The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-10-04
remove the seat Of government from Kara |

remove the seat OF government from Nara
korum, on the northern verge Of the Mon
golian desert, to the more populous regions
that had been conquered in the Further
East, and this step, which in the end con-
verified the Great Kaan Of the Mongols
into Chinese Emperor, was carried out
by kublai. As IL happened, the northern
provinces of China had for about three
centuries been detached from native rule
and subjected to foreign dynasties: first
to the Khitan, a pc opld from the basin OF
the Sungari River. supposed to have been
akin to the 1unguses, whose rule sub
sisted for 200 years and originated the name
Of khitai, Khata, or Cathay, by which for
nearly one Thousand years China was known
to the nations Of Inner Asia and 10 those
whose acquaintance with IL was got by
that channel. We may note in passing
that the Russians still call China Khitai.
The pair of names, Khitai and Machin, or
Cathay and China, is analogous to the
other pair, Sores and Sinae Sores was
the name Of the great nation in the Far
East, as known by land; Sinae, as known by
sea- They were often supposed to be
diverse, Just as cathay and China were
afterward
The Khitan. whose dynasty is known in
Chinese history as the Lao, or Iron,
had been displaced in A. D. 1923 by the
Churches, or Niu-chen, another race of
eastern Tartary, Of the same blood as the
modern Manchus. whose Emperors in
their brief period Of prosperity were known
by the Chinese name of Tai-Kin and by the
Mongol name of the Altun Kaans, both
signifying Golden" Already, however,
in the lifetime OF Zenghis himself. the
northern provinces Of China proper, in
Guiding their capital, known "a Chung-tu, or
Yen-king, now Pekin. had been wrenched
from them. and the conquest Of the Golden
dynasty was completed by Zenghs's sue
cessor. Okkodai. in A. d. 1884.
In 1890 Southern China still remained in
the hands Of the native dynasty Of the Sung.
who had their capital at the great city now
well known as Hang-chow, Their domin-
ion was still substantially untouched |, but
its subjugation was a task to which kublai
before many years turned his attention.
and it became the most prominent achieve
ment Of his reign. In India the most power
full sovereign at the beginning Of Marco
Polo's travels was the Sultan Of Delhi,
Nassir-uddin- Mahmud. OF the Turki House
Of Iltitmish, but though Sind and Bengal
acknowledged his supremacy, no part Of
p eninsular India had yet been invaded, and
throughout the long period Of our travellers
residence in the East the kings OF Delhi
had their hands too full, owing to the in
cessant incursions OF the Mongols across
the Indus, to venture on extensive cam
paigning in the South. Hence the Draw
idian kingdoms of Southern India were as
yet untouched by foreign conquest, and
the accumulated gold Of ages lay in their
temples and treasures. an easy prey for
the coming invader. In the Indo-C Chinese
Peninsula and the Eastern Islands a num-
Der OF ptincipalities and dynasties were ex-
panding and contracting, Of which we
have at best but dim and shifting glimpses
That they were advanced in wealth and art
far beyond what the present state Of those
regions would suggest is attested by vast
and magnificent remains of archit ecture,
nearly all of which date so far as dates can
be ssoertaiued, from the twelfth TO the
fourteenth century 4. D.. and are found
at intervals over DO the Indo-C Chinese
mainland and the neighboring islands; as
for example, in Burma in Siam, in Cam
bodia and in Java. All these remains are
deeply marked by Hindu influences, though
at the same time by strong peculiarities.
both generic and individual,