Korea. 
 
 CH'ENG T'ANG. The founder of the dynasty 
 of Shang, which is also called the Yin dynasty, 
 is another favorite of the Confucian historians. 
 He had, we are told, graven upon his bath the 
 words, thrice repeated, "Renew thyself every 
 day." He was careful in all his hunting expe- 
 ditions to diminish in all possible ways the suffer- 
 ings of the victims such as were necessitated by 
 the royal sport. His especial title to fame is, 
 however, in his offer to yield himself as a sacri- 
 fice in order to bring to an end a severe seven 
 years' famine which had reduced the country to 
 great extremities of distress. Putting on the 
 symbols of mourning, he mounted his car and 
 drove to a certain designated spot at the foot 
 of a mountain. Here he dismounted, prostrated 
 
 himself to the earth and made confession of his 
 
 37
 
 38 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 own sins and of those of the people. Hardly 
 had he finished his prayer when there came an 
 abundant rain and the land speedily recovered its 
 former fertility. The credit for T'ang's suc- 
 cessful reign must be shared with the famous 
 minister, I Yin, who was, it is said, "almost what 
 Shun had been to Yao, and Yao to Shun." A 
 legend declares that he was found as an infant 
 in a hollow mulberry tree, a story probably due 
 to the name of his birthplace. His enemies said 
 that he owed his elevation to his skill in cooking, 
 through which he maintained his influence over 
 his royal master. But, cook or no cook, he re- 
 mained a trusted councilor until his death in 
 B. C. 1713. 
 
 DECLINE or THE DYNASTY. As in the case of 
 the Hia dynasty, vicious kings soon dimmed the 
 glory of the dynasty which had been won by 
 T'ang, the Completer, and ruined the results 
 painfully achieved. Wu T'ing tried his best to 
 stay the plague of wickedness by going back to 
 the people for his chief official, choosing as min- 
 ister a poor artisan whom, under divine inspira- 
 tion, he had beheld in a dream. Lin-sin (B. C. 
 1225-1219) put all responsibility on his ministers 
 and refused frankly to be bothered with any of 
 the duties or cares of government. Wu-yih 
 (B. C. 1198-1194) openly defied the gods and 
 blasphemed the spirit of Heaven. "He played 
 chess with it and told a man to make its moves. 
 When the spirit of Heaven lost, he derided and
 
 THE SHANG DYNASTY 39 
 
 insulted it; and making for it a leathern bag, he 
 filled it with blood, hung it up in the air, and 
 shot arrows at it." Poetic justice, in this case, 
 came with no halting foot, and the blasphemous 
 libertine was struck by lightning and died. 
 
 CHOU-SIN. B. C. 1154-1123. The climax of 
 evil came with the reign of Chou-sin, or Shu, 
 whose career of infamy runs in many respects 
 parallel with that of Kie Kwei. The list of his 
 enormities is summed up in the "Great Declara- 
 tion" of the Shu-King. The good advice of the 
 faithful minister and relative, Pi-kan, he requited 
 with the brutal order addressed to his minions to 
 take out the heart of the courageous councilor. 
 "I have heard," said he, "that a man's heart has 
 seven openings ; I would fain make the experi- 
 ment upon Pi-kan." The palace and the pleas- 
 ure grounds, known as Luh T'ai or Deer Tower, 
 were the unhallowed scenes of nameless orgies. 
 To these he was stimulated and encouraged by 
 his mistress, T'a-Jci, one of the most sinister 
 names in the history of China. This lady, who 
 was a daughter of the chief of Su and a prize of 
 war, distinguished herself by the invention of 
 sundry ingenious instruments of torture. Among 
 these were the "Heater" and the "Copper Pillar." 
 The latter was a metal column, well greased, 
 which was laid over a pit of burning charcoal. 
 The unhappy victims of the royal caprice or 
 mirth were prcssingly invited to walk across this 
 fatal bridge, with a result which was as pleasur-
 
 40 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 able to the royal libertines as it was disastrous 
 to themselves. 
 
 THE REVOLT OF WEN WANG. At length the 
 cruelties of Chou-sin exhausted the patience of 
 the princes and the people. A revolt broke out 
 headed by Chang, Duke of Chou, known also as 
 Si Peh, "the Chief of the West," and better still 
 by the name given to him on canonization, Wen 
 Wang. The tyrant in desperate straits showed 
 some last flicker of courage. To the assembled 
 troops he gave the following singular advice: "In 
 to-day's business do not take more than six or 
 seven steps, then stop and dress your ranks. 
 Heroes, exert yourselves ! Do not exceed four, 
 five, six or seven strokes, then stop and dress your 
 ranks. Exert yourselves, heroes ! Put on a ter- 
 rible look! Be like tigers, bears, wolves, and 
 dragons in the neighborhood of Sheng." When 
 this remarkable army was put to flight in the 
 battle of "the ford of Meng," Chou-sin decked 
 himself in all his jewels, mounted the marble 
 tower he had built for his mistress in the notori- 
 ous pleasure gardens of Luh T'ai and there, like 
 another Zimri or Sardanapalus, set fire to the 
 palace and cast himself alive into the flames. In 
 this way Chou-sin put an end at once to his own 
 not very valuable existence and to the dynasty 
 which had begun so gloriously. The favorite, 
 T'a-ki, who had had so large a share in precipi- 
 tating the disaster, was captured and beheaded. 
 It is said that so great was the influence of the
 
 THE SHANG DYNASTY 41 
 
 personal charm of this Chinese Circe to the very 
 last that no one could be found to deal the fatal 
 stroke, until the aged councilor of Wu Wang, 
 whose name was T'ai Kung, stepped forward and, 
 covering up his face, made himself the avenger 
 of a nation's wrongs. The accumulated treas- 
 ures of the "Deer Tower" gardens were dis- 
 tributed by the conqueror to the people from 
 whose spoliation they had been acquired. 
 
 KI-TSZE. Ki-tsze, one of the vainly protest- 
 ing ministers of the defeated Chou-sin, deserves 
 to be mentioned, if not as the author of one of 
 the most important sections of the "Shu-King," 
 as the real founder of the civilization of Korea. 
 He was, like Pi-kan, allied to the Emperor by 
 blood, but, with his two fellow ministers, Pi-kan 
 and Wei-tsze, was imprisoned by his fatuous kins- 
 man when he refused to remain silent with regard 
 to the fatal folly which was threatening the fall 
 of the dynasty. The two fellow-prisoners per- 
 ished, but Ki-tsze was released from prison on 
 the accession of the first Chou sovereign. He 
 was promised rank and office under the new dy- 
 nasty, but his sturdy loyalty to his first allegi- 
 ance prevailed and he preferred expatriation. 
 Korea was the land to which he turned. The 
 legendary history of this country goes back as 
 far as B. C. 2333, to the time when the Son of 
 the Creator of Heaven came down to a mountain 
 in the province of Phyong An. Here he as- 
 sumed the name of Tan Gun and reigned on earth
 
 42 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 a thousand years. But it is Ki-tsze's migration 
 to Korea and his conquest of the land, to which 
 he gave the name of Clio-sen, "Land of the Morn- 
 ing Calm," which marks the real beginning of 
 Korean history. It is believed that he came by 
 sea, landed somewhere south of the Han river, 
 and brought with him all the arts of civilization. 
 He died B. C. 1083 and the dynasty he founded 
 had the good fortune to survive until B. C. 193.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 THE CHOU DYNASTY 
 
 B. C. 1122-249. 
 " I. FROM WU-WANG TO THE FIVE LEADERS 
 
 General character of the dynasty Wen Wang 
 Chou Kung the Chou Li Cheng Wang and 
 his successors Muh-wang Ll-wang Suang 
 Wa ng Yu-Wang Ping-wang, 
 
 THE CHOU DYNASTY. The dynasty of Chou is 
 the longest lived of all the imperial lines in the 
 history of China and includes the reigns of 
 thirty-five sovereigns, aggregating a total of 
 nearly nine centuries. The period as a whole re- 
 veals a gradual weakening of the central author- 
 ity by reason of the increase of power in the vas- 
 sal and confederate states. The number of these 
 at one time was as many as a hundred and twenty- 
 five and even in the time of Confucius there were 
 fifty-two. Wars continued for the greater por- 
 tion of the time, against the Huns on the north- 
 ern frontier and against the aboriginal tribes 
 south of the Yang-tsze-kiang. An important 
 feature of the epoch is in the gradual enforce- 
 ment of the (so-called) Confucian system under 
 
 a series of able teachers, philosophers and admin- 
 
 43
 
 44 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 istrators. These include such men as the sage, 
 Confucius, himself, and his great disciple and in- 
 terpreter, Mencius. Towards the end of the 
 Chou dynasty there are some indications of reac- 
 tion against this system through the pressure of 
 forces such as were doubtless reinforced by the 
 infusion of a strong Tatar element from the 
 north. These forces indeed triumphed for a time 
 in the overthrow of the Chous and the establish- 
 ment of the Tsin dynasty, but ultimately the for- 
 eign elements were themselves assimilated to the 
 Confucian ideal. 
 
 WEN WANG. B. C. 1231-1135. The real 
 founder of this dynasty was the Ch'ang, Duke of 
 Chou, of whom we have already spoken as head- 
 ing the revolt against Chou-sin. He had been 
 hereditary prince of the principality of Ch'i and 
 was thrown into prison by the tyrant as suspect 
 and dangerous. In prison he utilized two years 
 and attained fame as the author of a work on the 
 Sixty-four Hexagrams which had been evolved 
 from the Eight Trigrams of Fu-hsi. This treat- 
 ise, together with the additions made through the 
 filial affection of his son, the great duke of Chou, 
 constitutes that most bewildering of all the Con- 
 fucian classics known as the Yi-King, or Book 
 of Changes. Wen Wang's literary labors were, 
 however, no barrier to his fitness for military 
 achievement. Through the intercession of the 
 people who loved him and because of the promise 
 to get for the Emperor a beautiful concubine and
 
 THE CHOU DYNASTY 45 
 
 some splendid horses from the west, he was after 
 two years released from prison and sent west to 
 fight the frontier tribes. But he soon returned 
 and headed the revolt against Chou-sin with the 
 result that has already been recorded. He 
 "found the people hanging head downwards and 
 set them on their feet" and was known to all fu- 
 ture times as Wen Wang, "the Martial." 
 
 Wu WANG. Wu Wang, or Fa, his son, became 
 the first reigning sovereign of the Chou line, 
 which, as we have seen, received its name from 
 the Duchy of Chou on the western frontier. He 
 seems to have been a genuinely great monarch, 
 commencing his rule with generous actions and a 
 conciliatory attitude towards the conquered. 
 He opened the prisons which were doubtless filled 
 with the victims of Chou-sin's tyranny and also 
 the granaries whose contents at this juncture 
 were badly needed. In the proclamation which he 
 made exposing the misdeeds of the late dynasty, 
 the following is spoken of as one of the crimes 
 of Chou-sin: "He has put men into office on the 
 hereditary principle," a striking testimony to 
 the essentially democratic character of the early 
 Chinese government. Wu Wang established his 
 capital at Si-ngan-fu, a city which had the honor 
 of being the center of government at several sub- 
 sequent epochs, and was the natural refuge for 
 the Emperor and Empress Dowager during the 
 months following the Boxer revolt of 1900. Wu 
 Wang also reformed the calendar, created schools
 
 of various grades, and made other memorable im- 
 provements in methods of government and ad- 
 ministration. 
 
 CHOU KUNG. The great glory of the reign of 
 Wu Wang was the character and statesmanship 
 of the King's brother, Tan, better known as Chou 
 Rung, "the Duke of Chou." We may call him 
 the Duke of Chou par excellence, for he is in- 
 cluded by Mencius in the number of the "Three 
 Great Sages" of China, of whom the other two 
 are Yii, the patriarch king of the Hia dynasty, 
 and, of course, Confucius. The philosopher adds 
 the reason for his estimate as follows: "In for- 
 mer times Yii repressed the vast waters of the in- 
 undation and the empire was reduced to order. 
 Chou Kung's achievements extended even to the 
 barbarous tribes of the west and north; he drove 
 away all ferocious animals ; and the people en- 
 joyed repose." He did even more than his 
 father, Wen Wang, for the perfecting of the 
 Book of Changes, the "Yi-King," interpreting 
 the significance of each line of the hexagram, as 
 his father had interpreted the general meaning of 
 the whole. As he showed by this voluntary labor 
 his filial love, so he showed his fraternal love by 
 constituting himself the pillar of Wu Wang's 
 throne. He might almost be regarded as the 
 most potent force in the permanent organization 
 of the Chinese administration system. His zeal 
 was so great that he received interviewers even 
 whilst he was having his bath, rushing out hold-
 
 THE CHOU DYNASTY 47 
 
 ing his wet hair in his hand rather than keep them 
 waiting. His seriousness is illustrated by his re- 
 buke of the Emperor for bestowing a certain 
 symbol of power upon another jokingly. "I was 
 only joking," said the prince. "Nay," replied 
 Chou Kung, "a prince never jokes. His words 
 are written down as history, take shape as cere- 
 monial rites, or are set to music and sung." His 
 delicacy of feeling was shown by his prayer for 
 the recovery of Wu Wang when the monarch was 
 dangerously ill. Chou Kung's appeal to the an- 
 cestors and his divination with the tortoises were 
 regarded as the real cause of the King's recov- 
 ery. The same feeling was shown later on the 
 death of Wu Wang and the accession of the child- 
 king, Cheng Wang. Chou Kung feared it might 
 be supposed that he was himself aiming at the 
 supreme power, so, although he was appointed 
 regent, he went voluntarily into exile to escape 
 suspicion of self-seeking. Fortunately for the 
 realm, he was recalled when certain impending 
 difficulties and dangers made his presence once 
 again necessary. To the above catalogue of the 
 great Duke's achievements we may add that he 
 was often described as the inventor of the Mari- 
 ner's Compass on the strength of the mention of 
 a wonderful "south-pointing chariot" which he 
 devised to assist the return of the envoys from 
 Tonkin to their own home. The reference, how- 
 ever, is of a very doubtful meaning. 
 
 THE CHOU LI. Of more authenticity and even
 
 48 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 value, as an achievement, may be credited to Chou 
 Kung the composition of the "Chou li," or "Cere- 
 monial of Chou," a book describing in detail the 
 organization of the Government at this epoch. 
 Of this work Professor Hirth has written: "As 
 an educator of the nation the 'Chou li' has prob- 
 ably not its like among the literatures of the 
 world, not excepting even the Bible." Whether 
 in its present form it can be regarded as the work 
 of Chou Kung is at least doubtful, but it may 
 certainly be considered as reflecting the spirit of 
 his administration. 
 
 It contains, for the first time, the categorical 
 division of the people into nine classes, in the fol- 
 lowing order : landlords, gardeners, woodmen, live- 
 stock-keepers, artisans, merchants, housewives, 
 servants, and those without fixed professions. 
 
 The chief honor is thereby given to those who 
 cultivate the soil and the status of the merchant 
 is low, because he is a middleman, not a producer. 
 The "Chou li" also describes in detail the duties 
 of the Six Boards which are as follows : 
 
 1. The Mandarin 1 of Heaven, with general su- 
 pervision over all government, the regulation of 
 the dress, food and all the activities of the Em- 
 peror. 
 
 . The Mandarin of Earth, responsible for 
 the welfare of the people. Among the numerous 
 responsibilities of this Board was a fairly com- 
 prehensive one with regard to marriages. It 
 was supposed to see to it that every girl was mar-
 
 THE CHOU DYNASTY 49 
 
 ried by the time she was twenty and every man 
 by the time he was thirty. 
 
 3. The Mandarin of Spring, in charge of all 
 religious rites, and ceremonies associated with the 
 observance of the seasons, divinations and astro- 
 logical investigations. 
 
 4. The Mandarin of Summer, the Board of 
 War, providing detailed instructions for the rais- 
 ing and equipment of troops. 
 
 5. The Mandarin of Autumn, the Board of 
 Justice, regulating all punishments. 
 
 6. The Mandarin of Winter, the Board of 
 Public Works. 
 
 These six Boards remained substantially in this 
 order of importance until the creation of the 
 Wai-icu-pu, or Board of Foreign Affairs in 1900. 
 The Wai-wu-pu now takes precedence of all but 
 the first. 
 
 CHENG WANG AND His SUCCESSORS. Chou 
 Rung died in the year B. C. 1105 and was buried, 
 as he deserved, with royal honors and amid the 
 lamentation of the whole nation. The kings who 
 succeeded Wu Wang must be passed over with 
 but slight notice. Perhaps we lose little by the 
 omissions. Cheng Wang selected a new capital, 
 Loh Yang, the present city of Ho-nan-fu, a city 
 which, like Si-ngan-fu, had its vicissitudes. 
 Chao-Wang, B. C. 1052-1002, helps to illustrate 
 the growing importance of popular feeling. He 
 drew down on himself much ill will because of the 
 heedlessness with which, when engaged in war or
 
 50 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 hunting, he trampled down the crops of his sub- 
 jects. For this they revenged themselves in the 
 following summary manner: On the king requir- 
 ing to cross a certain river, the people provided 
 him with a boat so constructed as to come apart 
 in the middle of the stream. The king managed 
 to swim ashore, but he died not very long after, 
 either as a result of the wetting or through an- 
 other similar "accident." 
 
 MUH WANG, who succeeded Chao-Wang and 
 reigned from B. C. 1001 to 947, deserves mention 
 on account of his travels. With his charioteer 
 Tsao-Fu and his eight marvelous horses he went 
 "wherever wheelruts ran and the hoofs of horses 
 had trodden." The book giving an account of 
 these adventures only dates, however, from the 
 second or third century B. C., so that there is con- 
 siderable room for doubt. One interesting visit 
 was to the Si-Wang-Mu or "Royal Lady of the 
 West." The identity of this princess is one of 
 the mysteries of history and Taoist writers have 
 woven around the story a mass of marvelous 
 fairy lore, describing the Queen as inhabiting 
 a magnificent mountain palace, hard by which 
 was the Lake of Gems and the Peach Tree of Im- 
 mortality from whose branches flew azure-winged 
 birds on errands of love. Here she lived sur- 
 rounded by troops of genii and by and by a con- 
 sort was found for her in Tung Wang Kung, 
 the Eastern King Lord. Others have used their 
 imaginations in a different direction by recog-
 
 THE CHOU DYNASTY 51 
 
 nizing in the Si Wang Mu the Queen of Sheba! 
 While still others have adopted the prosaic ex- 
 planation that we have here simply the name of 
 a tribe. Muh-Wang visited also "the land of 
 moving sands," and "the land of heaped-up 
 feathers," and came to the land "where the green 
 birds cast their feathers." The geography of 
 all this is as much a mystery as the personality 
 of the Royal Lady of the West, but the pride 
 of Persia has claimed the honor of a visit in these 
 peregrinations. It is quite possible that by 
 means of some such expeditions as these referred 
 to there was introduced into China the particu- 
 lar philosophic and religious element which ap- 
 pears a little later in the teaching of Lao-tsze. 
 
 Inferior names succeed to that of Muh-Wang 
 and the growing inability of the Emperors to 
 manage their vast, feudal domains becomes in- 
 creasingly evident. Some of the statesmen, how- 
 ever, seem to have been men of more dignity and 
 resource than their masters. 
 
 Li WANG. B. C. 878-842. As an example we 
 may take the story of the Duke of Shau who 
 was minister under Li Wang. Li Wang disliked 
 and resented the open criticism of his policy by 
 the people. As a deterrent he ordered all the 
 suspected slanderers to be seized and executed. 
 This done, criticism was naturally silent and the 
 exultant Emperor exclaimed to his minister, 
 "Where are all your gossipers now?" The an- 
 swer was as follows : "All you have brought
 
 52 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 about is a screen which prevents you from learn- 
 ing the real sentiments of the people; but you 
 should know that it is more dangerous to shut 
 the people's mouths than to stop the waters of 
 a river. To stop the progress of a river means 
 to force it to expand and thus do more harm 
 than if it had been allowed to take its natural 
 course. Such is the case with your people. If 
 you want to prevent the damage threatening 
 from the inundation of a river you have to lead 
 it into a proper bed which will hold all its waters ; 
 if you want to make an impression on the people, 
 let them have perfect liberty of speech." 
 
 SUAN WANG. B. C. 827-782. Suan Wang 
 furnishes another illustration of the danger of 
 disregarding the popular will and the maintenance 
 of governmental traditions. "There was a time- 
 honored custom," says Hirth, "under the Chou 
 dynasty that the Emperor had to perform the 
 ceremony of working in person in the 'Fields of 
 a Thousand Acres' set aside for the purpose, 
 a ceremony similar to that of the handling of the 
 plow by the Emperor at the present day. Suan 
 Wang declined to comply with the practice in 
 spite of the remonstrances of his dukes, with the 
 result that in B. C. 789 his army was defeated in 
 a battle against certain Tangutan tribes. The 
 name of the battle field, according to Sze Ma 
 Tsien, was Ts'ien mou, which means 'a thousand 
 acres,' but it would appear that the name was 
 given to the locality afterwards in commemora-
 
 THE CHOU DYNASTY 53 
 
 tion of the Emperor's disinclination to listen to 
 his minister's remonstrations." Whether due or 
 not to the Emperor's crimes, a great drought af- 
 flicted the land at this time, and the "Book of 
 Odes" 2 gives us the following fine account of 
 Suan Wang's expostulation with Heaven. 
 
 "Brightly resplendent in the sky revolved 
 The milky way. The monarch cried, Alas! 
 What crime is ours, that Heaven thus sends on us 
 Death and Disorder, that with blow on blow 
 Famine attacks us? Surely I have grudged 
 To God no victims ; all our store is spent 
 On tokens. Why is it I am not heard? 
 Rages the drought. The hills are parched, and dry 
 The streams. The demon of the drought 
 Destroys like one who scatters fiery flames. 
 Terrified by the burning heat my heart, 
 My mourning heart, seems all consumed with fire. 
 The many dukes and ministers of the past 
 Pay me no heed. O God, from thy great heaven 
 Send me permission to withdraw myself 
 Into seclusion. Fearful is the drought. 
 I hesitate, I dread to go away. 
 Why has this drought been sent upon my land? 
 No cause for it know I. Full early rose 
 My prayers for a good year; not late was I 
 In off'ring sacrifice unto the Lords 
 Of the Four Quarters and the land. Afar 
 In the high Heaven God listens not. And yet 
 Surely a reverent man as I have been 
 To all intelligent spirits should not be 
 The victim of their overwhelming wrath."
 
 54 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 What with physical calamities within and the 
 increasing troublesomeness of the Huns without, 
 the military and civil capacity of the rulers of 
 China at this time was certainly put severely to 
 the test. 
 
 Yu WANG. B. C. 781-771. Suan Wang was 
 succeeded by Yu Wang who reigned just ten 
 years. There is a presentiment of coming dis- 
 aster in the story of this effeminate ruler and 
 his favorite, Pao Sze. Of mysterious birth, Pao 
 was ordered slain when an infant, but, wrapped 
 in a piece of matting, she was rescued from the 
 river, put out to nurse, and later presented to 
 the king because of her great beauty. She soon 
 displaced the legitimate wife of Yu Wang and 
 caused the banishment of the heir-apparent. 
 And now no folly was too great for Yu Wang to 
 perpetrate in order to amuse his mistress, who, 
 for her part, found it by no means easy to be 
 amused. Because she liked the swishing sound 
 of rending silk, he ordered the tearing up of 
 large numbers of pieces of the costliest fabrics. 
 The king had established outposts at which 
 beacon-fires could be kindled and drums beaten 
 to give warning of the incursions of the Huns. 
 The melancholy princess could not be induced to 
 smile until she was permitted to give the order 
 for the lighting of the beacon in order that she 
 might enjoy the discomfiture of the feudatory 
 princes when they responded to the false alarm. 
 At length the enemy arrived in reality ; the cry
 
 THE CHOU DYNASTY 55 
 
 of "Wolf" was given as usual, but this time in 
 vain ; no troops appeared ; the king was taken 
 prisoner and slain, and Pao Sze herself carried 
 off, together with much booty. She is said to 
 have committed suicide by strangling herself. 
 
 In the sixth year of this reign occurred the 
 eclipse of the sun which gives us our earliest fixed 
 point in Chinese chronology, viz: Aug. 29, B. C. 
 766. The reference to the event is contained in 
 one of the Odes of the Shi King:. 
 
 "At the conjunction of the sun and moon in the 10th 
 month, 
 
 On the first day of the moon, which was sin man, 
 
 The sun was eclipsed, a thing of very evil omen. 
 
 Then the moon became small, and now the sun be- 
 came small, 
 
 Henceforth the lower people will be in very de- 
 plorable case." 
 
 P'ING WANG. B. C. 770-720. P'ing Wang 
 followed his father, Yu, and reigned for the most 
 part peacefully. But the Chou dynasty was now 
 past its zenith and, although destined to brave 
 the storms of time for five centuries longer, the 
 story was to be one of anarchy, assassination, 
 misrule and trouble. The vassal princess became 
 more and more powerful and therewith more and 
 more independent. They began to take posses- 
 sion of entire provinces and to govern them with- 
 out reference to the decrees of the Emperors. 
 A good illustration in point is that kingdom of
 
 56 
 
 Lu (part of the modern province of Shan-tung) 
 of which Confucius has given the continuous his- 
 tory for about two hundred and fifty years, 
 namely, from B. C. 722 to 481. The history will 
 be found in that one of the Confucian Classics 
 known as Ch'un Tsiu or the Spring and Au- 
 tumn Annals.
 
 NOTES 
 
 1. The word Mandarin comes, not from the 
 Portugese mandar, as is often asserted, but from the 
 Sanscrit mantrin, "counsellor/' from the root "man," 
 "to think." 
 
 2. "Book of Odes." Pt. Ill, Book III, Ode 4. 
 
 57
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 THE CHOU DYNASTY 
 
 (Concluded) 
 
 B. C. 685-249. 
 
 II. FROM THE FIVE LEADERS TO THE TSIN 
 EPOCH. 
 
 Huan Wang Duke Huan of Ts'i Duke Wen 
 of Tsin Prince Chuang of Ch'u the age of the 
 Philosophers Lao tsze Taoism Confucius 
 the Five King and the Four Shu Mencius 
 Yang-chu Mo-ti Chwang tsz Fall of the Chou 
 dynasty. 
 
 HTTAN WANG. The grandson of Ping Wang, 
 Huan Wang, reigned from B. C. 719 to 679, but 
 "tried in vain to assert his authority among the 
 contending states." The history of the next cen- 
 tury, i.e. from B. C. 685 to 591, has been entitled 
 the period of the Five Leaders because it exhibits 
 the rise in succession to power of the five States 
 of Ts'i, Sung, Tsin, Ts'in and Ch'u. 
 
 THE FIVE LEADERS. The five great princes 
 who represent the successive periods of dominance 
 are as follows: 
 
 1. Duke Huan of Ts'i, B. C. 685-643, whose 
 fame is closely bound up with that of his great 
 Prime Minister, the philosopher Kwan tsze, or 
 
 Kwan Chung, noteworthy as the statesman-stat- 
 58
 
 THE CHOU DYNASTY 59 
 
 istician who obtained a revenue for his master 
 by the levying of taxes upon salt and iron. The 
 philosophical work on government and legislation 
 ascribed to Kwan tsze and called by his name 
 is now generally regarded as a forgery of later 
 times. Kwan tsze deserves mention not only as 
 an economist but as a typical Chinese friend. 
 The story of Kwan tsze and Pao Shuh corresponds 
 in China to the Greek story of Damon and 
 Pythias. "My parents," said Kwan tsze, "gave 
 me birth but Pao Shuh alone knows my feelings." 
 Duke Huan was for thirty-nine years the 
 undisputed leader among the feudal chiefs and a 
 successful warrior against China's foreign foes. 
 He was evidently a shrewd judge of merit as is 
 illustrated in the story of how he raised to the 
 position of one of his chief counselors the phil- 
 osopher, Ning Tsi, whom he discovered earning 
 his bread as a wagoner. The Duke also appeals 
 to us sympathetically as having sent back to her 
 father a favorite wife who persisted in rocking 
 the boat in which they were one day amusing 
 themselves on the Lake. In his last illness the 
 great chief lay neglected whilst his sons quarreled 
 over the succession. It is a serious indictment 
 against the filial piety of the time that the body 
 of the dead ruler lay for months unburied and 
 uncared for and the prestige of the state fell 
 as rapidly as it had risen. 
 
 2. Duke Siang of Sung. B. C. 650-637. 
 
 3. Duke Wen of Tsin, B.C. 636-628, who
 
 came to the rulership of the State after he had 
 declined to accept the position on terms which 
 appeared to him dishonorable. "Fugitive as I 
 am," he said, "it is not the getting of the State 
 which is precious in my sight, but the maintenance 
 of my benevolence and my filial piety." On his 
 way through a certain district, he was once re- 
 duced to the necessity of begging for food. A 
 churlish fellow offered him a clod of earth. The 
 future duke, bowed, accepted the clod with the 
 remark, "It is Heaven's gift, a gift of the soil, 
 a good omen," * and took it along with him, as 
 hopefully as Duke William of Normandy 
 clutched the handful of sand when he slipped 
 upon the sea beach of England. Duke Wen 
 fought a great battle against the State of Ch'u 
 in B. C. 632 and died four years after his victory. 
 
