879 



SZE-MA-KWANG. 



SZE-MA-KWANG. 



Ling rather justified 



Woo-Te saw his error with regard to Sze-Ma-Tseen and recalled him to 



favour repenting of his severity. The precise date of his death is 



not known, but he died at court iu the enjoyment of high literary 



honours* 



It was during his exile that Sze-Ma-Tseen composed his great 

 historical work for which his previous life had been passed in collecting 

 materials. It was first published after his death by his grandson, 

 under the title of ' Sze Ke,' which may be rendered with sufficient 

 accuracy by ' Historical Records.' The work embraces the annals of 

 China from Hwaug-Te about 2697 years B.C. to the reign of Woo-Te 

 in which the author flourished, aud is arranged on a peculiar plan, 

 first introduced by Sze-Ma-Tzeen, but since practised by all the official 

 historiographers of China whose works now form a series, known 

 under the name of ' The Twenty-Four Histories.' It has been observed 

 by Schott of Berlin that these works are less a series of histories in 

 the European sense than of encyclopaedias of successive generations 

 comprising all that is considered noteworthy in the periods to which 

 they relate. Their divisions in fact bear no slight analogy to those 

 of Henry's 'History of Great Britain,' or the 'Pictorial History of Eng- 

 land.' The first division which bears a title corresponding to that of 

 History Proper is occupied with the actions of the emperors and 

 the principal events of the court in chronological order. The second, 

 called ' Tables,' is an enumeration, also chronological, of official pro- 

 motions and similar occurrences. The third division, entitled ' The 

 Ei"-ht Books,' branches into eight subdivisions, on Rites and Ceremo- 

 nies, Music, Legislation, Chronology, Astronomy, Sacrifices, Public 

 Works and Buildings especially Canals, and Weights and Measures. 

 The pedigrees of reigning families, and those of their ministers and 

 generals aro given in the fourth division, and in the fifth biographies 

 of eminent men of all kinds, statesmen, heroes, philosophers, poets, 

 inventors, men of learning, aud men remarkable for any peculiar 

 faculty or circumstance. It is here that Sze-Ma-Tseen introduces 

 some biographical particulars of his father and himself from which 

 Remusat has taken some of the information in the ' Biographie 

 Uuiverselle,' which has been transferred to this article. It is in this 

 division also that Sze-Ma-Tseen inserts, not very logically, some notices 

 of- countries foreign to China, which have been found by foreigners 

 by no means the least interesting portion of his work. The ' Sze-Ke ' 

 is regarded with so much veneration that the number of Chinese words 

 or characters in it has been counted and found to amount to 526,500 

 \vhieh, as the number of characters in an ordinary octavo page is about 

 23-1, would fill 2250 such pages. The translation of the matter in a 

 page of Chinese will generally fill a page of English. The merits of 

 the ' Sze-Ko ' are high. The praises of native critics might be viewed 

 with some distrust, but Remusat bears testimony to the "multitude of 

 facts which it contains, the neat and lively manner in which they are 

 related, the constant simplicity and unbroken dignity of the style.'' 

 Sze-Ma-Tseen has been called by some writers the Chinese Herodotus, 

 and he bears in China itself the name of ' the Restorer of Historical 

 Literature.' 



SZE-MA-KWANG, a celebrated Chinese historian of the llth cen- 

 tury of our era, bears the same family name Sze-Ma, as his great 

 predecessor Sze-Ma-Tseen [SZE-MA-TSEEN] of twelve centuries before. 

 Sze-Ma-Kwang was born about the year 1018, the second son of a 

 minister of the Emperor Chin-Tsung, of the Sung dynasty. When a 

 child, as he was playing with some other children near one of the 

 large porcelain vases in which the Chinese, then as now, were in the 

 habit of keeping gold fish, one of his companions fell into the vase 

 and was in danger of drowning. The other children fled in terror; 

 but he, with singular presence* of mind, took up a large flint stone, 

 broke the vase at bottom, and by letting out the water placed his 

 little comrade at once in safety. The incident is still in fresh remem- 

 brance in China, often alluded to by poets, and often delineated on 

 porcelain. When he had reached the age of seven, his father placed in 

 his hands the history of the kingdom of Loo by Confucius, entitled 

 ' Spring and Autumn,' which had as much effect on Sze-Ma-Kwang as 

 the Shoo-King on Sze-Ma-Tseen. From that time the boy was never seen 

 without a book in his hands ; he soon knew by heart the whole of the 

 ' Five Classics,' of which ' Spring and Autumn ' is one ; and, at the age 

 of nineteen, he took the highest rank at the great literary examinations. 

 This early promotion opened to him a political career, and for some 

 years his time appears to have been occupied with public affairs. As 

 governor of a town on the western frontiers of the empire, he advised 

 some measures against the Tangutans, which proved unsuccessful, and 

 when the general who adopted them was about to be punished for his 

 want of success, avowed the authorship of the plan, and solicited to 

 be punished in his stead. The emperor, Jin-Tsung, pleased with his 

 candour, named him to a more important government, and to the post 

 of public censor and historiographer of the palace, and during his 

 reign Sze-Ma-Kwang, though he often spoke with freedom, always 

 continued in favour. Ying-Tsung, the succeeding emperor, took 

 offence at a remonstrance addressed to him, and the censor was 

 deprived of his offices. Several of his remonstrances, at this and a 

 subsequent period, which are still in existence, are looked upon as 

 models of their kind. 



