Page:China historical and descriptive.djvu/50

32 abandoned by even his profligate favourites, he died an ignominious death in exile in 1766.

The throne being now vacant, Ching-tang, the most influential and capable of the nobles, was called upon to fill it, and with his accession commenced the Shang dynasty, extending from 1766 to 1122 B.C., and comprising twenty-eight sovereigns, who left behind them little worthy of record.

Chow-sin, the last Emperor of this family, ascended the throne in 1134 B.C. He was proud, drunken, extravagant, debauched, and cruel. His history is such a good specimen of Chinese style that I give it in full.

"Chow, in his wars, took a female captive, Ta-ke, whose name is as infamous as his own. They both gave themselves up to the greatest excess of unrestrained sensuality, and to the wildest extravagance. ... They erected a kind of stage, or terrace, a thousand cubits high, and three le (about one English mile) broad. It required ten years to complete it. They laid out extensive gardens; formed menageries filled with horses, dogs, rare animals, and curious birds. At Sha-kew, now the Province of Chih-le, they collected a vast concourse of people devoted to pleasure and dissipation. They there made a lake of wine, and surrounded it with meat suspended on the trees; to this paradise naked men and women resorted, and passed the long nights in drunkenness and debauchery. Profligacy to this extent is more than the common sense of mankind, in the worst of times, can approve. The king and court fell into contempt; which Ta-ke, instead of attributing to