CHIN A. 



- 



^ Hutcr -.^ i n t difli-rtut shape?, of separating mountain*, and of 

 transporting citic* from one place to another. With 

 thu person the king rtkiJcd ten year*, without troubling 

 him* If about hii kingdom j and, during that time, wa 

 entertained by the magician witli admirable music, and 

 conveyed from place to pl.ioe in enchanted chariots. 

 While he was amusing himself in this manner, hi* sub- 

 pets became discontented, and rose in rebellion ; but 

 Moo-vang, returning promptly to his court, subdued the 

 insurgents, and afterwards marched against the barba- 

 rians of Kuen-jong, whose country is described as situa- 

 ted at the extremity of the empire, but, nevertheless, at 

 not far from the capital in the province of Shen-see. 



In the eighth year of the reign of Y-vang, mention is 

 made of a chief named Hiong-kiu, prince of the barba- 

 rians of Tcoo, who subdued the other barbarians in his 

 neighbourhood, and made his sons rulers over all the 

 nation to the north of Kiang ; and, as this chief de- 

 nied that he was a Chinese, though numbered by histo- 

 rians among the descendants of Hoang-tee, it follows, 

 from the account of his conquests, that neither Hoo- 

 quang, nor Kiang-nan, nor any of the provinces farther 

 south, were at this time, (888 years before Christ,) or 

 had ever been, under the dominion of the Chinese, which 

 reduces its extent more than one-half of what it is de- 

 scribed to have been in the earliest ages. 



In the 30th year of the reign of Lee-vang, whose 

 name signifies " cruel prince," it is recorded that there 

 happened a great drought ; that the barbarians of Tsoo 

 made inroads upon the empire on the south, the Tartars 

 on the north, and the people of Hoay on the east ; that 

 the prince of Kuo, who was sent against them, returned 

 with little success ; and that all these calamities, united 

 with the cruelty of the emperor, rendered the people ex- 

 tremely discontented. The barbarians of Jong advanced 

 into Shen-sce, and were joined by the disaffected chiefs 

 in such numbers, that Lee-vang was obliged to seek 

 safety by flight; and, (which proves that his dominions 

 were not very extensive,) had only to cross the river 

 Hoang-ho, to be out of his kingdom, and to find him- 

 self secure in Shan-see. It was chiefly in this reign, 

 that the independence of some vassal princes, especially 

 those of Tsin, of Tsee, and Oey, was established ; and 

 that a kind of confederation was formed among them, 

 at the head of which, as both sovereign and pontiff, was 

 the prince of Sigan-foo in Shan-see. Many other princes 

 begin to be mentioned at this period of the history, 

 whose states were comprised chiefly in the provinces of 

 Shen-see, Shan see, Pe-tche-lee, Honan, and Shang-tong. 

 All these principalities, which afterwards formed the 

 Chinese empire, were of very small extent ; and several 

 of them comprehended only the territory of a city of the 

 first order, situated in the midst of the native barbarians. 

 It is in the reign of Siuen-vang, that Se-ma-tsien, the 

 first historian of China, and who lived about a century 

 before Christ, begins to affix dates to his narrative ; and 

 from this period, therefore, the Chinese history begins 

 *" to have at least the semblance of greater certainty. It 

 ii recorded of this prince, that he resolved to take the 

 number of his subjects, in opposition to the advice of 

 his ministers, who represented to him, but without ef- 

 fect, that the officer, who presided over that department, 

 knew the number of families, of births, and of deaths ; 

 but that, by openly making a survey of the people, the 

 more powerful vassals might become acquainted with the 

 state of the empire, and encouraged to excite commo- 

 tion*. 



During the reign of Yeoo-vang, an account of the 

 empire is given, a> it existed in the year before Christ 



riiinttt 

 liiitory a 



mil. . a 

 more au 



; .11. ].<.. 



