﻿ORIGINS 
  OF 
  CHINESE 
  CIVILIZATION 
  — 
  MASPEEO 
  443 
  

  

  and 
  birds 
  of 
  every 
  kind. 
  These 
  were 
  hunted 
  in 
  great 
  battues, 
  held 
  

   in 
  winter, 
  by 
  setting 
  the 
  grass 
  on 
  fire. 
  The 
  regions 
  forming 
  the 
  

   forest 
  fringe 
  were 
  utilized 
  either 
  as 
  pastures 
  for 
  domestic 
  horses 
  

   and 
  cattle 
  or 
  as 
  mulberry 
  plantations 
  for 
  silkworm 
  growing. 
  The 
  

   best 
  lands, 
  protected 
  from 
  floods 
  by 
  dikes, 
  were 
  regularly 
  cultivated. 
  

  

  All 
  these 
  regions 
  were 
  covered 
  with 
  the 
  type 
  of 
  soil 
  called 
  loess, 
  the 
  

   extent 
  of 
  whose 
  distribution 
  Richthofen 
  has 
  revealed, 
  and 
  which 
  

   forms 
  thick 
  deposits, 
  whence 
  the 
  Yellow 
  River 
  draws 
  the 
  muddy 
  silt 
  

   to 
  which 
  it 
  owes 
  its 
  name. 
  Spread 
  widely 
  over 
  the 
  foothills 
  and 
  over 
  

   the 
  Provinces 
  of 
  Kiangsu 
  and 
  Anhui 
  farther 
  south, 
  it 
  covers 
  the 
  ter- 
  

   raced 
  valleys 
  of 
  the 
  Wei 
  and 
  its 
  affluents 
  in 
  the 
  northwest. 
  Periodi- 
  

   cally 
  fertilized 
  by 
  the 
  summer 
  monsoon 
  rains, 
  these 
  loess 
  lands 
  have 
  

   everywhere 
  shown 
  themselves 
  favorable 
  to 
  agriculture. 
  They 
  appear 
  

   to 
  have 
  been 
  particularly 
  sought 
  after 
  b}^ 
  the 
  Chinese 
  when, 
  leaving 
  

   the 
  plain, 
  they 
  pushed 
  up 
  into 
  the 
  valleys 
  of 
  the 
  west. 
  The 
  monsoons 
  

   and 
  the 
  yellow 
  loess 
  soil 
  seem 
  to 
  have 
  been 
  the 
  real 
  secret 
  of 
  the 
  

   development 
  in 
  situ 
  of 
  the 
  Chinese 
  civilization. 
  Geography 
  here 
  is 
  in 
  

   agreement 
  with 
  history. 
  

  

  Such 
  was 
  the 
  land 
  in 
  which 
  the 
  prehistoric 
  ancestors 
  of 
  the 
  Chinese 
  

   began 
  slowly 
  to 
  emerge 
  from 
  the 
  surrounding 
  barbarism. 
  There 
  is 
  no 
  

   reason 
  whatever 
  to 
  suppose 
  that 
  they 
  had 
  ever 
  been 
  nomads 
  pasturing 
  

   their 
  flocks 
  on 
  the 
  undergrowth 
  of 
  the 
  lower 
  Yellow 
  River 
  basin; 
  on 
  

   the 
  contrary, 
  everything 
  goes 
  to 
  show 
  that 
  they 
  were 
  sedentary 
  agri- 
  

   culturists.^^ 
  But 
  in 
  the 
  beginning 
  instead 
  of 
  regular, 
  permanent 
  fields 
  

   they 
  can 
  have 
  had 
  only 
  temporary 
  clearings 
  analogous 
  to 
  the 
  rrd 
  of 
  

   the 
  peoples 
  of 
  upper 
  Tonkin, 
  abandoned 
  at 
  the 
  end 
  of 
  a 
  few 
  years 
  in 
  

   order 
  to 
  clear 
  off 
  another 
  patch, 
  leaving 
  the 
  undergrowth 
  to 
  spring 
  

   up 
  again.^^ 
  The 
  very 
  curious 
  custom 
  of 
  the 
  ancient 
  Chinese 
  peasants 
  

   of 
  deserting 
  their 
  villages 
  entirely 
  from 
  the 
  middle 
  of 
  spring 
  to 
  the 
  

   end 
  of 
  autumn 
  and 
  going 
  to 
  live 
  in 
  groups 
  of 
  three 
  families 
  each 
  in 
  

   communal 
  huts 
  erected 
  in 
  the 
  midst 
  of 
  the 
  fields 
  ^^ 
  seems 
  to 
  me 
  a 
  

   vestige 
  of 
  a 
  time 
  when 
  the 
  temporary 
  fields, 
  or 
  rai,, 
  were 
  in 
  the 
  virgin 
  

