Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/489

 CHINA (LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE) 477 but the book is very rare. (French by Julien, Paris, 1853.) The Se she Tee is a short but in- teresting sketch of the progress of the Mongol army under the conqueror Hulagu, through central Asia, as far as Bagdad, from the year 1252 to 1259. The narrative is given by Ch'ang Tlh, an envoy from the camp to the Tartar court at Karakorum. This has been frequent- ly reprinted, sometimes in a separate brochure, and sometimes forming part of a collection. (French by R6musat, Paris, 1829 ; and by Pau- thier, 1865.) The E ylh luh is an account of an embassy through Siberia and Kussia to the Tartar settlements on the Volga. (English by Staunton, London, 1821.) The Tsing hae fun Tee is a narrative of the adventures of a notori- ous pirate fleet in the China seas. (English by Slade, in the "Canton Register," 1829; and by Neumann, London, 1831.) The CHow jin chuen, a biography of philosophers in 46 books, appeared in 1799, from the pen of the well known scholar Yuen Yuen, formerly governor of Canton. Recently a supplement of six books has been added. Besides memoirs of all the celebrated men of science in China, the last three books form an appendix, treating alto- gether of foreign astronomers and mathemati- cians ; among whom are found Meton, Aristar- chus, Euclid, Clavius, Newton, and Cassini; and the Jesuit missionaries Ricci, Ursis, Aleni, Longobardi, Diaz, Terence, Rho, Schall, Yer- biest, Stumpf, Smogolenski, Kogler, Pereyra, &c. There are also a number of Buddhist biog- raphies, some giving an account of the Indian founders and luminaries of the faith, as the Che yue luh; and others recording the lives of those who have attained distinction in China in the same body, as the Kaou sang chuen, and the supplement to the same. When it is re- membered also that more than half of the dy- nastic histories are occupied with personal me- moirs, it may be imagined how much reading of this kind is included in the national litera- ture. "Historical Excerpts" also form a dis- tinct class, and although it includes some toler- ably voluminous works, they are not so nu- merous as most of the other classes. As an example may be noticed the She wei, in 330 books, published early in the present dynasty, consisting of choice extracts from the nation- al history. As the term Icing was above ex- plained to mean originally the warp of cloth, and metaphorically classic literature, so here the word wei, which is the counterpart of king, means originally the woof, and in its metaphor- ical sense implies the equal necessity of this to complete the great web of history. " Contem- porary Records " as a class includes the histories of various states holding an independent status beside the central government of China. Such is the SMh luh kwo cKun Mew, a history of 16 dynasties that existed contemporaneously with the Tsin and Sung. The names of these states are the Former Chow, After Chow, Former Yen, Former Tsin, After Yen, After Tsin, Southern Yen, Hea, Former Leang, Shuh, After Leang, Western Tsin, Southern Leang, Western Leang, Northern Leang, and Northern Yen. The original work of this name, in 102 books, written about the 5th or 6th century, is lost ; and the present work, composed during the Ming, is one of the most ingenious literary frauds on record. The Gan nan che leo, in 19 books, is an account of Aiiam, by a native of that coun- try who sought refuge in China after having surrendered a city to the Mongol troops in the reign of Kublai Khan. A small class consists of " Chronicles of the Seasons," such as the Suy she kwang Tee, a work of the Sung, detailing the natural indications of the months throughout the year, with the particular duties attaching to each. Geography is a very voluminous class, if we include topographical works in the designation. The Shan hae king, or " Classic of Hills and Seas," is a small work full of monstrosities, and only claims notice on ac- count of its great antiquity, as it is thought by some competent critics to be at least as old as the Chow dynasty. The Ta ttfing ylh fung che, in 500 books, is a carefully compiled geog- raphy of the empire, comprising an amazing amount of statistical information. The general plan of the work is to describe in succession the several provinces of the empire, noting the astrological division, limits, configuration of the country, officers, population, taxes, and renowned statesmen belonging to each. Under each prefecture and department there is a more detailed description of the various dis- tricts, descending to additional particulars re- garding the cities, educational institutes, hills and rivers, antiquities, passes, bridges, defences, famous tombs, temples, men of note, travellers, remarkable women, religious devotees, and productions of the soil. A considerable section at the end is devoted to a description of the extra-frontier dependencies and foreign na- tions. This in itself is a huge work, but it sinks into insignificance when compared with the mass of topographical writings, which number thousands of volumes. For each of the 18 provinces there is a T'ung che, or " Provincial Topography," which may be considered a great- ly amplified development of the headings in the last named work. As an example take the Che Iceang Vung che, or " Topography of Che- kiang Province," in 72 books, which, although scarcely above half the size of some of them, is considered a very favorable specimen as to the general plan and execution. In this prov- ince there are 11 foo or prefectures, each of which has its foo che, or prefectural topogra- phy. Take as one of these the Ning-pofoo che, or "Topography of Ningpo Prefecture," the first edition of which appeared in 1730, in 36 books. In this prefecture are 6 he'en, or dis- * tricts, to each of which there is a heen che, or district topography ; as for instance the Tin heen che, or "Topography of Yin District," in 30 books. These are by no means the most vo- luminous of the series, and when it is remem- bered that there are 267 prefectures and 1,473