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TAITSONG the GREAT


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Hi** mo of.uVie^ byUNIVdS(T^ 0FT0R0 !TOMA3"i^NeCATlV^ ,0.

fi i s t u"FiOF

CHINA.BY

DEMETRIUS CHARLES BOULG-ER(MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY),

AUTHOR OF"ENGLAND AND RUSSIA IN CENTRAL ASIA," " YAKOOB BEG OF KASHGAR,'

ETC. ETC.

VOL. I. A

LONDON :W. H. ALLEN AND CO., 13, WATERLOO PLACE,PALL MALL, S.W.

PUBLISHERS TO THE INDIA OFFICE.1881,

(Al l r i ;/ /< 1 1 r i $t r d.)


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LONDON :PRINTEP BY W. H. ALLEN AND CO., 13 WATERLOO PLACE,


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, TO

SIR RUTHERFORD ALCOCK, K.C.B.,ETC. ETC.,

WHOSE KNOWLEDGE OP THE COUNTRY, ANDSYMPATHY WITH THE PEOPLE

CONSTITUTE HIM AN AUTHORITY UPON THE SUBJECT OP CHINA,THIS HISTORY IS DEDICATED BY THEAUTHOE.


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PREFACEIt is unnecessary for me to detain the reader withany lengthy remarks by way of introduction to thishistory. The Chinese Empire presents for our con-sideration one of the most complicated of existingproblems ; and the subject is of growing rather thanwaning importance. In dealing with its history weare not discussing the fortunes of some Empire thathas long disappeared, nor are we seeking to discernthe future of a race that has lost or forgotten thecapacity of government; but we are treating of astate and a people that apparently were never, duringthe long course of their national existence, morepowerful and flourishing than they are at this veryday.

Gibbon has truly said, in his immortal work, that" China has been illustrated by the labours of theFrench, 5 ' and that statement is almost as true now


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VI PREFACE.as it was when lie wrote the words. It is they alsowho have at all periods been more willing than wehave been to recognise the innate strength and great-ness of the Chinese nation. The task of supplying whathas appeared to be a want in our literature, and ofpopularising the subject of Chinese history, has beenvery congenial to rue ; and, if I have only succeededin making the subject in any degree as much a causeof pleasure and instruction to others as its study hasproved to myself, I may indulge a hope that somethingof the reproach of being behind our neighbours in theinterest we take in China may be removed.

The point (about a.d. 1 350) where this first volumecloses leaves the events of the last five centuries stillto be described, and I look forward to having thesecond volume completed before the close of thepresent year.

In conclusion, I may be permitted to state thatall quotationsprincipally speeches, &c. in the bodyof the work, where no reference is given, have, with-out exception, been translated from the " HistoireGenerale "of De Mailla.

February 1, 1881.


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C N T E N T S

PAGECHAPTER I.The Early Ages 1CHAPTER II.The Decline op the Chow Dynasty . 28CHAPTER III.The Fall of the Chow Dynasty . 42CHAPTER IV.The Tsin Dynasty .... 56CHAPTER V.Rise op the Hans . . . \ .80CHAPTER VI.The Han Dynasty 98CHAPTER VII.The Han Dynasty (continued) . . 135CHAPTER VIII.The Revival and Fall of the Hans 151CHAPTER IX.Temporary Division of the Empire . 180CHAPTER X.The Dynasty op the Later Tsins . 191CHAPTER XI.The Song and the Tsi Rulers . . 216CHAPTER XII.Three Small Dynasties . . .237CHAPTER XIII.The Tang Dynasty.Taitsong the

Great . . . . . 262CHAPTER XIV.The Tang Dynasty (continued) . . 287CHAPTER XV.The Decline of the Tangs . . .319CHAPTER XVI.Five Small Dynasties . . .342CHAPTER XVII.The Reunion of the Empire . . 359CHAPTER XVIILThe Sung Dynasty .... 388CHAPTER XIX.The Sungs and the Kins . . .422CHAPTER XX.The Mongols 447CHAPTER XXI.The Fall of the Kins . . .464CHAPTER XXII.The Sungs and the Mongols . . 490CHAPTER XXIH.The Fall of the Sungs . . .510CHAPTER XXIV.The Yuen DynastyKublai Khan 551CHAPTER XXV.The Decline of the Mongols . . 585


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2 THE HISTOEY OF CHINA.

for the occurrence of the Flood of Noah, the people ofChina possess a history which preserves the names ofkings and conquerors, and describes remarkable eventswith an appearance of exactitude that would almostcompel credence. In comparison with their institu-tions those of Ancient Egypt and Assyria have onlymoderate claims to antiquity, and the states of Greeceand Rome were but the creations of yesterday. Theobserver might well stand aghast if he were calledupon to follow the exact details in the history of apeople and an empire, which were great and definite inform nearly five thousand years ago. It would be notless impossible than weak to demand of the humanfaculty so severe a strain. The subject would soonbecome monotonous, as each succeeding cycle of pros-perity and military vigour or of depression and decay,following each other with unvarying regularity, wasdescribed. But the extreme age of the institutions isone. key to the history of the Empire, and the student,fully impregnated with the spirit of that fact, will havedone much towards mastering the rest of the subject.To such a one the later course of the history willpresent few difficulties. It will be almost as an openbook.*

* For the period embraced in this chapter the chief authoritiesthat need be quoted are the " Choukin " (Chinese History, translatedby P. G-aubil); P. Mailla's "Histoire Grenerale;" and "La Chine," parG. Pauthier. ,The celebrated "Litaikisse" (in a hundred volumes,a copy of which is at Paris) has only been translated in portions.If the reader wishes to know what conception Chinese historianshad of their duties, the following story taken from the Preface toMailla's great work may throw some light upon the subject:" Inthe reign of the Emperor LingWaug of the Chow dynasty, b.c. 548,


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4 THE HISTORY OF CHINA.to be found among these rude tribes wandering overthe province of Shensi. Among them, increasing bothin numbers and in power, the necessities of the govern-ment of a community produced several rulers, whoselineaments the Chinese historians have depicted forus as being similar to those of animals and other un-natural combinations, until at last there came Fohi,the first great Chinese Emperor. He also to a greatextent belongs to the mythical period, being repre-sented as having the body of a dragon and the headof an ox.* Still Confucius in his history accepted himas one of the early rulers of the country, and he isgenerally credited with having instituted the rite ofmarriage, and numerous other social and moral reforms.His reign is described as having been a successionof benefits for the people.t Among his chief exploitsmay be mentioned the fact that he carried his influenceto the Eastern Sea, and he selected as his capital thetown of Chintou, which is identified with the modernChinchow in Honan. To him succeeded Chinnoug,who carried on the great work Fohi had commenced,but in a few years he changed the capital from Chin-tou to Kiofoo, a town in Shantung. According toMailla, he was succeeded by the celebrated Hoangti,according to other authorities, by several rulers whose

* The face is sufficiently human, however, as will be seen onreference to a plate at the end of M. Pauthier's first volume, takenfrom the collection of the Pere Amiot.

f The exact date of his reign is uncertain. Mailla puts it atB.C. 2953-2838 ; Pauthier at b.c. 3468-3218. Professor Douglas,in his excellent article in the new edition of the " EncyclopaediaBritannica," wisely ignores specific dates until the time of Yaou.


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THE EAKLY AGJ3S. 7who reigned long and peaceably, but who died withouthaving acquired either glory or reputation. The oneachievement of his life was the division of the officialsand public administrators into classes, by means ofdistinctive dresses or uniformsa task which, if notof the most distinguished, had its difficulties, and re-quired a man of taste. On Chaohow's death hisnephew Chwenhio became Emperor. He extendedthe Empire to the frontiers of Tonquin on the southand of Manchuria on the north, and earned " theglorious title of restorer or even founder of true astro-nomy."* His descendants continued to possess theimperial dignity, and his great-grandsonYao was a rulerof striking ability and considerable reputation. To himthe Chinese still look back with veneration, and it is bycomparison with his conduct that the native historiansgauge the capacity of his successors. That this famehas not been undeservedly allotted may be inferredfrom the passage quoted in the footnote.! The mostextraordinary occurrence of his reign was the overflow-ing of the Hoangho, which flooded a large extent of

* Mailla's " Histoire," vol. i. p. 34.f " If the closest attention is paid to the career of the EmperorYao, this is what would be said of him :The services which herendered the Republic extend to all time, to all places, and to all

persons. He was diligent, enlightened, polished and prudent, andthese virtues were completely natural to him, and not an artificialgrowth. He was in the true sense respectful, and he knew onoccasion how to be humble. The fame of his virtue filled thewhole universe. He could give to rational nature all the brillianceof which she is susceptible, and this furnished him with the meansof establishing reciprocal affection in his own family. Afterestablishing concord within his family, he made equality and ordersupreme among his own people. The people of his own immediatedominions having been by his i are and his example inculcated with


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8 THE HISTORY OF CHINA.

country and caused enormous damage.* The best yearsof Yao's life were spent in coping with this danger,and in repairing the mischief that had been wroughtby it. In this he was only partially successful. Hisidea of his duty towards his subjects was based upona high standard ; and he always acted on the prin-ciple that what he wanted done well he should dohimself. He is reported to have often said, " Are thepeople cold ? then it is I who am the cause. Are theyhungry ? it is my fault. Do they commit any crime ?I ought to consider myself the culprit." It is notvery surprising to find that the people mourned forthis ruler after his death during three years, and thatthey lamented his loss as " children do that of theirfather or mother.' '

Another great and wise ruler followed the EmperorYao. His name was Chun, and for twenty-eight yearsprevious to his accession he had been associated withthe Emperor Yao in the administration of the state.Of comparatively humble origin Chun was the archi-tect of his own fortunes. His zeal, assiduity andintegrity in the public service caught the eye of theEmperor Yao, who had long been seeking a mancapable of aiding him in the task of ruling the vast

the light of true reason, union and concord spread throughout thewhole Empire. What an admirable conversion he effected in thespirit of all his peoples ! Thus under him perfect concord becamegeneral." Such is the brief but magnificent eulogium on Yao inthe "Choukin."# By some this was considered identical with the flood of Noah.Excellent reasons for disbelieving this assertion will be found onp. 41 of M. Pauthier's work, and also in " Memoires sur lesChinois,"par le P. Amiot (t. xiii. p. 282).


