﻿ORIGINS 
  OF 
  CHINESE 
  CIVILIZATION 
  MASPERO 
  449 
  

  

  upper 
  Wei. 
  The 
  tradition 
  preserved 
  in 
  their 
  ancestral 
  temple 
  car- 
  

   ried 
  the 
  foundation 
  of 
  this 
  domain 
  back 
  to 
  the 
  twelfth 
  ancestor 
  of 
  

   the 
  first 
  king; 
  this 
  distant 
  progenitor, 
  Duke 
  Liu, 
  had 
  been 
  the 
  first 
  

   to 
  clear 
  the 
  lands 
  of 
  Pin 
  and 
  had 
  created 
  there 
  a 
  great 
  fief. 
  Now 
  

   the 
  genealogical 
  lists 
  of 
  the 
  ancestral 
  temples 
  were 
  carefully 
  kept 
  

   from 
  very 
  ancient 
  times; 
  the 
  elaborate 
  detail 
  with 
  which 
  the 
  cult 
  of 
  

   ancestors 
  determined 
  the 
  number 
  and 
  kind 
  of 
  offerings 
  annually 
  

   presented 
  to 
  every 
  deceased 
  king 
  or 
  prince, 
  according 
  to 
  his 
  degree, 
  

   necessitated 
  great 
  care. 
  So 
  in 
  spite 
  of 
  the 
  relatively 
  late 
  date 
  of 
  

   the 
  writers 
  who, 
  toward 
  the 
  third 
  and 
  second 
  centuries, 
  collected 
  

   these 
  lists, 
  they 
  should 
  not 
  therefore 
  be 
  regarded 
  as 
  fictitious. 
  An 
  

   example 
  of 
  the 
  confidence 
  which 
  may 
  be 
  accorded 
  to 
  the 
  traditional 
  

   lists, 
  when 
  the 
  family 
  from 
  which 
  they 
  emanate 
  is 
  a 
  long-established 
  

   one, 
  has 
  recentl}' 
  been 
  given 
  by 
  the 
  inscriptions 
  of 
  the 
  end 
  of 
  the 
  

   Yin 
  dynasty. 
  The 
  list 
  of 
  kings 
  which 
  these 
  furnish 
  differs 
  scarcely 
  

   at 
  all 
  from 
  that 
  which 
  has 
  been 
  transmitted 
  to 
  us 
  by 
  the 
  anonymous 
  

   annalist 
  who, 
  during 
  the 
  last 
  years 
  of 
  the 
  fourth 
  century 
  B. 
  C, 
  

   composed 
  the 
  history 
  of 
  China 
  known 
  as 
  " 
  The 
  Bamboo 
  Books," 
  

   and 
  by 
  the 
  great 
  historian 
  of 
  the 
  late 
  "second 
  and 
  early 
  first 
  centuries, 
  

   Ssu-ma 
  Ch'ien, 
  in 
  his 
  Shih 
  Chi. 
  The 
  fall 
  of 
  the 
  Yin 
  dynasty 
  did 
  

   not 
  lead 
  to 
  the 
  extermination 
  of 
  the 
  vanquished 
  royal 
  family, 
  whose 
  

   descendants 
  retained 
  a 
  portion 
  of 
  their 
  hereditary 
  domains 
  under 
  

   the 
  title 
  of 
  dukes 
  of 
  Sung 
  and 
  only 
  disappeared 
  at 
  the 
  beginning 
  of 
  

   the 
  third 
  century 
  B. 
  C. 
  A 
  list 
  of 
  the 
  dukes, 
  preserved 
  in 
  the 
  ances- 
  

   tral 
  temple, 
  has 
  come 
  down 
  to 
  us. 
  Unfortunately 
  there 
  is 
  no 
  cor- 
  

   responding 
  proof 
  of 
  the 
  exactness 
  of 
  the 
  genealogical 
  list 
  of 
  the 
  

   kings 
  of 
  Chou 
  ; 
  but 
  there 
  is 
  no 
  reason 
  to 
  suppose 
  it 
  less 
  correct 
  than 
  

   that 
  of 
  the 
  dukes 
  of 
  Sung. 
  The 
  first 
  certain 
  date 
  in 
  Chinese 
  history 
  

   is 
  the 
  flight 
  of 
  King 
  Li, 
  the 
  tenth 
  sovereign 
  of 
  the 
  Chou 
  dynasty, 
  

   v/ho 
  was 
  driven 
  from 
  his 
  capital 
  in 
  842 
  B. 
  C. 
  So 
  by 
  counting 
  back- 
  

   ward 
  the 
  first 
  10 
  kings 
  of 
  the 
  Chou 
  dynasty 
  and 
  then 
  the 
  12 
  dukes, 
  

   tlieir 
  ancestors, 
  as 
  far 
  back 
  as 
  Duke 
  Liu, 
  or 
  22 
  reigns 
  in 
  all, 
  and 
  

   allowing 
  an 
  average 
  of 
  15 
  or 
  12 
  years 
  to 
  each, 
  the 
  establishment 
  of 
  

   Liu 
  at 
  Pin 
  may 
  be 
  placed 
  either 
  at 
  the 
  beginning 
  or 
  the 
  end 
  of 
  the 
  

   twelfth 
  century 
  B. 
  C. 
  This 
  is 
  naturally 
  only 
  an 
  approximation 
  ; 
  but 
  

   it 
  is 
  a 
  probable 
  one. 
  It 
  must 
  not, 
  however, 
  be 
  supposed 
  that 
  the 
  colon- 
  

   ization 
  of 
  the 
  west 
  only 
  began 
  then; 
  there 
  are 
  no 
  grounds 
  for 
  thinking 
  

   that 
  the 
  lords 
  of 
  Chou 
  were 
  the 
  first 
  to 
  install 
  themselves 
  there. 
  

  

  It 
  would 
  be 
  interesting 
  to 
  know 
  something 
  of 
  the 
  life 
  of 
  the 
  Chi- 
  

   nese 
  settlers 
  in 
  the 
  west 
  and 
  south, 
  how 
  they 
  established 
  themselves, 
  

   and 
  what 
  were 
  their 
  relations 
  with 
  their 
  barbarous 
  neighbors. 
  No 
  

   document, 
  hoAvever, 
  survives 
  from 
  that 
  period. 
  The 
  best 
  data 
  we 
  

   have 
  are 
  two 
  religious 
  odes 
  in 
  honor 
  of 
  the 
  two 
  ancestors 
  of 
  the 
  

  

  