Page:History of Corea, ancient and modern; with description of manners and customs, language and geography (1879).djvu/36

 12 CHAOSISN. came into collision with How Dsun^ fought with and conquered him, and became king of Chaosien. He built a city for hiB capital east of the river Bei, as the Datonggang was then called. This city he called Wanghien. North-east of him, north of Chunhan, and south of Wojoo, was the kingdom of Whi, which extended eastwards to the sea. In B.C. 126, Whi gave in its allegiance to the Han dynasty. As soon as this Han* dynasty established itself without a rival over the turbulent waters of China, it began to look around its frontiers. The kingdom of Yen was remote and difficult to govern directly from the capital. The emperor, therefore, established the frontier on the Bei river; thus including not only Liaotung, but the present Corean province of Pingyang as well We hence learn that if Chaosien had been so long co-extensive with Liaotung, the inhabitants were not very numerous;. for had there been any fortified cities, the authority of Han would have been contested before crossing the BeL Yow Jii, the grandson of Wei Man, was then king, and was repeatedly invited to shelter himself under the warmth of the Han wings. He believed himself more comfortable as he was, and declined the honour as often as proffered. Not only so, but he took the liberty te stop the heir of Chimhan when passing through his territory to acknowledge the Han as his master. At length (ac 109) the emperor sent Ho, a special ambassador, who sailed down the Bei river, went eastwards te Wanghien, and used eveiy argument to induce Yow te better himself, by always asstunes a dynastic style for the rule of himself and descendants, which style covers the whole period during which his family is able to retain the tfaroma* Each ruler of this dynasty has his own special style. If the former may be called the dynastic style, the latter may be termed the chronological style; for as we date by the Christian era, the Chinese date by the style of the emperor, just as Parliament dates by the year of the sovereign's reign. If an emperor dies even on fhe second day of a new year, his style dates that year; and though his successor is immediately enthroned, the new emperor's style begins only with the first new- year's day after his accession. The present is tiie Chivg or Tting dynasty in China, as it is the Hanoverian in England ; and the fifth year of the Emperor Gwangsn, as it is the forty-second of Queen Victoria.
 * The snocessfol rebel or reyolationist in China, who ousts the reigning dynasty,