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THE EARLY AGES. 9

territories under his sway, and one worthy also ofsucceeding him iu the supreme authority. Chun's ex-cellent conduct in the offices entrusted to him pointedhim out as the man for the occasion, and the resultamply justified the selection. At first Chun wishedYao's son, Tanchu, to be chosen Emperor, and retiredto his country residence to avoid the importunities ofhis admirers. But the notables of the realm saw thatChun was the fittest man for the office, and they re-fused to make the interests of the Empire subservientto the personal feelings of a family. Chun was pro-claimed Emperor ; but he also, feeling the weight ofruling so large

a country more than one man couldbear, selected Yu, the Minister of Public Works, tohelp him in the task. Yu became associated withChun in the same manner that the latter had beenwith Yao ; and the glory of the period when thenation was ruled by this triumvirate has been dweltupon in fervid language by the Chinese historians.In many respects the patriarchal sway of those remoterulers represents the brightest and the most pros-perous age in the whole history of the Empire.* It is

# Much might be quoted to show that these rulers had thekeenest sense of the difficulties and responsibilities of their posi-tion. Chun once said, " The post which I occupy is beyond con-tradiction the most difficult and dangerous of all. The happinessof the public depends on it, and if he who occupies the throne doesnot act with extreme wisdom, how many evils must ensue ! How-ever able an Emperor may be, he is only a man, and cannot byhimself know everything." Yu gave expression to the following :" A prince entrusted with the charge of a State has a heavy task.The happiness of his subjects absolutely depends upon him. Toprovide for everything is his duty ; his ministers are only put inoffice to assist him."


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10 THE HISTORY OF CHINA.nofc surprising to find that the basis on which theauthority of these Emperors rested was implicit obe-dience to the law. " A prince who wishes to fulfilhis obligations, and to long preserve his people inthe ways of peace, ought to watch without ceasingthat the laws are observed with exactitude." Thatsentence forms the keynote of the policy of theserulers, and the wise princes who came after themhave never hesitated to adopt it for themselves.When Chun died, in the year B.C. 2208, Yu, aftersome hesitation, allowed himself to be proclaimedEmperor. His reign was brief, as he ruled alonefor no more than seven years. It may be statedthat one of the last of his public acts was to de-nounce the inventor of an intoxicating drink* ex-tracted from rice as an enemy to the state. Withprophetic sight he exclaimed on tasting it, " Ah, howmany evils this drink will, I foresee, cause China !Let the man who invented it be exiled beyond ourfrontier, and let him never be permitted to return."With Yu's death this prosperous period reached itsclose.t It is impossible to pass on from this periodwithout quoting the following remarkable passage fromthe " Choukin," which gives an instructive lesson in theart of governing as taught in China in these early ages,and of which the essence has not after four thousand

* Samshu, probably.f Du Halde informs us that " the Chinese philosophers are in

the habit of testing their maxims of morality by the degree ofagreement they may have with the conduct of the Emperor Yaoand his successors Chun and Yu ; the agreement once provedgives to their maxims an authority against which there is no reply."


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THE EAELI AGES. 11years wholly evaporated. " What Heaven hears andsees manifest themselves by the things which thepeople see and hear. What the people judge worthy ofreward and what of punishment, indicate whatHeaven wishes to punish and to reward. There isan intimate communication between Heaven and thepeople ; let those who govern the people be watchfuland cautious I " To this the comparatively modernVox pojpuli, vox Dei adds nothing.*Up to this point the Empire had gone to its wor-

thiest servant without distinction of birth, and Yu onhis death-bed left the succession to the President ofthe Council who had been associated with himself in thetask of government. But the times were changing.Whether it sprang from a feeling of gratitude to apublic benefactor, or whether the sons resented losingthe prize which the ability of their sires had secured,is not ascertained; but the fact is clear that on thedeath of Yu there was a decided revulsion in popularsentiment in favour of his son Tiki. Both the causesmentioned probably operated to produce this result,and the custom of selecting the ablest and most ex-perienced minister was displaced by the son's rightto hereditary succession. So it happened that Tiki,the son of Yu, was the founder of the first Chinesedynasty, known in history as the Hia dynasty from

* See Pauthier, p. 42. At this period the administration wasformed by nine Ministers of State, each at the head of a distinctdepartment. They were President of the Council, Minister ofAgriculture, of Education, of Justice, of Public Works, of theState Lands, of Ceremonies and Rites, of Music, and of PublicCensure.


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12 THE HISTORY OF CHINA.the name of the province over which Yu had firstbeen placed. There were in all seventeen Emperorsof the Hia dynasty, and their rule continued downto the year B.C. 1776. It is unnecessary to dwell onthe events of these four centuries. The descendantsof Yu who owed their reputation to his splendidachievements, became in the course of time tyrantsand seekers of pleasure. Their palaces were the scenesof debaucheries carried out on a scale equalling thoseof either Nero or Vitellius. They themselves becamethe object of the hatred, instead of the love of theirsubjects. The great feudatories and the public officerscombined against Kia, the last of the Emperors of thisfamily, and at their head they placed Ching Tang,the prince of Chang.

This chief was the founder of the second dynasty,called after the name of his principality the Chang.Twenty-eight emperors of this House succeeded oneanother, and it remained in possession of the Im-perial throne until the year B.C. 1122. Ching Tangwas worthy of being the founder of a dynasty. Inhis wars with the Hias, whom he expelled the king-dom, he showed not less skill than moderation ; andhis subsequent conduct amply justified the choicewhich had made him the leader of the popular move-ment. His reign was marked by a great dearth, whicheither his prayers or his measures at length removed.*He appears to have had, like our Cromwell, many

* It is curious that the date of this famine closely coincideswith that in Egypt in the days of Pharaoh and Joseph.


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THE EARLY AGES. 13doubts and qualms of conscience as to whether he hadacted as became a good and wise prince as well as adutiful subject in deposing the Hias, and declaredthat it was " in spite of himself that he had taken uparms to deliver the Empire from the tyranny of Kia."One of the mottoes he adopted was, u In order tomake yourself perfect, purify yourself every day, re-new yourself every day," meaning thereby to conveythe grand truth learnt by so few, that each day shouldfind us purified and free from the trammels of yester-day, except in so far as the experience of the past maybe valuable. He had the personal satisfaction of leav-ing to his grandson, Taikia, the possessions which hehad wrested from the Hias, and, although not placedon the same footing as the three great Emperors whoimmediately preceded the establishment of the firstdynasty, Confucius speaks of him in terms of respect.Among his successors Taivou, who commenced toreign in the year b.o. 1637, may be mentioned as re-ceiving numerous embassies from the states lyingbeyond his western border. These are stated to havenumbered seventy-six, and some writers have strivento prove that the arrival of so many envoys at the samemoment may be taken as showing that there must havebeen some great disturbance in Western Asia. Chinesehistory is invoked to confirm the truth of the re-ported invasion of India by Sesostris about this time.It is to be feared that the Court language of theChinese has misled several historians* on this point,

* Pauthier's " La Chine," p. 67 and note.


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14 THE HISTOBY OP CHINA.

as the seventy-six embassies probably came not from"kingdoms" or "states," but from petty districtsand clans in the countries which are now known tous as Kokonor, Tibet and Burma.

In the reign of Pankeng (b.c. 1401-1374) thevagaries of the Hoangho led to two changes in theplace of the capital or court residence, and on oneoccasion a site was selected near the modern Pekin.Pankeng was almost the last of the virtuous kingsof the Chang dynasty. Some of his precepts, pre-served in the " Choukin," are admirable, and mightbe perused with profit at the present day. AfterPankeng came a long line of princes weak in theirmind and dissolute in their habits, and the cour-tiers imitated only too perfectly the examples oftheir masters. The story is told that Vouting, theone exception to this rule, was compelled to haverecourse to an ordinary labourer as the only honestman he could discover for the dignified office of hischief minister.* The name of this minister was Fou-yue, and he seems to have made it his object toemulate the praiseworthy conduct of the earlier rulersand ministers of China. With the death of these twomen the Chang dynasty produced no other ruler, andthe nation no other minister capable of maintainingthe ruling House on the throne. In the twelfth cen-tury the crimes of the Emperors reached their cul-minating point in the person of Chousin, and the

* See " Histoire G-enerale," par P. Mailla, vol. i. pp. 213-15.The Chinese annals put this in a more picturesque dress.


