CHINA. 



History. Egyptians, whom Ptolemy Physicon expelled from Alex- 

 v .'-' andria, and v.-ho travelled eastward to seek a refuge 

 among die Persians and Indians. There is perhaps a 

 still greater analogy between many of the Chinese na- 

 tions and customs, and those of the Hindoos and other 

 Indian nations ; as, for instance, in their predilection for 

 the number nine, in their observance of solstitial sacri- 

 fices, in their practice of making offerings to the manes 

 of their ancestors, in their dread of leaving no offspring 

 to perform their funeral obsequies, in their manner of 

 dividing the zodiac, and of distinguishing eight instead 

 of four cardinal points of the compass. But, notwith- 

 standing these moral coincidences, as they may be called, 

 there is understood to be strong physical evidence of 

 the Chinese being descended from a stock entirely dis- 

 tinct from the Egyptian, Greek, or Indian ; and their 

 peculiar features are represented by intelligent observers, 

 as decidedly of what is called the Tartar cast, which is 

 found to prevail on the continent of Asia, from the tro- 

 pic of Cancer to the Frozen Ocean, appearing first in 

 JBootan, and spreading thence over the peninsula of Ma- 

 lacca, and the multitude of Malay and Japan islands ; 

 and which is conjectured to have been transmitted, with 

 little intermixture, from the earliest tribes of mankind 

 after the deluge. 



Antiquity. The Chinese themselves, indeed, have advanced the 

 most extravagant claims with regard to the antiquity of 

 their nation ; and pretend to tract- back their history to 

 a period, far anterior to the Scripture date of the deluge, 

 and even of the creation. S^me of them have ascended 

 in the:r fl'ght more than ninety millions of years before 

 the Christian era ; and till very recently, the greater 

 part ot European authors were disposed to regard them, 

 as having possessed a stable and civilized government, 

 about 3000 years before the birth ot Christ. It has 

 been supposed, that Tartary, as being tin: highest ground 

 on the globe, was the seat of the family and descendants 

 of Noah immediately after the deluge j that Moses, by 

 Mount Ararat, does not mean any particular mountain 

 of that name, but only the highest mountain on the face 

 of the rarth ; that the ark, therefore, rested on some of 

 the elevated tracts inhabited by the Eleutlis, from which 

 flow a number of large rivers corresponding to those 

 mentioned in the Scripture history, namely tne Solenza, 

 which falls into the lake Baikal and the Frozen Ocean, 

 the Amour, which carries its wat'-r* eastward to the 



fulf of Tartary, and the two great rivers of China which 

 ow southward ; that Noah may be conceived to have 

 followed the course of these last mentioned rivers, as 

 leading to a fertile and open country, and that he was 

 thus the actual founder of the Chinese monarchy, and the 

 same with the Fo-hee or Foo shee of their history. This 

 opinion, which was proposed by the learned Shuck- 

 ford, is very keenly and ingeniously supported by the 

 authors of the English Uuivrnal History; and their ar- 

 gument is founded upon a fact mentioned in the Chinese 

 annals, as having taken place in the reign of Yao, their 

 seventh monarch from Fo-hee, namely, that " the sun 

 did not go down during the space of ten days." This 

 they conceive to be the miracle recorded by Joshua ; 

 and, as Moses reckons seven generations from Noah to 

 Joshua exclusive, namely, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Levi, 

 Kohatli, Amram, and Moses, corresponding to the se- 

 Ten reigns reckoned in the Chinese history between Fo- 

 hee, and Yao inclusive, they contrive to make out the 

 following result. 

 TOi. VI. PART I. 



1. Noah, called by the Chinese Fo- 

 hee, justly offended at the impiety of 

 his rebel offspring, separated himself 

 from them a little before the building 

 of the tower of Babel, and steering 

 his course eastwards, at the head of a 

 select number of adherents, after 200 

 years peregrination, settled himself and 

 them in one of the northern provinces 

 of China 



Here, having settled his colony, and 

 established among them the religion, 

 laws, and government, and imparted to 

 them all the branches of learning, which 

 he had received from his antediluvian 

 ancestors, he died in the 115th year of 

 his reign and 950th of his life, and was 

 succeeded by 



2. Shin nong, alias Zing-nutig, who 

 greatly improved those arts and scien- 

 ces left behind by Noah ; and, after a 

 reign of 140 years, left the crown to 



3. Whang tee, alias Hoang tee, the 

 inventor of the Chinese arithmetic and 

 other arts. He reigned 100 years, and 

 was succeeded by 



4. S/iau -hail, alias Xao-fiaii, who 

 reigned 84 years, and left iiu crown to 



5. Chrven hyo, alias Cliuen liiou, who 

 reigned 78 years, and was succeeded by 



6. Ti-liO, alias Cons, who reigned 

 70 years, and was succeeded by ... 



7. Cfiee, who, after a reign of eight 

 years, was deponed, and the crown 

 given 10 his brother 



8. Yau, in the 67th year of whose 

 rvign, according to the Hebrew chro- 

 nology, happened the miraculous sol- 

 stict, mentioned in the book of Joshua, 

 and in the Chinese annals, though with- 

 out any year being specified 



Year of 

 the Flood 



235 



217 



Before History, 



Jhrist. ^ 



350 



490 



590 



830 



897 



1999 



1859 



1759 



1675 

 1597 

 1527 



1510 

 1452 



A more moderate and rational statement is given by 

 Mr Barrow on the subject, of which the following is the 

 substance ; that, though the Chinese should be ad- 

 mitted to have been among the first nations after the 

 flood, yet they do not appear to have made such pro- 

 grew in arts and learning, as the Chaldeans, Assyrians, 

 and Egyptians ; that it is only from the time of Con- 

 fucius, (200, or according to others, 550 years before 

 Christ,) that they seem to have advanced in civilization; 

 that, previous to his time, the country was divided imo 

 a number of petty kingdoms, under separate chiefs, with 

 a recital of whose reciprocal wars and struggles for su- 

 periority, the Chinese annals are chicflv filled ; that their 

 historical records are sufficiently abundant and com- 

 plete, during the last 2000 years, and the transactions of 

 each reign fully detailed without interruption, down to 

 the present time ; and that, during this period, the em- 

 pire of China has been less disturbed by foreign wars or 

 intestine commotions, than any other portion of the 

 world, of which we possess any accounts. Even from 

 this more judicious view of the subject, however, very 

 great deductions must be made ; and the authenticity of 

 2B 



