CHIN A. 



' 219 



History, comprehend the whole ljiitoHc.il memoirs, from the 

 ''-.'--' of Yao, to the year 200 before Christ ; and s-jvc:: of. these 

 1 i c^ litaiu only genealogical tables. An abrid 

 of Clv'nese history of high authority, named Tong-ku.-n- 

 mo, as cxaini.iL-d b;, M. De Guignes, present., the 

 following proponi'ins. Of 56 vo!u:r.es, the half of the 

 second, namely 7.5 pages, and the wrolc of th'.: third, 

 namely 1 1 1 p:i 1 with notes larger than th? text, 



and consi>ting chi.'.'ly of long moral discourses 'ro r. the 

 S!u:o-king. c<. '.- hiitury of the erapiie, from 



the reign of Y:.o t-j the commencement of tiie third dy- 

 nasty, u pcrio-i of about 12iifi years. The history of the 

 third and fourtn dynasties, reaching to the year before 

 Chiist 'JU7, <ccupies nine volumes ; a'.id the rermining 44 

 contain .the l.istory, from C 2(i? before the Christian sera 

 to ; ')8. 



Such is the general character of the early Chinese his- 

 tory ; not as has been pretended, consisting of regular 

 annals, ascending without interruption 3000 years before 

 Christ, written by contemporary authors, full of circum- 

 stantial details, and founded upon the most exact astrono- 

 mical observations ; but, on the contrary, extremely limited 

 and ill connected ; destitute of events, and full of contra- 

 dictions ; resting upon the most questionable authorities, 

 and often upon mere conjecture ; drawn up by authors, 

 who lived far posterior to the times which they describe, 

 and who are frequently divided into the most opposite 

 opinions, and contradictory accounts. We proceed, how- 

 ever, to present our readers with a short sketch of what 

 these historians have recorded ; and during the earlier 

 and most doubtful periods, we are happily furnished with 

 a summary 'of ancient Chinese history by M. de Guig- 

 nes, drawn from actual inspection of the original materi- 

 als. That we may occupy as small a space as possible 

 with what is so very uncertain and uninteresting, though 

 necessary to be known as a portion of acknowledged his- 

 tory, we shall merely present a chronological view of each 

 dynasty ; and without noticing the progress of every 

 reign, shall content ourselves with selecting the most re- 

 markable events of the period. 



First Emperors of China. 



Before Christ. 



Before Christ. 



Fo-hee 2953 Ti ko 21:!(> 



Shing-nong 2838 Ti-tchce 



Hoang tee 2698 Yao 2357 



Shao-hao 2598 Shun 2255 



Tchucn-hio '25 II 



Before Prior to any of these emperors, several chiefs are 

 Christ named in the Chinese annals, who first attempted to 

 -953. civilize the eavage natives of the country ; but Fo-hee 

 is universally considered as the first, who possessed the 

 title and authority of a sovereign in China. The com- 

 mencement of his reign is fixed by some of the Chinese 

 historians as high as the year 3300 before Christ ; but 

 the whole of his history, and of 1m successors down to 

 Yao, is entirely fabulous, was written after the birth of 

 Christ, and is disbelieved by the greater part of the 

 Chinese themselves. There is nothing known with cer- 

 tainty with regard to the origin of Yao, or the state of 

 the empire before his time. There are very various cal- 

 culations, also, respecting the commencement of his 

 reign, which is placed by some in the year 2000, and by 

 others in the year 2111 before Christ. The Shoo king, 

 as has been already mentioned, never specifies the year 

 of any event ; but this was afterwards fixed, according 

 to the calculations and conjectures of the more modern 



annalists. They are nil agreed, however, respecting the 

 exi fence of Yao; and consider the chapter which re- ' 

 lates to his reign, as having been composed in his own 

 time, excepting the first paragraph, which contains his 

 eulogium, and which, with many other passages in the 

 Shocking, is acknowledged to be an addition of some 

 future unknown commentator : a circumstance which 

 greatly diminishes the authority of the book, which is 

 the sole foundation of all their ancient history. Ac- 

 cording to this eulogium, Yao was grave, reserved, dis- 

 cerning, honourable, and every where renowned for the 

 number of his good deeds. By modern authors it fs re- 

 lated, that he was the son of the Emperor Ti-ko, a de- 

 scendant of Hoang-tee ; that he was born in the king- 

 dom of Y, but afterwards removed to that of Kee, 

 whence he is frequently named Y-kee ; that, at thirteen 

 years of age, he assisted the Emperor Tehee in the go- 

 vernment of the empire, by whom he was placed over 

 the country of Tao, and afterwards over that of Tang, 

 whence he is also called Tao-tang-chee; that, at the age 

 of fifteen, he was ten feet in height, and began to reign 

 at sixteen ; that he established his court at Ping-vang 

 in Shansee, and ruled by the element of fire, which is 

 supposed to signify, that he was under the protection of 

 the planet Mars. According to the Shoo- king, he com- 

 missioned Hi and Ho, and other astronomers, to observe 

 the revolutions of the heavens, and to proclaim to the 

 people the periods of the different seasons ; and that, in 

 the second year of his reign, by the assistance of these 

 learned men, he also fixed the length of the year at 

 365j days, and 366 in every fourth year ; which sup- 

 poses the Chinese to have possessed a correct calendar, 

 long before the Egyptians and Chaldeans. % In the 

 twelfth year of his reign, he visited CM ry p. rt of his do- 

 minions, and continued to do so once in twelve years, as 

 long as he lived. In the 70th year of his reign, he was 

 desirous to resign the supreme power in favour of llie 

 person who should be most capable of governing ; but 

 being satisfied neither with his own sons, nor with any 

 of his nobles, he commanded inquiry to be made among 

 his private subjects. A person of the name of Shun was 

 brought before him, of whom the following history ia 

 given, which seems to have no other foundation than a 

 wish in the author of it to recommend the virtue of fi- 

 lial piety. Shun was born in the year 2327, and was very 

 much distinguished by his filial obedience. His father 

 had another son, named Siang, by a second marriage, 

 who was a greater favourite than himself, and who re- 

 peatedly attempted to take away his life ; but, notwith- 

 standing every provocation, he faithfully discharged the 

 duty which he owed to his parents. At the age of 

 twenty years, he became so renowned by his virtues, 

 that, wherever he fixed his residence, multitudes of peo- 

 ple tettled around him ; and at one place particularly, 

 on the borders of the lake Looi tse, he attracted such 

 numbers, that in two years it became a town, and in the 

 third year a city. As proofs of his filial duty, it is said, 

 that his father, having caused him to build a granary, 

 immediately set it on fire ; and, in like manner, having 

 ordered him to dig a well, instantly filled it up ; but 

 that 6hun, nevertheless, continued to pursue the work 

 without murmuring. It is farther related, that the em- 

 peror, having offered him his two daughters in marriage, 

 on account of his great virtues, his father refused to give 

 his consent, and even used mefns to put him to death ; 

 but that still he never permitted himself to harbour any 

 thoughts of revenge. When he was presented to the 

 emperor as worthy to be his successor, it was given a 

 his recommendation, that his father was a man of a thal- 



Historr. 



i. C. '2*> j 7 



