The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1897-03-13
A srIrpENpo1rs HISTORY.


cisco says the Call of that city is en-
gagged upon the translation of the com
plete history of China for the past six
thousand years. He is now thirty-tive
years of age, and was born in Canton,
China, and lived there till he was sew
enteen years old. His father was an
American, his mother a native of Chin
ma. His work when completed, fifteen
years hence, will embrace thirty ma
lions, with many millions of words.
Mr. Gardner says:
Chinese history falls naturally into
periods, and in that way / shall treat
it. Tn the first place, there were the
beginnings of government. / could not
say how many parallels are found, in
that early day, between the experiences
of the Chinese and those of the early
Jewish people, They are many and
striking. The early Chinese had kings
who ruled them by kindness, and who
seemed to think that thrones were the
given by the Supreme Being. The
people at first believed in one God
They We're monotheists. If they after
ward learned idolatry it was from the
outsiders, particularly from India,
"The medieval period shows the or
igin of literature and the visitation Of
Chinese to other countries and the Wis
its received by them from foreigners.
There Is no question that the history is
absolutely authentic for fortyive hun
dred years. Many centuries ago Chi
nese astronomers gave a minute and
scientific account of the eclipse of the
sun, which has been completely veri-
fed by the computations of American
and European astronomers. The Chi
nese devised the civil service system
centuries ago.
think" said Mr.. Gardner what a
theater has been here for the play Cf
human hopes, fears, passions and OK
ploitations for thousands of years, all
of which can be opened for contempla-
ton! China has been as much an en-
battled country through the centuries
as European lands. Once China was
| divided into seven warning states, eV-
cry one fighting all it's neighbors
| There have been royal plots, royal as
sassinations, gigantic wars, everything
on a grand scale So to speak, the his
| tory of a European country has been
made up of the annals of a corner Of
| the globe as compared with this great
! land an hoary old nation that has out
| lived so many nations and may out
live many more great peoples"
| Mr.. Gardner will not publish any
part of his history until he has compile
| ted it, which may be possibly fifteen
wears hence. When his book of mil
| lions of words finally is finished it will
| be as large as a small modern library.
My purpose in the main he said.
lis to put into English an exact reflex
of the history of three hundred and 1f-
| ty million people from the standard
! history of the great empire The meas e
ures adopted by the ancient founders of
| Chinese laws and customs and scheme
Of government may have lessons for
the present if they can be ascertainei.
In the main 7 am translating thu Chi
nese imperial history, but am. finding
side-Iights in many other Chinese man
uscripts The ancient history Of the
Chinese people extends back to be
tween three and four thousand years
before Christ. Prior to that is a reri-
cd of Chinese mythology. The anti
! puity of thu Chinese may be IMAGINED
from the fact that Confucius, $50 B. c.,
| studied chinese poets. who We're then
considered very ancient.
This earn. so the Chinese mythnlo-
CIV held. was chieeled out by Poon Eno
the architect RI the universe. with 4
great chiseI. That mythology does not
| pretend to account for the presence ot
mankind on the earth. 7 find that au-
thentic history does not begin with the
chinese much before $500 to 5000 r c
The existence Of coins. monuments
inscribed vases and contemporaneous
books is sufficient confederation for tho
events recorded from that time onward
in the official history. China was q
very old nation when other great poo
nIes were coming into national exist
ence."