CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Cornell University Library The ancien TT 74, if e- THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA TO THE END OF THE CHOU DYNASTY BY FRIEDRICH HIRTH, Pu.D. PROFESSOR OF CHINESE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORE Neo Work THE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS 1908 All rights reserved & Coprrient, 1908, By THE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS. Set up and electrotyped. Published January, 1908. \N 2.490 Norfyood Press J. 8, Oushing Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. Ga HORACE W. CARPENTIER “ Hier muss ich noch einer Eigenthiimlichkeit meiner Handlungsweise gedenken. Wie sich in der politischen Welt irgend ein ungeheures Bedrohliches hervorthat, so warf ich mich eigensinnig auf das Entfernteste. Dahin ist denn 2u rechnen, dass ich von meiner Rickkebr aus Karlsbad an mich mit ernstlichstem Studium dem chinesischen Reich wid- mete... .” —Gortue, Tag- und Jahres-Hefte, 1818, On November 10, 1818, Goethe said,"in a letter addressed to K. L. von Knebel : “ Besonders habe ich China und was dazu gehirt, fleissig durchstudirt. Ich habe mir dieses wichtige Land gleichsam aufgehoben und abgesondert, um mich im Fall der Noth, wie es auch jetzt geschehen, dahin zu fliichten. Sich in einem ganz neuen Zustande auch nur in Gedanken zu befinden, ist sehr heilsam.”” —Goxrtne’s Werke, ed. W. von Biedermann, xxvii, 480. vill PREFACE e learn to know the country without troubling himself about the history of Rome. Having started at the wrong end, as it were, they will never realize that many of the oddities and puzzles encountered in the attempt to under- stand the modern Chinese disappear if we can trace their historical origin and development. In this respect the China of to-day is unique as compared with all other countries. No other people in the world is so closely connected with its ancient history as the Chinese, and of this the earliest part, with that classical Chou dynasty, the constitutional period of all Chinese culture, has created standards which have become dominant in all development down to our own times, not only in China herself, but to a certain extent throughout the Far East, especially in Corea and Japan. The ancient history of China in this respect holds a position in the extreme East similar to that of Greece and Rome in the West. Such considerations had induced the author to pre- pare lectures on the subject addressed to such university students as did not intend to become specialists in the language and literature of China. This necessitated the elimination from them of the purely philological element. On the other hand, the present state of research in sub- jects of Chinese history and culture called for the inser- tion of results which might have necessitated much deeper argumentation in matters of detail than the chief object in view would justify. The author has, therefore, en- deavored to steer a middle course by referring students to the foreign literature, leaving it to them to extend their knowledge by studying these sources. It should be understood, however, that merely a selection from the enormous material existing in the shape of translations, PREFACE ix monographs, and comprehensive works is here presented. A complete bibliography of the foreign literature will be found in Henri Cordier’s “ Bibliotheca Sinica: Diction- naire bibliographique des ouvrages relatifs & l’empire chinois” (2d edition, Paris, 1904, under the head of “ Histoire”; some of the collateral subjects, such as archeology, art, etc., being dealt with in other sections of the work). The Sinological reader may dispense with a whole library of works constituting the native sources of our subject by referring to that huge collection of historical extracts, the [-shi, in 160 books compiled by Ma Su and published in 1670 —a veritable mine of infor- mation and a monument of methodical treatment remind- ing one of Kaspar Zeuss’s unique work “ Die Deutschen und die Nachbarstimme.” (Cf. Wylie, “ Notes on Chinese Literature,” Shanghai, 1867, p. 23.) To my students is due my thanks for having listened to these Lectures with never-failing interest during four consecutive academic years,—a source of much encour- agement to the lecturer, considering that the course lay through paths so very far from the beaten track. Their publication as a text-book for students and as a work of reference for general readers is due to the liberality of the Trustees, Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, President of Columbia University, ex officio President, and Professor William H. Carpenter, Secretary, of the Columbia Uni- versity Press, and the codperation of the Norwood Press. I have also to thank Mr. Albert Porter of Livingston, Staten Island, N.Y., for the conscientious manner in which he has revised the manuscript for the press. FRIEDRICH HIRTH. CoLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY or New Yor«k, March, 1907. CONTENTS PAGES PREFACE 3 5 é ‘ 3 Z ‘6 7 7 . Vii INSTRUCTIONS FOR READING CHINESE WorpDs. ‘ * . xv I MYTHOLOGICAL AND LEGENDARY . ‘i ; 3 3 1-26 § 1. The Fabulous Cosmogony: P’an-ku, etc. —§ 2. Fu-hi (2852-2738 B.c.).—§ 3. Shén-nung (2737-2705 B.c.).— § 4. Huang-ti (2704-2595 B.c.).—§ 5. Supposed intro- duction of a foreign civilization under Huang-ti.— §6. Further deeds of Huang-ti.— § 7. Shau-hau (2594— 2511 B.c.).—§ 8. Chuan-hii (2510-2433 n.c.).—§ 9. Ti- k’u (2482-2363 B.c.).— § 10. Ti-chi (2362-2358 B.c.). II Tue ConFucIAN LEGENDS . s i 3 ‘ ‘ ‘ 27-44 § 11. Yau (2357-2258 B.c.). — § 12. Shun (2258-2206 B.c.). — § 13. The Hia dynasty (2205-1766 B.c.).—§ 14. Yii, or Ta-yii (2205-2198 x.c.).—§ 15. Yii’s successors (2197- 1766 B.c.). III Tue SHanc, or Yin, Dynasty (1766-1122 Bc.) . ‘ 45-91 § 16. Ch’éng-t’ang (1766-1754 3.c.). —§ 17. Ch’éng-t’ang’s successors. — § 18. Chou-sin. — § 19. Wén-wang, Duke of Chou. — § 20. Wu-wang and the fall of the Shang dynasty. —§ 21. Culture of the Shang period. xi xii CONTENTS ‘* IvV-VIiII PAGES Tur Cudéu Dynasty (1122-249 3.c.) - 8 6 oe) (98-828 IV From Wu-wane To K’ANG-WANG: THE PeRiop oF IMPE- RIAL AUTHORITY . ‘ : : 3 ‘ ‘ - 93-1389 § 22. Wu-wang as King of Chéu (1122-1116 B.c. ).— § 23. Ch’éng-wang (1115-1079 B.c.).— § 24. The “Choéu- li.” — § 25. Origin of the mariner’s compass in China. — § 26. Ch’éng-wang’s reign continued. — § 27. K’ang-wang (1078-1053 5.c.). Vv GrapuaL DECLINE OF CENTRAL POWER . 3 . . 141-197 § 28. Chau-wang (1052-1002 B.c.).— § 29. Mu-wang (1001- 947 B.c.).—§ 30. Kung-wang (946-935 3.c.).— § 31. I- wang (934-910 3.c.).— § 82. Hiau-wang (909-895 B.c.). —§ 33. I-wang (894-879 B.c.).—§ 34. Li-wang (878- 842 B.c.).— § 35. The Kung-ho period (841-828 B.c.).— § 36. Siian-wang (827-782 3.c.).—§ 37. Yu-wang (781- 771 B.c.). — § 38. P*ing-wang (770-720 B.c.).— § 39. Geog- raphy of the Ch’un-ts’iu period (722-481 B.c.).— § 40. Huan-wang (719-697 B.c.). VI THE CENTURY oF THE “Five Leavers” (685-591 B.c.). 199-223 § 41. Chuang-wang (696-682 B.c.).—§ 42. Hi-wang (681- 677 B.c.). — § 43. Hui-wang (676-652 B.c.). —§ 44. Siang- wang (651-619 B.c.).— § 45. K’ing-wang (618-613 B.c.). — § 46. K’uang-wang (612-607 B.c.).— § 47. Ting-wang (606-586 B.c.). CONTENTS xiii - VI PAGES Tae AGE or Lav-Tzi AND ConFucIUS . - : . 225-257 § 48. Kién-wang (585-572 B.c.).— § 49. Ling-wang (571- 545 B.c.).— § 50. King-wang, the elder (544-520 B.c.).— § 51. King-wang, the younger (519-476 B.c.). Vill Tuer ConTENDING STATES . 3 ‘ é é 2 . 259-328 § 52. Yiian-wang (475-469 B.c.).—§ 58. Chén-ting-wang (468-441 B.c.).—§ 54. K’au-wang (440-426 B.c.).— § 55. Wei-lié-wang (425-402 .c.).— § 56, An-wang (401- 876 B.c.). — § 57. Lié-wang (375-369 B.c.).— § 58. Hién- wang (368-321 B.c.). —§ 59. The philosophers Yang Chu and Mo Ti.—§ 60. Mencius.—§ 61. Chuang-tzi.— § 62. Minor Philosophers. — § 68. Su Ts’in and Chang I. —§ 64. Shén-tsing-wang (820-315 B.c.).—§ 65. Nan- wang (814-256 B.c.).—§ 66. The “Four Nobles.” — § 67. The leadership of Ts’in (256-221 3.c.). APPENDIX: CHronotogicaL TABLES . 5 a . 829-348 INDEX . ‘ * ‘ ‘ A ‘ ; ‘i 3 . 849-383 Sxetco Mar or CHINA DURING THE CHé6u Dynasty . 360 INSTRUCTIONS FOR READING CHINESE WORDS IN THIS WORK READERS need not trouble too much about the pronun- ciation of the Chinese words occurring in this volume. They should regard them as mere symbols for certain Chinese characters transcribed in the Mandarin dialect. Since the sounds attached to the characters of the Chinese written language vary considerably in the several prov- inces, and even in the Mandarin dialect itself, it should be understood that merely an approximation of the true sounds as heard in the north of China is aimed at. The phonetic principles on which sounds are here described correspond in spirit to those adopted by the Royal Geo- graphical Society of London? and the United States Board on Geographic Names.2 According to these principles, vowels are to be pronounced as in Italian and on the continent of Europe generally, and consonants as in Eng- lish. But for the special purpose of rendering Chinese sounds certain rules involving some slight modifications are here given. VowWELS AND DIPHTHONGS a has the sound of a in father. Examples: ma, horse; sha, sand; wan, bay; shan, mountain ; nan, south. 1See Rules for the Orthography of Geographical Names, published by the Council of the Royal Geographical Society, 1891. 2See Second Report of The United States Board on Geographic Names, 1890-1899; 2d ed., Washington, 1901. xv Xvi e, or 6 INSTRUCTIONS has the sound of e in men. Examples: hién, district; mién, face, surface; siié, snow; V%é, iron; yé, wild; hiié, cavern; t’ién, field; yen, salt. has the sound of ¢ in ravine, or of ee in beet. Examples: si, west; tsi, rocks under water; Ra, rivulet; ni, mud; 7 (also read yt) city, hamlet. is short as 7 in sin, or ¢ in view when followed by n, by another vowel, or by a diphthong. Ex- amples: kin, gold; ts’ing, blue; kia, family ; kiang, river; tién, palace; k’iau, bridge; k’iai, model. signifies that a vowel is to be intonated simulta- neously with the adjoining sonant. Examples: chi, pool or lake; shi, stone, rock; ji, sun; ast, township; tz, porcelain; ir, two. This symbol is also used in describing the sound ¢ in words like lei, nei, etc., the ¢ of which is but faintly heard and disappears, as it were, in the preceding e. has the sound of o in mote. Examples: s0, a place; ho, river; fo, Buddha; po, a marshy lake. has the sound of 6 in German, Hungarian, Swe- ‘dish, Norwegian, and Danish, or of eu in French jeu, or of o in English love. Exam- ples: mén, gate, door; shéng, province; td, virtue. has the sound of 00 in boot. Examples: hu, lake; ku, valley ; fu, prefecture. is short when preceding n, a, 0, or a diphthong. Examples: tun, village; tung, east; kuang, broad; ch’wan, river, watercourses, Szi-ch’uan al au er éu ul FOR PRONUNCIATION xvii province; chuang, a farm; huang, yellow; kuan, frontier pass, custom-house ; tuan, short ; kuo, kingdom ; k’wat, quick. (u with the umlaut) has the sound of w in French élu. Examples: si, islet; ki, embankment ; Ki, a drain; hil, market-place. is short when preceding n, a, or é Examples: sin, military station; ts’dan, fountain; yilan, source; sé, snow; yilé, moon. has the sound of 7 in ice. Examples: hai, sea; Vai, terrace, tower; ch’at, stronghold, hill fortress; at, cliff, ledge. has the sound of ow in how. Examples: au, bay, cove; kau, high; lau, old; mau, temple. has the sound of the Italian e and 7 combined, somewhat like ey in the English they. Exam- ples: het, black; dei, thunder; mei, coal; pei, north; wet, tail, end. is a diphthong in which the two elements are distinctly intonated, as in ¢’éu, head, which should have the sound of the first word in the Hebrew tohu bohu without its h. Examples: léu, « house with an upper story; k’éu, mouth, embouchure, port; Aéu, ditch; Adéu, after, behind ; féu, mound. is sounded like oo7, contracted into a diphthong, or like u¢ in the German pfui. Examples: shui, water, river; Aut, whirling waters; tu?, a heap (as of rocks). CoNSONANTS The initials k, p, t, ch, ts, and tz should not be as hard as in English, though decidedly harder xviii ch ts tz INSTRUCTIONS e than g, }, d, dj,and dz. Thus the initial in kan, sweet, should hold about the middle between the initials in English gone and con. To indi- cate that hk, p, t, ch, ts, and tz should be pro- nounced as hard as possible an asper is placed after them, which is frequently replaced by an apostrophe. Examples: kan, sweet; Ran, a pit; ping, soldier; ping, even, level ; to, many ; lo-t’o, a camel; chau, morning; chau, dy- nasty ; tsiau, half-tide rocks; ts’tau, mountain- ous; ¢tzi, purple; tz’i-hi, gentle, or motherly, pleasure (principal name of the Empress Dowager). has the sound of ch in church, slightly softer when not marked and slightly harder when marked by an asper. Examples: chéu, island; ch’éng, walled city. When followed by i, the vowel disappears in it. as in English king, poll, and tall, but slightly softer, and harder when marked by an asper. Examples: kéu, ditch, drain; k’éng,a pit; pau, police ward; p’u, shore, branch of a river; tau, island; tan, a rapid. slightly softer than the two consonants would sound in English, and harder when provided with an asper. Examples: tsd, a pool;. ts’un, village. similar to ts, the vowel disappearing in the sibi- lant. Examples: tzi, son; tz’%, hall. as in English. Examples: féng, summit, peak; Ju, mound. as in English, or as 2 in Spanish Xeres, both pro- nunciations being heard in North China. Ex- amples: hung, red; hiié, cavern; hia, a gorge, ato sh tq ng FOR PRONUNCIATION xix as j in French jeu, and not as in English. Ex- amples: jon, man; jé, hot. When followed by t the vowel disappears in it. as in English. Examples: ling, mountain pass, range; mt, rice; nt, mud; an, a small temple ; kuan, inn. dental, not guttural, occurs solely in combination with the vowel 7, which disappears in it, so that it is difficult to say whether it is an initial or a final. Example: ir, two. as in English show. Example: shang, above. When followed by i, the vowel disappears in it. Example: shi, ten. is a sharp sibilant, as in English mess, in which the vowel i disappears. Example: ssi, mon- astery. as in English. Example: wan, gulf, bay. a consonant, as in English yard. Examples: yé, wild land; yen, a precipice; ying, a military camp; ytian, an eddy. as a final, as ng in Englishsong. Examples: ting, an inferior prefecture; tsing, a well; yang, ocean; kang, hill, ridge; chung, middle; ¢ang, dyke, pool; tung, a cave. In certain words beginning with a, d, or 0, ng is optional as an initial, and should not appear in any transcrip- tion. Thus an, repose, is by some individuals pronounced ngan, for which reason we often read Si-ngan-fu instead of Si-an-fu. Note 1.— The accent in the vocalic combinations éu, #é and ié shows which of the two vowels is to be intonated ; it is otherwise not essential; and it must not be mistaken for a word-accent. XxX INSTRUCTIONS FOR PRONUN CIATION Nore 2.—In the modern Peking dialect linguistic evolution has brought about certain changes in initials such as may be observed in the pronunciation of Latin — the change of e, originally a decided guttural, into a sibi- lant having been first drawn attention to by Aug. Schlei- cher under the name of “zetacism.” It can be compared to such words as the Greek Kuxépwr and the Italian cice- rone, Scotch kirk and English church, German Kinn and English chin. In the Peking dialect, however, not only is k before i and #% changed into the sibilant ch (kiang, river, becomes chiang; k’iian, dog, becomes ch’iian), but the initial ts also becomes ch, and both the initials A and s are changed into fs. The name of the well-known prov- ince Kiang-si thus becomes Chiang-hsi; those of the great emperors K’ang-hi and K’ién-lung are changed into K’ang- Ast and Ch’ien-lung; and those of the city of Tsi-nan be- comes Chi-nan. The adoption of Peking spelling in transcribing Chinese words is bound to create confusion, chiefly in connection with such changes in the initials, which are liable to disturb readers accustomed to the traditional style much more than any other deviation in the transcription of sounds. Whether Kiu-kiang, the name of the treaty port, be spelled in the old English style Kew-keang or, as by French Sinologues, Kieou-kiang, will not matter much, whereas the Peking spelling Chiu-chiang renders the name almost unrecognizable to readers look- ing for it on any of the existing maps of China. I have, therefore, in my transcriptions retained the traditional initials (4, ts, h, and s), while otherwise reducing the spelling to a certain conformity with the phonetic princi- ples likely to become standards for geographical names both in England and in the United States. THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA I MYTHOLOGICAL AND LEGENDARY THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA i MYTHOLOGICAL AND LEGENDARY §1. THz Fasutous CosmMocony GOOD deal of what Chinese authors have placed on record as the beginnings of their history is probably nothing more than prehistoric lore invented by generations much later than the events themselves. The inventors evince a certain amount of logic in assuming that a degree of development was necessary to prepare mankind, as far as known to the Chinese race, for that state of civiliza- tion-without which accounts of the beginnings of history will not appear plausible. The mythological period of the Chinese, like that of other ancient nations, stretches from the creation of the world out of chaos to what at first sight looks like history, but which does not deserve that name. From the scientific point of view this period should be allowed a much wider range than from that of the less critical Chinese historians. It should be remarked at once that the Chinese themselves do not refer to any tradition written or unwritten as to their most ancient forefathers having immigrated from abroad. Their oldest habitat was, so far as their own literature goes, the cradle of Chinese civilization in the 3 4 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA ® present provinces of Shen-si and Kan-su in the northwest of China. If they have at any time immigrated there from some other part of the world, we possess absolutely no record of it. The gods and demigods mentioned as the predecessors of their legendary emperors are supposed to have originated in territories within that limited geographi- cal area peculiar to the times in which these legends were invented by the popular imagination of the ancient Chinese. We are thus left in the dark as to any wanderings of the race, whether from central, northern, or western Asia, to their later homes. To judge from native accounts, the Chinese must have been living in the northwestern part of the country now called China from the very earliest period of their own history. The safest view we can, therefore, take of their origin is that of the agnostic. Chinese mythology refers the origin of the human race to a fabulous creature known by the name of P’an-ku, the first human being, though endowed with all supernatural powers. The several myths connected with his cosmo- gonic origin, his appearance, nature, and first dissolution, vary in the different accounts manufactured about him and his life. Such myths have, of course, nothing to do with history. Millions of years are said to have elapsed from the time of his creation down to the historical period. The fabulous period following P’an-ku, whom the poetic fancy of his inventors regarded as the first ruler of the world, was followed by ten distinct epochs of sovereigns, some of whom are, even from the fabulous point of view, nothing more than mere names to us. All that is interest- ing in connection with their alleged doings is some sort of progress in civilization ascribed to these several periods. MYTHOLOGICAL AND LEGENDARY 5 Next following P’an-ku, the so-called #’1én-huang, “ Heavenly emperors,” a succession of thirteen brothers, represent a state of life similar to that of our Paradise. Man in those days lived a life of perfect innocence, and knew neither temptation nor impurity. Some authors ascribe to this early period the invention of the so-called Ten Stems (shi-kan) and Twelve Branches (shi-ir-chi), series of ten and twelve symbols afterward combined to form the “Cycle of Sixty” in the present Chinese calendar. Each of the thirteen brothers is credited with a reign of eighteen thousand years. The Heavenly emperors were followed by the ti-huang, “Terrestrial emperors,’ eleven brothers, credited with having first distinguished sun, moon, and constellations. They instituted the divisions day and night, and discovered that thirty days constituted a month. Their homes were ascribed to the hills of Hiung-ir and Lung-mén. The former name appears later on in Ho-nan; the latter, in various towns of northern China. The next generation saw the jén-huang, “Human em- perors,”’ nine brothers, who divided the world known to them into nine countries, a kingdom for each, with cities and towns. These fabulous creatures form the so-called epoch of the Three (or Nine) emperors. It is followed by a period of “Five dragons” (wu-lung), and this again by other series of rulers, each comprising so many generations and having fanciful names, down to the Yin-ti epoch, when the nation was ruled by thirteen families known as Yu-ch’au, “The Nest-builders,” from yu, “to have, to possess, to occupy,” and ch’au, “a nest.”” Numbers of names are constructed in this way, the syllable yu indicating that their bearers 6 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF gue held a territory named in the second syllable. Yin-ti taught the people to build dwellings as a protection against the animal world. Beasts of all kinds are believed to have lived in perfect peace with mankind. Primeval man was supposed to subsist on a vegetarian diet, and it was not before he began to kill them for food that animals became hostile to him. The Yu-ch’au were followed by Swi-jén, “the Fire Pro- ducer,” the Prometheus of the Chinese, who discovered the fiery element by looking up to the stars. This, however, did not lead to any practical application until he observed a bird pecking at a tree and thus producing sparks. The result was the discovery, that fire might be produced by rubbing pieces of wood against each other; and this in due course led to the art of cooking. The same ruler is the reputed inventor of the prehistoric knot-writing of the Chinese. : Several of the phenomena of progress in civilization at- tributed to these fabulous sovereigns reappear as new inven- tions during subsequent periods. The most that may be gathered from such incidents of ancient lore is the convic- tion that Chinese literature knows no beginning for certain elements of culture within the historical period and, there- fore, assigns them to the mythological ages. These periods represent a somewhat arbitrary mixture of cultural development, even if we look upon them as mere symbols of what might have been. It will be found that, like history itself, the fabulous accounts that take its place repeat themselves. As symbols for certain periods of social development the legendary emperors that follow the Yin-ti period claim a somewhat deeper interest. Ssi-ma Ts'ién, the Herodotus of the Chinese, is in this respect a MYTHOLOGICAL AND LEGENDARY 7 somewhat better guide to us than the inventors of pre- historic legends. He commences his list of emperors with Huang-ti,' the first ruler to whom a chronological period is assigned. § 2. Fu-Ht (2852-2738 of ) The alleged first emperor of Chinese historians, Fu-hi, if we ignore the still more fabulous period preceding him, cannot, of course, have been a historical personage. Chro- nologists do not agree as to his exact lifetime, but, con- sidering the legendary character of his existence, this need not concern us much. The Chinese place him in the begin- ning of the third millennium s.c. He is also known by the name of Pau-hi, which may be merely a different. way of writing the name Fu-hi; for we cannot know what phonetic changes the syllables now pronounced Fu and Pau respectively may have undergone since the name was first used or invented. His official name as an emperor was T’ai-hau, “the Great Almighty.” Later generations represent him as partly a supernatural being and partly an emperor of human form. This is one of the dangers of the prehistoric accounts of the Chinese, which are often reconstructed in imitation of facts that look like history but have not the slightest claim to historic truth. Super- 1 #d. Chavannes, Les mémoires historiques de Se-ma Ts’ien. Paris, 1895, vol.i, p.25. ? Different dates are given by the following writers: Mayers (The Chinese Reader’s Manual, p. 366), 2852-2738 B.c.; Giles (A Chinese Biographical Dictionary, p. 233), 2953-2838 B.c.; Arendt (Synchronistische Regententabellen, etc., in Mittheilungen des Seminars fir Orientalische Sprachen, Jahrgang ii, 1899, p. 216), 2852-2738 B.c. For chronological data I propose to follow the last-named work as being the result of a careful, special inquiry into the subject of chronology. 8 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF GHINA natural_accounts will be taken for what they are. -worth, and the historians repeating them deserve greater_ credit than the uncritical crowd, who are bent on representing the impossible as matter of fact. According to some accounts, Fu-hi was the successor of Sui-jén, the Fire Producer, who selected him among four of his disciples. His mother, Hua-sii, according to some writers a native of Lan-t’ién near the present city of Si-an-fu, gave birth to him under miraculous circumstances at a place called Ch’éng-ki, somewhere in the neighborhood ef Kung-ch’ang, in the present province of Kan-su. I lay stress on this otherwise unimportant statement made by later writers, because it shows again that the Chinese themselves do not look upon their earliest rulers as immi- grants. Neither Fu-hi nor any of his still more fabulous predecessors are mentioned as having anything to do with territories outside the northwest of modern China. In other words, if the Chinese race has at all immigrated from any other part of the world, no tradition of such wander- ings has survived among the early legendary accounts of the people. What we hear of Fu-hi’s life from his biographer’ is a mixture of supernatural features and mock reality. His appearance is described as somewhat like that of a Triton, a human figure the lower part of which has the shape of a scaly serpent. The well-known stone sculptures of the Wu-chi-shan tombs in Shan-tung, dating from the second century A.D., described by Professor Ed. Chavannes,? con- tain a representation of Fu-hi and of an apparently female figure, perhaps his wife or sister, the lower part of the two 1 Chavannes, op. cit.,p. 3. ”? Idem, La sculpture sur pierre en Chine au temps des deux dynasties Han. Paris, 1893. MYTHOLOGICAL AND LEGENDARY 9 bodies being represented by serpents’ tails intertwined with each other. According to those authorities who consider him as the first real ruler, it was Fu-hi who established order in the social relations of his people, who, before him, had lived like animals in the wilds. He is also supposed to have introduced the marriage bond, which was previously un- known. It was he who taught the people to hunt, to fish, and to keep flocks. He constructed musical instruments of wood and silk threads. He is also looked upon as the inventor of those mysterious eight diagrams, the pa-kua, a series of lines of symbolic meaning, embodying the oldest system of Chinese mystic philosophy, which, in spite of many ingenious efforts on the part of European students, still remain a mystery to our philosophers. He is further supposed to have replaced the ancient knot-writing, which may have resembled the quipu of the Peruvians, by a system of hieroglyphics. He arranged some kind of a calendar, and gave expression to his religious sentiment by being the first to introduce sacrifice to his God on the sacred mount of T’ai-shan. His capital was a city called Ch’6n, in the present province of Ho-nan. He is supposed to have died after a reign of 115 years, and to have been succeeded by a personage called Nii-kua, or Nii-wa, whether a@ man or a woman is doubtful. According to some, Nii-kua was Fu-hi’s sister. She, too, is occasionally repre- sented as having a human head with the body of a serpent. Nii-kua did not add much to Fu-hi’s work in the way of new phases of civilization, but he, or she, is supposed to have invented the shéng, a kind of reed organ; and when Fu-hi’s evil spirit, his minister Kung-kung, had smashed the vault of heaven, it was Nii-kua who patched up the 10 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA broken firmament by melting stones. A further legend, current in Cambodia in the twelfth century .D., speaks of certain stains visible in a distant corner of the sky which she did not succeed in repairing; referring apparently to the so-called “coal-sacks” near the Southern Cross. § 3. SHON-NUNG (2737-2705 B.C.) If, in following some Chinese authors, we assume Nii-kua to have reigned merely in the name of Fu-hi, the second legendary emperor was Shon-nung. His dynastic appella- tion was Yen-ti. We find him sometimes represented as having the body of a man and the head of an ox. To him is ascribed the invention of the principal agricultural im- plements and the introduction of field labor, as is indicated by his name, Shén-nung, which may be rendered “ Divine laborer.” Among the several phases of civilization, the introduction of which is ascribed to him, the most note- worthy is the discovery of the medicinal properties of plants. I have already remarked that the value of the several discoveries ascribed to the legendary emperors is of a negative character, inasmuch as it may be assumed that the beginnings of certain cultural elements were placed by the Chinese in the legendary era because they could not be traced to any time within the historical period. This holds good particularly in connection with the Emperor Shén-nung’s alleged discoveries. What that ruler is supposed to have done in connection with the products of the vegetable kingdom and their medicinal properties has been collected in a book entitled Shén-nung- pon-ts’'au-king (“The Classic of Shén-nung’s Botany’’). The book itself is no longer extant; but it is constantly MYTHOLOGICAL AND LEGENDARY 11 quoted as an authority in later works on the subject. There can be no doubt that this work of Shén-nung’s is as much a fabrication of later periods as the emperor himself. What it teaches us, however, is that the knowledge con- veyed in it could not be historically assigned to any other period and was handed down from a time lying beyond the beginning of Chinese history. Possibly it is identical with some similar production supposed to have existed during the Han dynasty. The Emperor Shén-nung’s name may have been added to the title, in order to show that the knowledge conveyed in the work is of the most ancient origin. Chang Yi-si, an author of the eleventh century, says with regard to it: — “Tn remote times, when the art of writing was not yet known, science was transmitted from generation to generation by oral tradition, and what was called Pén-ts’aw then was not a written book. From the period of the Han dynasties medical art began to develop. Chang Ki and Hua T’o [celebrated physicians in the third century of our era] contributed largely to the completion and diffusion of medical knowledge, commented on previous writings | and added new information, arranging the whole into a system; and this was probably the time when the materia medica of Shén- nung first appeared as a written treatise.’’? The localities mentioned in connection with the life of Sh6én-nung are for the most part in the northwest of China, he having resided in the old capital of his predecessors. But he is supposed to have come originally from a place in Hu-pei, to have lived later on at K’ii-féu, the birthplace of Confucius, in Shan-tung, and to have been buried in Ch’ang-sha, the present capital of Hu-nan. It would seem that the manufacturers of the accounts of the legend- 1 Bretschneider, Botanicon Sinicum, in Journal of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1881, p. 28. 12 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF QHINA ary era wished to indicate thereby the gradual increase of the Chinese sphere of civilization in the prehistoric period. To Shén-nung is ascribed the foundation of a family which furnished emperors in several generations. Since these are mere names, and the authorities disagree as to their chronology, we need not trouble about them till we come to Huang-ti, “Yellow Emperor.” § 4, Huane-t1 (2704-2595 B.c.) The accounts regarding the life of this monarch, the third of the series of great emperors grouped by the Chinese under the name of wu-tt, ‘‘The Five Rulers,” are also very contradictory. According to Ssi-ma Ts’ién he was the son of Shau-tién, which would imply his relationship to Shén-nung; Shau-tién being mentioned as the father of the latter emperor also, in spite of discrepancies in the chronology, which is, of course, as fictitious as the entire structure of legends before us. Huang-ti’s supernatural qualities became apparent from his very birth, since as an infant he had a full command of language. From Ssi-ma Ts’ién’s account it would appear that Huang-ti, whose personal name was Hién-yiian, was a contemporary of Shén-nung; that anarchy had set in under the eyes of the old emperor, his own descendants fighting each other; and that Hién-yiian became emperor by virtue of his su- perior energy. As such he persecuted the refractory, while leaving alone the peaceful. He cut passages through the hills and built roads, so that in times of peace he did not enjoy a moment’s rest. He extended his empire in the east to the sea of Shan-tung, in the west far beyond Kan-su, and in the south to the Yang-tzi-kiang; while in the north MYTHOLOGICAL AND LEGENDARY 13 he drove away the Hun-yii. This name is probably merely another transcription of what the Chinese afterward called Hiung-nu, their old hereditary enemy on the northern boundary, and the ancestors of King Attila’s Huns. If we cannot look upon these tribes in this remote legendary period as having a historical existence, the mention of them certainly seems to show that a nation called Hun-yii, and occupying the northern confines of China, may have been among the earliest historical traditions of the Chinese. Having consolidated his empire, Huang-ti moved to and fro within its limits with his military encampments, with- out having a fixed place of residence. Chavannes' suggests that this passage in Ssi-ma Ts’ién’s account may point to nomad life among the ancient Chinese. Huang-ti regu- lated the sacrificial and the religious ceremonies of his people, and he further improved upon Shén-nung’s agri- cultural work by determining the time when cereals were to be sown and trees planted, and by devoting his attention to the animal kingdom. Astronomy, too, received his attention, as did the waves of the sea, the rocks, metals, and jade. Quite a number of the fundamental inventions -of Chinese civilization are ascribed to him. It is hardly necessary to enumerate here all the facts ascribed to this legendary period, which, as I have said, cannot be historical. For us the legendary emperors from Fu-hi onward are nothing more than symbols of the earli- est developments of Chinese civilization, as the inventors imagined it, possibly in connection with old traditions. From the time of Fu-hi, however, a certain logic in the order in which the principal phases of Chinese civilization follow each other becomes apparent; and we shall not -1 Les mémoires historiques, vol. i, p. 31, note 3. 14 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF COTE venture too much if, on the one hand, we discard all chro- nology in connection with these emperors, and, on the other, regard their names merely as representatives of the preparatory periods of culture in Chinese national life. If the old accounts say of Fu-hi that the people before him lived like animals, wrapped their bodies in skins, ate raw meat, knew only their mothers and not their fathers, and did not practise matrimony; that it was he who raised his nation from this state of savage life by introducing hunting, fishing, cattle-breeding, the calendar, matrimony, and cooking, —all this means no more than that he was the representative of what is found in the beginnings of all histories; namely, the period of hunting and nomadic life. As regards the chronology assigned to the legendary period, if the time allotted to some of these rulers is much too long as a term of government for a single human life, it is, on the other hand, much too short, if we measure it by the cultural progress it involves for the nation. Fu-hi’s period of hunting life must have lasted many generations before it led to the agricultural period represented by the name Shén-nung ; and this period in turn could not possibly have led within a little more than one hundred years to the enormous progress ascribed to Huang-ti. § 5. Supposep IntRopucTIoNn oF a Forzricn Crviuiza- TION UNDER HUANG-TI An ingenious, but, I am afraid, hopeless attempt was made by the late Professor Terrien de Lacouperie to explain the several cultural developments ascribed to the Emperor Huang-ti as offshoots of Babylonian civilization. I have already declared my own views to be those of an agnostic. MYTHOLOGICAL AND LEGENDARY 15 Chinese tradition contains no clue to a migration of the Chinese race, or any part of it, from west to east; and the arguments laid down by De Lacouperie in his bulky volume devoted to this problem! seem to be doomed to share the fate of De Guignes’ attempt (before the French Academy in 1758) to prove that the Chinese had grown out of an Egyptian colony. Every student of the Chinese language is aware that the Chinese are very fond of expressing categories in certain round numbers, which have no deeper meaning than, say, the Latin sexcenti, in the sense of an indefinitely large number. Thus the word pat or po, which is pro- nounced pak (bak) in the Canton dialect, is placed before quite a number of nouns, in order to denote “totality.” Pai-kuan, “the hundred Mandarins,”’ means “all the Mandarins,” or “the official world”; pat-ts’au, “the hun- dred plants,” means “all plants,” or ‘the vegetable king- dom.” Similarly pai-sing, or po-sing, “the hundred sur- names,’ means “all the surnames,” or ‘the people.” De Lacouperie ignores these analogies, of which, to judge from his general knowledge of the language, he must cer- tainly have been aware, by explaining the term po-sing as not anumerical category, but an ethnical name. He gives this number pai (i.e. “a hundred”’) its Cantonese, or old, pronunciation pak or bak, and translates the term by the “ Bak tribes.” Bak Sing, he says, “is the earliest denomi- nation in their historical literature which the Chinese used to give to themselves, exclusively of the native populations they had subdued. The Bak Sings were the followers of Huang-ti, who came with him from the northwest and settled at first in the southwest corner of Kansuh.” For 1 Western Origin of the Early Chinese Civilization. London, 1894. 16 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF QHINA more than ten years the author had objected to the common rendering of Bak Sing by “the hundred families,’ because in his opinion it was an early ethnical name. Among the arguments brought forward in support of this view the following might decoy the uncritical reader: “In the ex- pression Bak Sing the first symbol cannot have had in China the meaning of ‘one hundred’ as a definite number, for the conclusive reason that the number of Sings in early times was not one-fifth of that total. If the Sings ever numbered one hundred before that time, it must have been at the original seat of the race in western Asia, in the country whence Huang-ti and his followers originated.” To this it must be remarked that pai or pak in these phrases is not a definite number, and that the term does not neces- sarily involve that the people should have consisted of exactly a hundred families. Moreover, the term can- not be shown to have been in existence at the time of Huang-ti; its first occurrence being traceable to the Confucian Classics, written at a time more than a thousand years distant from the reign of that emperor. Since the ethnical meaning “Bak tribes” must, therefore, be looked upon as the result of an arbitrary interpretation, which we find nowhere in Chinese literature, I cannot help ex- pressing it as my view that this term has never had any other meaning than that of the totality of the several sur- names representing the Chinese people. Now Professor De Lacouperie thinks that a people called Bak was originally seated in Babylonia, whence they migrated eastward. Among the arguments adduced in support of this untenable theory is the occurrence of geographical names in western Asia, in which the sound “Bak” is prominent; eg. Bakhdi (Bactra), Bakhtan, MYTHOLOGICAL AND LEGENDARY 17 Bakthyari, Bagdad (!), Bagistan, “land of Bak.’ Huang-ti, therefore, is, according to De Lacouperie, not an aboriginal Chinese ruler, but the leader of the “Bak tribes,’ who brought his people from Babylonia to the northwest of China. Ssi-ma Ts’ién says in his Shi-ki': “From Huang-ti down to Shun and Yi all the emperors had the same family name; and consequently, to distinguish them, they were given the names of the fief of which they were lords before their accession to the throne.”” The name by which Huang-ti is thus sometimes described in Chinese history is Yu-hiung, which, literally translated, means, “Having Hiung,” or “Holder of the fief Hiung.” Several names are formed in analogy with this example; and I shall, in due course, mention some of the titles meaning “Holder of such and such a fief” and made up of the character yu, “to have, to hold,” and the name of the fief. The character hiung in Huang-ti’s fief name has a twofold pronunciation in ancient Chinese, namely, hiwng and nai, according to the meaning attaching to it; but all the native authorities on ancient sounds agree in giving it the sound of hiwng and not nai, when applied to the name of that fief of which the Emperor Huang-ti was the holder. Through an oversight, the name has been transcribed by Yu-nai instead of Yu-hiung in the chronological table of Mayers’ well-known work, “The Chinese Reader’s Manual”; it has been correctly rendered in Arendt’s “Synchronistische Regententabellen,” the best work we possess on Chinese chronology; also in Chavannes’ translation of the Shi-ki, in Giles’ Dictionary; in fact, by all the Sinologues familiar with the subject. De Lacouperie quite arbitrarily disconnects the name of 1 Chavannes, vol. i, p. 93; cf. note 3. c 18 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF @HINA the emperor’s fief, Hiung, from the emperor’s sobriquet Yu-hiung, gives it the wrong sound nai, which he con- jectures stands for an original nak, and joins it to the name Huang-ti, in order to reconstruct a name found nowhere in Chinese books, Nak-huang-ti. This he declares to be identical with that of a powerful king of the Babylonians, Kudur Nakhunte (“Servant of Nakhunte’’), the Elamite chief god, who lived about the time assigned by Chinese fictitious chronology to the Emperor Huang-ti. This alleged identity of the two names must certainly be re- jected on philological grounds; and as to facts, it appears to me that history, whether real or legendary, furnishes no basis for the assumption of an immigration of Babylonians to the northwest of China. I do not wish to dismiss the idea of western origin, in an offhand manner; but I must confess that the logic brought to bear on the subject in De Lacouperie’s much too ingenious attempts will never inspire one with confidence in the results of his investiga- tions. I avail myself of this opportunity to say that the work referred to contains, nevertheless, a host of valuable suggestions, based on Chinese literature, which are interest- ing in connection with side questions, and fully deserving the attention of students willing to place a lively imagina- tion, the basis of all philological research, under the iron rule of self-criticism. Another attempt to derive Chinese civilization from the West, more plausible than De Lacouperie’s, has been made by Baron von Richthofen,' who looks upon the oasis of Khotan in the southwest of eastern Turkestan as the cradle of the Chinese race. The possibility of an immigration from those parts may be admitted on geographical grounds * China, vol. i, p. 48, note. MYTHOLOGICAL AND LEGENDARY 19 in connection with a few legendary accounts placed on record by the Chinese; but we have to be cautious as to the historical statements of later periods. Chinese his- torians of the fifth and sixth centuries a.p., it is true, say that the people of Kau-ch’ang (i.e. Turfan) and farther west have deep eyes and high noses, and that only the inhabitants of Khotan do not resemble those foreigners, they being similar in appearance and character to the Chinese. The latest discoveries made in this part of Central Asia, however,' seem to show that the civilization of the natives of Khotan and neighborhood, including the once flourishing oases.of the sand-buried cities in the desert of Takla-makan, was imported by Indian immigrants ban- ished from Taxila in the Punjab under King Ashoka during the third century B.c.2- Numerous relics of Buddhist art and manuscripts in the “Kharoshthi” and other Indian scripts are testimonies to the fact that a non-Chinese civili- zation flourished there at the time, when the Chinese thought they had discovered among the hated Turks a nation more sympathetic to them in point of outward appearance and civilization. How much Chinese historians were inclined to look upon the evidences of a superior civilization distinguishing cer- tain foreign nations from their crude Turkish neighbors in Central Asia as a sign of congeniality may be inferred from a statement occurring in the Héu-han-shu, the author of which says of his contemporaries, the inhabitants of Ta-ts’in, or the Roman Orient, that they are tall and upright somewhat like the Chinese, whence they are called 1T refer to the archzological results of the famous journeys of Drs. von Hedin and Stein. ?M. A. Stein, Preliminary Report on a Journey in Chinese Turkestan, p. 51. London, 1901. 20 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF GHiNA Ta-ts’in.1 Chinese vanity was flattered by the idca, which is found requoted for centuries by later historians. The fact of Chinese authors comparing the highly civilized Khotanese of Indian extraction to their own race seems to be sufficiently explained by this precedent; and I do not regard it as an argument supporting prehistoric immigra- tion from that region of the Tarim basin. § 6. FurtHer DrEps or Huane-ti Huang-ti had to fight his way to the throne; but when he had captured and decapitated Ch’i-yu, his chief opponent and the first traitor to plant the banner of rebellion on Chinese soil, he devoted himself to works of peace. His first care was the organization of government. It is per- haps characteristic of the great veneration in which in all ages the writers of history have been held among the Chinese, that the inventors of this period ascribed to Huang-ti the institution of a board of historians, divided into a right and a left wing, the one being charged with the record of facts, the other with that of words and speeches. The first state historian placed at the head of the new board was Ts’ang-kié, the legendary inventor of the art of wri- ting. The more fabulous accounts represent him as having four eyes. He is supposed to have derived the first clue for his hieroglyphics from the marks of birds’ claws made in sand, which shows that the inventors of this legend cannot have believed in Fu-hi as the originator of the hieroglyphic system. According to some, Ts’ang-kié merely perfected what had been in existence before him. His writing material con- 1 Hirth, China and the Roman Orient, p. 41. MYTHOLOGICAL AND LEGENDARY 21 sisted of boards made of bamboo, on which he painted his hieroglyphics with a bamboo brush dipped in a sort of varnish. He is the supposed inventor of about 540 hiero- glyphics representing a special style of ancient writing known as niau-tsi-wén, “script of birds’ footprints.” While Ts’ang-kié was engaged in perfecting the system of writing, Huang-ti laid the foundation of what has ever played a most conspicuous part in Chinese public life, the sacrificial cult. Hitherto sacrifices had been brought to Shang-ti, “the Supreme Ruler,” in the open air; Huang-ti is supposed to have made bricks and to have taught his workmen how to construct houses. With their assistance he built the first temple for the offering of sacrifices. He drew up rules of conduct for the people. He further built a palace for his own use, in order to distinguish himself from his subjects; for hitherto the emperors had enjoyed no privilege in this respect, they having all lived like the most lowly of their subjects in huts built of branches of trees. The inhabitants of his empire, who had hitherto lived scattered about wherever they chose, were now settled in villages, towns, and provinces. The provinces were called chéu, a term which down to the Middle Ages denotes a much wider district than it does at present, for which reason certain titles of officers, which nowadays do not involve high rank, have to be differently translated when occurring in old books. The man placed over a chéu, who is now a mere magistrate, was a governor or viceroy in ancient times. To regulate the calendar, the beginnings of which are said to date from Fu-hi, Huang-ti built an observatory and placed it under the charge of certain officers, each of whom was given a special department of astronomical observation. 22 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA Some had to study the course of the sun, others that of the moon, and others again the movement of the five planets. It was then discovered that the twelve lunar months did not suffice to make up the year, and that an intercalary month had to be added. The observations made in this respect are described in full detail by the historians of this legendary period. The emperor’s wife, Lei-tsu, called “the Lady of Si-ling,” studied the rearing of silkworms, the principal manipula- - tions of which are said to have been her inventions. Not satisfied with having created the sources of national wealth, the emperor provided the means for the exchange of produce by inventing cars drawn by oxen. The rivers and lakes of his empire also were soon covered with barges. His soldiers were provided with bows and arrows, swords and lances; and his regiments were taught to follow a standard. Precious stones and pieces of gold and copper were introduced to serve as mediums of exchange. To cause his people to adopt promptly all these new elements of civilization, he ruled with a rod of iron. Implicit obedience was the order of the day, and opposition was threatened with capital punishment. On the other hand, this extreme severity against rebellious elements was made up for by the greatest kindness toward the loyal ones among his subjects, for whose benefit he introduced a number of enlivening novelties, chiefly in the way of musical instruments. The invention of certain flutes, com- bined in a series to form a kind of reed organ, is supposed to have led to systematic studies in connection with the production of certain musical sounds. The construction of such musical instruments called for a certain accuracy in measurements, the most minute details of which have MYTHOLOGICAL AND LEGENDARY 23 been placed on record by Chinese authors as the result of observations made by the officers appointed for the purpose. It is from these musical efforts that the Chinese derive their entire system of weights and measures. Indeed, a regular system must have been indispensable to the in- ventor of the Chinese musical notation, which, distasteful though it may seem to the European ear, is built up on mathematical principles claiming much deeper efforts of human thought than any of us would admit to be the case when listening to the strains of a Chinese band. The empress had in the meantime brought the silk industry to a high state of perfection. Hitherto the people had dressed in skins; weaving had been an unknown art; and it was only through the efforts of the Lady of Si-ling that silk textures were woven, the empress herself em- broidering them with representations of flowers and birds. In due course other materials were discovered, and the emperor was able to invent uniforms to be donned by his officers and people on certain occasions. Rank and posi- tion were thus for the first time indicated by the man’s outward appearance. Caps and tiaras, coats, aprons, and other garments were given distinctive shapes; and the desire to increase the variety of patterns led to the applica- tion of color, so that the use of some rude dyeing materials may be reasonably assumed. On one of his journeys of inspection the monarch is sup- posed to have discovered in the neighborhood of K’ai- fong-fu a copper mine, which led to the establishment of a foundry in the province of Ho-nan, where the first sacri- ficial vases are supposed to have been cast from the emperor’s models. Huang-ti, however, did not live to see the results of his last enterprise, a fatal disease carrying him off after 24 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CH&NA a glorious reign of about one hundred years. He was suc- ceeded by his eldest son Shau-hau. § 7. SHavu-HAv (2594-2511 B.c.) Shau-hau did not attain to the standard of his great father; but he was peaceably inclined, and did not lead his people into trouble —a merit that many a greater man cannot claim. He had merely to continue the works of his father, who had done quite enough to occupy the people for some time. Still Shau-hau’s love of peace must have bordered on negligence, since we read that during his reign the veneration of Shang-ti, the Supreme Ruler, was vio- lated by some of his officers, who gave themselves up to heretical doctrines. Shau-hau is credited with having made further distinc- tions in the uniforms of his mandarins; indeed, the custom of embroidering representations of birds on the uniforms of civil officials and of certain beasts of prey on those of the military — prevailing up to this day —is supposed to date from his period. This is probably all that can be said of his rule in the way of new elements of civilization. Ssi-ma Ts’ién skips his name altogether. Shau-hau died at K’ii-fou, the birthplace of Confucius, in Shan-tung, where his tomb, duly certified to by a number of inscrip- tions in stone, is supposed to exist at the present day. § 8. CHuan-HU (2510-2433 B.c.) The people of China had not been greatly pleased with the government of the defunct emperor, and they, therefore, selected from the princes of the imperial house as his suc- MYTHOLOGICAL AND LEGENDARY 25 cessor not the eldest-born, but the one whom they thought the most worthy of the position; namely, Kau-yang, a grandson of Huang-ti, who ascended the throne under the name of Chuan-hii. The new monarch had received a most careful education from his early childhood. His first step was directed against the spread of those heretical superstitious doctrines which, under the careless rule of his predecessor, had gained the upper hand in public life. The sacrificial service was reorganized, and in astronomy progress was made which led to further improvements in the calendar. The limits of the empire were considerably extended under his rule, and it was divided into nine provinces. Chuan-hii had several wives. From the son of his first sprang the great Emperor Yii, and by one of his concubines the Emperor Shun was his descendant. At his death he left the empire in a most flourishing condition. § 9. Ti-K’u (24382-2363 B.c.) Ti-k’u, who was not one of the princes of the family, was elected emperor on the strength of his good qualities. Under his rule public schools were established, and the science of music was greatly improved. He married three wives in succession, and having no child by any of them, took a fourth, who gave birth to Chi, his successor. After Chi’s birth his second wife presented him with a son, who afterward became the celebrated Emperor Yau, while a son born by his third wife had among his lineal descendants some centuries later the Emperor Ch’éng-t’ang, the founder of the Shang dynasty. A posthumous son, born ten months after the death of Ti-k’u, by Kiang-yiian, his first consort, became the legendary ancestor of the emperors 26 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA of the Chéu dynasty. He is well known under the name of Héu-tsi, as the hero whose miraculous birth is described in some of the popular ballads of the Shi-king, or “Book of Odes.’ * § 10. Ti-cHi (2362-2358 B.c.) Chi, or Ti-chi (i.e. “Emperor Chi”), is represented as an incapable ruler. After he had reigned about six years, the people and government officials, growing impatient of his licentiousness, deposed him by a coup d’ état and placed his step-brother Yau on the throne. 1 Vol. iii of The Chinese Classics: with a Translation, Critical and Exegetical Notes, Prolegomena, and Copious Indexes, by James Legge, D.D., of the London Missionary Society. In seven volumes, Hong- kong, 1861-1872. Of these seven volumes only five have appeared, but since volumes iii to v have been published in two parts each, the set practically contains eight complete volumes. The several volumes, as originally planned, have the following contents: vol. i: The Confucian Analects (Lun-yi), The Great Learning (Ta-hio), and The Doctrine of the Mean (Chung-yung); vol. ii: Mencius; vol. iii: The Shoo king (Shu-king); vol. iv: The She king (Shi-king); vol. v: The Ch’un Ts’ ew (Ch’un-ts’iu), with the Tso Chuen (T'so-chuan). In quoting from Legge’s translations and notes I shall in the sequel refer to the original edition and refrain from repeating the complete titles of the several volumes, naming the classic in my own spelling, e.g. “Shi-king, ed. Legge, p. 123.’ It should be noted that second edi- tions of these works have been published since 1893, in which the numbering of pages may deviate from those referred to in my quo- tations. For bibliographical notices of works on the Chinese Classics, see Cordier, Bibliotheca Sinica, 2d ed., Paris, 1906, p. 1364 segq. II THE CONFUCIAN LEGENDS II THE CONFUCIAN LEGENDS § 11. Yau (2357-2258 3.c.) AU and his successor Shun are perhaps the most pop- ular figures in Chinese history as taught in China. Whatever estimable qualities can be imagined in great and good rulers have been ascribed to them. Chi- nese literature is full of their praises, and the records of their deeds as appearing in the Shu-king of Confucius and the Shi-ki of Ssi-ma Ts’ién may be looked upon as the true “Mirror of Princes,”’ held up as a canon of an emper- or’s good conduct to after generations. In the Shu-king the “Canon of Yau” serves as an introduction to that venerable historical work. I quote the following from Legge’s translation :* — “Examining into antiquity, we find that the Emperor Yau was called Fang-hin. He was reverential, intelligent, accomplished, and thoughtful — naturally and without effort. He was sincerely courteous, and capable of all complaisance. The display of these qualities reached to the four extremities of the empire, and ex- tended from earth to heaven. He was able to make the able and virtuous distinguished, and thence proceeded to the love of the nine classes of his kindred, who all became harmonious. He also regu- lated and polished the people of his domain, who all became brightly intelligent. Finally, he united and harmonized the myriad states of the empire; and lo! the black-haired people were transformed. The result was universal concord.” 4 Shu-king, p. 15. 29 30 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA After this the compiler of the Shu-king plunges right into the annals of Yau’s reign, by telling us that he ordered Hi and Ho, whoever these worthies may have been, to “Observe the Heavens, calculate and delineate the move- ments of the sun, the moon, the stars, and the zodiacal spaces; and so deliver respectfully the seasons to the people.” Hi and Ho appear to be family names, since in the sequel, “Hi, the second brother,” “Hi, the third brother,” etc., are mentioned as office-bearers. The several brothers were to make astronomical observations in the distant parts of the empire. This ancient record, if it were a true record of the twenty-third century B.c., would reveal quite an advanced state of astronomical science. To judge from it, Yau must be credited with a knowledge of the astronomical year, consisting of 366 days, and of other facts which none but the most accurate observation could have revealed to primeval man. Quite a library of books and papers has appeared on the knowledge of astronomy possessed by the ancient Chinese. Names like Deguignes, Gaubil, Biot, and Schlegel being among those of the chief investigators, much acumen has been brought to bear in proving the accuracy of the statements made in these ancient records. On the other side are the skeptics, who maintain that the form of the original text of the Shu-king must have been changed by later interpolations, and that later editors introduced statements that could have been made only with the astronomical knowledge possessed by their own contemporaries. Confucius himself may have felt tempted to date back by some fifty generations what was, after all, not quite so old an acquisition. It must certainly be admitted that the question is very complicated; and I, for THE CONFUCIAN LEGENDS 31 one, aS a non-expert in such matters, would not dare to pose as judge. During Yau’s reign inundations, reminding one, in their graphic descriptions, of the Biblical deluge, threatened the Chinese world. For these the emperor blamed Kun, his minister of works, whom he is said to have addressed in the following words: “O chief of the four mountains, destruc- tive in their overflow are the waters of the inundation. In their vast extent they embrace the mountains and overtop the hills, threatening the heavens with their floods, so that the inferior people groan and murmur.”' Nine years were spent in trying to stop the floods, when the emperor, after a reign of seventy years, wished to abdicate. He offered the throne to one of his trusted ministers, who declined it as being unworthy of it. ‘“ Point out some one among the illustrious or set forth one from among the poor and mean,” the emperor suggested. His advisers thereupon unani- mously agreed that a certain young man named Shun, one of the emperor’s lowliest subjects, was the most qualified. The monarch sent for him and married him to his two daughters. § 12. SHuNn (2258-2206 B.c.) Shun, as may be seen from the way in which he is intro- duced in the Shu-king, was a self-made man. After the death of Yau in 2258, he entered on a period of mourning lasting three years, which the Chinese historians do not look upon as part of his reign. He organized the adminis- tration of the empire, which he divided into eight branches. Before his palace he had a board on which every subject was permitted to note whatever faults he had to find with 1 Shu-king, ed. Legge, p. 24, 32 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA his government; and by means of a drum suspended at his palace gate attention might be drawn to any complaint that was to be made to him. He banished Kun, the official whom Yau had called upon to stop the inundations, owing to his incapacity in improving matters, and ap- pointed the disgraced officer’s son YU to carry out the labors neglected so much by his father. § 13. Tar Hira Dynasty (2205-1766 B.c.) This is the first continuous dynasty of what native authors consider to be the history of China. I propose to notice merely the important details of the epoch, which certainly cannot be regarded as history in the strictest sense. The name of the dynasty is derived from its first emperor’s honorary title Hia-po, i. “Earl of Hia,” or Yu-hia, literally “having or possessing Hia,” 7.e. “ Holder of the fief of Hia,” given him by the Emperor Shun as a reward for his services in draining the empire from the floods. The second title, Yuw-hia, may be compared to Huang-ti’s title Yu-hiwng and to a similar title Yu-yii, “Holder of the fief of Yu,” by which the Emperor Shun is sometimes designated. These and a number of other combinations occurring in the oldest history show clearly that the character yu, “to have, to hold,’ has a recognized standard meaning in such names, and that De Lacouperie’s manipulations in joining the name of his fief to that of the Emperor Huang-ti are, as I have already stated, not justified. § 14. Yu, or Ta-vd (2205-2198 B.c.) The deeds of the Emperor Yii, or Ta-yii, “the Great Yi,” as he is often called, have been set forth in the Shu-king, THE CONFUCIAN LEGENDS 33 the compilation of which from records supposed to have existed before his time is, perhaps wrongly, ascribed to Confucius, who died in 479 B.c. Anyhow, the Shu-king is the oldest source for the pre-Confucian history of China. According to later authorities, Yi was a native of the prov- ince of Ssi-ch’uan, where his name has survived in numerous legends. According to Ssi-ma Ts’ién he was a descendant of the Emperor Huang-ti, though none of his ancestors held the throne. His father, Kun, had, as we have seen, been commissioned by the Emperor Yau to arrest certain inundations in the empire, he having been selected for that Herculean task on the unanimous advice of the govern- ment officials against the monarch’s own opinion. Kun’s attempts, however, ended in failure. It is a characteristic feature of the history of these early emperors, especially Yau and Shun, who are held up to all the world as models of what good rulers should be, that in all such important selections they were guided by the advice of their ministers. This, it appears to me, is very suggestive as to the class of persons who were chiefly influential in inventing the Chinese “model emperor lore,’ as we may call that part of Chinese history, taking it for granted that in such cases the wish was father to the thought. It is reasonable to assume that not an independent his- torian, but certain parties interested in raising the impor- tance of their own class invented or modified the old records so as to lay the intellectual fatherhood of great decisions on ministers or philosophical advisers. All those gushing speeches of emperors and their ministers, placed on record in the Shu-king, may well be said, as Baron von Richthofen remarks,! to have been placed together by their compilers, 1 China, vol. i, p. 279. D 34 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF C@INA in order to express the fundamental ideas of political and social government and to illustrate the way of handling them in the earliest times. The monarch asks, “Whom shall I appoint?” The ministers propose, and the emperor cheerfully adopts their advice. Yau had made an unfortu- nate move in appointing Kun, who, by his being the de- scendant of Huang-ti, may have commanded more personal influence than talent. Yi may have benefited by the dis- asters experienced by his father. His education must have given him frequent opportunities to study the causes of the floods then devastating China and the means to stop them, and it is quite possible that he succeeded in some matters of detail. But if we read the accounts of what the great prehistoric engineer is supposed to have brought about, we are bound to agree with the view expressed by Biot, Legge, and Von Richthofen, the last mentioned of whom" is of opinion that the oldest account of Yi’s labors, as contained in that part of the Shu-king known under the name of Yii-kung (“Tribute of Yii’’), is much more mod- erate in its statements and contains less of the wonderful than the later commentaries on it. From these later views, which may be said to represent the belief of the modern Chinese, it would appear that Yi cut canals through the hills, in order to furnish outlets to the floods; that he visited the several provinces of the empire and all the mountain ranges and cut down forests; that he traced each river to its source and back again to its mouth, in order to clear its spring, regulate its course, deepen its bed, raise embank- ments, and change its direction, —in other words, that he performed work, compared to which, as Von Richthofen justly remarks, the construction of the St. Gotthard tunnel 1 Op. cit., p. 286. THE CONFUCIAN LEGENDS 35 without blasting materials would be child’s play, and all this within a few years. Tf we lean at all toward the assumption that these ancient records have been constructed upon a historical basis, it will be necessary to free them of what we may call the poetical exaggeration which led the old historians to repre- sent the work of man as that of agod. Accounts of a great deluge occur in other literatures. Who knows how much has been added to them by the imagination of later genera- tions? Such poetical exaggeration would in the first instance induce historians to represent the inundations as much more in the way of a catastrophe than they may have actually been. The Emperor Yau, according to the Shu- king, describes the great deluge as embracing the mountains and overtopping the hills, threatening the heavens with their floods. How can such language possibly refer to phe- nomena witnessed at any time in any part of the globe? Does it not rather recall a poetical figure like Schiller’s “Bis zum Himmel spritzte der dampfende Gischt”? Similarly, a considerable allowance may have to be made on account of exaggeration in the description of Yii’s efforts to stop the floods, which may have subsided of their own accord after a number of years. It appears to me that Yii’s father is not to be blamed for being unable to cope with the catastrophe, when it had reached its culmi- nation, nor does Yui himself deserve the credit, cheerfully given him by his contemporaries, of having stopped the floods by his own exertions. Of course, his people were only too glad to raise him to the pedestal of a national hero as an expression of the relief they felt after the floods had subsided. I look upon the story of the Emperor Yi as an 36 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA early manifestation of what has continued to be a charac- teristically Chinese view down to the present day. The emperor is generally responsible for natural phenomena. It is he who has to address Heaven and pray for rain after a long drought; and to his prayer is due the credit of relief, when it comes. It seems quite consistent with the Chinese character that the merits of a man credited with almost supernatural powers by his contemporaries should have been so grossly exaggerated by succeeding generations. The most interesting document referring to this period in the Shu-king is the above-mentioned “Tribute of Yi.” In it the nine provinces into which Yii divided his empire are described with their products in that terse, archaic lan- guage peculiar to the oldest records of all nations. The incidents related in this account correspond fairly with those in the accounts written within the historical period, and this is just the reason why some critics are of opinion that they may be interpolations of a later date. The late Professor James Legge, of Oxford, to whose edition of the Shu-king the reader may be referred for the original text, translation, and critical apparatus, took an entirely skeptical view with regard to the doings of Yi. “Tf we allow,” he says,! “that all the resources of the em- pire, so to speak, were at his disposal, the work which he is said to have accomplished far exceeds all limits of credi- bility.” Legge quotes Edouard Biot the younger, who says :?— “The Yellow River, after its entrance into China, has a further course of 560 leagues; the Kiang, taken only from the great lake of Hu-kuang visited by Yi, has a course of nearly 250 leagues; the 1 Shu-king, Prolegomena, p. 59. 2? Mémoire sur le chapitre Yu-kong du Chou-king, etc., in Journal A siatique, 3d series, vol. xiv, p. 160. THE CONFUCIAN LEGENDS 37 Han, from its source to its junction with the Kiang, is 150 leagues long. These three rivers present a total length of nearly 1000 leagues; and, adding the other rivers (on which Yii laboured), we must extend the 1000 to 1500. ... Chinese antiquity has pro- duced one monument of immense labour, —the Great Wall, which extends over nearly 300 leagues; but the achievement of this gigantic monument required a great number of years. It was commenced in pieces, in the ancient states of Ts’in, Chau, and Yen, and was then repaired and lengthened by the first emperor of the Ts’in dynasty. Now such a structure, in masonry, is much easier to make than the embankment of enormous streams along an ex- tent of 1200 or 1500 leagues. We know, in effect, how much trouble and time are required to bring such works to perfect solidity. We can judge it from the repeated overflowings of the Rhéne; and the lower Rhéne is not a fourth of the size of the Ho and the Kiang in the lower part of their course. If we were to believe the commenta- tors, Yii would be a supernatural being, who could lead the immense rivers of China as if he had been engaged in regulating the course of feeble streamlets.”’ Legge continues : — “These illustrations of Biot are sufficiently conclusive. I may put the matter before the reader by one of a different character. I have represented the condition of the surface of China when Yii entered on his labours by supposing the regions of North America, from the St. Lawrence southward, to have been found in similar disorder and desolation by the early colonists from Europe in the seventeenth century. Those colonists had not the difficulties to cope with which confronted Yi; but we know how slowly they pushed their way into the country. Gradually growing in numbers, receiving constant accessions from Europe, increasing to a great nation inferior to no other in the world for intelligence and enterprise, in more than two centuries they have not brought their territory more extensively into cultivation and order than Yi did the inundated regions of China in the space of less than twenty years! “The empire as it appears in ‘The Tribute of Yii’ consisted of nine provinces. On the north and the west its boundaries were 38 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA much the same as those of China Proper at the present day. On the east it extended to the sea, and even, according to many, across it, so as to embrace the territory of Corea. Its limits on the south are not very well defined. It certainly did not reach be- yond the range of mountains which runs along the north of Kuang- tung province, stretching into Kuang-si on the west and Fu-kién on the east. Even though we do not reckon those three provinces in Yii’s dominion, there still remains an immense empire, about three times as large as France, which we are to suppose was ruled over by him, the chief of K’i, and the different regions of which sent their apportioned contributions of grain and other articles of trib- ute to his capital year by year.” The reader will find most valuable material regarding the Emperor Yii’s exploits, and more particularly the geographical features of the Ya-kung, in volume i of Von Richthofen’s well-known work China. I look upon this author as an absolute authority in his own field, the geology and geography of the world, including that of China; but I draw a sharp line between this cheerfully acknowledged competency and the treatment of philological problems, the solution of which is dependent upon a knowledge of the Chinese language and literature. § 15. Yt’s Successors None of the sixteen successors of the great Yii is credited with any particular brilliancy of character, and it looks as if the story of their government had been written merely to give relief to the great Confucian idols Yau, Shun, and Yii. Yi had the intention to select a clever man rather than his own son as his successor, but yielded to the advice of his ministers in leaving the empire to the rightful heir, K’1, or T1-x’'1, “Emperor K’i” (2197-2189 z.c.). The people and his ministers having been highly satisfied THE CONFUCIAN LEGENDS 39 with Yii as a worthy monarch, the rule hitherto observed in selecting a successor from some otherfamily was broken; and from this precedent, the Chinese say, dates the practice of later ages in securing the succession to one of the emperor’s own sons. Ti-k’i enjoyed the confidence of all his federal lords except one, Yu-héu, “Holder of the fief of Héu,” who refused to render allegiance to and took up arms against him. With the assistance of his adherents, however, the emperor vanquished him; so that Ti-k’i at his death, which occurred after a reign of about nine years, was able to leave the empire in good order to his eldest son, T’ai-k’ang. T’Al-K’ANG (2188-2160 B.c.) gave himself up to a gay life amid convivial pleasures, women, and the chase. But for the fact that he was a grandson of the great Yi, the people would have revolted against him, since he spoiled their harvests by his hunting parties. All remonstrances on the part of his ministers were in vain. Among the latter one Héu-i, “ Holder of the fief of K’iung” (yu-k’iung), planned a coup d’état. Taking advantage of the emperor’s protracted absence on one of his hunting expeditions, he intercepted him with an army, and, making him prisoner, offered the throne to T’ai-k’ang’s brother, named Chung- k’ang. CHUNG-K’ANG (2159-2147 B.c.) was a much better man, who would not, however, assume the imperial dignity dur- ing T’ai-k’ang’s lifetime, but succeeded him formally after his death. Hd6u-i continued to be his minister, but, having assumed greater authority than Chung-k’ang approved, his public influence was considerably curtailed. The post of general-in-chief of the army, formerly held by Héu-i, was given to his rival, the Prince of Yin. Under Chung-k’ang the two court astronomers Hi and Ho —whom we must 40 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINE suppose to be descendants of the two brothers of the same name and holders of similar offices under the Em- peror Yau —were decapitated for having failed to predict an eclipse of the sun which took place while the two delin- quents were absent and given to debauchery instead of attending to their duties. Several ingenious attempts have been made to identify the solar eclipse referred to in the Shu-king account of Chung-k’ang’s reign, the latest and most plausible one representing the joint labors of the late Professor G. Schlegel, author of the great work on Chinese astronomy, “Uranographie chinoise,” and Dr. F. Kihnert of Vienna, who, besides being a Sinologue, is an astronomer by profes- sion. It seems to me that none but a scholar well at home in both these sciences is able to understand thor- oughly this very complicated subject; but students may be referred to the work itself, which is published by the Royal Academy of Sciences of Amsterdam under the title “Die Schu-king-Finsterniss” (Amsterdam, J. Miiller, 1889). The authors endeavor to prove that the eclipse which the court astronomers Hi and Ho failed to predict during Chung-k’ang’s reign, actually took place on May 7, 2165 B.C., about one hour after sunrise and that it was plainly visible at the time in Ho-nan. Being an utter stranger to astronomical research, I am not able to refute the criti- cisms of a well-known Sinologue, Dr. E. J. Eitel,’ who has the following remarks on the subject : — “Tf the date of this eclipse could be fixed accurately and in a manner bringing conviction to the mind of a vast majority of read- ers, all doubts as to the reliability of the most ancient historical China Review, vol. xviii, p. 266. THE CONFUCIAN LEGENDS 41 records that exist in the world would be removed, and the basis for a connected outline of ancient Chinese history would be gained. But although the two professors bring together an unusual amount of Sinologic and astronomical skill, qualifying them for the task they have in hand, we doubt if many readers will see in the argu- ments here propounded any more plausible evidence in favor of May 7, 2165 B.c., than Gaubil advanced for October 11, 2154 B.c., or Largeteau and Chalmers (both working independently) for October 12, 2127 B.c., or Fréret and D. Cassini for October 24, 2006 3B.c., or Gumpach for October 22, 2155 B.c., or Oppolzer for October 21, 2135 B.c. “The question is extremely complicated, for the following reasons: The original reading of the text of the Shu is uncertain. Confucius may have altered it to bring it into conformity with his imperfect astronomical knowledge, and especially with his prejudices against the possible reading of his original, caused by his ignorance of the precession of the equinoxes. The Han editors, who, after the burn- ing of the books, patched up the lacune of the ancient texts and freely reconstructed the Shu, may likewise have corrected the amended reading of Confucius. But, on the other hand, it is also possible that both Confucius and the Han editors respected the original reading of the Shu and left it untouched. It is, in our opinion, absolutely impossible to get anything more than plausi- bility for either view. Certainty is out of the question.” * On his death Chung-k’ang was followed by his son T1- SIANG (2146-2119 B.c.). What we know about him and Yii’s successors generally is chiefly due to the records of the Bamboo Books, and it is perhaps characteristic that Ssi-ma Ts’ién does not now give much more than the names of emperors down to Kié. Ti-siang, a man of amiable temper, was much too yield- ing in disposition to escape being victimized by crafty underlings. He had reinstated Héu-i in his post as general- 1For the Chinese text, translation, and commentary see Legge, Shu-king, p. 162 seqq. 42 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA in-chief; and the latter earned great success in subduing certain rebellious border nations. Having thereby become a favorite with the people, he made use of his power to reduce the emperor to a mere shadow. Ti-siang was com- pelled to live on the frontier of his empire, not daring to come to the capital, where Héu-i ruled supreme. When, after a long banishment, he at last returned, Héu-i declared him incapable of governing and deposed him, after he had made use of the emperor’s authority to get rid of all the officials that opposed his own schemes. Among the adherents of Héu-i was an official named Han-cho, who succeeded by another coup d’état in wrench- ing the empire from the usurper. Héu-i, like his victim Ti-siang, had contracted a passion for the chase, and Han- cho made use of that very circumstance which had been fatal to the emperor. Seizing the government during the absence of Héu-i, he caused the latter to be murdered on his return from a somewhat protracted hunting party. Upon this Han-cho married Héu-i’s widow, by whom he had two sons. When he took charge of the empire as sole regent, the “shadow emperor”’ Ti-siang still lived in banish- ment; and the usurper, in order to prevent any possible - legitimate interference with his plans, induced his sons in 2119 B.c. to kill the emperor, upon which the Hia dynasty was interrupted by the reign of Han-cuo (2119-2079 8.c.), characterized by the attempts made by the legitimate emperor’s family, notably his widow and her son with their adherents, to regain the empire. In this Ti-siang’s son succeeded. He ascended the throne under the name of SHAU-K’ANG (2079-2058 B.c.). For the names of ten of Shau-k’ang’s successors the reader is referred to the chronological tables given in the Appendix. THE CONFUCIAN LEGENDS 43 The list of emperors of the Hia dynasty is closed by the name of one who brought about its ruin, and this, with Chinese historians, is sufficient reason for describing him as an arrant knave. Kit, known also as Kut, Ti-Kui, and Kri-xur (1818- 1766 B.c.), united in his person the most abominable qualities with which a ruler may possibly be charged. If the entire story of this first dynasty is an invention, the historians have certainly shown method in drawing impressive sketches of the great Yii and the scoundrel Kié. It may almost be considered a rule henceforward — corresponding to what is observed in the history of other nations —that the founder of a dynasty is usually endowed with all the virtues of a great man, whereas the one who has the misfortune to be the last of a long and glorious line of rulers is, after its downfall, credited with all the known vices. Kié began his reign by punishing those of his vassals who, prompted by deep contempt of his cruel and dissolute character, refused obedience to him. One of them, Yu-shi, “Holder of the fief of Shi,” had a beautiful daughter named Mei-hi, and knowing the emperor’s fatal weakness for female charms, sent him the girl, with whom Kié became infatu- ated. To please the woman, who is represented as gifted with great intelligence coupled with the extreme of heart- lessness, Kié gave himself up to the most extravagant pleasures of which human imagination can conceive. On the heads of this couple have been heaped all the infamies of vice that history has ever recorded; and the historians may well be said to have created with their account of this disastrous period the prototype of all that is low and contemptible in human nature. The details of their abominable acts of terrible cruelty are fully 44 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA ° described by the historians of the period, whose account of Kié’s reign surpasses everything recorded in the way of tyranny in the history of the world, not excepting the darkest periods of imperial Rome. The reaction set in under the leadership of Ch’éng-t’ang, or T’ang, “the Com- pleter,” Prince of Shang, who, after overthrowing Kié, became the founder of the house known as the Shang, or Yin, dynasty. III THE SHANG, OR YIN, DYNASTY (1766-1122 3.c.) TI THE SHANG, OR YIN, DYNASTY (1766-1122 3.c.) § 16. CH’ONnG-1T’ana (1766-1754 B.c.) HIS ruler, whose rebellion against Kié dates from the year 1783, spent seventeen years in fighting the em- peror, who was soon deserted by his former adherents. In 1766 B.c. Kié was made a prisoner and deposed. When Ch’6ng-t’ang ascended the throne as the founder of the Shang dynasty, he was found to be a good and virtuous ruler. He was full of benevolence not only toward his human subjects, but also toward the animal world. His name has become proverbial in connection with hunting and fishing, which he sanctioned, while taking measures to prevent all cruelty to animals. The introduction of sports- manlike treatment of these pastimes is ascribed to him. He was succeeded by his grandson. § 17. Cx’onG-1’aNe’s SUCCESSORS T’a-Kra (1753-1721 B.c.), as a young man, was inclined to be wayward, but I Yin, the prudent minister of his grandfather, caused him to withdraw from government for three years, in order to prepare for the responsible duties awaiting him, after which he returned to the capital. I Yin must have been a man of great power, and he should be regarded as the chief agent in consolidating the 47 48 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA empire under the first three rulers of the dynasty. He had greatly assisted Ch’éng-t’ang in securing the throne, and had remained his chief adviser throughout his life. He now held a similar position under T’ai-kia. He died a centenarian in 1714 under the reign of T’ai-kia’s son, Wu- TING (1720-1692 B.c.). T’al-KOnG (1691-1667 B.c.) was the next ruler, and after his death T’ai-k6ng’s son Srau-K1a (1666-1650 B.c.) was followed by his younger brother YuNG-KI (1649-1638 B.c.). Under this reign the imperial authority became weak- ened, and when the monarch called the princes of his empire to a meeting, they declined to obey the summons. T’at-mOu (1637-1563 B.c.), known also under his posthumous name Chung-tsung, was another brother of Siau-kia and Yung-ki. He was fright- ened by the sudden growth of an ill-portending mulberry tree and a stalk of grain. He consulted his minister I Chi as to the meaning of this omen. I Chi, who was of opinion that sorcery ought to be powerless against virtue, ascribed the phenomenon to the emperor’s lack of good qualities. The monarch took the hint and resolved to start a new life, upon which the dangerous plants withered away. The result was that the princes of the empire, who had refused to do obeisance to his brother, hastened to tender their allegiance. He was followed by his son CHUNG-TING (1562-1550 B.c.). This youthful monarch did not share his father’s good luck in having the assistance of an excellent adviser like the prime minister I Chi, who had died soon after his master. The neighboring states refused their former vassalage and THE SHANG, OR YIN, DYNASTY (1766-1122 3.c.) 49 made the reign one of constant warfare. China’s sorrow, the Yellow River, added to these misfortunes a serious inundation, which threatened with destruction the imperial capital, situated in the adjacent lowlands. The capital was, therefore, again transferred to a more favorable place in the present province of Ho-nan. Chung-ting died child- less after a reign of thirteen years. He was followed by his brother War-sOn (1549-1535 B.c.), a boy of fifteen, who at his death left the empire to another brother of Chung-ting’s, Ho-Tan-K1A (1534-1526 B.c.), who again changed his residence owing to the Yellow River troubles. He had taken good care to give his son an edu- cation qualifying him for his responsible duties, and the latter succeeded him under the name of Tsu-1 (1525-1507 B.c.). He was a peaceful ruler and enjoyed the benefit of being assisted by a clever minister. The capital was, during his reign, repeatedly shifted, but he left the empire in good condition. The greater part of the history of this dynasty is merely a series of names; and the chronology of the rulers to whom these names belong has been fixed by later generations with the assistance of records which may possibly have existed two thousand years ago, but have not come down to us. From Tsu-i down to the end of the dynasty the names of seventeen rulers are recorded, and these are given in the chronological tables appended to this work. The degree of relationship in which these monarchs stand to each other is immaterial. Many of these names are mentioned in the Shu-king, but E 50 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CYINA the detail of the history of this dynasty, with the material placing the philologist in the position to reconstruct some sort of chronology, is found in another ancient record known as Chu-shu-ki-nién, i.e. “Annals of the Bamboo Books,” which contain the history and chronology of Chinese em- perors from Huang-ti nearly to the end of the Chéu dynasty. These records were discovered about the year 280 a.p. A native of the district of Ki in the north of the present province of Ho-nan had committed what, according to Chinese views, would be considered a great indiscretion in excavating the tomb of a prince of the Chéu dy- nasty, whose remains had rested there in peace for well- nigh six hundred years. The record from which we learn this fact duly insinuates that the man had no permission to do so; yet he did it to the great delight of the philolo- gists of the period. It had been customary, as may be concluded from similar cases well known in the history of Chinese literature, to bury with the worldly remains of great folks not only weapons and armor, but also valuable manuscripts. Thus it came about that one of the princi- pal sources of the oldest history down to the year 299 z.c. was preserved. The text containing these annals was in- scribed on a number of bamboo tablets, the time-honored mode of writing prior to the invention of more handy writing materials. It was written in characters, the deci- phering of which had to be intrusted to the experts of the day, who had also to make use of their philological acu- men in arranging it, before it could be inserted in duly transcribed copies among the treasures of the imperial li- brary. We have no more reason to doubt the bona fides of- the philological work done in connection with it than we are accustomed to doubt the tradition of many a his- THE SHANG, OR YIN, DYNASTY (1766-1122 3.c.) 51 torical work of Greek or Roman origin; and sound argu- ments may be brought forward to support the belief in its genuineness.’ Although discrepancies of considerable weight exist in its tradition as compared with the Shu-king, the oldest text treating of the most ancient history, and the great historical work of Ssi-ma Ts’ién, the Shi-ki, originating in the beginning of the first century 3.c., such as they are the Annals of the Bamboo Books are the most detailed record, as far as they go, of the earliest periods of Chinese history. Among the discrepancies the one most conspicuous is the chronology of the early legendary periods. I have, in the dates assigned to these emperors, followed what may be called the standard view of Chinese chronologists. The Bamboo Books differ from them considerably. The Emperor Huang-ti’s reign, which began in 2704 B.c. according to the standard computation, is made to date more than two hundred years later, 7.e. from 2491 B.c., in the Bamboo Annals. The difference diminishes gradu- ally later on, but still amounts to more than fifty years at the end of the Shang dynasty, until it disappears altogether about the middle of the ninth century B.c. Ssi-ma Ts’ién, with true historical spirit, refrains from any attempt at exact chronology prior to the year 841 B.c. In the Genealogical Table inserted in the thirteenth book 1Cf. Legge, Shu-king, Prolegomena, p. 105 seqg., where the text is reproduced with an introduction, a careful translation, and critical notes; also Ed. Chavannes, Les mémoires historiques, vol. i, Intro- duction, p. clxxxviii, and especially vol. v, pp. 446-479, appendix i, where the most exhaustive monograph on the archeological merits of the work and the history of its discovery will be found. _A French translation with introduction and notes was published by Ed. Biot in the Journal Asiatique, 3d series, vol. xii, pp. 537-578, and vol. xiii, pp. 381-431. 52 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA of his work, he merely gives names and generations for the preceding periods; and, from the indications he makes, it seems that his chronology, vague though it has been left for good reasons, comes nearer that of the Bamboo Books than our standard figures.' Altogether, too much stress should not be laid on dates of any kind previous to the Chéu dynasty.’ What we learn from the Bamboo Books about the Shang dynasty is dry and uninteresting. I am inclined to look upon this as an argument supporting the confidence to be placed in it. The accounts of the early legendary emperors are much more detailed: they are attractive when com- pared with the terse entries appearing under the Shang dynasty in that old chronicle; and this, considering the remoteness of the period, is bound to cause suspicion. Very little need be said about the long array of names I have referred to of rulers of that dynasty as belonging to the fifteenth down to the twelfth century. The beginning of the fourteenth century saw P’an-KONG (1401-1374 B.c.), who for the fifth time removed the court — this time far away from the troublesome banks of the Yellow River to a site in the present province of Chi-li. A lengthy account containing speeches in which he places on record his views on government has been preserved in the Shu-king. One of his successors, Wu-T1ne, the last of the virtuous rulers of the dynasty (1324-1266 s.c.), had intrusted himself in all government affairs to his aged teacher Kan-p’an, who soon had to retire on account of old age. The emperor now sought a clever man to assist him in his duties, for 1 Chavannes, op. cit., vol. i, Introduction, p. exci. ? The details of the two systems of chronology have been placed together in Arendt’s Synchronistische Regententabellen. THE SHANG, OR YIN, DYNASTY (1766-1122 Bc.) 53 which purpose he addressed himself to Shang-ti, the Supreme Ruler, that is, God, asking that He would reveal to him in a dream the man who should act as his prime minister. He dreamed the dream and saw his future counselor, but he could not find his like among the grandees of the empire, though he searched the country over. Finally he proved to be a common workman by the name of Fu-yiié, who not only resembled the portrait shown him by God in his dream, but in the sequel showed his possession of all the requisite qualities for the high position to which he was forthwith raised. Indeed he became a worthy successor to the great I Yin, the assistant of Ch’éng-t’ang, the founder of the dynasty. A glorious and peaceful govern- ment resulted from the perfectly harmonious manner in which Wu-ting and his minister worked together. Not much need be said about their successors, rulers as well as ministers, down to Chéu-sin, the last ruler of the dynasty, on whose unworthy head all the crimes of an incompetent and vicious monarch have been heaped by the historians of later ages. His history is almost a parallel to that of Kié, the unworthy last emperor of the Hia dynasty. I quote the Bamboo Books in Legge’s translation,’ in order to show what this venerable record is like. § 18. Cudéu-stn (1154-1122 B.c.) “Tn his first year, which was ki-hai (thirty-sixth of the cycle =1102 B.c.), when he came to the throne, Chéu-sin dwelt in Yin. He gave appointments to the princes of K’iu, Chéu, and Yi. “Tn his third year, a sparrow produced a hawk. In his fourth year, he had a great hunting in Li. He invented the punishment of roasting. In his fifth year, in the summer, he built the tower of 1 Shu-king, Prolegomena, p. 139 seqq. 54 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA Nan-tan. There was a shower of earth in Po. In his sixth year, the chief of the west [Si-po, i.e. Wén-wang] offered sacrifice for the first time to his ancestors in Pi. In his ninth year, the royal forces attacked the State of Su, and brought away Ta-ki as a captive. The king made an apartment for her, with walls of carnation stone, and the doors all adorned with gems. In his tenth year, in the summer, in the sixth month, he hunted in the western borders. In his seventeenth year, the chief of the west smote the Ti. In the winter, the king made a pleasure excursion in K’i. In his twenty- first year, in the spring, in the first month, the princes went to Chéu to do homage. Po-i and Shu-ts’i betook themselves to Chéu from Ku-chu. In his twenty-second year, in the winter, he had a great hunting along the Wei. In his twenty-third year, he imprisoned the chief of the west in Yu-li. In his twenty-ninth year, he liber- ated the chief of the west, who was met by many of the princes and escorted back to Ch’éng. In his thirtieth year, in the spring, in the third month, the chief of the west led the princes to the court with their tributes. In his thirty-first year, the chief of the west began to form a regular army in Pi, with Lii Shang as its commander. In his thirty-second year, there was a conjunction of the five planets in Fang. A red crow lighted on the altar to the spirits of the land in Chéu. The people of Mi invaded Yiian, when the chief of the west led a force against Mi. In his thirty-third year, the people of Mi surrendered to the army of Chéu, and were removed to Ch’éng. The king granted power to the chief of the west to punish and attack offending states on his own discretion. “Tn his thirty-fourth year, the forces of Chéu took K’i and Yu; and then attacked Ts’ung, which surrendered. In the winter, in the twelfth month, the hordes of Kun overran Chéu. In the thirty-fifth year, there was a great famine in Chéu; when the chief of the west removed from Ch’éng to Fung. In his thirty- sixth year, in the spring, in the first month, the princes went to court at Chéu, and then they smote the hordes of Kun. The chief of the west made his heir-son Fa [i.e. Wu-wang] build Hau. In his thirty-seventh year, the Duke of Chéu built an imperial college. In his thirty-ninth year, the great officer Sin-kia fled to Chou. In his fortieth year, the Duke of Chéu made the spirit-tower. The king sent Kiau-ko to seek for gems in Chéu. In his forty-first year, THE SHANG, OR YIN, DYNASTY (1766-1122 B.c.) 55 in the spring, in the third month, Ch’ang, the chief of the west, died. In his forty-second year, Fa, the chief of the west, received the vermilion book from Lii Shang. A girl changed into a man. In his forty-third year, in the spring, he had a grand review. Part of Mount Yau fell down. In his forty-fourth year, Fa smote Li. In his forty-seventh year, the recorder of the Interior, Hiang Chi, fled to Chéu. In his forty-eighth year the I goat was seen. Two suns appeared together. In his fifty-first year, in the winter, in the eleventh month, on the day méu-tzi (twenty-fifth of the cycle), the army of Chéu crossed the ford of Mong, but returned. The king imprisoned the Viscount of K’i, and put his relative Pi-kan to death; while the Viscount of Wei fled away. In his fifty-second year, which was kéng-yin (twenty-seventh of the cycle), Chéu made its first attack on Yin. In the autumn, the army of Chéu camped in the plain of Sién. In the winter, in the twelfth month, it sacrificed to God. The tribes of Yung, Shu, Kiang, Mau, Wei, Lu, P’éng, and Pu, followed Chéu to the attack of Yin.” Some explanations will be necessary for the modern student to understand this terse account, apart from the several geographical and personal names, to comment on which it would take us too far afield. I fully concur with the opinion expressed by Chavannes,' who says with regard to the trustworthiness of Chinese history down to this period, that the legends recorded in connection with the model emperors Yau and Shun appear ‘to be built up on a symmetrical system provoking suspicion ; that neither of them is mentioned in the most ancient Con- fucian classic, the Shi-king, and that most of the details of their history betray the manners and political organization of the Chéu dynasty. Chavannes* says: — “As regards the Emperor Yi, he is credited with having performed hydrographic works which would have claimed the continuous efforts of several generations. In the book of the Shu- 1 Les mémoires historiques, vol. i, Introduction, p. ex]. 56 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA king, called ‘Tribute of Yu,’ we may distinguish an ancient geogra- phy with which the legend of this sovereign has been mixed up by way of superfeetation. Yau, Shun and Yi, these three august mythological phantoms, have no longer any reality, if one seeks to seize them bodily. The veritable facts do not appear before the Chéu dynasty and the prince deposed by it, the perverse Chéu-sin, who became guilty of excessive love towards the beautiful and cruel Ta-ki. It is, therefore, not until almost the end of the twelfth century B.c. that we find the hitherto uncertain ground on which the historian has guided us so far become firm enough to walk upon.” Chéu-sin united in his person all that is bad in an em- peror. If Yau and Shun may be called the model emperors par excellence, he was the very reverse. Ssi-ma Ts’ién' characterizes him in a few words as follows: — “The Emperor Chéu was of quick discernment, gifted with sharp senses, mental ability beyond the ordinary, and physical strength of brutal power. Knowledge enabled him to keep remonstrance at a distance ; eloquence enabled him to gloss his vicious acts. Boast- ing to his subjects of his ability, and exalting his empire by clamor- ing, was to him the means to make himself prominent. He loved the pleasures of the cup and debauchery, and was infatuated with his consort, the beloved Ta-ki, whose words he obeyed.” From what the historian places on record in connection with this couple, it appears that Madam Ta-ki was an early prototype of that perverse mentality presented in the eigh- teenth century by that ill-famed maniac, the Marquis de Sade. Legge? recapitulates what the commentators of the Shu-king have to say about her crimes as follows: — “Ta-ki was shamelessly lustful and cruel. The most licentious songs were composed for her amusement, and the vilest dances exhibited. The court was at a place in the present district of Ki, * Shi-ki, ch. ili, p. 10; cf. Chavannes, op. cit., vol. i, p. 199. ? Shu- king, p. 269 seq. THE SHANG, OR YIN, DYNASTY (1766-1122 3.c.) 57 dep. of Wei-hui, and there a palace was erected for her, with a famous terrace or tower, two li wide, and the park around stocked with the rarest animals. This expenditure necessitated heavy exactions, which moved the resentment of the people. At Sha-k’iu, in the present district of P’ing-hiang, in Chi-li, there was still greater extravagance and dissipation. There was a pond of wine, the trees were hung with flesh; men and women chased each other about quite naked. In the palace there were nine market stances, where they drank all night. The princes began to rebel, when Ta-ki said that the majesty of the throne was not sufficiently maintained ; that punishments were too light, and executions too rare. She, therefore, devised two new instruments of torture. One of them was called ‘The Heater,’ and consisted of a piece of metal made hot in a fire, which people were obliged to take up in their hands. The other was a copper pillar, greased all over, and laid above a pit of live charcoal. The culprit had to walk across the pillar, and when his feet slipped and he fell down into the fire, Ta-ki was greatly delighted. This was called the punishment of ‘Roasting.’ These enormities made the whole empire groan and fume with indignation.” } § 19. Wén-wane, Duxe oF Cuéu (1182-1135 B.c.) Such a state of things could not, of course, last long, and the reaction, bound to follow such misgovernment, soon set in. Among the feudal states of the empire was that of Chéu, distinguished by its virtuous ruler Ch’ang, known also by the name Si-po, “Chief of the West,” and well known in Chinese literature as W6n-wang, the father of Wu-wang, the first ruler of the Chéu dynasty. He had followed his father on the throne of his duchy in 1182 B.c. His grand- father T’an-fu, known in literature as Ku-kung, “the Old 1 From the chronology of the Bamboo Books it would appear that the “ punishment of Roasting,’ was invented by Chéu-sin five years before he brought away Ta-ki as a captive. 58 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINS Duke,” or T’ai-wang (King T’ai), the prince of a little state called Pin; near the present Si-an-fu, had since 1327 B.c. changed the name of his little duchy into that of Chéu. As Duke of Chéu he was followed by his son Ki-li in 1231 B.c., the very year in which Ki-li’s son Ch’ang (W6n-wang) was born. Ki-li had been, through several generations of emperors, the most influential personage of the em- pire, being employed as prime minister and at times as commander-in-chief to fight rebels and other enemies; and when Wo6n-wang succeeded him, it appears the condi- tions of the réle the great Wu-wang’s house was destined to play in the history of China sixty years later on were given. Won-wang began his career by devoting himself entirely to the administration of his state, which henceforth he changed into a model of good government. Chinese literature abounds with records of his doings; and all au- thorities agree in the praise of his virtue and wisdom. His consort gave birth to ten sons. Of these the eldest died young; the second, Wu-wang, whose proper name was Fa, later on became the founder of the Chéu dynasty; his fourth son Tan, well known as Chéu-kung, or Duke of Chéu, became Wu-wang’s famous assistant in consolidating the empire. W06n-wang’s uprightness of character was bound to bring him sooner or later into conflict with the tyrant emperor Chéu-sin. He and two other grandees of the empire had been raised to the dignity of dukes, although none of them approved the vicious government of their chief. Two friends and colleagues of W6n-wang’s had made an attempt to cure the emperor of his infatuation for Ta-ki, for which they were condemned to death. The body of one of them was cut into pieces, cooked, and served THE SHANG, OR YIN, DYNASTY (1766-1122 B.c.) 59 as a dish of meat to the father of the victim, who also was subsequently killed. W6n-wang freely gave vent to his indignation at these horrors, whereupon one of the emperor’s creatures, the Marquis of Ch’ung, denounced him for the crime of lese-majesty ; but W6n-wang’s reputation through- out the empire for unimpeachableness of character gave him an authority which even the emperor respected, and Chéu-sin dared not take his life lest the people should rise in indignation; he, therefore, confined himself to making the duke a prisoner at Yu-li, in the modern Honan. There Won-wang spent three years, making use of his seclusion in producing one of the most famous works of Chinese literature, the I-king, “Book of Changes.” Next to cer- tain ballads of the Shi-king, “Book of Odes,” and apart from the hieroglyphic inscriptions of the Shang, this is one of the oldest products of Chinese literature now in existence.’ As we have already seen, the invention of the so-called Pa-kua, “ight kua,” or mystic trigraphs of Chinese super- stition (I have no better name for them), is ascribed to the Emperor Fu-hi. This means that historians are unable to name an inventor for them within the historical period. The eight trigraphs, or Kua, consisted of a combination of continuous and broken lines, each corresponding to cer- tain elements of nature. The continuous lines represent the male, the broken lines the female, principle. Every- thing good _and_ superior, accordin. i ideas, is male; the opposite is female. The female clearly takes 1Its rival, as regards antiquity, is possibly the very short text known as Yii-tzi, “The Philosopher Yii,”’ ascribed with some uncer- tainty to Yu Hiung, Wén-wang’s own teacher. Wylie, Notes on Chinese Literature, p. 125. 60 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA e a back seat in nature. Heaven is male, earth is female; the sun is male, the moon is female. Similarly, the ideas of “day,” “south,” “white,” as positive terms, are male, while their opposites “night,” “north,” and “black” are female. If the inventor of these mystic combinations, which in the last instance fall back on the most ancient Chinese division of natural phenomena into male and female, was aware that he was dispensing all the good things to man, leaving his fair companion in the cold, the eight ‘ua could not have originated at a time when matri- archy was the order of the day, as ought to have been the case before Fu-hi, the inventor of matrimony, before whose time, we are told, “children knew only their mothers and not their fathers.” This unmistakable allusion to matri- archy occurs in the Pat-hu-t’ung, a work published by the celebrated historian Pan Ku, who died 92 a.p. The coin- cidence of matriarchy being abandoned for matrimony, headed by a pater familias, which involves the ascendency of the male to rulership in the family, and the invention of a system of symbols associating all the sympathetic phe- nomena of nature with the male, leaving their cold and unsympathetic opposites to the female, impresses me as another instance of logical reasoning among the historians responsible for these details in their imaginary history of primeval man. The eight trigrams of Fu-hi were the following: — 1st ——— K’tén, heaven, the ethereal principle; the symbol consisting of three male lines. 2d = = K’un, earth; three female lines. 3d = = GChén, thunder; two female lines above one male. THE SHANG, OR YIN, DYNASTY (1766-1122 B.c.) 61 4th — = Ké6n, mountain and hills; two female lines below one male. Sth = = Li, fire, light, heat; one female between two male lines. 6th —— Kan, water, liquid element; one male be- tween two female lines. 7th =—— Tut, steam; one female above two male lines. 8th == _ Siin, wind; one female below two male lines. It will be seen that all these symbols constitute a com- bination of broken and unbroken lines; the latter stand for male, or yang; the former for female, or yin. The pre- ponderance and relative position of the one or the other of the two principles of gender produce the idea of certain elements of nature. W6n-wang is supposed to have per- fected this system by doubling the number of strokes, thus obtaining sixty-four combinations, to each of which he attached a number of symbolic meanings. He described this system in the I-king, which is regarded by the Chinese themselves as the chief classic of their literature. In their opinion it forms the essence of all wisdom. Its occultness, however, makes it unintelligible to any student not willing to devote all his energies to its interpretation. The J-king, which during recent years has attracted the attention of Sinologues, is important not only from any value modern scholars may attach to it, but also from the close connec- tion, mysterious though it may appear to us, in which it has stood for three thousand years with the entire mental and social life of the Chinese. The native literature in the shape of commentaries on W6n-wang’s work is enormous. As a book containing what the Chinese would call the principles of their science of divination, the I-king has, in spite of its 62 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA unintelligibility, permeated the masses more deeply per- haps than the writings of Confucius. Confucius himself spoke of the work in the highest terms; and this could not but act as a recommendation to all the philosophers of his school. W6n-wang’s son Fa, who later on became the founder of the Chéu dynasty under the name of Wu-wang, was anxious to see his aged father delivered from his confinement, and since he did not see his way to bring this about by either persuasion or force, he took refuge in the emperor’s weak- ness for female beauty. He made him a gift of a beautiful young woman, who availed herself of the tyrant’s tem- porary infatuation in demanding Wo6n-wang’s: release. Won-wang was reinstated in all his former dignities and declared the first prince of the court. This included the privilege of surrounding himself with an armed retinue. Won-wang soon left the court and returned to his duchy. There he gathered around him the discontented elements among the emperor’s grandees and, by making war on some of the neighboring states which the emperor had asked him to subdue, increased his military power. Hav- ing changed his capital twice and spent several years in warfare, he died in 1135 B.c. at the age of ninety, after a glorious reign of half a century. § 20. Wu-waNG AND THE Fai or THE SHANG DYNASTY Wén-wang’s government had so much strengthened the power of his duchy, and his grand reputation as a ruler with the emperor’s misgovernment had made him so many friends, that his son Wu-wang soon found himself at the head of a revolutionary party destined to make an end of THE SHANG, OR YIN, DYNASTY (1766-1122 3.c.) 63 the abhorred dynasty of Shang. New, unheard-of cruelties committed by Chéu-sin and his consort Ta-ki helped to kindle the fire of sedition. The remonstrances and ex- hortations of the well-disposed among the emperor’s entourage were of no avail. One of his own relatives, named Pi Kan, who had dared to reproach him for his depravity, became one of the last victims of his cruelty. In reply to a long speech he had made before the emperor, the latter cried out: “They say a sage has seven orifices in his heart. Let us see if this is the case with you.” Upon which he caused Pi Kan to be disembowelled in his presence. Another kinsman of the emperor’s, the Viscount of Wei, left court to place himself under Wu-wang’s protection, who at last assembled his forces to take in hand the punish- ment of the tyrant. Before crossing the Yellow River, at a place called Méng-tsin, he made some celebrated speeches to his adherents, in which he explains the motives of his action, the supposed tenor of which has been pre- served in the Shu-king.1 Wu-wang there says: — “Heaven and earth is the parent of all creatures; and of all creatures man is the most highly endowed. The sincere, intelligent, and perspicacious among men becomes the great sovereign; and the great sovereign is the parent of the people. But now Chéu-sin, the king of Shang, does not reverence Heaven above, and inflicts calamities on the people below. He has been abandoned to drunk- enness, and reckless in Just. He has dared to exercise cruel oppres- sion. Along with criminals he has punished all their relatives. He has put men into office on the hereditary principle. He has made it his pursuit to have palaces, towers, pavilions, embank- ments, ponds, and all other extravagances, to the most painful injury of you, the myriad people. He has burned and roasted the 1 Legge, p. 281 seqq. 64 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA loyal and good. He has ripped up pregnant women. Great Heaven was moved with indignation, and charged my deceased father Wén-wang reverently to display its majesty; but he died before the work was completed. “On this account, I, Fa [Wu-wang], who am but a little child, have by means of you, the hereditary rulers of my friendly states, contemplated the government of Shang; but Chéu-sin has no repentant heart. He abides squatting on his heels, not serving God or the spirits of heaven and earth, neglecting also the temple of his ancestors, and not sacrificing in it. The victims and the vessels of millet all become the prey of wicked robbers; and still he says, ‘The people are mine; the decree is mine,’ never trying to correct his contemptuous mind. Now Heaven, to protect the inferior people, made for them rulers, and made for them instruc- tors, that they might be able to be aiding to God, and secure the tranquillity of the four quarters of the empire. In regard to who are criminals and who are not, how dare I give any allowance to my own wishes? Where the strength is the same, measure the virtue of the parties; where the virtue is the same, measure their righteousness. Chéu-sin has hundreds of thousands and myriads of ministers, but they have hundreds of thousands and myriads of minds; I have three thousand ministers, but they have one mind. The iniquity of Shang is full. Heaven gives command to destroy it. If I did not comply with Heaven my iniquity would be as great. “T, who am a little child, early and late am filled with appre- hensions. I have received charge from my deceased father Wén- wang; I have offered special sacrifice to God; I have performed the due services to the great Earth — and I lead the multitude of you to execute the punishment appointed by Heaven. Heaven compassionates the people. What the people desire, Heaven will be found to give effect to. Do you aid me, the one man, to cleanse for ever all within the four seas. Nowis the time! It may not be lost.” With similar speeches Wu-wang addressed the leaders and soldiers of his army and his allies, who had “come from afar, being men of the Western regions.” This may pos- THE SHANG, OR YIN, DYNASTY (1766-1122 z.c.) 65 sibly imply that he relied on the help of the Huns, his neighbors in the West. He certainly mentions a number of ethnic names belonging to non-Chinese tribes. “ Lift up your lances, join your shields, raise your spears.’’ “Chéu, the king of Shang, follows only the words of his wife.” “They are only the vagabonds of the empire, loaded with crimes, whom he honors and exalts, whom he employs and trusts, making them great officers and nobles, so that they can tyrannize over the people, exercising their villainies in the city of Shang.” On having made a goodly number of speeches, which are preserved in the Shu-king, Wu-wang gave battle to the assembled army of the emperor. After a bloody fight the latter was completely defeated. Chéu-sin took refuge in his palace, where he ordered all his most valuable jewels to be brought, and set fire to the building, in order not to fall into the hands of the enemy. When the news of Chéu-sin’s death was brought to Wu-wang, he entered Chéu-sin’s palace to convince himself of the fact. Ssi-ma Ts’ién informs us that Wu-wang shot three arrows at the emperor’s corpse, descended from his car, and stabbed it with his dagger, after which he severed the head from the body and suspended it from a white standard. Madam Ta-ki and another favorite of the emperor were killed, and their corpses were similarly treated. The word used by Ssi-ma Ts’ién for the dagger with which Wu-wang stabbed the dead emperor is king-kién, which means a “light two-edged sword.” But this is clearly not the original reading. The latter is preserved in the Chéu-shu, a work which Chavannes* has good reason to believe to be older than the Shi-k1. In the cor- 1 Les mémoires historiques, vol. i, p. 235, note 1, and vol. v, p. 457. F 66 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA responding passage of the Chéu-shu, which appears with but slight alterations in Ssi-ma Ts’ién’s text, the word used for Wu-wang’s dagger is king-lit (king = “light,” li = “a musical pipe’). The two characters employed in describing this sound give absolutely no sense in ordinary Chinese, and the commentators found it necessary to add that the term represents the “name of a double-edged sword,” or ‘a dagger’’ (kién-ming). Ssi-ma Ts’ién, or per- haps some later editor of his text, who did not understand the word, substituted king-kién, “light double-edged sword.” But the word is easily explained if we look upon it as a foreign term. We receive a broad hint as to its origin in the account of a historical event preserved in the history of the earlier Han dynasty.1 When, in 47 B.c., the chief of the Hiung-nu, or Huns, was about to conclude a treaty with the Chinese court, the ceremony of swearing a solemn oath had to be gone through, in which the Great Khan, or Shan-yii, had to swallow a beverage prepared by himself and consisting of the blood of a white horse mixed with wine. The khan stirred the wine with a king-luk and a golden cyathus, and the scholiast explains the term king- luk as “the precious sword of the Hiung-nu.”’ I have for years, in the course of my readings of Chinese texts re- garding the Turkish nations in central Asia, tried to trace the prototypes of Chinese transcriptions representing Turkish words; and quite a number of examples seem to suggest that the language used by the ancient Huns, or Hiung-nu, was actually Turkish, as has been suggested by Klaproth and others. The word corresponding to the Chinese transcription king-luk may be easily recognized in a word found in the modern Turki language and some 1 Ts’ién-han-shu, ch. 94 B, p. 6. THE SHANG, OR YIN, DYNASTY (1766-1122 B.c.) 67 other Turkish dialects; namely, kingrak, “a two-edged knife, a sabre.” I do not hesitate to apply this identifica- tion to the word used for Wu-wang’s dagger, king-lii, which may be merely another transcription for the purely Turk- ish word kingrak. If my deductions are correct, they would indicate that a Turkish name was in use for a kind of weapon which the first emperor of the Chéu dynasty carried with him in the twelfth century B.c., and that this is the oldest Turkish word on record. But it seems also to suggest that Wu-wang, whose dominions lay on the western border of China, stood in certain relations with his next- door neighbors, the ancestors of the Hiung-nu. It is highly probable that the barbarians mentioned in connection with certain inroads they made on Chinese territory during the remotest periods of Chinese history are identical with the well-known hereditary enemy of the Chinese, the Hiung-nu, whose history begins to be told with palpable detail from the beginning of the third century B.c. The various names under which these northern and west- ern neighbors of the Chinese are mentioned during the earlier periods of history appear to be variants in the transcription of the same name Hun or Hunnu. Thus we find the Hun-yii mentioned as a tribe on the northern bor- ders, against whom the Emperor Huang-ti is supposed to have made war in the twenty-seventh century B.c. A later name was Hién-yiin, the designation in use previous to the introduction of the term Hiung-nu in the third century B.c. The root Hun or Kun will appear to those gifted with a lively imagination to occur in various other names for the ancestors of King Attila’s people, then occupying the northern and western borders of China. The reason why the Chinese compare these northern nomads and other 68 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA barbarous tribes to “dogs” (K’téan or K’iiny) may have originated in a kind of jeu de mot. As early as 689 B.c. we read in Tso’s commentary on the “Spring and Autumn Annals’’! that the “dog barbarians,” in Chinese K’tian- jung, were defeated. If this word K’téian (in Cantonese K’iin), “dog,” is another transcription for Hin or Hun, this may remind us of the popular etymology of the Ger- man abusive term Hundsfott, which has been wrongly explained as having originated in the words Hunnus fuit. One of these tribes, whom Wé6n-wang is supposed to have defeated 1138 B.c., was called Kuan, Kun, or Hun, and has been located by the Chinese historians in the south of the present Ordos territory. Mencius praises Won- wang for the wisdom with which he “served” the Kun barbarians. “It requires a perfectly virtuous prince,” he says,” “to be able with a great country to serve a small one, as, for instance, King W6n served the Kun barbarians. And it requires a wise prince to be able with a small country to serve a large one, as King T’ai [Won-wang’s grand- father, 1327 B.c.] served the Hiin-yii.” The two ethnic names here mentioned probably both refer to the Huns. How Wo6n-wang served his neighbors, the Huns, may be seen from another passage in Mencius,? who says: — “Formerly, when King T’ai dwelt in Pin, the barbarians of the north were constantly making incursions upon it. He served them with skins and silks, and still he suffered from them. He served them with dogs and horses, and still he suffered from them. Heserved them with pearls and gems, and still he suffered from them. See- ing this, he assembled ,the old men, and announced to them saying: ‘What the barbarians want is my territory. I have heard this — that a ruler does not injure his people with that wherewith he * Legge, Ch’un-ts’iu, p. 126. ? Mencius, ed. Legge, p. 31. * Men- cius, ed. Legge, p. 52. THE SHANG, OR YIN, DYNASTY (1766-1122 B.c.) 69 nourishes them. My children, why should you be troubled about having no prince? I will leave this.’ Accordingly, he left Pin, crossed the mountain Liang, built a town at the foot of Mount K’i, and dwelt there. The people of Pin said: ‘He is a benevolent man. We must not lose him.’ Those who followed him looked like crowds hastening to market.” We learn from this passage that T’ai-wang, known also as Ku-kung, whose personal name was T’an-fu, the grand- father of Woén-wang, changed his residence from a place called Pin to another called K’i, and that the move was due to the grinding tribute exacted from him by his neighbors, the Hiin-yii (Hunnu), or, as they were afterward called by the Chinese, Hiung-nu tribes. The foundation of the duchy of Chéu is, therefore, closely connected with this historical fact, placed by Chinese standard chronologists, whether rightly or not, in the year 1327 B.c. I am inclined to believe that the steady growth in the power of this house of Chéu was due to two main causes: (1) the rotten- ness of the Chinese government under Chéu-sin, who lacked the backbone absolutely essential to protect the nation against the common enemy that, after the lapse of fifteen hundred years, was to become fatal to powerful Europe; (2) the exposed position of the dukes of Chéu, who had for generations to defend their distant palatinate against the common enemy, while the responsible head of the nation roasted his subjects to please his favorite Ta-ki. But for the dukes of Chéu, China would have then become a prey to the Huns. In one of his speeches to the assembled army, preserved in the Shu-king,| Wu-wang mentions eight ethnic names: “O ye men of Yung, Shu, Kiang Mau, Wei, Lu, P’éng and Po, lift up your lances, join your 1 Legge, op. cit., p. 301. 70 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA shields, raise your spears! I have a speech to make.” The Chinese commentators hold that these names belong to barbarian tribes living outside of China proper, and insinuate that they were subject to the dukes of Chéu without falling under the dominions of the emperor of China. Some of them may be safely located in the south and southwest of the Chéu duchy; others are stated to - have occupied the western and northern borders. In the Bamboo Books Wu-wang is represented as “assembling the barbarians of the West (si-7) and the princes to attack Yin” (v.e. Shang) ;* which seems to imply that his ascendency was actually brought about by a foreign army. It is, therefore, quite possible that a portion of Wu-wang’s army was formed by the Kun barbarians, or Huns, of the Ordos territory, his nearest neighbors, defeated and, as we may assume, incorporated into his dominions by his father Won-wang in 1138 B.c. We need not be astonished from all this to find that Turkish words, like the one for Wu-wang’s dagger, have crept into the Chinese language, which is as much mixed up with foreign elements as is Chinese civilization gen- erally. I wish to lay stress on this idea, which, it appears to me, has not been sufficiently appreciated by the his- torians, although at this stage we can but faintly trace the foreign influences affecting the nation, which during later centuries, in spite of the well-known conservative character of Chinese culture, have assumed such dimensions as almost to amount to amalgamation. 1 Legge, Shu-king, Prolegomena, p. 144. THE SHANG, OR YIN, DYNASTY (1766-1122 3.0.) 71 § 21. CuLTuRE of THE SHANG PERIOD Before leaving the Shang dynasty, which may be de- scribed as the semi-historical period of Chinese history, a few words as to its culture will be in place. The Shang and Chéu dynasties have left to the Far-eastern world most valuable legacies in the shape of monuments of national art, chiefly sacrificial vessels and bells made of bronze and covered with characteristic ornaments, some- times also with hieroglyphic inscriptions. Under the Emperor Shi-huang-ti works of literature and of art had a narrow escape from being consigned to oblivion, owing to the persecution of this enemy of all ancient civilization. Lovers of these precious monuments of antiquity had to bury, immure, or conceal them, lest they might be dis- covered and destroyed under a cruel law. Later centuries rediscovered them, when a period of renaissance set in, culminating in the imperial collections of the T’ang dy- nasty in the eighth, and again in the twelfth, century, under the great imperial collector Hui-tsung, and finally under K’ién-lung of the present dynasty. Chinese archeologists have done excellent work in applying a sound method of criticism to the examination of such works; and I am per- sonally inclined to place confidence in the results of their researches. Whether an ancient bronze vessel is 1000, 2000, or 3000’ years old, can in my opinion never be decided on the mere appearance of its surface. Chemical analysis might throw light on the question; but I am not aware that this has been attempted. In deciding whether such vessels date from the Shang dynasty, Chinese archeologists were guided by the style of ornament — which only a trained eye can distinguish from that of the succeeding Chéu dy- 72 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA nasty — by the contents and style of the legends appearing on them, the shape of the hieroglyphics used therein, and chiefly by the names of persons mentioned in them. Let us start with these personal names. It is a character- istic of the Shang period that personal names are repre- sented by cyclical characters such as I, Ting, Sin, Kut, Kéng, and Wu, which were originally used as calendar signs to denote certain days of the month. When a child was born, it received the name of the day on which the event took place. This custom is said to have prevailed throughout the Shang period down to the beginning of the Chéu dynasty. In examining the list of the Shang em- perors one finds that, with the exception of Ch’éng-t’ang, the founder of the dynasty, every one of their names con- tains a personal epithet, like T’ai (“great’’), Siau (“small, young”), Tsu (“ancestor”), and others, followed by one of these cyclical characters denoting the birthday, e.g. T’ai-kia, Siau-sin, and Tsu-i, being names of Shang em- perors, or Fu-i and Tsu-méu, which are found among the inscriptions of sacrificial vessels. With other words the formation of names becomes typical as compared with both the previous legendary period and the succeeding Chéu epoch. It stands to reason that the appearance of a name constructed on this principle caused the medieval art critics to infer that works thus marked dated from the Shang period. This has led them to the study of other characteristics —the shape of the hieroglyphics used, the style of ornament, class of vessel in connection with its sacrificial use, ete. The study of these ancient bronzes began to be taken up from a critical point of view in the tenth century A.D., when, under the title K’au-ku-t’u, an illustrated work was THE SHANG, OR YIN, DYNASTY (1766-1122 B.c.) 73 published with the codperation of the celebrated painter Li Lung-mién, known in Japan as Ririumin, himself a great collector of antiquities, by whom some of the illus- trations showing the shapes and ornaments of ancient bronzes were drawn. The compiler of the book had to collect his material from manifold sources, since at that time only a small number of the vessels described was found in state collections, the remainder being in the hands of thirty-seven private collectors living in several parts of the empire, but chiefly in the capital Ch’ang-an, the present Si-an-fu. Within less than a century a considerable change took place. The great catalogue of the collections of the Emperor Hui-tsung, comprising the art treasures formerly in private hands, besides a great many new additions, was prepared and published under the name Po-ku-t’u-lu in thirty books during the years 1107-1111. Its author, Wang Fu, was an eminent archeologist; and the Emperor Hui-tsung (1101-1126), insignificant though he was from a political point of view, was the greatest patron of art that ever occupied a Chinese throne. In his capital, K’ai-fong-fu, he united the most extensive art treasures consisting of bronzes, works in jade, paintings, and manu- scripts. Among an enormous number of bronzes there were 148 vessels which Wang Fu ascribes to the Shang dynasty. In 1749 the Emperor K’ién-lung of the present dynasty caused a magnificent illustrated catalogue of ancient bronzes to be published by a committee of scholars, in which, besides those previously known, a number of Shang examples, apparently not known to Wang Fu, were described and illustrated; and further additions were made in a publication of the year 1822, the Kin-shi-so in twelve books. 74 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA These bronze works of the Shang dynasty, with their inscriptions, and a few ballads in the Shi-king, “Book of Odes,” are the chief monuments that throw light on the culture of that period. The inscriptions of these, as of later bronze vessels, have been collected in numerous works. The Chinese method of taking rubbings of old inscriptions and transferring them to wooden blocks for printing greatly facilitates the publication of illustrations for works of this kind. The best known thesaurus of hieroglyphic legends, found in nearly every good collection of Chinese books, is the Chung-ting-i-k’i-kuan-shi, published in 1804 by Yiian Yiian (died in 1849), the great statesman and scholar, well known for his obstructive policy as viceroy of Canton in dealing with foreign relations. This work con- tains facsimiles of all the hieroglyphic inscriptions on the oldest bronze vessels known up to his time. Of these about 170 short inscriptions appear on sacrificial vessels and bells ascribed to the Shang dynasty. Yiian Yuan faithfully reproduces the opinions of former native arche- ologists, who deserve all credit for unbiased conservatism in judgment; and the critical apparatus contained in his commentary presents ample proof of the care with which native students have sifted the several arguments for or against the genuineness of each of these inscriptions. Such as it is, Yiian Yiian’s “Thesaurus of Hieroglyphics,” while probably containing far less than the entire treasury of words which might then have been included, may serve to throw some light on the civilization of that remote period. I shall attempt a rapid survey of the hiero- *Cf. Frank H. Chalfant, Early Chinese Writing, reprinted from Memoirs of the Carnegie Museum (Pittsburg), vol. iv, no. 1, Septem- ber, 1906. THE SHANG, OR YIN, DYNASTY (1766-1122 x.c.) 75 glyphic material contained in Yiian Yiian’s work, as far as deciphered by native critics. We find in it the following words : — (a) NOUNS AND PRONOUNS The technical names of a number of sacrificial vessels such as ting, 1, tsun, etc.; the words for bell, spear, arrow, bow, and hatchet, the last two names being merely the pictures of those articles; carriage, broom, cowries (the oldest means of exchange), and possibly amber; further, the terms for wood or tree, vessel or vase, clothes, field, palace, gate. Among the terms representing persons we find father, mother, son, grandson, uncle, woman, wife, ancestor, friend, prince or king, minister of state, military leader, lord. Names of animals are represented solely by hawk and pictures of the horse, tiger, and deer, the meaning being uncertain. Apart from these are found the terms for sun or day, moon or month, year, evening, family, ter- ritory, history, beginning, middle, orders, sacrifice, and happiness; the pronoun denoting he, she, it. (b) QUALITIES, NUMBERS, ETC. West and east, precious, eternal, good, military, wild or rude, and nearly all the cardinal numbers, including wan (“ myriad ’’). (c) VERBS To make, use, complete, uphold, guard, register, engrave, bestow, rely upon, see, arise, spread out (as troops), move, mourn, admonish, say, drink, and follow. Of personal names, which are mostly compounds, of 76 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA one of the above words and a cyclical character, I have already spoken. The odes of the Shi-king, a collection of popular songs compiled by Confucius, probably contain a number of specimens representing Shang-lore, if not the very text handed down from the Shang period. But such a sup- position rests on nothing better than conjecture, since historical allusions, which would enable us to refer them to some particular period, are wanting. The Chinese con- sider one particular ode as the oldest to which a date can be assigned,! of which I shall speak later on; and since this does not take us farther than the eighth century B.c., we have to content ourselves with the idea that some portions of the Shi-king may possibly reach beyond the time of Wu-wang. What we know about the culture of the Shang epoch and the legendary periods preceding it, apart from these monuments of art, appears in the historical accounts of the Shu-king, the dry-as-dust annals of the Bamboo Books, Ssi-ma Ts’ién’s Shi-ki, and the occasional remarks found in Confucian and later literature. The Shu-king is a his- torical source which becomes the more suspicious the more it enters into the detail of cultural life; and I, for one, am inclined to think that much of what we read about those beautiful maxims of social and official life preserved in the speeches of emperors and ministers, supposed to have been made during the earliest periods from Yau and Shun and the great Yu down to Chéu-sin, are merely the philosophical views of Confucian sages, who fitted them into a chronologi- cal framework of their own invention, in order to make a deeper impression on the people. In this, if ever it was 1 Shi-wu-k’ i-yiian, ch. iv, p. 3. THE SHANG, OR YIN, DYNASTY (1766-1122 B.c.) 77 their intention, they have succeeded perfectly. The old emperor lore, divested of this chronological framework, may be regarded as dramatized social philosophy of the sixth and fifth centuries B.c. Considered in this light, it certainly is of great value from a cultural point of view. The few traces of real cultural development found in these alleged old records may be due to traditions still alive at the time when they were amalgamated with contempo- raneous lore. It will ever be a matter of regret that we are not in a position to support the most ancient history of China by ‘unchallengeable monuments such as those of ancient Egypt. Had Napoleon I appeared with his army on the banks of the Yellow River instead of on the Nile, his his- torical conscience would not have entitled him to inform his soldiers that “four thousand years looked down upon them” without adding emphatically the word “perhaps.” He could more confidently have said “three thousand,” though he would have looked in vain for witnesses to im- press the imagination of his hearers, such as the venerable pyramids of Gizeh or the temple ruins of Luxor and Karnac. With the exception of the Great Wall, an almost modern structure when compared with its Egyptian rivals, and a few tombs of doubtful identity, China has only literary evidence to advance in support of the antiquity of her cul- ture. Its oldest extant witnesses are the sacrificial vessels and bells of the Shang and Chéu dynasties. Of them we possess faithful descriptions with rubbings of the hiero- glyphics found on them. But who is able to tell the differ- ence between an original actually dating, say, from the fif- teenth century B.c., and a clever recast or an imitation made two thousand years later, such as have been prepared in 78 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA thousands of copies ever since the Han dynasty? These, the only monuments of the second millennium B.c. and the succeeding Chéu dynasty, are now scattered throughout the world. They are found in the curiosity shops of Japan, the museums of Europe, and the drawing-rooms of American millionaires. We are bound to acknowledge the bona fides of these witnesses of ancient culture, whether genuine or not, since a recast, or a close imitation, or even a good book illustration, is to us as good as an original, so long as the ancient style has been preserved in its purity; and we hardly ever meet with specimens where this is not the case. The material furnished by these remnants of Shang and Chéu art may be scanty as compared to the records of literature; but this much may be said in their favor, that they have not been tampered with by literary editors. The culture of the Shang period, as far as the religious life of rulers, grandees, and people, and the social relations between them are concerned, we may assume to be reflected in that mirror held up by the historians of the Chéu dy- nasty; and what we learn about the legendary emperors Yau, Shun, and Yii may be held to apply more aptly to the period immediately preceding the Chéu epoch than to the more remote ones. From the records of the Shu-king we are bound to admit that the ancient Chinese were decided monotheists. Shang-ti, “the Supreme ruler,” re- ceived as much veneration at the hands of his people as did God, under any name, from any contemporaneous nation. The religious instinct of the Shang and Chéu rulers may have been less romantic than that of Homeric Greece, but it came nearer the Christian standard than that of many another nation of antiquity. The worship of other spiritual beings was less developed than it has THE SHANG, OR YIN, DYNASTY (1766-1122 3.c.) 79 become in the China of later centuries. Religion was not in the hands of priests; but the father was the priest for his family, the prince of each state for his people, and the “Son of Heaven” for the empire. The emperor’s duties in his capacity as high priest of the nation were not a mat- ter of personal belief, but formed the most important part of his position. The ideas entertained by the ancient Chinese of the one God, ranking above all the other spirits, such as Sun, Moon, and Stars, the “Five Sacred Mountains,’ Heaven and Earth, his creatures, as represented in the accounts of the Shu-king, are well described by Legge * as follows: — “The name by which God was designated was ‘the Ruler’ and ‘the Supreme Ruler,’ denoting emphatically his personality, supremacy, and unity. We find it constantly interchanged with the term ‘Heaven,’ by which the ideas of supremacy and unity are equally conveyed, while that of personality is only indicated vaguely, and by an association of the mind. By God kings were supposed to reign, and princes were required to decree justice. All were under law to Him and ‘bound to obey His will. Even on the in- ferior people He has conferred a moral sense, compliance with which would show their nature invariably right. All powers that be are from Him. He raises one to the throne and puts down another. Obedience is sure to receive His blessing; disobedience, to be visited with His curse. The business of kings is to rule in righteousness and benevolence, so that the people may be happy and good. They are to be an example to all in authority, and to the multitudes under them. Their highest achievement is to cause the people tranquilly to pursue the course which their moral nature would indicate and- approve. When they are doing wrong, God admonishes them by judgments, storms, famine, and other calamities; if they persist in evil, sentence goes forth against them. The dominion is taken from them, and given to others more worthy of it. The Duke of Chéu in his address on ‘The Establishment of Government’ gives a striking i Shu-king, Prolegomena, p. 193 seqq. 80 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA summary of the history of the empire down to hisown time. Yii the Great, the founder of the Hia dynasty, sought for able men to honor God. But the way of Kié, the last of his line, was different. He employed cruel men; and he had no successors. The empire was given to T’ang the Successful [Ch’éng-t’ang], who ‘greatly ad- ministered the bright ordinances of God.’ By and by T’ang’s throne came to Chéu-sin, who was all violence, so that God sov- ereignly punished him. The empire was transferred to the house of Chéu, whose chiefs showed their fitness for the charge by finding out men who would reverently serve God, and appointing them as presidents and chiefs of the people. “Tt was the duty of all men to reverence and honor God, by obeying His law written in their hearts, and seeking His blessing in all their ways; but there was a solemn and national worship of Him, as ruling in nature and providence, which could only be per- formed by the emperor. It consisted of sacrifices, or offerings rather, and prayers. No image was formed of Him, as indeed the Chinese have never thought of fashioning a likeness of the Supreme.” Besides God as the Supreme Ruler, the Shang rulers and their alleged predecessors are shown in the Shu-king to have worshiped several minor deities, if we may so call them. Legge speaks of this phase of religious life in the following terms: — “Who the ‘six honored ones,’ whom Shun sacrificed to next to God, were, is not known. In going on to worship the hills and rivers, and the host of spirits, he must have supposed that there were certain tutelary beings, who presided over the more conspicuous objects of nature, and its various processes. They were under God and could do nothing, excepting as they were permitted and empowered by Him; but the worship of them was inconsistent with the truth that God demands to be recognized as ‘He who worketh all in all,’ and will allow no religious homage to be given to any but Himself. It must have always been the parent of many superstitions; and it paved the way for the pantheism which enters largely into the belief of the Chinese at, the present day, and of which we find one of the earliest steps in the practice, which commenced THE SHANG, OR YIN, DYNASTY (1766-1122 z.c.) 81 with the Chéu dynasty, of not only using the term ‘Heaven’ as a synonym for God, but the combination Heaven and Earth.” Ancestor worship, the leading feature of all religious belief among the Chinese down to the present day, must have taken its rise long before historical times, since allu- sions to it in the Shu-king are referred to the times of the legendary emperors. Legge says with regard to it: — “There was also among the early Chinese the religious worship of their departed friends, which still continues to be observed by all classes from the emperor downward, and seems of all religious services to have the greatest hold upon the people. The title given in the Shu to Shun’s minister of religion is that of ‘ Arranger of the Ancestral Temple.’ The rule of Confucius, that ‘parents when dead should be sacrificed to according to propriety,’ was doubtless in accordance with a practice which had come down from the earliest times of the nation. “The spirits of the departed were supposed to have a knowledge of the circumstances of their descendants, and to be able to affect them. Events of importance in a family were communicated to them before their shrines; many affairs of government were trans- acted in the ancestral temple. When Yau demitted to Shun the business of the government, the ceremony took place in the temple of ‘the accomplished ancestor,’ the individual to whom Yau traced his possession of the supreme dignity; and while Yau lived, Shun, on every return to the capital from his administrative progresses, offered a bullock before the shrine of the same personage. In the same way, when Shun found the toils of government too heavy for him, and called Yi to share them, the ceremony took place in the temple of ‘the spiritual ancestor,’ the chief in the line of Shun’s progenitors. In the remarkable narrative, which we have in the sixth of the books of Chéu, of the Duke of Chéu’s praying for the recovery of his brother, King Wu, from a dangerous illness, and offering to die in his stead, he raises three altars, to their father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, and prays to them as having in heaven the charge of watching over their great descendant. When he has ascertained G 82 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA by divination that the king would recover, he declares that he had got Wu’s tenure of the throne renewed by the three kings, who had thus consulted for a long futurity of their House. “This case shows us that the spirits of good kings were believed y to be in heaven. A more general conclusion is derived from what we read in the seventh of the Books of Shang. The Emperor P’an- kéng, irritated by the opposition of the wealthy and powerful Houses to his measures, and their stirring up the people also to murmur against them, threatens them all with calamities to be sent down by his high ancestor, T’ang the Successful. He tells his ministers that their ancestors and fathers, who had loyally served his predeces- sors were now urgently entreating T’ang, in his spirit-state in heaven, to execute great punishments on their descendants. Not only, therefore, did good sovereigns continue to have a happy existence in heaven, but their good ministers shared the happiness with them, and were somehow round about them, as they had been on earth, and took an interest in the concerns which had occupied them dur- ing their lifetime... Modern scholars, following in the wake of Con- fucius, to whom the future state of the departed was all wrapt in shadows, clouds, and darkness, say that the people of the Shang dynasty were very superstitious. My object is to bring out the fact and the nature of their superstition. “There is no hint in the Shu, nor elsewhere, so far as I am aware, of what became of bad emperors and bad ministers after death, nor indeed of the future fate of men generally. There is a heaven in the classical books of the Chinese; but there is no hell, and no purgatory. Their oracles are silent as to any doctrine of future rewards and punishments. Their exhortations to well-doing and their warnings against evil are all based on a reference to the will of God, and the certainty that in this life virtue will be rewarded and vice punished. Of the five happinesses the first is long life; the second is riches; the third is soundness of body and serenity of mind; the fourth is the love of virtue, and the fifth is doing or re- ceiving to the end the will of Heaven. There is no promise of rest or comfort beyond the grave. The virtuous man may live and die in suffering and disgrace; let him be cheered. His posterity will reap the reward of his merits. Some one sprung from his loins will become wealthy, or attain to distinction. But if he should THE SHANG, OR YIN, DYNASTY (1766-1122 3.c.) 83 have no posterity — it never occurred to any of the ancient sages to consider such a case. “T will pass on from this paragraph with a reference to the sub- ject of divination. Although the ancient Chinese can hardly be said to have had the knowledge of a future state, and were not curious to inquire about it, they were anxious to know about the wisdom and issues of their plans for the present life. For this pur- pose they had recourse to divination. The Duke of Chéu certainly practised it; and we have a regular staff of diviners among the officers of the Chéu dynasty. P’an-k6ng practised it in the dynasty of Shang. And Shun did so also, if we can put faith in the ‘Counsels of Yi.’ The instruments of divination were the shell of the tortoise and the stalks of a certain grass or reed. By various caustic opera- tions on the former, and by manipulations with the latter, it was supposed possible to ascertain the will of Heaven. It is difficult to understand how the really great men of ancient China could have believed it. One observation ascribed to Shun is worthy of remark. He tells Yi that divination, when fortunate, must not be repeated. I once saw a father and son divining after one of the fashions of the present day. They tossed the bamboo roots which came down in the unlucky positions for a dozen times in succession. At last alucky cast wasmade. They looked into each other’s faces, laughed heartily, and rose up delighted from their knees. The divination was now successful; and they dared not repeat it.” Sacrificial service, we may conclude from all we read in the Shu-king and other accounts relating to the Shang dynasty, was the leading feature in the spiritual life of the Chinese, whether devoted to Shang-ti or God, or to what we may call the minor deities as being subordinate to “the Supreme Ruler” or to the spirits of their ancestors. That minuteness of detail which up to the present day governs the entire religious and social life of the Chinese gentleman, the more so the higher he is in the social scale, and most of all in the case of the emperor himself, had clearly commenced to affect public and private life long 84 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CH®NA before the ascendency of the Chéu dynasty, under which rule it reached its highest development to serve as a pattern to future generations. The vessels preserved as living witnesses of that quasi-religious relation between man and the unseen powers supposed to influence his life are full of symbolic ornament. Each of their mani- fold shapes is devoted to a special purpose, which in those days had nothing to do with the burning of incense, a form of worship peculiar to Buddhism and other modern cults rather than to the rites of the Shang period. The bronze vessels of the Shang and Chdéu epochs were used for holding viands placed before the spirits worshiped, or wines for libations to be made to them. The term “censer” often applied to them is a misnomer; for, al- though the Chinese of later ages have used such vessels for holding ashes of incense burned in them, their prototypes were not made for that purpose. The shapes of sacrificial vases, pots, and bottles invented during, if not before, the Shang dynasty were perfected under the Chéu, and have, in the course of imitation, become the models in the later jade and ceramic industries. They have thus exercised no little influence on European pottery, the forms of which are in their origin not confined to the models handed down by Greece and Rome. Among the ornaments engraved on the outer surface of Shang vessels is one occurring in great frequency. It represents the conventionalized face of a monster with a feline expression, called T’au-’1é by the Chinese, the old pronunciation of which name was probably ¢’o-’it, t’o-t’in, or v’o-t’im. I cannot endorse the attempt made’ to con- nect this sound with Greek tav@e, which is derived from ' China und Babylon, in Beilage zur Allgemeinen Zeitung, July 25, 1903. THE SHANG, OR YIN, DYNASTY (1766-1122 B.c.) 85 the cuneiform Tidmat,' nor do I think that the attempts to connect the name with similar words in west-Asiatic languages will be crowned with success. From the defini- tions of the oldest Chinese dictionaries it appears that the two syllables representing that name are separate Chinese words of which the first, ‘’aw, means “greedy of eating and drinking,” the second, ¢’7é, “craving for money and prop- erty.” So it is explained in the T'so-chuan, the ancient commentary on the Ch’un-ts’iu, or “Spring and Autumn Annals.” There the term occurs in connection with four parallel names, each of which represents the personifica- tion of some abominable quality. Whether their bearers were persons or tribes, the Emperor Shun “ banished these four wicked ones, ‘Chaos,’ ‘Monster,’ ‘Block,’ and ‘Glutton’ [the last being Legge’s translation for ?au-t’ié], to meet the spite of the sprites and evil things. The consequence of this was, that when Yau died, all under Heaven, as if they had been one man with common consent bore Shun to be emperor, because . . . he had put away the four wicked ones.” The terms used for what Legge translates by “Chaos,” “Monster,” ‘ Block,” and “Glutton” are built up on a uniform plan by combining two words of evil sig- nificance. According to one of the commentaries the Glutton, or T’au-t’ié, was identical with a personage or tribe (for it appears to be an ethnic name) called San-miau, whom the emperor banished from his dominions and who originally occupied the regions about Mt. Héng-shan and the shores of Tung-t’ing Lake in the present Hu-nan province. From these ancient seats the emperor is said to have banished them to a place called San-wei, which Chinese commenta- 1 Cf. G. Oppert, in Zeitschrift fir Ethnologie, 1903, p. 213. ? Legge, pp. 280, 283. 86 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CH®NA tors have identified with a locality now known as San-wei- shan in the neighborhood of Tun-huang-hién in northwest- ern Kan-su. The San-miau are considered the forefathers of the Tangutans, or K’iang, the southern neighbors of the Yiié-chi, or Indo-Scythians, before their great migration westward in the second century s.c. and of the Miau-tzi tribes. If Klaproth’s derivation, based on Chinese notices, of the origin of the Tibetan race from these K’iang tribes holds good,' the legend of the banishment by the Emperor Shun of the San-miau, their ancestors, may be looked upon as a symbolic allusion to the shifting of their aboriginal seats. It would appear from this tradition that Tangutans, Tibetans, and Miau-tzi originally occupied the north of Hu-nan province and were thence driven westward, owing to the rapid growth of the Chinese race. Legge” appro- priately remarks in connection with this piece of folk-lore: “The references to men and things in what we may call the prehistoric period were, no doubt, in accordance with traditions current at the time, though we cannot accept them as possessed of historical authority, more especially as there is an anti-Confucian spirit in what is said of Yau.” The story of the banishment of the San-miau has been recapitulated by Ssi-ma Ts’ién in his Shi-ki;? and one of the commentaries on this occasion refers to an early work on spirit lore, the Shén-i-king, probably dating from the fourth or fifth century A.p., in which the word ?’au-t’'é occurs in connection with the San-miau. The paragraph from which this quotation is taken says: — 1Cf. S. W. Bushell, The Early History of Tibet, in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1880, p.439. ? Ch’ un-ts’iu, p. 283. 3 Cha- vannes, op. cit., vol. i, p. 67 et passim. : THE SHANG, OR YIN, DYNASTY (1766-1122 B.c.) 87 “Tn the wilds of the West there is a beast shaped like a tiger, but having dogs’ hair two feet long; it has the face of a man, the feet of a tiger, mouth and teeth of a pig, and a tail eighteen feet in length. It infests the wilderness and is called T’au-wu, i.e. ‘Block’ or ‘Blockhead,’ or Au-lang, ‘Werwolf,’ lit. ‘The scornful wolf,’ or Nan-siin, ‘the Untamable.’ The ‘Spring and Autumn Annals’ say: ‘The Emperor Chuan-hii had a degenerate son named T’au-wu with whom it is identical. He had a man’s face and his eyes, hands and feet were of human shape, but on his arms he had wings, without being able to fly. He was a man greedy and voracious [for which the words ¢’au and 16 are used], lewd, idle and void of reason; he, or his people, were called Miau.” These are the San-miau mentioned in the “Spring and Autumn Annals,” of whom the Shu-king says that “the emperor banished them to San-wei.”’ If we allow for gross exaggerations in this piece of folk- lore, the Tibetan mastiff, a ferocious, long-tailed, and long-haired hound, probably well known in the regions referred to in this passage, may be the foundation of it. Anyhow, the word T’au-t’ié appears in all these old accounts as a compound adjective with a distinct meaning, “ greedy and voracious.” This does not exclude the term having originated from popular etymology, like the German Vielfrass, a term of similar meaning as understood by the broad masses, but actually derived from Norse fjallfress, i.e. “inhabitant of rocks,’ a bearlike quadruped in the Scandinavian hills. Under no circumstances, however, should we rush to conclusions on the mere evidence of a similarity in sound. From all I can discover, as far as Chinese tradition goes, the monster called T’au-t’ié appears to be a native inven- tion. So are the other mythological figures represented on ‘the sacrificial vessels of the Shang dynasty, chiefly quad- 88 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CH#NA rupeds, birds, and reptiles, conventionalized to such a degree as to render it almost impossible to identify their shape. Among them we find the dragon and the phenix (lung and féng). ‘These names occur in the oldest literature, it is true, but the shapes in which they are represented in those older works of art are quite different from the elabo- rate pictures made of them by later artists. The pictorial attributes added by them do not appear before the Han dynasty, when foreign influences began to modify the con- servative art of the Shang and the Chéu. I, therefore, readily adopt the suggestion made by Professor Chavannes, who in a review of my researches on foreign influences on Chinese art says:? — “The bird one sees on these archaic bronzes is generally the pheasant. I find before the Han period nothing that resembles the phenix; it appears to me that this fantastic bird is entirely derived from some Western legend or drawing; the dragon itself could well be related to the nagas of India. Dragon and phenix, it is true, are mentioned in those writings which, in the face of the rudimentary state of their texts as accepted by Sinologues, we must look upon as very old; but the traditional shape which they have adopted is of recent date and seems to have been derived from some foreign model. It is interesting to note that this group of fantastic con- ventionalizations is perhaps not Chinese at all from the outset, and in any case not so old as one would feel tempted to believe.” Among the chief ornaments on the sacrificial vessels of the Shang dynasty we find a combination of lines which at first sight in some instances recalls the Egyptian scroll or Greek pattern. It has, however, nothing to do with the latter, but is to be considered an independent creation of Chinese symbolism. Chinese archeologists derive its origin from the oldest hieroglyphic for “thunder,” which 1 Journal Asiatique, 1896, p. 533. THE SHANG, OR YIN, DYNASTY (1766-1122 B.c.) 89 represents a spiral, pure and simple. In this shape we find it here and there on vessels of the Shang dynasty. Since round objects are more difficult to engrave than square ones, we soon find it changed into a “ quadrangular spiral,” if we may so call it, and two of these combined yield the design called Lei-wén, or “thunder pattern,” by the Chinese. Placed side by side in border style, we often see them forming an ornament somewhat resembling the Egyptian scroll. The difference is that the latter is con- tinuous, whereas in the genuine Chinese scroll the elements are not connected. In the majority of cases these ele- ments are crowded into empty spaces surrounding some principal pattern and thus used for filling-in purposes. The symbolic meaning attributed by native archeologists to this pattern is that of “thunder-storm and rain” as the chief benefactors of agriculturists. Besides the sacrificial vessels and bells, and a few bronze weapons, such as spearheads and lances, ascribed to the Shang dynasty, the antiquities of this period are represented by a number of jade specimens. A huge number of works in this material has been described in a comprehensive il- lustrative catalogue, published in 1176 a.p., under the title Kwyii-t’u-p’u, of which a new edition appeared in 1779. Among the collaborators mentioned in the preface are found some of the most noteworthy painters of the period, especially the great landscapists Ma Ytian, Hia Kui, and Li T’ang, known in Japan as Bayen, Kakei, and Rito, who appear to have supervised the preparation of the numer- ous illustrations. Whereas the critics who have published and interpreted the Chinese bronze treasures do not go beyond the Shang dynasty, this book shows us jade tablets covered with undecipherable hieroglyphics and ascribed 90 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHIWA to the fabulous Emperor Yi. So say the inscriptions added on the back surface during the seventh and tenth centuries. The characters of the original inscriptions are stated in the text to resemble the style of the celebrated tablet of Yi, which, if it were genuine, would beyond doubt be the oldest specimen of Chinese writing now in existence and which, even if it is a forgery, must be one of very ancient date, as Mr. C. T. Gardner has shown in his paper, ‘The Tablet of Yi.” These jade tablets, as well as the stone inscrip- tion ascribed to the Emperor Yii and the nine geographical tripods he is supposed to have left to posterity as a pictorial record of the nine provinces into which he divided his empire, are probably as doubtful in their origin as the accounts of his reign, his engineering work, and his provinces placed on record in the Shu-king and other works. The Confucian age is responsible, it appears to me, for forgeries not only of literature, but of art also. If the Emperor Huang-ti is reported to have discovered a copper mine and established a foundry in Ho-nan a short time before his death, it appears that the forger of literature merely works into the hands of the inventor of Yii’s tripods. The Ku-yi-tu-p’u contains a number of illustrations showing that numerous copies were made in jade of the ancient sacrificial vessels of the Shang period as well as of the Chou dynasty. Yet, although it appears that the style has been well preserved in these imitations, they are for the greater part declared even by the Chinese archeologists to be China Review, vol. ii, p. 293 segg. Cf. also E. Haenisch, Die Tafel des Yt, in Mittheilungen des Seminars fir Orientalische Spra- chen, vol. viii, 1905, p. 293 segg. Mr. Haenisch thinks the tablet is not a forgery, but an ancient monument, which has nothing to do with Yi. THE SHANG, OR YIN, DYNASTY (1766-1122 B.c.) 91 works of the Han period. I do not wish to say that jade sculptures were an impossibility during the Shang period. Indeed, we read of gems and badges of rank, which may, or may not, have been made of jade, and the word yii, “jade,” occurs over and over again in the oldest texts. It must also be admitted that jade, or jadeite, may in the course of trade have come to China from quarries in other countries, if not from Khotan, without the Chinese having been aware of its origin. But it is not likely that this industry existed on a very large scale previous to the Han dynasty. The jade quarries of Khotan, which have ever since the Han dynasty had the lion’s share of the trade in that precious material as far as China is concerned, were not known to the Chinese before the end of the second century B.c. It is a remarkable feature of that old catalogue of jade works that during all this time, from the first century B.c. down to the twelfth century a.p., almost every one of the jade vessels and implements represented in it has its proto- type in the shape of an old bronze object. The Chinese of the Shang dynasty must be considered as the creators of Chinese autochthonous art. At this time the foundation for much of the later development was laid. We are en- titled to adopt this view on the strength of existing monu- ments of Shang culture in the shape of sacrificial bronzes bearing testimony more substantial than mere literary fabrications. IV-VIII THE CHOU DYNASTY (1122-249 3.c.) IV. FROM WU-WANG TO K’ANG-WANG: THE PERIOD OF IMPERIAL AUTHORITY IV FROM WU-WANG TO K’ANG-WANG: THE PERIOD OF IMPERIAL AUTHORITY § 22. Wu-wane as Kina or Cuéu (1122-1116 B.c.) FTER, the death of Chéu-sin, Wu-wang became mas- ter of the empire. The renitent among the former adherents of Chéu-sin had dispersed in the hills. Wu-wang rejected the advice given him to persecute them, and invited those who promised to become loyal subjects to return. On the other hand, he treated the refractory with great severity. One of Chéu-sin’s former ministers, Shang Jung, greatly assisted him in appeasing the startled population, and he soon found himself universally recog- nized as “Son of Heaven” (é’ién-tzi). This is the style by which the holder of the supreme authority is designated in China, whatever his other titles may be. The term has been applied to the legendary emperors; the great Yii calls himself “Son of Heaven’ in one of his speeches preserved in the Shu-king. The Shang emperors used the same title, and if Wu-wang is so described, he is virtually emperor of China, who rules over his people —the people par excel- lence — whose lord has received the approval of Heaven, who rules the world in the name of Heaven, and who is the representative of the (’ién-hia, “what is under heaven,” “the world,” “the Chinese people.” T’ién-tzi may in this sense be appropriately translated by “Son of God,” a 95 96 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHYNA designation for which it is easy to find parallels in the his- tory of both Oriental and Occidental nations. For, al- though shang-tt, “the Supreme Ruler,” may be looked upon as the very term for God in pre-Confucian monotheism, T’ién, Heaven,” has very much the same force as a term in the natural philosophy of the Chinese. In one sense it means the other world, and the term is actually applied to the Mahomedan heaven in the account of a califal embassy of the early part of the seventh century ' accord- ing to which the Mahomedan who dies before the enemy is born again in ¢ién (“heaven”). According to the same account, Mahomedans kneel five times a day before tién-shén, “the spirit of Heaven”; and the members of the califal embassy declined to perform the ceremony of the k’o-t’6u, saying: “The inhabitants of our country kneel only before ?’én; when seeing the king, they do not kneel.” In this case ?’