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THE EARLY AGES. 15

punishment of Providence was at last meted out byone of the great nobles, "Wou Wang,* prince of Chow.Wou Wang crossed the Hoangho at the head of alarge army and routed the forces of Chousin on theplain of Mouye in Honan. The Emperor retired tohis palace where he committed suicide, and the Changdynasty expired with him.fThe accession of Wou Wang as the first ruler ofthe third dynasty was followed by those reforms inthe administration which the crimes and apathy of theChangs had rendered absolutely necessary. His acts asEmperor were marked by vigour and moderation ; andthe confidence of the nation was soon enlisted in favourof the new family. The general satisfaction was en-hanced in its effect by the obstinacy of two ministersof the Emperor Chousin, who sooner than eat thebread of the usurper starved themselves to death.

* Wou Wang means " the Warrior King."t What could be finer than the following exordium on the crimesand approaching fall of the Changs spoken by Weitsen, brother ofthe Emperor Chousin ? " Great dignitaries ! Lower dignitaries !The Yu (Chang) dynasty is no longer capable of governing thefour quarters (that is, the Empire). The great actions of ourfounder have enjoyedand, indeed, still possessa wide renown.But we who have come after him have, by giving ourselves up tothe excesses of wine, degenerated from that high virtue ! All themembers and followers of this dynasty, great and small alike, havegiven themselves over to vice ; they are thieves, debauchees andgenerally wicked. Tbe principal and the minor officials, encourag-ing each other with their mutual examples, commit all kinds ofcrimes. Evil-doers receive no punishment, and the people areincited to commit evil deeds by impunity. Our dynasty is un-doubtedly on the verge of shipwreck. It is like unto a man tryingto cross a wide river and unable to gain the bank. Its destructionis close at hand."" Choukin," b. 3, chap. ii. As M. Pauthiervery truly remarks, " Where shall we find the funeral chant of adynasty as magestic ass this?"


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16 THE HISTORY OF CHINA.Wou Wang publicly expressed his admiration of theirfidelity and his regret at their death. Similar actsof magnanimity are frequently recorded of Chineserulers, and were always rewarded by an increase ofreputation in their people's opinion. Wou Wang'sinstincts were those of a soldier, and the simplehabits which he introduced into the life of theCourt led to the bringing of fresh vigour into thenational existence. His immediate successors followedhis prudent example, and thus the Chow dynastygrew firmly established on the throne. He receivedvarious embassies, notably one from Kitse, king ofCorea, who came in person to congratulate the newEmperor, thus commencing the connection betweenChina and Corea which still subsists. His son ChingWang was, during the first few years of his reign,obliged to carry on military operations against severalof his relations ; but these speedily terminating in hisfavour, left him strong both within and without hisfrontier. Mention is made of an embassy arrivingfrom a country which can only be identified withSiam, and the reason given for its despatch was thatit had been visited by several years of unusual pros-perity, which the seers declared to be due to thethrone of China being occupied by a wise prince.*One of the ablest of the Chow rulers was Mou Wang,or "the magnificent king," son of a prince namedChao Wang who had been drowned in the river Han,

* The delicacy of the compliment will be apparent. The nameof the country was " Yuechangchi, south of Cochin China." " Hist.Gen." vol. i. p. 316.


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THE EARLY AGES. 17

through the treachery of some of his subjects. MouWang ascended the throne about the year B.C. 1000,and continued to rule until B.C. 952. Waging severalwars beyond the limits of China Proper, he inflictedsevere defeats upon the wild tribes whose countrywas held in later days by the Mongols. Nor were hisjourneys beyond the frontier confined to warlike ex-peditions. On one occasion he made a peaceful tourto the west of his possessions into Tibet, reaching apoint in the vicinity of the Kuenlun mountains.*This simple fact has given rise to exaggeratedrumours as to his having travelled as far west asPersia or Syria. In those remote ages the westernworld of China was of much more limited extent thanto include those distant countries. Still there remainsthe fact that this Emperor undertook a memorablejourney in unknown regions beyond his frontier. Hewas also widely famed as a builder of palaces andother public works. In one year he erected a sum-mer palace, and in another he laid out a fortress.China has never been famed for its horses, and beforethe importation of the hardy steeds of Mongolia andManchuria they were scarcely to be found out of theroyal stables. One of the early Emperors speaks ofhorses and dogs as

" animals foreign to China," andthe chronicles tell us of the eight proud courserswhich Mou Wang sent to " an isle in the EasternSea " to be nourished. Fed on " dragon grass," weare informed that they became capable of performing

* Possibly Khoten, then a city of some fame.i. 2


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18 THE HISTORY OP CHIUA.

a journey of one thousand li in the course of a singleday. The remaining events of this reign are comprisedunder the head of " wars with the barbarians."Mou Wang's successors continued to reign, much

after the same fashion, without any event calling fornotice, until the time of Li Wang, B.C. 873, who isdescribed as " a prince not wanting in ability, butwhose insufferable pride, suspicious nature and crueltyabsolutely effaced the good qualities which he wouldotherwise have possessed." This prince soon forfeitedthe affections of his subjects, and his senseless tyrannycalled down upon him the vengeance of popular indig-nation. There was no dynastic crisis such as hadtaken place in the time of the Changs, for it was plainto the common intelligence that the crimes committedwere those of an individual and not of a family. Thenation rose up and exposed the criminality of LiWang, and the poets* gave forcible expression to thenation's mind. There was neither occasion nor in-ducement for a heaven-sent champion to appear in thearena. The constitutional methods ready to the handsufficed to curb the wrong-doing sovereign, and theywere employed with efficacy and address. Li Wangwas driven from the throne and compelled to flee thecountry. He survived his fall fourteen years, buttime secured no oblivion for his faults in the eyes ofthe people. In that sense the nation proved as in-exorable as the laws of the Empire. Li Wang died in

* See Pauthier, pp. 101-3, for a very fine specimen of theirwritings, which is a magnificent outburst of eloquence as well as aterrible indictment.


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THE EAKLY AGES. 19exile, and during his absence China was governed bya regency composed of two ministers. .When Li Wangdied the regents proclaimed his son, Siouen Wang,Emperor, thus giving a fresh lease of life to the Chowdynasty. Brilliant victories over the barbarians, whohad grown more daring in their encroachments,marked the beginning of his reign ; but something ofthe effect of this successful defence of the Empirewas removed by a great blight which visited thecountry. The blame for this national calamity waslaid at the door of the sovereign, because he had neg-lected to perform in person a ceremony the origin ofwhich was traced back to the ancient days of Chineseannals, and the penalty of such neglect was pro-nounced by the highest authority to be " the wrath ofthe Master of all things (Changti) and desolationthroughout the Empire." What the famine began thevalour of the barbarians completed. Siouen Wang'sarmy was routed on the field of battle, and althoughultimately retrieving his lost fortune he never com-pletely recovered the popularity which had accom-panied his earlier years, when he was in every respect" a much beloved king."

His son Yeou Wang was heir not only to his throne,but also to his misfortunes. Floods, earthquakes andother calamities struck terror to the heart of thepeople; the ruler alone proved callous to them.While his subjects were daily raising loud complaintsto the throne he passed his time in idle pleasures inhis palace. The general distress made the reductionof taxation a matter of ordinary prudence ; he doubled

2 *


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20 THE HISTORY OF CHINA.the imposts to gratify the wishes of his mistress. TheChinese have never been silent under tyranny. Theyhave sometimes, but rarely, produced a Brutus, or aHarmodius ; but they have never failed to find satiristswhose bitter words have exposed the shortcomings ofthe Emperor, even though endowed in the commonparlance with many of the attributes of God.Yeou Wang became the butt of the learned, his crimeswere denounced in the Tribunal of History, and hisamours formed the theme of daily conversation." The Royal House was approaching its fall," wrotethe great historian of the day. Meanwhile the heirapparent had fled the palace, and sought with hismother refuge among the Tartar tribes of the West.These wild people looked upon the cities of China astheir lawful prey, and though often beaten backwith loss it cost them little or nothing to resume anenterprise that might result in the attainment of agreat prize. Never did the prospect appear more seduc-tive to them than during the years when Yeou Wang'sconduct had alienated his people, and the dynasty ofChow seemed tottering on the verge of ruin. TheTartars poured over the frontier ravaging the countryas they advanced, and Yeou Wang marched with severalarmies to oppose them. The victory should havegone to him, but the column under his command wasattacked and overwhelmed by numbers, Yeou Wanghimself perishing on the field.

