The sun., 1900-08-12
sOME NEW BOOKS.
An Outline Of Chinss History.

History OF Edstern Asia. The author. MI
l. G. HANNAH. a graduate Of Trinity College
Cambridge. and formerly master Of the Enslis
school at Tientsn tells US In a preface that hi
purpose was 10 give concise yet clear accoun
OF the vast continent OF Asia. taking in tn
islands Of It's coasts. but omittinR Persia Meso
potamia. Arabia. Syria and Asia Minor. coun
tries. the history OF which belongs more prop
erly 10 Europe and the Mediterranean Tn,
materials for his work wers collected durinl
the two years which he spent at Tientsin
they are derived at second hand from Chi.
nese sources. 40 far az the author deals with
the history Of China. which. naturally. occu.
pies the major part OF the book. although q
good oeal Of attention Is given TO India, "a
Central Asia and TO Japan. With the help
~ the materials brought together by him,
and Of some derived from other sources,
We shall try to carry the process OF condensa-
tion step further and TO offer an outline Of
Chinese history down TO the frst war between
England and China.
That the Chinese originally migrated from
Western Asia IA now considered probable
II not certain. by most sinologues. but the
date and circumstances Of the migration are
likely to remain doubtful for a long time. u
not forever. The story reproduced In the book
before MS il substantially as follows: II seems
10 AZ the facts as we'll rs any: The Semitic
Arabs finding their country desert burst
OUT in inigrations from time to time. and one
branch entering Mesopotamia some 5000
years before Christ met the Akkadians.
q people who seem to have come originally
from the southern shores OF the Caspian,
and TO have brought with them HER
oslyphio mode OF writing. Blending with
part OF the Akkadans. whom they overcame.
these prehistoric Arabs formed the ancient
Chald1ans, while the moro adventurous sec
tion of the defeated Akkadiana are thought
to have fed eastward and to have become the
ancestors OF the Chinese. The first part Of
China proper settled by the forefathers Of
the Chinese. seems to have been what Is now
the province Of Shensi
After three or four Emperors. OF whom little
Is known beyond the bare names. Hwangti
succeeded TO the throne at date placed at
1892 b c. by the author Of the book before US.
but which Boulger would put some three hum
dred years further back. Hwangti Is said to
have regulated the calendar and the weights
and measures, besides expanding his domin-
Ions. After three more centuries had passed.
the records Of which are probably no more and
no less authentic than Manetho's account OF the
first three Egyptian dynasties. 40 ascended the
throne at date given by our author as 20sS B.
C.. and after him came Shun; these two are re-
garded 10 this day by the Chinese as patterns |
OF what sovereigns should be. During the |
reign OF Shun. Hoangho, or the Yellow River. |
thereafter known as 'Chinas Sorrow"
burst Its banks and flooded many miles OF coun-
Try. Yu. surnamed the Great. was appointed
to construct durable banks and TO drain of the
hoods. lie was made Emperor as a reward
'or the accomplishment Of this task He was
he last monarch elected on account OF his ft-
less for the post The Empire now became
hereditary, Yu being the founder Of the tlsla
iynasty. which ruled China for more than four
centuries At this point. about 1000 B. c..
recording to our authors chronology. the semi
mythical period Of China's history ends. Ka. the
ast Emperor Of this dynasty. was dethroned
fter reign OF about fifty years by Chin Tang,
yho became the founder Of the Chang dynasty,
which lasted until 1922 B. G. Chowsin, the last
overeign Of this line. III treated several Of the
iterati, who had long since established the
rincple that all the offices In the State, except
hat Of the supreme ruler. must be filed by
nen whose merit should consist IN knowledge
" the ancient sacred books and should be de-
srmined by competitive examination One Of
hese ill-treated Literati named Ki-Tsze fed In
northeastery direction and founded the State
Y Chosen. which included the Liao-TunR Pen
nsula, a. well as the northern section Of what Is
ow the Hermit Kingdom. Chowsin was de-
hroned In ii22 by Wou Wang. who headed q
opular rising, and was himself proclaimed
,mperor, the first OF the Chow. or Tau. dy-
asty. which lasted more than eight centuries
)uring the whole Of this period the Tatars
Tere continually pressing on the northern and
'estern frontiers, and the Chinese were but
successful in repelling their at
acks.
In order to avoid these invaders the Chinese
apital was moved from the west TO Loyang
, the province Of Honan. about the middle Of
he eighth century B. G The authority Of the
mperors Of the Chow dynasty was slight the
ountry being partitioned among feudal princes
r dukes often at war with one another and
lany OF them at times more powerful than
heir sovereign lord. There is In truth a close
nalogy between the Chow Emperors Of China
nd the rulers Of the medieval HOLY Roman
mpire. Ionan. which was under the direct
le OF the Emperor. was the only province In
hich his authority was much felt. although
5 Son Of Heaven, he was the High Priest OF the
alton. the only lawful medium between Heaven
nd mankind. and in theory the divinely ap-
ointed ruler Of the whole world. TO whom all
ther monarchs should be tributary. The out
,me OF this system. partly feudal and partly
,eocratic was that the country was In n chronic
ate Of civil war, when. in the sixth century
efore Christ, the two great Chinese teachers
ao-tsze and Kung-foo-tsze (Confucius wers
orn. This particular century seems to have
cen one Of religious revival all over the world
esides these two Chinese teachers. Pythaeoras
! Greece, Ezekiel and Daniel among the Jews.
autana, the founder Of Buddhism, and Yard
amana, the founder Of Jainism In India
oroaster Of Persia or rather OF Bactria, was
robably earller-were proclaiming new re-
ylous and philosophical doctrines. destined
} influence In no small degree the thought Of
ankind tits an Interesting. although scarcely
surprising fact. that Confucius while re-
arded ne the wisest OF mortals by succeeding
was not much reverenced bv his :
incorporates, and his life was spent In wander
q from one court to another. He was in
nsely devoted TO the Chow dynasty. and, on
he occasion when on visit to its capital, he
~ Lao-tsze who was his senior by about fifty
sars. The latter had founded religion or I
ther philosophy. OF his own. called Taoisrn, the
40 which he took as his starting point being
very complicated etaphysical convention
hich has been roughly defined a. the "Rea- !
m" or right course Of conduct" His fol- ]
wcrs, however, soon forgot his moral maxim. {
~ .katt ,t.Nlf e. 49,