Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1900-10-11

China is the seat of one of the oldest
civilization in the world. And yet,
during all these ages in which many
countries have fourished and vanish
ed, it has remained in the same con-
dition. 1t was planted in the earliest
generations before the renovation of
the world and of human history by the
Deluge Assyria, Persia Egypt,
Greece, Rome, have r'ison and gone
their pride, their wealth, their domin-
ion. all are things C' To past, but the
Chinese race is still the same, scarcely
tinged by the admiXture of others. The
primeval religion, customs and litera-
ture are still vigorous and fresh, Vir-
tuous examples of their own ancestors
who lived four thousand years ago en-
courage the generation of today.
School books prepared by contempo-
rary of the Jewish prophet Daniel are
yet the manuals of the teacher of
children. The language is the un-
NHduStu lllOllb9S llobltS vi NAlt lilhhN1 =
of mankind. We look on China in ut
ter amazement and curiosity. We are
the newest, az China is the oldest. en-
pire of the orld. Our institutions are
but raw experiments of yesterday. We
are only beginning to realize that we
have a national life, and that God has
formed it for some great commission,
the mere alphabet of which we are just
learning to stammer.
China was settled about 5000 B. c.
by a band Of Turanian wanderers who
settled in the valley of the Yellow Riv-
er, and gradually pushed out the Abo-
rigines. The Chinese claim their
leader was Noah. which is probably
correct He was called Fuhi and his
son, or successor, was Shin-ming, or
Shin, the husbandman." Shin was
the one who taught the Chinese the
art of husbandry He is worshipped
yet as the first to introduce agricul-
ture.
Hwang-ti was the third king of the
first dynasty. He promoted the art Of
silk-weaying; and garments were
made of silk as early as 1850 B. C. ST.
ling, his queen, is said to have taught
the Chinese to make garments Of silk,
and to color them with dyes. Silk ap-
pears to have been the most character
istic article of manufacture and of ex-
port from China in all subsequent
ages There is no other fabric so
splendid none so durable, and the
source of the fibre, and the first pro-
cess of reeling and weaving it, were
successfully concealed from the ma
tives of the West until the reign of the
Roman emperor Justinidn in the
Sixth Century Of the Christian era.
The eggs of the silk-wurm weIe
brought to Constantinople, say the
Greek historians Of tnat period, by
two HISTORIAN Monks, concealed with
in bamboo staff
The origin Of the name China has
been discussed with grea, interest by
scholars. The common declaration
that it was taken from the Tsin dynas-
ty, which became supreme only 249 B.
c., though ingeniously proposed and
defended by some intelligent men,
cannot bear the test Of criticism en-
lightened by modern acquaintance
with the literature of the East 1t is
evident that the word was used in the
Sanskrit and ether Indian languages
long previous to the Tsin dynasty
The exact word China is found in
the Laws of Menu, and in the Ancient
Tamul books. 1t is found in the He
brew Of Isaiah, four centuries before
the reign of the Tsin, in a prophecy of
the co. version Of the distant East TO
Christ Behold these shall come
from far (the SOUTH and 10! these
from the north and from the west; and
these from the land of Sinim." This
remarkable passage the best Hebrew
scholars Of the day have almost unan-
imously settled to mean The Chinas, -
the plural form of the word being that
which is often granted to notable or
extensive countries.
The ancient records Of China men
tion nine soYereigns of the first dynas-
ty, founded by Fuhi, whom they sup
pose to have been gifted with super