His son Ping Wang was then placed upon the throneby the great vassal princes, but the danger from theTartars, elated by their success over his father, con-


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THE EARLY AGES. 21tinued to be so great that the Chinese were kept in astate of constant alarm. Ping Wang had to resort tothe dangerous expedient of making one of the greatnobles the custodian of his frontier. He abandonedhis Western capital to this noble, Siangkong, Princeof Tsin, and retired to the Eastern capital, namedLoyang, in Honan. The task entrusted to the princenamed was difficult, but it enabled him to con-solidate a power within the state independent of thatof the Emperor. " The Tartars," said Ping Wang inhis decree to the prince, " are constantly making theirinroads into my provinces of Ki and Fong. Youalone can put a stop to their onslaughts and maraud-ing. Take then all this country, I yield it to youwillingly, on the simple condition that you turn it intoa barrier against them." In this decree, as engravedon a vase in Shensi, Ping Wang styled himself " theKing of Heaven." Little did he think when doing sothat the descendants of the Prince of Tsin woulddrive his in ignominy from the throne. Centurieswere to pass away before the fall came, but the abne-gation of the Imperial duty of defending the frontiercould only lead, sooner or later, to the loss of Im-perial power and station.

The other great vassals were not slow to follow theexample set them by the powerful Prince of Tsin.If Siangkong was the only one to assume regalhonours,* his peers were not backward in claiming the

* Siangkong caused a stone tortoise to be made, and offeredsacrifice to Changti upon it, a right which had previously belongedto the Emperor alone.


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THE EARLY AGES. 23manent occupation for those on the frontier, andalthough the Chinese triumphed by dint of numbersand superior skill they never ventured to wage morethan a defensive war. The seven Emperors suc-ceeded in maintaining their position in Honan, andfor a short distance in the surrounding region onaccount of the prevailing dissension; but theirauthority was but a faint semblance of what it oncehad been, and still claimed to be. Like the laterCaesars the less able they became to wield the swordagainst the enemy, and to resist the arrogance of theproud, the closer they wrapt the purple round them,and sought in the pleasures of the palace to forgetthe duties and privileges of the council chamber. Sofar as the record of notable events or the exercise ofImperial power is concerned the annals of the Chowrulers might be already closed; but the ability andvirtues of Laoutse, and the genius of Confucius gavea lustre to the last three centuries of their rule notunworthy of its earlier fame.

Before passing on to the consideration of the im-portant epoch which we have now reached, and whichforms the commencement of the regular history ofChina, it will be advisable to glance back for amoment at the vast space of time which has beentraversed in the few preceding pages.* Originally a

* This is the more necessary as the antiquity of Chinese historyhas been challenged by several writers. There can be no questionof its substantial accuracy from the time of Confucius, but that isonly two thousand four hundred years ago. The balance of evi-dence is wholly in favour of the account given in these pages, butthe remarks of so intelligent a critic as M. de Guignes may here


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nomad people, following the free and untrammelledexistence of the hunter and the shepherd, thenecessities produced by increasing numbers compelledthe Chinese to become agriculturists, and to settle intowns. They had their mythical ancestors, in commonwith the rest of mankind, who taught them the use offire and of clothes, and who raised them graduallyfrom the brute life which they were leading into ahigher and a nobler one. Then appeared the firstconqueror Hoangti, to be followed by those threeperfect, and probably ideal Emperors, Yao, Chun andYu, who left an example that none of their suc-cessors could hope to emulate. With the death ofYu the first stage in Chinese history closes. Theprinciple that the ruler of the country should be thevery best and ablest man in the community, carriedout during four brilliant reigns, was set aside partlyby the national sense of gratitude, partly because theprogress

of the age had led to personal ambitionvanquishing the purely public spirit of the patriarchalrulers. The death of Yu was followed by thebe inserted and studied with profit. It is permissible to believethat his critical faculty has proved too strong for his judgment offacts. " One of the causes which have led the Chinese into greaterrors with regard to the antiquity of their country is that theyhave given to the ancient characters the meaning which theyacquired in much more recent times. The characters now trans-lated by the words emperor, province, city and palace meant nomore in former times than chief of tribe, district, camp andhouse. These simple meanings did not flatter their vanity suffi-ciently, and they therefore preferred employing terms which wouldrepresent their ancestors as rich and powerful, and their Empire asvast and flourishing in a durable manner before the year B.C. 529."It need only be added that such weakness as this would not bepeculiar to the Chinese.


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THE EARLY AGES. 25establishment of the first dynasty in the person ofhis son. After six centuries that dynasty was de-stroyed, to be succeeded by a second, which, when ithad ruled for four centuries, was displaced by a third,still reigning at the moment we close this chapter.With the establishment of a distinct line of succes-

sion the country expanded its limits and assumed all theproportions of an Empire. Its existence was acknow-ledged by the surrounding nations. It became anobject of terror or of solicitude to its neighbours.Foreign embassies flocked to the capital ; the princesof the desert, the rulers of the Jongs of the Amour,the kings of the Indo-Chinese peninsula, admittedthat the countenance of the great Ti was the lightwhich illumined Eastern Asia. And then, as allthings human decline and fallif they even arise withrenewed strength like Antaeusthere came a longperiod of decadence. Prince succeeded prince onlyto find the extent of his territory more limited, of hisauthority more circumscribed. The weakness of oneruler had led to the transfer of supreme power fromthe hands of the sovereign to those of the nobles,already too formidable, and it was not until the ranksof the nobles produced a man, in the third centurybefore our era, capable of subduing his peers that theEmperor reacquired the old supremacy, which hadbelonged to him in days that may well be styled pre-historic. It was at this period that the feudal systemwas in most vigorous condition, although under thelater dynasties it was to show greater and more re-markable energv. This system had at least in its


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favour that the nobles were of the same race as thepeople of the soil, and that in their provincial capitalsthey set themselves to imitate not the vices and follyof the ruling Emperor, but the wisdom and irre-proachable conduct of those earlier and wise princeswho are held up as the pattern of every kingly virtue.By these means China, though under the sway oftyrants and incapable princes during the last fivehundred years of the Chow dynasty, was well governedon the whole and the people remained fairly contented.To this circumstance the ruling House undoubtedlyowed its preservation. It had become contemptible inthe eyes of the nation, but contempt is not hatred, andit was suffered to maintain a station which, by its ownact, had been deprived of practical significance. Notuntil personal ambition was called into play, and theoverthrow of the Emperor had become the specialdesire and object of a single noble, did the Chowsreceive the blow which destroyed them. It is the oneinstance in Chinese history of a dynasty surviving byseveral centuries the period of its utilitya proof, inits way, of the fact that the grandeur of the Empireas a fixed unit has been created since that time.*

r* Something may be said here of the origin of the name of China,which is at present wrapt in some doubt. It is probable that the

root whence this name came is lost in a very remote antiquity,although the Chinese themselves are unaware of it, and apparentlypuzzled at the name being applied to their country, which theyspeak of by the title of the reigning family. It may be pos-sible that the Sinim of Isaiah was identical with China ; but " inthe laws of Manu and in the Mahabaratha " the country of Chinasor Shinas bears a closer resemblance, and it has been pointed outthat they were probably a tribe in the country west of Cashmere,


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tHl KARLY AGES. 27now known as Dardistan. The Latins spoke of the people of a fareastern countrythe most remote in the world, and consequentlybeyond the India of Alexanderas Seres Sinenses, rich in silk andgold, and great traders. Later philologists have traced the nameback to the Tsins (Tsina, Tchin, Tchina, China), and many othercurious explanations have been given of its origin. In fact, everywriter has had a theory to ventilate, and the reader may be referredto the works already quoted, and especially to the admirable articleon China from the pen of Professor R. K. Douglas in the ninthedition of the " Encyclopaedia Britannica." Col. Yule, in a noteon p. 210 of vol. ii. of " Marco Polo," says, " We get the exactform ' China 'which is also used in Japanesefrom the Malay."This ought to be decisive, and remove all necessity for furtherspeculation. The fact may be noted that whereas this vast Empirebecame known as China to those who approached it by sea orderived their information by intercourse from the south, Cathay,or Khitay (the Eussian name), was the name given b\ thosecoming overland from the north.


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CHAPTER II.THE DECLINE OF THE CHOW DYNASTY.*

Religion of China.Its Moral Code.Laoutse.His Teaching.Confucius.His Career and Death.Resumption of Narrativeof Historical Affairs.War with Tartars.A New Kingdom.Ling Wang.A Ruler better than his Age.His Succes-sors.Extinction of Two Independent States.The Questionof Supremacy.

The earliest religion of the Chinese consisted in theworship of a Supreme Being, who was the sovereignboth of the heavens and of the earth. The peoplerecognised with shrewd practical judgment that thepower which could not be divided on earth withoutsuffering in extent could not be divided in a sphereof assumed perfection. t It may be doubted whether

# As it would be beside the object of this history to enter intothe details of the life and work of Confucius and Laoutse, it maybe advisable to give here the names of the works that throw mostlight on the subject. They are " The Works of Confucius," byDr. Marshman. Serampore, 1833 ; " Confucianism and Taouism,"by Professor Douglas. London, 1879 ; " Religions of China," byDr. Legge. London, 1880; and "Chinese Buddhism," bv Dr.Edkin. London, 1880.t " There are not two supreme lords," says the " Liki." Muchmight be quoted to show the idea of the early Chinese of their Ti,or Supreme Being ; but, in brief, he may be said to have been theJehovah of the Jews as represented by their earliest writers.