In private life Sze-Ma-Kwaug occupied himself in couj unction wit 

 a friend, iu drawing up a sort of abridgment of the history of his great 

 ancestor Sze-Ma-Tseen, which he presented to the emperor, who was 

 delighted with the work, that he at once recalled the author to court, 

 and gave him orders to write a complete history on the same plan. 

 The result was what may bo called the standard history of China, the 

 'Tszo Che Tung Keen,' or Universal Mirror for Rulers. The history 

 embraces a period of 1362 years, and in its composition it occupied 

 nineteen, having been commenced in the year 1066, the date of the 

 aattle of Hastings, and finished in 1084. The reign of Yiug-Tsuug 

 was short; he died in 1068, and was succeeded by Shin-Tsung, under 

 whom Sze-Ma-Kwang occupied a distinguished political position. 

 Wang-Gan-Che, the minister of this emperor, was an advocate of new 

 .deas, while Sze-Ma-Kwang headed the conservative party. When 

 in the year 1069, which was marked with earthquakes, droughts, 

 and epidemic diseases, the censors, and Sze-Ma-Kwang among them, 

 solicited the emperor to examine if there were not some abuses in the 

 ;overnment and some errors in his own conduct which might have 

 jiven rise to these calamities, Wang-Gan-Che opposed the spirit of 

 their observations, and said that earthquakes were to be ascribed 

 to natural causes and not to the actions of men, he was sternly 

 rebuked by Sze-Ma-Kwang, who observed that sovereigns were indeed 

 unfortunate to have about them men who, by removing from their 

 consciences all idea of responsibility to Heaven, destroyed the only 

 restraint that kept in check the possessors of absolute power. The 

 emperor, though he still left Wang-Gan-Che at the head of his 

 councils, showed high esteem for Sze-Ma-Kwaug, whom he named 

 President of the ' Han Lin Yuen,' or College of the Forest of 

 Pencils, which remains in our own days the great literary institution 

 of the Chinese empire. Finding however that his councils were 

 unattended to, Sze-Ma-Kwang requested permission to retire into 

 private life, which was finally granted. The public eye was still upon 

 him. On the death of Shin-Tsung in 1086, the empress-regent of the 

 young emperor Che-Tsung summoned him to the court, and named 

 him psime minister. He began with satisfaction to uproot all the 

 changes and reforms introduced by his opponent Wang-Gau-CLe, but 

 the fatigues consequent on an expedition which he made in person to 

 conclude a peace with the prince of Tangut, ruined his health, aud he 

 died in 1086, at the age of sixty-eight, before he had enjoyed a twelve- 

 month of authority. He was honoured with a magnificent funeral, 

 but the party of Wan-Gan-Che having soon after made its way back to 

 power, the young emperor was persuaded to reverse all the honours 

 which had been rendered to his first minister ; Sze-Ma-Kwang's tomb 

 was ignominiously destroyed, and an inscription set up in its place, 

 enumerating what were termed his crimes. His works were publicly 

 burned, and at one time it seemed as if the history of China, of which 

 the reputation has now lasted so many centuries, would disappear 

 with its author. Another posthumous revolution however awaited his 

 name. In 1129, the reigning emperor Kaou-Tsung decreed that his 

 tablet should be placed in the Hall of Ancestors by the side of that of 

 the Emperor Che-Tsusg, who had decreed its dishonour. In 1267 his 

 name was inscribed in the temple of Confucius, with the honorary 

 title of ' Prince of Literature,' and in 1530 it received an additional 

 literary canonisation, which it still continues to enjoy. 



The great work of Sze-Ma-Kwang has been already mentioned, the 

 ' Tsze Che Tung Keen,' which has been for nearly the last 800 years 

 the most popular history of China. It is constructed on an entirely 

 different plan from that of his celebrated ancestor Sze-Ma-Tseen ; 

 the main body of it presenting a continuous stream of narrative, 

 extending to 294 books, to which is appended a supplement of 30 

 books of chronological index and 30 of dissertations and discussions. 

 About the middle of the 12th century of our era, Choo-He, one of 

 the most eminent of Chinese authors, conceived the idea of inserting 

 in the great history of Sze-Ma-Kwang a series of summaries, or short 

 recapitulations, which met with such success that the two works have 

 since been always reprinted together, under the title of ' Tung Keen 

 Kang Muh,' which may be rendered, 'The Universal Mirror, Text, aud 

 Commentary.' It is this combination which, with numerous contiuua- 

 tions, bringing the history up to the 18th century, was translated into 

 French by Father Mailla, and published in 12 vols. 4to by Grosier and 

 Lo Roux des Hautesrayes, Paris, 1777-83. It is the only great work 

 of Chinese history which has yet appeared in a European language. 



Sze-Ma-Kwang, when appointed to the presidency of the Han Liu 

 Yuen, endeavoured to excuse himself on the ground of his want of 

 poetic ability ; but the emperor refused to admit the excuse ; and in 

 fact a piece of poetry of his composition, entitled ' The Garden of 

 Sze-Ma-Kwang,' is one of the most popular in China, and contains 

 much that is pleasing to a European taste. A translation of it 

 appeared in 1777, in the series of ' Memoires concernant les Chinois,' 

 and is reprinted by M. Hue in his amusing work on ' The Chinese 

 Empire,' which has attracted so much attention both in France aud 

 England. The garden described resembles those that on the Continent 

 bear the name of English gardens, in which the imitation of nature 

 constitutes one of the principal charms. " In the midst," says the 

 description, " is a great hall, in which I have collected five thousand 



volumes When I am weary of writing and composing, in tho 



midst of my books in the great hall, I throw myself in a boat, and 

 row to seek the pleasures of my garden. Sometimes I land on the 