én clearly refers to Allah, or God. The “Son of Heaven” is thus apparently a term which may be compared to the Homeric S:oyévns Bactrevs, the epithet Divus of the Roman emperors, and quite a host of parallels in Oriental titles. When Wu-wang had become “Son of Heaven,” he bestowed on Chéu-sin’s son, Wu-k6éng, known also as Lu-fu, who had tendered him allegiance, the title of chu-héu, “Prince of the Empire,” and appointed him king of Corea. The title t, “emperor,” had grown unpopular after the many examples of weakness and lack of virtue displayed by so many of the previous emperors, who would not conform to the model set for them by the “ Five Emperors,’ by which name Fu-hi and his immediate successors are designated. In his modesty he continued to style himself 1 T’ang-shu, ch. ccxxi B, p. 18. FROM WU-WANG TO K’ANG-WANG 97 simply wang, or “king,” and his successors followed his example. It is for this reason that down to the time of Shi-huang-ti, who purposely ignored all previous history and called himself “The First Emperor,” this being the literal meaning of his title, all the rulers of the Chéu dy- nasty styled themselves wang, that is, “king” or “ prince,” besides holding the dignity of “Son of Heaven.” Wu-wang had been duke of Chéu after the death of his father for twelve years when he became emperor. As such, he was virtual ruler of the Chinese empire from 1122 to 1116 B.c. Personal qualities and a fine physique, coupled with great affability, assisted him greatly in gaining the sympathy of his people; and this was increased by his good government. In the latter he was assisted by his brother Tan, known in literature as Chéu-kung, the “Duke of Chéu.” From the time of Wo6n-wang’s death Chéu-kung was the soul of Wu-wang’s government, and to him must be ascribed an important share in the consolidation of the power of the Chéu dynasty. Many fundamental institutions were the result of his suggestions. So great was his zeal in govern- ment matters that, if summoned on business matters, he would interrupt his bath and consult with his interviewer while holding his wet hair in his hand. After Wu-wang had made his solemn entrance into the capital, he issued a manifesto, destined to calm the people, in which he promised to conduct the government in the spirit devised by the ancient sages. He opened the prisons and set free the victims of Chéu-sin’s severity. Chdéu-sin’s granaries also were opened, and their contents distributed among the people. The treasures and luxuries found in Chéu-sin’s palace were used in rewarding the officers and soldiers of Wu-wang’s army and were also distributed HH 98 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA among the people, for the king would not appropriate to his own use any of those ill-gotten riches. Further, the many women assembled in Chéu-sin’s harem were allowed to return to their families. Soon after his ascension to the throne he decided to pay a visit to his native duchy of Chéu. He had found in the imperial treasury the celebrated bronze tripods, supposed to have been cast by order of the Great Yii and containing the descriptions of that emperor’s nine provinces. These national relics he caused to be transported to his capital in the west, possession of them being regarded as a guarantee of the security of the empire. One of the first govern- mental measures taken by Wu-wang was the regulation of the nobility of his empire. Hereditary rank appears to have occupied a more prominent position in the most ancient periods of Chinese history than during its modern development. The division of the nobility into the five grades existing at the present day, namely, kung (“‘ duke”), héu (“ marquis”), po (“earl”), tzi (“ viscount ’’), and nan (“baron ”’), is supposed to have been first made by the em- perors Yau and Shun. Wu-wang arranged that each of these dignitaries should be allowed to hold a fixed area of land. In selecting the officials of his government he made a careful choice among those of his predecessor, dismissing all the incapable ones. He tried to improve the moral standard of his people, and paid special attention to the welfare of the laboring classes as well as to industry and trade. At the beginning of his reign he had to contend with some refractory elements among his own people; but he soon overcame these, and established peace all over his empire. He then devoted himself to the improvement of the calendar. He declared red to be the color of his reign, FROM WU-WANG TO K’ANG-WANG 99 just as yellow is the color of the present dynasty; and it was directed that all the imperial flags show this color. The old capital Fong-ch’éng, “City of Affluence,”’ which had been built generations ago by his father Wén-wang, proving too small to hold his court, he transferred the seat of government to a place called Hau, situated in the neigh- borhood of the modern Si-an-fu; and this remained for a long period during antiquity and the Middle Ages the center of the Chinese empire. There he established schools, divided into six classes, the three lower ones of which were to serve for the education of boys of the age of eight to fifteen years. In admitting young candidates to the highest possible degrees of learning, no distinction was made between high and low, between rich and poor. In this he laid the foundation of that democratic principle which has, up to the present day, been characteristic of the system of education and the subsequent promotion to high offices among the Chinese. His own son, the heir presumptive ‘to the throne, was educated at one of these schools like the son of a common laborer. As a further step toward the consolidation of his power he surrounded him- self with a phalanx of faithful supporters to the throne by reorganizing that class of nobility called chu-héu, “Princes of the Empire,’”’ selected from the representatives of families deriving their pedigree from the old sacred em- perors and other personages of similar merit. It appears that, whether wrongly or not, descendants of Shén-nung, Huang-ti, Yau, and Shun were supposed to exist, and that Wu-wang rewarded the merits of their respective ancestors by appointing such descendants fief-holders in different parts of the empire. To his own brother, Chéu-kung, his confidential adviser, he gave the earldom of Ki-féu, called 100 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHENA also Lu, in whose capital Confucius was born in the sixth century. Other brothers of his were made fief-holders. The sentiment of gratitude thus implanted in the hearts of his grandees remained constant during their lifetimes. But later generations are apt to be forgetful of benefits accorded to predecessors —a fact exemplified in the his- tory of all nations; and in this respect China was destined not to prove an exception. The good ones among the most ancient rulers of China are represented as having been full of religious sentiment. We meet with numerous instances of the most ancient emperors addressing themselves in prayer to God the Almighty, and, if we find social life to have been made dependent in all its phases upon thousands of little cere- monies, all these served one end — the humble recognition of a powerful fate that rules us all. The worship of an- cestors began to be gradually cultivated as a side develop- ment of this original monotheism. It culminated in the belief that the spirit of a departed forefather actually re- places fate by influencing the life of his descendants. I have already referred to the beginning of ancestor worship in connection with the legendary emperors as early as the thirteenth century. The virtuous Emperor P’an-kéng says, according to the Shu-king: * — “Were I to err in my government, and remain long here, my High Sovereign, the founder of our house, would send down great punishment for my crime, and say, ‘Why do you oppress my people?’ If you, the myriads of the people, do not attend to the perpetuation of your lives, and cherish one mind with me, the one man in my plans, my predecessors will send down on you great punishment for your crime, and say: ‘Why do you not agree with our young grandson, but so go on to forfeit your virtue?’ When * Legge, p. 238. FROM WU-WANG TO K’ANG-WANG 101 they punish you from above you will have no way of escape. Of old, my royal predecessors toiled for your ancestors and fathers. You are equally the people whom I nourish; but your conduct is injurious — it is cherished in your hearts. Whereas my royal predecessors made happy your ancestors and fathers, your ancestors and fathers will cut you off and abandon you, and not save you from death. Here are those ministers of my government, who share with me the offices of the state — and yet only think of hoarding up cowries [the old medium of exchange] and gems! Your ancestors and fathers urgently represent to my High Sovereign saying, ‘Execute great punishments on our descendants.’ So they intimate to my High Sovereign that he should send down great calamities.” The God of the ancient Chinese was the creation of their own mind and the result of their natural instinct; there was no revelation made to them resembling our Ten Com- mandments or the New Testament. Whether Shang-ti, “the Supreme Ruler,” or T’ién, “Heaven,” the real God has never been, as He is not now, entirely disavowed by the Chinese; but we find Him occasionally viewed in the spirit of that much-quoted precept attributed to Oliver Cromwell : “Put your trust in God; but mind to keep your powder dry.” The Shu-king clearly shows this in a conversation between one of the representative gentlemen of the period, the Duke of Chéu, and a Prince of Shi, in which the duke prognosticates the stability of the newly founded dynasty by saying :* — “T do not dare to say asif I knewit: the final end will issue in our misfortunes. Oh! you have said, O prince, it depends on our- selves. I also do not dare to rest in the favor of God, never fore- casting at a distance the terrors of Heaven in the present time when there is no murmuring or disobedience among the people; the issue is with men. Should our present successor to his fathers prove 1 Legge, p. 475. 102 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHIQA greatly unable to reverence Heaven and the people, and so bring to an end their glory, could we in our families be ignorant of it? The favor of Heaven is not easily preserved. Heaven is hard to be depended upon. Men lose its favoring appointment because they cannot pursue and carry out the reverence and brilliant virtue of their forefathers. NowI, Tan, being but a little child, am not able to correct our king. I would simply conduct him to the glory of his forefathers, and make his youth partaker of that. ... Heaven is not to be trusted. Our course is simply to seek the prolongation of the virtue of the tranquilizing king Wu-wang, and Heaven will not find occasion to remove its favoring decree which Won-wang received.” The influence of God on the fate of man is here brought into direct opposition with that of one’s forefathers. Heaven, or God, having bestowed favors on one’s ancestors, it rests with the present generation to shape its own fate. Who were the real powers to be addressed in prayer, and whose influence on the fate of the living generation was thus sought, has been clearly indicated in an anecdote told in the Shu-king.. Two years after the conquest of the Shang dynasty, that is, in 1120 B.c., Wu-wang fell ill and “was quite disconsolate.” Some one proposed to consult the tortoise oracle concerning him, but Chéu-kung dis- approved because that would “distress our former kings.” Keeping his powder dry would not have availed much in saving a dying man. But it is characteristic that, instead of praying to Heaven, Chéu-kung addressed the spirits of his ancestors, to each of the preceding three generations of whom he erected an altar on which he deposited the sacred gem (pi). This he did with the seriousness of a modern clairvoyant while upholding with his folded hands, as the evidence of his person and rank in appearing before 1 Legge, p. 351 segq. FROM WU-WANG TO K’ANG-WANG 103 those exalted spirits, his own personal jade badge (kuz). Thus prepared, he prayed to the spirits of T’ai-wang, T’ai-wang’s son Ki, and Wé6n-wang, his and Wu-wang’s father. “The grand historian by his order wrote on tablets his prayer to the following effect: ‘A. B., your chief descendant, is suffering from a severe and dangerous sickness ;— if you three kings have in Heaven the charge of watching over him, Heaven’s great son, let me, Tan, be a substitute for his person. I have been lovingly obedient to my father; I am possessed of many abilities and arts which fit me to serve spiritual beings. Your chief descendant, on the other hand, has not so many abilities and arts as I, and is not so capable of serving spiritual beings. And, moreover, he was appointed in the hall of God to extend his aid to the four quarters of the empire, so that he might establish your descendants in this lower world. The people of the four quarters stand in reverent awe of him. Oh! do not let that precious Heaven-conferred appoint- ment fall to the ground; and all our former kings will also have a perpetual reliance and resort. I will now seek for your orders from the great tortoise. If-you grant what I request, I will take these symbols and this mace, and return and wait for the issue. Tf you do not grant it, I will put them by.’” The duke then divined with the three tortoises and all were favorable. He took a key, opened, and looked at the oracular responses, which were also favorable, and said: “ According to the form of the prognostic the king will take no injury. I have got his appointment renewed by the three kings.” On the following day the king got better. In the fourth year of his reign (1119 B.c.) a great assembly of the princes and grandees of the empire took place, when they all did homage to Wu-wang as their emperor. Wu- wang died in 1116 B.c. 104 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHIQA § 23. Cy’6na-wane (1115-1079 B.c.) Wu-wang’s son and heir, Ch’éng-wang, was a minor when he became emperor, and his uncle, the Duke of Chéu, had been appointed his guardian before Wu-wang’s death. The duke, being now the senior of the family, was also appointed regent of the empire. The jealousy and in- trigues of his brothers and other discontented parties resulted in the circulation of rumors among the people to the effect that Chéu-kung intended to usurp permanently the supreme power for himself, and that his guardianship over the young emperor was merely a pretext leading to this end. With great delicacy of feeling he met all these accusations by withdrawing from the court without in- forming the emperor. But so great was his personal in- fluence among the people, that it seemed as though he carried the court with him, to judge from the attention he received wherever he made his appearance. He re- mained two years in his voluntary exile, during which time he is said to have occupied himself with an extension of the work commenced by his father Wén-wang, while in prison, the I-king, or “Book of Changes.’’ He kept, how- ever, as far as distance would permit, a watchful eye on his brothers, who were at the bottom of the intrigues against him and who had in the meantime taken charge of the young emperor. It appears that two of his brothers, driven by personal ambition, had invented these rumors for the special purpose of getting the powerful duke out of sight so that they might accomplish their own ends. With the assistance of Wu-kong, the son of the last emperor of the Shang dynasty, whom Wu-wang had placed in charge of Corea, a rebellion was planned. Seeing the danger of FROM WU-WANG TO K’ANG-WANG 105 these plots to the young emperor, Chéu-kung is supposed to have written a poem, preserved among the odes of the Shi-king,' a sort of allegory in which he represents himself as a bird bewailing the attacks made by owls on its nest and its young one (that is, the emperor) sitting in it. Whether this ode was really composed by Chéu-kung or not, it is ascribed to him and is characteristic of the situa- tion. The last two verses read, in Legge’s translation, as follows : — “With my claws I tore and held. Through the rushes which I gathered, And all the materials I collected, My mouth was all sore:— I said to myself, I have not yet got my house complete. “My wings are all injured ; My tail is all broken; My house is in a perilous condition; It is tossed about in the wind and rain :— I can but cry out with this note of alarm.” The young emperor had always silently sided with Chéu- kung. When, owing to a great storm, the crops through- out the empire had been destroyed, he searched the court records in order to find out what his predecessors had done in the presence of such calamities. On this occasion he discovered the record of Chéu-kung’s prayer to his ancestors, in which the duke had asked them to take his own life in order that his brother, the Emperor Wu- wang, might recover. This moved the young emperor’s heart. He was now convinced that the great storm had been sent by Heaven as a punishment for the ill-treatment Chéu-kung had received at his hands. He recalled the exile and reinstated him in all his honors. 1 Legge, p. 233 seq. 106 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA His enemies now broke out in open rebellion and took up arms under the pretext of defending the dynasty against its minister, the Duke of Chéu, to the great delight of Wu-kéng, who was led to hope that through the en- deavors of the Chou family to ruin each other his own house might come into power again. The emperor was prudent enough to see through these designs and sent an army under Chéu-kung against the united forces of Wu- kong and his friends. Chéu-kung gained a decisive vic- tory and made Wu-kéng prisoner. His brothers tendered their submission; one of them was executed with Wu-kéng, the other being banished. Within three years Chou-kung established peace throughout the empire. After Wu- k6ng’s death the dignity of a prince of the empire, granted to him as the last scion of the Shang dynasty, was trans- ferred to the late Emperor Chéu-sin’s stepbrother Wei-tzi (or K’i, Baron of Wei), by which act of grace toward a descendant of the dynasty headed by one of the best monarchs China had seen, Ch’éng-t’ang, the emperor showed his appreciation of the legitimacy of tradition. Wei-tzi had been among those who had protested against the late Emperor Chéu-sin’s cruelties and, therefore, deserved to be selected as the one member of his family to be given the chance of continuing the generation in a prominent, if not imperial, position. A special chapter is devoted to a speech of Ch’éng-wang’s on the occasion of Wei-tzi’s investiture in the Shu-king.! In appointing him prince of Sung the emperor said, among other things: — “Reverently and carefully you discharge your filial duties: gravely and respectfully you behave to spirits and to men. I admire your virtue and pronounce it great and not to be forgotten. 1 Legge, p. 376 seqq. FROM WU-WANG TO K’ANG-WANG 107 God will always enjoy your offerings; the people will be reverently harmonious under your sway. I raise you, therefore, to the rank of High Duke, to rule this eastern part of our great land [z.e. Corea]. “Be reverent. Go and diffuse abroad your instructions; be carefully observant of your robes and various other symbols of your appointment; follow and observe the proper statutes — so as to prove a bulwark to the royal House. Enlarge the fame of your meritorious ancestor, be a law to your people! so as forever to pre- serve your dignity. So also shall you be a help to me, the one man; future ages will enjoy the benefit of your virtue; all the states will take you for a pattern! and thus you will make our dynasty of Chou never weary of you. Oh! go, and be prosperous. Do not disregard my charge.” § 24. Tue “CuHov-11” The reign of Ch’éng-wang is distinguished by what may be called the laying of the foundations of a government in China; and the king’s uncle, Chéu-kung, must be looked upon as the organizer of the state machinery of the Chou dynasty. In the Shu-king two chapters, entitled respec- tively “The Establishment of Government”? and “The Officers of Chéu,”’ are specially devoted to the fundamental institutions made by Ch’éng-wang under the advice of the Duke of Chéu. To Chéu-kung is also ascribed the author- ship of the Chéu-li, a work in which the entire government apparatus of the Chéu dynasty is described. It seems quite possible that Chéu-kung may have outlined such a work; but it is not likely that he is responsible for all the details found in the present text, since it must have taken generations of government life before opportunities could: have arisen to place on record all the minute regulations embodied in this huge collection of statutes. Opinions have, therefore, differed a great deal among the Chinese 108 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA e themselves as to the real authorship of the work in ques- tion. It was the great expounder of Confucian philosophy, Chu Hi (1130-1200 a.p.), who investigated the subject and defended the ancient origin of the Chéu-li, claiming that it might possibly be traced back to Chéu-kung himself. Even if that be so, it stands to reason that a standard work on government institutions would be subject to a great many additions and modifications, called for by practical require- ments in the course of seven hundred and fifty years, which was the period that elapsed from the time of Chéu-kung down to the end of the dynasty. If we assume that the nucleus of the contents was actually Chéu-kung’s work, the text as handed down to posterity seems to represent the public institutions of the dynasty in their fullest develop- ment, and as such, it forms a most important source in the history of cultural life during the Chéu period, which must be regarded as a model serving as a guide to later genera- tions. As an educator of the nation the Chéu-li has probably not its like among the literatures of the world, not excepting even the Bible. This remark refers es- pecially to its minute details of public and social life, in which respect its influence on the character of the Chinese has been fully equal to that exercised by the teachings of Confucius in regard to morals. Its contents, as repre- sented in Edouard Biot’s valuable French translation,‘ throw considerable light on the constitution and culture of the nation during the Chéu period. ___China was in those days divided, somewhat like Ger- many, into a number of smaller states, all of which recog- nized the Son of Heaven as their principal ruler, who _ from the outset must have had considerable power over : 1Le Tcheou-li, ow rites des Tcheou, 2 vols., Paris, 1851 FROM WU-WANG TO K’ANG-WANG 109 the several feudatory governments; for it is he who establishes states, defines their limits, and indicates the location of their capitals; through him, also, their rulers hold their appointments. Their government is to be [ modeled like the emperor’s, and is to be controlled and | inspected from time to time by him, he having the power to revoke and to depose or reprimand the refractory. The most rigid religious ceremonial regulates the daily life of emperor, government officers, and feudatory lords. It is this detail in regard to the outer forms of life that has held the Chéu organism together for so many centuries. There is hardly an act in official, and even social, life which is not performed with certain ceremonies. This applies to the mode of dress to be worn, the speeches to be made, and the postures to be assumed on all possible occasions, whether at court or in private life. Biot appropriately remarks that the chief aim of all these minute regulations was the founding of a certain immutability of government on the physical and moral immutability of individuals by depriving them as much as possible of all spontaneous action in public and private life. Although catastrophes have every now and then exploded dynastic and social relations among the people, it would appear that the tra- ditional veneration in which their ceremonial has been held by the Chinese ever since the days of the Chéu-li has had much to do with the stability of China and the Chinese as an empire and a nation. Far below the emperor and the princes of the empire was the mass of the people, placed in rank and file accord- ing to their occupations. The nation consisted of rulers and their assistants, government officers, and the rest of the world, who were the working classes. These latter 110 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA were divided into nine sections ranking in the following order: first, landholders, the producers of grain; second, gardeners, who grow plants and fruit trees; third, wood- men, occupied with the products of the forests and moun- tains; fourth, livestock holders, raising cattle and fowl; fifth, artisans, who convert raw materials into articles of daily use; sixth, merchants, both resident and traveling; seventh, the wives, who change silk and hemp into clothes; eighth, servants, both male and female; ninth, the mis- cellaneous class, who have no fixed profession, but change their occupation as occasion may demand. The agricultural population forming the first class hold their estates as tenants of their princes, and have to deliver a percentage of the cereals they grow proportionate to the fertility of the soil. The latter is ascertained by special officers appointed for the purpose, who also instruct the cultivators in the nature of the grains and vegetables best adapted for cultivation, and the times for tilling, sowing, watering, and harvesting. Under their advice a system of irrigation best suited to the configuration of the land is intro- duced. It is by government officers that the people’s work connected with the production of silk is supervised in all its details. The inhabitants are treated like a huge family, at the head of which is the emperor, their patriarch. The government apparatus is, therefore, not confined to those who mete out justice and collect taxes or administer what with us would be called government departments, but the officers of Chou (Chéu-kuan, which was the original title of the Chéu-li) comprise inspectors, appointed by the gov- ernment, for almost any useful work performed by the people. Nearest the emperor in power is the prime minister FROM WU-WANG TO K’ANG-WANG lil (ta-tsat), who has general charge of the six divisions of government. This division of all official business into six categories, as described in the Chéu-li, has become the prototype of the six boards of government (liu-pu) of later dynasties, and the corresponding divisions made in the administrative offices down to our own days. The six ministries, or boards, are but slightly different. At the head of them is the “ Board of Heaven,” or the “Mandarin of Heaven” (t’ién-kuan). Its chief is identical with the prime minister. This highest board has, therefore, a general supervision over all government affairs, as having control of the appointment of officers. It is the origin of the board which later on was called, as it is known to-day, the li*-pu, or “Board of Civil Office.” The president of this board (li*-pu-shang-shu) has always had precedence over his colleagues of the other boards; and the minister presiding over the Board of Civil Office has at all times been known, as he is to-day, as ¢’¢én-kuan,“ Heaven’s Mandarin,”’ the chief assistant of ¢’ién-tzi, the “Son of Heaven,” that is, the emperor.’ Foreign affairs had up to this time been relegated to the background among the Chinese adminis- trative divisions. The old tsung-li-yamen was merely a commission which the Chinese would never admit to be a 1 This has been so for the last three thousand years; and it was not until quite recently that, under the pressure of negotiations with foreign powers, the head of a newly created board, the Wat-wu- pu, or “Board of Foreign Affairs,” was assigned a rank above all the presidents of the other boards. The creation of a seventh board, in addition to the time-honored six, is a thing which would have been impossible in conservative China previous to the era of reforms, ini- tiated by the Emperor Kuang-sii in 1898 and forced upon the recal- citrant conservatives under foreign pressure after the troubles in 1900. This change of rank was notified to the empire in an imperial edict dated July 24, 1901. 4 See note on p. 113. 112 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA board, chiefly because statesmen of three thousand years ago had made their arrangements, never thinking that the relations with foreign nations would be sufficiently impor- tant to justify the existence of a special ministry. Chinese national ambition has, ever since the constitutional ar- rangements of public life were made, looked upon the em- peror as the person who rules the entire world by the decree of Heaven. The “world” was China, in which sense she is called ?’'ién-hia, that is, “all that is under heaven.” Foreign nations were regarded as mere boundary tribes in a state of rebellion against the emperor, their lawful ruler; and if they sent embassies with gifts of courtesy to the Chinese court, such gifts were styled “tribute” (kung). During the Chéu dynasty down to that of the western Han, when China led an isolated life in the Far East, long before the existence of other great countries like India, and the great monarchies of western Asia and the Roman empire, became known to them, this view was not without good foundation, since China was then actually the only civilized country, towering high above a host of barbarous tribes surrounding it. During this long period of undis- puted superiority over her neighbors, that characteristic national megalomania, of which she finds it so difficult to rid herself even at the present day, had a thousand years to develop and to take firm root in the heart of the nation. The Chinese would never have dared to make a change in those sacred institutions, said to have been first placed on record by the Duke of Chéu, but for circumstances over which they had no control. The six departments of government as described in the Chéu-li were the following: (1) “The Mandarin of Heaven,” (?ién-kuan), who had general control over all the other FROM WU-WANG TO K’ANG-WANG 113 departments. His office corresponded to the modern lit-pu,' or “‘ Board of Civil Office.”’ (2) “The Mandarin of Earth” (ti-kuan), charged with the instruction of the people, primarily in agriculture (néng), that being the chief source of national wealth and consequently of govern- ment revenue. It is from this point of view that we have to explain its gradual change into what is now called hu-pu, the “People’s Board,” or “Board of Revenue.” (3) “The Mandarin of Spring” (ch’wn-kuan), who was in charge of the state ceremonial and whose office corresponded to the modern li*-pu,' or “ Board of Ceremonies.’”’ (4) “The Mandarin of Summer” (hia-kuan), who exercised executive power, and is now represented by the “Board of War” (ping-pu). (5) “The Mandarin of Autumn” (ts’tu-kuan), in charge of punishments, represented by the present “Board of Justice” (hing-pu), and finally, (6) “The Mandarin of Winter” (tung-kuan), who was in charge of public works and corresponded to the modern kung-pu, or “Board of Works.” ' These six categories have down to the present day been the basis of all division of official work, and the yamen, or government offices, throughout the empire imitate metro- politan arrangements by classifying business in separate departments, secretariats, desks, or pigeonholes, large or small, as the range of their jurisdiction may be, under the six heads of ‘Personal,’ “Revenue,” “Ceremonies,” “Military,” “ Judicial,” and “Works.” The Mandarin of Heaven performed, as it were, the func- tions of a prime minister, having joint responsibility for the 1 Note that the first syllable in li*-pu and 1i-pu, as indicated by numbers, is pronounced in different tones in the two words and in Chinese is written with different characters. I 114 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA five other boards. It was he who fixed the amounts to be levied under the heads of dues, local tribute, and taxes of all kinds, which constituted the imperial revenue; he regu- lated the public expenses; the entire inner and outer gov- ernment service, both civil and military, was under his jurisdiction; so also was the management of the several imperial households, those of the emperor himself, of the empress, of the crown prince, and of the imperial concubines. The great number of the last named had even in those early days led to the employment, in personal’attendance on the imperial ladies, of a special class of court officials —those pests of Oriental court life, the eunuchs. This feature of the constitution of the Chéu dynasty forms a strange con- trast to the moral purity which otherwise characterizes the early social life of the Chinese. Eunuchism has proved a curse to public life in China at all times; and many a catastrophe must be ascribed to its intrigues which have raised unworthy men to high positions and worked much harm in an underhand manner. It appears that the early legislators of the Chéu dynasty cannot be held responsible for such a degeneration of court life as that, for instance, of the Ming dynasty, whose downfall is ascribed to the in- famous power attained by the court eunuchs as a class. Under the Chéu rule these were merely servants and in no way connected with administrative or political duties. The imperial palace consisted of a vast inclosure sur- rounded by high mud or brick walls, in which were the following: the dwelling-houses of the emperor, the empress, the concubines, and their servants; the offices of the minis- ters, reception halls, and temples; shops for weaving silk and hemp for the use of the court; treasuries for the preser- vation of the imperial archives, historical documents, FROM WU-WANG TO K’ANG-WANG 115 jewelry, and other precious belongings of the state or the emperor; depositories for stores and all that was necessary for the maintenance of life. In other words, it was a walled city within the capital city reserved for the emperor, his household, and his government; and the monarch seldom left it except in his official capacity. The emperor’s per- sonal life was regulated by strict ceremonial in its most minute details, in which respect the most powerful man among millions was less free than any of his subjects. His mode of dress, the work he had to do during every hour of the day, the postures he had to assume in performing certain ceremonies, and the words he had to pronounce on every possible occasion were regulated by that cruel tyrant, state ceremonial. Even his daily meals, the nature and the quantity of food to be served to him at each season of the year and on special occasions were subject to fixed rules. He was supposed to starve himself when famine prevailed in the country or in times of public calamity. His meals were not presented to him by state dignitaries or by eunuchs, who might flatter his senses in order to curry favor, but by a court attendant who had to taste them in his presence. The same rigid ceremonial was brought to bear on the feuda- tory princes. Since the broad masses of the people were not supposed to know how to behave in the various conditions of life, the second among the administrative divisions, that of instruction, headed by the Mandarin of Earth, had to take precautions for their welfare. The mandarin’s jurisdiction extended to all relations in life: the occupations of the people, their trade, civil services, religious duties, family matters, etc. The ordinary subject was, even in his private life, under government control. Thus a special mandarin 116 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA was in charge of marriages. He had to see that no man re- mained unmarried after the age of thirty, girls being sub- ject to marriage at twenty. The chief duty of this depart- ment was the levying of taxes in accordance with a budget drawn up by the prime minister. The Mandarin of Earth acted also as a kind of justice of the peace. Thousands of little rules had been made to prevent disorders of any kind; and in order to see that they were duly observed both by the government agents charged with their execution and the people who had to obey them there were officers who had to watch public life and denounce any irregularity occurring. All these measures were calculated to main- tain the nation in a state of general goodness; and lest the government itself should fail in its sacred duties, there were the pau-shi, an officer endowed with power to reprimand the emperor himself if he was at fault; the ssi-shi, who had to instruct the emperor and the sons of the empire (kuo- tzi), t.e. the elder sons of high officials, in all that is good and virtuous; and the ssi-kién, or public remonstrator, who was expected to mix with the people in order to study their lives, correct their faults, and report on any evils he might discover. These officers, dependent on the Mandarin of Earth, may be said to have performed the functions of preachers, though their duties had nothing to do with re- ligion, but merely with morality, virtue, and goodness, pure and simple. Their subordination to a higher board seems to indicate that they had not the political influence exercised later on by the institute of Public Censors (yti-shi), which was not developed before the Ts’in and Han dynasties. To what degree the government solicitude for the life of the people went into detail, may be seen from the fact FROM WU-WANG TO K’ANG-WANG 117 that eight out of the forty-four books in the great code of the Chéu dynasty are devoted to the functions of the Mandarin of Earth and his subordinate officers. One of these was charged with the duty of making tours of inspec- tion in order to ascertain the merits of individuals qualify- ing them for office; for, with the exception of the emperor, his princes, and the several feudal lords, the incumbents of all, even the highest, government officials were selected from among the people. Merely the eldest sons of the higher officials enjoyed certain privileges under the name “Sons of the Empire” (kwo-tzi), inasmuch as they were given the chance of a higher education under a special officer. They had their special uniforms and were admitted to court ceremonies as pages. Exceptions were also made with regard to heredity of office in cases where certain qualifications, required for its duties, were likely to be confined to certain families and had become traditional, having been transmitted from generation to generation, such as the practice of certain arts which were treated as family secrets. It is a feature of Chinese social life that specialties in art and workman- ship are treated as the monopoly of certain families on which no outsider is allowed to trespass. Such was the case under the Han dynasty with certain patterns of silk brocade. Many trades, such as the superior lacquer in- dustry in Foochow and the manufacture of bronze drums in Canton, have been family secrets; and these secrets are so well guarded that a branch of art may die out with the last scion of the family that created it, as in the case of the celebrated Foochow lacquer, the secret of which was lost during the T’ai-p’ing rebellion. The Mandarin of Spring, who was in charge of religious 118 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF QHINA ceremonies, was a characteristic creation of the Chinese nation. If, as we have seen, the emperor addressed himself to God, or Heaven, as the supreme ruler, his subjects sacri- ficed to beings of a lower order: sun, moon, and stars, hills, rivers, and forests, and last, not least, the departed souls of their ancestors. The manner in which sacrifice was to be brought was regulated by thousands of petty rules. In recording such rules the Chéu-li places us in a position to form an idea of the spiritual life of the people, 4 | which was full of superstition. The art of obtaining an omen from the unseen spirits was cultivated in every pos- sible detail. The chief means of auguration was, of course, the time-honored system of Pa-kua, as explained in Wo6n- wang’s I-king. In many cases the scales of the tortoise " scorched by fire were used as oracles. The fissures thus created on the surface of a scale were of great variety; and a regular system had been invented for the interpretation of what may be called tortoise palmistry. There were scientists for the interpretation of dreams, and sorcerers, male and female, who could bring on fine weather or rain. Observation of the stars was, of course, a great means of ascertaining man’sfate. The position of court astronomer, with functions distinct from those of the astrological ex- perts, was hereditary. The astronomer did good work in connection with the calendar, and what we learn in the Chéu-li about his duties betokens an advanced state of scientific development. The astrologer held a different office from that of his colleague just mentioned. The latter had to watch the position and movements of the heavenly bodies; the astrologer was required to interpret their forebodings, since numbers of ceremonies were con- nected with the seasons. Both of these officers were of FROM WU-WANG TO K’ANG-WANG 119 great importance in connection with the Board of Cere- monies. The astronomers of the Chéu dynasty were familiar with the use of the gnomon; and their observa- tions, which have been checked by European savants, have proved correct. The fourth of the six boards, represented by the Mandarin of Summer, corresponded to the present Board of War. The Chinese in those days had no standing army, but when soldiers were required for the purpose of fighting external enemies, suppressing rebellions, or assisting in the em- peror’s hunting expeditions, the necessary numbers were enlisted. The Mandarin of Earth in charge of the Peoples’ Board made the levies; and his subordinates placed them at the disposition of the Mandarin of Summer, who was a kind of commander-in-chief of the empire. Minute in- structions were issued in connection with the levy of troops; the number of able-bodied men each family had to keep in readiness was prescribed by law, and for this purpose a general census was taken of the entire population once every three years, when males and females, adults and children, were distinguished and note was taken of domestic animals and of tools used for work. “Statistics had de- veloped into a regular science even in those early days. How the statistical method was made use of for govern- ment purposes, apart from the levy of troops, will be shown later on by the work of the philosopher Kuan-tzi, who died 646 z.c. The levying of troops thus laid the founda- tion of vital statistics as a science, and it also became a great stimulus in improving the records of the geographical condition of the empire, which was then divided into nine provinces. Of these maps were made showing their principal rivers, lakes, and mountains, their products and 120 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA articles of trade, and other useful details. The China of those times was, of course, not the big empire it is to-day. Her dominions were then confined to the northern part of the present “Eighteen Provinces.” At the beginning of the Chéu dynasty the Tartar nations in the northeast, the precursors of the Huns, constantly encroached upon what later on became undisputed Chinese territory; and the nation did not feel much tempted to extend toward the south and southwest which were then held by unculti- vated Man barbarians. On the east the sea was still the most satisfactory boundary, since no foreign fleets threat- ened the peace of the empire from that direction. The most distant province and the first one described in the Chéu-li was Yang-chéu, occupying the coast terri- tories near the mouth of the Yang-tzi. River south and north of it. The term Yang-chéu, as denoting the southern margravate of the empire, has been very elastic in the course of history. Some Chinese authors make it cover the entire south of China, as far as imperial authority went, during the several periods of history; others, more critical, distinctly exclude from the Yang-chéu of the Chéu dynasty those territories in the south which are screened off by the Nan-ling range. The name Yang-chdéu has survived in that of the city so called and possibly in that of the river Yang-tzi, the etymology of this latter name being uncertain. This province was irrigated by the lower Yang-tzi, with its affluents, and the T’ai-wu Lake, and its trade consisted in metals, tin, and bamboos. The Chéu-li says of its popula- tion that there were five men to every two women, and that the cultivation of rice formed their principal occupation. Every province had its sacred mountain. That of Yang- chéu was called Kui-ki (Hui-ki). FROM WU-WANG TO K’ANG-WANG 121 The second province described in the Chéu-li is King- chéu, comprising those fertile territories on the banks of the middle course of the great river. Its name has sur- vived in that of the city of King-chéu-fu, near the present treaty port of Shasi. Since Mt. Hong is mentioned as its sacred hill, its territories must have extended far south- ward into the province of Hu-nan. Hu-nan and Hu-pei may be said to cover the territory of the ancient King- chéu. The Chéu-li states that its trade consisted of vermilion (cinnabar), ivory, and skins. The word used in the Chéu-l for ivory is ch’i, which means a “front tooth,” pure and simple; but the commentaries give it the sense of “elephants’ teeth.” Although the elephant is now quite extinct in these regions, local records contain quite a num- ber of traditions to the effect that the animal was to be found among the fauna of the barbarian districts in this neighborhood in ancient times. One of the local legends mentions that an elephant was seen there as late as the seventh century of the present era (Hu-nan-fang-wu-chi, ch. vii, p. 9). In its population females predominated, the proportion being two women to one man. The province adjoining King-chéu in the north and reaching as far as the south banks of the Yellow River was Yi-chéu. Its tutelary hill was Mt. Hua, and its trade consisted in bamboos, varnish, silk, and hemp. The pro- portion of the sexes was three women to two men. A territory occupying the present Shan-tung was called Ts’ing-chéu, with Mt. I as its sacred hill. Its trade was in rushes and fish. As regards the population the sexes were equally divided. Fowls and dogs are mentioned as the principal animals, showing that the country was well settled, and rice and grain thrived in the fields. 122 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA North of Ts’ing-chéu, occupying the northern part of the present Shan-tung, was the province of Yen-chéu, with the celebrated Mt. T’ai as its sacred hill. It was situated on the banks of the Yellow River, which then ran into the Gulf of Chi-li as nowadays. Men and women were in the proportion of two to three respectively. The extreme west, the country south of the Ordos ter- ritory, with Mt. Yo as its sacred hill, was called Yung-chéu. It was bounded by the river Wei on the south, and its trade consisted of jade and other minerals. The male sex predominated to the extent of five men to three women. Oxen and horses were the principal animals, and certain kinds of millet were grown. That part of the present province of Chi-li which faces the sea-coast was called Yu-chéu. Its sacred hill was Mt. I-wu-li, situated in the present province of Shéng-king. Fish and salt were its chief products, and the proportion of females to males was three to one. The southern part of Shan-si was occupied by the province of Ki-chéu. Its sacred hill was called Ho. The trade of the district was in pines and cypresses; the male sex prevailed in the proportion of five to three; horses and oxen were the chief animals; and millet was grown. The northernmost province, Ping-chéu, occupied the north of Shan-si, with the celebrated Mt. Hing as its sacred hill. Its products were cotton and silk textures. Ping- chéu and Yung-chéu were the two frontier provinces which came most into contact with the nomad tribes of the northern steppe, and most of the great battle-fields com- memorating that endless contest between the Chinese race and its northern neighbors lie within their boundaries. The geography of the Chéu-li bears a remarkable resem- FROM WU-WANG TO K’ANG-WANG 123 blance to that of the Yi-kung, though differences in de- tail can be traced. What we learn of China during the Shang dynasty appears quite different from either, and it would seem that the conjecture that Yii’s nine provinces are a reconstruction of the philosophers of the Chéu dynasty, is supported by this consideration. Scanty though it is, the geographical section of the Chéu-li gives us an idea of the extent of China during the early part of that period. The care with which the proportions of the sexes in the several provinces is placed on record shows that no little attention was paid to vital statistics, which is quite in accord with the lessons given to his prince by the philosopher ~-.Kuan-tzi. The fifth great governmental division was the Board of Justice, presided over by the Mandarin of Autumn, who was supposed to be “in charge of the brigands.” He and his subordinates had to mete out justice in criminal cases. The penal code of the Chéu dynasty represents a system full of detail which may be called humane when compared with other Asiatic systems. Before capital punishment could be pronounced on a criminal, the most minute and rigid rules had to be observed; appeals were made first to a board of high officers, then to a commission composed of officers of lower rank, and lastly to the people themselves; and it appears that the people’s verdict was final, some- what like that of the juries of modern civilized nations, the sovereign alone having the right to pardon. The people were also consulted in cases of punishment for minor offenses. All subjects were equal before the law; but members of the imperial house and the administrative officers enjoyed the privilege of being punished behind the scenes, as it were, so that the dignity of their positions ees 4 124 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA might be maintained. The people had also to deliberate and decide under the authority of government justices what was to be done in the case of invasion of the country by an enemy; or, when a part of the population had to be transferred to another province, owing to a failure of the means of subsistence in their original homes; also, when a new king had to be elected, there being no heir to the throne, —in brief, we find traces of parliamentary power. -- Certain officials subordinate to the Mandarin of Autumn were, conjointly with the delegates of the Board of Cere- monies, charged with the responsibility of legalizing state contracts, such as the agreements made between the em- peror and his feudatory princes, or between the latter themselves. Other officials had to superintend the cere- monial connected with contracts among the people, the main feature of which was an oath in which the blood of an animal sacrifice was an important factor. Also subordinate to this board was the official called ta-hing-jén, the “Great Traveler,” as Biot translates, the chief authority in charge of ambassadorial matters, who, together with his staff, performed functions somewhat resembling those of a foreign office. He was in charge of the ceremonial connected with the reception of visitors to the court, whether from the feudatory states or from abroad. The most minute details regarding these court receptions have been placed on record in the Chéu-li. The “Great Traveler” and his junior col- league, the “Small Traveler” (staw-hing-jén) were, more- over, charged with police duties, inasmuch as their sub- ordinates had to inspect the condition of the feudatory states and their population. They had to keep the em- peror informed of all that was going on within his dominions. The emperor himself traveled through his dominions to see FROM WU-WANG TO K’ANG-WANG 125 for himself where his authority was called upon to inter- fere. In his journeys through the empire, he was accom- panied by an official provided with charts of his provinces, which gave him the information he desired in connection with the countries he visited. Another officer had to keep himself posted on historical, social, and economical ques- tions concerning the localities visited. The Great Traveler also convened periodical meetings of the court interpreters, the musicians, and the official historians. The Interpreters (siang-sii) had to be familiar with the languages of the surrounding nations and to assist at the court receptions; the musicians are called ku, “blind,” because the performers on the various musical instruments and the singers at court were selected from blind men. The court historians are represented by a large and com- plicated staff of officials, one of whom, the siaw-shi, or “Small Historian,” was in charge of the documents con- taining the material for the history of the states of the empire, whereas another, the wat-shi, the “ Historian of the Exterior,” was charged, among other duties, with the record of the history of foreign nations as well as of that of the Three Emperors and the Five Rulers (san-huang-wu-tt). It is probably one of these officials who, on higher inspi- ration, is responsible for the fabrications placed on record in connection with the fabulous Fu-hi, Shén-nung, and Huang-ti, the fine speeches of Yau and Shun, and the engineering exploits of the great Yi. The sixth great board was that of Public Works. The section of the Chéu-li describing the organization of this department is lost and has been replaced under the -Han dynasty by a work called Tung-kuan-k’au-kung-ki, “ Records of the Public Works of the Mandarin of Winter,” 126 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA or Ssi-kung, “Superintendent of Works.” We learn from it nothing about the administrative functions of this important division of government life; but the work contains an enormous mass of detail concerning the arts and industries of the period, of which so few remnants have come down to later generations. Thus most valuable facts are re- corded with regard to the manufacture of bronze imple- ments and vessels. Bells, tripods, and other sacrificial objects contained one-sixth part of tin in an alloy of cop- per; hatchets of all sizes contained one-fifth; lances and spears, one-fourth; knives and swords, one-third; erasing knives and arrow-heads, one-fifth, and metallic mirrors, one- half. All the important objects of art and productions of handicrafts are fully described in this interesting chapter, which is quoted by the historians of Chinese culture in connection with the origin of quite a host of characteristic products of Chinese civilization. Such as it is, the Chéu-li is a mine of information on the culture of the Chéu period, which has in many respects become the prototype of later institutions. The very few facts I have extracted from it are but a poor substitute for the work itself, for more detailed information as to which the reader is referred to Biot’s French version. It should be remarked that the style of the work is often so terse and ambiguous that a comprehension of it, as of the other Chinese classics, is in many cases impossible without the aid of later Chinese commentaries. § 25. OricIN or THE MarInER’s Compass IN CHINA The reign of Ch’éng-wang (1115-1079 B.c.) has been quoted by Chinese and foreign authors alike as the period FROM WU-WANG TO K’ANG-WANG 127 during which the north-, or as the Chinese say, south- pointing qualities of the magnetic needle were discovered. In the sixth year of his reign, so the legend runs, Ch’éng- wang received the news that the ambassadors of a distant foreign kingdom, called the tribes of Yiié-ch’ang, had ar- rived with presents to do him homage. They had come from the south of the country of Kiau-chi, 7.e. the present Tungking. Later Chinese historians placed them at the very spot where, during centuries at the beginning of our era, the embassies from India (T’ién-chu) and Syria (Ta- ts’in) disembarked, in order to be conveyed to the Chinese court, and where, according to the Shui-king-chu, a geo- graphical record of the fifth century a.p., ships used to start for the journey south to the countries of the Malayan Peninsula. This place clearly marks what may be called the terminus of Western navigation as described on the Chinese side, which is probably identical with Ptolemy’s city of Cattigara, the terminus of shipping enterprise in the Far East according to Western classical authors. The emperor gave orders that the Yiié-ch’ang ambassadors should be conducted to the court and that great honor should be paid them. The ambassadors, who were accom- panied by interpreters speaking different languages, brought pheasants and the tusk of an elephant as tribute. Since they were in doubt as to how to find their way back to their home, the Duke of Chéu, the emperor’s uncle and prime minister, is said to have presented them with five chariots provided with a south-pointing contrivance (chi-nan-ki, “south-pointing chariots”). Thus they found their way back “to the seas of Fu-nan and Lin-i,” the last- named country, well known during the Han dynasty, em- 128 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA s bracing the territory from which they had come, as Legge * has pointed out. No trace of this embassy or of the south-pointing char- iots mentioned in connection with it is contained in the Shu-king and the Shi-ki. Legge, therefore, looks upon it as a myth. Nevertheless there are early traces of the belief that such a contrivance was invented, if not by Chéu- kung, at least by some one among the old rulers. The philosopher Han Fei, who died in 233 B.c., says in one of his essays”: ‘The early kings constructed the ssi-nan, i.e. ‘the south-pointer,’ in order to fix the position of morning and evening.” And a still earlier philosopher, Kui-ku-tzi, who lived in the fourth century B.c., refers to the people of Chéng (K’ai-fong-fu) as having made use of the “south-pointing chariot” (ssi-nan-kti), when sending for jade (Kwi-kw-tzi, sec. 10). Kui-ku-tzi, whose little work is not preserved in its entirety, is also quoted in the T’ai-p’ing-yii-lan, a cyclopedia of the tenth century, as having said: ‘‘ The Su-shén® offered a white pheasant to Won-wang. Lest they might lose their way on the jour- ney, Chéu-kung constructed the ‘ south-pointing chariot’ to accompany them.’ ¢ Possibly Won-wang and Ch’éng-wang were confounded in this passage. Kui-ku-tzi’s text contains yet another passage (p. 4 B), in which he speaks of “loadstone attract- ing a needle”; but, since this need not necessarily involve a knowledge of the magnetic compass, I lay no stress on it. 1 Shu-king, p. 585 seq. * Hah-fei-tzi, ch. ii, p. 4. ? This is the same name by which, many centuries later, the Ni-chén, Ju-chi, or Djurdjen Tartars, the Tungusic ancestors of the Manchus, were known, but which in this case probably represents an unknown barbarous tribe somewhere near the Chinese territory mentioned in the Shu-king, Legge, p. 12, par. 56. 4 Legge, op. cit., p. 537. FROM WU-WANG TO K’ANG-WANG 129 From all this it would appear that as early as the fourth century B.c. some sort of a contrivance indicating a southern direction either existed or was believed to have existed in former times. In the later literature, the term chi-nan (from chi, “to point with the finger,’ and nan, “south,” and identical with ssi-nan) is occasionally used meta- phorically ; for instance, in the ‘‘ History of the Three King- doms,”* from which it would appear that the term was known in the sense of “a guide” about the year 200 a.p. Yet we have no indication whatever to show what the south- pointing chariot, or chi-nan-kii, really was. We do not hear of the magnetic needle being used as a compass in connection with it any more than on board ship for several centuries after the downfall of the Chéu dynasty; and if the needle was at all connected with those chariots, the in- vention of which was attributed to the Emperor Huang-ti in one, and to Chéu-kung in another passage of the Ku-kin- chu, a work of the fourth century A.D., we possess no record showing how they were constructed. From an account of the history of this invention contained in the Sung-shu, a historical work of the fifth century,’ it appears that the secret of the “south-pointing chariots” had been lost for many centuries, when the eminent astronomer Chang Hong, who died in 139 a.D., reconstructed it. In the troubles caus- ing the downfall of the eastern Han dynasty his model, too, was lost and consequently forgotten. From the third century «.p. renewed interest began to be taken in these mysterious allusions of the ancient literature, which led to repeated attempts to reconstruct what the would-be reconstructors apparently mistook as a mechanical contrivance; and it appears that all that was 1 San-kuo-chi, Shu, ch. viii, p. 4B. ? Ch. xviii, p. 4. K 130 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CH&NA turned out was a machine consisting of certain wheels, possibly registering the movements of the axle of a chariot in such a manner as to cause an index to point in the same direction, whatever direction the chariot might take. I do not know whether such a construction is actually within the range of possibility; if so, I should be inclined to think that these reinventions were used as mechanical toys to be kept in some imperial museum as models sup- posed to correspond with Chéu-kung’s chariots and doomed to oblivion as being practically useless. I find it stated in the Sung-shu, to which account Professor H. E. Parker has drawn attention in the China Review (vol. xviii, p. 197), that certain models made under instructions from Shi Hu, the emperor of a short-lived foreign dynasty in the middle of the fourth century, and from Yau Hing, an emperor of the later Tsin dynasty (about 400), fell into the hands of the Sung court in 417 a.p., but “the machinery being too coarse, the south-pointer showed so often in the wrong direction that men were required to set it right again.” Subsequent attempts are spoken of as having been more successful, but, as I understand the Sung-shu, the author of this account thinks of “machinery” and is not aware of the real agent, although he casually remarks that, during the Tsin dynasty (265-420), there was also a chi-nan-chéu, 1.e. “a south-pointing ship.” The Emperor Yau Hing’s contrivance is more clearly described in the biography of its engineer,’ which says it had no machinery at all, but that, whenever it was put in motion, aman had to step inside to move the apparatus. Reading between the lines, I am inclined to assume that this re- mark strongly suggests the use of a compass, the man who 1 Nan-ts’ i-shu, ch. lii, p. 15. FROM WU-WANG TO K’ANG-WANG 131 had to step inside giving the chariot the direction ascer- tained from it. Yet we find in the Sung-shi' the detailed description of the model of a “south-pointing chariot,” seriously submitted to the Emperor Jén-tsung as late as 1027 a.p., based on a most complicated system of cogged wheels (diameters and numbers of cogs being given), and said to have been originally constructed about 806 a.p. A similar machine, also described in the Sung-shi, was con- structed in 1107, when it was submitted to the Emperor Hui-tsung. From other sources it may be shown that at this time the magnetic needle must have been well known, if not as a guide to mariners, at least as an instrument in the hands of geomancers for centuries before that date. Dr. Edkins, in his paper “On Chinese Names for Boats and Boat Gear,” quotes Mr. Wylie in showing that the Buddhist priest and imperial astronomer I-hing at the beginning of the eighth century knew not only the south-pointing qualities of the magnetic needle, but also its eastern devia- tion.? Since no references are given, I am not able to con- firm the fact, but I am certain that the deviation of the needle was well known in China about the year 1115 a.p., when it was described in the Pén-ts’au-yen-i.5 It was there stated that, if one rubbed a needle with loadstone, it would point to the south, but that it would always deviate a little to the east and not show due south. To prepare the contrivance, one had to single out a fine thread from a new skein of silk floss and fix it with half a candareen of bees’ wax on the middle of the needle, the latter to be hung up where there wasno wind. The needle would then always 1Ch. cxlix, p. 15. ? Journal of the China Branch, Royal Asiatic Society, N.S., vol. xi, p. 138. % Quoted in the Ko-chi-king-yian, ch. xlix, p. 12 B. 132 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA ° point to the south. By sticking the needle through a piece of lamp wick (which in China is made of pith), thus causing it to float on the water, it would also point to the south with a slight deviation, which the author tries to explain from the mystic point of view of Chinese natural philosophy. Shon Kua, who wrote about the middle of the eleventh century, gives a still clearer account of the contrivance, which, according to his own words, was used by the fang- kia, or geomancers, and he says absolutely nothing about its use in navigation. He also describes the deviation of the needle, without any attempt at explanation. For, “the reason why loadstone points to the south, just as cypresses point to the west, cannot be explained.”? Since Shon Kua was a native of Hangchow, where in those days a lively traffic existed with Arab and Persian traders, it seems quite possible that the latter have seen the needle used for geomantic purposes somewhere in that neighbor- hood, if not in Chinchew (Zaitun) or Canton, learned the secret of its preparation from the Chinese, and discovered its further use in navigation. The Ch’aw-yé-ts’ién-tsai” states that in 692 a.p. a me- chanic was sent to court from Hai-chéu, a seaport on the coast south of Kiau-chéu (Shan-tung), who had constructed a “chariot showing the twelve hours of the day” (shi-ir- ch’ én-kii) by the shaft being turned due south. It looks very much as though the magnetic needle had something to do with it, too. It may have been a mechanical toy to be used indoors, somewhat like another “south-pointing chariot,” so styled and described on the preceding page of the cyclopedia referred to as being only seven and one-half ' Méng-k’ i-pi-t’ an, ch. xxiv,p. 7B. ? A work of the eighth century A.D. quoted in the Ko-chi-king-yiian, ch. xxix, p. 25. FROM WU-WANG TO K’ANG-WANG 133 inches long and about fifteen inches high, and not a chariot in the ordinary sense. The earliest unmistakable mention of the use of the magnetic needle as a guide to mariners that I have been able to find in Chinese literature is probably as old as the knowledge of its use in Europe. It occurs in a work of the twelfth century, entitled P’ing-chéu-k’o-t’an, and compiled by one Chu Yi, a native of Hu-chéu in Ché-kiang. In the second chapter of this work the author has inserted a series of notes on the foreign trade at Canton, which, pre- vious to the arrival of the Portuguese in Eastern waters, had been in the hands of Arab and Persian navigators. Since, from what we know of the author’s lifetime, he him- self never lived at Canton, whereas his father, Chu Fu, had held office there at the end of the eleventh century, the critics of the great Catalogue of the Imperial Library at Peking‘ hold that his information about the foreign trade in Canton is based on accounts of Chu, the father, and that it, therefore, dates from the latter part of the eleventh century A.D. This view is supported by the fact that the years 1086 and 1099 are mentioned in Chu Yii’s paragraphs referring to Canton in other connections. Among these interesting notes I find (ch. ii, p. 2) one referring to the foreign ships by which trade was carried on between Canton and San-fo-ts’i (Palembang) on the coast of Sumatra and farther on to the ports in Arabian coun- tries, including India. It runs as follows: — “In clear weather the Captain ascertains the ship’s position, at night by looking at the stars, in the daytime by looking at the sun; in dark weather he looks at the south-pointing needle (chi-nan-chén). Sometimes he will make use of a rope, ten chang in length, to hook 1 Tsung-mu, ch. cxli, p 15 seq. 134 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF Cols up mud from the bottom of the sea, the smell of which will tell him where to go. In the open sea there is no rain; and when it rains, they are nearing land,” etc. The wording of this passage is such that it gives us no clue as to whether or no the Chinese at the time were familiar with the use of the compass on shipboard. I am inclined to think, however, that attempts to use the needle on ships must have been made in China about as early as it was known there to geomancers, but that it was aban- doned as a useless luxury by the conservative junk masters, who were accustomed to steer their ships by bearings and soundings, and who scarcely ever required a compass for their coasting trips. Navigation on the high seas in those days was in the hands of foreigners (Arabs and Persians) ; and this may be the reason why we first hear of them as having turned the old Chinese invention to practical use on shipboard. We have seen that, apart from the great probability of the magnetic needle being known in high antiquity, instances are on record of its use during the Middle Ages for geomantic purposes. If my assumption proves correct, that the magnetic needle was seen by Arab traders on the coast of China in the hands of geomancers, was applied by them to navigation, and was then brought back to China as the “mariner’s compass,” the history of this invention may be looked upon as perfectly analogous to that of gun- powder, the preparation of which was probably known to the Chinese long before they learned its application to firearms through Europeans. FROM WU-WANG TO K’ANG-WANG 135 ABSTRACT OF DATES 2704-2594 B.c. The invention of the “south-pointing chariot” ascribed to the legendary Emperor Huang-ti according to the Ku-kin-chu (4th cent. a.p.). 1231-1135 s.c. ‘“South-pointing chariots” were presented by Wén- wang to certain ambassadors. The passage, which may be wrongly handed down, is contained in the Kui-ku-tzi, a work of the fourth century B.c. 1115-1079 B.c., under Ch’6ng-wang. Legend of the arrival of am- bassadors from the south, conducted home by the aid of “south- pointing chariots.’ No indication is on record as to what these were. The entire account is legendary and not backed by con- temporaneous records. 4th Cent. B.c. The philosopher Kui-ku-tzi speaks of the use of the “south-pointing chariot” by the people of Chéng. He knows that loadstone will attract a needle. 233 B.c. The philosopher Han Fei speaks of a “south-pointer” by which the position of east and west may be ascertained. 139 a.p. The astronomer Chang Hong tries to reconstruct the old “south-pointing chariot.” His model, however, was lost and forgotten. 200. The term chi-nan (“south-pointer,” or “compass”) is used figuratively in the sense of “a guide” (San-kuo-chi). 350-400. The emperors Shi Hu and Yau Hing are in the possession of apparatuses pointing south; but, the “machinery” being defective, they point wrong (Sung-shu), and in Yau Hing’s con- trivance a man is required to move it (Nan-ts’i-shu). 265-420. “South-pointing ships” (chi-nan-chéu) are mentioned. 692. A south-pointing contrivance showing the hours of the day is invented. 700. The Buddhist astronomer I-hing is familiar with the eastern deviation of the magnetic needle. (Edkins, quoting Wylie.) Wylie, in a paper entitled “The Magnetic Compass in China,” reprinted in Chinese Researches (Shanghai, 1897), p. 155, says: “A passage from the life of Yih-hing, a Buddhist priest and imperial astronomer at the commencement of the eighth century, will show that the subject had engaged attention at least nine hundred years earlier [than the seventeenth century]. It is said, that ‘on comparing the needle with the north pole, he found the former pointed between the constellations hu and wet. The pole was just in 6 degrees of hii, from which the needle declined 136 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA to the right (east) 2°95’. As it declined to the right of the north pole, it was necessarily to the left of the south pole’” I have not succeeded in finding this passage in the lives of I-hing I was able to consult, but take it for granted, on the excellent authority of the late Mr. Wylie, that it is contained in some other Chinese text, which I hope to be able to hunt up some day, Unfortunately neither Mr. Wylie nor Dr. Edkins has given chap- ter and verse of this passage, so very important in the history of our subject. 806. A south-pointing contrivance consisting of cogged wheels is said in the Sung-shi to have been constructed. 1027. A “south-pointing chariot,” described as a mechanical con- trivance, is submitted to the Emperor Jén-tsung (Sung-shi). 1030-1093. Lifetime of the encyclopedist Shén Kua, who speaks of the magnetic needle and its deviation as used for geomantic purposes. 1100, or earlier. Probable first unmistakable mention on record in Chinese literature of the use on shipboard of the “south- pointing needle” by foreign (Arab and Persian) navigators at Canton. 1107. A “south-pointing chariot,” also described as a system of cogged wheels, etc., is submitted to the Emperor Hui-tsung. 1115. The magnetic needle is described in detail and its deviation mentioned in the Pén-ts’au-yen-i, where no allusion is made to its use on shipboard. § 26. Cuy’6nc-wane’s Retan (Continued) After the alleged embassy from the Yiié-ch’ang barbarians in Tung-king, Ch’6ng-wang decided to erect a new capital which should be more centrally situated than his old resi- dence in the west; and he selected the city of Lo-yang, cor- responding to the present city of Ho-nan-fu. Chéu-kung made all the necessary arrangements, and the court re- moved to Lo-yang. The country about Lo-yapg being supposed to occupy the middle of the then Chinese empire, it was called, in distinction from the other provinces, FROM WU-WANG TO K’ANG-WANG 137 Chung-kuo, the “Middle Country,” or the “Middle King- dom.” In this sense the term, which has been quoted as the origin of the present name for China and which is generally translated by the “Middle Kingdom,” occurs repeatedly in the Shi-king. The same classic, however, contains an ode’ in which long before that Wén-wang, Ch’6ng-wang’s grandfather, is made to use the term Chung-kuo in the sense of China as opposed to Kui-fang, or the “Demon Regions.” In the “Tribute of Yi”? China is unmistakably to be understood by the term Chung- pang, which Legge translates by the “Middle Regions.” Another name Chung-ytian, which may be translated by “Middle Plain,” occurs in the sense of “China” in the Shi-king and other classics. All this shows that, during the Chéu dynasty and probably even long before that, the Chinese looked upon their country as the middle of the world. In 1105 3B.c. Chéu-kung died, and Ch’éng-wang buried him with royal honors. The Chinese nation regards him as one of the most important personages in its history. Mencius,? referring to Yu, Confucius, and Chéu-kung, speaks of the “Three Great Sages” (san-shéng) whose work he should like to continue. Chdéu-kung was the type of a monarchist; and the example of loyalty set by him may be called the mainstay of the stability of the Chéu dynasty. The long duration of that uniform spirit of Chinese official life which, in spite of all political and personal changes, has under all dynasties come to the front again, is mainly the work of this model statesman, the main spokesman of hu- mane government and absolute justice on the one hand and of undisputed legitimacy of the supreme ruler on the 1 Legge, p. 509. * Legge, Shu-king, p. 141. * Legge, p. 160. 138 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA other. “In former times,” Mencius says, “ Yu repressed the vast waters of the inundation, and the empire was reduced to order. Chéu-kung’s achievements extended even to the barbarous tribes of the west and north; he drove away all ferocious animals; and the people enjoyed repose.” Mencius sings Chéu-kung’s praises to mark the contrast with certain philosophers of his own time, espe- cially Yang Chu, the cynic, “whose principle was each one for himself, and who would not acknowledge the claims of the sovereign.” ‘These father-deniers and king-deniers would have been smitten by Chéu-kung,” says Mencius. If Chéu-kung had done nothing but furnish the germs of that unique code, the Chéu-li, he would indeed have done more to give to Chinese official life its characteristic feature of systematization than any ruler, statesman, or philosopher after him. The years of Ch’6ng-wang’s reign following Chéu-kung’s death were spent in peaceful government. Ch’dng-wang died in 1079 s.c. Chau, his heir presumptive, being a minor, he had appointed the dukes of Shau and Pi as regents, under whose guidance Chau ascended the throne. He reigned under the name of K’ang-wang. § 27. K’ana-wane (1078-1053 B.c.) K’ang-wang’s rule, like that of his father, was a great blessing to the empire, being full of humanity and of love for his people. The Duke of Shau (Shau-kung), one of his guardians, who acted as his prime minister, actively seconded him in this friendly disposition. The duke’s condescension toward the people was so great that he FROM WU-WANG TO K’ANG-WANG 139 would travel about the country in order to listen to their grievances. The result was his great popularity, which has found a lasting memorial in one of the best-known odes of the Shi-king: * — “This umbrageous sweet pear tree; Clip it not, break not a twig of it. For under it the Duke of Shau rested.” The sweet pear tree (kan-t’ang, the translation being doubt- ful) has ever since been the symbol of the people’s apprecia- tion of condescension and kindness shown to them. 1 Legge, p. 26. v GRADUAL DECLINE OF CENTRAL POWER V GRADUAL DECLINE OF CENTRAL POWER § 28. Cuau-wane (1052-1002 3.c.) SI-MA TS’IEN insinuates that under Chau-wang “the king’s ways became feeble and defective.” He left the cares of government to his ministers, among whom were none like the dukes of Chéu and Shau. In spite of serious warnings given by Heaven in the shape of natural phenomena, the king would not change his ways, but devoted himself solely to pleasure. To indulge in the chase, he did not mind spoiling the crops in the fields of his subjects. The respectful remonstrances of his ministers made no impression on him. In 1002 B.c. there was a revolt among the people of Ch’u, the semi-barbarous state on the southern frontier. Chau-wang went south to make war on the barbarians. Even then he looked upon the campaign as a sort of pleasure trip and, by damaging the fields of his people in pursuit of his hunting parties, drew on himself their dislike. To enable him to cross a river, —said by some to have been the Kiang or Yang-tzi, by others, the Han-kiang,—the people furnished him with a boat, the boards of which were insecurely fastened together —the time-honored method of committing a political mur- der. In the middle of the river the boat broke up, and the king had a narrow escape from drowning. He died soon after as a result of this “accident.” : 143 144 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHIVA § 29. Mu-wane (1001-947 B.c.) On going south with his army, Chau-wang had appointed regent his son Man, and the latter on his father’s death ascended the throne under the name of Mu-wang. He was then at the ripe age of fifty, and was a great admirer of the virtue of his forefathers W6n and Wu. Details of his life and government in the Shu-king are very scant, and a great deal of what we know about him has been supplemented by later authorities. The most prominent of his charac- teristics referred to by these is his restless love of traveling beyond the confines of his empire. His alleged journeys to the West have given rise to the wildest speculations as to his having been a mediator between the western Asiatic and Chinese civilizations. The Bamboo Books contain only a few allusions to his expeditions against the hordes of the K’iian barbarians, or K’iéan-jung, identified by the Chinese commentators with the later Hiung-nu, or the Huns, who, as I have already shown, had under various names linguistically answering to the root Hun or Kun, engaged the king’s forefathers, when they (the Hiung-nu) were still holding the northwestern borders of the empire during the Shang dynasty under T’ai-wang and W6n-wang. Besides a number of hunting and punitive expeditions and journeys described as “tours of inspection,” the Bamboo Books * record that, “in his seventeenth year he [Mu-wang]- went on a punitive expedition to Mt. K’un-lun and saw the Si-wang-mu [lit. “Western King’s Mother”]. That year he [Si-wang-mu] came to court.” Here a note is added, which may be that of a commentator of later date, saying that “the king, in his expeditions to the north, traveled a 1 Legge, Shu-king, Prolegomena, p. 150 seq. GRADUAL DECLINE OF CENTRAL POWER 145 thousand li over the Liu-sha” (“The Moving Sands,” by which name any part of the central Asiatic desert west of the Great Wall may be understood, if not the Desert of Takla-makan); that he also traveled “a thousand li over the Tsi-yii” [lit. ““Heaped-up Feathers’]; and that “he made war on the K’tian-jung [Huns?] and returned to the east with their five kings as captives.” Westward he is said to have “pushed his expeditions to where the green birds cast their feathers” (said by some Chinese commenta- tors to be identical with the San-wei-shan near the Tang-ho, an affluent of the Bulungir). The note ends by saying that, on these expeditions he traveled over 190,000 li. This dry-as-dust account is greatly supplemented by another work specially devoted to Mu-wang’s expeditions, the Mu-t’tén-tzi-chuan, “ Biography of Mu, the Son of Heaven,” probably originating in a period not later than the third century B.c., if we accept the fact that it was found in a tomb of one of the Wei princes dating from 281 B.c. Of this work Wylie! says: “It savors too much of the fabulous to be admitted among the authentic records, but it is pre- served as a specimen of ancient composition.” The work contains a host of geographical names which it is scarcely possible now to identify, the best known of which is that of Mt. K’un-lun, where the king is supposed to have met Si-wang-mu. The name K’un-lun first occurs in the Shu-king ? in the list of articles said to have been sent to the Emperor Yi; but in that passage it seems extremely doubtful whether it does not apply to the name of some wild tribe of the West furnishing “hair-cloth and skins.” It seems quite possible that this name, as mentioned in the Bamboo Books, amounts to no more than this; but since 1 Notes on Chinese Literature, p. 153. 2 Legge, p. 127. L 146 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA it is there described as a hill, it can be understood how the author, or some interpolator, of the Mu-t’sén-tzi-chuan came to identify it with the K’un-lun-shan, or Karakorum range, the reputed source of the Yellow River, which, according to early Chinese ideas, took its rise in the affluents of the Tarim, and disappeared into the ground at Lake Lob-nor, reappearing at its real source in northwestern Tibet. The K’un-lun-shan has in times much more recent than the Shu-king grown into a sort of fairy-land and become the seat of numerous legendary creations, among which is the Si-wang-mu, who, owing to the meaning of these three words, is usually represented as a queen, the “Royal Lady of the West,’”’ heading the troops of genii inhabiting Mt. K’un-lun and holding from time to time intercourse with favorite imperial votaries. Such is the legend which has grown up in the course of ages from the slender basis afforded by the occurrence of the name in very early tra- ditions. An obscure reference to Si-wang-mu is also to be found in the Shan-hai-king, a geographical record possibly as old as it is insipid; and upon these ancient notices the philosopher Lié-tzi is supposed to have based in- the fifth century B.c. a fanciful and perhaps allegorical tale of the entertainment with which King Mu was honored and en- thralled by the supernatural being. In later ages the superstitious vagaries of the Emperor Wu-ti (140-87 B.c.) gave rise to innumerable fables respecting the alleged visits paid to that monarch by Si-wang-mu and her fairy troop; and the imagination of the Tauist writers of the ensuing centuries was exercised in glowing descriptions of her mountain palace.'’ Her palace was supposed to stand on Mt. K’un-lun which, after Wu-ti’s expeditions, was well * From Mayers, The Chinese Reader's Manual, p. 178; cf. p. 108 seg. GRADUAL DECLINE OF CENTRAL POWER 147 known to be somewhere in the south of Khotan. It is understood by all serious Chinese historians that the gen- eral Chang K’ién, who returned from his first journey to the West in 126 B.c., was the first to bring notices to China of such countries even as near the western boundaries as Khotan. The mention of the K’un-lun in connection with Mu-wang’s travels must therefore remain a puzzle, unless we assume that some other region much nearer to his own dominions is indicated by this name. We need not be astonished to find such shifting of names, which Mr. Kings- mill thinks correspond to the development of geograph- ical knowledge among the Chinese. Although the K’un-lun itself, after it was once understood to be identical with Mt. Karakorum, was not affected thereby, several of the other creations of Chinese popular imagination can be shown to have wandered to the West in the same measure that matter-of-fact knowledge began to extend in China. This refers especially to certain legendary terms associated with each other in the very earliest periods. The Si-wang- mu, mistaken for a fairy queen, owing to the name being transcribed with characters suggesting such an-interpreta- tion, had been made to live somewhere on a hill, sometimes called the “White Jade Hill,” in a palace of jade. Near her abode were the Liu-sha, or “Shifting Sands”: and this may have been any part of the Tarim desert, even to the east ' of Lake Lob-nor, since the Liu-sha is said by Chinese geog- raphers to begin about eighty li west of Sha-chéu. Another name which also occurs in the Shu-king is the Jo-shui, or “Weak Water,” to the west of which the “ Western King’s Mother” held court. I am inclined to assume that the localities covertly referred to by these legendary terms were originally much nearer the Chéu empire than they 148 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHJNA were held to be later on, and that, being constantly asso- ciated with the western terminus of what was to the ancient Chinese the inhabited world, their imaginary position had to be shifted farther west from time to time; for, in ac- cordance with some of these legends, the Si-wang-mu had to be located somewhere near the place “where the sun sets.” When Chang K’ién returned from his visit to Bactria, he had found there was a still farther West; and when the first detailed accounts of Ta-ts’in, 2.e. the eastern provinces of the Roman empire, became known in China, the Chinese became aware that T’iau-chi, or Chaldea, which after Chang K’ién’s expeditions had been nearly the westernmost Asiatic country known, by name at least, in China, was not the end of the world, but that Ta-ts’in, or Syria, was still farther west. For, as Chi- nese writers in the second century a.p. say, “formerly it was wrongly believed that the Jo-shui, or ‘Weak Water,’ was in the west of T’iau-chi; now the Jo-shui is in the west of Ta-ts’in. Formerly it was wrongly be- lieved that, going over two hundred days west of T’iau- chi, one came near ‘the place where the sun sets’; now one comes near the place where the sun sets by going west of Ta-ts’in.”’ * As to the Si-wang-mu mentioned in the Bamboo Books as having visited Mu-wang’s court, the responsibility for all the fanciful tales heaped about that name must be left to later authors. If we confine ourselves to the really oldest texts, or even to the more detailed account of the Mu-tién-tzi-chuan, there is nothing to prevent us from adopting the opinion expressed by the author of a critique of the work published in the great Catalogue of the Imperial ' Hirth, China and the Roman Orient, pp. 68, 291 segq. GRADUAL DECLINE OF CENTRAL POWER 149 Library of Peking. This view has been independently arrived at by Dr. E. J. Eitel, to whom we are indebted for a translation of the work, with some valuable explanatory notes.? Regarding the name Si-wang-mu, Dr. Eitel says: “These three characters probably are merely a transliteration of a name belonging to a polysyllabic non-Chinese language. The meaning of the individual characters, chosen to represent the foreign name, ought not to prejudice the reader. There is nothing in this or any other ancient text to indicate that Si-wang-mu was a woman. Taking this name like other names in our text, it seems to me best to treat Si-wang-mu as the name of a tribe whose chief went by the same name.” Such transformations are by no means uncommon in legendary subjects of periods much more recent even than the Si-wang-mu legend; and the change of a man into a woman has its parallel in Buddhist lore, if we consider that the goddess Kuan-yin, the Holy Virgin of the Chinese, has grown out of Avalokités’vara, an Indian male divinity represented as late as the eighth century by the great Chinese painter Wu Tau-tzi, the Godoshi of the Japanese, as a tall young man with a respectable mustache. The impression I myself have received with regard to the historical signification of Mu-wang from a survey of the native literature is as follows: If we fall back on the very oldest records, there is nothing to prevent us from assuming that the emperor was fond of traveling about, but that his most distant journeys did not take him far beyond the present wall frontier in the west. Even Terrien de Lacouperie puts a stop to the emperor’s progress at Karashar, which he thinks may be considered as the farthest point 1 Ch. cxlii, p. 4. 