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THE DECLINE OF THE CHOW DYNASTY. 29any nation possessed and described, with anythingapproaching the same degree of beantiful conception,the idea of that moral and spiritual pre-eminencewhich among all the peoples of the world has taken mform in the creation of a great and supreme God.Originally, and in its essence, the religion of theChinese was as far removed from materialism as canbe conceived. The great moral teaching of Christian-ity had been learnt and taken to heart at least sevencenturies before the birth of Christ, and among thetraditions of the Chinese, in the days of the greatphilosophers, were that " God ultimately rewards thegood, and punishes the wicked ; but his punishmentis awarded without hatred and without anger," andthat (( however wicked a man may be, if he repent ofhis sins he may offer sacrifices."* China, like Rome,was hospitable to all the gods, and when foreignnations came, as recorded in the chronicles, theybrought with them their rites, if not a distinct religion.It is impossible to estimate how much or how littleinfluence exterior considerations exercised on thereligious life of the Chinese, but we know by theexperience of the history of the human race that areligion composed solely of the worship of a singleSupreme Being has never sufficed to meet the wants ofa people. The cult has in every case been extended soas to include a mediator, or to permit of an elaborateritual being grafted on what were the simple andoriginal impressions of the earliest of mankind. China

* That is to say, " he will be forgiven." To these teachingsChristianity could add little.


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THE DECLINE OF THE CHOW DYNASTY. 31Confucius, full of the wrongs of his country, impor-tuned the aged philosopher with his description ofthe remedies for prevailing evils, and something inhis impetuosity, and the very sanguineness of hisexpectations chafed the old man's spirit. In his con-cluding address, which was the reverse of compli-mentary to Confucius, he said, a Put away, sir, yourhaughty airs and many desires, your flashy mannerand extravagant will; these are all unprofitable toyou." In this it is easy to discern the disappointmentof one who had aspired to be the founder of a newstate religion, and who saw in the ambitious Confuciusa rival, and one likely to prove more successful thanhimself.*

Shortly after this interview, Laoutse resigned hisoffice, and led a life of retirement, giving himself upto " the cultivation of Taou and Virtue." The dis-orders in the state compelled him to seek a saferabode, and he accordingly left Chow by the Hankoopass, for the western countries. To the guardian ofthis pass he gave a book containing five thousandcharacters which represented the meditations of hislife. This book was called the Taoutihking, and isthe Bible of Taouism. After this act Laoutse con-

* Confucius' s opinion of Laoutse is recorded in the followingsentence. " I know how birds can fly, how fishes can swim andhow beasts can run. The runner, however, may be snared, theswimmer may be hooked and the flyer may be shot with an arrow.But there is the dragon ; I cannot tell how he mounts on the windthrough the clouds and rises to heaven. To-day I have seen Laou-tse, and can only compare him to the dragon." Confucius meantthereby to convey the impression that Laoutse was unpracticaland purely speculative in his aspirations.


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THE DECLINE OF THE CHOW DYNASTY. 33said by a French writer* that it is " practically onereligion, of which the doctrine belongs to Confucius,the objects of the cult to Laoutse, and the preceptsto Buddha. ,,The example set by Laoutse was carried out in a

still more striking and successful manner by Con-fucius, whose veneration for the past gave him greaterclaims upon the goodwill of his countrymen than thestrict moral and logical rectitude of the Chinese icono-clast. Devoting himself to the study and observanceof the ancient rites, his earnestness, combined withsimple eloquence, gathered round him a band of dis-ciples, whose numbers steadily increased with thecourse of years. But the times were unfavourable formen of peace. The reigning princes were at feud witheach other and defiant towards their liege lord ; andthe petty barons and chiefs in their turn paid butscant attention to the behests of their suzerains. TheDuke of Loo was compelled by three turbulent vassalsto flee from his estates, and with him went Confucius,who held a small post at his court. On the road weare told of the following incident which afforded thephilosopher the opportunity of giving expression to aforcible comment on the condition of the country. Awoman was found

sittingbeside the highway weeping,and on being asked the cause of her grief, replied

that a tiger had slain her husband, father-in-law, andlastly her son. "Why then do you not remove toanother place ?" " Because," she replied, " here there

* Count D'Escayrac de Lauture.I.


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34 THE HISTOitY Otf OH1JSA.is no oppressive government." The philosopher'scomment was to the point. " My children, rememberthis, oppressive government is fiercer than a tiger."At the court of the Duke of Tse, Confucius wasaccorded an honourable reception, but this proved ofshort duration because he incurred the enmity of thechief minister, who soon turned his master againstthe new-comer. The Duke brought matters to a con-clusion by declaring that he was too old to adopt thedoctrines of the philosopher.Of the later career of Confucius at the courts of

Loo, Ting, and other nobles, it is unnecessary to sayanything here. Both his teachings and his literarylabours exercised little influence on contemporaryaffairs. A later generation had to come before eitherwere appreciated at their just value. The very basisof his philosophy rested on the respect due from thesubject

to the Emperor, as the representative ofthe

wisdom of the ancients, and this was extremely dis-tasteful to great personages living in open indifferenceto that authority, and secretly desirous of substitutingtheir own in its place. Confucius became, therefore,a wanderer from one court to another ; and while hepreached an ideal government the rulers of the landwere engaged in the pursuit of their own pleasure,regardless alike of the national welfare and of the dic-tates of the morality which Laoutse and Confuciushad expressed for them with all the force of intellect,the one as a moral obligation, the other as an articleof faith and obedience. Confucius strove repeatedlyto induce some of the reigning princes to entrust him


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THE DECLINE OF THE CHOW DYNASTY. 35with responsible posts in their administrations, and onseveral occasions he succeeded in obtaining his wish.But it was never for any length of time. He alwaysbecame the object of the hostility of the courtiers, andhis fall generally happened very soon after his rise topower. At last Confucius began to despair of successin finding a ruler after his own heart; and discouragedby years of disappointment it was with a presenti-ment of the coming end that he said, " No intelligentmonarch arises, there is not one in the Empire whowill make me his master. My time is come to die."That very day the event happened which he had fore-seen. Such was the end of the career of Confucius,who, if enthusiastic in his advocacy of a model of govern-ment that was probably antiquated, was at least earnestin his desire to promote the interests of his country. Hisexample lived after him, and bore better fruit at a laterperiod than it had borne at any time during his life.*The reign of Kwang Wang closed in B.C. 606, andhis brother Ting Wang became Emperor in his place.At this time a contemporary writer exclaimed that,although the dynasty of the Chows had lost much ofits ancient lustre, Heaven had not yet rejected it ; buteven the court chroniclers were constrained to admitthat the events happening in the provinces were ofgreater interest than those occurring at the capital.Ting Wang desired to assert his authority more

# The reader should certainly peruse Dr. Legge's " Religions ofChina," and Professor Douglas's "Confucianism," as it is impos-sible to narrate here the details of the careers of Confucius andLaoutse.


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36 THE HISTOBY OF CHINA.vigorously than had been done by any of his imme-diate predecessors, and commissioned one of hisministers, Prince Chantse, to visit the capitals of thegreat nobles and to report to him on the manner inwhich the feudatories governed their states. Theobject was laudable, but, destitute of the means tocarry any reforms into execution, the Emperor hadreally sent Chantse on a fool's errand. Two of the chiefsreceived him with a decent show of honour for hismaster, and of respect for his mission ; but Lingkong,the powerful prince of Chin, refused to assume thesemblance of sentiments he did not feel. Instead ofproceeding to the frontier, as etiquette required, tomeet the delegate of the Emperor, Lingkong remainedin his capital. Neither guard of honour nor royallodging was provided for Chantse, who was left tofind his way as best he could to the presence ofthis indifferent potentate. Chantse on his return re-ported these things to Ting Wang and recommendedvigorous action ; but the latter, naturally of a peacefuldisposition, was doubly inclined to peace by the want ofpower. He concealed whatever resentment be felt; andrather than provoke a contest acquiesced in the insultto his person, and the scarcely veiled repudiation ofhis authority. This conduct may have borne testi-mony to the goodness of his heart, but it reflectedlittle credit on his character as a ruler, and in theend this abnegation of the privileges and rights ofpower led to the ruin of his family.One act alone gave Ting Wang's reign the sem-blance of being over a united country, and that was a


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THE DECLINE OP THE CHOW DYNAST7. 37war with the Tartars of the desert. For this purposehe either concluded an alliance or came to a temporaryunderstanding with the Prince of Tsin, himself en-gaged in an incessant border struggle with these tribes.A small army, sent by the Emperor, co-operated withthe local forces. The Prince of Tsin thought theproper solution of the difficulty was to utilise thismilitary demonstration for the conclusion of an advan-tageous peace ; but to Ting Wang's general, Lieou-kangkong, the occasion appeared too favourable tobe neglected for obtaining a cheap renown. Herefused to follow the sensible advice of his ally,and commenced active hostilities against the Tartars.Inexperienced in the mode of warfare necessary forcoping successfully with their irregular forces, Lieou-kangkong was defeated with heavy loss, and it wouldhave gone hard with the Imperial army but for thetimely succour of the Prince of Tsin and the locallevies. This disaster dispelled whatever hopes hadbeen indulged of a permanent peace, and the state ofaffairs on the extreme frontier resumed its normalcondition of an armed truce. The remaining yearsof Ting Wang's reign were peaceful, and his son KienWang succeeded him without opposition (b.c. 585).

