Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 5.djvu/657

The next sovereign, Hwang-te, was a usurper; but during his reign the Chinese are stated to have made a very rapid progress in the arts and conveniences of civilized life; and to his lady, Se-ling-she, is ascribed the honour of having first observed the silk produced by the worms, of having unravelled their cocoons, and of having worked the fine filaments into a web of cloth. The tomb of Hwang-te is also preserved to this day in the province of Shen-se.

But with the reign of Yaou (2356 B.C.) we emerge to some extent from the mist which hangs over the earlier records of China. Here Confucius takes up the strain, and though his narrative will not bear criticism it yet furnishes us with some historical data. The character of Yaou and his successor Shun have been the theme of every writer on history from the time of Confucius downwards. So strong was the force of the examples they set that virtue pervaded the land, crime was unknown, and the nation increased in size and prosperity. During the reign of Yaou the empire extended from 23° to 40° N. lat., and from the 6th degree of longitude west from Peking to the 10th degree east. He established his capital at Ke-choo in Shan-tung, and established marts and fairs throughout the land. After his death he was succeeded by Shun, who for some years had shared with him the responsibilities of government. It was during this period that the “Great” Yu was employed to drain off the waters of the flood which had visited the north of China in consequence, probably, of one of the numerous changes in the course of the Yellow River. This work he accomplished after having expended nine years' labour upon it, and as a reward for this and other services he was raised to the throne on the death of Shun. After him succeeded a number of rulers, each one less qualified to govern than the last, until one Këĕ (1818 B.C.) ascended the throne. In this man were combined all the worst vices of kings. He was licentious, cruel, faithless, and dissolute. From such a one Heaven withdrew her protection. The people rose against him, and having swept away all traces of him and his bloody house, they proclaimed the commencement of a new dynasty, to be called the Shang dynasty, and their leader, Tang, they named the first emperor of the new line (1766 B.C.). Aided by wise counsellors, this monarch restored to the country some of its former prosperity. But the same fatality which attended the descendants of Yu overtook also his successors. They became self-indulgent and effeminate. They lost all hold on the affections of their people, so that when Chow, aided and abetted by his consort Ta-ke, gave vent to passions of a more than usually cruel and debased nature, they revolted, and Woo-Wang ascended the throne as the first emperor of the Chow dynasty. Woo-Wang was all that tradition represents the founders of dynasties to have been, He was brave, talented, and virtuous, but he committed the mistake of dividing his kingdom into seventy-two feudal states in order that he might bestow principalities on his own relations and the descendants of former emperors. The fatal result of this subdivision soon became obvious. Jealousies sprang up among the princes, internecine wars raged unceasingly, and the allegiance of the feudatories to the central authority became daily weakened. Nor were the enemies of the empire confined to those within its borders, for, during the reign of Muh Wang (936 B.C.) we are told that the Tatars, of whom we now hear for the first time, taking advantage of the confusion which reigned within the limits of the empire, made predatory incursions into the states, and though they were invariably driven off, yet from this time they remained a constant source of danger and annoyance to the Chinese. Such was the state of the empire, distracted by internal wars and harassed by the attacks of a foreign foe, when Confucius was born (551 B.C.), and though the sage devoted his life to the promulgation of virtue and the right principles of government, little or no heed was at the time paid to his remonstrances and exhortations, and he died (475 B.C.) in retirement, a neglected and disappointed man. Neither did the efforts of Laou-tsze, who was a few years senior to Confucius, or of Mencius, who succeeded him after an interval of 107 years, meet with any better success. Disorder was rife throughout the land, and the authority of the central Government was on the wane.

Signs now began to appear foreshadowing the fall of the dynasty. During the reign of Wei-lëĕ Wang, the brazen vessels upon which Yu had engraved the different provinces of the empire were observed to shake violently and shortly afterwards a mountain fell across the stream of the Yellow River causing a wide-spread inundation. As the empire became weakened by internal dissensions so much the more did the power of the neighbouring states increase. Of these the most important was that of Thsin, on the north-west, which, when it became evident that the kingdom of Chow must fall to pieces, took a prominent part in the wars undertaken by Tsoo on the south and Tsin on the north for the coveted prize. But the struggle was an unequal one. The superiority of Thsin in point of size, and in the number of fighting-men at its command, carried all before it, and in 255 B.C. Chaou-seang Wang, having silenced his rivals, possessed himself of the imperial states. Thus fell the Chow dynasty, during the existence of which the empire may have said to have been extended from the 33d to the 38th parallels of latitude, and from the 106th to the 119th degree of longitude, that is to say, it included the southern portions of the province of Chih-li, Shan-se, and Shen-se, the northern portions of Ho-nan and Keang-soo. and the western half of Shan-tung. The capital was fixed at Chang-gan Heen in Shen-se. But though virtually emperor, Chaou-seang Wang abstained from adopting the imperial title, and he died in 251 B.C., leaving his son Heaou-wan Wang to succeed him. Scarcely was this sovereign seated on the throne when he was attacked with a fatal illness, and after a reign of but three days he became “a guest in heaven,” and Chang-seang Wang his son reigned in his stead. The only title to fame possessed by this monarch was that he was the father of one of the greatest rulers China has ever had. As he was himself a man of no mark, it was probably fortunate for the country that he occupied the throne for only three years, and at the end of that time (246 B.C.), he yielded up his earthly honours to Che Hwang-te, “the first universal emperor.” This sovereign was but thirteen years of age when he ascended the throne, but young as he was he speedily made his influence everywhere felt. He chose Heen-yang, the modern Se-gan Foo, as his capital, and built there a magnificent palace, which was the wonder and admiration of his contemporaries. He constructed roads through the empire, he formed canals and erected numerous and hand some public buildings. Having by these and other means settled the internal affairs of his kingdom, he turned his attention to the enemies beyond his frontier. Chief among these were the Heung-noo Tatars, whose attacks had for years kept the Chinese and neighbouring principalities in a state of disquiet. Against these foes he marched with an army of 300,000 men and completely routed them, exterminating those in the neighbourhood of China, and driving the rest into the mountains of Mongolia. He had no sooner returned from this campaign than he was called upon to face a formidable rebellion in Ho-nan, which had been set on foot by the adherents of the feudal princes, all of whom he had dispossessed when he reconstructed the empire on the monarchical principle. Against these rebels he was as successful as he had been against the Heung-noo,