 4. Duke Mu of Ts'in, B. C. 659-621. 
 
 5. Prince Chuang of Ch'u, B. C. 613-591, who 
 with success became audacious and sent to the 
 Emperor an insolent message asking the size and 
 weight of the Nine Tripods on which the security 
 of the Empire was said to depend. The reply 
 of the Emperor, Ting Wang, was not without its 
 dignity: "When virtue is brilliant, the tripods 
 are heavy ; when the reverse, they are light ; 
 Heaven blesses intelligent virtue ; on that its favor 
 rests. Though the virtue of Chou is decayed, 
 the decree of Heaven is not yet changed. The 
 weight of the Tripods may not be enquired 
 about."
 
 THE CHOU DYNASTY 61 
 
 LAO-TSZE. The state of anarchy and confu- 
 sion which, it is apparent, was prevailing at this 
 time was not without its relief. Doubtless there 
 were many happy interludes of government in 
 the various states such as, for instance, the rule 
 of Tsze Ch'an who from B. C. 584 to 571 ruled 
 the Duchy of Cheng so well that "the doors were 
 not locked at night and lost articles were not 
 picked up from the highways." Moreover, as 
 some compensation for the political infelicities of 
 the age we find in this very period of disruption 
 or incohesion some of the greatest personalities 
 of Chinese history. Of these, the first in date is 
 the somewhat shadowy figure of Lao-tsze, the 
 founder of Taoism. The name Lao-tsze may 
 mean either "Aged Boy," in allusion to the legend 
 of his having been born already seventy years old 
 and with white hair, or else "Old Philosopher." 
 His personal name was Li (Plum tree) and he 
 was born about B. C. 604 in the State of Ch'u 
 (the present provinces of Hu-peh and Hu-nan). 
 Almost nothing is known of his life and some re- 
 gard the whole story as mythical. He is said 
 to have held an official position as Keeper of 
 Archives at Loh under the Duke of Chou. The 
 leading idea of his teaching was that of the 
 mystic and quietist and was so diametrically op- 
 posed to the orthodox Confucianism that it is no 
 wonder foreign origin has been suspected. 
 There was never any very clear idea in China as 
 to what the "Way" precisely was. According to
 
 Lao-tsze himself, "Those who know do not tell; 
 those who tell do not know." Confucius says 
 that he studied the Tao for twenty years and 
 came no nearer to the understanding of it. The 
 one interview which legend ascribes to the two 
 philosophers is said to have resulted in mutual 
 perplexity. The exponent of the Way seemed 
 to Confucius to be "soaring dragon-like above 
 the clouds to Heaven." Confucius himself was 
 all for externals, for rules of propriety and the 
 duties of the "superior man." Lao-tsze asserted 
 that "the crow does not become black through be- 
 ing painted nor the pigeon white through bath- 
 ing." Lao-tsze "anticipated the Christian doc- 
 trine of returning good for evil, a sentiment 
 which was highly reprobated by the practical 
 mind of Confucius, who declared that evil should 
 be met by justice." The classic of Taoism is 
 known as the Tao Te King, or "Classic of the 
 Way." It is in all probability the work of a 
 later age, perhaps of the 2nd Century B. C., but 
 it is generally regarded as containing many of 
 the sayings of Lao-tsze. Such are the following: 
 
 "Keep behind and you shall be put in front. Keep 
 out and you shall be put in." 
 
 "Mighty is he who conquers himself." 
 
 "He who is conscious of being strong is content to 
 be weak." 
 
 "He who is content has enough." 
 
 "To the good I would be good. To the not-good 
 also I would be good in order to make them good."
 
 THE CHOU DYNASTY 63 
 
 "Recompense injury with kindness." 
 "Do nothing and all things will be done." 
 "The weak overcomes the strong; the soft over- 
 comes the hard." 
 
 Lao-tsze passes from the page of history as 
 mysteriously as he enters. He is said to have 
 journeyed to the West and is represented in 
 Art as riding on an ox, or in a car drawn by blue 
 (or black) oxen. Yin Hi, the keeper of the gate 
 at the frontier pass, warned beforehand in a 
 dream, was the last to see him and procured from 
 him in writing the philosophy of the Tao. 
 
 Lao-tsze's chief interpreter was Chwang tsze, 2 
 who lived two centuries later and endeavored to 
 rescue his master's name from oblivion. The pe- 
 riod of the Tsin dynasty was that which in one 
 sense was the most favorable to Taoism, though 
 from another point of view it led to so much cor- 
 ruption that some have even distinguished be- 
 tween Laoism, the teaching of the sage, and 
 Taoism, the later, and corrupt, system. During 
 the Tsin dynasty the Emperor was wont to ex- 
 pound Taoism to his courtiers and caused those 
 who yawned to be executed. Tsin shih Hwang 
 Ti, the "Burner of the Books," was an ardent 
 Taoist and sent a famous expedition to Japan 
 in search of the Elixir Vitce. The first sovereign 
 of the Han dynasty was also much devoted to this 
 faith and the hierarchy of Taoist Popes dates 
 from about this time. The first Pope was Chang
 
 Tao ling who ascended to heaven at the age of 
 123 from the Dragon Tiger Mountain in Kiang-s: 
 on which his descendants have ever since resided. 
 "He had acquired power to walk among the 
 stars, to divide mountains and seas, to command 
 the wind and the thunder, and to quell demons." 
 The later Taoism received from Buddhism the 
 worst of that system as it imparted to Buddhism 
 the best of its own. It is now little but a system 
 of magic and charlatanry. The present "Great 
 Wizard" or Pope is employed to expel evil spir- 
 its from the houses of the wealthy. "All new 
 gods are employed by the Emperor through him, 
 and on the first day of every month he gives 
 audience to an invisible host of gods and demi- 
 gods who come to present their compliments. 3 
 This religion was bitterly opposed and persecuted 
 at certain periods, notably by Kublai Khan in the 
 13th Century., 
 
 CONFUCIUS. Confucius, "the sage of the fam- 
 ily Kung in the State of Lu," was a little junior 
 to Lao-tsze and the representative of the very op- 
 posite, and characteristically Chinese, type of 
 philosophy. Many estimates have been formed 
 of this remarkable man, but most will agree with 
 the words of Von der Gabelentz: "If we are to 
 measure the greatness of a historic personage, I 
 can only see one standard applicable for the pur- 
 pose: the effectiveness of that person's influence 
 according to its dimensions, duration and in- 
 tensity. If this standard be applied Confucius
 
 LAO-TSZE
 
 THE CHOU DYNASTY 65 
 
 was one of the greatest of men. For even at the 
 present day, after the lapse of more than 2,000 
 years, the moral, social, and political life of about 
 one-third of mankind continues to be under the 
 full influence of his mind." 
 
 Of course Confucius was, to a large extent, 
 successful because he systematized, practiced and 
 taught what was already accepted as the Chinese 
 ideal. He himself disclaimed being an origina- 
 tor: he professed himself a "transmitter." Here 
 we can only give the main facts of his not very 
 eventful life. The Kungs of Shan-tung are prob- 
 ably the oldest nobility on earth, being, in fact, 
 the only hereditary nobility in China other than 
 royalty, and, strangely enough, the descendants 
 of the "Sea quelling" Duke, the famous pirate 
 Coxinga. The present Duke of Kung traces his 
 descent back seventy generations. Confucius, 
 first of the line, was born B. C. 551. His father 
 was a soldier, Shu-liang, a man of great bravery 
 and strength, who distinguished himself at the 
 siege of Pi-yang by holding open the port-cullis 
 by main force of arms. Shu-liang was seventy 
 years old, with a family of nine daughters and 
 one crippled son when he married the mother of 
 Confucius. The birth took place in a cave of Mt. 
 Ni, whither the woman had gone on pilgrimage. 
 Hence the child's name Chung-Ni, which later be- 
 came Kung-fu-tsz (Confucius). The father died 
 when Confucius was three years old and he was 
 brought up by his mother till the age of seven.
 
 66 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 He was early distinguished for the gravity and 
 formality of his deportment, and a familiar story 
 tells of his playing at "rules of propriety" with 
 his child comrades. At school he soon became a 
 monitor and remained till the age of seventeen, 
 when he accepted an under-Mandarinate, the in- 
 spectorship of the sale of grains. This office he 
 filled with such success that a regular agricultural 
 school was the result. At the age of nineteen he 
 married, but the match turned out unfortunately, 
 and the wife was divorced after giving birth to a 
 son. This child was called Li (carp) in allusion 
 to a present of fish 4 received that day from the 
 Duke of Lo. Probably Confucius was but a cold 
 father, as he had been a cold husband. A story 
 tells of the question addressed to Li by a disciple 
 of the sage, "Have you learned any lessons from 
 your father different from those received by us?" 
 The young man replied that Confucius had 
 only addressed to him two questions, viz: 
 "Have you read the Odes?" and "Have you 
 studied the Rules of Propriety?" From this 
 answer the questioner deduced that the "supe- 
 rior man" always shows reserve towards his 
 children. 
 
 For a time Confucius acted as Inspector of 
 Fields and Herds, but the death of his mother 
 necessitated a three years* period of retirement 
 which the sage consecrated to study, music and 
 archery. Pie then became a teacher. "At thirty 
 he stood firm," and soon after had three thousand
 
 THE CHOU DYNASTY 67 
 
 disciples by whom he was deeply reverenced. Ac- 
 cording to his own account, he was not patient 
 with stupid scholars, but expected a pupil, when 
 he himself had lifted one corner of a subject, to 
 lift up the other three. 
 
 Raised to the position of Minister of Crime, he 
 brought about notable reforms, insomuch that it 
 is told, as of the reign of King Alfred of Eng- 
 land, that jewels could be left upon the highways 
 and remain untouched. The Duke and his people, 
 however, got tired of the moral severity of the 
 sage's influence, while Confucius himself, not un- 
 reasonably, got tired of the inconsistencies of the 
 Duke and his court. He felt occasionally as 
 much out of place as Dante at Verona, a very 
 "stray dog," as he expresses it. In the Duke's 
 progresses he said that it was a case of "Vice in 
 front and virtue behind." Hence he retired in 
 despair, seeking a new sphere for politico-moral 
 experiments or else confining himself to the in- 
 struction of his disciples. He died, discouraged 
 at his apparent lack of success, at the age of 
 seventy-two. "The great mountain must crum- 
 ble, the strong beam must break, the wise man 
 withers away like a plant." He was buried at 
 Ku-fu-hing where his grave is visited by multi- 
 tudes of pilgrims. 5 Confucius was mourned even 
 by those who had despised his teaching. His 
 work was carried on by others, especially, two 
 centuries later, by Mencius. After a brief pe- 
 riod of persecution during the Tsin Dynasty, the
 
 68 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 influence of Confucianism experienced a remark- 
 able revival. Confucius was made Duke and Earl 
 under the Han Dynasty; "Perfect Sage" in the 
 5th Century A.D. ; King (Wang) under the T'ang 
 Dynasty; Emperor (Hwang-ti) under the 
 Sungs ; while the Mings and Manchus learned to 
 pay him reverence under the title, "Perfect Sage, 
 Ancient Teacher." This is not the place to de- 
 scribe in detail the principles of his philosophy. 
 The effect of it is seen in the Chinese people to- 
 day. The age-long training in the Five Rela- 
 tions, i.e. the proper relation of Emperor and 
 Subject, Father and Son, Husband and Wife, 
 Elder Brother and Younger Brother, Friend and 
 Friend, assimilated even the barbarous Mongols 
 and Manchus to Chinese ideals. Nevertheless, 
 the weaknesses of the system are obvious, its ex- 
 ternality, its lack of emotional power, its wrong 
 theory of human nature, 6 its narrow theory of 
 life. In spite of all this, China would be griev- 
 ously lacking in gratitude did she ever consent 
 to give up her reverence for so pure and disin- 
 terested a teacher of righteousness. His grand- 
 son wrote the following impassioned eulogy which 
 represents not unfairly the deliberate estimate of 
 all educated China: "His fame overflows the 
 Middle Kingdom and reaches the barbarians of 
 north and south. Wherever ships and wagons 
 can go, or the strength of man penetrate ; 
 wherever there is heaven above and earth below; 
 wherever the sun and moon shed their light, or
 
 THE CHOU DYNASTY 69 
 
 frosts or dews fall, all who have blood and breath 
 honor and love him. Wherefore it may be said 
 that he is the peer of God." 
 
 THE CONFUCIAN CLASSICS should be mentioned 
 here, although an adequate account of them could 
 only find place in a history of Chinese literature 
 or philosophy. Some have suggested that the 
 books which come under this head are all elaborate 
 forgeries, 7 but the general consensus of scholars 
 is in favor of accepting the genuineness of nine 
 works. 
 
 These are divided into the two classes, the Five 
 King and the Four Shu, which have sometimes 
 been described as respectively the Old and New 
 Testaments of Chinese sacred literature. 
 
 The Five King are as follows : 
 
 1. The Shu King, or Book of History, con- 
 sisting of fragmentary records of events extend- 
 ing from the time of Yao and Shun, B. C. 2400, 
 down to B. C. 619. 
 
 . The Shi King, or Book of Odes, a collec- 
 tion of 305 poems, sacrificial, lyrical and miscel- 
 laneous. Five of them go back to the time of 
 the Shang Dynasty, B. C. 1800, while the remain- 
 ing 300 belong to the times of the Chou. 
 
 3. The Yi King, or Book of Changes, the 
 elaborated interpretation of the Sixty-four Hexa- 
 grams ascribed to Wen Wang and the Duke of 
 Chou. It is a detailed application, by means of 
 the Hexagrams, of the old Chinese philosophy 
 of Whole and Broken lines, the Yang and the Yin,
 
 70 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 the Bright and the Dark, the Male and the Fe- 
 male, Active and Passive, Odd and Even, Strong 
 and Weak. 8 
 
 4. The Li Ki, or Book of Rites, the "Vade 
 Mecum" of "the superior man," the text-book of 
 the Board of Rites. 
 
 5. Ch'un Ts'iu, or "Spring and Autumn An- 
 nals," the history of the State of Lu for a pe- 
 riod of about two hundred and fifty years. 9 
 
 The Four Shu are these : 
 
 1. Lun Yu, or the Analects, consisting of dia- 
 logues of Confucius with his disciples, remarks 
 on government, virtue, etc. 10 
 
 2. Tai Hiau, or "the Great Learning," con- 
 taining the detailed analysis of the process by 
 means of which man becomes, first the Sage, then 
 the Ruler. This is an exceedingly interesting 
 little outline of Confucian ethics which has had 
 extraordinary influence on the molding of Chinese 
 character. 
 
 3. Chung Yung, or the Doctrine of the Mean, 
 compiled by Kung Ki, the grandson of the Sage, 
 of whose tenets he was one of the most enthusi- 
 astic exponents. 
 
 4. Mencius. The sayings of the philosopher 
 of that name. 
 
 AFTER CONFUCIUS. From the 4th Century 
 B. C. onwards we have a great deal of light 
 thrown upon Chinese history in the work of Sze 
 Ma Kiang, the historian of the llth century 
 A. D. It has been made accessible, so far as its
 
 THE CHOU DYNASTY 71 
 
 material parts are concerned, for foreigners in 
 the great work of Father de Maille. 
 
 The story told makes it quite apparent that 
 the last days of the Chou dynasty were at this 
 time approaching and that there was a general 
 weakening of the central Government in its rela- 
 tion to the many contending States, amongst 
 which the State of Tsin, with its foreign ele- 
 ments of race and culture, was the most con- 
 spicuous. The puppet Emperors of the period 
 have for us little or no interest and may be dis- 
 missed with scant notice. But, by way of com- 
 pensation, there are three or four philosophers 
 on account of whom the period is not only inter- 
 esting but quite important. 
 
 MENCIUS. First of all there is the great apos- 
 tle of Confucianism, Meng-ko, whose name is most 
 familiar to us in its Latinized form as Mencius. 
 He was the contemporary of Plato, born in the 
 province of Shan-tung, not far from the birth- 
 place of his illustrious master. His mother is the 
 model Chinese mother, so solicitous for her son's 
 welfare that she moved her residence from time to 
 time in order to avoid a dangerous moral environ- 
 ment. From the neighborhood of a cemetery she 
 moved to prevent her little son from mimicking 
 the mourners ; from the neighborhood of a slaugh- 
 ter house she moved again to stop him from imi- 
 tating the cries of the slaughtered animals ; from 
 a house near the market to avoid his acquiring 
 the manners of the trading classes; and so on
 
 72 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 until by design or chance, she settled upon the 
 vicinity of a school. This proved so satisfactory 
 on either side that no further move was required. 
 "At a later period," says Mayers, "she destroyed 
 with a knife a web of cloth on which she was en- 
 gaged as a practical lesson to her son who showed 
 a disposition to trifle in his studies." The fa- 
 mous woman was, as we might expect, highly 
 reverenced by Mencius and, when she died, he 
 gave her a most sumptuous funeral. The philos- 
 opher was a great political economist, and his 
 teachings were of a most democratic character. 
 He taught that of the three objects of regard, 
 the gods, the Emperor and the people, the people 
 came first, the gods second and the Emperor only 
 third. He defended, consequently, the right of 
 the people to rebel, saying: "When the prince 
 is guilty of great errors, the minister should re- 
 prove him; if, after doing so again and again, 
 he does not listen, he should dethrone him and 
 put another in his place." "He who gains the 
 hearts of the people," he said again, "secures the 
 throne, and he who loses the people's heart, loses 
 the throne." Mencius insistently urged upon 
 rulers the benevolent administration of their 
 realms. Provided, he said, taxes were light and 
 government just, the nation would need no army 
 of mailed warriors but would be able to beat off 
 their foreign enemies "with mere sticks in their 
 hands." He is regarded as the leading advocate, 
 if not the author, of the "tsing" system, whereby
 
 THE CHOU DYNASTY 73 
 
 land was divided into nine portions by lines re- 
 sembling the ideograph "tsing." The eight out- 
 side divisions were cultivated by individual own- 
 ers for their own profit ; the middle portion was 
 cultivated jointly for the benefit of the State. 
 Mencius lived the last twenty years of his life 
 in retirement and died B. C. 289 in his 84th year. 
 
 YANG CHU. A philosopher of a quite differ- 
 erent type was Yang Chu or Lie-tsze (Latinized 
 as Licius). He is the Chinese Qoheleth, the pes- 
 simist Epicurean who followed his inclination and 
 sought happiness in pleasure. Yet he taught at 
 the same time that life was not worth the living 
 and that after death comes nothing. It is in- 
 teresting to note that Epicurus, with whom in 
 many respects he agrees, was his contemporary. 
 As was natural Yang Chu and Mencius were life- 
 long adversaries. 
 
 MO-TI, or Micius, was of still another order. 
 The two men, says Legge (alluding to Mo-ti and 
 Yang Chu), "stood at opposite poles of human 
 thought and sentiment." Mo-ti is the altruist, 
 the teacher of the principle that "all evils arise 
 from lack of mutual love." He too was opposed 
 to, and by, Mencius. 
 
 CHWANG TSZE. At this time too lived the great 
 interpreter of Taoism, Chwang tsze, who has al- 
 ready been alluded to. But for the dominance 
 of Confucianism at this time, his reputation 
 would probably have stood higher than was ac- 
 tually the case. He plainly reflects in his writ-
 
 74 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 ings, which have much charm, an Indian influence, 
 as in the closing lines of his poem on "Peaceful 
 Old Age." 
 
 "Thus strong in faith I wait, and long to be 
 One with the pulsings of Eternity." 
 
 . Chwang tsze mingled wit with his philosophy 
 and humility with both. The following story is 
 a good illustration: 
 
 "Chwang tsze was fishing in the P'u when the 
 Prince of Ch'u sent two high officials to ask him 
 to take charge of the administration of the Ch'u 
 State. Chwang tsze went on fishing, and, with- 
 out turning his head, said: 'I have heard that 
 in Ch'u there is a sacred tortoise which has been 
 dead now some three thousand years, and that 
 the Prince keeps this tortoise carefully enclosed 
 in a chest on the altar of his ancestral temple. 
 Now, would this tortoise rather be dead and have 
 its remains venerated, or be alive and wagging its 
 tail in the mud?' 
 
 " 'It would rather be alive,' replied the two of- 
 ficials, 'and wagging its tail in the mud.' 
 
 " 'Begone !' cried Chwang tsze, 'I too will wag 
 my tail in the mud.' " n 
 
 He forbade his followers to give his body 
 burial, saying, "I will have Heaven and Earth 
 for my sarcophagus ; the sun and moon shall be 
 the insignia where I lie in state, and all creation 
 shall be mourners at my funeral."
 
 THE CHOU DYNASTY 75 
 
 THE STORY OF CHU YUAN. The corruption of 
 the times and the despair of good men is illus- 
 trated by the story of the loyal minister, Chu 
 Yuan, who wrote his allegorical poem, "Falling 
 into Trouble" to describe the search for a prince 
 who might be induced to give heed to counsels of 
 good government. Driven at last to despair by 
 the successful intrigues of his rivals, he went to 
 the river to commit suicide. "All the world," he 
 said, "is foul and I am clean." "The true sage," 
 replied the fisherman, "does not quarrel with his 
 environment. If the world is foul why not leap 
 into it and make it clean." But Chu Yuan, clasp- 
 ing a big stone, leaped instead into the river, and 
 the Dragon Festival which takes place every year 
 on the 5th day of the 5th month, is said to repre- 
 sent the search for his body. 
 
 Su TS'IN. From the middle of the 4th Century 
 it was becoming difficult to hold the States to- 
 gether against the constantly growing menace of 
 the Kingdom of Tsin. One man indeed in this 
 turbulent epoch deserves mention for his efforts 
 to this end, namely, the statesman Su Ts'in, who 
 in B. C. 833 actually succeeded in forming a 
 league of the six States of Yen, Chao, Han, Wei, 
 Ts'i and Ts'u. For a while he managed the con- 
 federation successfully, moving from court to 
 court to impart backbone to the respective 
 princes. But internal intrigue nullified his efforts 
 and he was assassinated. He is famous as the au- 
 thor of the saying: "It is better to be a fowl's
 
 76 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 beak than the hinder part of an ox." After his 
 death war broke out between the States and made 
 the success of the Tsins certain. In an encoun- 
 ter between the forces of Yen and those of Ts'i, 
 a hero of the latter state more than emulated the 
 Biblical story of Samson and the foxes. He col- 
 lected a host of oxen, tied swords to their horns 
 and bunches of greased reeds to their tails and 
 drove them against the enemy who were routed 
 in great confusion. 
 
 NAN WANG. B.C. 314-256. The last mon- 
 arch of the Chou dynasty was Nan Wang, who 
 reigned nearly sixty years, during which time he 
 vainly tried by means of alliances of various kinds 
 to stem the successful career of the State of Tsin. 
 Victory after victory marked the slow but sure 
 advance of the enemy and Nan Wang died just 
 in time to avoid witnessing the spectacle of the 
 once mighty house of Chou crumbling into ruins. 
 The regent whom he left in charge was made 
 prisoner and the Nine Tripods of Yu captured. 
 
 A short period of interregnum or anarchy fol- 
 lowed and then the destinies of China passed into 
 the keeping of the short-lived but glorious Dy- 
 nasty of Tsin.
 
 NOTES 
 
 1. Legge, quoted by Hirth, "Ancient History," 
 p. 213. 
 
 2. For a good account of Chwang tsze, or 
 Chwang Chow, as he is sometimes called, see "Mus- 
 ings of a Chinese Mystic," with Introduction by 
 Lionel Giles, 1908. 
 
 3. See Brinkley's "China," "Propaganda and Re- 
 ligions." 
 
 4. The Carp, as in Japan, is the boy's festival 
 emblem. "The idea is that as the carp swims up 
 the river against the current, so will the sturdy boy, 
 overcoming all obstacles, make his way in the world, 
 and rise to fame and fortune." Chamberlain, 
 "Things Japanese," p. 93. 
 
 5. For a good description of the Temple and 
 Tomb read Brown's "New Forces in Old China," pp. 
 65 ff. 
 
 6. Cf. teaching of Pelagius and Rousseau. The 
 first phrase of the "Three Character Classics" is 
 "Man is by nature good." 
 
 7. H. J. Allen, "Early Chinese History," 1906. 
 
 8. Read Introduction to Legge's Translation of 
 the "Yi-King" in the "Sacred Books of the East." 
 
 9. For samples of this history see R. K. Douglas, 
 "The Literature of China." 
 
 10. See "The Sayings of Confucius," with Intro- 
 duction by Lionel Giles, 1908. 
 
 11. "Musings of a Chinese Mystic," p. 109. 
 
 77
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE TSIN DYNASTY 
 
 B.C. 249-210. 
 
 Chiang Siang Wang Tsin-shih-hwang-ti the 
 Great Wall the "Burning of the Books" Tao- 
 ist propaganda the end of the dynasty. 
 
 CHIANG SIANG WANG. The history of the 
 State of Tsin slides almost insensibly into that 
 of the Imperial Tsin Dynasty. Chao Siang 
 Wang, who had reigned fifty-two years over the 
 State of Tsin, died and left the succession to 
 Hiao Wen Wang. After a reign of but three 
 days this ruler (if we venture to give him the ti- 
 tle) died, yielding up his scarcely occupied throne 
 to Prince / Jen, who took the name of Chiang 
 Siang Wang. The chief minister of this sover- 
 eign was a former traveling merchant of the name 
 of Lu-pu-wei who became known, first as literatus 
 and then as counselor. As literatus he had such 
 confidence in his own ability that he suspended a 
 thousand pieces of gold at the gates of his house 
 as a reward to any person who could better his 
 composition by the addition or omission of a 
 
 single word. Such a temptation, hardly to be re- 
 
 78
 
 THE TSIN DYNASTY 79 
 
 sisted by any modern critic, apparently fell in 
 the way of no literary opponent. As minister 
 Lu-pu-wei betrayed his master's confidence by an 
 intrigue with the Queen which resulted in the birth 
 of the Prince Cheng, afterwards the famous First 
 Emperor. Chwang banished his minister but 
 adopted the boy, who was left to fill the throne, 
 made vacant by his adopted father's death, at 
 the age of thirteen. The uncertainty about his 
 birth continued to be a stumbling block to some, 
 and later on became a convenient tool for his 
 enemies and detractors. It makes no difference 
 to the real greatness of "the Napoleon of China." 
 TSIN SHIH HWANG xi. About a generation be- 
 fore the end of the Chou dynasty a certain poli- 
 tician was advising one of the feudal Kings to 
 make peace with another with whom he was then 
 engaged in hostilities. "I saw this morning," 
 he said, "on the beach a mussel open its shell to 
 sun itself. Immediately an oyster catcher thrust 
 in its bill and as promptly the mussel closed its 
 shell and held the bird fast. 'If it doesn't rain 
 soon,' said the oyster catcher, 'there will be a 
 dead mussel.' 'And,' replied the mussel, 'if you 
 don't get out of this soon there will be a 
 dead oyster catcher.* Meanwhile up came 
 a fisherman and caught them both." "I 
 greatly fear," added the politician, "that the 
 Tsin state will be our fisherman." The fear 
 proved only too well grounded. In Tsin 
 shih hwang ti China found a ruler who had the
 
 80 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 Imperial idea beyond any of his predecessors. 
 Beyond the doubt as to the legitimacy of his birth 
 there is something puzzling about his racial affin- 
 ity. The theory has even been ventured that he 
 was in some way connected with that Mauryan 
 dynasty which at this very time was ruling in 
 India in the person of Asoka. The latter was 
 successfully achieving in India what Shih hwang 
 ti attempted to accomplish in China, even to the 
 religious revolution which accompanied the con- 
 solidation of the Empire. It would be strange 
 indeed could we but accept this theory as proven, 
 but all that can be said here is that the portrait 
 of the first great Chinese Emperor presents some 
 striking contrasts to the usual Chinese type. In 
 any case, as we have said above, his greatness is 
 incontestable, in spite of the fact that the Con- 
 fucian literati endeavored to do for him by abuse 
 what the Brahmins succeeded in doing for Asoka 
 by ten centuries of silence. They called him 
 bastard, debauchee and fool, but they cannot 
 blind us to the tremendous importance of the 
 work he did. 
 
 THE FIRST EMPEROR. Three special claims to 
 distinction must be conceded to Tsin shih hwang 
 ti. The first of these is in the use of the 
 name China as a designation for the whole coun- 
 try. While not certain, it is in the highest de- 
 gree probable, that it was on account of the pres- 
 tige of the first Emperor's name and state that 
 the use of the term China came about. In any
 
 THE TSIN DYNASTY 81 
 
 case, Tsin shih hwang ti was the country's first 
 real conqueror, going about the matter deliber- 
 ately and accomplishing his aim thoroughly. 
 The two great generals whose assistance was 
 most helpful were Wang Tsien and Li Sin. The 
 former subdued the state of Cliao in B. C. 229 and 
 was then ordered to proceed to the subjugation 
 of T'su. He demanded an army of 600,000 men 
 for the task, but Li Sin, his rival, offered to do it 
 with only 200,000 and was, consequently, badly 
 defeated. Wang Tsien then gained his point, col- 
 lected the largest army China had ever seen and, 
 wearing out his adversary through his Fabian 
 tactics, brought the campaign to a successful 
 conclusion in B. C. 222. By B. C. 221 the Em- 
 peror was master of all China and assumed the 
 title of Shih hwang ti, or -first Emperor, pro- 
 claiming that all his successors should date their 
 reigns from his and be known as Second, Third, 
 and so on, "even to the ten thousandth genera- 
 tion." Alas ! for the vanity of human pride ! 
 