2China Review, vol. xvii, pp. 223, 247. 150 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA reached in a westerly direction.' In that case the accounts of the K’un-lun and all that can be proved to refer to the western part of Chinese Turkestan should be looked upon as having been interpolated in later times. If, however, we adopt Dr. Eitel’s opinion, who looks upon the Mu- Uién-tzi-chuan as a work of the tenth century B.c., we could not well deny that some region called K’un-lun, if not the Karakarum, was then known to the Chinese. The former opinion had found its advocates among the Chinese them- selves, since the local records of the city of Su-chéu in Kan-su claim the K’un-lun-shan, where Mu-wang met Si- wang-mu, to have been identical with a certain hill called Siié-shan, z.e. “Snow Mountain,” situated two hundred and fifty li southwest of that city (Su-chéu). The inventor of this theory, a magistrate by the name of Ma Ki, who lived during the tenth century a.p., thought he had to look for “Si-wang-mu’s Stone House and Jade Hall” in this locality. The Si-wang-mu legend and the relations of Mu-wang with that mysterious personage have quite lately given rise to a somewhat extravagant view of the extent of the emperor’s expeditions. Professor A. Forke, of Berlin, in an ingenious attempt to explain the several accounts preserved in Chinese literature,’ comes to the conclusion that Si-wang-mu is no less a personage than the Queen of Sheba, and that the em- peror’s journeys took him to her kingdom in Arabia Felix. But the name Si-wang-mu is by no means confined to the lifetime of Mu-wang. For, apart from its occurrence in later legends, the annals of the Bamboo Books* mention 1 Origin of Early Chinese Civilization, p. 265 seqg. ? Mu Wang und die Kénigin von Saba, in Mittheilungen des Seminars fiir Orientalische Sprachen zu Berlin, Jahrgang vii, 1904. * Legge, Shu-king, Prole- gomena, p. 115. GRADUAL DECLINE OF CENTRAL POWER 151 a visit of Si-wang-mu to the Emperor Shun, and Legge, following the native commentaries, explains the name as that of “a state or kingdom in the distant west.” Cer- tainly the compiler of the Bamboo Books cannot have thought of the Queen of Sheba, when he connects the name with that of Shun, who, according to this very source, should be held to have lived eleven hundred years before Mu-wang. The arguments brought to bear on the Si-wang-mu problem by Forke are very interesting, but I cannot, with Chavannes, make up my mind to accept his conclusions. Chavannes? has devoted an excursus to “Le voyage au pays de Si- wang-mou,” in which he endeavors to show that the Mu- wang of the Si-wang-mu legends is not the emperor of that name, but his namesake Duke Mu, of the state of Ts’in, who reigned from 659 to 621 B.c.? Whichever view we may adopt, the journeys of Mu-wang seem to have in no way affected Chinese civilization. Sup- posing the emperor had actually reached the distant region of Khotan, no one to-day can tell what sort of people he may have found there, whether Indians, Persians, or Tar- tars; and even admitting that the illustrious traveler may have brought home some strange impressions from his interesting trips into the formerly unknown parts of cen- 1 Les Mémoires historiques, vol. v., pp. 480-489. ?Cf. Profes- sor H. A. Giles’s paper Who was Si Wang Mu? in his Adversaria Sinica, no. 1, Shanghai, 1905, p. 1; also Ed. Huber’s notes on Forke’s work in Bulletin de V Ecole Francaise d’Extréme Orient, vol. iv, pp. 1127-1131. Huber (p. 1128) justly draws attention to the record in the Bamboo Books of Si-wang-mu’s visit to the Chinese court “in the same year,’ which would involve the fact that the Queen of Sheba was an Asiatic traveler fully as bold as her friend Mu-wang. The Queen of Sheba theory, Huber points out (p. 1131), had been raised as early as 1853 by Paravey, though rejected by Burnouf and Von Humboldt. 152 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA tral Asia, we fail to notice in the development of Chinese civilization during the Chéu dynasty any such palpable proofs for the accession of foreign elements as we can show to have been introduced about nine hundred years later under the Emperor Wu-ti of the Han. Mu-wang had, contrary to the opinion of his advisers, made great preparations for a campaign against the K’iian- jung, which apparently ended in failure. Altogether his long reign did not tend to strengthen the empire. He died at the advanced age of 104, after a reign of fifty-five years. § 30. Kuna-wane (946-935 B.c.) Mu-wang’s eldest son I-hu was himself seventy-two years of age when he succeeded his father under the style of Kung- wang. His reign, which lasted about ten years, would have been one of perfect peace save for an event casting a slur, savoring of the scandalous, on the emperor’s character. One of his vassals, the duke of a little state called Mi, had married three women of his own surname. This has at all times been looked upon in China as a sort of incest, and it was also contrary to the laws of the Chéu dynasty. Ac- cording to Ssi-ma Ts’ién, his mother had reprimanded him on this account, saying: “You ought to hand over your wives to the king, for as three animals constitute a flock and three persons a meeting, three wives are a luxury. Luxury is a fine thing, but not even the emperor will take three wives of the same clan. If you assume to do what even he is not worthy of, this will be your end.” When Kung-wang had seen the duke’s three beauties, he called for their delivery and, the women being withheld, the emperor made war on the duchy of Mi and destroyed it. GRADUAL DECLINE OF CENTRAL POWER 153 It does not appear from Ssi-ma Ts’ién’s account for what reason the emperor wanted the three women. ‘From other accounts it would appear that old man though he was he had fallen in love with them.'’ Kung-wang died at the age of eighty-four, leaving the throne to his son I-wang. § 31. I*wane (934-910 B.c.) Ssi-ma Ts’ién describes this monarch as an incapableruler, under whose government the royal house rapidly declined ; and he insinuates that many of the satirical poems con- tained in the Shi-king referred to him.’ § 32. Hiau-wane (909-895 B.c.) This is the first monarch of the Chéu dynasty who was not the son of his predecessor. Hiau-wang, the younger brother of Kung-wang, usurped the government, the chil- dren of I-wang being too young to succeed their father. The most noteworthy event of his reign was the elevation of a favorite by name of Fei-tzi to the rank of prince of Ts’in. Fei-tzi was supposed to derive his pedigree from Po I, minister of ancestor worship under the Emperor Shun in the twenty-third century B.c.; but, his family having degenerated, he was obliged to make a living by dealing in horses. The emperor being a great sportsman, he managed so to ingratiate himself that he became chief equerry and finally rose to be a prince of the em- pire. In the course of centuries the duchy of Ts’in grew in power and was destined after several generations to cause the downfall of the Chéu empire. 1 De Mailla, Histoire générale de la Chine, vol. ii, p. 11 seqq. 2 His name I? differs in tone from that of his son I? (§ 33). 154 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA § 33. P-wana (894-879 B.c.) "wang was the eldest son of I‘-wang, Hiau-wang’s nephew and predecessor. The tyrannical temper of Hiau- wang, the usurper, had prevented I?-wang’s character from developing that self-consciousness inseparable from the dignity of a ruler. Gossip has it that on his first court assembly, when the grandees and ministers of the empire were assembled to do him homage as emperor, he descended from the throne to salute his friends. The princes did not appreciate this democratic familiarity; on their part, they began to take liberties; discipline began to wane in the empire, and internal wars were the result. § 34. Li-wana (878-842 B.c.) Li-wang tried to make up for his father’s mildness by excessive severity; and the result of his unreasonable tem- per was that the imperial authority sank rapidly into a shadow. More than any of his predecessors, he tried to rule by force and by terrorizing the people; moreover, the king was greedy for money, and he favored such officials as knew how to extract it from the people. The spirit of independence which had taken possession of the feudatory princes under I’-wang took more positive shape under Li- wang. China now became more and more a confederation of smaller states, and the power of the central government became more and more nominal in spite of the emperor’s great exertions to keep down every attempt at freedom on the part of his own subjects. Once in an interview with his chief minister, the Duke of Shau, the emperor gave vent to his displeasure because the people sneered at his ways. GRADUAL DECLINE OF CENTRAL POWER = 155 Upon the duke’s remarking that it was impossible to issue orders in this connection, the emperor became furious and sent for the court wizards, whom he ordered to furnish a list of those of his subjects who had dared to say evil things about him. The list being supplied, all the alleged slan- derers were executed. Nobody henceforth dared to say a word, for the very streets had eyes to detect offenders. When Li-wang expressed his gratification at his success by saying, “Well, what has become of your gossipers now?” the duke is supposed to have retorted in the famous speech: “All you have brought about is a screen which prevents you from learning the real sentiments of the people; but you should know it is more dangerous to shut the people’s mouths than to stop — the waters of ariver. 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.” He then goes on to explain why it is the best policy to allow poets, historians, and statesmen to speak out freely ; in fact, he places on record all the well-known commonplace arguments brought forward against the evil effects of too much zeal in public censorship. Li-wang’s speech has been preserved in a work of doubt- ful origin, said to have been compiled during the Chéu dynasty, entitled Kuo-yti, “State Speeches” —a typical representative of quite a number of works containing speeches ascribed to all possible historical personages, but being probably nothing better than the rhetorical effusions of some philosopher who wished to air his views by pigeon- 156 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA holing them in his register of historical anecdotes. This seems, indeed, to be the origin of a great deal of what has been handed down to us as Chinese history; and in this respect our knowledge of Chinese antiquity is hardly better than that of ancient Rome, whose history often impresses one as though it had been expressly gotten up for the stage. Even the Shu-king, our oldest source for all that precedes Confucius, is mainly a series of speeches embodying political and social wisdom, loosely strung on anecdotes, possibly in- vented for the purpose and distributed over a chronological framework which may or may not be fictitious. We have seen that the Emperor Huang-ti was credited with having created a board of historians, divided into a right and a left wing: the former of which had to record facts; the latter, words and speeches. This is, of course, an invention of later ages; but it clearly indicates the method observed by the ancient Chinese in constructing or reconstructing their most ancient history. The question arises whether the facts were not invented in order to find nails on which to hang the speeches. The latter, divested of their alleged historical background, might be collected into a regular system of political and social philosophy. Their associa- tion with the dramatis persone of the several dynasties and. reigns, which would otherwise have remained an uninter- esting skeleton of names, gives life to the lifeless and renders abstract theories more palatable to the reader. Professor Grube in his History of Chinese Literature: justly draws attention to this peculiarity of the oldest historical texts, in which speeches preponderate, whereas facts are referred to in a mere casual manner in order, as it were, to facilitate the understanding. The historical accounts of the Shu- 1 Geschichte der chinesischen Litteratur, Leipzig, 1902, p. 118. GRADUAL DECLINE OF CENTRAL POWER 157 king, therefore, consist much more of philosophical col- loquies than of matters of fact. Li-wang’s government was, of course, not liked by the people, who broke out in open rebellion in 842 B.c., and forced the king to spend the rest of his days in banishment, leaving the government to the dukes of Chéu and Shau, descendants of the great Chéu-kung. § 35. Tue Kunc-Ho Prriop (841-828 B.c.) The interregnum during which the two dukes conducted the government on behalf of the absent king was called kung-ho, which term may be rendered by “common har- mony,” as alluding to the regency of the two officials named by Ssi-ma Ts’ién. According to the Bamboo Books and the philosopher Chuang-tzi (4th cent. B.c.), the word Kung- ho represents a personal name of one Ho, Earl of Kung, which would imply that he, and not the two dukes, was actually responsible for the government. When the popular indignation had grown into open rebellion, Tsing, the heir presumptive to the throne, took refuge after his father’s flight with the Duke of Shau, who shielded him against the revolutionists; and when in 828 B.c. Li-wang died in banishment, Tsing, who had in the meantime attained his majority, was proclaimed king under the name of Siian-wang. § 36. Stan-wane (827-782 B.c.) Under the advice of the two virtuous dukes Chéu and Shau, Siian-wang earned the complete confidence of his people as well as of his officials, although dereliction of duty 158 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA had repeatedly brought on political reverses, which the historians are so fond of tracing back to the rulers’ not hav- ing listened to good advice before acting. There was a time-honored custom under the Chéu 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 the handling of the plough by the emperor at the present day. Siian-wang declined to comply with the practice, in spite of the re- monstrances of one of his dukes, with the result that in 789 s.c. his army was defeated in a battle against certain Tangutan tribes. The name of the battle-field, according to Ssi-ma Ts’ién, was Ts’ién-méu, which means “a thousand acres,’ but it would appear that the name was given to that locality afterward in commemoration of the emperor’s disinclination to listen to his minister’s remonstrances. Ssi-ma Ts’ién’s account of Siian-wang’s reign is very meager, and he says nothing about any military achievements against the Huns. We learn much more on this subject from an ode in the Shi-king, which throws considerable light on one of those contests of the Chinese against their old hereditary foe, the Hién-yiin, or Huns, in the north. Although not a historical narrative, the Shi-king serves occasionally as a most valu- able historical source; its odes probably existed genera- tions before Confucius and may, where facts of history are alluded to, be regarded as almost contemporaneous tradi- tion in poetical shape. This piece of ancient poetry con- tains a lively account of a battle between the Chinese army and the Huns which, according to the commentators, took place in the first year of Siian-wang’s reign, in July, 827 B.c. The philosopher Chu Hi, in describing the situation referred GRADUAL DECLINE OF CENTRAL POWER 159 to by the poet, says: “After Ch’éng-wang and K’ang- wang the house of Chéu fell into decay. Li-wang was so oppressive that the people drove him from the capital. The Hién-yiin then took advantage of the internal disorder and invaded the country, till on the king’s death his son Tsing, known as Siian-wang, succeeded to the throne and despatched against them Yin Ki-fu, whose successful operations were sung by the writer of this ode.”’* This part of the Shi-king, written by a poetical recorder of Hunnic fighting living fully twelve hundred years before Priscus and Jordanes, is probably as valuable a historical account as any of the speeches attributed to emperors or ministers and preserved so religiously in the Shu-king and other histories. I reproduce the ode in Legge’s translation :” — “Tn the sixth month all was bustle and excitement. The war carriages had been made ready, With the four steeds of each, strong and eager ; And the regular accoutrements had been placed in the carriages. The Hién-yiin were in blazing force, And thence was the urgency. The king had ordered the expedition, To deliver the royal kingdom. “Matched in strength were the four black steeds, Well trained to observe every rule. On this sixth month, We completed our accoutrements. Our accoutrements were completed, And we marched thirty li every day. The king had ordered the expedition, To help the Son of Heaven. 1Cf. Giles, A Chinese Biographical Dictionary, p. 948, no. 2485. 2 p. 281. 160 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA “The four steeds were long, and stout, And large-headed. We smote the Hién-yiin, And achieved great merit. Severely strict and careful was our leader, Discharging his military service, — Discharging his military service, And settling thereby the royal kingdom. “Badly reckoned the Hién-yiin, When they confidently occupied Tsiau and Huo And overran Hau and Fang, As far as to the south of the King. On our flags was our blazonry of birds, While our white streamers fluttered brightly. Ten large war chariots Led the way in front. “The war carriages were well made, Nicely balanced before and behind. Their four steeds were strong, Both strong and well trained. We smote the Hién-yiin, As far as T’ai-yiian. For peace or for war fit is Ki-fu, A pattern to all the states. : “Ki-fu feasts and is glad; Great happiness is his. In returning from Hau, Distant and long had been our march. He entertains and feasts his friends, With roast turtle and minced carp. And who are there? There is Chang Chung, the filial and brotherly.” It appears from this ode that the Hién-yiin had made in- roads into the very heart of the Chinese dominions. Al- though the several local names mentioned in connection GRADUAL DECLINE OF CENTRAL POWER 161 with the territories as being occupied or overrun by their wild hordes cannot now be safely identified, there cannot be any doubt about the river King, the south of which (not the north, as Legge inadvertently translates) the enemy had reached. The King is an affluent joining from the north the river Wei, near the present city of Si-an-fu. We see that Siian-wang’s army “smote the Kién-yiin as far as T’ai-yiian.”” This shows that the Huns even after Sian-wang’s victory held the entire north of the Shan-si province, the very neighborhood where in the third century B.c. their great monarch Mau-tun had his capital. The hero of this ode was Yin Ki-fu, who is re- peatedly mentioned in the “Book of Odes” as a military leader, and who appears to have had a confidential position among the king’s surroundings. In another ode‘ the imperial troops are praised for their deeds on returning from an expedition against the Hién-yiin under a general who is described as “the awe-inspiring Nan-chung.” This ode is generally referred to the much earlier wars of W6n- wang against the Hién-yim, though it may have originated at a later time. A descendant of this same Nan-chung is also mentioned in one of the odes? asa military leader. I am not prepared to say in what relation this man, whose personal name was Huang-fu, stands to the name Nan- chung occurring in a hieroglyphic inscription found on the celebrated bronze tripod, now in the Buddhist Monastery of Silver Island in the Yang-tzi River, near Chinkiang, and of which I succeeded in taking a photograph in 1892. This interesting relic of Chinese ancient art has been the subject of several learned essays by native archeologists, ‘Legge, p. 261 segg. * Legge, p. 555. *See T’oung pao, vol. vii, p. 487 seq. M 162 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CH&NA who have proved from the inscription that it dates from the year 812 3.c., which falls in the reign of Stian-wang. This emperor’s wars against the Hién-yiin give us, in con- nection with what the bards of the Shi-king have to tell about them, an appropriate idea of the outfit of a Chinese army in those days. The phases of pre-Confucian culture, as described in the several odes of the Shi-king, have been collected and methodically arranged by Ed. Biot in a paper entitled “Sur les meeurs des anciens Chinois, d’aprés le Chi-king,” * and reproduced in an English version by Legge, in an Appendix to the Prolegomena of his edition of the Shi-king.2, While referring the student to this excel- lent source of our knowledge of the Chéu culture, I think the reign of the fighting emperor Siian-wang furnishes a fit opportunity to extract the most noteworthy facts regarding the manner in which wars were conducted by the Chinese of the Chéu period generally. Biot says: — “It has been said that hunting is the image of war. This com- parison becomes a reality in the deserts of North America and Cen- tral Asia. When the men of one horde assemble and issue from their place of settlement, their association has two simultaneous objects: hunting in the vast steppes which have no definite pos- sessors, and war with the other hordes which come to hunt on the same debatable ground. In the times described in the Shi-king the greater part of the country surrounding the great cultivated valley of the Yellow River was such a hunting ground, undivided between the Chinese and the indigenous hordes. The Chinese armies, then led against the barbarians, hunted and fought by turns; their warriors used the same arms against the enemies and against the wild animals. Nevertheless, several odes give the description of regular expeditions directed by the sovereign, or by a Chinese feudal prince against another prince; several of them depict the 1 Journal Asiatique, 4th series, vol. ii, 1843, pp. 307 segg., 430 seqq. 2? Shi-king, Prolegomena, pp. 142-171. GRADUAL DECLINE OF CENTRAL POWER _ 163 posts regularly established upon the frontiers. Some extracts from these odes give an idea of what was then the art of war in China... . “The frontier posts between the states at war with one another, or on the borders of the barbarous regions, were supplied from the peasantry, and were relieved from year to year; the service at these posts was truly forced, and hence the lamentations of the soldiers who were so stationed. The edict which enjoined regular service on the frontiers was inscribed on a bamboo tablet placed at the post. In the Chinese armies of this epoch, as in the feudal armies of our Middle Ages, the infantry was composed of husbandmen taken from their labors, and they complained bitterly of their lot, especially when they formed part of an expedition against the bar- barous hordes of the north and the south. They had the greatest fear of the Hién-yiin on the north, known afterwards as the Hiung- nu. The principal element of a Chinese army was the chariot drawn by four horses. It carried three mailed warriors, the officer to whom it belonged being in the middle. He had on his right his esquire, who passed to him his arms, and on his left the charioteer. A troop of soldiers followed the chariot to protect it. The term ‘chariot’ was then a collective name like ‘lance’ in our Middle Ages. The Li-ki reckons for every chariot three mailed warriors, 25 foot- men in front and at the sides to guide the horses and the chariot, and 72 light-armed foot-soldiers following. But this number or company was never complete. ... The sovereign never marched without a guard of 2500 men, called shi. Every dignitary, or great officer, had an escort of 500 men called li. To employ our military terms, shi was a regiment and li a battalion. Six shi, or 15,000 men, formed an ordinary army. They distinguished the soldiers of the left wing and the right, according to the division long used in the marching and encampments of the Tartar hordes.- An army was divided into three troops... .. The chief of each corps had his place in the middle of it. = “The chariot of the sovereign, or of the commander-in-chief, had four or six horses, yoked abreast. When there were four horses, which was the ordinary number, two of them were yoked to the pole, and two to the transverse bar of the chariot. The horses were covered with mail, or protected by bucklers. Those of the . Kan, CIA, ~ 164 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHIQA commanders had golden bits with a small bell at each side of the bit. The reins were richly adorned and led through rings of leather on the backs of the horses. The sides of the chariots were covered with boards as a defense against the arrows of the enemy. They were adorned in the inside with mats of bamboo, or embroidered carpets. The axle-trees of the chariots of the chiefs were wrapped round with green silk, or with leather, probably to strengthen them. The pole was also covered with leather, painted in five colors. “The princes and regular warriors wore helmets. Those of the princes of the blood were adorned with a plume of red silk. The regular warriors had a sword, two lances (or spears) and two bows. The scabbards of the chiefs’ swords were adorned with precious stones, or with other ornaments. The spears were of three kinds: mau, which was 4 meters long (20 Chéu cubits), and the ko, 16 cubits. These were set up in the war chariots. The javelin was 6 cubits 6 ins. long, and was used by the foot-soldiers. All the lances had red pennants or streamers. “Like the hunting bows, those used in war were of wood adorned with green silk. The bows of the chiefs had ornaments of ivory. There were also bows of horn, or strong as horn, which discharged several arrows at once. To preserve the bows, they were kept in cases of tiger skin, or of ordinary leather. Every case contained two bows, and they were closely fitted to bamboos, to hinder them from being warped by the damp. The bow-cases and the quivers | were made of the skin of some marine animal called yz, which may have been a seal. i tne “The mailed warriors had bucklers and battle-axes with handles of wood. The foot-soldiers were usually armed only with javelins and spears. The horses in the chariots neigh; the flags and pennons wave in the air; the foot-soldiers and the assistants who guide the horses march in silence. Besides the war chariots, there followed the army carriages laden with sacks of baggage, and drawn by oxen. These sacks had one or two openings, and contained provisions. The chariots were unloaded, and arranged around the place of encampment. Then the feeble watched the baggage, while the strong advanced against the enemy. “The expeditions against the indigenous tribes of the center, the west, and the north, were made in the sixth moon, the time of GRADUAL DECLINE OF CENTRAL POWER 165 the year corresponding to the end of May and the beginning of June. They marched 30 li per day, about 11 kilometers, if we value the li at 1800 cubits and 10 centimeters each. For a grand army of 300 chariots, 10 chariots formed the advanced guard. - “Qn the banners were figures of birds and of serpents. There were attached to them little bells and ribbons. On the royal standard there was the image of the sacred dragon. The princes of the blood, and secondary chiefs or viceroys had broad pennons or flags. One pennon, formed of an ox-tail upon a pole, was placed behind in the chariot of the chief of a squadron. “The warriors wore colored cuisses, and buskins on their legs. In one of the odes a man of Ts’in engages another to follow him to the war by the promise of clothes, shoes, and weapons, should he need them. The commandant of a corps d’armée had the title K’i-fu or of Shang-ju. Several odes designate the general by the name of ‘the illustrious man,’ meaning ‘the Prince,’ ‘the Dignitary.’ “The drum gave the signal for departure, for attack, and for retreat. Large drums were covered with the skin of a lizard called Vo. Before the battle, the warriors excited one another by mock combats. They leaped, ran, and threatened one another with their weapons. “In one of the odes, King W6n causes the assault of a fortified city, and his soldiers ascend the wall by means of hooked ladders. He takes some prisoners and punishes them as rebels, proportion- ing their chastisement to the gravity of their offense. He causes the left ears of his captives to be cut off; and in contenting himself with this punishment he passes for a just and humane man. In the state of Lu (towards the south of Shan-tung), the army returns from an expedition. They present to the prince the ears that have been cut off; they bring the captive chiefs in chains before the judge, by whom they are condemned by regular sentence. Like the tribes of America, the Chinese then made very few prisoners; they put the vanquished chiefs to death, and released the com- mon soldiers after cutting off one of their ears, as a mark of dis- honor, or that they might recognize them if they met with them again. “On the parade ground of the capital they practised archery and the use of other weapons.” 166 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHIN ' This graphic description of the Chinese method of war- fare under the Chéu dynasty has been gathered from numerous passages in the Shi-king. It will serve as an example showing how the old poetical literature fills a gap in the historical tradition similar to that filled up by the Homeric epics in Greek history. The student will find references in detail, with some valuable critical notes, partly modifying the results drawn by Biot from the Shi-king, in Legge’s translation. From a military point of view the Chinese method of warfare does not strike one as very practical, if one con- siders that the Hién-yiin, or Huns, as true sons of the steppe, which they must have been at all times, ought to have enjoyed a great advantage in moving about on their fleet horses against an enemy possessing no cavalry what- ever. Although the Chinese have been defeated here and there by the Huns, it appears that on the whole, in spite of their clumsy chariot fighting, on roads which were probably hardly any better than those of the present day, they have had on their side greatly superior armament and a certain uniformity of organization; but their chief advantage dur- ing centuries of this warfare may have been the fact that the fighting took place on hilly territory, where cavalry. forces could not well be displayed, the Huns having always been more successful on extensive plains, like the Mon- golian steppe, than in alpine regions, like the north of Shan-si. When they broke into Europe twelve hundred years after Stian-wang, their first successes were largely supported by the conditions of the ground, those extensive plains of southern Russia, over which they sent that ava- lanche of warlike hordes, increasing their power by forcing kindred folks into their service. Finally, we have to con- GRADUAL DECLINE OF CENTRAL POWER 167 sider the probability that, during the Chéu period, the Huns had not as yet consolidated into a nation, whereas the Chinese, although a confederation of smaller states some- what like the German empire, cheerfully followed the call of the Son of Heaven when the nation was in danger. With all the welcome detail regarding the Chinese side of that warfare, the Shi-king tells us very little about the Huns of those days. The earliest account of the gradual develop- ment of Hunnic life has been supplied by Ssi-ma Ts’ién, who probably reconstructs his sketch of the most ancient Huns from what he had learned about these nomads at his own time, the beginning of the first century B.c. Ssi- ma Ts’ién* gives us the following account of the oldest Hiung-nu. “Their earliest ancestors were the descendants of the Emperor Yii of the Hia dynasty and were styled Shun-wei.” Parker suggests that this name Shun-wei, which most prob- ably applies to the chief of the country, —since not the whole nation, but merely the reigning family could have descended from the Emperor Yi, —is related to an old Chinese family name Shun-yti. This seems quite possible, although the Chinese themselves derive it from a small state mentioned in their “Spring and Autumn Annals.” Since we hardly know anything about the sounds of Chinese characters during the Chéu dynasty, excepting the some- what doubtful conclusions we may arrive at from a study of the rhymes in the Shi-king odes, it may not be too bold a conjecture if we connect this title Shun-wei, or Shun-yii, with the sound Shan-yit, by which throughout Chinese his- tory the supreme ruler of the Hiung-nu is designated. 1 Shi-ki, ch. ex; ef. E. H. Parker, The Turko-Scythian Tribes, in China Review, vol. xx, p. 1 seqq. 168 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA “Before the time of Yau and Shun there were the Shan-jung, the Hién-yiin and the Hun-yti, who occupied the northern de- pendencies, following their cattle and shifting their abodes. Their herds chiefly consisted of horses, oxen and sheep, these being the animals commonly reared by them; the camel, mules and other equine animals [named in the text, but difficult to identify] being of less frequent occurrence. Following their pasturages, they shifted about and had neither cities and towns, or other fixed abodes, nor regular agriculture, though they divided their territories; they had no written documents, the spoken word being sufficient by way of contract. From early childhood they were taught to ride on sheep, to draw the bow and shoot birds and rats; when half grown they would shoot foxes and hares as game for food. Having grown to become soldiers, they would thus become excellent archers, when they were all supplied with armors on horseback. In easy times they would follow their cattle and live on the chase, but in times of trouble every man was trained to fight in battle and ready to make raids on other lands. This was their natural disposition. For distant fight their weapon was the bow and arrow; for close fight they used swords and small spears. If they could, they would go on and on in fighting, but withdraw if they were not successful. They were not ashamed to take to flight, and as long as a matter was of advantage to them, they did not know propriety or justice. From their prince and king downward they all lived on the flesh of their cattle, using their skins for clothing ; they wore felt coats. The able-bodied would eat the fat and dainty parts of meats, leaving the remnants of meals to old folks, for they honored strong and robust men, and despised those that were old and decrepid. The man whose father had died would marry his step-mothers (i.e. his father’s own wives except his own mother) ; when a brother died his consorts became the wives of the surviving brother. It was their custom not to taboo names; and they had no clan names or by-names. When the Hia dynasty became weak, Kung Liu {Duke Liu, an ancestor of the Chéu emperors] had lost his hus- bandry-post, he changed to become a western Tartar and had his city in Pin. Three hundred years after this, the Jung and the Ti Tartars attacked the great king T’an-fu [the grandfather of Wén- wang].” GRADUAL DECLINE OF CENTRAL POWER _ 169 I am inclined to assume from this passage that the ances- tors of the house of Chéu had for centuries adopted semi- Tartar life, which supports the hypothesis that Wu-wang brought about the downfall of the Shang dynasty with the assistance of Hunnic tribes and helps to explain the use of a Turkish word for the dagger handled by him in giving the body of his enemy Chéu-sin his final coup. “T’an-fu fled and went to the foot of Mount K’i, whither the peo- ple of Pin followed him and founded a city which was the beginning of the state of Chéu. Fully a hundred years after this the Duke of the West [7.e. Won-wang] made war on the Kun barbarians, and some twelve or thirteen years afterwards Wu-wang made war on Chéu- sin and took up his camp at the city of Lo and again lived in Fong and in Hau, and scattered and drove away the Jung barbarians to the north of the rivers King and Lo, from whence they offered periodical tribute, and orders were given to call them Huang-fu, the ‘Steppe Dependency.’ “More than two hundred years later the prestige of the Chéu dynasty began to decline, and when Mu-wang made war on the K’iian barbarians, he obtained four white wolves and four white deer to come back with. From this time onward the Huang-fu did not come, upon which Chéu introduced the punishment of mutilation [probably referring to the habit of cutting off the left ear of prisoners in war, which thus seems to be looked upon as an act of reprisal for the Huns not sending tribute to the Chinese court]. Over two hundred years after Mu-wang, Yu-wang of the Chéu dynasty had quarreled with the Marquis of Shoén [father of the legitimate empress]on account of his favorite sultana Pau Ssi.1 The Marquis of Shén got angry and formed an alliance with the K’iian barbarians and attacked and killed Yu-wang of the Chéu dynasty below the Li-shan. Upon this they seized certain territories of the Chéu and settled down between the rivers 1Cf. Chavannes, Mémoires historiques, vol. i, p. 281; also Giles, A Chinese Biographical Dictionary, p. 619, who represents Yu-wang as “King of Yu” in modern Chi-li, though I do not know on what au- thority. 170 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHIYA King and Wei, encroaching over and terrorizing the Middle King- dom.” The time of Siian-wang has been credited with the pro- duction of a most interesting monument of Chinese an- tiquity in the shape of a lengthy stone inscription, the so- called “Stone Drums of the Chéu Dynasty,” describing, as Chinese critics maintain, a hunting expedition by the em- peror to the neighborhood of Mount K’i, the ancestral home of the Chéu rulers. Ever since they were first discovered, the ten stone slabs containing the remnants of these ancient, hieroglyphics have been the subject of much controversy among the Chinese. To understand the name “stone drums,” in Chinese shi-ku, it should be known that the Chinese include under that term all rocks having a flat sur- face and a shape in any way similar to a drum. Since their first discovery, early in the seventh century a.D., on what must be supposed to have been their original site near the old Mt. K’i in southwestern Shen-si, the stone drums have been shifted about a good deal, so that the seven hundred characters which may have constituted their original tenor have dwindled to a few more than three hundred, the re- mainder being totally effaced. Among the many learned opinions placed on record by native archeologists, the most noteworthy seem to be those of Ou-yang Siu, the Mommsen of his time, the eleventh century, inasmuch as he was the first historian and epigrapher, who is entirely skeptical as to its being a genuine document, and another writer of the Sung dynasty who tries to refute Ou-yang Siu’s arguments one by one. The modern view among the Chinese au- thorities is in favor of the inscriptions being true records of the Siian-wang period. This is also the view expressed by Dr. 8S. W. Bushell in an elaborate essay, “The Stone GRADUAL DECLINE OF CENTRAL POWER 171 Drums of the Chéu Dynasty,” who concludes his paper by saying: “No motive has been suggested to account for forgery on so large a scale. If we accept the train of reasoning of Ou-yang, we must reject all the sculptured monuments of Egypt, Assyria and Persia, which have been brought to light in such profusion of late years.” Chavannes, while accepting the Stone Drums as a gen- uine relic of antiquity, differs from the Chinese re- ceived view in ascribing them not to Siian-wang, the em- peror, but to a king of the Ts’in state sometime about 300 B.c. § 37. Yu-wane (781-771 B.c.) In quoting this rapid survey of the oldest relations of the Chinese with the neighboring Huns, I have anticipated the troublesome times which followed the energetic Stian- wang under the reign of his lascivious son Yu-wang. Siian- wang’s armies had fought successfully not only against the Huns, but also against the Man barbarians in the state of King, on the borders of the Yang-tzi River, about Lake Tung-t’ing and other enemies in the east and west. In all directions the old frontiers of the empire were maintained and extended by him. Yu-wang led a dissolute life, and his government was oppressive. Like several of his prede- cessors, he brought trouble on himself and his country by his infatuation for a woman. When he intended to make war on a small state called Pau, the chief of that country sent him for his seraglio a girl of great beauty, named Ssi, 1 Journal of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, New Series, no. 8, pp. 133-159. ?See Mémoires historiques, vol. v, p. 488 seq. 172 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF a for which reason she is known as Pau-ssi, or Ssi of Pau. The king became so enamored with her that he deposed in her favor his legitimate consort, who was a daughter of the Marquis of Shon. He was weak enough to conform all his life to the pleasures of his favorite, who did not seem to appreciate his attentions. She even made him wait in vain to see her smile. Having allowed it to become known that the sound of the tearing of silk was a particularly pleasant noise to her, the emperor caused many fine pieces of precious texture to be torn up to gratify her whim; but even this failed to bring the desired smile. She wished for a greater sacrifice, and what seemed to her a good practical joke was actually carried out: Huge beacon fires, which had been agreed upon to serve as a signal to the emperor’s vassals to come with their troops to his rescue in time of danger, were lighted. The princes promptly responded, and the frivolous queen laughed at them. She little thought, however, how dangerous it is to ery “wolf!” without need. When, later on, the Huns made renewed inroads, the beacon signals were lighted in earnest, but the feudal princes, without whose assistance the king was at the mercy of the enemy, thinking that they might again be the victims of a hoax, failed to obey the summons, which led to Yu-wang’s ruin. Ssi-ma Ts’ién places the time of Yu-wang’s being first enthralled by his mistress in the third year of his reign (779 B.c.). The emperor had by her a son named Po-fu; hence the wish of the unworthy couple to depose the legitimate consort as mother of the heir to the throne. This caused the court astronomer Po-yang to predict the downfall of the dynasty; and good reason he had for his prediction, if we view things through the eyes of an ancient Chinese philosopher. For nature GRADUAL DECLINE OF CENTRAL POWER = 173 itself began to show warnings of all sorts. An earthquake created alarm among the people; a famine throughout the empire was interpreted as the immediate punishment of Heaven for Yu-wang’s evil ways; but the most portentous of all Heaven’s warnings was an eclipse of the sun. Re- garding this eclipse, in connection with the other public misfortunes that had befallen the empire, we possess an ode of the Shi-king,’ which proves to be a historical docu- ment of the greatest value. It says: — “At the conjunction of the sun and moon in the tenth month, On the first day of the moon, which was sin-mau, The sun was eclipsed, A thing of very evil omen. Then the moon became small, And now the sun became small. Henceforth the lower people Will be in a very deplorable case. “The sun and moon announce evil, Not keeping to their proper paths. All through the kingdom there is no proper government, Because the good are not employed. For the moon to be eclipsed Is but an ordinary matter. Now that the sun has been eclipsed, — How bad it is! “Grandly flashes the lightning of the thunder ; — There is a want of rest, a want of good. The streams all bubble up and overflow. The crags on the hill-tops fall down. High banks become valleys; Deep valleys become hills. Alas for the men of this time! How does the king not stop these things? 1 Legge, p. 320. 174 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF Cons “Huang-fu is the president; Fan is the minister of instruction ; Kia-po is the chief administrator ; Chung-yiin is the chief cook ; Ts6u is the recorder of the interior; K’ui is master of the horse; Yii is captain of the guards; And the beautiful wife blazes, now in possession of her place.” This ode, of which I have quoted the first four stanzas in Legge’s translation, has for its subject the lamentation of one of the emperor’s officials living in an out-of-the-way quarter of the empire, alone and sorrowful over the sad corruption into which the empire had sunk. If we hesi- tate in accepting the identification of the date of the eclipse under Chung-k’ang in 2165 3.c., there cannot be any doubt as to the one referred to in this ode. The tenth month and first day of the moon, designated by the cyclical characters sin-mau of the Chéu calendar, correspond to August 29, 776 B.c. (not 775; Dr. Chalmers, and with him Legge and other Sinologues, make a mistake of one year in all their chronological statements by not counting the year of Christ’s birth as 1 B.c.).. This fact, highly important in calling Heaven itself as a witness in confirming the reliance we may place in this early period of Chinese history, has been pointed out without contradiction, as far as I am aware, from either Sinologues or astronomers by the Jesuit Father Amiot in his celebrated paper on “The Antiquity of the Chinese proved by their Monuments.” ? The coin- cidence of the two dates proves beyond a doubt that the opinion of Chinese commentators, who described this ode 1 Arendt, Synchronistische Regententabellen, p. 196. 3 Mémoires concernant les Chinois, vol. ii, Paris, 1777, p. 99 seqq. GRADUAL DECLINE OF CENTRAL POWER = 175 as applying to Yu-wang on the ground of circumstantial evidence, must be correct. It is, according to all the Chinese chronological authorities, the sixth year of Yu- wang’s reign; and this is, indeed, as Legge says, “the earli- est date in Chinese history about which there can be no dispute.”’ Previous dates have been arrived at by compu- tation. This should not involve that the historical period begins as late as Yu-wang’s reign, as Mayers seems to assume in his Chronological Tables. Doubts may be justified, it is true, as far as exact chronology is concerned; but we have in this case to distinguish between chronology and history. We have seen that the main two sources of the former, the standard reckoning and the Bamboo Book Annals, show considerable deviations from each other, in- creasing as we go back to the earliest times and amounting to more than two hundred years under Huang-ti, but dis- appearing altogether with the end of Li-wang’s reign (842 B.c.). If such solar eclipses as ought to have been visible in China previous to Yu-wang’s time are not men- tioned in the early Chinese history, otherwise so conscientious in placing on record astronomical facts, the reason may be, as Amiot has pointed out, that they occurred when cloudy weather made their observation impossible. I, therefore, see no reason why we should not date the commencement of the historical period, as far as the main facts are con- cerned, many generations before Yu-wang, while making allowance for doubts in the chronology owing to the two- fold tradition. The dates of the Bamboo Books will be found in Arendt’s Table. The differences in the begin- nings of the main periods are shown in the following extract : — 176 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA Standard Chronology Bamboo Books B.C. B.C. Huang-ti ‘< ‘ . ‘ 2704 2491 Yau ee eee 2857 2145 Shun i: . . . . 2258 2045 Yar ee eee 2208 1989 Chung-k’ang . «Sts - 2159 1952 Ch’éng-t’ang . ea 1766 1558 Chéu-sin : - : : 1154 1102 Wu-wang . . . : 1122 1050 Mu-wang ‘ ‘i . i 1001 962 Li-wang So ue fate 878 853 Kung-ho period. a -_ 841 — It seems strange that the two divergent chronologies should harmonize just at the commencement of the Kung-ho period, the name of which, we have seen, was interpreted in a twofold sense. Is it possible that neither of the inter- pretations is correct, and that the term Kung-ho, “common harmony,” refers to the end of the discord among chronolo- gists, signalized by the first year of this period ? We have seen from the Shi-king that the beautiful Pau- ssi was “in possession of her place” at the emperor’s side in the sixth year of his reign. The legend, if it may be so called, of her having lighted the beacons to make fools of the feudatory princes would, therefore, seem to fall in the years following the eclipse. Certainly the punishment for it, ending with Yu-wang’s destruction, belongs to. the year 771 B.c., as the last year of his reign. Ssi-ma Ts’ién does not mention the eclipse referred to in the Shi-king; but he has preserved fuller details about the beacon affair. It appears that Yu-wang himself had made the arrangement of a fire beacon, or pyre, being lighted “when the big drum announced the approach of an enemy,” the smoke of which GRADUAL DECLINE OF CENTRAL POWER = 177 was to serve as a signal in the daytime, whereas the flames were visible at long distance at night, the beacons being placed on the summits of the hills. The Marquis of Shén, father of the legitimate empress, of course, resented the treatment his daughter and grandson had received at the hands of Yu-wang and his ambitious minion. In his dis- tress he had allied himself with the K’iian barbarians (Huns) to attack the emperor. The signal beacons were lighted, but no soldiers came to the rescue. Yu-wang was killed by the Huns, who also carried away Pau-ssi and plundered the imperial treasury. § 38. P’Ina-wana (770-720 B.c.) After the fall of Yu-wang the feudal lords arranged with the Marquis of Shén that the late emperor’s legitimate son I-kiu, who had been staying with the marquis, should be raised to the throne, and he occupied it under the name of P’ing-wang, —Ssi-ma Ts’ién says, “in order that he might be charged with the sacrifices of the Chéu dynasty.” This, it appears, was henceforward the most important duty of the Chéu emperors, who, with the great respect for legiti- macy characterizing the Chinese, were required to see that sacrifices were duly offered to their distinguished fore- fathers. But that is all; the real power went more and more into the hands of the emperor’s vassals. P’ing-wang, feeling the weakness of his dominions in the western por- tions, owing to their being so much exposed to the attacks of the barbarians, removed his capital to the city of Lo, previously known as Tung-tu, 7.e. eastern capital.’ P’ing- 1 This city, known also as Lo-yang, the present Ho-nan-fu, was also the capital of the eastern Han dynasty. N 178 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA wang’s reign, according to Ssi-ma Ts’ién, is characterized by the rapid decline of the imperial power in favor of the rising influence of feudal states. Among the latter Ssi-ma Ts’ién mentions especially those of Ts’i, Ch’u, Ts’in, and Tsin, which treated the emperor more and more as a nonentity, and the lords of which held the leadership each in his own sphere. It is perhaps characteristic that under the reign of P’ing- wang an important change takes place in our historical sources. The Shu-king closes here its account of the Chéu emperors, which is merely a collection of documents or speeches placed on record as being attributed to kings and other historical personages, and contains important lacunze for long periods, during which nothing remarkable is re- corded. Legge’ says with regard to this gap in the Shu- king: — “This fact is sufficient to prove that Confucius did not compile the Shu as a history of his country, or even intend that it should afford materials for such a history. His design, we may rather judge, was to bring together such pieces as might show the wonder- ful virtue and intelligence of ancient sovereigns and statesmen, who should be models for those of future ages, but between P’ing- wang and Mu-wang there had reigned seven sovereigns of the house of Chéu; and it is remarkable that not a single document of the reign of any of them was incorporated by Confucius into the Shu- king. Indeed, Wu-wang, the first of the sovereigns of Chéu, had no successor equal to himself; and but for his brother, the Duke of Chéu, the dynasty would have come to an early end. There was a constant degeneration after K’ang-wang. Its progress was now and then temporarily but feebly arrested. Power and influence passed with a steady progress from the imperial court to one feu- 1 Shu-king, p. 613, in a footnote, the substance of which is Trepro- duced above. GRADUAL DECLINE OF CENTRAL POWER = 179 datory and another, till in the time of Confucius himself the suc- cessors of Wu-wang were hardly more than shadows of an empty name.” The removal of P’ing-wang’s capital to the east marks a new epoch in the history of the Chéu dynasty. Chinese historians speak up to this time of the Si-chéu, 1.e. the “Western Chéu,” and from P’ing-wang downward as the Tung-chéu, or “ Eastern Chéu.” It is a remarkable coinci- dence that from this time also dates the period described in another historical classic compiled by Confucius under the name of Ch’un-ts’iu, “Spring and Autumn Annals,” which no longer describes the history of the house of Chéu as that of the imperial dynasty, but that of a vassal state called Lu, covering certain territories in the west of the pres- ent province of Shan-tung and being the sage’s native coun- try. Such as they are, the ‘Spring and Autumn Annals” contain the history of twelve dukes of Lu, extending from 722 to 481 B.c. Confucius is supposed to have compiled them from records made in connection with the ducal court of Lu. The main text of the work is confined to the briefest possible notices of the chief events; but it has been extended by three early commentaries, the most notable of which is that of Tso-k’iu Ming, a personage of doubtful identification, possibly a disciple of Confucius himself. It is known and much quoted under the name of T’so-chuan. The 7'so-chuan is our principal source for the period covered by the “Spring and Autumn Annals.” The latter itself con- tains scarcely enough detail to make up a history, whereas the commentary throws important light not only on events connected with the state of Lu, but also on the history of other states and of the imperial house. The author has been at great pains to collect information apart from 180 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHIWA the ducal records, so that Legge! justly says of this work : — “The events and the characters of the time pass as in reality and life before us. In no ancient history of any country have we such a vivid picture of any lengthened period of its annals as we have from Tso of the 270 years which he has embraced in his work,” Two other commentaries on the ‘Spring and Autumn Annals” exist; namely, those of Kung-yang Kau and Ku- liang Ch’i, both of whom lived in the fifth century B.c., but were probably somewhat more recent than Tso-k’iu Ming. The T'so-chuan, however, is not only the most complete, but probably also the most reliable of the three, although, as is the case with many of the works of the Chéu dynasty which have seen the light after the Confucian Classics, it has gone through the purgatory of philological treatment at the hands of native scholars of the Han dynasty, who are responsible for interpolations and additions easily distinguishable from the purely historical substance as philosophical reflections or ex post facto predictions. When compared with the Tso-chuan commentary, the Ch’un-ts’iu itself appears as a work unworthy of a great historian; and doubts have been entertained whether Confucius must be really regarded as its author. If the great sage is really responsible for it, he must have had special reasons for leaving it with all the imperfections pointed out by later critics. The high reputation which the work has at all times enjoyed among Chinese scholars is apparently due to the personal admira- tion in which the great teacher was held by his nation. Confucius was not a writer. The Ch’un-ts’iu is the only + Ch’un-ts’iu, Prolegomena, p. 28. GRADUAL DECLINE OF CENTRAL POWER 181 work the actual authorship of which is attributed to him, if we accept the doubts expressed as to his fatherhood of the Shu-king, and if we regard his connection with the Shi- king as merely an editorial one. His greatness, like that of Socrates, consisted more in his personality and the teachings among his friends than in his writings, and if Mencius * quotes him as having said, “It is the ‘Spring and Autumn’ which will make men know me; and it is the ‘Spring and Autumn’ which will make men condemn me,” he clearly refers to his political views, and not to his position as an educator of his nation. Possibly the work has not come down to us in its original shape. Professor Grube, in a judicious essay on this vexed question of Chinese literature,” takes into consideration the possibility that both the Ch’un- is’tu and its commentary, the J'so-chuan, were the work of Confucius; and if we have to make allowance for the text of the latter having been tampered with by the Han editors, the occasional contradictions which may appear in the two texts in their present shape need not prevent us from mak- ing such a sympathetic compromise. § 39. GroGRAPHY OF THE CH’UN-TS’IU PERIOD (722-481 B.c.) If we glance at a historical map of Germany during the Thirty Years’ War, and if we recall the changes it under- went both before and after that period within the space of about two centuries and a half, corresponding in duration to the Ch’un-ts’iu period, we may comprehend the diffi- culty, not to say impossibility, of furnishing a synoptic view of the numerous states constantly at war with each 1 Legge, p. 157. 2 Geschichte der chinesischen Litteratur, p. 68 seqq. 182 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHIYA other, falling under the nominal sway of the Chéu dynasty. Each generation of those days presents a different view. The geography of the Chéu-li, with its nine provinces, or chéu, bearing such close resemblance to the divisions of the empire under the Great Yii, is a simple affair when com- pared with that multiplicity of states which began to grow up from small beginnings, some of them attaining great power, others being short-lived and swallowed up by their neighbors. Their development in history may be traced in the 7’so-chuan; but as affecting the history of China at large, I shall mention only the more important ones among them. Students who care for further detail will find it in Legge’s edition of the historical classic itself. The development of supremacy among certain states, nominally coming within the jurisdiction of the emperor, is probably to a large extent the result of their geographical position. The states occupying the eastern part of the empire were naturally prevented from expansion by their being situated so close to the sea-coast; those in the north, west, and south had the opportunity to join arms with rude but warlike neighbors, whose territories, by force or persuasion, they managed to incorporate into their own dominions, allowing their populations to amalgamate, spreading Chinese civilization among them, while profiting by their warlike spirit. The states which most. benefited by such a conjuncture were those of Tsin, Ts’in, and Ch’u. The first two names, so similar in sound, should not be con- founded with each other; the initial of the tsin (without an apostrophe) being comparatively soft, whereas ts’in is pronounced with a hard explosive almost approaching an aspirate. The countries represented by these names were next-door neighbors and occupied the entire northwest of GRADUAL DECLINE OF CENTRAL POWER 183 the present empire. Tsin held the greater part of the present province of Shan-si and the adjoining portion of Chi-li with that portion of Shen-si which lay on and near the opposite shore of the Yellow River. The large tract of country west of it, comprising that fertile valley of the Wei River with a number of seats of the ancient Chinese civili- zation, had from small beginnings grown into the dominion. of the Ts’in state. Both these states had for centuries to do all the fighting for the Chinese of the interior against their northern and western enemies, the Huns, whose several divisions are mentioned under various names, as we have seen. The result of this fighting was the gradual increase of their military strength. We have seen how the ancestors of the Chéu emperors originally also occupied a small terri- tory on the western frontier, and how the warlike spirit and the virtue of their rulers was exercised and fostered by their having to do the fighting for that lazy and voluptu- ous court of the decadent Shang dynasty ; also, how thereby, from small beginnings, the dukes of Chéu had grown so powerful that with the assistance of Huns and other boundary tribes they managed to throw the Shangs out of the field, whose last scion they placed in charge of the kingdom of Corea as a vassal state. The states of Tsin and Ts’in and their great rival in the south, the state of Ch’u, now tried with the assistance of the foreign elements on the boundary to make use of the weakness of the imperial court to increase their power. Who those foreigners were is, of course, not an easy ques- tion to decide. If I speak of the neighbors of Tsin and Ts’in as “Huns,” I wish this term to be understood in its broadest sense. The Huns that broke into Europe in the fourth century A.D. should be looked upon as a political, 184 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA and not aracial, union. The Huns proper, as the dominant race, were probably of Turkish extraction. So were the Hiung-nu, their predecessors in the east. But the Hiung-nu, as a political power, comprised, besides the Turkish elements among central Asiatic nations, also the ancestors of the races which we now separate from them as being of Mongolic and Tungusic extraction. It is quite probable that the different tribes of the north and west of China whose names appear in the history of the Ch’un- * Quite a number of arguments support this hypothesis. The dis- covery and decipherment of the Old-Turkish stone inscriptions found on the banks of the Orchon and of the Tonjukuk inscription found near Urga leave not the slightest doubt that the language in which they are written is Turkish. There can, further, be no doubt whatever that the two allied nations, the Turk and Sir-Tardush, a portion of whose history is described in those inscriptions, are identical with the na- tions called T’u-kiié and Sié-yen-t’o respectively in Chinese records, both of whom are distinctly stated to have been offshoots of the old Hiung-nu. Similarly the nation described by the Chinese as Kau-kii, which we know to be identical with the Uigurs, one of the chief repre- sentatives of the Turkish stock during the Middle Ages, is stated in Chinese accounts as considering the Hiung-nu as their ancestors. They were even said to speak the language of these, their forefathers, with but slight differences occasioned by the lapse of centuries. This may account for the fact that many of the Hiung-nu words, of which the approximate sound and the meaning have been preserved in Chinese contemporaneous records, are easily explained by the cor- responding words in the Uiguric vocabulary or that of its modern representatives such as the Turki, Djagatai, or Teleutic dialects. The only conclusion we can draw from these considerations is, that the Hiung-nu, or Huns, were actually Turks in a racial sense, whatever the other nations may have been, whether Mongols or Tunguses, who were forced to join arms with them and formed part of the Hiung-nu, or Huns, as a political union. The identity of the Huns of Europe and the Hiung-nu of Chinese historians, denied by Rémusat and Ritter, has been proved in my paper Ueber Wolga-Hunnen und Hiung-nu (Sitzungsberichte der philos.-philol. Classe der k. bayer. Akademie d. Wissensch., 1899, Band ii, Fasc. ii, Miinchen, 1900). GRADUAL DECLINE OF CENTRAL POWER 185 ts’iu period were just as different in race and language as they are nowadays, and that it was merely their nomadic life and a certain uniformity in social organization which united them into one group. In the Tso-chuan these northern and western barbarians appear under various names, which now take the place of the former Hun-yii and Hién-yiin, the Huns of the earliest periods, with whom they are identified by the later Chinese historians. As falling within this category, we may regard the hordes described in the T'so-chuan as Jung, Ti, and I. The Jung were chiefly found in the west, the 7% in the north, and the I in the east of the present Chinese dominions. We know nothing about their relations with the inhabitants of the more distant parts of the Asiatic continent; and if they had anything in common with the earliest Scythians, which have become more or less imperfectly known in Europe, such a supposition can only rest on conjecture. Their_be- ing mentioned under so many different names seems to show that in the earliest times they did not form a polit- ical union, as they certainly did at the end of the third cen- tury B.c., when Mau-tun,—which name I have endeavored to explain as the old Chinese transcription of Turkish Baghatur, “ valiant,’’ “hero,” —as Great Khan of the Hiung- nu nation, united under his scepter the Tartars of all races between Manchuria in the east and Lake Aral in the west. An old Latin chronicle, the “Chronica Hungarorum,” by John of Thurécz, who probably wrote about the year 1490, has placed on record a list consisting of thirty-seven names said to represent King Attila’s ancestors! We ‘Hirth, Sinologische Beitrége zur Geschichte der Tuirkvolker: I. Die Ahnentafel Aitila’s nach Johannes von Thurécz, in Bulletin of the Imperial Academy of St. Petersburg, 5th series, vol. xiii, no. 2. (September, 1900.) 186 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHI®A do not know what sources this author had before him; and it was generally believed that he had drawn upon his imagination for his facts. This was my own belief, too, until I compared the names found in the Latin chronicle with those appearing in a genealogical table of Hiung-nu kings, reconstructed from Chinese records. I then found that some of the names of the chronicle in their proper generations and the identical sequence are strongly sug- gestive of the Chinese transcriptions of the names of certain Hiung-nu kings then settled in the north of China. The Hungarian carries his list to the thirtieth ancestor of King Attila. At the head of it he places, in accordance with the time-honored custom of medieval authors, certain Biblical names. If we except these, from Noah down to Nimrod, the first name having an indigenous coloring is that of King Attila’s thirty-third ancestor which, if we give an average of thirty-three years to each generation, carries us to about the year 635 B.c. If we can make up our minds as to the chronicler’s bona fides with regard to King Attila’s ancestors during the Han period, we may perhaps be justified in doing so as regards the Chéu dynasty to the extent of assuming that at least that portion of the northern tribes which was looked upon as the ancestral horde of the later Hiung-nu was governed by kings of the same family. Ssi-ma Ts’ién (Shi-ki, ch. cx, p. 9) even goes a good deal farther, when he asserts that “from Shun-wei [their alleged first monarch, called a descendant of the Chinese Emperor Yi] down to T’du-man [probably standing for Turkish Tuman, or Tiiman, ‘ten thousand,’ Mau-tun’s father, who died 209 3.c.] fully a thousand years elapsed, though their genealogy could not be traced.” This would bring us to the thirteenth century B.c., as the period in which regal GRADUAL DECLINE OF CENTRAL POWER 187 power was organized at least among some portion of the Huns. The name Jung, found in the T’so-chuan, is probably nothing but another form of the root Hun or Kun, which, we have seen, has assumed the most different shapes in the course of Chinese history. For like the Hun-yii, Hién- yin, etc., they may be located, from the indications of the Tso-chuan, in certain parts of the northern or western boundary. This boundary was then, however, much nearer the center of the empire than it was later on. One of the tribes called Jung for generations made constant inroads on the state of Lu in the present Shan-tung, and is said to have had its seat at one time in the present prefecture of Ts’au-chéu, south of the Yellow River. The Pei-jung, or “Northern Jung,” the Shan-jung, or “Hill Jung,” which name seems to indicate that they were not occupants of the steppe, and the Wu-chung were settled in Tsun-hua- chéu about one hundred miles east of Peking. According to the 7'so-chuan, the Northern Jung made a raid on the state of Chong in the north of K’ai-foéng-fu, Ho-nan. This entry in the T'so-chuan'* is of importance, inasmuch as it states that, while the Chinese were fighting in chariots, the Jung had only foot-soldiers. The 7'so-chuan says :— “The Earl of Chung withstood them, but was troubled by the nature of their troops, and said, ‘They are footmen, while we have chariots. The fear is, lest they fall suddenly upon us.’ His son Tu said: ‘Let a body of bold men, but not persistent, feign an attack upon the thieves, and then quickly draw off from them; and at the same time place three bodies in ambuscade to be ready for them. The Jung are light and nimble, but have no order; they are greedy and have no love for one another; when they conquer, no one will yield place to his fellow; and when they 1 Legge, p. 28. 188 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF ee are defeated, no one tries to save another. When their front men see their success, they will think of nothing but to push forward. When they are thus advancing and fall into the ambush, they will be sure to hurry away in flight. Those behind will not go to their rescue, so there will be no support to them; and thus your anxiety may be relieved.’ The earl followed this plan. As soon as the front men of the Jung met those who were in am- buscade, they fled, pursued by Chu Tan. Their detachment was surrounded and smitten both in front and in rear till they were all cut to pieces. The rest of the Jung made a grand flight.” This description of the battle, recorded under the year 714 B.c., shows that the Northern Jung, then said to be settled in Yung-p’ing-fu, Chi-li, were fighting without horses and that this was regarded as a disadvantage to the Chinese, who fought in chariots. We are further told by the T'so-chuan' that the Jung and the Ti were continually changing their residence, and were fond of exchanging land for goods. This latter weakness, if we may so call it, was probably the reason for the Chinese buying the barbarians off their territory, when an appeal to arms failed, and of finally driving them into the Mongolian steppe, their later home. This is also probably one of the reasons why the federal states occupying the boundaries facing uncivilized barbarians, have grown so powerful as compared with the emperor’s own dominions, which lay in the middle of the empire and occupied a comparatively small territory north and south of the Yellow River about the present city of Ho-nan-fu. The states of Tsin and Ts’in had apparently the lion’s share in territorial extension at the expense of their Hunnish neighbors. The state of Yen, occupying the present Chi-li, was similarly successful; other states like Ts’'i, Lu, Wei, Chu, Sung, Kii, etc., were hemmed in by the 1 Legge, p. 424. GRADUAL DECLINE OF CENTRAL POWER 189 sea-coast and could not, of course, increase by conquest among the barbarians. This, however, was the case in a prominent degree with the third of the great feudal states, Ch’u (to be distinguished from Chu mentioned above). The state of Ch’u was chiefly occupied by the southern barbarians known as Man, or Man-izi, Marco Polo’s Manzi. Ch’u was its name as a state, which, like Tsin and Ts’in and all the other territories surrounding the imperial do- main, was under the more or less nominal jurisdiction of the Son of Heaven. In those very scanty records preserved of the reign of Chau-wang, the region where this worthless monarch came to grief, while crossing a river in 1002 B.c., is described as “the south.” Ssi-ma Ts’ién simply says that Chau went to “the south” on a tour of inspection, and that he did not return, having died on the kiang, or river.! Later commentators, however, identify “the south’”’ with the Ch’u country; and, since this entire region wag even at a much later period occupied by the Man barbarians, we may look upon this as an early mention of their country. In the 7’so-chuan commentary on the “Spring and Autumn Annals,” the Ch’u state is constantly referred to under this name; but in the main text it was called King down to the year 659 B.c., when the name Ch’u took its place. From the tradition preserved in the commentaries? it would appear that the semi-barbarous state, if we may so call it, was from remote antiquity governed by rulers of Chinese extraction. The chiefs of Ch’u were at first viscounts with the surname Mi, which means “the bleating of sheep.” Their lineage is traced up to prehistoric times, the family being said to be descended from the Emperor Chuan-hii 1Chavannes, Mémoires historiques, vol. i, p. 250. ? Legge, Ch’un- ts’iu, p. 86. 190 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA (2510-2433 B.c.). This sounds, of course, very fabulous; but representatives of the line are mentioned by name as early as the times of Wén-wang and Wu-wang, 1.e. in the twelfth century B.c., when the head of the family was named Yi-hiung. His great-grandson, Hiung I, was invested by Ch’éng-wang, the second Chéu emperor, with the lands of, King-man, 7.e. ‘the Man barbarians of King.” His capital was Tan-yang in the neighborhood of the present city of Ichang, in Hu-pei. It appears that after him the family name of the Man rulers was Hiung, “Bear,” and from them this Chinese family name is supposed to have been derived. In 887 B.c. one Hiung K’ti usurped the title of king, which was afterward dropped for a time, but permanently resumed by Hiung T’ung, known as King Wu, in 704 B.c., who also moved his capital to Ying, near the present city of King-chéu-fu.2 The rule of the Hiung family extends from 1078 B.c. down to the extinction of the Ch’u state by that of Ts’in in 223 p.c. Whether the forty names mentioned in this list are those of descendants of an originally Chinese family, as their being traced to the mythical emperor Chuan-hii would indicate, or whether they were the descendants of an aboriginal Man family, is immaterial. This seems a matter of doubt. On the one hand, their pedigree being traced to the Emperor Chuan-hii may not have more historical value than King Attila’s in John of Thurécz’s ‘Chronica Hungarorum,” headed, as that is, by the Biblical names Noah, Japheth, Cush, and 1See Giles, The Family Names, in Journ. of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, New Series, vol. xxi, 1886, p. 265, no. 121. ? For a genealogical table of the rulers over the state of Ch’u, see Appendix: Chronological Tables, xi; also Legge, Ch’un-ts’iu, Prole- gomena, p. 109 seg.; and Shi-ki, ch. xiv, Chavannes, vol. iii, p. 35 seq. GRADUAL DECLINE OF CENTRAL POWER 191 Nimrod. The Hungarian chronicler here merely indulges in. what may be called the European practice of his age. The Chinese did something similar in extending the pedi- grees of distinguished barbarian houses to some of their old legendary emperors. We find a perfect parallel in the great khans of the Hiung-nu, whom the Chinese described as descendants of their Emperor Yii, and we can prove from Chinese history that, within historical times, princes of the same family were proud to refer to their Chinese pedigree. The rulers of the state of Ch’u certainly identi- fied themselves with their people, at least in certain pas- sages of Ssi-ma Ts’ién’s Shi-ki,1 where Hiung K’ii, ruler of Ch’u some time in the ninth century s.c., justifies the appointment of his sons as “kings” of certain Man bar- barians in the Yang-tzi region, saying, “We are Man barbarians and have nothing to do with Chinese titles,” which refer to the year 704 B.c., when Hiung T’ung, dis- satisfied with the scant recognition he had hitherto received at the hands of the imperial court, assumed on his own responsibility the title of “king,” as under the existing circumstances he seemed justified in doing. In a discus- sion with his opponent, the Prince of Sui, he distinctly says, “We are Man barbarians” (Wo Man-1 yé). Chavannes? translates these words even by “Je suis un barbare”’; but it appears that both interpretations may be justified. Anyhow, he may have called himself a barbarian in spite of Chinese descent. He goes on to say that “now the princes of the empire are in a state of rebellion, that they encroach on their territories and that some even kill each other.’ On expressing his desire that the emperor should give him a higher title, the court refused this request, upon 1 Ch. xl, pp. 3B and 5A. 2 Vol. iv, p. 344. 192 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHIMA which the barbarian chief recapitulates the history of his house, saying, ‘My forefather Yi Hiung was instructor to Won-wang. Ch’éng-wang gave my forefathers a baronetcy and instructed them to live in Ch’u, and the Man barbarians all recognized him as their leader,” etc.1. This again may involve that the Ch’u princes were originally a Chinese family, and that we may place confidence in the detailed pedigree communicated in Ssi-ma Ts’ién’s chapter devoted to the Ch’u kingdom,’ which contains no allusion to the Man barbarians down to the time of Ch’éng-wang. The non-barbarian origin of this pedigree is, moreover, if lineage and names as given by Ssi-ma Ts’ién are correct, greatly supported by the fact of Yu Hiung, Wén-wang’s teacher, having been one of the most distinguished writers of the Chinese language during his time, he being known as the author of a book, the Yi-tzi, the “Philosopher Yi,’’ which is possibly the oldest specimen of Chinese literature; older even than the J-king, though opinions are divided on that point.? In forming an opinion as to the cultural develop- ment of the barbarians, we should take the following facts into consideration :— The Man barbarians were organized into a state, ruled over by a continuous line of princes, and, as such, formed an integral part of the Chinese empire under the Chéu dynasty. Their state territory extended from about 23 degrees north latitude in the north to Lake Tung-t’ing and beyond in the south. An expansion from north to south probably took place during this long period of political life, since we find Man barbarians occupying the whole south and southwest of China and the adjacent parts in * Chavannes, loc. cit. * Chavannes, p. 337 segg. ° Wylie, Notes on Chinese Literature, p. 125. GRADUAL DECLINE OF CENTRAL POWER 193 Tung-king. For, soon after the absorption of the state of Ch’u by Ts’in, the native state of Ts’in-shi-huang-ti (em- peror of China in 221 B.c.), we find a native of north China, Chau T’o, appointed king of the Man barbarians. Accord- ing to Chinese views, the south of China in the present coast provinces and on the Tung-king border was an uninhabited wilderness at the dawn of history, and the inhabitants found there later on were immigrants from north and central China. The word Man, as an ethnic term, is liable to create confusion, and requires some specification to be rightly understood. The term Nan-man, “southern Man,” or “barbarians,” in its widest sense comprises nations of quite different affinities from those of the Man barbarians who formed the state of Ch’u under the Chéu dynasty; but from the genealogy of the southern and southwestern tribes, as reconstructed from Chinese sources, it appears that the Man of that southern state of the Chéu empire retreated before the extension of Chinese culture into their later southern territories, which extended far beyond the present limits of China deep into the Malay Peninsula. It is, of course, quite possible, that races of the Man type ; have been settled there from times immemorial and that the | Chinese idea of their having immigrated there from the north originated in the fact that they were discovered within historical periods in parts of the continent formerly believed to be uninhabited. Yet the wandering spirit of some of their tribes can be clearly traced in Chinese history. The best proof for this is what we read, for instance, about the history of one of their great divisions, the Liau barbarians, whose original seats were in Han-chung, south of the pres- ent Si-an-fu, whence they spread over the province of Ssi- ch’uan and farther on to Kui-chéu. In the twelfth century oO 194 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA A.D., if not earlier, we find them divided into over a hundred tribes on the southwest of the river Yu-kiang near the boundary of Tung-king.* According to an old legend, a Man barbarian named P’an-hu assisted the emperor Ti-k’u (2432 B.c.) in procuring the head of his enemy, a certain chief of the K’tian-jung, for which he gave him, among other rewards, his daughter in marriage. This P’an-hu became the legendary ancestor of quite a number of southern bar- barian tribes, the Miau-tzi being among them according to some accounts. There is, of course, not the slightest historical foundation for this popular story; but the legend seems to point to an early relationship between the Man barbarians and the Chinese race, to whom they rendered assistance in fighting their other neighbors, the Huns.? Whether we assume the tribes now found in the northern part of the Malay Peninsula to have migrated there from the confines of China, or whether they have been settled there from times immemorial, so much is certain, that wanderings from north to south have taken place on Chinese territory; that the forefathers of at least some of them during the Chéu dynasty were subjects of the state of Ch’u; that they must consequently have participated to a certain extent in the benefits of Chinese civilization, and that those who were formerly connected with the Ch’u state may have become the mediators of such traces of Chinese influence which may now be discovered not only among the former members of the Ch’u state as one of the con- federate territories of China under the Chéu dynasty, but also among their southern neighbors on the Malay Penin- 1 Cf. D’ Hervey de Saint-Denys, Ethnographie des peuples étrangers @ la Chine, vol. ii, pp. 106-121. ? Cf. D’ Hervey de Saint-Denys, op. cit., pp. 1-45. GRADUAL DECLINE OF CENTRAL POWER 195 sula. Such Chinese influences may have existed in former ages without their being traceable in the records. : The only legacy left to us of the old Man culture consists of a still limited number of ancient bronze drums bearing ornaments on their outer surface, some of which may be declared as being of Chinese origin, whereas other specimens, and probably the oldest ones among them, whatever their age may be, have been for years a problem still awaiting solution. To judge from the localities where such bronze drums were first discovered, whether in the tombs of old Man chiefs or among/lealers in antiquities in China, or in some place on the Malay Peninsula, and from what the Chinese have placed on record regarding them, I feel in- clined to comprise all the aboriginal tribes who can be shown to have made use of the bronze drum as an instru- ment of authority or worship under the common name of “bronze drum nations.” The area on which these imple- ments can be shown either to have been used formerly or to be used at the present day may be said to extend from the Yang-tzi region in the north over the whole southwest of China, including portions of the Kuang-tung province, and well into the Malay Peninsula and even some islands of the Archipelago. The nations which might come within this denomination of “bronze drum nations” may be divided into a northern and a southern section. The former, comprising the several denominations of the Man bar- barians and the Miau-tzi and extending certainly as far south as the present boundary of China, offer scarcely any difficulty as to their most ancient connection with Chinese civilization through the Ch’u state. Several of the south- Chinese Man barbarians can be shown to have migrated to their later homes from the old Ch’u territory within his- 196 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHIQA torical periods, and the Miau-tzi, as well as other aboriginal tribes, probably including the Tangutans in the northwest of China, are referred by the old legend of the banishment of the San-miau' to former seats in central China in remote antiquity. The southern section, comprising various tribes of the Malay Peninsula, cannot, as far as I am aware, be traced to the ancient Ch’u state, and if in their case migra- tions from north to south have at all taken place, they must be referred to prehistoric periods. It seems difficult to decide whether any racial affinities exist between the several nations using bronze drums. It appears, however, that traces of Chinese influences appear in the ornament even of the more remote discoveries, since one of its principal elements is the more or less convention- alized figure of a bird, standing or flying, which can only be _identified with the south-China egret, an old traditional ‘emblem of the Chinese skin drum. The southern section _ may also have been influenced in its culture from India, | and finally the Man and other barbarians may have added _ features of their own invention to the traditional ornament of Chinese or Indian origin. This probably holds good with regard to the figures of frogs or toads cast on the face of these instruments corresponding to the skin of ordinary drums. These frogs, found on some of the most ancient specimens discovered in south China, may be interpreted as a totem of the barbarians of Kuang-tung, Kuang-si, etc., since the barbarian inhabitants of the old state of Nan- yué are referred to by the name of “frogs” or “toads” in anentry in the Chinese court annals under the year 112 B.c.? 1 See above, p. 85. ?Cf. Hirth, Chinesische Ansichten tiber Bron- zetrommein. Leipzig (Otto Harrassowitz), 1904, and the several works and papers referred to therein by Meyer and Foy, Heger, De Groot, ete. GRADUAL DECLINE OF CENTRAL POWER _ 197 Surrounded by its federal states was the emperor’s own domain of Chéu, a comparatively small territory in the present province of Ho-nan. The imperial power during the Ch’un-ts’iu period had become more and more nominal, and the Ch’un-ts’iw itself, as explained above, does not describe the history of the Chéu emperors, but that of the princes of Lu. The history of the other states, though much more important from a political point of view, has to be reconstructed from the liberal amplifications con- tained in the T'so-chuan. The line of Lu rulers is represented by twenty-eight names, extending from 1122 B.c. to 249 B.c. The Ch’un-ts’iu records of Lu history begin with the fifteenth ruler of that state, Duke Yin, in 722 B.c. The main text of the Ch’un-ts’iu narrates the events of history from the local Lu point of view year by year under the twelve following dukes down to the fourteenth year of Duke Ai, about 480 B.c., and the commentaries carry it just about a generation farther on. With the understand- ing that, as a matter of course, each of the federal states has had its own history, claiming at some time or other much greater importance than that of the imperial house itself, I propose to continue my account where I left it, at the death of P’ing-wang with the most noteworthy events during the time of his successors as Chou emperors. § 40. Huan-wane (719-697 B.c.) Huan-wang, P’ing-wang’s grandson, tried in vain to assert his authority among the contending states. His reign was characterized by constant wars among his vas- sals, and his attempts to establish order ended in defeat on several occasions. Huan-wang died in the twenty- third year of his reign and was followed by his eldest son, Chuang-wang. vI THE CENTURY OF THE “FIVE LEADERS” (685-591 B.C.) VI THE CENTURY OF THE “FIVE LEADERS” (685-591 3.c.) § 41. CHUANG-wANG (696-682 B.C.) HERE was some trouble in the succession to the throne, the emperor having declared himself in favor of hissecond son. But to the exertions of the minister Sin-po it was due that the legitimate succession gained the upper hand. Court intrigue had ended in an attempt to take the emperor’s life in 694 B.c., and had been success- fully defeated by Sin-po. The rival prince fled to a northern state, and his chief patron, Hei-kién, Duke of Chou, was be- headed. During the preceding year (October 3, 694 B.c.), an eclipse of the sun is recorded in the main text of the Ch’un-ts’tu. Under the reign of Chuang-wang we have to record the temporary rise to considerable power of one of the minor federal states, that of Ts’i, occupying the northeast, with a portion of the sea-coast, of the present province of Shan- tung and adjoining the right bank of the lower course of the Yellow River. The political success of this state dates from the prudent administration of Duke Huan, who, as its fifteenth ruler, reigned from 685 to 643 B.c. Duke Huan’s good fortunes were entirely due to the excellent advice he received from his prime minister, the philosopher Kuan- tzi, known also as Kuan Chung and Kuan I-wu. Kuan-tzi impresses us as having furnished an example, unparalleled 201 202 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA in the history of nations, of scientific reasoning applied to practical statesmanship. The chief aim of his policy was the economic development of the nation, and by applying his theories to state life, he did more for the benefit of his country than many of the official advisers of the emperors and princes both before and: after him. Fora careful digest of his life and doctrines the reader is referred to G. von der Gabelentz’s excellent monograph “ Vorbereitendes zur Kritik des Kuan-tsi.””