77 1, which proves, that it was still comprehended in the 

 provinces of Shen-iee, Shan-see, IVtche-lce, Honan, and 

 Shang-tong, great part of which was occupied by bar. 

 barians ; that it was surrounded by the barbarian* of 

 Jung and King on the south ; by the states of Ocy, 

 Yen, and the barbarians of Tie and Sien-yu on the north ; 

 by the states of Yu, Kuo, Tin, Ho, Yang, Gocy, and 

 Shooy on the east ; by those of Tsce, Loo, Tsao, Song, 

 Tong, Sie, Tseoo, and Kiu on the east. These different 

 states, which were hold by the descendants or allies of the 

 reigning dynasty, were to limited and unsettled, that it 

 was no uncommon event for a prince and tlic whole of hi* 

 subjects to transport themselves from one territory to 

 another. Yeoo-vang, by his foolish conduct, increased 

 the troubles and dangers to which the empire was ex- 

 posed. Perceiving that Pao-sc, a young woman, to 

 whom he had completely attached himself, was not 

 much disposed to laugh, he used all the means in his 

 power to excite her risible faculties, hut wilhout effect, 

 till he thought of causing fires to be kindled, and drums 

 to be sounded, as if an enemy had appeared ; and as the 

 vassal princes, who hastened to his assistance, expressed 

 their astonishment, Pao-se laughed excessively at their 

 disappointment, which pleased the emperor so much, 

 that he repeated the same trick so often, that at length, 

 when he was in reality attacked by the prince of Shin t 

 his signals were disregarded by his chiefs, he himself was 

 slain, and Pao-se, with all his treasures, fell into the 

 hands of the enemy. This trifling story of an imperial 

 hoax is deserving of notice, only as an additional proof 

 of the limited extent of the Chinese empire, when the 

 lighting of fires and beating of drums was sufficient to 

 collect the surrounding vassals. 



During the reign of Ping-vang, also, mention is made 

 of a prince of Tsin, who was admitted into the number 

 of the chief vassals, upon the ground of his keeping the 

 barbarous tribes in awe ; but who is himself described, 

 in some of the Chinese books, as a complete barbarian, 

 whose subjects were still utterly savage in their manners, 

 though they had resided more than 100 years in the pro- 

 vince of Shcn-see, in the heart of which the Chinese em- 

 perors had ruled by this time nearly 4-00 years. A cir- 

 cumstance, which sufficiently demonstrates, that, even ac- 

 cording to the accounts of the Chinese historians, scien- 

 ces, morals, and good government, had not made so great 

 progress in China in ancient times, as they themselves 

 pretend. Towards the end of the reign of Ping-vang, 

 the princes of Loo began to exercise certain privileges, 

 which belonged to the emperor alone ; and the history 

 of this period is filled chiefly with details of the contests 

 which the different vassal princes carried on with one 

 another. It is from the end of this reign, about the 

 year 722 before Christ, that Confucius commenced his 

 history, called Tchun-tsieoo, or History of the Prince of 

 Loo, which was his native country ; and that the Chi- 

 nese annals assume a more authentic appearance. But, 

 from the view, which has been given ot the preceding 

 ages, which may be considered as the ancient and fabu- 

 lous period of Chinese history, it is evident, that of the 

 15 provinces of the empire, ten were hitherto occupied 

 solely by barbarians ; that of the other tive, a great por- 

 tion was still possessed by equally savage tribes; that 

 there were in the midst of these a few towns or villa- 

 ges, with some cultivated spots around them, which 

 were called kingdoms ; and that the Chinese nation, in- 

 stead of having been at this period a numerous, rich, and 

 powerful people, consisted of a few wandering tribes, 

 moving their habitations from place to place, as circum- 

 (tauces required. The remaining history of the dynasty 



H;itorr. 



L. <'. 77c. 



Fatal hoax 

 by a ( 



Commmcf- 

 ment of the 

 history by 

 Cuufuciut. 



State of the 

 Chinese 

 empire at 

 this period. 