 THE BUILDING OF THE GREAT WALL. This 
 stupendous rampart was built, from the Liao- 
 tung Gulf to the western extremity of the Prov- 
 ince of Shen-si, in pursuance of the policy of 
 protecting the northern boundary from the Ta- 
 tars. The enterprise necessitated the labors of 
 tens of thousands of men for many years, al- 
 though in some places the work was limited to 
 connecting portions of already existing walls. 
 The general in charge was Meng Tien who, on
 
 82 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 the death of his master and the murder of his 
 successor, committed suicide. It is strange that 
 to this famous builder of the Great Wall of China 
 should be also assigned the invention of the hair 
 brush used for writing. Huge as the work of 
 constructing the Great Wall undoubtedly was, it 
 was only one portion of a general plan for con- 
 necting the various parts of the Empire with 
 good roads and so making the defense more prac- 
 tical than it had hitherto been. Indeed, one's 
 admiration of the Wall is even excelled by the 
 feeling of wonder at the many other great engi- 
 neering undertakings, the piercing of mountains, 
 the leveling of hills, the bridging of rivers, by 
 means of which the conquests of Tsin shih hwang 
 ti were made secure and the imperial unity con- 
 solidated. Other notable works include the erec- 
 tion of the great palace of A-Fong Kung, near 
 Hien-yang, on which it is said 700,000 criminals 
 and prisoners were employed at forced labor. 
 "The central hall was of such dimensions that ten 
 thousand persons could be assembled within it and 
 banners sixty feet in height might be unfurled 
 below." Another was the building of the many 
 storied tower in the province of Shan-tung, over- 
 topping the hills and commanding an extensive 
 view of the Eastern Sea. 
 
 THE BURNING OF THE BOOKS. The real rea- 
 son for the destruction of the Confucian books 
 and for the persecution of the literati may never 
 be known, as the accounts which have survived
 
 THE TSIN DYNASTY 83 
 
 contradict one another. Some say that the Con- 
 fucianists reproved the Emperor for unfilial con- 
 duct in the banishment of his mother. Others 
 assert that it was the Emperor's ambition to be 
 known as the originator of all that was great 
 in Chinese history and wanted no prior records 
 in his way. A quite plausible account, given by 
 the historian Sze ma tshien relates that a certain 
 Minister of learning reproaching the Emperor 
 for breaking down the feudal system, Li Sze 
 (known as the inventor of the Lesser Seal l style 
 of writing) sprang to the defense and warmly 
 advocated the destruction of everything which 
 belonged to the past as a policy which would 
 stimulate the progress of the Empire. We may 
 well conceive that the brilliant conqueror found 
 the Confucian system rather too inelastic for his 
 own grandiose and imperial projects and that 
 he was genuinely glad to find an excuse for rid- 
 ding himself of the "dead hand" of the great 
 Sage and of the precedents furnished by the 
 "Model Emperors." In any event, his procedure 
 was sufficiently sweeping. The Confucian Clas- 
 sics (with the single exception of the Yi-King) 
 and all other literature (with the exception of 
 works on agriculture, medicine and divination) 
 were so thoroughly destroyed that when the Han 
 dynasty assumed the task of reviving the old stud- 
 ies, copies of the classics were with difficulty dis- 
 covered in the walls of houses, or reintegrated 
 from the memories of men. It is said that Kung
 
 84- OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 Fu, a descendant of Confucius in the ninth de- 
 gree, was one who had preserved hidden in the 
 walls of the ancestral house copies of the old 
 books. But, as observed above, it has been possi- 
 ble in our own day for writers to deny the very 
 existence of the Confucian classics prior to the 
 time of the historian Sze ma tshien who is 
 charged with having forged them. The literati 
 shared with the books the wrath of the tyrant 
 and some hundreds of them (four hundred and 
 sixty, to be precise) are said to have been put 
 to death under circumstances of such revolting 
 cruelty that the Emperor's own eldest son felt 
 compelled to protest. For this interposition he 
 was banished and all those who resisted the sur- 
 render of their books were branded and forced to 
 work for four years on the Great Wall. 
 
 TAOIST PROPAGANDA. The persecution of Con- 
 fucianism went hand in hand with an ardent ad- 
 vocacy of Taoism. Shih Hwang Ti's belief in 
 this religion was perhaps in large part the re- 
 sult of his desire to obtain the coveted Elixir 
 Vita?, but a whole mass of more or less interesting 
 fable has associated itself with the Emperor's de- 
 votion to the cult, now far removed from its first 
 purity. It is of this reign that the story is 
 told of the Taoist Rip Van Winkle which bears 
 so close a resemblance to the American version 
 that it may be worth the re-telling. It concerns 
 the patriarch Wang Chih who having wandered 
 in the mountains of K'u Chow to gather firewood
 
 THE TSIN DYNASTY 85 
 
 entered a grotto in which some aged men were 
 seated intent upon a game of chess. He laid down 
 his ax and looked on at their game, in course of 
 which one of the men handed to him a thing in 
 shape and size like a date-stone, telling him to 
 put it in his mouth. No sooner had he tasted it 
 than he became oblivious of hunger and thirst! 
 After some time had elapsed, one of the players 
 said: "It is long since you came here; you 
 should go home now!'* Whereupon, Wang Chih, 
 proceeding to pick up his ax, found that its 
 handle had moldered into dust. On repairing to 
 his home he found that centuries had passed since 
 the time when he had left it for the mountains and 
 that no vestige of his kinsfolk remained. 2 
 
 Another Taoist patriarch, An Ki Sheng, vis- 
 ited the Emperor B. C. 221 and conversed with 
 him for three days and three nights. The result 
 of the interview was the sending of the famous 
 expedition to the Eastern seas. 
 
 "THE ISLES OF THE BLEST." Tsin Shih 
 Hwang ti "allowed himself to be persuaded into 
 the belief that in the Eastern sea there were 
 golden Islands of the Blest, where dwelt genii, 
 whose business and delight it was to dispense to 
 all visitors to their shores a draught of immor- 
 tality compounded of the fragrant herbs which 
 grew in profusion around them." 3 Twice over 
 was an expedition dispatched to discover these 
 "Isles of the Blest." Su She and Lu Ngao, Taoist 
 magicians, were put in command and several thou-
 
 86 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 sands of girls and young men accompanied the 
 explorers. Both attempts, however, ended in fail- 
 ure. The expeditions were, it is said, driven back 
 by contrary winds, though it is highly probable 
 that Japan benefited by some access of popula- 
 tion. So great a monarch as Shih Hwang ti may 
 well have feared the shadow of death and craved 
 a few more years in which to continue his work, 
 but "le breuvage de Pimmortalite" was not for 
 him, and he died B. C. 210. Many of his wives 
 and many of his warriors, in accordance with the 
 old Scythian custom, were buried alive near his 
 tomb that he, who had employed so many on earth, 
 might not want his servants in the grave. 
 
 THE TOMB OF SHIH HWANG TI. Of this tomb, 
 excavated in a mountain, we have the following 
 account: "Upon the floor, which had a founda- 
 tion of bronze, was a map of the Empire with 
 rivers of quicksilver; the roof was studded with 
 the constellations. All around were mechanical 
 arrangements for shooting stones and arrows im- 
 mediately upon the appearance of any intruders ; 
 while huge candles of seal's fat, calculated to 
 burn for an indefinite period, threw their light 
 upon the scene. When the passages leading to 
 the chamber had been stopped up, and before the 
 workmen who knew the secrets had come forth, 
 the great outer gate was dropped, and they were 
 all buried alive. The entrance was banked up 
 with earth, and grass and plants were sown to 
 conceal it from view." 4
 
 THE TSIN DYNASTY 87 
 
 END OF THE DYNASTY. The close of the Tsin 
 dynasty came almost simultaneously with the 
 death of Tsin shih hwang ti. The elder and 
 stronger minded son, Fu Su, had been banished 
 as a result of his protest against the massacre of 
 the literati. The younger son, Hu Hai, was un- 
 der the influence of an ambitious and masterful 
 eunuch, Chao Kao, who weeded out the more in- 
 dependent and capable advisers by a device sug- 
 gestive of Polonius. 5 He would present a stag 
 to the Emperor and say, "Here is a horse." If 
 any of the ministers said it was anything but a 
 horse, their disgrace was sealed. "It is certainly 
 a horse," said the weak and complaisant ones, 
 and these remained. It is no wonder that the 
 young Emperor, trained under such auspices as 
 these, proved an easy victim to the wiles of the un- 
 scrupulous eunuch. Chao Kao, however, met his 
 own fate soon afterwards and Hu Hai's sem- 
 blance of power only lasted three years. Anarchy 
 followed; even the wonderful tomb of the great 
 conqueror was desecrated and destroyed. The 
 secret chambers were rifled and the fine buildings 
 razed to the ground by the general Hiang-yu. 
 Nothing was left but the coffin and even this was 
 shortly after burned, when a shepherd, seeking 
 a lost sheep, dropped by accident his torch in 
 the cavern and set fire to the dry and crumbling 
 ruins which had been left. "Sic transit gloria 
 mundi."
 
 NOTES 
 
 1. The Lesser Seal, or Siau Chwen, character was 
 a modification of the Great Seal character which was 
 so called because of its suitability for engraving on 
 seals. The Lesser Seal endeavors to diminish the 
 number of strokes and makes the writing simpler and 
 more rapid. "The change/' says Dr. Edkins, "was 
 easily accomplished under an arbitrary and strong 
 government such as China then had." 
 
 2. "Chinese Reader's Manual," p. 256. 
 
 3. R. K. Douglas. 
 
 4. Giles, "Chinese Biographical Dictionary," p. 
 653. 
 
 5. "Hamlet. Do you see that cloud, that's almost 
 
 in shape of a camel? 
 Polonius. By the mass, and 'tis like a camel 
 
 indeed. 
 
 Ham. Methinks, it is like a weasel. 
 Pol. It is backed like a weasel. 
 Ham. Or like a whale? 
 Pol. Very like a whale." 
 
 Hamlet, Act III, Sc. 2. 
 
 88
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 THE HAN DYNASTY 
 
 B. C. 210 A. D. 220. 
 
 Kao Tsu Lu How Wu Ti Expansion of 
 the Empire a description from Sze Ma Tshien 
 the revival of learning Pan Chao The East- 
 ern and Western Han the introduction of Bud- 
 dhism the end of the Dynasty. 
 
 KAO Tsu. The dynasty of Han which lasted 
 for four centuries and included the reigns of 
 thirty-two Emperors was founded by the suc- 
 cessful soldier of fortune, Liu pang. Liu pang 
 was originally a peasant of the province of Kiang 
 su who made himself popular among his fellow- 
 villagers by his good nature and courage and 
 made himself wealthy by marriage with the 
 woman who afterwards became notorious as the 
 Empress Lu How. Chosen as the head of a 
 band of insurgents Liu pang gradually attracted 
 to himself leaders of influence and ability, and, 
 proclaiming himself Prince of Han, took advan- 
 tage of the disturbed condition of the country 
 at the close of the Tsin dynasty to fight his way 
 
 to supreme power. His principal opponent was 
 
 89
 
 his fellow general, Hiang Yu, a man of immense 
 stature, strength and courage. Victory, how- 
 ever, fell to the lot of Liu pang and the Empire 
 recognized the victor who forthwith assumed the 
 yellow Robe under the title of Kao Tsu. The 
 reign lasted about seven years and was marked 
 by considerable wisdom and moderation. 
 
 Lu How. Not so much can be said in favor of 
 the reign which immediately followed. The 
 widow of Kao Tsu terrorized the young prince, 
 her son, who succeeded to the throne, until, at 
 the end of seven years, he was driven into sheer 
 imbecility and died. The masterful Empress then 
 reigned alone and in her own right until her 
 death in B. C. 180. It is the only instance of a 
 female rule over China which is regarded by the 
 historians as possessing a legitimate title. A 
 more attractive personality is that of Wen Ti, 
 who succeeded the stalwart Empress. The mod- 
 eration and unselfishness of his character are il- 
 lustrated by the story that he abandoned the 
 building of his projected "Dew Tower" when he 
 learned that its cost would be a hundred bars of 
 gold. "I will not spend on this building," he 
 said, "what will furnish ten households with a for- 
 tune." 
 
 Wu TI. B.C. 140-87. The greatest of the 
 Han sovereigns was undoubtedly the sixth of the 
 dynasty, Wu ti, whose long reign of fifty-four 
 years was one of the most splendid in the whole 
 history of China. He was an enthusiastic patron
 
 THE HAN DYNASTY 91 
 
 of literature and during his earlier years he did 
 much to promote the study of the re-discovered 
 Confucian classics. His proclamation, calling 
 for men of genius to present themselves at court, 
 met with a prompt response. Among those who 
 came was the famous Tung fang so. This 
 worthy replied to the imperial invitation in this 
 wise: "I am now twenty-two years old; I am 
 9 feet 3 inches high; my eyes are like swinging 
 pearls ; my teeth like a row of shells. I am brave 
 as Meng Pen, prompt as Ch'ing Chi, pure as Pao 
 Shu Ya, devoted as Wei Shang. I consider my- 
 self fit to be an high officer of State and with 
 my life in my hand await your Majesty's reply." 
 He was received, and rose to the office of Censor. 
 On many occasions he kept the Emperor amused 
 by his wit, but on one occasion drank a potion of 
 Immortality, brewed by some Taoist sage for 
 his Majesty's own use, and was thereupon con- 
 demned to death. He got out of the scrape by 
 exclaiming : "If the potion was genuine, you can- 
 not kill me, whereas, if it was not, what harm 
 has been done?" Wu ti displayed in his later 
 life a great devotion to the superstitions and 
 magical rites of Taoism and is said to have been 
 the author of the so-called "Dew-receiving Vase" 
 in the belief that the drinking of the dew thus 
 collected would secure immortality. His addic- 
 tion to Taoism may have given rise to the legends 
 of the visits of the fairy Queen, Si Wang Mu, 
 the Queen Mother of the West, already referred
 
 92 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 to in connection with the reign of Muh Wang. 
 Wu ti initiated a series of Imperial pilgrimages 
 on the most gorgeous scale to perform sacrificial 
 rites at the various mountain shrines. 
 
 EXPANSION OF THE EMPIRE. Wu ti's real fame 
 rests upon the remarkable expansion of the Em- 
 pire westward which his reign witnessed. He 
 found on his accession that the Empire was se- 
 riously threatened by the growing power of the 
 Hiung nu, or Huns, and labored hard (not with- 
 out much success) to oppose their advances 
 through his own generals and by means of alliance 
 with the Yueh chih, or Indo-Scythians, against 
 the common enemy. Many famous generals come 
 to the front in this memorable conflict, a conflict 
 which had the most far-reaching results both for 
 Europe and Asia. There was Chang K'ien, who 
 "pierced the void" by penetrating to the extreme 
 west, from whence he brought back not only the 
 laurels of victory but the Persian grape vine. 
 There was Li Kwang, victorious in seventy bat- 
 tles against the Huns, who committed suicide 
 after his last victory, because the Khan, for whose 
 capture he had pledged his word, managed to es- 
 cape. There was also Li Kwang Li, who in B. C. 
 104 carried his victorious banners to the borders 
 of Persia. Not less notable again was the am- 
 bassador Su Wu who in B. C. 100 was sent on a 
 mission to the Hun chief and there detained a 
 prisoner for nineteen years. Compelled to tend 
 the flocks of the Huns in the deserts around Lake
 
 THE HAN DYNASTY 93 
 
 Balkash, he retained all those years his rod of 
 office which he used as a shepherd's staff. His 
 captivity was at last discovered when a wild 
 goose, with a message from the home-sick exile 
 fastened to its feathers, was shot by the Emperor 
 in his imperial hunting grounds. Su Wu re- 
 turned at last, B. C. 81, a prematurely old and 
 broken man, but an immortal example of loyalty 
 and patriotic spirit. 
 
 GUARDING THE FRONTIER. Remarkable testi- 
 mony to the thoroughness with which the work of 
 caring for the interests of the empire in the west- 
 ern marches is afforded by Dr. Aurel Stein in his 
 recent book, "The Ruins of Desert Cathay." 
 Here we are brought face to face with the wall 
 which was built to exclude China's most formida- 
 ble foreign foes. The evidences are still plain, 
 in the long, straight furrow which is still dis- 
 cernible some twenty feet from the line of the 
 wall, of the vigilance with which the sentinels ful- 
 filled their duty when they mounted guard. The 
 very stacks of reeds which were kept along the 
 road to serve as material for fire signals have 
 been discovered in the sand, where for two mil- 
 lenniums they were buried. Newly discovered 
 documents give exact details of the campaigns, 
 together with an account of all the provisions 
 made for transforming an army of conquest into 
 an agricultural colony. We know what clothing 
 was served out to the soldiers and what their 
 weapons were, down to the number of arrows al-
 
 94 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 lowed to each quiver. We enter into all the inti- 
 mate circumstances of the daily life of the colony 
 and can appreciate to the full the old poem which 
 Dr. Stein quotes, translated by M. Chavannes: 
 
 "Every ten li a horse starts; 
 Every five li a whip is raised high; 
 A military order of the Protector General of the 
 
 Transfrontier regions has arrived 
 With news that the Huns were besieging Chiu 
 
 Chuan ; 
 But just then the snowflakes were falling on the 
 
 hills 
 
 Along which the barrier stretches, 
 And the signal fires could raise no smoke." 1 
 
 SZE MA TSHIEN ON THE HAN DYNASTY. The 
 general trend of the history of China under the 
 Han dynasty has never been more vividly and 
 comprehensively set forth than in the following 
 passage from the great historian of the period, 
 Sze Ma Tshien. The quotation, though a long 
 one, will readily be excused. 
 
 "When the House of Han arose the evils of 
 their predecessors had not passed away. Hus- 
 bands still went off to the wars. The old and the 
 young were employed in transporting food. 
 Production was almost at a standstill and money 
 became scarce. So much so that even the Son 
 of Heaven had not carriage horses of the same 
 color; the highest civil and military authorities
 
 THE HAN DYNASTY 95 
 
 rode in bullock-carts and the people knew not 
 where to lay their heads. 
 
 "At this period the Huns were harassing our 
 northern frontier, and soldiers were massed there 
 in large bodies ; in consequence of which the food 
 became so scarce that the authorities offered cer- 
 tain rank and titles of honor to those who could 
 supply a given quantity of grain. Later on, 
 drought ensued in the west, and in order to meet 
 necessities of the moment, official rank was again 
 made a marketable commodity, while those who 
 broke the laws were allowed to commute their 
 penalties by money payments. And now horses 
 began to reappear in official stables and in palace 
 and hall signs of an ampler luxury were visible 
 once more. 
 
 "Thus it was in the early days of the dynasty, 
 until some seventy years after the accession of 
 the House of Han. The Empire was then at 
 peace. For a long time there had been neither 
 food nor drought, and a season of plenty had en- 
 sued. The public granaries were well stocked; 
 the Government treasuries were full. In the capi- 
 tal strings of cash were piled in myriads, until 
 the very strings rotted, and their tale could no 
 longer be told. The grain in the Imperial store- 
 houses grew moldy year by year. It burst from 
 the .crammed granaries and lay about until it 
 became unfit for human food. The streets were 
 thronged with horses belonging to the people, 
 and on the highways whole droves were to be
 
 96 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 seen, so that it became necessary to prohibit the 
 public use of mares. Village elders ate meat and 
 drank wine. Petty Government clerkships and 
 the like lapsed from father to son; the higher 
 offices of state were treated as family heirlooms. 
 For there had gone abroad a spirit of self-respect 
 and reverence for the law, while a sense of charity 
 and of duty towards one's neighbor kept man 
 aloof from disgrace and shame. 
 
 "At length, under lax laws, the wealthy began 
 to use their riches for evil purposes of pride and 
 self-aggrandisement and oppression of the weak. 
 Members of the Imperial family received grants 
 of land, while from the highest to the lowest, 
 everyone vied with his neighbor in lavishing money 
 on houses, and appointments, and apparel, al- 
 though beyond the limit of his means. Such is 
 the everlasting law of the sequence of prosperity 
 and decay." 2 
 
 THE REVIVAL or LEARNING. We have already 
 alluded to the renewed interest in letters which 
 marked the accession of the Han dynasty. In 
 spite of the fact that the writing brush or pencil 
 had been invented under the Tsins, the sword in 
 that period was far mightier than the pen, as the 
 four hundred and sixty literati learned to their 
 cost. Even during the Han period the expansion 
 of the Empire involved, as we have seen, the em- 
 ployment of large military forces. But, within 
 the borders of China itself, until after the com- 
 mencement of the Christian era, the Hans sue-
 
 THE HAN DYNASTY 97 
 
 cceded in keeping the peace. It is a fact often 
 commented upon that the Chinese Emperor at 
 the date of the birth of Christ was Ping ti, "the 
 Emperor of Peace." Naturally, the first of the 
 Hans, the man who had hewn his way to the 
 throne with the sword, was at first inclined to the 
 opposite course. "I won the Empire on horse- 
 back," he exclaimed to his ministers. "Yes," they 
 replied, "but you cannot govern it on horseback." 
 So it proved, and the new era showed a most 
 praiseworthy desire to conform to the ideals of 
 the old literati. In spite of the fact that the 
 Emperors still patronized Taoism, a vigorous 
 search was made for the missing Confucian books, 
 and, as already noted, they were fortunately re- 
 covered from the walls of the Confucian family 
 dwelling place and from the memory of Fu Sheng 
 who, although ninety years old, repeated the 
 precious classics word for word to the officials 
 sent to consult him. Some chapters, however, are 
 said to have been lost irrecoverably. At least 
 when the Chinese are reproached for lack of 
 knowledge in some branch of modern science, the 
 reply may be, "It was all in the lost chapters of 
 Confucius." 
 
 Renewed interest was felt in almost every 
 branch of literature. In History, Sze Ma Tshien, 
 "The Herodotus of China," flourished and wrote 
 the famous "Historical Records" from which we 
 have already given an extract. It was published 
 about B. C. 90 from materials collected by the
 
 98 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 author's father. From this work we derive the 
 information that Wu ti "offered rewards of money 
 and silk for well written copies of ancient works." 
 Lexicography was created at this time as a 
 science by the scholar Hsu Shen, who compiled 
 the famous Shwo Wen, a collection of comments 
 upon and explanations of about ten thousand 
 Chinese characters. The work is of the very 
 highest value to the student of ideography. In 
 Poetry also we have some notable names. The 
 most interesting to Western readers is Cilia yi, 
 who has been called the "Edgar Allan Poe of 
 China," because of the undoubted resemblance 
 which exists between his "White Owl Ode" and 
 "The Raven." We can only quote here the first 
 stanza, but the resemblance is maintained through- 
 out the poem. 
 
 "In dismal, gloomy, crumbling halls, 
 Betwixt moss-covered, reeking walls, 
 An exiled poet lay 
 On his bed of straw reclining, 
 Half-despairing, half-repining 
 When athwart the window sill, 
 In flew a bird of omen ill, 
 And seemed inclined to stay." 3 
 
 The Chinese assert that the Shi-King, or Book 
 of Odes, constitutes the roots of the Chinese tree 
 of poetry, that during the Han dynasty it burst 
 into foliage, and that during the T'ang dynasty- 
 it came into full bloom.
 
 THE HAN DYNASTY 99 
 
 As an illustration of the value attached to lit- 
 erature at this epoch the case may be cited of 
 the writer Yang Hsung, B. C.-A. D. 18, to whom 
 a rich merchant offered 100,000 cash for the mere 
 mention of his name. Yang replied that a stag in 
 a pen or an ox in a cage would be as much out 
 of place as the name of a man who had nothing 
 but money in a true work of literature. 
 
 It is probable that the invention of paper some- 
 where about this time (although possibly earlier) 
 had a good deal to do with the stimulated pro- 
 duction of books. The invention is ascribed to 
 the Marquis Tsao "from the inner bark of trees, 
 ends of hemp, old rags, and fishing nets." The 
 Annals of the Han Dynasty tell us that the Im- 
 perial Library at this time possessed 3,123 vol- 
 umes on the classics, 2,705 volumes of philosophy, 
 1,318 of poetry, 790 on warfare, 2,528 on mathe- 
 matics, and 868 on medicine. 4 
 
 PAN CHAO. One scholar, among many, de- 
 serves special mention, since she, the lady Pan 
 Chao, helps to remind us that not all famous Chi- 
 nese women were engaged in seducing or 
 tyrannizing over Emperors and bringing 
 States to ruin. In the Chinese "Biographies 
 of Famous Women" there are three hundred and 
 ten ladies who are deemed worthy of mention. 
 Among these a high place belongs to Pan Chao, 
 literata and historian, and one of the principal 
 ornaments of the age. She was married at the 
 age of fourteen, but early became a widow. At
 
 100 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 once she set about occupying her widowhood use- 
 fully with historical studies and literary labors. 
 Her brother, Pan Ku, was the Court historio- 
 grapher, and her assistance was always generously 
 given to him and by him generously acknowledged. 
 Before, however, his history was complete, Pan 
 Ku became involved in the downfall of the Gen- 
 eral Tow Hien, and was cast into prison. Here 
 he died of chagrin and it was then that the sister 
 rose nobly to the occasion. With the kind help 
 of the Emperor -she set to work to revise and 
 publish her brother's writings. The result was 
 "The Book of Han" which includes the history of 
 twelve Emperors of the dynasty. As a reward 
 the lady Pan was made Mistress of Poetry, Elo- 
 quence and History for the Empress, and her ex- 
 ample was highly commended to the ladies of the 
 Court. A work of Pan Chao's own pen which 
 attained great celebrity was the book entitled, 
 "Lessons for the Female Sex." 
 
 THE EASTERN AND WESTERN HAN. The his- 
 tory of the Han dynasty must be divided into 
 two portions. The earlier or Western Han, as 
 it is called, lasted from B. C. 206 to A. D. 25 and 
 was mainly a period of prosperity and peace at 
 home and military success abroad. It was in this 
 period that the great generals carried the arms 
 of China into Western Asia, caused the banners 
 of the Eastern Empire to meet the banners of 
 Rome on the shores of the Caspian, and made a 
 way for the merchants of China to carry their
 
 THE HAN DYNASTY 101 
 
 silk and iron into the markets of Europe. The 
 Western Han had their capital in the city of 
 Chang An. The Later or Eastern Hans removed 
 the capital to Lo Yang and maintained their 
 sway from A. D. 25 to A. D. 220. The first ruler 
 of the line, Liu Hsiu, made himself popular in a 
 time of famine by selling corn to the people at 
 a cheap rate. Then, taking up arms against his 
 Emperor, he fought a series of bloody battles 
 and ascended the throne under the title of Kwang 
 Wu Ti. The period is mainly one of unrest and 
 decadence, although it includes the life of Yang 
 Chen, "The Confucius of the West," famous for 
 the response made to those who tempted him to 
 obtain wealth by fraud. They told him that no 
 one would know of it, to which he answered, 
 "Heaven knows it, Earth knows it, you know it, 
 I know it; how say you then that no one will 
 know it?" Mention also should be made of that 
 sturdy old warrior, Ma Yuan, known as the 
 "Generalissimo Queller of the Waves," who from 
 his youth up was a faithful defender of the na- 
 tional honor on the northern frontier. He rode 
 erect in his saddle to the last, and died at an ad- 
 vanced age in the field against the barbarian 
 tribes of Hu-nan. "It is more meet," he said, 
 "that a commander be brought to his home as a 
 corpse wrapped in his horse's hide than that he 
 should die in his bed surrounded by boys and 
 girls." 
 
 INTRODUCTION OF BUDDHISM. The most im-
 
 102 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 portant event in the history of the Empire of the 
 Eastern Hans is the introduction of Buddhism 
 about A. D. 67. Traditions exist of an earlier 
 acquaintance in China with the religion of Gau- 
 tama. One story speaks of the coming in B. C. 
 217 of an Indian priest, who is called Li Fang, 
 with seventeen companions. Another tells us 
 that one of the Han generals, Ho Ku Ping, after 
 gaining brilliant victories in Turkestan, about 
 B. C. 123, brought back as a trophy a golden 
 image which has been supposed an image of a 
 Buddha. The commonly accepted account, how- 
 ever, connects the first proclamation of the In- 
 dian faith with the second Eastern Han Emperor, 
 Meng-ti, who reigned from A. D. 58 to 76. This 
 king had a dream in which he saw a golden image 
 standing in the palace court yard with two ar- 
 rows in its right hand. The dream, interpreted 
 by his brother, was understood to refer to a 
 great ruler in the West. Possibly the inter- 
 preter had already heard of the great victories 
 gained by Buddhism in Central Asia and con- 
 nected the two arrows with the ideograph for 
 Fu 5 the Chinese name for Buddha. Meng-ti 
 at once sent his emissaries, eighteen in number, 
 to learn about the faith of Sakya Muni. They 
 returned in A. D. 67, accompanied by two Indian 
 teachers, Kashiapmadanga and Gobharana, who 
 brought with them the books and images neces- 
 sary for the propagation of the new religion. A 
 temple was built within the walls of the capital,
 
 THE HAN DYNASTY 103 
 
 Lo-yang (the present Honan fu), and in this way 
 Buddhism obtained its footing in the Celestial 
 Empire. 6 
 
 For some time progress was very slow, but 
 from the fourth century onward (if we may be 
 allowed so far to anticipate) the Chinese were 
 permitted to take vows as monks, and some of 
 these monks became famous as travelers and 
 scholars. 7 Of these we shall speak in due course. 
 