! His theories have been recorded in a book handed down under the title of Kuan-tzi, the “Philosopher Kuan,’’ which is printed both as a separate work and as one of a series comprising the ten minor philos- ophers of antiquity. Opinions are divided as to its author- ship, some authorities, both native and foreign, holding that it was compiled during the Han dynasty. Giles? calls it “one of the numerous forgeries of later times”; but I feel inclined to side with Grube, who ®* regards the subject-matter of this text as contemporaneous. Indeed, if we compare Kuan-tzi’s wisdom in governing with what we read in the Chéu-li concerning Chinese government institutions during the Chéu dynasty, there would seem to be no reason to doubt that the almost modern method of deriving political action from philosophical reasoning need not be looked upon as an anachronism in the face of the deep interest with which the intelligent part of the nation has devoted itself to the advancement of official life ever since the early Chéu rulers. The advice given to his duke by Kuan-tzi has become the prototype of governmental prudence for Chinese official life. Thus Kuan-tzi, by meas- 1 Sitzgb. d. Kgl. Preuss. Akad. d. Wissensch., 1892, vol. i, p. 127 seqq. 2 A Chinese Biographical Dictionary, p. 382. % Geschichte der chines- ischen Litteratur, p. 113. THE CENTURY OF THE “FIVE LEADERS” 203 ures he adopted in the federal state of Ts’i, has become the father of institutions of the utmost importance to the whole empire during its later economic development; for example, in regard to the iron and salt monopolies. If we consider that his lifetime lay in the early days of regal Rome, and that the work of his life was done before Solon the Athenian was born, Kuan-tzi may be regarded as having furnished the very type of a statesman in the modern sense by collecting facts for the purposes of gov- ernmental administration; -further, by endeavoring to describe such facts in the shape of a numerical formula, he may in the proper sense of the word be regarded as the oldest “statistician” of all nations. The method he adopted in persuading his monarch to introduce taxes on salt and on iron may in all respects be called statistical. The duke in a conversation with Kuan-tzi had consulted him on government affairs, and was advised to levy taxes upon salt and iron, hitherto not sources of public revenue. “How is this to be done?” the duke inquired; upon which the philosopher replied: “In a family of ten individuals there will be ten consumers of salt; in a family of a hundred there will be a hundred consumers. A male adult will consume five pints or at least half that quantity of salt every month; afemale adult, three pints, or at least half of this; a child, two pints, or at least half of this. These are the averages for salt consumption.” Kuan-tzi continues his reasoning by calculating from these averages the con- sumption, not known at his time, for the whole country. “In a country of ten thousand chariots,” he says, “the number of consuming individuals may be set down at ten millions.” Upon these salt consumers the philosopher 204 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA recommends the imposition of a tax payable by the dealers in this article; this, he said, would be an impost which nobody could escape. With a similar calculation he recommended the intro- duction of a tax upon the iron production of the country. The officials in charge of the iron-works had reported that every woman in the country must have a needle and a knife; that every field laborer must have a plough, a spade, and a cboking-pan, a cart, a hatchet, etc., —all these being necessaries of life, a tax upon which would be a regular source of public revenue. This conversation of Kuan-tzi with his duke led to the institution of the salt and the iron monopolies, both of which not only yielded the desired revenue, but also became a great stimulus to succeeding governments to do all in their power to promote produc- tion as well as consumption. We know that the iron in- dustry of China assumed important dimensions during the following centuries. Chinese iron must have been of very superior quality, since not only the countries of central Asia drew their supplies from the Far East, but even the Roman market, as is known from Pliny, who says, that of all kinds of iron coming to Rome the Chinese (seri- cum ferrum) is the best. The salt produced on the Shan- tung coast during the Chéu dynasty was not only con- sumed in the country of Ts’i, but we are informed that the states of Liang, Chéu, Sung, Wei, and Tu-yang were in great trouble when the usual supply was not forthcoming from Ts’i, not to speak of the frontier nations, the Huns, etc., who were then entirely dependent on this source. The salt monopoly introduced by Kuan-tzi thus became the source of immense wealth, collected in the state of Ts’i, and was the basis of a regular system of administra- THE CENTURY OF THE “FIVE LEADERS” 205 tion known hereafter as yen-fa, i.e. “the method of salt ad- ministration.”’ There are apparently no records to show that a similar system existed in other parts of the coast during the Chéu dynasty; but the native account from which I have derived my information states that the state revenue yielded by the salt and iron monopolies had dur- ing the Ts’in dynasty (255-209 B.c.) grown to about twenty times the amount gained during the Chéu period.? These are merely some important examples of govern- mental reforms introduced by Kuan-tzi. It goes without saying that the economic development of the little state could in the hands of a clever administrator be changed into an instrument by which political power might be wielded over rival states, which had for generations be- come dependent for their supplies upon industrious Ts’i. The discussions on political and economic subjects laid down in Kuan-tzi’s work extend to all possible questions of government; and even if we grant that much of the ex- isting text may be interpolations, it is not likely that the doctrines attributed to Kuan-tzi sprang entirely from the imagination of Han compilers. As Grube points out, Ssi-ma Ts’ién states that the philosopher’s descendants held high offices as hereditary fief-holders for more than ten genera- tions in succession, and that this may furnish an explana- tion why Kuan-tzi’s memory, in the shape of the work bearing his name, was preserved with such piety among his family records. The great success, due to a large extent to Kuan-tzi’s advice, of the state of Ts’i initiated a period lasting about 1Cf. my Notes on the Early History of the Salt Monopoly in China, in Journal of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, New Series, vol. xxii, p. 55 seqq. 206 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHIWA a century, during which some of the great feudal states began to wield supreme power in the empire. Duke Huan of Ts’i opens the series of the five great leaders, whose power by far outshone that of the Son of Heaven and who by turns were virtually the rulers of China. These leaders are known as the wu-pa, the “Five Mighty Ones,” or “Tyrants,” interpreting the latter word in its original sense of “one who holds power not by right, but by might.” The five states thus prominent were those of Ts’i, Sung, Tsin, Ts’in, and Ch’u; and their several chiefs were: (1) Duke Huan of Ts’i (685-643 B.c.), (2) Duke Siang of Sung (650-637 B.c.), (3) Duke Won of Tsin (636-628 B.c.), (4) Duke Mu of Ts’in (659 -621 3.c.), and (5) Prince, or King, Chuang of Ch’u (613-591 B.c.). The history of the internal wars waged during this period of wrangling for leadership is given in detail in the T7'so- chuan. It is full of romance and has left its traces deeply engraved in the heart of the Chinese nation. No one could better summarize the main events of this interesting period than the late Dr. James Legge, who had just finished his great edition of the “Spring and Autumn Annals,” when in a lecture delivered at Hongkong in March, 1873," he gave a charming sketch of what he called “Two Heroes of Chinese History.” The two heroes placed before his audience by the venerable lecturer were Duke Huan of Ts’i and Duke Won of Tsin, the first and third of the “Five Leaders” respectively. I shall allow Dr. Legge to resume the thread of history where I had broken it in de- scribing the relations between Huan and his great minister Kuan-tzi. 1See China Review, vol. i, p. 370 segq. THE CENTURY OF THE “FIVE LEADERS” 207 Two Herozs or Cuinesre History “Huan and Kuan-tzi took measures in the first place to strengthen the resources of Ts’i itself and then proceeded to cultivate the good- will of their neighbors. Its territories were extended ; its industries cultivated; its levies well trained; a policy of forbearance and generosity displayed in its external relations. The natural result was that it became the asylum of the fugitive and the helper of the weak and oppressed. Gradually its preéminence was recognized, and Huan, whenever there was occasion, would assemble several of the other princes and preside among them, all engaging by cove- nant to observe the statutes of Chéu, and take common measures against the unruly. By and by the King of Chéu [t.e. the emperor] acknowledged the position which Huan had secured for himself, and gave him the title of ‘President of Covenants,’ devolving on him at the same time the duty of dealing in the royal name with all refractory vassals. With the barbarous tribes that squatted among the feudal States and occupied the country beyond them, he had many conflicts, and very much broke their power. In 660 [661] he and his minister Kuan-tzi conducted a great expedition against the tribes of the Hill Jung, who had reduced the State or Marquisate of Yen, lying on the east of Ts’i and extending nearly to the present capital of China, to the greatest straits. It would take a whole lecture to describe the toils which they underwent and the per- tinacity with which they followed up their successes through a country which was then either pathless forest or howling desert, where there were no supplies of water or food. The expedition was entirely successful. The chiefs of the Hill Jung and other tribes were slain, and the tribes themselves extirpated or hopelessly dispersed. The Marquis of Yen could not show his gratitude sufficiently to his deliverer. Unable to part from him, he escorted him past the boundary of his own state nearly twenty miles into Ts’. ‘You have transgressed,’ said Huan to him, ‘the statute which forbids a prince to cross the boundaries of his state saving on the king’s service. But you must not suffer for it, and I here- with bestow upon you all the tract of my territory over which we have passed.’ ‘He did wrong in this,’ say many Chinese writers; ‘for he had no right to give to another a foot of his land without 208 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CH#NA the king’s authority.’ ‘He may have done wrong,’ say others, ‘but the wrong-doing showed the kindness of his heart and the magnanimity of his nature.’ “Of all the expeditions which Huan undertook, the greatest was one in 655 [656] against the great State of Ch’u in the south. The lords of this had only the patent of viscounts from the Kings of Chéu; but they had long usurped the title of ‘King,’ and it was the barest acknowledgment which they deigned to make of their vassalage. The feudal states proper of China and the kings lived in a state of constant apprehension of the encroachments of Ch’u, which year by year with untiring determination advanced upon them. It was evident that, unless some severe check were inflicted upon it, it would ere long overflow the Middle Land with its bar- barous population and usages. Kuan-tzi had long seen that, to put the crown upon his ruler’s presidency, he must contrive to beat back the advance of this power. Preparations were made for some years for an expedition against it and, when all things were ready, an opportunity was sought to burst upon it, and take it by surprise and unprepared. And this seemed to be afforded in the following way. A favorite lady of Duke Huan was a daughter of the house of Ts’ai, the southernmost of the feudal states, and nearest to the territories of Ch’u. One day he was amusing him- self with her in a boat upon a lake, though he had a dread of the water. The lady amused herself with playing on this weakness, and moved about so as to rock the boat. The Duke got angry and told her to desist, but she would not do so, and irritated him still more by taking up water with her hands and casting it upon him. The consequence was that he sent her back to her father, who soon after found another husband for her. This Duke Huan pretended to take as a great insult, and giving it out that his object was to punish the Marquis of Ts’ai, in the year which I have men- tioned, he called out all the forces of his own state and seven others, and marched in grand force to the south. The real object was to burst with this great host upon Ch’u. That state, however, was not unprepared. A favorite eunuch of Huan’s harem had let out some time before the secret of the expedition; and the forces of the allies found themselves confronted in the present Hii-chéu of Ho-nan by those of Ch’u. A great battle seemed imminent; but THE CENTURY OF THE “FIVE LEADERS” 209 both sides were afraid to hazard such a risk. The King of Ch’u was brought to acknowledge his failure in duty in not sending tribute to Chéu and to promise reformation, and thereupon a covenant was entered into, and both armies retired. It was a lame and impotent conclusion to an expedition on so grand a scale, but Ts’i had rather the better of it. The dreaded Ch’u had been threatened and obliged to slink away; and all China breathed more freely and resounded with the praises of Duke Huan. “T will mention only one other exploit of our hero. In 654 [655], having heard that there was serious disagreement in the royal family and that the king meant to degrade his eldest son, who had been declared heir to the throne, —a proceeding which would produce great disorder and have disastrous consequences as a precedent throughout the states, — Huan said that it must be pre- vented, and for that purpose called a meeting of the states at a place in the present department of Kui-té, Ho-nan, at which also he begged the attendance of the crown-prince. This was intended to be a public recognition of the prince by the states as their future king. The reigning monarch could not refuse his powerful noble and sent his son to the meeting, though with inward dissatisfaction and grumbling. The device succeeded. In 651 [652] the king [Hui- wang] died, and the crown-prince took his place [as Siang-wang], and the next year Huan called another meeting in the province of Ho-nan, in the department of K’ai-fong, as an expression of loyalty to the new sovereign. To this assembly the king sent his chief minister with a portion of the flesh which he had used a little before in sacrificing to the founder of his dynasty. This was a special gift to Duke Huan of the royal favor and could only be received with reverent obeisance. The Duke was about to descend from his high place as president of the assembly to render the obeisance, when the king’s minister proclaimed: ‘The Son of Heaven further charged me to say that in consideration of his uncle’s seventy years, he confers on him an additional distinction; he shall not descend and do obeisance.’ ‘Heaven’s Majesty,’ replied our hero, ‘is not far from me. Shall I, Siau-pi [the duke’s personal name], dare to covet this favor of the Son of Heaven, and not descend and do obeisance?’ With this he went down the steps, and received the gift with humble homage. P 210 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA ““Mencius has preserved for us the five articles of the covenant which was entered into at this meeting. The first was: ‘Slay the unfilial; change not the son who has been appointed heir; exalt not a concubine to the rank of wife.’ The second: ‘Honor the worthy, and maintain the talented to give distinction to the vir- tuous.’ The third: ‘Respect the old, and be kind to the young. Be not forgetful of strangers and travelers.’ The fourth: ‘Let no offices be hereditary, and let not officers be pluralists. Let not a ruler take it on himself (without the authority of the king) to put to death a great officer.’ And the fifth: ‘Follow no crooked policy in making embankments. Impost no restrictions on the sale of grain. Make no promotions without first announcing them to the king.’ It was then said in conclusion: ‘All we who have united in this covenant shall hereafter maintain amicable relations.’ * “Duke Huan was now, as has been intimated, about seventy years old, and his course was drawing to a close. In 645 [646] his great minister died. Kuan-tzi was aware of the defects of his master’s character as well as his excellence, and with his dying breath warned him of the perils to which he exposed himself by the confidence he reposed in several unworthy favorites. The chief of these were his cook and the master of the eunuchs. The former, it is related, had won his confidence by a monstrous act. The Marquis was fond of the pleasures of the table, and was one day talking with the cook, who was a great artiste, about the various dishes which he had enjoyed. Kid, and lamb, and veal, and leveret had all their attractions for him, and he added in a joke, ‘I wonder how child would taste; I have never tasted that dish.’ Next day there was the flesh of some young creature on his table, which had a peculiar delicacy. _What would it be, — like lamb or veal, and yet better than either of them? He called the cook, and asked him, and was told that in consequence of his remarks the day before, the cook had taken his own child, put it to death, dressed it, and served it on the table. The Marquis was indignant, and ordered the ar- tiste away. His stomach rose, and got rid of what he had eaten; but on reflection he said, ‘Surely this man is faithful and devoted to me, having killed his own child, in consequence of my foolish 1Cf. Von der Gabelentz, op. cit., p. 142. THE CENTURY OF THE “FIVE LEADERS” 211 words.’ The cook kept his place in his favor; but the Minister reasoned differently, and said: ‘If the cook could kill his child to please you, what will he not do, if he can gain his own ends by taking a course adverse to you?’ The Marquis, however, would not take his advice, and when Kuan-tzi was taken away, he fell, in the dotage of his old age, entirely into the hands of his unworthy parasites, dying a most miserable death in 642 [643]. “He had been addicted to the pleasures of the harem as much as to those of the table, and had by five different ladies five sons, all come to age, and all eager to succeed him. Their mothers caballed with the favorites and high officers, each wishing to secure the state for her own son. His attendants utterly neglected the Marquis in his sickness, forged a notice that he wished to be left alone, and allowed him to perish in his palace of hunger. One of his sons was raised by them to the marquisate, the others raging, it is said, like somany young tigers. Amid the confusion, the corpse of the mighty president lay for months unburied, only to be entombed at last, according to barbarous practice, with a multitude of women and others, buried alive with him, to be his servants in another world. So passed away the glory of Duke Huan. His sons continued at variance, and four of them came to the marquisate, each one as it were over the dead body of a brother. The presidency of Ts’i among the states was overthrown. We have to go down the stream of Chinese history for nearly three hundred years before we find it again in the strength to which Huan had raised it, though his name survived and still survives ‘to point a moral, or adorn a tale.’ “I must hurry to and through my other subject, — Duke Won of Tsin.1 The presidency of Ts’i, I have said, perished with Huan and his minister Kuan-tzi. The idea of such an institution, how- ever, had now become familiar throughout the kingdom, and one prince and another endeavored to assert it for themselves and their states, but in vain. It was upon the Marquis of Tsin that at last Huan’s mantle fell. 1 Throughout incorrectly spelled Ts’in in the China Review. 2 It should be noted that Dr. Legge’s account here skips the second of the “Five Leaders,’’ Duke Siang of Sung. Huan and Won, se- lected as the “two heroes” of his lecture, may, however, be said to be typical characters of the period. 212 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA “To find him we must go from the east to the west of the then China; from Shan-tung to Shan-si. There a cadet of the Chéu family had been [in 1107 B.c.] invested with the State of Tsin, in the present department of T’ai-yiian, soon after the rise of the dynasty. It was at first small, and long continued so, but its posi- tion afforded it great opportunities for enlarging its territory and increasing its population by reducing and absorbing the wild tribes lying to the north and east of it, as soon as it became consolidated in itself. Soon after Huan became Marquis in Ts’i, a certain Kui- chu, known in history as Duke Hién, obtained the same dignity in Tsin and held it for twenty-six years [676-651 B.c.]. He was a worthless man, but his rule was not devoid of vigor, and he added to his state by subjugating several smaller ones in its neighborhood, and was recognized by the more civilized states on the east as an important member of the feudal kingdom. He had three sons by different ladies, all grown up, and the eldest of them, recognized as heir to the state, the second of them, with whom we have now to do, being named Ch’ung-ir. In the year 671 [672] he had subjugated a wild tribe called the Li-jung, and brought back with them the daughter of the chief, a young lady of wonderful personal attractions. Having taken her and a cousin of hers into his harem, he became infatuated by their fascinations, and each of them soon presented him with a son. The usual consequences followed. His regards were soon away from his older sons, and it was determined that these young children should supersede them in the state. They were sent away from the court, and placed in charge of different cities at a distance. But this did not satisfy the new mistress of the seraglio; she wrought until the eldest son, after-time heir apparent, was driven to commit suicide, and an armed force was sent to each of the cities held by his two brothers to deal with them, and bring their dead bodies to the capital. “Ch’ung-ir had been placed in charge of P’u, the people of which had become attached to him, and proposed that he should lead them against the assailants. ‘That would be,’ said he, ‘to strive with my father, and a great crime. I will rather fly.’ And fly he did, making a very narrow escape from the eunuch who led the force against him. The latter was close upon him, and caught hold of his sleeve, as he was leaping over a wall to get out of the city. A THE CENTURY OF THE “FIVE LEADERS” 218 sword blow missed the prince, but cut off half the sleeve, which remained in the hand of his pursuer. “From P’u Ch’ung-ir fled to a northern tribe of the Ti, where he continued with about a dozen of his relations and partisans, who had escaped with him, for twelve years, — the chief being fond of him, and having given him as a wife a beautiful captive whom he had taken in a war with a neighboring tribe. In the meantime his father died in 649 [650], leaving the state to his young child by the chieftainess of the Li-jung. There was great confusion in the state, and there came in the interference of the Earl of Ts’in, the large and growing state on the west in the present Shen-si. He was married to a sister of the two fugitive princes, and he sent to them in their different exiles, proposing to each on certain condi- tions to establish him in Tsin. Ch’ung-ir declined the offer in a sentence, which has become celebrated: ‘A fugitive as I am, it is not the getting of the state which is precious in my sight, but the maintenance of my benevolence and my filial piety.’ His younger brother eagerly accepted the offers of Ts’in, and was accordingly, on terms disgraceful to himself and ruinous to the state, made Mar- quis of Tsin. He is known as Duke Hui. He held the state for fifteen years, — years of trouble and disaster; and one of his earliest measures was an attempt to take the life of his brother among the Ti [645 B.c.]. This it was which determined Ch’ung-ir to flee to a more distant and safer refuge. Calling to him his Ti wife, he said to her: ‘Wait for me five and twenty years, and if I have not come back then, you can take another husband.’ ‘I am now twenty- five,’ said the lady, ‘and if I am to be married again after other twenty-five, it shall be to my coffin. I will wait for you.’ “The asylum which he proposed for himself was Ts’i, where he would be under the wing of the great Duke Huan. Passing with his followers through the State of Wei on his way to Ts’i, he was treated discourteously by its Marquis, and reduced to such straits that he had one day to beg food from a countryman. The man was churlish, and offered him a clod of earth. Indignant, he was about to scourge the fellow with his whip, when one of his followers interfered, saying: ‘It is heaven’s gift; a gift of the soil, a happy omen.’ Ch’ung, who bowed to the speaker, let the man go, and took the clod with him in his carriage. 214 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHIA “Duke Huan received him kindly in Ts’i, gave him asa wife a relative of his own, and nobly entertained both him and his fol- lowers. The prince abandoned himself for years to the enjoyment of his position, much to the dissatisfaction of his followers. They had always been confident in his fortunes, and in their own as associated with him. They were determined that he should yet be Marquis of Tsin; and one day, going with him a little distance out of the capital, they halted under the shade of a large mulberry tree, and insisted on his leaving Ts’i. It so happened that a girl from his harem was in the tree, gathering mulberry leaves for silkworms, and overheard all that was said. Returning to the city, after they had broken up their conference, she reported all to the Lady Kiang, his wife. That lady rewarded her by causing her to be put to death, that the thing might not get talked about; and at night talked the matter over with the prince. He denied the design of departure, and said he wished no greater happiness than to continue to live with her. ‘And shall I,’ said she, ‘by keeping you in the lap of pleasure, contribute to ruin your fame?’ She communicated with his followers, made him dead drunk, and had him carried off by them. When he came to himself, they were many miles from the capital of Ts’i; and though he stormed against them for their deed, he consented at last to go with them. “After various adventures, and passing through the States of Ts’au, Sung, and Chong, he found himself in Ch’u, at the court of the king who was the sole rival of Duke Huan. There he was honorably treated as he had been in Ts’i. There appears to have been something fascinating about his appearance and manners. He had double pupils in his eyes, and his ribs presented the appear- ance of being one piece of solid bone. The King of Ch’u auspiced a great future for him, and after feasting him one day in his palace, said to him: ‘If you return to Tsin, and become its Marquis, how will you recompense my kindness to you?’ Ch’ung-ir replied: ‘Ladies, gems, and silks your Majesty has. Plumes, hair, ivory, and hides are all produced in your country; those of them that come to Tsin are but your superabundance. What then should I have wherewith to recompense your kindness?’ ‘Nevertheless,’ urged the other, ‘how would you recompense me?’ ‘If,’ said Ch’ung-ir, ‘by your Majesty’s powerful influence I shall recover the state of THE CENTURY OF THE “FIVE LEADERS” 215 Tsin, should Tsin and Ch’u go to war, and meet in the plain of the Middle Land, I will withdraw before you three stages of ten miles each. If then I do not receive your commands to stop from hos- tilities, with my whip and my bow in my left hand, and with my quiver on my right, I will manceuvre with your Majesty.’ “Many of the King of Ch’u’s officers would have had their king take the opportunity to make away with the prince and his followers as dangerous to the fortunes of their country; but the king was of too noble a nature to listen to them. ‘The Prince,’ said he, ‘is a grand character, and yet distinguished by moderation, highly accomplished and courteous. His followers are severely grave and yet generous, loyal and of untiring ability. Tsin will yet be his. When Heaven intends to prosper a man, who can stop him? He that opposes Heaven must incur great guilt.’ “He then sent Ch’ung-ir away with an escort to Ts’in, where the way was soon opened for his return to Tsin, his native state. His unworthy brother, Duke Hui [650-638 B.c.], was by this time dead; and his son, who had been a hostage in Ts’in, and received to wife a daughter of the Earl, had broken his parole, left his wife, and stolen away to Tsin. The Earl was indignant, insisted on the lady’s taking Ch’ung-ir as a husband in room of his runaway nephew, and prepared to lead an expedition to establish the prince in Tsin. The lady declaimed, but was obliged to submit, and in 635 B.c. [636], after an exile of nineteen years, Ch’ung-ir once more entered Tsin. He encountered no serious opposition. His nephew was put to death, and with the general satisfaction of the people, he was hailed as Marquis. “But he was now getting old. Only eight years of life remained ; but during that short time he accomplished much for Tsin and for China. His long experience of adversity had been of use to him, and made him fruitful in expedients, and gave him much self-com- mand. He nobly rewarded those who had faithfully adhered to him through so long a period of trial and difficulty, and towards the partisans of his brother and nephew he manifested a generous forbearance. His wives from the Ti, from Ts’i and from Ts’in all came to him; and there was a most edifying contest among them as to which should be Marchioness and mistress of the harem, and he decided at last in favor of the lady Kiang of Ts’. 216 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF -CHIMA “The year after his return an opportunity occurred to do good service to the king, the same for whom Duke Huan secured the throne. The king was now a fugitive in Chong, driven from the capital by the rebellion of a younger brother. Duke Won raised his forces, and went to his relief. The rebel was defeated and slain, and the king restored to his place. “Three years after, in 631 [632], the thing occurred which Won had prognosticated in Ch’u, the king of the country and he meeting in arms in the plain of the Middle Land. All the mili- tary forces of Tsin were collected in the field. Ch’u had with it the levies of Chéng and Ch’én, and on the side of Tsin were aux- iliaries from Sung, from Ts’i and from Ts’in. Nearly a thousand chariots of war on either side shook the ground. Mindful of what he had said in Ch’u, Duke W6n on three successive days retreated before the forces of that State, a distance altogether of thirty miles, taking post at last at a place called Ch’éng-p’u, in the present dis- trict of Ts’au, Dept. of Ts’au-chéu, Shan-tung. There the battle was fought, — if not one of the great battles of the world, yet one of the great battles of China; a battle of civilization against bar- barism. Ch’u was entirely defeated. What Huan of Ts’i had failed in doing was now accomplished by Wé6n of Tsin. Immedi- ately on hearing of the result, the king sent commissioners to the camp of Tsin to hail the Marquis as President of the States, and confer on him all the insignia of that appointment. In the winter of that year, he presided over.a great meeting of the princes or representatives of ten States, at which he required the presence even of the king himself, in the present district of Wén, Depart- ment Huai-k’ing, Ho-nan. Confucius condemns him for requiring the presence of the king, and in his own account of the meeting has tried to conceal the fact. Wé6n’s glory was at its height. He was unchallengeably the foremost man in the kingdom, and re- turned to Tsin to pursue fresh measures to increase the military strength of the State. Some writers think that he had it now in mind to displace the dynasty of Chéu, and establish himself as King of China. If he had been a younger man, I think he would have done so. But his battle of life was nearly over; and, four years after the great victory of Ch’éng-p’u, he breathed his last in his chief city, leaving to the son whom he had declared his successor THE CENTURY OF THE “FIVE LEADERS” 217 quiet possession of Tsin, and to that State a presidency in the king- dom, which was maintained for nearly two hundred years.” This graphic account of two Chinese “heroes,” as Legge calls them, will indicate what we might expect should we enter more deeply into the history of this period. It will be seen that the ups and downs in the life of the more power- ful federal states were greatly dependent on the personal qualities of their leaders. Yet it may be said that the hero who initiated the period of the “Five Leaders” was Duke Huan of Ts’i, who rose to the high position he held among the confederation of dukes and princes by following the advice of his great minister Kuan-tzi. This advice led him, on the one hand, to adopt such measures as would in reality unite the greatest power in his government; on the other, to be absolutely loyal to his emperor, the traditional head of the confederation. Without this loyalty he could have scarcely succeeded in maintaining his position; and with all the troubles that in subsequent periods created discord among the contending states and opposition from one side or another to imperial authority, it was that spirit of loyalty, the respect due to the heir of ancient thrones in the person of the emperor, whose main duty and privilege it was to bring sacrifice to the spirits of his ancestors, which held together the shaky framework of the Chéu dynasty. This loyalty, based in its main effect on what may be called the religious feeling of the nation, in which the most con- 1In reproducing this account of Dr. Legge’s lecture, taken from the China Review, I have been obliged to correct quite a number of misprints. I have also changed the spelling of Chinese names so as to conform with that adopted in the present work. It should be understood that Legge’s dates have to be advanced one year throughout, in order to correspond with the chronology of Western history. 218 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA flicting interests united, ancestor worship, would ever and ever again remind the disloyally inclined that they had to do what their ancestors in remote antiquity had done in looking upon the Son of Heaven, whether wielding his power or not, as the ruler of the world by the grace of God. With all its misfortunes the Chéu dynasty was upheld by this loyalty, feeble though it may have been among the powerful chiefs; and nothing short of the destruction of every memory of what had been sacred to their forefathers, in many generations could, as we shall see later on, succeed in temporarily disconnecting the nation from its ancestors. § 42. Hi-wana (681-677 B.c.) Hi-wang, Chuang-wang’s son, reigned only five years, during which time, as we have seen, Huan, Duke of Ts’i, was the mainstay of power in the empire. He was followed by his son Hui-wang. § 43. Hur-wane (676-652 B.c.) There was some trouble in the succession, one of his uncles posing as a pretender. During his reign Duke Huan of Ts’i, who had favored the king’s succession, continued to be as powerful as he was loyal to the imperial house. Hui-wang was followed by his son Siang-wang. § 44. Sranc-wane (651-619 B.c.) During the first year of this king’s reign Duke Huan of Ts’i presided at the covenant of princes described in Dr. Legge’s lecture. Duke Huan died in 643 B.c., leaving five sons fighting each other in Ts’i, of whom Duke Hiau was THE CENTURY OF THE “FIVE LEADERS” 219 finally established as his successor under the assistance of a neighboring prince, Duke Siang of Sung. Sung was a central state comprising parts of the present Ho-nan and Kiang-su, and its Duke Siang henceforth became the suc- cessor of Duke Huan as second of the “Five Leaders.”’ His great opponent was the king of Ch’u who ruled over the south as Ch’éng-wang (671-626 B.c.). The contest for power ended with the defeat of Siang, who was wounded | in a battle against Ch’u. He died in 637 B.c., leaving be- hind him a name not nearly as popular as that of his great colleagues Huan and Won. The latter had just entered his native state and become the ruler of Tsin, in which ca- pacity he had an opportunity to be of great service to the king in fighting the Jung-ti and in reinstating him in his capital, from which he had been obliged to flee. He earned the gratitude of the king, who invested him with large tracts of land and, by appointing him president of the covenant of the feudal princes, raised him to the leadership as third among the Wu-pa. The state of Ch’u, as we have seen, continued to make trouble until Duke W6n fought the great battle of Ch’6ng-p’u in 632 B.c. Duke Wén of Tsin died in 628 p.c. His son, Duke Siang, was not able to hold his own in a feud against Duke Mu of Ts’in (reigned 659-621 B.c.), who by his victory became the fourth among the great leaders, which dignity he held only for a few years down to his death in 621 B.c. Siang-wang, the emperor, was followed at his death by his son K’ing-wang. § 45. K’inc-wana (618-613 B.c.) Under K’ing-wang the imperial prestige had become so low that even the king’s treasury was found insufficient to 220 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA pay the deceased emperor’s burial expenses, and a loan had to be raised from the prosperous state of Lu. K’ing-wang was succeeded by his son K’uang-wang. § 46. K’uane-wane (612-607 B.c.) The state of Tsin, which took the lead with its duke, Won, had under his successors become the victim of a crazy ruler, Duke Ling (620-607 B.c.), a cruel tyrant who shot his subjects like game and would not listen to the serious remonstrances of his excellent minister Chau Tun, whom he unsuccessfully tried to do away with. Chau Tun was the son of Chau Ts’ui, the friend and faithful companion of Duke Won during his voluntary banishment and _ his Tartar wife. Chau Ts’ui had been rewarded with the post of prime minister under Duke Won, and Chau Tun had become his successor in this office. The persecution of his mad master caused him to take to flight, but he was recalled and reinstated after one of his relatives had slain the duke. The court historian laid the blame of this crime upon Chau Tun, whose influence did not suffice to prevent it, the historians holding that as minister he ought to have punished the perpetrator of a duke’s murder. K’uang- wang was followed by his brother Ting-wang. § 47. Tina-wana (606-586 B.c.) Under this reign an event took place which, better than anything else, characterizes the situation during this period. The sacredness of the imperial throne was, as we have seen, in a large measure connected with the king’s duties in bringing sacrifice to the spirits of his great ancestors. THE CENTURY OF THE “FIVE LEADERS” 221 From them the Chéu family had inherited the celebrated tripods, said to have been cast by the Emperor Yi, upon which maps and records of the nine divisions of his empire were engraved. These Nine Tripods (kiu-ting) had ever since passed from dynasty to dynasty as emblems of the imperial power, as it were. We have seen that Wu-wang on his ascension to the throne (1122 3.c.) took particular care to transfer the Nine Tripods, which he had found in the imperial treasury of the Shang, to his new capital, and the Chéu emperors had ever since regarded them as emblems of their dignity. In 606 B.c. Viscount Chuang of Ch’u, “King of Ch’u,” according to the self-assumed title of several generations, had successfully made war on some Hunnic tribes in the northwest. On his return he had to touch the territory of the imperial domain. Ting-wang sent an officer to him with congratulations and presents, when it occurred to the powerful vassal to make fun of the emperor’s weakness by asking about the size and weight of his tripods. The ambassador promptly replied that the strength of the kingdom depends on the sovereign’s virtue. He added: — “ Anciently when Hia was distinguished for its virtue, the distant regions sent pictures of the remarkable objects in them. The nine pastors [t.e. governors] sent in the metal of their provinces, and the tripods were cast, with representations on them of these objects. All the objects were represented, and in- structions were given for the preparations to be made in reference to them, so that the people might know the sprites and evil things. Thus the people, when they went among the rivers, marshes, hills, and forests, did not meet with the injurious things, and the hill- sprites, monstrous things, and water-sprites, did not meet with them to do them injury. Hereby a harmony was secured between the high and the low, and all enjoyed the blessing of Heaven. 222 THE ANCIENT’ HISTORY OF CHIMA When the virtue of Kié, the last emperor of the Hia dynasty, was obscured, the tripods were transferred to Shang for 600 years. Chéu-sin of Shang proved cruel and oppressive, and they were transferred to Chéu. When the virtue is commendable and brilliant, the tripods, though they were small, would be heavy; when it gives place to its reverse, to darkness and disorder, though they were large, they would be light. Heaven blesses intelligent virtue; on that its favor rests. Ch’éng-wang fixed the tripods in Kia-ju and divined that the dynasty should extend through thirty reigns, over 700 years. Though the virtue of Chéu is decayed, the decree of Heaven is not yet changed. The weight of the tri- pods may not yet be inquired about.” ? The gentle rebuff involved in this reply seems to show that imperial authority was not yet at its lowest ebb; for we do not read that Chuang-wang took the matter amiss. The manner in which the anecdote, however, is told speaks in favor of the genuineness of the T’so-chuan. The thirty reigns which Ch’éng-wang gave to the owners of the tripods were in reality thirty-three, and the 700 years proved in reality to be 866, or, by the chronology of the Bamboo Book annals, 805. Had this passage, like so many other texts ascribed to the Chéu period, been tampered with by Han editors, they would have inserted figures nearer those stated in the acknowledged history of the period and have given the modern critic an opportunity to look upon Ch’éng-wang’s divination as a vaticinium ex eventu. Chuang-wang, the “king” of the state of Ch’u, was now by far the most powerful among the confederates; and, loyal as he was to the imperial house, he became the fifth among the great leaders. Ch’u in the south was separated from the great rival state Tsin partly by the imperial 1 From the Tso-chuan, translated by Legge, Ch’ un-ts’iu, p. 293. THE CENTURY OF THE “FIVE LEADERS” 223 domain on the west and partly by the state of Chéng adjoining this in the east. Chuang-wang’s leadership was greatly concerned in his authority over that state of Chong, disputed by its northern neighbor, the state of Tsin. The latter had considerably declined in power since Duke Won’s demise. The combined forces of Tsin and Chéng were beaten by the Ch’u army, when Chong was placed under the supremacy of Ch’u. Chuang-wang died in 591 B.c. VII THE AGE OF LAU-TZI AND CONFUCIUS VII THE AGE OF LAU-TZIi AND CONFUCIUS § 48. Kitn-wane (585-572 B.c.) NDER Kién-wang, Ting-wang’s son, the rivalship between the states of Ch’u and Tsin concerning the supremacy in the central state of Chong continued, and now Tsin was again victorious and obtained the su- premacy in Chong. Kién-wang was followed by his son Ling-wang. § 49. Lina-wane (571-545 B.c.) Under this ruler the jealousies among the contending states continued. The number of these states was now increased by two, destined to a certain réle even in a cursory review of China’s history, the states of Wu and Yué. Wu adjoined Ch’u on the east; it occupied the country on both sides near the mouth of the Yang-tzi River in the present province of Kiang-su. Yiié adjoined it in the south and at first approximately corresponded to the present province of Ch’é-kiang. Later on it extended farther and farther south, when two lands of Yiié were distinguished, occupy- ing the entire southern coast provinces of China, of which the Nan-yiié, “Southern Yié,”’ comprising Kuang-tung, Kuang-si, Tung-king and adjoining parts, became the kingdom of the southern Man barbarians. 227 228 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHIN The chief event of Ling-wang’s reign was the birth in 551 B.c. of the great sage Confucius. This name is the Latinized form of the Chinese designation K’ung Fu-tzi, the “Philosopher K’ung.”’ Confucius sprang from a family that had served in various states as officials for several generations. K’ung Kia, his great-great-great-grand- father, who lived at the end of the eighth century, was an equerry to the Duke of Sung and perhaps one of the oldest known members of the family, although the time-honored custom of inventing pedigrees for distinguished personages has not spared the peaceful house of the sage, whose an- cestry has by some of his admirers been traced to the times of Wu-wang, the head of the Chéu dynasty, and even back to those of the Emperor Huang-ti. Some of the genealogists of his family trace its origin to some dukes of the state of Sung. Whichever of the several accounts may be correct, this much is certain; namely, that the K’ungs of which Confucius was a member represent probably the oldest nobility of which any family in this world can boast, the dukes of K’ung, now living in K’ii-f6u in the west of Shan- tung province, being able to trace their pedigree back by some seventy odd generations and possibly a good deal more, if the pre-Confucian part of the family tradition be correct. The present duke in Shan-tung is merely the head of a family, the male members of which some two hundred years ago already numbered eleven thousand individuals, —not merely dukes and princes, but the majority of them in the lower walks of life, such as field laborers and wheel-barrow men. The history of the K’ung family is full of romance. Legge says: * — 1 The Chinese Classics, vol. i, Prolegomena, p. 57 seq. THE AGE OF LAU-TZI AND CONFUCIUS 229 “K’ung Kia was an officer of well-known loyalty and probity. Unfortunately for himself, he had a wife of surpassing beauty, of whom the chief minister of the state, by name Hua Tu, happened on one occasion to get a glimpse. Determined to possess her, he commenced a series of intrigues, which ended in 709 [710] B.c. in the murder of Kia and the reigning Duke Shang [of Sung]. At the same time, Tu secured the person of the lady, and hastened to his palace with the prize, but on the way she strangled herself with her girdle. “An enmity was thus commenced between the two families of K’ung and Hua which the lapse of time did not obliterate, and the latter being the more powerful of the two, Kia’s great-grandson withdrew into the State of Lu to avoid their persecution. There he was appointed commandant of the city of Fang, and is known in history by the name of Fang-shu. Fang-shu gave birth to Pi-hia, and from him came Shu-liang Ho, the father of Confucius. Ho appears in the history of the times as a soldier of great’ prowess and daring bravery. In the year 562 [563] B.c., when serving at the siege of a place called Pi-yang, a party of the assailants made their way in at a gate which had purposely been left open, and no sooner were they inside than the portcullis was dropped. Ho was just entering, and catching the massive structure with both his hands, he gradually by dint of main strength raised it and held it up till his friends had made their escape.” When Confucius was born his father was seventy years of age. His legal first wife had nine daughters, but no son; and since the only son born to him by a concubine was a cripple, the old man married a second wife, whose maiden name was Yen. She gave birth to Confucius, whose exact birthday and even birth year are matters in dispute. At his birth he received the personal name K’tu, and his literary name was Chung-ni. His exact birthplace, like that of Homer, is also in dispute. But the two places mentioned in connection with his nativity were in close proximity to each other, somewhere within the limits of 230 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF sa the present prefecture of Yen-chéu-fu in Shan-tung. Confucius lost his father at the age of three. Among the notices of his early life Legge mentions that as a boy he used to play at the arrangement of sacrificial vessels and at postures of ceremony. This is extremely characteristic, even if it be an invention. The daily life of the Chinese gentleman, which had for centuries, as we must conclude from that minute social and governmental code, the Chéu-li, been forced into the strait-jacket of etiquette, was the main subject of Confucian philosophy. Every situation in life had its prescribed form; and the anecdote told of Confucius the boy seems to be in full harmony with what we know of the man. At the age of fifteen he began to study art. He married at the age of nineteen and had a son whom he called Li, 7.e. “the Carp,” and whom he after- ward styled Po-yii, 1.e. “the First Fish,” probably anticipat- ing that others would follow; but in this hope he was dis- appointed, though he had a daughter. He called his boy “carp,” because his monarch, Duke Chau of Lu, had pre- sented him with a couple of carp on the birth of his child, which shows that the rising scholar was well connected at that early age. Soon after he received his first appoint- ments in the public service, unimportant offices in Lu’s administration. His official work was, however, far from taxing his talent. All he had to do was to make no mis- take in his calculations, and to see that the oxen and sheep on the public fields were fat and strong. When twenty years old he became a public teacher, professing to expound the doctrines of antiquity. It was in this pursuit that he laid the foundation of his wisdom. In his twenty-third year he lost his mother, and much has been written about the manner in which he buried her and mourned for her. THE AGE OF LAU-TZi AND CONFUCIUS 231 During the succeeding years he devoted himself to teach- ing, and soon found himself surrounded by a number of disciples anxious to study the rules of propriety as handed down in the old historical records. In recapitulating the sage’s early career, regarding which comparatively little reliable information is on record, we have run ahead of our chronological account of the Chéu emperors; and, having arrived at the reign of Ling-wang, we have also left behind probably the most important per- sonage of the period, the philosopher Lau-tzi, this being among a number of other names the designation under which he is best known in China as well as abroad. We have to distinguish between the historical Lau-tzi and the legendary creation which sprang from him. As a man he is supposed to have been born in 604 B.c., his real name being Li Ir. Lau-tzi, literally, “the Old Philosopher,” which gives perfectly good sense and seems to render other explanations superfluous, is said by some of his commenta- tors to have received his name from his old appearance at birth; and in this sense the name may be translated by “the old child.” Another view is that in old age he looked like a boy. According to Ssi-ma Ts’ién’s very short ac- count of Lau-tzi’s life,he was a native of the state of Ch’u, which makes it doubtful whether purely Chinese blood ran in his veins. We learn nothing about his early life, but the historian states that he lived in the capital of the Chéu imperial dominion as keeper of the archives. If we take into account Confucius’s main study, which was based on research in old historical records and which resulted in the compilation of the ‘Spring and Autumn Annals,” there were certain points of contact between the two great philosophers at least in their daily occupations; and yet one could not 232 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHIYA imagine any greater contrast than that which exists in the life-work of these two great men, who have become the representative types of the development of Chinese spiritual life. Lau-tzi must have been a very old man when Con- fucius, then a comparative junior, expressed the wish to one of his well-connected disciples to visit the imperial court in order to meet the aged philosopher and to learn his views on ceremonies and music. His ducal patron liberally placed a carriage and a pair of horses at Confucius’s disposal for the expedition. If Lau-tzi was really in charge of the Chéu archives, it was possibly he who placed on record the court annals of Ling-wang and those of his suc- cessor and son King-wang. § 50. Kine*-wane (544-520 B.c.) During the reign of this emperor the eastern neighbor of the imperial domain, the state of Chéng, which, owing to its central position, had to suffer a good deal from the jealousy of Tsin in the north and Ch’u in the south, had the good fortune to be governed by a prudent minister, Kung-sun Tzi-ch’an, a great friend of Confucius, who said of him that he had four of the characteristics of the superior man: in his conduct he was humble; in serving his superiors he was respectful; in nourishing the people he was kind; and in ordering the people he was just. He added that he looked upon him as the foundation of the state. Tzi-ch’an’s government was distinguished by its liberality and his personal kindness to the people. Mencius* relates that the minister would convey people in his own carriage across some shallow rivers from sheer kind-heartedness; but he 1 Legge, p, 193. THE AGE OF LAU-TZI AND CONFUCIUS 233 blamed Tzi-ch’an for so doing, saying that although the action was kind, it showed that he did not understand the practice of government. Having commented on the im- practicability of what Tzi-ch’an considered kindness shown to the people, Mencius added that if a governor should try to please everybody, he would find the days insufficient for his work. Tzi-ch’an introduced a penal code and brought order into his state in troubled times. His leading prin- ciple in government was generosity to the people, and con- sequently, severity to offenders, this being the best way to show his love for his subjects. “He stands out in history as one of the very few men in authority during those dark times who were able and pure, true to their chief and generous to their people.”* Tzi-ch’an died 522 3.c. § 51. Kina‘-wane (519-476 B.c.) This was a son of the former King-wang, whose throne name (King) seems identical in its transliteration, but is really written with a different character and pronounced in a different tone. On his accession there was dissension among the brother princes, three of whom claimed the throne, and the emperor had to live for some time outside his capital until his brother Ch’au had fled to the state of Ch’u (519 B.c.). Under this reign a feud, lasting through many years, arose between the two states of Wu and Yié. The ruler of the state of Wu had usurped the kingship under the title of Ho-lu-wang. He reigned from 514 to 496 B.c., and removed his capital to the site of the present city of Soochow. Ho-lu died from a wound received in battle, 1 Watters, A Guide to the Tablets in a Temple of Confucius, Shang- hai, 1879, p. 36. 234 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHIBA and his son Fu-ch’ai, after several defeats, was successful against the state of Yiié, whose king, Kéu-tsién, had reigned from 496 to 466 B.c. King Ho-lu of Wu had in his service a famous general, Sun Wu, whose name has been perpetuated as Sun-tzi, t.e. the “Philosopher Sun.” Under this name a little work on military tactics is ascribed to his authorship ; and since it is mentioned in the Shi-ki, it is probably the oldest work of its kind. The philosophy of war is its sub- ject; and among the qualifications for military leadership there is, according to the author, none more essential than the maintenance of the severest discipline. According to an oft-repeated legend, King Ho-lu had asked him to organ- ize a corps of one hundred and eighty Amazons selected from the royal harem, but at their first roll-call the young women made light of the idea and burst out laughing. ‘The corps, however, became desperately serious and actually grew into a useful body after Sun-tzi had decapitated two of the king’s favorites for insubordination. The wars that had arisen between the two states of Wu and Yié lasted throughout the reign of King*-wang and only terminated on the absorption of the state of Wu by that of Yiié (473 B.c.). A special work, the Wu-yiié- ch’un-ts’iu (“Spring and Autumn Annals of the States of Wu and Yié’’), in ten books, originating from the Han dynasty, is devoted to the history of these states. Another work, dating from the later Han dynasty (since the year 52 is mentioned in the body of the book), the Yié-tsiié-shu, deals with the antiquities of Yié. It has probably been recast from a contemporaneous record, since the work is primarily ascribed to Tzi-kung, one of the favorite disciples of Confucius. From an account contained in chapter xi of this work it appears that the period of THE AGE OF LAU-TZIi AND CONFUCIUS 235 King Kéu-tsién of Yué coincided with that in which the superiority of iron swords over the time-honored bronze arms was seriously discussed. We have seen that the philosopher Kuan-tzi had advised the Duke of Ts’i to introduce a tax upon the iron industry, which henceforth became one of the chief sources of wealth and power to Huan-kung. Kuan-tzi, in his discourse, mentions agri- cultural and domestic implements and “women’s knives and needles” as being made of iron; in spite of his anxiety to quote high figures for the consumption of iron, he does not sayaword about arms. It appears from this that in histime _ (seventh century) iron was used for the implements of peace, but not for weapons of war, which would require sharper edges and finer points than could be produced during that early stage of iron manufacture. Three hundred years later we find King Kéu-tsién in the possession of certain magic swords, with which feats of wonder could be performed. It is distinctly stated that these were cast from tin and copper. But it is stated that the production of iron swords, alleged to possess magic qualities, excited the curiosity of the king of Ch’u, who consulted an expert named Fong-hu-tzi about them. It seemed an entirely new thing then that iron, in the form of swords, possessed virtues hitherto ascribed to bronze alone; and this may possibly be due to some improvement in the manufacture, such as the chilling of iron into steel, which may not have been tried until after the lapse of generations following the intro- duction of the ruder implements (ploughshares, hatchets, and other articles of merely domestic use). When the king asked, “ How is it possible that swords made of nothing but iron can be of such magic subtleness?’”’ Féng-hu-tzi answered in terms which seem to suggest that he was fully 236 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA conscious of the extent and sequence of cultural periods in high antiquity, knowledge of which, as the result of scientific reasoning, is a comparatively recent acquisition with Westerners. Fong-hu-tzi places his “Stone age” in the time of the primeval emperors Hién-yiian (about 3000 B.c.), Shén-nung (2737-2705 B.c.), and Ho-sii (an emperor supposed to have lived before the first-named). In this period weapons (ping) were made of stone and were used for splitting wooden blocks for the construction of dwellings. The dead were buried by dragons. This first period is followed by a second age, extending from Huang-ti (about 2700 B.c.) down to Yui (about 2200, or say, 2000 B.c., by the annals of the Bamboo Books), in which jade was used for similar purposes. This may be compared to our neolithic period, when hatchets and arrow-heads were made of polished stone, either jade or flint. The next period, the Bronze age, extends from Yii down to the time when the above-mentioned conversation of the king of Ch’u with his sword expert took place, 7.e. from the twenty- second or twentieth century down to about 500 B.c., when the Iron age, as far as arms (swords) are concerned, began. Such a cultural change, as the replacement of bronze by iron or steel, in the manufacture of arms could not, of course, have taken place all at once. But the year 500 s.c. seems a reasonable date to assign to it, if we allow for the sporadic occurrence of iron swords, recorded as having been pre- sented as tribute from abroad, and if it be borne in mind that in certain parts of China iron ore was produced, whereas in others it remained unknown for centuries. Those few words placed on record in the Yié-tsiié-shu, in which an expert on swords places his views before the inquiring mind of the king of Ch’u, the head of the southern barbarians, THE AGE OF LAU-TZI AND CONFUCIUS 237 seem to give us a more correct idea, limited though it be, of the real development of Chinese history than the gush- ing accounts of Confucian literature, in which many of the results of a much more recent cultural development have been simply transferred to periods we are wont to call pre- historical. If we are told by the Chinese that Huang-ti, who ought to have lived about the end of the Stone age, caused the first sacrificial bronze vases to be cast, and that Yu, whom Féng-hu-tzi places at the head of the Bronze age, received iron and steel as tribute from one of his provinces,’ this would be an anachronism according to our philosopher and seems to support the skeptical point of view which forces us to read the entire early history of the Chinese with great caution.? We have now to return to the most important two per- sonages of the previous two generations, the philosophers Lau-tzi and Confucius. These are the names representing the two really indigenous religions of China — if “religion”’ be not a gross misnomer, which should perhaps be replaced by some such term as doctrine. The philosophies of Lau-tzi and of Confucius —if again “philosophy” be not a misnomer — have, however, though often misapplied and misunderstood, become the starting-point for those cultural phases which may be called religion, inasmuch as they are connected with worship and are represented by temples and priests. Since Buddhism was added to Lau-tzi’s doc- trine of the Tau, t.e. “the Right Way,’ and Confucius’s teachings on the duties of the Superior Man, the Chinese speak of san-kiau, 1.e. “the Three Teachings,” or “Reli- gions,” if we admit the parallel by which Christianity was 1 Shu-king, ed. Legge, p. 121. ?Cf. Hirth, Chinesische Ansichten tiber Bronzetrommeln, p. 18 seqq. 238 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA called king-kiau, the “Luminous Religion,’ when first brought to China by the Nestorians (636 A.D.) or ¢’tén-chu- kiau, “the Religion of the Lord of Heaven,” the modern term for Roman Catholicism, or Yé-su-kiau, “the Religion of Jesus,” under which designation the Protestant denomi- nations used to be comprised.1 One of these so-called religions is Tauism, supposed to be based in the last in- stance on a text called the T’au-té-king, “The Canon, or Classic, of the Way and of Virtue,” the authorship of which is usually ascribed to Lau-tzi. It seems, however, very doubtful whether the work in its present shape is really identical with that written by the philosopher himself, if indeed he wrote a work at all and if he did not play a réle similar to that of Socrates, whose teachings were placed on record by others. Some of its critics, however, among them Legge, look upon it as the more or less genuine record of the great philosopher’s views. Others, guided by Professor H. A. Giles? take an entirely skeptical view, and regard the Tau-té-king as aforgery. Confucius and his adherents, the oldest sources for what we know about the history of the Chéu dynasty, have nothing to say about either Lau- tzi or his work; but this is possibly the result of a certain antagonism between the two schools. For, as I have already remarked, no greater contrast can be imagined than that between the teachings of Confucius and those of Lau-tzi. The latter would be unknown but for the fragments handed down in the works of his later adherents where he is often quoted as “ Lau-tzi says,” and from the Tau-té-king, which may be entirely spurious, or, on the other hand, may con- tain remnants of his actual sayings. With the material 1 Since the last few years changed to Ki-tu-kiau, i.e. “Christ’s Reli- gion.” ? The Remains of Lao-tzit, in China Review, vol. xiv. THE AGE OF LAU-TZI AND CONFUCIUS 239 now before us it is difficult, if not impossible, to reconstruct what Lau-tzi really said. His philosophy, if in the face of such insufficiency in its tradition we can use this term, impresses one as transcendental, when compared with Confucius’s applied moral philosophy. Like Johann Jacob Engel, the instructor of King Frederick William III of Prussia, Confucius was a “philosopher for the world’? — the world in a much narrower sense than that of Lau-tzi, the Chinese world as it had grown out of its own history. The kiin-tzi, the “superior man,” or the “true gentleman in all positions of life,” as we may call him, is one of the chief objects of Confucius’s teachings, which are devoted to practical life and its requirements; whereas Lau-tzi’s work, as we may conclude from the disconnected fragments in which it is presented to us, must have been full of mystic abstractions. These, I feel bound to confess, I do not understand; but for this I do not blame Lau-tzi. If in- sufficient training in philosophical thought must be accepted as an excuse for not understanding the works of so many of our own contemporaries, written in our own language, what shall we say about the Tau-té-king and the fragments of Lau-tzi’s sayings preserved in later mystics, the ele- mentary terms of which, such as taw (“The Way,” or “The Word,” possibly with a double-entendre like the Greek Adyos) or wu-wei (“non-action”), have been trans- lated by as many different terms as there were commen- tators? Unfortunately the translation of a Chinese philosophical work, even if handed down to posterity without adultera- tion of any kind, is fraught with difficulties fully as great as the rendering of Chinese poetry. The latter requires a man to be not only an exact philologist, but also a poet; 240 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHIMA and these two will quarrel on every concession they have to make to each other. The translation of a work like Lau-tzi’s Tau-té-king suffers under a similar difficulty. The philosopher should not think he understands unless he has heard what the philologist has to say; and the philolo- gist should neither condemn nor indorse without entering heart and soul into the subject. Extensive though the literature, both native and foreign, on Lau-tzi and his philosophy is, as well from the skeptical as from the re- ceptive point of view, it seems too early to arrive at a final conclusion as to the authenticity of any or all of his sayings now on record. Further, assuming the genuineness of the fragments that have come down to us, it would be difficult to reconstruct from them the sage’s philosophical system. The story of Confucius’s visit to Lau-tzi, as told by Ssi-ma Ts’ién, may be merely ben trovato; but it seems quite characteristic of the two men, of whom Lau-tzi must have been the more genuine sage. True to the principle of non- action, he had discarded all ambition in life when he found himself interviewed by the rising young philosopher anxious to search the records of past generations, from which he wished to derive the principles by which to reform the life of his nation. Lau-tzi is said to have given Con- fucius the following reply: ‘The men of the times you refer to have rotted in their graves and live only in their words. The superior man must fall in with his time in order to make his way; otherwise he will be surrounded by difficulties. I have heard that a prudent merchant will keep his valuables concealed in the depths of his store- houses as though he had none to show; similarly the supe- rior man may be full of merit and yet his appearance may be plain and simple. Discard withal haughtiness and THE AGE OF LAU-TZI AND CONFUCIUS 241 those many desires, with outward appearances and licen- tious schemes. These are all of no advantage to you. That is all I can tell you.” The rebuff involved in these few words seems to speak volumes as to the character of the two sages. Lau-tzi certainly appears as the real philosopher of the two, whose views of the world had ripened after a life spent in deep thought; spernere mundum and spernere se sperni seem to have been the leading notes of his personal character. Confucius was the very reverse. He took the greatest interest in this world, its men (himself included) and their lives. To reform the social life of his native land, to lead his contemporaries to adopt a certain standard of morality as exhibited in their daily doings, was the main ambition of his work. This standard he endeavored to derive from the records of the past. What he taught the Chinese world of his time was not so much the creation of his own philosophical mind as the result of his historical studies. That characteristic of Chinese social life, the burying of man’s individual life among a rigid mass of ceremonies, can be traced to the very beginnings of Chinese history. Confucius was merely the son of his time; and his time was bent on ceremonies and had been so for cen- turies, as the early history of the Chéu dynasty, with its great code of government and social life, the Chéu-li, clearly shows. He merely placed on record what had existed for ages and gave it his own interpretation, both by his teach- ings and his personal life. In this respect he has probably had greater influence on the life of his nation than any philosopher of the Western world on that of his own race. In spite of many political changes during thousands of years there has always been a China from beginning to end, from R&R 242 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHIYA the dawn of history to the present day. This much cannot be said of any of the other great empires of the world, since none of these has attained to any such longevity, not even excepting Egypt, which name covers a variety of races, each with a history of its own. This stability in the life of the nation is greatly due to the principles inherent in the nation itself, but codified, as it were, by the great sage. If we affix to these principles the label ‘“Confucianism,”’ we should not forget that as regards their main character- istics their creator has merely voiced views held long before him, and that the life of the nation, as far back as history goes, may in a certain sense be looked upon as “ retrospective Confucianism.” Certainly Confucius would not have been what he was without that preparatory period. This, how- ever, does not detract from his merits as a maker of his people, whose dependence on him has been well expressed by Von der Gabelentz in his excellent lecture on Confucius and his teachings.’ That writer says: — “Quite unique is the position occupied by him, who, as no other man, was a teacher of his people, who, I venture to say, has become and continued to be a ruler of his people, the Sage of the family K’ung in the State of Lu, whom we know by the name of Confucius. Unique is his position not only in the history of philosophy, but also in the history of mankind. For there is hardly any other man who, like Confucius, incorporated in his own person all the constit- uent elements of the Chinese type and all that is eternal in his people’s being. If we are to measure the greatness of a historic personage, I can see only one standard applicable for the purpose: the effectiveness of that person’s influence according to its dimen- sions, duration, and intensity. If this standard be applied, Con- * Confucius und seine Lehre, Leipzig (F. A. Brockhaus), p. 4 seq., and the English version in the China Review, vol. xvii, p. 63. THE AGE OF LAU-TZI AND CONFUCIUS 248 fucius was one of the greatest of men. For even at the present day, after the lapse of more than two thousand years, the moral, social, and political life of about one-third of mankind continues to be under the full influence of his mind.” Confucius’s visit to the capital of the Chéu emperor and his interview with Lau-tzi made a deep impression upon him. He had seen the splendor of the imperial court and been impressed with reminiscences of the great history of the empire in the shape of wall paintings of the old rulers Yau and Shun, with their successors, but especially by a representation of the Duke of Chéu, with his ward, the infant emperor Ch’éng, giving audience to the princes of the empire. A remark attributed to him, according to which he refers to the Duke of Chéu as the origin of imperial power under the Chéu dynasty, shows in what veneration he held the supposed first author of the Chéu-lh. After a short stay in the capital Confucius returned to his native country, the state of Lu, and there his fame began to spread, the followers of his doctrines being counted by thou- sands. Lu soon became disorganized by political factions which made war on each other; and matters went so far as to cause the legitimate ruler, Duke Chau, in 517 B.c., to take refuge in the neighboring state of Ts’i, which a century and a half earlier had been brought into such a flourishing condition by its famous ruler, Duke Huan, and his prime minister, the philosopher Kuan-tzi. In order to avoid the troubles of Lu, Confucius followed his duke. The court of Duke King, the ruler of Ts’i, was celebrated for its music. The impression of a certain piece which Confucius heard played on his arrival was so great that he refrained from meat for three months. Confucius’s rela- tions with Duke King became pleasant, and led to an ex- 244 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF Can change of opinions on political and social subjects, but they did not lead to the appointment of the sage to the position he probably desired, viz. adviser-in-chief to the duke, the latter having been warned by his minister against the con- ceited scholar who, in his opinion, held impracticable views, set such high value on funereal ceremonies, wasted property on burials, and had a thousand peculiarities con- nected with his rules of propriety.. It appears from this that Confucius’s social system was not received with open arms by some of the common-sense statesmen of the time. Duke King, accordingly, made little of his visitor’s services, who, after a stay of about two years, returned disgusted to his native state of Lu. There he lived the life of a private scholar down to the year 501 B.c. At this time all was in disorder in Lu. While the duke was living as a refugee in Ts’i, his prominent relatives fought for supremacy in the government, and they con- tinued to do so till his death in 509 B.c., when he was suc- ceeded by one of his relatives under the style of Duke Ting. Even then fighting did not cease among the power- ful grandees of the duchy. Confucius during all this time kept aloof from politics. After fifteen years spent in study and literary work, he was appointed magistrate in one of the cities of Lu, where he put his social theories to a prac- tical test. The people of Chung-tu, the district over which he had jurisdiction, had now to conform to his rules of propriety with all that pedantry which, even to this day, governs the life of educated Chinamen. His government was one of interference with all individual liberty. Every act of life had its prescribed ceremonial; ceremonial in every detail, such as we are wont to see only in the courts of rulers and the households of high dignitaries, became THE AGE OF LAU-TZI AND CONFUCIUS 245 obligatory on the people at large; and all matters of daily life were subject to some rigid rule. Even the food which the different classes of people were allowed to eat was regulated; males and females were kept apart from each other in the streets; and even the thickness of coffins and the shape and situation of graves were made the subjects of his regulations. * The result of this system is said by the admirers of the sage to have been marvelous; for the man- ners of the population were changed entirely, and they became patterns of good behavior. The princes of neigh- boring states wished to imitate his style of administration ; and Duke Ting was so much impressed by the good results of Confucius’s system that he decided to bring him to the front and appoint him to some higher metropolitan office. Thus we soon see him in the position of minister of justice, the effect of his appointment being that all crime dis- appeared in the state. In deciding cases he would take the opinions of several individuals and, after due consideration, decide in favor of one of them. Once he made light of a case in which a father had brought a serious charge against his son. When questioned how this judgment was com- patible with his views on filial piety, he threw the guilt on the accuser for not having taught his son to be filial. In this high position Confucius was not without political influence, the chief object of which was the strengthening of the duke’s position against that of his grandees. It is very likely that many of the stories of the sage’s life are of a legendary character; still whatever truth may be at the bottom of them must be due to the greatness of his personal character. Even the most patient population in the world would have revolted against such tyranny of interference as he imposed upon the people of Chung-tu, 246 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA id had he not impressed his contemporaries as the embodi- ment of absolute morality in a world full of vice and mis- conduct. To Confucius’s management of affairs in the state of Lu was ascribed such a rise in the ruling duke’s political power that the latter’s neighbors, especially the Duke of Ts’i, became jealous of his successful government, which threat- ened to raise Lu to a certain leadership among the con- federate states. An old trick was resorted to as a means to divert Duke Ting’s interest from excellence in govern- ment to things of a more worldly nature. Eighty beautiful girls and one hundred and twenty fine horses were offered as a gift to the duke, who to the great disgust of the sage accepted them. From this time onward Confucius lost his influence over the duke; and gradually, though with- out an open rupture, he again withdrew into private life. He could not now bear to live in his home, but wandered about for fourteen years a voluntary exile. He first went with some of his disciples to the state of Wei. Ling, its reigning duke (534-493 B.c.), was a dissi- pated character; yet, recognizing the great reputation enjoyed by the sage throughout China, he encouraged the | latter’s stay in the country by assigning him a revenue of 60,000 measures of grain. Life at the court of Wei, how- ever, was apparently not congenial to his views, one of the chief characteristics of which was purity in morals. The duke, to whose court Confucius was attached as an ornament rather than as a propagandist of his views, was married to a lady of evil reputation, named Nan-tzi. Being summoned to an interview with her, Confucius unwillingly obeyed, and when one of his disciples remonstrated with him for having been seen in the company of a woman of THE AGE OF LAU-TZI AND CONFUCIUS 247 such an unfavorable character, he swore emphatically that nothing improper had occurred between them. Some time afterward, the duke, as an act of grace, invited Con- fucius to accompany him on a ride through the streets in a cortége in which the duke and his wicked consort occupied a carriage followed by one containing the sage, when the people cried out, “Lo! here is lust in front and virtue behind.” The idea of being forced to associate with those who, though of exalted rank, were not of equal virtue with his own, was incompatible with his principles; and he, therefore, decided to leave the country. He visited several other states, but did not succeed in obtaining the position he desired, —a position of high trust in which he might have an opportunity to reform society and government according to his principles. All he wanted was such a position. “If any one would make use of me,” he says,' “twelve months would suffice to score results in teaching, and in three years all would be completed.”” The desired invitation to join any of the minor rulers in the cares of government was not, however, forthcoming, and he con- tinued to wander from state to state. He seemed to have a chance to carry out his ideals when he visited the state of Ch’u, mostly inhabited by Man barbarians, whose king was inclined to endow him with some territory; but the monarch, being warned by his prime minister that a man like Confucius, surrounded by so many men of superior talent calling themselves his disciples, would soon rise to become a political power and a danger to his government, abandoned the idea. When soon afterward the king died, Confucius left the south and returned to Wei. 1 Confucian Analects, ed. Legge, p. 131. 248 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA Great changes had in the meantime taken place in Wei. Duke Ling had died. The legitimate heir, his son, was forced to leave the country, owing to a quarrel with his mother, the notorious Nan-tzi; and the government fell to Duke Ling’s grandson, who reigned under the name of Ch’u. Ch’u invited Confucius to assist him in the government of his state, but the sage had his doubts as to the legitimacy of the succession and declined the honor. He continued to live in Wei for about five years in a private capacity. Through the influence of one of his disciples, who held office in the state of Lu, Confucius, now sixty-eight years old, was at last recalled to his native country. There he died five years after his return, in 479 B.c. After the many disappointments he had received, it seems that his ambition had lessened, and that he had become reconciled to the idea of living the quiet life of a scholar among his compatriots, highly honored indeed, and even consulted, by those in power, but not wielding the power himself. Several of the literary works ascribed to Confucius are said to have originated during this period of retirement. He also lost his son Li, “the Carp,” to whom he was not half so much attached as to certain of his disciples.