Like his father, Kien Wang was inclined to peace,and left his vassals to follow their own will both inthe administration of their territories and also in thesettlement of the difficulties which frequently aroseamongst them. In his eyes the sole duty remainingto the Emperor had become the setting of an examplewhich the misfortunes of his family left him incapable


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THE DECLINE OF THE OHOW DYNASTY. 39of the country corresponded with this incident, andverged on a state of anarchy. One conflict betweenthe princes assumed all the proportions of a great war.On the death of Kien Wang (b.o. 571) his son LingWang succeeded him ; and one of the first events ofhis reign was a campaign entered upon by the Chowruler for the reconquest from Wou of the territoryhe had lost. In this he failed with disaster. Severalleagues between the great vassals were then formedfor the purpose of restoring tranquillity to the Empire,but the laudable object sufficed only to make the pre-vailing disunion more palpable. The Prince of Wouwas on one of these occasions

formallyadmitted to be

a member of the Empire. Under the auspices of theEmperor a general pacification of the realm wasagreed to by more than twelve of the great princes ;but the hostility, ambition, and indifference of thefew who remained recalcitrant more than sufficed todisturb the harmony of the arrangement. The Princeof Wou was the next breaker of the national peace ;but while examining a fort to which he was layingsiege during the invasion of a neighbour's territory,he met with his death from the hand of a skilful archer.Soon afterwards (b.c. 545) the Emperor himself died,leaving behind him the remembrance of a man whoseamiability of character and private virtues had donemuch towards retarding the fall, if not towards re-establishing the fortunes, of his dynasty. In thewords of his own historian the epitaph might be in-scribed on his monument, " His good qualities meriteda happier day."


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40 THE HISTORY OF CHINA.His son, King Wang the Second, succeeded him

as ruler. If he had followed in the footsteps of hissire he might have had the satisfaction of winningback to their allegiance some of the rebellious vassalswhose hearts had been touched by Ling Wang'svirtuous life. But King Wang wished to follow hisown inclination, unfettered by the sense of having toplay a consistent part in the eyes of the world. Heneglected the small quantity of official work which hewas still required to perform, and shutting himself upmidst the pleasures of the palace never thought toglance abroad in order to learn what was happeningamong his neighbours, to whom he was by his positionan object of dislike and envy the instant he ceased tobe protected by their fears and respect. The feudsamong his nominal subjects continued to rage withunabated fury, and the chronic warfare in the countryproduced a corresponding thirst for blood among theaspirants to authority in the different principalities.Assassinations, intrigues, and revolutions became theorder of the day ; and, if the capital of the countryenjoyed an exceptional tranquillity, it was because thetyranny was more complete, and also because therewas less to tempt the envy of the ambitious. KingWang's reign closed after eighteen years without anyevent having happened to give it either interest orimportance. His death proved the signal for furtherdisturbances, which seemed likely to produce a generalwar ; but fortunately one faction proved more power-ful than its rival, and King Wang the Third succeededhis brother of the same name.


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DECLINE OF THE CHOW DYNAS rConfucius flourished during the long reign of this

Emperor, and whenever entrusted with office suc-ceeded in introducing good order and a spirit of im-partial justice among his fellows. But, as we havebefore said, these gleams of a happier time were ofbut brief duration. The elements were too unfavour-able even for Confucius ; how much more so werethey for weaker men ! The second prince of the Woufamily, whose power had been steadily increasingduring the last half century, was worsted with heavyloss in a war with another potentate, and lost his lifein battle. Two minor dynastiesthose of Tsao andChinwere extinguished during this reign, and theirstates seized by more powerful neighbours, thusaffording the first proof of the inevitable terminationof these internecine wars. It only remained for timeto show which of the feudatories was to become suffi-ciently strong to absorb his neighbours and deposethe ruling House.


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42 THE HISTORY OP CHINA,

CHAPTER III.THE FALL OF THE CHOW DYNASTY.*

The New Euler.Yuen Wang.A Student of Confucius.TheInternal Wars.Taipe.Kowtsin.Ching Ting Wang.KaoWang.The Warlike Epoch.The Nine Vases.Ouki.AHero.Li Wang.Hien Wang.The Prince of Tsin.HisPower.Tsi.Mencius.The Advocate of Virtue.Soutsin.Chow Siang Wang.Fall of Chows.

When Confucius was on his deathbed, in the yearB.C. 478, the reign of King Wang, the third of thename, was drawing to a close. For forty years hehad striven to avert the collapse that threatened thedynasty, and to retain in his hands some portion ofthe authority of his ancestors. To a certain extenthis object had been attained, the evil day had beenstaved off, and his son Yuen began his reign underfairer auspices than attended his father's assumption

* The names of these later Emperors of the Chow dynasty, withtheir dates of accession, were as follows :Yuen Wang, b.c. 475 ;Ching Ting Wang, b.c. 468 ; Kao Wang, b.c. 440 ; Weili Wang,b.c. 425 ; Gan Wang, b.c 401 ; Li Wang, b.c. 375 ; Hien Wang,b.c. 368 ; Chin Tsin Wang, b.c. 320 ; Nan Wang, b.c. 314 ; andChow Keen, last of the Chow Emperors, b.c. 263.


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THE FALL OF THE CHOW DYNASTY. 43of power. If, however, the circumstances of theperiod are critically examined it will be seen thatit was nothing more than a fresh lease of sufferance.The central authority was only the shadow of aname ; and if the amiability or personal virtue ofthe sovereign shone by contrast with his contem-poraries, and obtained some faint semblance of a for-gotten respect, it had no more practical significancethan a single rift in a stormy sky. The prince passedaway, and his virtues were forgotten. The cloudsremained lowering over a House which all the tenderervirtues could not save.

Yuen's early acts showed that the teaching ofConfucius had found him a willing student. He re-enforced the ancient ceremonies, and proclaimed there-establishment of the reign of justice and of right.Several of the vassal princes took, with all its oldformalities, the oath of fealty ; and had Yuen pos-sessed the martial qualities necessary to solve thequestion by waging war on the recalcitrant nobles, hemight have made his reign the turning point in thehistory of China. With his respect for the past hehad borrowed none of the political sagacity of Con-fucius ; and he was essentially a man of peace. Thewars between the tributary princes went on, andwhen one had achieved a great victory over his neigh-bour, the farce was gone through of soliciting byletter, couched in the terms of a superior and not asuppliant, the Emperor's sanction of a revolutionwithin his dominions, which had doubled the territoryof a powerful noble, and brought a victorious army to


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THE FALL OF THE (JLLOW DYNASTY. 45With the death of Kowtsin the predominance ofthe Yues passed away, and the Tsins then profitedby the prudence of their chief in not provoking a pre-mature contest. During the progress of this strifeYuen Wang died, and was succeeded by his son ChingTing Wang, who followed very closely in the footstepsof his predecessor.The Court chroniclers affirm that under the rule of

this prince the Empire recovered nearly all itslost splendour, and certainly the private character ofthe sovereign shone by contrast with some of his pre-decessors. But the disintegrating causes so long atwork still remained in force, and the absorption ofthe smaller principalities by the greater continued.Happy in his life Ching Ting Wang was unfortu-nate only in the events which immediately followedhis death. Three sons were left to profit by andto emulate the example of a father who had givenfresh lustre to virtues long foreign to the purple;but in their anxiety to obtain the supreme placethey forgot the more honourable rivalry thatshould have been theirs in propping up a dynastywhich depended upon the energy and ability of itsmembers to save it from the untoward fate whither itwas apparently tending so fast. The eldest son GanWang succeeded his father as Emperor ; but in threemonths, before the Imperial mourning had been laidaside, he fell by the hand of his next brother Sou, whowas in his turn slain by his younger brother KaoWang, after enjoying the pageantry of supreme rulerduring the brief space of five months.


