Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/751

* CHINESE EMPIRE. 653 CHINESE EMPIRE. tering broadcast translations of Western works of science and literature, and the establislinient of the Tung-wen College at I'cking, in which in- struction is given in modern languages, science, and literature, has imbued a number of Chinese with Western ideas. The graduates of Govern- ment schools and colleges are far outnumbered by those from the missionary colleges, who have thus created a public sentiment which loudly demands educational reform. Since 1887, mathe- matics are required in the public examinations. Technical education is given at the arsenals and military and naval schools. In many of the treaty ports, especially in Shanghai, the centre of much educational activity, and in Hong Kong, newspapers published in Chinese circulate all over the empire. HiSTOBr. The historical period in the devel- opment of the Chinese begins with the Chow li.vnasty, founded in B.C. 1122. Chronicled his- tory dates from about n.c. 770. Prior to that time there are traditions only. Legends of more or less interest point to a body of emigrants fol- lowing the course of the Yellow River eastward. One school of writers, of whom the late Terrien de Lacouperie is the chief (see his Western Origin of the Earlt/ Chinese Civilization, from B.C. 2S00 to A.D.'iiOO, London, 1894), insists that the basic elements of Chinese civilization were derived from the Mesopotamian region. The majority of critical scholars follow in the main the Chinese authors, but reject as unhis- tcrical the legendary notices of the period before the first history written by Confucius. Fu-hi (B.C. 2852) is considered the founder of Chi- nese social order. In Yao (the Chinese King Alfred) and Shun (B.C. 2357-2208), as glorified by Confucius, the Chinese find not only the pat- terns of regal virtue and the models of all wis- dom, but the originators of their civilization and prosperity. These legendary worthies estab- lished marts and fairs, drained flooded lands. extended the empire to the sea, and. in brief, made the Golden Age of China. Their descend- ants became degenerate, and were supplanted by the Shang Dynasty (b.c. 1 706- 11 54) .with twenty- eight rulers, most of them vicious and cruel. The feudal system arose under the Chow Dynasty (B.C. 1122-255), by which China was governed for nine hundred years, during which period litera- ture and the fine arts flourished. China was divided into seventy-two principalities, out of which arose several States whose names and importance, even yet in the Twentieth Century, exert a potent influence on the internal politics of China. All traces of nomadic life disappeared, agriculture became universal, and great public works were constructed. This is the classical China pictured in ancient poetry, and affecting so powerfully the imagination of the modem Chinese. Luxury, misrule, and internecine war, however, brought the nation to deep distress, in the midst of which Confucius was born, B.C. 551. The three great sages, Confucius, Laocius, and Mencius, flourished within a century or two of one another. Vice and anarchy were too great to be checked by the wi.se men ; and in 25.5 the Chow Dynasty came to an end. followed by the Tsin, or Chin, from which China derives its name. The Tsins gave five rulers to the nation, one of whom (Prince Cheng) restored order, abol- ished the feudal system, drove back the Hun Tartars into the desert, built the Great Wall as a symbol both of defense and of United China, and extended the empire southward of the Vang • t.se - kiang Valley. To break utterly the power of feudalism, which was popular with the scholars, he beheaded hundreds of them, and or- dered all literature to be destroyed. He was the first universal Emperor, or She-Hwang- Ti. a title which has been I)ornc since by the emper- ois of China, and forms the basis of Chinese political orthodo.xy and of China's claim to sovereignty over all the nations of the eastern half of Asia. After his death rebellion broke out, and the Han line of rulers (c.20(i B.c.-l'JO a.d.) began. Henceforth no dynasty occupied the tnrone for so long a period as three centuries, most of them lasting a much shorter time. China's political organization, with its changes and developments (there have been no fewer than thirty-three dynasties), conijiels contrast with the stability of her social system. During the tinie of the Hans the Jews "entered China, set- tling in Ho-nan Province. Buddhism was also introduced about that time. The ancient texts of Confucius nere recovered and engraved on stone; ink and paper were introduced: libraries were established; and famous scholars arose. The system of competitive examinations for en- trance into the civil service became an institu- tion. The soldiers of China drove the Tartar hordes as far west as Turkestan, and added Jlon- lolia to the empire. The Chinese still proudly call themselves 'the sons of Han.' The epoch of the three kingdoms (..d. 190 to 265) was one of war and misrule. Under the Tsin dvnasties. Western and Eastern (a.d. 205-419), the Hun Tartars menaced both the Eoman and Chinese empires, and an embassy from Constantinople, sent by Theodosius. arrived at the Chinese capi- tal. From A.D. 419 to 618 fifteen minor d-mas- ties filled out the troubled period, during which time two Xestorian monks visited China. It was they who introduced the silk industry into southern Europe. During the great Tang Dv- nasty, one of the longest in the annals of historic China (a.d. 018-905), the empire extended from the Caspian Sea to the Pacific Ocean, and em- bassies from Kome, Nepal, Persia, Japan, Korea, Tibet, and various vassal nations often met at the Court of China. Chinese armies won vic- tories on all sides. The Han-lin Yuan (Forest of Pencils), or the Imperial Academy (whose librarj', the largest in China, was burned during the siege in Peking. 1900), was founded. The art of printing by blocks imparted a powerful stimulus to native literary activity in this gold- en age of literature, when commerce with the P>oman Empire. Egv'pt and the .rabs, .Japan, and the East Indies also flourished. On tlic tall nf the Tang Dynasty, through vice and cireminacy, five feeble dynasties ruled, between a.d. 907 and 960. Then the era of the Sungs (960-1120) opened, with a fresh burst of literary splendor, making the Augustan age of China, with its amazing activity of book-making and printing, and the formation of libraries. But another great change was impending. Under the leadership of Genghis Khan, the Mon- gols overran northern China. Under Kublai, grandson of Genghis, who established the Mongol d_Tiastv in China, the Chinese Empire reached its most splendid development. Kublai's realm ex- tended from the Dnieper in Russia to the Pacific