‘ Some of the latter, also, he was destined to outlive, and among them none was more attached to him than his favorite Tzi-lu. Legge? says of him: — “He [Tzi-lu] stands out a sort of Peter in the Confucian school, a man of impulse, prompt to speak and prompt to act. He gets many a check from the master; but there is evidently a strong sympathy between them. Tzi-lu uses a freedom with him on which none of the other disciples dares to venture, and there is not one among them all for whom, if I may speak from my own feeling, the foreign student comes to form such a liking.” » The Chinese Classics, vol. i, Prolegomena, p. 87. THE AGE OF LAU-TZI AND CONFUCIUS 249 Tzi-lu, whose original name was Chung Yu, was of poor descent and was known for his filial piety. Another disciple, known as Tzi-yiian, whose name was Yen Hui, was remarkable not so much for his sayings as for his great devotion to, and his personal friendship with, Confucius. He was thirty years younger than the latter, and the his- torian relates of him that at the age of twenty-nine his hair turned white. Confucius had to mourn the death of this follower also. Another of the sage’s pupils, who outlived him many years, was Tzi-yii, properly called Tséng Ts’an, well known throughout China as a model of filial piety... In the legends current about him he is represented as a regular caricature in his exaggerations of this, the cardinal domestic virtue of the Chinaman. The idol he worshiped beyond any- thing else was his mother; once he refused to enter a village simply because its name, Shéng-mu, meaning “better than a mother,” displeased him, and he divorced his wife because she had served his mother an unsavory dish. In other words, his virtue, notwithstanding the great admiration with which it is viewed by the Chinese, was, like that of Confucius himself, sometimes of a pettifogging and pedantic character and devoid of all humor. The well-known Hiau-king (Canon of Filial Piety”) is ascribed to Tzi-yii. One of the best-known followers of Confucius, and the one to whose life Ssi-ma Ts’ién devotes particular attention in his chapter on “Confucian Disciples,” was Tzi-kung, properly called Tuan-mu Tz’i, who, like Tzi-lu, is one of the chief interlocutors in the accounts of the sage’s personal life, and of whose judgment Confucius himself had the highest opinion. The master was by no means so well satisfied with all his adherents, and he made no secret of 250 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CH#NA his displeasure if he found fault with them. Such was the case with Tzi-o, properly called Tsai Yi, a man of talent who did not accept Confucius’s moral standard, as may be shown from a celebrated passage in the ‘Confucian Analects”: “Tsai Yii being asleep during the daytime, the Master said, ‘Rotten wood cannot be carved; a wall of dirty earth will not receive the trowel. This Yi—what is the use of my reproving him?’” Thus every one among the better-known disciples had his personal characteristics not only in his relation to the master, as shown in numerous anecdotes of this kind, but also in the views expressed by him in conversation. There can be no doubt that Confucius has had a greater influence on the development of the Chinese national character than many emperors taken together. He is, therefore, one of the essential figures to be considered in connection with any history of China. That he could in- fluence his nation to such a degree was, it appears to me, due more to the peculiarity of the nation than to that of his own personality. Had he lived in any other part of the world, his name would perhaps be forgotten. As we have seen, he had formed his character and his personal views on man’s life from a careful study of documents closely connected with the moral philosophy cultivated by former generations. What he preached to his contemporaries was, therefore, not all new to them; but, having himself, in the study of old records, heard the dim voice of the sages of the past, he became, as it were, the megaphone phono- graph, through which were expressed to the nation those views which he had derived from the early development of the nation itself. His influence may be considered from a threefold point of view; for, the practical lessons he THE AGE OF LAU-TZI AND CONFUCIUS 251 taught are to be found in what he wrote, in what he said, and in what he did. What Confucius wrote is probably confined to editorial work rather than contained in independent compositions. The so-called “Chinese Classics” consist of two series of books, the first of which, known as the Wu-king, “Five Canons,” are works of pre-Confucian origin and were partly edited or compiled by the sage himself, whereas the second, the Ssi-shu, the so-called “Four Books,” consists of texts connected with Confucius’s life and teachings, but not written or edited by him. The Wu-king now com- prises the following works : — (1) The I-king, “Canon of Changes,”’ about which we have had occasion to speak in connection with Wén-wang, father of Wu-wang, the founder of the Chéu dynasty. Confucius is said to have had a high opinion of this work, though it seems he had no hand in the compilation of its text as known at the time. (2) The Shu-king, “Canon of History,” as the title is sometimes translated, though its literal rendering indicates merely a canonical collection of writings or documents. We have had occasion, when discussing the history of the most ancient emperors, such as Yau, Shun, and Yii, to speak of this book, the detailed accounts of which contain so many excellent speeches, extolling the virtue of the great model rulers, in contrast with certain miserable tyrants, and yet do not inspire us with confidence in their historical accuracy. There may be an element of truth in some of them; but it would seem that the names of Yau, Shun, and Yii were merely borrowed for the purpose of expressing, as those of high antiquity and therefore of great authority, views which in reality breathe the spirit of an age almost 252 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA contemporaneous with Confucius himself. What the Shu- king places on record as Chinese history of the third millen- nium B.c. is much too interesting to deserve credit; and I am inclined to date the beginning of that period, the record of which we may accept with a certain amount of confidence when it becomes dry and monotonous under the Shang dynasty, about the middle of the second millennium s.c. It does not seem that Confucius himself was responsible for this fabrication. He may have merely copied or com- piled what he found of the old emperor lore existing before his own time; but if this work, which Professor Grube’ may be right in calling a “poetical production,” has been received as gospel by the Chinese down to the present day, Confucius must be considered as the one great au- thority that perpetuated the error. (3) The Shi-king, “Canon of Odes,” that mine of informa- tion on the most ancient culture of the Chinese, containing over three hundred odes then current among the people, the dates of some of which may be determined from his- torical facts alluded to in them and many of which may have been sung by the people and its bards centuries before they were written down. The work was probably arranged and edited by Confucius himself. (4) The Li-ki, “Canon of Rites,” a collection of rules describing, to the minutest detail, the ceremonial to be observed by the Chinese gentleman on all the occasions of daily life. These rules, which may be called the very soul of Chinese society, probably existed long before Confucius. The Li-ki corresponds in spirit to the Chéu-li, which to us is of much greater importance as a record of historical value, though it is not now included among the canonical books 1 Geschichte der chinesischen Litteratur, p. 41. THE AGE OF LAU-TZI AND CONFUCIUS 253 of prime importance. The Lt-ki may be called the cere- monial code of the private man, whereas the Chéu-li is devoted to public life and the institutions of government. (5) The Ch’un-ts’iu, “Spring and Autumn,” annals of the state of Lu, first compiled by Confucius, and then largely extended by commentaries, which constitute its real value, chief among the latter being the 7'so-chuan by Tso K’iu-ming. These five canons were probably the books with which Confucius occupied himself at various periods of his life. If I do not hold him, or any philosopher connected with his school, responsible for the contents of the Shu-king, it is chiefly on the ground that religious views are expressed in it which appear to be foreign to the Confucian school. That unmistakable monotheism cultivated by the ancient emperors must have been clearly discernible in those ancient records or traditions which the inventors of the old emperor lore, whoever they may have been, made the starting-point of their historical accounts. What Confucius said, his views on life and his practical philosophy, has been deposited mainly in the works known as the Ssi-shu, “The Four Books.” Although their con- tents are inseparable from the master’s person and his doc- trines, Confucius had nothing to do with their compilation, which must be ascribed to the sage’s disciples and adher- ents. The Ssi-shu now comprise the following four works, which may be called the main text-books of Confucianism : (1) Lun-yti, “Discourses,’”’ in which the master’s views are embodied in dialogues of a desultory kind between himself and his disciples. Legge’s translation of this title by “Confucian Analects” is not, of course, literal; but it seems appropriate as being descriptive of the char- 254 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA acter of the work, the twenty books of which are supposed to have originated from certain memoranda, preserved by his disciples, of their conversations with Confucius and to have been collected after his death by the followers of his disciples. The key-note of these discourses is that virtue placed by the Chinese of all ages above every other, namely, filial piety. The love of one’s parents has become almost a craze among the Chinese, the cultivation of which has led many of them to the most wonderful eccentricities. Filial love is the basis of all that is good and proper in family life; and brotherly submission, the respect due to the senior by the junior, is closely connected with it. The state with its government is merely family life on a larger scale. The filial love of the people is shown in obedience to its parents, the ruler and his government. In one of his definitions of filial piety, Confucius simply explains it by “obedience.” The obedience due to a father by his child is also due to the sovereign by his subjects. Man in his relation to the world is considered from five points of view: (1) sovereign and subject, (2) father and son, (3) hus- band and wife, (4) elder and younger brother, (5) friend and friend. In each of these relations man has his duties, the proper discharge of which by all will insure good gov- ernment and general peace and happiness. Similar ques- tions are treated in the Lun-yii. The considerations due to these relations determine the character of “man as he ought to be,” “the superior man,” “the true gentleman,” or whatever translation we may give to the Chinese term kiin-tzi, the proper creation of Confucius’s mind. (2) Ta-hio, “The Great Learning,” a treatise on self- culture, based on knowledge as a means of reforming society. THE AGE OF LAU-TZi AND CONFUCIUS 255 (3) Chung-yung, “The Doctrine of the Mean,” also trans- lated by “The Golden Medium.” The superior man will in all his views and doings “stand erect in the middle with- out inclining to either side.” It is the path of the philoso- pher which the sage advises him to pursue. He does the right thing for its own sake, whether the world regards him or not. (4) Méng-tzi, “The Philosopher Mong,” (whose proper name was Mong K’o), well known among foreigners under the Latinized name of Mencius, which stands for Méng-izi, just as the term K’ung-fu-izi, the “Philosopher K’ung,” has been Latinized into Confucius. Mencius lived several generations after Confucius, 372-289 B.c., but, after its founder, was the principal representative of the Confucian school.. The above-mentioned work, bearing his name, is a record and compilation of his teachings. It is similar in style to the Lun-yii inasmuch as in it accounts of conversa- tions prevail. The doctrines embodied in it, which mainly concern government matters, will be referred to later on. Although in this work Confucius himself is but occasionally introduced as having said certain things, the views ex- pressed by Mencius and his disciples form part of the Con- fucian doctrines. The great influence of Confucius’s personality on national life in China was due not only to his writings and his teachings as recorded by others, but also to his doings. His personal character, as described by his disciples and in the accounts of later writers, some of which may be en- tirely legendary, has become the pattern for millions of those who are bent on imitating the outward manners of a great man. The tenth book of the “Analects,” describing the demeanor of Confucius in all the relations of life, —his 256 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA dress, his food, his behavior in the company of friends, etc., —represents him as a man full of caprice, even from a Chinese point of view. Whatever he did in public was regulated to the minutest detail by ceremony. This was no invention of his own, since ceremonial life had been cultivated many centuries before Confucius; but his authority and example did much to perpetuate what he considered desirable social practices. Legge’ quotes the following peculiarities from this memorable biographical record : — “In public, whether in the village, the temple, or the court, he was the man of rule and ceremony, but at home he was not formal. Yet if not formal, he was particular. In bed even he did not for- get himself; ‘he did not lie like a corpse,’ and ‘he did not speak.’ ‘He required his sleeping dress to be half as long again as his body.’ ‘If he happened to be sick, and the prince came to visit him, he had his face to the east, caused his court robes to be put over him, and drew his girdle across them.’ “* He was nice in his diet, not disliking to have his rice dressed fine, nor to have his minced meat cut small.’ ‘Anything at all gone he would not touch.’ ‘He must have his meat cut properly, and to every kind its proper sauce; but he was not a great eater.’ “It was only in wine that he laid down no limit to himself; but he did not allow himself to be confused by it.’ ‘When the villagers were drinking together, on those who carried staves going out, he went out immediately after.’ ‘There must always be ginger at the table’; and ‘when eating, he did not converse.’ ‘Although his food might be coarse rice and poor soup, he would offer a little of it in sacrifice, with a grave and respectful air.’ “On occasion of a sudden clap of thunder, or a violent wind, he would change countenance. He would do the same, and rise up moreover, when he found himself a guest at a loaded board.’ ‘At the sight of a person in mourning he would also change countenance, and if he happened to be in his carriage, he would bend forward * The Chinese Classics, vol. i, Prolegomena, p. 89 seqq. THE AGE OF LAU-TZI AND CONFUCIUS 257 with a respectful salutation.’ ‘His general way in his carriage was not to turn his head round, nor talk hastily, nor point with his hands.’ ‘He was charitable.’ ‘When any of his friends died if there were no relations who could be depended on for the neces- sary offices he would say, ‘I will bury him.”’” We have to take into consideration that these accounts were written not by Confucius himself, but by an admiring set of juniors. Those many whims which, in the eyes of Europeans of the twentieth century, appear as weaknesses, may lessen our respect for the sage’s genius; but they will not diminish the esteem in which we must hold the spotless virtue of his life. VII THE CONTENDING STATES VIII THE CONTENDING STATES § 52. Yuan-wane (475-469 B.c.) E left the reign of King*-wang (see above, p. 234) with the two southern states Wu and Yiié at war with each other. During the reign of his successor Yiian-wang, K6u-tsién, the king of Yiié, who had at first been utterly routed by the forces of his eneniy, the king of Wu, succeeded in a final campaign in making an end of the Wu dynasty, and annexed its state to his dominions. After his defeat by the king of Wu, Kéu-tsién had been allowed, as an act of grace, a little strip of territory; and during the years that followed his defeat “he slept on firewood and tasted gall,’”’*—a phrase which has since come into common use for the expression of resentment at great humiliation coupled with the determination to take revenge. And revenge Kéu-tsién took when, a few years later, he rallied his forces and wiped out every trace of his old enemy. He was at first inclined to requite the generosity 1 This phrase occurs in an edict of the Empress Dowager (Octo- ber 2, 1901), where she refers to the period of trouble through which the imperial court had just passed after its exile to the western capital Si-an-fu. It is one of those historical allusions by which, through the mere insertion of a few words, a whole perspective of ideas is opened to the reader well versed in classical and historical literature, though seldom noticed by interpreters working with no better help than a native secretary, who may or may not call attention to them. 261 262 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA e previously shown to him; but his minister advised him, for political reasons, to desist from the exhibition of such good nature lest the king of Wu might again turn upon him. The king of Wu thereupon committed suicide, and Kéu-tsién, now master of the two king- doms, became one of the most powerful supporters of Ytian-wang. The Ch’un-ts’iu period, so called from the historical classic of that name, the main text of which is ascribed to Con- fucius himself, must, of course, be considered as closed before the death of its author. The 7’so-chuan commentary carries its accounts about seventeen years farther on, thus covering Yiian-wang’s reign. About this time commences, according to some authorities, that period of the Chéu dynasty which precedes its downfall, and which is known by the name of Chan-kuo, “the Contending States.” The history of this period, which covers rather more than the last two centuries of the dynasty, isdescribed in a work entitled Chan-kuo-ts’6, “Documents relating to the Con- tending States,” unless ¢s’6 here means as much as “ strata- gems,” or, as Grube suggests, “counsels.”” The Contend- ing States witnessed the most wretched times of Chinese history from a political point of view. Had there been a powerful neighbor on the Asiatic continent in those days, China would have been absorbed, as indeed she finally was, by one of her own princes. Public mo- rality was at its lowest ebb; and yet some of the country’s unforgotten patriots and some of its great philosophers flourished during this troublous period. The reign of Yiian-wang was still a comparatively easy one. Times began to be more serious under his son Chén-ting- wang. THE CONTENDING STATES 263 § 53. CuOn-TING-wana (468-441 B.c.) Under this ruler internal troubles disorganized several of the once powerful states. Six grandees of the state of Tsin wrangled about supremacy ; two of these were defeated and the remaining four divided their possessions. The duke himself had to take refuge in a neighboring state. The southern kingdom of Ch’u conquered two of the middle states. The one satisfactory feature in Chén-ting-wang’s reign was the partly successful warfare of the states of Ts'in and Tsin against the Jung barbarians, probably Huns, who, with the exception of one tribe called I-k’i, ceased to make inroads into China. § 54. K’au-wane (440-426 B.c.) K’au-wang, who was one of the younger sons of Chén- ting-wang, fought his way to the throne through two palace revolutions, in which two of his elder brothers fell victims. The rightful heir to the throne was the eldest son, who reigned just three months under the name of Ai-wang, when he was killed by his next brother, who reigned five months under the name Ssi-wang, and who, in turn, was killed by K’au-wang, the third brother. In the state of Tsin the power of the reigning duke had dwindled to a mere nominal title, and the control of this important territory, which had been considerably increased in the course of generations by conquest among the neighboring barbarians, now lay chiefly in the hands of the three families of Han, Chau, and Wei. § 55. Wai-Ltif-wane (425-402 B.c.) Under this title K’au-wang’s son reigned twenty-four years. Three powerful families in Tsin were recognized 264: THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA by the emperor in 403 B.c. as the heads of so many feudal states. They are henceforth known in Chinese history as San-Tsin, “the Three Tsin States.” Their chiefs had hitherto held the rank of marquis and were now officially confirmed as chu-héu, “Princes of the Empire.” The year 403 B.c. marks an epoch in Chinese history, as regards both the course of events and the sources from which we draw our information. The next following period of the Contending States, as described in the Chan-kuo-ts’6, re- ceives much additional light from the works of the minor philosophers living at the end of the Chéu dynasty and from those of some later authors, including, of course, the Shi-ki of Ssi-ma Ts’ién. These are also the main sources for the sixty-one years preceding the elevation of the three Tsin usurpers. From this time, that is, from the year 408 B.c., — which is also the year from which some of the conflicting authori- ties date the period of the Contending States, —starts the account of the T’ung-kién-kang-mu, the work of the great historian Ssi-ma Kuang, who submitted it to his emperor in 1066 a.p. The original work, styled Tzi-chi-t’ung-kién, literally, “ Universal Mirror to benefit Government,” was an enumeration of historical facts in chronological order some- what in the style of the Ch’un-ts’tu. The philosopher Chu Hi suggested an extension of the work in the shape of a commentary somewhat like the J'so-chuan, and this plan was carried out by Chu Hi’s disciples, who laid the com- pleted work before the throne in 1223. Later editions of this standard work were again considerably enlarged; and they now form the most complete, though not the most ancient, handbook of Chinese general history. Under Kublai Khan, in 1282, the work was translated into THE CONTENDING STATES 265 the Uigur language." The Emperor K’ang-hi (1662-1723) ordered it to be translated into the Manchu language; and the celebrated French missionary Abbé de Moyria de Maillac, known as Father de Mailla, undertook the gigantic work of translating its main substance into French. De Mailla died and was buried with unprecedented honors at Peking in 1748; but his manuscript had already been sent to Paris, and it was published by the Abbé Grosier in thir- teen quarto volumes under the title “ Histoire Générale de la Chine ” (Paris, 1777-1785). De Mailla, who spent forty- five years of his life on Chinese soil, had surrounded him- self with all the literary aids of an extensive Chinese library and had acquired a deep knowledge of both the Chinese and Manchu languages. Speaking of the T’ung-kién-kang-mu, he says in his Preface (p. 6), ‘Telle est histoire que l’em- pereur Kang-hi a fait traduire en Tartare, et dont j’entre- prends de donner la traduction.” It would appear from this that he made use of the original and Manchu versions in preparing his translation, which is the most detailed work on the history of China hitherto published in any language. It should, of course, be read with caution, since the author, with the exception of a few quotations of the sources in the beginning of his work, hardly ever refers to the Chinese authorities responsible for the several historical statements. He simply reproduces the matters of fact he was able to gather from that huge collection of quotations derived from the entire Chinese literature contained in the Chinese or Manchu text without examining into their histor- 1See Herbert A. Giles, Note on Four Chinese Volumes sent for Identi- fication (Cambridge, October 7, 1901), from which the above dates have been derived. See also the elaborate essay in Wylie, Notes on Chinese Literature, p. 20 seqq. 266 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA ical value. Sinological research has, moreover, made rapid strides since De Mailla’s time, which causes us to look upon the subject from an entirely different point of view. Returning to the three states of Han, Wei, and Chau: Ssi-ma Kuang seems to have been dominated by an in- stinctive idea that the emperor’s weakness in raising the illegitimate usurpers to the highest positions in their terri- tories marked a great epoch in the development of China. If the Son of Heaven had been reduced to a mere shadow for centuries up to this time, he had been at least the nomi- nal head of his vassals. Now all tradition was broken. The sacredness of the imperial will could not prevent the dukes of Tsin from losing their inherited rights, which they had held ever since their forefathers had been invested with their domain under Ch’6ng-wang in 1106 B.c. The empire then consisted of fourteen states, the most powerful among which, Ts’in, Ch’u, Ts’i, Yen, Han, Chau, and Wei, became subsequently known as ts’t-hiung, “the Seven Heroes.” Among these the boundary states of Ts’in, Chau, and Ch’u enjoyed the advantage of unlimited capability of extension at the expense of the foreign tribes surrounding China, and the same influences which at the close of the Shang dynasty had brought the duchy of Chéu, with Wén-wang and Wu-wang, into prominence, may have then been at work infusing into them some of the energetic spirit of their uncivilized but warlike neighbors. Ts’in had long ago outgrown its original territories in the valley of the Wei River; native maps of the Contending States extend its boundaries far into territories formerly occupied by Jung tribes, comprising the present Shen-si province, with the Ordus country and some regions of the THE CONTENDING STATES 267 Man barbarians down to the Yang-tzi River boundary of Ssi-ch’uan. Chau occupied an equally exposed territory in Shan-si, and its importance also was due to its geographical position. With its capital near the present Kuang-p’ing-fu in western Chi-li, it occupied the northern confines of China, including the present north Shan-si, the mountain defiles of which have so often served as thoroughfares for the irruptions of Huns, Turks, and Mongols coming from the great steppe. Ch’u, as we have seen, was the country of the Man bar- barians in the south. Its rulers and government officials may have been Chinese, and Chinese modes of life were probably cultivated at the court of its kings as much as in the other states; but it seems natural that in a country which for centuries had effected its growth by absorbing foreign elements, as must have been the case with the state of Ch’u in its extension toward the south, the character of the people could not be maintained in its original purity. As the barbarians became semi-civilized, their Chinese leaders were infected with barbarian qualities; and the inter- marriages which took place here, as in the other boundary states, between Chinese and aboriginal families may have tended to infuse new blood into the veins of both, thus creating a population comparing well in energy and cour- age with the more effeminate though more refined inhabit- ants of the interior and eastern coast states. I, therefore, readily adopt a theory advanced by Chavannes, who' says: — “Ts’in and Ch’u were not, in the proper sense of the word, to be comprised among the kingdoms of the Middle. Their populations, though civilized by the Chinese, were of different races. From 1 Les Mémoires historiques, vol. v, p. 1 seqq. 268 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHYNA the time when Tsin and Ts’i fell victims to internal dissensions, Ts’in and Ch’u became the leading actors in that drama destined to end with the triumph of Ts’in and the establishment of the empire by Ts’in Shi-huang-ti in 221 B.c. We may thus say that the revolution which finally led to the establishment of imperial China can be traced to the year 403 B.c., and that this is the reason why Ssi-ma Kuang makes this year the starting point of his great history entitled Tzi-chi-t’ung-kién.” This, it appears to me, is the only theory which helps to explain quite a number of cultural problems encountered by the student of Chinese history a few centuries later in the shape of important changes that must have taken place in the popular views of the masses, in folk-lore, supersti- tions, and art. We possess the most plausible arguments for the introduction of foreign influences in Chinese culture at the time when relations with western Asia were opened under the Emperor Wu-ti at the end of the second century B.c.; but if we examine numerous facts still on record as referring to times immediately preceding the Wu-ti period, we are bound to notice that changes of a different kind had come over the Chinese of this as compared with those of the Confucian and pre-Confucian periods. The growing influence of foreign elements from Ts’in in the west, Chau in the north, and Ch’u in the south may account for this. Possibly much of what impresses us as new under the Ts’in dynasty and the early part of the western Han had existed for centuries before those times. For we must not forget that our main sources down to the end of the Ch’un-ts’iu period originate with writers of the Confucian school, who would not place on record facts and ideas at variance with their own views; and it is quite possible that ancient China, as represented to us by Confucian writers, would appear quite different if other sources existed. The little we know THE CONTENDING STATES 269 of Lau-tzi as a personage and of the teachings which became the germ of Tauism is an almost foreign element in Con- fucian China, and this seems to confirm our theory; for Lau-tzi, as a native of the state of Ch’u, was born, and probably brought up, among the southern barbarians. The Chau family, which now seems to have become the strongest among the three usurpers of Tsin, was of old standing in that state. Its pedigree is traced to a common origin with the Ts’in princes at the time of Chéu-sin, the last monarch of the Shang dynasty, when two brothers be- came the respective ancestors of the two lines of Ts’in and Chau. The Emperor Mu of the Chéu dynasty was accom- panied in one of his expeditions by a member of this family as his charioteer; and he rewarded him with the city of Chau in the present South Shan-si. The power of the family was further augmented by gifts of territory under the dukes of Tsin. We have met the names of members of this remarkable family on former occasions. Chau Ts’ui had been the companion of Duke Won of Tsin during his voluntary exile among the Tartars, and after his return had become prime minister of Tsin. His son and successor in office, Chau Tun, was the son of a Tartar’ wife. But Chau Tun was not the only bastard in the family. Chau Siang-tzi, who died after a reign of thirty-three years in 425 3.c., and whose personal name was Wu-sii, was also the son of a Tartar wife, and he himself married a Tartar woman.? Need we be astonished, therefore, to find that in- 1 Chavannes, op. cit., vol. v, p. 18. His son Chau Sho and his posthumous child Chau Wu were the subject of the romantic drama of the Mongol period translated by St. Julien in his L’orphelin de la Chine (Syntaze nouvelle, ete., vol. ii, p. 309 segq.). 2 Chavannes, op. cit., pp. 32, 51, 270 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CH&NA fluences quite foreign to Chinese tradition were even then at work in the introduction of hitherto unknown elements in the life of these quasi-Chinese princes? Altogether, readers of the history of Chau, as represented in Ssi-ma Ts’ién’s account, will receive the impression that it contains various prognostics of that important change in cultural life which became dominant in the age of Ts’in Shi-huang-ti; namely, a Tartarized China, the traditional Confucian views of life having been supplanted by Tartar, Scythian, Hunnic, or Turkish elements —elements that, whatever name we may give them, had grown out of the national life of central Asiatic foreigners and that now began to disturb the quiet development of the nation whose civil code was the Chéu-li and whose model gentleman had been Confucius. Chavannes ' says in connection with the history of Chau: — “You will remark in this chapter the important part played by the Wonderful; dreams, predictions and visions of supernatural beings will be found in it in much greater numbers than in any other part of the Shi-ki.” Liu An, who died 122 B.c., has preserved a characteristic anecdote of Chau Siang-tzi. The interests of the house of Tsin had, after its fall, been represented by a faithful ad- herent named Chi Po. In the struggle between the latter and the united forces of Chau, Han, and Wei, Chi Po was killed, and Chau Siang-tzi took possession of his skull, which he had made into a drinking vessel.” This procedure, which I am inclined to regard as a ritual act rather than as a whim of the perpetrator, seems to speak volumes in favor of Hunnic influences, since we have a perfect parallel in the history of the Huns, or Hiung-nu, 1 Loc. cit., p.8. ? A slightly later author makes it “a drinking ves- sel varnished or lacquered.” THE CONTENDING STATES 271 under their Great Khan Lau-shang, who reigned 175 to 160 B.c., and who, having defeated the Yiié-chi, or Indo- Scythians, decapitated their king and made his skull into a drinking vessel. Chinese archzologists have quibbled a good deal about the sense of the word translated “drinking vessel,”’ some holding that it was a cup used in wine feasts, others giving it a still more cynical interpretation; but the truth is, probably, that such trophies served a ritual pur- pose, since we learn from later accounts that the skull of the defeated king had been preserved by the Hiung-nu for generations, and that it was reserved for a solemn state act, the drinking of the blood of a white horse in taking an oath to sanctify the conclusion of a treaty of peace. Cha- vannes' refers to an interesting parallel furnished by Livy,’ who, describing a disaster suffered by the Romans under their consul Lucius Posthumius in 216 B.c. at the hands of Gaulic hordes, says: — “The Boii, having cut off his head, carried it and the spoils they stripped off his body in triumph into the most sacred temple they had. Afterwards they cleansed the head according to their custom, and, having covered the skull with chased gold, used it as a cup for libations in their solemn festivals, and as a drinking-cup for their high priests and other ministers of the temple.” * The Boians, who then occupied certain territories in the north of Italy, were a nation of very doubtful origin. Zeuss‘ speaks of them in connection with Celtic tribes, but, in view of the conflicting notices of classical authors, thinks they may have come across the Danube from the north; and he quotes a passage from Strabo to show that 1Chavannes, op. cit., p. 50. ? xxiii, ch. 24, §§ 11-12, ed. Weis- senborn. ? Transl. by Spillan and Edmonds, vol. ii, p. 180. * Die Deutschen und die Nachbarstémme, Munich, 1837, p. 244. 272 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA at one time they occupied the Hercynian forest surrounding Bohemia. The skull story related by Livy might involve a hint as to Scythian origin; but it will be difficult to prove that Scythians in those days had extended their wander- ings as far west as that, though they are said to have been settled near the lower course of the Danube. Another instance of the gradual Tartarization, if we may so call it, of Chinese culture was chronicled a few genera- tions later, when the king of Chau, who reigned under the name of Wu-ling (329-299 B.c.), resolved for political reasons to exchange the traditional Chinese court dress for that of a Tartar ruler. He did this in spite of the re- monstrances of several members of his family, who pleaded in vain for the retention of the traditional Chinese eti- quette. The manners and customs of antiquity, he thought, were good enough for the ancients, but the modern man had to conform to the requirements of his time; this is the leading idea of the replies made to remonstrances of his friends, as recorded by Ssi-ma Ts’ién.! A still more thorough change made by Wuc-ling in this process of Tartarization was the introduction of cavalry in the army. During the early part of the Chéu dynasty 1 Chavannes, op. cit., pp. 70-84. Whatever innovations were implied in the adoption of Tartar dress, were attributed to king Wu- ling of Chau, who is supposed to have been the first to break through the traditional lines in regard to dress, though Tartar cus- toms were again cultivated on a larger scale at various later periods. It appears that the mode of dress now adopted was better suited to the quick movement of the body. Those cumbrous big sleeves of the old Chinese court robe were abandoned for narrower shapes; and the sandals and shoes of straw or hemp were replaced by short boots, varying in style down to the present dynasty. Indeed King Wu-ling is credited with having introduced the boot into the Chinese gentleman’s attire. It was in those days made of yellow leather. THE CONTENDING STATES 273 the horse had been used mainly in harness. The heroes of Chinese warfare fought on chariots, standing up and not sitting, accompanied, of course, by a retinue of pedestrians; and to sit astride on horseback was originally not a Chinese, but a Hunnic custom, which possibly took its rise from King Wu-ling’s adoption of cavalry fighting. I find it stated in a later commentary on the T’so-chuan that riding on horseback did not become customary before the time of the “Six States,” ¢.e. the third century B.c. The king- dom of Chau had absorbed too much of the Tartar element ; and the purely Chinese subjects of King Wu-ling seem to have been in too great a minority to maintain the traditional conservative spirit of an original Chinese dynasty. § 56. An-wane (401-376 B.c.) Under this emperor a great change took place in the state of Ts’i. During the time of Duke Huan and his minister Kuan-tzi, a prince of Ch’6n had taken refuge in Ts’i, whose descendants had grown into a powerful clan. For some reason or other they changed their name to T’ién. In 481 3.c. a member of this family named T’ién Ch’ang had managed to drive Duke Kién of Ts’i from the throne, have him murdered and replaced by the duke’s younger brother, who made him his minister. His grandson T’ién Ho in 410 3.c. actually deposed the then reigning duke, usurped the throne for himself, and was finally confirmed by An-wang as Duke of Ts’i. In this he had obtained the good offices of the Marquis of Wei, one of the San-tsin. Another state of Wei (so pronounced at present, but the sound of the name was different in ancient times) had given birth to one of the typical characters of the time, which, T 274 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF OHINA owing to the easiness with which men of talent were allowed to wander about from state to state, produced quite a num- ber of political adventurers. Wu K’i had studied with Tsong Ts’an, that hyperfilial disciple of Confucius (505- 437 B.c.), but did not agree with him. He emigrated to Lu, where he studied the art of warfare. Uncontrollable ambition led him to hope to be made commander of the army of Lu during a war between that state and its northern neighbor Ts’i. The Duke of Lu appreciated his talent, but would not appoint him because his wife was a Ts’i woman. Wu K’i then simply killed her as being in his way, and the duke, regarding this as an act of loyalty, gave him the desired appointment, in which it is recorded he justified - his strategical reputation. After this he took service under the state of Wei, but in 387 B.c. got into trouble with the government and fled to Ch’u in the south, where King Tau made him his chancellor. In this capacity he did excellent work and, by his great energy and severity as a military chief, maintained rigid discipline among the troops. He, however, also made enemies among the grandees of the state, who, after the death of the king, conspired against and killed him. Under the name Wuw-tzi, i.e. “the Philoso- pher Wu,” there still exists a little book on military art said to have been written by him. . § 57. Lit-wane (375-369 B.c.) During this reign the state of Han made war on Ching, one of the old feudal states near the present K’ai-féng-fu, and conquered its territory. Otherwise, the most notable event during this period was the birth (372 3.c.) of the great philosopher Mencius in the state of Lu, where Confucius THE CONTENDING STATES 275 and some of his disciples were also born. There the usurper, T’ién Ho’s successor, had in the meantime assumed the title “King of Ts’i”; but the Son of Heaven having pre- viously confirmed his family in their usurpation, he remained loyal to him, and when in 370 B.c. an assembly of the feudal princes was summoned to the imperial court, he was the only one who did homage to the emperor. Lié-wang was succeeded by his younger brother Hién-wang. § 58. Hiin-wane (368-321 B.c.) During his reign, covering nearly half a century, Hién- wang was nothing better than a silent on-looker, without the slightest power to interfere in the endless struggles between his nominal vassals. Ssi-ma Ts’ién’s account of it' is merely a list of ceremonial courtesies shown to the dukes of Ts’in, who with his imperial sanction claimed hegemony among the Contending States —a position fore- casting the shadows of future events. Ts’in had, as Ssi-ma Ts’ién says,? kept aloof from the remaining states, not even sending ambassadors to their peaceful meetings; and the purely Chinese states regarded it as a barbarian country. § 59. Tur PaitosopHers Yane Cau anp Mo Ti Fighting all round was now the order of the day, fighting alike with arms and words; for the several philosophic schools that had been reared on the foundations laid by Lau-tzi and Confucius rose against each other in a contest for leadership in the world of intellect, fighting as vigor- 1 Chavannes, op. cit., vol. i, pp. 303-304. * Chavannes, op. cit., vol. ii, p. 62. 276 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CH]NA ously as the several confederate states in their endeavors to annihilate each other by force of arms. The philoso- phers of the age show a tendency to apply their doctrines to practical state life. That unsteadiness, characteristic of political life in the fourth century B.c., which knew of no equilibrium among the contesting powers and which caused even conservative minds to become accustomed to the most unexpected changes in politics, was coupled with a hitherto unprecedented freedom of thought in the ranks of thinkers and writers. The most heretical views on state and private life were advanced and gained public adherence. Certain philosophers became the fashion, temporarily over- shadowing the sages of old; and in the energy with which they tried to vindicate the creations of their minds, they parallel the political leaders of the Contending States. No greater contrast could be imagined than the two philoso- phers Yang Chu and Mo Ti, who probably flourished about this time, though no exact dates are ascertainable. We may be allowed, however, to draw conclusions from the terms in which they are spoken of by Mencius, who disap- proves of both, and whose antagonism to the two philoso- phers seems to show that they must have occupied the public mind not very long before he wrote. Yang Chu impresses us as one of the most original think- ers China has produced. He did not study old books like Confucius, but, having bestowed much thought on the world and on human nature, gave utterance to his views with a freedom bordering on cynicism. The main part of his doctrines is contained in the work known as Lié-tzi, “The Philosopher Lié,” according to Giles * a fictitious title, covering the compilation of some other scholar; but some 1 Biographical Dictionary, p. 432, no. 1251. THE CONTENDING STATES 277 of his sayings are also referred to in the works of Chuang- tzi and notably in that of Mencius, his great adversary." Yang Chu was essentially a pessimist. Is life actually worth living? We may conclude that it is not, if we follow his calculation, according to which so great a part of it is spent either in a state of indifference during infancy and extreme old age, or in sleep and during many hours in the daytime, not counting the hours spent in pain and sickness, sorrow and bitterness. In a hundred years a man may live there may remain ten years actually worth counting, 1 Besides the abstracts from the chapter on Yang Chu in Lié-tzi, communicated by Legge in the Prolegomena to his edition of Mencius, I wish to refer to Dr. A. Forke’s excellent paper Yang-chu the Epicu- rean in his Relation to Lieh-tse the Pantheist in the Journal of the Peking Oriental Society, vol. iii, no. 3, pp. 203-258. Yang Chu holds that the best use one can make of wealth is to procure by its means all sorts of personal pleasure and distribute the residue among one’s fellow-creatures. The following extract is from Forke, p. 239: — “Tuan-mu Shu of Wei was a descendant of Tzi-kung. His patrimony procured him a treasure of ten thousand gold pieces. Indifferent to the devices of life, he followed his inclinations. What people liked to do and the heart delights in, he would do and delight in. As for walls and buildings, pavilions and verandahs, gardens and parks, ponds and lakes, wine and food, carriages and dresses, women and attendants, he could emulate the princes of Ts’i and Ch’u in luxury. Whenever his heart desired something, his ear wished to hear some- thing, his eye to see or his mouth to taste, he would procure it at all costs, though the thing might only be had in a foreign land and a far-off country and not in the kingdom of Ts’i, just as if he had it within his four walls. When on a journey, mountains and rivers might be ever so difficult and dangerous to pass and the roads ever so long, he would still proceed, just as other men walk a few steps. A hundred guests were entertained daily in his palace. In his kitch- ens there were fire and smoke uninterruptedly, and the vaults of his hall and the peristyle incessantly resounded with songs and music. The remains from his table he first divided amongst his clansmen, what they left was then divided amongst his fellow-citizens, and what these did not eat was distributed throughout the whole kingdom.” 278 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHIQA but “not even in them will be found an hour of smiling self-abandonment without the shadow of solicitude”’; for post equitem sedet atra cura. Death awaits us all alike, whether we die at the age of ten or of a hundred; and once man’s bones are rotten it does not matter whether he was a great character like Yau and Shun, or a mean creature like the tyrants Kié and Chéu-sin. We, therefore, have every reason to make the best of life while it lasts. To Yang Chu, nothing can come after death. Fame is nothing. The great men of the past, “celebrate them — they do not know it; reward them —they do not know it; their fame is no more to them than to the trunk of a tree or a clod of earth.” To the old emperors Yau, Shun, and Yi, to Wu-wang and Chéu-kung, who spent their lives in toil and worry, he compares those contemptible last monarchs of the Hia and Shang dynasties respectively, Kié and Chéu-sin, who were pleasure-hunters all their lives and “never made themselves bitter by the thought of propriety and righteousness, and died like all of us.” Yet theirs was a happy life in spite of the evil fame that followed their death. For the reality of enjoyment is what no fame can give. Legge,’ to whose abstract from Yang Chu’s sayings I would refer, adds: — “Tt would be doing injustice to Epicurus to compare Yang with him, for, though the Grecian philosopher made happiness the chief end of human pursuit, he taught also that ‘we cannot live pleasur- ably without living virtuously and justly.’ The Epicurean system is, indeed, unequal to the capacity, and far below the highest com- placencies of human nature; but it is widely different from the reckless contempt of all which is esteemed good and great that defiles the pages where Yang is made to tell his views.” 1 Mencius, Prolegomena, pp. 95-102. THE CONTENDING STATES 279 Yang Chu’s pessimism is also of a different kind from that of Schopenhauer, which abuts in altruistic ethics based - on compassion.’ We also find in his sayings traces of that atheistic fatalism which would seem to absolve man from all responsibility for his doings by denying the freedom of will. For “intelligence and stupidity, honorableness and meanness, are not in one’s power, neither is that con- dition of putridity, decay, and utter disappearance. A man’s life is not in his own hands, nor is his death; his in- telligence is not his own, nor his honorableness, nor his meanness.” It stands to the credit of the Chinese nation that a man of Yang Chu’s type was not placed on a level with their other great philosophers, and that views quite different from his became dominant among later generations. Yet, if we take into consideration his philosophy of private life and the forcible manner with which he seems to state his argumentum ad hominem, we may look upon him as an important link in that process of decay which brought about the fall of the Chéu dynasty and the ultimate victory of principles which culminated in the burning of the old sacred books under a decree of the Emperor Ts’in Shi- huang-ti. For what we observe now is quite analogous to the logic of Confucius and his school, which made the life of the individual the basis of views on government and public life. Yang Chu’s “egotism,” first applied to individual man as a member of society, finally reigned su- preme among the authorities responsible for the welfare of the Contending States, each of whom fought for the principle “first we and then the world,” or “aprés nous le déluge.”’ 1 Grube, op. cit., p. 127. 280 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHIMA Confucianism had to undergo a severe trial in those days; and the example set by Chinese princes, who could follow the barbaric custom of making a lacquered bowl out of a dead enemy’s skull or don the uncanonical dress of north- ern foreigners, quite corresponded to the spirit of the age, which was characterized by ruthless contempt of the sacredness of tradition. To stick to tradition, to derive every blessing in life from one’s ancestors, is the original Chinese principle; and the frequency of examples betraying disregard of this principle that we now meet in political as well as in literary life may be looked upon as a symptom of elements originally not Chinese having temporarily gained the upper hand. This may be shown by the example even of Mo Ti, whose teachings were diametrically opposed to those of Yang Chu. What stamps him as a son of his time is an almost revolutionary independence of old Chinese tradition. Yang Chu and Mo Ti “stood at the opposite poles of human thought and sentiment” (Legge). The views of the latter were as altruistic as those of the former were frivolous. If Mencius treats Mo Ti as an adversary, it is because antiquity was not so sacred to him as it de- served to be in the eyes of orthodox Confucianists. Here I have to say a word about the name Mo Ti, the several variants in the spelling of which may mislead readers of Mo Ti literature. The sound of the sage’s family name, which means “ink” in Chinese, as heard in most of the mandarin dialects in China, is Mo; in Canton it is pronounced Mak, which may be said to have been the sound corresponding to the ancient pronunciation; the final consonant has left its traces in some of the mandarin dialects in the shape of the abrupt termination of the vowel, which some transcribers express by a final h, for which THE CONTENDING STATES 281 reason Williams’ spells Moh. Morrison, in the old-fash- ioned English spelling, gives it as Mih, and Legge follows him. From this spelling in connection with the designation tzi (Mith-tzi, 1.e. “Mih or Mo, the philosopher’’) has arisen the Latinized name Micius, invented by Faber, who also calls Lié-tzi Licius in analogy with the Latinized names Confucius and Mencius. Mo Ti is keenly aware of the rottenness of Chinese state life. In trying to ascertain its prime cause he comes to the conclusion that all evils arise from want of mutual love; that this mutual love is wanting not only between individu- als and families, but between states also. If all were per- vaded by this spirit of love, thieves and robbers would dis- appear, the great officers would cease to throw one another’s families into confusion, and princes would cease to attack one another’s dominions. It is only through that universal and mutual love that the empire will thrive. He sum- marizes the evils of his time thus: — “The mutual attacks of state on state; the mutual usurpations of family on family; the mutual robberies of man on man; the want of kindness on the part of the sovereign and of loyalty on the part of the minister; the want of tenderness and filial duty between father and son — these, and such as these, are the things injurious to the empire. All this has arisen from want of mutual love. If but that one virtue could be made universal, the princes loving one another would have no battle-fields; the chiefs of families would attempt no usurpations; men would commit no robberies; rulers and ministers would be gracious and loyal; fathers and sons would be kind and filial; brothers would be harmonious and easily recon- ciled. Men in general loving one another, the strong would not make prey of the weak; the many would not plunder the few; the rich would not insult the poor; the noble would not be insolent to the mean; and the deceitful would not impose upon the simple.” 1 Syllabic Dictionary, p. 604. 282 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA To bring about reform in this direction, the princes and governments should start with a good example, when society at large will follow; and he goes on to prove from ancient history the fact, which holds good for China even at the present day, that the people will readily fall in with the wishes of their rulers, and that, in other words, the rulers have it in their hands to promote the universal love among the people if they choose to set the example.* Mo Ti’s almost Christian altruism was much superior to Confucianism, and might have been able to save the em- pire had it been quite so easy as the philosopher dreamed to apply his theories to practical life. Not only did the states continue fighting, usurping, and robbing one another, but his very colleagues in moral philosophy tried to belittle the value of his unique doctrine, chief among them being the great Confucianist, Mencius. § 60. Mencius Comparatively little is known of the personal life of Mencius (Méng K’o). He was born in 372 8.c., in the little state of Ts6u, not far from Confucius’s own birthplace, and, having lost his father in early childhood, was educated entirely by his mother, who, from the many anecdotes circulating about her educational methods, has earned in China the reputation of a model mother. “Méng-mu,” “Mother Mong,” or “Mother of Mencius,” is as familiar ‘For further extracts and translations of Mo Ti’s work, supposed to have been compiled by his disciples under the name Mo-tzi in fif- teen books, see Legge, Mencius, Prolegomena, p. 104 segq.; ef. also Faber, Die Grundgedanken des alten chinesischen Socialismus, oder die Lehre des Philosophen Micius (Elberfeld, 1877); G von der Gabelentz, Ueber den chinesischen Philosophen Mek Tik, in Ber. d. kgl. Sachs, Ges. d. Wissensch. (1888); and W. Grube, op. cit., p. 129 segq. THE CONTENDING STATES 283 a figure to the Chinese as the “‘ Mother of the Gracchi” was to the people of Rome. She changed her home several times because she did not like certain associations which seemed to affect the education of her little son. Thus she moved away from the neighborhood of a cemetery because the boy would mimic the mourners who came to wail at the tombs. Then she left a house near the market because he would mimic the ways of shopkeepers. Finally she settled near a school; and here the boy’s imitative talent was at last in its proper element.! With all the authority exer- cised by her as a mother and despite the great veneration in which her memory has at all times been held by the Chinese nation, it is she who is credited with the strongest opposition to all female emancipation. Once Mencius planned to leave the state of Ts’i because its prince declined to listen to his gratuitous advice; he hesitated, however, on account of his old mother staying with him, and when he spoke to her about this, she gave him the following reply : — “Tt is a woman’s duty to be skilful in the preparation of food and careful in the preservation of household articles; to look after the comfort of her parents-in-law, and to sew-and weave. To these things her sphere of activity is limited. It is her province to main- tain order within the house; but her thoughts ought not to wander beyond the boundaries of her home. In the ‘Book of Changes’ it is said: ‘Let her attend to the preparation of food within the rooms allotted to her, and take nothing else on herself.’ And in the ‘Book of Poetry’ it is said: ‘It is theirs neither to do wrong nor to shine by prominent good actions; let them limit their thoughts to the wine and the food.’ This means that it does not belong to a woman to determine anything of herself, but she is subject to the 1 Arendt, The Mother of Mencius, in China Review, vol. xii, p. 314 seq. 284 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHSNA rule of the three obediences. Therefore, when young, she has to obey her parents; when married, she has to obey her husband; when a widow, she has to obey her son. This is her duty. At present, you are a man in your full maturity, and I am old. Do you act as your conviction of righteousness tells you you ought to do, and I will act according to the rule which belongs to me.” Altogether she must have been a very superior woman; and it is quite probable that the excellent education she gave Mencius in his early youth contributed greatly to his subsequent distinction. After his boyhood nothing is known of his life until he comes forward as a teacher, or a “professor of morals and learning,” as Legge puts it, some- thing like his great prototype Confucius. He was now about forty years of age and surrounded by a number of disciples. Mencius’s teachings, as laid down in the book bearing his name, are mainly of a political kind. During the 150 years which lay between the times when Confucius and Mencius taught that process of decay of imperial power, which had set in long before the Ch’un-ts’iu period, had become a continuous threat foreboding general collapse. Four or five generations earlier the princes of the empire cultivated at least some sort of nominal loyalty toward the Son of Heaven. This feeling as regards the legitimacy of the emperor’s position, which Confucius had tried to foster as best he could, had now given way to utter disregard of imperial rights. Had the house of Chéu produced men of action able to assert themselves in this turmoil of mutual jealousies among the feudal states, there would have been room for a hero of history to perform great feats; but no such man arose. The emperor was now a mere shadow, and things took their own course before his eyes. There was THE CONTENDING STATES 285 constant warfare among the princes, who would form leagues against one another, changing the equilibrium of power from generation to generation. All these political troubles were greatly augmented by the philosophers’ custom of traveling about from court to court to tender advice. It had become the ambition of the learned classes to be con- nected somehow or other with political life; and the free- dom with which it was possible to leave one’s home in order to settle down in another state, that Freiziigigkeit which in the United States and in modern Germany ap- pears as a concession made by local legislation to federal power, probably had an important share in the general decay which followed this period. In those days the fate of China lay much more in the hands of irresponsible ad- venturers than with the real heads of the several states, who allowed themselves to be persuaded by the clever tongues of ambitious strangers to plunge into adventures most dangerous to themselves and to the common welfare. These advisers had sometimes risen from the very lowest ranks of the people; becoming adherents of one of the several philosophic schools dominant at the time, they made use of a certain superiority in dialectics thus acquired in gratifying their ambition to rise to political influence. Still it must be admitted that among these amateur dip- lomats were men of real importance, whose talents would have shone had they served a better purpose than that of internal wars. Such are the lives of Chang I (ied 310 B.c.) and Su Ts’in (died 317 B.c.), who from being servants in a school picked up the most necessary education in this connection, then studied the sophistical art of persuading any one to anything under the Tauist philosopher Kui-ku- tzi, who prepared them for the adventurous career of an 286 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHANA itinerant volunteering diplomat. Many of these men were devoid of all local patriotism, perhaps because the rising man is so often treated with contempt by his own people. Thus Chang I, being a native of the state of Wei, became minister in Ts’in, when through the chief work of his life he did his own country every possible harm, though, hav- ing to leave Ts’in after the death of his patron, he accepted the post of prime minister in Wei again. He was one of those men of whom one of Mencius’s interlocutors says, “Once they are angry, the princes of the empire will be afraid; and when they live quietly, the world will see its troubles quelled.’ Altogether Mencius tried to oppose the current of the times, in which Confucian tradition was en- tirely neglected, with the full weight of his authority, though in vain. He spent a portion of his life, some time between 333 and 324 B.c., in the state of Ts’i as a counselor of the prince’s, for which services he declined to receive any salary. In the conversations which he held with the sovereign and the government officers of this, as of other states, he has placed on record his views on state management. These views represent merely an extension of the Confucian philosophy to the state life in that troubled period of the Contending States. Mencius was a man of great pride; like Mahomet, he expected the mountain to come to him if he wanted it; and he never secured a footing of cordiality with the king of Ts’i, which, together with the freedom he was wont to use in his conversations, led to his withdrawal from his otherwise great admirer. In doing so, he was led to hope that the king would recall him for the benefit of the people of Ts’i, nay, for the happiness of the whole empire; but the mountain would not come to him, and Mencius was no THE CONTENDING STATES 287 Mahomet. He then embraced the life of a wandering philosopher. In 319 3.c. he visited King Hui of Liang in the present K’ai-fong-fu, to his conversation with whom on matters of government the first of the seven books of his work is devoted. The sage’s conversations with sovereigns and statesmen are characterized by that spirit of expostu- lation peculiar to philosophical quibblers; but, being a sworn Confucianist, he commands respect for defending his views against such an overwhelming opposition under the conflicting interests of political and literary authorities. After the death of Hui in 320 s.c. Mencius returned to Ts’i, where he held a court appointment and occasionally gave offense by his overbearing pride. When his aged mother died, he buried her with great pomp, possibly to spite his adversary Mo Ti, who had advocated simplicity in funeral ceremonies. Political troubles connected with the conquest by Ts’i of the northern state of Yen, in which Mencius was involved, led to his adoption of a wandering life again (312 B.c.); and after a stay of two years in the state of Sung he re- turned to his native country, Lu (3810 B.c.), where one of his disciples had been appointed prime minister. This disciple, named Yo Chong, had arranged for an interview between him and the reigning duke; but one of the courtiers had thought it improper for the latter to pay the first visit to a mere scholar, and Mencius, anxious though he had been all his life to present his theories on government to those in power, would not again approach the sovereign voluntarily. He consoled himself with the thought that, though certain men might seem to be instrumental in fostering or hinder- ing good work, they could not really interfere with its progress, and that the failure of the Duke of Lu to meet 288 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA him was Heaven’s decree. After this disappointment, which was clearly the result of his unbending “Manner- stolz,” he refrained from interviewing sovereigns for the rest of his life, the last twenty years of which he spent in retirement, devoted to the company of his disciples and to literary work. He died in 289 B.c. The distinctive merit of Mencius’s philosophy, as com- pared with the teachings of Confucius himself, is its applica- tion to state life, starting, of course, in true Confucian spirit from family relations and filial duty; but his feelings in this respect are essentially democratic, the prosperity of the people being his first care, and loyalty to the sovereign, as taught by Confucius, being of secondary importance. It was not sufficient for governments to providefor the physical welfare of the masses; it was also their duty to educate the people. He despises power and external grandeur if not backed by justice and righteousness; but he is an idealist. and expects the world to be better than it can ever be. He does not respect history, and books do not inspire him as infallible. For “it would be better to have no books at all than to believe everything they relate”; and of the records describing Wu-wang’s achievements he selected only two or three as trustworthy.’ If by these “books” the Shu-king is meant, it is remarkable that such confessions should come from a Confucianist of Mencius’s standing, who, moreover, was a firm believer in Yau and Shun, the model emperors. But it would seem that his _ antagonism was directed mainly against warfare, about which the “books” had so much to say and which he condemned in the strongest terms, and that he was not so much opposed to the “ Book of History” as to its contents, 1 Legge, Mencius, p. 355. THE CONTENDING STATES 289 which did not condescend to prove his theories. Man should and need not fight; he ought, according to Mencius, to be benevolent, for “the benevolent man has no enemy” —that is what a sovereign should be. Those who boast of their skill in making war are to him great criminals; and all the wars described in the Ch’un-ts’iu were unjust. To King Hui of Liang he advises the benevolent administra- tion of government, by lenient punishments, light taxa- tion, etc.; thus he would soon be backed by a people who could dispense with warfare, being strong enough to oppose the “strong mail and sharp weapons” of his en- emies, the troops of Ts’in and Ch’u, “with mere sticks in their hands.” * Mencius was a great leader in questions of political economy, which have at all periods played an important part in Chinese political life. If his ideas were not carried out at once, they were certainly of great influence in later centuries. In that mutual warfare of opinions, when ad- vice on public matters was so freely tendered, would-be reformers were to be found everywhere, who tried to surpass each other in the originality of their schemes. Mencius, with all his idealism, at least kept aloof from eccentricities. Not only did he steer a middle course between the two great antipodes, Yang Chu and Mo Ti, but he rebuked absurdities of every kind, such as the hyper-asceticism of Ch’6n Chung, who thought he could purify his heart by starvation and an almost total neglect of the decencies of * Legge, Mencius, p. 11. Modern China will not be able to adopt this advice, and Kuang-sii in his celebrated edict of June 11, 1898, asks his nation: “Shall we be able to hold our own, fighting with sticks against mailed armor and sharp weapons, if we continue to neglect the drilling of our troops, the education of our people and the development of national resources?” U 290 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF C@INA life, in which respect he could vie with many a Buddhist self-torturer. An eccentric of another kind was “the agriculturist”’ Hii Hing, who hailed from the semi-barbarian state of Ch’u. He was one of the many peripatetic philosophers who traveled from court to court hawking their theories of good government, and who had to pocket numerous dis- appointments until they found the prince of some state, however small, who approved their ideas. Such a petty state was T’éng, whose ruler, Duke Won, had on a previous occasion consulted Mencius on that vexatious question, a solution of which caused all the little states considerable anxiety; namely, which of their big neighbors it was most desirable to side with in order to avoid being swallowed up themselves. It is not known at how many doors Hii Hing had knocked in vain, when he came to Duke Wén’s gate, saying: ‘A man of a distant region, I have heard that you, Prince, are practising a benevolent government, and I wish to obtain a site for a house, and to become one of your people” ; and theduke gave him a dwelling-place. His dis- ciples, numbering some dozens, wore clothes of hair-cloth and made sandals of hemp and wove mats for a living. Hii Hing’s theory was that the cultivation of the soil was the only source of the true welfare of the people. In this he clashed with the views of Mencius, who proved in detail that Hii Hing’s were fallacious. Hii Hing had expected sovereigns to cultivate the ground and eat of the fruit of their labor like ordinary peasants. ‘They should prepare their own meals morning and evening, while at the same time carrying on their government.” The granaries, treasuries, and arsenals kept by princes were merely a burden on the people. To these arguments Mencius re- THE CONTENDING STATES 291 plied: “I suppose that Hii Hing sows grain and eats the produce. Does he also weave cloth?” “No; for he wears hair-cloth.” “And his cap?” “He gets it in exchange for grain.” ‘And the food-boilers and earthenware pans re- quired for cooking his food, and the iron share used for ploughing?” “He gets them all in exchange for grain.” It was by such questions that Mencius, like most of the old Chinese philosophers, tried to prove his point, —the erotetic method by which Socrates used to demonstrate his reductio ad absurdum. Having thus elicited from the defender of Hii Hing’s theories all their absurdities, he developed his own system of political economy, which went to show that husbandry cannot be the only basis of good government and that industry claims its rights; also, that some men labor with their minds, while others labor with their bodily strength; mind laborers being the govern- ment class, and physical laborers those that are governed by others. Dr. W. E. Macklin, in an interesting paper on Mencius,' remarks in connection with this anecdote: — “Tolstoi edited a book written by a leveler like Hii Hing, who taught that every one should raise his own grain. I forget the jaw- breaking Russian name of the writer. If Tolstoi had not already been converted from the error of his ways, Mencius could turn him. We see from this that Mencius is no crank with a wheel or twist in his brain.” Among the many philosophers who from the days of Confucius down to the end of the Chéu dynasty helped to raise decadent China to such a high intellectual standard Mencius impresses us as the clearest in judgment. He is certainly not a mystic; and in common-sense argumenta- 1 Mencius and Some Other Reformers of China, in Journal of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. xxxiii. 292 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA tion, by which he tries to sift his problems to the bottom, his work contrasts favorably with the Tau-té-king. Chinese philosophers do not present their teachings in the shape of regular “systems”; but how a system can be constructed out of a work which at first sight appears as an incoherent ac- count of anecdotes and a series of dialogues reproducing the sage’s remarks on all possible details of individual, family, and official life, has been well shown in Dr. Ernst Faber’s German book on Mencius.’ It is perhaps characteristic, and a testimony to his common sense, that Mencius does not share with his great master Confucius the esteem in which the latter held the I-king, or “Book of Changes,’ if we may draw conclusions from the fact that he never referred to it. A glance at Faber’s digest shows that his “Mencius” covers a wide range of philosophic thought, but that man in all his relations is its chief concern. In this respect he goes much more into detail even than Confucius, and when compared with him, his detail is characterized by a certain moderation in accepting the observance of outer formalities. All the important phases of Chinese social and official life are discussed in the book, which, moreover, appeals to the sympathy of all those among us whose principle of life is that never ending self-education of character. In this respect Mencius may be considered a model. We have, it is true, to make allowance for his being a Chinese and for the remoteness of the period in which he lived, but not nearly to the same extent as in the case of Confucius. 1“ Hine Staatslehre auf ethischer Grundlage, oder Lehrbegriff des chinesischen Philosophen Mencius.” Elberfeld, 1877. The author does not in all his translations and interpretations agree with Legge, whose volume on Mencius (The Chinese Classics, vol. ii) appeared in 1861. THE CONTENDING STATES 293 Further, considerably more of the disciple’s thought than of that of the master himself seems to have retained its eternal value. Benevolence and justice are the great vir- tues which should govern man’s actions in all his relations; of these relations the most important is that between sovereign and people; and sovereigns should cultivate these virtues in the first instance. Many of the sage’s sayings may, therefore, be said to come under that chapter, so much cultivated by Oriental philosophers, of “Mirror of Princes.” But that in which all are concerned, the great lesson he gives to humanity at large, is the education of one’s per- sonal character. Character is more important than clever- ness. Man’s life ought to be a constant strife in subduing one’s passions, in order to attain to perfection by the dominancy of ethical principles and the suppression of sensual instincts; and all this striving for perfection should not be undertaken for the sake of external rewards, but for the pleasure one takes in perfection itself. It does Dr. Faber, the missionary, as much credit as it does the ancient sage that, far from condemning these views as pagan, he regards them as an incentive to Christians to vie with heathen characters in the exercise of virtue. The Chinese, he thinks, are now as far away from these ideals as they were in the time of Mencius, whose teachings represent, as it were, the conscience of the Chinese, —the knowledge of what is normal in goodness, by which the deviations of individual life may be judged. In his political views Mencius was decidedly loyal to the traditional position of the Chéu emperor; and he denounced the decadence of his age as being the result of the neglect of loyalty. The “Five Leaders” (wu-pa, seventh century B.c.) offended in loyalty against the “Three Kings” (san- 294 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA wang, i.e. the founders of the three dynasties Hia, Shang, and Chéu). This means they were the first to disavow openly imperial authority. Then he says: “The princes of the present day offend in loyalty against the Five Lead- ers, and the great officers of the present day offend in loyalty against the princes.” He laments the position of the em- peror, who formerly visited the princes. on tours of inspec- tion and received at his court visits from the princes who reported to him on their official acts. It used to be a custom in the spring to examine the ploughing and to supply any deficiency of seed; in autumn, to examine the reaping and to assist where there was a deficiency in the crop. When the emperor entered the boundaries of a state, if new ground was being reclaimed and the old fields were well cultivated, if the aged were nourished and the worthy honored, and if men of distinguished talents were placed in office, the prince was rewarded by the emperor with an addition to his territory. On the other hand, if the em- peror found that the ground was left wild or overrun with weeds, if the old were neglected and the worthy unhonored, and if the offices were filled with hard tax-gatherers, the prince was reprimanded by the emperor. Non-attendance at court was visited by degradation of rank, loss of terri- tory, and, if persisted in, by removal from government. The emperor merely used his authority in commanding such punishments, the execution of which rested with the other princes. It was only through the rule of the Five Leaders that the time-honored imperial privilege passed out of the hands of the Son of Heaven into those of the Leaders. This was, according to Mencius, an offense in loyalty against the Three Kings. The period of the Five Leaders thus marks, according to him, the first stage of THE CONTENDING STATES 295 that decay of imperial power which had ruled supreme for a thousand years and more. The most powerful of the Five Leaders, Duke Huan of Ts’i, as we have already seen, called a covenant of the princes of the empire in which five articles were agreed upon for the guidance of the several sovereigns. The fifth article says: “Make no promotions without first announcing them to the king, or emperor.’”’ This involves at least a certain amount of loyalty to the central power, if merely a nominal one; but, as Mencius continues, the princes of his time all violated the prohibitions contained in these five articles, for which reason he held them to offend in loyalty against the Five Leaders. Mencius contrasts the disloyalty of a man who merely follows his sovereign in a wicked enterprise with that of the man who instigates him to wickedness. This was, indeed, the great crime of the high officers of his own time, who offended in disloyalty to their sovereigns.‘ Altogether we could not find any better exponent of the gradual collapse of that once glorious Chéu dynasty than the philosopher Mencius. The history of the state of Ts’i has shown how in ancient China the application of scholarship to the affairs of govern- ment bore practical fruit, and there has probably been no second example on record in which the results of philo- sophic thought were so immediately and successfully con- nected with state management as that of the philosopher Kuan-tzi. After him Confucius strove in vain to gain personal influence in matters of government. If he did not succeed, some of his disciples did, besides hundreds of influential men who in later generations educated them- selves by the study of his teachings. Something similar 1 Legge, op. cit., pp. 311-314, 296 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA was eminently the case with the great Confucianist Mencius who devoted a good deal of thought to questions of political economy and to politics generally. He advocated tutelage over the people, though on liberal principles. One of his pet theories was the division of fields among the population. According to him, the expenses of government ought to be raised by levying the tenth part of all land cultivated by the people on government account. For this purpose he recommended the tsing, or “well,” sys- tem of tithing, by which all land was to be divided into equal squares of so many acres, each square being separated from its neighbor by boundary lines re- sembling the shape of the Chinese char- acter tsing Ff (“well”) so as to yield nine square lots. Of these the eight outer ones were to be held by private owners among the people, who by their joint labor were to cultivate the central lot for the government. This was, of course, a utopianism but little better than Hi Hing’s agricultural eccentricities; and it is difficult to imagine how in the long run it could work successfully in practice. Still the tsing system has again and again been considered in the course of history as having been favored by such a deep thinker as Mencius and, with its claim of certain lands for government use, may have actually influenced the laying out of city plans and field-marks. The question how to defray the expenses of government has, of course, occupied the sovereigns of China at all periods of its history, and when Mencius devoted his atten- tion to the subject, several systems of taxation had already THE CONTENDING STATES 297 been tried; but, with that complexity which has at all times prevailed in the sources of revenue, it seems natural that in ancient China, at a time when foreign trade was still inconsiderable and agriculture was by far the most im- portant basis of public wealth, the taxation of land (fu) and personal services (i) should form the backbone of taxation. From the earliest existence of a government in China, land has been considered to be the property of the sovereign. There was no private ownership, but subjects were allowed to claim lots on payment of a tax, which con- sisted in the surrendering of a certain percentage of the harvest. This percentage has, of course, varied a good deal in the course of history. At first calculated on the mere area held by farmers, it is stated to have been levied accord- ing to the nature of the land as early as the Emperor Yau (2300 B.c.). The Emperor Yii (2200 B.c.) is supposed to have introduced the so-called tribute system (kung-ja), by which fifty méu, or acres, were granted to each adult, the corresponding tribute being one-tenth of the produce of the land. Ch’éng-t’ang, founder of the Shang dynasty (1766 B.C.), is supposed to have been the originator of a mutual aid system (¢su-fa), which the philosopher Chu Hi believes to have been the foundation of the tsing system remodeled by Mencius, and by which a tsing was divided into nine squares, each measuring 70 méu. By this system the ground tax would seem at first sight to have been one- ninth of the produce; but since the farmers had to live in houses occupying certain portions of their lots, it may be said that practically the government tax amounted to that prototype of all ancient taxation, the tithe. At the begin- ning of the Chéu dynasty (1122 B.c.) a combination of the two older systems was resorted to, householders in cities 298 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHYNA and towns paying their tithe in kind on the land belonging to them, whereas the mutual aid system remained in force in the rural districts. This arrangement was known as the “share system” (ch’é-ja) and prevailed during the greater part of the Chéu dynasty. Under it a certain percentage of the land held by farmers was allowed for buildings, and of the remainder, as ground under actual cultivation, the tenth portion of the crops, 7.e. the tithe, was due to the government. All through the Chéu dynasty the principle by which land was held was that the sovereign, whoever he might be, was in all cases the real owner and that the tenant held it under conditions determined by the government. Man was held to be an adult at the age of twenty, and his portion of land was then allotted to him; at the age of sixty his fields reverted to the government; and no sale or other disposal was permitted. This system was not changed under the feudal government by which so many kings, dukes, mar- quises, counts, and barons were sovereigns and consequently owners of all the soil within their respective dominions — under the more or less doubtful authority of the Son of Heaven. The laws of land-ownership experienced a thorough change on the establishment of the new empire under Shi-huang-ti, when, for the first time in the history of China, occupants hitherto treated as mere landholders became virtual proprietors and when important changes took place in the levy of the ground tax.’ 1T. M. Daae, The Landtax in China. A description of its origin and development together with the nature and incidences of the present levy. Collected from the most reliable Chinese sources. In Transactions of the VIII International Congress of Orientalists, Stockholm, 1889, pt. iv, pp. 53-86. I differ from Mr. Daae in the translation of the term shi-i, lit., “ten and one,” which here does not mean eleven parts, but THE CONTENDING STATES 299 § 61. Cuuane-tT2i As Mencius was the principal representative of the Con- fucian school of philosophers, so Chuang-tzi, his contempo- rary, was the chief representative of Tauist philosophy. Chuang-tzi’s views thus formed the greatest contrast of everything preached by the Confucianists; and this contrast may be shown even in his personal life. Whereas Confucius and Mencius constantly hankered_after personal influence with princes and governments, their great ambition being to be social reformers, Chuang-tzi was the better philoso- pher inasmuch as he cared more for the absolute liberty of a scholar’s life than for a grand position in the world. Twice he declined the honor of being prime minister to the king of Ch’u. He compared the man who held such a posi- tion and who could at any time fall into disgrace to “the sacrificial ox fattened for years in order to be led to the altar, decked with embroidered trappings, and killed.” On another occasion, when the king had offered him that same high position, he referred to “a sacred tortoise which had been dead for some three thousand years, but was held in reverential memory on the altar of the king’s ancestral temple.” ‘Would not this tortoise,” he asked the king, “rather than seeing its dead remains worshiped, prefer to be alive and wag its tail in the mud?” The philosopher preferred to “wag his tail in the mud” rather than be a grand personage and be practically dead. If Mencius may be said to be a better exponent of Confucian teachings than “one out of ten,” i.e. the tithe. Cf. also A. Forke, Das chinesische Finanz- und Steuerwesen, in Mittheilungen des Seminars fir Oriental- ische Sprachen zu Berlin, Jahrgang iii, 1900, pt. i, p. 167 seqq. 300 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CMINA Confucius himself, owing to the simplicity and clearness of his language, something similar is the case with Chuang-tzi as an exponent of Lau-tzi’s Tauist wisdom, whose work (if it is his indeed), the Tau-té-king, is a good deal more in need of a commentary than the sayings of Confucius. We possess an excellent translation of Chuang-tzi’s writings by Professor Herbert A. Giles, whose skepticism concerning Lautzi’s Tau-té-king seems to qualify him especially as a spokesman on Chuang-tzi. Mr. Giles says in his intro- duction : — “Lau-tzi was the great Prophet of his age. He taught men to return good for evil, and to look forward to a higher life. He professed to have found the clue to all things human and divine. “He seems to have insisted that his system could not be reduced to words. At any rate, he declared that those who spoke did not know, while those who knew did not speak. “But to accommodate himself to conditions of mortality, he called this clue TAU, or THE WAY, explaining that the word was to be understood metaphorically, and not in a literal sense as the way or road upon which men walk. “The following are sentences selected from the indisputably genuine remains of Lau-tzi, to be found scattered here and there in early Chinese literature : All the world knows that the goodness of doing good is not real goodness. When merit has been achieved, do not take it to yourself. On the other hand if you do not take it to yourself, it shall never be taken from you. By many words wit is exhausted. It is better to preserve a mean. Keep behind and you shall be put in front. Keep out and you shall be kept in. What the world reverences may not be treated with irreverence. Good words shall gain you honor in the market-place. Good deeds shall gain you friends among men. He who, conscious of being strong, is content to be weak, he shall be a cynosure of men. The empire is a divine trust, and may not be ruled. He who rules, ruins, He who holds by force, loses. Mighty is he who conquers himself. Chuang-tzi, Mystic, Moralist and Social Reformer, translated from the Chinese. London, 1889. THE CONTENDING STATES 301 He who is content has enough. To the good I would be good. To the not good I would also be good, in order to make them good. If the government is tolerant, the people will be without guile. If the govern- ment is meddling, there will be constant infraction of the law. Recompense injury with kindness. The wise man’s freedom from grievance is because he will not regard grievances as such. “Of such were the pure and simple teachings of Lau-tzi. But it is upon the wondrous doctrine of Inaction that his claim to im- mortality is founded : Do nothing, and all things will be done. I do nothing, and my people become good of their own accord. Abandon wisdom and discard knowledge, and the people will be benefited an hundredfold. The weak overcomes the strong, the soft overcomes the hard. All the world knows this; yet, none can act up to it. The softest things in the world override the hardest. That which has no substance enters where there is no fissure. And so I know that there is advantage in Inaction. “Such doctrines as these were, however, not likely to appeal with force to the sympathies of a practical people. In the sixth century B.c., before Lau-tzi’s death, another prophet arose. He taught his countrymen that duty to one’s neighbor comprises the whole duty of man. Charitableness of heart, justice, sincerity, and fortitude, sum up the ethics of Confucius. He knew nothing of a God, of a soul, of an unseen world. And he declared that the un- knowable had better remain untouched. “Against these hard and worldly utterances, Chuang-tzi raised a powerful cry. The idealism of Lau-tzi had seized upon his poetic soul, and he determined to stem the tide of materialism in which men were being fast rolled to perdition. “He failed, of course. It was, indeed, too great a task to per- suade the calculating Chinese nation that by doing nothing all things would be done. But Chuang-tzi bequeathed to posterity a work which, by reason of its marvelous literary beauty, has al- ways held a foremost place. It is also a work of much originality of thought. The writer, it is true, appears chiefly as a disciple insisting upon the principles of a master. But he has contrived to extend the field, and carry his own speculations into regions never dreamt of by Lau-tzi.”’ 302 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA Chuang-tzi’s works are full of acrimonious attacks on Confucius and his school. That antagonism between Confucianists and Tauists, which in later centuries divided the Chinese world of thought into two hostile camps, had begun to take positive shape among the philosophers of the Contending States. Confucius and his adherents were treated with ironical contempt. In those days he was not half so great a man among the Chinese as he became in later centuries after the apotheoses of such influential writers as Han Yui (768-824) and Chu Hi (1130-1200); and to ex- pose him to the ridicule of the masses all possible dia- lectic artifices were resorted to by his adversaries, not the least powerful among whom was Chuang-tzi. One of the best-known attacks on Confucius is that mas- terful literary caricature, forming the spurious twenty- ninth chapter of Chuang-tzi’s work, containing the story of “Robber Chi.” Chi, a fictitious Bill Sykes, was at the head of a band of nine thousand ill-reputed characters and be- came a regular scourge to the empire. This was an eyesore to Confucius, who determined to use his eloquence in trying to persuade him that virtue is better than vice. When the robber was advised of the sage’s visit, he flew into a rage and at first would not see him, calling him evil names; but finally he admitted him into his presence. The conversa- tion which ensued forms a satire on the life and teachings of Confucius which, better than anything else, was apt to predispose the masses against him, the great robber scourg- ing him with the merciless lash of his irony. ‘“ You wear patched clothes and a narrow girdle,” he tells Confucius; “you talk big and act falsely, in order to deceive the rulers of the land, while all the time you yourself are aiming at wealth and power! You are the biggest thief I know; and THE CONTENDING STATES 303 if the world calls me ‘Robber Chi,’ it most certainly ought to call you ‘Robber’ Confucius.” And among other things he says: “ You call yourself a man of talent and a sage, for- sooth! Twice you have been driven out of Lu. You were tabooed in Wei. You were a failure in Ts’i. In fact, the empire won’t have you anywhere. It was your teaching which brought Tzi-lu to his tragical end. You cannot take care, in the first place, of yourself, nor, in the second place, of others. Of what value can your doctrine be?” Then he goes on to prove the fallacy of a number of the most cherished traditions of Chinese history. All the heroes of high antiquity, such as Huang-ti, Yau, Shun, Yii, Ch’dng- t’ang, Won-wang, and Wu-wang, had their flaws. Whatever their reputation among men may be, “fuller investigation shows that a desire for advantage disturbed their original purity and forced it into a contrary direction; hence the shamelessness of their deeds.” Having emphasized some of the views known from other books to be those of the philosopher Yang Chu (one of the several anachronisms stamping this entire chapter as spurious), he winds up by saying : — “*Confucius! all your teachings are nothing to me. Begone! Go home! Say no more! Your doctrine is a random jargon, full of falsity and deceit. It can never preserve the original purity of man. Why discuss it further?’ “Confucius made two obeisances and hurriedly took his leave. On mounting his chariot, he three times missed hold of the reins. His eyes were so dazed that he could see nothing. His face was ashy pale. With downcast head he grasped the bar of his chariot, unable to find vent for his feelings.” + The story of Robber Chi is one of those allegorical fictions made use of by the contending philosophers of the Contend- 1 Giles, op. cit., pp. 387-406. 304 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA ing States as the most impressive weapon in that spiritual contest now raging between the adherents of Lau-tzi and Confucius. In one of the spurious chapters appearing in the works of Chuang-tzi,! Confucius is introduced in conversation with a mysterious sage approaching him in the disguise of a simple-minded old fisherman with beard and eyebrows snowy white. Among other unpalatable truths Confucius has to hear from his lips is the following parable, describing his vain attempts to gain a position in reforming the world, thus never conquering that philo- sophical calmness he might have enjoyed had he left others alone and cultivated his own physical and mental self in accordance with Lau-tzi’s principle of inaction: — “There was once a man who was so afraid of his shadow and so disliked his own footsteps that he determined to run away from them. But the oftener he raised his feet the more footsteps he made, and though he ran very hard, his shadow never left him. From this he inferred that he went too slowly, and ran as hard as he could without resting, the consequence being that his strength broke down and he died. He was not aware that by going into the shade he would have got rid of his shadow, and that by keeping still he would have put an end to his footsteps. Fool that he was!” The old fisherman appears to hit the nail on the head by vituperating the Confucian mania for external ceremonies. “Real mourning grieves in silence.” ‘Our emotions are dependent upon the original purity within, and it matters not what ceremonies may be employed.” ‘Ceremonial is the invention of man. Our original purity is given to us from God.” “The true sage should model himself upon God and hold his original purity in esteem; he should be independent of human exigencies. Fools, however, reverse 1 Giles, op. cit., pp. 413-422. THE CONTENDING STATES 305 this.” Such a fool, we read between the lines, was Con- fucius, who in this fictitious tale is represented as almost a convert to Tauism, —a mere satire and a mild literary fraud which, like many others, has probably done a good deal to undermine that authority of Confucian teachings, which after all must be considered as the cement, so to speak, that had so far prevented the utter collapse of the Chéu dynasty. § 62. Minor PHILOSOPHERS The age of Mencius and Chuang-tzi and the generations following them down to the earlier Han dynasty produced quite a number of minor philosophers whose teachings have been handed down in texts not always beyond sus- picion as to genuineness and authorship. These texts were copied and recopied during the Middle Ages, and have been published in countless editions since the development of the book-printing industry; and they have all found their commentators, defenders, and adversaries. Apart from the Confucian classics, the recognition of the several texts of which, as canonical books, has varied a good deal in the course of history, the Tau-té-king and the several minor philosophers have been reprinted in numerous series, the selection of texts varying according to the tastes of their publishers. Thus we have series reproducing the texts of 5, 6, 10, 20, or 22 philosophers, and many of these texts have been inserted here and there in collections of reprints not exclusively devoted to philosophical literature. During the Ming dynasty, about 1600 a.p., an edition of philosophical works appeared under the title Svén-ts’in- chu-tzi-ho-pién, which means “Complete Edition of the = 306 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF GHINA Philosophers that lived prior to the Ts’in Dynasty.” This is the period interesting us at present. The minor philoso- phers —it is merely their texts that are included in the series —are there divided into Confucianists, Tauists, writers on government, Mihists (adherents of Mo Ti, the philosopher of universal love), “criss-cross philosophers,” i.e. those who teach the dialectic art of defending opposite views in politics, and miscellaneous celebrities. This classi- fication has been adopted in imitation of the division of philosophical writers first applied to the imperial library of the Sui dynasty about 618 a.p. The classification varies a good deal, and some individual writers are placed in different classes in other editions. Thus Yi-tzi, or Yi Hiung, the venerable teacher of W6n-wang (twelfth century B.c.), whose little work on government would be the oldest text extant in Chinese literature if it could be proved to be genuine, is classed among Tauists in the Ming collection referred to, and among Confucianists in another Ming col- lection published in 1577, while one of the latest large collections, published in the reign of T’ung-chi (1862- 1875), the Tzi-shu-pai-chung, “A Hundred Philosoph- ical Texts,” more correctly places him among the miscel- laneous authors. This comprehensive series contains also special headings for military writers, some of whom, as living under the Chéu dynasty, have already been men- tioned, and other classes containing writers of later periods. It cannot be said that the Confucianists-are represented by any prominent writers, besides Mencius, toward the end of the Chéu dynasty; and the principal minor philosophers to be noted were Tauists. One among these is Won, perpetu- ated in the work entitled Wén-tzi, “The Philosopher Won.” This may be a fictitious name, since we do not know whether THE CONTENDING STATES 307 such a personage ever existed; but seeing that the principal theses of Lau-tzi’s philosophy, of which the work purports to be an extension, are discussed in it in a manner purely philosophical and free from the charlatanic pretenses of later Tauists, we may be right in considering the work in its main substance as of Chéu origin. Other philosophical works ascribed to this period must be held to be the fabri- cations of later compilers. To know this is of special im- portance to the historical student, on account of the many cultural anachronisms which may appear in texts credited with ancient origin, but amalgamated with matter con- temporaneous with later editors. Such a work is the Kuan- ~ yin-tzi, ascribed to a philosopher Kuan-yin, whom tradition represents as an official in charge of one of the mountain passes leading from China to the distant West, probably an entirely legendary personage, who is also supposed to have met Lau-tzi riding on a buffalo, on leaving China for- ever, and to have received from him then the manuscript of his Tau-té-king. Among the minor philosophers of the Contending States is that typical class, the Chinese designation of which, tswng- héng-kia, I have ventured to translate by “criss-cross philosophers”; the term tsung-héng being written with different characters, a mode of writing implying that their teaching was both horizontal and vertical, meaning that they taught the art of persuading every one to anything. Another interpretation is that they were prepared to place their dialectics at the service of the two opposing political factions of the time, federation (¢swng), or imperialism (héng). They were the sophists among Chinese philoso- phers, and the chief professor of their art was Kui-ku-tzi, “Philosopher of the Devil Valley,” so called after his 308 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF QHINA sanctuary in the hills, whose proper name was Wang Hi. The work left under the name of Kut-ku-izi has been com- mentated and provided with a preface by T’au Hung-king, the greatest scholar of his time, who lived 451-536; but with all this it seems doubtful whether the work as- cribed to him, though it has an ancient ring about it, actu- ally originated with the man whose name it bears. Possibly he was an entirely legendary personage. But if legendary, Kui-ku-tzi is likely to have existed as the typeof a professor of dialectics, to whose school ambitious young men would flock to study the art of persuasion for future use in the service of the state. Certainly we have it on the authority of Ssi-ma Ts’ién * that two of the greatest diplomats China has ever produced, who, by the mere use of their tongues, directed the march of events in state life and whose policy, moreover, stamped them to be antipodes to one another, were fellow-students under Kui-ku Sién-shong, “Teacher of the Devil Valley,”’ who in a work of the second century of the present era is described as a tsung-héng-kia,’ 1.e. a “eriss-cross philosopher.’”’ But for that the philosopher’s teaching would involve no more than the good general education imparted by a little college to a couple of friends, who are afterward found in opposite political camps. § 63. Su Ts’In AND CHane I Such were the two great diplomats Su Ts’in and Chang I, of whom I have already spoken. Soon after their college days in the “ Devil Valley” these two young men set out on the time-honored career of itinerant political adventurers. The two main political factions, the constitution of which 1 Shi-ki, ch. lxix, p. 1; ch. bxx, p. 1. 2? Giles, A Chinese Biographical Dictionary, p. 388, no. 1014. THE CONTENDING STATES 309 varied a good deal with the success or non-success of their diplomatic leaders, may be described as Ts’in and Anti- Ts’in. Ts’in, that semi-barbarous state on the western boundary destined to become the ruin of the Chéu dynasty, strove hard for hegemony among the Contending States and was well on the way to ascendency. Among the other states some, on the advice of Su Ts’in, entered into con- federation. Being an opportunist of the purest water, Su Ts’in had at first made up his mind to hang on to the power most likely to succeed; but the schemes by which he tried to persuade the King of Ts’in to crush his rivals made no impression, and he left the court of Ts’in smarting under the mortification of a man who had been snubbed, though he might have done great service. TIll-rewarded, he returned to his home in the imperial dominion of Chéu, where his own folk, including his brothers and wives, heap- ing insult upon injury, ridiculed him as the would-be great man who had come back penniless and a beggar. Handi- craft and trade, they said, would have been much better for him than cultivating his tongue.t Su Ts’in, however, now devoted himself again to his books in order to perfect himself in the field he had orginally entered, which may be properly described as that of diplomacy; and thus pre- pared, he conceived the great plan of persuading the most powerful princes to enter into a confederation against Ts’in, thus counteracting the schemes he had originally defended with such ill-success. His wounded pride must have helped him to develop that persistency of purpose which made him overcome all the difficulties besetting the path of a man, unknown and despised, but determined to gain the ear of 1 Ssi-ma Ts’ién places this episode before his visit to the court of Ts’in. 310 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF C@INA so many powerful princes. Having worked his way through numerous back doors, he managed to obtain an interview with the Duke of Yen at his capital, the present Peking, whom he succeeded in persuading that confederation and immediate action against Ts’in were the only means to prevent the minor states from being swallowed up. From this time he became one of the great: men of China. The Duke of Yen made him his confidential ambassador and sent him in turn to the courts of Chau, Han, Wei, Ts’i, and Ch’u. Dr. W. A. P. Martin, in his most interesting paper “Diplomacy in Ancient China,” * says with regard to the unprecedented diplomatic success of all these several mis- sions, which had brought great honors on Su Ts’in’s head from the several sovereigns concerned in the scheme : — “The achievement was one the difficulty and grandeur of which it is not easy to overestimate. The man who conceived the plan and, with steady purpose, carried it through, deserved all the honors that were heaped upon him. Like Prince Bismarck, who to the chancellorship of the empire adds that of the kingdom of Prussia, Su held a duplicate or rather multiple office. His chief dignity was that of president of the sextuple alliance, and in order that he might render it effective, each of the six powers conferred on him the seal of a separate chancellorship.” From Su Ts’in’s great scheme of confederation dates the term, well known in Chinese history, liu-kuo, 1.e. “the Six States.” Ssi-ma Ts’ién’s chapter on Su Ts’in contains in terse language the several arguments he used in persuading the princes of these six kingdoms to his policy, each of whom he won over to his side by carefully allowing for local and personal idiosyncrasies. Su Ts’in’s great success was, of 1 Journal of the Peking Oriental Society, vol. ii, 1889, pp. 241-262. THE CONTENDING STATES 311 course, based on the force of circumstances, though it seems that in the general turmoil none of the Contending States had as yet thought of stirring. Ts’in had gained victory after victory over one or another of its neighbors; and nothing seemed more natural than the conclusion of a defensive alliance like the one negotiated by Su Ts’in, in which it was stipulated that whenever any of the Six States were attacked by Ts’in the other five should come to the rescue, and that if any of the contracting states should re- fuse the call, the other states should punish it with their united forces. This was in 333 B.c. Su Ts’in was loaded with honors and made his head- quarters the court of Chau. There he was approached by his old fellow-student Chang I, almost his equal as a scheming statesman, though his first venture at the court of the southern state of Ch’u had proved a failure owing to the intrigues of a courtier, who had falsely accused him of theft and exposed him to the degrading punishment of the bastinado, after which he had fled to the north to seek refuge with his powerful friend. Su Ts’in saw in Chang a rival rather than a comrade, and tried to shake him off by giving him money and servants to pave his way to the court of Ts’in, although certain crafty designs of a different kind have been assigned to this move.’ If Su Ts’in thought he had laid a trap for his rival by causing him to accept the most tempting gifts from an unknown benefactor who would afterward reveal himself as the arch-enemy of the Ts’in court, he was mistaken. Chang I proved his equal as a diplomat by disowning his connection with his former friend. Not in vain had he trusted to the power of his 1 Ch. Piton, The Six Great Chancellors of -T's’in, or the Conquest of China by the House of Ts’in, in China Review, vol. xiii, p. 132. 312 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHJNA tongue. When, after his flight from the court of Ch’u, he reached his home in the kingdom of Wei, his wife reproached him upon the entire failure of his life, but Chang I simply replied, “Just see whether my tongue is still in its place”’; and on her remarking that it was, he said quietly, “That willdo.” With this same tongue he made a deep impression on Hui-won, Duke of Ts’in, to whom he had submitted his anti-confederate schemes and who straightway appointed him an adviser ad hoc with the rank of a minister. In the sequel he did excellent service both as an administrator by developing the resources of the country and as a military leader. His great task, as a diplomat, was to counteract the work of his former friend Su Ts’in, whose superior he apparently was in the craftiness of his schemes. After a successful war against the kingdom of Ch’u in 312 B.c., Ts’in was very anxious to negotiate about the acquisition of a certain boundary province belonging to the king of Ch’u, who offered its cession for no other consideration than the delivery of the person of Chang I. That wily statesman, far from objecting, even volunteered to place himself into the hands of the southern king. He trusted to the power of his tongue and to certain personal connections at the court of Ch’u, whose king put him in prison to await exe- cution. Chang I, however, had not in vain counted on the help of a friend who happened to be the right hand of the king’s favorite wife. This friend excited her jealousy by telling her that the prince of Ts’in intended to ransom the prisoner by the gift of a beautiful woman. This.had the desired effect. The king of Ch’u’s wife used all her in- fluence in bringing about Chang I’s release and return to the court of Ts’in before the much-dreaded ransom could THE CONTENDING STATES 318 be despatched. Su Ts’in’s “Six State Confederation” had succeeded in delaying the designs of Ts’in for a number of years, it is true, but in the long run Chang I’s policy got the better of his. In the meantime the shadow emperor Hién-wang was followed by his son Sh6n-tsing-wang. § 64. SHON-TSING-WANG (320-315 B.c.) The history of this ruler, like that of his successors, scarcely deserves to be considered as representing China. The chief events of his reign were an unsuccessful attempt by five of the confederate states to attack Ts’in, ending in their defeat at the Han-ku Pass in Ho-nan, the place where Lau-tzi is supposed to have taken leave of the world, and the assassination of Su Ts’in in 317 8.c. Su Ts’in’s lucky star had been on the wane for some time. We have seen that he had settled in the state of Chau as the strongest among the confederates, and his efforts in holding together the federation had indeed succeeded, as Ssi-ma Ts’ién puts it, in keeping the armies of Ts’in out of the Han-ku Pass for fifteen years. But in the meantime Ts’in had secured the services of another great diplomat, like Chang I, a native of Wei, in the person of Kung-sun Yen, who was sent on a mission to the east to persuade the rulers of Ts’i and Wei into a joint attack on Chau with intent to break up the confederation. In this he perfectly succeeded, Chau was actually attacked by the two confederates (332 B.c.); and from this time onward Ts’in had become more and more successful in its policy of sowing discord among its opponents. Su Ts’in had, after the collapse of his scheme, fallen out with the prince of Chau and, under the pretext of a diplo- matic mission, had withdrawn to the state of Yen, where he 814 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHYNA accepted the post of minister. But there he was involved in a scandal with the mother of his prince, which forced him to take refuge again at the court of Ts’i. His intrigues in Ts’i, however, created dissatisfaction among the people and led to his assassination. Chang I, who had for a num- ber of years been chancellor of Wei, was called after the death of his opponent to Ts’in again, which by the policy of its great chancellor had greatly increased in territory, its latest conquest (316 B.c.) being that of the country of Shu, the present province of Ssi-ch’uan. One of the most power- ful rivals of the state of Ts’in was the southern kingdom of Ch’u, which had attained supremacy over the whole of the south of China by the conquest of the kingdom of Yiié in 334 B.c. Shén-tsing-wang was succeeded by his son Nan- wang. § 65. Nan-wane (314-256 B.c.) This monarch was the last Son of Heaven under the Chéu dynasty. Like all his predecessors, he wore the modest title king (wang); but several of the more powerful states being nominally his vassals, had in the course of generations assumed the rank of kingdoms. The Chéu empire now consisted of eleven states, all the heads of which, with the exception of two, had in the course of time enforced from the shadow emperor their recognition as kings; and as such, every one of them was much more powerful than the king of Chéu himself. A title is not, of course, an absolutely exact index of the power wielded; for the rulers of Ts’in had been among the strongest long before they assumed the title wang in 325 B.c. It seems characteristic that for centuries Ch’u, which owing to its great extension toward the south, and the non-Chinese character of its population, THE CONTENDING STATES 315 would naturally feel less inclined to be loyal in its relations to the imperial court, claimed the royal crown as early as 7043.c. Ts’ifollowed next in378 B.c.; Wei,in370 B.c.; Yen and Han, in 332 B.c.; Chau, in 329 B.c.; and Sung, following Ts’in, in 318 B.c. The prince of Lu had remained a duke as he was at the time of Confucius; and the rulers of the little state of Wei (not to be confounded with the larger one of that name), who had been dukes for many centuries, had to submit to “Irish promotion” by being reduced to the rank of marquises, and finally that of mere lords (kiin). Two years after the ascension of Nan-wang, Ts’in gained that great victory against Ch’u following which Chang I volunteered to proceed to the southern court as a captive of the king. This proved to be a ruse of war, by which Ts’in gained as much as Ch’u lost. King Huai of Ch’u then had in his service a distant relative named K’ii Yiian, a man of character, who in spite of his youth had gained, by the wisdom of his advice, the king’s entire confidence. K’ti Yiian had in vain protested against the artful schemes of Chang I, as he had warned the king against that war which brought so much trouble on his country. His ad- vice had been disregarded; and the persistency of his warnings paved the way for the intrigues of a set of jealous courtiers, who managed to bring about his absolute dis- grace with the king. His melancholy outbursts of feeling over the unjustness of his fate formed the subject of a celebrated poem by him entitled Li-sau, “Incurring Mis- fortune,”’ or “Under a Cloud.” Finally, the poet put an end to the persecutions of his enemies by drowning himself in a river. This sad event is commemorated throughout China on the anniversary of its occurrence, viz. the fifth of the fifth moon, by a kind of regatta, when well-to-do young 316 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF @HINA men man boats and beat gongs and drums as though they were searching for the body of the lamented poet who sacrificed life and happiness in doing his best to serve his king-and his country. Next to the odes of the Shi-king K’ti Yiian’s poetry is in point of age as well as of merit the most important produc- tion of Chinese literature of this class, which saw its best days centuries later under the glorious T’ang dynasty. The Li-sau poem is the principal contribution to the collec- tion known as Ch’u-tz’i, “The Ch’u Elegies,”’ which has an extensive literature of its own by way of commentary and supplement. K’ii Yiian’s effusions are almost unequaled in popularity, because they appeal to the hearts of all who feel that, world-weary melancholy which is the subject also of some of the odes of the Shi-king. The king of Ts’in’s great diplomat, Chang I, tried very hard to win over the eastern states to Ts’in; but in the meantime King Hui-won, who had occupied the throne of Ts’in since 337 B.c., had died (311 3.c.); and King Wu, his successor (310-307 3B.c.), does not seem to have fallen in so readily with Chang I’s policy. After Chang I’s attempts at a federation in favor of Ts’in had failed, he left again for Wei, where he resumed the post of minister and died soon after (310 B.c.). Wu-wang himself died after a short reign in Ts’in, during which a successful war with the state of Han ended with a further aggrandizement of his territory. It was at this time (308 B.c.) that Wu-ling, King of Chau, adopted Tartar dress and remodeled his army by intro- ducing the Tartar style of fighting on horseback —a cultural change supporting, as we have seen, that upheaval of time-honored institutions and views always favored by Ts’in, the semi-Tartar state. THE CONTENDING STATES 317 An important time was now in store for the state of Ts’in under its king, Chau-siang (306-251 z.c.), during whose long reign great strides were made in bringing Ts’in to the front. Chau-siang was a minor when he ascended the throne, and his mother, who had assumed the regency as Sian t’ai-hdu, 7.e. “Queen Dowager Siian,”’ appointed Wei Jan, a relative by marriage of the former king Hui- won, though a native of Ch’u, commander-in-chief of the army and defender of the Ts’in capital Hién-yang, the present Si-an-fu, which appointment had become necessary to secure the throne against internal family intrigues. Wei Jan’s management proved a great success. The efficiency of his army, supported by all possible ruses both of war and diplomacy, succeeded in securing the upper hand over the other states. King Huai of Ch’u, who had already become the victim of Chang I’s cunning, fell into a trap laid by the wily Ts’in diplomat. Being invited, after a number of unsuccessful hostilities to an interview, under the pretext of concluding an alliance with Ts’in, he went, contrary to the advice of his faithful friend, the poet K’ti Yiian, to the appointed meeting-place, only to be made a prisoner (299 B.c.) and to die in captivity three years later. In the continuation of its wars with the southern state of Ch’u, Ts’in wrenched from it seventy-six cities, with large tracts of territory. In the meantime some of the eastern states had again rallied and had formed an alliance. King Chau-siang had also taken into his service Méng-ch’ang- kiin, a member of the T’ién family of Ts’i, who acted as diplomatic agent. Being suspected of secretly working in the interests of his native state, Ts’i, he had a narrow escape in saving his life by flight, took service in Ts’i, formed an 318 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA alliance with Han and Wei, and actually did some damage to Ts’in, which had to surrender three of the cities previ- ously conquered by it on the east of the Yellow River (298 B.c.). Wei Jan now became chancellor in Ts’in and appointed the great strategist Po K’i commander-in-chief in his place. Po K’i entirely crushed the armies of Han and Wei in the famous battle of I-k’té (south of the present city of Ho-nan-fu), where 240,000 combatants were killed and further territory was gained by Ts’in (293 B.c.). In his subsequent encounters with the allied armies, Po K’i was equally successful; and the several annexations of neigh- boring territories increased King Chau-siang’s power to such an extent that as early as 288 B.c. an attempt was made, on the advice of Wei Jan, to crown him as “ Emperor of the West.” The most powerful sovereign among the eastern states was now the king of Ts’i, which state had made rapid progress since the recognition of the T’ién family as hereditary rulers; and the services of a man like Méng-ch’ang-kiin, who must have been thoroughly familiar with all the schemes of the Ts’in court, may have tended to qualify it all the better for leadership in the east. For this reason King Chau-siang could not claim sufficient in- fluence to justify his assumption of the title of emperor of the whole of China, but he took that of ‘Western Em- peror”’ (Si-tz), at the same time sending an embassy to King Min of Ts’i offering him a diploma as “Eastern Emperor” (J'ung-ti). King Min’s adviser Su Tai, a brother of Su Ts’in, the creator of the anti-Ts’in confederation, was in favor of accepting the diploma without assuming the title; such modesty, he thought, would win the favors of the other sovereigns. Ts’i adopted this plan, when Ts’in had no alternative but to follow the example, and the THE CONTENDING STATES 319 emperor question was shelved for the time being. In 286 B.c. Ts’i was involved in war with the state of Sung, which was incorporated into its territories; and in the fol- lowing year (285 B.c.) King Min madean attempt to establish himself as emperor; but the king of Yen in 284 z.c., backed by the states of Ts’in, Ch’u, Chau, and Wei, sent against Ts’i his general Yo I, who took the capital, forced the king to flee, and conquered over seventy cities, annexing them to the possessions of Yen. King Min was killed by his own minister. The throne of Ts’i was then occupied by his son Siang-wang. The attacks of Yen on the leading state of Ts’i gave the king of Ts’in a free hand to pick a quarrel with the neighboring state of Chau, and in280 B.c. Po K’i was able to report a victory which had cost 20,000 of the Chau soldiers their lives. Two years later (278 B.c.), Ts’in turned again against its most powerful opponent, the state of Ch’u; General Po K’i conquered Ying, its capital, the present King-chéu-fu in Hu-pei, and destroyed I-ling, the burial-place of the kings of Ch’u, in its neigh- borhood. During the succeeding years Ts’in was success- ful in several wars against one or another of the eastern states. An attack on Chau was, however, repulsed in 270 B.c., when the army of Ts’in was completely routed under the leadership of the Chau commander Chau Sho. In 266 3.c. an important crisis took place in the govern- ment of Ts’in. For about forty years Wei Jan had been the soul of Ts’in’s political aggrandizement. As a relative and favorite of the queen dowager, it had been easy for him to grasp the reins of government with a firm hand, and ~ while effectually serving the cause he had made his own, the absolute supremacy of Ts’in among the states of China, he had also managed to concentrate in his person an 320 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHYNA accumulation of property and power which in the long run became uncomfortable to his sovereign, who had in the meantime grown to manhood. King Chau-siang in 266 B.c. made an end to the regency of his mother and to the chancel- lorship of Wei Jan, who was banished to his marquisate Jang in the present province of Ho-nan. Wei Jan’s dis- missal from the king’s service was accompanied with all the honors due to his rank and to a recognition of his valu- able services; but it is characteristic of Wei Jan’s career that, when his baggage was searched on passing the eastern boundary, it was discovered that he owned more jewels than the king of Ts’in himself. Wei Jan died soon after his banishment. His place in Ts’in was occupied by Fan Tsii, one of those itinerant politicians whose rivalry Wei Jan had always feared and had kept out of the court of Ts’in. Being a native of Wei, Fan Tsii had, after an adventurous career coupled with all possible privations and humiliations, managed to foil Wei Jan’s vigilance and, after a personal interview with King Chau-siang, had received an appointment in the ministry (270 B.c.). It was he who brought about that change in the Ts’in government which led to the ruin of Wei Jan and three other ministers sup- porting his policy; and having by his advice and moral support helped the king to occupy at last his rightful posi- tion, he saw himself suddenly raised to be the most power- ful man in China, with the rank of amarquis. The manner in which he took revenge on some of his enemies in the east for all the humiliations they had forced him to undergo is full of dramatic incidents. Fan Tsii, of course, continued the outward policy of his predecessor in striving for the hegemony of Ts’in. In this he was supported at first by the great general Po K’i, who THE CONTENDING STATES 321 in 260 B.c. won another leaf in his wreath of laurels by the celebrated siege of the city of Shang-tang, the present Lu- an-fu, in Shan-si. Sometime before this Ts’in had got pos- session, by force of arms, of a portion of the state of Han; but the people of Shang-tang would not consent to its annexation and preferred to jointhe state of Chau, with that portion of its territory which contained the city. This led to another war against Chau, whose army was defeated and inclosed in the city of Shang-tang. There it was besieged by the Ts’in army for forty-six days, the population suffer- ing the most terrible hardships culminating in cannibalism. With the city 40,000 men surrendered and were killed. § 66. THE “Four Noses” The final struggle of the house of Ts’in against the other Contending States was delayed by the efforts of the so-called “Four Nobles” (ssi-hau), prominent members of the princely houses of their respective states or of princely rank who had gained great influence coupled with political success in the management of the government of their sovereigns. ‘One of these we have already met in the person of Méng- ch’ang-kiin, the minister of Ts’i, the once rejected employee of the Ts’in government. The three others were P’ing- yiian-kiin, a junior prince of Chau, who died in 250 B.c.; Sin-ling-kiin, known also as Prince Wu-ki of Wei, who died in 244 n.c.; and Ch’un-shén-kiin, the chief minister of Ch’u, whose proper name was Huang Hié and who was assassinated in 237 B.c. The “ Four Nobles” were the chief antagonists of Fan Tsii’s policy. Huang Hié, the only one of the “Four Nobles” who was not of princely blood, had been made prime minister and ennobled as prince by King K’au-lié of Ch’u; and on his X¥ 322 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA e advice the Ch’u capital was removed from its former site at the present King-chéu-fu to that of the present Soochow (248 3.c.). Huang Hié had been tutor to the king when crown prince, and since, previous to his succession to the throne, his master resided as a pledge in Ts’in, he must have been well familiar with Ts’in politics. In 258 8.c. Ts’in renewed its attacks on Chau and surrounded Han-tan, its capital. This time the famous general Po K’i, having fallen out with the chancellor Fan Tsii, had refused to place himself at the head of the Ts’in army, which led to his dis- grace and subsequent suicide.’ Two of the ‘‘ Four Nobles,” Ch’un-sh6n-kiin of Ch’u and Sin-ling-kiin of Wei, now came to the rescue under the leadership of the latter, raised the siege, killed Wang Ho, the Ts’in general, and defeated his army. All the troubles Ts’in had to undergo in connection with this defeat were due to mistakes made by the chancellor Fan Tsii, whose hostility to the best military leader the state had seen in many years had deprived King Chau-siang of one of his most useful subjects, to say nothing of the mortification it must have caused him to have committed such grave injustice. It was due to Fan Tsii’s favoritism that incapa- ble generals had been sent against Chau. Fan Tsii, knowing his guilt, acted in truly Chinese spirit, 'To save him the humiliation of an execution, the king had sent him a sword, with which he killed himself. It looks as if this is an early example of a custom prevailing in China centuries before it took the shape of harakiri in Japan. The difference is that by the Japanese custom the victim had to cut his abdomen, while the dis- graced Ts’in general cut his throat. The essential feature of Po K’i’s undeserved punishment is that a sword was sent to him, just as it used to be sent to the daimyds and samurai of Japan, who were exempted from the indignity of public execution. THE CONTENDING STATES 323 when he asked Chau-siang to punish him for his mistakes; but, far from doing this, Chau-siang only rewarded him with new honors. This was in 257 B.c. A most important event now took place. As a result of previous treaties it had become customary to send princes of the blood as pledges to the courts of con- tracting states, from whence they escaped when political reasons rendered such a breach of good faith advisable. We have seen that in 263 B.c. the crown prince of Chau fled from the court of Ts’in, and we find now Prince I-jén, son of the crown prince of Ts’in, residing as a pledge at the court of Chau. I-jén was not a legitimate successor of his father, being one of the many sons born to him by his concubines. Poor and not very sharp-witted, illiterate and inexperienced, he was the very man to become the victim of a clever intrigant. At the city of Han-tan, the capital of Chau, he had made the acquaintance of a merchant named Lii Pu-wei, who had come from one of the eastern states to settle there, and who was one of the most remark- able men of his time. Described as a wholesale merchant at the time when he fell in with the prince, he soon proved a scheming politician, who understood how to lay his plans and raise his own person to a position which made him almost the principal agent in securing for the house of Ts’in the final result, for which it had struggled so many genera- tions, in seating its head on the throne of China. When he first met I-jén, he is reported to have said, “This is rare merchandise indeed, and a good chance!” And he decided to make the most of it. His first scheme was based on the fact that the prince’s father, the crown prince of Ts’in, had no children by his legitimate first wife, Hua-yang, in spite of his infatuation for her. Since I-jén’s father did not make 824 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA * much of his children by his other wives, he persuaded the prince to make an effort to be recognized as heir to the throne. The young man did not exert himself much in the matter; his clever friend did it all for him. Li Pu-wei invested his entire little fortune in procuring an outfit for the needy prince’ and in buying royal gifts in order to bribe himself into favor with the childless queen. He thus man- aged to get his protégé to be adopted in preference to his half-brothersand declared heir apparent to the crown prince. _ Having succeeded so far, Li Pu-wei committed one of the boldest frauds recorded in history. He married a society girl of the city of Han-tan, described as a woman of irre- sistible charms and a clever dancer, subsequently known as the “Lady of Han-tan,’”’ whom history declares to have been pregnant by him, though the world never hears the truth about such family secrets, and the possibility of the prince having had connection with her at Han-tan as Li Pu-wei’s friend must be admitted. JI-jén fell in love with her; and Li Pu-wei, with feigned reluctance, consented to let him have her, while persuading him that the boy to which she afterward gave birth had been begotten by the prince. It was not till after the birth of this boy, whose name was Chong, that I-j6n made the beautiful dancer his wife. According to Ssi-ma Ts’ién, all this took place before the prince’s flight from Han-tan, which, according to the same author, was effected by Li Pu-wei bribing the city guards. When, a few years later (251 3.c.), King Chau-siang died after a reign of fifty-six years, I-jén’s father followed him as king of Ts’in under the throne name Hiau-w6én-wang, and I-j6n became crown prince. It appears that it was not till then that the Lady of Han-tan with her son Chong made her entry at the court of Ts’in, the people of Chau THE CONTENDING STATES 325 having up to this time put difficulties in the way of their departure from the country. I-jén’s son, Chéng, the re- puted natural offspring of a simple merchant, was no less a personage than the future Emperor Shi-huang-ti, “the Burner of the Books,” as we shall see in the sequel. During the last few years of old King Chau-siang’s gov- ernment, Ts’in had gained further victories over Han and Chau (256 B.c.), resulting in great augmentations of its territory and enormous loss of life of the contending armies. The shadow emperor Nan-wang had made an unsuccessful attempt to assert himself by trying to form another alli- ance among the eastern states; but the result was that Ts’in invaded his territory and wrenched the western part of it from him. Soon after Nan-wang died (256 B.c.), leaving the eastern part of his dominion to-a relative, who reigned there under the style of Tung-Chéu-kiin, “ Prince of Eastern Chéu,” until the year 249 B.c., when Ts’in put an end to this last remnant of the once glorious dynasty by making the regent a prisoner and annexing his territory. The Emperor Yii’s nine sacred tripods had been in the hands of the Chéu kings ever since Wu-wang conquered them from the vicious Emperor Chéu-sin. A year after Nan- wang’s defeat they were taken possession of by the king of Ts’in. In 255 s.c. the philosopher Siin K’uang, the opponent of Mencius, inasmuch as he held that man’s nature was bad from the outset and not good, as the Confucianists main- tain, was appointed to the high office of governor in the state of Ch’u, where he exercised great influence under the patronage of Ch’un-shén-kiin. The death of that states- man brought about his dismissal, upon which he devoted himself to the education of pupils, chief among them being 326 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF oN the philosopher Han-Fei-tzi and the great anti-Confucian- ist Li Ssi destined ere long to play a conspicuous part. Ch’u had in 255 B.c. made conquests in Lu (south Shan- tung); and in 254 s.c., after Ts’in had wrenched a city from Wei, the king of Han did homage at its court at the funeral ceremony of the late king, while the other states confined their courtesies to sending messages through some official. The court of Han had ever since the last one hundred and seventy years refrained from paying this tribute of acknowl- edgment to the Son of Heaven, and the orthodox Confucian writers of the T’ung-kién-kang-mu look upon this act of prudence as a grave sin, the punishment for which followed in due course; for while Han was the first state to recog- nize the leadership of Ts’in, it was also the first to be swal- lowed up by Ts’in within less than a generation. § 67. Tur LEADERSHIP OF Ts’IN (256-221 B.c.) After the death of Nan-wang there was actually no Son of Heaven in China. Tung-Chéu-kiin, “the Lord of Eastern Chéu,” was a scion of the Chéu family, it is true, but he could not even claim the title of wang. With the loss of the sacred tripods he had forfeited the right to call himself “Son of Heaven”; and, to complete the ceremonial part of taking up the position as the representative of the Chinese nation, without actually assuming the title of emperor, King Chau-siang had in 253 B.c. offered sacri- fice to Shang-ti, the Supreme Ruler, the one god with whom, by the tradition dating from the very beginning of Chinese history, only the emperor is supposed to communi- cate. THE CONTENDING STATES 327 The thirty-six years following Nan-wang’s death are, therefore, a kind of interregnum, such as is found in the history of the German empire during the years 1254 to 1273. It was the time of Ts’in’s final and successful struggle with its rivals for supreme power. Of this period T have already recorded some introductory events. King Chau-siang’s son, I-jon’s father, Hiau-woén, reigned one year, or, not counting his term of mourning, only three days, when I-jo6n succeeded him under the style of Chuang- siang-wang (249-247 B.c.). He and Lii Pu-wei were sworn friends; and no sooner was the former exile seated on the throne than he appointed Lii Pu-wei prime minister with almost unlimited powers, at the same time raising him to the rank of marquis. It might look like an acknowledg- ment of the alleged historic scandal concerning the paternity of Chéng, the crown prince, that this very son afterward added to these honors, as a special title, the designation Chung-fu, “Second Father’; but I am inclined to look upon this very act as a refutation of what may after all have been idle gossip, if not a deliberate falsehood invented by the Confucianists in order to place their greatest enemy, the destroyer of Confucian literature, under a cloud. If among the intimates of the court of Ts’in there had been the merest shadow of a doubt as to his paternity, the young king would certainly not have been imprudent enough to invent for his prime minister just this title; nor would Li Pu-wei have had any interest in inducing him to bestow it. Lit Pu-wei’s chief merit in the advancement of the cause of Ts’in is the clever trick with which he succeeded in regu- lating the succession to the throne among about twenty claimants. But for him internal troubles might have delayed, if not prevented, final success. One of his first 328 THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA political acts was the definite extinction of the last remnant of Chéu independence by the capture of the eastern Chou capital, situated near the present Ho-nan-fu, and formally deposing its prince. In the same year he sent the general Mong Au against Han, thus ill requiting the loyalty pre- viously shown by its prince; the same leader, who was the grandfather of the great Ts’in general Mong T’ién, then was sent with varying success against Chau and Wei. Though Ts’in was defeated in 247 B.c. by Sin-ling-kiin, one of the “Four Nobles” who did so much to check Ts’in’s final progress, the outcome of the several campaigns undertaken by Lit Pu-wei was further aggrandizement of Ts’in territory. Sin-ling-kin, the valiant leader of the state of Wei, had placed himself at the head of the combined forces of the five states Wei, Han, Chau, Ts’i, and Ch’u, which would probably have been a perfect match against Ts’in had he succeeded in keeping them together. King Chuang-siang, alias I-jon, died after a short reign of about three years, leaving his son Chong, then a boy of thirteen, to succeed him. Hu An-kuo (died 1138 a.n.), one of the commentators of the T’wng-kién-kang-mu, sug- gests that the premature death of the two kings Hiau-wén and Chuang-siang may have been caused by Lii Pu-wei; and though no positive statement to that effect is on record in the older historians, it must be admitted that these two lives were the only obstacles to his becoming practically supreme ruler in Ts’in. Hiau-wén’s death gave him a free hand with his old friend, whom he had raised to the throne, it is true, but whose memory he subsequently betrayed by scandalous intimacy with the queen-mother, his first wife, Chuang-siang’s dowager. APPENDIX CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES I, MYTHOLOGICAL AND LEGENDARY P’an-ku, the first ruler and originator of mankind. T’ién-huang, “Heavenly Emperors.” Thirteen brothers, each reigning 18,000 years. Ti-huang, “Terrestrial Emperors.”’ Eleven brothers. J 6n-huang, “Human Emperors.” Nine brothers. Wu-lung, ‘Five Dragons,” and other generations of rulers bearing fanciful names. Yin-ti epoch. Thirteen families known as Yu-ch’au, or “Nest Builders.” Sui-jén, “Fire Producer.” B.C. Fu-hi, the alleged first emperor . 3 3 . - 2852-2738! Shén-nung, or Yen-ti. . 2 7 . 2737-2705 Huang-ti, the Yellow Emperor, or Hié ancgiion . . 2704-2595 ~~ Shau-hau, son of Huang-ti . . 5 E ; « 2594-2511 Chuan-hii, Huang-ti’s grandson Kau-yang . ; . 2510-2433 T1-k’u,? a nephew of Chuan-hii . . ‘ ‘ . 2432-2363 Ti-chi, son of Ti-k’u . i 3 ‘3 ‘ . 2362-2358 II. THE CONFUCIAN LEGENDS Yau, Ti-chi’s step-brother . : ‘ i ‘ . 2357-2258 Shun, a self-made man of the people . ‘ 5 . 2258-2206 1 Note that the dates here inserted are those of the Chinese standard chro- nology as adopted by the greater part of the native historians. There is, besides, the chronology of the Bamboo Books, differing by fully 200 years at the beginning. Readers will find them in Professor Arendt’s Synchronistische Regententabellen, from which the data here communicated have been derived. 2? Ti means emperor and is prefixed to the names of several of the early tulers (Ti-chi, Ti-k’i, Ti-siang, Ti-ch’u, etc.), the name being occasionally quoted without the prefix. 329 330 APPENDIX ¥ Tue Hra Dynasty, 2205-1766 B.c. Yu, Ta-yii, the ‘Great Yi,” or Hia-héu Ti-k’t, or Kt, Yii’s son 5 T’ai-k’ang, Ti-k’i’s son Chung-k’ang, T’ai-k’ang’s poitiiods brother First eclipse of the sun mentioned in Chinese his- tory, possibly one of the several dates calcu- lated by European savants, viz. Ti-siang, Chung-k’ang’s son Han-cho, the usurper Shau-k’ang, Ti-siang’s son . Ti-ch’u, Shau-k’ang’s son . . Ti-huai, Ti-ch’u’s son Ti-mang, Ti-huai’s son ‘ a , Ti-sié, Ti-mang’s son Ti-pu-kiang, Ti-sié’s son Ti-kiung, Ti-pu-kiang’s younger rother Ti-kin, Ti-kiung’s son . Ti-k’ung-kia, Ti-pu-kiang’s son . Ti-kau, Ti-k’ung-kia’s son . Ti-fa, Ti-kau’s son , Kié, also Kui, Ti-kui, and Kisii. Ti-fa’s S son . B.C. 2205-2198 2197-2189 2188-2160 2159-2147 2165, May 7 2155, Oct. 22 2154, Oct. 11 2135, Oct. 21 2127, Oct. 12 2006, Oct. 24 2146-2119 2119-2079 2079-2058 2057-2041 2040-2015 2014-1997 1996-1981 1980-1922 1921-1901 1900-1880 1879-1849 1848-1838 1837-1819 1818-1766 Ill, THE SHANG, OR YIN, DYNASTY, 1766-1122 B.c. Ch’éng-t’ang, T’ang, or Shang-t’ang Had reigned as prince of Shang since 1783 T’ai-kia, Ch’éng-t’ang’s grandson ‘ Wu-ting, T’ai-kia’s son T’ai-kéng, Wu-ting’s younger broiler Siau-kia, T’ai-kéng’s son j Yung-ki, Siau-kia’s younger brother 1766-1754 1753-1721 1720-1692 1691-1667 1666-1650 1649-1638 T’ai-moéu, or Chung-tsung, another brother of Sinuaia’s s 1637-1563 Chung-ting, T’ai-méu’s son . ‘ Wai-jén, Chung-ting’s younger brother 1562-1550 1549-1535 APPENDIX 331 B.C. Ho-t’an-kia, another brother of oe ee 8 . . 1534-1526 Tsu-t, son of Ho-t’an-kia . r A ‘i . 1525-1507 Tsu-sin, Tsu-i’s son. z : z - 1506-1491 Wu-kia, younger brother of Tau : , : . 1490-1466 Tsu-ting, Tsu-sin’s son , A : . é . 1465-1434 Nan-kéng, Wu-kia’s sony. F - ‘ é . 1433-1409 Yang-kia, Tsu-ting’s son. ‘ . - 1408-1402 P’an-kéng, Yang-kia’s younger beothian ‘ A . 1401-1374 Siau-sin, P’an-kéng’s younger brother ; ‘ . 1373-1353 Siau-i, Siau-sin’s younger brother ‘ : ; . 1852-1325 Wu-ting, or Kau-tsung, Siau-i’s son . ‘ : . 1324-1266 Tsu-kéng, Wu-ting’s son. 2 : : . 1265-1259 Tsu-kia, Tsu-k6ng’s younger brother ; : : - 1258-1226 Lin-sin, Tsu-kia’s son . ‘ é 3 ‘ - 1225-1220 Kéng-ting, Lin-sin’s younger btothes : ‘ ; . 1219-1199 Wu-t, Kong-ting’s son . ‘ 2 . - . - 1198-1195 T’ai-ting, Wu-i’s son. < ‘ ‘ ‘ ; - 1194-1192 Ti-, T’ai-ting’s son. ‘ ; . - 1191-1155 Chéu-sin, Shéu, or Shéu-sin, Tis’ $ son : ; . 1154-1122 IV. THE DUKES OF CHOU BEFORE WU-WANG T’an-fu, or Ku-kung (“The Old Duke”) at his new residence as Duke of Chéu . ‘ i : . 1327-1231 Ki-li, T’an-fu’s son. : ; . 1230-1185 W6n-wang, Ki-li’s son, also vale Ch’ang aud Si-po, or “Chief of the West” . ‘ ‘ . 1184-1135 Wu-wang, so called as first emperor of fhe Chou dynasty (personal name Fa) .. ‘ ; ; ; - 1134-1123 V. THE IMPERIAL CHOU DYNASTY, 1122-249 Buc. Wu-wang, first king of Chéu : é F . . 1122-1116 Ch’éng-wang, Wu-wang’s sony ij ‘ i . 1115-1079 K’ang-wang, Ch’éng-wang’s son . ‘ A . . 1078-1053 Chau-wang, K’ang-wang’s son. . : . - 1052-1002 Mu-wang, Chau-wang’s son : . ‘ . - 1001-947 Kung-wang, Mu-wang’s son A ’ - ‘i 946-935 332 APPENDIX ‘wang, Kung-wang’s son Hiau-wang, Kung-wang’s younger brother I*-wang, I 4-wang’s son In-wang, son of I*-wang . ; The Kung-ho period of sitcienuitt. Stian-wang, Li-wang’s son $ Yu-wang, Siian-wang’s son P’ing-wang, Yu-wang’s son. i . Huan-wang, P’ing-wang’s grandson Chuang-wang, Huan-wang’s son Hi-wang, Chuang-wang’s son . Hui-wang, Hi-wang’s son : Stang-wang, Hui-wang’s son . ‘ . K’ing-wang, Siang-wang’s son . K’uang-wang, K’ing-wang’s son Ting-wang, K’uang-wang’s younger brother Kién-wang, Ting-wang’s son Ling-wang, Kién-wang’s son King *-wang, Ling-wang’s son . King ‘-wang, son of the former Ytian-wang, son of King-wang Chén-ting-wang, Yiian-wang’s son K’au-wang, a younger son of Chan-ting wane’s 8 Wei-lié-wang, K’au-wang’s son An-wang, Wei-lié-wang’s son . Iié-wang, An-wang’s son Hién-wang, Lié-wang’s younger brother . Shén-tsing-wang, Hién-wang’s son . Nan-wang, Shon-tsing-wang’s son Tung-chéu-kiin, the “ Prince of Eastern Chou” VI. PRINCES OF TS’IN B.C. 934-910 909-895 894-879 878-842 841-828 827-782 781-771 770-720 719-697 696-682 681-677 676-652 651-619 618-613 612-607 606-586 585-572 571-545 544-520 519-476 475-469 468-441 440-426 425-402 401-376 375-369 368-321 320-315 314-256 255-249 The state of T's’in (to be distinguished from Tsin) had grown out of a small territory near the present city of Si-an-fu, given by the emperor Hiau-wang to a member of the Ts’in family by name of Fei-tzi as keeper of his herds of horses. From small beginnings Ts'in gradually grew to become the most powerful among the APPENDIX 333 feudal states during the Chéu dynasty, occupying the greater part of the present Shen-si province and indefinite tracts of territory to the west of it. B.C. Fei-tzi (ord of Ts’in) : . ‘ . about 897-858 Ts’in-héu (i.e. marquis of Ts aah ; i “ ; . 857-848 Kung-po ; . 847-845 Ts’in-chung (since 827 mnnieee at the ‘cerned edict) . 844-822 Die Chuang : F ‘ : : ‘ 3 . 821-778 Siang . 3 3 a , é 4 5 . 777-766 “Win . ; . ‘ : : ; : . 765-716 “ Wu, or Ning i 3 : ‘ ; . . 715-704 “ Ch’u, or Ch’u-tzi. ‘ - : - : . 703-698 “« Wu ‘ 3 ‘ , 2 zi S : . 697-678 “ 76 . : : ; : < ‘ $ . 677-676 “ Stian . ; : ‘ j : . e . 675-664 “ Ch’éng . ‘ Z : : é F é . 663-660 “Mu, or Jén-haw st ‘ F 3 ‘i ‘ . 659-621 “ K’ang, or Ying. : 3 : - , - 620-609 “Kung . . 2 . . . . . - 608-604 “Huan . . ‘ . 3 ‘ é - 603-577 Kip 6 6 6 we 6 oe & BRB8B7 “At . 7 . 7 . 7 : Z - 536-501 “ Hw : ‘ ‘ . ‘ ji ‘ F - 600-492 “ Tau 2 é , , - ; Fi . 491-477 “Kung, or Liking é 2 ‘ ‘ i ‘ . 476-443 “ Tsau i i : , 4 . . 442-429 “Huai. ‘ a 5 : : ‘ ‘ . 428-425 “ [ing . é . fs 4 : ‘ ‘ . 424-415 “ Kién. 7 é : ‘ - 7 ‘ . 414-400 “Au ; . i 5 : : a‘ . 399-387 “ Ch’u, or Ch’ u-tal ‘i a : ‘ 5 ‘ . 386-385 “ Hién . - j ‘ - ‘ é j . 384-362 “ Hiauw . 5 . ; : : i , . 361-338 King Hui-wén ‘ 5 7 7 2 . . . 337-311 “ Wu. : ae ope ec iy> 1K . . 310-307 “ Charrsiang . r . ‘ r 7 F . 3806-251 334 APPENDIX é B.C. King Hiau-wén : . a 3 - 250 “ Chuang-siang, Ch’u, or Fgn: ; . . 249-247 “ Chéng (=Ts’in Shi-huang-ti), as King of Ts’in 246-221 asemperor of China. : . . 220-210 VII. PRINCES OF TSIN The state of T'sin (to be distinguished from Ts’in) had grown out of a fief given to a younger son of Wu-wang, the founder of the Chéu dynasty, by name of Yii, and situated in the southern part of the present Shan-si province, which filled the greater part of its later extent. It was conterminous with Ts’in in the west and the Huns in the north. In 745 B.c. Marquis Chau had appointed his uncle lord of K’ii-wu in South Shan-si, whose descendants usurped the throne and were confirmed as dukes of Tsin in 678 B.c. Yi, or Shu-yi (invested with the territory of T’ang) . 1107 Marquis Sié, Yii’s son Wu Ch’ éng “ lh “Tsing i ‘ 3 ‘ é 3 . . 858-841 “ It4,orHi. . i . 9 3 ‘ . 840-823 “ Hién . 5 7 é . ‘ : - 822-812 “Mu . : ‘ 7 . ‘ : , - 811-785 Shang-shu, usurper . : . ; ‘ . ‘ . 784-781 haps Won . a Z : : : a 5 - 780-746 Chau . 3 é 3 : 5‘ 2 . . 745-739 “ Hiau . . . . : : : . . 738-724 me Au . . . 7 ‘ : . . . 723-718 AL a F ‘ ‘ Re ; ‘ . 717-710 “ Stau-tzi . wk ‘ . 709-705 “Min. . - 704-679 Usurpers of the house a Ki-wu (678-876 3 B.C. )- Duke Wu ; . é ‘ ‘ : ‘ . 678-677 “Hién . : . . 5 . 7 . 676-651 “Hui . ; ‘ . . ; . 7 - 650-638 APPENDIX Duke Huai be 376 B.c. Duke Ts Won, or Ch’ung-ir . Siang ling. Ch’éng . King lh Tau Ping Chau K’ing Ting Ch’u At Yu Iné Hiau ‘ Tsing . : the princes of Wei, Han, and Chau. VIII. PRINCES OF WEI Marquis Wén (confirmed 403 B.c.) . “ King bc Wu Au Stang At Chau An-hi . King-min Kia Wei was annexed by T’s’in in 225 B.c. IX. PRINCES OF HAN Marquis King (confirmed 403) oe 335 B.C. 637 636-628 627-621 620-607 606-600 599-581 580-573 572-558 557-532 531-526 525-512 511-474 473-457 456-439 438-420 419-393 392-378 377-376 ing was ccposed, and his territory divided by 425-387 386-371 370-335 - 334-319 318-296 295-277 276-243 242-228 227-225 408-400 399-387 336 APPENDIX e B.C. Marquis Wén Fi < Ci ay 3 . a . 386-377 © AG we ew 876-871 “ I eee eee 870-859 " Chau 5 . . : ‘ 3 3 - 358-333 King Siian-hur : a 4s e oe Sw Js . 332-312 “Siang . : ‘ ‘i é ‘ A z . 811-296 “ Hi (Kivu). : ; ‘ : ; é . 295-273 “ Huanr-hu. 3 ‘ ‘ ‘ A s . 272-239 «An ; : is ‘ . 238-230 Han was annexed by Ts'i in in 230 B B.C. X. PRINCES OF CHAU Marquis Lié (confirmed ae . ‘ ; é - 408-400 Duke Wu : 5 3 ‘ 3 2 ° - 399-387 Marquis King . i ‘ i Fi 7 Fi F - 386-375 me Ch’éng - _ . : i fs . 374-350 ¢ Su. . . 3 . ‘ ‘ ‘ « 849-326 King Wuling. 6 et es : : - 325-299 “ Hui-wén 7 . ‘4 . js . s . 298-266 “« Hiau-ch’éng . . 5 ‘i ‘ . ; . 265-245 “ Tau-siang . 7 i : . 3 a - 244-236 “ Tsién (Yu-mu) . j 235-228 Chau was partly annexed by Ts in in "998 - B.C., the imextation being completed in 222 B.c. XI. PRINCES OF CH’U Ch’u, originally the country of the southern barbarians (nan- man), occupied the entire south of the federal states, especially the country on both banks of the Yang-tzi in its middle course. Its first, probably legendary, prince was supposed to have been a great-grandson of Yii-hiung, the philosopher and teacher of Wén- wang. This was Hiung I, supposed to have been invested as prince of Ch’u by Ch’éng-wang. The princes of Ch’u henceforth have the surname Hiung. Viscount Hiung I ‘i ‘ ‘ ‘i : . about 1100 a “At « . ee). ly - 1078-1053 APPENDIX 337 B.C. Viscount Hiung T’an 3 ; ‘ ‘ ‘ « 1052-1002 «“ “Sheng . . . . «~~. 1001-947 os “Yang 3 i: ‘ - 946- Ku, hacen “King” about . . 887 Mu-k’ang (died pee s “— Chi-hung. ; . . 867-866 e “Yen . ‘ : j ; ‘ - 865-848 & “Yung . ‘ 4 ; : ‘i . 847-838 “ “Yen . F ‘ ; i : - 837-828 “Shuang. - ‘ é : . 827-822 . “« Siin . ‘ ‘ 5 é e - 821-800 « “Au. ‘ . i ; j - 799-791 © “I, or Jo-au. 3 ; : 3 . 790-764 “ « Siau-au ss. i ‘ ‘ ‘i . 763-758 Fén-mau . : ‘ is a - 757-741 King Wu. ‘i : : : : . . . 740-690 “ Wen . ‘ ‘ z ‘ ‘i : : . 689-677 Tu-au : 7 r is A - . 5 . 676-672 King Ch’éng 3 ‘i , é z $ ‘ . 671-626 “Mu . é a , : ‘ : 4 . 625-614 Chuang i : . és . : ‘ - 613-591 “Kung . i 5 : ‘ ‘ ‘ - - 590-560 “ K’ang * ‘ ‘ ‘ : is ‘ - §59-545 Kia-au 5 ‘ - ‘ . ‘ < ; . 544-541 King Ling . : ‘ . : es As F - 540-529 “ Ping . ‘ “ 3 . a é < - 528-516 “Chau . ‘ ‘ ‘ . . , : - 515-489 “ Hu. ‘i - ‘ Fi . i . - 488-432 “ Kién . : . . 7 ; ‘ < . 481-408 Shing. . « «sw + ee 407-402 “ Tau . : ‘ 5 is , é . 401-381 “Su. j - 3 A i by , . 380-370 “ Siian . ‘ é . é ; : : . 3869-340 “ We . 3 ‘ . : 7 7 ji . 339-329 “Huai . ‘ . 7 : 6 ‘ : . 828-299 K’ing-siang . . i. . . . . - 298-263 Krawlé . 7 . $ * ‘ . - 262-238 az 338 King Yu. OAT 8 “ Furch’u Ch’u was annexed by 7's’in in 223 B.c. APPENDIX XII. PRINCES OF YEN s B.C. . 237-228 s 228 . 227-223 Yen was the northernmost among the eastern states and fell together with the greater part of modern Chi-li. One duke of Shau by name of Shi is mentioned as the first prince of Yen; his ninth descendant, Marquis Hui, heads the line of those whose names and periods of government have become known. Marquis Hut “ M@. “ce King Duke Az Marquis Chéng “ Mu “ — Stian Huan Duke Chuang “Siang. Huan. Stian . “Chau . “ Wu. “ Won. “ce I «Hui “ Tau . Kung. Ping . “ Kién . “ Hién . “ Hiau .« “ Ch’ éng “Min cc oc “cc “ ce 864-827 826-791 790-767 766-765 764-729 728-711 710-698 . 697-691 . 690-658 . 657-618 . 617-602 : 601-587 . 586-574 . 573-555 . 554-549 548-545 544-536 535-529 528-524 523-505 504-493 492-465 : 464-450 ‘ 449-434 433-403 APPENDIX Duke Hi. 3 ‘ , . A “Huan. “ Won . King I. “ Kum. “Chau . “Huw. : “ Wu-ch’éng . Hiau . “ Hi. ; ; ‘ : ; Yen was conquered by T's’in in 222 B.c. “ XIII. PRINCES OF TS’I 339 B.C. 402-373 372-362 361-333 832-321 320-314 311-279 278-272 271-258 257-256 255-222 The state of 7's’ occupied the southeastern shore of the Yellow River and fell together with the northeast of the present Shan- tung province. The legitimate line of its princes is headed by T’ai-kung Shang, said to have been invested with it by Wu-wang. In the fourth century a line of usurpers set in, who adopted the family name T’:én, the name of the legitimate line superseded by them, being Lit. a. Princes oF THE LU Famity Duke Ting . “ I «Ku a“ At “ce Hu “ Hién “Wu $ 73 lh “« Wan “ Ch’ ng “Chuang “ Ay. “Siang . 1077-1052 1051-1001 1000-935 934-894 893-860 859-851 850-825 824-816 815-804 803-795 794-731 730-698 697-686 685-643 340 APPENDIX ° Duke Hiau . . : . : A 7 . “Chau . . . i ‘i ‘ : . fog 3 . 7 7 “Huw . ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ “cr King . “Ting . Chuang King . Tau . . 3 z ‘ 3 : “ Kién . Ping . Stian . : . . K’ang b. PrincEs oF THE T’rhN FAMILY T’ién-ho (confirmed as duke of Ts’i, 386 B.c.) Duke Huan. ; 7 q , - King Wei HO SUGN ss)! Ise ks Sa “« Min “ Siang. . “ Kién . Ts"i was annexed by T's’in in 221 B.c. XIV. PRINCES OF LU B.C. 642-633 632-613 612-609 608-599 598-582 581-554 553-548 547-489 488-485 484-481 480-456 455-405 404-379 410-385 384-379 378-343 342-324 323-284 283-265 264-221 The state of Lu occupied the southern part of the present Shan- tung province on the south of T's’7. The chronology of the princes of Lu has been made the basis by Confucius of his historical work, the Ch’un-ts’iu, for which reason it claims special attention during the period concerned. The first prince of the state was Chéu-kung, the brother of Wu-wang. The chronology down to Duke Chén is doubtful. Duke Chéu (Chéu-kung) “ Po-k’in ‘ “ Kau. ‘ : - - é “ Yang. ‘ 7 . . ‘ 7 1122-1109 1108-1063 1062-1059 1058-1053 APPENDIX 341 B.C. Duke Yu i i 5 - ‘ - 1052-1039 ue : . é : Fi ‘ ‘ - 1038- 989 on i : 5 , 3 ‘ ‘ i 988-952 ven . : 5 é ‘ é ‘ e 951-... “ Chén . 3 2 é - 7 2 z 855-826 : Wu. . 5 : é ‘ J 825-816 8 OB , A : : ‘ : s . 815-807 “ Po-yti (usurper) . : $ . 5 - 806-796 r . Hiau ‘i : ‘ : 7 5 . . 795-769 Aw. : 3 a 3 3 5 ‘ 768-723 “Yin. f é . ‘ s ‘ : 722-712 “Huan . ‘ : 7 . 7 7 : 711-694 “Chuang : . e : 5 é : 693-662 “Min . é j 4 : i 7 : 661-660 “ Mm ‘ s : : ‘ . : : 659-627 Won . . . : z . = . 626-609 de a “ Stian . ‘ . 3 A - * ‘ 608-591 “ Ch’éng. F * ‘ - ; : 590-573 “Stang . : : ‘ ‘ ‘ a : 572-542 “Chau . . ‘ : : : B ‘ 541-510 Ch’un-ts’iu period, B.c. 722-481 B.c. “ Ting. 6 we ew 5094495 be gs gE. ce, cw Vg ce OAR OT eg ce haw we REBT “ Vion. 2. 6 wee 480-410 OM ge we me wT ORG ae ww BBE i Ram. 6 4 « «© » «© » 864-948 ao Reig oe we « e @& oe oe. SPB “ Ping . : % ¢ . . A 5 314-296 “ Wen. : . . : ‘ . 5 295-273 “ King . ; . 4 : . : ‘ 272-249 Iu was annexed by Ch’u in 249 3.c. XV. PRINCES OF SUNG Sung was one of the central states, with its capital near the present Kui-té-fu in Ho-nan. Its line of princes is headed by Wei-tzi, a prince of the Shang dynasty and an opponent of the tyrant Shéu-sin. 342 APPENDIX Wei-tzi Ki . 3 . . . . . Wei Chung . a - r Duke K’t of Sung Ting . “Min . “Yang . “ lh 3 “ Hi “Hu “At “ Tat “ce Wu Stan . ‘ ‘ ‘ . “Mu . : . . : : “Shang Chuang “ Min . “Huan. Stang . “ Ch’ éng “Chau . “Wen . Kung. Ping . Yian . King . “Chau . Tau “ Hiu “Pi. ‘i T’i-ch’éng . , King Yen (king since 318) . Sung was annexed by 7's’i in 286 B.c. XVI. PRINCES OF CH’ON B.C. - 1112-1079 1078-1054 1053-1001 1000-936 935-909 908-894 893-859 858-831 830-801 800 799-766 . 765-748 . 747-729 . 728-720 . 719-710 709-692 691-682 681-651 650-637 636-620 619-611 610-589 588-576 575-532 531-517 516-451 450-404 403-396 395-375 374-370 369-329 328-286 Ch’én was a small central state near the present K’ai-féng-fu, ad- joining the state of Sung in the south. Its line of princes is headed APPENDIX 343 by a supposed descendant from the emperor Shun raised to rank by Wu-wang as Duke Hu. His successors were named Shén, Siang, Hiau, and Shén, who again was followed by Duke Yu ce Mi «Wu “ce IT Ping c Won “ lh ‘i : ‘ . i ‘i 3 Chuang . 7 ‘ 7 A a Stian : . . ‘ - “Mu r 7 : 7 a e Kung “Ling. “Ching . 6c At “Hui Huat “Min j z ‘5 ; ‘ ‘ Ch’én was annexed by Ch’u in 478 B.c. XVII. PRINCES OF TS’AU Huan . ‘ 5 é ‘ s 2 S B.C. 854-832 831-796 795-781 780-778 777-755 754-745 744-707 706-700 699-693 692-648 647-632 631-614 613-599 598-569 568-530 529-506 505-502 501-478 T's’au was a small state wedged in between Sung and Lu in the southeast of the present Shan-tung province. Its line of princes is headed by Chén-to, a brother of Wu-wang. His successors were T’ai-po, Chung-kiin, and the counts Kung and Hiau, followed by Count I “ce Yu “Tu «Aw Duke Mu «Huan 864-835 834-826 825-796 795-760 759-757 756-702 344 APPENDIX ¢ B.C. uke Chuang . . . . . . ‘ ‘< . 701-671 Hi : _ 5 i ‘ ‘ 5 ‘ - 670-662 “ Chau. ‘i . : ‘ 7 ‘ * . 661-653 Kung . ‘5 ‘ - , 5 s 3 . 652-618 “Win . 7 ‘ ‘ z . 3 7 - -617-595 “ Stian. Z ‘ é ‘ : ‘ ‘ . §94-578 “ Ch’éng . : a é é 2 $ ‘ « 577-555 “ce ee oo ee Coe oe oe ee eS Se “ * "Pay Lt om Prince Po-yang ‘ i , é - 601-487 Ts’au was annexed by ined in 487 3 B.C. XVIII. PRINCES OF CHONG Chéng was a centrally situated state adjoining the imperial terri- tory of Chéu on the east, in the present Ho-nan province. It was created in 806 B.c. by Stian-wang as a fief for his younger brother Yu, who thereby became Duke Huan . i a : ‘ a = : - 806-771 “ Wu. ‘ ‘ . i : ‘ . ‘ 770-744 “Chuang. : 5 3 is 7 7 : 743-701 «Ih (usurper) ‘ ‘ : : ; ‘ ‘ 700-697 «Chau . ‘ ‘ : , 3 ‘ ; : 696-695 Tzi-wei : 5 ‘ 3 fi F ‘ ‘ ; 694 Tzi-ying . i F . . ‘ 3 3 ‘ 693-680 oie Mm. 2 ‘ z 3 - 5 : : 679-673 Won . 3 3 § ‘i 3 é i 3 672-628 “Mu . ‘: ij : ij . 5 a 5 627-606 “Ling . : . 7 7 . . A ‘ 605 Siang . , . . é F : , : 604-587 “ Tau . : ‘ . . . ‘ 7 586-585 “ Ch’éng - ‘ . * ‘ ; 5 . 584-571 APPENDIX 345 B.C. Duke Hi. ‘ . . ‘ . - s . 570-566 “ Kién. ; i. . a . ‘ 3 . 565-530 “ Ting . 7 ‘ 7 ‘ . . 7 7 529-514 “ Hién. ‘ 5 ei : : 3 4 . 513-501 « Shéng : ‘ ‘ . s , 3 ‘ 500-464 “ At. 5 , : 5 , “ 7 6 463-456 “Kung. ; ‘i ‘ 4 j ‘ . . 455-424 “Yu . ‘1 é ‘ 3 $ 5 * * 423-... “ Si. 5 ‘ - . . é 7 7 422-396 “ BK’ang . ° ‘i : 395-375 Chéng was annexed by. Han in 375 B.C. XIX. PRINCES OF TS’AI Ts’ai was a small state adjoining Chong and Sung on the south and Ch’6n on the west. Its first prince, Tu, was a younger brother of Wu-wang. Ts’ai-shu Tu ‘ . : ; . about 1122, then banished Ts’ai Chung-hu . ‘ ‘ ‘ F : 4 . 1107-1054 Ts’ai-po . ‘ . : . . ‘ - 1053-948 Manequis Kung. . 4 3 : ‘ a . 947-894 Hi, or In ‘ F = 5 y a ‘ 893-845 “Wu ‘ ‘ - ; 2 : : ai 846-838 OD : < a : F 7 . . 837-810 “ Mi. : és ‘ A 3 i ‘ . 809-762 “Kung. ‘ . ‘ ‘ 7 7 ‘ 761-760 “Ta . < ‘ Z : : . - 759-750 “« Stian. ‘ é 5 ‘ : A ‘ 749-715 “Huan. ‘ 3 - : ‘ ‘ ‘ 714-695 Ai. 7 ‘ . ‘é ‘ - . . 694-675 = Mu , "i 5 ‘ ‘ 7 : * 674-646 “Chuang . ei a : . ae 6& ; 645-612 i Won : 7 A . . ‘ ‘ r 611-592 “King. : ji ‘ , - 3 591-543 “ Ling . 6 6 ew ew 8488 BI “ Ping . , 6 gw www BRG-52D Tau ‘ . 5 * é ‘ . ‘ 521-519 346 APPENDIX Marquis Chaw ‘ . as . . . “ CWing . a « Shéng Fi ‘ : “ Yiian ‘3 ‘ : : ‘ - «Ts , - ‘ Ts’ai was annexed by Ch’u in 447 B.c. XX. PRINCES OF WEI B.C. 518-491 - 490-472 5 » 471-457 a - 456-451 450-447 The small state of Wei on the banks of the Yellow River about the present Wei-hui-fu in Ho-nan should not be confounded with the bigger Wei state farther west, comprising lower Shan-si and part of Ho-nan and being one of the three states into which Tsin was divided since -376 B.c. Wu-wang, Fong, prince of K’ang. K’ang (eleventh century) Count K’ang . “ K’au, or Hiau “cc Ssi “ Tsié “Tsing “ Chén Marquis K’ing ce Ni Duke Wu “Chuang . “Huan “ Stian 6 Hw K’ién-méu (usurper) Duke I “Ta “Wen 3 ‘ x - F ‘ “ CWhéng . : : 5 . ‘i ‘ «Mu 7 - ‘ : 3 ° < “ Ting . ‘ . 7 . . < Its first prince was a younger brother of 1078-1053 1052-1017 1016- 935 934-910 909-895 894-867 866-855 854-813 812-758 757-735 734-719 718-700 : te 688-669 696-688 668-661 660 659-635 634-600 599-589 588-577 . . APPENDIX 347 B.C, Duke Hién i < é ri : ‘ ‘ . eee 546-544 “Shang (intermediate) . - 5 : 3 - 558-547 Stang . , : 7 7 . ‘ 4 - 543-535 “Ling. F 3 2 é : . é - 534-493 “ Chu. a ‘ ji ‘ 3 : ‘i é { 492-481 476-469 “Chuang (intermediate) . ‘ . s ‘ - 480-478 . Lord K’t (intermediate) . F ‘ ‘ : s . 477 Duke Tau ‘ é 5 : ‘i 5 - - 468-451 “King. : ‘ : : é ‘ 3 - - 450-432 “Chau. : 5 . ‘ . ‘ : - 431-426 “ Hua . : fs 3 i ‘ ‘ p » 425-415 “Shin. i * j a , ‘ - 414-373 “ Shéng . . ; ‘i ‘ . : ‘i - 3872-362 Marquis Ch’éng . : . ‘ ‘ : - 361-333 “Ping : , é : 4 , ‘ - 832-325 Lord Ssi ‘ : - . : 5 : ‘ - 324-283 “Hua. : 3 P i : s ‘ . 282-253 “ Vian . ‘ i 3 3 ‘ ‘ . . 252-230 “Kio ; F . 229-209 This state of Wei was the only one that actually survived to the foundation of Ts’in-shi-huang-ti’s ascension to the throne of the empire. Lord Kio had been allowed his title, but was reduced to the position of a private citizen in 209 z.c. XXI. PRINCES OF WU The legendary origin of the state of Wu, which occupied the ter- ritories on and near the shores of the Yang-tzi at its mouth, is referred to T’ai-po, the eldest son of T’an-fu, Duke of Chéu, and therefore Wén-wang’s uncle, who, being excluded from his legitimate right of succession to the ducal throne, became an exile in this distant region and the alleged ancestor of its line of princes. There are names mentioned down to the time when Wu became better known in Chinese history, but the entire genealogy with its chro- nology is uncertain till 585 B.c. 348 APPENDIX = B.C. Prince Shéu-méng . . . . . < - 585-561 “ Chu-fan . 2 - . ° : ‘. - 560-548 “ Yii-chat ‘ . < s : ‘ . - 547-544 “ I-meéi . : : 7 . . , 7 - 543-527 King [nau . * 7 : . . . . - 626-515 “ Ho-lu . i ‘ ‘ . A 2 : - 514-496 Fu-ch’at ‘ ‘ ‘i 7 , - 495-473 Wu was annexed by Yié in 473 B.C. XXIL KINGS OF YUE The kingdom of Yié, during the Chéu period, occupied about the present province of Ch’é-kiang. Although Yié is mentioned as a state as early as 601 B.c.in the T'so-chuan (Legge, Ch’un-ts’iu, p. 302), its history as known to us begins with its king Kéu-tsién fully a century later. King Kéu-tsién. 7 : : . : : - 496-465 “ Tu-ying . . . : . . . . 464-459 “ Pu-shéu ‘ < * ‘ ‘ 3 : . 458-449 “ Chu-kéu ‘ . ‘ ‘ - S ‘ . 448-412 “TI and his successors ‘ . ‘ é . 411-334 Yué was annexed by Ch’u in 334 B.c. INDEX Agreements, state: see ConTRACTS. Agriculture: introduction of, as- cribed to Shén-nung, 10; im- proved by Huang-ti, 13; during Ché6éu dynasty according to the Chéu-li, 110; in charge of Mandarin of Earth, 113; Huns have no regular, 168; Hi Hing’s theory regarding, re- futed by Mencius, 290; taxation of, 296-298; see also Irrica- TION OF SoiL; LANDHOLDERS ; Lanp TENURE. Altruism: see Mo Tr. Amazons, corps of: King of Wu, 234. Ambassadors: from the Yiié-ch’ang tribes, 127; see also DIPLOMATS. Amiot, Father: first to point out identity of eclipse referred to in Shi-king, 174. Ancestors: merits of, become a bene- fit to descendants, 82; cause descendants to be rewarded as fief-holders, 99 ; Chéu-kung prays to, and not to God, for the re- covery of Wu-wang, 102-103; have charge in Heaven of de- scendants on earth, 103; Chéu- kung’s prayer to, reveals his loyalty, 105; see also SACRIFICE under Ho-lu, To Ancestors; SPIRITS OF THE DEPARTED. Antiquity, monuments of: none comparable to those of Egypt, 77. An-wang, the Emperor: 332. Archzologists, Chinese: trustworthi- ness of, 50, 71-73, 74. Archives, state: 125. Arendt, C.: his chronological tables, 273-274, 7, note 2, 52, note 2, 174, note 1, 175; on the mother of Mencius, by, 283, note 1, 329, note 1. Army: beginnings under Huang-ti, 22; no standing, at beginning of Chéu dynasty, 119; with all accoutrements marched 30 li (10 miles, or less) a day, 159, 165 ; characteristics of, compiled from the Shi-king, 158-166; infantry composed of husband- men, 163; regimental divisions and “‘chariots,” 163-164; train- ing before the battle, 165; cav- alry introduced by King Wu- ling of Chau, 272-273; see also Cuariots; Horses; War; WEAPONS. Arrow-heads: see WEAPONS. Art: works of, destroyed and con- cealed under Shi-huang-ti, re- discovered in periods of renais- sance; early collectors of, 71; during Shang dynasty chiefly symbolic, 84; Confucian age responsible for forgeries in, 90; autochthonous, during Shang dynasty, 91; objects of, and handicraft described in Chéu-li, 126; see also ARCHOLOGISTS ; Bronze Drums; BronzeEs; DraGon AND Puenrx; HiERo- GLYPHIcS; JADE; Ninz TRIPODS, THE; Pa-Kkua; Porrery; T’av- T’16; THUNDER PATTERN ; WRIT- ING, ART OF. Artisans: rank fifth in population, 110. Astrologers, duties of: 118. Astronomers, duties of: 118. Astronomy: practised by Huang-ti, 18, 21-22; progress in, under 349 350 INDEX ¥ * Chuan-hii, 25; Hi and Ho,| Battles, Important: Wu-wang de- astronomers under Yau, 30; under Chung-k’ang Hi and Ho failto predict eclipse of sun, 39— 40; eclipse recorded in the Shu- king, 40-41, 174; “a conjunc- tion of five planets,” 54; ‘‘two suns appeared together,” 55; duties of officers in charge of, 118-119; use of gnomon, 119; eclipse of 776 3.c., foreboding disaster, confirmed by Western savants, 172-175; eclipse of 694 B.c., 201. Attila, King of the Huns: his an- cestors among the sovereigns of the Hiung-nu nation, 185- 186, 190. Autumn, Mandarin of (és’iu-kuan) : 113, 123-125. Avalokités’vara: 149. Bactria: 148. Badge of jade (kuz): 103. Baggage, army: watched by the feeble during battle, 164. Baghatur (“hero”), probable Turk- ish form of the name Mau-tun: 185. Bak tribes: T. de Lacouperie’s, 15. Bamboo Books, the: chief authority on Yii’s successors, 41; and on the Shang dynasty, 50; dis- covery of, 50; their chronology differs from that of other sources, 51, 175-176, 329, note 1; their account of the Shang dy- nasty dry as compared to the Shu-king’s model emperor chap- ters, 52; specimen from, on Chéu-sin, 53-55; Chavannes, Legge, and Biot on, 51, note 1; throw light on Shang culture, 76; on Mu-wang and Si-wang- mu, 144-145, 148; mention visit of Si-wang-mu to Em- peror Shun, 150-151; on the Kung-ho period, 157. Bamboo roots: as modern instru- ments of divination, 83. Bamboo tablets: see WRITING, ART OF. feats Chéu-sin [at Mu-yé], 65; between Chinese and Tartar armies mostly in North Shan-si and Ordos territory, 122; of Ts’ién-méu, 789 B.c., 158; against the Huns under Siian- wang, 827 B.c., 158-161; sea- sons and mode of procedure, 164-165; mode of fighting among the Huns, 168, 189; T’so-. chuan describes battle of 714 B.c., 187-188; between Ts’i and Ch’u, 208-209; between Tsin and Ch’u at Ch’éng-p’u, 216 ; be- tween Sung and Ch’u, 219; Tsin and Chéng beaten by Ch’u, 223; between Wu and Yiié, 233, 234, 261; five confederate states beaten by Ts’in at the Han-ku Pass, 313; Po Ki of Ts’in crushes Han and Wei at I-k’iié, 318; Po K’i takes the city of Hang-tang, 321; Ts’in de- feated at siege of Han-tan, 322; Ts’in’s victories in 256 and 249 B.c., 325; Ts’in de- feated in 247 B.c., its final engagements against federal states, 328. Beacon fires: lighted as signals of alarm, 172, 176-177. Beasts: not hostile to man in pri- meval period, -4. Biblical names at the head of King Attila’s genealogical table: 186, 190-191. Biot, Edouard: on Yii’s engineering exploits, 34, 36-38; his trans- lation of Bamboo Books, 51, note 1; of the Chéu-li, 108 ; con- siders immutability of govern- ment based on that of individual life, 109; extracts from his notes on the customs of the ancient Chinese collected from the Shi- king, 162-166. Boards, the Six (liu-pu), of modern times: correspond to six cate- gories of the Chéu-li, 111; basis of classification of official work, 113. INDEX Boians, the: like the Hiung-nu, con- verted skulls into drinking ves- sels, 271-272. Boots: when introduced, 272. Botany: research in, ascribed to Shén-nung, 10-11. Bows and arrows: see WEAPONS. Bretschneider, E.: quoting passage on Shén-nung’s botany, 11. Brigands: Mandarin of Autumn in charge of, 123. Bronze age, the, in China: 236. “Bronze drum nations”: 195; com- prise elements of different affini- ties, 196. Bronze drums: manufacture of, at Canton, a family secret, 117; of the Man barbarians, 195-196 ; emblems found among the or- naments of, 196. Bronzes: copper mine discovered by Huang-ti supposed to have fur- nished oldest, 23, 90, 236; of the Shang and Chéu dynasties destroyed, buried, and immured, under Shi-huang-ti and later on rediscovered; difficulty of fix- ing age of, 71, 77; personal names in legends of Shang, 72; private collections of, 73; sac- rificial, and bells the only wit- nesses of high antiquity, 77; have become models in ceramic and jade industries, 84, 91; alloys of, according to the Chéu- li, 126; the tripod of 812 B.c., 161; swords still in use about 500 B.c., 285; see also BRONZE Drums; NinE TRIPODS, THE. Bucklers: 164. Burnouf, E.: on Si-wang-mu, 151, note 2. Bushell, S. W.: on “The Stone Drums of the Chéu Dynasty,” 171. Calendar: supposed to have been introduced by Fu-hi, 9, 14; developed by Huang-ti, 21, 22; by Chuan-hii, 25; by Wu-wang, 98; see also CrcLicaAL CHAR- ACTERS. 351 Carriages, Cars, and Carts: see CHaRIoTs. Cassini, D.. on the Shu-king eclipse, 41. Cattigara: the terminus of western navigation, 127. Cattle-breeding : see FLocxs. “Censer,’”’? the term: wrongly ap- plied to bronzes of the Shang and Chéu dynasties, 84. Censors, public (yi-shi): performing duties similar those of, 116. Censorship, public: evil effects of too much, 155. Census of population: 119. Ceremonial: love of, predominates long before Confucius, 83-84, 230, 241; holds together Chéu dynasty, 109; in emperor’s personal life, 115; in charge of Mandarin of Spring, 118; Con- fucius exaggerates funeral, 230, 244; the people of Chung-tu educated by strict, 244-245; Confucius’ personal life regu- lated by, 256-257; Chuang-tzi despises, 304. Ceremonies, Board of: 113, 117-119. Chalfant, F. H.: on early Chinese writing, 74, note 1. Chalmers, John: on the Shu-king eclipse, 41; his year dates B.c. differ from those of astronomers, 174. Chan-kuo: see CONTENDING STATES, THE. Chan-kuo-ts’6: 262, 264. Chang Hong, the astronomer: 129, 135. Chang I, statesman: pupil of Kui- ku-tzi, 285, 286, 308; his career, 311-314; K’i Yiian warns king of Ch’u against, 315-316; dies as minister in Wei, 316. Chang K’ién, the general: 147, 148. Chang Yii-si: on Shén-nung’s bot- any, 11. Ch’ang-an: old capital, seat of col- lectors of ancient bronzes, 73. Ch’ang, Duke of Chou: see Won- WANG. officers to 352 Ch’ang-sha (Hu-nan): burial place of Shén-nung, 11. Chaos: social, before Fu-hi, 9, 14. Charioteers: 163. 