Page:The Mythology of All Races Vol 8 (Chinese and Japanese).djvu/31

Rh in all ages, has kept them from the folly of ascribing a divine origin to their particular race.

The historian Ssŭ-ma Ch'ien commences his Annals with Huang Ti, the first of the Five Sovereigns, 2704-2595 Some other writers go back to the earlier period of the mythical Three Emperors, but the period in which events may be regarded as having historical foundations is much later even than the time of Huang Ti. With the information which is at present available to the world, it is not safe to place the commencement of the historical period of China earlier than the fall of the Shang dynasty, and the rise of the House of Chow, 1122 It is better still to place the beginning of reliable history as 841 B.C., which is the first exact date with which Ssu-ma Ch'ien starts in the Shih Chi. At this period we are met with a civilization already well established. The people not only were good agriculturists, but also understood the art of writing. Such remains as we have of an earlier time are ideographs incised on bones or cast as inscriptions on bronze sacrificial vessels. The amount of historical knowledge gained from these is very small and has made little contribution to our understanding of the early civilization of China. Their chief value has been in furnishing evidence that the civilization of China as we know it in the Chow dynasty, is a continuous development from the early civilization of the original inhabitants of China, and that it is not an importation from outside sources. China developed for herself a civilization distinct from that of any other nation of antiquity, and this civilization with many changes and wide development has remained down to our present time. It has had a longer continuous existence than any other that the world has ever known.

The practice of divination and the observance of ceremonies, family and tribal, are the two outstanding features of the ancient civilization of China. They represent the contrasting ideals of individualistic and of social development. The conception of