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40 THE HISTOEY OF CHINA.Kao Wang's reign, though commencing with a

crime, venial it must be allowed in the history of hisHouse, was not fortunate in its character. The noblesscoffed at the authority of the Emperor, and refusedhomage to one whose strength was fully occupiedwith domestic brawls. He became little more than apuppet in the hands of another brother, who graduallyacquired the reins of power, and ultimately securedfor his descendant the Imperial title to which hehad himself aspired. After reigning fifteen yearsKao "Wang died, and was succeeded by his son WeiliWang in those nominal functions which still apper-tained to the Emperor.The troubles were now thickening on all sides.Looking back to this perioJ the Chinese chroniclershave styled it " the warlike epoch," and, although wepass over this portion of Chinese history with as fewdetails as possible, the title was well applied. Thisunfortunate Emperor, divested of the last shadow ofauthority remained, it is true, installed in his palace, butthe day of his fall was plainly only postponed until oneof the great nobles should gain a position which wouldjustify him in standing forward as the claimant for thethrone.* The brightest topic in the history of Chinaat this period was furnished by the great deeds ofOuki, a general and a statesman of singular force of

* The records state that the nine vases, which Yu, the founderof the first dynasty, had caused to be constructed as representingthe original provinces of the Empire, were broken without anyoneparticipating in the accidentan incident which was regarded bythe Chinese as presaging the misfortune which threatened theState, and still more nearly the ruling family.


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THE FALL OF THE CHOW DYNASTY. 47character. Originally an officer fighting for his pa-ternal State of Loo, his most brilliant successes wereobtained in the service of the Prince of Wei. Hisguiding precept was that " the strength and greatnessof a state depended upon the virtues and applicationof the ruler." Fortunate in the field he rendered hismaster as valuable service in the cabinet by showinghim that military triumphs are only justifiable as ameans towards an end. The jealousy of those smallminds, to which true merit is intolerable as barringthe avenue to the promotion they covet, turned thefavour of the Prince of Wei from Ouki, who for asecond time was obliged to become an exile. Theability of the man triumphed over the outrages of for-tune, and the numerous victories which he obtainedin the service now of one prince and again of anotherwould have sufficed, if achieved over a foreign foe orin the interest of the Chows, to give stability tothe Empire. In the end, however, he fell a victimto the base schemes of his opponents, for he appearsto have treated their threats with scorn, and to haveneglected all precautions for defending his person.He paid the penalty of his fortitude or his rashness,being found murdered in his palace one morning, withno trace left of the assassins. The name and achieve-ments of Ouki lend a lustre to the reigns of WeiliWang and his successor, Gan Wang, which they wouldotherwise lack.The latter of these rulers was succeeded (b.c. 375)

by his son Li Wang, whose brief reign wouldcall for no comment, were it not for the growing


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48 THE HISTORY OF CHINA.power of the principality of Tsi, the ruler ofwhich, Wei Wang, was the first among the feudatoriesto take to himself the title of king. Although therewas much in this step to shock the sentiment of apeople like the Chinese, the high personal characterand strict morals of Wei Wang shielded him from thecensure which would otherwise have been bestowedupon him. Wei Wang seems to have acted on thesound principle of looking after his own affairs, forthe story is still preserved of how he rewarded theservices of an honest and capable governor, although allthe court gossips were engaged in vilifying him becausehe refused to bribe them, and of how on the other handhe punished an incompetent governor whose praises weresung by all the courtiers, whom he paid heavily fortheir good word. Within seven years Li Wang's in-glorious reign closed, and his brother Hien Wangruled in his place. No change occurred in the cha-racter of the times. The reign of the latter, althoughEmperor for nearly half a century, was remarkableneither for the personal ability of the prince, nor forthe acts carried out under his direction.The most, indeed the only remarkable event of this

period was the steadily increasing power and militaryvigour of the Prince of Tsin, who on several occasionsoverthrew large armies sent by his neighbours toharass his borders. Three princes eventually combinedtheir forces against him, but at the battle of Chemen,where sixty thousand men are stated to have beenslain, they had to confess a more skilful general and abraver army. Shortly after this great victory the


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THE FALL OP THE CHOW DYNASTY. 49

Prince of Tsin died, but his son and successor, Hiao-kong proved himself well able to take care of theinterests committed to his charge. At a generalcouncil, summoned early in his reign, he announcedto his followers that it would be his first object toraise the glory of his House to a still higher pitchthan ever before, and to assist his purpose he pro-claimed his want of the services of the most en-lightened minister of the day. He obtained hiswish in the person of Kongsunyang, who, banishedfrom his own state, took service under him anddevoted his best talents to the advancement of theTsins. He drew up, and his master enforced,principles of government and a code of administra-tion which, in the course of a short time, madeTsin the most powerful and best governed kingdomin the country. The consequences of the reforms heintroduced were, we are told, that thefts and assaultswere no longer to be met with, that idleness vanishedfrom amongst the people and cowardice from theranks of the soldiery, at the same time that theofficials cast aside their former avarice and negligence.Among those who beheld the steadily increasing

power of the Tsins with feelings the reverse of thoseof pleasure was the Prince of Tsi, who considered theforemost place in the country to be his right ; and thefurther progress of the Empire resolved itself intothe rivalry of these two families. An interval ofpeace followed, but it was recognised on all sidesthat it was only the precursor of the inevitablestruggle. Each potentate was actively engaged in

I. 4


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50 THE HISTORY OP CHINA.developing his resources and in training his army for theday of battle. A change had in the meanwhile takenplace in the affairs of Tsin where, owing to the deathof Hiaokong, the able minister Kongsunyang had losthis influence. His rivals supplanted him in the coun-cil of the new prince, and he himself found it pru-dent to seek safety in flight. Failing in his attempt hewas brought back to the capital, and neither the longyears of past service nor the promise of future assist-ance could save him and his family from death anddisgrace. If his career had been marked by an un-scrupulous zeal for the advancement of the interestsof the Tsins, as evinced by his treacherous conducttowards his old teacher Kongtse Niang,* there wasnothing in it to justify the ungrateful and foolishmanner in which the new Prince Hoei Wen Wangtreated him. The reforms which he had carried outsurvived his death to the benefit of the family forwhich he had toiled so long and with such strikingassiduity.

During this reign flourished Mencius, the thirdgreat original Chinese thinker. Of noble birth, beingclosely connected with the princes of Loo, he had froman early age devoted himself to the study of virtueand morals. An ardent follower of Confucian doc-trine he had arrived at the conclusion that goodgovernment was not only in itself the first of publicvirtues, but also the most pressing want of China.When he visited the Court of Wei, he was asked

* See Mailla, vol. ii. pp. 278-279.


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THE FALL OF THE CHOW DYNASTY. 51whether lie would not toil zealously for the interestsof that prince. His reply was, " How comes it thatyou speak of interests ? It is only necessary to thinkof virtue and to practice it." It is scarcely necessaryto add that such unworldly wisdom as this was not verypalatable to the ambitious and worldly ruler of Wei.Mencius continued advocating measures which had asound moral basis ; but little attention was paid tohim during his lifetime.

Another philosopher, Soutsin by name, whose profferof service had been rejected by the Prince of Tsin,took a different course. Finding that devotion topure ethics only led to his being treated with con-tumely, he entered the arena of politics, and travellingfrom one court to another devoted all his energy tothe forming of a league among the princes of theEmpire against the Prince of Tsin, who had receivedhis overtures with expressions of scorn. The lastyears of Hien Wang's reign witnessed these schemesfor the overthrow of one of the feudatories, but evenif success had attended them there could have been nochange in the relative position of the Emperor. HienWang's long reign closed at last, and he left to hisson the unmeaning legacy which he had himself in-heritedfrom his father (b.c. 320). Of that son ChinTsin Wang, whose brief reign extended over no morethan six years, little need be said. The only changein the countryand it was one affecting its futuremuch more nearly than the mere record of thedaily events at the capitalwas the steadily growingpower of the Tsins, whose authority was extending4 *


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52 THE HISTOEY OF CHINA.eastwards and southwards into the heart of the Em-pire. Neither the league of princes, nor the militaryprowess of their neighbours appeared able to retardtheir progress. One of their statesmen asserted atthis time that u their country was not sufficiently large,and its people not rich enough n for their ambition.Nan Wang, the next and last, strictly speaking, ofthe Chow Emperors, succeeded his father in B.C. 314;and the death of Mencius occurred in the earlier yearsof his reign. But the most important circumstanceattending the accession of the new ruler was that thePrince of Tsin then perceived that the time hadarrived for putting into effect the ulterior schemeswhich had so long slumbered in the background. Theheritage of the Chows was ripe for division among thenumerous claimants; but, if he could overthrow all thesecandidates, he would be in the position of its sole heir.The first year of Nan Wang's reign saw the Prince ofTsin victorious over his neighbours, laughing to scornthe threats of a league no sooner brought togetherthan dissolved, and mustering larger armies than atany previous time for the execution of military enter-prise. Nor was the policy he pursued for the purposeof advancing the object he had in view less astutethan the means he possessed for enforcing it wereformidable. Setting one prince against another bypromises lavish to excess, but which could be eitherbroken or left unfulfilled as most convenient, he wasalways able to bring a preponderance of force into thefield. He employed against his neighbours and fellowprinces the very weapons which a wise Emperor would


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THE FALL OF THE CHOW DYNASTY. 53have used against himself, and in the end their efficacywas shown by complete success.The natural consequence of this aggressive policy,carried out in an able and uncompromising manner,was that many ruling families, which had been inpossession of their territories for centuries, were de-posed, and in many instances also exterminated. Aboutthis time the Prince of Tsin, HoeiWenWang, died, andhis son Wou Wang only ruled for a few months, whenanother son, the celebrated Chow Siang Wang, be-came the leader of the fortunes of this kingdom. Inhis hands the family policy acquired still greater forcethan before, and, casting aside all reserve, he offeredsacrifice to the Lord of Heaven, with those formalitieswhich were the peculiar privilege of the Emperor.The minister of a neighbouring potentate gave expres-sion to the prevalent opinion when he said that thePrince of Tsin was u like a wolf or a tiger who wishedto draw all the other princes into his claws that hemight devour them." The struggle between the twostates of Tsin and Tsi continued with varying fortuneduring most of the years of the long reign of NanWang ; but in this instance, as in every other, finalvictory rested with the former.

