CHINA. 



229 



History. The founder of this dynasty, who assumed the name 

 v "~(~^ of Voo-tee, was the most able of all its sovereigns ; but 

 A. U. 550. j jecame at l en gth so fond of the Bonzes, that he resolved 

 to become one of their order. The grandees of the em- 

 pire in a manner forced him to resume the government, 

 but he still continued to live after the manner of the Bon- 

 zes. Towards the latter end of his reign, he was seized 

 and starved to death by the king of Ho-nan, one of his 

 tributary vassals. During the- existence of this dynasty 

 in the south, the northern empire was <livided into two 

 kingdoms, the eastern and western, which were both 

 much distracted between the patrons and the opponents 

 f the Bonzes. Again it is recorded, that a prime-mi- 

 nister Shin-pa-sien, murdered the two last sovereigns of 

 the reigning family ; and, adopting also the name of Voo- 

 tee, like the preceding usurpers, became the founder of 



The Eleventh Im- 

 perial Dynasty. 



Team. 



Voo-tee . . 

 Ver.-tee . . 

 Tchor-pe- 



tsoug . . 

 Siuen-tee . 

 Heoo-tchoo 



Twelfth 

 dynasty. 



Union of 

 northern 

 and M>U th- 

 em cm 

 pires. 



557 

 560 



567 

 569 

 583 



Eatt 



PE-TSEE. 



Ven-siuen-tee 5.50 

 Hiao-tchao-tei-560 

 Voo-tching- 



tee .... 561 

 Heoo-tchoo . 565 

 Yeoo-tchoo . 577 



Western. 

 HEOO-TCHEOO. 



M in-tee . 



Ming-tee 



Voo-tee 



Siuen-tee 



Tsing-tee 



557 

 558 

 562 

 580 

 581 



The princes of this dynasty are in general celebrated 

 as wise and virtuous monarchs, friendly to learning, and 

 attentive to the welfare- of their subjects. It was in the 

 reiijn of Ven-tee, that the uight-watchcs were first intima- 

 ted by the beating of a dnar>; a method .which has conti- 

 nued to be observed in China ever since his time. The 

 last named sovereign of this family having abandoned him- 

 self to a licentious life, was dethroned by Yang-kien, who 

 afterwards assumed the name of Ven-tee, and founded 



The Twelfth Imperial Dynasty. 

 SOOY. 



Ven-tee 581 Kong-tee 618 



Yang-tee 605 



Ven-tee, seven years after hU usurpation, reunited the 

 northern and southern empires, which had continued dis- 

 tinct nearly 300 years, and of which the river Yang-tse- 

 kiang had been the -constant boundary. He was a prince 

 of solid understanding, and the greatest temperance and 

 moderation. He was strictly vigilant over the conduct 

 of the administrators of justice ; and made a regulation, 

 which excluded merchants and mechanics from offices of 

 state. He restrained the progress of licentious music, 

 and other enervating amusements ; and caused a portion 

 of rice and other grain to be levied as part of the re- 

 venue,- and to be preserved as a resource in seasons of 

 scarcity. His son and successor Yang-tee, though he 

 made his way to the throne by the murder both of his 

 father and elder brother, ard though much addicted to 

 every species of luxury, yet made many useful regula- 

 tions ; repaired the great wall, which had fallen into de- 

 cay, encouraged the progress of literature, and was the 

 firtt who prohibited all his subjects, except the military, 

 from wearing arms about their person. His successor 

 wag dethroned by Li-yien, one of the petty princes of 

 the empire, who afterwards was called Kdo-tsoo, and 

 founded 



The Thirteenth Imperial Dynasty. 



TANG. 



History. 

 A. D. COO. 



Kao-tsoo 618 



Tay-tsong 626 



Kao-tsong 650 



Tchong-tchong . . . 684 



Voo.shee 684 



Tchong-tsong .... 705 



Jooy-tsong 710 



Hiuen-vong 713 



Soo-tsong 756 



Tay-tsong 763 



Tc-tsong 780 



.. Thirteenth 



Shun-tsong 805 dynasty. 



Hien-tsong 806 



Moo-tsong 821 



King-tsong 825 



Ven-tsong 827 



Voo-teong 841 



Siuen-tsong 847 



Y-tsong 860 



Hee-tsong 874 



Tchao tsong 889 



Tchao-siuen-tee . . . 905 



Tay-tsong, the second prince, of this dynasty, was one 

 of the most renowned and virtuous of the Chinese mo- 

 narchs. He was a great lover of learning, and is said to, 

 have instituted an academy in his own palace, at which 

 8000 scholars were instructed in all kinds of literature. 

 He was a determined enemy to every species of brib?ry, 

 especially in the administration of justice ; and held all de- ^ . 

 scriptions of diviners in the utmost contempt. It was in em p er0 r 

 his reign, that certain Nestorian Christians entered China an d em. 

 (of whom a more particular account will. afterwards be press* 

 given), and were not only permitted to preach their 

 tenets, bnt received from the emperor a piece of ground 

 in the capital, for building a place of worship. His em- 

 press was equally celebrated for her excellent qualities ; 

 and was the author of a book upon the due behaviour of 

 women IK their inner apartments. After her death, he 

 admitted into his palace a young lady of singular beauty 

 and taledts, about fourteen years of age, named Voo- 

 shee, who, after his decease, retired mto a monastery of 

 bonzesses, from which she was taken by his son and 

 successor, Kao-tsong, and invested with the disposal of 

 every thing in the empire. She proved a monster of am- 

 bition and cruelty, while she received from the infatuated > 

 emperor the title of " Queen of Heaven." She had v 

 been at first admitted into the palace as a concubine, 

 and had experienced great favour, from the empress. 

 She soon, however, found means to have her benefactress 4" ambi * 

 divorced, on account of sterility ; and, upon discovering, J' r "j 

 that the emperor still retained some affection for his dis- cess 

 carded quetn, caused her to be cruelly put to death. 

 She sacrificed, in like manner, numbers of the royal fa- 

 mily, who incurred her displeasure, or appeared to stand 

 in the way of her plans. She was no less merciless to . 

 her own children ; poisoned her eldest son, and banished 

 the second, that she might raise the younger brother to 

 the throne, whom she could more easily render subser- 

 vient to her will. After the death of the emperor, she 

 openly assumed, what she had long privately exercised, 

 the absolute direction of affairs, and ruled the empire 

 with the greatest ability, but with the most savage ty- 

 ranny ; cut off, without remorse, those nobles whom she 

 suspected to be unfriendly to her interest ; quelled in- 

 surrections, and detected conspiracies by her vigilance - 

 and resolution ; kept her subjects in awe and submission, 

 by th- terrible vengeance, which she inflicted upon the 

 disaffected and seditious ; and supported herself firmly 

 upon the throne, for the space of twenty-two years. At 

 length, some of the boldest of the nobles, headed by one 

 of her sons, burst into the palace ; cut in pieces her at- 

 tendants and confidants ; and, while they trembled in her 

 presence, intimated that her reign was at an end. She 

 then calmly led her son to the throne, and retired to the 