 THE END OF THE DYNASTY. The last years 
 of the Eastern Han dynasty were years of al- 
 most unintermittent turbulence. The comman- 
 der of the forces, Tung Cho, was summoned to 
 the capital by the Empress' brother, Ho Tsin, 
 in order to deliver the young Emperor out of the 
 control of the palace eunuchs. He arrived at 
 Lo Yang only to find Ho Tsin murdered and at 
 once set himself to gain the supreme control. 
 The eunuch faction was overcome, the Emperor 
 and his brother seized, and the latter, under the 
 name of Hien ti, was chosen as the puppet to oc- 
 cupy the throne. From this moment Tung Cho 
 displayed an almost unexampled ferocity of tem- 
 per. Among other acts of tyranny, he deported 
 the whole population of Lo Yang to the older 
 capital of Chang An, and burned the whole of the 
 deserted buildings over an area of fifty square 
 miles. Nemesis overtook him in the form of a 
 conspiracy which led to his assassination in A. D. 
 192. 
 
 The most prominent figure in this conspiracy
 
 104. OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 was Tsao Tsao, a. soldier of obscure origin who, 
 immediately after Tung Cho's death, seized and 
 imprisoned the boy Emperor and assumed royal 
 power under the title of the Duke of Wei. 
 
 Meanwhile his pretensions to power were most 
 energetically opposed by another famous soldier 
 of the time, Liu Pei, a man who had risen from 
 the position of a seller of straw mats and san- 
 dals and was now loyally supported by two war- 
 rior brothers and a sagacious statesman. The 
 statesman was Chu Jco Hang, who has, in explana- 
 tion of the celerity of his movements, been cred- 
 ited with anticipating certain modern inventions, 
 through the mention of "oxen of wood and me- 
 chanical horses." Some, however, suppose that 
 these magical machines were nothing but wheel- 
 barrows ! The two brothers were Chang Fei and 
 Kwan Yu. The latter is now better known as 
 Kwan-ti, the Chinese God of War. He was in 
 early life a seller of bean curd, and obtained de- 
 ification on account of his bravery. Beheaded in 
 A. D. 219, he was canonized under the Sungs in 
 A. D. 1128 and was made a god under the Mings 
 in A. D. 1594. By the help of such auxiliaries 
 Liu Pei established himself as ruler in the present 
 province of Sze chuen and founded a short-lived 
 dynasty known as the Minor Han or Shu Han. 
 But it is time to take leave of the Hans and 
 glance over the period of anarchy to which this 
 (on the whole) brilliant dynasty gave place.
 
 NOTES 
 
 1. See Stein, "Ruins of Desert Cathay," 1912. I 
 387, II 108, 111, 149, 153. 
 
 2. Giles, "History of Chinese Literature," pp. 
 104-5. 
 
 3. For whole poem see Dr. W. P. Martin. 
 
 4. R. K. Douglas, "The Literature of China," p. 
 82. 
 
 5. The Ideograph Fu is composed of the sym- 
 bols for "man" and "a bow with two arrows." 
 
 6. For a very trustworthy account of the intro- 
 duction of Buddhism into China read Hackmann, 
 "Buddhism as a Religion," pp. 77 ff. 
 
 7. See Beal, "Buddhist Records of the Western 
 World." 
 
 105
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 FOUR CENTURIES OF ANARCHY 
 A. D. 220-618. 
 
 The three Kingdoms the Western Tsin the 
 Northern Sung the dynasty of Tsi the dy- 
 nasty of Suy the invasion of Korea the litera- 
 ture of the period the Buddhist pilgrims. 
 
 THE THREE KINGDOMS. For nearly four cen- 
 turies after the downfall of the Han dynasty we 
 have an illustration of the proverb, "For the in- 
 iquities of a land many are the princes thereof." 
 So rapid are the changes of royal line during 
 this period that we are justified in applying to it 
 the word "anarchy." For a few years, from 
 A. D. 220 to 280, China was practically divided 
 into three independent kingdoms. There was 
 that of the Wei, founded by Tsao Tsao, in the 
 north; the Shu Han, founded by Liu Pei, in the 
 province of Sze chuen, and the Wu in the south. 
 The Wei dominion was further broken up into the 
 Northern, Western, and Eastern Wei. Of the 
 time of the Three Kingdoms there is little that 
 seems worth recording, though, in passing, one 
 may pay a tribute of admiration for the shrewd- 
 ness of one of the rulers who "proclaimed that in 
 106
 
 FOUR CENTURIES OF ANARCHY 107 
 
 all future cases of litigation the decision should 
 be referred to the ordeal of archery." In this 
 way he produced a nation of bowmen who gave 
 a good account of themselves in a conflict with 
 the state of Tsin. Of one of the last of the se- 
 ries, too, a delightful story is told of how he 
 lured on his exhausted and thirsty soldiers in a 
 certain campaign by assuring them of the near- 
 ness of an orchard of ripe plums. The thought 
 of ripe plums made their mouths water to such 
 an extent that they were no longer thirsty and 
 were saved through the deception. 
 
 The remainder of the period may be dealt with 
 in the brief story of the dynasties now to be de- 
 scribed, although there is a certain amount of in- 
 evitable overlapping. 
 
 WESTERN TSIN. A. D. 265-428. The West- 
 ern Tsin dynasty includes fifteen Emperors, some 
 of whom were respectable, and one of them, Wu ti 
 (a very common appellation signifying Con- 
 queror), a ruler of promise. He reigned from 
 A. D. 265 to 290 and is said to have received an 
 embassy from Theodosius, brother of the Roman 
 Emperor Heraclius. However, after he had es- 
 tablished himself upon the throne, Wu ti became 
 careless and luxurious, and is described as spend- 
 ing much of his time with troups of women in the 
 palace gardens riding on little cars drawn by 
 sheep. 1 The times were evidently very unsettled, 
 and at one time there were as many as eighteen 
 little sovereigns disputing among themselves for
 
 108 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 the high prize of imperial dignity. The annalist 
 writes hopelessly that "children of concubines, 
 priests, old women and nurses administered the 
 government." 
 
 It was under these conditions that an attempt 
 was made to establish a new religion, the cult of 
 the Void and Nothingness, a species of Stoicism 
 designed, so it is said, to strengthen the soul for 
 the bearing of adversity, and to promote con- 
 tempt for the honor and possessions of the world. 
 
 THE NORTHERN SUNG. A. D. 420-479. The 
 Sung of the North contributed nine Emperors, of 
 whom the first, Liu Yu, was another ex-seller of 
 straw sandals. The dynasty must not be con- 
 founded with the great Sung dynasty of later 
 times. There was nothing great about this par- 
 ticular line and all that need here be said is that 
 these nine Emperors enjoyed but a barren honor, 
 compassed as they were with trouble, rebellion 
 and fear of assassination. 
 
 THE Tsi DYNASTY. A. D. 479-502. The Tsi 
 dynasty includes the reigns of five sovereigns who 
 altogether retained their small semblance of 
 power for just twenty-three years. Of one of 
 these the following story is told: He was very 
 fond of the chase and, riding one day through a 
 fine field of wheat, he expressed his pleasure at 
 the sight. Thereupon, one of his friends replied, 
 "You are right, but do you know the pains it has 
 cost? If you reflected that this field is watered 
 by the sweat of the people, I am very sure that
 
 FOUR CENTURIES OF ANARCHY 109 
 
 you would not be so heedless in passing through 
 with your hunting parties." The king at once 
 saw the force of the reproof and forthwith aban- 
 doned the pleasures of the chase for the more hu- 
 man asceticisms of Buddhism. Another Emperor 
 of the same line is said to have been so studious 
 that he was never seen without a book in his 
 hand, even when engaged in hunting. Perhaps 
 it was this ill-timed devotion to learning which 
 contributed to the downfall of the dynasty. The 
 last of this line had a concubine who is said to 
 be responsible for the atrocity of foot binding. 
 "Every footstep makes a lily grow," exclaimed 
 the fond husband as he gazed adoringly upon the 
 diminutive feet of P'an Fei. 
 
 THE LIANG DYNASTY. A. D. 402-557. The 
 founder of this line of short-lived fame, a line 
 which includes the stories of but four Emperors, 
 believed that all the misfortunes of the realm 
 were due to the spread of foreign religions, such 
 as Taoism and Buddhism, and to the neglect of 
 the precepts of Confucius. To redress the bal- 
 ance he established schools and colleges every- 
 where at which lectures might be delivered on the 
 life and teachings of China's sage, and reverence 
 paid to his name. Before the end of his reign, 
 however, the king underwent a complete change 
 of heart and became so entirely devoted to Bud- 
 dhism that, after twenty-six years of rule, he re- 
 signed the throne to become a monk. The 
 change was due, it is said, to the great develop-
 
 ment at this particular time of intercourse with 
 India. Many vessels plied between the coasts of 
 China and the ports of India and Ceylon; am- 
 bassadors arrived frequently from the various 
 kings of Hindustan, and wandering monks vis- 
 ited the Western kingdoms bringing back pic- 
 tures, images and books of devotion. It was this 
 king who, perhaps for the first time in history, 
 abolished the penalty of capital punishment. 
 Historians differ as to the effect produced by this 
 unusual leniency. 
 
 That there were many exceptions to the rule 
 of general depravity, which the external fortunes 
 of the Empire tend to emphasize, is evident from 
 some of the stories told of individuals in this 
 period. For example, there is the tale of the 
 minister who committed suicide by starving him- 
 self rather than break the oath of allegiance he 
 had sworn to the preceding dynasty. There is 
 also the story of a young man who gave himself 
 up to be executed in the room of his father, a 
 magistrate who had been condemned on account 
 of certain crimes which had been committed 
 within his jurisdiction. The dynasty went down 
 to defeat like the rest, and we have the spectacle 
 presented to us of the defeated monarch mount- 
 ing a white horse, after the capture of his capital, 
 and riding forth to give himself up to a cruel 
 death at the hands of the victor. 
 
 THE SUY DYNASTY. A. D. 581-618. The 
 reigns of three sovereigns make up the story of
 
 FOUR CENTURIES OF ANARCHY 111 
 
 the Suy dynasty. The founder was Yang Kien 
 who took the throne name of Wen ti, or Lettered 
 Emperor (a designation only less common than 
 that of Wu ti, or conqueror). His son, Yang 
 Kuang, was evidently a ruler of more than the 
 ordinary vigor, though of execrable private 
 character. He is said to have adorned the trees 
 in his park in winter time with silken leaves and 
 flowers, and to have well-nigh exterminated the 
 birds to provide down for his cushions. To 
 greater purpose he labored at the construction 
 of canals connecting China's great river systems, 
 the present Grand Canal. The cruelty with 
 which he pressed even women into his service as 
 laborers in this undertaking goes far towards 
 canceling any credit he may thereby have won as 
 a public benefactor. He reigned sixteen years 
 and succeeded in bringing some degree of order 
 out of chaos. He promulgated a new law code 
 and attempted to stratify society in four castes, 
 somewhat after the Indian manner. If not per- 
 sonally worthy of the literary title, Wen ti, he 
 evidently appreciated literature and encouraged 
 learning and the formation of libraries, though 
 he sought to diminish the number of small and 
 inefficient colleges in favor of the large and more 
 important establishments of the capital cities. 
 He set a hundred scholars to work upon an edi- 
 tion of the classics, and was the first to appoint 
 the examination for the degree known as chin 
 shih. His military exploits include expeditions
 
 113 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 against the Turks and invasions of Korea and 
 Tong-king which are regarded as successful or un- 
 successful according to the point of view. He 
 undoubtedly brought back much treasure, but the 
 struggle with Korea, whatever Chinese accounts 
 may say on the subject, ended in the triumph of 
 the weaker combatant. In A. D. 598 China had 
 sent, it is said, 300,000 men to conquer Korea, 
 but failed. Yang renewed the attempt in cam- 
 paigns which lasted from A. D. 611 to 614. The 
 accounts state that an army of over a million 
 men, in .twenty-four divisions, was employed, as 
 well as a considerable naval force. The invasion 
 was once again unsuccessful, partly because of 
 the breaking out of rebellions in China itself. 
 In A. D. 617 there were as many as seven usurp- 
 ers at various points and in the following year 
 Yang was assassinated. He was succeeded by 
 his grandson, the young prince T'ung, who soon 
 afterward fell a victim to the ambition of his 
 chief minister, Wang Shih Chung, by whom he 
 was poisoned. The pathetic story is told that, 
 when the boy was about to drink the fatal potion, 
 he prayed to the Buddha that he might never be 
 reborn an Emperor. After this tragedy the 
 troubled period comes to an end, giving place to 
 the glorious dynasty of T'ang. 
 
 LITERATURE OF THE PERIOD. Literature dur- 
 ing these wild and turbulent centuries was not 
 without its great names. These appear chiefly 
 under the category of poetry, but the poets of
 
 FOUR CENTURIES OF ANARCHY 113 
 
 the time were in many respects all too like the 
 time itself. In the earlier part of the epoch there 
 were the "Seven Scholars of the Chien An," to 
 whom must be added a bard who was also a Min- 
 ister and a rather important figure in the his- 
 tory of his age. On one occasion he is said to 
 have condemned himself to death for having per- 
 mitted his horse to ride into a field of grain, but 
 he satisfied his sense of justice, with but little in- 
 convenience to himself, by having his hair cut off 
 instead of his head. In the 3rd Century A. D. 
 we have another bibulous and epicurean circle 
 known as the "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove." 
 One of these desired always to be accompanied by 
 a servant with a bottle of wine and followed by 
 another servant with a spade to bury him where 
 he fell. Perhaps the average poet of the time 
 was not unlike the one described in the lines of 
 Tao Chien: 
 
 "A scholar lives on yonder hill, 
 His clothes are rarely whole to view, 
 Nine times a month he eats his fill, 
 Once in ten years his hat is new. 
 A wretched lot! and yet the while 
 He ever wears a sunny smile." 
 
 THE BUDDHIST PILGRIMS. A pleasant con- 
 trast to the ail-too monotonous tale of insurrec- 
 tion and bloodshed is afforded by the story of 
 the Buddhist pilgrims who left China during these
 
 114 OUTLINE HISTORY OIF CHINA 
 
 centuries to visit the Holy Land of Buddhism 
 and to bring back from thence sutras, images and 
 pictures. Three of these pilgrims stand out con- 
 spicuously not less for the charm of their per- 
 sonality than for the splendid heroism of their 
 journeys and for the literary value of the works 
 they left behind. To Fa-hien, who left China in 
 A. D. 899 and traveled for fifteen years through 
 Central Asia, India and Ceylon, returning by way 
 of Java, we owe the discovery of the birthplace of 
 Gautama near Kapilavastu and more than one 
 other important identification made in recent 
 years. Moreover, we owe to him the knowledge 
 of a noble and grandly simple soul. "That I en- 
 countered danger," he says, "and trod the most 
 perilous places, without thinking of, or sparing 
 myself, was because I had a definite aim, and 
 thought of nothing but to do my best in my sim- 
 plicity and straightforwardness. Thus it was 
 that I exposed my life where death seemed inevi- 
 table, if I might accomplish but a ten thousandth 
 part of what I hoped." 2 Sung, whose date is 
 A. D. 518, is perhaps less familiar to us and less 
 intimately revealed. But Hiouen Tsang is an- 
 other whose character and exploits arouse enthu- 
 siasm, while historians, archaeologists and geogra- 
 phers of to-day benefit by his singular and 
 painstaking accuracy. He falls really in the be- 
 ginning of the T'ang period his date is A. D. 
 629 but he is most conveniently referred to 
 here. As the patron saint of Dr. Aurel
 
 FOUR CENTURIES OF ANARCHY 115 
 
 Stein, Hiouen Tsang has recently rendered 
 distinguished service to Oriental knowledge by 
 making possible the transfer of the treasures 
 of the "Cave of a thousand Buddhas" to the 
 British Museum. One other pilgrim should 
 here be mentioned, though not a Chinaman. 
 This was the great Bodhidharma, the twenty- 
 eighth successor of Gautama and the first of the 
 Buddhist patriarchs to come from India to China. 
 He arrived in China A. D. 526 and henceforth 
 China became the seat of the Buddhist patri- 
 archate. Bodhidharma is the center of many fab- 
 ulous stories, such as that which represents the 
 tea plant as springing from the eyelids he cut 
 off to keep himself awake, but he is quite impor- 
 tant historically as the founder of one of the 
 great sects of Northern Buddhism which have re- 
 mained alive and powerful to the present day in 
 China and Japan. 3
 
 NOTES 
 
 1. A similar story is told of many Chinese Em- 
 perors. See Yule's "Marco Polo," II 405 and note. 
 
 2. A charming translation of Fa Hien's Travels 
 is given by Prof. Legge, Clarendon Press, 1886. 
 Beal's "Records of Western Kingdoms" contains the 
 narratives of Fa Hien, Sung and Hiouen Tsang. 
 
 3. For Bodhidharma (called in Japan Daruma), 
 see Hackmann, "Buddhism as a Religion," pp. 80, 
 213, 239, 280. Griffis, "The Religion of Japan," pp. 
 208, 254. 
 
 116
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE T'ANG DYNASTY 
 
 A. D. 618-905. 
 
 Kao tsu Tai Tsung introduction of foreign 
 religions the advance of learning Social wel- 
 fare last years of Tai Tsung Kao-tsung 
 Chung tsung the Empress Wu How Chung 
 Tsung's successors the reforms of Yang Yen 
 Wu tsung end of the dynasty poetry under 
 the T'ang dynasty art commerce the popu- 
 lation of China. 
 
 KAO TSU. A. D. 618-627. Ki Yuen, the gen- 
 eral through whose treachery the last of the pre- 
 ceding dynasties had been displaced, now took 
 the throne of China under the name of Kao tsu, 
 thus inaugurating, however unpropitiously, the 
 splendid line of the T'angs. His nine years' rule 
 was disturbed by invasions by the Turks and Kao 
 tsu adopted the dangerous policy of buying off 
 the invaders with money. The plan, so futile in 
 the majority of the cases in which it has been em- 
 ployed, in this instance succeeded, at any rate 
 long enough to afford the dynasty time to con- 
 solidate its strength and the Turkish power, cor- 
 respondingly, time to wane. Having accom- 
 117
 
 118 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 plished so much, Kao tsu resigned the cares of 
 state to his son, Li-chi-min, already famous as the 
 Prince of T'ang. 
 
 T'AI TSUNG. A. D. 627-650. Li-chi-min had 
 already, as we have said, achieved fame. As a 
 warrior he had fought against and vanquished the 
 Turks whom it was his father's policy to sub- 
 sidize. As a man he had already proved superior 
 to the manifold temptations of the Court. Gaz- 
 ing upon the luxurious furnishings of the mag- 
 nificent palaces and contrasting all this with the 
 poverty of the people, he exclaimed, "Must a na- 
 tion be thus exhausted in order that it may pan- 
 der to the vanity and passions of one man?" 
 On the abdication of Kao tsu, he took the name 
 of T'ai Tsung and made it one of the most glo- 
 rious in the annals of China. He was able from 
 the first to inspire a singular measure of devotion 
 in the hearts of many brave soldiers, and the two 
 heroes, Yu ch'e Kung and Tsin Kung, who kept 
 watch and ward at his chamber door, became the 
 two worthies, "the guardians of the door," whose 
 names, or the equivalent, are pasted on the doors 
 of houses to the present day. 
 
 T'ai Tsung proceeded at once to make the name 
 of China respected beyond the frontiers. He 
 conquered the tribes westward to the Caspian, 
 divided the subjugated realms into satrapies, af- 
 ter the Persian manner, and ruled vigorously 
 over the whole vast Empire, until, before long, 
 the men of the south were as proud to speak of
 
 THE T'ANG DYNASTY 119 
 
 themselves as T'ang jin, or "men of T'ang," as 
 they had formerly been to describe themselves as 
 "the sons of Han." Ambassadors came from far 
 lands, including the kingdoms of India ; the Greek 
 Emperor sent a mission to his court, and scholars 
 of renown continued their journeys from China 
 to the Western Kingdoms. 
 
 INTRODUCTION OF FOREIGN RELIGIONS. T'ai 
 Tsung was a beneficent patron of religion and 
 missionaries of all faiths had reason to be grate- 
 ful for his tolerance and even hospitality. In 
 A. D. 621 came to China the first representatives 
 of the religion of Zoroaster, driven out of the 
 land of its birth by the fierce onslaughts of the 
 hosts of Islam. A little later, in A. D. 628, came 
 the emissaries of the persecuting creed, including, 
 it is said, an uncle of the Prophet himself, and 
 Muhamadans and Magians settled down peace- 
 ably in the capital, Si-ngan-fu, where both a fire- 
 temple and a mosque were erected, by permission 
 of the Emperor. Three years later, A. D. 631, 
 came Olupun, the missionary of Nestorian Chris- 
 tianity, and the faith he taught was so gener- 
 ously welcomed and so readily accepted that when 
 the famous Inscription of Si-ngan-fu l was set 
 up in A. D. 781, it expressed the gratitude of 
 large numbers of ecclesiastics, Chinese and 
 Syrian, for the almost unprecedented success of 
 the Christian faith in the Empire. The long list 
 of names attached, in both Chinese and Syriac 
 script, attests the reality of the work which had
 
 120 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 been accomplished. It is a remarkable fact, con- 
 trasting significantly enough with the religious 
 strife of the west, that at this time in China the 
 teachers of so many antagonistic creeds seem to 
 have settled down in the center of the Empire, 
 to live in harmony and concord. The remarkable 
 interchange of influences from varied races and 
 religions at this time is most interestingly illus- 
 trated in the great collection of documents which 
 filled the cell at Tun huang and made up what 
 Dr. Stein calls his "polyglot temple library." 
 One of the most interesting and significant is the 
 Manichean Confession 2 which proves that the 
 followers of Mani as well as those of Zoroaster 
 and Muhamad had found a welcome in the China 
 of the time. 
 
 THE ADVANCEMENT or LEARNING. T'ai Tsung 
 not only tolerated widely divergent forms of reli- 
 gion ; he also patronized learning, founded a lit- 
 erary academy at the capital, promoted the pub- 
 lication of a splendid edition of the Classics, 
 known as "the Thirteen King," and inaugurated 
 the system of Civil Service Examinations in lit- 
 erature. He believed that the "ancient writings 
 were accepted by all as the best instructors of the 
 manners and tastes of the people," and was wont 
 to say that "by using a mirror of brass you may 
 see to adjust your cap; by using antiquity as a 
 mirror, you may learn to foresee the rise and fall 
 of Empires." 
 
 SOCIAL WELFARE. The Emperor was also
 
 THE T'ANG DYNASTY 121 
 
 sympathetically mindful of the social condition 
 of the people. One day, paying a visit to the 
 public prisons, he found two hundred and ninety 
 criminals condemned to death. He at once sent 
 them forth into the fields to assist in the harvest, 
 accepting their word of honor to return when 
 the work was done. To a man they justified their 
 sovereign's trust and T'ai Tsung was so pleased 
 at their fidelity that he forthwith set them free. 
 Thereupon he made the rule that henceforth no 
 Emperor should ratify a sentence of death until 
 he had passed three days in abstinence, lest the 
 lives of ignorant or innocent people should be 
 sacrificed to the impulse or the passion of a mo- 
 ment. 
 
 A remarkable work is attributed to the Em- 
 peror ( on the Science of Government which is 
 known as the "Golden Mirror." The extracts 
 which have been translated for us by one of thej 
 old Jesuit missionaries, Du Halde, show that the 
 title was not unworthily bestowed. 
 
 Not less worthy of fame than the Emperor 
 was his beautiful wife, Chang Sun. When she 
 was dying she gave utterance to the following 
 memorable words: "Put no jewels in my coffin; 
 let my head rest upon a wooden tile; and fasten 
 my hair with wooden pins. Listen to no un- 
 worthy men and build no costly palaces. If you 
 promise me these things I shall die happy." 
 
 THE LAST YEARS OF T'AI TSUNG. T'ai Tsung's 
 life was all too short for the plans his ambition
 
 suggested, although a legend tells of the pro- 
 longing of his days by an alteration of the words 
 of the Book of Fate. He is even said to have 
 died and gone down into purgatory, but, like 
 Hezekiah, King of Judah, he rebelled against the 
 shortening of his days, and the figures were al- 
 tered on the tablets of fate so that twenty years 
 were added to his length of rule. Towards the 
 end T'ai Tsung attempted the conquest of Korea 
 but was obliged to leave the completion of this 
 task to his successor. The great conqueror had, 
 ere he died, the frequent experience of kings in 
 disillusionment and disappointment. On several 
 occasions his life was attempted, once by his 
 own son. He was thus painfully reminded of 
 the instability of all human power and learned, 
 like others in later time, that "the path of glory 
 leads but to the grave." Once, voyaging upon 
 the river Wei, he is said to have exclaimed, "My 
 children, the waves which float our bark are able 
 to submerge it in an instant: assuredly the peo- 
 ple are like the waves and the Emperor like the 
 fragile bark." 3 
 
 However, when T'ai Tsung died, his greatness 
 was not unrecognized. The grief of the people 
 knew no bounds and even the foreign envoys are 
 said to have cut themselves with knives and lan- 
 cets and sprinkled the dead Emperor's bier with 
 their self-shed blood. 
 
 KAO-TSUNG. A. D. 650-683. The reign of 
 Kao tsung is less notable for anything that con-
 
 THE T'ANG DYNASTY 123 
 
 cerns the Emperor himself than for the influence 
 of that remarkable and most masterful woman, 
 the Empress Wu-how, whose career in many re- 
 spects reminds us of that other strong Empress 
 who controlled to so great a degree the destinies 
 of China in the last years of the 19th Century. 
 Wu-how, in spite of her terrible cruelty, must be 
 regarded as one of the great figures of Chinese 
 history. 
 
 WU-HOW. As a girl of twelve or fourteen, 
 Wu How, or as she was then called Wu Chao, was 
 taken from her humble home to a place in the 
 harem of the great T'ai Tsung. On that Em- 
 peror's death she had nothing apparently to ex- 
 pect but the usual fate of life-long seclusion, and 
 retired to a Buddhist nunnery, where she took the 
 vows. The new king, however, Kao tsung, was 
 attracted by her and restored her to the palace. 
 Here she soon supplanted the legitimate queen, 
 whom she caused to be mutilated, and gradually 
 usurped every high office of state, ruling for a 
 while by taking part in the councils from behind 
 a curtain and at length proceeding to extreme 
 lengths as an uncontrolled and independent ruler. 
 She even usurped the most exclusive prerogative 
 of the Chinese Emperors, the right of sacrificing 
 to Shong-ti. She filled the palace with her favor- 
 ites and completely overbore her indolent hus- 
 band. Her generals completed the conquest of 
 Korea, defeated Khitans and Tibetans, and she 
 herself ruled with vigor and success. Korea was
 
 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 placed under a governor and became to all in- 
 tents and purposes a Chinese province, although 
 natives were not excluded from civil and mili- 
 tary office. Kao tsung himself was remarkable 
 for little beyond his devotion to Taoism and his 
 interest in the propagation of this faith was not 
 without result, but it is Wu How who ruled. On 
 Kao tsung's death, the heir, Chung tsung, was 
 ruthlessly set aside and in A. D. 690 Wu How had 
 herself proclaimed as "Emperor" (literally it 
 might be translated 'God Almighty') of the Chow 
 dynasty, assuming all the attributes and preroga- 
 tives of supreme power. In A. D. 705 a military 
 conspiracy succeeded in displacing her from 
 power and shortly afterwards this most masculine 
 of Dowagers died at the age of 81. The super- 
 seded heir, Chung tsung, was now at last per- 
 mitted to take up the reins of Government. 
 
 CHUNG TSUNG. A. D. 705-710. The new 
 king, who had hitherto suffered from the tyranny 
 of a mother, was now destined to groan beneath 
 the domination of his wife. This lady, Wei How, 
 was desirous of emulating the career of her 
 mother-in-law, and poor Chung tsung was thus 
 doubly cheated by fate. Our regret, however, is 
 the less since he seems to have been a man of 
 effeminate and vicious character, scarcely entitled 
 to the sympathy of posterity. Apparently he 
 only resisted turning over the Government to his 
 wife, in order to bestow it upon his two daugh- 
 ters, the princesses Ngan Lo and T'ai Ping. He
 
 THE T'ANG DYNASTY 125 
 
 died eventually of poison in A. D. 610 and was 
 succeeded by Jui Tsung. The queen met her fate 
 in the following year, being put to death with 
 many of her adherents. 
 
