﻿ORIGINS 
  OF 
  CHINESE 
  CIVILIZATION" 
  MASPERO 
  441 
  

  

  the 
  earliest 
  Chinese 
  civilization 
  are 
  to 
  be 
  sought.^-' 
  This 
  common 
  cul- 
  

   ture 
  was 
  characterized 
  by 
  the 
  kinship 
  existing 
  among 
  the 
  languages, 
  

   by 
  a 
  similar 
  social 
  organization, 
  and 
  by 
  analogous 
  types 
  of 
  religions. 
  

   Chinese 
  has 
  no 
  connection 
  whatever 
  with 
  Turki, 
  Mongol, 
  Manchu, 
  

   Korean, 
  or 
  Japanese 
  ; 
  but 
  on 
  the 
  other 
  hand, 
  it 
  is 
  closely 
  related 
  to 
  an 
  

   important 
  family 
  of 
  dialects 
  spoken 
  by 
  a 
  group 
  of 
  southern 
  peoples, 
  

   the 
  T^ai, 
  who 
  inhabit 
  the 
  Provinces 
  of 
  Yunnan, 
  Kueichou, 
  and 
  

   Kuangsi, 
  as 
  M-ell 
  as 
  the 
  north 
  of 
  Burma 
  and 
  Tonkin, 
  and 
  whose 
  

   southernmost 
  branch 
  founded 
  the 
  kingdom 
  of 
  Siam. 
  It 
  also 
  shows 
  

   less 
  clear 
  but 
  still 
  indisputable 
  relations 
  with 
  the 
  Tibeto-Burman 
  

   languages 
  — 
  Tibetan, 
  Lolo, 
  Mosso, 
  Burman, 
  etc. 
  In 
  the 
  Sino-T'ai 
  

   languages, 
  as 
  far 
  back 
  as 
  we 
  can 
  trace 
  them, 
  the 
  words 
  have 
  always 
  

   been 
  monosyllabic 
  and 
  invariable, 
  without 
  inflection 
  of 
  any 
  sort;" 
  

   the 
  system 
  of 
  tones 
  formed 
  an 
  essential 
  feature, 
  each 
  word 
  being 
  

   littered 
  in 
  a 
  tone 
  whose 
  elements 
  of 
  pitch 
  and 
  modulation 
  owed 
  their 
  

   origin 
  to 
  the 
  influence 
  of 
  the 
  initial 
  and 
  final 
  sounds. 
  Aside 
  from 
  

   language, 
  their 
  essentially 
  sedentary 
  and 
  agricultural 
  civilization, 
  

   their 
  religion, 
  closely 
  intertwined 
  with 
  agriculture, 
  and 
  their 
  aristo- 
  

   cratic 
  and 
  feudal 
  political 
  organization, 
  based 
  upon 
  the 
  religious 
  

   character 
  of 
  the 
  system 
  of 
  land 
  tenure, 
  all 
  connect 
  the 
  Chinese 
  with 
  

   their 
  southern 
  neighbors, 
  while 
  marking 
  them 
  ofi:' 
  from 
  those 
  to 
  the 
  

   north. 
  

  

  Between 
  the 
  stock-raising 
  northern 
  nomads, 
  ancestors 
  of 
  the 
  Huns, 
  

   the 
  Mongols, 
  and 
  Manchus 
  of 
  the 
  historical 
  period, 
  on 
  the 
  one 
  hand, 
  

   and 
  on 
  the 
  other 
  the 
  savages 
  of 
  the 
  Indo-Chinese 
  peninsula, 
  ancestors 
  

   of 
  the 
  Moi 
  of 
  the 
  Annamite 
  Range, 
  of 
  the 
  Cambodians, 
  and 
  of 
  the 
  

   Peguans, 
  all 
  incorrigibly 
  anarchical, 
  and 
  upon 
  whom 
  foreign 
  influ- 
  

   ence 
  alone 
  has 
  at 
  times 
  been 
  able 
  to 
  impose 
  social 
  groupings 
  wider 
  

   than 
  the 
  village, 
  the 
  tribes 
  inhabiting 
  almost 
  the 
  whole 
  of 
  what 
  is 
  

   now 
  China, 
  already 
  constituted, 
  long 
  before 
  their 
  appearance 
  in 
  

   history, 
  societies 
  of 
  an 
  identical 
  type, 
  essentially 
  sedentary 
  and 
  agri- 
  

   cultural 
  and 
  strongly 
  attached 
  to 
  the 
  soil 
  by 
  religion 
  and 
  institutions. 
  

   Thus 
  by 
  a 
  curious 
  turn 
  of 
  affairs 
  the 
  steadily 
  advancing 
  conquest 
  and 
  

   assimilation 
  of 
  the 
  southern 
  countries 
  by 
  Chinese 
  civilization 
  in 
  later 
  

   times 
  seems 
  to 
  be 
  only 
  the 
  reestablishment 
  in 
  modern 
  form 
  of 
  a 
  pre- 
  

   historic 
  state 
  of 
  affairs 
  in 
  which 
  nearly 
  all 
  the 
  peoples 
  inhabiting 
  the 
  

   region 
  that 
  is 
  now 
  China 
  once 
  shared 
  a 
  common 
  civilization. 
  

  

  "The 
  discovery 
  recently 
  by 
  Doctors 
  Andersaon 
  and 
  Arne 
  (Paleeontologia 
  Siuica, 
  set. 
  D. 
  

   Vol. 
  I, 
  fasc. 
  1. 
  2, 
  Poking, 
  1923-1925) 
  of 
  prehistoric 
  pottery 
  whose 
  orn;imentntioii 
  shows 
  

   apparently 
  indisputable 
  relations 
  with 
  that 
  of 
  the 
  west, 
  does 
  not 
  prove, 
  as 
  Doctor 
  Arne 
  

   seems 
  to 
  think, 
  the 
  western 
  origin 
  of 
  Chinese 
  civiliaation, 
  but 
  only 
  the 
  existence 
  of 
  

   commercial 
  relations 
  across 
  central 
  Asia 
  at 
  a 
  very 
  ancient 
  epoch. 
  Cf. 
  Pelliot, 
  Jades 
  

   ArchaiViUes 
  de 
  Chine, 
  p. 
  9. 
  

  

  i< 
  Bernhardt 
  Karlgren, 
  Le 
  Proto-chlnois 
  langue 
  flexionelle 
  (Journal 
  Asiatique, 
  1920, 
  

   pp. 
  205-232), 
  believes 
  he 
  has 
  discovered 
  traces 
  of 
  inflection 
  in 
  the 
  use 
  of 
  personal 
  pro- 
  

   nouns 
  in 
  the 
  " 
  Chinese 
  Classics 
  " 
  ; 
  but 
  It 
  seems 
  to 
  me 
  difficult 
  to 
  accept 
  his 
  conclusions. 
  

  

  