4Chariots (ch’é or ki): drawn by oxen under Huang-ti, 22; word for, occurs among oldest hiero- glyphics, 75; south-pointing, 127-136; used in war against the Huns, 159-160, 163, 273; “chariot” as a collective name, 163; outfit of war, 163-164; baggage cars drawn by oxen, 164; chief officer’s, had ox-tail pennon, 165; fighting on char- iots against foot-soldiers uw dis- advantage to the Chinese, 187; a technical term in population statistics, 203; had parts of iron in seventh century B.c., 204. Chau, Ch’éng-wang’s son: see K’aNc- WANG. Chau: city in the present South Shan-si, 269. Chau, Duke of Lu: 230, 243-244, 341. Chau, Marquis of Tsin: appoints his uncle lord of K’ii-wu, 334. Chau Shé, commander in Chau: 319. Chau Sho, son of Chau Tun: 269. Chau-siang, king of Ts’in: 317-325, 333; under the regency of his mother with Wei Jan as chan- cellor, 317-319; sole regent with Fan Tsii as chancellor, 320-325 ; practically ‘‘Son of Heaven,” offers sacrifice to Shang-ti, 326. Chau Siang-tzi: son of, and marries Tartar woman, 269; uses skull of enemy for drinking vessel, 270. Chau, the state of: beginnings, 263 ; confirmed as a feudal state, 264; one of the ‘Seven Heroes” states, 266; thoroughfare for northern tribes, 267; its princes favor Tartar customs, 269-273, 316; common descent with princes of Ts’in, grow in power by gifts of territory, 269; its chief Chau Siang-tzi, son of, and INDEX married to, Tartar woman, 269; and changes enemy’s skull into a drinking vessel, 270-272; its history full of supernatural accounts, 270; joins confed- eration against Ts’in, 310; head- quarters of Su Ts’in, represent- ing the ‘‘Six States,” 311, 313; attacked by Ts’i and Wei, 313; kingdom since 329 B.c., 315; de- feated by, and repulses Ts’in, 319 ; defeated by Ts’in at Shang- tang, 321; P’ing-yiian-kiin, a prince of, 321; Han-tan, capital of, besieged by Ts’in, 322; Prince I-jén of Ts’in at the court of, 323-325; defeated by Ts’in, 325; annexed by Ts’in, 328, 336; princes of, 336. Chau Tsui, companion of Duke Wén and prime minister of Tsin: 220, 269. Chau Tun, minister in Tsin: 220, 269. Chau-wang, the Emperor: 143, 189, 331. Chau Wu, son of Chau Sho: subject of a historical drama, 269. Ch’au, the Emperor King*-wang’s brother: flees to Ch’u, 233. Ch’au-yé-ts’ién-tsai: 132. Chavannes, douard: on trust- worthiness of Chinese history previous to Chéu-sin, 55-56; on dragons and phenixes, 88; on Si-wang-mu, 151; on the “Stone Drums of the Chéu Dynasty,” 171; on Ts’in and _Ch’u as non-Chinese states, 267— 268; on the supernatural ele- ment in history of Chau state, 270; on skulls changed into drinking vessels, 271; see also Sui-K1 and Wu-cHi-sHAN-TOMBS. Chi: see Rosser Cur. Chi, the Emperor: see T1-cui. Chi-nan: term for the magnetic needle, used metaphorically, 129, 135. Chi Po, official of Tsin: opposes the San-T sin, 270. Ch’i-yu: rebel under Huang-ti, 20. INDEX Chinchew (Zaitun): 132. Chén-ting-wang, the Emperor: 263, 332. Chén-to, brother of Wu-wang: in- vested with Ts’au, 343. Ch’6n, the city of: capital of the Emperor Fu-hi, 9. Ch’én, the state of: on side of Ch’u in war with Tsin, 216; descend- ants of its house become sover- eigns of Ts’i, 273; princes of, 342-343. Ch’én Chung, ascetic: 289-290. Chéng, ante-nuptial son of Prince I-jén of Ts’in: 324-325; crown- prince and King of Ts’in, 327- 328, 334; see also SHI-HUANG-TI. Chong, the state of: attacked by Jung tribes, 187; travelers from Ts’i to Ch’u passed, 214; the Emperor Siang-wang a fugitive in, 216, 219; on the side of Ch’u in war with Tsin, 216; under the supremacy of Ch’u, 223; of Tsin, 227; its minister Tzi-ch’an, 232; con- quered by Han, 274, 345; Siian- wang invests his brother Yu with, 344; princes of, 344-345. Ch’6ng-ki (Kan-su): birthplace of the Emperor Fu-hi, 8. Ch’éng-p’u: city near the present Ts’au-ch6u in Shan-tung, 216, 219. Ch’éng-t’ang, the Emperor: de- scendant of Ti-k’u, 25; over- throws the Hia dynasty under Kié, 44, 47; founder of the Shang dynasty, 47, 330; his benevolence toward animals, 47 ; his successors, 47-57; referred to as an ancestor by the Em- peror P’an-kéng, 82; system of taxation under, 297. Ch’éng-wang, the Emperor: 104— 107, 136-138, 331; appoints Chéu-sin’s stepbrother, Wei-tzi, prince of the empire, 106-107, 841; receives ambassadors from the Yiié-ch’ang tribes, 126-128 ; moves capital to Lo-yang, 136; his death, 188; invests Hiung I 2a 353 with territory of Man barbari- ans, 190, 192, 336; fixes the Nine Tripods and _prognosti- cates duration of dynasty, 222; wall painting representing, with his guardian Chéu-kung, 243; invests younger brother with Tsin, 266, 334; see also Cu6u- KUNG. Chéu: dukes of, descendants of Ti-k’u and his posthumous son Hé6u-tsi, 25, 26; early history of, 57-58; causes tending to develop influence of ducal state, 69, 183; Wu-wang twelve years duke of, 97; ancestors of, said to have adopted Hunnic life, 168, 169; chronology, 331; T’an-fu, Duke of, see T’an-Fu; Cu’ane, Duke of, see Won- wana; Ki-li, Duke of, see K1-11; Fa, Duke of, see Wu-wanea; Tan, Duke of, see Cudu-KuUNG; dukes of, descendants of Chéu- kung : a minister under Chau- wang, 143; the co-regent during the Kung-ho period and min- ister to Siian-wang, 157; Hei- kién, Duke of, under Chuang- wang, 201. Chéu dynasty: 93-328, 331-332. Chéu-kuan: original title of the Chéu-li, 110. Chéu-kung: fourth son of Wé6n- wang, 58; addresses ancestors in prayer for Wu-wang’s life, 81, 102-103; practised divina- tion, 83; soul of Wu-wang’s government, 79-103; becomes fief-holder of K’ii-f6u (Lu), 99-100, 340; thinks fate is directed by God, one’s ancestors and oneself, 101-102; is aware of his ability, 103; becomes Ch’éng-wang’s guardian, but to meet the intrigues of his brothers keeps away from court, writing extension of I-king, 104; an ode in Shi-king ascribed to, his loyalty revealed, 105; de- feats his enemies, 106; organizer of Chéu government; supposed 354 author of the Chéu-li, 107; presents ambassadors with south- pointing chariots, 127, 128; his death and eulogy, 137-138; a wall painting representing, and Confucius’ veneration for, 243. Chéu-li, the: authorship ascribed to Chéu-kung, 107, 138; Chu Hi on, 108; serves as a model of government and culture for later periods, translated by Edouard Biot, 108; traces of statistical method, developed by Kuan-tzi, found in, 119, 202; a mine of information, 126; its geography compared to that of Ch’un-ts’iu, 182; as com- pared to Li-ki, 252-253; its statutes cramped by Tartar in- fluences, 270. Chéu-shu, 65. Chéu-sin: last emperor of the Shang dynasty, 53-57, 331; his wicked- ness described in the Shi-ki, 56; Legge’s recapitulation of Shu- king commentaries on, 56-57; punishment of roasting is his invention, 57, note 1; obeys his wife Ta-ki, 56, 65; his renewed crimes lead to his ruin, 63-65; his godlessness and incapacity emphasized by Wu-wang, 64; his death, 65; his minister Shang Jung becomes Wu-wang’s assistant, 95; disposal of his treasures, 97; loses the Nine Tripods, 222; Yang Chu thinks Chéu-sin’s a happy life, 278. Chéu: term meaning ‘‘a province ” in ancient times, 21. Chéu, the imperial dominion: Su Ts’in native of, 309; see also EMPEROR, THE. Christian principles in Mo Ti’s philosophy: 282. Chronological Tables: 329-348. Chronology: discrepancies in early, 7, note 2; of early sovereigns fixed by later generations, 49; the standard, and that of the Bamboo Books, 51, 175-176; uncertain previous to Chéu INDEX dynasty, 52; beyond dispute in case of eclipse of 776 B.c., 175. Chu Hi, the philosopher: on the Chéu-li, 108; on the early em- perors of the Chéu dynasty, 158-159; causes commentary of the T’ung-kién-kang-mu to be compiled, 264; on the origin of the tsing system of taxation, 297; defends Confucianism, 302. Chu-héu (“Princes of the Empire’’), 96, 99; Wei-tzi appointed a, 106; subject to same ceremonial as the emperor, 115; the chiefs of Han, Chau, and Wei ap- pointed, 264. Chu-shu-ki-nién: see BAMBOO Books. Chu Tan: a leader in war against Jung tribes, 188. Chu, the state of: 188. Chu Yu (eleventh century A.D.): first author to refer to use of compass on shipboard, 133, 136. Ch’u, Duke of Wei: 248, 347. Ch’u, the state of: Chau-wang’s war against, 143; becomes powerful under P’ing-wang, 178; causes of its growth, 182, 189; called “the south’’ by Ssi-ma Ts’ién; called “King”? in the Ch’un- ts’iu, 189; its sovereigns, 189- 192; its old capitals Tan-yang and Ying, 190; kings of, call themselves ‘Man barbarians,” 191; its king Chuang one of the “Five Leaders,” 206, 221, 222; expedition of Ts’i against, 208-209; federal states in fear of, 208; Duke Wé6n of Tsin’s good treatment in, 214; products of, 214; defeated by Tsin in battle of Ch’éng-p’u, 216, 219; defeats Ts’i, 219; successful war of, against Hunnic tribes; insults imperial dignity, 221; Lau-tzi a native of, 231, 269; King*wang’s brother Ch’au seeks refuge in, 233; uw king of, in- quires about iron swords, 235; Confucius’ sojourn in, 247; con- quers middle states, 263; one of the ‘‘Seven Heroes” states, INDEX 266; its population, 267; non- Chinese character of, 267-268; Wu K’i chancellor in, 274; princes of, known for luxury, 277, note 1; Hi Hing, “the agriculturist,’’ a native of, 290; Chuang-tzi declines post of prime minister in, 299; joins confederation against Ts’in, 310; Chang I ill-treated by, 311, 312; Chang I’s successful court in- trigue in, 312, 315; since con- quest of Yié possesses whole south of China; chief rival of Ts’in, 314; first to claim king’s crown among federal states, 315; K’i Yiian, the poet of, 315-316 ; Wei Jan, a native of, as chancellor of Ts’in does his country much harm, 317; de- feated by Ts’in; its capital taken and kings’ mausolea destroyed, 319; Huang Hié, chief minister of, 321-322, 325; capital of, removed to Wu (Soochow), 322; makes conquests in Lu, 326; and conquers it, 341; annexed by Ts’in, 328, 338; Princes of, 336-338; see also Man BaR- BARIANS. Ch’u-tz't, “the Ch’u Elegies ”’: 316. Chuan-hii, the Emperor: 24, 25, 329; ancestor of Yi and Shun, 25; and of the Kings of Ch’u, 189. Chuang, King of Ch’u: fifth among the Five Leaders, 221, 222, 337. Chuang-siang, King of ‘Ts’in (=Prince I-jén), 323-328, 334; an exile in Chau, 323; becomes heir apparent, marries Lii Pu- wei’s wife, 324; as king of Ts’in appoints Lii Pu-wei prime min- ister, 327; his death possibly caused by Lit Pu-wei, 328. Ch’un-shén-kiin (Huang Hié), one of the “Four Nobles,” 321; at the siege of Han-tan, 322; patronizes Siin K’uang, 325. Ch’un-ts’iu: the “Spring and Au- tumn Annals,” by Confucius, a chronological account of the state of Lu, 722 to 481 3.c., 179, 305 197, 253, 340; doubts as to authorship, 180; its geography, 181-197; calls the Ch’u state “King,” 189; its extent, 197, 262; records eclipse of the sun in 694 B.c., 201. Chuang-tzi (the book): 299-305. Chuang-tzi, the philosopher: on the Kung-ho period, 157; refers to Lié-tzi, 277; his character and work, 299-308; better ex- ponent of Tauism than Lau-tzi himself, 300; extracts from Giles’ work on, 300-301; at- tacks Confucius and his school, 302; the satires ‘‘Robber Chi” and “The Old Fisherman,” 302-305. Chuang-wang, the Emperor: 201- 218, 332. Chung, Earl of: 187. Chung-fu (‘‘Second Father ”’) : hono- rific title of Li Pu-wei, 327. Chung-ir: see W6n, Dux or TsIN. Chung-k’ang, the Emperor: 39, 330. Chung-kuo: see MippLe Kinepom. Chung-ni, literary name of Confu- cius: 229. Chung-ting-i-k’t-kuan-shi: 74. Chung-ting, the Emperor: 48, 330. Chung-tsung, the Emperor: see T’al-Mov. Chung-tu: Confucius magistrate of, 244. Chung-yu: see Tzi-Lv. Chung-yung (‘The Doctrine of the Mean ”’): 26, note 1, 255. Ch’ung, Marquis of: denounces W6n-wang for lese-majesty, 59. Cinnabar: 121. Civil Office, Board of: formerly had precedence over other boards, 111, 113. Classics, the Chinese: Legge’s edition of, 26, note 1; their connection with Confucius, 251-255; recog- nition of, as classical books, 305. Coal-sacks: referred to in old legend, 10. : Compass: see MARINERS’ CoMPass. Concubines, imperial: 114. 356 Confucian Classics: see CLAssics, THE CHINESE. Confucianism: main cause of stabil- ity of Chinese nation, 242; re- strained by Tartar influences, 268-273; by rival philosophers, 280. Confucianists : see Conrucius; Mrn- crus; Tsone@ Ts’aANn. Confucian Legends, the: 27-44. Confucius: his edition of the Shu- king, see SHU-KING; not posi- tive on belief in future life, 82; his authorship of Ch’un-ts’iu, see Cu’un-Ts’1U; his greatness not based on his writings, 181; disapproves of Duke Wé6n of Tsin’s requiring. emperor to attend meeting of princes, 216; his birth, name, and genealogy, 228-229 ; his early history, 229— 231; exaggerates burial cere- monies, 230; interviews Lau- tzi, 232, 240-241, 243; his view of Tzi-ch’an, 232; his philosophy a sort of indigenous religion, 237; is silent on Lau-tzi, 238; the “superior man” chief object of his teachings, 239, 254; com- pared with Lau-tzi, 240-241; his life, 243-248 ; visits imperial capital, 243; his sojourn in Ts’i and love of music, 243; in Lu under Duke Ting, 244-246; in Wei under Duke Ling, 246— 247; wanderings from state to state, 247; from Ch’u returns to Wei, 247-248; recalled to Lu, dies in 479 B.c., 248; his disciples, 248-250; his influence on Chinese nation, 250; his works, 251-253; his sayings, 253-255; his personality, 255— 257; his ethics according to Giles, 301; his fame greater during Middle Ages than under Chéu dynasty, 302. Contending States, the: 259-328; sources of history of, 264-266. Contracts: how legalized, 124. Cooking : introduction of, 6, 14. Copper: see BRONZES. INDEX . ad Copper-mine: earliest, alleged to have been discovered by Huang-ti, 23. Cordier, Henri: his Bibliotheca Si- nica, cited, ix, 26, note 1. Corea: supposed to have formed part of Yii’s empire, 38; Wu- kéng, Chéu-sin’s son, king of, 96, 104, 106, 183. Cosmogony: 3-7. Court management: in charge of Mandarin of Heaven, 114. Criminal law: see AurumN, Manpa- RIN OF. ; “Criss-cross’”” philosophers: 307-308. Culture: periods of, represented by names of fabulous and legend- ary emperors, 6-7, 13-14; house, palace, and temple build- ing, towns, and provinces under Huang-ti, 21; dyeing materials under Huang-ti, 23; matri- archy replaced by matrimony, 60; words represented by hiero- glyphics during Shang dynasty, 75; hints as to Shang culture in the Shi-king, 76; the Chéu-li, a mine of information on, of the Chéu period, 126; stone, jade, bronze, and iron ages, 234-237; foreign influences in early Chinese, 268-273; see also, under the respective headings, AGRICULTURE, ART, ASTRON- omy, etc. Cyclical characters: invention of, referred to prehistoric period, 5; used in the formation of personal names, 72; dates desig- 306, nated by, 173, 174; see also CALENDAR. Cypresses: 122, Daae, I. M.: on the landtax in China, 298, note 1. Deer, white: presented as tribute to Mu-wang, 169. Deguignes, J. [father and son]: 30 Deluge under Yau and Shun: 31; supposed to have been over- INDEX come by the engineering works of Yi, 33-38; apparent exag- geration in description of, 35, 55-56. Dialectics, professors of : 307-308. Diplomats: according to Chéu-li, 124-125; adherents of philo- sophical schools, traveling about, 285; study of dialectics by in- tending, 307-308; Su Ts’in and Chang I, the, par excellence, 308-313; itinerant, kept out of Ts’in court by Wei Jan, 320. Disciples of Confucius: 248-250. Divination: must not be repeated when fortunate, 83; good issue prayed for by Chéu-kung before practising, 102, 103; means of, during the Chéu dynasty, 118. Dogs: 121; see also Mastir¥, THE TIBETAN. Dragon and Phenix: on bronzes previous to Han dynasty have not their later attributes, 88. Dragon Boat Regatta, the: in com- memoration of K’i Yiian’s death, 315-316. Dragon, the Chinese: possibly the naga of India, 88. Dreams: influence the selection of a clever minister, 53; interpreted by scientists, 118; in the history of Chau state, 270; see also MIRACLEs. Dress: skins used for, before Huang- ti, 23; invention of weaving ascribed to Huang-ti’s wife, 23; skin and felt coats worn by the Huns, 168; Tartar dress worn and boots introduced by King Wu-ling of Chau, 272 and note 1; see also UNIFORMS. Drums: see Music and Bronze DRUMS. Earth, the Mandarin of (ti-kuan): 118, 115-117; levied soldiers, 119. Eastern Chéu: see TuNG-cHov. Eclipses: see ASTRONOMY. Edkins, J.: 131, 135-136, 307 Egotism, Yang Chu’s philosophy of : see YANG CHU. Egret, the : an old emblem of Chinese skin drums and of bronze drums, 196. Egyptian scroll: see THUNDER PAT- TERN. Eitel, E. J.: on the Shu-king eclipse, 40-41 ; on Si-wang-mu, 149, 150. Elephants: occurred in Hu-nan up to seventh century a.p., 121; tusk brought from Tungking, 127; see also Ivory. Emperors: the Three and the Nine, 5; the Five Rulers, 12. Emperor, the, or “‘Son of Heaven’’: responsible for natural phe- nomena, 36; high priest of the nation, reigns in the name of God, 79; represents nation in sacrificing and praying to God, certain minor deities and his ancestors, 80-83, 177, 220; his title wtién-tzi, see “Son oF Heaven”; the title # (‘em- peror”) discarded and replaced by wang (‘“‘king’’), 96-97; re- sumed by Shi-huang-ti, 97; during the Ché6u dynasty held position similar to German Em- peror, 108; his functions, 109; is the patriarch of the nation, his chief assistant is the ‘‘Man- darin of Heaven,” 111; re- garded as the ruler of the world, 112; his palace during the Ch6u dynasty, 114-115; personal life of, regulated by strict ceremonial, 115; his right of pardon in criminal cases, 123; traveled about for his informa- tion, 124-125; staff of officers reporting to, on occurrences in his dominions, 124; on topo- graphical, historical, social, and economical questions, 125; warned by Heaven on account of bad government, 143, 172- 174; condescension and affa- bility of, weaken his position, 154; terrorism creates spirit of independence among vassals, 308 154; Stiian-wang’s failure to per- form field labor as a ceremo- nial act ends in disaster, 158; his dominion small as com- pared with federal states, 188, 197; his power nominal in the Ch’un-ts’iw period, 197; loyally supported by Duke Huan of Ts’i, his most powerful vassal, 207; his authority to change boundaries of federal states, 207-208; great officers not put to death and promotions not made without his sanction, 210; required to attend meeting pre- sided over by Duke Won of Tsin, 216; his nominal power upheld solely by spirit of loyalty among feudal states, 217-218; obliged to flee from his capital, 219; has to raise loan to defray predecessor’s burial expenses, 220; slighted by vassal of Ch’u, 220-221; his summons disobeyed by vassal princes, 275; a mere shadow at the time of Mencius, 284-285; Mencius on the po- sition of, 294; Ts’in and Ts’i plan the adoption of title, 318; his dominion annexed by Ts’in; fall of the Ch6u dynasty, 325, 327-328; see also INTERREG- NuM; Kuna-Ho PERIOD; MEEtT- ING OF PRINCES. Epicure compared to Yang Chu: 278. Eunuchs, court: 114. Exchange, means of : precious stones, gold, and copper, 22; skins, silks, dogs, horses, pearls, gems, 68; cowries, 75. Fa, Duke and King of Ché6u: see Wov-wana. Faber, E.: on Mo Ti (Micius), 282, note 1; on Mencius, 292, 293. Fame, according to Yang Chu: 278. Fan Tsii, chancellor in Ts’in: 320- 323; his policy counteracted by “The Four Nobles,” 321-322; his hostility against Po K’i, INDEX 322; asks to be punished and is rewarded, 323. Fang-hiin: private name of Yau, 29 Fatalism, Yang Chu’s: 279. Fei-tzi, the first prince of Ts’in : 153, 332, 333. Fief-holders: appointed to reward merit of distinguished ancestors, 99. Fief names: see Yu (‘to have”) and the several names following. Filial piety: want of, according to Confucius, parent’s fault, 245; Tzi-lu known for, Tséng Ts’an model of, 249; key-note of Confucius’ views on govern-’ ment, 254; basis of Mencius’ philosophy, 288; Canon of, see Hrav-KINneG. Fire: discovery of method of pro- ducing, 6. Fire Producer: see SuI-JON. “Firewood, to sleep on,’ the phrase : 261 and note 1. Fisherman, story of the old: 304. Fishing: introduction of, ascribed to Fu-hi, 9, 14; sportsmanlike treatment of, advocated by Ch’éng-t’ang, 47; Ts’ing-chéu (Sban-tung) and Yu-ch6éu (Chi-li) noted for their, 121, 122. “Five Canons,’ the: see Wu-KING. Five Dragons (period): 5, 329. Five Happinesses, the: see Happi- NESSES, THE Five. Five Leaders, the: century of, 199- 223; names of, 206; according to Mencius offended in loyalty against the old emperors, 293- 295. Five relations, the, of man to man: 254. Five Rulers, the (Fu-hi, Shén-nung, Huang-ti, Yau, and Shun): 12. Flags and standards introduced by Huang-ti: 22; red the color of imperial, under Wu-wang, 99; adorned with blazonry of birds, 160; used in war according to Shi-king, 164; their emblems described, 165. INDEX Flocks, keeping of: said to have been commenced by Fu-hi, 9, 14. Féng [-ch’éng]: old capital of the dukes of Chéu, south of the Wei River, 99, 169. Féng-hu-tzi, expert on swords: 235. Fong, Prince of K’ang, Wu-wang’s brother: invested with Wei, 346. Foreign affairs: no special Board of, before 1901 a.p., 111 and note 1; in charge of subordi- nate of Mandarin of Autumn, 124. Foreigners: superior civilization of, compared by Chinese to their own, 19. Foreign influences before the time of Wu-ti: 268-273. Foreign nations regarded as mere boundary tribes: 112. Forke, A.: on Mu-wang and the Si-wang-mu legend, 150-151; on Yang Chu, 277, note 1. “Four Books,” the: see Ssi-sHu. Four Nobles, the: 321-326, 328. Fowls: 121. Fréret, N.: on the Shu-king eclipse, Al. Frogs: an emblem on ancient bronze drums, possibly a totem of Man barbarians, 196. Frontier posts: relieved annually, supplied from peasantry, 163. Fu-ch’ai, King of Wu: 234, 348; commits suicide, 262. Fu-hi: alleged first historical em- peror, 7, 329; appearance and pictorial representations of, 7, 8; organizes society, 9; intro- duced hunting, fishing, cattle flocks, music, the pa-kua sym- bols, hieroglyphics, ete., 9; divides all things into male and female, 59-61; replaces matri- archy by matrimony, 60. Fu-nan: 127. Future life: see ANCESTORS; HEAVEN; LIFE AFTER DEATH; SPIRITS OF THE DEPARTED. Fu-yiié: minister under Wu-ting, 53. 359 Gabelentz, G. von der: on Kuan-tzi, 202; on Confucius, 242; on Mo Ti (Mek Tik), 282, note 1. Gardeners hold second rank in popu- lation : 110. Gardner, C. T.: on the Tablet of Yi, 90. Gaubil, A.: 30, 41. Gem, the sacred (pi): 102. Genealogy: of early emperors, 25; pedigrees of Yii, Shun, Chi, Yau, Ch’éng-t’ang, and the Chéu emperors derived from Ti-k’u, 25-26; Yi a descendant of Huang-ti, 33; Confucius’, 228; see also CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES. Generals in command: how styled, 165. Geographical position of states closely connected with their develop- ment: 182, 188. Geography: of the Empire accord- ing to the Chéu-li, 119-123; resembles that of the Yiu-kung, 123, 182; legendary terms in Chinese, connected with western boundary, 147; of the Ch’un- ts’tu period, 181-197. Geomancers (fang-kia) : 132. Germany: China during the Chéu dynasty resembles, 108, 181. Giles, H. A.: his chronology of Fu-hi, 7, note 2; on Si-wang-mu, 151, note 2; on Kuan-tzi’s work, 202; on the Tau-té-king, 238; on the T’ung-kién-kang-mu, 264— 265; on Lié-tzi, 276; on Lau-tzi and Chuang-tzi, 300-301. Gnomon: see ASTRONOMY. God (Shang-tt) : prayers to, referred to in accounts of oldest emper- ors, 100, 253; never disavowed by the ancient Chinese, 101; Chéu-kung’s views on, 102-103; see also HEAVEN; SACRIFICE TO Gop. Goethe: interested in Chinese stud- ies, v, vii. Government: strictness and liber- ality of Huang-ti’s, 22; divided into eight branches by Shun, 31; share of responsibility in, by 360 ministers and advisers, 33; the sovereign responsible for natural catastrophes, 36, 79-80, 105, 172-174; reorganized under Wu- wang, 98-99; democratic sys- tem in promotion of officers of, 99; foundation of government due to Chéu-kung, 107; immu- tability of, based on that of individuals in public and _ pri- vate life, 109; patriarchal char- acter of, 110; six divisions of, prototype of modern “Six Boards,” 111, 112-113; inter- ference with private life, 115- 117; officers of, selected from among the people, 99, 117; not punished in public, 123-124, 322; “the five articles” fixing principles of, 210; Confucius’ views of, based on filial piety, 254; see also Cudu-L1; Con- Fucius; Kuan-tzi; MENcius. Great Khan: see SHAN-yU. Greek pattern: see THUNDER PAT- TERN. Groot, J. J. M. de: 196, note 2. Grosier, Abbé: 265. Ground taxes: 296-298; see also TaxEs. Grube, W.: on the preponderance of speeches in oldest historical texts, 156; considers both Ch’un- ts’iu and T'so-chuan works of Confucius, 181; on Kuan-tzi, 202, 205; on Yang Chu, 279. Gumpach, J. von: on the Shu-king eclipse, 41. ‘ Haenisch, E.: on the Tablet of Yu, 90, note 1. Han, the state of: beginnings, 263 ; recognized as a feudal state, 264; one of the ‘“‘Seven Heroes” states, 266; conquers Chéng, 274; joins confederation against Ts’in, 310; kingdom since 332 B.c., 315; loses territory against Ts’in, 316; defeated by Ts’in in battle of I-k’tié, 318; defeated by Ts’in, 325; does homage to Ts’in, neglecting the emperor, INDEX and is annexed by Ts’in, 326, 328, 336; princes of, 335-336. Han-cho, usurper: 42, 330. Han-fei, the philosopher: mentions “south-pointers,”” 128; pupil of Sin K’uang, the anti-Confu- cianist, 326. Han-fei-tzi (the book): 128, note 2; see also HAN-FEI, THE PHILOS- OPHER. Han-ku Pass: Lau-tzi there takes leave of China, 307, 313; Ts’in’s victory at the, 313. Han River: 143. Han-tan: capital of Chau, 322-324; the “Lady of Han-tan,” mother of Shi-huang-ti, 324, 328. Han Yi, author: defends Confu- cianism, 302. Hangchow: 132. Happinesses, the Five: 82. Harakiri: traces of, in China, 322, note 1. Hatchets: see WEAPONS. Hau: city built by Wu-wang near the present Si-an-fu, 54, 99, 169. Heaven and Earth: as objects of worship, 79. Heavenly emperors: 5, 329. . Heaven, Mandarin of (t’%én-kuan) : 111, 112-115. Heaven: the term ?t’ién for, may mean the “other world” and Allah, or God, 96; ancestors in, have charge of descendants, 103; gives warnings on account of bad government, 143, 172-174; see also ANCESTORS; Gop. Heger, Franz: 196, note 2. Hei-kién, Duke of Chéu: 201. Hell and purgatory : none referred to in the Chinese Classics, 82. Helmets: worn by princes and war- riors, 164. Hemp: 121. Hereditary monopolies: 117. D’Hervey de Saint-Denys: notes 1 and 2. Hi and Ho, the astronomers: fail to predict an eclipse under Yau, 30; under Chung-k’ang, 39-41. Hi-wang, the Emperor: 218, 332. 194, INDEX Hia dynasty, the: 32-44, 330. Hia Kui (Japanese Kaket), artist : 89. Hia-po, title of the Emperor Yii: 32. Hiau, Duke of Ts’i: 218-219, 340. Hiau-king (“Canon of Filial Piety’’) : 249. Hiau-wang, the Emperor: 153, 332. Hiau-wén, King of Ts’in: 334; father of Prince I-jén, declared heir apparent by Li Pu-wei’s intrigue, 323-324; reigned but one year, 327; premature death of, possibly due to Lii Pu-wei, 328. Hides: see SKINS. Hién, Duke of Tsin: 212, 334. Hién-wang, the Emperor: 275, 332. Hién-yang: capital of Ts’in, the present Si-an-fu, 317. Hién-yiian : personal name of Huang- ti, 12; of a primeval emperor previous to Fu-hi, 236. Hién-yiin: see Huns. Hieroglyphics : of 299 s.c. deciphered by connoisseurs in 280 a.p., 50; on bronze vessels of the Shang dynasty, 71-76; Chinese works containing facsimile reproduc- tions of, 73-74; words repre- sented by, of the Shang dynasty, 75-76; the, for “‘thunder’’ used for ornamental purposes; sym- bolic meaning, 89; hieroglyphics attributed to the Emperor Yi probably forgeries, 90; on the “Stone Drums of the Chéu Dy- nasty,”’ 170-171; see also CHaL- FANT, F. H. Hill Jung: see SHan-sUNG. Historians: not critical as to be- ginning of historical period, 3; board of, ascribed to Huang-ti, 20, 156; Ts’ang-kié, the first state historian, 20; some, ex- elude period of mourning from sovereigns’ reign, 31; ascribe great decisions to ministers and advisers, 33, 34; extol virtues of founders and blacken char- acter of last rulers of dynasties, 43, 53; responsible for legendary character of periods down to 361 Chéu-sin, 55-56, 125; keep emperor posted on local his- tories ; division of work among, during the Chéu dynasty, 125; ought to enjoy liberty of speech, 155; method adopted in con- structing most ancient history, 156; partiality of Confucianist, 268. Historical period: beginning of, variously dated, 175. History, the ancient, of China: best basis for knowledge of nation, vii-viii. Hiung: clan name of the sovereigns of Ch’u, 190, 336. Hiung I: ancestor of the kings of Ch’u, invested with this terri- tory, 190, 192, 336. Hiung-ir (Ho-nan): supposed home of primeval emperors, 5. Hiung K’ii of Ch’u: usurps the title “King,” 190, 337. Hiung-nu: see Huns. Hiung T’ung of Ch’u: confirmed as King Wu, 190, 337. Ho: a sacred mountain, 122. Ho-lu, King of Wu: 233-234, 348. Ho-sii, primeval emperor: 236. Ho-tan-kia, the Emperor: 49, 331. Hong: a sacred mountain, 121, 122. Horn: bows made of, 164. Horses: in hieroglyphics of Shang +t dynasty, 75; with oxen, chief produce of Yung-chéu (the Ordos territory), and Ki-chéu (South Shan-si), 122; a dealer in, elevated to rank of Prince of Ts’in, 153; four steeds har- nessed to war chariots in cam- paign against the Huns, 159; long, stout, and large-headed, 160; how yoked, harnessed, and adorned before war chariots, 163-164; guided by foot-sol- diers in war, 164; with oxen and sheep, reared by the Huns, 168; cavalry, introduced by King Wu-ling of Chau, 272- 273; riding, not usual before third century B.c., 273. Hou (= marquis): 98, 362 INDEX ™ Héu-han-shu: 19. represents the prehistoric H6u-i minister and _ general-in- neolithic period, 236. chief, 39-42. Huber, Ed., on Si-wang-mu: 151, H6u-tsi: posthumous son of the note 2. Emperor Ti-k’u, 26. House-building: first introduced by Huang-ti, 21. Hi Hing, “the agriculturist’’: re- futed by Mencius, 290. Hu, a descendant of the Emperor Shun: invested with Ch’én, 343. Hu An-kuo, historian: on Lit Pu- wei, 328. Hu-nan-fang-wu-chi: 121. Hu-pei province: supposed home of Shén-nung, 11. Hua: a sacred mountain, 121. Hua-sii: mother of the Emperor Fu-hi, 8. Hua Tu: minister in Sung, 229. Hua-yang: principal wife of Hiau- won, the King, as Prince of Ts’in, 323. Huai, King of Ch’u: 315, 317, 337. Huai-nan-tzi: see Liv AN. Huan, Duke of Ts’: first of the “Five Leaders,” 201, 206, 207- 211, 217, 218, 339; given to evil courses in old age, 211; his end, 211, 218-219; his treat- ment of Duke W6n of Tsin, 214; favors legitimate succession to imperial throne, 209, 218. Huan-wang, the Emperor: 197, 332. Huang-fu (= Nan-chung), general : 161. Huang-fu: special term for the “Steppe Dependency,’’ 169. Huang Hié: see CHUN-SHON-KUN. Huang-ho: see Yeittow River. Huang-ti: first emperor according to Ssi-ma Ts’ién, 7, 329; his person and government, 12; makes war on the Huns, 13; inventions ascribed to, 13, 20— 23; alleged connection with Babylonia, 14-18; further deeds of, 20-23; his death, 24; de- scendants of, appointed fief- holders under Wu-wang, 99; said by some to have invented south-pointing chariots, 129; Hui, Duke of Tsin: 213, 215, 334. Hui, King of Liang, t.e. Wei: 335; Mencius’ conversations with, 287, 289. Hui-tsung, the Emperor: a patron of art, 71, 73, 131. Hui-wang, the Emperor: 218, 332. Hui-woén, King of Ts’in: 316, 333. Human emperors: 5, 329. Humboldt, Von, on Si-wang-mu: 151, note 2. “Hundsfott” (German): wrongly derived from ‘‘Hunnus fuit,” 68. Huns: known in China as Hun-yii, x Him-yi, Hién-yiin, K’iian, and Hiung-nu, names _ connected with the root Hun or Kun, 13, 67-69, 159, 168; driven away by Huang-ti, 13; as Wu-wang’s allies help to overturn the Shang dynasty, 64-65, 70, 169; con- clude treaty with China in 47 B.c.; words from their language preserved in Chinese literature prove to be Turkish, 66; levy tribute from T’ai-wang and W6én- wang and attack T’ai-wang’s state, 68-69, 169; defeated by Won-wang (1138 3.c.), 70; en- croached on Chinese territory during Chéu dynasty, 120; campaign against, described in the Shi-king, 159-161; at one time held territory as far as the River King and T’ai-yiian, 160, 161; Chinese soldiers afraid of, 163; expeditions against, in what season undertaken, 164; more successful on large plains than on hilly territory, 166; advantages on the Chinese side in war against, 166-167; Ssi-ma Ts’ién’s account of, 167-170; Shan-jung, Hién-yiin, and Hun- yu divisions of, before the time of Yau and Shun; honor robust, and neglect old and weak men, 168; attack and kill Yu-wang, INDEX 169, 177; the states of Tsin and Ts’in fight against Huns to protect China, 183; a political, not a racial union, 183-184; Huns of Europe and Hiung-nu identical and of Turkish extrac- tion; the Tiirk and Sir-Tardush nations and the Uigurs off- shoots of the Hiung-nu, 184, note 1; possibly related to Scythians, 185; their line of kings compared with Chinese records, 185-187; Northern Jung send foot-soldiers to fight the Chinese, 187-188; early contests between, and Man bar- barians according to old legend, 194; depend on the coast of Ts’i for salt, 204; after war with Tsin and Ts’in cease to make inroads, 263; use skull of enemy for ritual purposes like the Boians, 270-272; see also I-x’t- sune; June and T1; K’tan- JUNG. Hun-yii and Hiin-yii: see Huns. Hunting: introduction of, ascribed to Fu-hi, 9, 14; hunting parties eause of political troubles, 39, 42, 143; sportsmanlike treat- ment of, by Ch’éng-t’ang, 47; Chéu-sin’s hunting parties, 53, 54; soldiers enlisted for, 119; Chau-wang’s passion for, 143; Mu-wang’s hunting expeditions, 144; hunting the image of war, 162; birds, rats, foxes, and hares shot by children; hunting and cattle-breeding means of livelihood among Huns, 168; Siian-wang’s hunting expedi- tions described on Stone Drums, 170. I: a sacred mountain, 121. I (barbarians of the east): referred to in Tso-chuan, 185. I Chi: minister during the Shang dynasty, 48. I-hing, the astronomer: aware of the deviation of magnetic needle, 131, 135. 363 I-hu (= Kung-wang): 152. I-jén, Prince of Ts’in: see Cauanc- SIANG. I-king, or “Book of Changes”: one of the oldest products of Chinese literature, 59, 192; based on Fu-hi’s mystic trigraphs (see Pa-KvA); ascribed to Wén- wang, 59-62; recommended by Confucius, 62; extended by Chéu-kung, 104; Confucius’ re- lation to, 251. J-kiu: personal name of P’ing-wang, 177. I-k’ii-jung (Huns): withstand Tsin and Ts’in, 263. I-k’iié: city in the present Ho-nan province, celebrated battle-field, 318. I-ling: the mausolea of the kings of Ch’u, 319. I?-wang, the Emperor: 154, 332. I*-wang, the Emperor: 153, 332. I-wu-lii: a sacred mountain, 122. I Yin: minister under Ch’éng-t’ang and his successors, 47; consoli- dates the power of the Shang dynasty, 47-48. Indian population in Eastern Turke- stan: 19. Industries described in the Chéu-li: 126.- Inscriptions, hieroglyphic: on the bronze vessels of the Shang dynasty, 71-76; on stone and jade attributed to the Emperor Yu, 90; on the bronze tripod of Silver Island, 161; on the Stone Drums, 170-171 ; see also H1zRo- GLYPHICS. : Intercalary month: introduction of, ascribed to Huang-ti, 22. Interpreters, court: 125; accom- pany ambassadors from Tung- king, 127. Interregnum: when there was no emperor in China, 327; see also KUNG-HO PERIOD, THE. Inundation: see DeLuen; YELLOW RIvER. Irrigation of soil: under advice of government officers, 110. 364 Iron age, the, in China: 236. Iron: consumption and taxation of, in Ts’i; Chinese, best on Roman market, 204; implements of, in seventh century B.c., 204; arms of, about 500 B.c., 235. Ivory : formerly produced in Hu-nan, 121; and in the kingdom of Ch’u, 214; brought from Tung- king, 127; bows had ornaments of, 164. Jade age in China corresponding to neolithic period: 236. Jade: said to have been known to Huang-ti, 13; works of art made of, 89-91; the word yw for, occurs in the oldest texts, 91; as coming from Khotan prob- ably sparingly used before sec- ond century B.c., 91; article of trade in Yung-ch6u south of Ordos territory, 122. Jén-hau (or Mu), Duke of Ts’in : 333. Jén-huang: see HUMAN EMPERORS. Jén-tsung, the Emperor: 131, 136. Jo-shui (““Weak Water ”’) : 147, 148. Julien, Stanislas: translates his- torical drama, 269, note 1. Jung (Huns): attack T’an-fu, 168; driven away by Wu-wang and called Huang-fu asa tributary state, 169; referred to in T'so- chuan, 185, 187, 188; emperor’s war against, supported by Tsin, 219; Tsin and Ts’in unite against, 263. Juries: see PEOPLE’S VOICE. Justice, Board of: 113, 123-125. Justice of the peace, Mandarin of Earth acts as: 116. K’ai-fong-fu (Ho-nan): various art collections at, 73. Kan-p’an: adviser under Wu-ting, 53 Kan-su and Shen-si: the cradle of Chinese civilization, 4. K’ang-hi, the Emperor: has the T’ung-kién-kang-mu translated into Manchu, 265. INDEX K’ang-wang, the Emperor: 138, 331; after him the house of Chéu fell into decay, 159, 178. Karashar: 149. Kau-lié, King of Ch’u: 321, 337. Kau-yang: private name of the Emperor Chuan-hii, 25. K’au-ku-t’u: 72-73. K’au-kung-ki: 125. K’au-wang, the Emperor: 263, 332. Khan, or Great Khan: see SHAN-YU. Khotan : oldest inhabitants of, 18-19, 151; jade quarries of, 91. Ki (= Mu-yé) in North Ho-nan: old manuscripts discovered at, 50. Ki-ch6u province: 122. Ki-fu: see Yin Ki-rv. Ki-li, or Ki, Duke of Chéu: 58, 103, 331. K’i-fu, or Shang-fu: ancient term for general, 165. K’i, Mount: selected as residence by T’ai-wang, 69, 169; ancestral home of the Ch6u emperors, 170. Ki, the Emperor: see T1-K’1. Kiang, Lady, wife of Duke Wén of Tsin: 214, 215. Kiang: see Yane-rzi River. Kiang-yiian, the Empress: 25. K’iang tribes: see TANGUTANS. Kié-kui: see Krai. Kié: the last emperor of the Hia dynasty, 43-44, 330; deposed, 47; his history a parallel to that of Chéu-sin, 53; loses the Nine Tripods, 222; Yang Chu thinks his a happy life, 278. Kién, Duke of Ts’i: 340; deprived of throne and murdered, 273. Kién-wang, the Emperor: 227, 332. K’ién-lung, the Emperor : his collec- tions, 71; publishes an illus- trated catalogue of bronzes, 73. Kin-shi-so: 73. “King” (= wang): when the title was enforced by federal states, 314-315. King-ch6u province: 121, 189; see also Cu’U, THE STATE OF. INDEX King, Duke of Ts’i: 243-244, 340. King-lii and king-luk = kingrak (“a sabre’’): oldest Turkish word on record, 66-67, 169. King-kiau, the early Christian re- ligion: 238. King, River: Huns penetrate to south of, 160, 161. King?-wang, the Emperor : 232, 332. King‘-wang, the Emperor: 233, 332. K’ing-wang, the Emperor: 219-220, 332. Kingsmill, T. W.: 147. Kiu-ting: see Nine Tripops, THE. K’iu, personal name of Confucius: 229. Knives : alloys of bronze, 126; made of iron in seventh century B.c., 204. Knot-writing: 7, 9. Ko-chi-king-ytian: 181. K6u-tsién, King of Yiié: 234-235, 261-262, 348. Ki, the state of: 188. K’ii-f6u (Shan-tung) : supposed resi- dence of Shén-nung, 11; burial place of Shau-hau, 24; the earl- dom of, given to Chéu-kung, 99-100; home of the K’ung (Confucius) family, 228. K’ii-wu, in South Shan-si: seat of a family usurping the throne of Tsin, 334. K’t Yiian, the poet: 315-316, 317. Kiin-tzi: see Supprior MAN, THE. Kublai Khan: causes the T’ung- kién-kang-mu to be translated into Uigur, 264-265. Ku-kin-chu: 129. Ku-kung: see T’AN-FUv. Ku-liang Chi: his commentary on the Ch’un-ts’iu, 180. Ku-yi-vu-p’u: 89, 90. K’u, the Emperor: see T1-%’v. K’iian-jung (Huns): 68; Mu-wang’s campaign against the, 144, 152, 169; bring about the ruin of Yu-wang and his paramour Pau Ssi, 169, 172-177; they settle between the rivers King and Wei, 169-170; legend of one of their chiefs being killed 365 by P’an-hu, the ancestor of the Man barbarians, 194. Kua: see Pa-kva. Kuan Chung: see Kuan-rzi. Kuan I-wu: see Kuan-razi. Kuan-tzi, the philosopher: an early statistician, 119, 123, 203; as minister of Ts’i helps Duke Huan to leadership, 201, 207, 217; opinions divided as to his work on government meth- ods, 202, 205; his adminis- tration in Ts’i a model to later generations, exemplified by his views on the taxation of salt and iron, 203-205; his expedi- tion against the Shan-jung, 207; his policy against the Ch’u state, 208; his death and last advice, 210. Kuan-tzi: work of the philosopher so-called; see KuaNn-Tzi, THE PHILOSOPHER. Kuan Yin: legend of his farewell to Lau-tzi, 307. Kuan-yin, the ‘Holy Virgin’’: orig- inally a male deity, 149. Kuan-yin-tzi: 307. K’uang-wang, the Emperor: 332. Kihnert, F.: 40. Kui: see BapGr oF JADE. Kui-chu: see Hin, Duxe oF TSsIN. Kui-ki: a sacred mountain, 120. Kui-ku-tzi: 128, 285, 307-308. Kui, the Emperor: see K1#. Kun barbarians (Huns): 68, 70, 169. Kun: minister of works under Yau and father of the Emperor Yii, 31; fails to stay deluge, 31-35. K’un-lun, Mount: 144-151. Kung (= duke): 98. Kung-ho period: 157, 176, 332. Kung-kung: smashes the vault of heaven, 9. Kung Liu: an ancestor of the Chéu emperors, 168. Kung-sun Tzi-ch’an: see Tzi-cH’AN. Kung-sun Yen, statesman, breaks up confederation against Ts’in, 313. Kung-wang, the Emperor: 152-153, 331. 220, 366 Kung-yang Kau: his commentary on. the Ch’un-ts’iu, 180. K’ung, dukes of: in K’ii-f6u, de- scendants of Confucius, 228. K’ung-fu-tzi and K’ung K’iu: see ConFucivus. K’ung Kia: an ancestor of Con- fucius, 228; murdered, 229. Kuo-izi: see Sons oF THE Empire. Kuo-yii: 155. Lacouperie, T. de: on the Western origin of Chinese civilization, 14-18, 32; on the extent of Mu-wang’s peregrinations, 149-— 150. Lacquer industry: that of Foochow a family secret, 117. Ladders, hooked: used in assault of a fortress, 165. Lances: see WEAPONS. Landholders: rank first in popula- tion, 110. Land tenure: 296-298; laws of, changed under Shi-huang-ti, 298. Lan-t’ién (Shen-si): birthplace of Hua-sii, the Emperor Fu-hi’s mother, 8. Largeteau, M.: eclipse, 41. Latinized names of sages (Confucius, Mencius, Micius, Licius): 281. Lau-shang, Great Khan of the Hiung- nu: 271. Lau-tzi } name and life of, 231-232; possibly of foreign birth, 231, 269; interviewed by Confucius, 232, 240-241, 243; his doctrine as starting-point of an indigenous religion, 237; his Taw-td-king, 238-240, 305; Legge’s and Giles’, the positive and sceptical views of, 238; difficulty of re- constructing system from his sayings, 239-240; compared with Confucius, 240-241; Giles on, 300; some undisputed sen- tences from his sayings, 300-301 ; bids farewell to Kuan Yin at the Han-ku Pass, 307, 313. Lau-tzi and Confucius, the age of: 227-257. on the Shu-king INDEX Law: administration of, 123-124; forbidding states to cross each other’s boundaries except by emperor’s orders, 207; Con- fucius’ method, 245. Legge, James: his edition of the Chinese classics, 26, note 1; on Yi’s engineering exploits, 34, 36-38; translation of the Bamboo Books, 51, note 1, 53- 55, 56-57; on south-pointing chariots, 128; on Si-wang-mu, 151; on customs of the ancient Chinese, translated by, after Biot, 162-167; his year dates s.c. differ from those of astrono- mers, 174; on the eclipse of 776 B.c., 175; on gap in Shu- king’s account of emperors, 178; eulogizes T'so-chuan, 180; his lecture on Huan of Ts’i and Won of Tsin, 206-217; on Confucius’ family, 229; on Tau-té-king, 238; on Tzi-lu, 248; on Confucius’ personal life, 256-257 ; on Yang Chu and Mo Ti, 277, note 1, 278, 282, note 1; see also the several classics quoted from his edition under their respective titles. Legitimacy of throne rights: began to be recognized after Ti-k’i, 39; respected by Chung-k’ang, 39; based according to Shu-king on the authority of God, 79, 100; on the example set by the peo- ple’s ancestors, 82, 100-101, 218; and individual merit, 101-102; Chéu-kung main spokesman of absolute, 137; of emperor’s position loyally supported by Duke Huan of Ts’i, 207, 209, 217; respect of, holds together Chéu dynasty, 217-218; recog- nized by victorious dynasty by giving high appointments to members of ruined house, see Wo-kone and WEi-Tzi. Lei-tsu, the Empress: 22. Lei-wén: see THUNDER PATTERN, Li, son of Confucius: 230, 248. Li Ir: see Lau-rzi. INDEX Li-jung: a wild tribe, 212, 213. Li-ki: 163, 252. Li Lung-mién, artist and collector: helps to illustrate and bring out a work on ancient art, 73. Li-sau, the poem: 315-316. Li-shan: a hill famous for an attack by the Huns on Yu-wang, 169. Li Ssi, anti-Confucianist : 326. Li T’ang (Japanese Rito) artist: 89. Li-wang, the Emperor: 154, 332; driven away by the people, 157, 159. Liang, Mount : separates T’ai-wang’s old and new residences, 69. Liau barbarians: wanderings of the, 193-194. Licius (= Lié-tzi) : 281. Lié-tzi (the book): see Lik-tzi, THE PHILOSOPHER. Lié-tzi, the philosopher: on the Si- wang-mu legend, 146; his work may be fictitious, 276; referred to by Chuang-tzi and Mencius, 277 and note 1, 281. Lié-wang, the Emperor: 274, 332. Life after death: reward for virtue, 82; cf. HELL AND PURGATORY. Life, value of: Yang Chu on the, 277-278. Lin-i: 127. Ling, Duke of Wei: 246-247, 248, 347. Ling, Duke of Tsin: 220, 335. Ling-wang, the Emperor: 227, 332. Liu An, author: 270. Liu-kuo: see “Srx Srarss,’’ THE. Liu-sha (“The Moving Sands”): see SI-WANG-MU. Livestock holders: how ranking in population, 110. Livy: describes custom the Boians had in common with the Hiung- nu, 271. Lo or Lo-yang: imperial capital built by Ch’éng-wang, 136, 169, 177; see also TuNG-TU. Loadstone: 128, 131, 132, 135. Lob-nor: 146, 147. Loyalty: example of, set by Chéu- kung, 137; Duke Huan’s, to the emperor, 207; offenses in, 367 according to Mencius, 293-295; see also LEGITIMACY OF THRONE RIGHTS. family name of the original princes of Ts’i, 339. Lit Pu-wei: prime minister of Ts’in, career of, 323-328. Lu, the state of: treatment of pris- oners of war in, 165; history of, described in Ch’un-ts’iu and Tso-chuan, 179, 197; Jung tribes make inroads on, 187; as an inland state could not extend its territory, 188; Con- fucius a native of, 229; Duke Chau of, patronizes Confucius, 230; Confucius’ sojourn in, 243, 244-246, 248; Duke Chau of, an exile in Ts’i, 248-244; Duke Ting of, 244-246; Con- fucius’ influence on government of, 246; Wu K’i studies warfare and becomes military leader in, 274; Mencius a native of, 274; and ends his days in, 287-288; dukes of, never became kings, 315; annexed by Ch’u, 326, 341; princes of, 340-341. Lu-fu: see Wvu-K6Na. Lun-yiti (‘Confucian Analects ”) : 26, note 1, 253-254, 255. Lung-mén (in North China): sup- posed home of primeval em- perors, 5. Luxury of rich men described by Yang Chu: 277, note 1. Li: Macklin, Dr. W. E.: on Mencius, 291. Magnetic needle: see MARINERS’ Compass. Mailed warriors: 163. Mailla, Father de: on Kung-wang, 153; author of a voluminous “History of China,” 265. Ma Ki (tenth century) on Si-wang- mu: 151. Man barbarians: defeated near Lake Tung-t’ing by Stian-wang, 171; rulers of the Ch’u state call themselves, 191; occupy the south of China and possibly 368 territories south of it, 192-194; their wanderings from north to south, 193; bronze drums of the, 195-196; see also Cu’v, THE STATE OF. Man: personal name of Mu-wang, 144. Manuscripts buried in tombs: 50. Maps and charts of the Empire: 119, 125. Mariners’ Compass: origin of, 126- 136. Marriage: introduced by Fu-hi, 9; special officer in charge of, 115— 116; between parties of same surname treated as incest, 152; among the Huns, 168; between Chinese and foreign tribes, 212, 213, 269; with several wives apparently on equal terms, 215. Martin, W. A. P., on Su Ts’in: 310. Mastiff, the Tibetan: possibly the prototype of the T’au-t’ié mon- ster, 87. Matriarchy: see Matrimony. Matrimony: introduced by Fu-hi, 9, 14, 60; see also MARRIAGE. Mau-tun, iq. Baghatur, ‘‘hero,” an early sovereign of the Hiung- nu (Huns): 161, 185; probably one of King Attila’s ancestors, 185-186. Mayers, W. F.: chronological tables, 7, note 2, 17; on Si-wang-mu, 146. Ma Yiian (Japanese Bayen), artist: 89. Mean, Doctrine of the: see CHuUNG- YUNG. Medicine: early efforts in, ascribed to Shén-nung, 10-11. Meeting of princes: under Wu-wang, 103; under I?-wang, 154; em- peror’s power to preside over, delegated to Duke Huan of Ts’i, 207; Huan overrules emperor’s decision by a, 209; and ex- presses his loyalty in another, 209, 218; “‘the Five Articles ” agreed upon in, 210; presided over by Duke W6n of Tsin, when the emperor is required to INDEX attend, 216; under Ch’éng- wang represented on wall paint- ing, 243; under Lié-wang, 275. Megalomania, national: 112. Mei-hi: the Emperor Kié’s para- mour, 43. Mencius: on Wé6n-wang, 68; on T’ai-wang’s migration, 68-69; -ealls Yii, Confucius, and Chéu- kung the “‘ Three Sages,’ 137 ; eu- logizes Yi and Chéu-kung, 138; on “the Five Articles” fixing principles of government, 210; criticizes Tzi-ch’an, 232-233; work bearing his name Méng-tzi, 255; a native of Lu, 274; refers to Lié-tzi, 277; opposed to Yang Chu and Mo Ti, 276, 282; his life, his mother, 282-284; opposes anti-Confucian spirit of his time, serves and declines salary in Ts’i, 286; his relations to King Hui of Liang, sojourn in Ts’i, Sung and Lu, 287; his death, 288; his views on life, government, and political econ- omy, 288-289; his method of arguing, 290-292; an educator in morals, 292-293 ; his political views, 293-296; better expo- nent of Confucianism than the master himself, 299. Merchants: how ranking according to the Chéu-li, 110; Lau-tzi on, 240. Meyer and Foy: 196, note 2. Mi: old family name of the sovereigns of Ch’u, 189. Mi, the Duke of: 152. Miau-tzi (aborigines of Southwest China): derive their origin from the banished San-miau tribes, 86, 196; from P’an-hu, 194. Micius: see Mo T1. Middle Kingdom (chung-kuo) : origin of the term, 137. Migration: of Chinese nation in prehistoric and legendary period, 8; alleged, from Babylonia to China, 14-18; from Khotan, 18-20; T’an-fu and his people’s, from Pin to Chéu, see T’an-ru; INDEX of Tangutans, Tibetans, and Miau-tzi from Central China to their later seats, 86; of Man barbarians, 193. Millet: 122. Min, King of Ts’i: 318-319, 340. Ministers and advisers: partiality of historians in ascribing great decisions to, 33, 34. Minister, prime (ta-tsai): 110-111. Miracles: an ill-portending mulberry tree, 48; a minister selected by emperor’s dream, 53; several, mentioned in Bamboo Books, 53-55; dreams, visions, etc., in history of Chau state, 270. Mirrors, bronze, alloys of: 126. Model emperor lore of Shu-king: how originated, 33. Méng Au, Ts’in general: 328. Méng-ch’ang-kiin : one of the “Four Nobles,” diplomatic agent in Ts’in, 317; turns against Ts’in, serving his native state, Ts’i, 318, 321. Méng-k-pi-t’an: 132, note 1. Mong K’o: see MENcIUS. Méng-tsin (the ford of Méng): 55; Wu-wang’s manifesto to his army at, 63-65. Moéng-tzt: see MENctus. Money : see EXCHANGE, MEANS OF. Monopolies, origin of the salt and iron : 203-205. Monotheism: see Gop; To Gop (SHANG-T1). Moon, the: as an object of worship, 79. Mo Ti: the philosopher of mutual love, 280-282. Mo-tzi : see Mo Ti, THE PHILOSOPHER. Mountains, sacred: as objects of worship, 79, 120-122. Mourning: period of three years’, not counted as office by historians, 31; spent in preparing for duties of government, 47; Con- fucius’ respect for persons in, 256; Confucius exaggerates, 230 ; Mencius’, for his mother, 287; Chuang-tzi says, “real, grieves in silence,” 304. 2B SACRIFICE 369 Mu, Duke of Ts’in: according to Chavannes, identical with Mu- tién-tzi of the Si-wang-mu legend, 151; fourth among the “Five Leaders,” 206, 219, 333. Mulberry tree, an ill-portending : 48. Murder, political: attempted by means of unsafe boats, 143. Music: instruments of wood and silk thread constructed by Fu-hi, 9; the shéng, or reed organ, in- vented by Nii-kua, 9; construc- tion of instruments of, leads to system of weights and measures, 22, 23; a drum hung before the Emperor Shun’s gate, 32; court musicians and singers under the Chéu dynasty selected from the blind, 125; drums in military use, 165; big drum sounded on approach of enemy, 176; Con- fucius impressed by, 243; see also BRONZE DRUMS. Musicians, court: 125. Mu-t’ién-tzi (“‘Mu, Heaven ’’): 145. Murt’ién-tzi-chuan : Mu-wang, the Emperor: 169, 269, 331. Mythological Period: 3-26, 329. the Son of 145, 148-149. 144-152, Nakhunte, Kudur, of the Baby- lonians: referred to Huang-ti by De Lacouperie, 17-18. Names, clans, and by-names not known among the Huns: 168. Nan (= baron): 98. Nan-chung: name of two generals referred to in the Shi-king, also in inscription of 812 B.c., 161. Nan-ts’i-shu: 130, note 1. Nan-tzi, the ill-reputed Duchess of Wei, 246-247, 248. Nan-wang, the Emperor: 314-321, 325, 326, 332. Nan-yiié, the state of : 196, 227. Needles: among necessaries of life in seventh century B.c., 204. Nest-builders: 5, 6, 329. Niau-tsi-wén (‘‘seript of birds’ foot- prints ’’): see WRITING, ART OF. ‘Nine Tripods, the (kiu-ting) : corre- 370 spond to nine provinces of Yii, 36, 90; taken possession of by Wu-wang, 98; as emblems of imperial dignity ridiculed by a vassal, 221; history and sym- bolic power of, described by Ting-wang, 221-222; seized by the King of Ts’in, 325; loss of, forfeits title of ‘Son of Heaven,” 326. Nobles, the Four: see Four NoBizs, THE. Nobility, the five grades of: regu- lated by Wu-wang, 98; see also Cuu-Hév. Nomadic life: under Fu-hi, 9-14; under Huang-ti, 13; of the Huns, 168. Nii-kua, the Emperor: Fu-hi’s co- regent or successor, 9; repairs vault of heaven, 10. Oath: legalized by blood of animal, 124, 271. Oppolzer, T. von: on the Shu-king eclipse, 41. Old-Turkish stone inscriptions: 184, note 1. Oracles: see DrvINATION. Origin of Chinese race: not known, 3-4, 8; oldest names ascribed to prehistoric period belong to northwestern China, 4, 5; re- ferred to Babylonia, 14-18; to , Khotan, 18-20. Ou-yang Siu: on the “Stone Drums of the Chéu dynasty,” 171. Ox: the Emperor Shén-nung repre- sented with head of, 10. Oxen: said to have been first used by Huang-ti for drawing carts, 22; produced in Ordos territory and North Shan-si, 122; bag- gage-cars drawn by, in war, 164; with horses and sheep reared by the Huns, 168. Pa-kua, symbols of oldest system of Chinese philosophy: invention of, ascribed to Fu-hi, 9; de- scription of, 59-61; as means of auguration, 118; see also I-K1NG. INDEX a Pages: see Sons oF THE EMPIRE. Pai, or po (“hundred’”’): as a nu- merical term denoting totality, 15. Pai-hu-t’ung: 60. Palace: first, built by Huang-ti, 21; emperor’s, during the Chéu dynasty, 114-115. Pan Ku, historian: 60. P’an-hu: legendary ancestor of the Man barbarians, 194. P’an-kéng, the Emperor: 53, 82, 83, - 100-101, 331. P’an-ku: first human being, 4, 329. Paravey, le Chevalier de: cited by M. Huber as identifying Si- wang-mu with the Queen of Sheba in 1853, 151, note 2. [I find that Paravey first wrote on the subject in 1839; see his “ Dis- sertation sur les Amazones,” Paris, 1840, p. 15. F. H.] Pardon: the sovereign’s right, 123. Parker, E. H.: 130. Parliamentary power, traces of: 124. Pau, the state of: 171. Pau-hi: see Fu-at. Pau-shi: an officer with censorial functions, 116. Pau Ssi: sultana of Yu-wang, 169, 171-174, 176-177. Pear-tree, the sweet: people’s love, 139. Pedigrees: extended to legendary emperors, 99, 191, 228. Pei-jung tribes: 187. Penal code: that of Chéu dynasty comparatively humane, 123. People’s voice, the, in important decisions: 124. Pessimism: see Yana Cav. Pheasants: represented on oldest bronzes, 88; offered as tribute, 127, 128. Phenix, the, on bronzes : see DRAGON. Philosophers, minor : 264, 305-308. Philosophy: Chinese natural, based on male and female principles, 59-62; Yu-tzi, “the Philosopher Yi,”’ possibly oldest work on, 59, note 1, 192; difficulty of translating works of, 239-240; symbol of INDEX flourishing at time of political troubles, 262; some philoso- phers’ works throw light on, and reflect spirit of, Contending States, 264, 276; statesmen and diplomats study, 285; applica- tion of, to affairs of government, 295-296; texts of, 305-307; classification of works of, 306; minor works of, compiled or added to by later writers, 307; see also CONFUCIANISTS; CHduU- KuNG; Han-rei; Kuan-vai; Mo T1; Sun Wu; Stn K’uane; Tauists; W6n-wane; Wu K’1; Yane Cuu; YU-HIvuNG. Pi: see GEM, THE SACRED. Pi-kan: killed by Chéu-sin, 63. Pin: residence of the dukes of Chéu before T’an-fu’s migration, 58, 68, 169. Pines: 122. P’ing, Duke of Lu: 341; and Men- cius, 287. P’ing-chéu-k’o-t’an: 133. P’ing-wang, the Emperor: 177, 332. P’ing-yiian-kiin: one of the ‘‘ Four Nobles,” 321. Piton, Ch. : on Su Ts’in and Chang I, 311, note 1. Ploughs: of iron in seventh century B.c., 204. Pén-ts’au-yen-i: 131. Poetry, Chinese: difficulty of trans- lation, 239-240; see also Sxi- xing and K’t Yan. Po (=earl): 98. Po-fu: Yu-wang’s son by his sul- tana Pau-ssi, 172. Po-i, ancestor of the princes of Ts’in : 153. Po K’i, commander of Ts’in: 318- 323; besieges Shang-tang, 321 ; comuuits suicide, 322. Po-ku-t’u-lu: 73. Po-yang: court astronomer under Yu-wang, 172. Po-yii: see Li, son OF CONFUCIUS. Police functions: 124. Population: nine ranks of, 110; cen- sus of, how taken, 119; has share in important decisions in 371 public matters, 124; transfer of, away from original homes, 124; mixed character in, of boundary states, 267-268. Porcelain: see Porrery. Pottery: in the East and in Europe it has derived models from Shang and Chéu - sacrificial bronzes, 84. Prayer by substitute: 103. Prehistoric lore: 3-7, 235-237. Pride, Chinese national: origin of, 112. “Princes of the Cuv-H6v. Products of provinces: 120-122. Professions, the nine: 110. Provinces: empire divided into, under Huang-ti, 21; nine cre- ated under Chuan-hii, 25; nine under Yu, 36, 37; pictorially represented by Nine Tripods, 90; according to the Chéwli, 119-122. P’u: city in the state of Tsin, now province of Shan-si, 212, 213. Empire”: see Quipu: see KNoT-wRITING. Quivers: 164. Rain, praying for: 36. Red: declared the national color of the Chéu dynasty, 98. Reed stalks: as instruments of divi- nation, 83. Revenue, Board of: 113; see also TAXES. Rice: produced in Yang-chéu, 120; in Ts’ing-chéu, 121. Richthofen, Baron F. von: derives origin of Chinese race from Khotan, 18-20; on Shu-king, 33; on the Emperor Yii’s en- gineering works, 34, 38; his view on the old model emperors, 33-34; on the Yi-kung; his authority in Chinese research limited, 38. Ririumin: see Lt LUNG-MIEN. Roasting, the punishment of: 53, 57 and note 1. Robber Chi, the story of: 302-303. 372 Roman Orient: inhabitants of, said by native author to be like Chinese, 19. Rulers, the Five: 12. Rushes: 121. Sacks : used for provisions in war, 164. Sacrifice: leading feature in life of nation during Shang dynasty, 83; viands and libations used as offerings, 84; sacrifice to God (Shang-ti), first introduced by Fu-hi, 9; regulated by Huang-ti, 13, 21; neglected by Shau-hau, 24; reorganized by Chuan-hii, 25; during the Shang and Chéu dynasties, 78-80, 118; claimed as the emperor’s privilege by King of Ts’in, 326; sacrifice to minor deities, 80-81, 118; see also MOUNTAINS, SACRED; sac- rifice to ancestors, 81-83, 118, 177; see also ANCESTORS. Sacrificial vessels: see BRONZES. Salt: produced in Yu-chéu (Chi-li), 122; monopoly created by Kuan-tzi, 203-205. San-kiau (“the Three Religions’): 237-238. San-kuo-chi: 129, note 1. San-miau tribe: banished by Yau, identified by some with T’au-t’ié monster, 85-87 ; supposed ances- tors of Tangutans, Miau-tzi, and Tibetans, 86, 196. San-T sin (=The Three Tsin States) : 264, 335-336. San-wei: locality in western Kan-su, near the northern boundary of Tibet, 87, 145. School: established under Ti-k’u, 25; the Duke of Chéu (Wén- wang) builds an imperial college, 54; school at Wu-wang’s capi- tal, 99; philosophical school of Kui-ku-tzi, 285, 307. Scythians: possibly Hunnic tribes, 185. Self-culture: the subject of the Ta-hio, 254; recommended by Mencius, 292. Sericulture; see SiLE, INDEX Servants: rank eighth in population, 110. Seven Heroes, the: see Ts’1-HruNG. Sha-ché6u: eastern terminus of tract known as liu-sha, 147. Sha-k’iu: one of Chéu-sin’s resi- dences, in the present Chi-li, 57. Shan-hai-king: 146. Shan-jung (= “Hill” Jung): a [Mongolic ?] branch of the Huns, 168, 187; Duke Huan of Ts’i’s expedition against, 207. Shan-yii: title of the Great Khan of the Huns, 66, 167; see also Huns. Shang, Duke of Sung: 229, 342. Shang dynasty, the: 47-91; 330- 331; its records consist chiefly of emperors’ names, 49; its culture, 71-91; causes of its downfall, 69-70; destroyed with the assistance of Tartar tribes, 169, 183; probably first his- torical period, 252. Shang Jung: former minister of Chéu-sin, assists Wu-wang in government, 95. Shang-tang: city in the state of Chau, the present Lu-an-fu in Shan-si, 321. Shang-ti, “the Supreme Ruler”: see Gop. Shau-hau, the Emperor: 24, 329. Shau-k’ang, the Emperor: 42, 330; his successors, 330. Shau-kung (= Duke of Shau): (1) prime minister to K’ang- wang, 138; his popularity eulo- gized in the Shi-king, 139; min- ister to Chau-wang, 143; first ‘prince of Yen, 338; (2) prime minister to Li-wang, advocates freedom of speech, 154-155; shields Li-wang’s son, Siian- wang, against revolutionists and becomes his minister, 157. Shau-tién : supposed father of Shén- nung and Huang-ti, 12. Sheba, Queen of: identified with Si-wang-mu by Professor Forke, 150-151; also by Paravey, 151. INDEX Sheep: used among the Huns by children in the practice of riding, 168. Shen-si and Kan-su: the cradle of Chinese civilization, 4. Shi, Prince of: 101. Shi Hu, the Emperor: 130, 135. Shi-huang-ti: causes works of litera- ture to be consigned to oblivion, 71; calls himself “The First Emperor,” 97; changes in cul- tural life under, prepared cen- turies before him, 270; changes conditions of land tenure, 298; his paternity and succession to the Ts’in throne, 324, 327-328 ; see also CHONG. Shi-ir-chi : see CYCLICAL CHARACTERS. Shi-kan: see CYCLICAL CHARACTERS. Shi-ki, Ssi-ma Ts’ién’s history of early periods (translated by Ed. Chavannes): on Huang-ti, 7, 12, 13; on emperors’ fief names, 17; its praises of model emperors, 29; its chronology beginning from 841 B.c., 51; on Chéu-sin, 56; on culture of Shang period, 76; on San- miau’s banishment, 86; dates decline of imperial power from Chau-wang, 143; on the Duke of Mi’s three wives, 152; on the name Ts’ién-m6u; silent on Siian-wang’s wars against the Huns, 158; on early history and life of the Huns, 167-170; on Yu-wang and Pau Ssi, 172; ignores eclipse of 776 B.c., 176; on emperor’s duty to sacrifice to ancestors, 177; dates decay of imperial authority from P’ing- wang, 178; on the genealogy of Hunnic sovereigns, 186; on Chau-wang’s death, 189; on the princes of Ch’u, 191-192; on the descendants of Kuan- tzi, 205; on Lau-tzi, 231, 240; mentions the Sun-tzi, 234; its chapter on Confucian Disciples, 249; throws light on history of Contending States, 264; its history of the Chau state, 269- 373 273; on Hién-wang, 275; refers to Kui-ku-tzi as a teacher, 308; on Su Ts’in, 309, 310, 313; on Prince I-jén’s flight from Han- tan, 324. Shi-king, or “‘Book of Odes’’: ballad referring to Héu-tsi, 26; con- tains no mention of Yau and Shun, 55; portions of, among the oldest products of Chinese literature, 59; throws light on Shang culture, 74, 76; oldest ode in, referred to eighth century B.c., 76; allegorical poem as- cribed to Ché6u-kung, 105; the term “Middle Kingdom ” occurs in, 137; ode on the ‘Sweet Pear Tree,” 139; many of its satirical poems refer to I*-wang, 153; its account of a battle against the Huns, 158-160; ode referring to W6n-wang’s wars against the Huns, 161; extract from Legge’s transla- tion of Edouard Biot’s analysis of odes throwing light on mode of warfare, 162-166; compared to Homeric epics as a source of history, 166; rhymes of, throw light on ancient sounds of the language, 167; eclipse men- tioned in, confirmed by Western astronomers, 173-174; edited by Confucius, 252; highest in estimation among works of poetry, 316. Ships and boats: under Huang-ti, 22; south-pointing, allusion to, during Tsin dynasty, 130; boat used for political murder, 143. Shén, Marquis of: 169, 172, 177. Shén-i-king: 86. Shén-kua, encyclopxdist : 132, 136. Shén-nung, the Emperor: 10, 329; his appearance; introduces field labor and botany, 10; descend- ants of, appointed fief-holders under Wu-wang, 99; his time coincides with stone age, 236. Shén-nung-pén-ts’au-king: 10-11. Shén-tsing-wang, the Emperor: 313, 332. 374 Shong, the reed organ: invented by Ni-kua, 9. Schopenhauer’s pessimism compared with Yang Chu’s: 279. Shéu-ch’un, an eastern capital of the state of Ch’u: see Map. Shu (= Ssi-ch’uan): conquered by Ts’in, 314. Shu-king (‘‘the Book of History ’’): its record of Yau and Shun a “Mirror of Princes,” 29; early knowledge of astronomy be- trayed in, throws doubt on the tradition, 30; its account of Shun, 31; of Yi, 32-38; oldest source of pre-Confucian history, 33; its compilation ascribed to Confucius, 33, 251-252; its tradition differs from that of the Bamboo Books, 51; P’an- k6ng’s views on government re- corded in, 52; suspicious for periods preceding Chéu-sin, 55- 56, 76-77; quotes names of foreign tribes assisting Wu- wang, 69-70; as a source for knowledge of cultural life before Ch6u dynasty, 76; contains traces of monotheism, 78-80; of cult of minor deities, 80; of ancestor worship, 81-83; of sacrificial service, 83; P’an- k6ng’s argument why the nation should be loyal to him, 100-101 ; Chéu-kung’s ideas about God, one’s ancestors, and one’s own merit, 101-102; Ché6u-kung’s prayer for Wu-wang’s recovery, 102-103 ; Ch’éng-wang’s speech appointing Wei-tzi prince of Sung, 106-107; contains two chapters on the fundamental in- stitutions of government, 107; contains but scanty details on Mu-wang, 144; the name K’un- lun first cited in, 145; the Jo- shui, or ‘‘Weak Water,” men- tioned in, 147; mainly a series of speeches embodying political wisdom, 156, 178; closes its account of Chéu emperors with P’ing-wang; gap in previous INDEX history, 178; Confucius’ con- nection with, 251-252; some religious views expressed in, foreign to Confucian school, 253; Mencius’ faith in, 288. Shu-liang Ho, father of Confucius: 229. Shu-yii, Ch’éng-wang’s brother: in- vested with Tsin, 266, 334. Shuti-king-chu: 127. Shun, the Emperor: 31-32, 329; supposed descendant of Chuan- hi, 25; selected as emperor from the masses, 31; his love of justice, 32; banishes Kun and appoints Yi to regulate deluge, 32; his title Yu-yii, 32; prac- tised divination, 83; banished certain tribes, or personages, 85; visited by Si-wang-mu, 151; Po I, minister under, sup- posed ancestor of princes of Ts’in, 153; wall painting of, 243; as represented in Shu-king, 251; a descendant of, invested with Ch’én by Wu-wang, 343; see also YAU AND SHUN. Shun-wei (Shun-yii) : name, or title, of earliest chiefs of the Huns, possibly standing for Shan-yii, 167. Si-ch6u (the “ Western Chéu”): so-called before P’ing-wang, 179. Si-ling, the Lady of: 22. Si-po, ‘Chief of the West”: Wo6n-wana. Si-wang-mu, legend of: 144-151. Siang, Duke of Sung: 219, 342. Siang, Duke of Tsin: 219, 335. Siang, King of Ts’i: 319, 340. Siang-wang, the Emperor: 218, 332. Siau-kia, the Emperor: 48, 330. Siau-shi: (‘Small Historian ’’): 125. Sié-yen-t’o: see Sir-TaRDUsH. Sitén-ts’in-chu-tzi-ho-pién: a collec- tion of philosophical texts, 305— 306. Silk: Fu-hi constructs musical in- struments of, 9; introduction of, by Lei-tsu, 22, 23; pro- duced under government super- vision during the Chéu dynasty, see INDEX 110; brocades of, a trade monopoly during the Han dy- nasty, 117; produced in Yu- chéu, 121; textures of, produced in Ping-chéu, 122; axle-trees of chariots and bows covered with, 164; torn in quantities to please a woman, 172. Silver Island, the bronze tripod of: 161. Sin-ling-kim: one of the “Four Nobles,”? 321; raises siege of Han-tan, 322; unsuccessful in last attempt to break the power of Ts’in, 328. Sin-po: minister under Chuang- wang, 201. Singers, court: 125. Sir-Tardush : identical with the Sié- yen-t’o tribes of Chinese his- torians, 184, note 1. “Six States,” the (Yen, Chau, Han, Wei, Ts’i, and Ch’u): in alli- ance against Ts’in, 310; ex- clude Ts’in from Han-ku Pass, 813; riding on horseback not customary before time of, 273. Skins: produced in King-chéu or Ch’u, 121, 214. Skull of enemy used as drinking vessel: 270-272. Soldiers enlisted for hunting pur- poses: 119. Son of Heaven: the emperor’s title from high antiquity, 95-96. Sons of the Empire (kuo-tzi): 116, 117. Sophists, Chinese: 307-308. Sounds, ancient, of Chinese syllables : 7, 167. South-pointing: chariots, 127, 135; ships, 130, 135; needle, see Mariners’ Compass. Spades: of iron in seventh century B.c., 204. Speeches in historical texts: 155- 156. Speech, liberty of: advocated, 155. Spelling of Chinese words: method adopted in present work, xv-xx, 217, note 1. Spirits: of the departed supposed 375 to affect lives of descendants, 81-82, 100-102; of good sov- ereigns and ministers live in heaven, 82; see also ANCESTORS; HEAVEN. Spring, Mandarin of (ch’un-kuan): 113, 117-119, 124, Ssi-ch’uan province: supposed home of the Emperor Yi, 33; con- quered by Ts’in, 314. Sst-hau: see Four Nogpies, THE. Ssi-kién (= public remonstrators) : 116. Sst-k’u-ts’tian-shu-tso-yau-tsung - mu: see TSUNG-MU. Ssi-ma Kuang, historian: 264, 266, 268. Ssi-ma Ts’ién: see SHi-K1. Ssi-sht (= court instructors): 116. Ssi-shu (“Four Books ”’): 251, 253- 255. Stars, the: as objects of worship, 79. Statistics: early traces of method in, 119-123, 203-205; see also KUAN-TZI. Steppe, northern: Ping-ch6u and Yung-chéu, nearest territories to, 122. Stone age, the, in China: 236. Stone Drums, the, of the Chéu dynasty: 170. Succession, order of: Huang-ti be- comes emperor by his ability, 12; the eldest born disregarded, 24; election from another fam- ily, 25, 34; emperor deposed by the people, 26; Yau elected to succeed his deposed step-brother, 26; throne offered to a minister, and then to Shun, a man of the people, 31; Yiu selected on ac- count of his ability, 34; reluc- tantly appoints his son, 38-39; succession regulated by God, 79-80; by the king’s ancestors, 81-82; people’s share in decid- ing succession to heirless thrones, 124; rightful heir excluded from throne by uncle as usurper, 153, 218; legitimate, insisted on by minister against emperor’s will, 201; crown-prince’s, en- 376 forced against emperor’s wish under pressure of powerful vassal, 209; five sons of five wives disputing over throne of Ts’i, 211; Duke Won of Tsin induced by ruse of his followers to accept, 214; disputed by younger brothers, 233, 263. Sin K’uang, philosopher: governor in Ch’u, 325; teacher of Han- fei-tzi and Li Ssi, 326. Siian, Queen Dowager and Regent of Ts’in: 317, 319. Stian, King of Ts’i: 340; his relations to Mencius, 286. Siian-wang, the Emperor: 157-171, 332. Siié-shan in Kan-su: supposed seat of Si-wang-mu, 150. Su-ch6u (Kan-su): 150. Su Ts’in, statesman: pupil of Kui- ku-tzi, 285; his career, 308-314. Sui dynasty: classification of im- perial library of, imitated by Chinese writers, 306. Sui-jon: the Prometheus of the Chinese, 6, 329; predecessor of Fu-hi, 8. Summer, Mandarin of (hia-kuan): 113, 119-123. Sun-tzi: see Sun Wu. Sun Wu, military leader and philoso- pher: 234. Sun, the : as an object of worship, 79. Sung-shi: 131. Sung-shu: 129, 130. Superior Man, the: according to Confucius, 239, 254, 255; ac- cording to Lau-tzi, 240. Ta-hio (‘‘The Great Learning”) : 26, note 1, 254. Ta-ki: the Emperor Chéu-sin’s con- sort, brought away as a captive, 54; her licentiousness and cru- elty, 56-57; did not invent punishment of roasting, 57, note 1; ruled her husband, 56, 65; her death, 65. Ta-tsai (= prime minister) : 110-111. Ta-ts’in (Syria): 19, 148. Ta-yii: see YU. INDEX Taboo of names: not known among the Huns, 168. T’ai-hau: see FU-HI. T’ai-kia, the Emperor: 47, 330. T’ai-k’ang, the Emperor: 39, 330. T’ai-kéng, the Emperor: 48, 330. T’ai-kung Shang: invested with Ts’i by Wu-wang, 339. T’ai-méu, the Emperor: 48, 330, T’ai-po : legendary ancestor of princes of Wu, 347. T’ai-shan: sacred mountain in Shan- tung, 9, 122. T’ai-wang: see T’AN-FU. T’ai-yian: Huns driven back as far as, under Siian-wang, 160, 161; part of the state of Tsin, 212. Tan, Duke of Chéu: see CHOU-KUNG. Tan-yang: old capital of the state of Ch’u, 190. T’an-fu (T’ai-wang, or Ku-kung): Wo6n-wang’s grandfather, 57-58, 331; as a vassal of the Huns is caused by their oppressions to emigrate, 57-58, 68-69, 169; as chief ancestor of the Chéu emperors is addressed by Chéu- kung in prayer, 103; his eldest son, T’ai-po, supposed ancestor of sovereigns of Wu, 347. T’ang, ‘“‘the Completer,” or ‘the Successful’: see CH’ONG-T’ANG. T’ang-shu: 96. Tangutans (K’tang): derive their origin from the San-miau tribe, originally in central China, 86, 196; win battle against Siian- wang, 158. Tartarization of Chinese culture: 268-273. Tau, King of Ch’u: 274, 337. Tau (“the word’’): in the Tau-té- king, 239; Professor Giles on, 300. Tau-té-king: see Lau-rvzi. Tauism : an indigenous religion, 238 ; see also TavIsts. Tauists: cultivate Si-wang-mu leg- ends, 146; Confucianists and, how differing, 299; see also Cuuane-rzi1; Kuan Yin; Kur INDEX Ku-Tzi, Lav-rzi; Lui-rzi; Won- vz. T’au Hung-king, scholar: 308. T’au-t’ié, the monster: a native invention, 84-87; held to be identical with San-miau tribe, 85; possibly the Tibetan mastiff, 87. Taxes: amount of, fixed by Man- darin of Heaven, 114; collected by Mandarin of Earth, 116; on salt and iron, 203-205; on agri- culture, 296; systems of raising, 297-298. Ten Stems: TERS. Terrestrial emperors: 5, 329. Textures of cotton (vegetable fiber) and silk: 122. Thunder pattern (lei-wén): derived from hieroglyphic for ‘‘ thunder,” 88, 89; used as an ornament for filling-in purposes; symbolic meaning, 89. Thurécz, John of: his list of King Attila’s ancestors, 185, 190. Ti (worthern barbarians, Huns) : 168; referred to in T'so-chuan, 185, 188; Duke W6n of Ts’i among the, 213. Ti-chi, the Emperor: 25, 26, 329. see CYCLICAL CHARAC- Ti-huang: see TERRESTRIAL EM- PERORS. Ti-k’i, the Emperor: 39, 330. Ti-k’u, the Emperor: 25, 329; father of Yau, ancestor of Shang and Chéu emperors, 25. Ti-kui, the Emperor: see K1#. Ti-siang, the Emperor: 41, 330. T’iau-chi (Chaldea) : 148. Tibetans: supposed descendants of the San-miau tribe, 86. T’ién, the, family: usurpers in Ts’, 273, 339, 340. T’ién Ch’ang, minister in Ts’i: 273. T’ién Ho, usurper in Ts’i: 273, 340. T’ién-chu-kiau (= Roman Catholi- cism): 238. T’ién-huang: see HEAVENLY EM- PERORS. Tién-kuan: see HEAVEN, MANDARIN OF, 377 Tién-tzi: see Son or HEAVEN. Tin: produced in Yang-ch6u prov- ince, 120. Ting, Duke of Lu: 244-246, 341. Ting-wang, the Emperor: 220, 332. Tithe, levied on harvests: 297-298. Tonjukuk, inscription of: 184, note 1 T’6ng, the state of: 290. Tortoise shells: as instruments of divination, 83, 102, 103, 118. Traffic, land and water: regulated under Huang-ti, 22. Translation of poetry and_philo- sophical texts: 239-240. Traveler, the Great and the Small: 124-125. Traveling philosophers: 285. Tribute (kung) : 112. Tripods, the Nine: see Ninz TRiIPops, THE. Tsai Yu: see Tzi-o. Ts’ai, the state of: Duke Huan of Ts’i’s expedition against, 208; its first prince a brother of Wu- wang; princes of, 345-346; annexed by Ch’u, 346. Ts’ang-kié, state historian: reputed inventor of the art of writing, 20-21. Ts’au, the state of: on route from Ts’i to Ch’u, 214; Wu-wang in- vests his brother Chén-to with, 843; princes of, 343-344; an- nexed by Sung, 344. Ts’i, the state of: becomes powerful under P’ing-wang, 178; as an inland state could not extend, 188; rise of, to great power; its Duke Huan, first of the “Five Leaders,’”’ and his minister Kuan- tzi, 201-211, 217-218, 295; its salt and iron industries, 204— 205; Duke Won of Tsin as an exile in, 213-214; on side of Tsin in war with Ch’u, 217; under Duke Huan’s successors, 218-219; Duke Chau of Lu an exile in, with Confucius, 243- 244; its court had good music, 243; its jealousy of Confucius’ good government in Lu, 246; 378 INDEX one of the “Seven Heroes”’ states, 266; change of dynasty, the T’ién family, 273; assumes title of ‘King,” but remains loyal to emperor, 275, 315; princes of, known for luxury, 277, note 1; Mencius in, 283, 287; plans conquest of Yen, 287; joins confederation against Ts’in, 310; attacks Chau, 313; Su Ts’in assassinated in, 314; Méng-ch’ang-kin, native of, takes service in Ts’in and re- turns to, 317; the title of “Emperor”? proposed for King Min of, 318-319; conquers Sung, 319; suffers defeat by Yen and its allies, 319; annexed by Ts’in, 328, 340; princes of, 339-340. Ts’i-hiung: the seven powerful con- tending states, 266. Ts’ién-han-shu: 66. Ts’ién-mé6u: battle-field, near the present Liau-chéu, Shan-si, 158. Tsin, the state of : becomes powerful under P’ing-wang, 178; causes of its growth, 182, 188, 212; its situation, 183; its Duke Wén one of the “ Five Leaders,” 206, 211-217, 219; a son of Wu- wang’s invested with, 212, 266, 334; its Duke Hién, 212; de- feats Ch’u in the battle of Ch’éng-p’u, 216; Chau Ts’ui and Chau Tun ministers in, 220, 269; defeated by Ch’u, 223; six grandees of, wrangling for supremacy, 263; the fami- lies of Han, Chau, and Wei become powerful in, 263 ; break- ing up of, into three states, 264; its former territory finally an- nexed by Ts’in, 328, 335-336; princes of, 334-335. Ts’in, the state of : Duke Mu of, held to be the Mu-wang of the Si- wang-mu legend, 151; Fei-tzi, a@ dealer in horses, elevated to rank of prince of, 153; becomes powerful under P’ing-wang, 178; causes of its growth, 182, 188; its situation, 183; its Duke Mu one of the “‘ Five Leaders,’ 206, 219; interferes with succession in Tsin, 213, 215; on side of Tsin in war with Ch’u, 216; one of the “Seven Heroes’ states, 266; its boundaries constantly extending, 266-267; non-Chi- nese character of, 267-268, 275; common descent of its princes with those of Chau, 269; claims hegemony among Contending States; regarded as barbarian country by Chinese, 275; Chang I minister in, 286, 312; Ts’in and Anti-Ts’in, the main politi- cal factions in fourth century B.c., 309; sends Chang I on a successful mission to Ch’u, 312, 315; confederation against, bro- ken up by Kung-sun Yen, 313; Chang I recalled to; conquers Shu (Ssi-ch’uan), 314; strongest state long before being styled kingdom in 325 B.c., 314; Kings Hui-wén and Wu of, 316; Chang I leaves, for want of ap- preciation; war with Han, 316; King Chau-siang, 317-325; regency of Queen Dowager, 317-320; Wei Jan, commander in, 317; and chancellor, 318- 320; reverses in war with Ts’, Han, and Wei, 317-318; Po K’i, commander in, 318-322; wins great battle at I-k’iié; title of “Emperor” proposed for king of, 318; defeats Chau and Ch’u, conquers city of Ying and de- stroys IJ-ling; Wei Jan’s rule in, overthrown, 319; King Chau- siang sole regent with Fan Tsi as chancellor, 320-323; de- feats Chau at Shang-tang, 321; the “‘ Four Nobles ’’ work against, 321-326; besieges Han-tan and is defeated, 322; loses its great- est general by Fan Tsii’s jeal- ousy, 322-323; Prince I-jén of, and Lii Pu-wei, 323-328; an- nexes imperial dominion and sacred tripods, 325; annexes INDEX Han; King Chau-siang offers sacrifice to Shang-ti in lieu of emperor, 326; its final struggle for supreme power with Li Pu-wei as prime minister, 327- 328; deposes last prince of the Chéu dynasty and annexes federal states; Chéng (= Shi- huang-ti), king of, 328; princes of, 332-334. Tsing, Duke of Tsin: loses his throne to the princes of Wei, Han, and Chau, 335. Tsing: personal name of Siian-wang, 157, 159. Tsing (“well’’), the: system of taxa- tion, 296-297. Ts’ing-ch6u province: 121. Tsong Ts’an, disciple of Confucius: author of Hiau-king, 249 ; teacher of Wu K’i, 274. Tso-chuan, commentary on the Ch’un-ts’iu: contains an expla- nation of the name T’au-t’ié, 85; principal source for the Ch’un- ts’iu period, 179-181, 182, 197, 253; on foreign tribes (Jung, Ti, etc.), 185, 187; describes battle with foreign tribes, 187— 188; contains history of the “Five Leaders,” 206; Ch’éng- wang’s mistake as to duration of dynasty reproduced in, sup- ports trustworthiness of, 222; extends beyond Confucius’ death, 262. Tso-k’iu Ming: supposed author of the 7'so-chuan, 179. Tsu-i, the Emperor: 49, 331. Tsung-héng, the term: 307. Tsung-li-yamen, the: 111. Tsung-mu: 188, note 1, 148-149. Tu, brother of Wu-wang: invested with Ts’ai, 345. Tuan-mu Shu: 277. Tuan-mu Tz’i: see Tzi-KUNG. Tung-chéu, the ‘Eastern Chéu’’: so-called since P’ing-wang, 179. Tung-chéu-kiin: the last nominal regent of the Chéu dominion, 325, 326, 332. Tung-kuan-k’au-kung-ki: 125. 379 Tung-tu: eastern capital of Chéu emperors, 177. T’ung-kién-kang-mu: 264-266, 268, 326. Turk, the Turks of Central Asia: identical with the T’u-kiié of the Chinese, 184, note 1. Turkestan, Eastern: 18-19, 91, 146- 150, 151. Turkish: the language of the Huns, 66, 70, 184, note 1. Turkish word, the oldest, on record: see Kinc-Lut. Twelve Branches: CHARACTERS. Tzi (= viscount): 98. Tzi-ch’an, the prudent minister of Choéng: 232. Tzi-chi-t’ung-kién: see T’UNG-KIEN- KANG-MU. Tzi-kung: supposed author of the Yué-tstié-shu, 234; disciple of Confucius, 249. Tzi-lu, Confucius’ favorite disciple: 248-249. Tzi-o, disciple of Confucius: 250. T2i-shu-pai-chung, «a collection of philosophical texts: 306. Tzi-yii: see Ts6ne Ts’An. Tzi-yiian, disciple of Confucius: 249. see CYCLICAL Uigurs (Kau-kii): described by the Chinese as offshoots of the Hiung-nu, 184, note 1; the T’ung- kién-kang-mu translated into their language, 264-265. Uniforms: devised by Huang-ti, 23 ; embroidered beasts and birds on, introduced by Shau-hau, 24; of the Sons of the Empire, 117; of soldiers in war, 165. Varnish: 121. Vegetarian diet in primeval times : 6. Virtue rewarded in future life: 82. Wai-jon, the Emperor: 49, 330. Wai-shi (‘‘Historian of foreign na- tions and ancient rulers’’) : 125. Wai-wu-pu, the Board of Foreign Affairs, 111, note 1. 380 Wall, the Great: a comparatively modern structure, 37, 77. Wang Fu, archeologist: 73. Wang Ho, general of Ts’in: 322. Wang Hu: see Kur-xv-tzi. Y War: Board of, 113, 119-123; , people’s share in decision on defensive, 124; methods and outfit of, 162-166; May and June the usual season for, 164- 165; prisoners of, punished as rebels by cutting off left ear, 165, 169; Chinese and Hunnic methods of, compared, 166, 187 ; see also ARMY; BATTLES; CHAR- tots ; Horsss ; Huns ; Hunrine ; WEAPONS. Watters, T.: on Tzi-ch’an, 233. % Weapons: bows, arrows, swords, and lances ascribed to Huang-ti, 22; hieroglyphics for, occur on vessels of the Shang dynasty, 75; alloys of bronze weapons pre- scribed according to the Chéu-li, 126; same weapons used in war as in hunting, 162, 164; practice of archery, 165; of the Huns, 168; hatchets made of iron in seventh century B.c., 204; swords of bronze and iron, 235; during the stone, jade, bronze, and iron ages, 236. Weaving: see Dress. ‘Wei, the River: 54, 122. Wei, the state of (Wei of Tsin, also called Liang): beginnings, 263; recognized as a feudal state, 264; one of the “Seven Heroes” states, 266; supports the usurp- er T’ién Ho as Duke of Ts’i, 273; Wu K’i takes service in, 274; Chang I, a native of, and minister in, 286; King Hui of, converses with Mencius on matters of government, 287; joins confederation against Ts’in, 310; Chang I returns to, 312; Kung-sun Yen, a native of, per- suades his king to attack Chau, 313; Chang I chancellor of, 314; kingdom since 370 3.c., 315; defeated by Ts’in in battle of INDEX T-k’tié, 318; Fan Tsii w native of, 320; Prince Wu-ki of, 321; at the head of five states tries to check, but finally is annexed by, Ts’in, 328, 335; princes of, 335. Wei, the state of [not to be con- founded with Wei of Tsin, 273]: bad treatment in, of Duke Wo6n of Tsin, 213; Duke Ling of, his lascivious wife and Confucius, 246-247; Confucius’ second sojourn in, 248; Wu Ki, military leader, a native of, 273-274; its princes reduced in rank, 315; Wu-wang’s brother Féng invested with, 346; only state surviving creation of Shi- huang-ti’s empire, 347; princes of, 346-347. Wei, Viscount of: see WEi-rzi. Wei Jan, commander and chancel- lor in Ts’in: 317-320; plans coronation of King of Ts’in as emperor, 318; fears itinerant politicians and excludes them from Ts’in, 320; his fall, 319-320. Wei-lié-wang, the Emperor: 263- 273, 332. Wei-tzi (Ki): joins Wu-wang’s forces, 63; appointed prince of Sung, 106, 341-342. Weights and measures: system of, derived from efforts in construct- ing musical instruments, 22, 23. Western Chéu: see Si1-cHov. Winter, Mandarin of (tung-kuan) : 118, 125-126. Wives: rank seventh in population, 110. Wizards, court: duties include the denunciation of subjects heard speaking disrespectfully of sov- ereign, 155. Wolves, white: presented as tribute to Mu-wang, 169. Woman’s position and duties ac- cording to the mother of Men- cius : 283-284. Won, Duke of T’éng: 290. Won, Duke of Tsin (= Ch’ung-ir): third of the “Five Leaders,’? INDEX 206, 211-217, 335; assists em- peror in fighting the Jung bar- barians, 219; Chau Tsui, one of his partisans, shared his exile, 212, 220, 269. Wén-tzi (‘the Philosopher W6n”): 306-307. Won-wang, Duke of Chéu: inci- dents of his life quoted from Bamboo Books, 53-55; his career as Duke of Chéu, 57-62, 331; his sons, 58; remonstrates against Chéu-sin’s cruelty; his imprisonment, and authorship of the I-king, 59; his rebabilitation and death, 62; serves the Kun barbarians, 68; defeats them, 70, 169; builds his capital Féng, 99; Ché6u-kung’s prayer ad- dressed to, 103; offered a white pheasant by foreign tribe, 128; greatly admired by Mu-wang, 144. Woodmen (foresters): bow ranking in population, 110. Works, Board of: 113, 125-126. World, the (¢’2én-hia) = China: 112. Writing, art of: knot-writing as- eribed to Sui-jén, 6; replaced by hieroglyphics under Fu-hi, 9; Ts’ang-kié imitates birds’ footprints, 20-21; oldest ma- terials: bamboo boards, brush, and varnish, 20, 21, 50; com- plaints to emperor written on boards, 31; edicts on bamboo tablets, 163; no writing among Huns, 168. Wu, King of Ch’u: see H1une T’una. Wu, King of Ts’in: 316, 333. Wu (Soochow): eastern capital of the state of Ch’u, 322. Wu, the state of: situation, 227; its king, Ho-lu, removes capital to Soochow, 233; annexed by Yiié, 234, 261-262, 348; T’ai-po, son of T’an-fu, supposed an- eestor of sovereigns of, 347; Princes of, 347-348. Wu-chi-shan tombs: stone sculp- tures of, contain image of Fu-hi, le 381 Wu-chung tribes: 187. Wiki, Prince of Wei: see Sin-LING- Kun. Wu Ki, philosopher, military leader and minister : 274. Wu-king (‘Five Canons”) : 251-253. Wu-k6éng, Chéu-sin’s son: appointed King of Corea, 96; intrigues against Chéu-kung, 104; sup- ports rebellion, but is made prisoner and killed, 104, 106. Wu-ling, King of Chau: 336; wears Tartar dress and introduces cavalry, 272, 316. Wu-lung: see Frve Dracons. Wu-pa (= the ‘Five Leaders”) : 206. Wu-sii: see Caau SiANc-T2i. Wu-tau-tzi, artist: 149. Wu-ti, the Han Emperor: 146. Wu-ti: see Five RuLERS, THE. Wu-ting (Kau-tsung), the Emperor : 53, 331. Wu-ting, the Emperor: son, 48, 330. Wu-tzi: see Wu K’1 Wu-yiié-ch’un-ts’iu; 234. Wu-wang: Duke of Chéu and first emperor of the Ché6u dynasty, second son of W6n-wang, 58, 331; liberates his father by a ruse, 62; assembles army to fight Chéu-sin, explaining his motives in several speeches, 63- 65; defeats Chéu-sin, 65, 169; as King of Chéu, 95-103, 331; his title, 96-97; secures posses- sion of the Nine Tripods, 98, 221; appoints descendants of old emperors and his brothers fief-holders, 99-100; his illness, 102-103; greatly admired by Mu-wang, 144; the unequaled sovereign of the Chéu dynasty, 178; one of his sons invested with Tsin, 212, 334; invests T’ai-kung Shang with Ts’i, 339; Duke Hu with Ch’én, 343; his brother Chén-to with Ts’au, 343; his brother Tu first Prince of Ts’ai, 346. Wu-wei (“non-action,” ‘‘inaction”’) : Lau-tzi on, 239, 301. T’ai-kia’s 382 Wylie, A.: on deviation of mag- netic needle, 131; on the Mu- vién-tzi-chuan, 145; on the philosopher Yii, 192, note 3; on the T’ung-kién-kang-mu, 265, note 1. Yang-chéu province: 120. Yang Chu, the philosopher : placed in contrast with Chéu-kung by Mencius, 138; his teachings based on egotism, 276-279; spurious chapter in Chuang-tzi quotes his views, 303. Yang-tzi or Kiang River: its length, 36-37; its name, 120; Chau- yang crossing the, 143, 189; state of King on the, 171. Yau, the Emperor: son of Ti-k’u, 25, 329; his character described in the Shu-king, 29, 251; the deluge during his reign, 31, 35; taxation under, 297. Yau and Shun: the most popular names in Chinese history, 29; held up as models of good rulers; guided by the advice of their ministers, 33; legendary crea- tions, 55-56; ancestor worship ascribed to, 81; descendants of, appointed fief-holders under Wu- wang, 99; wall-painting repre- senting, 243; as viewed by Yang Chu, 278; Mencius a believer in, 288. Yau Hing, the Emperor: 130, 135. Yé-su-kiau (= Protestantism): 238. Yellow River: overflow of, see DELUGE; its length, 36; causes change of capitals, 49, 52; runs into Gulf of Chi-li, 122; re- puted source of, in Karakorum range, 146; valley of, hunting ground of Chinese and indig- enous hordes, 162. Yen, Duke of Sung: confirmed as king, 315, 342. Yen, mother of Confucius: 229. Yen, the state of: causes of its growth, 188; relieved by Duke Huan of Ts’i from attacks of Shan-jung, 207; one of the INDEX “Seven Heroes” states, 266; occupied by Ts’i, 287; its duke persuaded by Su Ts’in to join confederation against Ts’in, 310; Su Ts’in minister in, 314; kingdom since 332 B.c., 315; forms coalition against Ts’i; victorious by its general Yo I, 319; annexed by Ts’in, 339; Princes of, 338-339. Yen-fa: see Sart. Yen Hui: see Tzi-ytan. Yen-ti: see SHON-nUNG. Yin and Yang: the female and male principles in Chinese natural philosophy, 60-61. Yin dynasty: see SHANG DYNASTY. Yin, Prince of: generalissimo under Chung-k’ang, 39. Yin Ki-fu : general under Stian-wang, 159-161. Yin-ti epoch: 5, 6, 329. Ying: from 704 to 248 3.c., capital of the state of Ch’u, the present King-chéu-fu, 190, 319. Yo:asacred mountain, 122. Yo Chong, disciple of Mencius: prime minister in Lu, 287. Yo I, general of Yen: defeats army of Ts’i, 319. Yi, the Emperor: 32-38, 330; sup- posed descendant of Huang- ti, 33; his engineering works exaggerated, 34-38; his suc- cessors, 38-44, 330; stone in- scription known as ‘“‘The Tablet of Yi,” jade inscriptions and the Nine Tripods of Yi, 90, 98, 221, 325; the Huns calling their princes descendants of, 167, 191; his time considered the beginning of the bronze age in China, 326; iron and steel being mentioned among his tribute articles is an anachro- nism, 237; as represented in Shu-king, 251; taxation under, 297. Yii’s successors: 38-44, 330. Yii-chéu province: 121. Yii-hiung: ancestor of the sover- eigns of Ch’u, 190, 336; instruc- INDEX tor to Wé6n-wang; supposed author of the oldest book in Chinese literature, 59, note 1, 192, 306. Yi-kung (‘The Tribute of Yu’’): 34-38, 56-57; its geography resembles that of the Chéu-li, 122-123; China called ‘Middle Regions” in, 137. Yu-tzi: 59, note 1, 192, 306; also YU-HIUNG. Yu (‘to have”): used in forming fief names, 5, 17, 32. Yu-ch’au (“The Nest-builders”) : 5, 6, 329. Yu-hia: title of the Emperor Yi, 32. Yu-hiung: title of the Emperor Huang-ti, 17, 32. Yu-h6u: feudal lord under Ti-k’i, 39. Yu-k’iung: see Hov-1. Yu-li: city near the present Chang- té-fu, 54, 59. see 383 Yu-shi: father of the Emperor Kié’s paramour, 43. Yu-wang, the Emperor: 169, 171- 177, 332. Yu-yii: title of the Emperor Shun, 32. Yung-chéu province: 122. Yung-ki, the Emperor: 48, 330. Yiian Yiian: statesman and arche- ologist, 74. Yutian-wang, the Emperor: 261-262, 332. Yiué, the state of: situation, 227; annexes Wu, 234; works on its history and antiquities, 234; conquered by Ch’u, 314, 348; mentioned in 7'so-chuan ; Princes of, 348. Yiié-ch’ang: tribes in the south of Tungking, 127. Yiié-chi, or Indoscythians : Yué-tstié-shu: 234, 271. Zeuss, Kaspar; ix, 271. Wou-sui I, N) ~ 9 Tai-yian, o Ts'ién-mdu Han-tan Cc DF, 9 Pa, PChr HU} Cshe-k yt, 48 £\ Chau Yuli (WED Qc . Blo /5Chung-tu & : Kong § Shang-tang Mu-y&Piang /p----, Krii-fou Wes ey ; 4 yon LK G-wu O 4 . / oe} ° Q \ Ch’ang-p’in ‘ Leo fo si W Ming -tsin Aang o b X, oyang7, / Au O}