 THE SUCCESSORS OF CHUNG TSUNG. Jui Tsung, 
 A. D. 710-713, reigned just long enough to reveal 
 himself as a feeble and incapable inheritor of the 
 T'ang renown. Yuen tsung, commonly known as 
 Ming Hwang, who had taken a leading part in 
 resisting the pretensions of Wei How, followed 
 and reigned from A. D. 713 to 756. It was a 
 long reign but troubled throughout by revolt 
 within and foreign invasion from without. The 
 wise counsel of the statesman Chang Kiu Ling, 
 who presented his master with a treatise known 
 as "the Golden Mirror for the Sovereign's birth- 
 day," might have averted many evils, had it been 
 followed, but Yuen tsung did not take the hint. 
 He had begun his reign with simple, even austere 
 tastes, closing the silk factories and forbidding 
 the ladies of the court to wear jewels or embroid- 
 eries. But gradually the desire to establish a 
 brilliant court possessed him. His patronage of 
 literature and art took extravagant forms. 
 Scenes of debauchery, encouraged by the favorite 
 concubine, Yang Kuei Fei, 4 became frequent. 
 The love of war led to expeditions which increased 
 expenses and brought in return but scant measure 
 of glory. On one occasion the Tibetans even 
 succeeded in capturing and pillaging the capital. 
 The responsibility has sometimes been laid upon
 
 126 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 the shoulders of a certain execrated minister, Li 
 Lin Fu, who is described in the phrase, "honey on 
 his lips and in his hand a sword," but the end 
 came all the same to Yuen tsung in rebellion, 
 flight and abdication. Compelled to witness the 
 butchery of his mistress before his eyes he went 
 into exile, leaving to his son the extrication of 
 the Empire from confusion and to posterity the 
 memory of a reign which has sometimes been 
 compared with that of Louis XV of France. 
 Suh-tsung did his best from A. D. 756 to 762, but, 
 in spite of the prowess of the renowned general 
 Kwoh-tsze-i, whose exploits cover the reigns of 
 four successive Emperors, it was already manifest 
 that the prestige of the T'ang line was on the 
 wane, and its former glories in danger of being 
 forgotten. Weakling followed weakling upon the 
 throne and the whole story is one inglorious and 
 monotonous record of dissension, misrule, and im- 
 potent exposure to foreign foes. 
 
 THE REFORMS OF YANG YEN. A brief men- 
 tion should be made, ere we leave the history of 
 the T'ang period, of an attempt made during the 
 reign of the Emperor Teh Tsung (A. D. 780- 
 805) to reform the then existing system of taxa- 
 tion. The official responsible for the effort was 
 the Minister of State, Yang Yen, who was raised 
 by the above named Emperor from an inferior 
 station. "The three existing forms of monetary 
 and personal obligation towards the State, known 
 respectively as land-tax, statutory labor, and pay-
 
 THE T'ANG DYNASTY 127 
 
 ment in kind, were abolished, and in their stead 
 a semi-annual collection of money-tax was intro- 
 duced, an entirely new assessment throughout the 
 Empire forming its basis." 5 The result, how- 
 ever, was not satisfactory, and the unsuccessful 
 political economist was banished, and, before 
 reaching his intended destination strangled by 
 the Emperor's order. 
 
 WU-TSUNG. A. D. 841-847. Wu-tsung de- 
 taches himself a little from the other monarchs 
 of the 9th Century and gains a certain sinister 
 interest as the furious persecutor of Buddhism. 
 He believed that the social weakness and military 
 incapacity of the Empire was largely due to the 
 multiplication of monasteries and nunneries and 
 the consequent withdrawal of large numbers of 
 men and women from the duties and responsibil- 
 ities of civil life. Certainly there was something 
 to be said for his view. The 8th Century had 
 witnessed a remarkable revival of Buddhism with 
 a corresponding tendency to the multiplication of 
 monasteries. "Generals forsook their armies, 
 ministers their portfolios, members of the Im- 
 perial family their palaces, and merchants their 
 business and their families to build or dwell in mon- 
 asteries away from the clash of arms, the cares of 
 State, or the din and bustle of life." 6 The Chi- 
 nese records state that four thousand six hundred 
 monasteries were destroyed in this persecution 
 and upwards of a quarter of a million monks and 
 nuns sent back to the secular life. It is evident
 
 128 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 that not only Buddhists but Christians, Magians 
 and Manicheans also were attacked by this out- 
 burst of intolerance and it is probable that it 
 was through this persecution that the hopes in- 
 scribed upon the Nestorian tablet of Si-ngan-fu 
 were so untimely blighted. The proscription of 
 Buddhism appears, however, to have lasted but a 
 few years, since we find that the monasteries were 
 once again occupied and recognized under I 
 tsung in A. D. 860. The opportune finding of a 
 relic of the Buddha, which was transported to the 
 capital amid great manifestation of popular en- 
 thusiasm, had something to do, no doubt, with 
 this change of policy in the direction of toler- 
 ance. 
 
 END OF THE DYNASTY. To onlookers at this 
 time the T'ang dynasty was plainly doomed. 
 The Arab traders then at Canton compared the 
 condition of China with that of the Macedonian 
 Empire on the death of Alexander the Great. 
 The general Li Yuen is found at the end of the 
 9th Century struggling against his ambitions on 
 the one hand and yet hopeless of loyalty, waver- 
 ing between the policy based on his respect for 
 the past and that suggested by desire to make 
 secure the future. He assassinated one monarch 
 in order to place another, a mere infant, upon 
 the throne. But the temptations and opportuni- 
 ties of power proved too strong for his loyalty 
 to the T'angs and, hardly two years after,j,spite 
 of the protests and warnings of his elder
 
 THE T'ANG DYNASTY 129 
 
 brother, Li Yuen proclaimed himself the first 
 sovereign of a new dynasty, to be known in his- 
 tory as that of the Later Liang. 
 
 POETRY UNDEK THE T'ANG DYNASTY. For many 
 reasons the T'ang dynasty deserves the name of 
 the Golden Era of Chinese history. Only a brief 
 reference may here be made to several phases of 
 this renown. Foremost in splendor is the poetry 
 of the age. "Poetry," says a modern Chinese 
 writer, "reached perfection under the T'angs." 
 The "Complete Collection of the Poetry of the 
 T'ang Period" contains 48,900 poems in thirty 
 volumes. 
 
 Li Po. Many of these poets were, as in the 
 preceding age, men of disreputable character, 
 such as Wang Po, who had to get drunk before 
 he could write. But the age is represented also 
 by two celebrated poets, Tu fu, and (the most 
 widely celebrated of all Chinese poets) Li po. 
 Li po is one of the most interesting characters 
 in Chinese literature. Endowed with every grace 
 of person, a lover of wine and song, he went up 
 confidently to the capital to compete for literary 
 honors. But he refused to make the customary 
 presents to the examiners, such as ordinarily en- 
 sured success. Consequently the examiners, one 
 of whom was a brother of the Empress, treated 
 him with contempt and pronounced his effort a 
 failure. One said, "This scribbler is fit for noth- 
 ing but to grind my ink." The other added, 
 "He is good for nothing but to lace up my bus-
 
 130 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 kins." Li then and there registered a vow that 
 the time should come when the insult should 
 be avenged by the one examiner grinding his ink 
 and the other lacing his buskins. The day came 
 when this proud boast was fulfilled. Li, now a 
 doctor of the Han-lin, in the presence of the Em- 
 peror commanded the First Minister of State, 
 his quondam examiner, to rub his ink-stone, and 
 the other, who was now General of the Guards, 
 to lace up his buskins. Li Po, however, did not 
 greatly enjoy the triumph of his talent, for after 
 narrowly escaping the penalty of death for sedi- 
 tion, he drowned himself to escape the persecu- 
 tion of his enemies. He exclaimed as he jumped 
 into the water: "I'm going to catch the moon 
 in the midst of the sea." 7 A less romantic ac- 
 count of Li Po's end is that he was drunk and 
 fell into the sea from leaning too far over the 
 edge of the boat. 
 
 Tu Fu, who has been called the "Chatterton of 
 China," likewise came to a tragic end. He "failed 
 to distinguish himself at the public examinations, 
 at which verse-making counts so much, but had 
 nevertheless so high an opinion of his own poetry 
 that he prescribed it as a cure for malarial 
 fever." 8 Like so many of his companions of 
 the muse, in China, he died of dissipation, or to 
 put it more charitably, after starving for ten 
 days during which he had nothing to eat but 
 roots, he feasted too heartily on roast beef and 
 white wine and died upon the steps of a temple.
 
 THE T'ANG DYNASTY 131 
 
 His collected works, like those of Li Po, are pre- 
 served in the Royal Library. 9 
 
 CHANG CHIH Ho. Of an entirely different 
 stamp was the Taoist philosopher, Chang Chih 
 Ho, who called himself "The old Fisherman of the 
 Mists and Waters." He spent his time in 
 angling, but used no bait, his object not being to 
 catch fish. When asked why he roamed about, 
 Chang answered and said: "With the Empyrean 
 as my home, the bright moon my companion, and 
 the four seas my inseparable friends, what mean 
 you by roaming?" And when a friend offered 
 him a comfortable home instead of his poor boat, 
 he replied: "I prefer to follow the gulls into 
 cloudland rather than bury myself beneath the 
 dust of the world." 10 
 
 HAN Yu. A scholar, who deserves to be men- 
 tioned on other grounds, than that he was a 
 celebrated poet, is Han Yu, described as foremost 
 among the statesmen, philosophers, and poets of 
 the T'ang dynasty, and one of the most venerated 
 names in Chinese literature. As a philosopher 
 he took a middle ground between those who with 
 Confucius and Mencius maintained that the na- 
 ture of man is innately good and those who be- 
 lieved it to be naturally depraved. His doctrine, 
 we are told, found much acceptance. He was 
 foremost among those who protested to the Em- 
 peror against the reverence paid to the alleged 
 Buddha relic, mentioned above. For this candor 
 he was banished, but he used his time of exile to
 
 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 good purpose. His labors for the civilization of 
 the people of Kwang tung have been symbolized 
 in the story of the expulsion of a gigantic croco- 
 dile which had been ravaging the province. 
 
 ART. Of the splendid art of the period some 
 idea may be gained from a study of the pictures 
 brought away from the oasis of Tun huang in 
 Eastern Turkestan by Dr. Stein. Many of them 
 may now be seen in the British Museum. They 
 deal largely with Buddhist subjects and are of a 
 very high order of excellence. 11 The greatest 
 painter of the period, indeed of all periods in 
 China, was Wu Tao Tsz. No work at present 
 exists which can with certainty be ascribed to him, 
 but a Japanese picture in the British Museum, 
 "The Death of Buddha," founded on one of his 
 masterpieces, may give some idea of his origi- 
 nality and power. 12 The story is told that when 
 men criticised adversely the famous picture of 
 the "Western Paradise," Wu Tao Tsz answered 
 his critics by stepping calmly into the Paradise 
 which he had painted, and so disappeared from 
 the sight of men. 
 
 The pottery, too, of the T'ang period is re- 
 markable for its artistic worth, especially the 
 grace and beauty of its 'lines. 13 
 
 COMMERCE. China now was widely known 
 throughout the civilized world. Arab traders, 
 pushing out from India and the Malay peninsula, 
 began to establish trading stations at Canton 
 and other Chinese ports. In A. D. 751 they
 
 THE TANG DYNASTY 133 
 
 erected in Canton a pagoda or minaret which 
 still stands. They presumed so much on their 
 right to remain for trade that they occasionally 
 also claimed the privilege of burning and pillag- 
 ing. The traveler, Ibn Wahab, has left us a very 
 interesting account of travels in China in the 
 9th Century. 14 A large number of foreigners 
 seem to have been at this time permanently resi- 
 dent in China. At the close of the 8th Century 
 four thousand foreign families are said to have 
 been settled in the capital. That China was not 
 unacquainted with the political condition of the 
 outside world we may gather from the remark of 
 a T'ang Emperor quoted in the Arab "Chain of 
 Chronicles" to the effect that there were five 
 great sovereigns, viz: The King of Irak (the 
 Khalif), who was King of Kings; the King of 
 China, who was King of Men ; the King of Turks, 
 who was King of wildmen ; the King of India, who 
 was King of elephants; and the King of Rome, 
 who was King of fine men. 15 
 
 POPULATION. It may be worth adding that a 
 census taken of the Fifteen Provinces in the year 
 A. D. 754 showed that the Empire at this epoch 
 contained nine and a half million families, or 
 nearly fifty-three million individuals.
 
 NOTES 
 
 1. There are many good accounts, with transla- 
 tions, of the Inscription of Si-ngan-fu. Those of 
 Pauthier, Legge and Wells Williams may all be con- 
 sulted with advantage. There is also a more recent 
 description, with some good photographs, by Nichols 
 in "Through Hidden Shensi." 
 
 2. "Ruins of Desert Cathay/' II 211 ff. 
 
 3. Pauthier, "Chine," p. 294. 
 
 4. The poet Po-chu-i has a really striking poem 
 on the lady Yang and her tragic fate, commencing 
 
 "His imperial Majesty, a slave to beauty, 
 Longed for a 'subverter of Empires'; 
 For years he had sought in vain 
 To secure such a treasure for his palace 
 From the Yang family came a maiden," etc. 
 
 5. Wm. F. Mayers. 
 
 6. Ross. 
 
 7. S. Wells Williams, "The Middle Kingdom," I 
 70S. 
 
 8. Giles, "Chinese Biographical Dictionary." 
 
 9. Remusat, "Nouveaux Melanges Asiatiques," II 
 174. 
 
 10. Giles, "History of Chinese Literature." 
 
 11. Catalogue of Exhibition of Chinese and Jap- 
 anese Pictures in the British Museum. 
 
 12. Br. Mus. Cat., 109. 
 
 13. Brinkley's "China." Section on "Early 
 Wares of China." 
 
 14. Kerr's "Collection of Travels," I 47 ff. 
 
 15. Kerr, I 75. 
 
 134
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 THE FIVE LITTLE DYNASTIES 
 A. D. 907-960. 
 
 The Wu tai shifting of Capital Shi-tsung 
 Ch a o Kwang-yin . 
 
 THE Wu TAI. On the fall of the T'ang dy- 
 nasty the situation in China was not unlike that 
 in Europe about the same time, and in the course 
 of fifty years we find five short-lived dynasties 
 which are known respectively as the Later Liang, 
 the Later T'ang, the Later Tsin, the Later Han, 
 and the Later Chou. They reveal their inferior 
 and dependent character by thus seeking to bor- 
 row from the reputation of previous dynasties. 
 None of them had more than a local authority 
 and in some cases their sway was restricted to 
 one or two provinces. In the meantime the 
 southern provinces for the most part managed 
 their affairs without any Imperial interference 
 whatsoever. It was essentially a time for des- 
 peradoes and soldiers of fortune. "To give peace 
 to the Empire,'* said the counselor Shih Hung 
 Chao, "and put down rebellion, a good sword 
 and a long spear are wanted: of what use is a 
 hair-awl?" The independence of China was, dur- 
 135
 
 136 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 ing this period, maintained with very great diffi- 
 culty and lavish presents, and even actual tribute, 
 had to be paid to the border tribes by sovereigns 
 of the later Tsin dynasty. It was this ignominy 
 which caused this particular line to be described 
 as "the meanest house which ever swayed the 
 black-haired people." 
 
 So far as the Empire in this sordid period had 
 any center at all the capital was sometimes at 
 Si-ngan-fu and sometimes at Kai-fung-fu on the 
 Hwang-ho. 
 
 SHIH-TSUNG. A. D. 954-959. One solitary 
 figure awakens our respect and sympathy at the 
 close in Kuo Jung, who came to the throne as the 
 second of the Later Chou Emperors in A. D. 954. 
 To ensure humility in his high station, the young 
 king, whose throne name was Shih tsung, pre- 
 served in his palace the plow and other implements 
 of labor such as should serve to remind him of his 
 former low estate. 1 
 
 In the time of famine he opened the public 
 granaries to supply the needs of the starving 
 populace and sold to the poor on credit. When 
 reminded by his ministers that the payments 
 might never be made, Shih tsung replied that he 
 was the father of the people and could not see 
 his children suffer. He melted the idols of the 
 temple in order to coin money, which had become 
 very scarce. Buddha himself, he said, who did 
 so much for men, would certainly raise no objec- 
 tions. He encouraged learning, and waged sue-
 
 THE FIVE LITTLE DYNASTIES 187 
 
 cessful wars against the Khitans and Northern 
 Hans, but his death at the early age of thirty- 
 nine put an end to the hopes of the people. The 
 child heir, a boy of only six years old, was ad- 
 judged unequal to the difficulties of a time so 
 "out of joint" and by popular acclamation the 
 crown was conferred upon the head of the army, 
 the general Chao Kwang-ym, with whom begins 
 the new dynasty of Sung.
 
 NOTE 
 
 1. Cf. the story of Kawah and the blacksmith's 
 apron (Shah-Nameh) and the Japanese story of 
 Hideyoshi and the soldier's water gourd. 
 
 138
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THE SUNG DYNASTY 
 
 A. D. 960-1279. 
 
 General Summary Tai Tsu and his succes- 
 sors the Kin Tatars Jenghiz Khan conquest 
 of the Southern Sungs Wang-an-shih Sze Ma 
 Kiang the Sung Philosophers the Sung Art. 
 
 GENERAL SUMMARY. The history of the 
 Sung Dynasty, including as it does the reigns of 
 eighteen Emperors, must be divided into two por- 
 tions. The former deals with the Sung Dynasty 
 proper, when the rulers of this line reigned over 
 the whole land. This period continues until the 
 conquest of the provinces north of the Yang 
 tsze Kiang by the Tatars in A. D. 1127. The 
 second part concerns the line generally known as 
 that of the Southern Sungs, and includes the 
 sovereigns who ruled south of the Yang tsze 
 Kiang up to the time of Kublai Khan. 
 
 T'AI Tsu AND HIS SUCCESSORS. The general 
 Chao Kwang Yin was chosen much as were some 
 of the later Roman Emperors by the Prfetorian 
 guard. The soldiers found him drunk, threw over 
 him the Yellow Robe before he could say Yea or 
 
 Nay, made a sudden resolution to supersede the 
 139
 
 six year old sovereign by their generalissimo, and 
 so proclaimed him Emperor. It was an unprom- 
 ising beginning, but T'ai Tsu, as he called him- 
 self, did much better than might have been ex- 
 pected. He was a good soldier, of powerful 
 physique and great personal bravery. Simple in 
 his tastes, he was hospitable to all ; his house, he 
 said, was like his heart, open to all. He gave 
 away his own fur coat to a soldier, saying that he 
 wished he could in like manner provide for every 
 soldier in the army. He was, moreover, as a 
 ruler, conscientious in the fulfillment of his duties. 
 "Do you think," he said, "that it is so easy for a 
 sovereign to perform his duties? He does noth- 
 ing that is without consequence. This morning 
 the thought occurs to me that yesterday I de- 
 cided a case in a wrong manner, and this memory 
 robs me of all joy." As he lived, so he died, in 
 camp among his soldiers. War was carried on 
 during the reign more or less constantly with the 
 Khitan Tatars and continued throughout the 
 reign of the succeeding Emperor T'ai Tsung. 
 A. D. 976-997. From a distance the history of 
 the time appears as a period of disgraceful treat- 
 ies, threatened invasions, and proffered tribute. 
 But there are interludes of comparative peace 
 and prosperity. T'ai Tsung was unable to over- 
 come the Khitan power in the north but he suc- 
 ceeded fairly well in overcoming the resistance to 
 his rule on the part of the Han states to the 
 south. His successor secured eighteen years of
 
 THE SUNG DYNASTY 141 
 
 peace by paying tribute to the Tatars. Then 
 came Jen-tsung, A. D. 1023-1064, whose early 
 years were advantageously influenced by his 
 mother, a woman of unusual capacity and good 
 sense. These ten peaceful years, however, were 
 followed by the rise of a new power in the north- 
 west, the Tangutan, which had ultimately to be 
 bought off with an annual payment of 100,000 
 pieces of silk and 30,000 pounds of tea. The 
 Khitan Tatars who had now established them- 
 selves, as the Liao, or Iron Dynasty, in the Liao- 
 tung peninsula, took advantage of the situation 
 to secure the promise for themselves also of an 
 annual tribute, in this case of 200,000 taels of 
 silver and a large quantity of silk. 
 
 CHEH-TSUNG, A. D. 1086-1101, was another 
 boy king who was fortunate in a wise and capable 
 mother. Her rule was much more profitable to 
 the Empire than that which followed when the 
 young prince attained his majority. When he 
 did wrong there were censors who were brave 
 enough to rebuke the appeal to bad imperial pre- 
 cedents. "You would do better," they said, "to 
 imitate their virtues rather than their vices." 
 But apparently Cheh tsung preferred the vices to 
 the virtues. He died without taking the trouble 
 to select an heir, thinking that he would not die 
 so soon, and was succeeded by his brother, Hwei 
 tsung. 
 
 THE KIN TATAKS. It was Hwei tsung, A. D. 
 1101-1126, who adopted the fatal policy of at-
 
 14,2 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 tempting the expulsion of one enemy by the em- 
 ployment of another. The Kin Tatars, the an- 
 cestors of the present Manchus, a branch of the 
 Tatar race, settled near the river Sungari, were 
 only too ready to accept the invitation. Their 
 kinsmen had established what they called the 
 Liao, or Iron Dynasty. They called themselves 
 the Kin, or Gold Tatars, for, said they, "Iron 
 rusts, gold lasts." Therefore they prepared 
 cheerfully to fight the Khitans, to whom they 
 were superior in military tactics and especially 
 in the almost exclusive use of cavalry. Their 
 wild charges of horsemen were not a little 
 dreaded. "Worse than wolves and tigers" was 
 the verdict of their enemies. They succeeded 
 completely in the expulsion of the Khitans, but, 
 after the manner of such dangerous auxiliaries, 
 they did not consider the performance of this task 
 sufficient and proceeded further to the conquest 
 of their employers. In this too they succeeded, 
 so well indeed that, from A. D. 1127, the Sungs 
 lost their sway in all the region north of the 
 Yang tsze Kiang. The Chinese were completely 
 demoralized by the furious onslaughts of the 
 Tatar cavalrymen and made no stand even at 
 places where a desperate resistance might have 
 been expected. In the south a son of Hwei tsung 
 rallied his countrymen and gave new vigor to the 
 Sung dynasty within its now restricted area, but 
 during all the century that followed China was 
 practically two Empires, with two capitals. In
 
 THE SUNG DYNASTY 143 
 
 the north was Chung-tu, not far from the site 
 which soon became that of Pe-king (i.e. Northern 
 Capital). In the south was, first of all, Nan- 
 king (i.e. Southern Capital), and afterwards 
 Hang-chau. Of the first and last of these three 
 great cities Marco Polo has left us most inter- 
 esting descriptions. 1 
 
 JENGHIZ KHAN. Further trouble came to the 
 distracted north, even while the Kin Tatars were 
 absorbed in their contest with the Southern 
 Sungs, through the epoch-making career of 
 Jenghiz Khan, A. D. 1162-1227. 2 From A. D. 
 1207 the great conqueror was taking the prelimi- 
 nary steps for the subjugation of China, by the 
 reduction of the states to the north. In A. D. 
 1211 he advanced towards China itself and dev- 
 astated the provinces of Chih-li, Shan-si, and 
 Shen-si. But a severe wound compelled him to 
 retire, leaving the Khitan monarch a vassal in 
 Liao tung. The following year he returned and 
 ninety cities in the northern provinces were so 
 completely destroyed that it was said a horse- 
 man could ride over their sites without stumbling. 
 In vain was the capital moved from Chung tu 
 back to Kai-feng-fu. The campaign of desola- 
 tion went on and from A. D. 1220 for at least five 
 years the ruthless conqueror made the land waste 
 as a desert. Millions of lives were sacrificed dur- 
 ing these terrible years. At last an unfavorable 
 conjunction of planets impressed the superstitious 
 Mongol with the presentiment of his approaching
 
 144 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 doom. He set his face westward, but had only 
 reached the Si-kiang in Kan-suh, when he was 
 seized with illness. Shortly afterwards, at the 
 camp in the province of Shan-si, on August 27th, 
 A. D. 1227, he died, at the age of sixty-five, 
 leaving behind him a bloody renown at which 
 every reader of history must shudder. Never- 
 theless, the verdict is a just one, "He is remem- 
 bered as a relentless and irresistible conqueror, a 
 human scourge; but he was much more. He was 
 one of the greatest instruments of destiny, one of 
 the most remarkable molders of the fate of na- 
 tions to be met with in the history of the world. 
 His name still overshadows Asia with its fame, 
 and the tribute of our admiration cannot be de- 
 nied." 3 
 
 CONQUEST or THE SOUTHERN SUNGS. Ogdai, 
 son and successor of Jenghiz, continued the cam- 
 paign of devastation until his death in A. D. 
 1241. The Kin Emperor in the north held out 
 in his new capital, Ju-ning-fu, until all the aged 
 and infirm had been slaughtered to lessen the 
 ravages of famine, till all the able-bodied men 
 had fallen, and women alone were left to guard 
 the walls. Then he set fire to the city and burned 
 himself alive in his palace, so that the storming 
 parties of the allies found only a smoking ruin. 
 So ended the Kin dynasty of the north, a line 
 whose nine Emperors had ruled in that part of 
 China just a hundred and eighteen years. The 
 Sungs in the south, whose folly had brought the
 
 THE SUNG DYNASTY 145 
 
 Mongol invaders to their very borders, held out 
 for some time longer against the victors, but the 
 war was pressed by the new Khan, Mangu, son of 
 Tule, Ogdai's brother, with such vigor that ulti- 
 mate success was made certain. More than once, 
 however, there were heroic episodes which go to 
 show that the Sungs had not altogether lost their 
 early soldier-like qualities. One incident in par- 
 ticular deserves much wider fame than it has ever 
 yet succeeded in gaining, namely, the five years' 
 defense of the city of Si-an Yang. The heroism 
 of the two captains, Chang kwun and Chang kwa, 
 who "broke through all" to reprovision the starv- 
 ing city, and the magnificent valor of Chang Kwa 
 in attempting to cut his way out again when his 
 task had been successfully accomplished, has 
 moved a modern writer to say, "A Chinese his- 
 torian might be pardoned for placing this episode 
 on a par with Sir Richard Grenville's defense of 
 the 'Revenge.' ' But there has been so far lack- 
 ing a Tennyson to make the ballad of Si-an Yang. 
 The death of Mangu in A. D. 1259, and the ac- 
 cession of his able younger brother, Kublai Khan, 
 marks the point at which it may be said that the 
 Sung dynasty had ceased to exist and the new 
 era, to be known as the Yuan (original) or Mon- 
 gol dynasty had begun. Still for twenty years 
 more resistance went on. Brave generals, de- 
 voted to the Sung cause, set up one puppet king 
 after another, but all in vain. The last stand 
 was made by the two faithful generals, Chang
 
 She Kieh and Lu Sin Fu, at an island off Canton. 
 The retreat after some months was carried by 
 storm, and, when Lu Sin Fu had seen to the sui- 
 cide of his wife and children, he clasped the last 
 claimant of the Sung throne, the child Ti ping, 
 in his arms and leaped with him into the sea. 
 "Thus perished the dynasty of Sung." The 
 minister of the dead king, Wen Tien Tiang (a 
 very sympathetic figure in Chinese history) was 
 made prisoner, carried to the court of Kublai 
 Khan, and there, preferring death to the renun- 
 ciation of his allegiance to the fallen dynasty, 
 was finally slain. 
 