For more than fifty years Nan Wang had remaineda passive witness of the progress of these events,when suddenly, without any apparent reason, urged bysome demon of unrest, he in his old age issued invita-tions for a league against the Tsins. On this reachingthe ears of Chow Siang Wang, he at once marched anarmy against the capital. Nan Wang, incapable of


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54 THE HISTORY OF CHINA.offering any resistance, surrendered himself without ablow, and became the dependent of his conqueror.After enjoying the glorious title of Emperor of Chinaduring fifty-nine years, he sank into the insignificantposition of a vassal of the King of Tsina spherewhich appears to have been the more suited to histalents. The facts are so expressive in themselves thatit is unnecessary to add, as the Chinese historians do,that he died covered with ignominy.*Thus came to the end which had been so long fore-seen the third dynasty established in China. Thevirtues and the great qualities which had madeits first Emperors the benefactors of their racehad departed before the House had reached its man-hood. The dislike of the people to break with asso-ciations intimately connected with the dawn of theirpolitical history, and, in a much stronger degree, thefact that the Empire had split up imperceptibly intoprincipalities or kingdoms, practically independent,and each responsible to its subjects without any inter-vention on the part of a central authority, sufficed toput off the fall of a dynasty, which as a participatorin practical affairs had no claim to further existence.The course of the history of China during three cen-turies would have been barren of profitable enquiry,

* Hoeikong, a distant cousin of Nan Wang, and after his deaththe only surviving male representative of the Chows, continued togovern his small principality in Honan for some years. By somenative historians he is styled Emperor for seven years under thetitle of Chow Keen. The Chow dynasty really closed with NanWang, and the Prince of Tsin took to himself the imperialfunctions.


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THE FALL OF THE OHOW DYNASTY. 55but that they witnessed the feudal system at itsheight, the labours and writings of Laoutse, Confu-cius, and Mencius, and the steady growth of the mili-tary power of the Tsins, who were the first, of whomwe have tangible knowledge, to discover and carry outa great idea in establishing a supreme and dominantadministration over the inhabited portion of EasternAsia. Brief as was their rule comparatively with theeight centuries and a half during which the Chowsbore sway, they left behind them clear and creditableevidence of their capacity for government, whereas toimpartial observers it must seem that the Chows ac-complished very little indeed. It was their misfortuneto have lived too long, and their apparently inter-minable old age brought to the record of their historymany vices and weaknesses with scarcely a redeemingvirtue.


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CHAPTER IV.THE TSIN DYNASTY.

Hopes of Tranquillity.The Dawn of Great Events.An ImperialPolicy.Ouki.Failure of Tsin Ruler.Tsin Chi Hoangti.A Substituted Child.Disgrace of Ouki.The Hiongnou orHuns.Lisseh.The Task of TJnitiug China.Adoption of aNaked Sword.Limou.A Plot.Wang Pen.Wang Tsien.Lisin.A Disastrous Expedition.A Great Effort.A Re-trieval.Incurs Hostility of Learned Classes.His simplicity.His Great Works.Division of Empire.Feudatories or not.Great Roads.His Struggle with the Meu of Letters.TheResult.Burning of the Books.His Army ; and LaterTriumphs.The Great Wall.Rapid Fall of Tsin Power afterhis Death.

Distracted as the country had been for so many-generations by civil war, and by the rivalry of the greatnobles, the conclusive triumph of the Prince of Tsinfurnished the people with some reason for hopingthat a period of greater tranquillity might now ensue.The more sanguine indulged speculations as to theextension of Empire and the scope for brilliantachievements under rulers who had, during centuries,guarded the Western marches against the Tartars ;but the mass of the nation were the more satisfiedbecause they anticipated rest. There were, however,


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aimed, does not appear to have perceived that,when raised to the throne as the first Emperor of theFourth Dynasty, the game was little more than halfwon. The Tsins were indeed the most powerful, war-like, and ambitious of the principalities ; but after allthey were only one among many. The Chows hadfallen, and fallen by their prowess ; bat each of thefeudatories saw in that event only the removal of theobstacle to the supreme height of his ambition. Thelong line of the Chows had at length reached itstermination, and the last descendant of the greatWouWang had met with the ignominious fate which hisown crimes and those of his predecessors had broughtupon his head. But the final settlement had yet to beobtained.The first act of Chwang Siang Wang was to

order the invasion of the territories of his neigh-bour the Prince of Wei ; and his generals defeatingthe enemy in the field captured the two principalcities of that state. This striking success, enhancedby minor victories elsewhere, defeated the main objectof the Emperor by creating a panic among the othergreat nobles, for the sense of a common danger ledto the forming of a coalition amongst them too for-midable for him to cope with. Moreover they securedthe services of Ouki, the best general of the age,and under his leading the tide of war was rolledback from the land of Wei into the territories ofTsin. The campaign closed with complete successfor the confederates, and Chwang Siang Wang dieda few months later, after a brief reign of three


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THE TSIN DYNASTY. 59years. It thus seemed as if, before they had fairlycommenced their occupation of the throne, the Tsinswere to be swept from their pride of place and rele-gated to the insignificant position from which theyhad sprung.The title of Emperor, divested of all but nominalmeaning by this disastrous war, passed to ChwangSiang's reputed son, the celebrated Tsin Chi Hoangti.Of his origin various stories are told by the Chinesechroniclers, who unite in denying that he was the lateEmperor's son ; but as none of them explain how itwas that a boy of thirteen years, known to be a sub-stituted child, should have been unanimously selectedas the leader of the Tsins at this crisis, theirstories can only be received with reserve.* IfHoangti was not really born in the purple he speedilyshowed that he was equal to the cares of government.His first object was to break up the coalition of theprinces who, having removed the immediate dangerwhich threatened them, fancied that there was nolonger any necessity for keeping their forces inthe field. While several of them disbanded theirarmies, the two most powerful quarrelled and declaredwar upon each other. These dissensions afforded thenew Emperor a breathing space, which he turned tothe best account.

His prime object was to detach the general Oukifrom the service of the Prince of Wei, and in this the

* See Mailla, vol. ii. p. 370, &c. Chi Hoangti, on account of hisedicts against the literati, has never been popular with Chinesehistorians.


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practices prevailing at the courts of Chinese feudatoriesgreatly assisted him. Bribing a functionary of thatprince to poison his master's ear against the faithfulOuki. Hoangti had the satisfaction of seeing the onegeneral he feared in disgrace and driven into retire-ment.* The object of his dread being removed, hegradually seized several of the strong cities belongingto his neighbours, and when an attempt was made torevive the coalition he defeated his unskilful opponentsin battle. The success of his arms, and the reputa-tion he was acquiring by the ability evinced in hisadministration, were steadily winning public opinionround to his side. The cities which he wrested fromhis foes remained in his possession, and, while everyother province was shrinking, his was extending on allsides. It was practically the conquest of China uponwhich he had embarked, and the vigour with whichhe commenced the enterprise afforded good promise ofultimate success.A single instance may be given of the larger viewswhich dictated his policy. On the western andnorthern borders the Tartarf tribes had long beentroublesome, and prominent among these were theHiongnou, identified with the Huns of a later age.Hoangti set the example, and several of the other princes

# " Ouki obeyed without offering any resistance, and givinghimself up to pleasure night and day, died four years after hisdisgrace,"Mailla.

f At this point it will be advisable to state that in these pagesthe term Tartar is retained and used in its commonly acceptedsense ; that is, it is applied generally to all the tribes in North-Eastern Asia, although many of these were of the Turkish stock.


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62 THE HISTORY OP CHINA.

to examine if it may on the present occasion be expe-dient for private reasons to banish foreigners from yourservice or to retain them ; all that I insist upon is thatin banishing them you are not only depriving yourselfof useful supporters, but you are handing them overto other princes, jealous of your glory and your power.By offering this insult to these foreigners, you makethem your enemies ; you put a weapon in their handsagainst yourself ; you inspire them with the desire toserve their princes against your interests. My zeal foryour service and your honour compels me, Prince, tomake these representations to you, and to entreat youto give them your most serious attention." TheEmperor perceived from this address that Lisseh wasa man after his own heart, and at once gave ordersfor the withdrawal of the edict. Lisseh was restoredto his post and taken into the confidence of the ruler.At this moment Hoangti's domestic troubles weresmoothed down by the death of Lieou Pou Wei, who hadwished to pass himself off as the Emperor's father. InB.C. 235, his hands being thus freed, Hoangti resumedmilitary operations against his neigh

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