  

  "The 
  religious 
  and 
  political 
  organization 
  of 
  the 
  andent 
  Chinese, 
  like 
  that 
  of 
  their 
  

   still 
  surviving 
  barbarian 
  neighbors, 
  was 
  in 
  essence 
  a 
  hierarchy 
  based 
  upon 
  the 
  possession 
  

   of 
  land. 
  Besides 
  suzerain 
  and 
  vassal 
  lords, 
  there 
  were 
  also, 
  ranis 
  above 
  rank, 
  gods 
  of 
  the 
  

   soil, 
  not 
  creative 
  and 
  fostering 
  earth 
  divinities 
  presiding 
  over 
  vegetation, 
  but 
  guardians, 
  

   suzerain 
  or 
  vassal, 
  of 
  definite 
  territories 
  ; 
  cf. 
  Chavannes, 
  Le 
  Dieu 
  du 
  sol 
  dans 
  la 
  Chine 
  

   antique 
  (Bibl. 
  d'Etudes 
  du 
  Mus6e 
  Gulmet, 
  Vol. 
  XXI, 
  pp. 
  437-525). 
  The 
  whole 
  religious 
  

   life 
  was 
  based 
  upon 
  the 
  rhythm 
  of 
  agricultural 
  life 
  and 
  especially 
  upon 
  the 
  growing 
  of 
  

   cereals, 
  millet 
  in 
  particular., 
  If 
  a 
  pastoral 
  stage 
  for 
  tlie 
  ancestors 
  of 
  t)ie 
  Chinese 
  must 
  lie 
  

   postulated, 
  it 
  must 
  be 
  thrust 
  back 
  into 
  an 
  extremely 
  high 
  antiquity, 
  for 
  nothing 
  of 
  the 
  

   sort 
  survived 
  at 
  the 
  dawn 
  of 
  history 
  to 
  suggest 
  such 
  a 
  period, 
  which 
  if 
  it 
  ever 
  existed 
  

   must 
  have 
  long 
  preceded 
  the 
  time 
  when 
  the 
  ancient 
  Chinese 
  in 
  common 
  with 
  the 
  neigh- 
  

   boring 
  populations, 
  T'ai, 
  Lolo, 
  Miao-tzu, 
  etc., 
  possessed 
  an 
  agricultural 
  civilization. 
  

  

  '* 
  This 
  is 
  not 
  a 
  form 
  of 
  nomadism. 
  Every 
  group 
  has 
  its 
  own 
  fixed 
  place 
  of 
  habitation, 
  

   its 
  winter 
  village, 
  moved 
  only 
  for 
  weighty 
  reasons 
  ; 
  it 
  was 
  only 
  the 
  areas 
  under 
  cultivation 
  

   which 
  were 
  changed 
  from 
  time 
  to 
  time. 
  Moreover, 
  every 
  village 
  had 
  its 
  territory 
  precisely 
  

   delimited, 
  with 
  boundaries 
  beyond 
  which 
  its 
  clearings 
  did 
  not 
  extend. 
  

  

  i" 
  From 
  the 
  standpoint 
  of 
  religion, 
  this 
  practice 
  was 
  bracketed 
  between 
  two 
  rites 
  of 
  

   similar 
  nature, 
  that 
  of 
  " 
  carrying 
  out 
  the 
  fire 
  " 
  from 
  the 
  house 
  in 
  the 
  third 
  month 
  of 
  

   spring 
  and 
  that 
  of 
  " 
  carrying 
  back 
  the 
  fire 
  " 
  iuto 
  the 
  house 
  in 
  the 
  third 
  month 
  of 
  autumn. 
  

  

  