 WANG-AN-SHIH. Perhaps the most remarkable 
 and interesting figure of the llth Century in 
 China was the socialist philosopher and states- 
 man, Wang-an-shih, who lived under the reigns 
 of Chin-tsung and Tin-tsung. He was born 
 A. D. 1021 in the province of Kiang-si, and was a 
 son of a secretary to one of the Boards. As a 
 scholar he distinguished himself from the first, 
 making his pen "to fly over the paper" at the ex- 
 aminations. His early essays in literature at- 
 tracted attention and gained him official position, 
 first as magistrate, then as judge, then as ex- 
 positor in the Han-lin College, and in A. D. 1069 
 as State Counselor to the Emperor. He was a 
 reformer along radical lines from the very first, 
 though basing his reforms on ancient precedents. 
 He was a devoted student of the classics of which 
 he caused new editions to be made in order that
 
 THE SUNG DYNASTY 147 
 
 the people might understand the real teaching of 
 the Canon. He studied other literature as well. 
 "I have been," he writes, "an omnivorous reader 
 of Books of all kinds, even, for example, of an- 
 cient medical and botanical works. I have, more- 
 over, dipped into treatises of agriculture and on 
 needlework, all of which I have found very prof- 
 itable in aiding me to seize the great scheme of 
 the Canon itself." He was above all things prac- 
 tical, and made a brave, though eventually futile, 
 attack on the even then venerable system of edu- 
 cation. For a time, says a Chinese writer, "even 
 the pupils at village schools threw away their text- 
 books of rhetoric and began to study primers of 
 history, geography, and political economy." For 
 many years the opposition between Wang-an-shih 
 and the historian Sze Ma Kiang divided China, 
 into two great political camps. The former 
 thought it his mission to change and regenerate; 
 the latter was equally earnest in resisting the 
 torrent and appealed constantly to the traditions 
 of the past and to the generally conservative 
 spirit of the race. The dispute grew more and 
 more embittered until the accession of Shin-tsung 
 gave Wang-an-shih an opportunity to put his 
 theories into practice. His main principle was 
 the duty of the Emperor to provide for all his 
 people at least the opportunity to procure the 
 necessaries of life. "The State," he said, 
 "should take the entire management of commerce, 
 industry and agriculture into its own hands with
 
 148 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 a view to succoring the working classes and pre- 
 venting them being ground into the dust by the 
 rich." He caused the establishment of tribunals 
 throughout the land to regulate the daily wage 
 and the daily price of merchandise. The soil 
 was measured, divided into equal areas, graded 
 according to its fertility, in order that there 
 might be a new basis of taxation. The produce 
 of the land was no longer to be sent to the capital 
 for sale on behalf of the Imperial Exchequer, but 
 used, first, for the payment of taxes, secondly for 
 the needs of the district in which it was produced, 
 and thirdly, for sale to the Government of the re- 
 mainder at as cheap a rate as practicable to await 
 an increase in value, or to supply the needs of 
 other districts. The taxes were to be provided 
 by the rich and the poor were to be exempt. 
 Large reserves of money were to be kept by the 
 State to provide pensions for the aged, support 
 for the unemployed, and help for the needy gen- 
 erally. Other tribunals were established for the 
 distribution of seed for sowing in the waste lands. 
 These were to be cultivated by those who had no 
 other work, on the sole condition that they should 
 repay from the harvest the cost of the seed. To 
 secure protection against foreign enemies Wang 
 ordered that every family with more than two 
 males should furnish one to serve as a soldier, 
 while every family was obliged to keep a horse, 
 supplied by the Government, to provide cavalry 
 in case of need.
 
 THE SUNG DYNASTY 149 
 
 Wang-an-shih had many other ideas, especially 
 interesting to us in these days, but apparently 
 his theories were untimely, for, after ten years' 
 experience of them, the nation decided upon an 
 entire change of policy. There were many 
 causes, indeed, for the failure of this great epoch 
 of reform. In some things Wang showed a lack 
 of experience in practical statesmanship, as, for 
 example, when he abolished all restrictions on the 
 export of copper, with the result that "even the 
 copper cash were melted down and made into ar- 
 ticles for sale and exportation." Wang met the 
 resultant panic with the ingenious plan of simply 
 doubling the value of each cash. Again, there 
 was the objection of the people to the contem- 
 plated militia, the antagonism of the usurers who 
 were largely put out of business, the dishonesty 
 of the officials who collected the taxes and dis- 
 tributed the seed, the opposition of powerful and 
 influential statesmen, such as Wang-an-shih's own 
 brother, Wang-an-kwoh, Han K'i, Su She, and 
 above all, the great rival, Sze Ma Kiang. Lastly, 
 there were the physical calamities of drought and 
 flood and famine, which were always regarded as 
 the results of bad Government. Wang-an-shih 
 left office and was consoled with the Governorship 
 of Nan-king. He died in A. D. 1086 without 
 seeing again any accession of popular or Imperial 
 favor. Twenty years after his death his name 
 was set up in the Hall of Confucius as that of the 
 greatest thinker since Mencius. But soon after-
 
 150 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 ward it was removed and since that time his mem- 
 ory has been belittled and his reputation aspersed. 
 A conservative reaction set in ; the radicals were 
 banished to Mongolia and there, it is said, their 
 unquiet spirits had something to do with the con- 
 ditions which made possible the devastating career 
 of Jenghiz Khan. 4 
 
 SZE MA KIANG. A few words are due to 
 Wang-an-shih's great rival, Sze Ma Kiang, who 
 lived from A. D. 1019 to 1086. 5 He is famous 
 alike as scholar, poet, historian and statesman. 
 As a student he is said to have used a wooden pil- 
 low which was so constructed as to arouse him to 
 wakefulness whenever he got too sleepy over his 
 work. He was also famous for the reverent care 
 Avith which he preserved his books. His readiness 
 of resource in these early days is illustrated by 
 the following story: With a number of other 
 boys he was standing near a large vase used for 
 the keeping of gold-fish when one of his compan- 
 ions fell in. The others were unable to reach the 
 top and too terrified to think of anything else, 
 when Kiang took up a big stone and smashed the 
 vase. So he enabled the water to run out and 
 the boy to escape. As a poet Sze Ma Kiang is 
 remembered for his "Garden," of which a delight- 
 ful account is given by the Abbe Hue. As an his- 
 torian he employed the years of his exclusion from 
 office (during the reform government of Wang- 
 an-shih) in writing, amongst other important 
 works, the great "General Mirror to aid in gov-
 
 THE SUNG DYNASTY 151 
 
 erning." Over twenty years altogether was de- 
 voted to this work, which was finished in A. D. 
 1084. It consists of two hundred and ninety- 
 four chapters and covers the period from the 5th 
 Century B. C. to A. D. 960. As a statesman, 
 Sze Ma Kiang was, as we have seen, a conserva- 
 tive. He offered to his Emperor the five follow- 
 ing Rules of Conduct: 1, Guard your patri- 
 mony; 2, Value time; 3, Keep sedition at a 
 distance ; 4, Be cautious over details ; 5, Aim 
 at reality. He was always outspoken and frank. 
 "The first duty of a censor," he said, "is to speak 
 the truth." When some flatterer told the Em- 
 peror that the Ki-lin (a fabled beast whose com- 
 ing was regarded as an augury of prosperity) 
 had appeared in the land, the gift of a foreign 
 potentate, Sze Ma Kiang replied that the Ki-lin 
 does not need to be sent from abroad, seeing that 
 it appears of itself whenever the land is well 
 governed. He died in A. D. 1086, the same year 
 in which passed away his illustrious rival. 
 
 THE SUNG PHILOSOPHERS. The Sung period, 
 in spite of its unsettled political condition, has 
 always been favorably known as a period of spec- 
 ulative philosophy. Five men are especially 
 singled out as eminent exponents of truth as the 
 Sung age understood it. These are Chao, the 
 two Chengs, Chang and Chu. Cheng Ch'ao wrote 
 a history of China of which an edition in forty- 
 six volumes was published in 1749 with a preface 
 by the Emperor Kien Lung. He also wrote an
 
 152 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 authoritative treatise on the famous Stone Drums. 
 Chu, in addition to his philosophical disquisitions, 
 made a digest of Li Tao's extension of the history 
 of Sze Ma Kiang, which still remains an admirable 
 summary of thirty-six centuries of Chinese his- 
 tory. 
 
 THE SUNG ART. The art of the Sung period 
 was of rare excellence. The examples which have 
 come down to us are few in number but are suf- 
 ficient to show its range and dominant character- 
 istics. The most recognizable influence is Taoist 
 rather than Buddhist in the strict sense of the 
 word. More accurately, perhaps, it may be said 
 to be in large part the reflection of the Zen sect 
 of Buddhism which had been "powerfully influ- 
 enced by Lao tsze's thought." "Man is not con- 
 ceived of as detached from, or opposed to, ex- 
 ternal nature ; rather is the thought of one life 
 or one soul manifested in both, so that the spring- 
 ing and withering of the wayside grasses are 
 felt to be something really related to the human 
 spirit contemplating them, and the apparition of 
 beauty in fresh snow, or rising moon, or blos- 
 soms opening on bare spring branches, seems the 
 manifestation of a life and power in which men 
 also -share." 6 The chief painter of the period 
 was Li Lung Mien. 
 
 It is sad to be obliged to recognize that the 
 Sung era, which in art and literature and philoso- 
 phy reached such heights as to be fitly termed the 
 "Periclean Age of China," should have been po-
 
 THE SUNG DYNASTY 153 
 
 litically so inglorious, that the highest achieve- 
 ments in the departments of intellect and culture 
 should have synchronized so painfully with 
 China's first real experience of foreign domina- 
 tion. 7 But she was still destined, by her intelli- 
 gence, to conquer the brute force of her conquer- 
 ors.
 
 NOTES 
 
 1. See Yule's "Marco Polo," for Peking (Camba- 
 luc), I 348 ff; for Hang-chau (Kin-say), II 146- 
 260. 
 
 2. For the life of Temuchin, later called Jenghiz 
 Khan, see Sir Henry Howorth, "History of the Mon- 
 gols"; Jeremiah Curtin's "History of the Mongols"; 
 Sir. R. K. Douglas' "Life of Jenghiz Khan." 
 
 3. D. C. Boulger, "History of China." 
 
 4. See Remusat, "Nouveaux Melanges Asiat- 
 iques"; A. I. Ivanova, "Wang-an-shih and His Re- 
 forms," S. Petersburg, 1909; the works of the Abbe 
 Hue, etc. "Ouang anche a mon avis etoit un grand 
 ministre, que les Chinois, attaches trop aveuglement 
 a leurs anciens usages, n'ont pas sgu connoitre, et a 
 qui ils ne rendent pas la justice qu'il meritoit," Du 
 Mailla, T. VIII, p. 305. 
 
 5. See Biography by Remusat in "Nouveaux Me- 
 langes Asiatiques." 
 
 6. "British Museum Guide to Exhibition of Chi- 
 nese and Japanese Pictures," p. 12. 
 
 7. "La splendeur des lettres semblait croitre en 
 intensite, a mesure que 1' Empire perdait de sa puis- 
 sance materielle et de son etendue" (P. St. Le Gall). 
 
 154
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 THE YUAN OR MONGOL DYNASTY 
 A. D. 1260-1368. 
 
 Kublai Khan Expeditions to Japan Kublai's 
 magnificence the successors of Kublai the Chi- 
 nese revolution Christian missions in China the 
 Drama the Novel. 
 
 KUBLAI KHAN. A. D. 1260-1294. The first 
 of the Yuan sovereigns is known to every reader 
 from the opening lines of Coleridge's "Vision in 
 a Dream." 
 
 "In Xanadu did Kubla Khan 
 A stately pleasure house decree; 
 Where Alph, the sacred river, ran 
 Through caverns measureless to man, 
 Down to a sunless sea." 
 
 But Coleridge himself would never have had 
 the chance to read of Kublai Khan in "Purchas 
 his Pilgrims" had not the great Venetian dictated 
 the passage with which Book II of Marco Polo 
 begins: '*Now am I come to that part of our 
 Book in which I shall tell you the great and won- 
 derful magnificence of the Great Kaan now reign- 
 155
 
 156 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 ing, by name Cublay Kaan; Kaan being a title 
 which signifyeth 'The Great Lord of Lords,' or 
 Emperor. And of a surety he hath good right 
 to such a title, for all men know for a certain 
 truth that he is the most potent man as regards 
 forces and lands, and treasure, that existeth in 
 the world or ever hath existed from the time of 
 our First Father Adam until this day. All this 
 I will make clear to you for truth, in this book 
 of ours, so that every one shall be fain to acknowl- 
 edge that he is the greatest Lord that is now in 
 the world, or ever hath been. And now ye shall 
 hear how and wherefore." 
 
 For this "how and wherefore" it is always a 
 delight to refer the reader to the great traveler's 
 story, which did more than anything else to make 
 Kublai Khan, and even Cathay itself, known to 
 the Western world. A Carpini and a De Rubruk 
 succeeded in interesting only a few, and these for 
 the most part ecclesiastics. Marco Polo not only 
 struck the imagination of his own time, but made 
 the glamour of Cathay so glorious that genera- 
 tions of travelers and navigators spent their lives 
 in endeavoring to open up new highways to the 
 Eastern wonderland. From the time of Prince 
 Henry of Portugal onwards to the voyages of 
 Diaz, Vasco da Gama, Columbus, Cabot and the 
 rest, the desire to recover the resplendent vision 
 which had once flashed before the eyes of Marco 
 Polo and his uncles was the over-mastering lure. 
 
 Here we must content ourselves with a meager
 
 YUAN OR MONGOL DYNASTY 157 
 
 summary in keeping with that sense of proportion 
 we have hitherto endeavored to preserve. 
 
 The greatness of Kublai, who was the fourth 
 son of Tuli, and so the grandson of the great 
 Jenghiz, had been long before predicted by his 
 grandfather: "One day," said Jenghiz, pointing 
 out the boy, "he will sit in my seat and bring 
 you good fortune." But the task that fell to 
 him on his accession in A. D. 1260, so far as 
 China was concerned, was one of no mean pro- 
 portions. As we have already seen, the resistance 
 of the South against the Mongol arms was kept 
 up for nearly twenty years. The outline of the 
 history of this period is something as follows: 
 Appointed by his brother Mangu as Governor of 
 the Chinese provinces, Kublai had acquired such 
 popularity that in A. D. 1257 he had been re- 
 called. On his brother's death he at once hastened 
 to the capital and was proclaimed Emperor in 
 A. D. 1260. After overcoming conspiracy in Sa- 
 marcand he resumed the conquest of China in A. D. 
 1262. His great general, Bay an, crossed the 
 Yang tsze Kiang and carried on a victorious 
 campaign which resulted in the capture of Hang- 
 chou in A. D. 1276. Two years later the last of 
 the Sung pretenders died and Kublai's hold over 
 the whole of China was established. The dynastic 
 name of Yuan was assumed in A. D. 1271. By 
 A. D. 1279 or 1280 Kublai could not only call 
 himself Emperor but he was in reality much more, 
 Master "from the Frozen Sea to the Straits of
 
 158 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 Malacca. With the exception of Hindustan, 
 Arabia, and the westernmost parts of Asia, all 
 the Mongol princes as far as the Dnieper declared 
 themselves his vassals, and brought regularly 
 their tribute." 
 
 It is unfortunate that Kublai in his day of 
 power did not have the generosity to forgive the 
 great hero and scholar, Wen Tien Hsiang, whose 
 death was briefly alluded to in the last chapter. 
 For three years the faithful minister of a fallen 
 dynasty was kept in durance in the hope that he 
 would yield allegiance to his conqueror. In 
 prison he wrote a pathetic poem of which some 
 lines run as follows: 
 
 "Alas! the fates are against me, 
 I am without resource. 
 Bound with fetters, 
 Hurried away to the north, 
 Death would be sweet indeed." 
 
 That wished-for boon was for long refused. 
 At last he was brought before the Great Khan 
 and, to the final demand that he should yield al- 
 legiance, he replied: "By the grace of the Sung 
 Emperor I became a minister. I cannot serve 
 two masters. I only ask to die." He was then 
 executed, making his obeisance towards the south, 
 as though a Chinese sovereign was still reigning 
 at Nan-king. 
 
 THE EXPEDITIONS TO JAPAN. Only one coun-
 
 YUAN OR MONGOL DYNASTY 159 
 
 try successfully resisted the arras of Kublai Khan. 
 This was Japan, or as Marco Polo calls it, Chi- 
 pangu. From A. D. 1268 to 1273 Kublai Khan 
 sent as many as five different embassies from 
 China to Japan, each accompanied by a Korean 
 representative. In each case he assumed the 
 right to overlordship, addressing the letter : "The 
 Emperor (Hwang-ti) of China to the King 
 (Wang) of Japan." The first expedition, con- 
 sisting of 15,000 men in '300 vessels, was sent in 
 A. D. 1274 and was defeated with great loss near 
 the island of Tsushima. Kublai sent other en- 
 voys in A. D. 1275 who were taken to the capital 
 of Japan and executed. Others followed in A. D. 
 1279 and these were beheaded where they landed. 
 Then came the great Armada of A. D. 1281 which 
 is so vividly described by the Venetian traveler. 
 
 "Cublay, having heard of the immense wealth 
 that was in this island, formed a plan to get pos- 
 session of it. They sailed until they reached the 
 island aforesaid, and there they landed, and oc- 
 cupied the open country and the villages, but did 
 not succeed in getting possession of any city or 
 castle. And so a disaster befell them, as I shall 
 now relate. You must know that there was much 
 ill-will between those two Barons, so that one 
 would do nothing to help the other. And it came 
 to pass that there arose a north wind which blew 
 with great fury, and caused great damage along 
 the coasts of that island, for its harbors were few. 
 It blew so hard that the Great Kaan's fleet could
 
 160 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 not stand against it. And when the chiefs saw 
 that they came to the conclusion that if the ships 
 remained where they were the whole navy would 
 perish. So they all got on board and made sail to 
 leave the country. But when they had gone 
 about four miles they came to a small island on 
 which they were driven ashore in spite of all they 
 could do ; and a large part of the fleet was 
 wrecked, and a great multitude of the force per- 
 ished, so that there escaped only some 30,000 men 
 who took refuge on this island." 
 
 These 30,000 were taken prisoners and put to 
 death with the exception of three men, who were 
 sent back to China to carry the news. Kublai 
 Khan was unwilling to admit defeat, but the feel- 
 ing was so strong in China against a renewal of 
 the war that he had to submit. The truth, as Mr. 
 Boulger says, was "The Mongols were van- 
 quished because they undertook a task beyond 
 their power and one with which their military ex- 
 perience did not fit them to cope." 
 
 Some compensation for the repulse in Japan 
 was found in the temporary success in Burmah, 
 but there can be no doubt that the failure to 
 subdue the Eastern Archipelago rankled sorely 
 to the end in the heart of the Great Khan. 
 
 KUBLAI'S MAGNIFICENCE. Kublai Khan built 
 himself a new capital, close to Chung-tu, which he 
 called Khan-baligh (known to Europeans as Cam- 
 baluc). Later it received its present name of 
 Peking, or Northern Capital. Of the magnifi-
 
 < 
 
 
 
 n
 
 YUAN OR MONGOL DYNASTY 161 
 
 cence and munificence of the Great Khan there 
 was no end. Time would fail to tell of his mani- 
 fold interest in the arts and in literature, of the 
 attempt to introduce the Mongol alphabet, con- 
 structed by a Tibetan priest, of his great work 
 in the deepening and extending of the Grand 
 Canal, of his lavish entertainment of the foreign 
 envoys and missionaries, and of his stupendous 
 hunting expeditions. His patronage of the vari- 
 ous religious systems brought to his notice was 
 doubtless dictated by policy rather than by con- 
 viction. He hoped, as he expressed it, that if he 
 leaned towards them all, the one which was great- 
 est would be of some advantage to him hereafter. 
 Yet, in spite of all his Solomonic glory, in the 
 reign of Kublai Khan, even in his own day, we dis- 
 cern the seeds of eventual failure. The lavish 
 manufacture and use of paper money, which had 
 been first introduced and used by the Mongols in 
 A. D. 1236, did perhaps more than anything else 
 to breed dissatisfaction in the present and make 
 inevitable catastrophe for the future. Moreover, 
 a "barbarian" the Great Khan remained to the 
 last in the estimation of the literati of China. 
 They had some reason, for all Chinese in A. D. 
 1286 were forbidden to bear arms, and three years 
 later a great holocaust was made of all their bows 
 and arrows. The attempted introduction of the 
 Mongol written character was also strongly re- 
 sented. So when Kublai died, a somewhat mo- 
 rose and tyrannical old man, in A. D. 1294, he had
 
 162 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 not succeeded in winning the confidence of the na- 
 tion which he had subdued. His last years were 
 clouded by the war against his cousin Kaidu, who, 
 after winning over the general, Nayan, rose in re- 
 bellion. Nayan was defeated and beaten to 
 death, after the Mongol fashion, in a sack to 
 avoid the effusion of blood. The war, however, 
 was still proceeding when Kublai's reign of 
 thirty-five years came to an end. Kaidu contin- 
 ued the contest under the succeeding reign but 
 died in A. D. 1301. 
 
 THE SUCCESSORS OF KUBLAI. A few words are 
 sufficient in which to sum up the reigns of the 
 eight Mongol Emperors who succeeded Kublai 
 Khan. Timur, his grandson, was the first and 
 reigned till A. D. 1307, under the name of Yuan- 
 ching. He, dying without an heir, was followed 
 by a Mongol prince, Wu-tsung, and Wu-tsung, in 
 A. D. 1312 by Jen-tsung. Jen-tsung honored the 
 name of Confucius and did his best to bridge over 
 the gulf between Mongol and Chinese. He ended 
 a prosperous reign in A. D. 1320. Then followed 
 weak and incapable rulers who gradually exposed 
 to Chinese eyes the weakness of their conquerors. 
 The last of these was Shun-ti, who in A. D. 1368 
 turned his back upon the rebels led by the ex- 
 Buddhist priest, Chu Yuan Chang, and completed 
 the humiliation of the descendants of Jenghiz 
 Khan. 
 
 THE REVOLUTION. The country was evidently 
 ripe for revolt, for its leader, who had been a
 
 YUAN OR MONGOL DYNASTY 163 
 
 priest of subordinate rank in a Buddhist monas- 
 tery, seems to have had little conception of the 
 greatness of the movement he was heading. A 
 priest turned bandit and so, rising to the leader- 
 ship of the numerous guerrilla bands that were 
 organized to worry the Mongol government, "the 
 Beggar King" was made great by his opportunity. 
 The capture of the Southern Capital, Nanking, 
 gave the rebels a vantage point from which to 
 continue the war, and by A. D. 1368 the expul- 
 sion of the Mongols was so far a fact that Chang, 
 much to his own astonishment, found himself Em- 
 peror of China and founder of a dynasty. Years 
 before he had had a wonderful dream of a pil- 
 grimage to the holy mountain of Hwa. Now his 
 dream was fulfilled to the letter and some time 
 after his accession to the throne he visited the 
 mountain and found all exactly as he had dreamed. 
 The dream, a kind of oriental "Pilgrim's Prog- 
 ress," is depicted in a tablet at the foot of the 
 mountain. 2 
 
 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN CHINA. The period of 
 the Yuan dynasty was favorable to intercourse 
 with Europeans. Remusat says of this time: 
 "Many monks, Italians, French, Flemings, were 
 charged with diplomatic missions to the Grand 
 Khan. Mongols of distinction came to Rome, 
 Barcelona, Valencia, Lyons, Paris, London, 
 Northampton, and a Franciscan of the Kingdom 
 of Naples was Archbishop of Peking." This last 
 was the famous John de Monte Corvino, sent in
 
 164< OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 A. D. 1292 by Pope Nicholas IV. He had fol- 
 lowed the earlier Franciscan missionaries, Carpini 
 and De Rubruk, and had been appointed Arch- 
 bishop with four Suffragans by Pope Clement V. 
 His labors in China extended over forty-two 
 years, during which time he made 30,000 con- 
 verts, translated the New Testament and the 
 Psalms into Tatar, and caused many pictures of 
 religious subjects to be painted for the churches. 
 When he died, in A. D. 1328, he was followed to 
 the grave by a vast multitude of Christians and 
 pagans alike. "All the inhabitants of Cambaluc, 
 without distinction, mourned for the man of God." 
 It seems probable that many of the old Nestorian 
 missions coalesced with those founded at this time 
 and that the Christian population was quite con- 
 siderable. Much of the work, however, stopped 
 with the fall of the dynasty, and it seems probable 
 that many of the Christians followed the Mon- 
 gol retreat to their own land. Altogether the 
 harvest was less than had been expected in Eu- 
 rope and the Mongol did not become, as had been 
 hoped, the champion of Christendom against the 
 still growing power of Islam. 
 
 THE DRAMA. The drama was not, apparently, 
 native to China and was probably introduced 
 from Central Asia. But the T'ang Emperor, 
 Huan Tsung, is said, as early as A. D. 713, to 
 have gathered around him a numerous company 
 of male and female actors and singers whom he 
 called "The Young Folks of the Pear Garden," a
 
 YUAN OR MONGOL DYNASTY 165 
 
 title still borne by Chinese actors. About A. D. 
 1000 Yen She is spoken of as the inventor of 
 marionette plays, and in the following century 
 plays are more than once mentioned. It is, how- 
 ever, due specially to the Mongol dynasty that 
 the Drama (as also the Novel) appears as a 
 distinct feature of Chinese literature. "The 
 Hundred Plays of the Yuan Dynasty" include 
 "The Orphan of Chou" which Voltaire used, from 
 the translation of Pere Premare, as the material 
 for a tragedy, and "The Sorrows of Han," an 
 historical drama of genuine merit and interest. 
 A large proportion of these plays are anonymous, 
 and it is evident that the Drama was not re- 
 garded, strictly speaking, as literature. Pro- 
 fessor Giles says the play which will best repay 
 the reading is "The Story of the Western Pa- 
 vilion," a drama of passion and intrigue in six- 
 teen scenes. 3 
 
 THE NOVEL. This also is of exotic origin, in- 
 troduced with the Mongols themselves from Cen- 
 tral Asia. From "The Story of the Three King- 
 doms," a novel of this time, comes the following 
 quotation, which seems to show a knowledge of 
 the use of anaesthetics at a much earlier period 
 than has generally been supposed: 
 
 "Dr. Hua is a mighty skillful physician, and 
 such a one as is not often to be found. His ad- 
 ministration of drugs, and his use of acupuncture 
 and counter irritants are always followed by the 
 speedy recovery of the patient. If the sick man
 
 166 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 is suffering from some internal complaint and 
 medicines produce no satisfactory result, then Dr. 
 Hua will administer a dose of hashish, under the 
 influence of which the patient becomes as if in- 
 toxicated with wine. He now takes a sharp knife 
 and opens the abdomen, proceeding to wash the 
 patient's viscera with medicinal liquids, but with- 
 out causing him the slightest pain. The washing 
 finished, he sews up the wound with medicated 
 thread, and puts over it a plaster, and by the 
 end of a month or twenty days the place has 
 healed up." 4 
 
 "THE RECORD OF TRAVELS IN THE WEST" is 
 another interesting novel of the time, founded upon 
 the pilgrimage, already mentioned, of the great 
 Buddhist monk, Hiouen Tsang.
 
 NOTES 
 
 1. Yule's "Marco Polo/' II p. 255. A Japanese 
 account (somewhat imaginative) of the Expedition 
 is given in the "Taiheiki" of Kojima (died A. D. 
 1374). It is quoted in Aston's "Japanese Litera- 
 ture," pp. 178-183. 
 
 2. "Through Hidden Shensi," Francis Nichols. 
 
 3. Some interesting translations of the Chinese 
 drama (e.g. "Borrowing Boots") are given in the 
 "Gleanings of Fifty Years in China/' by Archibald 
 Little. 
 
 4. Giles, "History of Chinese Literature/' p. 278. 
 
 167
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 THE MING DYNASTY 
 
 A. D. 1368-1644. 
 
 Hung-wu and his successors arrival of the 
 Portuguese Japanese invasions the Jesuits 
 the Mancliu invasion the last of the Mings. 
 
 HUNG-WU. A. D. 1368-1398. Chu Yuan 
 Chang, having been once persuaded to accept 
 the Yellow Robe, made no secret of his desire and 
 determination to bring back the good old days 
 of Yao and Shun. "The Beggar King," as he 
 is sometimes called, had been left an orphan at 
 an early age, and, through the advice given in a 
 vision by his dead parents, had entered a Buddhist 
 monastery. From this he emerged, as we have 
 seen, to join the ranks of the patriots who, under 
 the leadership of Kwoh Tsze I, were beginning 
 to make headway against the Mongol domina- 
 tion. The leader died soon after and committed 
 the command of the insurrection to the ex-monk, 
 whose success was rapid and complete. The new 
 dynasty was proclaimed under the name of Ming, 
 or "Bright," and the new sovereign chose for 
 himself, not without right, the name of Hung-wu, 
 or "Great Warrior." Justifying his throne 
 
 name, he followed the defeated Mongols into 
 168
 
 THE MING DYNASTY 169 
 
 Tatary, reconquered the Liao-tung peninsula, and 
 established himself in Nan-king, the capital of 
 the South. The war continued for some time 
 under the conduct of his generals, among whom 
 Suta especially deserves to be named. One in- 
 cident in the war, moreover, brings to light the 
 name of a real hero, Yu-kwang, who has right to 
 his meed of praise. This general, having been 
 captured by the Mongols, was led around the 
 walls of Lan chi fu in order that he might urge 
 submission. Instead, he cried aloud, "Be of good 
 courage ; Suta is on his way to help you." Then 
 he was cut in pieces by his captors and died, con- 
 scious of having saved the city from surrender. 
 Meanwhile Hung-wu received at Nan-king en- 
 voys from many lands with presents and many 
 flattering letters. Among the presents was a lion, 
 the first, it is said, that had been seen in China. 
 The last Mongol claimant to the throne of China 
 died at Karakorum in A. D. 1370 and, though 
 invasions were not infrequent for many years, all 
 hope of restoring the old dominion was aban- 
 doned. Hung-wu set himself vigorously to work 
 to restore everything that was Chinese. He com- 
 pelled the use of the Chinese dress, performed 
 personally the annual ceremonial plowing, and 
 caused the Empress to offer the annual sacrifice 
 to the spirit of the mulberry trees. He also re- 
 established the public schools and libraries and 
 encouraged the arts and industries. One of the 
 most important of his achievements was the com-
 
 170 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 pilation of the Law Code, known as the Pandects 
 of Yung-lu, "which not merely simplified the ad- 
 ministration of the law, but also gave the people 
 some idea of the laws under which they lived." 
 In all this he succeeded in preserving his early 
 simplicity and modesty, and several stories are 
 told of rebukes administered to would-be flatterers 
 which are as deserving of remembrance as the an- 
 swer of Canute to his courtiers at the sea-side. 
 On one occasion some of the grandees brought him 
 some stalks of wheat which showed an extraordi- 
 nary yield. This they presented as a proof of 
 the wonderful virtue of Hung-wu's rule. The 
 Emperor responded that he did verily desire to 
 see the time when all his subjects would enjoy 
 peace and prosperity, but that, nevertheless, he 
 was not vain enough to suppose that Heaven had 
 done anything so unusual on his own account. 
 On another occasion some Taoist priests came 
 to him bringing a book which they declared con- 
 tained the recipe for the famous "Water of 
 Immortality." The Emperor inquired whether 
 the book and its secret availed for everybody 
 or for himself alone. "It is only for your 
 Majesty's own use," they replied. "That be- 
 ing so," answered Hung-wu, "it is of no use to 
 me, seeing that I will not profit by anything in 
 which my people may not participate." In line 
 with this disinterestedness is the story of the 
 Emperor's having sent fur coats to his soldiers 
 for their winter campaign, his instructions to of-
 
 THE MING DYNASTY 171 
 
 ficials proceeding to their posts to take particu- 
 lar care of the aged and the orphan, and the 
 choice of his grandson as the most fitting suc- 
 cessor rather than any of his sons. Naturally, 
 from his old association with the bonzes, he 
 favored Buddhism, but he seems also to have been 
 fair to other creeds. The thirty years' reign 
 which came to an end in A. D. 1398 was on the 
 whole a very prosperous one and presents a strik- 
 ing contrast to the contemporary career of the 
 great conqueror, Timur, or Tamerlane. 
 
