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  ANNUAL 
  EEPORT 
  SMITHSONIAN 
  INSTITUTION, 
  1927 
  

  

  eighth 
  century, 
  when 
  an 
  anonymous 
  scribe 
  took 
  various 
  documents 
  

   in 
  prose 
  and 
  in 
  verse 
  and 
  dovetailed 
  them 
  together 
  to 
  form 
  the 
  little 
  

   treatise 
  known 
  as 
  the 
  Yii 
  Kung 
  or 
  " 
  Tribute 
  of 
  Yii," 
  the 
  Wei 
  Valley 
  

   seemed 
  to 
  him 
  so 
  undeveloped 
  that 
  he 
  placed 
  the 
  rate 
  of 
  its 
  impost 
  

   as 
  low 
  as 
  sixth 
  in 
  a 
  scale 
  of 
  nine, 
  although 
  at 
  the 
  same 
  time 
  he 
  rated 
  

   the 
  soil 
  as 
  of 
  the 
  first 
  rank. 
  Such 
  an 
  anomaly 
  only 
  the 
  sparsity 
  of 
  

   the 
  population 
  or, 
  which 
  comes 
  to 
  the 
  same 
  thing, 
  the 
  slight 
  extent 
  

   of 
  the 
  cultivated 
  lands, 
  can 
  explain.^^ 
  Whatever 
  theory 
  regarding 
  

   the 
  origin 
  of 
  the 
  Chinese 
  civilization 
  may 
  be 
  adopted, 
  here 
  they 
  

   were 
  colonists; 
  this 
  fact 
  furthermore 
  is 
  so 
  clear 
  that 
  all 
  who 
  have 
  

   occupied 
  themselves 
  with 
  the 
  question, 
  Legge, 
  Richthofen, 
  and 
  

   others, 
  admit 
  it 
  without 
  dispute, 
  only 
  differing 
  in 
  respect 
  to 
  the 
  

   country 
  to 
  which 
  they 
  assign 
  the 
  origin 
  of 
  these 
  colonists. 
  

  

  With 
  the 
  people 
  of 
  the 
  eastern 
  plain 
  the 
  case 
  was 
  by 
  no 
  means 
  

   the 
  same. 
  Their 
  domain, 
  in 
  spite 
  of 
  its 
  extent, 
  was 
  purely 
  Chinese, 
  

   no 
  barbarian 
  group 
  occurring 
  within 
  it, 
  either 
  in 
  the 
  mountains 
  or 
  

   among 
  the 
  marshes. 
  To 
  reach 
  barbarian 
  territory, 
  it 
  was 
  necessary 
  

   to 
  go 
  beyond 
  the 
  frontiers, 
  into 
  the 
  mountains 
  of 
  the 
  west 
  or 
  east, 
  

   or 
  into 
  the 
  swamps 
  of 
  the 
  south. 
  No 
  trace 
  is 
  to 
  be 
  found 
  of 
  any 
  rela- 
  

   tively 
  late 
  and 
  still 
  incomplete 
  colonization, 
  as 
  in 
  the 
  case 
  of 
  the 
  Wei 
  

   Valley. 
  In 
  point 
  of 
  fact, 
  had 
  the 
  Chinese 
  of 
  this 
  region 
  been 
  in- 
  

   truders 
  from 
  elsewhere, 
  in 
  view 
  of 
  the 
  entire 
  absence 
  of 
  indigenous 
  

   populations 
  and 
  the 
  immensity 
  of 
  the 
  territory 
  in 
  question, 
  the 
  as- 
  

   similation 
  or 
  extermination 
  of 
  any 
  such 
  pre-Chinese 
  population 
  

   would 
  have 
  required 
  a 
  much 
  longer 
  time 
  than 
  it 
  did 
  in 
  the 
  west, 
  

   where, 
  however, 
  the 
  work 
  was 
  far 
  less 
  complete 
  over 
  a 
  region 
  of 
  much 
  

   smaller 
  extent. 
  Thus 
  the 
  settlements 
  of 
  the 
  middle 
  and 
  lower 
  Yellow 
  

   River 
  Valley 
  must 
  have 
  been 
  far 
  more 
  ancient 
  than 
  those 
  of 
  the 
  

   Valley 
  of 
  the 
  Wei. 
  

  

  There 
  is 
  nothing, 
  however, 
  to 
  indicate 
  that 
  the 
  Chinese 
  civilization 
  

   was 
  of 
  foreign 
  origin 
  and 
  introduced 
  into 
  the 
  Yellow 
  River 
  Basin 
  by 
  

   conquerors 
  from 
  without. 
  On 
  the 
  contrary, 
  it 
  has 
  every 
  aspect 
  of 
  

   being 
  a 
  development 
  on 
  the 
  spot 
  of 
  that 
  barbarian 
  culture 
  once 
  com- 
  

   mon 
  to 
  all 
  the 
  various 
  peoples 
  of 
  the 
  Chinese 
  world, 
  the 
  Chinese 
  

   themselves, 
  the 
  Tibetans, 
  the 
  Lolos, 
  the 
  Burmans, 
  the 
  T'ai, 
  and 
  the 
  

   Miao-tzii, 
  who, 
  however, 
  have 
  advanced 
  at 
  such 
  relatively 
  different 
  

   rates 
  that 
  they 
  now 
  find 
  themselves 
  in 
  widely 
  different 
  stages 
  of 
  

   civilization. 
  It 
  is 
  among 
  the 
  tribes 
  of 
  southeastern 
  and 
  not 
  central 
  

   or 
  northern 
  Asia, 
  according 
  to 
  every 
  indication, 
  that 
  the 
  affinities 
  of 
  

  

  " 
  Shoo 
  Kiug, 
  tsl. 
  by 
  Legge 
  (Chinese 
  Classics, 
  III, 
  125 
  ; 
  tsl. 
  by 
  Couvreur, 
  69) 
  ; 
  cf. 
  

   Conrady, 
  China, 
  482. 
  The 
  tithe 
  of 
  the 
  harvest, 
  payable 
  in 
  kind, 
  was 
  the 
  basal 
  tax 
  In 
  

   ancient 
  China, 
  so 
  that 
  the 
  relation 
  of 
  the 
  soil 
  to 
  taxation 
  was 
  very 
  close. 
  In 
  the 
  Yii 
  

   Kung 
  each 
  of 
  the 
  nine 
  Trovinces 
  of 
  the 
  empire 
  is 
  assigned 
  two 
  ordinal 
  numbers, 
  depend- 
  

   ing 
  in 
  the 
  one 
  case 
  on 
  the 
  quality 
  of 
  the 
  soil 
  and 
  in 
  the 
  other 
  upon 
  the 
  amount 
  of 
  the 
  

   impost. 
  

  

  