 HUNG-WU'S SUCCESSORS. The succession de- 
 volved, as we have seen, upon the grandson of 
 Hung-wu, Kien-wen, to the exclusion of the sons. 
 Kien-wen, A. D. 1398-1403, was a youth of six- 
 teen and his inexperience soon tempted a revolt 
 which was headed by one of his uncles, Hung- 
 wu's fourth son, known as the Prince of Yen. 
 The other uncles were degraded and one of them 
 committed suicide, but the revolt, nevertheless, 
 continued to spread, and soon attained alarming 
 proportions. One of the royal generals was most 
 fertile in resources for defending his city, drop- 
 ping iron harrows on the heads of the assailants 
 and hanging out numerous pictures of Hung-wu 
 from the battlements in the belief that the Prince 
 of Yen would respect his father's portrait. But 
 eventually Nanking was captured, the victor es- 
 tablished himself on the throne as Yung-lo (A. D. 
 1403-1425), and Kien-wen, disguised as a monk, 
 fled to Yunnan where he lived for forty years
 
 172 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 much more happily than he had done as Emperor. 
 His identity was revealed at last through the pub- 
 lication of a poem and he was removed to Peking 
 where he died. The new ruler, in spite of some 
 outbursts of atrocious cruelty at the beginning of 
 his reign, proved a capable sovereign. He made 
 Peking once again the capital, carried his victo- 
 rious arms far into the deserts of Tatary, and 
 added to his dominions Cochin China and Tong- 
 king. Probably by way of reaction against the 
 extreme devotion of his predecessors, he renewed 
 the proscription of Buddhism and sent many hun- 
 dreds of priests back to their homes. He also 
 burned the books of the Taoists and forbade any 
 further search for the Elixir Vita. Notwith- 
 standing his destruction of the books he was a 
 patron of literature and produced the "most gi- 
 gantic encyclopedia" ever known, a work which 
 took over 2,000 scholars for its compilation, and 
 ran probably to 500,000 pages. It was never 
 printed, but two extra copies were made. Of the 
 three transcripts of this great work, two perished 
 at the fall of the Ming Dynasty and the third 
 at the burning of the Hanlin College on June 
 23rd, 1900, during the Boxer Revolt. Like 
 Hung-wu, Yung-lo received envoys and tribute 
 from afar, including a rhinoceros from Bengal. 
 But he can hardly have appreciated as much as 
 most the luxury and wealth which his elevation 
 to the throne brought within his reach, if the 
 story be true that he discouraged the opening of
 
 THE MING DYNASTY 173 
 
 newly discovered mines of precious stones in Shan- 
 si. "For," said he, "such things as these can 
 neither nourish the people in time of famine, nor 
 preserve them from the rigors of cold." 
 
 Yung-lo was succeeded by his son Hung-hi 
 (A. D. 1425-1426), who, however, only reigned a 
 few months. He died, it is said, as the result 
 of superstitious terror when he learned that the 
 stars were unfavorable. His short reign is only 
 dignified by his recorded response to the ministers 
 when a famine was being severely felt. They ad- 
 vised him that it was impossible to act without 
 having recourse to the high tribunals. "No delib- 
 erations ; and no delays !" he cried. "When the 
 people are dying of hunger one must relieve them 
 as promptly as if it were a case of putting out a 
 fire or stopping a flood." Suan-ti, A. D. 1426- 
 1436, is remarkable for nothing but for the Ha- 
 roun-al-raschid-like habit of wandering disguised 
 among the people to learn their condition, and for 
 the loss of Cochin China which, in the year 1428, 
 passed from the rank of a province to the cate- 
 gory of tribute-bearing countries. 
 
 CHENG-TUNG, A. D. 1436-1465, reigned with an 
 interruption of seven years, during which time he 
 was a prisoner among the Tatars. A descendant 
 of the old Yuan family captured and held him 
 in spite of all offers of ransom. During his ab- 
 sence the throne was occupied by a brother, King- 
 ti, A. D. 1450-1457. 
 
 CHENG-HWA, A. D. 1465-1488, and Hung-chi,
 
 174 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 A. D. 1488-1506, reigned with comparative quiet, 
 devoted to the bonzes and even to the supersti- 
 tions of the Taoists. Much public work was at- 
 tempted at this time. Half a million men were 
 employed in working certain gold mines in Central 
 China, although the yield must have been disap- 
 pointing if the total is rightly given as thirty 
 ounces. The Great Wall was repaired and a 
 canal dug from Peking to the Pei-ho to enable 
 the junks to pass from the Yang-tsze-kiang to the 
 capital. Unfortunately, however, the realm was 
 more than once desolated by famine, and pesti- 
 lence and cannibalism is said to have become rife 
 in the west. 
 
 ARRIVAL, or THE PORTUGUESE. The reign of 
 Cheng-te, A. D. 1506-1522, is notable on account 
 of the first arrival of Europeans by sea to Can- 
 ton. "During the reign of Ching-tih," says a 
 Chinese work quoted by Dr. S. Wells Williams, 1 
 "foreigners from the West, called Fah-lan-ki 
 (Franks), who said that they had tribute, ab- 
 ruptly entered the Bogue, and, by their tremen- 
 dously loud guns, shook the place far and near. 
 This was reported at Court and an order returned 
 to drive them away immediately and stop their 
 trade. At about this time, also, the Hollanders, 
 who in ancient times inhabited a wild territory 
 and had no intercourse with China, came to Macao 
 in two or three large ships. Their clothes and 
 their hair were red ; their bodies tall ; they had 
 blue eyes sunk deep in their heads. Their feet
 
 THE MING DYNASTY 175 
 
 were one cubit and two-tenths long; and they 
 frightened the people by their strange appear- 
 ance." 
 
 Raphael Perestrello was the first Portuguese to 
 arrive, sailing from Malacca in A. D. 1516. The 
 following year came Ferdinand d'Andrade with a 
 squadron to Canton and was well received. The 
 trouble came with the arrival of his brother Simon 
 and the commission of many high-handed acts of 
 outrage. Dr. Andrade was thereupon imprisoned 
 and executed by the Emperor's orders in A. D. 
 1523. Factories and settlements, however, were 
 established at Canton, Ning-po, and Macao, which 
 soon became the headquarters of the Portuguese 
 trade with China. 
 
 JAPANESE INVASIONS. Cheng-te was succeeded 
 by Kia-tsing, A. D. 1522-1567, whose reign was 
 disturbed not only by invasions from the north 
 on the part of the Tatars, but also from a new 
 quarter, viz: Japan. The raids by the Japan- 
 ese pirates in this reign began to be quite serious. 
 Hitherto the inhabitants of the Eastern Archi- 
 pelago, when they came at all, came as vassals ; 
 now, under the leadership of the great warriors of 
 the Momoyama period, they not only considered 
 themselves independent, but pined for new worlds 
 to conquer. For three successive years, A. D. 
 1555, 1556 and 1557, they made descents upon 
 the coast of Cheh-kiang with varying degrees of 
 success. Twenty-five years later, in the time of 
 the famous Hideyoshi, a much more deliberate
 
 176 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 and formidable attack was made. The Taiko- 
 sama had long meditated the conquest of Korea, 
 to which Japan asserted claims of long standing, 
 and he was prepared to extend the reach of his 
 ambition to China. In a letter written to the 
 ruler of Korea "as a father to a son," Hideyoshi 
 said: "I will assemble a mighty host and, in- 
 vading the country of the great Ming, I will fill 
 with the hoar frost from my sword the whole sky 
 of the four hundred provinces. Should I carry 
 out this purpose, I hope that Korea will be my 
 vanguard. Let her not fail to do so, for my 
 friendship with your honorable country depends 
 solely on your conduct when I lead my army 
 against China." The Koreans, with a more ade- 
 quate knowledge of the resources of the Middle 
 Kingdom, replied that for Hideyoshi to contem- 
 plate the invasion of China was like "measuring 
 the ocean in a cockle shell, or a bee trying to sting 
 a tortoise through its shell." Hideyoshi, how- 
 ever, was in no wise dismayed. "I shall do it," 
 he said, "as easily as a man rolls up a piece of 
 matting and carries it under his arm." Two 
 armies, one of them commanded by a famous 
 Christian general, Konishi Yushinaga, were dis- 
 patched and ravaged Korea with fire and sword. 
 Appeals to China led to the sending of a small 
 force which was easily defeated by the Japanese 
 at Ping-shang. Some futile negotiations for 
 peace, in which the Japanese were outwitted by 
 the Chinese diplomatists, followed, and the war
 
 THE MING DYNASTY 177 
 
 was renewed in A. D. 1597. A great battle was 
 fought in A. D. 1598 in which 38,700 Chinese and 
 Koreans are said to have been slain. The ears 
 and noses were pickled in tubs and sent back to 
 Kyoto, where they were buried in a mound near 
 the great image of the Buddha. The gruesome 
 monument erected on the spot, together with the 
 mimizuka, or ear mound, as it is termed, remain 
 to the present day and represent practically all 
 that Hideyoshi got out of his campaigns. Sense 
 of failure weighed upon the great soldier at the 
 last. He died with the words upon his lips, 
 "Don't let my soldiers become ghosts in Korea." 
 
 Meanwhile the throne of China had passed from 
 Kia-tsing to Lung-king in A. D. 1567 and from 
 Lung-king to Wen-li in A. D. 1573. While the 
 latter was trying to deal in a feeble way with the 
 Japanese menace in Korea, he was also endeavor- 
 ing to placate the Tatar generals in the North 
 with the gift of lands and honors. 
 
 THE JESUITS. Probably the most important 
 event in the reign of Wen-li was the arrival of the 
 famous Jesuit, Matteo Ricci. For some years the 
 disciples of Loyola had cast longing eyes upon 
 the Middle Kingdom. Francis Xavier, foiled in 
 his attempts to set foot in the heart of the coun- 
 try, succumbed to fever on the little island of 
 Sancian on Dec. 2, A. D. 1552. Thirty years 
 later, Valignani mournfully exclaimed, "O mighty 
 fortress, when shall these impenetrable brazen 
 gates of thine be broken open?" It was reserved
 
 178 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 for Ricci in A. D. 1582 to learn the way to re- 
 main in China without offending too much the 
 prejudices of the Chinese. With Michael Rug- 
 giero, who had arrived at Macao in A. D. 1580, 
 Ricci obtained leave to stay at Shau-king, and, 
 as Dr. Wells Williams tells us, "in their inter- 
 course with the people of all classes they won 
 good opinions by their courtesy, presents and 
 scientific attainments." At first the Jesuits 
 dressed as Buddhist priests ; later they wore the 
 garb of literati; and, when in A. D. 1601, they 
 succeeded for the first time in reaching Peking, 
 their knowledge of astronomy and mathematics 
 made possible a stay which would have been cut 
 short had they appeared as evangelists alone. 
 Nevertheless, their converts were not few and some 
 of them, like Paul Su and his daughter, who was 
 baptized as Candida, were influential enough to 
 protect their teachers from molestation. Ricci 
 died in 1610. 
 
 THE MANCHU INVASION. The last years of 
 Wen-li were under the shadow of impending in- 
 vasion from the north. The famous Manchu 
 chief, Nurhachu, who was born in A. D. 1559 near 
 the source of the Yalu, in Korea, first appeared 
 as a conqueror in the Liao-tung peninsula in A. D. 
 1582. Three years later all the confederation of 
 Tatar chiefs recognized him as their king and we 
 find him preparing for the conquest of China. 
 In A. D. 1617 he published his memorable "Seven 
 Hates of the Tatars against the Chinese," con-
 
 THE MING DYNASTY 179 
 
 eluding with the words, "For all these reasons I 
 hate you with an intense hatred and now make war 
 upon you." This manifesto Tien-ming, or Nur- 
 hachu, burned in the presence of the army in order 
 that, thus spiritualized, it might pass into the 
 presence of the dead as a witness against the 
 Mings. Having thus put in the strongest light 
 the various wrongs from which the Manchus as- 
 serted themselves to be suffering, the chief ad- 
 vanced into the border land, vowing that he would 
 celebrate his father's funeral with the slaughter 
 of two hundred thousand Chinese. He seems 
 to have fulfilled his vow only too well, and in A. D. 
 1625 fixed his capital at Mukden. Two years later 
 he died without having led his army into China 
 proper. His son carried on the work which had 
 been begun, broke through the Great Wall in 
 three places, ravaged the province of Chih-li, and 
 advanced far enough to show that Peking was at 
 his mercy. 
 
 THE LAST OF THE MINGS. Wen-li in the mean- 
 time had died, A. D. 1620, of a broken heart, and 
 the Ming throne fell with all its burdens upon 
 T'sung-cheng. The Manchu invasion was not the 
 only menace of the situation. British commerce 
 made a characteristic appearance at Canton in 
 A. D. 1635. The vessels under Captain Weddell 
 proceeded to the Bogue forts and, being fired upon 
 at the instigation of the Portuguese, "Herewith 
 the whole fleet being instantly incensed, did on 
 the sudden display their bloody ensigns; and
 
 180 OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA 
 
 weighing their anchors fell up with the flood and 
 berthed themselves before the castle, from whence 
 came many shot, yet not any that touched so 
 much as hull or rope; whereupon not being able 
 to endure their bravadoes any longer, each ship 
 began to play furiously upon them with their 
 broadsides." 2 
 
 More serious was the insurrection that broke 
 out under Li-tsze-cheng and Shang-ko-hi. The 
 whole country, indeed, as an annalist testifies, 
 hummed with the spirit of revolt, like a hive of 
 bees in swarming time, but Li-tsze-cheng repre- 
 sented a coalition of rebel leaders known as the 
 Eight Kings. Li was a village headman who had 
 turned brigand, associated himself with a gang of 
 desperadoes (a gang which included a famous fe- 
 male bandit), and had at length risen to the com- 
 mand of a powerful army. The Mings were re- 
 duced to the direst extremities. Kai-feng-fu was 
 straitly besieged by Li, and human flesh was sold 
 in the shambles for food. The Imperialist gen- 
 eral endeavored to retaliate by cutting the dikes 
 and flooding the country. "China's Sorrow," the 
 Hwang-ho, was nothing loath to do its deadly 
 work, but the inundation did nothing in return to 
 help the dynasty in its extremity. Peking was soon 
 invested and the end came not long after. The 
 Emperor, with a touch of dignity about his death 
 such as he had never shown during his life, com- 
 mitted suicide. He called around him the mem- 
 bers of his family, and toasted them in the wine
 
 THE MING DYNASTY 181 
 
 of the country. Then he bade his wife slay her- 
 self in her own apartment, which she did, stran- 
 gling herself with a silken cord. Forty concu- 
 bines followed the Queen's example, and the Em- 
 peror himself attempted to slay with his sword 
 his fifteen year old daughter. 3 Then he ordered 
 his other children to be slain to save their honor, 
 and retired to a favorite eminence in the palace 
 grounds where he hanged himself. Ere he died 
 he wrote on the lapel of his robe his last edict, 
 ending with the words, "Hack my body to pieces 
 if you will, but spare my people." A eunuch who 
 had remained faithful to the last stripped the 
 body of the royal robes that it might not be rec- 
 ognized, and gave it the best burial that was 
 possible under the circumstances. 
 
 The triumph of the rebels was frustrated by 
 the Ming general, Wu-san-kwei, who at once 
 opened up negotiations with the Manchus, invit- 
 ing them to save the country from the revolting 
 faction and re-establish order. Li advanced 
 against him, but was badly beaten and forced to 
 retreat upon Peking. Here he placed upon the 
 ramparts the heads of the Ming Emperor's mur- 
 dered sons, and above the principal gate the 
 bloody head of the Chinese general's father. 
 With a great cry a cry which was at once taken 
 up by all the army, Wu-san-kwei burst into the 
 city. Li fled, deserted by most of his men, and 
 died miserably soon after at the hands of local 
 militia in the province of Hu-peh. The invited
 
 Manchus, nothing reluctant, now entered China 
 to lay hands upon the spoil, and Tien-tsung dying 
 in 1644 his son Shun-chi was proclaimed in the 
 same year the first Manchu Emperor of China. 
 The words of the proclamation are worth quot- 
 ing: 
 
 "I, Son of Heaven, of the Dynasty Ta Tsing, 
 respectfully announce to Your Majesties the 
 Heaven and the Earth, that which follows: My 
 grandfather having received the mandate of 
 Heaven, founded in the East a kingdom which be- 
 came mighty. I, the Servant of Heaven, although 
 unworthy, have inherited his dominions. The 
 Mings having become corrupt, rebels arose every- 
 where and oppressed the people. China being 
 without government, I, faithful to the beneficent 
 traditions of my family, have destroyed its op- 
 pressors and saved its people, after which, yielding 
 to the universal request, I have fixed the seat of 
 the Empire at Peking. Crowned with the bless- 
 ings of Heaven, I announce that I have ascended 
 the throne and have named my dynasty Ta Tsing, 
 and my reign Shun-chi. I beg respectfully that 
 Heaven and Earth may aid me to put an end to 
 the misfortunes of my country."
 
 NOTES 
 
 1. "The Middle Kingdom," II 427. 
 
 2. Staunton's Embassy, I 5-12. 
 
 3. She afterwards recovered and married "a mag- 
 nate of the court whom she had long loved" (Boul- 
 
 183
 
 APPENDIX A 
 DYNASTIC TABLE 
 
 1. Age of Fable. 
 P'an Ku 
 
 The Heaven Kings (12 brothers). 
 The Earth Kings (11 brothers). 
 The Man Kings (9 brothers). 
 The Periods of Ascent. 
 
 2. Age of the Five Rulers. 
 
 Fu-hsi B. C. 2852 
 
 Shen-nung B. C. 2737 
 
 Hwang-ti B. C. 2697 
 
 Shao hao B. C. 2597 
 
 Chwan hii B.C. 2513 
 
 Ti kuh B. C. 2435 
 
 Ti chih B. C. 2365 
 
 Yao B. C. 2356 
 
 Shun B. C. 2255 
 
 3. The Hia Dynasty. 
 
 Yu B.C. 2205 
 
 K'i B. C. 2197 
 
 T'ai K'ang B. C. 2188 
 
 Chung K'ang B. C. 2159 
 
 Siang B. C. 2146 
 
 (Forty years' interregnum) 
 
 Shao K'ang B. C. 2079 
 
 Ch'u B. C. 2057 
 
 Hwai B. C. 2040 
 
 Mang B.C. 2014 
 185
 
 186 APPENDIX A 
 
 Sieli 
 
 B.C. 
 
 1996 
 
 Pu Kiang 
 
 B.C. 
 
 1980 
 
 Kiung 
 
 B.C. 
 
 1921 
 
 Kin 
 
 B.C. 
 
 1900 
 
 K'ung Kia 
 
 B.C. 
 
 1879 
 
 Kao 
 
 B.C. 
 
 1848 
 
 Fa 
 
 B.C. 
 
 1837 
 
 Kie Kwei 
 
 B.C. 
 
 1818 
 
 The Shang (Yin) Dynasty. 
 
 
 
 T'ang, the Completer 
 
 B.C. 
 
 1766 
 
 T'ai Kia 
 
 B.C. 
 
 1753 
 
 Yu ting 
 
 B.C. 
 
 1720 
 
 T'ai keng 
 
 B.C. 
 
 1691 
 
 Siao kia 
 
 B.C. 
 
 1666 
 
 Yung ki 
 
 B.C. 
 
 1649 
 
 T'ai mow 
 
 B.C. 
 
 1637 
 
 Chung ting 
 
 B.C. 
 
 1562 
 
 Wai jen 
 
 B.C. 
 
 1549 
 
 Ho tan kia 
 
 B.C. 
 
 1534 
 
 Tsu yih 
 
 B.C. 
 
 1525 
 
 Tsu sin 
 
 B.C. 
 
 1506 
 
 Yii kia 
 
 B.C. 
 
 1490 
 
 Tsu ting 
 
 B.C. 
 
 1465 
 
 Nan keng 
 
 B.C. 
 
 1433 
 
 Yang kia 
 
 B.C. 
 
 1408 
 
 P'an keng 
 
 B.C. 
 
 1401 
 
 Siao sin 
 
 B.C. 
 
 1373 
 
 Siao yih 
 
 B.C. 
 
 1352 
 
 Wu ting 
 
 B.C. 
 
 1324 
 
 Tsu keng 
 
 B.C. 
 
 1265 
 
 Tsu kia 
 
 B.C. 
 
 1258 
 
 Lin sin 
 
 B.C. 
 
 1225 
 
 Keng ting 
 
 B.C. 
 
 1219
 
 DYNASTIC TABLE 187 
 
 Wu yih B.C. 1198 
 
 T'ai ting B. C. 1194 
 
 Ti yih B.C. 1191 
 
 Chou sin B. C. 1154 
 5. The Chou Dynasty. 
 
 Wu wang B.C. 1122 
 
 Cheng wang B.C. 1115 
 
 K'ang wang B. C. 1078 
 
 Chao wang B. C. 1052 
 
 Muh wang B. C. 1001 
 
 Kung wang B. C. 946 
 
 I wang B. C. 934 
 
 Hiao wang B. C. 909 
 
 I wang B. C. 894 
 
 Li wang B. C. 878 
 
 Suan wang B. C. 827 
 
 Yew wang B. C. 781 
 
 Ping wang B.C. 770 
 
 Hwan wang B. C. 719 
 
 Chwang wang B. C. 696 
 
 Hi wang B. C. 681 
 
 Hwei wang B. C. 676 
 
 Siang wang B. C. 651 
 
 K'ing wang B. C. 618 
 
 K'wang wang B. C. 612 
 
 Ting wang B. C. 606 
 
 Kien wang B. C. 585 
 
 Ling wang B. C. 571 
 
 King wamg B. C. 544 
 
 King wang B. C. 519 
 
 Yuan wang B. C. 475 
 
 Cheng ting wang B. C. 468 
 
 K'ao wang B. C. 440
 
 188 APPENDIX A 
 
 Wei lieh wang 
 
 B.C. 
 
 425 
 
 Ngan wang 
 
 B.C. 
 
 401 
 
 Lieh wang 
 
 B.C. 
 
 375 
 
 Hien wang 
 
 B.C. 
 
 368 
 
 Shen tsing wang 
 
 B.C. 
 
 320 
 
 Nan wang 
 
 B.C. 
 
 314 
 
 Tung chou kun 
 
 B.C. 
 
 255 
 
 6. The Tsin Dynasty. 
 
 
 
 Chwan siang wang 
 
 B.C. 
 
 249 
 
 Shih hwang ti 
 
 B.C. 
 
 221 
 
 Erh shih hwang ti 
 
 B.C. 
 
 209 
 
 7. The Han Dynasty. 
 
 
 
 Kao tsu 
 
 B.C. 
 
 202 
 
 Hwei ti 
 
 B.C. 
 
 194 
 
 Lii how 
 
 B.C. 
 
 187 
 
 Wen ti 
 
 B.C. 
 
 179 
 
 King ti 
 
 B.C. 
 
 156 
 
 Wu-ti 
 
 B.C. 
 
 140 
 
 Chao-ti 
 
 B.C. 
 
 86 
 
 Suan ti 
 
 B.C. 
 
 73 
 
 Yuan ti 
 
 B.C. 
 
 48 
 
 Ch'eng ti 
 
 B.C. 
 
 32 
 
 Ngai ti 
 
 B.C. 
 
 6 
 
 Ping ti 
 
 A. D. 
 
 1 
 
 Ju tz ying 
 
 A. D. 
 
 6 
 
 Wang mang 
 
 A. D. 
 
 9 
 
 Hwai yamg wang 
 
 A. D. 
 
 23 
 
 Kwang wu ti 
 
 A. D. 
 
 25 
 
 Ming ti 
 
 A.D. 
 
 58 
 
 Chang ti 
 
 A.D. 
 
 76 
 
 Ho ti 
 
 A. D. 
 
 89 
 
 Shang ti 
 
 A.D. 
 
 106 
 
 Ngan ti 
 
 A. D. 
 
 107
 
 DYNASTIC TABLE 189 
 
 Shun ti A. D. 126 
 
 Ch'ung ti A. D. 145 
 
 Chih ti A. D. 146 
 
 Hwan ti A. D. 147 
 
 Ling ti A. D. 168 
 
 Hien ti A. D. 190 
 
 8. The Three Kingdoms. 
 
 (1) The Minor Han Dynasty. 
 
 Chao Lieh ti A. D. 221 
 
 How Chu A. D. 223 
 
 (2) The Wei Dynasty. 
 
 Wen ti A. D. 220 
 
 Ming ti A. D. 227 
 
 Fei ti A. D. 240 
 
 Shao ti A. D. 254 
 
 Yuan ti . . A. D. 260 
 
 (3) The Wu Dynasty. 
 
 T'a ti A. D. 222 
 
 Fei ti A. D. 252 
 
 King ti A. D. 258 
 
 Mo ti A. D. 264 
 
 9. The Western Tsin Dynasty. 
 
 Wu ti A. D. 265 
 
 Hwei ti A. D. 290 
 
 Hwai ti A. D. 307 
 
 Min ti A. D. 313 
 10. The Eastern Tsin Dynasty. 
 
 Yuan ti A. D. 317 
 
 Ming ti A. D. 323 
 
 Ch'eng ti A. D. 326 
 
 K'ang ti A. D. 343 
 
 Muh ti A. D. 345 
 
 Ngai ti A. D. 362
 
 190 APPENDIX A 
 
 11, 
 
 12. 
 
 13. 
 
 14. 
 
 Ti yih 
 
 A. D. 
 
 366 
 
 Kien wen ti 
 
 A. D. 
 
 371 
 
 Hiao wu ti 
 
 A. D. 
 
 373 
 
 Ngan ti 
 
 A. D. 
 
 397 
 
 Kung ti 
 
 A. D. 
 
 419 
 
 Earlier Sung Dynasty. 
 
 
 
 Wu ti 
 
 A. D. 
 
 420 
 
 Shao ti 
 
 A. D. 
 
 423 
 
 Ying yang wang 
 
 A. D. 
 
 423 
 
 Wen ti 
 
 A. D. 
 
 424 
 
 Hiao wu ti 
 
 A. D. 
 
 454 
 
 Fei ti 
 
 A. D. 
 
 465 
 
 Ming ti 
 
 A. D. 
 
 465 
 
 Ts'ang wu wang 
 
 A. D. 
 
 473 
 
 Chu li 
 
 A. D. 
 
 473 
 
 Shun ti 
 
 A. D. 
 
 477 
 
 The Ts'i Dynasty. 
 
 
 
 Kao ti 
 
 A. D. 
 
 479 
 
 Wu ti 
 
 A.D. 
 
 483 
 
 Yii lin wang 
 
 A. D. 
 
 494 
 
 Hai ling wang 
 
 A. D. 
 
 494 
 
 Ming ti 
 
 A.D. 
 
 494 
 
 Tung hwen how 
 
 A.D. 
 
 499 
 
 Ho ti 
 
 A.D. 
 
 501 
 
 The Liang Dynasty. 
 
 
 
 Wu ti 
 
 A.D. 
 
 502 
 
 Kien wen ti 
 
 A. D. 
 
 550 
 
 Yii chang wang 
 
 A. D. 
 
 551 
 
 Yuan ti 
 
 A.D. 
 
 552 
 
 Cheng yang how 
 
 A.D. 
 
 555 
 
 King ti 
 
 A. D. 
 
 555 
 
 The Suy Dynasty. 
 
 
 
 Wen ti 
 
 A. D. 
 
 581
 
 DYNASTIC TABLE 191 
 
 Yang ti A. D. 605 
 
 Kung ti yew A. D. 617 
 
 Kung ti t'ung A. D. 618 
 
 15. The Tang Dynasty. 
 
 Kao tsu " A. D. 618 
 
 T'ai tsung A. D. 627 
 
 Kao tsung A. D. 650 
 
 Chung tsung A. D. 684 
 
 Wu how A. D. 684 
 
 Jui tsung A. D. 710 
 
 Huan tsung A. D. 713 
 
 Su tsung A. D. 756 
 
 Tai tsung A. D. 763 
 
 Te tsung A. D. 780 
 
 Shun tsung A. D. 805 
 
 Hien tsung A. D. 806 
 
 Mu tsung A. D. 821 
 
 King tsung A. D. 825 
 
 Wen tsung A. D. 827 
 
 Wu tsung A. D. 841 
 
 Siian tsung A. D. 847 
 
 I tsung A. D. 860 
 
 Hi tsung A. D. 874 
 
 Chao tsung A. D. 889 
 
 Chao siian ti A. D. 905 
 
 16. The Five Little Dynasties. 
 
 (1) The Later Liang. 
 
 T'ai tsu A. D. 907 
 
 Mo ti A. D. 915 
 
 (2) The Later Tang. 
 
 Chwang tsung A. D. 923 
 
 Ming tsung A. D. 926 
 
 Min ti A. D. 934
 
 192 
 
 APPENDIX A 
 
 Fei ti A. D. 934 
 
 (3) The Later Tsin. 
 Kao tsu 
 
 Ts'i wang 
 
 (4) The Later Han. 
 Kao tsu 
 
 Yin ti 
 
 (5) The Later Chou. 
 T'ai tsu 
 
 Shih tsung 
 
 Kung ti 
 17- The Sung Dynasty. 
 
 T'ai tsu 
 
 T'ai tsung 
 
 Chen tsung 
 
 Jen tsung 
 
 Ying tsung 
 
 Chen tsung 
 
 Cheh tsung 
 
 Hwei tsung 
 
 K'in tsung 
 
 (Southern Sung) 
 
 Kao tsung 
 
 Hiao tsung 
 
 Kwang tsung 
 
 Ning tsung 
 
 Li tsung 
 
 Tu tsung 
 
 Kung ti 
 
 Twan tsung 
 
 Ti ping 
 18. Yuan (Mongol) Dynasty. 
 
 She tsu (Kublai Khan) A. D. 1260 
 
 A. D. 
 
 936 
 
 A. D. 
 
 943 
 
 A. D. 
 
 947 
 
 A. D. 
 
 948 
 
 A. D. 
 
 951 
 
 A. D. 
 
 954 
 
 A. Di. 
 
 960 
 
 A. D. 
 
 960 
 
 A. D. 
 
 976 
 
 A. D. 
 
 998 
 
 A. D. 
 
 1023 
 
 A. D. 
 
 1064 
 
 A. D. 
 
 1068 
 
 A. D. 
 
 1086 
 
 A. D. 
 
 1101 
 
 A.D. 
 
 1126 
 
 A. D. 
 
 1127 
 
 A. D. 
 
 1163 
 
 A.D. 
 
 1190 
 
 A.D. 
 
 1195 
 
 A. D. 
 
 1225 
 
 A. D. 
 
 1265 
 
 A.D. 
 
 1275 
 
 A.D. 
 
 1276 
 
 A.D. 
 
 1278
 
 DYNASTIC TABLE 
 
 Cheng tsung 
 Wu tsung 
 Jen tsung 
 Ying tsung 
 Tai ting ti 
 Ming tsung 
 Wen ti 
 Shun ti 
 
 19. The Ming Dynasty. 
 T'ai tsu 
 Hwei ti 
 Ch'eng tsu 
 Jen tsung 
 Suan tsung 
 Ying tsung 
 Tai tsung 
 
 Ying tsung (resumed) 
 Hien tsung 
 Hiao tsung 
 Wu tsung 
 She tsung 
 Muh tsung 
 Shen tsung 
 Kwang tsung 
 Hi tsung 
 Chwang lieh ti 
 
 A. D. 
 A.D. 
 A. I>. 
 A.D. 
 A.D. 
 A.D. 
 A.D. 
 A.D. 
 
 A.D. 
 A.D. 
 A.D. 
 A.D. 
 A.D. 
 A. D. 
 A.D. 
 A. D. 
 A. D. 
 A.D. 
 A.D. 
 A.D. 
 A. D. 
 A.D. 
 A. D. 
 A.D. 
 A.D. 
 
 1294 
 1308 
 1312 
 1321 
 1324 
 1329 
 1330 
 1333 
 
 1368 
 1399 
 1403 
 1425 
 1426 
 1436 
 1450 
 1457 
 1465 
 1488 
 1506 
 1522 
 1567 
 1573 
 1620 
 1621 
 1628
 
 APPENDIX B 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 Out of the many hundreds of interesting books on 
 China, the following may be especially recommended: 
 
 HISTORICAL 
 
 "The Middle Kingdom" (very comprehen- 
 sive), S. Wells Williams 1907 
 "Chine/' par G. Pauthier 1837 
 "Melanges Asiatiques" and "Nouveaux Me- 
 langes Asiatiques," Abel Remusat 1825-1843 
 "The Ancient History of China," Fr. Hirth 1908 
 "China" (in "Story of the Nations" series), 
 
 Sir R. K. Douglas 1912 
 
 "A Short History of China," D. C. Boulger 1900 
 "Early Chinese History, Are the 'Chinese 
 
 Classics Forged?'" H. J. Allen 1906 
 
 "A Chinese Biographical Dictionary," H. A. 
 
 Giles 
 
 "The Chinese Reader's Manual," W. F. Mayers 
 "Wang-ngan-shih and His Reforms" (in Rus- 
 sian), A. J. IvanofF 1909 
 "Imperial History of China," Rev. J. McGowan 
 
 LITERATURE 
 
 "The Chinese Classics," translated by Pro- 
 fessor Legge 
 
 194
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY 195 
 
 "A History of Chinese Literature/' H. A. 
 
 Giles 1001 
 
 "The Chinese, Their Education, Philosophy 
 and Letters," Dr. W. A. P. Martin 
 
 "The Lore of Cathay," Dr. W. A. P. Martin 
 
 "Buddhist Kingdoms of the Western World" 
 (the travels of Fa-hien, Sung and Hiouen 
 Tsang), S. Beal 1884 
 
 "The Travels of Fa-hien," translated by 
 
 Legge (Oxford) 1886 
 
 "Chwang-tsz" (Taoist philosopher), F. H. 
 
 Balfour 1881 
 
 "Chwang-tze, Mystic, Moralist and Social Re- 
 former," H. A. Giles 1888 
 
 "Musings of a Chinese Mystic," L. Giles 1906 
 
 "The Sayings of Lao-tsz," L. Giles 1909 
 
 RELIGION 
 
 "Religion in China," J. Edkins 1884 
 
 "China and Religion," E. H. Parker 1905 
 
 "The Religions of China," J. Legge 1880 
 
 "Buddhism as a Religion," H. Hackmann 1910 
 
 "Confucianism and Taoism," R. K. Douglas 1879 
 "Chinese Buddhism, J. Edkins 1893 
 
 "Buddhism in China," S. Beal 
 "Christianity in China" (the Nestorian tab- 
 let), J. Legge 
 
 "Rex Christus," A. H. Smith 1903 
 
 "The Religious System of China," DeGroot 
 
 LANGUAGE 
 
 "The Language and Literature of China" 
 (two lectures), R. K. Douglas
 
 196 APPENDIX B 
 
 "Early Chinese Writing/' F. H. Chalfant 1906 
 
 "Introduction to the Study of Chinese Char- 
 acters," J. Edkins 1876 
 "The Structure of Chinese Characters," J. 
 
 Chalmers 1882 
 
 "The Chinese Empire," the Abbe Hue 1855 
 
 "The Ruins of Desert Cathay," M. Aurel 
 
 Stein 1912 
 
 "Through the Yang-tsz Gorges," A. J. Little 
 "Travels and Researches in Western China," 
 
 E. C. Baber 1882 
 
 "The Travels of Marco Polo," Yule and Cor- 
 
 dier 1903 
 
 "Through Hidden Shen-si," Francis Nichols 1902 
 "From Peking to Mandalay," R. F. Johnston 
 
 'China, Its History, Arts and Literature" (4 
 
 volumes), Capt. Brinkley 
 'A Cycle of Cathay," Dr. W. A. P. Martin 
 'China, New and Old," Archdeacon Moule 
 'Chinese Characteristics," Arthur H. Smith 1897 
 'Village Life in China," Arthur H. Smith 
 'The Chinese," Sir John Davis 1844- 
 
 'Gleanings of Fifty Years in China," A. J. 
 
 Little 
 
 'China, Its History, Diplomacy and Com- 
 merce," E. H. Parker 1901 
 'Five Thousand Years of John Chinaman," 
 J. Dyer Ball 1906
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY 197 
 
 "A String of Chinese Peach Stones," W. A. 
 
 Cornaby 1895 
 
 "A Corner of Cathay," Adele M. Field 
 
 "China and the Chinese" (Lectures at Colum- 
 bia), H. A. Giles 1902 
 
 "The Chinese," J. S. Thomson 
 
 "China, the Long-Lived Empire," Eliza Scid- 
 more 
 
 "China, Its Marvel and Mystery" (for its il- 
 lustrations in water-color), T. Hodgson 
 Liddell 
 
 "The Civilization of China," H. A. Giles 
 
 MODERN CHINA 
 
 Among the best books on conditions in modern 
 China are the following: 
 
 "The Real Chinese Question," Chester Hoi- 
 combe 1900 
 "Changing China," the Rev. Lord William 
 
 Gascoigne-Cecil 
 
 "New Forces in Old China," A. J. Brown 1904 
 
 "Problems of the Far East," Lord Curzon 1894 
 "The New Far East," A. Diosy 1900 
 
 "China in Transformation," A. R. Colquhoun 1898 
 "The Awakening of China," W. A. P. Martin 1907 
 "China and America To-day," A. H. Smith 
 "China's Only Hope," the Viceroy Chang- 
 
 chih-tung 
 "With the Empress Dowager," Katherine A. 
 
 Carl 
 
 "Court Life in China," Isaac Taylor Head- 
 land
 
 198 APPENDIX B 
 
 "China under the Empress Dowager," Bland 
 
 and Backhouse 1911 
 
 "Letters from China," Mrs. Conger 1909 
 
 "These from the Land of Sinim," Sir Robert 
 
 Hart 1901
 
 INDEX
 
 INDEX 
 
 A. 
 
 A-fong-kung (palace), 82. 
 
 An-ki-sheng (Taoist pat- 
 riarch), 85. 
 
 Art (Chinese), 4; 
 (T'ang), 132, (Sung), 
 
 IS*- 
 
 August Periods (the 
 
 three), 21. 
 
 B. 
 
 Bayan (general), 157. 
 Boards (the Six), 48. 
 Bodhidharma (Buddhist 
 
 patriarch), 115. 
 Book of Han, 100. 
 Buddhism ('Introduction 
 
 of), loiff. 
 Burning of the Books, 82. 
 
 C. 
 
 Carp .(fish), 77n. 
 
 Carpini (Franciscan trav- 
 eler), 3, 164. 
 
 Cathay, 9. 
 
 Chang-an (capital), 103. 
 
 Chang-chih-ho (philos- 
 opher), 131. 
 
 Chang-fei (soldier), 104. 
 
 Chang Kien (Han gen- 
 eral), 92. 
 
 Chang Kiu Ling (states- 
 man), 125. 
 Chang Kwa (soldier), 
 
 *45- 
 
 Chang Kwun (soldier), 
 
 145- 
 
 Chang she kieh (gen- 
 eral), 146. 
 
 Chang Sun (wife of T'ai 
 Tsung), 121. 
 
 Chang tao ling (Taoist 
 pope), 64, 
 
 Chao Kao, 87. 
 
 Chaowang, (Emperor), 
 
 49- 
 Cheh kiang (province), 
 
 12. 
 Cheh Tsung (Emperor), 
 
 141. 
 Ch'eng hwa (Emperor), 
 
 173- 
 Ch'eng t'ang (Emperor), 
 
 36, 37- 
 Cheng tung (Emperor), 
 
 173- 
 Cheng wang (Emperor), 
 
 49- 
 
 Chia yi (poet), 98. 
 Chiang siang wang (I 
 
 jin) (Emperor), 78. 
 Chili li (province), n. 
 Chou (Duke of), 46. 
 Chou (dynasty), 43ff, s8ff. 
 Chou li (book of Chou), 
 
 47-
 
 202 
 
 Chou-sin (Shang Em- 
 peror), 39. 
 
 Christian missions (Nes- 
 torian), 119; (Francis- 
 can), 163; (Jesuit), 177. 
 
 Chu ko Hang (states- 
 man), 104. 
 
 Chu yuan (minister), 75. 
 
 Chu yuan chung (first 
 Ming sovereign), 162. 
 
 Chuang (Prince of Ch'u), 
 60. 
 
 Ch'un Tsiu (Spring and 
 Autumn Classic), 56, 
 70. 
 
 Chung hwa (The Middle 
 Flower), 9. 
 
 Chung k'ang (Emperor), 
 
 35- 
 
 Chung kwoh (The Mid- 
 dle Kingdom), 9. 
 
 Chung tsung (Emperor), 
 124. 
 
 Chung tu (capital), 143. 
 
 Chung yung (Classic of 
 the Mean), 70. 
 
 Chwang tsze (philos- 
 opher), 63, 73. 
 
 Classics (Confucian), 69. 
 
 Columbus (voyage of), 4. 
 
 Commerce (under the 
 
 ^ T'ang dynasty), 132. 
 
 Confucius, 64ff. 
 
 D. 
 
 Degrees, in. 
 
 Drama (in China), 164. 
 
 E. 
 Earth (Reign of), 21. 
 
 Eastern Han (dynasty), 
 
 100. 
 
 "Elixir Vitse," 84. 
 Encyclopaedias, 172. 
 
 F. 
 
 Fa-hien (Buddhist pil- 
 
 grim), 114. 
 
 Five King (Classics), 69. 
 Five Leaders, 58ff. 
 Five Little Dynasties, 
 
 Five Relations, 68. 
 Five Rulers, 24. 
 Foreign Religions (un- 
 der T'ang dynasty), 119. 
 Four Shu (Classics), 70. 
 Fuh kien (province), 12. 
 Fu-hsi (culture hero), 24. 
 Fu su (T'sin prince), 87. 
 
 G. 
 
 Government (of China), 
 
 5- 
 Grand Canal, in. 
 
 H. 
 
 Han (dynasty), 8gff. 
 Han (sons of), 8. 
 Han yu (scholar), 131. 
 Hang chau (capital), 143. 
 Heaven (Reign of), 21. 
 Henry (Prince of Portu- 
 
 gal), 3. 
 Hexagrams (the sixty- 
 
 four), 44, 46. 
 Hia (dynasty), 33. 
 Hiang yu (general), 87.
 
 INDEX 
 
 203 
 
 Hideyoshi (Japanese gen- 
 eral), 175. 
 
 Hien Ti (Emperor), lo.t. 
 
 Hiouen tsang (Buddhist 
 pilgrim), 114. 
 
 Ho ku ping (general), 
 102. 
 
 Ho nan (province), 12. 
 
 Hsu shen (scholar), 98. 
 
 Hu nan (province), 12. 
 
 Hu peh (province), 12. 
 
 Huan wang (Emperor), 
 
 58. 
 
 Huan (Duke of Ts'i), 58. 
 Hung chi (Emperor), 
 
 173- 
 Hung hi (Empejor), 173. 
 
 Hung \vu (Emperor), 168. 
 Hwang ho (river), n. 
 Hwang ti (legendary 
 
 ruler), 26. 
 Hwei tsung (Emperor), 
 
 141. 
 
 I. 
 
 I tsung (Emperor), 128. 
 
 I yin, 38. 
 
 "Isles of the Blest," 85. 
 
 J- 
 
 Japan, 158, 175. 
 
 Jen tsung (Sung Em- 
 peror), 141. 
 
 Jen tsung (Mongol Em- 
 peror), 162. 
 
 Jenghiz Khan, 143. 
 
 Jesuits, 177. 
 
 John de Monte Corvino 
 (Archbishop), 163. 
 
 Jui tsung (Emperor), 
 
 125- 
 
 Jung (barbarian tribe), 
 14. 
 
 i 
 K. 
 
 Kan suh (province), n. 
 Kaidu (rebel against Ku- 
 
 blai), 162. 
 Kai feng fu (capital), 
 
 143- 
 
 Kao tsu (Emperor), 89. 
 
 Kao tsu (T'ang Em- 
 peror), 117. 
 
 Kao tsung (Emperor), 
 122. 
 
 Khan-baligh (Cambaluc), 
 1 60. 
 
 Khitan (Tatars), 142. 
 
 Ki lin (fabled animal), 
 
 .151- 
 
 Ki tze (minister), 41. 
 Kia tsung, (Emperor), 
 
 .175- 
 
 Kiang si (province), 12. 
 Kiang su (province), 12. 
 Kie (Emperor), 35. 
 Kien Wen (Emperor), 
 
 171. 
 
 Kin (Tatars), 141. 
 Korea, 10, 123, 176. 
 Ku fu hing (city), 67. 
 Kublai Khan, I55ff. 
 Kung (Dukes of), 65. 
 Kung fu (descendant of 
 
 Confucius'), 83. 
 Kwan tsze (philosopher), 
 
 58. 
 
 Kwan yu (general), 104. 
 Kwang si (province), 12.
 
 204 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Kwang tung (province), 
 
 12. 
 
 Kwei chau (province), 12. 
 Kwoh tsze (general). 
 
 1 68. 
 
 L. 
 
 Language (the Chinese), 
 
 14- 
 
 Lao-tsze, 61. 
 Later Chou (dynasty), 
 
 135- 
 
 Later Han (dynasty), 135. 
 Later Liang (dynasty), 
 
 129, 135. 
 Later Tang (dynasty), 
 
 135- 
 Later Tsin (dynasty), 
 
 135- 
 Lesser Seal (character), 
 
 88. 
 Li (son of Confucius), 
 
 66. 
 Li ki (Book of Rites, 
 
 Classic), 70. 
 Li-chi-min (T'ai Tsung, 
 
 Emperor), 118. 
 Li-fang (Indian Bud- 
 dhist), 1 02. 
 
 Li kwang (general), 92. 
 Li kwang li (general), 92. 
 Li lung mien (painter), 
 
 .152- 
 
 Li po (poet), 129. 
 Li sin (general), 81. 
 Li sze (scholar), 83. 
 Li tsze cheng (rebel), 
 
 1 80. 
 
 Li Wang (Emperor), 51. 
 Liao (Tatars), 141. 
 
 Liang (dynasty), 109. 
 Lie tsze (Yang chu), 73. 
 Lin sin, 38. 
 Literature (Chinese), 4, 
 
 112. 
 Liu Hsiu (Eastern Han 
 
 Emperor), 101. 
 Liu pei (general), 104. 
 Liu pang (founder of 
 
 Han dynasty), 89. 
 Liu Yu (Emperor), 108. 
 Lo-yang (capital), 101, 
 
 103. 
 Lolos (barbarian tribes), 
 
 14. 
 
 Lu (kingdom), 56. 
 Lu how (Empress), 90. 
 Lu ngao (Taoist magi- 
 cian), 85. 
 
 Lu Sin fu (general), 146. 
 Lun yu (the Analects, 
 
 Classic), 70. 
 Lung king (Emperor), 
 
 177. 
 
 M. 
 
 Ma Yuan (warrior), 101. 
 Magianism (introduction 
 
 of), 119. 
 Man (barbarian tribe), 
 
 14. 
 
 Man (Reign of), 21. 
 Manchuria, 10. 
 Manchus, 178. 
 Mandarins, 48, 57. 
 Mangu (khan), 145. 
 Manichaean (confession), 
 
 1 20. 
 
 Marco Polo, i55ff. 
 Maxims (of Lao-tsze), 
 
 62.
 
 INDEX 
 
 205 
 
 Mei hi (favourite), 35. 
 
 Mencius, 71 ff. 
 
 Mencius (book of), 70. 
 
 Meng-ti (Emperor), 102. 
 
 Meng-tien (Tsin general), 
 81. 
 
 Miao-tsze (barbarian 
 tribe), 14. 
 
 Milfoil (the Achillea), 27. 
 
 Ming (dynasty), i68ff. 
 
 Mongolia, 10. 
 
 Mo-ti (Micius, philoso- 
 pher), 73. 
 
 Mu (Duke of Tsin), 60. 
 
 Muh wang (Emperor), 
 
 50. 
 
 Mohammadanism (intro- 
 duction of), 119. 
 
 N. 
 
 Name (of China), 8, 80. 
 Nan King (capital), 143. 
 Nan Wang (Emperor), 
 
 76. 
 
 Nayan (general), 162. 
 Nest-builders (legendary 
 
 period), 24. 
 Nestorian (Christianity), 
 
 119. 
 Ngan-hwui (province), 
 
 12. 
 
 Ngan-lo (princess), 124. 
 Ning tsi (philosopher), 
 
 59- 
 
 Northern Sung (dy- 
 nasty), 108. 
 
 Novel (in China), 165. 
 
 Nurhachu (Manchu 
 chief), 178. 
 
 O. 
 
 Odes (Book of, Classic), 
 
 53- 
 
 Ogdai, 144. 
 
 Origins (Chinese), 17. 
 
 P. 
 
 Pan Chao (literata), 99. 
 
 Pan ku (scholar, brother 
 of former), 100. 
 
 P'an ku (legendary cre- 
 ator), 19. 
 
 Pao Sze, 55. 
 
 Pandects (of Yung lo), 
 170. 
 
 Paper (use of), 99. 
 
 Paul Sii (Christian con- 
 vert), 178. 
 
 Pe-king (capital), 143, 
 1 60. 
 
 People (Chinese), 5, 14. 
 
 Periods (three august), 
 21. 
 
 Periods (ten of ascent), 
 21. 
 
 Perestrello (Raphael, 
 Portuguese), 175. 
 
 Pi-kan (minister), 39. 
 
 Pilgrims (Buddhist), 
 Ii3ff. 
 
 Ping-ti (Emperor), 97. 
 
 P'ing wang (Emperor), 
 
 55- 
 
 Poetry (Chinese), I29ff. 
 Polos (the), 3. 
 Population (of China), 
 
 14, 16, 133. 
 Portuguese (arrival of), 
 
 174-
 
 206 
 
 INDEX 
 
 R. 
 
 De Rubruk (Franciscan 
 traveler), 3. 
 
 Ricci (Matteo, Jesuit mis- 
 sionary), 177. 
 
 S. 
 
 Serica, Sera, Seres, 9. 
 
 Seven Sages (of Bam- 
 boo Grove), 113. 
 
 Seven Scholars (of the 
 Chien An), 113. 
 
 Shan-si (province), II. 
 
 Shan-tung (province), 12. 
 
 Shang (dynasty), 37. 
 
 Sheep (in China), 18. 
 
 Shen-nung (legendary 
 ruler), 26. 
 
 Shen-si (province), n. 
 
 Shih hung chao (coun- 
 selor), 135. 
 
 Shi King (Book of Odes, 
 Classic), 69. 
 
 Shih tsung (Emperor), 
 136. 
 
 Shong-ti (Supreme Be- 
 ing), 26. 
 
 Shu King (Book of His- 
 tory, Classic), 31, 69. 
 
 Shun (Emperor), 30. 
 
 Shun-chi (Manchu Em- 
 peror), 182. 
 
 Shun-ti (Emperor), 162. 
 
 Shwo wen (work on 
 characters), 98. 
 
 Siang (Duke of Sung), 
 58. 
 
 Sianyang (city), 145. 
 
 Si kiang (west River), 
 ii. 
 
 Si ling (lady of, wife of 
 Hwang-ti), 27. 
 
 Si-ngan-fu (Inscription), 
 119. 
 
 Si wang mu (Royal lady 
 of the West), 50, 91. 
 
 Southern Sungs (dy- 
 nasty), 139. 
 
 Su she (Taoist magician), 
 
 85- 
 
 Su ts'in (statesman), 75. 
 
 Su wu (ambassador), 92. 
 
 Suan ti (Emperor), 173. 
 
 Suanwang (Emperor), 
 52. 
 
 Suh tsung (Emperor), 
 126. 
 
 Sui jin (Chinese Prome- 
 theus), 22. 
 
 Sung (dynasty), I39ff. 
 
 Sung Philosophers, 151. 
 
 Sung (Buddhist pilgrim), 
 114. 
 
 Suta (general), 169. 
 
 Suy (dynasty), no. 
 
 Szechuen (province), 12. 
 
 Sze hai (name of China), 
 
 9- 
 
 Sze ma kiang (historian 
 and statesman), 70, 150. 
 Sze ma tsien (historian), 
 27, 32, 84, 94, 97. 
 
 i 
 T. 
 
 T'a ki (favourite of Chou 
 
 sin), 39. 
 T'ai Hiau (the Great 
 
 Learning), 70.
 
 INDEX 
 
 207 
 
 T'ai Kang (Emperor), 
 
 35- 
 
 T'ai Ping (Princess), 124. 
 
 T'ai Tsu (Emperor), 139. 
 
 T'ai Tsung (T'ang Em- 
 peror), iiSff. 
 
 T'ai Tsung (Sung Em- 
 peror), 140. 
 
 T'ang (dynasty), 117 fi. 
 
 Taoism, 62. 
 
 Tao-te-king (Classic of 
 Taoism), 62. 
 
 Tatar, 16. 
 
 Teh Tsung (Emperor), 
 126. 
 
 Three Kingdoms, io6ff. 
 
 Ti Ping (child Emperor), 
 146. 
 
 Tibet, 10. 
 
 Tien-ha (name of China), 
 
 9- 
 
 Tih (barbarian tribe), 14. 
 
 Timur (Mongol Em- 
 peror), 162. 
 
 Ting-wang (Emperor), 
 60. 
 
 Tong-king, 112. 
 
 Trigrams (of Fu-hsi), 32. 
 
 Tsao-tsao (general), 104. 
 
 Tsi (dynasty), 108. 
 
 Tsin (dynasty), 78ff. 
 
 Tsin shih hwang ti (Em- 
 peror), 79ff. 
 
 Tsung cheng (Emperor), 
 179. 
 
 Tu fu (poet), 130. 
 
 T'ung (Prince), 112. 
 
 Tung cho (general), 103. 
 
 Tung fang so (censor), 
 
 91. 
 
 Turkestan, 10. 
 
 V. 
 
 Valignani (Jesuit mis- 
 sionary), 177. 
 
 W. 
 
 Wall (the Great), 81. 
 
 Wang-an-shih (statesman 
 and reformer), 146. 
 
 Wang chih (Taoist pat- 
 riarch), 84. 
 
 Wang shih chung (min- 
 ister), 112. 
 
 Wang Tsien (Tsin gen- 
 eral), 81. 
 
 Weddell (English cap- 
 tain), 179. 
 
 \Vei How (Empress), 
 124. 
 
 Wen li (Emperor), 177. 
 
 Wen ti (Emperor), in. 
 
 Wen tien siang (minis- 
 ter), 158. 
 
 Wen wang (Emperor), 
 40, 44- 
 
 Wen (Duke of Tsin), 59. 
 
 Western Han (dynasty), 
 100. 
 
 "Western Tsin (dynasty), 
 107. 
 
 Writing (invention of), 
 
 25- 
 
 Wu How (Empress), 123. 
 Wu san kwei (general), 
 
 181. 
 
 Wu-tao-tsz (painter), 132. 
 Wu ti (Han Emperor), 
 
 90. 
 Wu ti (Western Tsin 
 
 Emperor), 107.
 
 208 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Wu t'ing (Emperor), 38. 
 
 Wu tsung (Tang Em- 
 peror), 127. 
 
 Wu tsung (Mongol Em- 
 peror), 162. 
 
 Wu wang (Emperor), 45. 
 
 Wu yih (Emperor), 38. 
 
 X. 
 
 Xavier (St. Francis), 
 177. 
 
 Y. 
 
 Yang chu (philosopher), 
 
 73- 
 Yang hsung (literatus), 
 
 99- 
 
 Yang kien (Emperor), 
 
 in. 
 
 Yang tsz kiang, u. 
 Yang kwei fei (favour- 
 
 ite), 125, 134. 
 Yang yen (reformer), 
 
 126. 
 
 Yao (Emperor), 28. 
 Yi (barbarian tribe), 14. 
 Yi-king (Book of 
 
 Changes, Classic), 44, 
 
 fr 
 
 Yii (Emperor), 33. 
 
 Yu kwang (general), 169. 
 Yu wang (Emperor), 54. 
 Yuan (dynasty), 145, 
 
 Yuen tsung (Tang Em- 
 
 peror), 125. 
 
 Yun-nan (province), 12. 
 Yung-lo (Emperor), 170.
 
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